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Djokovic 6-6 Ruud (4-1) And he we go again, Djokovic sent out wide after a mahoosive forehand cross, stretching to send a glooooorious winner down the line for the mini-break. I don’t know how many strokes were played in that rally but it was plenty, then at the end of another epic, he wins a net exchange, and though Ruud holds his two serves, Djokovic is in pretty decent control here.
Olivier Giroud, Theo Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard are in. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA*Djokovic 6-6 Ruud Excellent from Ruud at 15-0, pushing Djokovic back with a backhand then punishing a winner down the line off the same flank. So an ace down the T follows, then a big forehand winner, and very soon after that we go into a breaker. Djokovic has won all five he’s played in this competition and in the process has yet to make an unforced error., No, that is not a misprint.
Djokovic 5-6 Ruud* Ruud nets a forehand unnecessarily and might that be a critical oversight? Er, no. At 15-all Djokovic shouts about a bounce he didn’t like, at 30-15 a forehand onto the line makes a clean winner, and while the Serb spends change of ends bitching at the umpire for hurrying him to serve, Ruud prepares to try and break for the set.
*Djokovic 5-5 Ruud A massive forehand an a luscious backhand lob give Ruud 0-15 – he’s three points away from the set – and have an absolute look! Djokovic is in control of the next rally, playing a lob, but Ruud’s riposte, via tweener is exceptional, Djokovic spurns an overhead putaway, and then slips to take Ruud closer. That was a phenomenal rally and the set’s already been going 63 minutes – nor is it finished yet, Djokovic getting a little lucky on 30-all when Ruud botches a tame second serve directed at his forehand. He’s not loving the sun at his current end, but he does close out and on we go. This is maturing into a really fun contest.
“Casper’s a great guy, lovely sweatband styling, good player, all that,” emails Jeremy Boyce. “But we all know that a fit and in-form ruthless serial killer Major title-winner is going to blow all that Norwegian charm and lovely strokes out of the fjord. Casper started good and fast, but the assassin of younger title hopefuls will hunt him down…”
Djokovic 4-5 Ruud* Has the match shifted? Djokovic gets to 0-30, dictates the next point with his forehand … and then makes a mess of a forehand down the line. An ace follows, then another brutal rally, ended when Ruud sticks an impatient backhand into the net – he’s starting to lose the longuns now – and that weaker flank is being targeted. But pinned into the corner, as soon as he gets to play off his fore he prompts the error that makes deuce – Djokovic bends, hands on knees, to catch his breath – and Ruud makes advantage as his opponent slips, though the point was already gone. From there, Ruud closes out, and that’s a monumental hold.
“My two pence in response to the seeming obsession to proclaim Djokovic as the undisputed GOAT,” says Guillaume Emualliug. “Nadal’s entire career has played out in the overlap between peak Federer and peak Djokovic. And during that period he won more grand slams than either. Meanwhile Federer won a bunch of slams against the likes of Hewitt and Roddick, and Djokovic has the opportunity now to win with neither Fed nor Nadal any longer on the scene. Nadal is the GOAT!”
I agree who’s beaten who is persuasive, but it’s not conclusive. All three of the players you mention have won enough majors against each other for us to know they can do it – I’m not, say, penalising Federer, because he got to play, say, Philippoussis.
*Djokovic 4-4 Ruud A terrific forehand down the line, flat with the new balls, allows Ruud to disburse a nice volley at net; I’m really impressed by how confidently he’s attacking this match. Then, at 15-all, three shrieking forehands force Djokovic to yield – eventually – and this contest does not look like how I expected it to, at all, and as I type a deep backhand facilitates a cunning drop and with comes break point. So another sapping, compelling rally ensues, Djokovic taking no chance on an overhead, doing straight down the middle, before putting away a much harder angled volley for deuce. From there, Djokovic closes out, and that’s three games on the bounce for him.
