30 thoughts on “Once Again: Men’s Tennis is No Longer Worth a Shit”
Don’t look for truth where big money rules. Or you find out, it’s true, that money rules 😉 “We need a clown for this circus.” exclaimed Federer some years ago in Madrid, when losing to Kyrgios. Guess who’s the clown here. To be genius in tennis is one thing, to be genius in making money is another one. But don’t they (mostly) come together?
If you don’t know and understand what the title means, you may wonder, why is withdrawing without VERY HARD REASON not penalized. Guys come to the tournament to show their faces and boost ticket sales and then call it a shit. Should not be penalized but not allowed at all.
When I hear some big-ego-guys speaking like “I’m not able to compete on this level or to win a tournament, so I better pull out”, I cannot help, I don’t see here any spirit of sport anymore. If you cannot compete on THIS LEVEL, compete on the LEVEL YOU CAN. Or your legend is worth a shit (plus some millions dollars, which is the biggest shit out there).
Let’s revive KRAMER CIRCUS (i could watch long time ago with Kramer, Laver and other rebels for money” and make your own tour. Maybe Rod Laver Cup is a good name? Private tour for even more money than ATP can offer.
We need a little breath – Thiem vs. Coric, s you called, Matt “small silver lining” without big money but hopefully with a big tennis.
Thiem and Coric. 3 matches in one. First set Thiem played like he wanted to prove, he can produce decent stats for Craig. And he done – almost everything with backhand slice. It was not his game, rather Coric’s. And in TB Coric was the first to attack and avoid errors. Well done but a bit boring.
Second set was finally Thiem with all his “aggression” (in the game) but it was quite a good shooting from both.
Third set – fully open fight with everything both have on board. Finally OHBH prevailed but the match was close.
Sock tomorrow for Dominic. It’s a big riddle. Did not play any decent tournament in singles in 2018, but can play somehow all of a sudden.
Hope Thiem will have enough gas in the tank to show Sock where he belongs. Namely to doubles.
Did you watch Thiem vs. Coric? Was it a little silver lining for you?
My secret scenario for today (partly realized). Zverev loses to Khachanov (by ATP decision). Sock will be allowed to take extra peds to defeat Thiem. If this does not go, Khachanov will be allowed the same and hopefully (for ATP) he wins in SF. This is good enough for Khachanov to take some decent cheque under the table and not try to win the final.
On the other side, Nishikori has or had back in the day a visit of certain T.G., who gives him an official paper telling about Delpo retirement (still not official) from London, so Nishikori can happily lose to Fed and still qualify. Djokovic gets for now no offers and wins, because they need the FedDjoker semi. Djoker will then told, they need Fed to win 100th in Paris but there will be no more special offers in London. Djoker is a friendly guy and will understand the case.
Good scenario?
I will write about the Thiem/Coric affair hopefully today. Big silver-lining for me, Thiem’s tennis, character, etc. The future of the sport FOR ME is in the hands of Thiem, Tsitsipas and Shapo because of their OHBH and their overall ethos on and off the court.
The two-hander is a plague, has been. Djoker makes it sorta palatable. Enough said: I need to write a post and preach to this malnourished and suspended congregation.
As for your comment on the Paris draw, Federer is the only player who can beat Djokovic because of Fed’s offensive game. If a player with real offensive variety and weaponry (Thiem and Tsitsipas come to mind as well) has a perfect match, he can beat Novak on the quicker courts.
Novak will almost certainly win Paris, despite your brilliant imagination.
OK, imagination, but what was the story with Khachanov demolishing Zverev? Any logical explanation? I have not seen the match but I have seen the match stats. Completely uncharacteristic for Zverev.
I was going to say in the post I haven’t yet written, regarding the silver-lining, that Karen is a pretty bright spot, as well. Shame on me for not getting that out front before he destroyed Sascha.
You have the winning hand on Sascha. You’ve called him a fraud for a while now — this match backs that up a bit unless the tank is in effect.
I have to watch the match. I saw the very end of Thiem/Sock. I am really pumped for Dom. I loved the Coric match. Watched the third set a couple of times.
If you want to watch more of Thiem vs. Sock, here you find the link to my Dropbox. http://prf-mypassions-tennisandmore.com/thiem-vs-sock/
Yes, right about Karen. But I also did not watch the match and cannot tell, what happened actually. Tank not excluded. Karen is a simple and honest guy, so probably not involved. But if I find time after watching ThiemSock second time, I will look for Karen vs. Sascha.
