US Open POWER RANKINGS 2023 | Monday Match Analysis

Hello everyone Gil, here, it's time for the final edition of the

2023

US Open Power Rankings and the only edition now. Normally, I really like doing my

power

rankings

throughout the season, I read the comments and it makes me think: Did I make a mistake? Someone? too tall is someone too short takes me out of my own head my own echo chamber and because I didn't do the Power Rankings every week for the last three weeks for the Hardcore season, I was missing that feedback, so I'm going to bring it up someone who is as unhinged as a YouTube comment section is Broken Rockets' Alex Kruskin and I'll ask him what his

power

ratings are.

Let's compare notes before reviewing mine. Fast fire. I'll give you quick reasoning. and then I'll talk to Grosskin, after that I'll warn him that I had some audio issues, the audio was coming from my camera instead of my microphone here, so unfortunately it doesn't sound great, but it sounds good enough that I won't do it again. record, so I hope that's okay, it'll be a quick fire going through these power

rankings

and then we'll get to gruskin. It's a joke. I'm re-recording so my audio sounds good. Let's start with the next category, we have Taylor. Fritz Hubert his Koch and Alex demon when it comes to Fritz there have been some titles this year some consistent results but not enough success in big events his struggles the last four majors are well documented and I think that should change at some point soon, but even if you go down to Masters 1000 level, a Masters semi-final this year is not inspiring, you have to go back to Monte Carlo, as Hubert Her Koch looked fantastic in the last two weeks, both races ended in the hands of Carlos Salkeraz, but according to my visual examination, he is playing by far his best tennis of the year.

The reason he doesn't finish in the top 10 is because of his overall season. I mean, look at the big picture here. He is in 16th place in the race and it seems like that could be worse if he has not been relatively decisive in deciding the tiebreakers and has won some

match

es with

match

points, and another thing is his difficulties in the Majors now, such may not have a reputation. as someone who hasn't done well at the Slams because of that high-profile semi-final at Wimbledon, but that's his only quarter-final at Wimbledon 2021, that's it, let's go with Alex D Minor, he's been red hot, You can't argue with the results he has achieved. three finals since queens and has also changed his results against the best players, he started Owen 18 against the best five opponents, he is now fourth and fourth in his last eight, but again, it is his overall work in the majors that really hinders him arrive. in this top 10.

He only made it to one major quarterfinal in his career, which was at the US Open in 2020 and that's a pretty big sample size, so putting Demonor in the top ten would basically be saying he's a completely different than what we've seen for the last three four years and I don't have enough reasons to believe that this is a completely different and new Alex Demonor, even if he could be playing the best tennis of his career, I just can't believe it. that jump, so with that let's go to the top 10 at number 10, it's complete, there are a lot of question marks when it comes to Holger, is he healthy?

His Cincinnati ended with a retirement due to a back injury, why hasn't that happened? he in outdoor hardcore is the Heat, it's hard to find a great theory, but sure, that kind of thing is a pattern that's hard not to notice. He hasn't had a great outdoor quarterfinal so far, we saw that too. He went into a pretty big depression last year. I don't know if he's in one this year right now, it's too early to say that, but the fact that we've seen him get red hot and we've seen him get pretty cold. sometimes it just leads you to believe that maybe this is what Holgeruna is like right now and we might be in the middle of a rough patch for him.

Additionally, he doesn't have the long resume of results over a longer career that he would. Make it easy to look past his recent struggles and give him the benefit of the doubt. You'll find that there are some players above him in these power rankings who, similarly to Runa, haven't had a great last couple of weeks, but when you have a huge resume, you can lean on that instead of those recent results, but with Holger it's harder to do so since he's Owen 2 against the top 20 players in Hardcore this year and he's only 14-9 overall in Hardcore, all of that adds up to his placement at number 10.

At number nine is Casper Root, he is your current US Open finalist, he is a three-time major finalist, but he is also 10th in the race this year, at risk of missing the year-end championships and The last two weeks have not been good one and two in the defeats of the Unconditional Masters against Alejandra davidovich vakina and Max Purcell the ugliest of all is his record in the Hardcore this year it is six wins against eight losses it is almost incomprehensible that someone with a record six and eight in Hardcore would even find its way into these top 10 power rankings, but the US Open finalists, three-time major finalists, have a knack for making runs when you don't think they're going to, so yeah, it's number nine for those reasons at number eight.

Andre Rublev is someone who has defined consistency when it comes to reaching the quarterfinals of Majors. He has already been to two this year and that means this is the third year in the last four in which he has placed fourth in multiple Majors. This season's work is also good, he is sixth in the race, but as a Masters stalwart in the last two weeks, he is as badass as Runa, at worst, a pair of first round losses to Mackie McDonald and Emil Roussavory, ultimately, is his story reaching the quarterfinals and his solid season. he in eighth place at number seven is Tommy Paul.

I don't know if it's a surprising placement, but it's certainly new, because Tommy Paul has never placed within a power ranking for any specialty in his career, that's for sure, but after playing very well with Alcaraz in consecutive weeks and finishing the work and beating him in Canada, he should feel like the man and it's not just that, lest we forget that he reached the semi-final of the Australian Open, yes, the draw was good, but he did it. If he knows he can do it and if you look at his hard court results in

2023

, I have a stat for you.

