US Open tennis

[Screw_Michigan]

Starts on Monday. I spent a few days at the excellent ITF J300 tournament in College Park last week and that was a blast. The world's best 18u players.

Anyway, a few observations from the men's draw:

https://www.usopen.org/en_US/draws/mens-singles.html

B. Shelton and F. Tiafoe are set to play in the third round
Skinner is #1 while Novax is #2
C. Alcaraz is #3, him and Novax are both in the bottom half of the bracket

From the women's draw:
Iga is #1 and SM's jerk fodder is #2
J. Bouzas Maneiro (another SM favorite) could get a tough matchup in the third round from J. Pegula/E. Radacanu
J. Paolini (another SM favorite) is #5
E. Navarro (also a SM favorite) is the #13 seed

Gonna be another amazing week of tennis. If weather in NYC is like it is in DC (warm temps, mid to low humidity), should work out perfectly. If my cards play right, I'm going to try to attend a session at the end of the week.

Go Jasmine!

[L45B]

C. Alcaraz is #3, him and Novax are both in the bottom half of the bracket

Incorrect. #3 Alcaraz is in the top half of the draw with #1 Sinner (and #5 Medvedev).

I know, Screwy. This seems like it goes against the normal logical grain. It’s not like tax cuts for the rich— which always dooms the poor and creates a wealth gap. That never depends, that is always constant. We learned that in leftist economics 101 class. Tennis seedings and bracketology are more “it depends.”

Keep grinding away champ.

[Softball Bat]

B. Shelton and F. Tiafoe are set to play in the third round

If they face off in the 3rd round, it'll be a really interesting match.

Per L45B's correction, NoVax has again gotten a break with the draw.

Also of note, and it will be a story during this tournament, the #1 player in the world, J. Sinner, is involved in an illegal drug controversy.

[Screw_Michigan]

Incorrect. #3 Alcaraz is in the top half of the draw with #1 Sinner (and #5 Medvedev).

Whoops. Shouldn't the #3 be in the bottom half of the bracket?

[L45B]

Incorrect. #3 Alcaraz is in the top half of the draw with #1 Sinner (and #5 Medvedev).

Whoops. Shouldn't the #3 be in the bottom half of the bracket?

No, hence why it’s called a “draw.” The #3 seed (and likewise the #4 seed) can draw the #1 or the #2 in the semifinal round.

Just like the #5-thru-#8 seeds can draw any of the #1-thru-#4 seeds in the quarterfinal round (again, see #5 Medvedev’s draw).

But rest assured, when there are tax cuts, they are always for trickle-down purposes, which always make the rich richer and the poor poorer, I confirmed this with Diego and the math works each and every time. It has nothing to do with optimizing tax revenue for the government. Don’t be fooled by Austrian economists, they are Nazi Racist Socialists of the highest order!

[Softball Bat]

15th seed Holger Rune is *spanked* out of the tournament in the first round.

American B. Nakashima did the trick.
Not close.

[Screw_Michigan]

That was quite the ass kicking. Second straight first round US Open exit for Rune. Not acceptable.

[L45B]

Nakashima

Look out for him. He’s been playing hungry this summer. Beat Tommy Paul and Taylor Fritz in back-to-back hard court tourneys.

Now he’s taken over Rune’s draw, which ain’t bad.

[Screw_Michigan]

Did you guys happen to catch this interview with Fritz in the WSJ? Imagine how dominant he would be if he actually tried.

https://archive.ph/OAEuf

[Softball Bat]

My take last month on T. Fritz...



Taylor Fritz has some holes in his game, and his little lady isn't helping either.

Getting a little technical, but Fritz does not get a good grip change with his right hand on his two-handed backhand.
So, he often gets caught "shoveling" the ball on his backhand, and he doesn't hit the backhand down the line well.

He is also not real natural at the net, and especially for someone of his size.
His volleys are average and his overhead is average, for his size.

He can bang his serve pretty good, and he can belt the forehand, but his movement is somewhat stiff.

Taylor Fritz isn't a well rounded player, and that is why he has never been beyond the quarterfinals at any major.
He'll be 27 in October.
There are always younger, hungrier players coming up.
His window will be closing in the not too distant future, and his little girlie will have to find a new sucker to latch on to.

- poptart (7/10/24)

viewtopic.php?p=1096393#p1096393

[L45B]

My take last month on T. Fritz...



Taylor Fritz has some holes in his game, and his little lady isn't helping either.

Getting a little technical, but Fritz does not get a good grip change with his right hand on his two-handed backhand.
So, he often gets caught "shoveling" the ball on his backhand, and he doesn't hit the backhand down the line well.

