2025 French Open.

[Hs0022]

I will both agree and disagree.

On one hand, a set is never over. You can be up two breaks, and the trailing player can still come back and win a set.

Compare that to grass. I've never seen a comeback from down two breaks.

And honestly, if someone gets a break and is up 2-0, the set is 97% over. Might as well get up and do things around the house then too. It's kind of boring when someone gets a break in the first game or two on grass because the trailing player rarely comes back to tie the set.

So I prefer hard courts and clay sometimes, because I know a set is never over. There are enough comebacks from down 1 or 2 breaks.

I like comebacks from down 4-0, 5-1, or 5-2. I've only seen those on clay or hard courts.

BUT, due to the length of a clay match, I rarely watch two full matches in a day, including womens matches. It's the least likely major where I watch two full matches in a day.

I tend to like the AO the best. It has the best combination of competitiveness and pace. There's enough comebacks where I'm never sure what's going to happen.


For all majors, I browse through matches a lot. Usually don't watch much live, so I can save time that way. If it's competitive, or a SF or Final, then I'll try to watch full matches.

On that note I want to add that there have been quite a few of “fluke” Wimbledon champs (pat cash
Comes to mind first and foremost) where on grass things happen “too quickly” and you can have an unlikely champion before you realize what’s happening. But on clay you have to really know how to play and have a good all court physical game and also a mental game that takes into account unpredictable factors like wind, temperature and the spectators reactions.

All the more points to how Rafa was really good as a tennis player. And how good Federer himself was for many years second only to Rafa on clay. Rodrick was lacking so much as a player ( he was fun to watch though) that he only won one slam before Fed walked in the arena. Fed should have won one FO before Rafa walked in in my honest opinion but Fed didn’t know what kind of juggernaut Rafa would become.

 

[Hs0022]

American men players are really vulnerable in their game. They have a decent game to get titles on home soil and mainly on surfaces other than clay nowadays but on clay and outside US they become “fish out of water”, because they don’t have a complete game both in the physical and mental sense. I am hoping Tommy Paul can change this but he is also vulnerable in the upstairs department where you have to be stable to excel.

 

[Hs0022]

Right now Tiafoe is getting manhandled by a one handed bh player on clay!!

 

[Hs0022]

Tiafoe is simply lost at the net like many other US players who came post Sampras era. They lack the killer instinct and lose the point when brought to the net. They also miss a lot of times when they come to the net on their own accord after setting up the point beautifully. Good job on winning a set from Musetti. I thought it would be a straight sets affair for Musetti.

American men still have a long way to go before they can recapture some of the glory that reminisces with the Sampras and Agassi era.

 

[Hs0022]

Tiafoe is simply lost at the net like many other US players who came post Sampras era. They lack the killer instinct and lose the point when brought to the net. They also miss a lot of times when they come to the net on their own accord after setting up the point beautifully. Good job on winning a set from Musetti. I thought it would be a straight sets affair for Musetti.

American men still have a long way to go before they can recapture some of the glory that reminisces with the Sampras and Agassi era.

The net game and the instinct for aggressive play has been discouraged through the advent of string and racquet technology and the use of both hands on the bh side to properly harness this new change and to maximize the outcome. Fed’s career overlapped both eras so he was able to get away with a one handed bh player to create history and reach a count of 20 slams.

Since Fed both other players Nadal and Djoker both have a two handed bh and also bigger racquet headsizes to allow more room to find the sweet spot ( bigger racquet headsize also enlarges the sweet spot zone) . The rest of the formula is just fitness, good physical and mental health and skills with the racquet which both men had.

Djoker was younger than his rivals and also was privileged to have a bigger goal in sight and mind as the follower of the other two. It’s not that much of a surprise that he surpassed Nadal and Federer.

 

[Hs0022]

That was a clinic! I didn’t think straight sets against Tommy. I don’t think Tommy is 100% physically ok. There was basically nothing from him today and he is one of my most liked US players. Ben is not mature yet and Tiafoe may be in the wrong sport.

 

[Hs0022]

Djoker vs Zverev will be interesting.

And Sinner will likely steamroll over Bublik ( I think getting to quarters here was his biggest career achievement and he knows it, despair and doom will set in fast against Sinner).

Alcaraz vs Musetti will also be interesting, if Alcaraz loses his focus and has lapses it could prove dangerous for him. He doesn’t want to do a five setter before a potential five setter match against Sinner.