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No one:
Absolutely no one:
Me, because I drove 4.5 hours with a 4.5 year-old, am tired, had a good dinner and a great beer: Here's a "live" tweet of the 2015 US Open men's final, one of the most underrated matches of the Holy Triad Era.
Absolutely no one:
Me, because I drove 4.5 hours with a 4.5 year-old, am tired, had a good dinner and a great beer: Here's a "live" tweet of the 2015 US Open men's final, one of the most underrated matches of the Holy Triad Era.
Got the idea to do this when I saw that recording pop up in my YouTube TV library. Thought that should Djokovic win the upcoming US Open, he could say he won it when it was the quietest, but also when it was the loudest (and not in his favor).
Three games in, and Djokovic sets the tone. RF is on the other side, having held 48 straight games, broken only twice over 11 matches (both by Kohlschreiber, for some reason). Does Djokovic care? No. First RF service game: 3 BPs created, all saved by RF.
Djokovic then holds at love, and goes up 0-40 on RF's serve in the blink of an eye. After RF saves one more BP, they play this insane rally, the kind that only GOAT-level players can reasonably attempt, and Djokovic breaks. The match has BARELY started.
The thing about that rally was not only the breathtaking pace, but the surgical placement of all the shots from both guys. Videogame-level. This is what people should remember when asking why only the Holy Triad win Slams. Because they're way better than everyone else!
Anyway, Djokovic ends up bleeding after losing his grip chasing an RF volley, and is broken at 15. RF then holds at love. Game on. So much has happened already in what feels like a minute.
What jumps out of the screen as Djokovic breaks RF yet again to go up 4-3 is just how stupidly good Djokovic is playing to start this match. RF is missing a bunch of serves, but most of the ones he makes are coming back.
You'd think I'd realize this sooner, having watched the man play tennis for 14 years now, but I think there's an easy tell for when Djokovic is feeling good about things on a tennis court: if he's taking the ball early.
On a normal day (like earlier today vs RBA), he will start feeling things out, taking his sweet time to hit anything. But on days when he's connected with the tennis gods, he's taking big swings as soon as the ball hits the ground. Off both wings.
When that happens, it does not matter who is on the other side of the net. Their only hope is that Djokovic comes back to Earth and gives them a bit more time to react. Because when he's taking the ball so early, there is no time for anything. The 2019 AO F is a prime example.
Of course, RF is also playing well here, and he takes the ball early, too. Hence the violence of the rallies. Even the slices seem like they fly through the air.
Before Djokovic serves out the set, there's this: in RF's 5 service games of this set, he's created BPs in 4 of them. Broken RF's serve twice. RF serving below 50%, but this is the man who had arrived in the final having his serve broken only twice over the last two events.
As for setting the tone, Djokovic closes up the set with an emphatic sequence where he does the splits for a defensive BH on set point, then runs to the other side of the court and hits an absolute missile at RF's feet while also almost doing the splits. Set over.
The crowd, which is obviously pro-RF is kind of stunned by that set. Sure, they celebrated a Djokovic DF, but they haven't had much to latch onto. Waiting to explode.