Only four players this year have 20 major wins and a win rate above 70 percent on the surface. Djokovic Medvedev Sinner and Tommy Paul, now him. He had struggled at the US Open until last year, but that was behind him. I thought he had a pretty good run. He beat Sebastian Corda. He pushed Casper's route to five sets and Rude would make it to the finals, but he beat Tommy Paul. This is it, he has played 13 Majors since 2020, only two fourth rounds, let's move on to number six, these are Stefano's tits since he won the Los Cabos TT pass, he has gone three games in a row without breaking serve even once, but the most damning statistic that I hadn't even noticed before doing it.

The research for these power rankings is that Stefanos is 0-5 against top 10 players this year. Additionally, he never got past the third round at the US Open, but that's a stark contrast to what he did in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. They are better in Melbourne, four away. From the last five years, this is a fairly similar surface and the disparity shouldn't be that wide, so I take into account his results at the Australian Open and, for me, that increases the placement of the TT pass in these rankings of power. Another thing with Steph is that I'm curious to see if Apostolos is in New York.

The process of moving away from him as head coach, of course, is not easy in the long term. I think it will be great for your tennis but there might be some growing pains and I'm just curious, this is a major, this is the US Open, is it possible that it won't really be there or will it be on the box and is it possible that Dynamic is still in progress in terms of finding out that at number five is Alexander? zverev finally got his first top 10 win of the season over medvedev in the semifinal last week in cincinnati.

He also pushed Djokovic pretty hard, suddenly he's more decorated and in better shape than many of the players above him in the rankings. Also you look at the career now he is 8th and January was basically a wash for him, he was a shell of himself, he suffered an early loss at the Australian Open to Michael Moe, if my memory serves me correctly I really wonder what would happen if he you will remove January. and then I recalculated the race. Zverev could even be a few places higher than he already is. He has also been good at the US Open.

The last two appearances are a final and a semi-final. Now I still don't think he's offensive enough to beat. an elite player who is on his game, but still zverev seems pretty well positioned for at least some kind of run at the us

open

. there have been some surprising and strange losses scattered here and there for zverev, he has been tarnished or tarnished in five of his defeats. this year, which seems like a high number, but as long as he doesn't have one of these performances where he shows that he knows, I feel pretty good about Sasha at number four, Yannick, Sinner, Sinner, he's basically the only player in his tier who had an overwhelmingly positive swing in North America, won his first major title, that's absolutely huge, a huge weight off his shoulders and you can't really blame him for losing the first round in Cincinnati the following week if he made a run in Cincinnati he would have really shown his durability, I would have told you that physically he is very ready to spend two weeks of best of five sets and maybe he would be even higher on this list if he had made a run in Cincy, but overall I don't.

It doesn't really penalize him for that loss, he's also coming off his first major semi-final, which is not only a good experience, but also very good to get over that mental quarter-final hurdle that might have tripped him up at the US Open. ., his main resume this However, this year is very, very strange, the sinner is 0-2 against top 50 players in Majors and both losses are top 10 losses, so he essentially played against someone who is definitely supposed to win and has done so with the exception of Daniel Altmeyer or has played against a top 10 player and lost, there has been no middle ground.

I'll also say that because there is a one-dimensional aspect to Sinner's games, the draw that has been kind to him so far is going to be very important, not so much that he needs an easy draw, but just that some matchups bother him a lot and in others he's the one who gets upset, so it'll be fascinating to see what kind of players he's tied with. He is also the type of rising player who has done well at the US Open in recent years let's go to number three is Daniel Medvedev Med would not have been able to reach a semi-final in any of the initial Masters hardcore lost to demon in Canada lost his verev in Cincinnati I was especially disappointed with his level In Cincy, Medvedev blamed the conditions and felt like he couldn't really hit the ball, but in Canada it was something similar, so Medvedev certainly needs to make that adjustment to start feeling comfortable and change the things, but if you look at it, hard courts this year 32-5 record of four titles those numbers lead the tour and at the US Open yes, I lost to Nick Curios last year in the fourth round, well, he was down last year and Curios was a really difficult matchup for him.

The three years leading up to a title A semi-final and a final Medvedev has simply been too good on hard courts in the last four years if you look at the big picture for him not to be ranked third in these power rankings in my opinion . Number two is Carlos Alcaraz, this is certainly where level one starts and Alcaraz is placed in it too partially due to his form since Wimbledon, eight matches, only one win in a consecutive set. He has had trouble converting break points. He has had first serve damage issues, but he also excelled. incredible mental strength and I really feel like he had a great learning experience against Djokovic.

I think it will help him a lot in the long run that he endured those games and made it to the final in Cincinnati even if he couldn't end up winning the final. match for the first time he is defending a major title here at the US Open. He is also coming off a major title on a surface in which he had very little experience. There will be conversation about his resistance, but I will stay aside. to think that he will be strong in that area and maybe I will explain why in another video, but let's go to number one, which is without a doubt Novak Djokovic.

