2019 Rolex Paris Masters...ATP 1000...Paris, France

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What an unnecessary display by Novak thrashing Tsitsipas. As if anyone needs a reminder, those 3 stand alone. No more on tap right now.

[don_budge]

What an unnecessary display by Novak thrashing Tsitsipas. As if anyone needs a reminder, those 3 stand alone. No more on tap right now.

That was a real old fashion ass kicking. A take down. Novak was showing young Stefanos who is boss. No problem...Stefanos needs to go and lick his wounds and take your advice. Often critic of the backhand slice or lack of in the Tsitsipas game. It is evident when he goes cross court into the teeth of the Djokovic backhand. If that ball lands in the mid court it is cat food.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is experiencing a typical reaction to fame and success. He is more careful in his head but foolishly is overcompensating when he tries to go aggressive. Subtle tactical aggression most of the time until you have the kill shot is what wins. Look a Roger Federer. He is willing to trade three or four neutral or tactical shots to set up his big forehand. Therein lies the difference. Tsitsipas does not have that knifing slice off of the backhand to complement his drive. He is also unsure of the floating deep ball to the baseline. In short he has yet to master this huge piece of the puzzle. Plus there is the matter of that service motion which continues to desert him when he needs it most. So inconsistent in a game where the hallmark of great champions is consistency. Novak on the other hand is the picture of consistency. You might just find his picture under the word consistent in the dictionary. Certainly the tennis lexicon.

Next up is a man who seems to want to turn the corner from "Baby Fed" to the next. But not so fast Grigor...perhaps it is best to remain "Baby Fed" for the foreseeable future. Grigor looks different. He is fitter physically. Plus the backhand...the slice backhand. It is biting. Knifing through the court. The drive is beefed up too. He was unleashed against a tired Theim and the new kid on the block was simply no match for him. Next up...Novak Djokovic. What better way to measure where he is at than against the best in the world. Look for Grigor to man up here against Novak. Whether he can sustain it over three sets or even one is a good question.

I thought about what you said about Nadal. He is employing a sneak serve and volley tactic into his repetoire which is not to be confused with classic serve and volley. His is a "cowardly" serve and volley. Going in only so often as to take the opponent by surprise. Don't get me wrong...it is a viable tactic and a good one. It is just that it is Nadal doing it. He finally married that girl who has been following him around all of these years. He stalled and stalled and reduced her to what she is. Much as he does to his opponents. Finally he relented and blessed her with his proposal. Lucky her. Not.

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Grigor has quite the test coming up obviously vs Novak. Really hard to see him beating him, but who knows? Grigor does seem to be in a real good place mentally and I really like his demeanor on court. Nadal and Denis also an intriguing match up. Denis has the firepower to hurt Nadal. I can see him winning the match.

[don_budge]

Nadal wins the 1st set 6-4 with a break, but to me, Nadal looks clearly not in his prime movement wise on the hard court here, a bit old. We will see.

Interesting observation. It is quite possible that you are correct in your assessment. Nadal employed numerous times the sneak attack serve and volley tactic in his match with Wawrinka. Did he do it against Tsonga? Hmmm...most unusual. All of a sudden he is rushing to the net like he cannot wait to get there. Or is it a ploy to obscure his dwindling ability to cover the court like he did in the past. Regardless...I hope Shapovalov tears him another shoulder socket or other appendage of his body. Absolutely cannot stand Rafael Nadal. I cannot think of another person in the world that I am aware of that I have or have in the past detested.

Glad to see at least one other person agrees with me...not that that matters to me.

[don_budge]

Interesting observation. It is quite possible that you are correct in your assessment. Nadal employed numerous times the sneak attack serve and volley tactic in his match with Wawrinka. Did he do it against Tsonga? Hmmm...most unusual. All of a sudden he is rushing to the net like he cannot wait to get there. Or is it a ploy to obscure his dwindling ability to cover the court like he did in the past. Regardless...I hope Shapovalov tears him another shoulder socket or other appendage of his body. Absolutely cannot stand Rafael Nadal. I cannot think of another person in the world that I am aware of that I have or have in the past detested.

Glad to see at least one other person agrees with me...not that that matters to me.

Nadal withdraws. Seriously...there is no bottom to this despicable excuse for a human being. Another in a long list of reasons to despise him.

[don_budge]

Novak Djokovic versus Dennis Shapovalov

I was hoping for a Novak Djokovic versus The Skunk but he has once again turned and run hiding his tail between his legs. He wasn't ready to meet Djokovic so he took a powder on Dennis "The Menace". A lot of good that does Stan Wawrinka who lost to Nadal in the previous round. You see...it is all about Nadal. He doesn't care one bit for the customers who have all anted up big bucks to see him play. Personally I wouldn't go down to the end of the block to watch that numbskull. You would have to tie me up and gag me to watch one of his speeches after a final. He in a loser or winner mode is equally hard to take. He loves the opportunity to glorify himself as if anybody could give a crap about his trials and travails. But he always has a story and they practically have to tear the microphone out of his hands to get him to stop. Too bad the author of "The Curse of Nadal" didn't remember that little nugget. What a jerk. Good riddance.

