Federer Falls To Tsitsipas At Nitto Finals

Still think Tsitsipas isn’t “there” yet. But another way of looking at this is: look around, no big three guy in next round. It’s not a slam, but not nothing either. And Tsitsipas showed he can play a few tough matches in a row. Hasn’t shown the Wilander die on court approach yet. Maybe he has it in him. I still believe big three guys are plotting to own all slams next year. But maybe Tsitsipas is making good on the challenge he issued to all next gen to seize the slams from the big guys.

I am a little surprised that Roger would sound so classless in that comment. Granted his return game was horrible but it isn’t right to say that about a guy like Tsitsipas who will definitely win Slams.

Great week of tennis. Amazing that possibly the best match – Nadal’s comeback over Medvedev – featured 2 players who didn’t qualify for the semis. I was impressed with Rafa’s comments about staying calm when the chips are down and not breaking rackets – clowns like Kyrgios or Sock could learn a thing or two from that but they are too arrogant to do so.

Having said that, it looks like the Big 3 should see their stranglehold on Slams end in 2020. Tsitsipas and Thiem both own Fed and they have yet to gain the upper hand on Nadal but are gaining fast. I suspect next year Thiem will approach his US Open prep much differently rather than prioritize Kitzbuhel since he wanted to win at home; he can win the US Open for sure the way he plays on hardcourts.

We have already seen rivalries develop between Medvedev and Tsitsipas and the way Thiem dominates Zverev. These will be the next great tennis rivalries on the men’s side. And now we have Davis Cup to look forward to as well so tennis is looking even stronger.

Would love the Ymers to make runs. I don’t believe Tsitsipas is the future. Maybe he will make a Del Potro slam run. But only if his sneakers stay on.

Actually maybe Jeff has a point here. The next generation of players is in seat and they aren’t going away any time soon. I’m so used to the big three, big four dominating, even as Medvedev came within twelve points of changing that narrative at the US Open.

It’s probably I’m not used to seeing the ATP with the big four NOT winning every slam in sight. The WTA has given us a preview of this, where it has many champions rather than just a few as in the past, when it was Serena, Henin, and Sharpie etc or Serena, Clijsters, and someone else etc.

That tennis era, where tennis on the men’s side becomes unpredictable, is coming back – maybe in three months, maybe in a year. Maybe within the next eight slams. Nadal, Djokovic, Federer will get as much analytics and training and rigorous Ironman practice as possible, but the next generation of champions won’t be denied forever. It could be a hip injury or something else that opens the door.

My confusion or stubbornness comes from not remembering what more “normal” ATP tennis was like. Masters were always competitive and prestigious, but slams were also more competitive. The French Open didn’t have one dominant player for fourteen years who let few others by.

That era is coming back, where champions make more errors, where slam champs can’t be predicted very well.

Never been a Fed fan. He has always come off as snobby to me. In fact his entire family comes off as entitled and snobby. He shows up in his private plane and plays guys in the early rounds who fly coach and stay in shabby hotels. Sorry, everything about him turns me off personally, despite his huge talent.

Federer to me has been a great statesman. He’s also been a ferocious competitor forever. It’s hard to know where one part of his personality begins and another ends. The Federer comments that were somewhat demeaning of Tsitsipas are Federer pride speaking 🙂 He doesn’t like losing and probably didn’t do his homework on Tsitsipas this time. Federer is angry with himself.

Not sure how to express this otherwise. Federer is the same as as Connors was when Connors made his epic run to US Open semifinals and then began doing Nuprin commercials aka Advil type pain reliever commercials. Connors wasn’t thrilled to lose to Courier or Lendl at an older age either. That too was the competitor in him talking.

At some level gotta appreciate it. Some sports writer Kamakshi Tandon I think who may be from Canada wrote that Federer’s opponents are now often closer to the age of his kids than they are in age to Federer. Federer’s almost twice as old as Tsitsipas (not quite but the numbers aren’t that far from this).

If we didn’t see the grumpy side of Federer then he’d be a nice guy with no slams. Nadal isn’t always charitable either (dislikes Kyrgios, often less praising of next generation of players other than Medvedev for making him feel scared out there!).

The big three let’s face it have more desire than hundreds of competitors combined. They have a childlike desire for slams. For trophies. When they win it’s a whole other level of happiness.