He is also not real natural at the net, and especially for someone of his size.
His volleys are average and his overhead is average, for his size.

He can bang his serve pretty good, and he can belt the forehand, but his movement is somewhat stiff.

Taylor Fritz isn't a well rounded player, and that is why he has never been beyond the quarterfinals at any major.
He'll be 27 in October.
There are always younger, hungrier players coming up.
His window will be closing in the not too distant future, and his little girlie will have to find a new sucker to latch on to.

- poptart (7/10/24)

viewtopic.php?p=1096393#p1096393

Bingo, Bat. He has made it as high as #5 in the world rankings. From that perspective, it’s reasonable to say he’s overachieved given the limitations of his game, as you noted.

Could he had been more of a mainstay like Zverev or even Rublev? Probably but hard to say. His choice of women definitely cost him a shot at a Wimby semifinal this year, and probably other success robbed by stupidity and energy exhausted elsewhere.

Hes either peaking now or is starting his decline. Other Americans like Korda and Michelsen and Nakashina have already beaten him this year.

[Softball Bat]

There are 8 or 10 decent quality Americans who could potentially make noise in this Open.
Fritz is one of them.

Hopefully one of them will get rolling.

[Screw_Michigan]

Bingo, Bat. He has made it as high as #5 in the world rankings. From that perspective, it’s reasonable to say he’s overachieved given the limitations of his game, as you noted.

Could he had been more of a mainstay like Zverev or even Rublev? Probably but hard to say. His choice of women definitely cost him a shot at a Wimby semifinal this year, and probably other success robbed by stupidity and energy exhausted elsewhere.

Hes either peaking now or is starting his decline. Other Americans like Korda and Michelsen and Nakashina have already beaten him this year.

What, exactly, is wrong with Fritz's woman? Except for the awful duck lips, of course.

[Softball Bat]

She's an attention whore.
A social media attention whore.

For just one example, she jets around the flat earth because of her star athlete husband, and then regularly puts YouTube videos up like, "MY week at Wimbledon," "My week in Rome," "My week in Miami," etc.

Videos about what she wore, what restaurants she went to, what sites she saw, who she met, and so on.

https://www.youtube.com/@moorrgs/videos


Other women look at her videos, roll their eyes, and wish they could pull her hair out.
Men look at her videos for 1 minute if they want to rub one out.

I guess Morgan is doing her service to the public. lol

And Taylor Fritz is just her horse to ride on.





And so it goes 'til the day you die
This thing they call "love"
It's gonna make you cry
I've had the blues, the reds and the pinks
One thing for sure

(Love stinks) Love stinks, yeah, yeah
(Love stinks) Love stinks, yeah, yeah
(Love stinks) Love stinks, yeah, yeah
(Love stinks) Love stinks, yeah, yeah...

[Screw_Michigan]

Yeah, she sounds pretty awful but also pretty spot on for the shallowness and vapidity of today's young Americans. All her accomplishments are basically being the person Fritz's sticks his cock in. Something to be very proud of.

https://people.com/taylor-fritz-morgan- ... ve-8700256

But in her defense, she's not the first and certainly not the last woman to act as an albatross on a young man's tennis career.

Oh and I didn't know that Fritz has a child from a previous relationship with a woman (former tennis player) who looks exactly like his current woman. Jesus.

[The Seer]

2
1

[Screw_Michigan]

Not a good look. Well neither is being a Dumpster but that hasn't stopped you.

[Softball Bat]

Yeah, she sounds pretty awful but also pretty spot on for the shallowness and vapidity of today's young Americans. All her accomplishments are basically being the person Fritz's sticks his cock in. Something to be very proud of.

She is gravy training.

It is only because of Taylor Fritz that she is flying all over the world, and it is only because she is Fritz' girlfriend that anyone gives half a sh!t about her.

So what if some young lady is in Rome, or Miami, or England??

She is a nothing.

But her man, he is something.

He is the #1 ranked player in America, and he is currently a top 15 player in the world.


If she is going to put videos up about her travels with Fritz, then Frtiz ought to be the focus.


She is boring.

[Softball Bat]

11th seed S. Tsitsipas is bounced in the first round.

Aussie T. Kokkinakis won it in 4 sets.

When I first saw the US Open draw, I noticed this first round match and thought it had potential to be an *upset*.

Kokkinakis has some firepower, and there are times when he puts it together and is a VERY tough player.

[L45B]

The Aussies have some numbers in the men’s draw. Guys that can do damage.

