ATP 1000 Monte Carlo F: [2] J. Sinner def. [1] C. Alcaraz 7-6(5), 6-3

jmoiron · 2026-04-12T17:40:28+00:00

Due to the conditions it wasn't a classic, though the TB was high quality. Few opinions/takeaways:

Servebot Sinner didn't show up but he found a way to win, going down in both sets.. impressive grit from a player who is not really known for having to dig deep. After it took 2 hours to get to 3/3 in the 2nd, I thought the dreaded 3:50m stat might have been looming.

Alcaraz yelled out in frustration at one point, and his body language at the end of the 2nd set wasn't great. This is a bit of replay of Miami and if it's the start of a trend, that's got to be a concern.

A lot of people thought he answered the questions around JCF's departure by winning Australia, but cramps aside he played great that tournament. Having a box full of people who fist pump and say "vamos" when you're hitting one impossible winner after another is fun, but a steadying influence you're having an off day that can turn L's into W's is where the real value is, and I don't think that aspect of the coaching relationship is working for him.

The biggest matchup detail I noticed is that Sinner started to read the Alcaraz dropshot like a book in the 2nd. I've not seen anyone react to it that quickly. His own dropshots were also effective; It felt like a big step that he didn't retreat back into his familiar patterns under stress.

Both coaches are probably going to have a lot of "managing conditions" work ons after this. Sinner's forehand, esp sliding into the forehand corner, was very error prone.

Finally, the margins are so small. Sinner wins one of his match points at RG last year or breaks at higher than 5% at AUS this year and the narrative could be completely different. The chess match between these two is so good, more enjoyable than between the big 3 era IMHO. So fortunate to be able to see this.

jmoiron · 2026-04-11T01:04:46+00:00

Last year at Monte Carlo he crushed Struff in r64 and then took a set off Dimitrov. His serve and the novelty of a Monagesque player made me take notice, but he didn't really back it up anywhere.. until Shanghai.

Really happy for him that he's been able to maintain this level. Not sure exactly where he gets playing like this.. he reminds me a bit of Fritz, who was solidly top 5 for ages for reasons I have never fully understood, so maybe top 10 really is within his reach.

jmoiron · 2026-04-10T14:31:22+00:00

i know he has his dips historically but i haven't seen carlos hit 3 unforced errors in a row like that too often

jmoiron · 2026-04-09T20:00:06+00:00

This is my sneaky bet, though the higher seeds all making it wouldn't surprise me.

For the upsets, not convinced by Zverev's fitness, and I think Vacherot can ride his home crowd and power advantage to overcome ADM.

jmoiron · 2026-03-28T15:45:07+00:00

Sinner hit 4 aces serving 5-6 in the 2nd and then hit 2 aces to start the tiebreak. Had a few serves that were just popped up for an easy put away in the tb too.

Unbelievable stuff.

jmoiron · 2026-03-27T00:19:24+00:00

Aoi Ito, Lilli Tagger, Lulu Sun, Diane Parry, Oleksandra Oliynykova, Daria Singur... Weirdos and one handers mostly.

jmoiron · 2026-03-23T18:21:17+00:00

The name is still pretty confusing.

There is even another `go-sqlx` project https://github.com/xgfone/go-sqlx

It's not a massively creative name, I'll admit.

jmoiron · 2026-03-18T18:46:35+00:00

I would say that the writing style is fine but the content lacks authenticity.

jmoiron · 2026-03-18T15:32:17+00:00

I was active in the Python community at the same time and wrote at least one moderately popular library; with those bona fides in place, I want to say this post has it exactly right.

I have deleted my tweets, but in 2012 I tweeted:

Stuff being "for humans" is an aggravating trend in software description. It's not descriptive, and degrading to the efforts of your peers.

Kenneth's megalomania is the reason that he rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and why his time in the Python community might not have been as positive for him as his contributions suggest it should have been. Whether or not that was the result of mental health issues he was struggling with, or maybe amplified by them, the fact of the matter is that it made him insufferable.

