Nadal has withdrawn from Wimbledon because of an “abdominal tear”. Ouch!
You could tell Rafa wasn’t at 100 percent yesterday, why didn’t he just let Fritz win and let us have two semi-final matches???
Cynically: revenge for losing the Indian Wells championship to Fritz.
Realistically: players like Nadal are psychologically incapable of stepping back while they’re competing. If he’d started the match against Kyrgios, he’d finish it or be carried off the court on stretcher. His team somehow convinced him not to get to that point–probably because he’s at serious risk.
I heard a radio announcer saying that with Nadal’s withdrawal his favorite player was out, and without naming names, probably the final would feature 2 players he dislikes.
Elena Rybakina (#17, Kazakhstan) beats Ons Jabeur (#3, Tunisia) to win the championship 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Great example of coming back from behind.
Mine only complaint is the line calls had too many mistakes. They really need to get rid of the humans and go entirely automated.
Unbelievbeable shot-making from Ons Jabeur:
And this one, maybe the most unbelievable shot I’ve ever seen:
https://twitter.com/beefbreen/status/1545033026521923584?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1545033026521923584|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.givemesport.com%2F88031549-wimbledon-ons-jabeur-stuns-fans-with-multiple-impossible-shots
When I saw it live, I did a double take, and then the replay - from the side angle - was like, are you kidding me? It was surreal, viewed from the side angle, showing the ball was almost a full two feet behind her when she made contact.
Gotta say they weren’t my first choices, either.
Kyrgios - one lucky dingo. I hope NoVax makes this the most one-sided Wimbledon final ever, despite the fact the dingo, surprisingly, is 2-0 head-head (both on hard) over Djokovic.
Maybe NK (great acronym!) will just yell at his significant other in his box the whole time.
Vraiment?
Pourqoui?
The whole elitist thing with dress code and royal box shows lack of respect for the players and distracts from the actual sport. See also the banning of players without regard to the players’ organizations. I’m a little gleeful the tournament has been relegated to an exhibition.
Odd that even though I’m the last one to uphold staid traditions, I like seeing the all-white thing going on - that classic contrast to the green grass.
Agreed, though, that they shouldn’t have banned Russians and Belarusians. AIUI the US Open has no such plans to do so; not sure on where they’ll stand with Djokovic.
Novak Djokovic (#1, Serbia) beats Nick Kyrgios (unseeded, Australia) in four sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Kyrgios came out strong, but couldn’t keep his focus; he couldn’t get past his setbacks. Djokovic gets mad, but resets his mindset so well.
The human line calls were terrible. Both players had to challenge calls (correctly) multiple times. There was a bad call in Kyrgios’ favor, who told Djokovic to challenge it, and did. And there were calls that replay showed were bad, but stood because they weren’t challenged.
I’m also tired of John McEnroe.
This was one slam final where I disliked both finalists, but now that Djokovic has won, I realize that I dislike him just a little less than Kyrgios.
And @Guest-starring_Id those Ons Jabeur shots are incredible! Too bad that she couldn’t pull it off and beat Rybakina, especially with the Russians now claiming that she won for them.
Any thoughts on whether Nadal will be well enough for the US Open?
It’s been speculated that it could take up to six months for Raffa’s abdominal tear to heal, so at best, even if he doesn’t play until the US Open, he’ll still probably be a huge question mark at the time, but Raffa will want to play anyway, because…well, Raffa, and either going all the way for the last time on hard to at least the final, or, crash out before then, and just prioritize clay thereafter, which runs, however, only from late Feb. to early June, raising the concerns of being able to maintain an elite level of tennis performance over the span of not even half a year of play, each year.
Yeah if only McEnroe just stuck to the game (as well as not babbling so much after the serve 
), I regard him maybe second only to the sprightly observant Brad Gilbert.
I guess Prince George will have one or two new disses to throw around at the schoolyard now. Kyrgios, though, the dork - he knew the kid was nearby.
I see that Novak has said he will not be playing the US Open. I really want Nadal to get in there and win it. I’m really cheering for him in the “grand slam race”, so to speak.
Suddenly struck me that if anyone, well into their 40s, can do the clay season with the body-destroying ferocity of a Nadal and then recuperate for roughly seven months in order to be ready for the next clay season, it would be Nadal.
Nice to see a 50 y.o. win the French Open. Even though that’s still 16 years away for Raffa. 
ETA: Further just struck me that he probably couldn’t get away with doing that because he wouldn’t have played the minimum amount of tourneys (whatever it might be) within a full season to play only during the clay season.
There are exceptions to how many tournaments you have to play if you have played over 600 matches, have been on tour for 12 years and are over 30, all of which are true for Nadal. So he can get away with playing fewer tournaments. The only problem is playing enough so that his ranking is high enough to get direct entries into tournaments, though I am sure plenty of who would give him a wildcard since he would undoubtedly be a big draw.
//i\\
Ah yes - interesting:
from ATP circuit regulations:
1.08
Reduction of ATP Tour Masters 1000 Commitment
A.
A player’s number of ATP Tour Masters 1000 commitment tournaments shall be reduced by one (1) tournament for reaching each of the following milestones:
- 600 matches* (as of 1 January of the commitment year);
- 12 years of service (as of 1 January of the commitment year);
- 30 years of age (as of 1 January of the commitment year).
If all three (3) conditions are met then the player has a complete exemption
from ATP Tour Masters 1000 player commitment.
A fair rule, and one that I hope Raffa is able to exploit (by managing to somehow not destroy himself in the process.)
Agreed that he could wild card his way in if he’s not ranked high enough.
Hoping Federer’ll will also keep his hat in the ring, with fewer engagements, but I’m doubting that ship will sail.
When will Roger announce his retirement? Will he play any professional match again? I’m starting to wonder.
Back in April he said he was going to play Basel this year (cite) and he has confirmed it in interviews and such. He has posted videos of this training recent training regimen and has also said he wanted to compete in 2023. So we know that he will play at least one professional match this year. I hope sticks around long enough to pass Jimmy Connors in tournaments won. He only needs to win 7 to do that.
//i\\
Wow, that is actually kind of a lot at this point, I think. I’m picturing him coming back and retiring in Basel, but if he makes a full comeback, then I can see him winning 7 tournaments.
What a champion. I hope she does well at her final Open.