Tennis!

[JasonM]

You hate to see it

[gunnar hendershow]

Oh no!

Anyway

[Szumi]

Really hoping Tiafoe can do it again today, but Rublev has been playing some great tennis and even in only 4 sets, Tiafoe has to be drained after beating Nadal. Fly expecting Alcarez to win in the other QF, even though Sinner is a tough out. 

Obviously disappointed Coco went out, but Garcia is just superb right now. I think she'll make it to the Finals over Jabeur, but women's tennis is so hard to predict. Pegula has been doing great and so I'm blindly hopeful she can beat Swiatek today. Think Sabalenka wins the other QF.

[Bobfoc]

I'm hoping for a Ruud/Sinner final. That would guarantee a first male singles Slam winner for either Norway or Italy.

[gunnar hendershow]

Tiafoe!!!!

My guy! Making Maryland proud.

[Bobfoc]

Ruud and Alcaraz will contest the final. I think Ruud would be a more interesting winner as he'd be the first Grand Slam champion from his country. Ditto for Jabeur in the women's final.

[gunnar hendershow]

I believe the winner of the men's final becomes new world number 1? Agreed that Ruud will be a more interesting winner. That said, Alcaraz would surpass Hewitt as the youngest number 1 and that's always neat.

[Szumi]

I believe Alcarez is the first male teenager to make it to the US Open Final since Pete Sampras I saw!? That's gotta be around a 30 year span, which is pretty crazy. This kid is amazing.

[Bobfoc]

It's interesting that there hasn't been a teenager who really broke through to the top level in the men's game since Nadal. Borg, Becker, Wilander, Chang and Sampras were teenage Grand Slam champions in past eras, with McEnroe, Hewitt, Djokovic and Del Potro winning at the age of 20. Since then, there have been plenty of promising youngsters who didn't challenge the Big Three (or four when Murray was at his best). I think it's mainly a testament to just how good Djokovic, Federer and Nadal have been.

Looking back, it also seems that the US Open is the Slam that's been the most unpredictable in recent years. This century so far, there have been five men and five women who have won their only Slam there. Djokovic has "only" won it three times, whereas he's won the other hard court Slam nine times. No man has won it more than five times and no woman has won it more than six times.

[gunnar hendershow]

I think as it comes at the "end" of the season, the grind has worn down some of the top players and opened the US Open up to more unpredictability. Especially in the last few decades as the game has become as physically demanding as it's ever been.

It just makes it even more impressive that Federer won 5 in a row. And he made it look easy. We'll never see a Federer 2004-08 run for a tennis player ever again.

[Bobfoc]

Federer will retire after next month's Laver Cup.

[Adam]

He's the GOAT for me. Pushed greatness to new heights and without his dominance I don't think Nadal or Djokovic do quite as much to match or surpass him.

He had the best style, the best play, he was the best to watch. No one did it like Federer.

[DavidMarrio]

Pretty much one of the most consistent players for years and someone who tbh even outside of tennis has to be near the top of any top ten for this generation of sports stars. 

His rivalry with Nadal when they were both in their prime was something special to watch. 

 

[gunnar hendershow]

My favorite player of all time and I'll always go to bat for him being the GOAT. The run he had from 2003 to 2009 was simply transcendent.

[EddieG]

He's just played his last match, a losing effort doubling with Nadal, his speech afterwards though, don't think anybody had dry eyes left, myself included, Nadal seemed to be most emotional.

EDIT: Which was then oddly followed up by everybody sitting down to watch Ellie Goulding perform live.

Edited September 23, 2022 by EddieG

[The Kraig]

I feel like words are barely enough to express how empty tennis feels without Williams and Federer.

The Laver Cup was the perfect send-off.

[gunnar hendershow]

His interview after the match yesterday was great, hard not to cry by the end.

[Lineker]

 

[Chris2K]

I maintain that Andy Murray is one of the unluckiest players in sporting history, being the 4th best player in an era of 3 of the greatest players that a sport has seen is just unfair.

In the last 19 years there have been 75 grand slam tournaments, these four won 65 of them.

[Bobfoc]

If you put all four players at their peak, I think Murray was only slightly behind the others. Unfortunately, that was the decisive factor in the difference between their title hauls. There have been brief stretches of time when Murray was the best player in the world, which, given the competition, is a great achievement. He's beaten the other three players more than once each in Grand Slams as well.