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

[stotty]

Just wondering. How long do you think that Novak and Rafa can stay near the top?

A couple of years if they stay healthy. They don't have the arsenal that Roger has to shorten points.

Stephanos has zero chance in a grind out with Novak. He has to overwhelm him with sheer firepower. It's doable because Wawrinka has done it a handful of times. Tough to do it in your maiden final but the boy is ultra positive so I am anticipating a decent final.

[stroke]

Odds have Novak at -250, which comes to an implied probability of 71.4% chance of winning.

[stroke]

ESPN: French Open 2021 - Novak Djokovic serves up one of his best-ever matches to oust Rafael Nadal in semis stunner.

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/31613371/french-open-2021-novak-djokovic-serves-one-best-ever-matches-oust-rafa-nadal-semis-stunner

[don_budge]

2021 French Open Men's Semifinals...The most boring day of tennis ever

Not only did he beat Nadal he got him to give up! He crushed Nadal’s fighting spirit even with a super pro Rafa crowd. Amazing!

Amen to that. Novak Djokovic becomes the White Knight taking out that horrible scoundrel. He was bitching and moaning about the time clock the whole match. Shorten the clock for the second serve to 10 seconds. Do us all a favour. We don't have to be waiting posts as Roger insinuated to Marin Cilic. He bounce shamed Marin all the way back to wherever he came from. Poor little Rafa and all of his Nadalophytes here on this forum. Good riddance to yesterday's garbage. The world is a better place today. Who cares who wins on Sunday? It isn't going to be Roger Federer...the only man left who plays tennis somewhat like it was designed to play.

Anybody who watched ten sets of that drill yesterday is out to lunch. That was the most boring spectacle in all of sports ever. The French is the most boring of all. But without Federer in the mix it has become very competitive as they are all boring as hell now.

Nadalophytes..."nobody can touch Nadal". So glad to see Novak Djokovic man up and stare it down. I'm no fan of Jerkovic...but today he is the White Knight! God Bless him! I wasn't surprised in the least. The last match between these two at Roland Garros was rather dubious with all the drop shot stuff from Novak when he had a tried and proven formula for success against "The Great Imposter". Tennis is at an all time low if one man can dominate one tournament for so long. Think shallow. Lack of depth. The illusion is in the racquet. The oversized graphite racquet. Roger is the living proof in this regard too as an additional ten square inches elevated him to the top of the game once again at the end of his career. Did you see the abysmal net play all day yesterday? Flubbing the easiest of shots at the net and in the forecourt. The commentators gushing and schmoozing...adoring even. Enough to make anyone who knows better throw up. The two Brits or Aussies or whoever it was with those flowery accents botched and butchered the entire matches. Pure shlock.

Who is going to win on Sunday as if it makes any difference now that that vile individual is gone? Who believes they can win? They both do so don't rule either out. Why wouldn't Djokovic think he could win? He just took out Berrettini and Nadal in four sets running away. Tsitsipas? His serve hasn't been fixed...has it? Novak returns pretty well. If he wins he joins Federer and "The Great Imposter" at 20 in Grand Slam wins. Who has the motivation? Tsitsipas wants to join the ranks but he is still a wannabe as of this post. Go figure.

The world is a better place today. So would Roland Garros if it wasn't for that hideous statue of Nadal they erected. Figures that they would too. False Gods. He has always been a blasphemy on the name of tennis.

[seano]

DB - I believe Djokovic has only 18 Grand Slam titles.

[arturohernandez]

DB - I believe Djokovic has only 18 Grand Slam titles.

I just checked it. Yes, he has 18.

[arturohernandez]

2021 French Open Men's Semifinals...The most boring day of tennis ever

Who is going to win on Sunday as if it makes any difference now that that vile individual is gone? Who believes they can win? They both do so don't rule either out. Why wouldn't Djokovic think he could win? He just took out Berrettini and Nadal in four sets running away. Tsitsipas? His serve hasn't been fixed...has it? Novak returns pretty well. If he wins he joins Federer and "The Great Imposter" at 20 in Grand Slam wins. Who has the motivation? Tsitsipas wants to join the ranks but he is still a wannabe as of this post. Go figure.

The world is a better place today. So would Roland Garros if it wasn't for that hideous statue of Nadal they erected. Figures that they would too. False Gods. He has always been a blasphemy on the name of tennis.

