I almost forgot...it's an ATP 1000 tournament this week. This event gets exactly zero coverage in mainstream sports and it almost got zero here on the forum. It's almost an afterthought. It's almost over. We are in the semi-finals. Yippee!
The problem is there is no Roger Federer. Now it is Federer who mysteriously disappears for weeks, months at a time. Before it was Nadal disappearing for this reason or that. It was always career threatening injuries. I can still here the pathetic explanations. But he always returned...better than ever. Almost as if he had gone some magical restoration process. If it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck...is it a duck? Federer has come up with the explanation that the clay is tougher on his body than the other surfaces. What? I specifically played solely on clay for the last x number of years when I was playing to prolong my tennis playing days. Was I wrong?
At any rate Federer has elected to be missing in action. He looked just fine in his little exhibition in Switzerland to save the continent of Africa...against Andy Murray. He made Murray look so one dimensional that it was a joke. Almost unwatchable...except that it was Roger Federer versus anyone which is the only pairing worth watching in modern tennis these days. Exaggeration? Andy disappeared in Miami and he has disappeared in Monte Carlo as well...only this time he actually played. He lost to Albert Ramos-Vinolas 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Going down the draw we see another big name disappearing...Stan Wawrinka loses to Pablo Cuevas in straight sets. It was another week off for Stan Wawrinka who carefully picks and choses where he competes and where he actually shows up to play.
But the mystery of the week still goes to the disappearing act of Novak Djokovic. This time he loses to David Goffin in three sets after surviving Pablo Carreno Busta and Gilles Simon in three set wins. Not a very impressive week for the former number one player in the world. His fall has been as quick and his "meteoric" rise.
Well the gist of it is this...Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Lucas Pouille play in the top half semi final and Fafa Nadal and David Goffin play in the bottom half. I haven't watched a single point. One might say that I love the game of tennis but the professional game has lost its appeal. Without Roger Federer in the draw it isn't much of a sport.
The problem is there is no Roger Federer. Now it is Federer who mysteriously disappears for weeks, months at a time. Before it was Nadal disappearing for this reason or that. It was always career threatening injuries. I can still here the pathetic explanations. But he always returned...better than ever. Almost as if he had gone some magical restoration process. If it quacks like a duck and looks like a duck...is it a duck? Federer has come up with the explanation that the clay is tougher on his body than the other surfaces. What? I specifically played solely on clay for the last x number of years when I was playing to prolong my tennis playing days. Was I wrong?
At any rate Federer has elected to be missing in action. He looked just fine in his little exhibition in Switzerland to save the continent of Africa...against Andy Murray. He made Murray look so one dimensional that it was a joke. Almost unwatchable...except that it was Roger Federer versus anyone which is the only pairing worth watching in modern tennis these days. Exaggeration? Andy disappeared in Miami and he has disappeared in Monte Carlo as well...only this time he actually played. He lost to Albert Ramos-Vinolas 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. Going down the draw we see another big name disappearing...Stan Wawrinka loses to Pablo Cuevas in straight sets. It was another week off for Stan Wawrinka who carefully picks and choses where he competes and where he actually shows up to play.
But the mystery of the week still goes to the disappearing act of Novak Djokovic. This time he loses to David Goffin in three sets after surviving Pablo Carreno Busta and Gilles Simon in three set wins. Not a very impressive week for the former number one player in the world. His fall has been as quick and his "meteoric" rise.
Well the gist of it is this...Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Lucas Pouille play in the top half semi final and Fafa Nadal and David Goffin play in the bottom half. I haven't watched a single point. One might say that I love the game of tennis but the professional game has lost its appeal. Without Roger Federer in the draw it isn't much of a sport.
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