Three Grand Slams. Three Grand Slam finals featuring Novak Djokovic against a non-Big 3 opponent.
That has been the story of 2021, and it adds another chapter in Sunday’s Wimbledon championship match. After Daniil Medvedev (Australian Open) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (French Open) came up short against Djokovic on the biggest stages in tennis, Matteo Berrettini gets a shot this time around.
Although Berrettini has never played in a major final and had previously been to the semis only once (2019 U.S. Open), his current run at the All-England Club has come as no surprise whatsoever. The world No. 9 cemented his status as one of Djokovic’s top threats when he rolled to the Queen’s Club title last month. Remaining undefeated on grass this summer (now 11-0), Berrettini’s Wimbledon fortnight includes wins over Guido Pella, Botic Van de Zandschulp, Aljaz Bedene, Ilya Ivashka, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Hubert Hurkacz.
Berrettini has struck 101 aces throughout this event; nobody else has hit more than 65 (Denis Shapovalov). The Italian has been broken only five times, including just twice in five matches against opponents other than Auger-Aliassime.
Of course, the underdog now has to go up against the best returner–and best player in general–in Djokovic. The top-seeded Serb has reeled off 18 sets in a row since dropping his opening set of the tournament to Jack Draper. He has disposed of Draper, Kevin Anderson, Denis Kudla, Cristian Garin, Marton Fucsovics, and Shapovalov, although Shapovalov at least managed to be competitive during a 7-6(3), 7-5, 7-5 loss.
As the Canadian’s effort indicates, an opponent with a big serve and firepower from the baseline can give Djokovic some problems. As that scoreline also indicates, however, there is nobody on tour who is more clutch than the world No. 1 in the pressure-packed moments.
Berrettini can make this interesting if he serves extremely well, but Djokovic’s return will always get the edge over Berrettini’s serve. And the biggest discrepancy is Djokovic’s experience on this stage versus Berrettini’s inexperience. Mentally, the 19-time Grand Slam champion will be too tough when it matters.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
Hi Okie hope your well 😃
Hello Alison! I’m doing pretty good, for old lady!! Hope all is well with you. Still watching tennis. Three guys with 20…….AMAZING! Win, lose or draw (regarding Rafa) it has been exciting to watch! Ready for the USO!!
Andi Mira your an amazing fan, and your posts are full of positivity, I remember we did fall out a while back, but we are cool now, I don’t know why Amy attacked you and Elizabeth like that, just wanted to give you the heads up 😘
Ohh hey Al!…Hehe…thank u so much for yor words Al!…Very appreciate it!..U know,i am still feel regret & embarrassed everytime i think about what i said to u Al!…I hate myself very much at that time & now..it was not me & i am so so so very sorry for caused u so much pain too k?
You’re a very nice lady Al!…and have a gud heart🧡& i think if we have an opportunity to hang out together,we can smash the flower pots one or two!hehe…thats how fun we could be!…It’s very honoured to be your friend Al!🥰..Always!
About amy…thats alright Al…i consider, it’s only a sister’s spat…i don’t feel anything except some love between human beings..At least on my part!😀
MA,
Yes you are right. However I don’t think that what happened in someone’s life is justification for their cruelty and hatred. I sensed that this person is pretty disturbed. You just have to read his posts. And I get that he is miserable. Only someone who is deeply unhappy would go around trashing people in such a vindictive way.
I will do my best to ignore this toxic poisonous loser. The disrespect for women is especially troubling.
You have a good attitude. I don’t know what to say about what is going on here lately. I think sometimes it’s good to take a deep breath. Wh When you see the horrible things that this nut from tennis-x posts here, then you realize that we should all stick together and be supportive of each other.
You are a very nice person with a good heart.😍
Hehe…Thanks for the nice words Nny!…tho i don’t think i’m that nice…but thank u nonetheless Nny!☺
Yeah!…We should stick together & support each other Nny,that’s why i’m still here this last couple of days..to give u support as much as i can..i feel it’s not right of me to left u alone to deal with ‘our nice neighbours’..who knows,when the moon is full,they’re going to incarnate themselves to dracula next?..🧛♂️🧛♂️🧛♂️..brrrr!!..scary!!
Okay, I am ready to guess one:
Sweetstan is Van Persie, I hope so anyway. She liked to put me down but it was cool to do that at the time, years ago. If true, I welcome her, Margot’s friend.
Okiegal,
I can’t chat right now. I got to go. But I will be back later.
Happy you are here.
Ok sounds good! Have a great day!😊😊
Sweetstan is Stanley it’s me 😂.
My real friends call me “SweetStan” because I’m sweet.
SS: Thought you were: Dr Jeckyll and Mr Hyde.
He is.
Glad it wasn’t Van Persie, not because I don’t want her here, she is one of the sharpest Nole fans on TX, but because I wouldn’t like her to come hiding.
Obviously, she left mighty impression on some people here, she is sharpshooter.😉
I had that honour to be her host while both holidaying in Belgrade and take her and her lovely husband to Novak Centre and then to Skadarlija bohemian quoter for dinner and nice live music, great lady.
Van Persie, if you are reading this, come visit us here occasionally, please 🥂
RC you are one of the most knowledgeable ladies I know when it comes to tennis, I remember Grendle ( really miss him) saying how much he loved your posts, and I enjoyed the banter you two had with each other 😃
No Alison I’m not so smart when it comes to tennis. I do like to watch it and try to know as many players as I can – both ATP and WTA. The thing I did well when I did it was work as an oncology RN and more recently as a home health RN. I don’t remember that Grendle liked my posts but I sure liked his. Thank you for your kind words. There are things I’d like to talk to you about but not on the tennis forum.
