New thread for a new season!
If he wasn't generally considered the GOAT before today, he will be now.
same! I’d say the best of 3 nature of it probably helped but didn’t think he’d be beating him again.
Watched it in the car between motorway stops in Germany, was emotional. Feel sorry for Alcaraz, but he'll have more opportunities. Was a gap in the CV, more than GOAT defining, but nice to have it filled all the same.
Amazing match.
Delighted he now has a gold. Carlos will have many more attempts at Gold and might one day equal the various records but Novak is Definitely the GOAT......for now
Even if Alcaraz racks up 25+ slams (and that's a big if), unless he has rivals of the quality of Federer and Nadal like Djokovic did then I don't think it should be held in the same regard.
Djokovic is the GOAT by some distance, the fact that he can still beat these top young lads so many years past his peak is just phenomenal:
24 slams
40 masters series
7ATP finals
428 weeks at world number one
Olympic gold
Only player to win full set of masters series and done it more than once
Winning record against all his rivals
Only player in open era to hold all 4 slams simultaneously
Davis cup winner
He is an absolute phenomenon!
Also agree with Royale with cheese, djokovic achieved all this in the era of Federer and Nadal. The only real rival for alcaraz now will be sinner. The competition now is nowhere near as strong. Djokovic at olympics just won gold medal not dropping a single set and beat the likes of Alcaraz, Musetti, Tsitsipas and Nadal.
Sinner, Zverev and Medvedev all playing in Montreal this week, gotta pay the bills I suppose.
Alcaraz and Djokovic understandably skipping after going all the way in Paris.
Can't see Sinner being dethroned as #1 before year end.
Sinner knocked out by Rublev in three sets, in fairness looks to have been struggling with his hip.
Tsitsipas drops father as coach. Should have done it years ago
I've seen this movie before, don't think they'll be long reuniting.
Jessica pegula wins the Canadian open beating Amanda Anisimova in three sets 6-3 2-6 6-1
Battling win for Jack Draper against Jaume Munar, he looked absolutely wrecked at stages, physically he still isn't there.
Draper with a win against Tsitsipas.
Ruud or Auger-Aliassime next
Alcaraz knocked out by Monfils in Cincinnati...played very poorly and smashed his racket to bits at one stage.
Cincinnati does bring out the racket smashing side of him.
Draper beat Auger-Aliassime but very dodgy match point...
Very poor form from Drapper to claim he wasn't sure. There's no way he couldn't have known he hit the ball twice.
Edit: sorry my mistake. I see the ball hit the court off the racquet and bounced over.
Oh boy. Jannik Sinner failed a drug test twice in March but wasn't suspended and is now cleared.
https://x.com/BenRothenberg/status/1825897812346753148?t=dZvq6FiilGsKUJBAp_ap7w&s=19
Will have to research this before I make my mind up.
Supposedly it was massage cream used by a physio and there was no fault attributed to Sinner. I wonder what the name of that massage cream was, I'm sure it's not voltarol or deep heat.
The previous post said clostebol spray?
Voltarol is prescription only, isn't it?
hard to know what to believe on this one , but he was 100% treated completely different to anyone else. Chairman of ATP is Italian is he? Sinner didn’t play the olympics … odd haha.
In UK and Ireland it is, on the continent it is mostly OTC - I know cos I stock up when I am abroad
I've been reading up on it this evening, and I've made my mind up on at least one thing: The extent of blatant favouritism and double standards is breath-taking.
And call me cynical, but the "my physio used it to treat his cut hand" excuse just stinks to high heaven. This is serious stuff, related to the drugs the East Germans force-fed their athletes in the bad old days. Nowadays, you've got be more careful and sneaky about it: Smaller doses, lower strengths, careful timing. Also, the cream is clearly marked on the packaging in Italy as containing a proscribed drug.
The response I've seen so far from his fellow pros has not been very supportive.
He should definitely be suspended for the US Open at a minimum now that this has come out , it's a dreadful look for Tennis coming into the tournament.
Maybe it was a genuine mistake (although I'm beginning to doubt it) but I don't understand why these professional athletes aren't more careful about even slight infractions of the drug policy and not even make the slightest mistake.
I think if I was a pro athlete I'd be afraid to use anything that came from a medicine cabinet/pharmacy for fear of something like this happening and having your reputation damaged and just use nothing but natural remedies for all minor issues.
That's a slippery slope though Jack. Might sound like a good idea at the start but before you know it, you're not getting vaccinated, worshiping rocks and getting kicked out of Oz 🙂.
Reading up on it they say that this is used to treat skin abrasions and burns and it available over the counter in Italy. Then you read up on Clostebol Acetate and that it is used to promote muscle growth without the masculine side effects. I guess it all depends on how much was in his system and then again there was enough there to show up on a drugs test. Not sure how much of this stuff would be in a cream that it would show up on a drugs test?
Dan Evans got suspended for 12 months for using cocaine. There does seem to be double standards and then there were always the rumours about Nadal
US Open thread