And yes, maybe only Federer but not in his current shape. Yesterday he beat Fognini, reaching about 40% of first serve. This does not work against Djoker.
True. Where this discussion goes with us is how badly we wanted to see Thiem finish Nadal in NYC, beat an awkward and aged Del Potro and then play Novak in that final.
Maybe we will soon. Thiem is going to make another progress. Did you see today his return (in second and third set)? I call it SRBD (Swinging Return By Dominic). You can find something about that on my blog. Another kind of SABR but adaptes to Thiem’s game style.
Now it seems, Novak did not accept the ATP-scenario and decided to lose to Cilic 😉 Now ATP and Team8 have a problem. They need to change the agreement with Nishikori, hahaha …
Old fox Delpo sits there and recovers doing exercises in a swimming pool and will not drop a word about his presence or absence in London so long he can. Nadal the same. Good job to make ATP the life harder 😉 And pushing Thiem now to SF, maybe tomorrow even further?
Just watched highlights from Karen vs. Sascha. In first set Sascha needed some medical aid (shoulder or something) and was playing poorly. Karen was good, not only in baseline shooting but also at the net. Hard to tell, how would it look like if Zverev was fully functional (or not tanking).
Nishikori just tanking. Not a trace of fighting like he did to defeat Anderson. Side effect of Nishikori loss will be, that both Cilic and Thiem qualify for London today and Kei must wait for Delpo or Nadal pulling out.
Fed can hit but cannot run. Nishikori helps a lot so Fed must not run too much.
Fed is not in shape to beat Djokovic tomorrow.
More interesting, if Thiem can reach his first final on hard. But what he reached so far (everything in good, electric battles) is just good enough. First QF in Paris and first SF ever in hard court Masters – not bad.
Nishikori is tired after his long fight for London. Nishikori does not match-up with Federer 2017. Federer 2018 is a crap. And the match was tanked.
Yesterday Federer won 100% of his first serves (but they were not so many). This is impossible against such a good returner as Nishikori. Nishikori was making mistakes on request. Nishikori did play Federer to the racket, so the Old Maestro does not get tired. This is not what Nishikori normally does when in form. His big form from last months suddenly disappeared yesterday. Nishikori produced of late regularly 80%+ points won on second serve. Yesterday 40%+.
It’s simple: Nishikori&Djokovic don’t sell so much tickets as Federer&Djokovic. Djokovic is not for sell but can still lose because of being kind and polite guy. Thiem is not for sell. Let’s see, what happens with Thiem&Federer in the finals.
Guess what. I just read on Paris website match previews and they write, Novak is complaining about some kind of flu bug. Is this not a signal of a deal for Fed to win?
The “paper” shown Nishikori by T.G. to close certain deal is now public. Nishikori was just called to London to replace Del Potro (don’t forget, Del Potro is a customer of certain agency Team8.
Now Isner is the first alternate, but if Nadal does not pull out from London, it’s probable, so the first offer can go to Coric but … if Khachanov wins tomorrow, he will pass Coric and the first offer would go to Khachanov. Djoker must take care tomorrow 😉
As to Djoker-part of the deal, he really had flu or something and enabled his A game first in third set, especially in tie-break, so this deal was probably conditional or not a part of the plot 😉
Thiem did not play so bad today as the result could tell, but for sure was exhausted by the whole season and especially the outstanding indoor finish (he had never so intense last part of the season). So we may expect some good showing of him in London.
If Nadal pulls out and Karen loses tomorrow, we would have a nice field in London: – five players under 198 cm 🙂 But only 2 OHB 😦
Well, I can try. ATP is a money-driven circus (as it always was), so everything looking like tanking or similar, is just tanking or similar. Still some good tennis can survive it. Good translation?
Everyone is talking/doing in circles so I’m a bit confused. Now that’s all history. Forget or delete my circles 😉 I wa really bored with what happened today in tennis, so I was watching for complicating things (having success to some extent, if you need it to be translated, hahaha, …)
I promise, no more conspiracy things this year, including London 🙂 I don’t expect big things to happen there and I don’t like the O2 ambient.
Mcshow Blog 
Don’t look for truth where big money rules. Or you find out, it’s true, that money rules 😉 “We need a clown for this circus.” exclaimed Federer some years ago in Madrid, when losing to Kyrgios. Guess who’s the clown here. To be genius in tennis is one thing, to be genius in making money is another one. But don’t they (mostly) come together?
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It’s maybe next /last chapter for your story HOW FEDERER RUINED HIS LEGEND FOR MONEY (you can replace FEDERER with some other names but this is GOAT).
