Tennis Thread

[theatremouse]

I thought it was a weird take for the reporting to really start harping on what Katsakina's coach said* ("She's 37, you're 20"). I mean, I understand why they did. Everyone seems to love to talk about Venus' age constantly. And she did seem a bit gassed by the end, but so did Katsakina a bit. I mean, a 3 hour match is long in general. Most players would be gassed. Plus if I have it right, pretty much all their previous head to heads were over two hours, and three setters and fairly close. So, why exactly was anyone shocked this match was similar? It seemed less a product of either of their ages and more completely in line with all their previous encounters. It was odd to me that they mentioned the previous scores and match times exactly once, and them completely ignored the similarities. It shows how lazy tennis commentating is. They ask the exact same questions in every pre-match interview, every post-win on court interview, and they decide their narrative before the players play. It's so uninteresting to listen to.

 

*Not that it was an unreasonable thing for him to say as a coach, but the second I heard it I knew I'd be hearing it repeatedly throughout the broadcast. Hell they'll probably even keep harping on it tomorrow even though Venus is out of the tournament.

[Harry24]

Quote

They ask the exact same questions in every pre-match interview, every post-win on court interview, and they decide their narrative before the players play. It's so uninteresting to listen to.

THIS!!!!!  Whatever the choice of narrative, the relentless pumping of it is so exhausting and headache-inducing.  You have (mostly) articulate, (mostly) interesting people calling the matches.  Let them respond to the moment.  Sure, plan out some possible themes they might refer to, but don't effing story-board a live event!!!  The spontaneity of live sports is one of the things that makes them potentially so exciting.

(This is one of the things that makes the Fed tongue-baths truthaboutluv complained of so enervating.  And this is coming from a HUGE Fed fan.  If the announcers are GENUINELY moved to praise him, namaste.  Just stop beating us over the head with it already!)

[mojoween]

As I am watching Fed and Juan go at it (and feel like a fistfight is brewing), it occurs to me once again that there is no prettier court than Wimbledon.

I only say this because I don’t usually watch anything other than majors, and so was unaware of what other courts look like.  Blue is generally my favorite color but not in tennis venues.

[QueerGirrl]

Juan Martin!!!!!  Yes!!!!!

[truthaboutluv]

1 hour ago, mojoween said:

 Blue is generally my favorite color but not in tennis venues.

It makes the ball very hard to see (at least it does for me). 

Well done Del Potro. Have to say, I had my doubts when he went down a break late in the third but way to keep calm and raise your level when you need to. In general, I thought this was a pretty good match. Can't believe this is only Del Potro's first Masters 1000.

[Ohwell]

I'm delighted and ecstatic for Delpo!  I was switching back and forth between this and NCAA basketball, so I forgot and missed the final 15 minutes or so.  I hope they show the ending on the news tonight because I want to see his reaction to winning.

[dcalley]

15 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I'm delighted and ecstatic for Delpo!  I was switching back and forth between this and NCAA basketball, so I forgot and missed the final 15 minutes or so.  I hope they show the ending on the news tonight because I want to see his reaction to winning.

You might be able to see it here: http://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=3304364, and the trophy ceremony is here: http://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=3332454

[Ohwell]

Thanks!

[Ohwell]

That was a dogfight!

[roseha]

Just in relation to the talk about commentary above -  early on at Indian Wells I was able to hear Martina Navratilova doing commentary on the match between Halep and Dolehide on Tennis Channel, and I just have to say, without question, that Martina is the best commentator I have ever heard, it's not even close, and I have been watching tennis since 1980.  She actually described the three different levels of Dolehide's kick serve, and that's only one example.  She consistently tells you what is going on down on the court between the players, what works and what doesn't and makes you feel that you are actually there, and without any of the psychoanalysis or condescending comments I get so sick of - how many tournaments has Chris Fowler ever won? 

I enjoy tennis a lot, the early rounds are fun and finals can be very dramatic - but I wish more commentators would take a page out  of Martina's book.

[Harry24]

Naomi Osaka played so well today in taking out Serena in the first round.  Serena is still clearly way short of her usual form, but it was nonetheless an impressive achievement.  I thought surely Naomi would have a mental letdown after winning in Indian Wells.

