ATP Tennis/Non-India Davis Cup

[sameerph]

Finally .... Tennis to make a arrival back in China , with Two 250's slated in Chengdu & Zhuhai for September.

First baby steps in China gradually opening out to the world

Rajiv, those 2 ATP tournaments are now out in revised calender and are replaced by tournamenta in Korea and Israel. So, no opening up yet in China as far as international sports is concerned.

[PKBasu]

Nick Kyrgios is really on a roll at the moment: Wimbledon final, winner of the Citi Open, win over the world #1 this week. The next match (QF of the Canadian Open/Masters) features Kyrgios vs Hurkacz, the only 2 active players who beat each of the Big Three (Federer, Nadal, Djokovic) the first time they played them.

[ornatebrute]

Hurcakz has never faced Nadal and is 0-4 vs Djokovic on the tour...

[prasen9]

I find the current lot of players a bit off-putting. Need to find someone to support. A whole bunch of them are douchebags. Djokovic, Kygrios, Tsitsipas, Sascha and to some extent Medvedev and Rublev and Thiem. Need to find an upstanding guy whose game is top-notch to support. Suggestions?

[jayakris]

^^^ I had the same question. I also need somebody to support!

[ornatebrute]

Carlos Alcaraz Garfia

[prasen9]

Ok. Alcaraz Garfia then. Let me research him more. Thanks.

[jayakris]

I had kinda assumed that Carloz Alcaraz must be yet another bad boy young dude. Okay, I will be his fan for now. The dude is uber-talented though. Could stay on top for a long time.

[PKBasu]

Tsitsipas (seeded 4) is knocked out in the first round, making the draw all the easier for holder Medvedev. I think it's a crying shame that Djokovic isn't playing.

Alcaraz vs Nadal could be a blockbuster SF.

Wawrinka and Thiem are among the former champions knocked out in R1. Andy Murray knocks out the 24th seed to go through to the second round.

[prasen9]

Used to be women's tennis was more unstable and we would have the top 4 seeds in slam semis a lot of the times in men's tennis or close to that. This time though the field is wide open.

If things go by seeds, and they seldom do, we will have Kygrios (23) v Rudd (5) and Alcaraz (3) v Rublev (9).

In the women's, it is Siwaitek (1) v Sabalenka (6) and Jabeur (5) vs Gauff (12), a bit closer but still upsets galore.

[PKBasu]

No former US Open finalist (leave alone champion) left at the QF stage of the US Open. I think this is the first time (other than covid-affected 2020) in the Open era that there are no former Slam champions in the final 8 in men's singles of any Slam.

QF line-up is 23-Kyrgios vs 27-Khachanov, 13-Berretini vs 5-Ruud, 11-Sinner vs 3-Alcaraz, 9-Rublev vs 22-Tiafoe.

It just tells us how thoroughly the Big Three (plus Murray and Wawrinka) have dominated the Slams for the past 15 years. The forced absence of Djokovic takes some of the sheen off this US Open.

[Atithee]

^^^^ if anything, it takes sheen off the joker, not the US Open.

[PKBasu]

The only 3 former Slam finalists were in the top half of the draw, and 2 of them were knocked out today (Berrettini and Kyrgios). So the only Slam finalist in the SF of this Slam is Ruud, who was mighty impressive against Berrettini. It was compelling tennis, and I watched it rather than the cricket...

[prasen9]

Fully agree with Atithee. There will be periods of changes in the game. Competition is good. I do not in principle like monopolies or triopolies. Some of these folks will evolve and be great. Or else, some newbie will come in later on and then dominate for a long period again.

So, it is Khachanov-Ruud and ?-Tiafoe.

[arjun2761]

^^^^ if anything, it takes sheen off the joker, not the US Open.

Not missing Joker in any way. Enjoyed watching some of the newer players such as Kyrgios, Tiafoe, and Alcaraz etc.