Interestingly, he hasn't won the US Open since 2018 and it's been a combination. of strange factors that have made this happen, he was absent last year due to Vax requirements in 2021, lost to Medvedevin the final, where he simply failed to try to win the Grand Slam in an Olympic year and deal with all the nerves that arose. With that, plus playing a lot of long games in the lead up to that final in 2020, he had that DQ fluke and in 2019 he retired due to a left shoulder injury against Dan vovrinka, so it's been Murphy's Law. At the US Open, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

Djokovic is still number one because well, all those things seem crazy and if you look at the hard courts in 2023, his record is 20 and one, of course, is the Australian Open champion. which he did with an injury, yes, it didn't have to be Carlos Alcaraz, but he beat Alcaraz last week in Cincinnati, where he couldn't have been more impressive for a guy who is coming off a month of inactivity and hasn't played any extreme tennis since February. Djokovic was ready on offense, played at a high level, was physically fantastic and didn't miss a beat, so Djokovic, with all his experience and that really impressive performance in Cincinnati, on top of what has been a dominant hardcore resume in 2023 , lands at number one.

Alright, let's go to Alex Crosskin and see what he thinks. He accompanies us all the time. You know him very well. The Rockets podcasts and this week, a man who interviews people like Alexander Sasnovich at tennis in Cleveland, the official MC. thank you for taking a break from our long days of staying up late and let's do US Open Power Rankings, you're ready, there's no greater pleasure than being featured on your YouTube channel, which significantly outshines me. in the subscriber count and the Twitter race that was founded in 2019 has been deleted, the race is over. I'm throwing the white flag, you know, you talk about the MC role, let me tell you everything.

I have the sunburn to prove it. I don't do camera work from the laptop, that's it, that's real, folks, um, it's been an absolute pleasure and you guys mention the sasnovich interview, here's a quick tangent and just some proto-professional talk within baseball, like that which I say with all love, sasevich did the finale of this event last year I was the MC of the event and the credit goes to Alexandra sasnovich she now has money she has been a professional for about a decade she got braces and last year she put them on while playing Once upon a time I also had braces this year, braces came off and I can't stress enough how tempted I was to be like that, life without braces is pretty good right, and I didn't and I can't correct Gill , so that's not something you ask. right, because if you had braces in the crowd you'd be like me, that's a big deal, like they're out now, but I feel like it's probably unprofessional, yeah, it's definitely borderline, it might be the kind of thing where that if I win the title by talking to her without a microphone, I could mention it to see how she reacts and if it works, then maybe do it live and the only people who will know will be our listeners, so it will work, yeah, well, like me. said the follower account for you, you know you upstaged me so I'll take it.

I will take each additional year. I can get complacent, maybe you'll catch me. I would like Alcarez to win 4-2 in the second of that Cincinnati penalty, yes. Complacency is called the Drucker jewel effect, but we can get out of there. I simply love you, Joel. Well, let's

open

, let's do it from Sasknovich. Yeah, uh, let's start from the top. Okay, there's one of the two guys you put in that number. in one place, I don't think it's obviously, it's pretty close, it's very clear that that's level one, but I have a number one, so no.

I feel like I'm pretty confident putting one on top of the other, what about you? I think Djokovic has to be 1A after Cincinnati, just take it in your head, it's crazy and I had this conversation on one of our cracked Rockets podcasts, so I apologize for repeating myself to some of the crossover listeners, first time since maybe 2012 or I felt like we had a should win the match for Novak Djokovic that didn't happen at a major it just felt like they lost a set on a break and you needed to see something from Novak because apparently Carlos had built a mental advantage for the first time, someone not named Rafa or Federer felt like they could go toe to toe with Djokovic and go toe to toe with Ethan and then you know he went toe to toe with him even but Novak was on the winning side.

Novak was able to call that second gear as he has done so often over the course of his career and look this is the story this is the rivalry it's 1a1b not one and two because the separation between those two and the rest of the field is a significant Delta I think Djokovic has to be number one the statistics support me, I don't know I need to list them, everyone sees it with their eyes, he is one, Carlos, two, one B and then there is a significant drop. I think that's how I would frame it, yeah, I mean, you can frame it that way, that's not how the power rankings are going to be. you don't allow cards that's illegal okay so Novak one Carlos two yeah yeah and I'm with you um I might be a little light in my argument because there will be a separate part of this where I just go over the stats , so I will repeat them.

It's nice that we switch roles for once, but that's an interesting point you just made about the essentialness of that Cincinnati final. I know what you mean because it was on grass, yes. and because I was weight at this point in your career and what I've done I'm supposed to win this, not especially after the French, especially after the French, exactly um, so I understand that, I mean, I would. If I were to be picky about you because that's what I do, please, I actually thought last year at Wimbledon that I needed to win the title, but that's a Slam.

I said out of the Slams. It is the first time that it is a match that is not a Slam because I agree with you, that is one hundred percent true, but the first. At that time, again, it wasn't a major and you felt like I think Novak needs to win this and he did it to his credit, yeah, I guess the only parallel might be like when he played against Medved and Bear C and it was like, let's go get him . I'm so sure he got it back so I agree with Novak one and Alcaraz too, certainly number three feels like a dunk.

Do you have Danielle Medvedev or not? So here's what was coming. Come up here and be cheeky since I like being with you, um, and I say number three is the highest ranked player not on Novak Djokovic's side, but then I thought about it and I thought, you know what I really wouldn't like? be? on Carlos's side neither, so I think we have to base it on the merits of the level we have seen and I am dismissing the Cincinnati defeat as a calendar defeat for Yannick, sinner, since you won in Canada the week before, who cares?

