The number that has kept me busy since this morning is 400. “Especially in this tournament, where he was bouncing the ball 400 times before every serve. It was really extreme,” Griekspoor said. I asked around whether that was an actual count or a figure of speech. Three people, three answers. Someone told me they would explain later, and nobody came back.
Right, it’s very simple: I called that final average from the first week. Careful, I’m not saying the opposite of what I said, I’m clarifying. Ninety per cent of the time, the player who bounces too much wins anyway, and I’m being kind.
Then there are the “free points”. Griekspoor reckons Ben Shelton gave away two or three per game. I’m told a free point costs nothing to the player receiving it. I asked who pays for it. I was told it’s a figure of speech, and then we moved on.
The rest I checked. Shelton knocked Griekspoor out in the first round of the US Open, then beat Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals after a fifth-set tie-break, before losing the final to Zverev. Griekspoor, for his part, said there were other sports on at the same time.
Silly question, but the person counting to 400, are they watching the match or watching the ball? I tried it on a replay, on the 7.32 train, and I lost track at eleven, and by then the point had been played. I’m told the hard part, when a player takes his time, is staying focused. The man who watched another sport didn’t have that problem. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: Tennis Actu.
