Thoughts about Tennis Tradition...

[don_budge]

Western and Southern...ATP 1000...Cincinnati, Ohio

"Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't". (don_budge)

As it turns out nothing could have been more true than that simple statement. Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. "Nadal Lite" aka Carlos Alcarez did what was necessary. He took out the legs of Novak Djokovic. He ran down everything and got it back in the court. He forced Novak to play an extra ball or two or three or whatever it took to finally once and for all...take out his legs. It was the drop shots that got to Novak. It was the hail of bullets he faced off both the Alcarez forehand and backhand. But most of all...there was one problem that put the final nail in the coffin and I haven't heard a peep from anyone anywhere about it. Not from any commentatoe. Not from any forum poster. Not even our Big Three mentioned it. No surprise. Eyes that do not see.

Statistics to me are sort of baffling. They are used when someone has run out of anything meaningful to add in plain language. Then it is time to start regurgitating the numbers. Blah...blah...blah. First serve percentage...ok, there is a pretty meaningful number. Bu the rest of it...a number salad. Ha...there's another original from don_budge. Number salad. Out of all of the garble of numbers there was the one meaningful number MIA. The number? The amount of time each took to serve a game. This is where Alcarez took all of the Djokovic experience and told it to shove it to where the sun don't shine. Talk about maintaining pressure on your opponent. The most sure fire way is to win your own serve efficiently and routinely. But perhaps the most meaningful way you can put pressure on your opponent is the converse...make him work on his own serve. Alcarez pushed Novak beyond his limits by making him work to win his serve in a way I haven't seen anybody else to it. He did it in a way that showed a lot of maturity and experience. He learned something from his episode in Paris. Carlos did it with a combination of patience and courage. He waited for his opportunities and then he threw caution to the wind and just did it. Like that Nike swoosh plastered all over his attire. Just do it!

By making Djokovic work and work and work on his serve he force the Serb into what seemed to be hard labor. Novak struggled to hold his serve like I have never seen him. Not having the great serving motion of great servers...Novak takes care of his serve very efficiently. A deft combination of placement first and foremost and adequate speed and spin has always been what Novak used to "take care of his serve". He does it with amazing efficiency. He serves out sets with the best of them...save maybe Roger Federer. He serves out matches as well. Once he gets into a position to win a Grand Slam final he is usually spot on with his serve and tactics. But Carlos really stymied him on this day. He force Novak to struggle on his serve...and this is something that we just haven't seen. It cost Novak dearly too. I have to be honest...I didn't watch the entire match. I was out playing golf. I don't have time to plunk myself down and watch this most boring show at Wimbledon. It is really amazing if you think about it. It used to be that three out of the four Slams were played on grass and everyone who won the Championship was a serve and volley player. Even dear old Bjorn Borg who had the reputation of being a base liner was a closet serve and volley player.

Then there was "Nadal Lite" Alcarez egging on the crowd when he had Djokovic on the ropes by begging for more love...begging for more applause and noise by holding his ear to them after a great shot. This is something that would have been absolutely frowned upon back in the years of tennis etiquette. Thou shall not take unfair advantage of your opponent and furthermore not do anything to upstage them. Particularly so when you talk about an opponent that has won so much during his career. How about a little respect on your way to the championship? Asking too much? It is all ok though. Modern day tennis fans play right into the nonsense because they are too dumbed down to know any better. So it goes.

Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. Man...if that doesn't ring true nothing does. You heard it from me. Read it and weep.

I think that the analysis that I wrote for the U. S. Open final fits appropriately for the Western and Southern final as well. I watched the match...although I confess with was really the highlights...and to be truthful, the highlights weren't really all that high. It wasn't that great of a match. In fact...in I think it really wasn't that good of a match at all. The match kept turning in weird and often unexplainable twists. Novak up a break. He's broken back. Carlos is up a break. He's broken back. Novak serving for the match. He gets all tangled up in yet another long service game which he loses. It all comes down to a tie-break that wasn't all that well played. Hmmm...was it all about the betting line. It was almost as if Carlos was holding him up in as in that scene in the "Raging Bull" where Jake Lamotta has to virtually hold up his opponent after he "tapped" him. Or was it "On the Waterfront" where the mobster comes into the locker room and tells the fighter, "this ain't your night Kid". Whatever it was...it looked to be pretty hokey to me.

