https://youtu.be/kpS7rl0afGk?si=zvG3-cEOMNa6_ETZ

This is Björn Borg's son, Leo Borg. Nadal faced him at Båstad, Swedish
Open.
Rafa joked that he's the "defending champion" since he played there last
time in 2005 and won it.

Rafa also won his first doubles match with Ruud: https://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI?si=TM_eZ41X91cPFjlF

I understand that Nadal & Alcaraz are playing doubles at Olympics.
That should be fun to watch...

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TT kirjoitti 17.7.2024 klo 19.28:

Rafa also won his first doubles match with Ruud: https://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI?si=TM_eZ41X91cPFjlF

QF...
https://youtu.be/Nt6H45gus1o?si=exkhjB8bRNKVOElm

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TT <TT@dprk.kp> Wrote in message:r

https://youtu.be/kpS7rl0afGk?si=zvG3-cEOMNa6_ETZThis is Björn Borg's son, Leo Borg. Nadal faced him at Båstad, Swedish Open.Rafa joked that he's the "defending champion" since he played there last time in 2005 and won it.Rafa also won his first

doubles match with Ruud:https://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI?si=TM_eZ41X91cPFjlFI understand that Nadal & Alcaraz are playing doubles at Olympics.That should be fun to watch...



I'm hoping for a Nadal comeback.

Without Nadal back, Djokovic is done.


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*skriptis kirjoitti 17.7.2024 klo 20.48:

TT <TT@dprk.kp> Wrote in message:r

https://youtu.be/kpS7rl0afGk?si=zvG3-cEOMNa6_ETZThis is Björn Borg's son, Leo Borg. Nadal faced him at Båstad, Swedish Open.Rafa joked that he's the "defending champion" since he played there last time in 2005 and won it.Rafa also won his first

doubles match with Ruud:https://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI?si=TM_eZ41X91cPFjlFI understand that Nadal & Alcaraz are playing doubles at Olympics.That should be fun to watch...

I'm hoping for a Nadal comeback.

Without Nadal back, Djokovic is done.

How do you figure that?

Anyway, I doubt Rafa will be having great results perhaps outside soft
clay. Even on clay he doesn't appear to have found his A-game yet,
hitting short & lacking some power imo. Was sort of bullied by Zverev at
RG losing in straights... then again Zverev did make the final and lost
it in five... a bridge too far for Rafa on rd1.

Also, Rafa probably shouldn't be beating Leo Borg 3 & 4. More Nadalesque
result would be like 1 & 1.
Well, he plays today against Norrie at Båstad so maybe he can get a few matches under his belt before the Olympics... who knows, maybe he can
raise his level at the Olympics...

Anyway, will be awesome seeing him & Carlos playing doubles, Nadal is
really dangerous on doubles if he's hitting the ball close to normalcy.
Alcaraz on the other hand has almost zero double experience so it will
be interesting to see how his incredible net skills translate to that environment. If they do well it could be one of the highlights to follow
at Olympics, across all events.

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TT <TT@dprk.kp> Wrote in message:

*skriptis kirjoitti 17.7.2024 klo 20.48:
TT <TT@dprk.kp> Wrote in message:

Without Nadal back, Djokovic is done.

How do you figure that?

Borg effect. Once Borg retired Mac was lost. He reinvented himself for 1984 but that was it.


Djokovic's career struggles and even life struggle itself (since his career is his life) was intertwined with Nadal or big 3 as a whole. For them it was similar but I think this applies most to Djokovic since he was the last to join the party and worked
his way through battling them.

Without Nadal (and Federer) and with GS record achieved, can he really be as motivated playing vs guys 15-16 years younger than himself?

Guys whom he respects and and has cordial relationships with?

I guess he can. He was very motivated last year, that FO against Alcaraz was awesome, gunning for slam record, next he wanted to beat him in Cincinnati after losing Wimbledon, he won ATP Finals and secured #1 against Sinner and Alcaraz.


But they're not his arch rivals. He can't and won't ever view them same as he did Federer or especially Nadal.


Motivation is like age actually. There's nothing or very little you can do about it. Even though we all think you can do or that you should.

And now the age is becoming or has already become a factor too. I guess he could or should retire very soon.


So I'm hoping maybe some good results by Nadal could fire up Djokovic in this last stage of his career.



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On 18/07/2024 5:39 pm, *skriptis wrote:

TT <TT@dprk.kp> Wrote in message:

*skriptis kirjoitti 17.7.2024 klo 20.48:

So I'm hoping maybe some good results by Nadal could fire up Djokovic in this last stage of his career.

I'd love to see Novak retire after he wins a 25th slam. That's how his
idol Sampras left the game, setting the slam record. No better way to
retire, especially for the goat.

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TT kirjoitti 17.7.2024 klo 19.28:

https://youtu.be/kpS7rl0afGk?si=zvG3-cEOMNa6_ETZ

This is Björn Borg's son, Leo Borg. Nadal faced him at Båstad, Swedish Open.
Rafa joked that he's the "defending champion" since he played there last
time in 2005 and won it.

Rafa also won his first doubles match with Ruud: https://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI?si=TM_eZ41X91cPFjlF

I understand that Nadal & Alcaraz are playing doubles at Olympics.
That should be fun to watch...

