OT: US Open- Tiafoe Slays the Giant (Nadal)

Submitted by uncle leo on September 5th, 2022 at 6:09 PM

YES! Finally! What a W for Tiafoe. 

Has Rublev next. VERY winnable.

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Bo Harbaugh

September 5th, 2022 at 6:23 PM ^

Great win for Tiafoe and American tennis.

Rafa still the greatest competitor I've ever seen in tennis.

Novak will probably end up with the most Grand Slams

And Roger at his peak is still the greatest all surface player I've ever seen.

Comparing the 3 is really splitting hairs...but back to Tiafoe....

U! S! A! 

Joined: 08/03/2019

MGoPoints: 38651

Rickett88

September 5th, 2022 at 7:31 PM ^

This is exactly right… and I don’t necessarily blame him. He is UBER talented, but has stated that he has other interests, and doesn’t want tennis to be #1 all the time. 

Plus, the difference to get from where he is to Joker/Nadal/Roger level is life consuming, and I appreciate a guy who just says, nah, not for me. 

Joined: 08/21/2012

MGoPoints: 10566

matty blue

September 5th, 2022 at 9:53 PM ^

 he can't keep his head on straight.  never has, never will.

https://twitter.com/eurosport/status/1565254964930383872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1565254964930383872%7Ctwgr%5Ea904356d77922ad80e50c754ddeb3fc2f4221ad3%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnypost.com%2F2022%2F09%2F01%2Fnick-kyrgios-girlfriend-advised-to-walk-out-over-us-open-drama%2F

 

Joined: 08/01/2008

MGoPoints: 39207

tsunami42080

September 5th, 2022 at 11:50 PM ^

I’ll never understand screaming at his own box while he’s firmly in control of the match. YOU are holding the racket Nick, not them.
 

Also WAY too much leniency given as he’s screaming F bombs clearly audible on TV on multiple occasions.

 

He was THIS close to automatic DQ after nearly hitting ball in the crowd his last match. That would’ve been utterly tragic.
 

 

Joined: 05/22/2013

MGoPoints: 2107

Navy Wolverine

September 5th, 2022 at 6:48 PM ^

I've been pretty hard on Frances the last 2-3 years but I am really impressed with his progression and improvement. I see four huge areas where he has stepped up his game:

  1. His serve has significantly improved from below ATP average to a weapon (his second serve is still pretty average and Nadal's inability to attack it today cost him).
  2. He "fixed" his forehand so he doesn't take it back too far like he used to. He still uses the next-gen technique where he points the strings at the back fence on his take back but he has cut back on his errors significantly.
  3. He plays with much more discipline. His gameplan was pretty clear today - don't feed Rafa a bunch of forehands. He worked Rafa's backhand consistently and would only go to the forehand when he could take it wide cross court, getting Nadal on the move and opening up the rest of the court. In the past, Tiafoe would often just kind of wing it out there but he really stuck to the game plan today. 
  4. He has the fitness to go 5 sets. 

Wayne Ferreira has been a great coach for him but you have to give all the credit to Tiafoe. Hope he wins the whole thing.

Joined: 09/26/2016

MGoPoints: 19370

SD Larry

September 5th, 2022 at 6:52 PM ^

Was a great tennis match.  Nadal had some trouble with his serve and double faults but both guys played great and Tiafoe hit a huge number of winners. 

Joined: 10/05/2014

MGoPoints: 41008

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

September 5th, 2022 at 8:51 PM ^

Nadal is an absolute warrior. He has benefited more from the new tech strings than any player, but his tenacity and grind are unmatched.
Pablo Carreno Busta tanked a few points and even a set at the Open this weekend - which I’ve never seen from Nadal in 20+ years. Never gives up on a single point.

Joined: 11/01/2012

MGoPoints: 18054

Zoltanrules

September 5th, 2022 at 10:05 PM ^

Great match by Tiafoe and kudos to him. Nadal did not play his best which Tiafoe obviously had a big part in, but I wonder if Nadal's mental game was not at his usual level due to the stress involving the his wife and the problem pregnancy with their first child. He had played some amazing tennis winning the Australian and French Open with a degenerative foot injury, but today was not the same Rafa. 

Joined: 08/23/2009

MGoPoints: 21234

waittilnextyear

September 6th, 2022 at 2:11 AM ^

Just caught up on the DVR and Big Foe played one heckuva match!  Serving 134 mph up 4 games to 3 in the 4th set, then that nasty crosscourt forehand to go up 40-0 in the final game before putting Nadal's lights out.  Wow.  Nadal had been 22-0 at majors this year, winning both the Australian and the French, before tonight.

The thing is Nadal didn't play poorly, either.  His serve percentage was a bit low, and maybe he was just excellent returning instead of legendary, but there was no sign of the injury that brought his Wimbledon to an early end.  It was more that Tiafoe played the match of his career...so far.

In the post-match interview, they flashed a graphic that mentioned Tiafoe is the youngest American man to make the US Open quarterfinals since Roddick in 2006 (Roddick was 24, Tiafoe is 24, so it's a matter of months).  It would be fantastic if we can get an American really high up there battling with Djokovic, Nadal, Medvedev, and all those guys.  Loving what I'm seeing from Tiafoe on the men's side (and Coco Gauff on the women's side).

Now I'm hoping for a Kyrgios-Tiafoe US Open final bigtime.

Joined: 09/11/2021

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