Tennis: [Part 2] 2019 U.S. Open

[JianYang]

It is amazing the double heel turn he pulled off. For an hour there this looked like reverse Rocky IV where the US crowd was cheering for the gritty Russian.

It's funny that he admitted he was already thinking about his speech in the 3rd set.

Its amazing that he took it to 5 sets with his mind already drifting to the post match ceremony in set 3.

 

[jj cale]

Actually, I'm a Pistons fan funny enough and now they're as pathetic as the Lions and Oilers. Thanks Isiah Thomas. At least they won 3 championships in my younger years.

Oilers have won 5 cups, they are hardly one of the worst franchises in sports, although yeah times have been tough for quite some time.

But they will turn a corner soon, no way is a player like Mcdavid going to go all his career without being on a real contender, you will see.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I watched the last few games. I checked the score after two sets and Nadal looked to be cruising. I was surprised to see the match was still going on at 8:00. Medvedev looked like the better player towards the end of the match, but Nadal is a historically great sporting champion for a reason.

Medvedev has come the closest of the players in their 20’s to winning a slam, but it’s still the same result. The big three reigns supreme once again. I’d be surprised if 2020 wasn’t more of the same. It might not be 2 for Djokovic and 2 for Nadal, but it’ll likely be some combination of those three winning the four slams.

 

[sfvega]

God, that match was amazing. Nadal seemed out of sorts after the 2nd set but managed to power through in that last set. Medvedev played better than I've ever seen him play. I didn't at all think it was going to be a cakewalk as others did, but Med found another gear. Even in long rallies that he lost, Daniil looked like an elite tennis player in the world. His use of the drop shot, his timely aces, his ability to run down damn near every ball, and his fiery return winners. The guy played lights out, no doubt about it. I kept waiting for the injuries or the time or the running to catch up to him, and it never did. His conditioning was Djokovic-esque, and Novak is the best ever at that IMO so I don't say that lightly.

With Nadal, I'm a huge fan. But when he gets here in non-clay majors, you have to wonder (and with his reaction, I'm sure he does too) how many of these we have left? I know him and Fed have mostly monopolized majors for 15 years, but eventually it is not going to be that way. This would have been a crushing loss, off a two set lead in a major final. And more than tennis, Nadal loves competing. It was amazing to see him pull it off. He knows his time out there is finite, and this meant the world to him. Gave me goosebumps, and I haven't felt that about anything in a decade. Just everything that this tournament wasn't on the men's side this year. Long rallies, unbelievable back and forth net play, some highlight winners, and just two guys who gave every little bit they had. You watch these matches hoping for magic like this, and on certain nights that's exactly what you get.

 

[NJDevs26]

It's funny that he admitted he was already thinking about his speech in the 3rd set.

Its amazing that he took it to 5 sets with his mind already drifting to the post match ceremony in set 3.

That was surprisingly honest...I guess at that point without saying it he got more relaxed because he'd pretty well accepted his fate. And yeah the crowd wanting to see more tennis did push him as well.

 

[YEM]

for such a classy champion, rafa's time wasting nonsense really pushes the boundaries of decent sportsmanship imo
just pick the wedgie faster, man

 

[GQS]

'Equal pay for equal work'

Women's final - 1:39
Men's final - 4:49

 

[kihei]

I'm glad that Medvedev acquitted himself so well, especially after getting blown out in Montreal in August, 6-3, 6-love. He's here to stay and his future is bright.

As for Rafa, great fight to hang in there after losing a two set lead. One win away from Roger and he will get it in the spring if not before. Happy for him, too.

 

[JianYang]

for such a classy champion, rafa's time wasting nonsense really pushes the boundaries of decent sportsmanship imo
just pick the wedgie faster, man

His ritual is pretty is almost OCD. He still clears the hair near his eyes (which is no longer there as his hairline recedes) before every serve.

He reminds me alot of Nomar Garciaparra, and the ridiculous ritual he went through before every pitch.

 

[Asheville]

for such a classy champion, rafa's time wasting nonsense really pushes the boundaries of decent sportsmanship imo
just pick the wedgie faster, man

The only players to complain about Nadal's time (Tsonga, Kyrgios) did so to get under Rafa's skin. You really think Nadal's opponents don't want extra time to recover between points against him, of all players? Lmao

 

[kihei]

So this curious stat continues to be true: no male tennis player born in the '90s has yet win a singles Grand Slam. The more I think about that the more mind boggling it gets.

 

[discostu]

So this curious stat continues to be true: no male tennis player born in the '90s has yet win a singles Grand Slam. The more I think about that the more mind boggling it gets.

It eats at me as well.

I've seen on other forums it leading to be critical of the current players of that generation to criticise them, but I think a gap like that has to have a lot of other factors. I know the big 3 are talented, but it seems like there has to be more to it.

I wonder if the sport as a whole either didn't attract the best athletes during a critical point, or aren't there any barriers that prevent tennis players from making that leap?

I would think that the Roger/Rafa rivalry would draw people to the sport, but, I wonder if the Tiger Woods phenomenon was actually pushing people, especially stateside, towards golf during the critical years when people are picking their sports?

 

[discostu]

Tv ratings for Saturday in Canada



Making it more impressive is that sounds like quite a number of households didn't have access to the channel.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

It eats at me as well.

I've seen on other forums it leading to be critical of the current players of that generation to criticise them, but I think a gap like that has to have a lot of other factors. I know the big 3 are talented, but it seems like there has to be more to it.

