Djokovic Reigns In Rome, Beats Schwartzman For Record 36th Masters Title

Djokovic won without even playing great. That should help his confidence even more. I’m not that surprised about Nadal. I have been saying for awhile that Nadal will struggle more at the French Open because of October conditions. It’s not going to be the same for him this year. These clay conditions right now just don’t benefit Rafa. It would be nice to see Djokovic get a break in the draw. He has had Thiem on his side of the draw at Roland Garros 4 years in a row. It will be a lot more interesting if Nadal and Thiem play In the Semis. Less pressure for Thiem to beat Rafa. Thursday we will see who is where.

September 21st, 2020 at 4:30 pm

Also mentioned that a few days ago Dave, October conditions would be way different than late May early June in Paris outdoors.

Anyone knows what tournaments is next for both Nadal and Djojo, if they will play Vienna before Parcis Bercy, now that Asian Swing will be replaced by European events?

Because Djoko now adds 400 pts for a total of 11.260 pts and Nadal loses 820 pts from Rome entering RG with 9.030 pts. Djokjo defends semis in RG and Nadal title. Depending on what happen in RG (Nadal not winning), Djojo can basically wrap year end #1 right there, another record form him, joining Sampras 6th YE#1 and adding more 16 weeks before Aussie 2021.

September 21st, 2020 at 5:10 pm

It’s a COVID ranking system, they are not losing any points until WTF in Paris, they are keeping better of two tournaments played 2019/20.
Nole can add points in Paris, Tafa can’t add nor he can lose them, same as he haven’t lost the in NY nor in Rome, nor Nole can lose 1000 points from Paris masters.
They are going to lose 200 (Nole) and 400 (Rafa) prior WTF.
I personally can see Thiem as next #1, not Rafa, he is coming from behind and gaining momentum, if he only can wait until second week of March, after that I don’t really care?;)

September 21st, 2020 at 5:25 pm

^^^ “until WTF in London”..should say.

September 21st, 2020 at 5:26 pm

Daniel,

I just found you guys again after 5 months. I thought this tennis forum was gone, I thought Sean shut it down. I was typing in tennisxforum.com and couldn’t access a thing. I’m happy I found it again. So I didn’t see your comment about October conditions.

Djokovic is still close to winning YE#1. Thiem can’t gain anything from Vienna as defending champion. He can gain 800 from the French Open, 910 From the Paris Masters. And 700 from the WTF in London. 2410 points more to his total. He is 2135 behind Djokovic now. Djokovic would need to add nothing from here on for that to happen and Thiem win everything. Not likely.

Nadal can gain 640 at the Paris Masters and 1100 at the WTF in London. I don’t see Nadal playing Vienna because that would be 3 hard court tournaments in 4 Weeks. So Nadal can gain 1740 to his current total. He is 1410 behind Djokovic now.

Djokovic can gain 1280 at the French Open. 500 at Vienna. I could see him playing Vienna over Paris, because as Wog Boy mentioned before he can’t gain or lose 1000 points at the Paris Masters. Djokovic can gain 1300 points at WTF in London. So he can gain a possible 3080. So all Djokovic has to do is get to the finals of the French Open, 480 point gain. Or win Vienna. Or win 3 matches at WTF and he will win YE#1.

September 21st, 2020 at 6:02 pm

Dave, if Nole is to play any tournament instead of cancelled Asia swing I would to see him rather play St Petersburg, which has been upgraded to 500 tournament, than Vienna, he also keeps 500 from Tokyo last year.
I just don’t know if he can have 3 X 500 tournaments calculated since he already has Dubai this year.

September 21st, 2020 at 6:39 pm

Wog Boy,

Look at the date of St Petersburgh. Right after the French. Vienna is 2 weeks in between. So unless he loses in the 4th round to Wawrinka, that’s not going to happen. The only 3 guys that can beat Nole at the French are Nadal, Thiem and Wawrinka. No one else. He gets his best 18 tournaments. 4 majors. 9 Masters 1000, ATP Cup, WTF in London. Dubai, Japan and Vienna. It fits. He can definitely can have 3 of the 500’s. Thiem has Barcelona, Beijing and Vienna.

September 21st, 2020 at 6:54 pm

Thanks for infos Dave, you are right about St Petersburg, doesn’t fit.

September 21st, 2020 at 7:03 pm

Kind of a shame. After his unfortunate experience with gamblers there when he was a younger player, I’d like to see Djokovic play in Russia before his career ends.

September 21st, 2020 at 8:38 pm

Wogboy: Is there going to be a WTF at London this year? Dismal info re. C-19 here…..large new rash of it happening…

September 22nd, 2020 at 4:00 am

JK,
It is listed as it’s happening, for a difference of Stockholm, Basel, Moscow and Asia which are listed as suspended, and it’s less than 2 months before it is due.

