Tennis 2020

Thiem helping out Zverev there. Zverev needs to take advantage
 
we'll have two players in the final who recently have been fantastic at the tie breaks. Should be a great final.
 
Thiem into the final. I felt Zverev put up a good effort for his first slam semi.

Thiem now into his third slam final. He's played Nadal twice in Roland Garros finals who has never lost a final there and now he plays Djokovic who has never lost an Australian Open final.

Huge test for him, with that alone, never mind having to also beat Nadal on his way to the final.
 
Unfair the semis are on different days. I know it’s TV people who make this decision. But doesn’t make any difference. I doubt too many people are watching this in Europe. There’s a reason why it’s shown on Eurosport in UK because the main players BBC, ITV or Amazon will not touch it. BBC used to show semi finals, but stopped

Just have one semi in the day and one in the night. Like pretty much all the other slams.
 
Bojan11 said:
Unfair the semis are on different days. I know it’s TV people who make this decision. But doesn’t make any difference. I doubt too many people are watching this in Europe. There’s a reason why it’s shown on Eurosport in UK because the main players BBC, ITV or Amazon will not touch it. BBC used to show semi finals, but stopped

Just have one semi in the day and one in the night. Like pretty much all the other slams.
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Same here. Not even the pay wall sports channels show this in The Netherlands.
 
saivet said:
Thiem into the final. I felt Zverev put up a good effort for his first slam semi.

Thiem now into his third slam final. He's played Nadal twice in Roland Garros finals who has never lost a final there and now he plays Djokovic who has never lost an Australian Open final.

Huge test for him, with that alone, never mind having to also beat Nadal on his way to the final.
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Zverev did decent. But needs to work on his baseline because he was not missing any first serves.
 
Bojan11 said:
Unfair the semis are on different days. I know it’s TV people who make this decision. But doesn’t make any difference. I doubt too many people are watching this in Europe. There’s a reason why it’s shown on Eurosport in UK because the main players BBC, ITV or Amazon will not touch it. BBC used to show semi finals, but stopped

Just have one semi in the day and one in the night. Like pretty much all the other slams.
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Agreed. Also the scheduling for a lot of this week sidelines the women's matches. A lot of them have been during the day, so less coverage in Australia as people are at work and it's the middle of the night in Europe. I'd have liked to watch Muguruza vs Halep for example but it would have been a 3/4am start on a weekday.
 
Some might think there is a change of guard but I don't see anything changing for atleast another 2 years unless there is some massive injury to Nadal or Djockovic. The likes of Zverev, Tsitsipas, Medvedev all seem to be very inconsistent. It will be interesting to see how the future of tennis shapes up once these big three retire and it will be a sad day irrespective of who we support.
 
Decent final so far, Kenin is fighting hard but Muguruza is one of those players (like Osaka and Kvitova to some extent) that when she's in good enough form to get to a final then she's probably going to be too good for the likes of Kenin.

EDIT: Since posting this Kenin has upped her level while Muguruza played the way she does in lesser tournaments in that second set. It will be interesting to see if she can find her game again in the final set.
 
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Incredible turnaround by Kenin, she played absolutely brilliantly from the 3 break points down and now suddenly she's a game away from the title.
 
So many double faults, what a shame.
 
Brophs said:
Muguruza just came asunder there. But Kenin was absolutely nails. She played such a great match.

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Those are really impressive stats. Such a turnround from her after the opening few games. That fightback from 0-40 seemed to set the tone for the rest of the match for her - and for Muguruza for that matter. Nice to see Muguruza back in a final as well.
 
Kenin seems to have resiliency and mental toughness, which is usually a sign of a dominant champ, so expecting big things from her in the future.
 
He made a similar start in the final last year vs Nadal. Thiem needs to just stay in reach and hope Novak drops his level.
 
This is why it was a foregone conclusion before the match even started.

Thiem will get challenged on every single service game and he’ll be broken. Raonic was too one dimensional but his was the right approach, serve out your service games quickly and try to capitalize.

Monumental ask against the best returner of all time though.
 
Thiem needs to start smacking some backhands down the line. He’s had a few chances.
 
Djokovic lost concentration in the last game. Would be nice if he could break Thiem again now.
 
Some good defensive play from Thiem, Novak needed to make that one extra shot.
 
TheLiverBird said:
It’s early

But Djokovic is unstoppable when he’s like this

Relentless
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I think this might finally be the season that people recognise Novak might well be the best tennis player ever

Grand slams
Federer... 20
Nadal...... 19
Novak...... 16
I can see Novak winning 2 or 3 more this year and I can see him winning more next year ... I wouldn't be shocked to see all three on 20 titles in just over a year

Edit... Just to also highlight he won Wimbledon and the us in 2015 and the Australian and French in 2016 thus holding all 4 grand slams at once which is something not managed by Nadal or federer

Weeks at ATP No1
Federer........310
Sampras.....286
Novak.........275
Lendel........270
Conners..... 268
Nadal..........207
I can envisage Novak getting to No1 and having half a year there to take top spot (I can't envisage Federer getting back there)

Head to head
27 Novak v Federer 23
29 Novak v Nadal 26
16 Federer v Nadal 24
He's ahead against both of them and I can see him maintaining / extending that record

Prize money
Novak $140m
Federer $120m
Nadal $120m
Again he's ahead and or course inflation is a counter argument but for sure he looks like he will retire as the richest player ever and it will take quite some time for somebody to surpass him
 
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sun_tzu said:
I think this might finally be the season that people recognise Novak might well be the best tennis player ever

Grand slams
Federer... 20
Nadal...... 19
Novak...... 16
I can see Novak winning 2 or 3 more this year and I can see him winning more next year ... I wouldn't be shocked to see all three on 20 titles in just over a year

Weeks at ATP No1
Federer........310
Sampras.....286
Novak.........275
Lendel........270
Conners..... 268
Nadal..........207
I can envisage Novak getting to No1 and having half a year there to take top spot (I can't envisage Federer getting back there)

Head to head
27 Novak v Federer 23
29 Novak v Nadal 26
16 Federer v Nadal 24
He's ahead against both of them and I can see him maintaining / extending that record

Prize money
Novak $140m
Federer $120m
Nadal $120m
Again he's ahead and or course inflation is a counter argument but for sure he looks like he will retire as the richest player ever and it will take quite some time for somebody to surpass him
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Those stats are nuts. If he stays healthy he should be able to achieve everything you’ve outlined above.
 
Djokovic has pressured Thiem on all but one service game, but Thiem gifted him the set there. A lot of unforced errors and finished on a double fault.
 
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