Grass Court season

So the run up to Wimbledon started in pretty poor weather but with generally great success for the British players:

KAtie Boulter defended her Nottingham title, including hard-fought victories over Raducanu and Dart.

Jack Draper with his first ATP title with a win at the Stuttgart Open, beating former Wimbledon finalist Berretini in the final.

Alex De Minaur (can we claim him as nearly British...) won S'hertsogenbosch

Andy Murray will miss Wimbledon after having to have surgery on a back problem. He'd played well to win what will turn out to be his final match on grass, at Queen's, before a full house in warm sunshine.

But having lasted just the four games in his next match he was forced to retire in his next match. Now comes news that Wimbledon will be a no-no for him.

Better news about Draper following a terrific win over Alcaraz at Queen's. He'll definitely be seeded at Wimbledon.

Seen quite a lot of Queen's this week. It seems the grass-court play has improved since the low of Wimbledon in 2021 when the effects of Covid and of Wimbledon not being staged in 2020 led to some quite awful matches.

Hold your horses: The Murray report, put out by ATP, is inaccurate and Murray has NOT made a decision about Wimbledon yet.

Apparently he's been getting conflicting advice about his suitability to play.


As I write Tommy Paul has taken the first set in the Queen's final v Musetti while Sinner has just won 7-6, 7-6 against Hurkacz to take the Halle title

Paul wins Queen's title 6-1 7-6. Musetti came alive in that 2nd set, and mixed it up nicely with the odd serve volley and some great return winners to break back. Unfortunately the Italian did a rather silly dropshot which didn't get anywhere near climbing over the net to hand back mini-break in the tie-break and Paul had a pretty solid finish.

Good win for the American though. In the past winning Queen's was often a stepping stone to winning Wimbledon - I don't see this happening for Paul but he looks a good bet to reach 4th round or possibly quarters.

Enjoyed Queen's a lot this year, mainly because the big servers went out early and we had some nice-rally tennis.

Djoko had a long hit on a practice court yesterday and says he'll play Wimbledon if he thinks he can have a good stab at the title. You get the impression he'll probably play.

Raducanu in action at Eastbourne today against Sloane Stephens who can be terrific or terrible (sometimes both in the same match). Emma says she's in love with tennis again but with her you're just waiting for the next injury or illness to derail her (hope I'm wrong).

MrInvisible wrote:Paul wins Queen's title 6-1 7-6.  Musetti came alive in that 2nd set, and mixed it up nicely with the odd serve volley and some great return winners to break back.  Unfortunately the Italian did a rather silly dropshot which didn't get anywhere near climbing over the net to hand back mini-break in the tie-break and Paul had a pretty solid finish.

Good win for the American though.  In the past winning Queen's was often a stepping stone to winning Wimbledon - I don't see this happening for Paul but he looks a good bet to reach 4th round or possibly quarters.

Inevitable as the degree of specialisation for grass courts has lessened and the tournaments in Halle and den Bosch have become more popular amongst top ranked players. I think there are still quite a lot of players who are not good on grass, so winning Queens demonstrates competence at least, but certainly doesn't make me think that Paul is a strong favourite for Wimbledon.

Looks like the men's singles is quite open though - Djokovic recovering from injury, Murray a doubt and a shadow of his former self, Nadal missing, Alcaraz losing at Queens (admittedly Draper looks like a good grass court player). Sinner looks a good bet, after reaching the semi-final last year and having just won Halle, but there's definitely a chance of an outsider making real progress.

Raducanu took the last nine games for a 3 and love win over Stephens who was, as partly predicted above, terrible, especially on serve.

Agree that Wimbledon is open and much will depend on whether Djoko plays, although it is asking a lot to expect him to go deep. There aren't the fitness doubts that surrounded Sinner and Alcaraz before RG so both could go far. If Djoko plays he'll be the number two seed so Sinner and Alcaraz could meet in the semis.

Raducanu, Dart and Boulter all thru to the quarters in Eastbourne. Raducanu's win over Pegula, after a horrible start and saving an MP in the second set, was her first over a top 10 player. Indeed she had not taken even a set off them in seven previous meetings.

All three GB women out of the quarters but a good win for Billy Harris who is in to the semis at Eastbourne.

Wimbledon draw will be made this morning so we will learn then whether Murray and Djoko will play. British woman Sonay Kartal, 22, has made it thru qualifying into the main draw.

