It was a really super performance by an extremely polite and demure young lady. She handled the whole nonsense with such a sense of dignity...even though Serena robbed the whole moment of anything resembling dignified. They should have a perfume named after her..."The Essence of Serena". I wonder what that would smell like.
The real shame is that the whole conversation should be about performance. The same with the Nadal fiasco. The winners have become obscured because the two bullies had their way. Interesting that these two are deified by so many when the reality is what it is. Deep down they are nothing but human beings...deeply flawed. Sports personalities make such flawed role models. I have always had a problem with people speaking of athletes as role models. This is a job better off left to parents.
By the way Serena will someday have to explain this to her kid. That will be her business too. You would think that as a new parent that she might just have some serenity about her. The situation could have been handled better. To say the least.
Osaka has now beaten Williams twice in two tries. It was a great, great win for her on a huge stage and I hope that she has many more great moments ahead of her. Her play on the court was very impressive and her behaviour in the most difficult of situations was rather stately. She managed to exhibit a trait that her opponent might someday try to ponder a bit. The trait is called class. Class is exemplified often by dignifying an otherwise an undignified situation.
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Serena simply showed us once again the essence of who she is. Her behavior was unacceptable. I was very disappointed but not surprised at the tv commentators take on the proceedings. They were just pitiful.Leave a comment:
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At 2.26 has Serena made a "Freudian Slip" when she says..."do you know how many other men...how many other men who do things that are much worse than that?" If we are to take her literally is she referring to herself as a man? I believe that is exactly what she has said. Very curious thing to say. Normally a woman might say something like "the men". Well these are anything but normal times and Serena Williams is anything but a "normal" character any way you choose to think about her. Who knows...one might think of her as a "hero".Leave a comment:
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Brilliant performance from Osaka who hardly put a foot wrong. Great clutch serving and she never let up on the ground shots either. Serena had a meltdown, to put it mildly. I genuinely think she received no coaching. Her coach made signals but she wasn't even looking. I think the coach may get fired!Leave a comment:
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I missed the game as it was too late over here. Del Potro has a reasonable chance. The courts are higher bouncing than in recent years apparently so if he can the ball in his wheelhouse often enough he may be able to hit Novak off.
Shame Rafa got injured. If there were grand slam events for players with the most injuries, Rafa would have more slams than anyone else for sure. He's missed ten slams completely through injury and bowed out of four others. In total Rafa has played 21 slams fewer than Roger.Last edited by stotty; 09-08-2018, 10:44 AM.Leave a comment:
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Novak was at his clinical best, Kei had no answers. Nadal, just too much time on the court at this point in his hard court career. Hard to see Del Po getting over on Novak.Leave a comment:
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He does it because he moves forward and split steps as the opponent serves. Gets him moving into the ball.Leave a comment:
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Strange Nishikori stands in a kind of sideways position to return serve like he does. It looks extremely inconvenient if a quick serve comes to his backhand. Its tough to see any beneficial purpose of standing like that to return serve.Leave a comment:
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That was a great piece by John on Stan's backhand. I missed it somehow I think. It is it spot on on the grip and the implications of the heel pad. Stan. Gasquet, Kohlschreiber, Thiem, all use this heel pad on bevel 8 grip I think. Fed and Grigor, I think the heel pad in on bevel 1.Last edited by stroke; 09-06-2018, 12:31 AM.Leave a comment:
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I did notice something interesting in Dominic Thiem's backhand. He seems to come around the ball more than a simple classic backhand.
It's been written by John about Wawrinka's backhand and it is interesting to note that this may be an evolution of the one hander.
https://www.tennisplayer.net/article...nkas-backhand/
McEnroe was stunned when Thiem hit a sliding open stance one hander for a passing shot against Nadal.
It might be an adjustment to the height of the balls with the slower courts and the new strings.
The game evolves and the one hander has evolved with it.Leave a comment:
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I stayed up way to late. I thought I would go to sleep but I just was glued to my laptop watching in bed.
Thiem has convinced me that he can win a GS. He certainly has the big game to do it.
I kind of felt like this was very similar to Wawrinka's match at the AO when he lost to Djokovic.
or like Nadal's when he lost to Fed in 2006 at Wimbledon.
They lost but somehow if you watched Thiem after the match he did not look defeated.
I have a feeling that Nadal and Thiem will face each other again and sooner or later the outcome will lean toward the future generation of tennis.Leave a comment:
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Better than anyone ever.
Thiem played quite the match. It was the best I have ever seen him play on hard courts. He is very likeable out there and a true professional, tries his best all the time. I have always felt like he was a future FO winner. but he certainly may have more in him. Nadal has know played 3 very physical matches in a row to advance. It will be very interesting to see how the most physical player ever continues to recover. Novak certainly looks to be the favorite, but Nadal, well. I'm not betting.
Nadal, like Roger, never seems to look to his box for support. Very unusual out there it seems. I like it.Last edited by stroke; 09-05-2018, 04:56 AM.Leave a comment:
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