Djoker better not sleep on Popyrin if he plays him in the third round.

[L45B]

Yeah, she sounds pretty awful but also pretty spot on for the shallowness and vapidity of today's young Americans. All her accomplishments are basically being the person Fritz's sticks his cock in. Something to be very proud of.

She is gravy training.

It is only because of Taylor Fritz that she is flying all over the world, and it is only because she is Fritz' girlfriend that anyone gives half a sh!t about her.

So what if some young lady is in Rome, or Miami, or England??

She is a nothing.

But her man, he is something.

He is the #1 ranked player in America, and he is currently a top 15 player in the world.


If she is going to put videos up about her travels with Fritz, then Frtiz ought to be the focus.


She is boring.

She’s not helping his career. She’s a drain on his mental energy. A net negative.

Look at the greats— they all have at least one thing in common. Their wives are their supports, they are the glue to keep things together while their players have complete focus on their craft. Djoker. Roger. Nadal. Murray. They didn’t mess around with diva bloodsuckers.

Fritz is unfortunately spending a lot of his downtime managing her instead of staying mentally fresh for the next match.

Tommy Paul has the same problem, maybe even worse. Even when he wins, he gets choked.

[L45B]

By the way, some PET from the hard knocks of Queens and the 14th district of NY, where everyone who voted for Joe in the primary was willing to sacrifice their vote for the greater good! Everyone I talked to in the stands was as impressed as I was at how presidential Kamala looks on the tarmac and all the leadership experience Tim Waltz has from coaching high school football. It was so hard to focus on tennis when there was so much buzz and authentic excitement about the policies on Kamala’s website.

[Screw_Michigan]

I saw Kokkinakis at the DC Open. He was pretty good.

I watched the Paolini-Andreescu match last night. Paolini dropped the first set in tie breaker before blowing out Andreescu in the second set and winning in the final points in the third set. I find it amazing how hard courts makes so much of a difference in a match between a superior player (Paolini) and an inferior opponent (Andreescu) when the superior player doesn't play much on them. Andreescu has rarely played this year and is not in match shape at all while Paolini has been doing nothing but playing in tournaments all year, and it showed. Andreescu was tired late in the first set and started developing injuries throughout the match.

Should have been a blow out, right? But Andreescu won the 2019 US Open and has had much more hardcourt success than Paolini, who won her second US Open match last night. Even though she was falling apart physically, Andreescu was able to hang tight and stay in it until the final points.

I also watched much of Evans-Khachanov, which is probably the tightest match I've ever seen. First three sets went tie-breaker and the last two sets were 6-4. Evans was down 4-0 in the final set and roared back to win 6-4.

Go Jasmine!

[Softball Bat]

Djoker better not sleep on Popyrin if he plays him in the third round.

They will indeed play in the 3rd round.
Could be a good one!

The winner of their match will play the winner of Shelton v. Tiafoe in the 4th round.

A Shelton v. Djokovic rematch (last year's semifinal) would be good.

[L45B]

The winner of their match will play the winner of Shelton v. Tiafoe in the 4th round.

A Shelton v. Djokovic rematch (last year's semifinal) would be good.

Don’t forget Bat. Shelton vs Tiafoe is also a rematch from last year’s quarterfinals that Ben won in four sets. The “phone hang-up” match. I don’t know if Tiafoe gets fired up for revenge like most other guys. I think Shelton might beat him again.

[Screw_Michigan]

I know you guys don't care about women's tennis, but have to mention a chokejob from Tuesday--Danielle Collins, in her final major, won 6-1 but lost her next two sets 7-5, 6-4. Oops! Apparently she threatened Iga at the Olympics after Iga went down after being hit by a shot and told her next time she'd hit her in the face.

[Screw_Michigan]

Man, Jessica Bouzas Manerio is HOT HOT HOT. What grip is she using here? I just cannot believe you guys are so dismissive of women's tennis. Would you rather watch Taylor Fritz and his bimbo girlfriend or Bouzas Maneiro? The choice is clear.

[Screw_Michigan]

Haha, fuck Naomi Osaka. Lost in straight sets to Karolina Muchova. Pushes Muchoav's match point wide. But but but it's the jizzmoppers who are making me have a nervous meltdown! Not because I don't really love tennis and don't know how to deal with this in a healthy manner.

[Softball Bat]

What grip is she using here?

Full western grip.

Advantages: Works well on balls that are above the waist -- shoulder high or higher. Lock your wrist and you can take a strong rip at the ball, hitting it with a lot of topspin and safety.