Both Murray and Djokovic in the draw, but both must still be at risk of late withdrawal.
Andy drawn to play Machac (again - 3rd time this season) on Tuesday, but may be praying for a bit of rain to push it back another day and increase his chances of being fit enough to play. I suspect if it wasn't likely to be his last Wimbledon, he'd have pulled out already, but just wants to be fit enough to get on the court and play, even if not at his best level.

I see that Alcaraz and Sinner are in the same half of the draw. I guess that if any Djoko pull out comes early on enough they could rejig the draw so that Alcaraz goes into the bottom half.

Probably a lot more chance that Djoko will play than Murray will. A number of the British men have managed to avoid the seeds, although Evans, in no form at all, will have to play 24th seed Tabilo.

Bet the women's seeds are glad none of them have to face Osaka, Kerber or Wozniaki in the first round. Emma R does have a seed to overcome - Alexandova. Boulter and Dart could meet in the second round. I make it there are 15 GS winners in the women's draw.

Those that place bets as a profession would presumably know as much as it is possible to know about each tennis players personal lives, motivation, training, health details.

Raducanu for example post 2021 US Open slam win or Leylah Fernandez post 2021 US Open runner up - what are the quarterly on quarterly factors that goes into their current performances?   Is it something about their skills, personal lives, motivation, psychology, injuries, training, health, that will be the determining factor that translates into their performances in the competition.

Djoko came thru an exhibition with Medvedev yesterday so seems certain to play at Wimbledon. Murray must be rated far more doubtful.

Briton Billy Harris put up a good show in his Eastbourne semi v Purcell of Australia before going down in the third. Harris has a WC into Wimbledon and has had a fine few weeks on the grass.

Normally I would make Djoko favourite for SW19 but for this year we'll have to wait to see how his body holds up. Four of Swiatek's five Slam triumphs have come on the Paris clay so she'll be keen to add Wimbledon to her GS trophy cabinet. But a good case could be made out for a number of women to take the title.

Fritz and Kasatkina took the Eastbourne titles. Can't see Fritz doing much at Wimbledon but Kasatkina might be an outside bet.

We have the order of play for the first day of Wimbledon. After defending champ Alcaraz kicks things off on CC, Emma Raducanu's match with 22nd seed Alexandrova will be next on.

Good programme on Ct 1, with Medvedev, Sabalenka and Sinner all featuring.

They're away at Wimbledon with Dimi taking the first set against Lajovic. Courts already look a tad worn behind the baseline. I presume they've allowed some practice on the courts which I don't remember happening before.

Two men's seeds in trouble already. Tiafoe is a set and 5-2 down to Arnaldi of Italy while Jarry is two sets down to Protected-Ranked Shapovalov.

Dimi went two sets up but is a break down in the third.

Sinner and Alcatraz thru, although Sinner got taken to four sets by big-serving German Hanffman.

Tiafoe came from two sets down to win. Medvedev, Dimi and Ruud among other winners. Sabalenka had to drop out thru injury. Raducanu had a tricky opponent, one of those really annoying players who seemed to get everything back. After a tight first set, Emma ran away with the tiebreak and then took the second set 6-3.

We still don't know if Andy Murray will play, with a decision due on Tuesday morning.

I hope Sinner wins it. He seems like a nice chap.

Murray out of the singles, but still entered into the doubles with his brother - unfortunate that he couldn't get back to sufficient fitness for one final hurrah.

And Vondrusova lost heavily in her first round match as defending champion, so by far the biggest name to lose so far.

Currently a rain delay on the outside courts - I know there's nothing you can do about it, but De Minaur probably a bit miffed as he's 2-0 ahead in a third set tie break having won the first two sets...

Not much for the Brits to cheer so far today - Dart through, but Billy Harris lost his first rounder in 4 sets.

Briton's Jubb had an MP in the third set tiebreak of his match but eventually went down in five.

Boulter came thru a tricky encounter with the wily Tatiana (Tia) Maria who was a semi-finalist at SW19 two years ago. Boulter now plays Dart in the second round with the winner likely to face high-seeded Pegula.

Boulter's boyfriend De Minaur did come thru in three tiebreaks. But Rublev, who has had some poor results this year, is out, as is Korda. GB's Fearnley won, but Searle, Choinski and Francesca Jones were all beaten.