I find her absolutely delightful.  She said in her victory speech that it was probably one of the worst victory speeches ever, but I thought it was one of the best!  So cute.  Today in her on-court interview she said that one of her goals in playing Serena was to play well enough to prompt Serena to yell a patented "Come on!" at least once.

[roseha]

22 hours ago, Harry24 said:

Naomi Osaka played so well today in taking out Serena in the first round.  Serena is still clearly way short of her usual form, but it was nonetheless an impressive achievement.  I thought surely Naomi would have a mental letdown after winning in Indian Wells.

I find her absolutely delightful.  She said in her victory speech that it was probably one of the worst victory speeches ever, but I thought it was one of the best!  So cute.  Today in her on-court interview she said that one of her goals in playing Serena was to play well enough to prompt Serena to yell a patented "Come on!" at least once.

I think she's great also Harry24. Dare I say it, Naomi seems to have a certain star quality.  I hope she will be able to keep it up, it's so impressive the way she is performing at her age.

[mojoween]

I mean, how cute is this?

[TVbitch]

My heart kind of broke for Dj. I'm not really sure what is all going on with him, but he looked so gaunt and his little spark of fight in getting a break and then making the umbrella girl laugh made me root for him, but he is so clearly not even close to back to form.

[TVbitch]

Wow, Simona and Fed out. Was nice to see Aggie back in it. 

*and now a moment of silence for Darren Cahill*

[truthaboutluv]

47 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Wow, Simona and Fed out. Was nice to see Aggie back in it. 

*and now a moment of silence for Darren Cahill*

Saw the Fed news and was so confused because shows how uninterested I was, I didn't even realize he was playing today. Good for Kokkinakis. Sounds like it was a good match and he dug deep when he needed to. Will be interesting to see who wins the entire thing. Would be an amazing run for Del Potro if he could pull off the back to back win but I have a feeling someone else will take it. Oh and to no one's surprise, Federer announced after the match that once again he will be skipping the entire clay season. 

Not surprised about Simona's loss. As soon as I saw the match up, I just had a gut feeling Aggie would take it. Was far more surprised by Wozniacki's loss to Puig. Speaking of Wozniacki, what's the story with her apparently calling out the tournament organizers for not controlling the crowd, going as far as saying her family/team were receiving death threats? Were there that many Puig fans in the crowd?

 

22 hours ago, TVbitch said:

My heart kind of broke for Dj. I'm not really sure what is all going on with him, but he looked so gaunt and his little spark of fight in getting a break and then making the umbrella girl laugh made me root for him, but he is so clearly not even close to back to form.

Personally, ever since Djokovic became a vegan, I've thought he looked gaunt and it's the reason I was actually always amazed at how strong he was on court with his serves, movement, etc.  But yeah, he's definitely not close to being back to the player he was just a few years ago. At this point, I also imagine that much like when Rafa struggled to get back in form and kept having tough loss after tough loss, Novak's confidence is taking a beating and we all know sports is as much mental as it is physical. 

[Ohwell]

13 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

Personally, ever since Djokovic became a vegan, I've thought he looked gaunt and it's the reason I was actually always amazed at how strong he was on court with his serves, movement, etc.

Wow, I didn't know he'd become a vegan and I guess that's why he looks so gaunt.  I wondered what was going on because he really looks bad.

[QueerGirrl]

Venus!!!  Damn that was a great match. 

[topanga]

16 hours ago, QueerGirrl said:

Venus!!!  Damn that was a great match. 

She’s been playing her butt off for the past year. I’d love to see her win more tournaments and at least one more Slam. 

[theatremouse]

On 3/24/2018 at 6:36 PM, truthaboutluv said:

Not surprised about Simona's loss. As soon as I saw the match up, I just had a gut feeling Aggie would take it. Was far more surprised by Wozniacki's loss to Puig. Speaking of Wozniacki, what's the story with her apparently calling out the tournament organizers for not controlling the crowd, going as far as saying her family/team were receiving death threats? Were there that many Puig fans in the crowd?

I don't doubt there were a lot of Puig fans in the crowd, but it doesn't really take "that many" for what she was complaining about to be a problem. There just have to be 2-3 assholes sitting close enough to Caroline's camp that the family and/or she specifically heard what they were saying. Her version of events was not just complaining that the whole stadium was behind Puig (because you're just dealing with general loudness and hearing the other person's name). The problem was specific, directed remarks at her and her family.

