2023 Cincinati Open ATP master's 1000 SF - Novak Djokovic [2] (SRB) v/s Alexander Zverev [16] (GER)

win prediction

  • Total voters
    36
  • Poll closed .
Hitman

Hitman

Bionic Poster
Djokovic won this title the last time he played in the tournament. In fact, he won it two out of the last three times he played it.
 
K

Kralingen

Bionic Poster
It’s really setting in to me that Carlos vs Djokovic is essentially the only match on the ATP Tour.

It’s crazy how irrelevant every other player is. Thousands of professional players who worked their entire lives attempting to make a living off the sport, and yet when it comes down to business, a 20 and 36 year old are the only two who matter whatsoever.
 
L4S10s

L4S10s

Professional
Hitman said:
And here I thought Alcaraz and Djokovic were going to not go hard for the Cincy title with USO a week away.

They are just next level compared to everyone else.
Click to expand...

Not their problem the Sinners and the Medvedevs of the tournament didn't show up.
 
Bubcay

Bubcay

Legend
Kralingen said:
It’s really setting in to me that Carlos vs Djokovic is essentially the only match on the ATP Tour.

It’s crazy how irrelevant every other player is. Thousands of professional players who worked their entire lives attempting to make a living off the sport, and yet when it comes down to business, a 20 and 36 year old are the only two who matter whatsoever.
Click to expand...
At least the only two with the winners mentality remaining on tour..
 
initialize

initialize

Hall of Fame
Kralingen said:
It’s really setting in to me that Carlos vs Djokovic is essentially the only match on the ATP Tour.

It’s crazy how irrelevant every other player is. Thousands of professional players who worked their entire lives attempting to make a living off the sport, and yet when it comes down to business, a 20 and 36 year old are the only two who matter whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Yep. Absolutely insane that we have to witness this disaster of the Career Inflation Era
 
Bubcay

Bubcay

Legend
NoleFam said:
Let's be real though. 2011 and 2015-early 2016 Djokovic would destroy this field pretty much with ease, including Alcaraz. it's only interesting because he got 16 years on Djokovic.
Click to expand...
Yeah. These kids today have the skills but no mental fortitude like the generations of the past. Sign of the state of society today unfortunately..
 
Subway Tennis

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
Kralingen said:
It’s really setting in to me that Carlos vs Djokovic is essentially the only match on the ATP Tour.

It’s crazy how irrelevant every other player is. Thousands of professional players who worked their entire lives attempting to make a living off the sport, and yet when it comes down to business, a 20 and 36 year old are the only two who matter whatsoever.
Click to expand...
The ATP doesn’t have as many good matchups as WTA does at the moment, but there are still some great ones. Alcaraz vs Sinner produces an insane level of tennis. Rune is awesome vs any of the top guys (except Alcaraz) but admittedly he has trouble sometimes getting to those later rounds.

This year we have experienced some drop-off though for sure. There are guys like Tsitsipas who for me dropped a tier this year, where I no longer consider them capable of winning a major if they had to play Alcaraz or Djokovic and I don’t get excited for those matchups like I used to.
 
Djokovic_is_the_best#1

Djokovic_is_the_best#1

Bionic Poster
Kralingen said:
It’s really setting in to me that Carlos vs Djokovic is essentially the only match on the ATP Tour.

It’s crazy how irrelevant every other player is. Thousands of professional players who worked their entire lives attempting to make a living off the sport, and yet when it comes down to business, a 20 and 36 year old are the only two who matter whatsoever.
Click to expand...
What about Rafa when he returns?
 
NoleFam

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Bubcay said:
Yeah. These kids today have the skills but no mental fortitude like the generations of the past. Sign of the state of society today unfortunately..
Click to expand...
The skills are obviously there but mentality? Absolutely not. Just like the choke we witnessed earlier from Hurkacz. Guys with championship mentality are not letting a match like that slip when it's on their racket, especially a big match like that.
 
Bubcay

Bubcay

Legend
NoleFam said:
The skills are obviously there but mentality? Absolutely not. Just like the choke we witnessed earlier from Hurkacz. Guys with championship mentality are not letting a match like that slip when it's on their racket, especially a big match like that.
Click to expand...
100%
 
dking68

dking68

Legend
Kralingen said:
It’s really setting in to me that Carlos vs Djokovic is essentially the only match on the ATP Tour.

It’s crazy how irrelevant every other player is. Thousands of professional players who worked their entire lives attempting to make a living off the sport, and yet when it comes down to business, a 20 and 36 year old are the only two who matter whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Sinner vs Alcaraz doesn’t fascinate you?
 
MeatTornado

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
Kralingen said:
It’s really setting in to me that Carlos vs Djokovic is essentially the only match on the ATP Tour.

It’s crazy how irrelevant every other player is. Thousands of professional players who worked their entire lives attempting to make a living off the sport, and yet when it comes down to business, a 20 and 36 year old are the only two who matter whatsoever.
Click to expand...
I always wonder what someone like Zverev must be thinking right now. This is someone who was anointed the next big thing, a shoo-in for future #1 and multiple slams. He made all the right strides early on, winning tons of premier tournaments by taking out players like Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. All he lacked was a major.

