Just setting this up. Please keep all discussion of the Djokovic episode in the existing thread.
Right now I’m fuming because ESPN has gone 20 minutes without showing a single point being played, while a dozen matches are in progress. Non stop chat about this and that.
Denis Shapovalov didn’t get an easy three-set victory as the commentators kept predicting (7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6).
Leylah Fernandez loses to a qualifier for the second slam in a row.
Two young players who are fun to watch have been eliminated in the 1st round. Coco Gauff and Leyla Fernandez both lost in straight sets, with the same score, 6-4, 6-2.
Shapovalov grinds out a 4+ hour 5-set victory against another lower-ranked player. 6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2.
Bad day for the Brits. Murray, Radicanu and Watson all gone. Evans got a walkover so he’s still carrying the flag into the third round.
After those long early-round matches Shapovalov beat Zverev in straight sets today. Shapovalov-Nadal may be a good one - Shapo has relatively good performances against Nadal in the past.
Felix should be favoured in his match as well. The two Canadians keep knocking at the door.
Sure, she’s young, but still - that just kills me. Get goin, girl!
/pig/ Always a joy to watch Italy’s stunningly beautiful Camilla Giorgi. /pig/
Enjoyed watching him beat Raffa at two Rogers Cups ago.
Just finished watching Auger-Aliassime utterly dismantle Brit D. Evans 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
Barbora Krejčíková will walk out of this one with both the singles and doubles titles.
Shapovalov loses in five to Nadal. The 22 y.o. has to get a grip on his nothingburger tantrums. (IIRC at the last Wimbledon he told an ump he’s never playing there again)
Not holding out for Felix upending Medvedev tomorrow but would be elated to see.
I watched the “wheelchair tennis” for a while. Interesting. You can hit the ball on the second bounce as long as the first bounce is within the lines. Being seated - it’s hard to serve a powerful shot - but it gives time for the opponent to swerve around the court in his chair to return the serve. Lots of long (and accurate) serves from far back of the lines. A good-sized crowd appreciated the action. (they also play doubles, which would mean a lot more careful movements to avoid accidents.)
Well, he got just about as close as possible without winning. Won the first 2 sets, lost a tiebreak in set 3, had match point in set 4, and had two break points at 4-5 in the fifth. Tough losses for both Canadians.
Congrats to unseeded American Danielle Collins for getting into her first Gland Slam final.
Don’t know about the finals, but going into the semis, the hilariously forlorn-looking (except in i-views, of course) Ashleigh Barty had held 73 of 74 service games - absolutely redonkulous.
And hilarious about Colins’s “box” - I dont think I’ve ever seen one that has - match after match - just one, solitary dude-looking dude, sitting there. Sure doesn’t look all that tennis-y, and is apprently her b/f.
And so, taking it upon myself to google “Danielle Collins’s coach”, lo and behold, I came across that that dude - a former Aussie rules footballer - is also her trainer. Boom. That’s it.
Tom Couch.
Huh! Funky!
ETA: surprised this is Barty’s first AO final.
I LOVE Ash Barty (takes a year off tennis and plays top level cricket) but she’s bested three Americans on the way here. Single-handedly trying to kill off the revival of US tennis.
Still can’t root against her.
She was seeded 27, but congrats just the same. I feel obligated to cheer on Americans, but I won’t feel bad if Barty wins.
I’m loving current tennis. The womens’ side is very competitive, and the mens’ side is looking better than it has been.
Ah right, her cricket, which, yeah, she’s totally into just as much as her tennis. Quite amazing - currently stumped trying to think of any other athletes who can boast such elite levels in two major sports like that.
Matteo Beretinni - first Italian to reach AO semis - is playing some of his best tennis right now, and will definitely need to, tomorrow, against Nadal, who seems to be quietly (what, with all the earlier Novax brouhaha) positioning himself to get his 21st major, and become arguably (?) the all-time greatest. (me - I gotta admit I’ll always be a Federer guy, despite the fact his career could - and quite likely - end up getting eclipsed by the two others)
Ah, lovely! the reunion of sniping, duelling twitter-spat’ers Medvedev and Tsitsipas. I hope they have a volley rally and one of them just beans the other. 
Looking forward to lots of condescendingly smug looks of bemused superiority from the Russian, which might be getting just a little tiring.
I say! Anyone for tennis?
Me too. No matter what Nadal or Djokovic may do I’ll always consider myself privileged to have lived through Federer at his peak. For me there has been no greater sporting beauty than his effortless brutality.
I’ll be happy for Nadal to win tomorrow though, he’s a good guy and an all-time great, as is Federer. You know that if Nadal gets no.21 Federer will be swift to offer his heartfelt congratulations and we should treasure them while we can.
Yeah and just to reinforce that point - I don’t think I’ve ever heard Raffa say anything off-colour or peevish in his entire career. Even his comments on Novax (frick it - that’s his new name now, especially if, down the road, he keeps up this selfish childishness) were classic Raffa - careful not to rake his fellow competitor over the coals, but still making it clear that the authorities did the right thing.
Hilarious - I recall a finals presentation - forget which tourney - where Raffa, holding the championship trophy, looks over at Fed, and says, “sorry”.
My belief that Federer is the greatest of all time will persist, but I would greatly prefer Nadal to hold the Grand Slam record than Novak. I will even admit that maybe, just maybe, Nadal is better than Roger Federer.
I have tremendous respect for Nadal but he will never in my eyes be the player Roger is. Too many of his GS titles in one event on one surface. He is light years better than any male clay court player in history but that’s as far as it goes.
I think I’ve given up trying to make a watertight case either way, you could argue for any of them. However I do know that the sheer joy of watching Federer play has been unsurpassed for me.
He has given me more “you have got to be fucking kidding me” moments than any other player ever.