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Tennis

LatK7

First Grade
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6,256
I'm torn on Nadal. You just can't write him off. Some of his stats from that match were the worst he's posted at RG, yet he almost took that 3rd set.

His serve is completely gone and his legs are no longer there, he can't go 4/5 sets anymore. Moya & co will have to come up with something new. I'd guess he's got 18 months left, max. He'll probably win #21 at RG next year.

Final was another disappointment for next gen, though Tsitsipas looked the most convincing for at least a period of time. The capitulation and drop in from from Thiem, Zverev, Medvedev and now Tsitsipas is poor. I haven't seen a generation as bad when asked the question in 30+ years of watching the game. Credit to Djokovic for getting it done, but a bit sad he didn't have to do anything too special to come back from 0-2 down (just hit first serves, make returns, and steer away from the fh).
 

Apey

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26,750
I think that might be Nadal's Grand Slam career over tbh. Bit of a strange thing to say given he embarrassed Djokovic in the same match up just last year. But Nadal is getting older and Djokovic has cleared that mental hurdle now.

As a Nadal fan, Nadal getting beaten at RG is shit, but it doesn't suck as much as his inability to win that second Aus Open title before Djokovic got his second French. He's had a few chances without Djokovic standing in his way and still f**ked it. He's had the 2 wins in every other Slam except Aus since 2013. I wanted him to be the first with two career slams in the Open era particularly because it would have to happen here in Aus. I'd still take him being 2nd tbh, but his chances here are long gone.

Next Gen are f**king embarrassing btw. At least when the 3 greats all retire there will be many, many different Grand Slam winners because none of them are standouts.
 

LatK7

First Grade
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6,256
I think that might be Nadal's Grand Slam career over tbh. Bit of a strange thing to say given he embarrassed Djokovic in the same match up just last year. But Nadal is getting older and Djokovic has cleared that mental hurdle now.

As a Nadal fan, Nadal getting beaten at RG is shit, but it doesn't suck as much as his inability to win that second Aus Open title before Djokovic got his second French. He's had a few chances without Djokovic standing in his way and still f**ked it. He's had the 2 wins in every other Slam except Aus since 2013. I wanted him to be the first with two career slams in the Open era particularly because it would have to happen here in Aus. I'd still take him being 2nd tbh, but his chances here are long gone.

Next Gen are f**king embarrassing btw. At least when the 3 greats all retire there will be many, many different Grand Slam winners because none of them are standouts.

Nadal's just had some horror luck in the AO. I remember a decade ago a lot of Nadal fans were talking up the double career slam (which beforehand wasn't even really considered a thing) given their confidence of him achieving it, and how could you blame them. He was a freak. Don't entirely count your guy out, he may still have something left.

Agree with you on next gen, seriously I've never seen a generation as mentally frail but also so technically poor. There's so much wrong with almost all of their games (Tsitsipas seems the most balanced/technically sound) & tennis IQ, i.e. absolutely no idea how to come in and finish off a point, or even construct one.

We're now seeing a third generation come through with no established all-time-great or world #1...not a single younger rival for Djokovic/Nadal who are near retirement age (completely embarrassing for the tour). If the usual level of competition had come through which we've seen in every generation up until 'lost gen', all three of these guys would've been finished 4-5 years ago at least. There's just no young Lendl taking out Connors, Safin/Hewitt/Roddick/Fed beating Agassi/Sampras, Djokovic/Nadal gunning for Fed. And as great as the big 3 are, they're all shadows of their younger selves, particularly Federer and Nadal. Makes it even worse!
 

horrie hastings

First Grade
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7,284
Well done Ash, first Australian Woman's player through to a Wimbledon singles final since Evonne Goolagong Cawley in 1980.
Very hard thought match between Barty and Kerber in the semi and Barty had to fight hard to beat a very tough and experienced Angelique Kerber in the semi.
Ash's job doesn't get any easier playing Karolína Plíšková in the final who is a class act but hopefully Barty can come through and be the first Australian women's single winner since Evonne in 1980 and also win on the 50th anniversary of when Evonne won her first Wimbledon singles title in 1971.
 

Bazal

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Apey

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Olympic tennis player Novak Djokovic of Team Serbia said pro athletes must "start learning how to deal with pressure" during an interview where the topics of pressure and athletes' mental health were discussed.

"Without pressure there is no professional sport," Djokovic said. "If you are aiming to be at the top of the game you better start learning how to deal with pressure and how to cope with those moments — on the court but also off the court."

Djokovic said he feels pressure is a "privilege" for athletes at such high levels. He acknowledged he learned to deal with pressure, and struggled more with it at the beginning of his career when he did not have as many wins as his rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

"Of course. It's normal," Djokovic said. "No one is born with those abilities. Those abilities come with time."

He won his 20th Grand Slam with the Wimbledon title this month, now matching Federer and Nadal.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

Novak Djokovic during mixed doubles match

Olympic tennis player Novak Djokovic said pro athletes must "start learning how to deal with pressure." In this photo, he and Nina Stojanovic of Team Serbia play against Marcelo Melo of Team Brazil and Luisa Stefani of Team Brazil during their Mixed Doubles First Round match on day five of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Tennis Park on July 28, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

The top-ranked Serb was asked how he deals with the pressure of attempting to accomplish something that no man has done before in tennis: completing a Golden Slam.

Steffi Graf in 1988 is the only tennis player to achieve the Golden Slam, winning all four Grand Slam tournaments and Olympic gold in the same calendar year.

"Pressure is a privilege, my friend," Djokovic said in answer to a reporter's question after winning both of his matches at the Ariake Tennis Park on Wednesday, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina of Spain to reach the quarterfinals in singles then teaming with partner Nina Stojanovic for another victory in the opening round of mixed doubles.

Djokovic, who has already won the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon this year and needs the Tokyo Games title and the U.S. Open trophy to complete a Golden Slam, said he has learned to deal with all expectations.

"All that buzz and all that noise is the thing that, I can't say I don't see it or I don't hear it, of course it's there, but I've learned, I've developed the mechanism how to deal with it in such a way that it will not impose destruction to me. It will not wear me down," Djokovic said. "I feel I have enough experience to know myself how to step on the court and play my best tennis."

Tennis player Naomi Osaka and American gymnast Simone Biles are among the Olympians who have talked openly about their mental health troubles.

Djokovic's only Olympic medal was bronze in singles from his first Olympic appearances at the 2008 Beijing Games. He then lost to Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in his next two Games: in the 2012 bronze-medal match and the first round at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

"Rio was (a) very tough loss for me," Djokovic said. "I came into Rio as also a big favorite, winning four out of last five Grand Slams, No. 1 in the world. So I know that feeling; it's kind of a similar feeling now. But I'm a more experienced player; I know mentally what I need to do and how to work things around on and off the court in order to feel the best that I possible can feel."
 

LatK7

First Grade
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6,256
Well I wouldn't have bet on Djokovic blowing a set and a break lead against Zverev, but there you go.
 

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