It was clear from the first round that Nadal wasn’t in top form for this Major. Often he plays himself in as the tournament progresses, but today he met a big hitter in Tiafoe who was serving very big and showed a lot of determination.
This sets up the weakest Major QF group in quite a while…it should be exciting.
Mozart
The real problem with Nadal is match play deficiency since he does not play tennis regularly anymore. He did win some tournaments early this year - 2 tournaments in fact - but since them he won only the French Open and in that he was helped by an injury of Zverev and the match effectively only lasted one set and a level seconf set that was not completed.
I think the elderly players are basically phasing themselves put of the game, while their playing style also became outdated. A much faster and hard-hitting game has taken over - making predictions of winners much more difficult.
Yes ... there were glimpses of his genius through out the match but sadly he wasn't able to sustain it.
What an incredible era we've had these last 20 odd years.
There are a few very talented players coming in ... but nothing like what we've seen in Novak, Roger and Nadal.
On the ladies tour we see potential greats in Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek.
Someone else that I like is Caroline Garcia.
Joker and Rafa demonstrated again this year they can still win the Majors if they are fit. And no…there is no faster, harder hitting game. Cilic at33 pummeled Alcatraz for most of the match and Cilic has never got to the level of Federer, Nadal and the Joker.
The only player who at times plays at a different level is Kyrgios….but can he sustain it. The big 3 all have incredibly durable winning strategies. How many things did each of them have to do right to win 20 plus majors…how many times did they come back against opponents playing out of their minds.
You are right CC, I can’t see any player that has that level of potential,
Mozart
Cilic "pummeled" Alcaraz - but did he win? The answer is simple he did not win anything. A stupid remark anyway - but that is to be expected from you.
What did Joker wion this year. He won the Wimldon Exhibition tournament and zero ells. Nadal was early in 2022 good and then went sour. In the French Open he won when hsi opponet was seriously injured during the match and could not continue.
Djokovic played no tennis since the Wimbledon Exhibition Tiurnament nd Nadal went out early in both the said Exhibition tournament and now in the US open. That in fact is nothing to brag about. I never said that Djokocvic were not tennis greats - but they are not anymore and nearing retirement rapidly.
As to Kyrgios he was beaten by Khachanov in the US Open Semi. I woke up and found Khachanov in the lead and cbought out my bets for an amount higher than I invested and am glad I did it quite early.
As per normal your sporting knowledge is extremely limited and extremely stupid. .
Well Tokkie at least Nadal took Tiafoe to 4 sets…..your big pick Roob was dismissed in straight sets.