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

[stroke]

Really good 1st set Fognini vs Fucsovics. Great atmosphere. These 2 seem to not like each other. The best set of the tournament so far to me. Fognini wins it in a tiebreaker.

[stroke]

A lot Meghan Markle going on with Naomi, well said. At least Meghan did not really get any traction with her disingenuous(to put it very nicely) act. Borderline psychopath would probably be more accurate with Meghan. Naomi, she is just way too woke, and she not surprisingly to me is getting some traction. So sign of the times.

[don_budge]

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nada...suarez-navarro

I saw this about Carla Suarez Navarro and all that I could think of was what a gutty performance this was. A real opponent...cancer. Not mental illness. Something that is in your head. Something that you imagined or cooked up in an abyss of neurosis. Nope...this is the real thing. What a great, great story this is and what courage. This only illustrates how pathetic our poor little mentally challenged Naomi Osaka is in her lost and dazed state of life. She imagines that she is a victim and plays it for all it is worth. I only imagine that the players union has some sort of procedure for players to get attention for any issues they might have. Perhaps a doctor's note or her psychologist would have sufficed. She could of avoided this confrontation but it plays better in the media to play the victim.

Carla makes me so proud of my last name today. Knowing that she dug deep to find the strength to manage her emotions and anxiety to keep her head in the most difficult of life's challenges. The players seem to have rallied behind her too. They are all connected and know that in their midst was a real warrior who fought a real opponent and she won. No trophy. No pay check. Just the satisfaction of being brave and surviving the sternest of tests. Much more difficult than any interview could ever be. Carla's story reduced Naomi to a drama queen which she most certainly is. Never mind Princess Diana...she is more the Megan Markle type. She is capitalizing at the expense of everyone around her. A conniving you know what. Can I say it? Better not. Some things are better off left unsaid.

[stroke]

Tipfoe tiofoed himself out of there to me, as db pointed out. It is not an aberration in his career. No way he should have lost that match. He really really needs to address that.

[arturohernandez]

Tidbits...French Open 2021

I was watching Steve Johnson play Francis Tiafoe and Tiafoe was up two sets to none when I had to leave the match. When I came back later and looked at the results I was surprised to see that Johnson won 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. It looks by the score that he won going away. Tiafoe was in complete control when I left. Amazing turnaround. I really, truly believe that someone should talk to Tiafoe about tennis and some of the tradition. He went out on the court looking like he was going to the gym. The way he walks and "trudges" around the court is not a good look. Some things matter...and some don't. It depends upon the person.

I read an article where he was pontificating on culture and "race" the other day. Tennis is a culture too. A rich and storied history of culture. I know that he doesn't mean to be disrespectful...but the look is not one of respect for the game. Alexander Zverev is another who is "guilty" of an atrocious look.

I was telling my daughter that practice and athleticism can only take you so far if you have faulty technique. I know that we marvel at Tiafoe and Khachanov's forehand but something has to give. You cannot hit with extreme technique for a long time and get away with it. All things being equal extreme technique catches up with a player eventually. Look at McEnroe who can still play at a very high level today using a continental grip. HIs game has held up extremely well and he is the antithesis of extreme, at least in the ground game. The serve is idiosyncratic but excellent at the key points.

Johnson was slicing Tiafoe to death. It was like Graf in the afterlife as a man. Slice, slice, slice and then hit a forehand. It won't work against the best but if you continually make a limited player hit a ball with no pace and generate their own pace, eventually they will get gassed.

Technique limits your game eventually and a two-handed backhand with an extreme forehand work on high bouncing courts with very deep topspin. Slice is a lost art. Even Francis was slicing some drop shots. He won a few points but he got caught in Johnson's web. If you play the opponent's game, they will beat you at it. It's their game not yours. And Tiafoe was not playing his game, he was playing Johnson's.

It looks like that is what happened. Johnson Grafed (or Steffied) Tiafoe out of RG.

[don_budge]

Tidbits...French Open 2021

I was watching Steve Johnson play Francis Tiafoe and Tiafoe was up two sets to none when I had to leave the match. When I came back later and looked at the results I was surprised to see that Johnson won 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1. It looks by the score that he won going away. Tiafoe was in complete control when I left. Amazing turnaround. I really, truly believe that someone should talk to Tiafoe about tennis and some of the tradition. He went out on the court looking like he was going to the gym. The way he walks and "trudges" around the court is not a good look. Some things matter...and some don't. It depends upon the person.

I read an article where he was pontificating on culture and "race" the other day. Tennis is a culture too. A rich and storied history of culture. I know that he doesn't mean to be disrespectful...but the look is not one of respect for the game. Alexander Zverev is another who is "guilty" of an atrocious look.

[stroke]

Karatsev's brutal game on display winning 1st set. He has such a strong build physically. He reminds me somewhat of Dimitri Tursunov in that respect.

