Tennis Thread

[TVbitch]

Is Tennis Channel not covering the tournament in Eastbourne? Is is streaming somewhere else? 

[caracas1914]

With Wimbledon your draw is so important, especially with how the grass courts play the first week versus the second.

Rafa has had a very spotty record to say the least the last 7 years, but anybody who’s made 5 Wimbledon finals in their career can’t be dismissed so easily IMO.

Perrsonally I’ve always felt that Rafa’s most chronic Achilles heel is his return of serve and so at Wimbledon that been exploited a lot.

[truthaboutluv]

40 minutes ago, caracas1914 said:

Rafa has had a very spotty record to say the least the last 7 years, but anybody who’s made 5 Wimbledon finals in their career can’t be dismissed so easily IMO.

I do think there are some who forget that fact - that he's made 5 finals and won twice. I definitely agree about the draw and regarding Rafa, that first week is so important. The thing is though, I feel like that's true for him regarding all the Slams save for maybe Australian Open where he's just seemed to have had the worse luck with injuries/health/etc. But for the most part, when it comes to the slams, Rafa is usually at his most vulnerable in the first week. The deeper into the tournament he goes, the harder it is to beat him. It's no surprise that his only Grand Slam final losses have been to Federer and Djokovic, save for the one loss to Wawrinka at the Australian Open. 

[shok]

14 hours ago, caracas1914 said:

With Wimbledon your draw is so important, especially with how the grass courts play the first week versus the second.

Rafa has had a very spotty record to say the least the last 7 years, but anybody who’s made 5 Wimbledon finals in their career can’t be dismissed so easily IMO.

Perrsonally I’ve always felt that Rafa’s most chronic Achilles heel is his return of serve and so at Wimbledon that been exploited a lot.

Really? It's always amazed me how many people say that Rafa doesn't return serve well. It's a very common misconception. The guy is rated No. 2 in career return of serve stats.  https://www.atpworldtour.com/en/stats/leaderboard?boardType=return&timeFrame=Career&surface=all&versusRank=all&formerNo1=false

1 Guillermo Coria 171.5

2 Rafael Nadal  168.2

Djokovic, who gets a ton of credit for being such a good returner, is down at No. 6. For the past 52 weeks, Rafa is at the top of the leader board and his second serve is especially outstanding.

1 Rafael Nadal 172.0

2 Andy Murray 166.7

3 Diego Schwartzman 163.7

4 Damir Dzumhur 163.4

5 Novak Djokovic 161.8

Federer, who the commentators salivate about for anything he does, is nowhere near the top of either of these lists. As usual, and as I bitch about constantly, Rafa doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves.

Rafa's Achilles Heel at Wimbledon is his bad knees. On grass with its low bounce, he struggles to get down to the ball and smart players will always offer up a lot of slice to him to make it even more difficult. This year might be, maybe, hopefully, better as it's very warm in Britain right now and the forecast for the next two weeks is more of the same so the lawns might dry out and take away some of the greasy slickness that has bothered him, especially in the first week. So much of it depends upon the draw though but he's playing well so there's hope for him. :)

[theatremouse]

I've always been sort of dubious about the "best returner" stats though. You often get some super random players in there because it's really just a percentage of serves actually returned. Ie it's hard to ace against them. I mean, yes, that's an important skill, but taken in a vacuum it's sort of pointless. It's kind of like...if you're looking at a baseball player who very rarely strikes out. Ok, impressive, except if he's batting .214 overall and his on base percentage is rubbish...suddenly "doesn't strike out a lot" is more of an "at least he's got this going for him" than an actual standout stat. I also don't really think best return percentage does mean someone is the best returner. Much like not striking out, it's a "doesn't fuck up" stat, not a  "does good thing" stat. I'd be more interested in how many winners someone has off their first shot returned. That person is the best returner, to me, more than someone who manages to hit the return in play with greatest frequency.

[TVbitch]

The Eastbourne coverage on the BBC is pretty crazy. They are only showing the women's matches. If you want to watch the men you have to have Amazon Prime and watch it on there. Also apparently Amazon Prime has the rights to the US Open for UK viewers. I hope that shit doesn't start happening over here. Anyway, so then today they are showing a quarterfinal match between Kerber and Kasatkina and it's tied in the third set and they are like, well we're ending our coverage for today, bye! 

Good Lord! Anyway, glad to see Agie making it to the semis there! 

[dcalley]

19 hours ago, TVbitch said:

I hope that shit doesn't start happening over here.

I'm not clear on the details (I guess I will be next week), but there's this new ESPN+ crap to deal with.

