I have found actually writing something about tennis in this form unnecessary. Believe me: when I wrote about tennis on the regular from about 2015 through this year there were “stories” that needed to be told.

Sure, that’s TMI. But the lack of blogging on my part is not a coincidence.

Unfortunately, today the sport isn’t so interesting, in my humble opinion. If the ATP is a big party, a long and dramatic social event, today’s game represents a time when the sport’s most engaging, really the most talented and driven guests have left the party. The party has lost some of its character, class and whatever else one might want to add to what I am describing: the end of the most recent (and, as I have said repeatedly, damaging) golden age.

And keep in mind: I am not simply saying the Zverev/Medvedev/Tsitsipas type are NOT Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. That would make me sound like some kind of fanboy (more on fanclowns in a minute). You have to have followed this blog and surveyed the day-in-and-day-out reading and writing I did to see how truly disappointing these younger players have been in the waning days of the Fed/Nadal/Djokovic era.

The point is that these youngsters and others had opportunities to supplant the continued success of these legends. Instead we have witnessed a seemingly interminable demonstration of the collective inability of the future to make any sort of impression or impact on the here and now. In this sport, the recent (even distant) past has preempted this future’s preeminence. I have written a lot about this, for years since for obvious reasons the writing has been on the proverbial walls, even before some of this failure came to fruition.

Whether we’re talking about Fedal’s 2017 comeback (when Novak fell ill) or in some of those huge matches from the likes of Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas to outlast one of the Big 3s in a consequential match at one of the four majors in the last few years, the script has been written.

Sure, Zverev and Medvedev made way into the Masters discourse, but the dominance of the Big 3 at the majors, especially, has scarred, deeply I’m afraid, this newest lost generation.

You might be saying to yourself: “sounds like it scarred you, Mcshow.”

I won’t necessarily disagree, but the damage done to the former certainly succeeded in giving rise to my own disenchantment.

Just this past January I made quite the claim regarding Thiem and Tsitsipas, but the Austrian is burned-out and the Greek is, in my own estimation, pretty much freaking-out. Under this pressure that I and the history of the sport have put on them, I suppose.

Again, a massive collective failure is what has happened.

This 2021 U.S. Open is all about Djokovic. I will try to get to the blog during this fortnight and discuss some of the play and this huge narrative involving the Serb cementing his claim regarding his dominance of this sport, all-time.

Before signing-off, I have been talking quite a bit about tennis, but in a much shorter form, on Twitter. I finally got into the heart of (not sure I’m there, exactly, but I can see elements of this beast) Tennis Twitter. What a shit show.

Basically, it’s where the fanclowns wage their verbal wars for the insignificant sake of their tennis idols. It’s entertaining, actually (Nadal and his bodyguards, for what it’s worth, are taking a beating). 😀

Either way, I will talk to you more soon.

And as I sign-off, Isner is gone in straights and the aforementioned Greek has his hands full with a Brit named Andy Murray; the world’s #3 is trying to comeback from down a set (3-6) and is in a second set TB.

Go Murray.