September 22nd, 2020 at 6:44 am

Nothing to do with tennis but with this “pandemia”, straight out of the mouth of government official who just resigned because of the way “pandemia” is handled, something I was telling all along, worthy listening and watching, only few minutes, Alan Jones and Sky News Australia.

CF1, tell me what do you think, please:

https://youtu.be/kGBEaYEtiys

September 22nd, 2020 at 5:51 pm

America is now so poisoned over partisan politics surrounding CV-19 that I know look for less biased news – Germany, Japan, al-jazeera seem to be more objective these days than the US or those parts of Europe “infected” by pro-Trump or anti-Trump fever about CV-19.

Normal won’t happen unless a foolproof, totally effective, safe vaccine comes along. And there is no guarantee of that. So we have to live in the “new normal” of the virus that escaped a lab in Wuhan, China. People, sports, businesses, schools can’t stay “shut down for years, “if needed” – until it is perfectly safe”.

No great slight on the Brits, but they wussed out on Wimbledon. The US Open happened without disaster, the French Open is going as planned and if you saw pictures of the Men’s Final in Italy, the whole stadium was packed with fans. I would hate to see the Brits wuss out of the Nitto ATP Finals. And in hindsight, the All-Wimbledon Committee and UK Health authorities should have deferred Wimbledon, not cancelled it outright without much thought, and had set up a future time block where it would be reconsidered.
I do know this, as soon as the French Open concludes, Rafa will start his usual lobbying that the ATP Finals have to be moved to South American clay courts, this time saying it is the only safe thing to do. Once Rafa goes indoors, his record is abysmal. A big reason why he has 2/3rds of his titles on clay, but 1 title only, early in his career indoors – when his head didn’t tell him he was doomed if he played under a roof.
It’s the last year the Finals will be in London before moving to Turin/Torino, and the Brits made this event at the O2 Arena just about the best anyone could hope for. Hate for it to close out by ignominious cancellation.

September 22nd, 2020 at 8:35 pm

Wog Boy – What Alan Jones says, extensively quoting from Sanjeev Sabhlok, the economist, and the psychology of government peddling of fear to enhance their own power, is absolutely on mark.
No one should be foolish enough to dismiss CV-19 as a “piddling little hoax only sheep need to fear” – but the overreaction has caused great economic harm not just creating undue stress, while saving no large group of people from what was going to happen anyways. 80% of it’s largely aged and medically compromised victims, were expected to die or get seriously ill and hospitalized from any cause, by actuarial tables and doctor’s prognosis showing expected lifespan.
Not that anyone welcomes an 80 year old dying of CV-19 vs aspiration pneumonia or heart disease or two dozen other major killers that ravage people in their “medically vulnerable” categories – but “death” is as normal as birth And one can talk about “excess CV-19 deaths” departing from normal deaths anticipated anyways from other caused pre-covid without minimizing the death of anyone. That excess death number is far less than “Coronavirus Death Totals” power hungry governments put out to amp up the fear.
“Using a sledgehammer to smash at flies”.
I’ll link that Jones video essay to my friends. The same thing happened in the UK, and in many American states.

September 22nd, 2020 at 9:12 pm

CF1, thanks for your reply, my thoughts too.

September 22nd, 2020 at 10:12 pm

CF1, I don’t know if you have access to Sky News Australia, but they are my escape to sanity together with UKTV for two different reasons.
I don’t watch commercial channels brainwashing news, instead I am watching Sky News, particularly with Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt, they don’t buy today’s official narrative controlled by those so-called philanthropist (new name for the rulers of the World, you can find them on YT, as for UKTV, they don’t have news, only good old British sitcoms, no offence, I find British sitcoms and series much better than American, just easy to watch and not too loud;)

September 22nd, 2020 at 10:42 pm

“And in hindsight the All-Wimbledon Committee …….. where it would be reconsidered”. Hmmm. Now let’s see, it is Autumn now in England. Winter will commence in November right thru to March followed by Spring and throughout this period the grass is WET. We then have April showers . Sooooo? What are you suggesting?

September 23rd, 2020 at 5:00 am

Giles, they cancelled Wimbledon, not coincidentally perhaps, on April Fool’s Day. I’m looking at that as the date that they should have reconsidered. Not now, 6 months lter.
Or maybe Apr 2 for a better date – when the Committee and UK Health Ministry (A stand alone ministry?) might have said “we are working with the USTA and Roland Garros, and deferring our decision on Wimbledon going on until June.”
Again, in hindsight….because it was a bad time, difficult decisions impacting everything around London and travel were going on then, and it was the peak period of cases and panic, might have been better to defer, rather than cancel. They may have in haste, in the panic, jumped the gun.
By June, cases had plummeted in the UK and Europe, and the Wuhan virus was better understood.
Water under the bridge, of course, but a shame they didn’t get together with the other Slam organizers and find a way…

September 23rd, 2020 at 1:37 pm

Who cares about this years Tennis anyway with all that has went on. See you in 2021.