Djokovic 3-4 Ruud* Ruud’s forehand has been the defining shot of this set and it takes him to 15-0 only for an errant backhand to hand Djokovic parity. Ans when he loses a corner-to-corner rally, pinned on that same backhand, another oversight puts him under pressure. But what’s this?! Djokovic misses a second overhead for two break points – I can barely believe what I’m seeing – except a poor forehand hands him one, he does ridiculously to stay in a ridiculous 28-stroke rally… then Ruud dumps an overhead of his own! Djokovic salutes the crowd, and that might be the key momentum shift – a very stupid thing to say at this stage of a final, but then we’re talking about a player of stupid brilliance.
There they are, the lads. Photograph: Christophe Ena/AP*Djokovic 2-4 Ruud Djokovic is playing better now, starting to dictate points in the manner to which he and we have become accustomed. He holds to 15 but Ruud, who’s yet to take a set off him losing 2-0 in all four previous meeting, only needs tow of his own to move in front.
“Call it a naive argument but the number of tournaments on the hardcourts give Novak too much of an edge. Or any HC player to be honest. Tennis really needs to be spread across surfaces evenly. The metrics we use to measure greatness are a bit shallow.”
As I said at the top, you can’t just count stuff. But if I had to pick someone to play for my life on an unspecified surface – seems unlikely but you never know – I don’t even have to think about who I’m going for.
Djokovic 1-4 Ruud* Djokovic does indeed look for winners, but he needs Ruud to thrash wide to get a point at 30-15. Then, having worked the Norwegian from side to side, he misses his attempted backhand winner down the line and we’re told that of rallies to go beyond five shots, Ruud has won 14/17. And he secures another hold via high-kicking body-serve that facilitates a forehand winner and celebrates with gusto. He’ll love the start he’s made and rightly so, he’s playing nicely.
*Djokovic 1-3 Ruud It just seems so unlikely that a meticulous beast like Djokovic wasn’t mentally ready for the start of this match, but he knows he’s in one now and I’d expect a pretty swift uptick in performance. He holds to love, getting himself on the board, and is landing 85% of his first deliveries. I’d expect him to have a proper go art Ruud’s serve now.
Djokovic 0-3 Ruud* Ruud’s made a good start and looks confident, but he misses a simple putaway to find himself facing 15-30. Two straight points, though, take him close to a consolidation … only for him send down a double. No matter, he quickly closes out, his advantage earned thanks a fine backhand down the line backed up by a forehand winner.
“Impossible really to argue that Djokovic is not the GOAT” says Peter McLeod. “I resisted for years, but like he did to so many opponents, he wore me down. Beating Nadal at the French is what confirmed it for me, but there were signs from early on that he was gonna do it. That return from match point down against Federer in the 2011 US final. The six hours against Nadal at the 2012 Aussie. Maybe the most painful for those not of a Djokovic persuasion was Wimbledon 2019.
Admittedly at risk of sour grapes, but: it’s a little hard to separate the art from the artist isn’t it? The way he seemed to get a bit injured every time he was in trouble against Murray, before springing back to life. The antivax stuff. The hints of Serbian nationalism. Maybe that’s just me; none of Roger, Rafa or Andy seem to have beef with him.”
I can’t argue with any of that – he’s not always easy to love, and his efforts to change that don’t always recognise how love is earned.
Casper Ruud of Norway in action. Photograph: Christophe Petit-Tesson/EPA*Djokovic 0-2 Ruud Djokovic hits such ridiculous lengths with his groundstrokes, but at 15-0 he slaps a forehand into the net … so sends down a monstrous serve to right the cosmic balance of things. But what’s this?! He spanks a forehand wide having won the chance to hit a winner, then nets, and Ruud has a break point! Not for long, taking control of the rally with a booming forehand that eventually incites an error … but again he goes wide on the forehand, so again, a chance for 2-0. Ahahahaha, a kicking serve out wide then a hellacious forehand winner down the line make deuce, but following an ace Djokovic nets. So we go backwards and forwards, a succession of game points spurned and saved – one with a gorgeous inside-out backhand return – then a forehand return persuades Djokovic to overhit, and under a lob at the net, he makes a total mess of what looks a straightforward overheard, bungling long, and Rudd in in charge!