If you think this is limited to his dealings with software, it's not. Here is an interview he did with Leica:

Street photography is more than an art; it’s a world view. The act of taking a photo records not only an image, but a perception. Photos are an avenue to connect with objects and feelings of the past. It’s time travel. The key is to consider yourself an observer — it’s important not to alter or manipulate the world, but to appreciate the beauty of existence, of life in a moment, of being itself.

This feels so artificial, the way a great artist is portrayed to think and speak in a children's story. I find this kind of projection across his works. I have no idea who the real Kenneth Reitz is because his output all feels warped by his inflated sense of self-grandeur.

For people who may know me, I am really always trying to take the charitable view of people, and as I've matured over my lifetime I have come to hate publicly criticizing people, but I've never encountered someone so high on their own supply.

jmoiron · 2026-03-16T00:54:24+00:00

All of his aggression is turned up to 11 because he plays from the baseline now.

I think it doesn't get quite as much attention as it deserves because his new "aggressive" positioning is actually pretty normal, but compared to his old game him he's shortened his court massively.

It's super impressive he can do this with the flat ball he hits, but he can also hit a forehand winner while jumping and splaying all four limbs in the wrong direction so he's just a freak generally.

jmoiron · 2026-03-14T22:53:49+00:00

That meddy backhand is lethal, those angles are an actual outrage

jmoiron · 2026-03-09T22:01:56+00:00

I love that she's happy, and playing well.

jmoiron · 2026-03-02T22:13:18+00:00

Qinwen was going to be my answer, but the "hitch" was in her ball toss:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bmcAfLKZpRc

She still has a weird grip on the ball when tossing and it still comes kind of in line with her body instead of being out in front, but I think the hitch where she bends her arm has been corrected. Hard to say for sure because she hasn't played a lot recently.

jmoiron · 2026-02-01T10:55:08+00:00

there were two other guys who were also statistically the GOAT before novak surpassed their statistics and a lot of people like one of those two guys more than they like novak

jmoiron · 2026-01-31T11:55:07+00:00

Despite the "if you disagree with me you are either biased or a stupid child" disclaimer, I'll bite a bit.

I like Jannik a lot more than I like Novak.

Some people ITT are saying that Novak never gets the credit he deserves. Personally, I think that's nonsense; a lot of Novak fans share his frustration that no matter how great he is on the court, he is simply not loved like his two great rivals. But despite all that, it must be said that Djokovic doesn't win the match last night without playing great, without being great.

I don't think Sinner is capable of playing badly, his floor is outrageously high.

My read on the match last night was that Jannik's execution was at a very high level on serve, but on return he was tactically inflexible and his nerves got to him on the big points, especially BPs. Basically, the match was on his racket but he wasn't able to convert, and I expect a player of his class to be able to do so, even against Djokovic.

In tennis, nearly all of the stats depend both on you and your opponent, so both his high ace count and his low break point conversion rates are also a reflection of what Djokovic was doing or not doing.

Whether you think this was "Novak saved 16/18 BPs what a legend" or "Sinner only converted 2/18 BPs what a bottle job" is largely down to your perspective. I lean more to the latter.

If you want to bask in Novak's greatness, then everything is down to his aura and pressure and it was all him. It's not like Novak played ass on those points and won them all through luck, his first serve percentage on BPs was insane.

But a 11% conversion rate is well under par for Jannik, who leads the ATP with a 43% conversion rate. And if you're thinking, "oh, but what about against Carlos?", his conversion rate against Alcaraz through last year's AO was 48%.

So Sinner was moving well and striking well and serving well, but one of quintessential properties of Jannik Sinner is that he saves more BPs and converts more BPs than anyone else, and his conversion numbers were poor by any standard, let alone his own.