Yet now here's this kid that shows up out of nowhere, and by 20 years old has already accomplished everything Zverev was supposed to, with no sign of slowing down. In the back of his mind is he thinking maybe he already missed his window? The margin for error at the top of the game is almost microscopic.
 
Hitman

Hitman

Bionic Poster
NoleFam said:
Pretty much yea, both times as well in my opinion. Alcaraz is good but the guys he's beating are not 25 and 29/30 year old Nadal and Federer. Lol.
Click to expand...

True, but to be fair, he isn't at his peak level at 20 either.

2011, and 2015-early 2016 was peakiest Djokovic. We are talking about the greatest all surface player of all time at the height of his powers here.
 
Subway Tennis

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
Djokovic_is_the_best#1 said:
What about Rafa when he returns?
Click to expand...
Rafa has an X factor that no one else except maybe Federer has.

But his body is betraying him, and he has sizeable interests outside playing, and they are growing rapidly. His academies are huge and now he has family commitments.

He is starting to get the call to be at home more for sure I think.

Nadal was never going to be the type of guy who can be a helicopter parent. Living in a place as beautiful as he does, I’m actually surprised he resisted the urge to spend more time at home as long as he has.

Just too much of a competitive beast to stop.
 
NoleFam

NoleFam

Bionic Poster
Hitman said:
True, but to be fair, he isn't at his peak level at 20 either.

2011, and 2015-early 2016 was peakiest Djokovic. We are talking about the greatest all surface player of all time at the height of his powers here.
Click to expand...
Yea he's not so I have to take that into consideration. I just think with a stronger field, Alcaraz would be further behind than he is now and it would have taken him longer. Right now he doesn't really have much roadblocks to stop him except Djokovic.

It remains to be seen if Alcaraz will reach what Djokovic did to the game. People saying he has already surpassed that or what Fedal did are off their rockers. He has a ways to go.
 
Bubcay

Bubcay

Legend
The danger of best of 3 tournaments for Novak is that he lately needs at least one set to get into the grove with some players. That is a huge chance for a player such as Alcaraz..
 
Hitman

Hitman

Bionic Poster
NoleFam said:
Yea he's not so I have to take that into consideration. I just think with a stronger field, Alcaraz would be further behind than he is now and it would have taken him longer. Right now he doesn't really have much roadblocks to stop him except Djokovic.

It remains to be seen if Alcaraz will reach what Djokovic did to the game. People saying he has already surpassed that or what Fedal did are off their rockers. He has a ways to go.
Click to expand...

This is why it is best not to compare eras.
 
K

Kralingen

Bionic Poster
Djokovic_is_the_best#1 said:
What about Rafa when he returns?
Click to expand...
When he returns is the key word. We have no clue what his return timeline is or what it looks like. Obviously a fit and in form Rafa is a factor in any match, but he’s going be 38 the next time we see him and we go really knows how much his body will allow him to do.

Also - as someone who was extremely high on him in 2022 - the level Djokovic is playing at now would beat him with little issue on grass and HC.
 
Subway Tennis

Subway Tennis

G.O.A.T.
initialize said:
I get my hopes occasionally that someone should beat Djokovic. Zverev especially, but it looks like he brought his mugginess today. Hopefully Carlos wins tomorrow
Click to expand...
Zverev made just one return in the tie-break. ONE.

He played the better tennis for the majority of the set, but was truly horrible in the TB.

@MeatTornado made the point earlier that Zverev drifts so easily from the sublime to the ridiculous, and you can usually count on his worst tennis coming at the most critical point of a match.

Overall I thought the first set had some isolated great points that were thrilling to watch, but on the whole it was not great tennis based on the standard you would expect for a SF of a m1000.

This whole tournament has maybe been a bit down quality-wise, though.

Cincinnati is underrated for how tough the conditions can be. For 15 years Federer made it look like it wasn’t a tough tournament to play, the same way he did when he was winning all those US Opens back to back to back, but the conditions can be very tough imo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Rafa4LifeEver
  • Poll
2024 Paris Open ATP master's 1000 Final - [3] Alexander 'Sascha' Zverev (GER) v/s [15] Ugo Humbert (FRA)
2 3
Replies
102
Views
1K
Rafa4LifeEver
Rafa4LifeEver
HetTheGreaterer
  • Poll
2020 Australian Open SemiFinal :- [5] Dominic Thiem v/s [7] Alexander Zverev
21 22 23
Replies
1K
Views
38K
Meles
Meles
Rafa4LifeEver
  • Locked
  • Poll
2023 Australian Open Quarter finals :- Novak Djokovic (SRB) v/s Andrey Rublev (RUS)
Replies
4
Views
618
Sentinel
Sentinel
Rafa4LifeEver
  • Poll
2023 US Open R16 - Jannik Sinner [6] (ITA) v/s Alexander 'Sascha' Zverev [12] (GER)
24 25 26
Replies
1K
Views
18K
optic yellow
O
Rafa4LifeEver
  • Poll
2023 Paris Open ATP Master's 1000 Quarterfinal matchup - Novak Djokovic [1] (SRB) v/s Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune [6] (DEN)
10 11 12
Replies
582
Views
9K
Biotic
Biotic
Top