*** Official Tennis Thread Pt. 2****

[iabs]

The R/P is composed by 4-5 leftists shills posting anti-Trump fake news 24/7 and the rest of the website engaging them in meaningless arguments because no one will change anyone’s opinion. Reason why besides the occasional opinion post, I’ve mostly given up posting about politics there.

[ohiostate124]

Wait for it...

It's your old buddy Camalama (Banned).

Holy fuk. Lmao.

[Trudope]

Just wanted to give my thoughts: Rafa was robbed at Wimbledon because of their terrible rules of no 5th set tiebreak. He def would have won that much if it was played on the same day. Also wtf at leaving the roof closed the next day lol.

US Open: Rafa had a difficult US Open draw so I'm happy that he ended up where he did. Too bad he couldn't be 100% healthy vs Del Potro because he would have given Novak a match at least.

I don't really care if Rafa finishes the year #1, I just want him to catch or surprass Federer in slams. Also winning the year end finals would be nice but lets face it, it probably isn't going to happen. Bias organizers won't ever play it on clay or even a slow HC.

Mods rarely overturn another mod's ban. Might be better to talk to the admin and say you'd like another chance and promise you'll never post in R&P again which is bad for your health anyway. Look at the sh*t we give each other in here. See if I've ever negged anyone. So it's a fact you're safer in here.

I will just post here, cant' be asked to argue with people over politics anymore.

Holy fuk. Lmao.

Relax bro.

[Dominik]

Just wanted to give my thoughts: Rafa was robbed at Wimbledon because of their terrible rules of no 5th set tiebreak. He def would have won that much if it was played on the same day. Also wtf at leaving the roof closed the next day lol.

US Open: Rafa had a difficult US Open draw so I'm happy that he ended up where he did. Too bad he couldn't be 100% healthy vs Del Potro because he would have given Novak a match at least.

I don't really care if Rafa finishes the year #1, I just want him to catch or surprass Federer in slams. Also winning the year end finals would be nice but lets face it, it probably isn't going to happen. Bias organizers won't ever play it on clay or even a slow HC.

Serve aside I thought Rafa was the better player for most of the match but you cant deny Novak came up clutch.

The roof was always going to remain closed because the rules state once the roof is closed the match has to be completed before it can be opened again. I understand the saltiness over the roof but complaining about no 5th set TB is a stretch. 5th set TB in 2008 and Nadal probably loses that match. You win some you lose some.

I'd be very surprised if he catches him from here. AO unlikely since it's his worst slam so he'd need to win 3 slams at 33+. Would be incredible if he does pull it off. In the meantime with a strong end to the year he could take care of some unfinished business. Defend a title off clay (Beijing). Win his first ATP Finals. 5th YE#1. There's a lot to play for.

[nvrstopworking]

3 more slams would probably = 2 more FO titles and maybe 1 more on HC.

Possible but very unlikely with Joker back in form.

[Dominik]

[ohiostate124]

Fed switching to an all red RF97 for the Laver Cup? It may just be a special edition but he definitely should have gone with this paintjob instead of the black/white one.

[nvrstopworking]

How the hell did Sock and Edmund make those teams? Lol...

[Tuga88]

Hhmm, will we get a Novak and Fed love affair this year?

[euron]

I don't mind Edmund too much. Sock you could justify as putting him in as a doubles specialist srs.

Dimitrov is the one that baffles me, dude has been awful in 2018. He's going down the drain when he fails to defend any of his points from the WTF.

[Jayarbie]

Go Franky! Shut out in the 1st set tb. U-S-A U-S-A, LOL.

[Dominik]

Austria beat Australia. de Minaur had to face Thiem on his favorite surface going down in 4.

Surreal seeing Lleyton Hewitt 20 years on still playing Davis Cup in the only match they won (doubles). Kyrgios was a no-show.

[ohiostate124]

That’s awesome. I’d love to see older players who can’t quite do it in singles anymore stick around to play doubles.

[Dominik]

That’s awesome. I’d love to see older players who can’t quite do it in singles anymore stick around to play doubles.

Agreed. His contributions to Davis Cup are legendary.

One of his finest moments was in Brazil on clay in Kuerten's hometown of Florianopolis, aged 20. He won both his singles matches and the doubles with Rafter without dropping a set.

To put that in perspective Kuerten was ranked #1 and won his 3rd French Open a couple of months later. You can imagine what the crowd was like seeing the great Gustavo Kuerten straight setted on clay by a fist pumping Aussie with his cap on backwards.

[Dominik]

Another unforgettable moment.

Important viewing if you follow Federer because it was the loss to turned him into a machine. Watch the over the top celebration and then the handshake. Hewitt was leading the H2H 7-2 after that win... and then lost 15 in a row.

2:00

[euron]

The Shapo comeback vs Haase was also pretty good on friday. Lost the first 2 hitting unforced errors all over the place, then won the 3rd set tiebreak and two more tight sets.

[nvrstopworking]

Another unforgettable moment.

Important viewing if you follow Federer because it was the loss to turned him into a machine. Watch the over the top celebration and then the handshake. Hewitt was leading the H2H 7-2 after that win... and then lost 15 in a row.