Look no further than Andreescu. “It’s Pliskova!” comment – that’s how players sometimes see each other. Federer’s like “man that Tsitsipas serve is like a gift to the returner, why can’t I win more on his serve? If only…”

Let’s see where we are at end of Australian. Tsitsipas will have to at least match his effort from last year’s Australian to make some noise.

Whatever it is don’t feel sorry for the big three. Their remarkable careers are worthy of at least a hundred books. Their place is the game is solid. They have won enough slams even if they can never win enough slams to satisfy them as they look at each other hungry for more.

Soon the hunger won’t be enough. And that’s ok. They’ve been the greatest champions in history.

Of course these guys aren’t looking forward to retirement. Fed has said clearly that he loves everything about tennis, even practice sessions.

But I imagine they will have plenty to occupy themselves once they retire, even if they won’t have the enjoyment of winning big tourneys. Fed may become even more involved with his foundation, with the Laver Cup, etc. And a family of four kids should keep him busy.

All timers age at their last point of relevance

Borg 26
Wilander 24
Mac 25( no Slams after 84)

Feds freaking 38, still relevant, has a bad at the office , loses his mind for a minute and all the douchey statements come out.

He didn’t spit at anybody( Rios)
He didn’t play the race card in a heated moment( Baby Hewitt)
He didn’t “ moon” anybody( Safin)
He didn’t curse his family or coach( Murray, Tsitsipas, Kyrgios, Zverev)
I wish the internet would have been born 20 years earlier.. Mac/Lendl would have been fun, although after 84, it was all Lendl

Do I like Fed? Yes.. do I respect his competition YES… do I think he’s arrogant? Don’t know him to judge. Is he arrogant because that twit Anna Wintour is a groupie?

Look at how phony all this outside BS is. Tiger Woods used to sit in Fed’s box, even if he played Nike other top shill Nadal, Fed left Nike, he moved right into the next top Nike shills box, Nadal

His advantage is he can fly in Tuesday to the next tournament, and practice, not have to play 3 Qualies matches to survive. But that’s earned, The guys he’s playing in the first rounds can’t afford to have kids, let alone travel with 4.

Ever watch Golf? 75% of the players have Netjet or some other private jet deal.

Second hand, a good friend, ran into Fed’s parents at an Airport lounge and said they were so nice it was scary. Same flight, two top Easter European Doubles players were on it, and acted like dicks.

His kids are arrogant? What are they 8? That beats your previous jealous indictment.

Being a tennis parent that can’t afford top coaching or travel must suck, I hope for your kids sake they retain some balance, and don’t become as freaking bitter as you

Feds 38, it’s about time the next superstars of the game start beating him.

The big 3 are gonna have days in middle of the tournament where they come out “ flat” can’t get to the next gear.. Djoker seemed flat against Fed, Fed seemed flat yesterday, his footwork was off, missed 2 overheads in the same service game..Its gonna happen more, and more to the big 3 as they age..

Dan 8 years ago buried Fed at 30. Before he had his spoiled kids. 8 years later he’s still 3 in the world, holding off guys 14-17 years his junior. Fed said he was surprised he’s still getting to the year end the last few years. Pooh, he’s so arrogant, think that’s more of an indictment of the competition

Making Jon commissioner of Junior tennis

Group 1 Kids that don’t have private coaching, dad feeding balls in
public parks. Drinking out of water fountain

Group 2 Academy kids with private coaching, sponsors, change rackets every 9 games

Is that a riddle?

Fed taking EVERY match seriously a good thing or bad thing? That his wife, a former player, lives and dies with every match, a good thing or bad thing? That his kids that don’t like to see their father lose, a bad thing? In an era where guys that never won anything big, tank, retire during matches they’re losing because their snowflake egos can’t deal with it, you’re killing a guy that could have walked away the day after he broke Sampras’s GS record, but has gone through surgeries, raising a family, involved in Charities all over the world, still out there, loving the game, the competition, because he said a second serve he missed returning on a big point wasn’t much. Too funny, or sad, haven’t figured out which one yet.

I go on tennis sites to read about tennis, thinking the other people on the site love tennis the way I do. Sad to see people just go on sites to rip people they don’t know. Judge their character, family, from a distance..raising a future tennis player must be hard, trying to rip someone who has reached the highest level ever with petty bullshit observations not firsthand is sad.