Novak was on rubber legs most of the night. Instead of the "Gumby" like rubber man contortionist making impossible returns from all corners of the court he just looked like he was hanging on. Carlos seemed to have him on a string all night and it was he who seemed to be dictating play. Putting pressure on the opponent. If this match were to be best of five...Novak would have gone into the fifth on an empty tank. If these two meet in the finals of the U. S. Open the result is a foregone conclusion as far as I can see. Looking at the draw I can easily project Novak into the finals. Easier than Alcarez. But if both make it to the finals I cannot see how Novak can beat him. Alcarez has gained in experience. It was evident in Cincinnati. He was the superior player...if only in terms of fitness. It doesn't appear to me that a thirty-six or thirty-seven year old Djokovic can match him in the legs.

Watching the Cincinnati final it was really apparent that Novak doesn't have the knockout capability...going along with the boxing metaphors of throwing fights. Carlos can easily drag down Novak by making him play long and torturous points from the backcourt. Djokovic more or less confirmed this with more than the occasional foray to the net. He was trying to end some points quicker. It was a terrible match. It got off to a bad start. The commentatoe caught on pretty quickly when Novak lost his serve in the second set. He said..."this is not the match we wanted to see". Novak has lost half a step. The thing that allowed Federer to hold off his opponents at the end of his career was his serve. The best serve in the game even at his age. Forget about the serve bots...that isn't really serving. But Novak doesn't have that luxury. His serve is steady and consistent. But it doesn't win him enough points outright. Roger could gun through his serve game in just over a minute when he was guns blazing. Not Djokovic. He is more a win be attrition. Usually he is the one taking out the legs of his opponent. That was how he handled Federer much of the time. ON a slower court and with Roger having a smaller racquet. Roger could make up some of the difference once he switched equipment and on a faster surface.

I wonder if Novak should try a bigger racquet.

[don_budge]

Western and Southern Open...ATP 1000...Cincinnati, Ohio

https://www.atptour.com/en/scores/current/cincinnati/422/draws

The first thing I did when looking at this draw sheet was try to put myself in Novak Djokovic's shoes. The mantra of any tennis player worth his salt is "preparation...preparation...preparation". Being a twenty something time Grand Slam Champion Novak is a breed apart from the rest of the field. He's been there...done that. Over and over and over. He can do it in his sleep. But he has to find a certain level in his form in order to approach the two week journey in confidence at the belief that he can win the thing. His loss in the final of Wimbledon notwithstanding...he is measuring his steps. The question will be...how much of this tournament does Novak need to see before he declares himself fit and ready for fight. Does he need a match with Sinner? Perhaps. Does he need one with Rune? That remains to be seen. But I have a feeling that Novak's departure from this tournament will be on his own devices.s The rest of the tournament is only window dressing. The rest of the field is catching on to this Grand Slam preparation thing. Early and unexpected departures just may become more or less the norm.

Please continue "The Big Three".

[don_budge]

Post moved to correct thread

Aren't we the proper one?

[stroke]

Post moved to correct thread

[don_budge]

Rogers Cup...Not that Roger

Tiafoe from rags to riches to losing to Evans to first round loss at Rogers Cup. It ain't no easy road to hoe. Does Francis have the next level in him? It ain't about celebrity. It ain't no popularity contest. It isn't about how many NBA stars or actors come to your beck and call. The only thing this old world (the ATP tour) understands is hard work. It's evolution baby! Survival of the fittest. Not the smartest. Not the strongest. The one that adapts the best is the survivor. You have to pay the piper. Chrisopher Eubanks down...to "The Amazing Mr. Monfils". No real surprise there. Reality also hitting home with Eubanks now. Wimbledon is in the rear view now. It only serves to make the opponent focus so much harder on the target between his shoulder blades. He also has a tough road to hoe now. The expectations and now an early exit from a big time tournament to the 270 something ranked player in the world. It would have been interesting to see a rematch between Christopher and Tsitsipas, but I have a fairly good idea how that was going to resolve itself as well.

Daniel Evans...fresh off a huge win in Washington (the old Washington Star) must be feeling a bit wobbly. What with all the champagne and hot gal pal. But right off the bat another "David and Goliath" sideshow. His opponent is 6' 8" tall. Where do they grow these guys? That's ok says Daniel Evans...the bigger they come, the harder they fall. Opposite Evans in the draw is a match that is somewhat interesting...Norrie versus de Minaur. Either would make a compelling question mark for Evans.

Match of the Day? I'm going with Evans. This is a much bigger venue than Washington with many more higher ranked players. So anything he might accomplish after last weeks success is a bonus. A test of recovery power. Many tests in the offing with each match for Evans. It will be interesting to see what he has left in the tank.

[don_budge]

Match of the Day...Christopher Eubanks vs. The Amazing Mr. Monfils

The continuation of the Eubanks saga. Monfils a seasoned veteran versus the new media darling. Interesting matchup between two guy with some rather incredible athletic skills. Eubanks is a bit "unbridled" in horse terms. Know what I mean?