As I write Draper is 4-2 up in the final set v Ymer who has been around for ages without getting very highly ranked.

LATER: Draper won 6-3 in the 5th to set up a second-round clash with Cam Norrie.

sirfredperry wrote:Briton's Jubb had an MP in the third set tiebreak of his match but eventually went down in five.

Boulter came thru a tricky encounter with the wily Tatiana (Tia) Maria who was a semi-finalist at SW19 two years ago. Boulter now plays Dart in the second round with the winner likely to face high-seeded Pegula.

Boulter's boyfriend De Minaur did come thru in three tiebreaks. But Rublev, who has had some poor results this year, is out, as is Korda. GB's Fearnley won, but Searle, Choinski and Francesca Jones were all beaten.

As I write Draper is 4-2 up in the final set v Ymer who has been around for ages without getting very highly ranked.

LATER: Draper won 6-3 in the 5th to set up a second-round clash with Cam Norrie.

The Draper match was a bit odd - he seemed to be in reasonable control for most of what I saw, but somehow managed to fritter away two sets. Never really looked in danger of losing, but expended more time and energy than was really necessary. I like the look of Draper's game on grass - can serve 130 mph flat but also the wide slice lefty serve, and is competent in the front court with good touch for a big guy. Backhand is compact and flat, and the forehand massive if a little error-prone. Zverev u R3 is quite a tough draw, but Draper has just beaten Alcaraz on grass, and I'd say Carlos is a better grass court player than Alex.

I, too, thought that Draper would win in the end. Not sure we've seen such a big game - massive serve and huge ground strokes - from a British-born* player for ages. There was Buster Mottram and, going right back, Mike Sangster.

You feel Draper has the sort of game, particularly on grass, that can upset a good few players.

*I'm excluding Rusedski

sirfredperry wrote:I, too, thought that Draper would win in the end. Not sure we've seen such a big game - massive serve and huge ground strokes - from a British-born* player for ages. There was Buster Mottram and, going right back, Mike Sangster.

You feel Draper has the sort of game, particularly on grass, that can upset a good few players.

*I'm excluding Rusedski

All Greg had really was a massive serve. Probably over-achieved to reach the USO final and reach #4 in the rankings given the limitations of the rest of his game.

You might be underselling the power of a certain Sir Andy Murray though.

Dummy half.

Andy did, indeed, have a powerful game and could get into the 130s with his serve. But really his game was more about craft, court coverage, excellent returning and a tremendous will to win than sheer power.

As for today, an excellent win by Raducanu over Mertens who, at 33 was the highest-ranked player Emma could have faced in the second round. Sonay Kartal, who few will know much about, appeared to have chucked away a winning position before rallying to win in three v Burel of France.

News that Emma will partner Andy Murray in the mixed is intriguing. You feel they could do well.

Watched a lot of the Alcaraz match. He had an extraordinary blip in the first set which he overcame with some terrific tennis. You just hope that he and Sinner can come thru for a semi-final meeting - an encounter that should produce fireworks.

Medvedev was the victim of a sneaky underarm serve in his entertaining match with Muller. You would never coach anyone to play, and hit the ball, like Medvedev, but it seems to suit the Russian.

Sinner making heavy weather of it against Berrettini -forgetting the golden rule playing against Matteo - that is "Stick it on his backhand."

Am going to bed fully expecting that Sinner will lose in five if he carries on like this. Heaven forbid.

sirfredperry wrote:Dummy half.

Andy did, indeed, have a powerful game and could get into the 130s with his serve. But really his game was more about craft, court coverage, excellent returning and a tremendous will to win than sheer power.

As for today, an excellent win by Raducanu over Mertens who, at 33 was the highest-ranked player Emma could have faced in the second round. Sonay Kartal, who few will know much about, appeared to have chucked away a winning position before rallying to win in three v Burel of France.

News that Emma will partner Andy Murray in the mixed is intriguing. You feel they could do well.

Watched a lot of the Alcaraz match. He had an extraordinary blip in the first set which he overcame with some terrific tennis. You just hope that he and Sinner can come thru for a semi-final meeting - an encounter that should produce fireworks.

