2018 U. S. Open Championships...ATP 2000...New York, New York U. S. A.

[stroke]

I just don't think Fed let the match go. I will say this, I have always thought that Fed was a minimal sweater, which is of course a desirable tennis trait, like most all of Fed's tennis traits, but he was sweating more than I have ever seen him. I am not at all certain that is his whole long spectacular career, this was his worst ever weather wise. Something was amiss with him I think. And on an unrelated side note, he looked much better in Nike, but I am not much of a fan of Nike with their latest hire/rehire.

[stotty]

Roger has never sweated much but nevertheless the body can go into a cycle where it can sweat inexplicably more, even for minimal sweater like Roger. I still haven't seen the match but it must have been bizarre judging by the posts on the forum.

Del Potro is 2 sets to 1 up as against Isner I write. The game is mindboggling dull.

[arturohernandez]

Funny, that he just signed with Uniqlo for a very long term deal.

Slowly, the mind is thinking about the long term.

If he wins one more GS, he may just announce it right at the awards ceremony.

I saw him two years ago in Halle. He beat Khachanov in two very close sets.

I am glad I got to see him when he was still playing at that level.

[stroke]

Looking forward to Nadal Thiem. I am certainly not going to tune in until Serena is off court.

[stroke]

Thiem starts off on fire with 2 breaks for a 3-0 lead. We will see.

[stroke]

Thiem wins 1st set 6-0 in 24 minutes. McEnroe said he would have given 100-1 odds that would not happen. Me too.

[gzhpcu]

You have to admire Nadal’s fighting spirit. He never gives up. In this, he is better than Federer.

[tennis_chiro]

The Nadal/Thiem match was a classic. Very high level for Thiem in first set, but not Nadal. Very high level for both players as the match went on. And it got better and better. Nadal went to the net over 50 times! If you missed it, it is worth trying to dig out a youtube version. There are also tapes on things like ESPN+.

don

[stroke]

You have to admire Nadal’s fighting spirit. He never gives up. In this, he is better than Federer.

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.

[arturohernandez]

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.

[arturohernandez]

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/john-yandell-stan-wawrinkas-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.

[stroke]

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.

[stotty]

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.

[gzhpcu]

He does it because he moves forward and split steps as the opponent serves. Gets him moving into the ball.

[stroke]

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.