[roseha]

ESPN + looks awful to me, I was used to all the replays listed by players in Watch ESPN, which was also free with my YouTubeTV unlike E+.  Now I can only find coverage by court.  I missed Roger’s first match - it started earlier than I thought - and I couldn’t even find it on replay.  ESPN + is a lot like Tennis Channel + it looks like - finding new ways to be annoying,  and people wonder why tennis doesn’t do better in the US....

[selkie]

Feder and Uniqlo:

https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/page/roger-federer-global-brand-ambassador.html

 

I've liked a lot of their 'lifestyle clothing' good quality pieces and some fun t-shirts at reasonable prices. 

[roseha]

The Nike outfits for him have been so awful in recent memory that I’m fine with Roger jumping to Uniqlo.   Interesting that it seems to indicate that Fed wants to still be around for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics!

Edited July 3, 2018 by roseha

[sally-can-wait]

11 hours ago, roseha said:

ESPN + looks awful to me, I was used to all the replays listed by players in Watch ESPN, which was also free with my YouTubeTV unlike E+.  Now I can only find coverage by court.  I missed Roger’s first match - it started earlier than I thought - and I couldn’t even find it on replay.  ESPN + is a lot like Tennis Channel + it looks like - finding new ways to be annoying,  and people wonder why tennis doesn’t do better in the US....

I've had ESPN+ for a couple of months (got it because they put ESPNFC exclusively on streaming) and I have no complaints so far. I access it through Roku and the matches are not listed by court but by match-up so everything is easy to find. I'll be curious to see how long the replays are kept for. I would hope through the entire tournament. 

[TVbitch]

It sucks for me cuz I used to be able to watch whatever match I was interested in through Watch ESPN just from having ESPN on my Direct TV Package but now they want $5 more. Looks like the replays are still free, but I hate being spoiled on the scores.

Good to see Stan smiling and back in form! And that girl that beat Sharapova, she really raised her game and got it done. Glad Agie pulled through, but she really had to fight for it. I can't see her going to deep, but I root for her.  

[roseha]

11 hours ago, sally-can-wait said:

I've had ESPN+ for a couple of months (got it because they put ESPNFC exclusively on streaming) and I have no complaints so far. I access it through Roku and the matches are not listed by court but by match-up so everything is easy to find. I'll be curious to see how long the replays are kept for. I would hope through the entire tournament. 

Interesting, thanks.  However, what I did tonight was go back to the main ESPN app (not Plus) on Roku and broswe by sport, just like Watch ESPN used to do.  Eventually I found Tennis, and then found the main court/top player match replays that way.  Anyway, I think they stay up until the next day begins.

I have to say I felt terrible for Petra Kvitova losing today. After all her efforts to come back from being stabbed in the home invasion, she must be devastated to lose first round here.  Good luck to her in the future.

[TVbitch]

Hey did anyone actually watch Strokes of Genius? I'm just wondering if it's worth it. I haven't been able to bring myself to watch it yet cuz I still have PTSD from the 5 million commercials for it I had to sit through. 

[topanga]

Wow. Does ESPN love Federer or what? I only watched the final two sets of his match today, but even when he was clearly in the lead, they never cut away to show even glimpses of the much tighter Wozniacki or Monfils matches. 

Meanwhile, it’s early in the 2nd set of the Serena Williams match, and we’ve already cut away 3 times to watch a full game of other matches. And now, I’m watching a 3-screen split screen. And Serena is facing her first break point of the match. WTH, ESPN? Who decides these things? 

[truthaboutluv]

35 minutes ago, topanga said:

Wow. Does ESPN love Federer or what? I only watched the final two sets of his match today, but even when he was clearly in the lead, they never cut away to show even glimpses of the much tighter Wozniacki or Monfils matches. 

Yup, nothing new there. The love affair is strong on a normal basis but then you add that this is Wimbledon, his most favored slam and yeah, not surprising. I honestly have taken to just tuning out most of the deifying of Federer by the tennis media. But I imagine it must be painful for those who dislike him. 

[Jillibean]

Just watched Isner throw a temper tantrum over Hawkeye calls not going his way. He yelled at the umpire “It’s clearly not working!” The crowd actually laughed at the absurdity. Okay, John. Lovely display. 

[Ohwell]

It's funny watching Monfils now because I remember the first time seeing him as a 19 year old, and now he's a grown-ass man.  I still "love" him. 

[TVbitch]

I had to sign up for the "free trial" of ESPN+ just so I could watch the matches I wanted to today (Stan and Jared Donaldson) and so of course, ESPN+ totally screws up the live airing of Stan's match and then just as he and Jared are making comebacks, it rains! 

