It feels like Rafa is playing a twelve year old.
Tennis 2020
- Thread starter Mrs Smoker
- Start date
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
These shadows are making it hard to watch. Imagine how it must be for both players.
He makes it look easy, but it really isn't.
Nadal in control unlike at Rome.
Good match for him as he has barely played much in the last 7 months and besides Sinner he has not been tested at all.
Good match for him as he has barely played much in the last 7 months and besides Sinner he has not been tested at all.
Nadal was in control. But now has dropped massively.
Don’t think even Djokovic has a chance without Nadal being fatigued, he hasn't lost a set all tournament so this isn't looking good for Nole/Tsitsipas
Tsitipas had a chance to break, but didn’t take it. Now Djokovic breaks.
Maybe this is the year that one of the kids wins a Sla—
Okay, cool, that’s over then.
Okay, cool, that’s over then.
The wildly unpredictable winter French ending up being wildly predictable.....
Who said it was wildly unpredictable?
Everyone expected Djokovic to reach the final after seeing his draw. The question was Nadal or Thiem.
Tsitipas isn’t doing too badly. He just needs one of these break points.
well they got one of the Slams by default.
Djokovic converts his second break point. Tsitipas has had 5 and converted none. That last game was dreadful as he was leading 40-0.
2 consecutive service games lost by Tsitsipas after leading 40-0 
. No temperament whatsoever.
. No temperament whatsoever.Shit just got very interesting. What a turnaround.
Djokovic 11 break points for him, 2 for Tsitsipas in that set yet he found a way to lose
Perfect day for Nadal
11 break points for him, 2 for Tsitsipas in that set yet he found a way to losePerfect day for Nadal
What happened? I turned off at match point. Did Djokovic drop that much?
Keeps wasting break points one after the other in every game he's returning, he's actually playing well overall
Fair play to Tsitipas for sticking around. He’s doing a Djokovic on Djokovic.
Tsitsipas did unbelievably to even take it to a 5th set but the mental strength of Djokovic and Nadal in these kind of situations is the big difference between them and the 'next gen'
Tsitsipas really looked gassed in the 5th set and ultimately paid the price for it. He was just too wasteful for the first set and a half despite probably playing the better tennis.
Should be an interesting final. Djoko's been invincible this year but it's Rafa at PC.
Should be an interesting final. Djoko's been invincible this year but it's Rafa at PC.
Federer will not end up as goat when all three players’ careers have finished. There will be a few ‘but he played the most elegantly though’ arguments but nah.
It's almost definitely going to be Novak irrespective of the result on Sunday.
Great match from Tsitsipas but ultimately it`s better to have Djokovic go through as he`s the only one with any sort of chance against Nadal at FO. Still, with Djokovic having to play later and an hour longer than Nadal the latter should be very confident. Big favorite, it`s probably 4/1.
Nadal will be favorite but there's always the worry he's not played enough competitive matches this year. Only three matches worthy of competition have been Sinner and Diego (twice) since Jan. Besides, Novak has yet to lose a match this year. Should be a fascinating match with conditions that don't favor Nadal and his high bounce tennis on clay.
Nadal to win on Sunday to reach number 20. *Cries*.
But to be fair, aside from that little statistic, prefer him (despite the rivalry) to Djokovic anyday of the week. In general, I mean.
But to be fair, aside from that little statistic, prefer him (despite the rivalry) to Djokovic anyday of the week. In general, I mean.
That was one of the most dominated Grand Slam wins from Swiatek i've seen in a long time in Women Tennis.
Hasn't lost a set and hasn't never lost more than 5 games in a full match.
And won against the Roland Garros Finalist 2019 Vondrousova, won against Nr.1 Halep and won against the Australian Grand Slam Finalist 2020 in the final.
With 19 and unseeded.
Hasn't lost a set and hasn't never lost more than 5 games in a full match.
And won against the Roland Garros Finalist 2019 Vondrousova, won against Nr.1 Halep and won against the Australian Grand Slam Finalist 2020 in the final.
With 19 and unseeded.
I love Iga Swiatek. So pumped up, first Pole to win a Grand Slam and it was like a stroll for her.
I think Djokovic is going to do it. Nadal hasn't looked at his best this tournament and a pissed off Djokovic is pretty bloody tough to beat.