[don_budge]

Djokovic seems to be the master of "staying in the zone", but doesn't always adapt quickly when pulled out of it.

Sorry Doc...not buying it. As the Master of Disaster over the course of twenty three and counting Grand Slam titles and countless ATP 1000 and ATP 500 tournaments this gentleman has faced the plethora of conditions and infinite combination of his own psychological, physical and spiritual adversities. I think it was on this forum that someone was suggesting that he has trouble with the wind. I really don't know what planet he was playing on but he has face it all. But he is human. He may have given away a match here or there. Even gifted a few. But when it was on the line he stood up and took the heat. Wimbledon was a different story and his legs gave way to youth. It was simple as that. He matched Alcarez stroke for stroke but in the end it was the demoralizing inability to "take care" of his service game throughout the match.

It will be interesting to see what he does on the way forwards. Does this match spell the beginning of the end? Or is it all over?

[doctorhl]

Djokovic seems to be the master of "staying in the zone", but doesn't always adapt quickly when pulled out of it.

[don_budge]

"Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't". (don_budge)

Statistics to me are sort of baffling. They are used when someone has run out of anything meaningful to add in plain language. Then it is time to start regurgitating the numbers. Blah...blah...blah. First serve percentage...ok, there is a pretty meaningful number. Bu the rest of it...a number salad. Ha...there's another original from don_budge. Number salad. Out of all of the garble of numbers there was the one meaningful number MIA. The number? The amount of time each took to serve a game. This is where Alcarez took all of the Djokovic experience and told it to shove it to where the sun don't shine. Talk about maintaining pressure on your opponent. The most sure fire way is to win your own serve efficiently and routinely. But perhaps the most meaningful way you can put pressure on your opponent is the converse...make him work on his own serve. Alcarez pushed Novak beyond his limits by making him work to win his serve in a way I haven't seen anybody else to it.

Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. Man...if that doesn't ring true nothing does. You heard it from me. Read it and weep.

I remember in the last set I think it was a Novak serving game went on forever. It took upwards of twenty minutes. Maybe the longest serving game I have ever seen. Then he lost that game. Game over. He was cooked and raked over the coals.

[don_budge]

"Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't". (don_budge)

Wimbledon 2023...Yawn

Well it looks like it all winding down. Alcarez is soon to be done mopping up a somewhat listless Medvedev. Mr. Pencil failed to come up with a game plan. Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. He schooled an overmatched Jannik Sinner. The Russians are all defeated. I was rooting for them because I know you guys hate them. I felt somewhat embarrassed for the civilized world that they don't have their countries flag attached to their names. That is very childish. Absurd even.

All of it foreplay for a rather limp conclusion...whichever way it goes. Alcarez is not likeable. Hardly at all. There is something about the attention getting gestures that imply something about him. All of those matches Novak lost in the preliminaries. The tournaments leading up to Slams. All of the losses he "suffered" in the buildup to Slam Row. All of it foreplay...just titillating the ignorant masses. Wimbledon has outdone itself. As tennis has in general. It's boring. Quite boring. The most exciting thing that happened is when the Belarusian refused to shake the hand of the Ukrainian. As if any of that matters either. It's childish. Life or tennis...take your pick. Each is mimicking the other. It's irony. Which I am a master of.

"Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't". Well...sheer brilliance. Hrmph! I can hear it...from "The Big Three". Hrmph! Who does he think he is? don_budge...the little old wise guy. Hrmph!

As it turns out nothing could have been more true than that simple statement. Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. "Nadal Lite" aka Carlos Alcarez did what was necessary. He took out the legs of Novak Djokovic. He ran down everything and got it back in the court. He forced Novak to play an extra ball or two or three or whatever it took to finally once and for all...take out his legs. It was the drop shots that got to Novak. It was the hail of bullets he faced off both the Alcarez forehand and backhand. But most of all...there was one problem that put the final nail in the coffin and I haven't heard a peep from anyone anywhere about it. Not from any commentatoe. Not from any forum poster. Not even our Big Three mentioned it. No surprise. Eyes that do not see.

