A Writerly Serve & Volley
The U.S. Open men's final was, unfortunately, a bit too predictable. I never liked del Potro in this tournament, as a dark horse, for instance -- I said he was too stiff, the BH still a big liability, etc. I liked Stan (Stan had SP in that first set TB against Raonic. He wins that, …
Continue reading 2018 U.S. Open: the Vengeance of Novak and Serena
I really only saw some of the Djokovic v Nishikori match and this I could have done without, other than we have definitive confirmation that Djokovic is playing flawless tennis. Some of this may be his opponents, but when we factor-in Wimbledon (I start back to that Rome SF where a one-legged Novak scared the …
Del Potro v Nadal -- 1:00pm PST. I'll make this quick since it's all about the matches at this point. A little perspective can help, but we just want to see two gents go to war (in both matches!). That Thiem v Nadal QF still resonates in our tennis imagination. That was a milestone for …
Let's run through some of the matches over the past few days. Unfortunately, I missed several of these (in some cases classic) contests because I was busy with other matters (work and family). Forgive me of my tennis sins. Federer Let's start with that Federer v Kyrgios match. I hope you realize how fair I …
For the big 3. Our hope, to be quite honest, is that a player not part of this triumvirate wins the Open. The optics would be fresh, the discussion far more interesting (and hysterical among fanboys and fangirls) and the play, I would bet, across the tour would improve, with this infusion of belief. Here's …
We are getting geeked for this final major of 2018 (that means really pumped in a technical manner). The story-lines are scantily dressed and talking filthy, as if the hardcore, I mean hard court tennis coming our way (don't touch that one) is going to blow our minds, filthily. I'll keep this short since this …
As I said in my post-Cincy Final post, the win in Cincy is huge for Novak on several fronts. I guess the two that stand-out are: A) this is everyone's favorite: that he has completed the Masters set, thus garnering him all kinds of praise and greatness; and B) that he really has confirmed his …
By Roland Garros 2016, Djokovic winning a significant tennis tournament was a foregone conclusion. He won everything, had been basically doing so since 2014. 2015 and 2016 were arguably peak Djoker. Fedal were no where to be found. Murray and Stan made little cameos here and there. The tour belonged to Novak Djokovic. Then Djokollapse, …
Continue reading 2018 Cincy Final: Djokovic Routines Federer 4 and 4
Djokovic is the favorite in this one for anyone who's been paying attention. Indeed, a surging 31 year-old who just won Wimbledon, still but inevitably finding his world #1 form is a favorite over a 37 year-old who can't really break serve and is getting out hit from the BL by seemingly everyone. Granted, Federer …
Djokovic had to work a bit to get by a charming Raonic. I almost titled this post "I was Raonic" since that seems to confess my error in overlooking the Canadian as much as I generally do. He played a nice brand of tennis yesterday, mixing-in the slice quite well. The FH broke-down, partly because …
