Roland Garros, Paris 2020

[don_budge]

The Grand Slam that Wasn't...the 2020 French Open Finals

"It's a show about nothing"...George Costanza (Jerry Seinfeld Show)

It's a show about nothing. The 2020 French Open at Roland Garros. First of all the tournament is sans Roger Federer and there hasn't been a tennis tournament that is a tournament without Roger Federer in the ten plus years that I have been participating on this forum. For years I started threads of any tournament that Roger was playing in because rest assured any tournament that was graced by his presence was by definition a tournament. I'm afraid to inform you...this is fake tennis. It's a tournament about nothing. There will be only one brief moment of redemption if there is to any at all and that would be a Novak Djokovic versus Rafael Nadal final in which Djokovic prevails. Otherwise...this ship has sunk.

You can just tell by so many of the matches that are or have been played where you don't recognise one of the players or either of them. Djokovic vs. Galan in the round of sixteen? Never even heard of Galan. Cristian Garin versus Karen Khachanov? Never heard of Garin until a couple of weeks ago when I spotted him at the Italian Open. Daniel Altmaier and Matteo Berrettini? Never heard of Altmaier and worse yet the camera work at this Open is so shoddy it was hard to get a look at his serve motion because each and every serve was taken in three parts...from different angles. What crap. It's a fake tournament. Fake tennis.

It goes on and on. While normally play in the first four rounds is generally referred to as foreplay these days, now the foreplay extends into the later rounds...all of the way to the finals it seems. While watching over the Siberian Huskies for the past week I have caught bits and pieces of many a match and not one actually got my interest. No better example that Dominic Thiem and another unknown to me...the little French boy. Real slop if you ask me. No amount of clever by the French fellow would have induced me to sit through this snooze fest. Roger would never let that happen. I don't think I ever saw him participate in a snooze fest. Never. He had some bad losses but the interesting thing about Roger is even if he is playing his absolute worst he is worth watching. Watching him in defeat one can still take something away from the time spent watching. The same cannot be said for anything I have seen so far.

Snooze fest after snooze fest. How about Jannik Sinner against Alexander Zverev? Nope...just more slop. Sinner is one of the "Next Gen" stars that the ATP will have you believe that is going to take this game over in the near future. If that is so...the writing is on the wall. It is unwatchable. I watched a bit of Sebastian Korda versus the evil Fafa Nadal and the only thing I can say is he had some good ideas but he didn't have the wherewithal to make it happen. He didn't have the balls. Nadal just bullied him around the court much as he does the rest of the crew...those poor ball kids. So there is just one match left.

Stefanos Tsitsipas versus Grigor Dimitrov. Two splendid backhands. One handed ala Roger Federer. Grigor having shed his "Baby Fed" moniker. Maybe he should have clung to it. No sooner did he shed it he went straight in to the mulch pile of marginal tennis professionals...of which there is certainly no shortage of these days. The French Open is traditionally the most boring of all the majors. Best of five sets of snooze fests. I happened to be in Paris a few years ago and went to Roland Garros one day...it was a very, very expensive day by the way. My coffee tab was big that day...five or six cup of the strong French brew just trying to stay alive to see what was going on. I remember Novak Djokovic versus Milos Raonic...like watching paint dry. Like watching grass grow. I cannot blame the Husky girls. But I am getting an eyeful here and only because of this thing has me somewhat captive. You guys haven't watched a single match start to finish...play a hunch win a bunch. I'd bet on it. This is the post Roger Federer age of tennis that I have been warning of for several years now.

Strange days. Strange days indeed. A Grand Slam tennis tournament about nothing and nobodies. Just look at the draw sheet. Every picture tells a story...doesn't it.


"Paris was a place you could hide away, if you felt you didn't fit in
French police wouldn't give me no peace, they claimed I was a nasty person
Down along the left bank, minding my own
Was knocked down by a human stampede
Got arrested for inciting a peaceful riot, when all I wanted was a cup of tea
I was accused...I moved on."

Novak might have lost in Roland but he is still my favorite.

The 2020 French Open at Roland Garros was all in all...a tournament about nothing. It was a tournament that was a snoozed fest from start to finish and it never deviated from that course to the very end. It had a slim chance of some redemption when it got the final that it needed but unfortunately for whatever reason...Novak Djokovic was a no-show. Tennis is a game about performance. Life is much the same. It is about getting up in the morning and doing what needs to be done and for some unknown reason Novak failed to do this. His performance was beyond abysmal for his standards and so far it remains a mystery. There were inklings early on when Pablo Caruno Busta exposed some initial signs of trouble in the Djokovic game. Novak further verified the magnitude when he took two sets longer than necessary to vanquish Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinals. By the time he got to Nadal it was as if he had nothing more to give and as arturohernandez noticed in the very first game of the match Novak deviated from the tactics that had him beating Nadal rather routinely in the recent past and he tried to dink him to death. What the hell was that? It was nothing...that is what that was. It was a show about nothing.

