2021 U. S. Open Tennis Championships...ATP 2000...New York, New York

[stroke]

But Stefano Tsitsipas must beat Adriano Mannarino first too. Mannarino was all set to take Roger Federer down when he was unfortunately injured at Wimbledon. Tsitsipas and Mannarino are 1-1 H2H.

No doubt. I have always liked Mannarino's game. So efficient. Seems to have all day on his groundstrokes.

[don_budge]

Anyone catch Alcaraz. He looked very good during the highlights. Took down the 26 seed Cameron Norrie in the first round. Looks explosive and can play all parts of the court. He is my sleeper. If he can keep it up in the second round, he would have to face Tsitsipas in the third round.

That will be a real test of where he is right now.

But Stefano Tsitsipas must beat Adriano Mannarino first too. Mannarino was all set to take Roger Federer down when he was unfortunately injured at Wimbledon. Tsitsipas and Mannarino are 1-1 H2H.

[stroke]

Anyone catch Alcaraz. He looked very good during the highlights. Took down the 26 seed Cameron Norrie in the first round. Looks explosive and can play all parts of the court. He is my sleeper. If he can keep it up in the second round, he would have to face Tsitsipas in the third round.

That will be a real test of where he is right now.

He looks like a guy to me that is a serious FO contender starting next year.

[arturohernandez]

Anyone catch Alcaraz. He looked very good during the highlights. Took down the 26 seed Cameron Norrie in the first round. Looks explosive and can play all parts of the court. He is my sleeper. If he can keep it up in the second round, he would have to face Tsitsipas in the third round.

That will be a real test of where he is right now.

[arturohernandez]

Stef gets through in 5 with a couple of extended breaks at the end of a couple of sets. Stef has definitely adopted a habit of doing this, much to the chagrin of his opponents and a lot of the fans. It will be interesting to see how this habit of his plays out long term. I see a new rule coming out in the near future addressing this new issue Stef has all on his own brought front and center.

Kind of like the 25 sec clock to stop from slowing the game down a ton. Yes, he is pushing the rules and I think we will get a Stef rule pretty soon. No random fouls under 2 mins.

Sorry, I seem to be mixing my sports up.

[arturohernandez]

Have to say I really enjoyed the RBA vs Nick match. RBA is a pro's pro. A real credit to the sport.

It is the Spanish approach to tennis. Hard work, great fundamentals and reliability. He is a pro's, pro. There are a lot of them here. They are not all on the ATP tour but they are all pros and take their jobs seriously.

I used to find him boring but have grown to admire Bautista Agut for taking what god gave him and getting 200% out of it.

[stroke]

Have to say I really enjoyed the RBA vs Nick match. RBA is a pro's pro. A real credit to the sport.

[stroke]

Stef gets through in 5 with a couple of extended breaks at the end of a couple of sets. Stef has definitely adopted a habit of doing this, much to the chagrin of his opponents and a lot of the fans. It will be interesting to see how this habit of his plays out long term. I see a new rule coming out in the near future addressing this new issue Stef has all on his own brought front and center.

[stroke]

Stef is in a real battle vs Murray. I sure did not see this one coming.

[arturohernandez]

Don Budge. That is a word as much as it is a name. A true icon. Perhaps the GOAT...if there ever was one. You had to know him to understand what a class individual he was. A hero even.

But that was when tennis was tennis. One should never use "Novak Djokovic" and Don Budge in the same sentence. Shame on Joel Drucker in an otherwise interesting remembrance of The Great One. The greatest tennis player I have ever met. Do you sense any reverence in my words? How was I so fortunate to be so close to such an epic character in the history of the game? Luck? Blessed?

Here is when tennis was tennis. A thread that I wrote along with a couple of assists from various forum contributors. A great thread in hindsight. A refresher course for any newbie to the game and sport of tennis. The classic era is coming to a close with the finest rivalry of all time. Two polar opposites. Read it and weep. Or don't. At least take a look at the tennis in the video. Compare it to these wannabes with their HUGE graphite racquets. John McEnroe graduated to the Dunlop Maxply Fort when the rest of the class was selling out to the Prince Graphite. John was a hero in a truly American sense. He has become a sellout too. It's inevitable.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/bulleti...-s-open-finals

Times change. Equipment changes. Technology does a number on us time and time again. Baseball suffered through multiple crises, including a WS champion that was banging on drums to transmit pitching signs. A steroid crises that took regularly shaped guys and made them all look like the Hulk.

