Running tennis thread 2024

Tiafoe played a beautiful match, more solid than Shelton. Great win for him.

Now he'll likely get Djoker.

 

Shelton, what a serve, but just not consistent enough after the serve, or returning. Hope he gets better.

 

He wants to kill every ball and hits a lot of shots long. And he needs to get A LOT better at the net. He's not comfortable going in.

 

The man of the hour:

 

This guarantees it will be the first year since 2002 that at least one of the trio of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic has not won a major.

 

That is an insane stat.

 

No American man has won a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick won his only one at the 2003 U.S. Open, which is almost the exact border of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic run (Fed won his first Wimbledon in 2003).

But in between Michael Chang's only slam (1989 French) and Roddick's, American men won 26 Grand Slams among its big three (Sampras-Agassi-Courier).

28 Slams in 15 years, then zero over the next 21 years. And no finalists in 15 years.

 

A friend won two tickets to a suite yesterday and I had a blast living the good life at Ashe’s day session. Incredible two matches. I was pulling slightly for Shelton but seemed like the crowd, though they loved both, was slightly pro-Tiafoe. So that was a popular comeback. My buddy bumped into his coaches after the third set, when it looked like Shelton was going to take it. They came up to use the bathroom in the suite and my friend told them, “You got this.” He believes they passed that message on to Tiafoe, which sparked the rally. Inspiring.

Why am I typing this today instead of last night after I got home? Well, I hardly ever drink, but when it’s free food and alcohol…

A lot of Honey Deuces later I was having a very long evening when I returned to my place.

 

There's a decent chance that non-finalist streak could end this year. Fritz, Tiafoe and Nakashima are all in the former Djokovic half of the draw. The two biggest dogs left in that half are Zverev and Rublev, neither of whom have an air of invincibility about them. Fritz beat Zverev at Wimbledon this year.

 

We limited ourselves to 3 Honey Deuces over the course of 6+ hours yesterday, which was prudent. They go down way too quickly. I did pick up about a dozen empty glasses though.

 

Sorry Murray fans, but making it a Big Four was a stretch even if he was fourth best on the tour. That leap from fourth to third was a doozy.

ADD: At some brief window Wawrinka supplanted Murray, but the same still held.