Does it matter what happened? Cincinnati, you achieved what you came to achieve, it's like in a seven-game series, you win one of the first two on the road, you did your job in those first two games, that was Yannick sinner in Canada. I think it has to be three. He didn't suffer a bad loss at a Major this season, he had match points last year at this event and if the tennis gods continue to reward us, not only might they jokingly tell us what an Alcaraz final, but they'll give us a sinful Alcaraz showdown . At some point in the event, three guys are in the top 15 in hold and break percentage.

Djokovic sinner alcaraz. I see that with my eyes he is also my number three. Me and Medvedev haven't been good enough, but we'll get to that in four, yeah, I get it now, first of all, I completely agree with you about the Cincinnati result, you throw it out the window, you throw it in the trash, It doesn't matter, he's allowed to lose, frankly, he's the only guy you really feel for. better get out of this swing oh that's so perfect for everyone else you feel worse yeah I still can't get there with sinner over Medvedev because if you look at the hard court results as a whole in 2023 and it looks pretty fair , but I didn't have a good Australian Open, but you look at four titles, you look at Daniel's hard court record, you look at the fact that he won the US Open, it's just a resume that has so much distance ahead of the resume from Sinner that I don't think two tournaments would be enough to change this, unless Daniel leaves it that way.

I don't think two tournaments would have been enough. I just think Medvedev has done too much. on hard courts in his career compared to Sinner, it's a fair argument. We have also seen Daniel Medvedev win a US Open and I know that sounds very simple but you have to see it to believe it almost with this next generation of guys and I know that Daniel Medvedev has the necessary fitness at this point in the calendar to be a nightmare in three of five sets. I would have liked to see him reach the semi-finals in one of the two masters events that were my litmus test. sabalanka srion Tech also just went out to do that job to their credit they both did it Medvedev was no sinner he won the title you know I've always had a lot of Center stock that's why he jumps Medvedev from three to four but again it's it's a two level system Gill um actually it's a multi level system with numbers without letters um but level one is Djokovic alcaraz level two is the sinner Medvedev level three is the plethora of people who, as you mentioned, don't feel What Well, after this tough stretch of North America, yeah, absolutely fine, uh, I thought we'd agree on that, that's, uh, that's interesting, well, I guess that's not an argument at all, man, it's short term versus long term.

Yeah, to me, the long term just surpasses what we've seen in the last two weeks, especially I mean, look, the short term means a lot, and Medvedev, I mean, what did you do with Daniel lost his verb, for example ? Well, for me, the numbers say this too. Something's wrong. The serve right now is just not mastering the way it needs to be mastering and I know he had a spate of double faults during since if it seems like he hasn't served particularly well in the last two weeks, that's the issue for me is the physicality he brings is perfectly accentuated by that 135 bomb he throws at you to earn some free points along the way, and if he doesn't, the five-set recipe becomes much more arduous against the sinner who can simply come out and say look, I'm hitting the big ball and I'm going to beat you and the game plan is a little simpler and self-determined.

I prefer three-reversal Medved and I like to point out that when he won the US Open I lost a set and I didn't have to play against four and five Setters, so I think that's a legitimate question mark associated with Neil, uh, and then he also played to the ghost of Novak's past in that final, but that's a discussion for another time. It's true, yes, the second service has been a problem, without a doubt, that is the biggest concern. I think he knows he'll try to fix that. My biggest question with Medvedev and I assume he relates to The Sinner in some way is the conditions.

As for the tennis balls, this will be a situation where he says, I don't like these Wilson US Open practices here, like they just fly around and I can't control them because against Verev he was just pushing the ball. that he didn't have confidence in hitting his forehand and then he said why he didn't have confidence because he felt like if he did it a little bit wrong, he miscalculated it, he was going 10 feet long and when that's in your head and you're Medvedev and you already have a defensive mentality to begin with, that only led to a Medvedev who was just massaging the ball on the court and not doing much else from the back perfectly positioned, I will tell you this if he doesn't like the balls we will be the first to know because he will make it very clear in the first set of his match let me ask you about the pass TT is one of the guys who has not inspired confidence and also won Los Cabos, I think that is interesting about him, the other very interesting thing about CC Poss is the delta between his success at the Australian Open and his success at the US Open, they're not even close to each other and that, to me, is interesting, what do you think? that and where you have them, yeah, maybe it's Dominic's team with less pressure, like he's playing out of shape himself at the end of the year, like you're starting to wonder.

I mean, this is what he won in Los Cabos. It's not that he's had a terrible run in North America, because if you look at who the losses were in particular and you know the context of each of those losses for CT Pass, what was the loss to Monfi in Canada? That is ok. one is not cool. However, you could argue that Hercot is pretty well built to do the things that make CT uncomfortable and I like that I don't, I don't hate that loss as much, especially considering who he's read. I'll give you an agreement. fight full on face to face about his Koch before that game, which surprises me, which surprises me, I'll say, but that's what happened, and if they just agreed, how about a CT pass, you play your forehand down the line.

I will go backwards. the line we'll just keep everything on the face side of the two, like okay because I don't want to hit four hands, you don't want to hit half court backhands on the line,where am I with the CT pass? What a trick question. Simple, he's on my list because it's disrespectful that you can't have a guy who has reached multiple Slam finals and who has beaten a Federer in a Slam who has been beaten in a dog seat to beat. to the dummy in a Slam fair at an Australian Open. I'm not crazy, you're not crazy, how like he's already 30. or like six for six in that game, something fast, fast and fun.

