With the build to Roland Garros officially underway, the sport’s pundits (I assume they follow tennis and are more than just Fed, Rafa or Djoker fans) are all excited and really want to start talking about Paris. I suppose they became swept-up in this perfect storm of a slow news day: Roger is off, Djokovic is waiting for Madrid, Barcelona lacks the jazz in the early rounds, so Tennis.com came-up with a doozy, as in a huge turd they can’t flush down the toilet, so we all (if one visits the interwebs in and around such publications) get to smell it.
Indeed, said website has this flashing across their homepage and it surely has readers and even “writers” all excited, I suspect:
TOUGH CALL: WHO HAS MORE AT STAKE AT ROLAND GARROS—MURRAY OR DJOKOVIC?
I believe they provide a “panel of experts” to weigh-in.
This is profoundly naive (I suppose is a nice way of putting it).
I wrote a post after AO and asked a similar question. But I wasn’t asking readers for their opinions (of course, one could certainly comment and offer one). I was continuing to track the Djokollapse, arguing that his loss at 2017 AO (like the collapse in 2016, the loss of #1 and the WTF to Murray) was pretty much dismal for the Serb, catastrophic (I’m happy to elaborate again if you’d like). Djokovic’s AO disaster, my post went, was much worse than Murray’s loss to Zverev in Melbourne. No debate.
This is all much much more about Djokovic.
I’ve shared the run-in I had with the South African spaz who claimed the 2015 USO final was more important to Federer than it was to Djokovic. Wrong again. Folks, see the history. Be the history. This is Djokovic’s time to define. He and Becker getting the silky base-liner to 12 majors has been insane, as in historical. He’s still on the clock.
I am having a hard time believing serious pundits are actually weighing-in on for whom the FO next month is more important.
This article on Tennis.com does seem to suggest (read between the lines here, folks), adding to other parts of these players’ parallel lives (the real rivalry dating back to 2012 – two of Murray’s three majors are wins against the Serb) that Djokovic’s legacy may be aligning more and more with Andy Murray.
And the irony of Fedal reemerging in 2017, cementing their conjoined legacies.
I wrote about the Murray and Djokovic narrative back in November, as well.
I’ve been tracking this and Tennis.com and others are, from my point-of-view, only adding another layer to this headstone.
There I go again. . .
Not to change the subject, but join me in fancying a big run from Dominic Thiem in Barcelona this week. Watching some of these guys hit the ball with such vicious intent (only the ball bounces short, and is easily tracked), is quite the spectacle that is clay.
Thiem is murdering the ball and his match today with Edmund showcased some of this go-for-broke tennis.
Enjoy.
Mcshow Blog 
Barcelona, big coastal city at the Mediterranean see and harbor of Murray’s former training academy.
Sir Andy Murray is trying to play catch-up in the race, but with Dominic Thiem in his half of the draw, it won’t be smoothly sailing.
Thiem is indeed murdering the ball, and if he keeps playing like he seems to be willing, on his terms, he may well be on his way of dismissing three Brits in a row : Edmund, Evans and Murray.
Btw how come these guys are all on the same side of the draw?
In the mean time the organizers of the sunny Barcelona ATP 500 event are slowly but surely trying to find ways around the raindelays.
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Mediterranean Sea (instead of see) of course.
Good start for Goffin, who just defeated Basilashvili 7-5 6-0.
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Barcelona is looking to be Lock for Nadal, unless he stumbles and loses face (which he has been doing in the past 2 years). Murray will disgrace his nr. ranking position if he loses to Thiem, this is last year’s FO runner up, how much humiliation can the Scot take? A lot apparently, glancing over his AO resume…
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If I were Nadal, I would find a break somewhere on the way to RG. Sure he wants to catch Roger and find that clay dominant form, but he’s going to be taxed heading into a Bo5 marathon. He won MC last year and the wrist is history 😉
I have to admit, Murray isn’t even really of much concern. If he can find that #1 form, good. We need more able men to reach deep into these draws. But this is all about Djokovic and Nadal, for me at least. If Murray can get himself back into the mix, good. But even his run last year was without the Big 3.