Nadal beat Norrie 6-4, 6-4...
https://youtu.be/bbq1wtobemo?si=7tyKnlQqICshsF9U

Forehand seems to be ok. Serve good. Backhand not good. Movement not
good. Returns so-so. Smash rock solid. Mental fair enough.

Overall I'd say Rafa is currently playing at roughly 73%.

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TT kirjoitti 18.7.2024 klo 19.26:

TT kirjoitti 17.7.2024 klo 19.28:

https://youtu.be/kpS7rl0afGk?si=zvG3-cEOMNa6_ETZ

This is Björn Borg's son, Leo Borg. Nadal faced him at Båstad, Swedish
Open.
Rafa joked that he's the "defending champion" since he played there
last time in 2005 and won it.

Rafa also won his first doubles match with Ruud:
https://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI?si=TM_eZ41X91cPFjlF

I understand that Nadal & Alcaraz are playing doubles at Olympics.
That should be fun to watch...

Nadal beat Norrie 6-4, 6-4... https://youtu.be/bbq1wtobemo?si=7tyKnlQqICshsF9U

Forehand seems to be ok. Serve good. Backhand not good. Movement not
good. Returns so-so. Smash rock solid. Mental fair enough.

Overall I'd say Rafa is currently playing at roughly 73%.

Rafa beat 23 year old Argentinian clay court specialist, #36 Mariano
Navone... 6-7, 7-5, 7-5...

The match took 3 hours 59 minutes, second longest 3 set match of Rafa's
career. Apparently they once played 3 minutes longer match with Djokovic.

Highlights (every point actually?): https://youtu.be/IaUJu1B_zRk?si=b7pUtkyYzqhjBMUP

Crazy match. Rafa playing at 70% but toughing out a win. Lots of ebbs &
flows in the match. Rafa's biggest problems seem to be his movement -
he's two steps slower, imo... and his backhand which lacks at least two
gears. That lead to all sorts of tactics, Navone played a rather great
match tactically and Rafa adjusted to try and compensate his current weaknesses.

Good match practice for Rafa, although it looks still unlikely that
he'll be able to find his A-game for Olympics, or even B-game. But who
knows... it's Rafa.

Rafa faces tomorrow at SF another 23 year old; a Croat named Duje
Ajduković, ranked 130.
I will be positively surprised if Rafa can continue his run, or even
walk tomorrow after this insane battle...

Has doubles with Rune as well, tomorrow. hah.

Vamos!

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The Iceberg kirjoitti 21.7.2024 klo 13.07:

On 19/07/2024 17:30, TT wrote:

TT kirjoitti 18.7.2024 klo 19.26:

TT kirjoitti 17.7.2024 klo 19.28:

https://youtu.be/kpS7rl0afGk?si=zvG3-cEOMNa6_ETZ

This is Björn Borg's son, Leo Borg. Nadal faced him at Båstad,
Swedish Open.
Rafa joked that he's the "defending champion" since he played there
last time in 2005 and won it.

Rafa also won his first doubles match with Ruud:
https://youtu.be/NG-TFwZJ1eI?si=TM_eZ41X91cPFjlF

I understand that Nadal & Alcaraz are playing doubles at Olympics.
That should be fun to watch...

Nadal beat Norrie 6-4, 6-4...
https://youtu.be/bbq1wtobemo?si=7tyKnlQqICshsF9U

Forehand seems to be ok. Serve good. Backhand not good. Movement not
good. Returns so-so. Smash rock solid. Mental fair enough.

Overall I'd say Rafa is currently playing at roughly 73%.

Rafa beat 23 year old Argentinian clay court specialist, #36 Mariano
Navone... 6-7, 7-5, 7-5...

The match took 3 hours 59 minutes, second longest 3 set match of
Rafa's career. Apparently they once played 3 minutes longer match with
Djokovic.

Highlights (every point actually?):
https://youtu.be/IaUJu1B_zRk?si=b7pUtkyYzqhjBMUP

Crazy match. Rafa playing at 70% but toughing out a win. Lots of ebbs
& flows in the match. Rafa's biggest problems seem to be his movement
- he's two steps slower, imo... and his backhand which lacks at least
two gears. That lead to all sorts of tactics, Navone played a rather
great match tactically and Rafa adjusted to try and compensate his
current weaknesses.

Good match practice for Rafa, although it looks still unlikely that
he'll be able to find his A-game for Olympics, or even B-game. But who
knows... it's Rafa.

Rafa faces tomorrow at SF another 23 year old; a Croat named Duje
Ajduković, ranked 130.
I will be positively surprised if Rafa can continue his run, or even
walk tomorrow after this insane battle...

Has doubles with Rune as well, tomorrow. hah.

Vamos!

Rune is his doubles partner! that would be quite interesting to see.

Uh, I meant Ruud. They withdrew before the SF.

Anyways, Rafa just lost the final to Borges 6-3, 6-2.
Very inconsistent hitting from Rafa, he seemed uninspired & flat. Borges
wasn't even doing anything special, played like average clay
journeyman... just feasted on Rafa's UEs.

Borges won his first ATP title, at age 27... congrats. He needed it more
than Rafa. :)

Needless to say, Rafa won't be winning Olympic singles in this form.
Doubles, well, I hope they do well with Alkie...

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