Nadal and Djokovic are playing one of the greatest matches of all time at the French right now.

[Lord Z]

Hop on over to NBC if you want to see the final 2 sets of this classic battle of 2 of the greatest ever played. 3rd set may be the greatest ever played. Djokovic up 2-1 with the 4th just starting.

Intense drama earlier with the crowd scheduled to be kicked out due to curfew but they wouldn't leave and NBC said they'd drive them all home if they had to so they allowed them to stay. Crazy stuff amid one of the greatest tennis matches ever played by two of the greatest of all time.

 

[ukalum1988]

My wife and son hate Djokovic. They were very disappointed with the outcome.

 

[Rex Kwon Do]

Truly incredible tennis. Djokovic was *surgical*. Quite an era for those 3 guys.

 

[Lord Z]

3rd set was off the charts quality tennis. That set broke Nadal.

Is Djokovic even human? Nadal has rivers of sweat pouring off him and can't stay dry no matter how many times he towels off and changes shirts but Djokovic is just standing there not even breathing hard? Like a cyborg.

 

[JHannibalSmith]

Nadal’s dominance at Roland Garros is just mind boggling & might be the most dominant run in sports history. He is now 105-3 all time at the French Open, with two of the losses coming to Djokovic. But he was 105-2 entering play today & was also 26-0 all time in the semis & the finals. Absolutely insane at that level, especially considering he plays in an era with Federer & Djokovic, regardless of the latters’ history on clay. Djokovic broke back in the 4th set & breezed the rest of the way today. I had little doubt there would be a 5th set when Nadal broke early in the 4th to go up 2-0. But, Djokovic didn’t miss from then on out & slammed the door. Great match though.

 

[Lord Z]

After going up 2-0 in the 4th Nadal had nothing left and it was sort of an anti-climatic ending to a fantastic match after that as Djokovic breezed. That 3rd set had the entire tennis world buzzing as it was fantastic to watch and I'm glad I was watching it. Crazy that they were thinking they were going to start kicking the crowd out of there (and the crowd was hollering that they weren't going to leave). Surreal considering how epic that match was.

Nadal winning again at 35 would have fit into the narrative of the year of the old guy in sports and I was rooting hard for him as was the crowd.

 

[kafka0117]

I grew up with Borg, McEnroe and Connors. Then came Sampras, Courier and Agassi. Hard to believe Federer, Djokovich, and Nadal dwarfed them all, but they did.

 

[Ahnan E. Muss]

I grew up with Borg, McEnroe and Connors. Then came Sampras, Curry and Agassi. Hard to believe Federer, Djokovich, and Nadal dwarfed them all, but they did.

And to think that Curry went to the NBA after his tennis career was over. Amazing!

 

[kafka0117]

And to think that Curry went to the NBA after his tennis career was over. Amazing!

Ha ha. Brain fart. I fixed it

 

[Catman100]

And to think how awful American men are at tennis now. Basically zero chance an American makes it to the second week of a major.

 

[Get Buckets]

@chroix have any hot tennis takes?

 

[chroix]

I’ll stick to my theory that Djokovic mental state cost him a number of major wins. He’s a badass but could have been the GOAT had he had the requisite focus that his contemporaries have possessed.

 

[Get Buckets]

I’ll stick to my theory that Djokovic mental state cost him a number of major wins. He’s a badass but could have been the GOAT had he had the requisite focus that his contemporaries have possessed.

Your “theory” was that he wasn’t an all time great.

 

[Lord Z]

Djokovic is like a UFO stole Ivan Lendl's DNA and made this super creature that doesn't tire, doesn't sweat, doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, doesn't even breathe hard. He just plays tennis. That's all he does. That all he ever does and he's going to hunt you down and rip your heart out.

 

[Lord Z]

This morning John McEnroe called the 3rd set between Nadal and Djokovic the greatest set ever played in the history of men's tennis.

 

[chroix]

Your “theory” was that he wasn’t an all time great.

Hmmm. I probably didn’t communicate my thought clearly. Apologies to everyone that was caused harm and glad that my post can become part of the stories history of this place.

He’s an all time great. Could have been the GOAT had he been able to control his emotions better.

 

[ABlockalypseBrow]

Hop on over to NBC if you want to see the final 2 sets of this classic battle of 2 of the greatest ever played. 3rd set may be the greatest ever played. Djokovic up 2-1 with the 4th just starting.

Intense drama earlier with the crowd scheduled to be kicked out due to curfew but they wouldn't leave and NBC said they'd drive them all home if they had to so they allowed them to stay. Crazy stuff amid one of the greatest tennis matches ever played by two of the greatest of all time.

3rd set was quality and so was start of the 1st and 3rd.

I think Rafa is too old though, his runs to most of those drop shots was like he was running in quicksand when you compare him to himself 10 years ago. And he was quitting on shots before Novak even hit them a few times.

