Tennis: US Open 2024

[Jack Straw]

Wow. I mean… WOW.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

Alcaraz couldn't wait to get off the court after the break at 4-4.

Shocking to see him give up mentally.

 

[17futurecap]

I do agree with Johnny Mac that it’s been a long weird season for all the top guys, but this is still insane.

 

[kihei]

This is insane, Botic was losing every first round this year that he was talking about quitting the sport.

This is the first time he has won back-to-back matches all year.

I've never seen this fluid movement, consistency and grit from Botic before. I'm genuinely shocked.

 

[17futurecap]

One of these eight going to the semi’s.

 

[kihei]

21 seeds on the women's side make it to the round of 32. Which is surprisingly good.

18 seeds on the men's side make it to the round of 32. Which is mediocre, bordering on poor.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

That was probably the best match Botic has and will ever play in his life. Carlitos ran into a buzzsaw. Weird it happened to him when it's usually him doing it to others. He definitely didn't play a winning set 1, but set 2 and 3 he could've won against someone who wasn't playing out of their mind.

 

[kihei]

View attachment 903949

One of these eight going to the semi’s.

Quarters, I think. But, yeah, that's a shocker.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

View attachment 903949

One of these eight going to the semi’s.

ADM has a hip injury. He's not at his best. If he was, I'd definitely say he's the best player of that group. I could see it being Draper, if not ADM.

 

[PanniniClaus]

This is the first time he has won back-to-back matches all year.

I've never seen this fluid movement, consistency and grit from Botic before. I'm genuinely shocked.

I watched this match and still can't believe what I watched.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

ADM has a hip injury. He's not at his best. If he was, I'd definitely say he's the best player of that group. I could see it being Draper, if not ADM.

It's ADM or Draper, the hard court is their best surface

As for the Alcaraz/BVDS match, good for VDS, guy was literally talking about quitting the sport and this run will probably make him think twice now. One of the greatest things about tennis is that you never know how match will go no matter how good a player is going into it. Carlos had his warning flags in his previous matches and they never got cleared up. Novak had some hiccups v Djere last night too and Sinner had that scare the other day as well.

 

[kihei]

Certainly makes Sinner's life a lot easier. In theory, anyway....Medvedev looks like he is rounding into his old form quite nicely.

 

[CupofOil]

Sucks that Alcaraz lost, the tournament immediately has gotten less exciting, but I'm not overly surprised that he flamed out early. He played a lot of tennis over the summer and suffered a very tough loss at the Olympics probably the toughest loss of his career so I think the rest of his season was cooked.
You could see it at Cincy when he got dispatched by Oldfils and was destroying his racquet uncharacteristically, the poor guy's tank was running on empty mentally and physically spent.

I know there's ATP points up for grabs but if I was him I'd take a few months off and gear up for the ATP Finals. He needs a reset in a bad way.

 

[kihei]

Tsistsipas' parents situation is such an incredible contrast with Ben Shelton's parents situation so low key and positive in comparison. Plus, they all look like they really like one another.

If you are looking for a dark horse on the women's side, Zheng might be worth checking out.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Shelton I feel might be the player to break the American man slam drought at some point, if it happens with this generation.

All the other guys have big weaknesses that probably makes it so they never win one:

Fritz-Movement
Paul-Doesn't have the ability to win points easy enough
Korda-Maserati with no engine as @kihei put it
Tiafoe-Too up and down

We'll see about Michelsen over the upcoming years. Too early to really have a great feel about what his potential is like, but Shelton's got such easy firepower from the serve and ground, and moves very well. If he can continue to refine his tactics, I feel like I'm not overstating in saying he could be a slam winner and a top 5 player at some point.

 

[17futurecap]

How did the USTA not make this the night match tonight?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

How did the USTA not make this the night match tonight?

Djokovic probably asked for a night match

 

[17futurecap]

Djokovic probably asked for a night match

I guess, but you don’t have to approve that request, he’s not going to turn down playing the tournament.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Tiafoe has taken the edge as the match has went on. Shelton looks to be running on fumes, while Tiafoe looks like he could go another few sets.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Shelton I feel might be the player to break the American man slam drought at some point, if it happens with this generation.

All the other guys have big weaknesses that probably makes it so they never win one:

Fritz-Movement
Paul-Doesn't have the ability to win points easy enough
Korda-Maserati with no engine as @kihei put it
Tiafoe-Too up and down

We'll see about Michelsen over the upcoming years. Too early to really have a great feel about what his potential is like, but Shelton's got such easy firepower from the serve and ground, and moves very well. If he can continue to refine his tactics, I feel like I'm not overstating in saying he could be a slam winner and a top 5 player at some point.

Shelton has nothing besides a serve, it'll be Fritz or Paul

Certainly makes Sinner's life a lot easier. In theory, anyway....Medvedev looks like he is rounding into his old form quite nicely.

That round of 16 matchup on Monday with Sinner v Paul should be insane as well. I actually like Meddy a lot too to win this whole thing.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Shelton has nothing besides a serve, it'll be Fritz or Paul

He wallops the ball off the ground too and moves very well. He's also 5-6 years younger than those guys, so has a lot more runway to improve. The time is now for Fritz and Paul in the next 3-5 years, and they aren't even ranked in the top 10.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think he has the most potential of the current younger generation in the sport under 25 other than Alcaraz and Sinner. And I don't think that's overly controversial. I could be wrong.

 

[Tuggy]

Djokovic drops the first set...

 

[kihei]

Nakishima through the fourth round with a terrific, highly entertaining win over Musetti in four tough sets. Brandon's game seems to have improved in leaps and bounds in the past year as has his nerve management.

 

[kihei]

Djokovic drops the first set...

I spent way too long this afternoon trying to figure out whether the new improved Popyrin could upset Djokovic tonight. After wasting way too many brain cells, I concluded that he probably couldn't but his chances of doing so were more than zero. Not a ringing endoresment exactly but he seems off to a good start.

 

[kihei]

The old Popyrin theatened to choke there, but Alexi recovered to hold his second set lead, 5-3

Popyrin to serve for the set--let.s see how his nerves hold up here....he serves it out admirably. Two set lead.

Nole finally arrives, 3-love in the third set....and Alexi seems to be suddenly feeling a lot of pressure.

But it's Nole who coughs up the break. He may just not be playing well enough to take advantage of Popyrin's intermittent skittishness.

Popyrin mammothly chokes his serve away. Nole back in the lead.

6-2 Nole. On the evidence of that set, I would be surprised if Djokovic doesn't win this match in five sets.