September in Flushing–the Mets suck, and a hurricane is destroying the city it’s rainy and windy everything closed for a fake hurricane, but at least there’s tennis. We’re here to tell you about it.
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-Novak Djokovic is really good. Him retiring in the finals of Cincinnati is not a big deal. #analysis
-Rafael Nadal is having the type of bad year that Federer patented: win a major, lose a bunch of finals to one dude, everyone panics. The twist is, though, that Nadal dropped a first-rounder in Montreal this year to Ivan Dodig, a random tour grinder who’s never made noise at any high level. Masters aren’t majors, and Nadal will probably slaughter the field on the way to a semifinal. But the US Open has long been his worst major, and Nadal this year hasn’t been the whirling dervish of destruction that he’s always been. He’s been tentative during big points in all five finals he’s lost to Djokovic. More distressingly, his forehand, the shot around which the rest of his game is constructed, has deserted him at moments. Nadal has a fairly soft quarter, and he shouldn’t have too much resistance en route to the semifinal. Keep an eye on his third round match with David Nalbandian, as the Argentinian has given Nadal trouble before. But Nadal doesn’t really lose in the third round of majors. This is probably the limpest quarter. It also has Andy Roddick, but he’s terrible, so whatever.
Sushi in Utah 