It was another heartbreaking loss for Rafael Nadal – for the second year in a row he lost an epic five setter – last year to Fabio Fognini and last night to Lucas Pouille – Rafa still looks great and his fighting spirit hasn’t waned a fraction but there is a difference now – There is a difference because Nadal used to win these matches and in the last two or three years he is losing these battles – The difference in my opinion is that the other players are better now and they are getting better and better while Nadal is still the same player who is not improving anymore and compounding his troubles Rafa could be losing that quarter step or even half step to certain regions of the court – The younger players like Pouille and Thiem and Zverev are constantly improving while Rafa most likely hit his ceiling as a great player three or four years ago – But make no mistake about it: Rafa Nadal is one of the greatest champions in the history of SPORT and he showed it again last night by his tremendous performance and also the class he showed in defeat after by signing for the kids while exiting Ashe Stadium on the verge of tears – It was another devastating loss for Nadal who has worked so hard to get back into the form of being a major title contender but after this loss you have to wonder if he will ever get to major semi ever again —
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Andrew Miller · September 5, 2016 at 10:27 am
And Pouilles third straight five setter…
Dan markowitz · September 5, 2016 at 3:13 pm
Accentuates Jg’s point that this is an event where Challenger players are showing their skills. Chudinelli, a Challenger player, almost straight set Pouille. I disagree thigh that Nadal is playing at peak level. If he were he would’ve won this match and not missed those relatively easy forehands in fifth set breaker.
Andrew Miller · September 5, 2016 at 3:44 pm
Sunday’s results
Men’s 4th rd
Djokovic d. Edmund in 3. Still has the X factor
Tsonga d. Sock in 4. The better player won, period.
Pouille d. Nadal. Pouille was brilliant. Monfils next.
Monfils d. Baghdatis. Monfils can win the Open.
Women
Wozniaki d. Keys. Wozniaki is back!
Sevastova d. Konta. Keeps it going.
Vinci d. Tsurenko. Quarters again for Vinci!
Kerber d. Kvitova in a battle of olympic medalists.
Today’s matches
Williams Serena vs Shvedova. Will be tough.
Halep d. Suarez Navarro. Next up: hmmm
Radwanska vs. Konjuh
Pliskova d. Williams Venus 7-6 in third
Del Potro d. Thiem as Thiem retires. So much for nextnext
Marchenko has Wawrinka on the ropes…
Nishikori vs Karlovic. I’m pulling for the 37 year old!
Dimitrov vs Murray. Dimitrov has a shot. This could be 2014…
Andrew Miller · September 5, 2016 at 3:48 pm
Agree with Jg and Dan. First off, this isn’t Nadal’s level. But more importantly…POUILLE IS THE ONLY UNKNOWN QUANTITY IN THE MENS DRAW FROM HERE ON OUT! So much for the next next generation. I thought Zverev, Alex would make it to the quarters but right now it’s steady veterans and one 22 year old who’s playing gutsy tennis and Marchenko at 28. Everyone else has some serious tour time.
Maybe next next breaks out for real at the Australian. More likely the vets just below Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray get a sense that their last chance for glory is now and keep the gates shut to the new waves.
Jg · September 5, 2016 at 5:47 pm
It funny, at the qualifying I saw Chang at the net hitting volleys and kei was returning the volley and lobbing it, today against Dr Ivo he is doing that play ( Ivo almost double the height of Chang) but it’s working, Ivo has missed a bunch of overheads or it goes above his head
Scoop Malinowski · September 5, 2016 at 9:13 pm
Dan: Rafa has lost his aura and his self belief that he is the best – he can’t finish off these guy like he once did – and the other players know Rafa is vulnerable and beatable now – it’s all in the head –
Scoop Malinowski · September 5, 2016 at 9:17 pm
Saw marchenko finish off Dodig on the first night and he is playing like a wall – very steady and consistent – Stopped watching after Kyrgios was in control of the first but not shocked that Kyrgios began to struggle with marchenko at all – marchenko is playing the best tennis of his life and I presume kyrgios became stunned by how well marchenko was playing and fighting and baled out –
Scoop Malinowski · September 5, 2016 at 9:19 pm
Jg: Chang has a lot of experience with tall net rushers – Krajicek Goran etc – Chang has one of the best tennis minds out there – would be perfect for Sock if Kei opts to part ways with Chang as is the rumor –
Thomas Tung · September 6, 2016 at 2:49 am
IMO Sock seems to me too much like Mickey Mantle, in his attitude. Too relaxed when he should be hitting hard, poor work ethic/attitude, and so on. Mantle could get away with it within the confines of a team, but this is a brutal one-on-one sport where your weaknesses are quickly victimized (as per Jimmy Connors’ interview on Tennis Channel).
