2017 U. S. Open Championships...ATP 2000...New York, New York, U. S. A.

[gzhpcu]

Rafa won easily, as expected. Kevin's game is too limited. His serve is fast, but no variation. Rafa was receiving serve from practically the linesman's lap. Why didn't Anderson take advantage of it and hit, slow short angled slice serves. Wait - don't tell me: he can't....

[bottle]

Watching the women's final. This is as dumbed down as it can possibly get. These women are getting equal prize money? What a joke...but it is no laughing matter. The implications are staggering. Neither of these two players could beat a top 10,000 player on the men's side. That side isn't so deep either. Unseeded Sloane Stephens against the number 15 seeded what is her name...Madison Keyes? hockeyscout might have something going on here if he gets the young on headed in the right direction.

That guy should restrain himself whenever it comes to women's tennis, lest people think that A. he doesn't like women and B. he doesn't like Afro-Americans. And TennisPlayer might well ask why it doesn't have women in its discussion board the way it once did and how it could increase the number of women on its subscription roll.

The story of Sloane Stephens' recovery from surgery (and the extent of that recovery) is more intriguing than whether some expat in Sweden is still licking his wounds from Billie Jean's victory over Bobby Riggs many decades ago. So yes, something is as dumbed down as it can possibly get but not what the expat thinks.

I won't return here for several days to avoid a likely squawk and altercation usually in the form of foul obscenity from more than one person and worthy of the president himself. Let's just hope the expat, muttering under his breath that no one is going to push him around or mess with him since he is a tough guy from Detroit, doesn't give a case of rabies to his dog Puntzie.

[klacr]

Women's final was a nice media push for American tennis, but nothing was pleasant about this match. Lots of offense that led to errors and lots of defense that led to more offensive errors. 6-3,6-0, 61 minutes. Good night.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

Watching the women's final. This is as dumbed down as it can possibly get. These women are getting equal prize money? What a joke...but it is no laughing matter. The implications are staggering. Neither of these two players could beat a top 10,000 player on the men's side. That side isn't so deep either. Unseeded Sloane Stephens against the number 15 seeded what is her name...Madison Keyes? hockeyscout might have something going on here if he gets the young on headed in the right direction.

[stotty]

The bookies have Rafa down as the heavy favourite to win the final, understandably. He's had a good run and all the opposition simply peeled away for one reason or another. It will be a big ask for Anderson to win in a maiden final, but you never know, nothing is certain in this game or any other game for that matter.

With Djokovic sidelined, Nadal could run rampant for a while.

[don_budge]

Could it be that his back was never 100%? I mean it was good enough to fake his way through easy opponents. But he simply could not move the right way. There is also the knee that is not the same one he had before. He is also older and recovery is not the same. If we think about age the way we would think about disease then it makes perfect sense. We can have a sudden miraculous recovery but it won't last forever. Fed will have to rest and prepare more and more as he gets older. He simply cannot play at a high level without a break. There is a reason he skipped the clay season. He can still play but to play at the highest level he needs more time to train and recover.

I expect that in a year or two he will gear his whole season around Wimbledon which he may win one more time.

Then eventually he will fade into the sunset. It is inevitable.

His play early this year was like a patient who has a sudden reprieve from a disease and is suddenly lucid.

Fed is on a rest/recovery cycle. He needed more rest and recovery before playing the US open.

It's as simple as that.

I had one other thought with Fed. Could it be that he has a form of PTSD at the US open?

I mean think about how many matches he has had where he has lost unexpectedly. The biggest one being Joker's casual winner to take the match.

Then loss after loss at different points of the tournament. Berdych at night in the quarters. Cilic in the semis. Joker again in the final.

All those memories sit around and just get magnified over time.

He is stil upset about having lost that final.

The negativity becomes cumulative.

And then he didn't have the crowd helping him out.

It just added to the negative mindset that has built up over time.

Delpo just brought all this ugliness back.

Remember the way he barked at the Umpire in the 2009 final.

All of this is inside Fed but most of the time he manages to hide it well.

No one has that much success without an edge...

Nothing is quite as simple as that.

It may have been a combination of these things. Of course it was. But there was something about some of the play that was a bit surreal to me. As in...you cannot be serious. Number one...he served and volleyed on a second serve to lose the first set. That struck me as very strange. Number two...the tie-break was vintage Federer. He was in command the whole way until he handed it to Del Potro. The comments were bizarre. Trust me...I know what I see. What you are saying is what everyone will say. I saw something beneath the obvious. You must see the signs and know their meaning.

He wasn't sitting down between games. That flubbed volley at the end of the match is just beyond my imagination. He makes that shot 999,999 times out of a million. The more you try to uphold the "conventional wisdom" the more I see a flaw in that. The other stuff about the cumulative is irrelevant. That isn't how Federer rolls.