So it is up to Dennis and Novak to provide the entertainment for the afternoon. I don't think that Novak can prop the kid up long enough to make it interesting but "The Menace" might have a surprise in store for us. He surprised Nadal yesterday. All he had to do was show up. He will have to do more than that today as Novak looks to be in fine form. Dimitrov played an excellent set against Novak yesterday and messed up big time on a key point in the tie-break to lose the first set. Dimitrov looked really good but you have to be better than looking good. You have to so good that you can weather the Djokovic storm and come back just as strong. Novak does this very well...he absorbs the best his opponent has then he just turns around and starts landing haymakers. He might look as if he is down but he is too dangerous to let him off of the hook. If you see him hang his head you have to really start tagging him otherwise he does his rope-a-dope number on you and ends up doing a tap dance on your lifeless corpse.

Dennis has a couple of pieces of the puzzle to make Novak uncomfortable out there. That serve should be nothing but problems for Djokovic but he doesn't seem to have much problem reading it. The one thing that is glaringly missing from Dennis' game is the slice backhand. He could give Novak all kinds of fits if he only had the supreme slice that he could vary the depth with not to mention the trajectory. The down the line slice is one shot that we haven't seen Novak have to deal with too much. Nadal doesn't get into this pattern until it is basically over and Novak is mopping up on him. John McEnroe found that this shot was the key to dismantling the Swede Björn Borg in the last great Classic tennis rivalry.

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I like you take on Novak's game and what a tough ask it is to take him down. So true, Grigor played great but great often does not beat Novak. That is why I have him as 3rd greatest ever. He is just so so solid. And that return of serve, clearly the best ever to me. Db, I am surprised you cannot think of one player, maybe a female, that you despise more than Rafael. Ha

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Novak pretty much routines Denis, as someone might say, no muss no fuss. Brutally efficient. I personally think Denis' return of serve vs Novak was a glaring problem, way too much to overcome. Novak has a sneakingly good serve. A good slice a la Roger or even Grigor could help here maybe, but in the rallies, it just seems Novak is in cruise control in the left lane so to speak.

[don_budge]

Novak pretty much routines Denis, as someone might say, no muss no fuss. Brutally efficient. I personally think Denis' return of serve vs Novak was a glaring problem, way too much to overcome. Novak has a sneakingly good serve. A good slice a la Roger or even Grigor could help here maybe, but in the rallies, it just seems Novak is in cruise control in the left lane so to speak.

Correctamundo..."The Menace" was no menace at all. He was so erratic throughout the entire match that words like "stupid", "idiot", "dumdum" kept coming to mind. A very, very poor performance and demonstrated just how far he has to go as opposed to just how far he has come. If he manages to climb the ladder of the ATP rankings it will just be an indicator of just how weak the talent pool is. He is slated to be ranked #15 I believe. Denis was missing the court on routine shots by feet...not a matter of inches. He was missing by feet. He doesn't appear to have a clue how to do anything but to play bash ball. Not the slightest hint of anything subtle. He was missing the easiest of volleys. Terrible...terrible performance.

Djokovic? He just calmly went about his business and does what he does best. The serve was just untouchable for Denis. It doesn't look like all that but it certainly gets the job done. An underrated server. A "sneakingly" good server. He just keeps winning it handily. Rarely faces break points. He is an intelligent server. Uses placement, spin and speed in different capacities depending on the situation. Like major league pitching tactics. He knows the count and he knows what to deliver. His opponents are getting mowed down and they clearly do not understand why. What is placement, spin and speed...it's control. What is control? It's power! Djokovic is very subtle about what power he holds in his service game. He takes very good care of his serve.

Shapovalov served in a word...stupidly. That word keeps coming up when I think of Denis. The backwards hat...stupid. The ball between the legs on his serve routine...stupid. This guy is more concerned about looking stupid than he is about using half way intelligent tactics. Good luck to his new coach...Mikhail Youzhny. He just kept shaking his head as if he couldn't believe how stupid Shapovalov was playing. Back to the service game of Shapovalov...forget about the stupid hat. Forget about the stupid bouncing the ball between the legs. How about getting the first serve in? On certain points it is just dictated that the first serve must go in. But he couldn't figure that little riddle out...and it is a simple one. Good luck Youzhny. Just see if you can get "The Menace" to turn the hat around...better yet just lose it entirely. Go for the headband. Look like a tennis player. Not a two bit hotdogging nobody. I still can't get over the between the legs pass to himself. Really...STUPID!!!