2021 French Open

Krejcikova 6/2/6 - 1/6/4 (31) Pavlyuchenkova

Weird roller coaster of a match. Krejcikova is the young upstart, Pavlyuchenkova is the wily veteran who hasn't had much success since she was the young upstart ten years ago. Krejcikova is unranked, Pavlyuchenkova was ranked #31 (and I thought the rankings only went to #30), so no one saw this coming. (1) Ashley Barty and (2) Naomi Osaka (*) both bailed, Serena looks to be finally spent, and the two finalists knocked out a number of ranked opponents along the way. 

Pavlyuchenkova broke Krejcikova on the first serve, then gave it right back and then gave away her next serve and her next and the 1st set was quickly over and this felt like it might be a boat race. 

But Pavlyuchenkova came out angry in the 2nd set (Russians, man), roamed the baseline like a caged animal, started hitting with ferocity and went up 5-1 and looking ahead, the 3rd set was gonna be interesting. But, wait! Pavlyuchenkova came up gimpy (grabbing her groin like Anthony Davis), faltered as she was serving for the set and then took an extended trainer time out. Suddenly the 2nd set that looked like a walkover was back in play. But Krejcikova didn't take advantage, gave up her serve and it's all down to the 3rd set.

In the 3rd set Krejcikova's strategy seemed obvious to me: run Pavlyuchenkova from side to side then sneak in drop shots for winners, repeat six times, collect trophy. I think Krejcikova had the right idea but it took her a while to execute and felt like Pavlyuchenkova was gonna wily-vet her way back into this match. But Krejcikova got her bearings and shut her down for the victory (and one of the most muted, waiting to exhale championship reactions I've ever seen). Good W for the youngster, this should vault her into the rankings and get a fresh bullseye on her back at Wimbledon, no? And does Pavlyuchenkova have another major run in her this summer? We'll see. 

(5) Tsitsipas 7/6/3/2/4 - 6/2/6/6/6 (2) Djokovic

Oh, man, some brilliant five set tennis right here. I missed the 1st set, entering just as they were going to tiebreak. In tennis I root for 1) a longer match and 2) the underdog. So in the 1st set I was pleased to see Tsitsipas grab control. 

In the 2nd set, Tsitsipas broke Djoker early and I gotta say: I've never Djokovic just give up on a set before. He went, 'meh, fuck it' and just dribbled out the clock because he knew it was going five sets. 

In the 3rd set, Djoker put on a clinic: he knew exactly which game he wanted and he moved heaven and earth to win that break (how many deuces? 6? 7? I dunno, that game went on forever). Tsitsipas was still in it but the momentum flipped right there and he was never able to flip it back. 

Djokovic rolled over him in the 4th, went up on early break in the 5th and it was over. Felt bad for Tsitsipas, he played so well early on but just could not sustain it once Djokovic got tuned in. 

Mary Carillo said at one point what I had already been pondering: I guess it's time to say Djokovic is the all-time GOAT. He really is, man, he's won everywhere, he's beat everyone, and he's done it while being squeezed out by the more popular fanbases of Nadal and Federer. But beating Nadal at Roland-Garros and pulling off the five-set comeback just makes it obvious. Djokovic is better than those dudes and those dudes were the two best of all-time.  

It didn't me long at all to think Federer was the GOAT, he was anointed as such fairly early in his career and I never questioned it. But with Djokovic this thought has been in the back of my head for a few years now and I cannot account for why it took me so long to get here. Factor in the insanely long and productive careers of the two dudes that he has bested and frankly it's pretty obvious: Djokovic is the all time greatest. 

(*) The big splash of this year's French Open (well, at least since that match fixing scandal didn't take hold in the American media) was Naomi Osaka refusing to do press conferences citing "depression" and then withdrawing completely--though I never understood why. She agreed to pay the Roland Garros-imposed fines, so why did she have to split? Look, the ATP/WTA wants as much publicity as they can get for their events and that means trying to turn these players into int'l celebrities and that means sucking up to the media whenever possible. 

Media-driven fame is pretty much an unavoidable component for something like a tennis competition and the players not trying to be famous is really not an option; players used to like being famous but I can certainly understand kids today avoiding the whole mess (says the guy who has yet to identify himself after more than 14 years of writing this blog). But what if the players don't need the media to be famous? What if the players can generate all the following and sponsorships they need from their own social media platforms without ever giving themselves over to scrutiny from out of touch old farts that still run the mainstream media? 

This isn't a sign that the French Open is in danger, it is a sign that NBC Sports is in danger. Or, at least, that the paradigm of how fans and celebrities interact is evolving rapidly. Personally, I adore the French Open and I hope it continues; but between you and me, if NBC Sports dropped dead tomorrow, I doubt I'd notice or care. The medium is the message and the message is that the media is swallowing itself.