Medvedev was the victim of a sneaky underarm serve in his entertaining match with Muller. You would never coach anyone to play, and hit the ball, like Medvedev, but it seems to suit the Russian.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that Andy was about a lot more than just pure power, but when he was at his best in the Lendl year, he really cranked the power up when needed. I always thought that it was to the detriment of his overall game, but it worked well enough to bag him 3 slam titles when I'm not sure that his more 'skill -based' play would necessarily have been as successful against the top 3.

Oh, and Emma was brilliant, particularly in the second set that she would have won as a bagel but for Mertens landing a 'hit and hope' forehand break point down in game 5 of the set. An oddity of the tennis scoring system that the first set was much more competitive than the 6-1 score made it look (a handful of break points for Mertens, quite a few games going to deuce), while the second set really wasn't competitive at all.

Relieved to see that Sinner came thru in four. Quite rightly, he was peppering the Berrettini backhand in that 4th set tiebreak.

For all Matteo's weapons - big serve, huge forehand - he rarely, if ever, beats a top 10 player. He seems incapable of hitting a backhand drive or going down the line from his backhand side.

He can only slice the BH cross-court. If you can hold serve and keep him away from his forehand as much as possible you can win the tiebreaks and the match.

A couple of all-British clashes today which at least ensures a GB presence in the next round.

sirfredperry wrote:Relieved to see that Sinner came thru in four. Quite rightly, he was peppering the Berrettini backhand in that 4th set tiebreak.

For all Matteo's weapons - big serve, huge forehand - he rarely, if ever, beats a top 10 player. He seems incapable of hitting a backhand drive or going down the line from his backhand side.

He can only slice the BH cross-court. If you can hold serve and keep him away from his forehand as much as possible you can win the tiebreaks and the match.

A couple of all-British clashes today which at least ensures a GB presence in the next round.

And in the women's, Harriet Dart beats the off form Katie Boulter after a 3 set tie-break. Doubt that Dart will get any further and nor does she deserve to. Someone who starts blubbing when behind patently lacks the grit and determination of a proper winner.

Dart has just beaten Boulter in a really dreadful match which is hardly likely to inspire British youngsters to take up tennis.

Boulter must have committed more FH errors than the Centre Court has ever seen. A truly horrible performance.

And to think Boulter would have NOT had to play Pegula in the next round as the American, who could have lost in straight sets, went down in three.

Fearnley of Briton lost the first two sets v Djoko but has taken the third. Dimi was two sets down but is thru in five. Shelton also thru in five. Hurkacz out after a nasty fall which left him hobbling and led to a retirement. Bad luck.

Boulter later said she didn't do that much wrong (apart from the SEVENTY FIVE unforced errors).

Fearnley, banging down his serve and unleashing big ground strokes, was finally seen off by Djoko in four. Didn't see all of this but apparently a good, entertaining match. Djoko said afterwards he had struggled at times and was full of praise for the Brit.

Norrie has taken the first set off Draper who looks a little raw at times. Cam has had a poor run of late but looks well up for this.

Norrie won the battle of the Brits before Andy's doubles farewell followed by that surprise reappearance of Sue Barker to lead the Murray tributes.

Tiafoe has taken the first set off Alcaraz and after losing the second is a break up in the third. This match started well but has become very scrappy with moments of brilliance interspersed with too many UEs.

The scrappy Alcaraz match finally caught fire in the fourth set tiebreak where the Spaniard, two sets to one down, produced two or three moments of utter brilliance to take it into a fifth set.

This is what separates the good from the very good - the ability to suddenly raise your game when the chips are down.

LATER: Don't know if a fall Tiafoe suffered at the end of the tiebreak affected him but he went very quickly 5-1 down in that final set before Carlos came thru 6-2. Seems Alcaraz has perfected the trick of all the top players - the ability to win when not at your best or most consistent.

Elsewhere Dimi beat Monfils in straight sets. Rain has set in again and put the schedule back. At least these days they have the middle Sunday to fall back on.

Zverev thru in straight sets v Norrie who was very much second-best (no BPs created) until the thrid set tiebreak when he produced his best tennis without being able to take a number of SPs.

Dart put up a typical British performance by leading in all three sets before succumbing in her match. How many times have we seen GB players snatch defeat from the jaws of victory?

Both Shelton and Bautista Agut won in five. I hear Raducanu has pulled out of her planned MDs match with Andy Murray.

Swiatek is OUT - beaten in three sets by Putinseva. Didn't think Iga would win the whole thing but certainly expected her to go further than this. She seems less happy on the grass than on other surfaces. She had to leave the court at the end of the second set. Maybe she was ill/injured/not 100%.

