2020 Australian Open...ATP 2000...Melbourne, Australia

[stroke]

Really like Thiem's service motion. Definitely seems forged in steel.

[don_budge]

It definitely got in his head. He just spoke to some kind of tournament official. This is something. If Thiem gets this set, I don't think anyone would say Nadal is still the favorite. I did not see how long Nadal went over the shot clock after that extended point, or how soon after that point she started the shot clock. It was certainly an interesting time to enforce the rule.

Nadal has made a career out of this very behaviour and legions let him get away with it. Ignoring his antics because why? I don't get it. Is it adulation? He is the lowest of sportsman. He milks the rules. He milks the clock. He milks the crowd. Just despicable. The fawning public cannot see through their blurred vision. It was clear to me from the first time I ever saw him.

[stroke]

Thiem takes the 2nd set. Very impressive by Thiem thus far. Surely he has this match as the now favorite.

[don_budge]

Thiem takes the 2nd set. Very impressive by Thiem thus far. Surely he has this match as the now favorite.

Roger that!

[klacr]

Nadal is never out of it. As much as I want Thiem to win, it's gonna take a Herculean effort to do so.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Delray Beach
SETS Consulting

[stroke]

The biggest win ever for Thiem, over his biggest nemesis of the big 3. I noticed Nadal did not shake hands at the end with the chair umpire. The announcers chose not to bring it up, but quite interesting. I have seen Nadal lose a lot of matches, but I have not seen that before. He was clearly very upset over that time violation at a big point in the 2nd set.

[stroke]

Should be a very interesting match Thiem vs Alex. As Alex seems to have gotten it together, it looks to be pretty close to a pick 'em.

[arturohernandez]

The biggest win ever for Thiem, over his biggest nemesis of the big 3. I noticed Nadal did not shake hands at the end with the chair umpire. The announcers chose not to bring it up, but quite interesting. I have seen Nadal lose a lot of matches, but I have not seen that before. He was clearly very upset over that time violation at a big point in the 2nd set.

I wonder if they meet again at the FO whether Thiem can at least win a set. I realize that Nadal is the king of clay but he looks a little funny moving compared to the past.

He doesn't seem to be able to change direction as well and I wonder if that might start to happen on clay.

Thiem vs. Zverev should be interesting. Zverev looks better but he has not faced the firepower of Thiem.

[don_budge]

2020 Australian Open Semifinals...Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic

My best protege Gustaf and I were having lunch in a Swedish mall yesterday. He has secured the right to occupy a store space and he is doing an exhibition of his photographs that is called "The Iconic and The Ironic". A collection of photos of local buildings with images of New York famous buildings superimposed on the original to create new buildings. I am "life coaching" him now. Steering him into the field of architecture.

To be a fly on the wall. The conversation was largely formed on the basis of the most unfortunate helicopter accident the other day that took Kobe Bryant and eight others to a tragic ending. In many ways the aftermath doesn't make any more sense than the events leading up to it. The extreme wealth and the king's ransom that todays athletes are compensated. I recalled to Gustaf how in 1968 my father used to take me to the ballpark early to go and watch Al Kaline take pregame practice in order to watch him throw strikes to third base and home plate...from right field. Kaline turned down a contract worth 100,000 dollars in one of those years because he didn't want to show up his manager or his teammates. Such were the way things were. Average school teachers were making 10,000 a year. So were cops. So ten times the salary of the average Joe for the local superstar. The local superstar a bonafide roll model. Many times squeaky clean. Or so we led to believe. Who knows what the reality is.

The conversation meandered and never stayed quite on track. The kid is teaching me too. It's a great thing when the coaching relationship evolves into a mutual collaboration. Don't you think so?

So inevitably he asked me if Roger Federer has a chance against Novak Djokovic today? This was after a little discussion about Mr. Nadal and how some athletes have been led to believe that they are somehow actually better than the rest of the human race. Which is not true. These are just men. Which was somewhat the point of the discussion of Kobe Bryant. I was just wondering if Kobe ever thought that he was "The King" of the world flying in his helicopter over the ants below on the I5 freeway. An illusion that all of the ants actually contributed to. I was thinking out loud.

But when it came to Federer's chances today I was more or less at a loss of words. You see...I want to believe that he can win. But the reality is somewhat different. So the only thing to do is to go to the oddsmakers. Because when you weigh in on the facts that tennis is a game of energy and balance I am confronted with the truth that apparently Federer has gone beyond his physical limits whereas Djokovic is licking his chops at the prospect of exacting his revenge on the man that stands between him and what he really wants. He wants to be "The King". It is a game that all of these guys who are paid the king's ransom for playing games begin to lose themselves in. The facade that they build themselves up to in their minds. They believe that they can defy gravity. "No one here gets out alive"...a quote by the late and great Jim Morrison was one of the last things I said to Gustaf yesterday.

But Roger Federer seems to have separated himself from the rest of these Spoiled King's in the sense that this wonderfully talented and gifted athlete always seems to have his feet planted squarely on the ground. I gave a lot of credit to his wife as a matter of fact. I also told Gustaf that behind every great man is a good woman. It was a very interesting conversation. His exhibit exceeded my expectations. I think he will make a great architect some day. I had him read "The Fountainhead" too.

[don_budge]

Federer to serve for the first set at 5-3. A very tricky point of the match and one that requires nerves of steel. Considering the opponent. Djokovic can at any point right the ship and become the human wall where everything comes back with interest. Although Federer apparently dominated this set it is not out of reach for Djokovic.

[don_budge]

Not a single first serve in. Djokovic wins a 23 stroke point. He breaks at love. An opportunity lost. A bad sign. A very, very bad sign.

[don_budge]

Djokovic gives you that limp leg like a seasoned NFL running back then he takes it back and is speeding towards the goal line. Clever and cagey.

[don_budge]

Old Limp Leg...Novak Djokovic.

[stroke]

Well that was beyond impressive 1st set comeback by Novak.

[stroke]

Novak has now gone 4 consecutive tiebreakers vs Roger with no errors. That has to be a first.