But they never gave in to aluminum. Had tennis put some breaks on the rackets and strings. We would still have something resembling classic tennis. A contrast in styles and an all court game would still be around.

Baseball is still as exciting as ever. People still go watch the games.

Borg was playing the modern game back then. Standing way back and hitting with lots of topspin. There are plenty of Borgs today.

The McEnroe's are all gone. Destroyed by the wave of poly/graphite saturated tennis...

[don_budge]

Looks like Don Budge is the topic of discussion right before the US Open. See the second story from the top. No wonder he has such admiration for Djokovic. According to the story he is the pre-Djokovic or Djokovic is the next Budge.


https://www.tennis.com/news/articles...etter-with-age

Don Budge. That is a word as much as it is a name. A true icon. Perhaps the GOAT...if there ever was one. You had to know him to understand what a class individual he was. A hero even.

But that was when tennis was tennis. One should never use "Novak Djokovic" and Don Budge in the same sentence. Shame on Joel Drucker in an otherwise interesting remembrance of The Great One. The greatest tennis player I have ever met. Do you sense any reverence in my words? How was I so fortunate to be so close to such an epic character in the history of the game? Luck? Blessed?

Here is when tennis was tennis. A thread that I wrote along with a couple of assists from various forum contributors. A great thread in hindsight. A refresher course for any newbie to the game and sport of tennis. The classic era is coming to a close with the finest rivalry of all time. Two polar opposites. Read it and weep. Or don't. At least take a look at the tennis in the video. Compare it to these wannabes with their HUGE graphite racquets. John McEnroe graduated to the Dunlop Maxply Fort when the rest of the class was selling out to the Prince Graphite. John was a hero in a truly American sense. He has become a sellout too. It's inevitable.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/forum/tennisplayer/2805-john-mcenroe-versus-bjorn-borg-1980-u-s-open-finals

[arturohernandez]

Looks like Don Budge is the topic of discussion right before the US Open. See the second story from the top. No wonder he has such admiration for Djokovic. According to the story he is the pre-Djokovic or Djokovic is the next Budge.

https://www.tennis.com/news/articles/like-a-fine-gluten-free-wine-novak-djokovic-seems-to-only-get-better-with-age

[arturohernandez]

Yes, that Alcaraz vs Ymer semi was weird. Alcaraz was absolutely cruising, serving for the first set at 5-4, but inexplicably fell apart. Up until that point he had been totally sound on his own serve and was dominating Ymer's second serve. All of a sudden he couldn't serve and couldn't hit a forehand. I was watching a replay on Amazon, where you can tell from the length of the recording if it's going to be straight sets or not, so I knew the winner of the first set won the match, but even as Alcaraz stood at set point down I thought he should snap out of it and win the match. But he didn't.

I always wonder about these tune up tournaments right before a major. Match practice is good and all but I remember a few years where the winner of the tuneup would lose in the first round of the major.

I am not saying he tanked but the motivation is lower if in your mind you think the US Open is the real goal. Winning Winston Salem is worth something.

But in Alacaraz's mind winning three or four rounds at the US Open is probably worth more.

Just saying...

[glacierguy]

Yes, that Alcaraz vs Ymer semi was weird. Alcaraz was absolutely cruising, serving for the first set at 5-4, but inexplicably fell apart. Up until that point he had been totally sound on his own serve and was dominating Ymer's second serve. All of a sudden he couldn't serve and couldn't hit a forehand. I was watching a replay on Amazon, where you can tell from the length of the recording if it's going to be straight sets or not, so I knew the winner of the first set won the match, but even as Alcaraz stood at set point down I thought he should snap out of it and win the match. But he didn't.

[don_budge]

Meanwhile...back at the ranch. Mikael Ymer...the younger of two Ymer brothers, is into the finals of the Winston-Salem event. He has beaten Stefano Travaglia (ranked #100), Max Purcell (ranked #205), Francis Tiafoe (ranked #50) and up and coming Carlos Alcaraz (ranked #51). He will meet Ilya Ivashka (ranked #63) in the finals. Mikael is the first Swede to make the finals of an ATP event in ten years. Not since Robin S?derling ten years ago has a Swede made the final round.