2020 French Open (postponed to 20Sept-4Oct)

[Sin Hombre]

Iga Swiatek won the women's title without drawing a set. She has an all-round game, albeit without a dominant serve. But her groundstrokes, drop-shots and volleys were very impressive. I hope she doesn't go the way of Ostapenko in the next couple of years.

I finally watched some highlights and interviews.

She is a likable player and I hope she is not a flash in the pan. Way more likable than the other new young winners like Kenin.

[prasen9]

That argument kind of fails given Federer's period of clear dominance was bashing up Hewitt and Roddick and has an inferior h2h against both Nadal and Djokovic.

Obviously the debate will never have a clear answer but for me, Federer would be behind both Nadal and Djokovic.

If you look at the splits between Federer and Nadal, on hard court Federer has an edge with Nadal. That in my mind gives a bit of an edge to him. Of course, Djokovic has a better record than Federer in my mind until now. If he can last as long as the Fed, he will be the GOAT in a few years.

And, you know, I am a Nadal fan ...

[prasen9]

BTW, Nadal is 100-2 on clay in Paris. This is just mind-bogglingly incredible. I may not see this again in my lifetime on any surface. When I was a kid, if you told me that someone would be this dominant on a surface in a Grand Slam, I would have asked you to get your head checked out. It is just insane. Federer is very dominant at Wimbledon but the numbers should not add up to this.

This time it was cold and the roof was closed due to rain, etc. Supposedly, those were to make it harder for Nadal. He just knows how to prepare, how to peak, and how to conserve his energy in the early rounds, etc. If Djokovic had gone for the jugular and converted the match point in the third set vs Tsitsipas, maybe he would have a chance. But, the mood Nadal was in, maybe that would not have been enough either.

[jayakris]

Utterly brilliant, clinical performance by Rafa today. The Emperor of Clay by a long way.

Emperor for ever. Like Prasen was saying, what he has done at Roland Garros is just unimaginable. Anybody bettering it, ever, is unimaginable too.

[rajitghosh]

Nadal at Roland Garros is like Bali in Ramayan. Just looking at him reduces the opponent's strength by half. Yesterday the vegan guy was looking like a joker in front of him. I was confused whether it was a final or a 1st round match.

[Omkara]

Iga Swiatek won the women's title without drawing a set. She has an all-round game, albeit without a dominant serve. But her groundstrokes, drop-shots and volleys were very impressive. I hope she doesn't go the way of Ostapenko in the next couple of years.

I have my doubts pkb. Women's tennis is at its ebb. Anyone can win. Do you remember the names of last few winners or the one who one Olympics gold. No fun!

[jayakris]

I have my doubts pkb. Women's tennis is at its ebb. Anyone can win. Do you remember the names of last few winners or the one who one Olympics gold. No fun!

Yeah, I can't remember all, but I have no doubt that PKB remembers. He has photographic memory (or very quick google fingers; but probably the former ).

[prasen9]

The brightest youngster and multiple GS winner is Naomi Osaka. She has a bright future. I do not think that women's tennis is in any low or things like that.

[PKBasu]

I think the quality of women's tennis has improved hugely -- as everyone strove to match and surpass the Williams sisters. Yes, there is an "anyone can win" feel about women's tennis, but there's nothing wrong with that -- similar to men's golf (in the immediate post-Tiger era). Monica Puig (the Puerto Rican) winning Olympic gold was something of a travesty, but she did beat Angelique Kerber in the final (so she earned it). I agree that it is getting hard to remember who won the women's Slam titles -- but I don't think that's a bad thing. This year, we had Kenin (AO), Osaka (USO), Swiatek (FO) -- all relatively young winners, which should be good for the women's game in the near future.

[Sin Hombre]

I beg to differ on the quality.

So many matches are 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 which doesn't indicate high quality to me.

Women's tennis has been in a similar state to the men in the late 97 - early 2004 era when we had random single GS winners like Johanssen, Costa, Korda, Gaudio et al.

I do think Osaka is the real deal as is Andreescu and Swiatek on clay.


I do think it is a shame that Sania didn't emerge in this era, she probably would have made a QF or SF in a grand slam.