Flavio

FO26 is almost over, which means it's summertime now. The transition is almost completed. This year's tournament was heavily married by both global warming and war. But it was till Roland Garros. It still provided the greatest drama of the season, as of yet. 

Matteo Arnaldi pulling out at the last second before his semifinal is heartbreaking. As a college player, I don't think I ever completed without being hungover, so I cannot relate to Matteo. I also slept through the quartfinals once, after quarter beers, at a prestigious Alabama clay tournament after upsetting the top seed the day before. So Matteo would probably say he could not relate to me either. 

But seriously, Flavio Cobolli was standing there with a full stadium. Just come out of the lockeroon, get your ass kicked and take your check dude. I picked Arnaldi to win the tournament, so maybe I am taking it personally. After being forced to watch Sinner get totally illegal help vs The Spizz and then again vs Cerundolo, you'd think the ATP would have told Matteo he could take as many breaks as he wanted, since he wasn't feeling good. Maybe his Mom could have sat on the bench. :-)

You think I may protest too much, but those of us who have run junior tournaments are aghast at how these ATP tournaments are "run." No one seems to be in charge of the fans, the players, the umpires and policing who gets to sponsor our great game has gone out the window. But it should still fall on the players ultimately, to stay true to what's going on. That's hard to defend when Frances Tiafoe approaches the net during the French Open to tell his opponent that "he's not hard." Tiafoe has somehow adopted the Nick Kyrios personality. Perhaps he'll see that despite playing so well, he dropped four spots after losing in R16. Both he and Tommy Paul are dropping like stones. 

Ok, I can babble forever about these guys. Let's get to the final. Zverev v Cobolli should be pretty entertaining. I like Cobolli a lot and he is getting a really unfair advantage by not having to play a semifinal. I firmly believe that Cobolli, like Sasha, is also a threat to win the U.S. Open. His game is more suited to hard courts, as most would say about Sasha too. On the dirt, Sasha displays an unexpected patience and better movement than you'd expect from a big man. 

Weirdly though, Sasha settles in a lot on the clay and tries to play like a real dirtballer. I think Flavio exposes this somewhat and plays the aggressor Sunday. Sasha will have to serve lights out to win his first major. If Sasha ever served lights out consistently, he would be no.1. I see Flavio taking the title by literally hitting more first serves, and hitting his forehand harder. Flavio will place his first serve and get it in more. He will also be trying to shorten, not extend points. Flavio will go to the net more, and have more winners from the baseline.

In my opinion, Sasha has to play too well to win. He hasn't proven an ability to raise his game in these situations. So although I am really not ready to watch Sasha choke another one away, that's what's going to happen.

Lex

"Consolidated Break by Greg Gunther"