2:00

The funny thing is that the pundits will point to the first few years that Fed won slams and say “oh well he never really played anyone good”.... while forgetting about guys like Hewitt and Roddick who were #1s and had very, very good careers. Both of those guys could have won about a half dozen slams each if Roger didn’t make it his mission to squash their dreams.

[Dominik]

The funny thing is that the pundits will point to the first few years that Fed won slams and say “oh well he never really played anyone good”.... while forgetting about guys like Hewitt and Roddick who were #1s and had very, very good careers. Both of those guys could have won about a half dozen slams each if Roger didn’t make it his mission to squash their dreams.

Good point and Murray is the most recent example to drive home this point. It would be easy to casually dismiss him with 3 slams and think he wasn't a great player however coming into his prime now he'd be cleaning up.

He faced Djokovic and Federer in 11 slam finals and lost 9 of them. 24 slam meetings against the Big 3 and 19 losses. Djokovic was the biggest roadblock (2-8) and a lot of those matches were tight 4 setters with a decisive TB or tough 5 setters. His game matched up well but aside from a couple of years with Lendl he would crack under pressure. Also had a stretch from 2006-2009 where he went 6-2 against prime Federer.

[nvrstopworking]

Him beating Fed for the gold in London at the Olympics pissed me off to no end. Thought that was finally gonna be the time. Hard to believe that Fed hasn’t managed to get that one.

[Dominik]

Him beating Fed for the gold in London at the Olympics pissed me off to no end. Thought that was finally gonna be the time. Hard to believe that Fed hasn’t managed to get that one.

Big Delpo the spoiler again. A lot of people forget how many big results he's influenced and helped Murray out 3 times.

2009 US Open final could have been the first with Fedal. Beat Nadal 2-2-2 in the semis.

2012 Olympics SF. Federer was out there for 4h30 the day before the final. Advantage Murray.

2013 Wimbledon SF. Del Potro pushing Djokovic for 5 hours helped Murray in the final. Advantage Murray again.

2016 Olympics. Helped Murray's cause again by taking both Djokovic and Nadal out and then turning up in the final gassed himself. Helped Murray collect his 2nd gold medal.

2018 Wimbledon QF. 5 hours of brutal tennis with Nadal in the match of the tournament. Definitely helped Novak's cause against Rafa in the semis which was another long match.

[nvrstopworking]

“Big spoiler” is out of Laver Cup. Says he needs more rest. Team World is getting smoked again.

[Dominik]

“Big spoiler” is out of Laver Cup. Says he needs more rest. Team World is getting smoked again.

Bailed last year too. Tiafoe is his replacement.

With more notice maybe they could have asked Nishikori. I think Raonic played Davis Cup last weekend but I guess he was another possibility. Surely Federer wouldn't be keen on him bailing a 3rd time in 2019 so he'll find someone who actually wants to be there.

[nvrstopworking]

Bailed last year too. Tiafoe is his replacement.

With more notice maybe they could have asked Nishikori. I think Raonic played Davis Cup last weekend but I guess he was another possibility. Surely Federer wouldn't be keen on him bailing a 3rd time in 2019 so he'll find someone who actually wants to be there.

Nishi would have been a good call. He’s been playing much better tennis lately.

[Trudope]

Lol may was well pull Sampras out of retirement because the World team is a joke.

[ohiostate124]

Looks like he’s going red.

[Dominik]

Nadal has pulled out of Beijing and Shanghai.

"While the annoyances on my knee are nothing new, we have decided together with my medical and technical team, not to participate in the Asian tour to recover the knee the way we have always done."

[ohiostate124]

Novak is definitely getting year end #1.

[Dominik]

Novak is definitely getting year end #1.

Still hard to believe how quickly he went from freefall to being almost a lock for YE#1. None of our business but you've got to wonder how much of this had to do with his personal life as opposed to injury. Even McEnroe compared him to Tiger Woods. Yeah he actually went there. For McEnroe to publicly make that comment and then Djokovic casually brush it off with "I really don't take anything personal" suggests there was some serious turbulence behind the scenes.

After the Cecchinato loss he looked shattered and contemplated skipping Wimbledon. Since then +2 slams, Cincy to complete the full set, back to beating Nadal and Federer like old times, and in the driver's seat for YE#1. Incredible.

[Trudope]

Glad Nadal is skipping those tournaments as his health should be his #1 priority right now. The tournament I want him to win the most is the Aussie Open and he's completed a GS victory lap.

2 more French Opens is easily doable as well given that there is still nobody that can challenge him outside of Novak.

Federer has 1, maybe 2, GS left in him. Aus and Wimbledon 19 are his best chances. I think he plays 2 years tops.

Question is how many can Novak win. He is 31 with 14 GS. I can see him pulling in ~19 (3 next year and maybe another 2 his remaining years). You never know though, doesn't seem to be anybody coming up that is a real threat.

If I were to guess the final tallies:

Federer 21
Nadal 20
Djokovic 19

[iabs]

Nadal is wising up...finally.

At the end of their careers the main and first talking point will be # if slams and slam performances.

He should tailor his season around being physically optimal to compete for the slams. He has won it all despite being riddled with injuries. Withdrawing from 2 slams in the same year due to injury despite looking like a favorite must hurt a lot.