Tennis: US Open 2023
- Thread starter Tuggy
- Start date
In my predictions for the year, I had Stricker down as one of four players certain to improve. And he did nothing--in fact, he dropped some. So it's nice to see his big five set upset of Tsitsipas today. Should give him a lot of confidence going forward.
17futurecap
Registered User
Tommy Paul shouldn’t need five to win a match this early, but relatively quick for five sets.
Tiafoe destroying, these Ashe matches have stunk.
Zhang playing well vs Ruud.
Tiafoe destroying, these Ashe matches have stunk.
Zhang playing well vs Ruud.
17futurecap
Registered User
One hell of a day for the Chinese. Two of three women won their matches today, and Zhang played some marvelous tennis to upset Ruud in five sets, especially as it seemed Caspar had control of the match after winning the fourth set at love.
Pavel Buchnevich
Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Djokovic's half doesn't have a player left I think could come close to outplaying him. Only guy that could beat him best on best in this draw is Alcaraz, but there are still some players out there in the game that if Djokovic is a little off I don't think it's preposterous to believe they could beat him (Sinner, Medvedev, Zverev, Rune). All those players are either out or on Alcaraz' half of the draw.
Only way I see him not getting to the final now is if somehow he gets injured, he gets DQ'ed again, or he plays so bad in a match that he beats himself.
Selfishly as an American, I hope he somehow goes out somewhere before the finals because the three next best players left in his half of the draw are American (Fritz, Paul, and Tiafoe) and this is going to be the best shot in 20 years to end the drought.
Only way I see him not getting to the final now is if somehow he gets injured, he gets DQ'ed again, or he plays so bad in a match that he beats himself.
Selfishly as an American, I hope he somehow goes out somewhere before the finals because the three next best players left in his half of the draw are American (Fritz, Paul, and Tiafoe) and this is going to be the best shot in 20 years to end the drought.
Primary Assist
The taste of honey is worse than none at all
- Jul 7, 2010
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Really cool that Wozniacki won - coming back to the sport's top level after 3 years off is remarkable
I was curios whether anybody on his side of the draw had ever even beaten him. It was a fast and sloppy check, but I came up with two guys, Karatsev (1) and Vesely who curiously enough is 2-0 against Nole. None of the Americans have a win against him, with Fritz faring the worst at 0-7, having not taken a set in six of those matches.
So maybe Shelton has the match of his life, eh. Barring injury, it's going to take something crazy like that to stop Djokovic from getting to the finals.
Djokovic's draw was a joke going into the tournament and even moreso now with the overrated Rune, Ruud and Tsitsipas gone as if they had much of a shot anyway. All the strength is on the Alcaraz side. Medvedev, Sinner and Zverev are arguably the 3 most dangerous opponents for the Big 2 and are all in Alcaraz's way.
The American men are now the biggest obstacle for Djokovic and as much as I like Tiafoe and now Paul (really impressed with him lately), I just don't think they'll be enough to bother Novak much especially with him displaying peak form since Cincinnati.
Seriously, what a freak of nature that this 36 year old is that he looks as good as ever. He's like the Lebron of tennis but even better than Lebron currently is, you just have to marvel at what we're witnessing with him.
Pavel Buchnevich
Drury and Laviolette Must Go
I'll address your point, but let me start with that I think Rune is getting an unfair reputation. I mean, I don't think he's anywhere near where Alcaraz is. He's unlucky that he's born the same year as the next star in the sport. He's not going to be Alcaraz. Have to start with that, and work from there.
Rune at the same age was more accomplished than Sinner. I think Sinner had 1 more total title, but they were weaker tournaments with few of the best players. Rune had better results in the slams and had won a 1000, which Sinner hadn't done until very recently. Up until the US Open (where I stress that Rune was injured), Rune had equaled or bettered his best result in all the slams this year. So maybe he's overrated in the sense that he's ranked too high for what he is currently. But that's not his fault. It's the fault of Tsitsipas, Ruud, Rublev, Fritz, FAA, and that generation for not reaching their potential (yet). Within the next few years, I think Rune will fairly earn the ranking he has now and be a viable 3rd or 4th best player in the world. There just aren't very many players through history who contend to win slams at 19, 20, 21 years old. They usually end up being Alcaraz, Djokovic, Nadal, Federer. Rune's not that, but he can have a pretty decent career.
Sorry, now to your point, I completely agree. I think everyone was expecting the big two to get to the final, and looking past the others. It's easier said than done though, although I think in this tournament it was very much warranted. There are just so few true threats to them currently. Tsitspas and Ruud are total pretenders. Total non-threats to the best players, and then Rune is out too, as already mentioned. I remember watching Fritz vs. Djokovic a few weeks ago, as elaborated on by Kihei above. Total domination. Fritz had no shot. None of these Americans (or anyone else left in his half) can truly beat him. I'll give Paul the best shot, but I don't see it happening. I think it's completely in Djokovic's hands now to get to the final. Alcaraz will have it much more difficult, although I still expect he gets there. We'll see. It usually doesn't end up being as simple as we all think it will be. There may be a turn we didn't see coming.
