Well. Comprehensive in the end. Basically it just took Djokovic a bit to figure it all out. But gets there in the end. RBA unable to do what the first graphic of the match showed. He was unable to get around the backhand to the forehand. Djokovic just not letting him do that today. Hence the 34 and 45 shot rallies. But I feel like RBA could have taken more risks and tried to move to that a bit more.
You could see there in that last game Djokovic still able to rely on going to RBA's backhand. My friggin feed cut out on match point. So there's that.
Djokovic the first into the final. At least defends his final. Got the easier draw. Though all three of them ended up with cupcake draws overall. No more Murray. At least this year. Wawrinka terrible on grass and not back to his best. Thiem terrible on grass. DelPo injured. Anderson just coming back from injury. Isner coming back from injury. Cilic hasn't been good all year. Dimitrov a shell of the player he was. And the young guns not there yet. I was thrilled to see Vesely beat Zverev because I don't care for him and it was nice to see 5'8" Fabbiano beat 6'5" Tsitsipas. FAA got his first grand slam wins but is still just 18, and it showed. But even if Shapovalov isn't going to be a grass court specialist, his loss to Berankis, even taking into account his struggles over the last few months, was really disappointing. Berankis just not that good. Hurkacz taking a set from Novak was a nice site. But not good enough in the end. Ugo Humbert benefiting from FAA's inexperience but then being reminded that he's not been in the conversation for the top young guns for a reason. Goffin was terribly disappointing in the quarters though. Just. Didn't battle at all. But Djokovic did seem to be redlining a bit there. Goffin the first seed he faced though. Hasn't faced a top 20 player yet. Fed in fact the only one of the big three to face anyone in the top 10 or 20. Nadal looks to have had the easiest road. But he actually played the guys with the most grand slam experience or Wimbledon experience. Tsonga, Querrey, Kyrgios. Sousa and Sugita not so much. And obviously Querrey not good enough and just back from injury and Tsonga sort of just back from injury and a shell of his former self. But still. Fed's seeded opponents don't exactly have the grand slam or even tour bona fides to suggest that he had the tougher run. If I didn't know better, or didn't trust the sport, I'd think there was a secret governing body telling all the young guys and mid aged guys they have to lose early so the Big 3 can bring in the money.
But seeing as I don't believe that conspiracy theory, it comes down to some of these guys that we feel like should be able to beat these top guys, either now or eventually, are beatable against other competition. Especially the youngest ones. FAA and Tsitsipas. Just very inexperienced at this level. But then the competition they can lose to really just doesn't have what it takes to beat the top guys in best of 5. Even if Goffin had battled. Djokovic was going to win that match. I gave Goffin an outside chance. Definitely thought he could get a set. But maybe in that particular instance it came down to the fact that there was no surprise factor for Goffin. It's hard for there to be much of a surprise factor in the quarters period. But Goffin had just beaten Djokovic, as RBA had today. So Djokovic showed up ready. At the end of the day though. They have won so much for the same reason they keep winning. It doesn't matter who shows up, the Big 3 have the goods to beat anyone if they can summon their best.
