What’s going with Tapia?

Personally I believe he's been hiding an upper limb injury since 2024 at least, a much more serious one than he let on publicly. His play patterns are consistent with an elbow/shoulder tendon problem and this way of just disappearing from games was totally absent from his career prior. He spent over 10 years being a killer every day and suddenly...no performance for long stretches. Then a bounce back, then no performance again. And the bad stretches keep getting longer. You can contrast him with Coello, who is clearly healthy and a also a killer. When he has a bad day, he misses everything on the glass, but he still goes for his shots. Then he clears his head and it's off to the races next tournament. Tapia doesn't seem to even try to play his own game when he's down. I think there's pain and a subsequent loss in performance behind it. Edit: You can also make a parallel with Lebron, who suffered an almost career-ending repeat-use upper limb injury around the same age after being #1 for a couple of years. Too many top spin smashes at 100% intensity, every game, every week of the year clearly causes significant issues long-term.

Even though it was a slower court in BA he seemed really hesitant to attempt any smashes at all today - maybe he’s being careful about his arm problem that has happened from time to time? Knowing Tapia, he will be back to his level soon enough.

Definitely feels like he's the weak link among the top 4 players right now

I think he’s going through an injury, this is not the real Tapia

His absurd topspin x3 has saved him several times before. When you play a slower court he struggles because he clearly a few options in his game and (at least what it looks like) stamina. Chingotto and Galan are honestly physical beasts. It’s extremely impressive to see them push the net every chance they get. Either from hard viboras from behind the line or chiquitas or good groundstrokes. They fight hard for every point which can’t be said about Tapia. Another thing is that their lobs in the last two finals vs Coello and Tapia has been fenomenal. I still think Galan was the best player on tour last year as well but for some reason everyone just glazes Tapia all the time.

He has a perfect technique for smash but he is not the most strongest person there. Was a really slow court even galan needed to use all is force and sometimes missing. They are better suited for a bit quicker courts

In my opinion, both the commentary in the semi and in the final leaned heavily on Tapia's highlight moments he spectacular shots got a lot of airtime, while the longer rallies and the points where he struggled didn't get the same attention. And on social media this gets amplified even more, since most people only see the 30-second clips of his best winners. my opinion, this has been the case for a while now. Already last year I personally found him less consistent and less decisive in the key moments compared to Coello or Galán. Tapia obviously has those few "alien" shots per match that nobody else on tour can produce, and that's genuinely special, but if you look at the full match, the baseline level and the clutch points, I think Coello shifts more momentum when he's on, and Galán keeps a higher floor even on his worse days. Yesterday's result fits a pattern we've been seeing across several tournaments. Chingotto right now is on a genuinely incredible level: his reading of the game, his positioning, the intensity, the mental management of the key points and Galán is just perfection in evertyhing! Coello is a machine, I love his game. P.S.and this is something the highlights don't really show,the semi against Stupaczuk/Yanguas wasn't a great night for Tapia either. The result looks comfortable on paper, but they actually had stretches where they were in real trouble.

There’s a reason he’s using the soft version of his racket lately

I think he ain’t a robot, give him time

This post has nothing to do with the results on court

Arthur is also taking more shots in the middle. Galan is by far the best smasher this tournament. More effective than Tapia, Arthur and Leo.

Probably betting against them 🤔

Debe de seguir con problemas de codo. Eso + falta de confianza + chingalán en su prime.

Ayer me sorprendió para mal, se sabe que Tapia no tiene la consistencia o agresividad de Galan o Coello, que es un jugador un poco mas irregular, un jugador de momentos, pero ayer de verdad parecia que ni lo intentaba, esta claro que enfrentaba a rivales de un nivel enorme pero me llamo las pocas variantes ofensivas que intento Tapia ayer, y lo parado que jugaba por momentos, Coello por ejemplo tampoco jugo bien ayer pero se notaba su intento remontarlo hasta el final. De verdad pienso que Tapia esta con algún problema, ya sea fisico o quizas personal que no le esta dejando rendir como deberia, y no es escusa para defenderlo de igual manera pienso que ayer perdian por mas que Tapia este al 100%, fue increible el nivel de Chingalan.

He might have gone out with his friends last night lol hes known to party before games, he was home after all