Statistics to me are sort of baffling. They are used when someone has run out of anything meaningful to add in plain language. Then it is time to start regurgitating the numbers. Blah...blah...blah. First serve percentage...ok, there is a pretty meaningful number. Bu the rest of it...a number salad. Ha...there's another original from don_budge. Number salad. Out of all of the garble of numbers there was the one meaningful number MIA. The number? The amount of time each took to serve a game. This is where Alcarez took all of the Djokovic experience and told it to shove it to where the sun don't shine. Talk about maintaining pressure on your opponent. The most sure fire way is to win your own serve efficiently and routinely. But perhaps the most meaningful way you can put pressure on your opponent is the converse...make him work on his own serve. Alcarez pushed Novak beyond his limits by making him work to win his serve in a way I haven't seen anybody else to it. He did it in a way that showed a lot of maturity and experience. He learned something from his episode in Paris. Carlos did it with a combination of patience and courage. He waited for his opportunities and then he threw caution to the wind and just did it. Like that Nike swoosh plastered all over his attire. Just do it!

By making Djokovic work and work and work on his serve he force the Serb into what seemed to be hard labor. Novak struggled to hold his serve like I have never seen him. Not having the great serving motion of great servers...Novak takes care of his serve very efficiently. A deft combination of placement first and foremost and adequate speed and spin has always been what Novak used to "take care of his serve". He does it with amazing efficiency. He serves out sets with the best of them...save maybe Roger Federer. He serves out matches as well. Once he gets into a position to win a Grand Slam final he is usually spot on with his serve and tactics. But Carlos really stymied him on this day. He force Novak to struggle on his serve...and this is something that we just haven't seen. It cost Novak dearly too. I have to be honest...I didn't watch the entire match. I was out playing golf. I don't have time to plunk myself down and watch this most boring show at Wimbledon. It is really amazing if you think about it. It used to be that three out of the four Slams were played on grass and everyone who won the Championship was a serve and volley player. Even dear old Bjorn Borg who had the reputation of being a base liner was a closet serve and volley player.

Then there was "Nadal Lite" Alcarez egging on the crowd when he had Djokovic on the ropes by begging for more love...begging for more applause and noise by holding his ear to them after a great shot. This is something that would have been absolutely frowned upon back in the years of tennis etiquette. Thou shall not take unfair advantage of your opponent and furthermore not do anything to upstage them. Particularly so when you talk about an opponent that has won so much during his career. How about a little respect on your way to the championship? Asking too much? It is all ok though. Modern day tennis fans play right into the nonsense because they are too dumbed down to know any better. So it goes.

Novak Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. Man...if that doesn't ring true nothing does. You heard it from me. Read it and weep.

[don_budge]

image.png

This quote from Aldous Huxley rings true for me and particularly true for the tennis world. The game has not evolved as it was when Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe were dueling on center court at Wimbledon way back in the day. It has devolved into a contest from the backcourt and a contest based solely on groundstrokes. The service motions have devolved into a sole focus on speed. Gone are the multi layered and faceted tactics. I'm just pointing out the obvious and I am quite certain that the tennis establishment doesn't want to hear it.

[don_budge]

Wimbledon 2023...Yawn

Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. He schooled an over matched Jannik Sinner.

All of it foreplay for a rather limp conclusion...whichever way it goes. Alcarez is not likeable. Hardly at all. There is something about the attention getting gestures that imply something about him. All of those matches Novak lost in the preliminaries. The tournaments leading up to Slams. All of the losses he "suffered" in the buildup to Slam Row. All of it foreplay...just titillating the ignorant masses. Wimbledon has outdone itself. As tennis has in general. It's boring. Quite boring. The most exciting thing that happened is when the Belarusian refused to shake the hand of the Ukrainian. As if any of that matters either. It's childish. Life or tennis...take your pick. Each is mimicking the other. It's irony. Which I am a master of.

Without belaboring a point. Trying not to force the obvious on loyal tennis "fans". But this has been the weakest Wimbledon ever. Nothing remotely of interest. Not to a true tennis "connoisseur". If there was any moment that illustrated this better than any...it was at the end of the women's final. I won't call it the "Ladies Final" for reasons of my own. I cannot imagine paying for a ticket for this match. I wouldn't go to the end of my driveway to watch it for free. There was no way I was going to pass up a round of golf to stay home and watch it for free on television. But I came home just in time to see the last couple of points and as a performance analyst I found the performance level to be very low. Embarrassing. The women get equal pay for this? WOWSA...WOWSA...WOWSA. If only the Ukrainian and Russian ladies had made the final...that might have saved the day. The handshake moment was going to be priceless. Not to be.

Instead what the tennis world got was an unseeded woman winning the whole damn thing. Not to mention the tattoos. Just ugly. All of the trained seals in the stands coughing up big bucks to watch it. For the first time an unseeded woman won it. Anybody with a young woman in the game should take notice...the entire field is there to be had. All it will take is a reincarnation of Roger Federer...as a woman. Or maybe...should I say it? Better not. Thought police out in force.