Weird cause I’m pretty sure NBC has no one at the French, the commentators aren’t even there and they’re buying the feed from Tennis Channel. They couldn’t drive anybody home.

I grew up with Borg, McEnroe and Connors. Then came Sampras, Courier and Agassi. Hard to believe Federer, Djokovich, and Nadal dwarfed them all, but they did.

That first group, Borg and Connors in particular didn’t even play all 4 majors, so you can’t really say they were dwarfed by guys who play 4 a year. Connors wasn’t even allowed to play the Frenchie open in his best year when he could’ve won the calendar year grand slam.

 

[Lord Z]

Weird cause I’m pretty sure NBC has no one at the French, the commentators aren’t even there and they’re buying the feed from Tennis Channel. They couldn’t drive anybody home.

The announcers were trying to figure out what was going on because they had been talking about the prospect of the fans being kicked out due to curfew because it had happened before in France and the crowd was keenly aware of that and sporadically would chant they're not leaving. Then when the curfew was called off for the game one of the announcers said NBC would pay to take them all home but wanted the fans there. In retrospect probably a joke but the situation was so strange at the time I thought anything was possible, even a riot by fans refusing to leave if they tried to force them. Removing the fans would have happened after that epic 3rd set and it would not have been pretty had they done it.

As for Rafa not running for the drop shots, I noted Novak didn't go for a lot more balls than Rafa did. Novak, to me, was much more selective on what he was willing to try to run down. Novak is so skilled at hitting drop shots that the ones Rafa didn't chase after died when they hit the ground. The one he hit on like set point in the 3rd was unreturnable.

 

[Catman100]

Djokovic is like a UFO stole Ivan Lendl's DNA and made this super creature that doesn't tire, doesn't sweat, doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, doesn't even breathe hard. He just plays tennis. That's all he does. That all he ever does and he's going to hunt you down and rip your heart out.

Very Reese of you.

 

[Lord Z]

It was a... homely... women's final today:

Koo Koo Kachoo Anna Kournikova our Nation turns its lonely eyes to you...

 

[cawoodsct]

Joker wins tomorrow am there’s no doubt he ends up with more Slams.

In golf, I have Tiger as the best ever. I dont believe you just run down the list of most majors and that’s it. Tiger did things I believe put him above Jack. In the case of Joker, if he ends up a couple ahead, I’m afraid Nadal and Fed fans will have to admit he’s the goat. Tennis is a different animal being head to head than golf.

 

[Lord Z]

You can make a strong case for Tiger or Jack depending on what you value most and what your definition of "greatest ever" is.

I give Jack the edge because he faced much stiffer competition in facing 4 of the greatest golfers of all time with at least 6 Major wins each in Palmer, Watson, Trevino, and Player while Tiger only had to deal with 1 historically great player in Phil with 6 but only 5 while Tiger was playing. Jack's Majors wins and 2nd place finishes against far superior competition put him over the top for me but I wouldn't argue the point for anyone giving the edge to Tiger unless they claim its a slam dunk because it isn't. Jack also was overshadowed (and felt it) by the extremely charismatic Arnold Palmer almost his whole career while Tiger has always been the man and almost a god. Tiger's wins moved the stock market he was so popular.

 

[gamecockcat]

Today's match was a classic, also. Thought Tsitsipas had him up 2 sets but Joker fought back. He's a great champion and one major doesn't make up 60% of his total. I. His prime, still think Fed was better but its getting closer in my mind every year.

Laver, Borg, a few others if they played with today's equipment and training I believe could have been considered the GOAT. Hard to compare eras in tennis, like most sports.

 

[FUMods]

I grew up watching tennis in the late 70's and early 80's: to me, the key difference has always been personalities, not talent.

Mac and Connors were like train wrecks waiting to happen: those 2 playing against the "robots" of their eras (primarily Borg, and later, Lendl) were "must see TV".

Toss in some other characters (Ille Nastase for sure)... good times.

Mac will always be my fav player of alltime... the Mac/Borg battles of 80-83 were the high point of tennis IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borg–McEnroe_rivalry

I might be wrong... but i think Mac still holds some win streak records...

 

[thabigbluenation]

I heard on a radio show going back to 2005 out of 66 grand slams, the big 3 had won 59 of them. That is crazy. Doesn't say much for the field.

 

[gamecockcat]

I heard on a radio show going back to 2005 out of 66 grand slams, the big 3 had won 59 of them. That is crazy. Doesn't say much for the field.

And I'm guessing that many of the grand slams runner-up finishers were also one of the Big Three during that time. I know Feds lost to Nadal at least twice in finals in the French and Joker fairly recently in Wimbledon final. If they'd been spread out a bit further, not out of the question that all 3 could have amassed 25-30 GS titles each. To your comment: is the rest of the field that poor or were these 3 simply that great? Good question for debate.