2021 Internazionali BNL d'Italia...ATP 1000...Rome, Italy

[don_budge]

I've never seen a post with fewer words. A man of few words. Sinner surely has the firepower but he doesn't have the balls...yet. He only had to hold his serve in both sets. His service motion did not hold up under pressure. The second serve was a mere puff ball. He was only getting it in play. Nadal looked vulnerable. But you cannot slay a dragon halfway.

[don_budge]

I will never forget how pathetic Nadal looked pleading his case to the umpire about how the ball boys no longer run and fetch their towels for them. I celebrated the fact that he would have to go and get his own damn towel back in Indian Wells 2020. He was doing a little whiney, bitching. He milks the clock to the very second. He times it every single time. First and second serves. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. What a moron.

[don_budge]

I will never forget how pathetic Nadal looked pleading his case to the umpire about how the ball boys no longer run and fetch their towels for them. I celebrated the fact that he would have to go and get his own damn towel back in Indian Wells 2020. He was doing a little whiney, bitching. He milks the clock to the very second. He times it every single time. First and second serves. Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy. What a moron.

If there was ever one single redeeming aspect of this infernal COVID-19 travesty...it would have to be that Fafa Nadal has to go and chase his own fucking towel. Words cannot express how redeeming it was for me to watch his pathetic whining to the umpire that the reason that he was assessed a time warning was because he didn't have the poor BALL BOYS to abuse by sending them chasing for his wretched towel. This was the epitome of unprofessionalism...the worst I have ever seen in the game of tennis. I wish someone would wipe that obnoxious sneer off of his face. He doesn't have time to pick his shorts out of his ass, wipe his nose and tweak the shirt on his shoulders all the while bouncing the ball between 13 and 17 times on each and every serve. Why every single tennis observer and fan doesn't call him out on this malarky is just beyond me. I don't care of course. It makes no difference to me. I'm glad in a way he has a huge following. It confirms what I think of mankind in general. They don't necessarily to set the bar to high. On let serves he bounces the ball up to 40 times not to mention his endless quirks. He does it right in front of everyone and the world. He thinks that is alright?

Come on Man! As another idiot might say. Supposedly 81 million people in America voted for that imposter as well. See what I am saying? There is a golden thread in all of this madness and stupidity. Right out there in front of everyone. But hardly anybody sees it. That is why they are called, "The Sheeple". Nadal has his eye on the clock the whole time. He works it to the last possible moment. Stalling on every single point. Making his opponent wait. Endlessly waiting. Please serve that damn ball...jerk. Not a peep. Not from anybody. Just one guy on a website.

"Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker.
Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy.
Speak your mind and fear less the label of 'crackpot'
than the stigma of conformity.
And on issues that seem important to you,
Stand up and be counted at any cost."
-- Thomas J Watson (1874-1956)

So the tournament marches on. I have to admit that after covering the entire clay court season post Roger Federer that I am exhausted. Not only exhausted from the tennis but from the rest of it too. Life. The Pandemic. All of it. Not to mention the golf. I am tired. The tennis is boring. Dreadfully. Each and every match is exactly the same. Once in a while there is a break from the dreadful monotony. A rare event. On and on. Forced to watch the endless bouncing. Speaking of which...Novak Djokovic is back in town. He's another bouncer of the ball. Another questionable character residing at the top of the tennis world. Is it any wonder that American tennis is having a difficult time seeing the light of day? Everything is so dumbed down. People just sit and watch. I take a sort of perverse delight in it all. It confirms everything that I have wrote about for the last ten years. Fearing less the label of "crackpot" than the stigma of conformity. What a good way of putting it. I have a choice. I can be one of "The Sheeple" if I want to. I have a responsibility too. No rights necessarily. Just responsibility. That's all.

So is there anything redeeming in today's lineup. Ok...trying to be positive. There are three one-handed backhands out of sixteen in the draw remaining. Stefanos "The Tsitsipatti Kid" Tsitsipas plays the darling from Italy...Matteo Berrettini. I hate to break it to you "tennis connoisseurs" out there. This guy is boring. As one dimensional as it gets. All of these cookie cutters...just a little different frosting and everyone is oohing and ahing. It doesn't take much these days. Tsitsipas is no Roger Federer. I find it difficult to care. Roger didn't strike me that way. I was with "The Living Proof" from start to finish. Anywhere...anytime. Tsitsipas...not so much. Not at all. I don't care...and I am not an apathetic type. Dominic Thiem vs. Lorenzo Sonego. Lorenzo who? Goodness. There has to be something more interesting. Thiem is a dreadful bore as well. Nice backhand...but boring. That brings us to the "Last of the Mohicans", Denis "The Menace" Shapovalov. Oh no. Say it isn't so. This is our hope to erase Fafa from the memory of this tournament. Jimmy Connors supposedly once said of Richard "Aztec Eyes" Gonzalez that if he had to have someone play a tennis match that his life depended upon it would be Gonzalez. Well...I will tell you something. If there was a match my life depended upon, it would not be Shapovalov playing it for me. Or Jannik Sinner for that matter. Would I be forced to take Nadal...or would I sooner die.

