Faulkner

It’s funny. When I was a kid they were thought to be so unbelievably cheeseball, but they were amazing. My fave:

I can’t stand the Bryans either so I gave that match a miss.

That, Soundgarden’s Superunknown, Hole’s Live Through This, and Green Day’s Dookie were my entire middle school experience. You know, I’d never really gotten into Talk Talk even though I’m an Anglophile and love ‘80 music. I only knew them because of “It’s My Life,” which No Doubt covered. But a friend turned me on to their other stuff, and I’m obsessed.

Just imagine them saying that about Marion Bartoli. They’d be fired. When you play Federer, you play him *and* his fans. I can understand how it can be intimidating. The younger generation of tennis players is still in awe of him, whereas Nadal, Murray, and Djokovic saw beating him as a challenge they tirelessly pursued. And Djokovic especially used the crowd’s dislike as fuel.

I know Twitter has changed its Trending Topics algorithm, but I feel like a year ago that Fed/Coric match would have trended, even with March Madness going on. Did it for anyone else? I feel like interest in the game is flagging. EDIT: Never mind. Federer is trending for me now.

Man. Well, the serve clearly isn’t bailing him out today. C’mon Delpo. Win this tournament for the good of tennis.

Ha. I decided to go to gym instead of watching this, but I see the score. What did they say?

Ha. In any case, that was going to tough for him.

He made the final in 2014. That was a tough one because Cilic was just in the zone.

And it’s a shame because the talent *was* there.

He did. But I just hope Delpo doesn’t get too beat up today against Raonic. I don’t think JMdP has looked all *that* sharp this tournament. This has been sort of a “meh” tournament on the men’s side in keeping with things from the past 18 months. Again, the drama comes from the women.

Oy. Just going back to Kei briefly. Yes, he has a size disadvantage. But there are far too many times when he’s in full command of a match, goes off to La La Land mentally and puts himself in a hole, and has to dig himself out of it. And he often does dig himself out of it. The problem is, you do that a few too many times, your body pays the price. I always say to myself, you had the energy and stamina to fight back and win a five-setter. If you had remained mentally engaged throughout, you wouldn’t have to consistently do that. It’s primarily a mental thing with him.

So. Many. Errors. I think he could do it, but things would definitely have to line up for him. I will say I give Borna credit for staying with Roger in this third set so far. He hasn’t completely imploded. OK, Borna, you GOTTA hold serve.

Yeah. With Roger’s game today, if he were playing an in-form Wawrinka or even Thiem, not even mentioning another Big Four member, they would have won in straight sets. Let’s hope Borna can regroup, but I suspect Fed will rout him like he did Chung. Wait, Coric already broke?

Ugh. Bad time for Coric’s serve to go off. When Federer smells blood, he pounces.

He’s playing with such control and maturity.

OMG. My heart is beating so fast. I can only imagine how Borna was feeling down 0-40.

When did Borna become such a servebot?

!!! Hope he holds it together.

I wasn’t talking about them from a career perspective, just from how they are playing now with their respective current physical limitations. Of course, Venus is much more accomplished. No one can take away Venus’s seven GS titles. Whoa, did Coric just take a set on Fed?!

I actually thought Venus was surprisingly demonstrative last night (slamming her racquet on the ground in frustration, groaning loudly at mishits, etc). You could tell she really wanted it and was angry with herself for those momentary lapses. That was a winnable match for her, even though Dasha played well. I knew if it went three sets, the odds were in Dasha’s favor, but Venus was soo close. I love Venus too, and I really wanted her to win. But it’s like how I feel with Kei Nishikori. Wonderful player with lots of potential, but he’s a bit fragile, and he exacerbates situations with these lapses, letting his opponents back into the match. He’s a great defender and often fights back to 3-5 set wins, but at the business end of a tournament, he’s out of gas. He doesn’t manage his energy that well. Here’s the difference with Federer. If his opponent shows the least bit of vulnerability, Federer puts his foot on the guy’s neck, even when Fed’s not at his best. He just has such awareness, and he also knows he’s no longer 25. Dasha had moments of vulnerability too. I love that we’re still seeing Venus play at an elite level after all she’s been through. Maybe it’s a bit greedy to want her holding the big trophies again. She IS capable of it.

I think she’s playing great. But every time she’s close to a trophy, there’s just something that can’t get her over the line these days, which is why I’m wondering if it’s fatigue. I fell asleep before Halep/Osaka, but wow. After how Naomi handled Pliskova and now Halep, I think she’s going to be a handful for Dasha. Sascha has really helped Naomi develop rather quickly.

Ugh. Why does Venus always have to make things so hard for herself? She had been playing so beautifully and was two points away from taking Dasha out. So angry. She could have won this *entire* tournament. Is it just fatigue? She has come so close in so many tournaments over the past couple of years.

This Venus/Kasatkina match is BANANAS.

Wow, now that you say it... And Pouille debuts in the Top 10 on Monday. I know he’s won a title and made two other finals so far this year, but his Indian Wells performance was less than stellar. Yet there’s a vacuum at the top of the game, and Federer’s partying like it’s 2004-07. Maybe Andy Roddick should come out of retirement...