His consistency last year was impressive (again sans big 3), but as you know I’ve never been a huge Murray guy.
Having said that, I hope he finds his form for the sheer drama of the draw.
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I watched the Barcelona-3d-round match between David Goffin and Karen Kachanov.
The Russian yougster made it very tough for Goffin and deserved to go to the Barcelona quarter finals.
He seems to be a cool guy who’s very atheletic and strong, with a potent serve and powerful groundstrokes on both wings, and quick movement for his height (similar to the younger version of Del Potro , the ATP site just put a video about him on their site).
I hope Kachanov makes it to the semis, because, if he’s still got the energy, he sure will come hard after Nadal (the later incarnation).
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Khachanov should be a solid player, indeed. We have the young crop that just needs to find some deeper draws to take their tennis to the next level. Thiem made SF and Karen should be able to find that Nadal SF. Should be a nice weekend of tennis.
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Murray fighting for his life versus his new clay-court nemesis Ramos-Vinolas.
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I know. A. R-V is clay GOAT #2.
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Murray should hang on here. He was down 0-40, at 4-4 in the 2nd and fought that off.
This Spaniard is just a tough out. Watched him out-play Agut yesterday – clay just a different world.
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Andy escaping death again in the 3rd, breaks to 5-5. . .
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If the Scot is having trouble here, what awaits him at the FO? He better start steamrolling people left and right if he wants to be a contender in Paris.
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Murray looking DOA vs Thiem, can’t seem to find any answers against the Austrian’s powerful groundstrokes and finesse.
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Back and forth match, but Thiem looking so potent. If he can keep the errors to a minimum, he’ll be tough to beat right now.
But the guy to beat is Nadal. Looking forward to this final. If Nadal can consolidate MC, looking good. If Thiem can make this final a war (and perhaps win), only helps his chances at RG.
Murray just looks like the old Murray. Lendl, if he hasn’t already told the cry baby good-bye, will have to give the embarrassing world #1 a firm spanking, and perhaps send him to his room.
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I assume Nadal will target Dominic’s singled handed backhand with high looping shots because it seems more prone to errors than his forehand.
Nevertheless, if Dominic can consolidate his breaks instead of handing them right back (like he did in his match against Murray), I think he has a decent chance to win against Nadal, despite the support Nadal gets from his homecrowd.
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Why has Lendl been absent in the last couple of tournaments? Have they broken up again? Murray seemed bored of sorts, as if he couldn’t wait to go home early. And I agree with Wilfred, Nadal will surely look to his “how I spanked Federer on clay 10+ years” step-by-step handbook as Thiem’s one handed backhand might become a liability against Nadal’s heavy topspin assault, should Nadal find his form of course. Thiem played very competently today, it will be interesting to see if he can repeat against the CLAY-GOAT.
Oh, and the fairy has been singing about some player’s cough! ”Slowak” !cough! accomplishment on hardcourt, deeming them the most accomplished hardcourt player ever, despite having only 2 USO titles to his name, haha!
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Nadal should win, but remember it’s not the same unstoppable Rafa from years ago. He’s so far back, he has to play really well to keep the young offender at bay. The sbh does seem so vulnerable, but it was genius just enough to dispatch the Muzz.
I saw the fairy acquire the twitter stats in real time. I posed a few friendly upper cuts to CindyBlack3 and she blocked me. She’s guilty of all of these stats that are just a novelty.
Timing is everything and this broad throwing around stats as the Serb circles the career drain is not a good look.
He’s the greatest ever. My god. I’ll take McEnroe’s career at this point. She and her marry band of fangirls have a completely fucked up perspective on the sport. Djokovic needs to win a big match. That’s where we are right now.
These idiots are already writing his obituary. Ha ha.
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S.A. fangirl: “So the important thing to look at is success rate(slams won/slams played) where Djokovic leads Federer 32%-29.41%.” Ha ha ha ha aha. You can’t have it both ways. On the one hand, these idiots will say Fed has more because he’s played more. Than they blindly throw this stat into the air – only problem is Fed has played more. . . man.
Dumbo is not just an elephant.
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