We need Tsitsipas v Nadal in this final. Goffin’s fitness and misdirection hopefully have a little surprise for the Spaniard, but we really need the young Greek to shame the other Spaniard. Other than the one-hander, Stefanos reminds me a bit of Soderling. His ability to go inside-out or inside-in/CC as well as attack the net is a beautiful sight. As I have said a million times, Thiem is too far back; several points today saw Tsitsipas between the BL and service line pushing the Austrian around like his little brother.

Indeed, the Greek was fashioning a little S & V, which is exactly the kind of attacking, bullying tennis the big bullying Swede employed on occasion. Are you following me?

These were Tsitsipas v Thiem highlights, easily found online, obviously.

Despite this one-in-a-million result, the shock of Roland Garros 2009 (shock of the century), Nadal’s fight-to-the-end is so impressive. I can come at Nadal all day long, but I can not deny his fight is truly all-time, the clay playing right into this ridiculous retrieving madman genius. Soderling, despite having the upper-hand all day, still had to come-up with many many brilliant shots and finishes to finish the RG freak that is this once-in-a-lifetime athlete.

We need some character on these clay courts. Let’s hope that Tsitsipas gets a shot at Nadal (even if it’s a basket of bakery goods). That’s all I want, that’s all I need.

Currently 10:13pm PST, finishing some work before I can meditate on the current world #1, bring some perspective to this cage fight.

Cheers. Wish I could buy you all a beer, glass of wine or a pour of tsipouro.

Let’s go!