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Originally posted by stroke
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True, the ball won't jive as much off the court so it neutralises Rafa's forehand a bit. I fancy Novak can do it again if he starts well and plays at the top of his game. He's been quite something so far in the tournament.Stotty -
Well, the bottom half of the draw has collapsed somewhat....was always on the cards it might I guess. Looks like we could be heading for a weak final. Anyone could get there looking at the remaining players.
Meanwhile to top half looks terrific.StottyComment
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On the other hand. one never knows. A trouble-making side of my personality would love to see Alcaraz-Rune in the final with a combined age of 38 yo.Originally posted by stotty View Post
That would stir things up <g>.Comment
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It certainly would...stir things up that is.Originally posted by jimlosaltos View Post
An interesting thing about Rafa and Novak is they are not the biggest hitters out there anymore by a long stretch. Players have been getting more and more powerful the last five years yet it has done nothing to dent the supremacy of Rafa and Novak, who are just so savvy on court and so in tune with what's required. A lot of today's players are all crash-bang-wallop and don't seem to use much thought.
StottyComment
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I go out for an hour and Marin Cilic plays like vintage 2014 Marin and dispatches Medvedev in straight sets.
He's only dropped 1 set all tournament.
What's in the air in Paris?
Next up Cilic meets --- Rublev in the quarterfinals? Winner to meet either Ruud or Rune?
When I left Sinner had won the first set. Apparently retired near the start of the third. Big opportunity gone there. Big door opens for others.
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Didn't see that one, but very interesting. I saw Cilic beat Norrie 5-7,6-2,6-1 at the Italian, in which he played lights out tennis for the last two sets, spurred on by just a handful of rioutous supporters. The guys in the crowd really lifted Cilic and he was loving life and loving his tennis. Sounds like he's kept it going and has his mojo back. Nice.Originally posted by jimlosaltos View PostComment
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Meanwhile, Zverev is showing the deep returners that you cannot just camp out deep and float returns back. And Alcaraz has started to serve and volley.
Not sure Alcaraz will be able to break Zverev who leads 6-4, 5-4.
Here comes the real test for both...Comment
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Alcaraz floats two returns. Zverev loses both points on shots that should have been aggressive. Third one, Zverev comes to net and wins point. Fourth, ditto. Zverev wins at net with a volley. Still no serve and volley though.
30-30 all. First second serve. Zverev again at the net.
40-30, Alcaraz wins at net.
40-40. Floating return, Zverev forehand leading to Alcaraz forced error.
Ad, Second serve again, Zverev double fault.
Deuce, Float return, lob and drop shot from Alcaraz to win point.
Ad out, Alcaraz loses a rally on the backhand side.
Deuce, Alcaraz misses inside in forehand.
Ad in, Ace Zverev.
That is how hard it is to win a set and to stay in one as well. Alcaraz made two pretty routine errors on ad out and deuce. Now he is in a huge whole.
Will it be Zverev who takes a third set or will Alcaraz battle back?Comment
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So close. Now we can start to whisper, Does Zverev have a shot at his first grand slam?Comment
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So much for "Sasha Zverev can't close out matches". Could easily have folded after losing his mini break lead in the final tiebreak. DIdn't.
My take: Zverev's backhand beat Alcaraz's backhand. More winners and pushed the Spaniard back.
Alcaraz was in the match because of his drop shots. Hit 43 drop shots and had 12 outright winners.
But Zverev was hitting groundstrokes deeper and hard enough to push Alcaraz back. Announcer Petchy posted this:
"Mark Petchey/ Tactically why did Carlos go down the line with his BH just 27% of the time? Surely got to play Sascha as though he is a left hander? Got to find Sascha FH more often. Ended up hitting his BH 0.6 meters deeper today behind his baseline than rest of the tournament"
As for Zverev's oft unreliable second serve (& oft criticized here among other places), yes he had 6 double faults in four sets, yes he hit a couple of slow ones in the fourth set that Alcaraz just tee'd off on for winners, but Zverev won 58% behind his second serve vs 49% for Alcaraz -- and since he got more first serves in, he didn't have to hit as many seconds as Alcaraz.
When Alcaraz beat Zverev in a final only weeks ago, Zverev had to return from a late night match. Hadn't lost a step by the end.
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Novak v Rafa
The match is off to its usual start. Rafa off to a flyer while Novak is slightly tentative and feeling his way in. Novak serving poorly so far, getting very few first serves in. Novak needs to extend this first set as long as possible to have the chance to play his way in.
Rafa leads 4-1...StottyComment
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Novak really fighting back thank goodness in 2nd set.
Zverev showed that to me he has the most oppressive backhand in tennis. It is a brutal weapon. To me, the difference in the match. And his 2nd serve does seem to have improved. He has always had a top 10 1st serve to me.Comment
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Rope a dope babyComment
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Novak has just lost his rhythm here in the third set. The danger for Nadal is that once/if he finds it again he can pull Rafa around and seize control of the rallies. Nadal has to stay ultra aggressive one feels...and dare I say it...be even more aggressive with his forehand.StottyComment
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It's important Novak wins the third set because it will really, really tough to beat Rafa in five.StottyComment
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