I have a mace and it's because I wanted to have fun with seven like again. Level Three I think only one of the four guys is winning this event. I think it will be Djokovic Alcaraz or the sinner Medvedev finding that extra gear that I think we both believe they are capable of and certainly Medvedev showed that earlier this season on hard courts. I mean, the City boss is number two and he keeps the percentage, he's good, it's like eighth quarter-final, eighth, that's where I've got them, well, he hasn't broken serve in his last three games, yeah, look , I just wanted to fight back or go the other way. about how well he is maintaining the Serbian statistics, yes that is the problem and hey, these hard courts are fast, the return is a challenge and I have him sixth, I have them higher than you and the main reason is that I don't believe this disparity from the Australian Open to the US Open.

Now I agree with you that it has been exhausted and worn down in the US opening time and often the second half of the season just hasn't been as good as the previous one. first half, but I think at some point it will completely change how different those two events have been for him, it doesn't make sense to me, that is, his success at the Australian Open, including reaching the final this year. he's boosted it for me in my rankings and that's how I get there, I mean, again, he's 6/8 for me, it's the same section of this list, so I'm a little bit lower, but I'm curious. okay on five, I have a feeling we're going to do it, it's interesting, so this is the best resting place and I was surprised who I went with because it's not someone I've ever endorsed or actually chosen to do a lot or I felt like it all year, huh, but it's Alexander Zverev right now.

I think he's there now. He has to be like that. He has to be the player there because he wouldn't beat Medvedev in Cincinnati. The six and five against Djokovic was ugly, but. That's what Zverev does when he's at his best: he just makes matches ugly and grinds and gets physical, but that physicality is 94 for Alex Verev, it's not a hundred because he's not as fluid as he was before he broke his ankle. In 2022, he is 6'6 and can serve like that again. Are you going to trust him enough in crunch time to put him on par with those top four?

No, he hasn't achieved a result despite winning Hamburg that would have him quite a bit in that conversation, but he is the best of the rest and I feel less bad for him than the rest well, I needed his victory in the top 10 if yes, I couldn't put it five if I was like you haven't beaten a top 10 player all year, you can't. being fifth in the power ranking, but he understands it against Medvedev. I agree that Djokovic's performance was something that was quite respectful, or double respect. I have to say I especially like the first set and then I thought he became totally passive in the second set. what he does sometimes he'll never be able to beat Elite unless he finds a way to fight it like he did sometimes in 2021 Roland Garros 2022 before the ankle uh but that's been weird I will say the serve looks very well and there is Nobody who has both summarizes the resume he has and the shape he has in combination, who is below him on our list.

I guarantee you that everyone we have behind Zverev has not achieved as much or is not in any shape. I put the other one perfectly. The thing is, he has the inflated ego to say no, I'm still as good as those guys and I'm not saying that everyone on the tour doesn't have Nico because everyone has him at that level, but in Verav's mind he thinks that He's back after winning that Medvedev match and he's the only one that comes in thinking no, no, I'm getting close, well he's not the only one because I think we'll both have Tommy Paul somewhere on our list, but he's the one. only. reasonable guy like you mentioned with the resume like no, no.

I'm finding my way. He should be the best of the rest. Where you got Tommy Paul six right behind him? I could let the log show it because, again, you. I'm starting to think you'll love my seven. I'm so excited to reveal my seven. Where's Tommy? Because I'm curious. What do you think about him? For me. He has seven. He's fine. I thought. To be fair, I thought he was going up. I'm not surprised that he's on par with me in this area. You know that he is something very typical of your brand. Come on, that and a hat that will happen every time you listen.

Tommy Paul should feel like the right man. now tommy is the best american right now in tommy paul's head i should think he's number three in the world i mean he played alcaraz twice and beat him once in this tough american stretch like the previous weeks yeah It's very difficult to go next time. you're not being 100 polite, they're planning a game against you because you just beat him, give them a run for his money again, it's so impressive to me and then you need a little more than that and it's like everything. right, Australian Open semi-final, cool, I heard he's one of four guys with 20+ points on hard courts this year, which is true by the way, look, I hate using Arbiter.

Listeners who have heard my work before know that I'm a quantifiable guy. now, but the qualifier is that he has it: the athleticism, the fluidity, the creativity, the ability to hug the crowd, the calmness and the style through it all, but then, when he makes a play against an algres, you go to hear it from him because I made a play. This joke, you know, Carlos looks at Tommy and vice versa and they finally become a real athlete like finally someone on the level um and he just has that fact and I think he looks, it helps that he's handsome.

I think they respect his game like I do. I think these players come in now and I wonder how that changes things because he doesn't know that no one sleeps with Tommy Paul anymore. I think they also see it as a real threat. I think he sees himself as a threat and, by the way, ability. him being at Armstrong or Ash or one of the bigger courts now I think that only helps him more. I'm fascinated, there are many great American stories about him, Coco pagula, there are reasons to get Americans excited about this open, when will it be the last time?