Novak never got his legs under him during this final which in itself is a mystery. Nadal was Nadal. He never changes and he is the singularly the biggest jerk/idiot to ever play this game. There has never been one player in the history of the game to take so much time to put the damn ball in play. It starts with that but it doesn't end there. His fiddling with the towels and his bottles. All of the other insanities in his repertoire...it goes on and on. Purely nauseating. Disgusting. It is unwatchable. The worst part about it is he believes in his own insanity and doesn't have the awareness to see himself for the stupid jerk he is. Self absorbed. He just soaks himself up. Once he gets that microphone in his hand it all comes out. Pure narcissism. Absolutely disgusting.

A tournament about nothing. It didn't start well when you don't see Roger Federer's name in the draw sheet. In fact you can just kiss it goodbye at that point. You can rave and drool over the "swashbuckling" Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas all that you care to but the reality is he is just another version of Grigor Dimitrov at this point. Grigor virtually copied the Federer game and was once known as "Baby Fed" and Stefanos is just the same. So far. Like a Roger Federer lite. Novak should have dispatched him in straight routine sets. It was just nothing.

abigailbrown said it best. Such an empty post. Pure emotion without a little tiny drivel of logic or substance in it. Novak is still her favorite. Good luck with that. It's a good thing that she doesn't know any better. It's better not to know. You can just plead ignorance. These guys are the greatest of all time? Yeah...right.

[abigailbrown]

Novak might have lost in Roland but he is still my favorite.

[stroke]

Novak was fine. He had to be immaculate to win anyway. He wasn't off, he was just outplayed. He's still the best in the world other than on clay.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...no need to look any deeper.

That is how I feel. Novak had to be at his absolute best to beat Nadal here. We all know how Nadal is going to play. AO will be very interesting. I wonder who the favorites will be. Maybe Novak and Rafa.

[stotty]

Novak was fine. He had to be immaculate to win anyway. He wasn't off, he was just outplayed. He's still the best in the world other than on clay.

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...no need to look any deeper.

[arturohernandez]

It never ceases to amaze me that just when you think one of the top three has another muzzled, the muzzled one comes up with something to turn the tables. After 56 matches, Rafa sprung a surprise Novak didn't see coming, and it may change the domination Novak has had over Rafa for quite some time now. If Rafa can press like that on a clay court, surely he can do it on any court. I wonder if Sunday's drubbing will stay in Novak's head enough to make him beatable on a hard court.

The last time Rafa beat Novak on a hard court was 2013.

I know that Rafa played great. I am not at all saying he did not. He did. But Novak looks off to me. He had won so many matches in a row but he had the very unfortunate incident at the US Open and now a listless performance in the FO final. He was drop shoting like crazy. Not really fighting like I expected. He has consistently shown patterns of a funk at Wimbledon 2019 and AO 2020 where he was off his game and then came back at the end.

To me he seems to be fragile in a way almost every player is except Nadal. He sees himself as either wanting to be the best or not at all. He loves to practice but only if he can be the best. And some how he seems to be losing his edge.

Nadal is eternally the underdog. He never sees himself as the favorite. He is willing to suffer through periods of humiliation. Think back to the 2019 AO final. He will always try to get better. Almost as if his MO was always to beat more talented players. Until all the hard work paid off and eventually he became more "talented." I am not saying he is not talented. He is just not as talented as the other 2 of the 3. That is what his uncle always told him and what he believes. He is not naturally as good. So his game always required him to adjust and improve to achieve his expected level of play.

Djokovic just did not have the fire in his eyes until some point in the 3rd set. Djokovic plays best when he is in a bad mood. Maybe his bad mood cost him a match but he seemed to be too nice and too tame.

It reminded me of Sampras defending his first US Open final and just kind of giving it away.

He swore to himself he would never do it again and we witnessed (at least most of us did) after that loss of him winning matches while throwing up, with the bottom of his feet completely eaten up and collapsing into cramps after victory.

Novak looked like a Sampras who was not up to fighting to the very end yesterday.

Again, just observations. Nadal played great but to me Djokovic was defeated from the first game. Just not up to the task of playing 6 hours to beat the king of clay. In the past, he would have fought much more and at least eked out a set or two.