[theatremouse]

6 hours ago, topanga said:

Wow. Does ESPN love Federer or what? I only watched the final two sets of his match today, but even when he was clearly in the lead, they never cut away to show even glimpses of the much tighter Wozniacki or Monfils matches. 

Meanwhile, it’s early in the 2nd set of the Serena Williams match, and we’ve already cut away 3 times to watch a full game of other matches. And now, I’m watching a 3-screen split screen. And Serena is facing her first break point of the match. WTH, ESPN? Who decides these things? 

They did the split-screen thing during Roger's match too several times. I was actually pretty pleased with it. I'd rather have 2 or 3 matches on split screen than a cutaway to watch John Isner not-break-and-not-get-broken for what could be 6 hours. I would've preferred they do the split screen more during Serena's match since they did actually cut away for a game or two, but the split-screen business seemed to me to result in less breaking away from the current match. So far I like it.

[topanga]

1 hour ago, theatremouse said:

They did the split-screen thing during Roger's match too several times. I was actually pretty pleased with it. I'd rather have 2 or 3 matches on split screen than a cutaway to watch John Isner not-break-and-not-get-broken for what could be 6 hours. I would've preferred they do the split screen more during Serena's match since they did actually cut away for a game or two, but the split-screen business seemed to me to result in less breaking away from the current match. So far I like it.

Thanks. I didn’t see the split screen—must’ve been before I tuned in. 

[theatremouse]

It was split screen Roger and Venus for a large chunk of her third set, before eventually they cut over to the Venus match completely for the end of that match, which for me was good since I was trying to watch Venus when Roger started and they cut away from her to show his first three games before doing some splitting and back and forthing.

[selkie]

I would like to compliment the camera crew and their gear for the really good close-up shots of the insects that were constantly attacking Wozniacki today. Modern camera equipment apparently has really, really good zoom function, even in real time. 

[sacrebleu]

The Fed/Uniqlo thing is a little weird. I saw him interviewed about it, and his lawyers are talking to Nike about releasing his logo... which is his initials.

 

Imagine a legal battle over using your own initails.

I am not a fan of the split screen, because you can't see either match well.

And as I'm typing this, Keys was just knocked out! Serena's draw just got a whole lot easier.

[BitterApple]

I really wish they'd stop this split screen nonsense, especially with Venus being 5-5 in the third set. 

[theatremouse]

I am still in favor of the split screen if it let's me see two matches, or pick which one when they might have otherwise switched completely over. THAT SAID, I am not enjoying the shenanigans they did thrice today where it was split screen because crucial-moments-in-both-matches and they kept it split after one of the two ended. Or had switched to one for match point and again, stayed on that one as players packed up their things and walked off. I do not need to see Querry leaving the stadium when there are actual live points still being played in a match that 30 seconds before was on split screen. If you're splitting and one ends, cut back to the one that hasn't ended! Right away! They did it two other times also but I can't remember which matches...but that super irritates me.

[mojoween]

Am I crazy, or in 1989 or thereabouts did I run sobbing out into the backyard on the Fourth of July because Boris Becker was defeated in the final by Stefan Edberg?

I mean the Fourth was two days ago and we still have a week of Wimbledon to go.

Edited July 6, 2018 by mojoween

[Harry24]

Quote

did I run sobbing out into the backyard on the Fourth of July because Boris Becker was defeated in the final by Stefan Edberg?

Do you still wuv Boris, mojoween?  Of the two, Stefan is the one I suspect now has a portrait in his attic!

[mojoween]

I do still love him!  Boris has ... matured ... while Stefan still looks like that young man who broke my heart.

I just saw a picture of young Boris on Twitter and it reminded me why I loved him as a 15 year old girl.  Because if nothing else, I AM super shallow.

[theatremouse]

3 hours ago, mojoween said:

Am I crazy, or in 1989 or thereabouts did I run sobbing out into the backyard on the Fourth of July because Boris Becker was defeated in the final by Stefan Edberg?

I mean the Fourth was two days ago and we still have a week of Wimbledon to go.

Wimbledon moved its start date back a few years ago to give more space between Roland Garros and its start. So yes, for decades July 4 landed in the second week of Wimbledon, but now it's in the first.

[NUguy514]

It does feel like Wimbledon is particularly late this year.

Team Edberg.  For sure.  *fans self, and not just because it was 114 goddamn degrees in the Valley today.

[galaxygirl76]

I think I remember finals weekend being the same weekend as the Tour de France's first weekend. That combined with a big soccer tournament(Euro's and WC) nearing it's end every other year made for a busy weekend haha.