Taylor Fritz hasn't been our number one on the men's side, well I'm not talking about the rankings, I'm talking about us, yeah, well who's got the January quarter? I still think the quarter was better than Tommy's in January, but that's a debate, we don't have to, I mean, I'm just saying like you're asking, reminding us how wrong you actually were in Australia, yeah, points match at Novak's Corner were incredible and it's almost on my list here for the same reason. here's something rude that's very good you'll probably do it Casper yourself I'm going to talk about Casper would you say something rude oh no no no no no here?

I forgot this happened great podcasting, okay? Leave it there, yeah, yeah, Paul last year at the US Open. Yeah, Owen five or something came in, yeah, nervous as heck against Bernabé Zapata Marais in the first round. His nerves were paralyzing like if you were Tommy Paul and you had I never won a match in the UK, yeah I mean that's enough to make you tense so play five sets with Zapata Mariah and then in the next round play five again sets because he got a difficult draw. I think he had to play a run. he beats him, although in the next match he becomes rude to Casper, who goes to five, he is dead in the fifth set, he loses the sixth love, you can't play three five setters in a row at the beginning of a major, eh, but I'm thinking too just for It's funny, what would happen if it wasn't so tight against Zapata Marías?

He beats him in the straights. He could beat Casparude, who makes it to the finals. So it's just a hypothesis that I wanted to say that he had a good US Open last year and he was really rude, yeah I think that's very fair, it was a fun rivalry last year, one of those where they played each other in a pair of fun Five Setters because they're two guys who again look at each other and say, hey, we're cute. and we're athletic, let's have some fun here and Tommy just has guns, he's good, he should be on this list, so I'm doing the math.

In my head, by the way, you had CT posix, Tommy seven ifcc passed eight, my seven, I just want to entertain you with that, yeah, and I'm not serious, like he's not winning the Slam, but I think he's indebted to us , as I was going to say, the analyzers, it shows them where the brain is as game analysts to bring someone to light. list because look again, it will be one of the four guys that Djokovic algorithmized in the death of Center Medford if it is not one of those four that has the most remote possibility, who is the guy in the house of cards that has been set for itself or in the realm of possibilities, this is just like one of the outlier scenarios and I put all this together to say if someone who is not in the top four is going to win this major, is that the most plausible scenario?

Alejandro davidovich vokina where he just goes on one of those two week races because again it's like this is my long shot. Seven is the long shot place for me where it's like let's have a little fun with this and I thought who are the fun picks here like forgetting top 10 rublev Fritz guys. It's all the same tone of man without disrespect and if Bruno was healthy he would be in this conversation seriously Casper three out of five is a different Beast he's on my list nine or ten whatever I'm sorry to get ahead of myself here Gil but it's just like Seven to me had to be a point where, well, something weird happens, who are the weird candidates?

Here are the three, tell me who's the most interesting and then I'll shut up, I promise you Felix is ​​a weird candidate because he's playing horrible, but he likes his forehand and acts like he's getting hot, come on, that would be weird and fun , yeah, the second candidate and again as the second candidate is Corda, that's not a fun conversation so we can skip that one and I think the third one is divided trokina. Like he caught lightning in a bottle, there are times where he just does things and he's the type of athlete where I think he's going to win a major.

No, but what if he warms up for two weeks as if he is the most realistic? Improbable. boy, for me, sure, I mean at some point it usually collapses if you get hot, but if it didn't you'd think it wouldn't last seven games, that's a lot of games, look, I like the pick. I'm never really going to argue with Davidovich Vikina's bold choice. I've seen them in the past, yeah, I've been there, so I get it, you know, to answer your question about who the weird guy is. In fact, I think all of Garuna has just been so written off oh no, no, he's not there.

I think that's the guy who ultimately could be like remembering when he didn't, he hadn't won any matches before the US Open because if you asked me, I don't know. in I'm not going to say March because there wasn't much, it didn't look that good if you had asked me in April or May who would surprisingly win the US Open I would have said roona and now he has so little money. everyone's list because he hasn't shown anything, it's just that to me it's where I thought you were going when you said we need to go a little crazy here, now you've gone crazier than that on the brand, so I'll tell you, Runa .

I have three honorable mentions, he is not in my pen or my honorable mentions. Did I say Rune? Yes, not in your 10 or your hon. Okay, sure, okay. From your reaction I realized that I didn't say the correct name, Runa. I'll ask you where you have it. I have it 10. We agree. I have 10 too. I respect him a lot, right? and the fact that he, Sinner, and Alcarez have really separated themselves from the rest of that next-gen 2.0 pack. like they're all in the top 10 players and the eye test would reveal it too and they all have Masters titles and they've all made it to the quarterfinals of Slams and they're already knocking on the door and I'm young enough to I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that one week, all the medical aspects, two weeks, whatever it is, if he's well enough to play, he just has to be on the list and that's why I sneaked him in at number 10 ...yeah exactly, there's still kind of a wild card factor with him where you know the talent is there and it's like when is he going to go back to slaying giants like he did early in his career, it's going to happen at some point, uh. but he doesn't have a top 20 win in hardcore mode this year, obviously the form doesn't back it up, but again, he's just there because you know what he's capable of, so we've got your five, your six or seven or eight and your ten is your nine, so I think one of Andre Rublev or Casper Rude is not doing your tent correctly and can I mess it up?