September 23rd, 2020 at 8:00 pm

Agree with Skeezer, as much as i love tennis, i really think its a mistake to play anymore this year, IMO they really shouldnt have played any to begin with, people have become complacent believing this virus is decreasing , well it isnt its actually getting worse cases are rising again ….

September 24th, 2020 at 3:31 am

Djokovic was given a dream draw. Thiem, Wawrinka, Zverev, Rudd, and Schwartman are all on the other side. Nadal and Thiem have difficult draws. Nadals looks the hardest if it holds up. Fognini in the 4th. Zverev Quarters. Thiem Semi. Nishikori or Evans in the 3rd

September 24th, 2020 at 12:44 pm

Actually Thiem has the hardest draw. Cilic 1st round . Ruud 3rd round. Wawrinka 4th round. Schwartzman QF. Nadal Semi Finals.

September 24th, 2020 at 2:00 pm

Will be a rainy 1st week in Paris for RG. Good that they have at least one roof now🙂

September 24th, 2020 at 3:05 pm

The fates were kind to Novak. He got the type of draw Federer always seemed to get. Agree with Dave on poor Domi Thiem – tough draw.
For the Top players on the men’s side, I find it amazing that how well certain payers do at the French Open, of all places, may determine who gets in to the NITTO ATP Finals.
Which brings up Federer again. He said he was done for 2020, but he said he was beginning practices again. Hmmmmm. Because of his points being frozen, Federer, if he wants to play the ATP Finals, can.
It sort of stinks that “the rules” put players and team in some sort of corridor in which players must stay, but which is outside the area many French players and notably Serena have their own places. Williams has posh digs in Paris she goes to often. She is a fluent French speaker and true Francophile. Not that I am personally shattered over her inconvenience, but things have to recover from the Wuhan virus. Sports, like restaurants, and in person schooling, deemed non-essential at the start of the lockdowns are not “frivolous things we can do indefinitely without.”
Everyone should be concerned that up to 70% of kids in lockdown nations have shown to be depressed and angry. Adults, not as bad, but still pretty bad and I’m pretty sure is a contributing factor to the adult anger and rioting you see in several countries, inc. the USA.
In times of stress, people need their little distractions and pleasures, their physical activity hobbies and passions – and for kids, as much socialization as possible as well. Sports are not frivolous, school functions besides sports are not frivolous. Dining out which creates huge numbers of jobs as well as boosting morale, are needed for recovery. Restaurants are not “non-essential” in the long run.
For most people, actually, it appears the harmful effects of lockdowns exceed their risk of harm from the virus itself.
So go tennis! Bringing it back is small but welcome part of the recovery even if it has to start with failures people learn from, silly rules, and fans not getting great in person access.

September 24th, 2020 at 3:35 pm

Interesting take on the second wave in Europe (there is no second wave in Sweden that never had lockdown), statistics show that there is no second wave of deaths, now they are talking about cases but no deaths, have a look:

https://youtu.be/EJmni3LVK3k

I have to say, I agree with one comment that says, quote:

“The narrative has shifted from deaths to cases. The deaths were largely with COVID not of COVID.”

September 24th, 2020 at 7:23 pm

As for the fans, it’s nice to have them back even in limited numbers as it was in NRL for the last two months, last night from Brisbane, fans are happy:

https://youtu.be/_f4RsV-wj1E

For the NRL finals that starts next week, NSW (Sydney) is jacking up numbers of allowed fans to 50% of stadium capacity, which is absolutely great.
Still waiting for the AO decision, it’s in communist Victoria, unfortunately 😉😂
One or the other way, I will be in Melbourne in January, flaying or driving, doesn’t make a difference.

September 24th, 2020 at 7:50 pm

Wog Boy,

The French Open is most likely going to be held with no fans.

https://www.essentiallysports.com/category/tennis/

There is the link.

September 24th, 2020 at 7:59 pm

Thanks for the link Dave, that’s a shame .

September 24th, 2020 at 8:05 pm

It looks like even the new balls being used are going to be a disadvantage for Thiem and Nadal and an advantage for Djokovic. Djokovic doesn’t have one player in his half that has gotten past the quarterfinals. The conditions, draw and the new tennis balls being used this year are all in Djokovics favor. He has no excuses this year, it’s his to lose. After having many things not go his way at the French, it’s nice to see that’s not the case this year. The French Open is Nadals Australian Open for Djokovic. Let’s see what happens

http://www.essentiallysports.com/will-certainly-change-the-result-dominic-thiem-analyses-the-new-balls-at-french-open-2020-wilson-babolat-atp-tennis-news/

September 24th, 2020 at 8:22 pm