Bob in Spain wrote:

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Jaggy1876 wrote:

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Me too Bob, I have serious doubts about that. I can see him skipping it and playing tournaments in October to get himself a seeding for the Aus Open and (we say it every year) one last big year in 2024 (including the Olympics) before calling it a day.

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Pretty sure that fitness for the Davis Cup will also be very much on his mind with the chance to play in front of a partisan crowd.

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 Fitness and good enough form I hope.

Neil Gee wrote:

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Not much interest in this competition that I can see but it is a rerun of the Wimbledon final albeit over 3 sets so I'm going to try and watch it to see if Carlos can maintain the upper hand.

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 Once the Brits went out ie day one, I largely havent had time to follow. Djokovic looks better than the Spanish guy on hard courts though and Id make him comfortable favourite tonight. Straight sets for me. 

JonH comes home wrote:

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JonH comes home wrote:

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Neil Gee wrote:

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Not much interest in this competition that I can see but it is a rerun of the Wimbledon final albeit over 3 sets so I'm going to try and watch it to see if Carlos can maintain the upper hand.

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 Once the Brits went out ie day one, I largely havent had time to follow. Djokovic looks better than the Spanish guy on hard courts though and Id make him comfortable favourite tonight. Straight sets for me. 

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 Alcaraz will obviously prove me very wrong , of course! 

russian men havent done well this past two masters events, interestingly, I thought wed see them all over the back end of the events. 

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 I know that Novak has had better results coming through and that Carlos has got a little bugged with the media for constantly bringing up that Novak has come through in straight sets while he needed 3 sets to proceed in round after round.  Maybe Novak  feels he's got something to prove here, being 2-1 down overall in his 3 contests with Carlos.

Inspired by my support, Carlos is broken to love.

Djokovic *4-2

Oh my that started out absolutely gladiatorial. I couldn't take my eyes off it. In the first set the tennis was nonpareil, it was well tasty.

Later Novak looks heartbroken when he loses the first set 7-5. He takes a long break at the end of the set, and then Carlos breaks him again in the third game of set two, and suddenly Novak's chair is surrounded by trainers and tournament officials. It's hard to see whether he's physically suffering in the heat or if it's due to psychological distress. They are pushing all sorts of salt solutions into Novak's water bottles. Carlos looks as cool as a plate of cucumber sandwiches, unperturbed by the pressure or the weather.

But this is tennis, there's never a straightforward path to victory and in game eight Carlos largely hands Novak the break back with a couple of long ones and finally one into the base of the net. The Cincinnati crowd are right on the edge of their seats again. There's much dancing and flag waving as Carlos wins game 12 to take the second set to a tie break. The commentary call Novak 'the best player of tie breakers, ever' and he duly takes it 9-7. We're into a deciding set.

You finish it off, if you can, indiana, because I really have to go to bed now.

It's 3 all in set 3.

Alcaraz survives a couple of MPs to make Djokovic serve for it.

Djokovic *5-4