Some things are Tennis

[Curtis, baby]

Anyone else watching this iNsAnE final?

[kanafani]

Fed blew it. He had his chances. Those tiebreakers were pretty bad for him... too many errors.

[Curtis, baby]

Notice how joker did something in between Fed's tiebreak serves every time to get a stoppage? Challenge, code violation, "fall"

[rischka]

i enjoy seeing federer get beat. i didn't enjoy seeing serena get beat

[kanafani]

i enjoy seeing federer get beat. i didn't enjoy seeing serena get beat

I’m the opposite

[rischka]

eh truth is they're both getting up there and it's high time for some new blood.

also serena just had a baby. i'd like to see roger do that

hilarious tweet i saw yesterday

https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1149699495002853376

[kanafani]

You never know, she might commit a double fault or a foot fault or something like that. Or she might start yelling at the umpire and get docked a point.

[kanafani]

Notice how joker did something in between Fed's tiebreak serves every time to get a stoppage? Challenge, code violation, "fall"

I didn’t think joker did anything shady. He just kept it together and did not crack under pressure.

[Curtis, baby]

I don't think it's shady. He played within the rules to give himself a break in momentum at key moments. They all do it; Djokovic is just quicker on his feet with the game-behind-the-game shit than others.

[Zulawski]

That 40-15 still hurts. Two aces in a row. How about a third? Nah, too much - let me hand it over to Djokovic instead.

Federer plays well but has much too much trouble getting the thing in the bag these days.

[wba]

fantastic game, Federer was better than Djokovic for most of the game, but still lost it. Probably even worse than that other final in Wilmbledon in 2014 (or 15? - don't recall) when he was better as well. He didn't have such a big breakdown as that last avoidable loss, and dug himself out of a few holes this time, but he just isn't there mentally as much as he would actually need to.

Djokovic kept a clear head as much as was possible, did everything right, basically, and waited for his chances. Federer beat himself in the end, and Djokovic is a beast mentally (as we already knew, and as he has proven time and time again=.

You simply cannot lose 4 points in a row when you have 2 match points and are serving (and you have served two aces in a row before that)...

I think it's just theway sports goes: in the end when you have pro athletes equally outstanding, everything is decided in the head.

Djokovic will probably go down in history as the greatest male tennis player of all time. First you had Federer, seemingly undefeatable and doing whatever he wanted, then came Nadal, trying to be an even better player (and he became that, at least mentally), and then Djokovic entered the game, at a point in time when two of the best players in the history of the game were battling it out. I can't possibly imagine what you have to do to rise above yourself in such a situation and say "fuck those two, I will be no. 1 and triumph over both". Of course, if there hadn't been Federer or Nadal first, Djokovic wouldn't have (to have) risen to the occasion and become the player he is now.

PS: I just can't believe that these three players have won 53 of the last 63 Grand Slam tournaments. It's insane!! And nowadays they are way older than anyone before them who has ever been ranked No.1 on the ATP tour.

[kanafani]

Funny thing is that Djokovic used to be a mess mentally early in his career. There are old videos on YouTube you can find where other players like Fed and Andy Roddick make fun of his flakiness and his recurrent fake injuries. He says switching to a gluten-free diet really changed everything for him.

[wba]

Yeah, he had to do a lot, and obviously he also worked extremely hard on his mental fitness.

[rischka]

but what about the US open. fed and djok both out. rafa will rule them all

[wba]

Yeah, looks like easy wins for Rafa and Serena, at the moment.

[kanafani]

one can only hope for a repeat of serena’s hilarious meltdown from last year.

[wba]

one can only hope for a repeat of serena’s hilarious meltdown from last year.

That would be something! "She did it again!"

[rischka]

doesn't matter she'll always be qweeeeeeeeen

[kanafani]

no meltdown though

[rischka]

fantastic match, now wrap it up rafa

[rischka]

GOOD WORK

[Curtis, baby]

pretty interesting year of tennis. 2 for djokovic, 2 for nadal. have we seen fed's last grand slam win?

[wba]

pretty interesting year of tennis. 2 for djokovic, 2 for nadal. have we seen fed's last grand slam win?

I doubt it. Those three still seem to dominate the game, so if Djoko and Nadal are injured and Federer is not, you know who will probably win a grand slam.
And Federer should have won against Djokovic in Wimbledon this year. He was better, but his nerves again got the beteer of him (like once before in the same final against Djokovic a few years ago).
To me it seems pretty clear that Federer needs a mental coach or such, at least to win more often against Nadal and especially Djokovic.

[MrCarmady]

they're both very entertaining players on their day but so mentally weak tonight that it's just a question of who's gonna choke less. i love thiem's game tho, he just loves to punish the ball from both wings.

[Curtis, baby]

Yeah it's pretty sloppy looking tennis

[thoxans]

poor zverev. pretty sure he'll never win a major at this point. a loss like that can fully cripple an already mentally fragile athlete. don't really care for thiem. seems a bit like a pissy little brat, but he earned it. he shoulda won the australian open, but stupid djokovic. onto the clay courts though, where the best tennis happens!

[thoxans]

also, just as a quick aside, and i know i'm in the minority here, but i love the lack of crowds. seems like the purest form of competition, just two peeps going at it, best they can, minus the bullying manipulation by a ghoulish mob of screaming hecklers that have no real appreciation for the play involved, other than 'hit ball good so i yell loud yay'

[kanafani]

There was a great clippers-nuggets game 6 today, plus the NFL is back, so really I had zero time for zverev-thiem tennis

[Silga]

I also skipped tonight's US Open final. I watched Zverev's quarterfinal game agains Coric and wasn't really impressed with the level of tennis displayed.
Aside from the Big Trio, I also miss guys like Del Potro, Tsonga and many others. Not sure if I want to follow this new gen of tennis.

As for the NBA, I pretty much stopped watching about 3 seasons ago. Basketball is #1 sports here in Lithuania and for someone like me, who went to a basketball academy for a few years, I used to follow the league religiously for a long time. But the way the game has changed in recent years and coupled with my complete disdain for the NBA rules that differ from the FIBA rules used worldwide, I doubt that I'll regain my interest any time soon. Although, I am happy that my countrymen Sabonis and Valanciunas are doing great. For basketball, I watch Euroleague and wholeheartedly support Real Madrid (just as I do in football (real football, not the American HandEgg)).

I am completely clueless about Hockey, but I do have a signed cap and poster from Dainius Zubrus who played in the NHL for almost 20 years and is good friends with my uncle.

I also don't know a thing about baseball aside from Abbot and Costello's "Who's on First".

[Curtis, baby]

That's cool. Zubrus spent a few years on my favourite team (New Jersey), and even went to the Stanley Cup Final with them

Do NBA rules differ significantly from FIBA? I followed basketball quite closely growing up, until about 2002. I almost entirely ignored the sport for over a decade, but the GSW-Cleveland rivalry brought me back in and I'm hooked. What a time to be a basketball fan. Lebron is the best or second-best player ever, and KD and Curry might also be considered top ten when it's all said and done. Not to mention Kawhi, Chris Paul, Westbrook, Giannis... there are some all-time greats fighting it out right now. Yes, I intentionally am leaving off a certain Houston Rocket, because watching someone shoot 20 free throws a night is damn boring imo