The odds are -375 Djokovic +280 Tsitsipas.

A few caveats:

1) If this was Djokovic's first grand slam final, I would put it at even. Given that he has won so much, he understands the meaning of this and will put his all into the match.

The only hiccup is that Djokovic might feel like he already won the final. My guess is that he is too much of a dominant force to take anything for granted.

2) He might be more gassed than Stefanos. He is a lot older and recovery gets harder with age. He also played until much later in the night which will cut into his recovery time.

If Tsitsipas can stay close for three sets, Djokovic might have one of his dips, and that point Tsitsipas has the advantage.

It is 22 against 34. 20 years ago this would have been a round of 16 match. Today, players in their 30's are able to last longer, until they cannot.

The only chance for Tsitsipas to win is if Djokovic dips and cannot rebound.

[jthb1021]

He would be going for #20 if it weren’t for hitting the lines person at the us open. He’s gotta be careful though last time he beat Nadal Stan played the match of his life and stole an opportunity to have all 4 slams at one time which he cashed in on the next year. I have a feeling there will be no let down tomorrow. Steph get your runner up speech ready.

[stroke]

It is going to be very interesting. Novak was certainly in total lockdown mood vs Medvedev in AO final. He just accomplished the very tough ask, probably toughest in sports, of taking Nadal at FO. I too feel one would be paying a bit of a premium to bet on Novak here. Stef is ready and has the game to really compete here. I would have Novak as a slight favorite. I do not think recovery will be an issue for Novak. In his on court post match interview after taking Nadal, he looked very fresh. Hard to believe how fresh he looked after that very long physical match.

[arturohernandez]

It is going to be very interesting. Novak was certainly in total lockdown mood vs Medvedev in AO final. He just accomplished the very tough ask, probably toughest in sports, of taking Nadal at FO. I too feel one would be paying a bit of a premium to bet on Novak here. Stef is ready and has the game to really compete here. I would have Novak as a slight favorite. I do not think recovery will be an issue for Novak. In his on court post match interview after taking Nadal, he looked very fresh. Hard to believe how fresh he looked after that very long physical match.

Adrenaline and joy. No we’ll see if he may end up quoting Nadal about being the age that he is.

[don_budge]

The idiot commentator just commented that the inside out forehand of Tsitsipas will be the key shot. The key to this match for Stefanos is always going to be his serve. This will be the acid test of his service motion.

[stotty]

Yes he cannot set up that key shot without great serving. He needs to serve well so he can peel away and go to work with his forehand.

[don_budge]

Three aces in a row for Stefanos to win the first game...after several deuces. The return game of Novak Djokovic is supposedly the "greatest of all time" but that is one dubious claim. The modern return game is not under the pressure of a net charging opponent. Novak is normally very tidy with his service game and he takes care of his service game fastidiously. This is where Stefanos is going to have to find some room to operate. He will have to make inroads on Djokovic's serve while taking care of his own as well. Look for Novak go into lockdown mode at some point and be very stingy with operating room in the court at some point. Opening jitters in play now. The players feeling each other out and also getting a gage on their own form.

Stefanos with nothing to lose but in unfamiliar territory. Novak, seemingly with more to lose but a tremendous amount of experience in these situations. Tsitsipas having reached the finals by defeating very convincingly his two main rivals in his generation and Novak having vanquished the "Saint of Roland Garros". Who has the motivational advantage? I would have to go with the experience of Djokovic. Tsitsipas advantage of youth is debatable. Novak won his last two matches in four sets against big hitting opponents. It's tough to beat Novak on the baseline. Nadal found that out yesterday.

[stroke]

Ilf Stef beats Novak to me, he will absolutely have to do from the baseline. Tough no doubt. I have never seen anyone break Nadal down like Novak did. Nadal started making errors and at the end of the match, Nadal's winners to errors told the story of just what Novak had done to him. For that matter, Novaks numbers told the sane thing. I will be watching the winners vs errors numbers very carefully as this match proceeds.

[stotty]

Tsitsipas is gaining in confidence and finding his mark with his serve. Not sure he can when this purely from the baseline. For me, it's a 1-2 punch and trips to the net that would be the best tactical move for Tsitsipas. He is settling down nicely now though.