If Serena is going to win this tournament, she’s going to do it the hardest way possible. Today she beat second seed Halep, next she has to beat third seed Osaka, and in the final she’ll probably have to beat top seed Barty. There’s literally no way to do it and beat more of the top seeds in a row!
Today’s match with Halep was epic. Easily one of the best matches of the year so far.
Serena is moving better than she has in the last five years. It’s very exciting!
Unfortunately I don’t think her beating Osaka and Barty back-to-back is likely. But I’m stoked to watch her try!
Another big upset, with Tsitsipas beating Nadal in the hardest way possible. Not sure he’ll be able to beat Medvedev and Djokovic back-to-back to take the title, but this is surely the biggest win of his career anyway!
For anyone with any tennis knowledge, Djokovic is the best ever men’s tennis player. Anyone who says different now can only back up their views with stuff about not liking his attitude or personality. And it’s true, he’s a bit of a dickhead. But there now just aren’t any statistics where Federer or Nadal or anyone can else can beat him. Except maybe number of Olympic golds won, where Nadal and Murray have the edge. But the Olympics is next up on Djokovic’s to-do list.
BAD. The person who beat him is Alexander Zverev, who unlike Djokovic has domestic violence accusations outstanding. Djokovic is a bit of a dick, and an idiot, but it’s way easier to be happy for than someone who has hit his girlfriend’s head into the wall, along with pushing, choking and punching her in the face.
Tennis doesn’t have a single governing body. And the various organizations don’t have a domestic violence policy, as this is the first high profile case.
Team sports also have the benefit of the players being employees. If there is an allegation, the players have a boss that can stop them
taking part in the sport, or firing them, or fining them.
Tennis, as a solo sport, has no employers. If Zverev wants to play, he plays.
We saw Medvedev play at the US Open 2nd round, where he really beat up on Koepfer. It was really impressive. I liked Koepfer, though. He kept trying to play the way I play Mario Tennis. It just wasn’t consistent enough to work against someone this good.
Medvedev is playing the best tennis on in the men’s draw this year. He’s the only player to not lose a set yet. He’s playing better than Djokovic, for sure, but as the second seed they won’t meet until the final.
In the woman’s draw there are four players not drop a set yet. Two of them meet isn’t their next match, so something’s got to give. Benic (Tokyo gold medalist) vs Raducanu (fewest games lost to reach the quarters since Serena in 2003) should be a great match!
Heads up! The biggest tennis match in decades is happening on Sunday!
Djokovic has won 27 of the 28 matches needed to win the Calendar Year Singles Grand Slam, which is winning all four tennis majors in one year. It’s a VERY rare achievement!
The last person to do this was Steffi Graf in 1988!
The last male tennis player to do this was Rod Laver in 1969!
This is the closest anyone has gotten to achieving it since Serena Williams lost with two matches to go (27 wins in a row at majors) in 2015, although she held all four titles at the time for a non-calendar Grand Slam.
But on top of all that, Djokovic currently holds the joint men’s record of Most Major Titles, alongside Federer (20 titles) and Nadal (20 titles)… so if Djokovic wins on Sunday he’ll take the overall lead in the men’s major title race. That in itself would be a huge achievement! But it’s a minor factor in the bigger, year-long story.
“There is only one match leftーall in. I’m going to put my heart and my soul and my body and my head into that one. I’m going to treat the next match like it is the last match of my career.”
Meanwhile, there are some records broken tonight already! Emma Raducanu is the first qualifier to EVER win a Major Tournament, and also breaks the record for the fewest majors entered before by a woman before winning, beating Bianca Andreescu (won on her fourth major appearance) by winning on her second major appearance.
She also won the whole thing, including qualifying, without dropping a set. Never faced a set point, was never taken to a tie break. The final was the longest match of her entire three weeks in New York.