Svitolina has seen off Jabeur who was runner-up at Wimbledon the last two years. Rune is two sets to love down to Quentin Halys of France who, because of his initial, always seems to be a qualifier, although this time he actually is.....a qualifier.

Swiatek at Wimbledon:
2021: 4R
2022: 3R
2023: QF
2024: 3R

On the senior tour has never reached a grass court final. Surprising she did get to one grass court final on the junior tour winning the Wimbledon girls singles title in 2018.

Yes, Swiatek having already achieved much in the game has the grass thing to conquer.

Just seen the end of the Alcaraz match. Some absolutely brilliant points at the last from the defending champion - the sort of stuff that only the very top players produce.

Saw quite a lot of the Keys-Paolini encounter which ended with Keys having to retire with a nasty strain having twice failed to serve it out from 5-2 up in the third. Excellent match. Umbert joining a growing band of those who played well, perhaps very well, but still lost to Carlos.

For those watching at home as opposed to those getting wet at SW19 how nice it is to have two roof-covered courts. As A-ha once sang, The Sun Always Shines on TV.

Sinner also thru, while Dimi had to retire early on against Medvedev. Raducanu had levelled the match v her NZ quali opponent before a fall led to her going down in three.

Gauff is out, beaten in straight sets by Navarro. The bottom half of the women's draw is now wide open.

Surprisingly, Fritz came from two sets down to oust Zverev. Can't see Fritz going much further, though.

De Minaur and Musetti also through, with Djoko beating a spirited but ultimately unsuccessful Rune last night.

There are three GS champions in the remaining top half of the women's draw but the bottom half is wide open, with one unfancied player bound to reach the final.

It makes it all the more of a shame that Raducanu exited to a qualifier on Sunday but at least she has had some encouraging wins during the grass-court season.

Don't know what everyone thinks of the standard this year. Most of the players look a lot happier on grass than in some of the recent years. The low backhand slice, so very useful on these courts, has generally been played well.

Today we have Sinner v Medvedev and Alcaraz v Paul. I think Medvedev has a chance but can't see Paul beating Carlos. Paolini has had some stellar weeks of late and is my favourite to reach the final.

What was that again yesterday? The classless Novak Djokovic complaining yet again, thinking the tennis world revolves around him.

Yeah the Djokovic who at age 37 is in QF of another slam. Why would you not call out pathetic hecklers? It's since been confirmed by people at the match he was also getting booed and heckled and McEnroe rightly defended him for his actions on BBC today.

Will he win the tournament? Probably not and nor should he age 37 and years past his prime! The fact that he beat arguably the 3rd best young player in the world 6-3 6-4 6-3 yesterday while at near retirement age suggests he is still good enough to silence the pathetic hecklers, 24 slams will do that anyway

I used to be a huge Federer fan just because I thought he was an absolute genius in the true sense of the word - however I always had loads of respect for Novak and think he is now objectively the GOAT.

The reason he gets so much stick is a lot of tennis fans, especially the posh Wimbledon crowd have daft outdated notions of what constitutes class. Federer got universal love even though I think he was a bit smug sometimes and often didn't take defeat well (which is actually a must for an elite competitor). But tbh there's a large amount of people who just enjoy being judgmental about celebrities they've never met and get an ego boost out of it.

This is maybe a bit provocative or controversial, but I think at least some of the reason Novak isn't liked is the fact he's Serbian. Even if it's an unconscious bias, the way he's portrayed by the Western media may be slightly influenced by the fact he hails from probably the European country that's looked upon most unfavourably these days. Now they did act pretty horrendously in the 90s in Bosnia and Kosovo but there's some historical context there that's worth knowing. Serbia is still informally aligned with Russia which will not have helped recently.

The only black mark Vs Novak for me is his conduct with respect to COVID initially, however that was such a divisive topic I just to prefer to forget about that horrible time and move on.

Finally this is sport and not a personality contest, my greatest footballer of all time is Diego Maradona and he was hardly a saint!

slashermcguirk wrote:Yeah the Djokovic who at age 37 is in QF of another slam. Why would you not call out pathetic hecklers? It's since been confirmed by people at the match he was also getting booed and heckled and McEnroe rightly defended him for his actions on BBC today.

