Men's semi finals preview with Steve Flink: Can Ruud topple Zverev? Sinner - Alcaraz, who wins?

[@meles3740]

Sycophantic fail by Flink on the scheduling. They did exactly the right thing, but then Dimi and Zed failed to close their matches delaying 2 more hours. Leglen also had a match inserted, but it went a bit more as expected.

[@meles3740]

Really enjoyed this one. Silk with Flink was tremendous. Hopefully Steve will do more of these. This might be the best tagging with Flink I've seen, but they're all pretty good. Great job John.

[@TalkingTennisTT]

Thanks Meles… gonna hopefully have Steve on 4-5 times a year during or after big ones like Majors

[@meles3740]

@@TalkingTennisTT Hey Silky glad to hear it. I'm ready to slap around your colleagues who called the last two Alcaraz matches low quality.🤬 Both were tour de forces and its just utter nonsense to say their earlier clashes were better. Just the nature of clay that the scorelines weren't tiebreaker city. The points were magnificent. I'd far rather watch this then a servebot infested grass court match with close sets which is just really boring. Hopefully the grass season will produce some classic matches like last year's final which had drama through the roof with high quality, but certainly perhaps not peak play for either on grass; though it looked it at the time. Maybe you can get Flink to do quite a bit with you at the Olympics. I doubt his dance card is full for that. I'd try to land Andy Roddick down the line as well who is excellent. You'll have to maximize your smoozing powers to get ARod.😜 You've really done great with Pam Shriver and I'm thinking Renee Stubbs. Everyone comes out smelling like a rose after the Silk effect.😆

[@jane2592]

🎉 you're back!!!

[@TalkingTennisTT]

yay

[@brendajohnson5525]

I'm going for Carlos. I think he's hungry because he was denied last year when he was so close. He's also looking amazing and dispatched in straight sets Felix, Korda and Steph. The only memorable player Sinner faced in his cakewalk draw was Dmitrov. Why people give so much consideration to Carlos' one set loss to inspired DeJong baffles me. Sinner is vulnerable to creativity from the other end of the court (Moutet anyone?) I don't want either player to hurt themselves to win because people will gain pleasure at watching a 5 set brawl. There is more left to the 2024 season.

[@GhostofGerulaitis]

I'm going for Alcaraz, too.

[@al1976-v7m]

me too. and you're right about Jesper de Jong, he breezed through the quallies and played an inspired match vs. Carlos.

[@andieolivia]

Hope Carlos wins! Italian chicken legs tennis is about as exciting as a root canal!

[@marlenebuls9535]

​@@andieolivia😂

[@iamrobnavarro]

I’m going for Ruud

[@TalkingTennisTT]

brave

[@MrBjorn6]

Wow john talking to Steve Flink

[@TalkingTennisTT]

we've had steve on a few times

[@tobiasgoldman]

I think Carlos has the slight edge here but I'm rooting for Sinner.

[@al1976-v7m]

not sure Sasha's forehand was great against deMinaur, he often just rolled it in, but it was stable when it needed to be.

[@AshleyKarys]

Vamos Carlitos! 🇪🇸🎾🏆

[@TalkingTennisTT]

you think he'll win?

[@AshleyKarys]

@@TalkingTennisTT I really hope so John. He is my favourite player and is the reason why I watch tennis today. I didn’t watch tennis for a long time after Roger got injured. Then I found this kid and it renewed my interest in the sport. But Jannik is so complete. It really is 50/50 to me. I might give Carlos the slight edge cause he’s a natural on the clay but it’s not like Jannik is much behind Carlos. The margins are just so close between them. What do the betting gods say?

[@Matthieu-o7u]

Stats Zverev in the last match: winners-unforced errors 20-46. Aces 2. He has to play a lot better to beat Ruud.

[@GhostofGerulaitis]

No, he doesn't. This is Zverev's game. He's a pusher and he doesn't need winners at all.

[@al1976-v7m]

@@GhostofGerulaitis high level pusher

[@parthxchavda]

And ruud can't do that?😂 Ruud has been also doing the same ,just with a heavier forehand.​@@al1976-v7m

[@al1976-v7m]

i think contrary to the womens semis, both will be very tight matches, at least 4 if not 5 sets

[@TalkingTennisTT]

agree... but who's winning?

[@al1976-v7m]

@@TalkingTennisTT my money is on Zverev and Alcaraz

[@al1976-v7m]

@@TalkingTennisTT my prediction still stands, Sinner in 4 or Alcaraz in 5. And i'm picking Ruud over Zverev, although it could go either way really.

[@blackkitty9054]

If there is no hope for Alcaraz on clay, then there is no hope for anybody else on any surface. At this pace, Sinner is on couse to smash every Djokovic record in a mere 6 years.

[@takodanobaba]

You can tell the dude with the silly hat is biased towards Carlos 😂 Where Steve is clearly the neutral analyst! Good work Mr. Flink!

[@TalkingTennisTT]

Thanks - and yeah, the hat is silly

[@takodanobaba]

​@@TalkingTennisTTthink about it? If I know you have a clear bias why would I come back? When I listen to Gill Gross I can't wait to listen because he is always very neutral and builds up to who he favors! Best of luck with the show

[@blackkitty9054]

​@@takodanobaba gill gross was picking fights with anyone who didn't pick Sinner to win it all. He is a full fledged carota guy now.

[@marlenebuls9535]

​@TalkingTennisTT. Ridiculous! 😊

[@punns643]

​@@blackkitty9054 and Carlos won