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Like you new category, Matt. It’s going the only one, you will need for your lifetime (live long!), hahaha ….
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If you don’t know and understand what the title means, you may wonder, why is withdrawing without VERY HARD REASON not penalized. Guys come to the tournament to show their faces and boost ticket sales and then call it a shit. Should not be penalized but not allowed at all.
When I hear some big-ego-guys speaking like “I’m not able to compete on this level or to win a tournament, so I better pull out”, I cannot help, I don’t see here any spirit of sport anymore. If you cannot compete on THIS LEVEL, compete on the LEVEL YOU CAN. Or your legend is worth a shit (plus some millions dollars, which is the biggest shit out there).
Let’s revive KRAMER CIRCUS (i could watch long time ago with Kramer, Laver and other rebels for money” and make your own tour. Maybe Rod Laver Cup is a good name? Private tour for even more money than ATP can offer.
We need a little breath – Thiem vs. Coric, s you called, Matt “small silver lining” without big money but hopefully with a big tennis.
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Dzumhur just retired from his Djokovic beating.
Coric v Thiem only match I will watch with any interest. Coric will go to his BH all day long.
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Thiem and Coric. 3 matches in one. First set Thiem played like he wanted to prove, he can produce decent stats for Craig. And he done – almost everything with backhand slice. It was not his game, rather Coric’s. And in TB Coric was the first to attack and avoid errors. Well done but a bit boring.
Second set was finally Thiem with all his “aggression” (in the game) but it was quite a good shooting from both.
Third set – fully open fight with everything both have on board. Finally OHBH prevailed but the match was close.
Sock tomorrow for Dominic. It’s a big riddle. Did not play any decent tournament in singles in 2018, but can play somehow all of a sudden.
Hope Thiem will have enough gas in the tank to show Sock where he belongs. Namely to doubles.
Did you watch Thiem vs. Coric? Was it a little silver lining for you?
LikeLike
My secret scenario for today (partly realized). Zverev loses to Khachanov (by ATP decision). Sock will be allowed to take extra peds to defeat Thiem. If this does not go, Khachanov will be allowed the same and hopefully (for ATP) he wins in SF. This is good enough for Khachanov to take some decent cheque under the table and not try to win the final.
On the other side, Nishikori has or had back in the day a visit of certain T.G., who gives him an official paper telling about Delpo retirement (still not official) from London, so Nishikori can happily lose to Fed and still qualify. Djokovic gets for now no offers and wins, because they need the FedDjoker semi. Djoker will then told, they need Fed to win 100th in Paris but there will be no more special offers in London. Djoker is a friendly guy and will understand the case.
Good scenario?
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I will write about the Thiem/Coric affair hopefully today. Big silver-lining for me, Thiem’s tennis, character, etc. The future of the sport FOR ME is in the hands of Thiem, Tsitsipas and Shapo because of their OHBH and their overall ethos on and off the court.
The two-hander is a plague, has been. Djoker makes it sorta palatable. Enough said: I need to write a post and preach to this malnourished and suspended congregation.
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As for your comment on the Paris draw, Federer is the only player who can beat Djokovic because of Fed’s offensive game. If a player with real offensive variety and weaponry (Thiem and Tsitsipas come to mind as well) has a perfect match, he can beat Novak on the quicker courts.
Novak will almost certainly win Paris, despite your brilliant imagination.
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Ho´w much “almost”, Matt???
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OK, imagination, but what was the story with Khachanov demolishing Zverev? Any logical explanation? I have not seen the match but I have seen the match stats. Completely uncharacteristic for Zverev.
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I was going to say in the post I haven’t yet written, regarding the silver-lining, that Karen is a pretty bright spot, as well. Shame on me for not getting that out front before he destroyed Sascha.
You have the winning hand on Sascha. You’ve called him a fraud for a while now — this match backs that up a bit unless the tank is in effect.
I have to watch the match. I saw the very end of Thiem/Sock. I am really pumped for Dom. I loved the Coric match. Watched the third set a couple of times.
🙂
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If you want to watch more of Thiem vs. Sock, here you find the link to my Dropbox.
http://prf-mypassions-tennisandmore.com/thiem-vs-sock/
Yes, right about Karen. But I also did not watch the match and cannot tell, what happened actually. Tank not excluded. Karen is a simple and honest guy, so probably not involved. But if I find time after watching ThiemSock second time, I will look for Karen vs. Sascha.
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And yes, maybe only Federer but not in his current shape. Yesterday he beat Fognini, reaching about 40% of first serve. This does not work against Djoker.