What was funny this morning was mistaking Sweetstan for a nice new poster. But it’s the old Stanley, hahaha. I can be embarrassingly naive, Alison. I’m glad you are here posting and that other place too, whatever works for you! 😘
I do briefly remember NNY/Mindy on TX in 2011, as it was about the same time I started posting on there, although we never interacted there, although we do here, and going back over old threads from years back, which I sometimes do when I’m bored, she was always a fair and open minded poster, so I think the personal attacks are unfair 🤔
Alison,
Yes that was me. I was always NNY on Tennis Talk. I got accused of trying to hide who I was, but tennis-x was the first tennis site I ever went in and I didn’t know about user names. So when I went to Tennis Talk I used NNY. But there was a lot of cross posting between Tennis Talk and tennis-x. The Fedal wars were raging back then.
What bothers me is that Wog Boy copied and pasted something I wrote here and put it on tennis-x. Then he says that people over there should come here to attack Rafa fans because we are feeling down about Rafa losing RG. That is vindictive.
People like that are the reason I left. There were good posters there who know their stuff and like tennis. But then there were the nutcases who made it toxic.
If you are a Rafa fan, then you are a target there. They don’t see you as fair and open minded because you are a Rafa fan.
Already there have been a few posts directed at me. So some are going to follow Wog Boy’s advice to come here to attack me. I guess they don’t have a mind of their own.
What is quite disturbing, is the misogynistic and sexist attacks directed at women. We are supposedly all old ladies who just get trashed.
@Mindy aka NNY: you used to entertain us with details from your private life on the tennistalk portal. now i see you are obnoxiously policing this portal making life uncomfortable for anyone who is not in love with Nadull or has a different opinion? do you think it is time to go for counseling? it does help really.
Tennistalk whoever you are,
No, but I do think you need counseling big time. Something better to do with your life than trash someone anonymously on a tennis forum.
Nadull is a definite giveaway. You are a hater and a troll.
Spot on!
Okiegal,
Thanks! You know that Wog Boy posted a comment I made here on tennis-x and said that they should come here to attack Rafa fans because we are feeling down about him losing.
So it looks like some of them are dumb enough to actually allow themselves to be manipulated. Nothing better to do these days.
It seems that if you want to attack a woman you say she is an old lady. Sexist, misogynistic much?
What a waste of life.
Oh Mindy… You came and you gave without taking…
So you moved to Florida you say?
Retirement home?
Another troll? I guess you people are so stupid that you will do whatever some racist thug tells you to do. No ,I don’t of joy own? Too much time on your hands? Like sheep you follow Wog Boy your leader.
I guess everyone in Florida is in a retirement home! So the idea is to attack a woman as old, right? Do you have a mother yourself? Or grandmother?
You are a coward coming here under a stupid name to trash someone because you were told to do so. Why don’t you stop doing someone else’s dirty work?
Who’s rattling your cage?
No, who is rattling your cage?
I don’t happen to appreciate being caked an old lady by someone who doesn’t know me.
I also don’t appreciate someone posting a comment I made here over on tennis-x and telling people there to go to this site to attack Rafa fans because they are feeling down about Rafa losing.
Some people need to get a life and find something better to do with their hostility and anger.
Here, maybe this will relax you a bit 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpQ6NtbZxiE
How did you know that I love this song?
My favorite! Okay that is all I needed!
😀
🙂
Are you referencing the film?
The song! Wasn’t it Saturday Night Fever? That song is very special to me. One of my all time favorites. I don’t know how Snowpierce even knew to find it. I may not have lived in New York for a long time but I have family there and it will always be in my heart.
That made my day!
😀
NNY,
Instead of misinterpreting, misinforming and lying posters here in order to manipulate them and bring to fight your fight, you should have enough decency (that obviously you lack) to copy/paste from TX my post so the people can make their own mind about what I said and did I invite people “to attack Rafa fans here”?
That’s what you should do and I expect you to do it, I am not doing it for you, there are two posts one referring to you and the other one to Sweetstan, copy/paste from here what you said, I challenge anyone to find word “attacking Rafa fans” or something that suggests anything close to that, it’s only me trying to refresh this site with new face and to cheer you up, it looks like this room hasn’t had windows open for a long long time so the air isn’t of really good quality, you need to open the windows and let the fresh air in.
Cheers my old lady and dear friend, make sure you don’t miss your therapy, it appears that you are missing them, tell your carer to be more vigilant or ask for different one, I am sure retirement village has access to quality carers, unless it is one of those villages for neglected, down on luck and without resources people, their budget is pretty small so they can’t really afford good carers.
Anyhow, good to talk to you my dear friend and don’t worry, things will get better for Rafa…if they don’t get worse, love you😍
NNY,
Sorry my friend, I forgot, since you love music I am sure you’ll love this one and you can se entire family celebrating “something” in their restaurant, really nice family and they should be proud of their son and brother, have a look, don’t be shy.
https://youtu.be/3gSjVbzQ3NQ
Andi Mira you have nothing to apologise for hun, it was me, water under the bridge, hope you and your family are well, my hubby had the virus but he’s okay now, and I had it but only mildly, but we are both fine now, its been a strange time for everyone….
I am very relief to hear that Al!…for both counts!…Hope u & hubby too have a great moments now after that bumpy roads…
My family is ok Al!(alhamdulillah!)..all of us ‘caging’ in a house 24/7 now due to the rages of Delta variant…Donno when this will end…