They're both not doing my10. Now they are my first two honorable mentions, let the Show Rude record be 11 rubles is 12. And you know that on my list I had A and B, so but she had them. I felt bad not putting Francis Tiapo on my list because I'm a big believer in best of five, said Francis Tiapo and places. he can reach a physical level that no one else can reach, he is also at that Alcaraz Tommy level where she is fine, fights fair and I saw him be in the New York crowd in the relationship they developed last year and they will support him of beginning to end. he will be one of the 16 best.

So, in theory, the draw should be there for him to at least make it to the second week and then once you're in the second week, anyone can play, in terms of, you know, drafting outside of the top four. I just believe in Francis to make magic in New York and that's why, since Rude and Rublev haven't played particularly well, now Andre Ruble is making it to the quarterfinals like he's not in my top 10, he's making it to the quarterfinals. at the end. I think it has a hard top in a way that Tiafo doesn't and that's why I put it a little higher on this list, sure, I mean there's always that question, honestly, I was on a bike ride today thinking about this.

The power rankings are because Rublev is a good example, yes, Roon is a good example. Is it about who will make it to the second week at the end of them, especially at the end of the power rankings, who will make it to the second week, or who can win? Yes, sometimes, that is. different, it's a tough decision and I think I decided, you know what happens if someone likes to do well in the majors? It's not just about winning, so I do feel better about a guy making it to the second week, but maybe I can't see them winning.

I feel like they should get the nod and power ratings over a guy who might lose the first round, but I could see them win more rant. Look, Francis. I think the best point and the best argument you have is that the crowd legitimately helps him and that's not always true in tennis, right, you can't just say oh, it's a Frenchman at Roland Garros, they should be good, it's like no, Sanga monfis. Simone doesn't, uh, so it doesn't always work one on one. Tiafo really gets a boost from that crowd and it makes him a better player, but yeah, I mean, there's not enough for me, there's not enough big quarterfinals, there's not enough form, uh.

Just no, I can't support it, but I'm interested in the election. I like the choice, but can I ask you in that spirit who is most likely to win the US Open and both? less than one percent for sure tiafo or any of the RS Runa rudo or rublev I think rudo has a better chance of winning than tiafo is worth I think there are more weapons for Casper so I want to say you know and I will include more of the movement which is kind of from where the rube level lags a little behind the root.

I understand what you're saying, but again, I guess I just don't. I wanted him to do a lot more, uh, yeah, even in the last few months. on grass I wanted him to do a lot more on grass after he won the title in Stuttgart, yes, completely Fair, then tell me the rest of your list because I think we are with you Djokovic alcarez Medvedev sinner zverev CT Poss after that You have seven, I think you said or that's where we left, Tommy 8 9 10 it gets interesting, the flat is yours on your own show, let me tell you the flat is yours, well we agreed, that's very kind of you, you read in roona at 10 .it all comes down to the fact that my eight nine are the two guys you just left, I'm sure it's root love at eight and rude at nine, interesting, explain to me that please rublev about the rude instinct, it's mainly due to victories in 2023.

Have you won this season? And for the heels, it's not the superficial, it's not the last two weeks, the hardcore Masters, because I think Rublev and the heels are in the same group when it comes to you really not winning these last two weeks. Yes, rude, it has the three main endings. Rublev hasn't made it past the quarterfinals, but again it all comes down to Casper. You've only really had two good weeks this year. Where is he in the race compared to Rublev? He is not around. Rude is tenth in the race and Rublev is sixth in the race, which at that level is a pretty big difference, well, Rublev is like a comfortable, the spaces from six to seven are for interposing, but the space from six to seven it's quite big, like Rublev is where there's a gap and then there's a whole group yeah, he spent a lot of time this year at five in the race yeah, that's where I stumbled putting down roots on Rublev.

I know they're both your honorable mentions. Do you have them turned? It was rude let me say let me say something else please it's not easy to get to a tournament defending so many points and you have no confidence yeah except I can give you the zag yeah didn't you just do that? The French Open didn't have a lot of confidence, he didn't have the best master stretch, he gets to the final of this year's French Open and that's where the three out of five component comes in because at least I generally feel pretty confident that Casper Root is fit and a high efficiency player, you know the plays you are getting from him, he gets three out of five sets and the numbers generally lean in his direction.

Now I see your argument for ruplev, you have really convinced me. leaving them on my list, I think that's a very strong argument, but that was my initial thought. Look, I've been in a position where I didn't have confidence in Casper when he had final points to defend and he defended them and that's just The most important thing is that, with all due respect, the Masters 1000 title that he won this year is more significant than anything Rublev has done. Rude sure had Roma, that's true, the only thing he did was semi-finals, so there was something I didn't feel very good about.

There were no incredible wins in that race, so your point is valid, but it was a Rome semi-final, at least, honorable mentions. I have a demon or I have her, Koch and I have Fritz. Those are my three. Do you feel like you gotta get something off your chest about any of those guys, I mean, yeah, oh, where not, uh, can I be brief, um, I had those three too, my list was 15 deep, um , because that's what I do, so what you didn't have. or davidovich vokina those were the two names that you left quite well um Fritz out of respect like it was good.