Beating Nadal in a Roland Garros final after he's gone the whole tournament without losing a set has to be one of the toughest tasks in sports history, would be amazing if Djokovic could do it but I just can't see it happening.
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Nadal's hasn't exactly been at his best given his lack of match sharpness but Djokovic hasn't looked all that great either. If he can drop 3 sets to Tsitsipas and PCB, you'd think Nadal has a good chance to get 2 at the very least as well. The conditions, with the low bounce, may not favor Nadal this year but he still can win this. Djokovic hasn't really looked all that great in Rome either tbh.
The final is going to be tricky. It could be that both reach their previous levels for one more match, only one does it or it could end up being a pretty poor match.
I'm not sure if the roof closing favours Novak with the conditions the way they are already.
I was hoping Nadal would be tested and pushed to 5 earlier to really get his game going, but he hasn't, and there are some bad signs(his backhand in the third set against Schwartzmann was atrocious).
Djokovic always plays the big stage on a new level. Always. But there are some signs he may not be at his best either.
Honestly, I am praying for Nadal to win after chasing Fed for so long, and amidst all his injuries to constantly come back the way he has, time and time again, but this is the one match I fear he won't.
Had there been no Covid, I don't think there would have been an alternative winner outside of Nadal, but there was, and here we are.
Its history in the making.
Honestly, I think this is the last of the era of dominance by the big 3, especially for Nadal, and its probably the perfect way to end it.
They may win a few more GSs, but I the domination of almost every tournament is probably at its end.
I'm not sure if the roof closing favours Novak with the conditions the way they are already.
I was hoping Nadal would be tested and pushed to 5 earlier to really get his game going, but he hasn't, and there are some bad signs(his backhand in the third set against Schwartzmann was atrocious).
Djokovic always plays the big stage on a new level. Always. But there are some signs he may not be at his best either.
Honestly, I am praying for Nadal to win after chasing Fed for so long, and amidst all his injuries to constantly come back the way he has, time and time again, but this is the one match I fear he won't.
Had there been no Covid, I don't think there would have been an alternative winner outside of Nadal, but there was, and here we are.
Its history in the making.
Honestly, I think this is the last of the era of dominance by the big 3, especially for Nadal, and its probably the perfect way to end it.
They may win a few more GSs, but I the domination of almost every tournament is probably at its end.
Why? It took Djokovic to default and Nadal not to travel for someone new to win the US open. Thiem might have beaten Djokovic. But he was pretty tired in the final. I have no doubts Djokovic would have destroyed Zverev in the semis and most likely we’d be now talking about how he could join level with Nadal at 19.
It’s a tricky match. Everything favours Djokovic , but this is Nadal at RG. Yeah Djokovic beat him in 2015, but that was Nadal at his worst. I think that was his worst year in his career. 15 and 16 he ended the years 5th and 9th in the rankings and only year he didn’t win any slam. He was struggling with his wrists and Uncle Tony wasn’t really helping. Bringing Moya into the fold has helped him massively.
Also weather should be similar to Friday. Regardless Nadal if he wants to beat Djokovic needs to have his trademark forehand down the line working. He also needs to take his chances when he has break points. Last few meetings he’s wasted a lot of chances. He should have beaten Djokovic at Wimbledon 2018. Even in his last service game at Wimbledon he was 40-0 and got broken. As Tsitipas found out even 40-0 on your serve isn’t safe vs Djokovic.
Amazing story and it's good for the tennis sport.
So, who do you guys think will win today?
Think it’s pretty even with Nadal being a slight favorite, which is probably ridiculous thing to say after he’s cruised into the final without dropping a set and this is RG we’re talking about but Djoker has all the momentum too as he haven’t lost a single match this year and if we’re honest he was really good (not his best as he was making some errors but his return/serve game were mostly on point) against Tsitsipas and should have won in 3 sets.
Nadal with the double break. Djokovic been a bit sloppy.
Đoković playing like an idiot.
Novak first serve is not existent, impossible to win against Rafa here without easy points.
30 minutes and 3 games played.
Big miss from Nadal.
Big miss from Nadal.
This will be a stroll in the park for Nadal if Djokovic keeps serving like this