#zee!!

well, andy->taylor and roger->carlos, even stylistically (unforch my brain does not have the juice to really think about the nuances but the very least, they play tennis similarly, at least vaguely)

they're both very nothingrivalries - like, in a world of fedal, who gaf about feddick, and in a world of sincaraz, who gaf about fritzcaraz.

but at the same time, the matches are so everything to andy/taylor yet kinda nothing to roger/carlos - obviously they’re still big important matches, but the difference in what their careers/legacies would look like if some of the match results are reversed is much more drastic from andy/taylor’s perspective

beating roger/carlos would mean sooo much to andy/taylor, but for roger/carlos, beating them is an average tuesday

and it’s not like their matches are all blowouts, andy/taylor have had their fair share of breakpoints and set points that apparently just weren’t meant to be. which only makes it more painful because they had chances - they were dangled in front of them before roger/carlos ripped them away. (would wimby09 hurt less if andy didn’t have set points in the 2nd and bp in the fifth? would Tokyo have hurt less if taylor hadn’t beaten carlos at laver cup earlier? if he didn’t have actual hope that he could beat him again?)

roger/carlos have everything andy/taylor dream of in excess, while also actively standing in their way and continuing to take those dreams from them