tennis gut

A win for Novak Djokovic at this US Open would be deeply historic.  He would complete the calendar year grand slam, a feat last accomplished 52 years ago by Rod Laver in 1969, the only time it has been done legitimately on the men’s side by my judgment. Additionally, Novak would surpass Federer and Nadal and stand alone with 21 slam singles titles.  Arguably, Ken Rosewall has 23 from the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s, but Djokovic’s achievement would surpass Rosewall’s in quality by most estimations. Yet Djokovic has looked shaky since Wimbledon.   Other than rushing to the Olympics in a failed attempt to set himself up for the Golden Slam (who can blame him for trying) he hasn’t played any of the North American hardcourt warm-up tournaments.   Djokovic looked wounded in body and soul in Tokyo.   Will he have recovered enough to mount a serious challenge for the title? Meanwhile the young(ish) guns of Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Rublev, Berrettini, and Zverev are nipping ...

Ashleigh Barty or Naomi Osaka.   Barty’s title haul and match stats for 2021 make her the clear favourite in New York, with Wimbledon and four other tournament crowns.   Easy picking.   Until you look at Naomi Osaka and realize she’s only lost once at the US Open since 2017, and she hasn’t lost a slam match anywhere since the 2019 Australian.   But she’s been off form lately, and in a weird headspace since she announced she wasn’t doing press at the French.   Will that matter here?   First Quarter Barty’s quarter is filled with some very serious contenders and a few dangerous floaters.   She plays former Open finalist (2010) Vera Zvonareva in her opener.   Zvonareva may be past her prime but can still cause trouble.   Barty has been known to hit flat spots in slams before, throwing in the odd clunker of a match, but those occurrences have become fewer and farther between. She rarely goes off the boil now and even her bad days are go...

    Novak Djokovic is the very clear and strong favourite to win Wimbledon in 2021, thanks in part to the withdrawal of Nadal who is recovering from the rare Roland Garros loss inflicted by Djokovic in the semi-finals.   But I doubt they’ll just forego the matches and award Novak the trophy.   It’s sports, and anything can happen.   And who is likely to be the runner-up?   Besides Djokovic and Federer who have won at least five titles each, none of the top 16 seeds have made it past the fourth round, except for Roberto Bautista Agut – call me cynical, but I don’t think he’s a strong threat for the title.   So who is?   First Quarter Djokovic (seeded #1) is half-way to the calendar year grand slam.   The only other time that’s happened in the last 30 years, was also Djokovic, five years ago.   In 2016 when he won the French, he became the first man to hold four slam titles simultaneously since Rod Laver in 1969.   It was a...