2016 U. S. Open Championships...ATP 2000...New York, New York, USA

[stotty]

I wrote this yesterday but did not post it...

We'll get a couple of answers today...to a couple of questions and issues that I bring up. Issues that I continue to bring up. It's about the game. It's all about the game...it's certainly not about me. It's the game.

Drama at the Open.

Stan the Man? Sftanimal? Stanislas? Actually, It's Stan The Champion. Brilliant performance once again. His brand of tennis is physicality. He wore down Djokovic. Congrats to Stan for his 3rd grand slam title.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

We are such a small country, but we have not only Roger but also Stan the man!

Some thoughts on the final...

I have mixed feeling about the final and modern tennis. After three sets I went to bed. I found the final a drag. Three sets of baseline slugging was about all I could stand. It's not that I cannot admire to some degree what's going on out there, but it's so damn repetitive. Once you've seen about 20 of Stan's 100mph backhands down the line, you've pretty much seen them all.

Djokovic became impotent it seemed and could do nothing to dent Stan's slugging. Stan was covering, and quite easily, everything Djokovic could throw at him, and Djokovic has nothing else to throw in the mix. He can't negate Stan's chipped returns by serve and volleying, he can's mix things up with slice or angles.

Everything got on my nerves by set three. Stan pointing to his forehand every time he won a big point, Djokovic ranting and breaking his racket. It all got too much.

Willander thinks the future of the game is coming to the net. That's doubtful...never going to happen. Would you fancy coming to the net on one of Stan's backhands? And anyway the art (which can only be handed down) has been lost. You cannot learn things in a void once a generation has failed to hand something down...or should I have said the newer generation failed to pick something up?

I think Djokovic was healthy and fine and can offer no excuses. Stan is actually the only player that has Novak's number in that type of big-game-long-match scenario. I found the match psychologically interesting at least.

I think Djokovic may have gone past his best. Still number one in the world perhaps, but a fraction past his best. I doubt he will catch Roger's 17 slams. He will fall just short of that.

Connors was beside himself all last week. Players quitting with minor injuries, players seemingly half trying or even giving up. It drove Connors mad apparently...scathing he was. Quite right.

I think there could well be an element with some in the top 20 that life is fine at that ranking. Why strive for more when you are earning fortunes as the world number 19 or 20? I could be wrong but why would so many players call the trainer and quit so easily otherwise? As Connors said..."It's the US Open for God's sake."

I enjoyed three of the matches immensely. Pouille v Nadal was my favourite....and a few others were decent.

So, yes, mixed feelings. I can admire some elements of the game but so many other elements are missing, namely variety...and guile.

Stotty

[don_budge]

Some Thoughts on The Final...The 2016 U. S. Open Men's Single Final

Some thoughts on the final...

I have mixed feeling about the final and modern tennis. After three sets I went to bed. I found the final a drag. Three sets of baseline slugging was about all I could stand. It's not that I cannot admire to some degree what's going on out there, but it's so damn repetitive. Once you've seen about 20 of Stan's 100mph backhands down the line, you've pretty much seen them all.

Everything got on my nerves by set three. Stan pointing to his forehand every time he won a big point, Djokovic ranting and breaking his racket. It all got too much.

Willander thinks the future of the game is coming to the net. That's doubtful...never going to happen. Would you fancy coming to the net on one of Stan's backhands? And anyway the art (which can only be handed down) has been lost. You cannot learn things in a void once a generation has failed to hand something down...or should I have said the newer generation failed to pick something up?

Connors was beside himself all last week. Players quitting with minor injuries, players seemingly half trying or even giving up. It drove Connors mad apparently...scathing he was. Quite right.

As Connors said..."It's the US Open for God's sake."

I enjoyed three of the matches immensely. Pouille v Nadal was my favourite....

So, yes, mixed feelings. I can admire some elements of the game but so many other elements are missing, namely variety...and guile.

Stotty

The Left-Handed Advantage...Denis Shapovalov and John McEnroe

Perhaps above all I would work and develop his approach and net game. This is where the next may very well possibly be going in the men's game. For over a hundred years the net game has been more prevalent than it is now in modern tennis. Modern tennis is a bad joke in this regard. The skills of the modern player have eroded past recoverability. I would pound young Denis into the ground in this aspect of the game. Working him up and back from the net. Developing a great overhead smash to boot.