As for Monfils winning the Open? He would need, as a minimum, both Joker and Muzza out of the tournament. Gael’s true “great talent”, IMHO, is his ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. All his physical “talents” don’t mean a hoot when his head isn’t screwed on straight. I’ll take the “lesser physical talents” (yet infinitely greater mental toughness) of proven Slam winners any day of the week, thank you very much …
Doogie · September 6, 2016 at 7:36 am
The Olympics took a lot out of Nadal – physical and eso mentally.
Rafa can still play on a very high level but not for 20 tournaments because his style of play it too exhausting.
Imo he still has a shot to win French Open but NOT with his schedule before RG. Playing Monte Carlo, Rome, Barcelona and Madrid right before the grandslamm is way too much for Rafa and his body nowadays.
Scoop Malinowski · September 6, 2016 at 7:58 am
Well said TT – Sock is serious but he can be more serious and more obsessed with winning – he works hard but he’s not yet obsessed with winning a GS singles title – It has to be an obsession that takes over a player’s life imo –
Scoop Malinowski · September 6, 2016 at 7:58 am
Agree Doogie –
Dan Markowitz · September 6, 2016 at 8:33 am
How about Sock like Dimitrov just isn’t talented enough to win or come close to winning a slam? I mean how bad was Dimitrov last night? He just buries that backhand into the net. Sock has a very extreme way of playing the game, and it just doesn’t compute into big time winning.
Scoop Malinowski · September 6, 2016 at 9:44 am
Olympic mixed doubles gold, Olympic doubles bronze, Wimbledon doubles is big time winning. He just has to crank up the engine one more gear for singles. If he can do big things in doubles he can do big things in singles.
Andrew Miller · September 6, 2016 at 10:04 am
Dimitrov is no Ana Konjuh. What a performance last night in taking out Radwanska, one of the sport’s most clever players.
Yes, Dimitrov rolled over. An easy match for Murray playing against his friend and practice partner.
Sock’s doing well. Any time you get a career best result and then u.s. tennis fans talk about how inadequate you are you know you’ve made it in the sport.
Dan Markowitz · September 6, 2016 at 10:34 am
Your barometer for singles success by talking about doubles and mixed doubles success is absurd. By your measure, Bob Lutz and Pierre-Hughes Herbert should be slam winners along with Peter Fleming. It just doesn’t work that way. Doubles has nothing to do with singles success or Bob Bryan would’ve been a top 100 player and he wasn’t even though he tried at the beginning of his career.
Andrew Miller · September 6, 2016 at 11:00 am
Sock should take it as badge of honor that he’s now so roundly criticized. The guy reaches the 4th round of the US Open and knocks off both Fritz, the “future” of U.S. mens tennis, as well as Cilic, the Cincinatti Masters champ and former US Open champ – in straight sets. He’s the last U.S. man standing and in the rd of 16 at a slam that is widely considered the most “fair” by surface. He loses to Tsonga, the world #11 and no one’s chump.
And for this he gets…the treatment normally reserved for Kyrgios following his miserable behavior. That’s what passes for love these days from fans, as in: thanks for playing out of your mind and beating a guy we all thought would beat you like a drum, but you still suck.
A little context is in order. Sock made the final 16 and second week of the tournament. Higher ranked U.S. mens players like Isner and Johnson did not. Upstarts like Fritz and Tiafoe didn’t either. Wildcards didnt. Comeback players from the US like Baker didnt. NCAA champs like Mac Mac didnt. Donaldson, for all his heroics and his personal best third round, didnt either, young guy he is with the bright future (brighter perhaps than his more highly regarded peers).
He also bagged a few medals at the Olympics.
I’d say that’s a very good summer that sets him up well if he works on it. Tightens up a few things. Gets his movement down, his physical stamina side. Tightens up his placement. All of this is doable.
