Roger Federer retires

A few days ago, I said:

...I can understand in tennis because there are players and their teams coming from all sorts of countries.

Firstly, how would the players get into France? Only players in countries which can access France by train could play. No flights are coming in. And assuming somehow they got planes in, the players would firstly have to self-isolate for 2 weeks, and then could play. And as soon as a player gets infected, the tournament would naturally be cancelled. No players based in the US could participate, and many players from other countries train in Florida. Especially because all the players went to the US because of the sunshine double.

Notable players who would miss out:
Mens:
16 - Shapavalov (Canada)
18 - Garin (Chile)
20 - Auger-Aliassime (Canada)
21 - Isner (US)
24 - Fritz (US)
26 - de Minaur (Australia)
31 - Nishikori (Japan)
Womens:
1 - Barty (Australia)
4 - Kenin (US)
6 - Andreescu (Canada)
9 - Serena (US)
10 - Osaka (Japan)
13 - Keys (US)
19 - Riske (US)
28 - Anisimova (US)
29 - Wang (China)

The mens side would actually be ok. But the womens would get torn apart. The first 5 names are all GS-winners.

If fans are present, all tournaments have to be cancelled. If fans are not present, all tournaments have to be cancelled. Fans or no fans doesn't affect whether the tournaments can go ahead unfortunately.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Mar 19th 2020 »

Just do no fans. Or give Nadal the French by default. XD

Again, not possible. The players need to get there, and can't.

I worry for Rafa. If the tournament dates aren't changed again, Rafa will have a horrible schedule:
Wimbledon
2 week break
Olympics
4 week break
US Open
6 day break
French Open
With his injury history I can't see him physically lasting through to the final of the French. We both know Rafa hates hard courts (injury), and he'll probably play in the final of the US given that he is successful there. 6 days recovery may be too tough.

Maybe Thiem will skip the US Open and win his first GS at the French, beating the fatigued/injured Novak and Rafa ;)

I would skip the Olympics if that continues to be the case.

French Open screwed over the other slams and postponed its date to September 20th.
Olympics have been postponed by at least 1 year.
Wimbledon will announce that it will cancel its 2020 tournament.

Roger will have very limited opportunities now. I give him only 2 chances to win a slam again; 2021 Australian Open (if it goes ahead), and 2021 Wimbledon (if it goes ahead). After the break he'll come back refreshed in a similar way to how he did at the start of 2017. Interestingly after that break, he revived his career and won 3 more slams.

Rafa will have to hope that either the 2020 US Open gets cancelled, or that he is allowed to skip the US Open. If he plays in the US Open he'll be too tired and will likely get injured at the French (which is held 6 days later).

Wow, I didn't realise that Novak is almost 33. His game is built on defense and counter-attacking. It's a much more energy-expending game style. He needs 4 more slams to beat Roger, and probably more when Rafa eventually overtakes Roger.

Serena is done, lol.

Double posting because tennis is screwed.

The US Open and French Open are supposed to be held this year, but there is probably a 10% and 20% chance respectively of each being held. Since Trump's tactics are to basically accept the deaths and cases, it'll mean international borders stay shut. No one would be interested in a slam without the top 20 male players and top 3 women. The French would have a similar problem with non-European players.

And this week, the Aus Open director said there's a chance the 2021 AO will be cancelled. That is despite the fact that Australia will be a coronavirus-free island.

The biggest loser out of this will be Novaxx 'you can separate water molecules with your emotions' Djokovic. I can't see him catching Rafa, and he may not even be able to beat Roger anymore.

No one cares.

The US Open starts today. In my last post I said I thought there was a 10% chance of it happening. How wrong I was.

Federer is injured and Nadal chose not to come (to focus on clay). 6 players in the women's top 10 didn't come either. There are a fair few players who didn't come, but the large majority are ready to compete.

Djokovic has a 99% chance of winning. The only thing that stops him is injury.

Serena has a 1% chance of winning. She has been god-awful after the season restart, and should've lost every match she's played, if not for her opponents choking. And in the 2 that she has lost, SHE was the one who badly choked.

If Novak doesn't win, I'll be shocked.

In Novak Djokovic's 4th round match, his opponent was serving at 4-5 in the 1st set and was down 0-40 (3 set points to Novak). His opponent held for 5-5. Then Novak got treated for a minor injury at 0-30. He came back and was broken for 5-6.

He then unintentionally hit the lineswoman in the throat with the ball, and was defaulted. He is out.

We will have a new men's GS champion for the first time since 2014!

I get the rules, but that's ridiculous. It's on the judges to be looking for the balls at all times; he was walking off the court and got rid of his remaining balls like every tennis player does.

It's sad, but rules are rules. There's precedence too. You have to think if it didn't hit here in the throat they would've just let it go. I saw the lady writhing on the ground and couldn't help but think it was a bit embellished. He didn't hit it that hard.

Oh yeah, she sold it for all it was worth. You would've thought he had hit her with a 100 mph serve with the performance she gave.

Yeah lmao. I saw her grasping her throat gasping for breath like he swung the racket at her. Then I went back and saw the replay of him hitting the ball and I'm wondering how it even got as high as her throat anyway. And even if it did hit her in the throat, it couldn't have hurt that bad. It's a tennis ball. Also, pay attention.

XD XD XD

His luck ran out. At 5-5, he smashed the ball into the side fencing and narrowly missed a cameraman. He seemed to be in a bad mood, and chances are he would've done something like that again when he lost the first set.

It's harsh for Novak, but hitting a linesman, ballkid, chair umpire or cameraman with some force (accidentally) is a default every time. He didn't hit it that hard, but there was enough force.

Warrior you should be loving this. It keeps Novak 2 GSs behind Rafa, and Rafa will win the French in a few weeks.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Sep 7th 2020 »

I want Rafa to earn it. He doesn't need the help of some melodramatic judge looking for her fifteen minutes.

Semis:

Zverev v Carreno Busta
Thiem v Medvedev

Osaka v Brady
Williams v Azarenka

Don't care for either all that much. lol

I guess Medvedev. Anyone but Osaka or Williams.

Azarenka should destroy Serena. Azarenka won her QF 6-1 6-0 over a decent opponent. Meanwhile Serena has played 3 consecutive 3-setters.

Medvedev will beat Zverev in straight sets in the final.
And Osaka will beat Azarenka in 3 close sets to win.

I hope that neither prediction comes true.