On another Fed subject: is Mary Joe Fernandez really not allowed to sit next to her hubby at Fed matches because she works for ESPN? She rarely does mens matches. Quite the supposed conflict of interest. Maybe she’s not in London, I’m talking about when their in the same city

I get where Jon King is coming from but also if anyone had that kind of money and they weren’t like Gulbis they’d probably use those advantages. Federer said himself he doesn’t want on court coaching because it would help Federer!!! He also is nostalgic for best of five set finals at best of three set tournaments so players get used to high stakes matches before slams.

I hear a lot less grumpiness from Federer than some other players upset there aren’t more clay tournaments (we know who that is!!!).

I’ll take grumpy Fed over many options. I’m not a Federer flag waver but I appreciate his complexity.

I think he has a spoiled side but not sure who he’d be without the teenage interest in getting more and more and more titles. He’d be nice guy Tipsarevic, who I like a lot!!!

Why do you like Tipsarevic?

I like Tipsy was underestimated, but had a substantial game. I thought his Roddick upset when Roddick entered “where’s Andy’s Mojo” period in 2004, was a fine match. I like how he talks about the game, how improvement works.

Somehow I became a Tipsy fan. I had wanted Roddick to win that match in 2004 but couldn’t deny that Tipsy was doing everything he had to to win!

And that he wore the shades/wrap around glasses. How many players have vision issues? Can’t imagine everyone on tour is 20/20. Few play like Navratilova with the glasses but Tipsy did.

BJK played with glasses her whole career. She has terrible sight. Martina took to them later.

And Naomi and Bianca have started sporting glasses in press conferences but not on court. Is it so they can get a better view of the hacks ? Do they wear contact lenses when playing ?

Zverev wears glasses sometimes.

Andrew – can’t play top seeds on outside courts for safety reasons. Players who moan every year about ‘favouritism’ at Wimbledon should bear this in mind.

Harold it’s totally random how I become a fan of a player. I was hoping Kuznetsova would do well in Moscow as her game reminds me of Agassi, who I grew to appreciate with his 1999 French win and comeback from the despair. Kuznetsova Dre Muchova and suddenly I thought wow this Muchova is something else with her court knowledge and shot selection, so became a Muchova fan this year.

Tipsy probably with the Roddick 2005 Where’s Andy’s Mojo match. I got the year wrong, it was 2005. So great performances. If a player does something like Nishikori did in his final in Delray against Blake I think in 2008 that catches my eye and then I watch and see what I think. Sometimes seeing a player up close like Rios, Kafelnikov, couldn’t deny how good they were and appreciated their court knowledge, how they won.

Totally random.

I don’t like Zverev much. I like Shapovalov a lot but still wonder if he has a killer instinct in him. Can’t tell.

I liked Bouchard when I saw her play, met Serena Williams and she was great in person, and liked how she didn’t play around in the early 2000s when going for big titles,just ferocious on court.

Yeah. Totally random.

Hartt,

My point was about shot spot.. only Scoop thinks Fed should get sent out to Court 13, while Kozlov/Escobedo play on Center Court😀

Would be foolish not to put the top guys on the top courts. That is who people pay to see. At the end of the day, the rankings system is fair so if you want those slots, win tournaments and get enough points to earn it.

As a fan on my end the job is easy: watch new players. I’ve started this year, though glad to see guys like Shapovalov making progress. Even like Medvedev though I consider him a total jerk on court.

Admit I like Julia Goerges for more than her tennis, she strikes me as a good looking girl. I was a Kirilenko fan but mostly because I thought man that is a good looking player. Ah the shallowness within.

Muchova I like for her tennis. Always like seeing Giorgi bash a ball but not right to her opponent (as if she’s coming in for some friendly volley practice!).

Ah the lovely Julia – there’ll be much weeping and wailing among her fans when she finally retires. She also seems a very nice person. Myself, it’s the serve and the forehand that I tune in to watch.

I like players who aren’t straightforward. They give you something to write about. I liked McEnroe believe it or not. The times you didn’t want to throw something at him. In the remote past I liked Billie Jean for her beautiful s/v. I suppose I like Kerber because I find her unfathomable.

That was a close, entertaining match. I was rooting for Dominic, but I like both players. In fact, both are treats-eligible, so I have my eye on some spanokopita for the treat. 🙂

Was joking, hence the smiley 😊 at the end

Tsitsipas’s second serve needs work.