That said, during the broadcast I sort of thought the announcers were full of it when they kept bringing up other sports. Like, yes it's true that other sports don't generally shush the crowd, but basketball or baseball or football stadiums hold way more people than tennis, and it's a lot louder in general, and it is common that if a particular player hears one heckler saying, frankly, less offensive things than what Caroline said happened, it's normal for security to ask specific people to leave. So I thought it was weird that in the moment the broadcasters seemed to immediately go to the well of "gee how unprofessional for her to let the crowd bother her so much". Although I'm guessing in that moment all they could see was that she was agitated but didn't necessarily hear what she heard? Still the analogy was not great.

[TVbitch]

I did not know Dj went vegan. Why on earth would his team let him do that?! I have nothing against veganism, but he was in excellent shape/stamina before and looks to be in need of lots of high quaity proteins now.  

Saw the end of Verdasco/Kokkinakis and the announcers were saying how heated it had gotten between the players. Something about Verdasco upset about Kokkinakis's dad was doing. Did anybody see what happened? 

[truthaboutluv]

7 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

I did not know Dj went vegan. Why on earth would his team let him do that?! I have nothing against veganism, but he was in excellent shape/stamina before and looks to be in need of lots of high quaity proteins now.  

So I never like to post incorrect information, so I searched to make sure I was right because I knew I read something regarding this. And I found this  article. So it sounds like he may not be a strict vegan but he definitely has a gluten free diet and doesn't eat meat. 

[crimsongrl]

8 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Saw the end of Verdasco/Kokkinakis and the announcers were saying how heated it had gotten between the players. Something about Verdasco upset about Kokkinakis's dad was doing. Did anybody see what happened? 

Tennis Beef

[TVbitch]

13 minutes ago, crimsongrl said:

Tennis Beef

OMG, those tweets are hilarious.

Ferrer plays so hard, and is such a gentleman, I always root for him. At least he seems to have woken Zv up. Also, it kind of bugs the way Zv constantly lifts his shirt up exposing his grantedly rock solid abs. 

[healthnut]

Fed and Nadal are planning to play doubles at Wimbledon!   

Apparent April Fools prank

I was so excited for a minute

Edited April 1, 2018 by healthnut

[Spunkygal]

4 minutes ago, healthnut said:

Fed and Nadal are planning to play doubles at Wimbledon!

Ha, good one, but I'm not biting. Our local zoo's Twitter already got me with a pic of a new bird breed they just hatched. 

[truthaboutluv]

18 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

Ha, good one, but I'm not biting. Our local zoo's Twitter already got me with a pic of a new bird breed they just hatched. 

I'm pretty much wary of any big breaking news on April 1. And yeah that Federer/Nadal story was obviously fake but a good one, I'll give the folks who came up with it, that. 

So in other tennis news, Sloane and Isner won the Miami Open and apparently no one really cares much. I was surprised that Sloane beat Ostapenko and I guess great for Isner on his first Masters title but ugh, something about him has always bugged me. I also tried to enjoy the match but too many times it turned into a serve/ace fest and I find those boring as hell. 

Edited April 2, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[Ohwell]

I was happy for Sloane but Isner, yeah, I yawned.   I hate watching him play because most of his matches take forever to end.  I think the problem is that he's good enough that his opponent can't take him out quickly, but not good enough to take his opponent out quickly.  So the match goes on and on and even when he loses, his opponent is sometimes too worn out to win the next match.  Also, I thought it was pretty telling that a U.S. crowd was rooting for DelPotro over him.   

[NUguy514]

3 hours ago, Ohwell said:

Also, I thought it was pretty telling that a U.S. crowd was rooting for DelPotro over him.   

Those actually weren't Americans cheering; there is a large contingent of Argentines who attend a few of the East Coast tournaments to cheer (obnoxiously) DelPo on.  They were present at the US Open, and they were present here.

I know it was an April Fool's Day prank, but I now really want Roger and Rafa to play doubles together!

[Ohwell]

59 minutes ago, NUguy514 said:

Those actually weren't Americans cheering; there is a large contingent of Argentines who attend a few of the East Coast tournaments to cheer (obnoxiously) DelPo on.  They were present at the US Open, and they were present here.

