French Open

[stroke]

Good news for anyone that is not a fan of NBC and the dreaded Peacock. Per Chris Clarey ex-NYT:

Confirmed that TNT sports has signed a 10-year deal to broadcast #RolandGarros in the US, beginning in 2025. Ends NBC's long-standing role as #FrenchOpen broadcaster, also sidelines Tennis Channel Reportedly for $65 million per year: big raise for the French and dovetails with existing Eurosport coverage in Europe.

NBC/Peacock about as bad as it gets. Hopefully TNT will not bring along Mary Carillo. She was perfect though for NBC's abysmal coverage.

[stotty]

Some quite different views on the tactics in the men's finals, from Craig O'Shannessy, Mats Willander, and Zverev himself.

As for tactics, Craig O'Shannessy of BrainGame is a stats guy so he sees numbers: "Thirty-nine forehand winners to 24. Look no further for the difference-maker. Carlos Alcaraz hit 15 more forehand winners than Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s Roland Garros final, while only winning 14 more total points (153-139) en route to a gruelling 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 victory. The forehands provided the separation he desperately needed to erase a two-sets-to-one deficit and secure his first Grand Slam title on clay in Paris."

Perhaps a better take is from Mats Wilander, although he was referring to the Sinner-Alcaraz semifinal: “But that is his strength, he is much better than Jannik Sinner at defending to me. Much better at defending from far back, not from the baseline like Novak Djokovic, where Sinner is brilliant. But on a clay court that is hard to do, and on a clay court, Alcaraz is a much better defender than Sinner.”

Zverev: “He changed his tactics in the fifth set, higher and deeper, so I could not create as much power. I need to look at myself and at my team to see if I can get to the same level.”

The last two sets were intriguing because Carlos really pulled away...yet not as easily as the scoreline suggested, especially in the fifth set. Carlos is amazingly good at digging himself out of a self-inflicted messes here and there.

[jimlosaltos]

Short vid Djokovic Rehabbing After Knee Surgery



filedata/fetch?id=104681&d=1718555960&type=thumb