Roger Federer retires

Anything can happen. Will it? Doubt it. But I would never say never with Roger (at least until he retires).

If Djokovic gets unexpectedly knocked out Federer has a wonderful chance of winning the title. Not clear cut like in previous years but still very much in the running. I can't see any other winner besides Djokovic to be honest. This is not good for Tennis when one player dominates so completely.

If Novak somehow falls, it will definitely be anyone?s for the taking.

Olympics start in a few days. Coco Gauff and Australia's top ranked male player are out with the virus. Berrettini also withdrew.

I'd say the favourites are:

Mens:
- Novak
- Medvedev
- Zverev
- Tsitsipas
- Rublev

Womens:
- Osaka
- Barty
- Krejcikova
- Sabalenka
- Svitolina

My picks are Novak and Barty. Novak is unstoppable. Everyone is picking Osaka, but she hasn't played a tennis match in months. She's been too busy dealing with her 'mental health' (meaning going to award ceremonies, becoming a brand ambassador to many companies, having a barbie doll range released, and featuring on the cover of magazines in a bikini).

Mens:
Winner - Novak
Dark horse - Shapavalov

Womens:
Winner - Barty
Dark horse - Ons Jabeur

I have Novak 70%, Field 30%. He might not have same drive apart from Grand Slams.

I would probably have Barty 50%, Osaka 25%, Field 25%. My gut says Osaka though, it would be like her to win gold after all her drama.

Lol, I didn't realise Shapavalov chose not to play the Olympics, and instead lost to a qualifier at a low-level tournament in his first match, after winning the first set 6-2. There goes my dark horse prediction

Osaka hasn't played a tennis match in a few months. I think she expects to just turn up and win gold. Unfortunately she's been given a cakewalk draw and will go deep in the tournament regardless of her level.

I have to go Djokovich and Barty as well. Tennis is in a bad state when everyone knows the likely winners, you are left hoping that somewhere along the line there is an upset just to make things interesting. At least a few years back there were four players on any given day could beat anyone in the word - Federer, Djokovich, Murray, and Nadal.

Osaka isn't doing anything apart from add a bit of interest to the women's draw.

World #1 Barty is out, losing 4-6 3-6 to Spain's world #48 Sara Sorribes Tormo. Sorribes Tormo made just 13 unforced errors all match, and was a brickwall with amazing defending. Barty meanwhile, made 55, and was very poor. The draw opens up now.

Sorribes Tormo now had a 1-0 H2H over Barty (playing the Olympics for Spain) and a 1-0 H2H over Osaka (6-0 6-3 win in Fed Cup playing for Spain). She also narrowly lost to GS champion Andreescu in almost 3 hours, and narrowly lost in 3.5 hours to Kerber at Wimbledon.

My dark horse prediction Jabeur also got beaten by Suarrez Navarro 6-1 6-4.

Just hand the medal to Osaka.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jul 25th 2021 »

Looks like Osaka has a clear run to the title now. After such a long layoff she won't find it easy as she won't have match fitness. If she gets taken to three sets consecutively, it may become a factor. On paper Osaka is a dead cert for gold in Tokyo because of her record on a hard surface where she's won all four of her Grand Slam titles including the U.S. And she will also be the media darling everyone wants to win being born in Japan. I wouldn't want to be the player that faces her in the final, they can expect a hostile crowd, then again the Japanese are the less vocal crowd in the world. When Buster Douglass beat Mike Tyson in that monumental upset in Tokyo, Japan the atmosphere was bizarre, you'd expect the fans to go crazy with what they were witnessing, but instead the Japanese just sat there observing the bout as if it was a chess match.

There are no fans allowed at the Olympics this year. Which isn't an issue for Osaka. In fact, it helps her because she has less pressure. She also won the 2020 US Open, which had no crowd.

No fans in Japan for the Olympics. Makes you wonder what is happening with the pandemic with countries each having their own rules. Football crowds in the US will be normal this season and there were crowds at the Euro's this summer for the Soccer. Why not at the Olympics. Doesn't make sense unless our Asian friends have not been honest again about the contagency rate over there.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Jul 25th 2021 »

I'd bet the Japanese are worried about international variants, also not sure of their vaccination rates.

The US has had vaccines for everyone who wants one for months and we are still bracing for this Delata variant. My mom works in a school and there are already rumblings that instruction is going to be remote when school resumes in September and we'll be headed for another lockdown.

I had a feeling it would be Osaka?

Hang on a second, did you say vaccines are not compulsory in the U.S.? That's crazy, in the U.K. and Spain, and I think the rest of europe they are mandatory, you can't get on a plane unless you have your vaccination paper work.

Covid vaccines are not compulsory for international or domestic travel here, just strongly recommended. You also have to follow the destination country's guidelines so if they say you need a vaccine to enter you have to have one. Young kids can't get it though which is the main concern for schooling.

Vaccines in general are compulsory to enter public schools with certain fringe religious exemptions which are sadly becoming more common as anti-vax stuff becomes more popular.

Yep, not required in the USA. Too many issues with rights if they tried. Not really a big deal though since like 75% have received at least one of the vaccines, which means 3/4 of the Americans that are eligible to receive it are like 80-85% immune from symptoms. Obviously can still catch it with the vaccine, as well as decease because of the gap, but the odds are especially low (more so if you couple with the fact that most might already have natural immunity from prior exposure).

No need for kids to have the shot, or even masks for that matter. They are the the most immune to virus, more often than not being asymptomatic. It doesn't really matter if they pass it from one to another because of this, meaning everything should be good based on the current vaccine rates.

Whoever doesn't want the vaccine has the right to decline and accept the risks. Even if everyone got the shot, those that hive the highest risks could still succumb from the virsus.

Reading between the lines it sounds like Covid is here to stay regardless if the whole world gets vaccinated. It's basically another flu, a virus which will never have a 100% cure, just a jab that boosts your immunity to it.

Olympics this year is getting very poor coverage on TV in the U.K. There doesn't appear to be much intetest in it. I remember the Olympics when I was a kid being a major event, especially the 84 and 88 Olympics.

Yeah coverage is poor here too. Not sure if it's the time difference or a lack of interest or a combination but most people here don't seem too interested.

33 year low. No one seems to care, but like most sports, the continual protesting is hurting them. All the more so because they are protesting the country they are representing.

A lot of losing happen for the US to start, so that might be making this market less interested.

Protesting in the Olympics? The only protesting I've heard about is the Womens Swedish Volleyball team being forced to wear bikinis and g-strings for their matches. Apparently the team turned up for one of their games wearing shorts and they all got fined. Don't those girls realize 95% of the attraction of Volleball is those skimpy outfits. The game would be tedious without all that female anatomy bouncing about.

« Last edited by Sanzano on Jul 27th 2021 »