‘Bookmakers Were N**S’ – Former Serena Williams’ Coach Takes a Nasty Shot at Wild Predictions That Undermined Novak Djokovic’s Ability to Win French Open Battle Against Carlos Alcaraz

The French Open semi-final match between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz was expected to be a neck-to-neck affair. And for some time the match seemed to go in that direction. But somehow like only a very handful of athletes can do, Djokovic raised his level in the third and the fourth sets serving breadsticks to Alcaraz and thrashing him consequently. With Djokovic not coming into the tournament in the best of form, many had the audacity to even pick Alcaraz as the favorite. And this is exactly the thing that irked former Serena Williams’ coach and former Australian doubles player Rennae Stubbs. She lambasted people and bookmakers for not considering the ominous Djokovic’s greatness.

Stubbs took to Twitter to show her shock and frustration. She was at a loss as to how people could so easily forget how difficult of a player he is to be bested.  Maybe it was an error of judgment for the bookmakers or something else,  Stubbs felt that it suggests they were dead wrong and the result of the match proved that. This tends to show the fragile memory of people in general.

Were the bookmakers justified in placing their faith in Alcaraz over Djokovic?

While Stubbs felt Alcaraz is exceptional, labeling Djokovic as the underdog is a very costly mistake to make. She mentioned that this is wrong on her show before the match started off and that she stands vindicated. She listed Djokovic’s achievements to back up her argument with facts. Here is her tweet:

She claimed that defeating the legendary Novak Djokovic in the best of 5 formats is a Himalayan task for anyone. She even went on to say that the bookmakers were crazy to commit such a costly mistake. Barring the first two sets, the match was a cakewalk for Djokovic. He marched on to the final with a final score-line that read, 6-3,5-7,6-1,6-1. It was a match that lasted up to 3 hours and 23 minutes.

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No ignoring the Djoker factor

Though it is true that Alcaraz was carrying an injury, by his own admission it was due to nerves. It can also be inferred as he was cramping because of Djokovic’s brilliant tennis. One can take nothing away from Alcaraz. He gave his all in the match. Like how Stubbs mentioned there is also a distinction between playing an ATP event and a Grand Slam against Djokovic. It is grueling to beat him in the best of five sets. Djokovic himself has said that he enjoys playing Grand Slams as they are like marathons and other events are like sprints.

Alcaraz carried a genuine injury, but the Djokovic factor also should be considered. The pain that Djokovic can inflict in these types of high-intensity matches is undeniable.

Stubbs mentioned that the bookmakers’ betting would have been understandable if it were 50-50 but it is laughable, to say the least, that he was the underdog according to them. Alcaraz is only 20 and still has plenty of tennis left in him one would hope that his injury heals soon and that he would be able to play his best tennis soon.

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