The final in Montreal was very strange. He absolutely manhandled both Feliciano Lopez and Phiipp Kohlschreiber. He was as sharp as a tack. I never saw so much as a grimace on his face. I never saw so much as a grimace on his face at the open. I watch very closely...nothing escapes me. There was something that doesn't meet the eye going on in New York. Those comments almost incriminate him.

I understand what you are saying. Thanks for your comments.

[arturohernandez]

I had one other thought with Fed. Could it be that he has a form of PTSD at the US open?

I mean think about how many matches he has had where he has lost unexpectedly. The biggest one being Joker's casual winner to take the match.

Then loss after loss at different points of the tournament. Berdych at night in the quarters. Cilic in the semis. Joker again in the final.

All those memories sit around and just get magnified over time.

He is stil upset about having lost that final.

The negativity becomes cumulative.

And then he didn't have the crowd helping him out.

It just added to the negative mindset that has built up over time.

Delpo just brought all this ugliness back.

Remember the way he barked at the Umpire in the 2009 final.

All of this is inside Fed but most of the time he manages to hide it well.

No one has that much success without an edge...

[arturohernandez]

What about Nadal! I mean he put on a clinic on how to adjust. I think that he pulled out his anti-Joker blueprint. Rather than pound the backhand he made Delpo run and this is very hard for someone 6'6" to do for five sets successfully.

I think that Anderson might have a better chance of making it a match. He has a truly big game and will simply swing for the fences.

If the conditions are right it could be something like Rosol. The only problem is this is a final and that weight could become a burden for Anderson.

I would give this a 15% chance of happening. The 85% chance is that Nadal steamrolls him the way he did Delpo.

The US Open seeding committee must be truly upset. I think Fed would have made it through to the final on the other side of the draw.

And no matter what he felt the other night against Delpo a different Fed might have shown up.

That is assuming Fed is healthy.

[arturohernandez]

I watched approximately 30 seconds of the Anderson/Busta match and turned the channel back to the movie "The Departed".

A compelling Martin Scorsese treatment of gangster life mingled with corrupt cops. Tragic endings for all. Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg all give credible performances. I've seen the movie a few times but it was far more interesting than the prospect of watching Anderson and Busta trade forehands and backhands all night lone. What was the score? Even less interest in the next matchup.

Federer wanted no part of Nadal for some very inexplicable reason. I watched that match some more on a EuroSport rerun. In the last game where Del Potro is serving it out Federer has a real chance to break but it is as if he almost didn't want to. He missed a sitter of a forehand volley that had the Swedish commentator exclaiming...what is happening here? Very strange quarterfinal between Del Potro and Federer. Federer handed the tiebreaker to him in the third set.



Maybe Roger? Why would you "maybe" help him? Hard to explain? Why is that...would the truth be the unspeakable? These comments are almost an indictment. If taken at face value. Did he make an early exit because he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing? Ditto for Montreal? Something doesn't look right to my eye...it doesn't make any sense. The tie-breaker was really a whack job. I knew that Federer had lost the match when I watched it for the first time but I had a hard time convincing myself during that tie-breaker. He was so in control from the beginning to the time when he folded...he just folded.

Could it be that his back was never 100%? I mean it was good enough to fake his way through easy opponents. But he simply could not move the right way. There is also the knee that is not the same one he had before. He is also older and recovery is not the same. If we think about age the way we would think about disease then it makes perfect sense. We can have a sudden miraculous recovery but it won't last forever. Fed will have to rest and prepare more and more as he gets older. He simply cannot play at a high level without a break. There is a reason he skipped the clay season. He can still play but to play at the highest level he needs more time to train and recover.

I expect that in a year or two he will gear his whole season around Wimbledon which he may win one more time.

Then eventually he will fade into the sunset. It is inevitable.

His play early this year was like a patient who has a sudden reprieve from a disease and is suddenly lucid.

Fed is on a rest/recovery cycle. He needed more rest and recovery before playing the US open.

It's as simple as that.

[stotty]

Well the draw just fell open for Rafa as it did for Roger at Wimbledon. All the potential stumbling blocks never materialised or found their through the draw. Del Potro made it through but then had little left to give when he got there. Rafa should really mop up from here.

[stotty]

John McEnroe was saying during the Nadal/Rublev match that the courts were faster than he had ever seen them in the modern age.

Over here, the court side commentators are saying it's a slow surface. Still, McEnroe likely recognises a quick surface better than anyone.

[don_budge]

It was a struggle from the get-go for Roger. As you often say....preparation...preparation...preparation is so key. Roger didn't have the best preparation, but on top of that I think the courts are a little slow, not fast, as was first thought. Perfect for Del Potro, though; he could win the whole thing.

