re: Tennis 2020 -- The Unofficial Non-GS Thread

Djoker bageled him in the breaker.

Osaka withdraws with a pulled hammy. Djokovic and Raonic up at 1:00 eastern.

Did the court seem any slower?

Gizmo's boy benny out with a bad case of the covid.

Do we think Tennys can take out the barista?

Yes, but RBA us a tough customer and playing well. You have to hope he is tired from last week.

Upcoming ATP Calendar:

September 9-13: Generali Open -- 250 level
September 14-21: Rome -- Masters 1000
September 21-27: Hamburg -- 500 level
Sept 27 - Oct. 11: Roland Garros -- Major

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I can't wait for bayoucracka's comments.

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Carrying this over because it’s mostly general thoughts.

Regarding the actual match, I have nothing to add. It was a shitshow and a letdown. Thiem never could find his serve and it seemed to throw off the rest of his game, and Zverev was basically Zverev when things mattered.

Happy to cash my 20/1 and 10/1 futures, but I hedged more than I’d like to admit, and the win didn’t even feel deserved in the end.

One thing that stood out to me in the trophy presentation was when Alex said, “I wish you would have missed a few more shots so I could be holding the trophy.”

It’s the perfect quote to give you insight into his mindset... hoping for misses from his opponent instead of trying to go after the title. You think you would ever hear that kind of garbage from the big 3?

At the same time (and I never thought I would say this), I was much more impressed with Zverev than Thiem, aside from the obvious choking. He showed a level that I hadn’t seen before for about a set and a half, and then parts of the 3rd and 5th.

He was actually flattening out forehands, playing aggressively, and crushing winners (9 more than Thiem). He came to net 66 times compared to Thiem’s 31. He was one of the worst volleyers on tour in previous years, but seems to have fixed that.

When you combine this with his other skills:
- Rock solid backhand (top 5 in ATP, some say the best)
- Huge serve when there’s no pressure (top 10 for sure)
- Incredible range, movement, and defense for a 6’6 guy
- Seemingly endless stamina. Never seen him tired.

With guys like Kyrgios you can’t really fix them if they don’t want to be fixed. With Zverev I think there’s hope. He seems to want it, and it appears that today took a lot out of him. That’s definitely a good sign.

Yes the tourney sucked, especially without fans, and the Novak thing put another huge damper on it. But, like someone mentioned, we got to see what it’s like for mortals (non big-3) to battle nerves and contest a title. The experience should help both of them going forward.

And finally this time the tourney thread did not end with a 10-page GOAT debate, which turned out to be my favorite thing about this final.

I checked Talk Tennis this morning and they were merciless. Called them mugs and chokers.

I agree that Alex played a smart match. You have to make Thiem pay for playing that far back in the court. He came in and was volleying well. Alex has to shore up the DFs. I was going to say early in the fifth that you can't win a major by throwing in one DF per game. But, he almost did it.

I can't explain Thiem's performance early on other than I think he was not comfortable being the favorite and may have been a little drained from the semi. I know it was only three sets, but he had to fight like crazy to win the last two. Anyway, hopefully he can get his legs back for Paris.

Also, I did not have a problem with them completely drained and stumbling around at the end. That is how you are supposed to look after four hours. Djokovic and Nadal are where they are in part because they are freaks of endurance.

Oh, that’s better then. My bad.