Rio Final Tonight

[jimlosaltos]

Meanwhile, the Latin American clay tour continues with Carlos Alcaraz, looking awesome, meeting Cam Norrie in their second final in as many tournaments.

These two have already met in some top level matches, this will be their second final, along with two quarterfinals. Cam has one win (a notable one at Cincinnati) vs 4 loses.

Rio Open final at 5:30 PM per ATP site, but the site fails to saw what time zone that is. Sigh. Designing web sites really isn't that hard.
Good highlight short here. Lots a' droppers.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/alcaraz-jarry-rio-2023-sf

Carlitos aka Charlie had been showing zero after effects of multiple injuries that kept him out for four months -- but did stop for a tape job in the semi.

Cam skipped defending a hard court title to do clay, interestingly. Generally seen as more of a clay court player but preparing for run at French?

Their final in Buenos Aires, what was that last Sunday, had some high quality tennis. Cam came out of his comfort zone early trying to take the initiative, and he got an early lead, then Alcaraz simply started hitting outright winners off seemingly anything that wasn't a forcing shot.

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Alcaraz is the heavy favorite, as one would suspect, with an implied winning probability of about 82%.

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I am in favor of discontinuing the physio time outs, not that it matters. Alcaraz is certainly not looking like a slam dunk RG winner(at any point in his career) this match vs Norrie.

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It would be hard to dislike Norrie. I have called him Nadal lite. He certainly embraces the inherent physically of tennis, never more apparent than on the red clay.

[don_budge]

How about Nicolas Jarry starting from the probation?

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

https://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/forum/tennisplayer/77448-the-serve-probation#post77746

A more recent serve motion review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvohQagD4qI

I failed to find video of the match with Alcarez.

All hopes and dreams for young Alcarez aside...an interesting sidebar to this "epic final" and tournament is the strange case of Alcarez's semifinal opponent. Nicolas Jarry. Nicolas was the subject of a post from a once highly esteemed poster on this highly esteemed website when the forum was actually great. Of course Roger Federer was in the house too, so at least there was a thread remaining. Some "Living Proof" that tennis was really once tennis.

Nicolas showed some real interesting developments in his service motion yesterday. I had not seen him in years. Last I saw he was serving out of the "Probation Position" according to Dr. Brian Gordon. Now it appears that Nicolas has evolved into a rather nice full backswing motion, yet it appears to me that there is still work to be done. Jarry actually bullied Alcarez around the court in the semifinal for the better part of the first set. Unfortunately he woke up and lost that ever important train of thought. More importantly he lost control of his service motion due to a couple of things...pressure, fatigue and friction.

As I was watching him bully Alcarez around it was obvious to me that it was the serve that was the catalyst to the bully tactics. He was pounding it in and following it up with some serious weight on the forehand. Towards the end of the set when the pressure was starting to mount while attempting to serve out the set against one of the highest ranking players in the world Nicolas seemingly seemed to trip up and resort to play that he hadn't shown up to that point in the match. Anyways...it was a big step from the probation position to the full wind up. It would be an interesting story to hear what compelled him to make that journey. But it seemed to me that there was a bit of friction remaining and sure enough he seemed to lose that "serving magic" when he needed it most.

Two things...he has morphed into a pin point stance. The track of the backswing is slightly off the track. This guy has a lot of potential remaining in his motion and if someone were there to get his confidence to make the necessary changes...it might be interesting.

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I saw the Jarry service motion vs Alcaraz. He has obviously left the probation serve and if now using a somewhat full motion. Of note to me is he used to start with such a high elbow position in the Probation serve. Now he starts with the racquet tip facing down and uses more of a lifting style motion from there, rather than a Phillipousis full motion. He still has a great serve, just as he did with the probation style. It would be very interesting to know if there is any speed/spin differences between the 2 motions.

[jimlosaltos]

It would be hard to dislike Norrie. I have called him Nadal lite. He certainly embraces the inherent physically of tennis, never more apparent than on the red clay.

Agreed. I admire hard work & Cam is certainly willing to do that.

And I like your term "Nadal lite". Perhaps unfair but there is something to it.

Plus, a tiny item perhaps, but I was with a small group at Indian Wells the year he won. We were in the same hotel and ran into him in the lobby. Young acquaintance with us from the CalTech tennis team recognized Cam first and said hello. Cam beamed a nice smile. None of the "why are you peasants intruding" that a few players I won't name project. Nor a studied public posture. He seemed to like being recognized.

Just a nice guy. I'd like to see more of them win.

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Agreed. I admire hard work & Cam is certainly willing to do that.

And I like your term "Nadal lite". Perhaps unfair but there is something to it.

Plus, a tiny item perhaps, but I was with a small group at Indian Wells the year he won. We were in the same hotel and ran into him in the lobby. Young acquaintance with us from the CalTech tennis team recognized Cam first and said hello. Cam beamed a nice smile. None of the "why are you peasants intruding" that a few players I won't name project. Nor a studied public posture. He seemed to like being recognized.

Just a nice guy. I'd like to see more of them win.

Certainly did not mean anything by the Nadal lite reference other than complimentary. Both lefties and never give up on any point, much less set. Nadal certainly has a bigger heavier forehand and the Nadal serve certainly has more action, more swerve, but Norrie has the heart, the embrace the pain Spanish philosophy of tennis.

[stotty]

Plus, a tiny item perhaps, but I was with a small group at Indian Wells the year he won. We were in the same hotel and ran into him in the lobby. Young acquaintance with us from the CalTech tennis team recognized Cam first and said hello. Cam beamed a nice smile. None of the "why are you peasants intruding" that a few players I won't name project. Nor a studied public posture. He seemed to like being recognized.

Sounds like a typical Brit.