 

eta, and there is usually a Formula One race as well.

Edited July 7, 2018 by galaxygirl76

[galaxygirl76]

Somehow I don't think Wimbledon is the main interest of sports fans in England at the moment, look at Center Court when Angelique Kerber was playing during England's quarter final match.

https://www.besoccer.com/new/england-game-leaves-wimbledon-empty-463064

[topanga]

I did not expect Halep to lose yesterday. Tough 3-setter. It’s been a tough tourmament for all of the top-ranked women players. Nine of the top ten players have lost. Only Plíšková remains. And Kerber at #11.

Since there are no matches on today, ABC is broadcasting some of Saturday’s matches, but it’s also showing highlights from past tournaments: e.g. the epic Nadal-Federer Championship from 2008, and some of the Williams vs. Williams head-to-heads, among other matches. 

[truthaboutluv]

4 hours ago, topanga said:

I did not expect Halep to lose yesterday.

As soon as she blew the break point at 5-4 in the third set, which also happened to be match point, I knew it was over. And her getting broken right after confirmed that. I knew that match would be tricky because I remember Hsieh from the Australian Open, where she beat Muguruza and gave Kerber a hell of a time. That said, the male seeds are definitely holding up far better than the women.

The biggest upsets so far with the men is definitely Cilic who some had as a possible favorite to win the whole thing and Zverev also losing. Was surprised by Stan's loss after that amazing win against Dimitrov. And I sort of felt bad for Grigor when Stan didn't even make it past Round 2 because I feel like he might have gone further, were it not for that really crappy first round draw. 

Despite whatever vulnerabilities he showed coming into Wimbledon, Federer definitely still seems like the favorite and looking at the rest of his draw, I honestly can't see anyone that could be a real force right up to maybe the semifinals where he might play Raonic. I guess Anderson could maybe possibly, if he plays an amazing match, beat him. But I don't know, with how he's gone through his first rounds, not seeing an upset. But hey, I'll be more than fine to be wrong. No offense to Federer. 

Novak I think is looking very strong and definitely seems to be getting back to a wining position. Right now, I am actually tentatively calling a Novak and Federer final. Much as I would love to see Rafa make it far at Wimbledon for the first time in years, if he gets past Vesley tomorrow (big if, since 4R has been like his kryptonite he can't get past in the last two years), Del Potro potentially awaits in the Quarterfinals and on grass, I think that could be a really big challenge for Rafa.  And then if he gets past that and Novak makes it past his matches, then it's them in the semifinals and I don't know. 

Because again, don't think Djokovic is a hundred percent back and Rafa is a player that grows in confidence the deeper into a tournament he goes. So will be interesting to see how it plays out. 

Edited July 9, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[TVbitch]

Hey so far my Rafa prediction is holding up! None of the matches really grabbed my full attention today.

I enjoy watching Tsitsipas, what a character (in a fun/good way, not a Kurious way). Bummer he got paired up with the Borg Serving Machine cuz it made for a rather boring match. 

Hsieh is kind of hypnotic to watch, she just floats silently about the court and seems to use almost no force to strike the ball, but it works! Glad she stood up for herself today against that bad call.    

[truthaboutluv]

9 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Hey so far my Rafa prediction is holding up!

If he actually wins this thing, I will never doubt your predictions ever again, lol. 

I guess Rafa decided that hell no, he wasn't going to lose before the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for an eighth year in a row. 

[shok]

4 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

I guess Rafa decided that hell no, he wasn't going to lose before the quarterfinals at Wimbledon for an eighth year in a row. 

He answered pretty much that question in his press conference in his usual thoughtful and honest way. He said that in 2012 and 2013, his knees were so bad he just couldn't play on the "surfrace" (I have a picture somewhere in one of my albums that shows a closeup of his left knee during a changeover in the Rosol match and you can clearly see the three needle marks where he had had his knee anesthetized just so he could play the match). He said in 2014 and 2015 he was simply having bad years on all the surfraces, not just grass, and he missed 2016 because of his wrist injury and last year he felt he was playing well but just ran into somebody that was hot (Muller) and played better than him and that was just sport and how it goes.

This year again he's feeling good and he feels competitive and he'll just have to see how it goes. I hope it's Delpo he ends up playing because even though Simon isn't as good a player, he's the sort that can extend the points and make Rafa run forever, kind of like what he's doing to Delpo right now, and if Rafa has to play Djokovic, I want him fresh and in good shape. :)

[TVbitch]

Ah, I was really rooting for Gorgi. I'm probably the only person in America who is not a Serena fan, but she pretty much appears unstoppable at this point.