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True. Where this discussion goes with us is how badly we wanted to see Thiem finish Nadal in NYC, beat an awkward and aged Del Potro and then play Novak in that final.
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Maybe we will soon. Thiem is going to make another progress. Did you see today his return (in second and third set)? I call it SRBD (Swinging Return By Dominic). You can find something about that on my blog. Another kind of SABR but adaptes to Thiem’s game style.
Now it seems, Novak did not accept the ATP-scenario and decided to lose to Cilic 😉 Now ATP and Team8 have a problem. They need to change the agreement with Nishikori, hahaha …
Old fox Delpo sits there and recovers doing exercises in a swimming pool and will not drop a word about his presence or absence in London so long he can. Nadal the same. Good job to make ATP the life harder 😉 And pushing Thiem now to SF, maybe tomorrow even further?
LikeLike
Just watched highlights from Karen vs. Sascha. In first set Sascha needed some medical aid (shoulder or something) and was playing poorly. Karen was good, not only in baseline shooting but also at the net. Hard to tell, how would it look like if Zverev was fully functional (or not tanking).
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Nishikori just tanking. Not a trace of fighting like he did to defeat Anderson. Side effect of Nishikori loss will be, that both Cilic and Thiem qualify for London today and Kei must wait for Delpo or Nadal pulling out.
Fed can hit but cannot run. Nishikori helps a lot so Fed must not run too much.
Fed is not in shape to beat Djokovic tomorrow.
More interesting, if Thiem can reach his first final on hard. But what he reached so far (everything in good, electric battles) is just good enough. First QF in Paris and first SF ever in hard court Masters – not bad.
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Federer has 30% of first serve in in second set but has broken Nishikori and leads by 3:1. Does it make sense?
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No chance, Federer beats Djoker with this speed. Or we will se
e heavy tanking 😉
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If there’s a conspiracy, who supposed to win the Thiem/Khachanov match?
Oh, no one?
Nishikori doesn’t match-up with Federer. Period.
Let the players play.
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Nishikori is tired after his long fight for London. Nishikori does not match-up with Federer 2017. Federer 2018 is a crap. And the match was tanked.
Yesterday Federer won 100% of his first serves (but they were not so many). This is impossible against such a good returner as Nishikori. Nishikori was making mistakes on request. Nishikori did play Federer to the racket, so the Old Maestro does not get tired. This is not what Nishikori normally does when in form. His big form from last months suddenly disappeared yesterday. Nishikori produced of late regularly 80%+ points won on second serve. Yesterday 40%+.
It’s simple: Nishikori&Djokovic don’t sell so much tickets as Federer&Djokovic. Djokovic is not for sell but can still lose because of being kind and polite guy. Thiem is not for sell. Let’s see, what happens with Thiem&Federer in the finals.
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Thiem/Kachanov are (so far) not affected 😉
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Guess what. I just read on Paris website match previews and they write, Novak is complaining about some kind of flu bug. Is this not a signal of a deal for Fed to win?
LikeLike
The “paper” shown Nishikori by T.G. to close certain deal is now public. Nishikori was just called to London to replace Del Potro (don’t forget, Del Potro is a customer of certain agency Team8.
Now Isner is the first alternate, but if Nadal does not pull out from London, it’s probable, so the first offer can go to Coric but … if Khachanov wins tomorrow, he will pass Coric and the first offer would go to Khachanov. Djoker must take care tomorrow 😉
As to Djoker-part of the deal, he really had flu or something and enabled his A game first in third set, especially in tie-break, so this deal was probably conditional or not a part of the plot 😉
Thiem did not play so bad today as the result could tell, but for sure was exhausted by the whole season and especially the outstanding indoor finish (he had never so intense last part of the season). So we may expect some good showing of him in London.
If Nadal pulls out and Karen loses tomorrow, we would have a nice field in London: – five players under 198 cm 🙂 But only 2 OHB 😦
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You’re talking in circles, circling the drain. Can you translate that?
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Well, I can try. ATP is a money-driven circus (as it always was), so everything looking like tanking or similar, is just tanking or similar. Still some good tennis can survive it. Good translation?
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Everyone is talking/doing in circles so I’m a bit confused. Now that’s all history. Forget or delete my circles 😉 I wa really bored with what happened today in tennis, so I was watching for complicating things (having success to some extent, if you need it to be translated, hahaha, …)
I promise, no more conspiracy things this year, including London 🙂 I don’t expect big things to happen there and I don’t like the O2 ambient.
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Now lots of people reading again my translations from Bresnik’s book. Of course they are still not ready with the official translation.
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