Oh I know that he has a large Argentinian squad cheering for him at a lot of tournaments.  I don't think they're obnoxious.  I believe he's pretty popular in the U.S. and there were also a lot of Americans cheering for him.  There are some foreign players we love to see play, such as him and Monfils, and they get many of us in the U.S. cheering for them, even over their American opponents.  I've seen some of those matches in person. 

[TVbitch]

DelPo seemed pretty sleepy in Miami, maybe Indian Wells wore him out. 

I don't like Isner matches either. I want to see exciting rallies, not who can serve the most aces. 

[halopub]

Just for laughs...Andy Murray was apparently ambushed into a comedic charity bit last week. I laughed out loud at the Tim Henman part.

[caracas1914]

Goodness, Rafael Nadal just won his 11th Monte Carlo title (not a typo) and he looked better than ever on clay.  The 2 handed backhand in particular was like buttah.

 

Counting the previous week’s Davis Cup tie, Rafa manhandled Zverev, Thiem, Dimitrov and Nishikori in straight sets, with their winning at most five games in the entire match.

 

I just dont see who has a realistic chance ( barring injuries) of snatching 3 sets from him on Roland Garos yet again.

 

ETA: the Zverev match was best of five and Rafa gave up nine games over three sets.

Edited April 22, 2018 by caracas1914

[truthaboutluv]

39 minutes ago, caracas1914 said:

I just dont see who has a realistic chance ( barring injuries)

Always the key factor when it comes to Rafa. But yes, he has looked really good. A bit unsteady in the Dimitrov semifinal, which is why he sent Moya a message to set up a practice session as soon as the match was over. But definitely looking on path to dominate the clay season again *fingers crossed*. He also extended his most Masters 1000 titles record, to 31.

[caracas1914]

22 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

A bit unsteady in the Dimitrov semifinal, which is why he sent Moya a message to set up a practice session as soon as the match was over. 

Dimitrov has such a beautiful game and his movement is so fluid, of all the younger Turks I most enjoy his game to watch when he’s on.

[truthaboutluv]

8 minutes ago, caracas1914 said:

Dimitrov has such a beautiful game and his movement is so fluid, of all the younger Turks I most enjoy his game to watch when he’s on.

Yeah that's why he got the nickname Baby Fed when he first burst onto the scene. Because he has a slightly similar one handed backhand that is one of Federer's signature shots, though Grigor's is not nearly as controlled as Federer's. Grigor is one of those frustrating players in that he has a lot of the tools to be amazing but it just can't seem to fully come together. 

[shok]

On 4/22/2018 at 9:31 AM, truthaboutluv said:

Always the key factor when it comes to Rafa. But yes, he has looked really good. A bit unsteady in the Dimitrov semifinal, which is why he sent Moya a message to set up a practice session as soon as the match was over. But definitely looking on path to dominate the clay season again *fingers crossed*. He also extended his most Masters 1000 titles record, to 31.

Rafa set a bunch of different records by winning Monte Carlo last weekend but one I think is most impressive is he tied Fed for the Open Era record of winning at least one tournament for fifteen consecutive seasons. And they said he'd never last because of the way he played. Hah!

[shok]

More records for Rafa. Winning 50 consecutive sets on a surface is an amazing achievement. It's so easy to lose one set with just a couple of bad serves or an unlucky net cord. I read that he actually also tied Jimmy Connors for number of sets won consecutively on all surfaces with that win. Wonder how long he'll be able to keep this streak up.

[roseha]

Congratulations to Sascha Zverev, on winning Madrid, his 3rd Masters 1000 at barely age 21.  He went a long stretch with no victories until recently but now really seems to be putting his game and concentration together these last couple of weeks.  He also went through this whole event on clay without being broken once!  I think it bodes well for his future.

[mojoween]

I don’t know if I've seen as big of a poor sport as Karolina Pliskova psyching out the ump from a handshake and then attacking the chair with her racket.  In front of everyone!

Edited May 16, 2018 by mojoween

[truthaboutluv]

On 5/13/2018 at 10:12 PM, roseha said:

Congratulations to Sascha Zverev, on winning Madrid, his 3rd Masters 1000 at barely age 21.  He went a long stretch with no victories until recently but now really seems to be putting his game and concentration together these last couple of weeks.  He also went through this whole event on clay without being broken once!  I think it bodes well for his future.