Food for thought.

Some thoughts? That was quite a mouthful...but still only the first bite of the infinite feast.

Modern Tennis is a sham. It is dead in the water and anybody with a shred of sense understands this. But that eliminates just about everyone...doesn't it?

Jimmy Connors says? It's a wonder that he was able to get that much out with that huge sock stuffed in his mouth. This guy has a self-imposed and otherwise gag order imposed on him. He's damned if he does and damned if he don't. On the one hand this guy is so "Classic Tennis" down to the marrow of his bones that he is making himself ill just watching this shit. Seeing Novak Djokovic call for the trainer just as Stan Wawrinka was building up a huge head of steam...getting ready to serve out the match...Novak calls for the trainer on an even number, not even on the change-over and he gets the trainer.

Pat Cash was in the stands mumbling into his mike..."this is certainly a grey area." Grey area? Come on...you can't bite the hand that feeds you but listen up you sniveling Aussie lame boy...that was cheating. Pure and simple it was cheating. Novak had his toes attended to and all the while he was bolstering himself with his liquids and concoctions from the bottles. He could have eaten a three course meal. In fact he was munching on something. Just to bolster himself.

Back to Connors..."this is the U. S. Open for God's sake!". Yes Jimbo it is...the grand showcase for all of the ridiculous nonsense that passes for reality passes through New York. Was it just only irony that this was September 11th and the grand charade was once more being played out in the streets of New York. Hillary Clinton or her body double going through the death throes on camera. Well tennis has died little by little right before our very eyes and the spectacle that you witnessed was one more scene before the final curtain. Connors has been gagged...he owes too much money to too many people. If he truly said what he was thinking they would have rolled him over and mugged him then laid him out in the streets with a story about how he was trying to flag down some hooker over in Harlem. Telling the truth in times of mass deceit is a Revolutionary Act.

That is what I find so interesting about the thoughts from our highly esteemed Stotty. Even bottle kisses his ass nowadays. Stotty dares to tread a little on what has actually happened to "our" game. It is boring and repetitious. My God...the endless rallies. Can you imagine what is going on over in the backcourts or in the junior ranks? How is the game being taught? Even in this highly esteemed tennis journal the talk is all about forehand and how to hit a bloody forehand. Where is the imagination? Where is the creativity?

Meanwhile Novak Djokovic is allowed to make a sham out of the Final. What he did makes what "The Amazing Mr. Monfils" did pale in comparison. He calls for the trainer at 4-2 in the fourth just as Stan is ready to seal the deal. One more nail in the coffin should do it. But Novak makes him wait. This woman wrote to me about what can be accomplished in an hour...and I wrote back especially if you know how to make time stand still. Well Djokovic was stalling. He was playing a card. The Joker. Think about this...Novak had the rather novel experience of three players out of his five opponents default to him. Where did these "stress" injuries come from? It doesn't really matter does it? He was cheating and nobody called him on it and Wawrinka was fuming. The tournament director went over to distract Wawrinka and Novak apologized from his seat. Connors is fuming. But he isn't letting on what he is fuming over.

But Stan Wawrinka does hit a superlative backhand. He does show up to play in the finals of events...if he should happen to get there. I thought that the outfit was a trifle "gay"...but that is besides the point. Or is it? So where is Roger Federer anyways? Well...he is riding off into the sunset. Meanwhile tennis has gone to hell. With the rest of it.

Any match that Nadal loses in is a match worth watching. Funny...I don't seem to have any mixed feelings.

[don_budge]

Mats Wilander...on the present and the future of tennis

Willander thinks the future of the game is coming to the net. That's doubtful...never going to happen. Would you fancy coming to the net on one of Stan's backhands? And anyway the art (which can only be handed down) has been lost. You cannot learn things in a void once a generation has failed to hand something down...or should I have said the newer generation failed to pick something up?

So, yes, mixed feelings. I can admire some elements of the game but so many other elements are missing, namely variety...and guile.

Stotty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6QHksg4B2c

I was talking to Mats Wilander one day...see how Bob Brett smiles when he sees who is going to ask the next question. "Mats...I really enjoy your commentary on EuroSport. "I think you are very analytical and spot on...". They cut it off for some reason.

That was a great post...Stotty.