Hope some of the men's matches are more exciting. 

On another note, last night I watched an episode of "Running Wild with Bear Grylls" and he had Fed with him. Fed was totally adorable, ate a fish eyeball, and peed on a campfire. And he had some seriously sexy man scruff going on too. I would totally eat a fish eyeball to hang out with those two.   

[Harry24]

2 hours ago, TVbitch said:

I'm probably the only person in America who is not a Serena fan

I'm not a Serena fan either, TVbitch, although I like her much more than I used to. I personally think she's become much more likable as she's aged.*  I just don't enjoy the aesthetics of either her or Venus's games, despite the great athleticism.  

*The turning point came when she and Venus did that hilarious Apple ad that was from the point of view of a guy dreaming he was playing ping-pong against them and totally beating them.  They were both so funny in it, I began to warm to Serena.  (I'd liked Venus for a while before that ad.)

[BitterApple]

4 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Ah, I was really rooting for Gorgi. I'm probably the only person in America who is not a Serena fan, but she pretty much appears unstoppable at this point.

 

I'm not either. I don't hate her and I respect what she's accomplished, but her attitude can be really shitty at times. The commentators are also getting annoying with the way they're acting like she's the only athlete on the planet to compete again after giving birth. It may be more of a rarity in tennis, but it's not unheard of in other sports. Obviously that's not Serena's fault because she can't control what they talk about, but they're beating the dead horse pretty hard at this point.

[truthaboutluv]

So anyone following the meltdown happening online because *gasp* the Wimbledon organizers have scheduled Federer's quarterfinal match for Court 1? The Federer fans are not happy about this at all. Worse, apparently Djokovic's publicly complaining about his not being on Centre Court so far, (except for his last match against Edmund, which was likely more to do with Edmund being British) and making an official complaint to the organizers, is likely what spurred the decision. 

Now listen, I would be a hypocrite to act like I've never been upset about court scheduling. That said, the one time I was, it was because the French Open organizers scheduled Rafa's first match on a smaller court when he was #1 in the world and the defending champion. Like I am sorry, that was straight up disrespect in my opinion. I didn't care if his second round or third round was on smaller show court but to have the top seed, who was the defending champion, start his title defense on a smaller court was just weird. 

So that said, I do think all this teeth gnashing and whining by some Fed fans is ridiculous. My goodness the levels of entitlement reeking off their comments is astounding. But not surprising because the tennis universe deifies Federer so much that it's no wonder some of his fans have developed this immense sense of entitlement when it comes to what they think their King deserves.  Oh and sure enough, you knew it was coming, the cries of, "well Rafa has had all of his matches on Centre Court too and he hasn't won the title in years".

Now honestly, I am surprised Rafa has been scheduled on Centre Court the entire tournament, since he's always had at least one match on Court 1. But I still think the reaction by some of the Federer fans is a little much. 

[truthaboutluv]

HOLY FREAKING CRAP!!! Mad respect for Anderson. Two sets down and match point down in the third set and dude came back and won this match against Federer. Wow. My head says Djokovic is going to complete his comeback and win but the heart says Rafa. 

[BitterApple]

Should we wonder how badly tournament and network execs are cursing the tennis gods now that Federer is out?

And wow, serious props to Anderson for not only defeating a match point but coming back from two sets down and holding his nerve in a grueling fifth. He undeniably deserved this win. Absolutely amazing tennis all the way around.

Edited July 11, 2018 by BitterApple

[khyber]

I can only hope for Del Po now.  

[truthaboutluv]

7 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Should we wonder how badly tournament and network execs are cursing the tennis gods now that Federer is out?

Well Patrick McEnroe and Brad Gilbert are still discussing and analyzing and trying to make sense of this madness. The look of pure shock on Patrick's face is hilarious. Brad actually looks like he just enjoyed the entire thing. 

[mojoween]

Aww I for one am sad.

Is there room on the Rafa train for me?

[PaulaO]

Not that I don’t love Fed, but do we need a bloody split screen while the Rafa/Del Po match is on?  Go Rafa.

[Ohwell]

I don't hate Federer but I'm so happy that Anderson gritted it out and won.

Now I'm rooting for Delpo but, unfortunately, it looks like Nadal might pull it off.  

[truthaboutluv]

Damn, that was an amazing day of tennis. That Rafa/Del Potro match was epic. I may or may not have stopped breathing a few times.

Now on a more important note, how in the hell is Isner in the semifinals of Wimbledon? Really?