I'm just not a fan of Rune's mentality. Granted that he's really young but he seems emotionally unstable and tends to pout when things don't go his way.
Sinner is much more even kheel and plays a bigger game with more consistency.
As far as accomplishments in Slams, Sinner has already reached the quarters in every slam and semis at Wimbledon while Rune has only reached the quarters in two. He is a year and a half younger but Sinner is more accomplished. Both guys have the game to win Slams but I'd bet on Sinner before Rune.
I'm as big an Alcaraz fan as anybody but I don't think he makes it to the finals this year. He's due to lose a big match (only injury at the Aussie, the Cincy finals in an epic and crampgate at the French has stopped him since Wimbledon 2022). I think Sinner beats him this time around.
Pavel Buchnevich
Drury and Laviolette Must Go
We’ll see about Rune’s mentality. He could certainly go the way of someone like Zverev where he has a good resume at a young age but can’t get it done in the big events over the years and at age 26 still has no slams. Look though at Alcaraz. He was hot-headed and still is, to an extent, but I was listening to him say a few days ago that the biggest difference between what he was a year ago and now is that he’s more mature and calm on the court. Sometimes it takes time. Sinner might have a calm demeanor, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better. Ultimately, the players with the killer instinct to win the key points are the ones who get over that hump in the biggest matches. I definitely agree with you that Sinner is closer, but I think adjusting for age, Rune was ahead at the same ages.
I did not expect Hurkacz go out in straight sets to Draper, even if Draper has given Hurkacz some trouble in both of their previous matches.
17futurecap
Registered User
Went to Open yesterday, watched all of Isner/Mmoh. John probably very disappointed he ended it that way. Mmoh has no serve, and seems like a guy who will hang in the 80-120 range his whole career, which is respectable, but nothing to get excited about.
Watched second set of Vondrusova, she looked good, never was in any danger. An easy win on paper was the real result.
Monfils/Rublev was a ton of fun, Rublev looked awesome, his ground strokes are ridiculous. I wouldn’t even worry about losing the set, Monfils basically got hot for 10-15 minutes, and then had nothing left in the 4th set.
Watched last two sets of Evans/Botic. Some good shot making, Botic looked like he wanted to be anywhere else though. Tons of support for Evans, a great day for the Brits, even with Murray going out.
Court next to that Coco was playing mixed doubles, felt bad for her needing about ten security guards to get back to the locker room, she was just getting swarmed, people being pushed out of the way, probably shouldn’t be on a field court far away from the locker room for everyone’s safety, not just hers.
Ended the night with Kenin/Kastakina, Kenin will be disappointed she blew that match. Kastakina trying to hold serve is a tough watch, it’s amazing she’s gotten to be this good of a player without any semblance of a serve.
Crowds felt even worse yesterday’s compared to Monday, but probably more to do with less singles matches.
If anyone is going, find the cold sandwich spot outside court 17 for a lunch or dinner, everything is expensive, but this was more filling compared to a hotdog or burger.
Watched second set of Vondrusova, she looked good, never was in any danger. An easy win on paper was the real result.
Monfils/Rublev was a ton of fun, Rublev looked awesome, his ground strokes are ridiculous. I wouldn’t even worry about losing the set, Monfils basically got hot for 10-15 minutes, and then had nothing left in the 4th set.
Watched last two sets of Evans/Botic. Some good shot making, Botic looked like he wanted to be anywhere else though. Tons of support for Evans, a great day for the Brits, even with Murray going out.
Court next to that Coco was playing mixed doubles, felt bad for her needing about ten security guards to get back to the locker room, she was just getting swarmed, people being pushed out of the way, probably shouldn’t be on a field court far away from the locker room for everyone’s safety, not just hers.
Ended the night with Kenin/Kastakina, Kenin will be disappointed she blew that match. Kastakina trying to hold serve is a tough watch, it’s amazing she’s gotten to be this good of a player without any semblance of a serve.
Crowds felt even worse yesterday’s compared to Monday, but probably more to do with less singles matches.
If anyone is going, find the cold sandwich spot outside court 17 for a lunch or dinner, everything is expensive, but this was more filling compared to a hotdog or burger.
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Novak Djokovic
#24 and counting... #GOAT
- Dec 10, 2006
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Surprised Sinner-Wawrinka isn't the primetime match tomorrow on Ashe. Odd choice with Medvedev. Zverev-Dimitrov should be a dandy too although I expect Sascha to win in 4.