Djokovic 0-1 Ruud* (denotes server) I guess Ruud blew Zverev off the court on Friday, and though that’s a far easier task than the one he’s about to attempt, it tells us he’s playing well. Djokovic, though, started like a train against Alcaraz, and if he can find similar form now – on the one hand, it’s a final, on the other he might not be as excited by the matchup – it’s hard to see how this is close. But as I type that, Ruud whips through a love hold although, on the down side, I’ve just noticed his awful trainers.
Here we go, Ruud to serve. The roof is open, but with rain forecast for later it might not stay that way.
Anyone else think Ruud looks like a McGann?
Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images Photograph: Frank Baron/The GuardianDjokovic gets a proper roar, so here’s an absolutely mind-boggling Djokovic stat: of his last 21 major semis, he’s won 20 of them. It’s an outrage.
Here come our players!
Ruud says it’s not easy to be relaxed. There are only four Sundays on which major finals are played, one of them is today, and being involves is far from a given. He’s excited, as you would be.
Email! “I’m back!” begins James Wilson. “Novak in three, max four sets (with Ruud maybe snagging the third 7-6 or 6-4). I am a Federer fan but I think the numbers don’t lie around Djokovic – greatest male tennis player by miles and it isn’t even close. Sure, he doesn’t pass the eye test (it’s why I prefer watching the ethereal Federer play) but if you wanted a man to play for your life, and you could choose just one tennis player, one, who would stay there three hours orv three days but get the job done – you would only pick one player – Novak (Fed would shank too many backhands and Nadal is too injury-prone). The chat around Novak being too mechanical is understandable but it mostly belongs to casual fans (which is the majority, let’s face it) who don’t really understand just how remarkable it is what he is doing. To outlast, physically, a man 16 years his junior on the clay and in the heat – this is testament to the intensity of the man, his supreme fitness and conditioning and simply knowing his body, and playing well within himself, never mind stumbling over the five rounds up to the semis, where he simply goes up several gears and Carlos simply could not keep up, once this happened. He is not used to being challenged. To every single point he plays having such intensity, so much running, so many angles, for his serve, a massively improved stroke the last year or so, or how he returns, with insane precision, every single time. There are no easy points facing Djokovic in a best-of-five format – he gives you nothing. He can also raise his level at any point he wants to – Carlos was playing as well as he possibly can for two sets but the price his body paid for it was visible at 1-1 in the third set. Novak? You always felt that he could be out there another three hours, no problem, playing with a level as high, if not higher, if and when he needed to.
And we have a situation that outside the US Open nobody born after the year 1987 has won a slam. Novak, Rafa, Fed and Andy, been so dominant that two generations of tennis players have been and gone, and even Alcaraz’s generation have no idea what it is to win a Slam and beat the best of the best in order to do so – Novak has simply refused to age, and Rafa before him – they’ve been so dominant, for so long, that they are 3-0 up in the first set before they even step on to the court in matches other than with each other. Carlos admitted yesterday that he was nervous – he was visibly frustrated to see throwing the kitchen sink at Novak – only (per Roddick’s famous quote) to have him come back with the bathtub. Everything comes up – precise, deep, kisses the baseline. No free points. For a guy with seemingly no weaknesses, Carlos maybe has this one (as do all the players of his vintage) – the first 30 mins of the first set against Novak or Rafa they play entirely in their head – before any serves, forehands or backhands are hit. And THAT is Djokovic’s greatness (and Rafa’s before them). He is about to win every Slam at least three times (he has already won them all, together with Rafa, at least twice). Even with their slams being 22 apiece, Rafa simply has never been that durable – his weeks at number 1 are negligible – while Novak has been there longer than any man or woman, ever, since records began. And having reached at least seven finals at each of the four slams, it is only fitting that he should win them all, more often, than any man, in the Open era.”
