The Wimbledon 24 SF -> F and the Aussie Open 24 QF -> SF are spotlights for the “hyperinflation era”

jl809

Legend
Viewed in isolation, the 2024 AO QF between Djoker and Fritz and the 2024 Wimbledon SF between Djoker and Musetti were just 2 standard days at the office for post-2017 Djoker.

His opponents fought hard but were obviously outmatched. Fritz saved a million BPs to keep the first 2 sets tight at the AO but was physically the weaker player in the 3rd and 4th while Djoker got stronger. Musetti had flashes but his BH and passing shots were exposed. Djoker’s aggression, movement and consistency off both wings killed him. To quote a match report,

he appears to be at full speed now, even though the brace on his right knee remains. While he was aggressive throughout, trying to keep the points short – he went to the net 56 times and won 43 of his forays – he also chased, slid, charged, glided around the court and when Musetti came at him, he either had the answer or bided his time until he could strike back. It was a relentless, brutally efficient performance

In the past 5 years we have seen Djoker (and Rafa) do this to next gens and next next gens a lot.

Medvedev at AO 21, Loserpas at RG 21, Berry at Wim 21, Medvedev at AO 22, Loserpas at AO 23 and Medvedev at USO 23 were all guys who faced Old Djokodals who on paper were almost all “struggling” - struggling from having come back from a long layoff, having had a tough previous round, or from carrying an underlying issue

And every single time the Djokodals came out on top. Even with their issues.

But in the AO SF and Wim F, Djoker looked like a bum. He went on the error bender of all error benders against Sinner. He was unable to hit through Jannik, who was barely UEing in set 1 and 2, and any long rally felt like delaying the inevitable point for Sinner. Vs Alcaraz, Djoker looked dreadfully slow, especially to run to droppers. His 1st serve ROS did absolutely nothing for him, leaving Alcaraz with 84% 1st serve pts won. When he did get his volleys over the net, he was picked off brutally by passing shots.

The reversals in the appearance of Djoker in both cases is almost unbelievable. Once might be a freak event. Twice is...

And this is kinda the point. Does anyone really believe that Tsitsipas would’ve trounced Djoker in 4 at the AO this year by demonstrating elite ROS and shot tolerance off both wings? That Berrettini would have crushed the ball off BOTH wings and made Djoker suffer on net approaches with passing shots? That any of the new lost gen guys - Zverev, Fritz, Rublev, hell even Medvedev - would have shown up Djoker’s movement the way Carlos did yesterday, as opposed to the way Rune or Musetti did?

All this reminds me of Nadal’s AO 19. Results against Loserpas and co kinda mean Jack Sh1t - they don’t tell you about the level of these old ATGs, because actual ATG level tennis is so far beyond what mugs guys can consistently give. And what you saw from the SF to F here at Wim 24 was that gap made so, so clear.

Sure you can only beat who’s in front of you. But if we can’t acknowledge what has happened with the hyperinflation era, and just want to quote context-free numbers in tennis discussions, we might as well be sat on Wikipedia forums all day lol
 
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