John McEnroe was saying during the Nadal/Rublev match that the courts were faster than he had ever seen them in the modern age.

[don_budge]

I watched approximately 30 seconds of the Anderson/Busta match and turned the channel back to the movie "The Departed".

A compelling Martin Scorsese treatment of gangster life mingled with corrupt cops. Tragic endings for all. Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen and Mark Wahlberg all give credible performances. I've seen the movie a few times but it was far more interesting than the prospect of watching Anderson and Busta trade forehands and backhands all night lone. What was the score? Even less interest in the next matchup.

Federer wanted no part of Nadal for some very inexplicable reason. I watched that match some more on a EuroSport rerun. In the last game where Del Potro is serving it out Federer has a real chance to break but it is as if he almost didn't want to. He missed a sitter of a forehand volley that had the Swedish commentator exclaiming...what is happening here? Very strange quarterfinal between Del Potro and Federer. Federer handed the tiebreaker to him in the third set.

Rather uncharacteristic interview and comments with Roger Federer after his loss to Juan Martin Del Potro. Almost as if he wasn't up to playing Nadal in the semi finals.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/tennis/us-open/roger-federer-and-juan-martin-del-potro-react-after-epic-us-open-quarterfinal/news-story/f44b82393499971d496329b1f5fccd24

“It happens. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain sometimes,” Federer said. “You do the right things and he does too and it matches up badly your way. I don’t think I played badly. It didn’t go my way.” As for the four squandered set points in the tie-breaker, Federer said, “I don’t think those four points made all the difference. I missed too many balls."

“He came up with the goods and I helped him sometimes maybe.” Federer said in some ways he wasn’t disappointed because he knew his game was weaker than it looked, having been aided by playing three rivals in a row who are a combined 0-40 against him.

“It has been a tough tournament. I struggled,” Federer said. “If I ran into a good guy I knew I was going to lose. And going in I knew I’m not in a safe place.

“I’m out of this tournament because I wasn’t good enough in my mind, my body and my game.”

“I feel like the way I’m playing right now it’s not good enough to win this tournament. It’s better I’m out and somebody else gets a chance to win.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSmHSou6Hn8

Maybe Roger? Why would you "maybe" help him? Hard to explain? Why is that...would the truth be the unspeakable? These comments are almost an indictment. If taken at face value. Did he make an early exit because he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing? Ditto for Montreal? Something doesn't look right to my eye...it doesn't make any sense. The tie-breaker was really a whack job. I knew that Federer had lost the match when I watched it for the first time but I had a hard time convincing myself during that tie-breaker. He was so in control from the beginning to the time when he folded...he just folded.

[klacr]

Nadal vs. Anderson in the US Open Finals. Anyone have that in your projected draws? Nadal was ruthless against deploy once he began to make the big guy move around the court. Sunday should be straight forward. I hope not though.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Rather uncharacteristic interview and comments with Roger Federer after his loss to Juan Martin Del Potro. Almost as if he wasn't up to playing Nadal in the semi finals.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/tennis/...6329b1f5fccd24

“It happens. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain sometimes,” Federer said. “You do the right things and he does too and it matches up badly your way. I don’t think I played badly. It didn’t go my way.” As for the four squandered set points in the tie-breaker, Federer said, “I don’t think those four points made all the difference. I missed too many balls."

“He came up with the goods and I helped him sometimes maybe.” Federer said in some ways he wasn’t disappointed because he knew his game was weaker than it looked, having been aided by playing three rivals in a row who are a combined 0-40 against him.

“It has been a tough tournament. I struggled,” Federer said. “If I ran into a good guy I knew I was going to lose. And going in I knew I’m not in a safe place.

“I’m out of this tournament because I wasn’t good enough in my mind, my body and my game.”

“I feel like the way I’m playing right now it’s not good enough to win this tournament. It’s better I’m out and somebody else gets a chance to win.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSmHSou6Hn8

Good comments...all true. I like the comment: If I ran into a good guy I knew I was going to lose. Not the most respectful thing he could have said in reference his previous opponents, but on the spur of the moment sometimes you lose your tact. I personally thought it was funny.

I am happy for anyone to win this tournament but not the 'weary' one...anyone but him. The game starts late over here so I shall miss it. It will be a long game even if the victor win in three straight sets. At 30 to 40 seconds between points it will be like long haul flight.

It was a struggle from the get-go for Roger. As you often say....preparation...preparation...preparation is so key. Roger didn't have the best preparation, but on top of that I think the courts are a little slow, not fast, as was first thought. Perfect for Del Potro, though; he could win the whole thing.