2021 Roland Garros...ATP 2000...Paris, France

[don_budge]

2021 French Open Championships...Roger Federer

A controversial appearance by Roger Federer was nonetheless full of fascinating nuance. A flawless performance in the first round against an opponent who couldn't have been better hand picked. Roger ran his record against Denis Istomin to 8-0. Next up in the second round was Marin Cilic. Federer was only 9-1 against Marin but added one more victory for good measure. This match was anything but in the bag for Federer. Cilic seemed to be teeing off on anything he could get his racquet on. Both on his own serve and on Roger's serve. Federer seemed to be somewhat shaky as he was attempting to toe the baseline against Cilic who was hitting howitzers at him. He managed to get off to a quick start and then Cilic levelled the match at one set all. Roger managed to get the third to a tie-breaker where once again he showed amazing clarity to win it going away. The fourth set was an identical 6-2 as the first two split sets were. Federer was very fortunate to get through that match unscathed. The fact that very few points went beyond four or five shots was a break for our aging icon.

The real takeaway from the Marin Cilic match was a controversy that more or less erupted because Cilic was complaining to the umpire that Roger was not playing to his tempo on his serve. A couple of times Roger seemed to rather slowly and deliberately traverse the court to get his towel to wipe his brow of sweat. But Cilic nearly exhausts the shot clock solely on his own with his own rendition of the bounce the ball umpteen times before he serves routine. Federer got into a prolonged discussion as to why he was warned for taking too much time. It was fascinating to me because there are a few players on the tour that use the clock to their advantage in exhausting their opponents patience by forcing them to wait in position while they stall and stall and stall. There is absolutely no reason why the tour should not immediately institute a ten second shot clock for the second serve. There is nothing more galling in all of sports than to watch one of these prima donnas bounce the ball up to 20 times on each serve. Forcing the receiver to wait for this endless ritual is just plain stupid. Roger scored big points with this performance during which he carried on in French with the French umpire. Flawless French no doubt.

Federer had a much rougher go against 27 year old, #59 ranked Dominik Koepfer. The rallies were longer in general than the Cilic match and the competition level was much more engaged and tough. Roger got away with a 7-6, 6-7, 7-6, 7-5 win and appeared to pay a price for it. He withdrew from the tournament citing his concerns for the way going forwards. Not surprisingly Federer drew fire from different directions as he was accused of using the tournament as a practice or training for his comeback. I don't buy into any of it for a second. Walkovers are very common on the tour nowadays. In Roger's case it is obvious he had a double surgery on his knee and he had more than likely exhausted his body where it would not respond for another round. He made the decision to withdraw. Many will cite the fact that it robbed Koepfer of a chance to continue in the tournament but that isn't even a reality. Federer defeated his fair and square. He deserved the victory. If he made the decision that he could not continue that is his decision to make. Over the span of his long and productive career he hasn't withdrawn a handful of times. Koepfer on the other hand walks away with a memory that nobody else will be able to reproduce. This very well could be the last time or appearance for Federer at the French and Koepfer has a story he can tell his grandchildren about some time down the future.

It was great to see Roger back at the French. He has been skipping this in the past couple of years and I always thought it was a big mistake. He looked pretty comfortable on the dirt and it might have been a foregone conclusion for him to play Berrittini...but then again, it may have not. Inspirational in a word.

[stroke]

No doubt she is full woke, a woke's woke. And the women tennis players and the equality dead horse. Give me a break. They have by far the best deal in women's professional sports. All know exactly what would happen if pay was based on market value like all other professional sports.

[don_budge]

2021 French Open Championships...Naomi Osaka

Naomi Osaka to Clam Up...Who cares?

Naomi Osaka will not be doing any interviews this year at the French Open. Apparently this is her cause "de jour". For once, I find myself agreeing with her. I really don't care what she has to say about anything and that includes her tennis. In the article she has been noted to support causes as in anti-police and racial inequality. Throw in the rapper boyfriend who was giving the camera the finger after her win at one of the majors. I could not care less about anything she has to say. She has made a spectacle of herself in the past and if she doesn't want to speak...so be it. Just shut up and serve. Another athlete turned activist. Nobody cares. Just disappear after your match and nobody will miss you...I promise.

https://www.oann.com/tennis-wta-woul...defends-media/

I understand the point about the interviews. Naomi Osaka made a stand here at the French Open and apparently it was for naught. Realistically it was a mute point and could have been handled more professionally. I believe that she has mental issues. Don't forget that she had the BLM thing going on last year at the U. S. Open with her boy toy rapper dude. He was giving the finger to everyone while she posed with the championship trophy. Disrespectful to say the least. Dismally stupid more like it. Whether she likes it or not she is in a position where she is subject to scrutiny. Actually the interviews go with it. None of the men seemed to get behind her. They seemed to think that it was an important obligation for the players to fulfil for the fan base.

