Seeing a bunch of asterisk related articles popping up - Here's the thing - Who says Djokovic would have he won if he played? The last two major tourneys he has played in he got humiliated by Zverev and crushed by Medvedev. Yeah, I realize he has won 9 Aussie Open's, but nothing is guaranteed when you take the court.
That this Australian open should be asterisked is silly. I'm up for some laughs today... Do you have a link for these articles?
Seeing a bunch of asterisk related articles popping up - Here's the thing - Who says Djokovic would have won if he played? The last two major tourneys he has played in he got humiliated by Zverev and crushed by Medvedev. Yeah, I realize he has won 9 Aussie Open's, but nothing is guaranteed when you take the court.
Can anyone explain to me why Med was allowed to participate under the Russian flag? Wasn't it banned til the end of this year? Too lazy to google.
Is this going back to the Olympics last year where Russian athletes (including Medvedev) were competing under the ROC (Russian Olympic Committee) banner? Those sanctions are only in place for the Olympics. They add the nationality that the tennis player is competing for mainly as a courtesy for the tv viewers. Even during the ATP Cup prior to the Aussie Open, Medvedev and his teammates were representing Russia as it's not an Olympic competition.
Unless I'm totally misunderstanding your question which is very possible lol.
Nadal’s road wasn’t as hard as it should have been given his draw, but he still had to win a 5 setter over Shapo and another over arguably the best player in the world, certainly 2nd best. That is not an asterisk. Full value for the win.
One of Federer’s Aussie Opens was over Baghdatis. They all count.
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Both Medvedev and Shapo brought up the crowd after loosing to Rafa at the AO. I will say, when Rafa first came into the scene, he was not nearly as loved as he is now. Lots of Federer fans didn't like him, and when he played Roger (and probably still) Federer got the majority of the crowd support.
The fans should treat everyone fairly, but they don't have to cheer for everyone equally. That's like saying hockey fans should cheer for Brad Marchand the same amount as Mario Lemieux. Also if Medvedev wanted crowd support, he probably shouldn't antagonize them and say stuff like he did in 2019 US Open or call his opponents boring. The crowds never turned on Thiem, Wawrinka or Del Potro.
With Nadal's victory in Sunday, he becomes the third man to hold the title of most Grand Slams since the year 2000. Here are the highlights of the previous two times the record fell
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Nadal’s road wasn’t as hard as it should have been given his draw, but he still had to win a 5 setter over Shapo and another over arguably the best player in the world, certainly 2nd best. That is not an asterisk. Full value for the win.
One of Federer’s Aussie Opens was over Baghdatis. They all count.
Considering the absolute stinkers of draws Nadal has had at the French open in recent years, this was an absolute death blow for him. He had to take out 3 top 15 seeds, 4 in total and really only had to fight off defeat against Shapo in the 5 setter.
Well earned and hopefully a good omen for #22 at Roland Garros, further pushing Novak down the ladder.
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everything discussed including court position, groundstroke matchup, dropshot use, fatigue, changing conditions, crowd influence, and even an excellent comparison on how Djokovic is still the far more difficult matchup for Rafa on hardcourt.
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