I just understood it. It's just that it's good. I don't know how if you love him as if he didn't have a problem. tournament in any of the four events he played in Atlanta DC as I am. I'm selling it too low. I had two Americans on the list and he wasn't one of them, that's probably disrespectful. If Ubi serves well, he will surely play against a five-setter. it's just a matter of what round um and find me aka Alex demonauer. He just wanted to work on the sound effect, leave it at um, he's fat like he's going to make it to a hardcore major semi-final at some point, he's the lesser version. from the davidovich vokina pick where it's like, yeah, sure, like he's in shape all the way to a quarter and then loses in a tight four to zverev, who was like, thank god, this is the matchup I got and now I'm in the semi-finals because you beat Medvedev because Medvedev couldn't produce Pace against you on this day like that's a plausible scenario, that's all I have on those three, why are they on your list?

Well, I will accept the devil's no or the major semi-final in his My career, it seems that I have a lot of respect for him. I love him as a player. He fights an uphill battle. His serve is not great and his groundstrokes are not great. And for those, those things are the case for being a top 15 player. which is and deserves at this point, huge props, but I think we'll see, you know a little bit about Diego Schwartzman's dynamic. I know the surface is completely different, meaning Schwartzman was the best at Clay's demonic orders, the worst at Clay.

I get there. There are differences, but I feel that limit with him and that's why he's not on the list even though, gosh, he's made it to three finals since Queens, that's pretty incredible now that he's had a solid year, a very solid year. solid. I mean you look at Demon right now and obviously I know the big race in Canada, but he's 11th in the points race, so yeah, if his career over under was one and a half, you probably would have taken the under in terms of touring. level finals, excuse me to finish that thought and he's had a great year and yet, he's right, this feels like he's the ceiling, even though he's only 24 years old.

I think Koch is playing by far the best Tennessee has had all year and of the three in your honorable mention, he's probably playing the best right now. He looks great in those hardcore Masters, even in the losing efforts he should have beaten Elker, as more than Tommy should have, let's be honest. cards on the table, he didn't have to lose that match in Canada, yes, it happens to him, however, I mean, the forehand that missed at Match Point is a forehand that misses too much, but to be Fair enough, the forehand is really what looked so good.

In these last two weeks, that's what inspired me to always play well, always play dangerously right now. The thing is what makes you nervous. If I make this analogy, I sure will. Virginia Basketball with Tony Bennett. Okay, let me explain. this for those who don't follow college basketball, they are not what I expected, they don't score a lot, therefore their games are close and the problem with choosing Virginia when you fill out your group is that you know that second round sweet 16 that Elite eight each match is going to be close and if they lose one which is the equivalent of a player who does not break serve much because each match is going to be close and it is like last year I think I put him on upset alert, he loses against Ilya Avashka .

Are you going to lose that third or second round match against Ilya Avashka? That's the problem, although I think it can make a lot of guys uncomfortable. If it reaches that round. of 16 and that quarterfinal and his forehand still looking as confident as he seemed, it was a fantastic analogy that really, if you know Virginia basketball, you say, oh yeah, he plays a lot of Breakers games. Virginia games are 45 40 like good point Gail. I'm also noticing that you saw me write there ilyavoshka on my honorable mention list just on principle because he's going to beat someone in five sets, yes, yes, or sorry, no, fuchovich.

I was thinking of fuchovic on the list. I think he had a difficult year. but yeah he pushed Center to five, yeah I think he might have had something to do with Alcare beating Sinner in the next match. I was there, I got a phone call at 2am. from my college, uh, college tennis, sorry. College tennis club, doubles partner, and it's just him in the Alcaraz Sinner match and I thought, man, what the hell do I have to love? And yes, this open is not changing. programming, so we're back, honey, uh, Fritz, yeah, he's been so consistent.

I just need to see more big appearances at big events, that's why the 10 is lost. That's it, it's well established, my goodness, I'm not in the way, although this is. a crazy zag Fritz's only big semi-final this year is Monte Carlo, yes, that's it, yes. I'm just trying to think that he was thinking about what he's done this season. I mean the lack of respect for the United Cup, we'll let that happen. look yeah it's actually, he crushed the 250 like he killed the 250 so this is his Casper 2021 badass season and he's a year away it's like next year when he gets the two Slam finals , wait, yeah, who is his college basketball equivalent? give me more of those uh uh you know, I don't know, it's not, I mean, it's Duke in every sense of the word, but it's not good enough, um, it's like you know who it is now, it's better than Texas , where it's like oh, he's got the guns and he's got all the flashy stuff, but like if you wanted a little more of the results, um, it's a big Villanova brand before they really started, oh uh, because you know right now what What happens with Fritz is also The Majors, the last four Majors have not been good and it's like Nova went into that streak that they are really good, but man, they just don't win in the tournament, yeah, or who was the tennis coach Pittsburgh male. tennis Pittsburgh uh men's basketball coach when they had DeJuan Blair like those late 20's 2000's anyway Jamie Dixon that's the name um yeah there are Jamie Dixon Pittsburgh teams um no one's watching anymore so we'll be done uh gruskin when he came to plug in um coming up three a tennis show yo Amy Lundy Joel Drucker um no, it's a mini break podcast big shot podcast we're covering everything related to Cleveland Winston-Salem in the mini break we'll be watching the US Open on the podcast great shot, hopefully we'll have time to do some homework this week so we can have you on the show to talk about some aspect of busy times at crackdrack.

It's always a pleasure, although I can always make time to join your program. My friend, I appreciate it, friend.