But Naomi is full on "woke". That means she can see issues even when there aren't any. It wouldn't bother me to hear that she was released from her obligation to communicate with the public. Her personna is one better off in a private setting as she seems to have some sort of social dysfunction every time she is asked a question whether it is a reasonable question or not. I understand to that not everyone is cut out to be a public personna. She is definitely one of those people. I find it interesting that once again it is a woman who thinks that she is getting the short end of the stick. The women are paid every bit as much as the men in the Grand Slam tournaments and this is just an example that they are not up to the task and they do not deserve it. Women and men are not equal. Not by any stretch of the imagination. The equal pay is rationalised by something other than logic. A sense of guilt? It is a war on men. You will see.

In the end Naomi did herself a tremendous disservice and this one is going to track her the rest of her career. Now it is clear that she has an agenda and that agenda is better off left in her private circle. Athletes are not being paid to do social justice in their contracts. Where this one will end up nobody knows at this point. Somebody is evaluating this I'm sure. All she needed was a doctor's excuse and she would have been free and clear from her interview obligation. Instead she fell on her sword for the stupidest of reasons and cost herself professionally and made another mess for the tennis profession to clean up. I haven't lost any respect for her because I never had any. I think in a word...stupid.

[arturohernandez]

Novak’s edge has always been razor thin! But that’s where that lockdown mode he gets into makes him the best. You’ve got to own a serve that can get you a free point or two each service game in the critical stages of sets and tiebreakers. If not you’re looking at grinding it out behind your second serve against that lockdown mode. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it sure doesn’t seem like the WAY to get it done in a big match. If you’re going to beat him in a deciding set have a reliable weapon of a serve accurately hitting your spots in the neighborhood of 70% first serves. Zverev and Tsitsipas have some serving demons, so Novak will continue to win the razor thin margins preventing them from getting over the top at the business end of majors in the immediate future.

I unfortunately agree! How can two tall guys have bad serves? That just befuddles me. Meanwhile, Ash Barty at 5'5" has a great serve. I realize that at their height it is still effective. I know they have worked on it. But still. Given all the time and training they have done, it should be better.

Maybe Stefanos will work on the serve a bit more. Really it is about just loosening up his grip and arm. That should in principle take care of it.

I am sure one of the bioengineering types on the board can get more nitty gritty about it.

[jthb1021]

Great final!! It comes down to that little extra edge. Fed beat Djokovic on the same court in 2011 with a masterclass in passive aggressive tennis. The final point was an ace up the T. The same serve would have won him the 2019 Wimbledon final.

Nadal in 2006 felt that Federer would go off on serving rampages and just take Nadal’s racket out of his hand.

I’m with Don Budge and the rest of the board on the Tsitsipas serve. Just a little tweak could make all the difference.

He could also play some doubles to help with his attack at the net.

It feels like Big Mac is back and knocking on the door.

We never thought Borg would fall off that quickly.

Remember when Wawrinka lost and then won.

Djokovic’s edge is getting razor thin!

Novak’s edge has always been razor thin! But that’s where that lockdown mode he gets into makes him the best. You’ve got to own a serve that can get you a free point or two each service game in the critical stages of sets and tiebreakers. If not you’re looking at grinding it out behind your second serve against that lockdown mode. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it sure doesn’t seem like the WAY to get it done in a big match. If you’re going to beat him in a deciding set have a reliable weapon of a serve accurately hitting your spots in the neighborhood of 70% first serves. Zverev and Tsitsipas have some serving demons, so Novak will continue to win the razor thin margins preventing them from getting over the top at the business end of majors in the immediate future.

[don_budge]

I'm with Don Budge...on the Tsitsipas serve.

The serve cost Stefano Tsitsipas his first Grand Slam title. How much do you think that was worth to him? At this point it is complicated because nobody in his camp seems to have a handle on the situation or knows where to start. My summary post on the 2021 French Open is coming. It's a lot of moving parts...sort of like a fluid service motion. A good solid powerful golf swing. The synergy is what makes it so unbelievably sound. So purrfect. But Stefanos Tsitsipas is not the key to the 2021 French Open even though he has played his part to imperfection.

Synergy is an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts. The term synergy comes from the Attic Greek word συνεργία synergia from synergos, συνεργός, meaning "working together".

