The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur News and Links for Tuesday, August 11

Oh Carlitos, where art thou?

Men’s tennis is in the dog days of summer, and it’s missing its two biggest stars.

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have both pulled out of the Canadian and Cincinnati opens – the two biggest lead-up tournaments to the US Open.

For Sinner, the World No. 1 hasn’t played a tournament since lifting the trophy at Wimbledon on July 12. It’s been an even longer wait for Carlos Alcaraz. The Spaniard and Australian Open champion has been sidelined with a wrist injury since April, missing both the French Open and Wimbledon.

We’ve seen plenty of tournaments to feature Sinner without Alcaraz. It isn’t the same. The cool, mechanic Sinner is not compelling to watch without his freewheeling rival who prefers to hit the flair shot rather than the highest percentage possible (oftentimes to the crowd’s delight). The tennis world needs its sun and moon.

Now, the two biggest men’s stars on the planet are injured when the tennis calendar is supposed to be reaching its crescendo.

Instead, the men’s tour is left with a wide-open field and substandard competition. The final eight of the Canadian Open consist of only one player inside the top eight: Ben Shelton. Alex Zverev lost in the early stages.

There has been some discourse about the length of these tournaments. Both Canada and Cincinnati are two-week events – which is quite a long time for a non-major (if you aren’t Indian Wells or Miami). And to hold them in the tail end of the season is especially difficult. Novak Djokovic is also skipping them.

It makes for few compelling matches. Perhaps the only one that was interesting was Shelton taking on Brazilian upstard Joao Fonseca in the fourth round.

Otherwise, we’re watching the meteoric rise of Rafael Jodar. The 19-year-old player from Madrid is in his first year as a pro, and he’s making serious waves. He’s already breached top 15 and through to the quarterfinals in Canada.

In a world where we’re craving someone to challenge Sinner and Alcaraz, Jodar could be the guy. I’ve previously written it could be Fonseca too. It’s still early days. The only thing that’s for sure is we can’t make any definitive statements until Sinner and Alcaraz return to the court.

Fitzie’s track of the day: Second Song, by Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts

And now for your links:

Alasdair Gold: “Savinho, Balogun, Maddison injury update and playmaker problem – Tottenham’s transfer to-do list”

BBC: “Forest owner Marinakis sues Palace over gun banner”

ESPN: “Colombia earthquake forces postponement of Conmebol, league games”

Front Office Sports: “US Open Ticket Prices Surge Despite Sinner, Alcaraz Questions”