We Just Witnessed On The Most Stressful Weeks On The Tennis Tour...

Novak Djokovic lost yet again, but the way and manner in which he lost had everyone scratching their heads. I thought I had seen enough with some of the most tragic storylines from Week 18 on the Tennis Tour, but last week picked up from right where we left off, and it was even more distressing to watch. From the strange Novak Djokovic bottle incident, to what could have been Rafa's last match in Rome, to the retirement announcements and other major updates and highlights from both tours, here's everything that happened in tennis last week. For the first time since 2004, the Rome quarterfinals won't feature either Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic. The pair have ruled the tournament for the past two decades, sharing 16 titles between themselves. But judging from what we saw last week, you best believe that the end is near. Rafa had a rather dramatic start to the tournament. After going down a set in his opening match against Zizou Baires, we all feared the worst. Back-to-back losses on clay for Rafa. That would have been a tough one to take in, but no way the tennis gods were going to let that happen. Rafa came out swinging in the second set and did this. After making a string of double faults in the first set, Rafa's serve became better, going from a 40% win percentage on his second serve to a 73% win percentage. Also, the quality of his ground strokes was impressive, and it sometimes made up for his limited horizontal movement along the baseline. With Rafa taking the fight to Baires, here's how the Spaniard forced a decider. The third set came, and Rafa, already knowing where his bread was buttered, cooked up this wicked drop shot right here. And here's how he broke Zizou Baires. But the Belgian wasn't just going to roll over, so he upped the ante and soon held three break points at 2-3. However, Rafa, like a magician, pulled off a Houdini act to come back from love 40 down to preserve his lead. Here's how he saved one of those break points. There was no turning back after that game, as Rafa took care of business after almost three hours. A 70th win in Rome for the 10-time champion. After the match, Baires had this to say. You know, you see Rafa Nadal always on TV when you're young. You call yourself Mini Rafa Nadal, you're wearing the same clothes, so I don't have to tell you how special this moment is. Although we all enjoyed the match, we knew that there was a huge roadblock standing in Nadal's way. We knew from the get-go that Hercosh was going to be a monster on serve especially. From the very beginning, the Pole threatened to run away with an early break. However, Rafa broke out his vintage clay-court self to save each of the break points he faced. Here's the best of them all. Unfortunately for Rafa fans, it became pretty much a one-sided affair after those early games as Hercosh demonstrated his superiority in all areas of the court. After taking the first set 6-1, Hercosh picked up from where he left off in the second and broke Nadal early on in this play. He then went on to close out the match 6-1, 6-3. Hercosh was clearly the superior player. This guy bageled Federer on the grass at Wimbledon in the Swiss' last appearance there and he's now dished out a breadstick to the King of Clay. Hercosh has made it his mission to retire the Goats of Tennis on their favorite surfaces no less. He'll definitely have some stories to tell his grandkids for sure. But on a more serious note, it was a harsh reality check for us fans who were still somehow hoping that the 14-time Roland Garros champion would be a dark horse favorite at the French Open this year. Looks like that ship has sailed at the moment. Rafa was met with a sea of fans as he had that last walk along the bridge and it was beautiful to watch. And just when you thought it couldn't get worse for those of us who watched the Big Three form early on through their careers, Novak Djokovic found himself also in an unfortunate situation. We hadn't seen much of him this year. He's only played three tournaments, the Australian Open, Indian Wells, and Monte Carlo. Personally, I was excited to see the Goat competing again at one of his favorite tournaments, so I was expecting him to make a deep run despite his recent form. Ahead of the tournament, Djokovic gave this update. I'm working currently with a fitness coach that I've worked with for many years, so it didn't take much time to adapt to his program and approach. We know each other really well. I'm pleased with the way the last 10 days, 14 days went in terms of training, in terms of preparation and looking ahead to this tournament, but particularly Roland Garros, Wimbledon and Olympic Games. That's the block for which we are preparing the most. Things were looking up after Djokovic had a straightforward win over Corentin Mute in his opening match. Djokovic was broken in his first service game, but after that, we saw a different player. To me, it looked like Djokovic was enjoying his tennis again. The ball striking was really clean, and also Novak, as usual, was clinical when he needed to be. The match was over quickly, but then something crazy happened. While signing autographs, a bottle slipped from a fan's backpack and hit Novak on the head. Novak looked to be in a lot of pain at the time of impact, but after going for a medical checkup and getting some rest, we all thought the coast was clear. He even came prepared the next day, making fun of the situation. Well, things didn't look funny when he stepped on the court to face Alejandro Tobeo in the round of 32. The match had a bit of everything. Novak was making double faults at an alarming rate. Meanwhile, Tobeo, on the other hand, was firing winners like it was target practice for him. And here's how the match ended. To give credit where credit is due, Tobeo played an amazing match and was a beast on the serve and the return. He's been on my radar for a while now, and from the tennis that I've been seeing him play recently, yes, he deserved this win 100%. But at the same time, you can't help but wonder what really happened to