So Novak will simply have too much experience until he doesn't. What does that mean don_budge? (Since nobody else is home to ask). That simply means...until his legs give out. He put a real "hurt dance" on Jannik Sinner the other day. Sinner is one of the "Golden Children" in the sport not. But he showed a real lack of experience on the grass against the weight of Djokovic's experience. So here is the question...what about Alcarez? Well...for one thing, this guy is not likeable. He's young and maybe not the most intelligent animal on the farm, but he has legs. But on grass it is all about being nimble. That is what the experience adds up to nowadays. Forget about serve and volley. Nobody knows how to play it. But it might not be a bad time for Alcarez to bring this trick out of his hat.

He gained a ton of experience in the French final. Unfortunately it was a very bad experience. To his credit he stayed out there on the court and absorbed the punishment. He showed some courage and courage is going to be a huge ingredient of the equation that will be required to take out Novak. Djokovic has had the most positive of performances up to this point in the tournament. His legs are relatively well rested. He has surgically worked his way through the draw. Has he dropped any sets? If he has it was only because he wanted some extra time on the court. To get the nimble toes dancing on the slick surface. Measuring his steps. Ever since when? When he was banned from the Australian a couple of seasons ago? Don't you know...the only revenge in life is success? I hope he puts "Nadal Lite" down right on his backside. This fellow spends way to much air time egging on the crowd to show him the love. They all do it. Except Roger. Everyone already truly loved him and it was unnecessary. At any rate...do us all a favor Novak.

[don_budge]

Wimbledon 2023...Yawn

Well it looks like it all winding down. Alcarez is soon to be done mopping up a somewhat listless Medvedev. Mr. Pencil failed to come up with a game plan. Djokovic will simply have too much experience...until he doesn't. He schooled an overmatched Jannik Sinner. The Russians are all defeated. I was rooting for them because I know you guys hate them. I felt somewhat embarrassed for the civilized world that they don't have their countries flag attached to their names. That is very childish. Absurd even.

All of it foreplay for a rather limp conclusion...whichever way it goes. Alcarez is not likeable. Hardly at all. There is something about the attention getting gestures that imply something about him. All of those matches Novak lost in the preliminaries. The tournaments leading up to Slams. All of the losses he "suffered" in the buildup to Slam Row. All of it foreplay...just titillating the ignorant masses. Wimbledon has outdone itself. As tennis has in general. It's boring. Quite boring. The most exciting thing that happened is when the Belarusian refused to shake the hand of the Ukrainian. As if any of that matters either. It's childish. Life or tennis...take your pick. Each is mimicking the other. It's irony. Which I am a master of.

[don_budge]

No matter if one likes it or not...politics are a part of life. Sometimes it isn't pretty.

https://www.foxnews.com/sports/wimbledon-fans-boo-belarusian-victoria-azarenka-no-handshake-ukrainian-elina-svitolina

[stroke]

Fascinating match against Norrie the other day. Underlying theme of a psychological subject. How will Eubanks react under the glare of the big moment? His serving rating was a solid nine out of ten. More surprising and absolutely jaw dropping was a backhand rating of eight plus. I don't know how they came to these numbers on the channel I was watching but I can't say I disagree with them. Eubanks impressed me with his use of the slice in the warm up tournament but he was being very aggressive with his drive in this match. So this fellow has got everyone's attention now. Which in turn amps up the expectations...which in turn renews the question about how he will react. Every rising star goes through this process and most fizzle out at some point. They reach a zenith and then...plop.

Tilden wrote about maintaining pressure on your opponent. If Eubanks can keep up the serving and back it up with not only a forehand but his backhand as well and factor in trips to the net...this is a recipe for trouble. For his opponent. Tsitsipas next. Christopher...can you answer the question!!!???

That extraordinary 8 on the Eubanks backhand refers to the shot quality rating now provided at times sometimes during a match. From what I can gather, it is accumulated from the speed, spin, width, and depth of particular stroke such as the backhand, forehand, and serve. It is very revealing it seems. Obviously a 9 on the serve is a lot for an opponent to overcome. How a player is doing on it during a match vs the "tour average" is very interesting. Chris has been hitting on all cylinders, no where for his opponent to go. It has been something to see. I watched him play(and practice)at Georgia Tech several times. It was obvious his very unusual natural firepower, but his backhand in particular, seemed problematic. It has not been at Wimbledon and he has been spectacular. His topspin backhand has looked better and more confident than ever, and his slice, as you pointed out, and I certainly concur, has looked better than ever. In fact, I remember calling out his slice as being not where it needed to be at his level on some old thread. That no longer appears to be the case. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen such what seems dramatic transformation of shot quality. It started in Mallorca, and has been same old ever since.