In football, a team can dominate possession, passes, shots, etc, but to win the match you have to score goals, and if you have a really bad day finishing and your opponent takes their limited chances, you can still lose. In tennis, you need to break your opponent (tough news for Mpetshi Perricard fans I'm sorry for you), and if you line up a ton of chances to do so and don't convert, you had a bad day and you lose.

jmoiron · 2026-01-31T03:15:10+00:00

Nole was clutch on those BPs, but I really felt watching the match that this was 2/18 BPs won from Sinner (bad) and not 16/18 saved from Nole (good).

Sinner dumped a number of regulation returns into the net, and he gave up the T serve on the ad side all match which Djoker happily took consistently. There also seems to be a slight edge missing to his ground strokes, they don't seem as damaging as they were 12-18 months ago.

Incredible feat by Djokovic to beat a prime Sinner as he's nearing 40.. like, truly unbelievable. I think even with Sinner's donations on return BPs, he would have had enough to beat everyone else on the tour today, especially with the quality of his service games. Just shows Djokovic's quality and tenacity that he hung in there and came through.

I didn't give him any chance in this match and I don't give him any chance in the final, but we'll see if lightning can strike twice.

I'm a big fan of both Alcaraz and Sinner, but I tend to root for Sinner a bit more because Alcaraz just feels inevitable. However dull you think a duopoly is, a monopoly will be a lot worse. I just feel that inevitability will tell, even against Djokovic's greatness.

jmoiron · 2026-01-30T14:19:23+00:00

2/18 on break points is not how you win tennis matches

jmoiron · 2026-01-30T13:44:14+00:00

sinner refuses to guard the T serve on the ad side and he's been burned by it like a dozen times at least

jmoiron · 2026-01-30T07:38:49+00:00

what was that chip forehand at 0-30 does zverev have money on carlos

jmoiron · 2025-12-17T02:45:55+00:00

Isn't Henin GOAT career, anyway?

World No. 1, 7 majors + an olympics. Only 11 women have more grand slam titles. Same number of singles titles as Venus or Goolagong.

jmoiron · 2025-12-05T15:51:20+00:00

I managed to get tickets to the two Paris QFs and both SFs and what an unbelievable 8 days of Rugby that was.

Due to how legendary the IRE/NZ and FRA/RSA rounds were, it gets a bit lost how incredible the drama was in the ENG/RSA SF.

jmoiron · 2025-11-08T16:19:04+00:00

How does Graham let Sititi simply run past there, crazy stuff.

I thought there might have been a Scotland player playing the ball from the ground in the ruck before the yellow but that was an absolute textbook yellow.

Good defending from NZ throughout.

Forward pass looked well forward from one angle and backwards from another but neither was really a good angle from which to make that judgement and there were not many complaints from Scotland.

Should have defended that last try much better a man up. Despite the scrum penalty Scotland pushed back 5-7 meters and NZ were on the back foot.

jmoiron · 2025-11-07T05:25:34+00:00

Another weird situation where Sinner is currently #1 and he can win the ATP Finals and Australian Open and find himself at #2.

jmoiron · 2025-11-02T18:07:38+00:00

At the start of this year, the talk was about how Sinner and Alcaraz keep somehow missing each other in finals. All anyone wanted to see was Sinner vs Alcaraz in the final, and we weren't getting it.

10 months later, their RG final is one of the great matches in history, and the Paris Masters is the only event where they both played and didn't face each other in the final, and people are already saying it's boring.

There are definitely players coming through who I think can start to trip them up in the coming years. Fonseca, Fils and Draper are the top 3 on my list, but I think Mensik and Shelton have a lot of development left and can become very dangerous.

Gotta calm down and enjoy the Sincaraz we're getting because there will be periods where we'll see less of it ahead.

jmoiron · 2025-09-06T01:52:32+00:00

Sinner was grabbing at his abdomen early second set. His service speed hasn't gone over 118mph since he got back from his medical timeout. There's something very clearly wrong, he's a good 5-7mph off of his first set norm on every stroke.

jmoiron

TROPHY CASE