Novak Djokovic. It sometimes looked like he got dragged out of bed and was forced to play the match. For a player who had reached the quarterfinal or better of every Italian Open match since Now here's the thing. I know Novak is more prone than ever to these random losses, but you can't help but wonder if getting hit on the head with the bottle impacted his tennis in some way. I am by no means trying to make excuses for the loss, but from what I know about head trauma, it sometimes takes a day or two to really feel the effects. It's not always immediate, so it doesn't matter if he was fine the previous day. When asked about the situation, Novak had this to say. And that has really impacted me a lot, you know, after that I got the medical care and I've been through half an hour, an hour of nausea and dizziness and blood and a lot of different things, but I managed to sleep okay, you know, I had headaches, but the next day or yesterday was pretty fine, so I thought, you know, it's okay, but maybe it is okay, maybe it's not. I mean, the way I felt on the court today was just completely from, it's like a different player entered in my shoes, you know, it's just no rhythm, no tempo, no balance whatsoever on any shot. But what are your thoughts on the situation? Excuses, whining, or a legit reason to be worried? Someone else gave fans reasons to be worried earlier in the week. Camila Giorgi called time on her beloved sport in what was like the coldest way possible. She literally left without a word. The word on the street was that she was also not reachable when the WTA tried to reach out to her. This left many fans worried, but we all had a huge sigh of relief after she updated her Instagram story with this post. To my lovely fans, quote, I am happy to formally announce retirement from my tennis career. I am so grateful for your wonderful love and support for so many years. I cherish all the beautiful memories. There have been many inaccurate rumors about my future plans, so I look forward to providing more information about exciting opportunities ahead. It is a joy to share my life with you, and let's continue this journey together. With much love, Camila, end quote. Camila won the Canadian Open in 2021 and reached the quarterfinal of Wimbledon in 2018. She never made it inside the top 20, but we could watch her hit winners from all angles. When she was on the court, she had one mission, to obliterate the ball. It didn't matter if it sometimes led to too many unforced errors. She just had this sort of high-risk, high-reward game. Maybe we can compare it in some aspects to Yelena Ostapenko's game, particularly in terms of the unrestrained aggression. Did you see Ostapenko's round of 32 clash against Sara Soribis-Tormo here in Rome? A ridiculous 72 winners and 69 unforced errors. Meanwhile, Sara had only 6 winners and 10 unforced errors. These kind of players don't give you much room to do anything during a match, and you might even feel like a spectator at times. Even the best player in the world, Iga Svantec, has struggled against these kinds of players in the past. I'm making a deep dive about Iga, so we are going to be talking a bit more about that. But back to the Camila story, it was a bit sad, but not too surprising to see she initially left without saying a word. Still, we wish her the best in her future endeavors. That being said, it broke my heart to see one of my favorite players announce his retirement as well. The season 2024 is going to be my last one. Dominik Thiem will retire at the end of the season at home in Austria. Really, it's not hard to feel for him. Thiem didn't burst onto the scene like Carlitos, Holger Rune, or some of these young champs. His trajectory was more of a linear growth than an exponential one. He slowly worked his way to the top, using all his strength and perseverance. Things didn't really start happening for Thiem until 2016, when he won a Maiden ATP title, reached the semis at Roland Garros, and broke into the top 10 a few months before his 23rd birthday. But guess who was defeating Nadal in Rome and Novak at the French Open the following year? In fact, Thiem defeated Novak twice at the French Open and twice at the ATP Finals between 2017 and 2020. He even pushed Novak to five sets at the 2020 Australian Open. That's how good he was. Prime Thiem wasn't just a beast on clay, he was also a real threat on the hard courts. Between 2017 and 2020, Thiem had a positive record against the big three. He was 13-11 against them, including a 5-3 mark against Novak, 5-7 against Nadal, 3-1 against Federer. How about that? Not many players hit the ball harder than this guy. Here's how tennis players describe Thiem in his prime. Powerful. Power. For everything, here's what he achieved. But when I think about Thiem's style of play, I can't help but think that the grind and hustle cost him everything. What did it cost me? Everything. Once he finally won that slam at 27, Thiem admitted that the fire in him went out and that he struggled to find motivation afterwards. It's like chasing something your whole life, and then once you get it, you don't really have anything else to look forward to. Personally, I feel that there was a mental struggle in addition to the devastating injury that Thiem suffered, and for those reasons, he just couldn't rediscover his magic. Thiem had an amazing career and did what most players could only dream of doing. For that reason, I won't fall into the trap of calling him an underachiever. Hopefully, this final season for him brings some unforgettable moments and memories, because he totally deserves it. Someone else might be feeling like he got the rough end of the stick, though. Yuri Lehechka will miss Roland Garros due to the injury he suffered against FAA in Madrid. The test results came out, and unfortunately, it's a stress fracture in his back, and it's just awful because first of all, stress fractures take a long time to heal, and it happened at a time when Lehechka just reached his first Masters 1000 semis and was playing the tennis of his life. I also can't imagine how Elena Rybakina would be feeling following her withdrawal from Rome. Rybakina has been one of the best players on tour, but frequent illnesses haven't allowed her to defend some of her titles. The defending champion said that she didn't feel well enough to compete, which is a scenario similar to what happened in Indian Wells, where she also couldn't defend her title. As far as the ranking updates go on the WTA side, Coco Gauff would need to reach at least the semifinals to chase down Sabalenka, while also hoping that Sabalenka loses before the quarterfinals for Gauff to become the number two. Doesn't seem likely to me. Elsewhere, Diana Schneider is on course for a new career high, while Angelina Kalanina will see a huge slide down the ranking after an early loss in Rome. Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka continues to make significant strides as she aims to return to the top hundred. Naomi notched one of her best wins of the season, beating number 20 Marta Kosciuk in straight sets to reach the third round in Rome. Naomi was dialed in the entire match and put on a shot-making clinic. Simply put, it was brilliant. Naomi then eliminated a second seed in Kazatkina, defeating her in straight sets in what was a rematch of their 2018 Indian Wells final. She looks like she's once again finding her footing on a tennis court. Things have also been looking up for Paola Badosa after her three wins from the first week in Rome. On the men's side, we can anticipate a new career high and a break into the top 30 for the man who ran Novak Djokovic out of the building. Meanwhile, Thiago Montero will be back inside the top hundred after big wins over Gael Monfils, Jordan Thompson, and Misha Kachmanovic last week. Daniil Medvedev became the fourth player born in the 90s to reach 100 Masters 1000 wins after beating Jack Draper in the round of 64. Only Dimitrov, Zverev, and Raonic have been able to reach that milestone. Imagine if Medvedev's first successful title defense is on clay. I'm not going to lie, that would be wild. Meanwhile, Felix Auger-Aliassime also reached 200 ATP career wins, and he's been playing solid so far. I also need to mention that I've been particularly proud of Taylor Fritz's recent performances. He's quietly becoming really solid on the surface. If you've noticed, Fritz's anticipation on shots has been getting better and better, and that has factored into his speed on the court. In his match against Korda last week, Fritz demonstrated his superiority on various levels, hitting his spots on the serve, and also adding a lot more power and depth on his groundstrokes. On the other hand, there are so many things to talk about in Korda's game and why he hasn't been able to realize his potential. I might need to dedicate an entire video to Korda in the coming weeks, or who would you rather see a deep dive on? Switching gears, one of the matches of the week for me was the Tsitsipas vs Stroof match. The match had everything. The quality, fireworks, and of course a highlight reel. Stroof had beaten Tsitsipas in their last two encounters on clay and started off as the better player. But Tsitsipas grew into the game. The first set eventually went into a tiebreak, and Stroof produced this magical piece of defense as he ran away with the set. Stroof wasn't able to maintain his level in the second, and he started to make more errors. Tsitsipas, on the other hand, had become clutch and wasn't giving away many opportunities. Here's how he leveled the match. The match remained close in the third set, but this point made a big difference as Tsitsipas broke Stroof. Stef then held his own and went on to close the match in style. To me, Tsitsipas definitely had the edge in longer rallies and won 54 to Stroof's 36 in rallies longer than four shots. He really did put up a fight against a really strong opponent. Personally, I felt like Stroof could have served and volleyed a bit more. It's such a shame that he isn't going to be seeded at Roland Garros, but that said, I don't think any top seed would want to face him based on how he's been playing recently. Overall, the ATP Tour is becoming more and more unpredictable this clay season. In my predictions, last week, Novak vs Kasper seemed to be the logical quarterfinal pick. We've already talked about Novak, but can someone tell me how Ruud lost to a player who he bageled in the first set? Yes, I know Kecmanovic is a heavy hitter and he could give top players a run for their money, but we're talking about Kasper Ruud here. He seemed to be dealing with a physical issue and asked for the trainer at some point during the match, but I don't know how big of a factor that is. For Francis Tiafoe, who lost in straight sets to Dominic Koeffer, I can't say I was surprised one bit. Tiafoe has been MIA the last couple weeks, and it's now four consecutive losses for Big Foe. He's literally had more losses than match wins since that loss to Shelton at the US Open. We'd be remiss if we didn't touch on some of the most dramatic moments from last week in tennis, so here you go. First, it was Zverev transforming into a ball kid. Next, it was Shelton making the highlight reel in doubles. As expected, Mute was up to some mischief against Nole when his phone rang during the match. Seb Korda then had a little chat with some disrespectful fans. One of the more significant moments was Fognini and Evans arguing over a line call that was clearly out. And I'm pretty sure you already know the umpire, who was right in the middle of it all. On a positive note, Carlos Alcaraz is already working his way back from injury. Marin Cilic has also announced that he's undergone another surgery on his knee in hopes of returning to tennis. And elsewhere, we have Simona Halep preparing for the WTA 125 Trophée Clarin in Paris next week. Week 1 in Rome was stacked, and it's only going to get more intense as we go deeper into the tournament. Meanwhile, Roland Garros comes up next, and we're now less than two weeks away from the main draw. You can keep up with all the action by smashing that subscribe button. And if you missed out on last week's videos, no worries, I've got them showing on the screen for you right here.