I agree with most of this. I too don’t think it’s especially close, but I do think Djokovic looked to be tiring when Alcaraz did, and I didn’t think he was necessarily going to win. But his ability to handle pressure and intensity told; Alcaraz wasn’t prepared for that because how could he be?
Trying to find reasons Ruud might win, Mats clutches at the US Open final – Djokovic lost to Medvedev in straights trying to complete the calendar Grand Slam. But even if there’s an almighty choke, I doubt Ruud has the weapons to take advantage over five – he can’t just serve well and win 4, 4 and 4.
More generally, though, what a fortnight this has been. In particular, I buzzed off Karolína Muchová, who I hope has announced herself as a serious force in the women’s game. Her mix of power and guile looks built to last, in every city, in every nation
from Lake Geneva to the Finland station and her match against Aryna Sabalenka was the best of the competition, for 24 hours, because Djokovic v Carlos Alcaraz was, until what happened happened, the best sporting contest I’ve seen this year. If I continue this post any longer, I’ll start looking forward to Wimbledon, so I’m going to end it and stay in the moment, because what a moment it is: either history or shock awaits us.
Asked to weigh-in on the goat debate, Mac equivocates, saying Nadal is best on clay, Federer grass and Djokovic hard. If you’re asking me to pick one, though, I’m going Djokovic – much as Nadal’s forehand might be the greatest shot ever and the beauty of watching Federer makes my soul sing – because all-round, I think he’s hardest to beat with fewest weaknesses.
So, what can Ruud do to win? Happily, Calvin Betton, our resident coach, messages in with yet more wisdom for me to pass off as my own: “They’re basically the same player but Novak is 20 times better at it. They both make loads of balls. Ruud’s career is absolutely mental. He’s won quite a few 250s, and has 3 slam finals now. And other than that he’s barely won a match in a 500, Masters 1000 or a Slam – and he’s been top five in the world for two years now. He gets unbelievably lucky with draws, has a terrible record against other top-10 players, and to beat Djokovic you have to be consistent and hit through him, which Ruud can’t. You look at the guys that have beaten him in big matches – Thiem, Del Po, Federer, Nadal, Wawrinka. They do it by hitting through him. Only Murray has beat him at his own game.”
PreambleGreatness in sport is easy to detect but difficult to measure. Obviously there are numbers – 22 Grand Slams, say, or 387 weeks as world No 1 – but love is about feelings not statistics, and sport is so closely aligned with love the two are almost indivisible.
If Novak Djokovic wins today, he becomes the most successful men’s tenniser ever, out on his own on 23 majors – three ahead of Roger Federer, one ahead of Rafael Nadal – and the first to win each title thrice. Thrice! But to reduce him to those digits is to miss the experience of watching one of the most freakish athletes, competitors and intellects the world has ever seen.
Physically, Djokovic is perfect, a lean, honed, absolute specimen made of elasticated girders covered in purple velvet, but mentally he is even better. His relentless dedication to tennis – to himself – is both affirming and terrifying, his refusal to be beaten as inspirational as his desperation to win, and his ability to do the right thing, over and over and over again, is like nothing we’ve seen before. He is a genius of geometry and of spirit, a triumph of the human capacity for self-realisation and self-actualisation, and he’s nowhere near finished.
All of which adds up a tricky afternoon for Casper Ruud, who has no obvious path to victory. He does more or less what Djokovic does, just significantly less well, lacking a great weapon, unusual feel or top level that, if they click, can override what reality tells us is inevitable. But one reason we love this thing of ours is that once people start doing stuff, all sorts of other stuff can happen, and Ruud, playing his second consecutive Roland-Garros final and third Slam final in a year, will have convinced himself he’s ready to shock the world. Whatever happens from here, this is going to be epochal.
Play: 2.30pm local, 1.30pm BST