To me the 2021 will answer a lot of questions. Mostly, can someone in the new guard step up consistently? Can Fed come back? Will Novak once again regain the fire and win multiple majors? Will Nadal break Feds record?

[stotty]

It never ceases to amaze me that just when you think one of the top three has another muzzled, the muzzled one comes up with something to turn the tables. After 56 matches, Rafa sprung a surprise Novak didn't see coming, and it may change the domination Novak has had over Rafa for quite some time now. If Rafa can press like that on a clay court, surely he can do it on any court. I wonder if Sunday's drubbing will stay in Novak's head enough to make him beatable on a hard court.

The last time Rafa beat Novak on a hard court was 2013.

[stroke]

Actually, the revelation in the match was Rafa's backhand. He hit it equally as well as his forehand. It made a huge difference...all the difference When Novak hit his hooking, angled forehands (which have worked so well in the past) Nadal was there to belt it back with interest over and over again. In those first two sets it started to look like Novak had no safe place to go. I have never seen Novak so stumped and outplayed.

I only saw the first two and a bit sets but when I left Rafa was doing an amazing job of not giving Novak even the slightest glimmer of hope...pressing, pressing...and retrieving every conceivable ball. I have never seen Rafa play so well and so aggressively as those first two sets, and with so few unforced errors.

Novak played a poor first set. He was tight as drum and served terribly. Rafa never let him recover from that. stroke says Novak got going a bit in the third but I had left to go to work by then. I'll watch it on replay. He only needs a glimmer Novak so I assume Rafa kept up some pretty good form in that third set.

I like Rafa less and less as the years have gone by. He's a miserable, selfish sod. But I have to hand it to him, he's got the biggest pair of balls out there. He knew he had to beef up his game today and went right out there and did it.

In 7 months time he will back to defend that title yet again...makes you shudder.

So true, in 32 weeks or so he will be back for #14. He will probably be a stronger favorite than ever. No one has any idea or skill set to keep him from doing what he does. And no doubt, I am not a big fan of opinions on who has biggest balls, but Rafael as Stotty said, no freaking doubt.

I wonder if Nadal has ever in his whole freaking career has ever lost 2 sets back to back without being in the fight so to speak. I doubt it. He stands alone. Roger is probably the closest to that, but as we all know, Rafa routined him with extreme prejudice back in 2008. Nadal has never lost like that it seems.

[stotty]

Actually, the revelation in the match was Rafa's backhand. He hit it equally as well as his forehand. It made a huge difference...all the difference When Novak hit his hooking, angled forehands (which have worked so well in the past) Nadal was there to belt it back with interest over and over again. In those first two sets it started to look like Novak had no safe place to go. I have never seen Novak so stumped and outplayed.

I only saw the first two and a bit sets but when I left Rafa was doing an amazing job of not giving Novak even the slightest glimmer of hope...pressing, pressing...and retrieving every conceivable ball. I have never seen Rafa play so well and so aggressively as those first two sets, and with so few unforced errors.

Novak played a poor first set. He was tight as drum and served terribly. Rafa never let him recover from that. stroke says Novak got going a bit in the third but I had left to go to work by then. I'll watch it on replay. He only needs a glimmer Novak so I assume Rafa kept up some pretty good form in that third set.

I like Rafa less and less as the years have gone by. He's a miserable, selfish sod. But I have to hand it to him, he's got the biggest pair of balls out there. He knew he had to beef up his game today and went right out there and did it.

In 7 months time he will back to defend that title yet again...makes you shudder.

[glacierguy]

Just a couple of things that struck me: neither has much lateral arc in the toss (Nadal in particular); and Nadal did a great job of anticipating Djokovic's groundstrokes.

And did a single drop of rain fall during the match (outside obviously)?

[stroke]

Thats 13.

[stroke]

Nadal serving for match at 6-5 3rd set. In the 6th game of 3rd set, Novak matched the intensity level Nadal had from the 1st ball.

[stroke]

In the 6th game of the 3rd set, the psychopath fully engaged Novak finally checks in and gets a break to get to 3 all. I am afraid he waited way too long to bring the needed intensity level. Once again, that does not happen to Nadal.

[arturohernandez]

He breaks back. Finally, we see the fire. Can he win a set?

[arturohernandez]

Game, set, match. Djokovic just gave an easy break to Nadal. 3-2 Nadal in the third.

[stroke]

No question Novak is not playing his best. I think most of us thought only his very best could take out Nadal in this match. We all know how tough it is to win when we know only our very best will do it.