Talk About Tennis 2.0

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 2:56 pm I think it will be much closer than that, BUT beating Djokovic at his favorite Slam is a very tough proposition. Not impossible (see Wawrinka), but very hard indeed...

AND, Carlos beat Novak at the Wimbledon final. I mean....and here we go again....Novak HAS to eventually drop down a level.

Agree, but will it be this week?

We have been saying that Novak has to drop a level a little sorter than all the years we said Rafa's knees would give out.
Has he shown any signs of dropping that level, recently? I say no. And, let's be honest, this generation is scared of the guy.

Aryna: sorry Megan, but what demons? She has had a wonderful career, she is a player that seems to bounce from loses with no consequences. Demons is too strong a designation. She is not the dominant player of her time because no-one is, but she simply is a damn good striker of the ball.
Her DF's were not demons. It was a technical issue, and it was corrected. She plays well, she competes, she can stay with everybody on any surface.
She is the favorite in that semi. Will she win, that is a different story.
(Notice how nobody here is willing to bet their dog's kennel on that result, much less the house )

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 6:43 pm We have been saying that Novak has to drop a level a little sorter than all the years we said Rafa's knees would give out.
Has he shown any signs of dropping that level, recently? I say no. And, let's be honest, this generation is scared of the guy.

Aryna: sorry Megan, but what demons? She has had a wonderful career, she is a player that seems to bounce from loses with no consequences. Demons is too strong a designation. She is not the dominant player of her time because no-one is, but she simply is a damn good striker of the ball.
Her DF's were not demons. It was a technical issue, and it was corrected. She plays well, she competes, she can stay with everybody on any surface.
She is the favorite in that semi. Will she win, that is a different story.
(Notice how nobody here is willing to bet their dog's kennel on that result, much less the house )

I think her serving yips a couple years ago were partly mental, not just technical, as was losing a few tight Slam semis, esp the Leylah semi at the US Open. I don't know if she has confirmed that word or not. Top journalists have described it as demons, so I gave the notion some credibility. It certainly appears on court that she has demons. But this is an example of the limits of our knowledge - we're always making a leap to some extent because we are far from the circle of truth. Even the media sources we trust sometimes are. It's the best we can do!

It's a good point that the whole "demons" narrative might be a media/fan concotion, but at least that much is true, and what I'm really talking about is how people regard her.

I'll bet the dog's kennel that she will beat Gauff. Maybe the house, too, if I was feeling frisky. But as always, we don't know, and it also wont' surprise me if Gauff rises to the occasion and Sabalenka's level drop a bit for one of many reasons, mental or otherwise. It would never be surprising for the NO. 4 seed to beat the No. 2 seed, esp after she just did in the last Slam final.

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Jan 23, 2024 5:43 pm I think most of us will agree that Sabakenka is a strong favorite. Would we completely rule out Gauff? No...

As for Djokovic vs Sinner I'd really like it to be Sinner. Do I believe it will be? No...

Of course we don't rule out Gauff, esp with Brad helping her strategize and prepare and coach during the match. He is obviously an asset. But she will have to play a lot better tomorrow than she did yesterday - she even graded her level a C. It will be impressive if she can step on the court with the kind of belief she will need to win. We'll see! She's a champion, she might ber able to do it. She will have to serve great.

Sabalenka at 25 is now in tennis players prime years (never mind people like Federer or Djokovic for a moment). Now is the time to win as much as possible.

I am ruling out Gauff 100 percent.

Does anyone have a recommendation for where I can get a good dog kennel if she wins?