Will he win the tournament? Probably not and nor should he age 37 and years past his prime! The fact  that he beat arguably the 3rd best young player in the world 6-3 6-4 6-3 yesterday while at near retirement age suggests he is still good enough to silence the pathetic hecklers, 24 slams will do that anyway

It clearly isn't enough to silence them is it. He gets booed because of his previous actions, this is a player who defaulted in a grand slam because he can't control his emotions.

Get over it and change the record. Oh he didn't control his emotions, have you ever played tennis?? Federer has broken rackets in rage during matches and you can see this on YouTube, does that mean him and others are a disgrace? These lads are playing tennis for a living playing at the highest level,, the stakes are very high. Some players wear their heart on their sleeve, McEnroe, Becker, Agassi and many others did similar and are legends of the game.

Maybe have a look at what other players think of Djokovic who know him on tour, Murray, wawrinka, Medvedev, thiem, dimitrov and countless others. They all say he is a really nice guy off court, I am inclined to think they know far more about him than the media and hecklers who have never met the guy.

But no because he has a few moments he might regret in life he must be a tool and an awful guy. The world is just so full of perfect people LOL

slashermcguirk wrote:Get over it and change the record. Oh he didn't control his emotions, have you ever played tennis?? Federer has broken rackets in rage during matches and you can see this on YouTube, does that mean him and others are a disgrace? These lads are playing tennis for a living playing at the highest level,, the stakes are very high. Some players wear their heart on their sleeve, McEnroe, Becker, Agassi and many others did similar and are legends of the game.

Maybe have a look at what other players think of Djokovic who know him on tour, Murray, wawrinka, Medvedev, thiem, dimitrov and countless others. They all say he is a really nice guy off court, I am inclined to think they know far more about him than the media and hecklers who have never met the guy.

But no because he has a few moments he might regret in life he must be a tool and an awful guy. The world is just so full of perfect people LOL

The stakes are high for a multi millionaire playing tennis? Someone who doesn't have to worry about his future income or have any lifestyle worries whatsoever, he lives a pampered life, I couldn't give a toss what others think of him, he's a brat.

Yeah i bet it took him no work whatsoever to become world number one coming from a poor background in a war torn country as a child. He has had it way too easy, millions handed to him on a plate through no effort or work ethic.

Don't sound bitter of his success in the slightest. I am sure he is gutted

Does he pay you to jump to his defence at every turn or is it just plain obsession?

The stakes playing in a grand slam just aren't that high. That would apply to anyone on the breadline having to work continuously. Get some perspective.

No just a tennis fan who appreciates all these top players. It's a damn hard game to be good at and compete at the highest level so I just appreciate seeing great tennis. I don't know why people get so triggered by players, it's just a game

Honestly one of the things I hate most about modern sportspeople is the faux modest media-trained insincerity we constantly get from players interviews. I can understand they don't want the press to twist their words out of context but still.

And in fairness to Novak he is a bit more honest and straight in his media dealings which I respect. At least he shows a bit of personality.

There was a great quote from Federer years ago when he'd won yet another Australian Open (2010 maybe). He was asked, "Roger, this is the 16th Grand Slam triumph of your career, how do you keep doing it?"

Federer responded matter-of factly, but not arrogantly, "well, I think there's no secret, I'm definitely a very talented player!"

https://youtu.be/LGxawB9iPts?si=r-Eds-QewqdjY7q9

Bit surprised to see Sinner not make the semis at least. But Medvedev played well and Sinner was, I gather, a little under the weather.

Medvedev has a tough task to win the whole thing. He'll probably have to take out the top three seeds. Today I think he'll lose to Alcaraz while I think Djoko will have too much for Musetti.

Also surprised that Rybakina didn't make the final. The bubbly Paolini has made back-to-back Slams and is the person in form but I think Krejcikova will take the title.

That title was there for the taking for Rybakina, don't know how she didn't win it, such a strange result.

Odds on an Alcaraz final vs Djokovic. As kyrgios said i think the bye unto semis is not a good thing for novak. Having no matches for 3 days is not a good thing, practise courts are no substitute for playing competitive matches..

Alcaraz massive favourite to win the title.. I actually think Djokovic has only played at about 60-70% at this tournament. He looks so far past his prime now, a yard or two slower and way more unforced errors. I think prime Federer or Djokovic from 2011 -2015 would absolutely destroy the opposition these past two weeks