Tying my thoughts together. Weaving them into a tapestry to try and capture the image of the 2021 French Open. Maybe jazz it up a bit. Afterall...truly it is one of the most boring spectacles in all of sports.

For so many years it has been...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce. ..bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bounce...bou nce...bounce. You get the picture...the endless bouncing of the ball before putting the ball in play.

[arturohernandez]

Nice article. I thought Stefanos might have tried going to the net a bit more on that hoofing great forehand of his. He's a decent volleyer and it's so tough to out rally the Serb. His serve fell away in the fifth set right when he needed it to be at its best. The aces dried up and his first serve became less effective - although this is not unusual against Novak who tends to read serves better and better as a match progresses.

Overall he did great. His forehand was terrific and he moved so well. Just couldn't quite do enough to win despite been given a 2 sets to love head start.

Great final!! It comes down to that little extra edge. Fed beat Djokovic on the same court in 2011 with a masterclass in passive aggressive tennis. The final point was an ace up the T. The same serve would have won him the 2019 Wimbledon final.

Nadal in 2006 felt that Federer would go off on serving rampages and just take Nadal’s racket out of his hand.

I’m with Don Budge and the rest of the board on the Tsitsipas serve. Just a little tweak could make all the difference.

He could also play some doubles to help with his attack at the net.

It feels like Big Mac is back and knocking on the door.

We never thought Borg would fall off that quickly.

Remember when Wawrinka lost and then won.

Djokovic’s edge is getting razor thin!

[stotty]

https://en.tennistemple.com/r/news_93806

Nice article. I thought Stefanos might have tried going to the net a bit more on that hoofing great forehand of his. He's a decent volleyer and it's so tough to out rally the Serb. His serve fell away in the fifth set right when he needed it to be at its best. The aces dried up and his first serve became less effective - although this is not unusual against Novak who tends to read serves better and better as a match progresses.

Overall he did great. His forehand was terrific and he moved so well. Just couldn't quite do enough to win despite been given a 2 sets to love head start.

[stroke]

https://en.tennistemple.com/r/news_93806

[tenniscoach1]

The least talented of the big 3 - but, the most scientifically well trained and best reaction to supplements ever in the game. Always on top of the recovery - and does better GPP work than anyone else. He is athletically built by design to hold up to pressure. Highly sophisticated maniac program I am sure. Craziest motherfucker on the tour. They once asked some high end Olympic athletes if you did ABCD and won Olympic gold three times but would die at 40 as a result would you do it? You can imagine the response. Of course they will break all the records and die young. Tennis lucky to have a normal
superstar in Federer. The Novak dudes nuts like Micheal Jordan - great competitor, his teammates/friends hate him ... but, narcissists are needed in the world. The .00001 of them like Novak and MJ can back it up. You have no choice but to respect that ... Novak will go to the ends of the earth to win and to be loved. He gets all the number 1 records that wont be broken ever - but he will never get the love/respect of Federer/Sampras/Agassi/Rafa/Laver/Borg - he is a calculated hard ass dude and everyone see’s through it ... he don’t give a shit either I am sure. One day everyone will try and throw this dude under the bus - just you watch. He ain't one of the establishment. Live by the sword die by the sword. I do respect the dude - he gets shit done in a tennis pro world that us ruthless, mean and unforgiving.

[stotty]

Novak is playing so well he could wrap up the GOAT debate (if slams if what the measuring stick is) this season. He could even win a calendar slam. The only person that could stop him is probably himself...

[stroke]

At 19 Slams, 2 career Grand Slams, 36 Master's 1000 titles(and the only player to win all 11), his total weeks at #1, and a winning head to head vs Fed and Nadal, he has a very strong argument for best ever.

[stotty]

So I go out to give two tennis lessons in sweltering heat with Stefanos two sets to love up but having gone down a break in the third. I come home and it's all over. Somehow, after giving the end of the first set and the whole of the second set to Stefanos on a plate, Novak reels off the last three sets.

I swear Novak does this rope-a-dope stuff for fun. God knows what is going on in that head of his to play a reasonable first set and to break just at the right time and then to go listless for the next 35 minutes. Inexplicable.

I will watch the last two and half sets on replay.

Well that's number 19...going to take a lot of stopping not to win at least a few more slams.

[stroke]

Novak goes into zen lockdown mode to run off 3 sets for number 19. So tough for Stef, but truth be told, Novak won it. The stats for all 3 sets won by Novak are very telling. Better winner to error numbers than Stef.

[don_budge]

Serving out the championship...a nerve wracking proposition. It demands a motion that can be counted on. Novak for all the marbles.