Aslan Karatsev plays serve bot Really Opelka. Spell check changed it to Really. I like that. Is he really a tennis player? Hardly a complete one, let alone a "real" one. But Karatsev has him and lets see what he does with him. The best thing that could happen to this tournament is to see Karatsev play Nadal. The rest of it? Yada...yada...yada. It is too exhausting to go on. I am sick of Nadal. The prospect of watching him go through his litany of ticks of dysfunction is just too impossible to bear. I feel sorry for those that have to play this imposter. It must be excruciating. But nobody complains about it. I wonder why. For sure...they are banned from saying anything. Robots marching to the end. The end of the night. Sounds so familiar.

The crown jewel of today's match-ups. Roberto Bautista-Agut vs. Andrey Rublev. Could there be anything that could possibly be more boring than this match up. They stand three and three head to head. They will dig in and try their utmost to make this look and sound like this has anything to do with anything of importance on this earthly plane. Rublev will be screaming on every single important forehand. The spectacle! The sheer spectacle. I'm tired...just thinking about it. I'm wondering where I got the energy for this post. Now I have to go and take the horses out. Whew!

[doctorhl]

Drowning in a sea of sameness......

[stroke]

2 really enticing matches tomorrow. I would have to put Stef vs Novak as match of the day, but Alex vs Rafa also very good match. Rafa still the favorite at any clay tournament, but he is no doubt in the twilight of his reign of terror. He could go down anytime. Denis almost had him, as did Sinner. Almost. And how about Opelka, at the very least the 2nd best serve weapon in tennis. Opelka I still think will have a breakthrough at this level and even a Major.

[stroke]

Theim and Sonego going to a 3rd. The 20% allowed crowd was really enjoying the match. Unfortunately, the shamdemic curfew is now in effect. The 20% is not amused. What a joke.

[don_budge]

Hate is a strong word. Up to this point I cannot recall "hating" somebody. But now it is getting closer and closer for me. I can say without reservation that I detest Señor Nadal. Absolutely detest him. He is a cheater. A fraud. A narcissistic idiot. The more I see of him the more I detest him. I am trying with all of my might to withhold that final step. But he isn't helping matters. This guy is just a ugly piece of work.

[stotty]

Typical....I get a spare hour to watch Stephanos and Novak and they get rained off. It was great to watch Stephanos throw the kitchen sink at Novak for seven games though. Should be an interesting match up.

[don_budge]

When teaching or analysing a service motion one must have a fundamentally sound approach that will lead you to sources of inconsistency or otherwise faulty friction producing issues. Thank you jyandell for this much anticipated view of the Stefanos Tsitsipas motion.

When I analyse or teach a serve it all boils down to the same thing...setup position, initiation of the backswing, the track of the backswing, transition and finally forwards swing. Once you finally get to the forwards swing that is more or less preordained by the sequence of events that have preceded it. It is no different with Stefanos Tsitsipas. It doesn't change anything from my perspective that he is ranked such and such in the world. Even that he hits it a ton and manages to hold serve X% of the time doesn't change anything. There is always room for improvement in a motion, unless it has achieved perfect frictionless motion. As in a rollercoaster. As it stands now...the motion of the Greek has loads of potential. Loads of room for improvement. It is beyond me why the father, who is his "coach", has not seen this enormous source of potential. The French coach, Patrick what's his name, seems to be clueless in the same regard.

When looking at the setup position of Stefanos, the first thing we will discuss is his grip. There are those who take great exception to the grip as if it is a source of issues or a problem of some sort. Personally, I don't have any issues with the grip. It is a bit strong perhaps but it has nothing to do with more important issues in the motion. I suppose one could make an argument in certain circles that the stronger grip might effect his ability to spin the ball or in the way it unleashes into impact, but these are minor exceptions. There have been great servers whose grips are somewhat less than optimal.

The issues I have with the setup is the placement of the feet. They seem to be somewhat haphazardly askew. The rear foot is pointing in a direction that is totally unrelated to the direction or aim of his serve. Why is this a problem? Because the alignment of the feet are going to influence the "track" of the backswing. Too bad there isn't a rear view of the serve. Rear views are always preferred when it comes to analysing strokes or swings. You get a better sense of alignment and the "track" of the swing. Feet are simply shoulder width apart and the line that the toes of both feet make is the aim of the server. Most importantly the track of the backswing is on a line in front of the toes parallel to the line the toes create.