Disadvantages: It is not easy to hit low balls with that grip. The grip is not suitable for hitting any shot where you have to approach the ball with an open racquet face. You can't volley with that grip, so you've got to make a significant grip change every time you approach the net. Finally, when you play with a full western grip, you are not going to be able to get a proper grip change for hitting your backhand. Your backhand will suffer because you've put all of your eggs in one basket -- the basket of ripping the hell out of your monster forehand.

[Screw_Michigan]

Full western grip.

Advantages: Works well on balls that are above the waist -- shoulder high or higher. Lock your wrist and you can take a strong rip at the ball, hitting it with a lot of topspin and safety.

Disadvantages: It is not easy to hit low balls with that grip. The grip is not suitable for hitting any shot where you have to approach the ball with an open racquet face. You can't volley with that grip, so you've got to make a significant grip change every time you approach the net. Finally, when you play with a full western grip, you are not going to be able to get a proper grip change for hitting your backhand. Your backhand will suffer because you've put all of your eggs in one basket -- the basket of ripping the hell out of your monster forehand.

Good analysis. I don't play with a full western grip for the reasons you mentioned, I'd have change grips for every backhand and I'm not at that level yet. I know I need to improve my forehand top spin, so I should be playing and practicing more often with a semi-western (at least), but it's hard for me to get away from the continental for simplicity.

Makes sense how the full western grip is all about monster forehand because JBM certainly crushes the hell out of her forehand.

[Biggie]

Alcaraz on the ropes

[88BuckeyeGrad]

Those ropes are in the form of a noose.

[Softball Bat]

*Shocker*

Not only that Carlitos lost to an unseeded player, but that van de Zandschulp rolled him in straight sets.
Not close at all.

[Screw_Michigan]

*Shocker*

Not only that Carlitos lost to an unseeded player, but that van de Zandschulp rolled him in straight sets.
Not close at all.

Yeah, that's a pretty bad choke job. I fell asleep after the first few games but the Tennis Wunderkid should have been a lot better.

[Softball Bat]

Major props to van de Zandschulp for how he handled this victory.

No jumping around, flailing, falling down and rolling on the court.
All of the overly-theatrical bullsh!t we see these days.

Nope, he won match point and then sheepishly walked up to the net to shake Carlitos' hand, like, "Yeah, this really did happen."

He shook the umpire's hand and then went over to sit down -- but reluctantly walked out to wave to the crowd.

Old skool!

He did it like a fvckin' MAN.

Great going, Botic!

Take it all the way.


Carlos was very flat.

I think winning the French, Wimbledon, and then trying to win the Olympic Gold took a toll on him.

I just think he was mentally fatigued coming into this event.

Everyone has a limit.

[L45B]

Great going, Botic!

One of the nicest guys on tour, from what I’ve heard. Well respected. He had a great US Open a few years back, he likes it here.

I watched him practice last week, nobody in the stands. He’ll have some people watching him now.

[Softball Bat]

Shelton v. Tiafoe

Tiafoe wins it in 5!

Shelton was up 2 sets to 1, but couldn't close the deal.

[Screw_Michigan]

Shelton v. Tiafoe

Tiafoe wins it in 5!

Shelton was up 2 sets to 1, but couldn't close the deal.

Wow! Watched a few minutes my club tonight. Even the staffers (where Tiafoe trained) thought Shelton had it in the bag. Huge win for Big Foe!

[Screw_Michigan]

Major props to van de Zandschulp for how he handled this victory.

No jumping around, flailing, falling down and rolling on the court.
All of the overly-theatrical bullsh!t we see these days.

Nope, he won match point and then sheepishly walked up to the net to shake Carlitos' hand, like, "Yeah, this really did happen."

He shook the umpire's hand and then went over to sit down -- but reluctantly walked out to wave to the crowd.

Old skool!

He did it like a fvckin' MAN.

Great going, Botic!

Take it all the way.


Carlos was very flat.

I think winning the French, Wimbledon, and then trying to win the Olympic Gold took a toll on him.

I just think he was mentally fatigued coming into this event.

Everyone has a limit.

Bullseye. You're right about C. Alcaraz playing a lot of tennis and having his body catch up with him, but losing in the second round is still pretty awful for the #1/2/3 player in the world. Too early. Would love to know some of the analysis of holes in Alcaraz's game and how to best exploit them.

[Screw_Michigan]

What stats do you guys care about in tennis? When you read a "box score", what stats give you the best impression on how a match truly went?

First serves in
First serve points won
2nd serves in
2nd serve points won
Break points

These all seem pretty important. Wondering what you guys think.