[stroke]

https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/the-pick-jenson-brooksby-vs-aslan-karatsev-roland-garros-first-round

[stroke]

Roger looked great on clay. His opponent as you say could not have been hand picked any better. Roger is a great clay court player, for many years, the 2nd best clay court player in the world. Who knows how many FO's he could have won if Nadal were not around? His match vs Nadal in 2019 was Nadal's toughest match that FO. All that being said, as great as he is, it is hard to be optimistic about his chances of advancing deep into this tournament.

[don_budge]

Another Day of Foreplay...at Roland Garros in Gay Paris

Quite an exciting day of foreplay if I do say so. That match between Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Jannik Sinner was most entertaining. I left for the golf club just as Herbert took the third set in a tie-break. He was most fortunate to take that set too. He served for it twice and failed. Serving for the set or the match or the championship can take on the eeriness of the twilight zone. Twilight being that moment that separates the day from the night. Paris is nearly there this evening. But everything changes in the mood of a match at that point. There is really nothing quite like it.

When serving for the set it often becomes a supreme test of nerves. Pierre-Hugues flirted with disaster in the third set when he failed to close out Sinner twice. Although Sinner finally did succumb in the set it seemed to invigorate him. He wasn't at his best but he hung in there and showed good nerves. Herbert showed some nerves as he nearly had the cat in the bag. But horse just didn't want to go in the barn for him. It kicked and rebelled. That happens you know. Although my horses always seem to be so happy to go in their boxes. Maybe it is the little chocolate I put on their pillows every night. Tonight they stay out in the fields in the Swedish summer night.

I understand Roger Federer electrified the crowd once more. The perfect sacrifice was served up to him in Denis Istomin. Roger is now umpteen and zero head to head against Denis. But it was a great opponent for Roger to get some rhythm against. To get the feel of the court. I don't miss many Federer matches. That repost of the 2019 Miami Open got me to thinking just how much I have written about nearly every single match he has played in the past ten years. What a pleasure it has been. Watching the Swiss Maestro. Being Roger Federer. Trying to get into his head and understand how he works. Yeah...it has been fun.

So yada...yada...yada. Yawn. I'm tired. No sleep. The sun in Sweden is coming up at four in the morning. It is getting light out around three as far as I can tell. It's tough to sleep. My wife hasn't been feeling well these past few weeks. It started a week after her COVID vaccine. I told her that I would have done everything short of physically restraining her from taking it. I certainly won't be. And I won't be catching any virus either. Unless it isn't really a virus and it's a bioweapon that can be directed at somebodies discretion. Who knows these days? The ordinary man doesn't have a clue as to what the reality of things are. It's like a "Truman Show" if you ask me. Even tennis somehow feels surreal. Compared to the history of the game. Naomi Osaka doesn't want to do interviews. I wonder if she could convince both Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal to take part in her boycott. Those two are poster children for mental illness in the sport of tennis if you ask me.

More foreplay tomorrow. It's a long fortnight. Best of five on clay. Not that the clay is all that different than the grass at Wimbledon. The grass is green and the clay is orange. I think that is the biggest difference. Tomorrow is another day. Golf tee time at 7:40 AM. First ones off. We should finish in three hours. Great way to start of the day. Walking the fairway. Taking some swings. Get happy...get sad. A lot like life come to think of it. Metaphors. Only metaphors.

Sleep good Roger. He's watching every step. He has purposely understated his presence here. He was in the semis in his last appearance I think. He had a legitimate shot at El Donkey. It may have been the windiest tennis match I had ever seen. It's great he is here. Even the foreplay has some climactic feel to it when he is around. Don't you think so?

[stroke]

Bash is looking very good up 2 sets. He could be a problem for anyone including Nadal when he is on, a lot like Karatsev.

[stroke]

Speaking of very tough 1st round matchups, Medvedev due up vs Bublik.

[stroke]

Herbert is a very good player. Really like his whole game, serve, movement, volley and hand skills, and very good ground strokes, particularly for a serve and volley player. I would say his movement and ground strokes are better that Pat Rafter, who he most reminds me of. Match is a toss up. Sinner stays cool and engaged all the time, and has the game to go with it.

[don_budge]

Herbert manages to hold on to his cool and win the set in a tie-break. Now an uphill battle for Sinner but he has the type of game to go in "lockdown" mode. Whether or not he does is sort of up to Hebert as well. He has to be aggressive now. He cannot afford to pussy foot around. He will have to continue to take it to Sinner. Hebert has been impressive with changing the tempo and maintaining pressure on his opponent. He goes from one handed slice backhand mode to the two handed. He has been aggressive with his forehand and he has made considerable forays to the net...which is in itself a revolutionary act. I like Hebert for all of these reasons, but I cannot say that I dislike Sinner. It would be interesting to see it go to the fifth and if that is the case I highly recommend that Hebert ends it in the fourth.

[don_budge]

If at first you don't succeed...try, try again. Herbert fortunately had two breaks of service in this third set. Let's see if he learned anything from his first failure to serve it out. Look...you get to this point and you can't pussy foot around. You have to be decisive and get it done.