What did we miss?

Another Medvedev Masters title?  Hasn’t he won the last 10?

But he lost that U.S. Open Final and for that he and his shitty THBH can take another deep breath of lost generation genocide.

What else did we miss?

Rublev won Moscow and Shapovalov won Stockholm.

And one Sir Andrew Barron Murray returned to some sort of prominence with a nice win in Antwerp.

From the few points I saw, Murray’s steady two-hander defense still had enough force to resist some of the better games he faced, reclaim some of that character he once had, aided too by that battle-worn creativity he can muster, mid-rally, aka drop shots from the clouds, fearless breaks-of-serve when needed, etc. He has some decent legacy, for sure, but he’s far from potent. See you in Melbourne?

Now we have Paris on the horizon, so who better to mention than Nadal, who’s plotting his year-end #1, which is practically assured now because of Novak’s premature Shanghai exit, no?

The Paris Masters will be interesting.

1-seed Djokovic has Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Thiem in his half. There are some minor instruments who could make some noise (RBA, Schwartzman, et al.) but those three should be fine tests for the Serb. Thiem coming off his Vienna title today, Tsitsipas playing pretty well and Medvedev the best (Bo3) in the world, apparently.

2-seed Nadal has Federer, Stan, Rublev, Khachanov, Berrettini, Zverev and few others.

Federer looks to be flying at this point and if the Paris surface proves quick, he could be tough. We’ll see. Loved seeing him spank the Aussie deMinaur today 2 and 2. There was definitely some “fuck you” going on between both players. Federer I’m sure appreciates the kid’s fight, but Federer’s no dummy. I was actually impressed to see the Aussie come to net on a few occasions, trying anything to slowdown the 38 year-old! His “come-ons” had to add a little kindling to that THBH bom fire Federer fancies. The kid is one of the best grinders on tour now (we’d be happy to put him and a guy like Rublev into a padded room and let them two-hand themselves into oblivion).

I’m writing today more for the Thiem and Federer wins than I am to get too excited about Paris. Granted, I will try to get into some of those matches, hope to see a nice final 8, 4, 2 and a deserving champion.

Federer v Medvedev for the title?

But again, I’m just happy to see the one-hander rise and take Basel and Vienna today.

Tennis has all kinds of currency, stock and trade in style. Always has.

The two-hander is rubbish.

Take Daniil as an example since he’s set to inherit the earth. I like Daniil’s character a lot, but his tennis, on the surface, couldn’t be more unaesthetic. To be fair, style and character merge in the heat of a match, where athletes become warriors, the match: a war.

Style might even take a back seat on those bigger stages. The character and drama overshadow technique; the ultimate appearance is victory. So despite a two-hander’s unappealing ball striking, his awkward, Halloween-scary side-to-side defensive monster mask of an approach, a winning form often insists on a style, perhaps all its own.

Nadal is a perfect example of this sort of “beauty.” This guy’s ugliest of the uglies form could be in possession one day of the most major championships of all time.

But, again, today was about the one-hander.

A nice big one-finger salute on behalf of the one-hander.

Cheers, Federer and Thiem and to all of you one-handers out there.