I wonder if the sport as a whole either didn't attract the best athletes during a critical point, or aren't there any barriers that prevent tennis players from making that leap?

I would think that the Roger/Rafa rivalry would draw people to the sport, but, I wonder if the Tiger Woods phenomenon was actually pushing people, especially stateside, towards golf during the critical years when people are picking their sports?

For real?
They're generational talents and there are no other generational talents upcoming in sight, they will eventually come up.

 

[McDeepika]

Only caught the 5th set but what a display by both players.

This really changes the math. If Nadal wins in Australia, he will undoubtedly finish with the most majors.

 

[YEM]

You really think Nadal's opponents don't want extra time to recover between points against him, of all players? Lmao

I can only conclude you didn't watch the match yesterday
Medvedev purposely was serving as quickly as he possibly could to try and hurry up Nadal
Rafa got 3 time warnings/faults yesterday and it could have been triple that number
just get on with it already

 

[discostu]

For real?
They're generational talents and there are no other generational talents upcoming in sight, they will eventually come up.

I agree, and not trying to take away from it, but, it's a level of dominance from one era over another that warrants a critical look. I recognize that it's not the popular view, but demographics and participation around sports is an interesting topic to me, and I find things are never quite as straight forward as it seems.

 

[MsMeow]

'Equal pay for equal work'

Women's final - 1:39
Men's final - 4:49

Rafa was well on his way to winning in 3. Women play best of 3, men best of 5 so in most cases there's going to be a big difference in time played. Rafa's matches are always longer than necessary because he takes a ton of time and once in a point, he grinds out hugely long rallies.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

 

[stopclickbait]

Great US Open!

Was surprising seeing Osaka, Sabalenka, Barty not go farther in the tournament but was just happy Serena didn't win.

Nadal is a beast but man you can't help but cheer for the underdog in these finals. Its going to be an interesting next year.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Bianca's match was watched by more Canadians than SCF. Atta people!

 

[Maestro84]

Nadal is the GOAT.

It certainly looks that way going forward and if he wins Australia then he's honestly the GOAT imo. In that case he'd be equal to Fed in majors and year-end number ones, while already being ahead in Masters, Olympic Golds, win percentage and he'd be the only player to have won the double career slam, as well as winning 2+ majors on all three surfaces...the h2h is also solidly in Rafa's favor. Also, Rafa would've gotten to 20 at a much quicker rate then Fed did, along with winning it against tougher competition (Rafa has beaten either Fed/Djoker to win 13 of his slams, while Fed only beat either Nadal/Novak to win 6 of his slams, with more than half of those occurring when those two were 21 or younger). Also, Nadal would match (and potentially surpass) Federer in longevity (the aspect Roger has perhaps become most well known for) as he would also have won a major 15 years after his first one, win at least one title for a record 17 straight seasons, finish as number one a record 11 years after his first time, and have the best resume of any 30+ player, teen player, as well as one of the best 20's resume's.

Fed is my guy and in no way is his legacy diminished at all, but things are looking very good for Rafa right now, especially with him currently being the healthiest as Fed is damn near 40 and apparently he pulled a back muscle in his recent loss against Grigor, while Novak is dealing with a bum shoulder.

 

[Garo]

So this curious stat continues to be true: no male tennis player born in the '90s has yet win a singles Grand Slam. The more I think about that the more mind boggling it gets.

That a woman born in '00s managed to do it before is even more hilariously weird.

 

[sfvega]

for such a classy champion, rafa's time wasting nonsense really pushes the boundaries of decent sportsmanship imo
just pick the wedgie faster, man

Kind of, I guess. But it's not really wasting time to gain an advantage or play mindgames. It's, as mentioned, his routine. Tons of athletes are creatures of habit and entirely too superstitious/OCD. Nadal has his routine, even with the water bottles on his sideline. But also, as mentioned by Fowler, he sweats an absolute ton. You can constantly see it drip off his face during his serve. I noticed he was toweling off with the timer in the background at 21 seconds. That puts him behind the 8-ball, but it's necessarily so. And he does it the same whether he's serving for the match up 5-0 or getting lambasted.

I think the only gamesmanship, and the only one that I saw draw ire from Med, was when he was complaining about not being able to hear over the crowd. But it is NY, and they were getting a little riled up during that 5th set. But overall, nothing that is unprofessional or infuriating. He just has a tedious routine that gets annoying at times. I don't see much of a difference throwing the ball up at 0 or at 2 seconds. It doesn't affect the outcome of the point. I was much more frustrated by the misses by the line judge that actually affected points rather than a couple of seconds taken between points.

 

[sfvega]

For real?
They're generational talents and there are no other generational talents upcoming in sight, they will eventually come up.

Seriously. One big problem is that Djoker is great on all courts. Rafa is not great on grass, Fed is weaker on clay. But you're usually going to have to at least beat two of the 4 or 5 best tennis players of all time, and majors-wise, the top 3. It's kind of like saying you can be an NBA champion but you have to beat prime MJ and prime LeBron one-on-one to get there, and a bunch of others before that. It's an almost insurmountable task as of late, only Stanimal during his best year I think has beaten two of them on his way to a major title. Murray managed to avoid Fed at Wimbledon both times IIRC and Nadal had a particularly bad run on grass during that stretch, though I doubt he would have beaten Murray anyway.