Andrew Miller · September 6, 2016 at 11:07 am
Yesterday’s results
men
Del Potro d. Thiem in walkover
Wawrinka d. Marchenko in 4.
Nishikori d. Karlovic in 3. Nishikori under radar.
Murray d. Dimitrov in 3 in an easy match. Looks unbeatable. Is beatable.
Today it’s Djokovic-Tsonga & Pouille-Monfils.
I’ll take Monfils out of this half of the draw.
women
Williams Serena d. Shvedova easily.
Halep d. Suarez Navarro. Go Simona!
Konjuh A d. Radwanska. I’m so impressed with Konjuh.
Pliskova Karo d. Williams Venus. Great match.
Today’s matches
Wozniaki vs. Sevastova & Vinci vs. Kerber.
Wozniaki may be thinking finals, but she should be thinking Sevastova. Can Vinci make the finals again? Not if Kerber has something to say….
Hartt · September 6, 2016 at 1:10 pm
I agree with Andrew’s comments about Sock. He is still relatively young by ATP standards. He has cut back on doubles, so he can concentrate more on singles. Yes, he has to make some improvements, especially his BH, but he can certainly do that.
He is unlikely to be a great player but he can be a very good one.
Thomas Tung · September 6, 2016 at 4:38 pm
Picking Monfils as the “winner” of Djokovic’s end of the draw? Hmm … ya know, The Joker is 12-0 against Gael, so my guess is that Gael wants to pick up a baGEL from his “boss” Novak 😉
Ok, on a more serious note, being French and hip, Monfils probably wants to go to that Manhattan restaurant “Bagatelle”. Of course, he will be footing the bill for “le grand Joker” who will have the last laugh, as always.
I can understand Querrey beating Joker because Sam doesn’t really play “up” enough against the top guys. Monfils, however, is a completely different proposition; a guy whose body and talent all-but-scream “Power Player”, but who, instead, STRONGLY wants to be a David Ferrer/Michael Chang/Lleyton Hewitt type, but lacking the tactical skills and never-say-die mentality of the three (we are not even going to bother putting in a certain Majorcan into the mix, as he upsets the apple cart). The result is a strange player on the court, who gets strange results, as if he is fighting himself mentally all the time.
Gael, for me, is as if some “mad scientist” decided that the “ideal tennis player” should be one who has the power shots, but want to permamently be a retriever. Huh? Said scientist must’ve never played competitive tennis …
Scoop Malinowski · September 6, 2016 at 8:50 pm
Djokovic had to walk on the court vs Qball with the mindset that it was a guaranteed win – Lamonf poses more of a threat and so Djokovic will be ready and at his best level possible to fend off what Lamonf throws at him – We are all waiting for Lamonf to erupt his volcano of his very best tennis which we all feel we haven’t seen yet –
Andrew Miller · September 6, 2016 at 11:50 pm
Djokovic gets another gift with Tsonga’s retirement. That’s THREE OF FIVE RETIRED MATCHES for Djokovic this tournament alone. This would be the weirdest slam victory of all if Djokovic gets it. I dont think he will, but it would be the oddest of all.
Scoop Malinowski · September 7, 2016 at 8:20 am
Wonder if Sharko has the stat for most no mases vs one player in a GS – This could be the new record-
Andrew Miller · September 7, 2016 at 12:15 pm
Interesting Wozniaki might retire soon (either really soon or relatively soon) according to a report up on nytimes. She didn’t deny it.
Scoop Malinowski · September 7, 2016 at 7:06 pm
I can’t see Wozniacki retiring as she loves to play tennis and she is young – I think she is just playing with the media as she loves the media attention – without being a player she loses her platform – The retirement issue is a good distraction for the media to talk about rather than the questions question questions about the pressure pressure pressure of trying to finally win her first major –
Andrew Miller · September 7, 2016 at 10:49 pm
Really? I thought players usually dont play around with the retirement talk. Maybe she is thinking about Sharpie and Azarenka both off tour for different reasons or Clijsters who is the recent model for media darling turned mom turned comeback player.
Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2016 at 8:59 am
I truly believe Caro and her father are using “retirement” as a smokescreen issue to get the media away from questions about the pressure of finally winning her first major – brilliant concept by team Wozniacki – Beijing Open just tweeted that Caro will be in main draw – she is not retiring any time soon –