Zverev definitely has the talent and game for major wins. I just feel like I'm still waiting to see him truly show up at the Slams. It's great that he's getting these big wins at the Masters series level but that has to start translating to the truly big stage. I mean he hasn't even made a GS quarter-final yet, which I find shocking. 

So tomorrow Rafa and Djokovic will play in the semifinals at Rome. I notice some buzz about this match, as some seem to feel like Djokovic is slowly getting his game back together. I don't know, I'm sort of indifferent about the match. Don't get me wrong, I of course want Rafa to win but I'm just not seeing it as this big deal match some are making it out to be and I wonder if that's on some level, I actually don't think it'll be as close as some believe. 

Now watch Rafa lose and make a liar out of me, lol. 

Edited May 18, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[NowVoyager]

On 5/16/2018 at 5:35 PM, mojoween said:

I don’t know if I've seen as big of a poor sport as Karolina Pliskova psyching out the ump from a handshake and then attacking the chair with her racket.  In front of everyone!

I was shocked her fine was only 4 figures. That was horrible. That ref must have been legit terrified.

[NowVoyager]

Well, I don't know if she'll be rusty at the French Open, but Serena slayed at the Royal Wedding!

[truthaboutluv]

Is Serena even playing the French? When she didn't play any of the warm-up tournaments, I kind of took that as a sign that she wouldn't play the French Open. 

 

10 minutes ago, NowVoyager said:

I was shocked her fine was only 4 figures. That was horrible. That ref must have been legit terrified.

I'm more stunned by the fact that Plishkova showed human emotion. Who knew?

So that was a rather odd final between Rafa and Zverev today. After a pretty routine punishing start by Rafa, his game just seemed to fall apart in the second set. Though I will say to Zverev's credit, he did start going for broke and being really aggressive in the second set. But Rafa's serve was just a mess. And then of course the rain delay came in the third set and Rafa came back out like a completely different player 

I saw many Zverev fans pissed and acting like it was almost unfair that in their minds the rain delay made Rafa win. As far as I'm concerned though, this is where experience and the mindset of a champion matters and makes the difference in a match. Because if Zverev is going to make a short rain delay cause his game to fall apart then he's not ready for the big leagues. Rain delays happen. And the fact is Rafa was never just going to lay down and give up. 

[NowVoyager]

4 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

Is Serena even playing the French? When she didn't play any of the warm-up tournaments, I kind of took that as a sign that she wouldn't play the French Open. 

Good point. I just read that she withdrew from the Madrid Open & the Italian Open, so the French looks increasingly iffy. Oh well, at least she's enjoying life off the court.

4 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

I'm more stunned by the fact that Plishkova showed human emotion. Who knew?

Lol!!

[sacrebleu]

Quote

Is Serena even playing the French? When she didn't play any of the warm-up tournaments, I kind of took that as a sign that she wouldn't play the French Open. 

 

If you believe the Tennis channel ads she is. I believe they refer to it as "the queen returning to her court" To which I say, calm down Tennis channel-- she's won the French fewer times than any other slam. (not belittling her accomplishments by any means-- she's amazing-- but I think they're overhyping things a bit)

[truthaboutluv]

20 minutes ago, sacrebleu said:

 

If you believe the Tennis channel ads she is. I believe they refer to it as "the queen returning to her court" To which I say, calm down Tennis channel-- she's won the French fewer times than any other slam. (not belittling her accomplishments by any means-- she's amazing-- but I think they're overhyping things a bit)

Hmm, interesting. And yeah, if you go by her titles, you can arguably say that clay is her weakest surface. 

[theatremouse]

Last she commented on it (that I recall), she withdrew from the warmups to ensure she'd be ready for Roland Garros. And she does have a strong history of performing better in slams than smaller tournaments. So she may prefer to just do all her prep and forego the match play to hit the ground running at the slam. Or she may bow out. I wouldn't be surprised if she's waiting until the last possible moment to decide.

[BitterApple]

I think Serena's gonna end up bagging it. She's not match tough, clay has never been her best surface and two weeks at a Grand Slam is mentally draining. If she plays and goes deep into the draw, I'd be surprised. She'd be better off coming back at Wimbledon, where the grass better suits her game.

[Ohwell]

Yeah Serena's got nothing to prove to anyone, so if I were her, I'd just wait until Wimbledon.