I don't care for the way that Stefanos holds the ball in his left hand against the strings of his racquet. I prefer the left hand holding the racquet up with the last two or three fingers at the throat of the racquet. In this way there is connection to the racquet with both hands and therefore both sides of the body at the very beginning of the motion. He seems to be somewhat disconnected from the very onset. From my point of view the real issues of Stefanos are rooted in his left hand's participation of the swing. The real issue is, as John points out and I have pointed out numerous times in discussing his motion, is the abbreviated tossing motion which plays real havoc with the entire motion. You see, by abbreviation of the tossing motion you have to do something with the other side of the equation to keep it balanced and the other side of the equation in the service motion just happens to be the backswing. Stefanos makes two rather clumsy attempts to get both sides working together by abbreviation of his backswing in a most awkward movement and by tossing the ball too high to give himself time to complete his entire swing. By creating a shorten tossing motion he has robbed himself of some valuable time to make his entire swing.

The backswing really doesn't make any sense to me at all. With the faulty setup and the time killing tossing motion he doesn't even give himself a chance to make the correct backswing which is a free falling motion of the racquet head from setup position onto the track I defined above. There isn't any point in discussing the rest of his swing until he makes the adjustments in his setup and his toss. I don't have any issues at all with the dispersion of his tosses. In fact, I think it is a very good idea to learn to toss the ball in different spots to promote spin and placement. It also can be used a an excellent form of deception to the opponent. For instance, the serve in the deuce court might toss the ball far to his right to give the opponent the sense of impending wide slicing serve but the server can with training learn to hit the flat ball up the T from this position. I also think it a good idea to move the position around on the baseline to promote angles...and deception. These fundamental ideas are very doable if the server possesses a perfect, frictionless motion. Such a motion opens up an entire world of possibilities for the server tactics and permutations and combinations.

The "fix" for Tsitsipas is to get him aligned properly and to get him toss the ball with a full range of motion with the left hand. Then you go to work on a more full range of motion with the back swing which transitions with the seamless glide into the forwards swing. Obviously as it stands, Stefanos gets by quite well with this rather herky jerky motion. Even the way he finishes his swing in the video suggests that he way off balance and fights to maintain his balance in his follow through. The million dollar question is...how good could it possibly be? Taking into account his physique and the beautiful way in which he hits his backhand...he has tons of potential. I would love to see this motion in the stroke archives where the frame by frame option is available.

Case in point...Stefanos only had to serve out the match and lost his serve and 4-3...up a break in the second set with Novak Djokovic. Very shaky and inconsistent game for "Tsitsipatti" and he lost his serve. It may or not cost him. But if it does...it isn't not a good sign.

[don_budge]

Djokovic holds for 4-5...Tsitsipas to serve to stay in the set.

[don_budge]

Another crucial hold coming up for Stefanos Tsitsipas...5-6 Djokovic.

[don_budge]

Stefanos allows himself to get in a big struggle on his serve and Djokovic somewhat predictably prevails. I believe Novak converted on the fourth set point. So here's the deal. As the serve goes, so does the rest of the game. Stefanos noticeably lost his rhythm in the second set with his serve and it isn't that his serve is so terrible...it's just that he is up against the best returner in the world who is going to capitalise on the smallest of margins.

In these situations, where he is up a break and rolling there is no reason to not be able to continue to do so and just make a nice neat package out of it while serving out the match. But nerves start to play a role in the thing and this little bit of friction in the motion doesn't feel quite right and the mind starts to play little tricks on you. Now the opponent senses something is not so definitive in the deliveries and he gains in confidence and is emboldened to take liberties. Stefanos...up a break in the second and ends up losing by being broken in two of his last three service games.

A Richard Gonzalez or a Roger Federer is smelling the finish line and the motion and the serve just get better and better. You start mowing down opponents from this position. Stefanos exhibits some truly great athleticism and talent. Some of the saves he made under the pressure were stellar. His backhand is just glorious at times. The forehand devastating. But the key to the whole enchilada is the serve. It is the serve that sets the pace. Stefanos has some real friction in his motion and it is going to get him in trouble and what is worse it is going to prevent him from fulfilling his potential as a tennis player.

Let's see how this plays out. Djokovic, the wily veteran that he is, has a new lease on this match. Stefanos still must find a way to get the horse in the barn. It's up for grabs. Novak clearly has a history of taking very good care of his service game. He can be very tidy. But his form has been just a bit shaky of late.

[don_budge]

Here we go again...Stefanos a crucial serving game to stay in the match and force a tie-break.

[don_budge]

So basically...Stefanos Tsitsipas hands over the match to Novak Djokovic that was clearly his for the taking. A terrible shame. The funny thing is, is that I could teach him that serving motion and I could teach him how to tactically and psychologically use it to his best advantage. I wonder how many untold millions this will cost Tsitsipas in the future. How many Grand Slam titles will it cost him?

[stroke]

Lorenzo Sonego wins a 91 minute 2nd set in a tiebreaker to extend the match vs Novak. Quite the atmosphere. The winner gets to play the best clay courter in the world for the last 16+ years.