Tennis Thread

[sacrebleu]

Okay, the Tennis Channel promo people have GOT to calm down. The Strokes of Genius documentary will reveal the untold story of the Fed-Nadal rivalry. The f*ck?!?!

Is there anything untold about this rivalry? Also, its based on a book that came out nearly ten years ago--so really, guys, know your audience.

(not saying I'm not gonna watch, tbh, but the promos, they are bad)

Edited May 29, 2018 by sacrebleu
articles before nouns make sacrebleu not sound like Tarzan

[NowVoyager]

They are replaying Serena's first round Roland Garros match now in prime time on the Tennis Channel. I'm already spoiled about the result, but I'm curious to see her form. She's playing a Pliskova twin (not the racquet smashing one.) Always known for her sartorial choices, I think the black catsuit makes a statement that she means business.

[NowVoyager]

Is anyone else watching Roland Garros? sacrebleu? Anyone?.... Oh, well.

I've been disappointed that they haven't aired it on any major channels in the last few years, but I'm pleased I can see it on The Tennis Channel, #735 for me. Sometimes when I put on that channel, it says I have to subscribe, but this year I was able to see the Miami Open &, now the French.

I really enjoyed the Donaldson/Dimitrov 5 set match! It's so nice to see a young American & umm, isn't Dimitrov the dude Sharapova & Serena had the public dust-up over?! I know; I'm messy... He is cute though.

Thursday should be excellent! Sharapova, Nadal, Serena, Muguruza, Isner, Halep,....

I'm curious what you folks think about Serena being seeded 435, or whatever, after her maternity leave. See, I don't think it affects her so much, but I do wonder about the journeywomen--- the lower-ranking ladies without the fat contracts, who hustle for $50,000 a year...

I also wonder about the lack of "Hawk-Eye" or "Shot Spot" at RG. I appreciate tradition, but it's already been shown multiple times that the referees were wrong. Thoughts?

[truthaboutluv]

I'm watching. My main takeaway thus far is just that I think Serena's catsuit is all kind of fierce. Sorry, I just always appreciate a good fashion moment. 

As for the lack of hawk-eye and everything else, honestly, I'm kind of over bitching about these things regarding the French Open because they clearly seem uninterested in changing things. 

While I was only half kidding about Serena's catsuit being my main takeaway, I will say that probably the most interesting thing I've observed in the first few days is that Rafa definitely does not look invincible. Not if that first round match was anything to go by. He started the season very strong and I definitely think his loss in Madrid had more to do with being tired but I saw some vulnerabilities in his game during the Italian Open. And he won that final against Zverev on sheer will and determination because his serve just seemed to take a vacation during the match. 

[SuburbanHangSuite]

I'm watching too.

5 hours ago, NowVoyager said:

I really enjoyed the Donaldson/Dimitrov 5 set match! It's so nice to see a young American & umm, isn't Dimitrov the dude Sharapova & Serena had the public dust-up over?! I know; I'm messy... He is cute though.

That really was a good match.  Right up until Donaldson dropped a couple of underhand serves in there.  I know he was hurting but I just didn't care for that.  I don't think I've seen that since Hingis did it to Graf when she was losing and bratting out.  I remember her getting booed mercilessly.  Hee!  Good times.  

Didn't know about Sharapova and Serena beefing over Grigor!  He is a cutie with a gorgeous backhand. I'll sit with you at the messy table.

Coco just lost.  Got bageled in the final set.  Today is a good day.

[BitterApple]

Minority opinion: I don't like the catsuit, but meh, I'm not the one wearing it.

I remember the Serena/Maria dust-up over Dimitrov. He's a cutie, but strikes me as one of those guys who knows it and is a major player.

I wish Tennis Channel would show more of the outer court matches. Rafa cruising through a pedestrian three-setter isn't exactly thrilling tennis. 

Halep is looking really strong. I wouldn't mind seeing her break through to win her first Slam.

[truthaboutluv]

25 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Minority opinion: I don't like the catsuit, but meh, I'm not the one wearing it.

It's definitely not something I would wear but I think Serena looks gorgeous in it. 

 

25 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

I wish Tennis Channel would show more of the outer court matches. Rafa cruising through a pedestrian three-setter isn't exactly thrilling tennis. 

I swear sometimes I've wondered if they only have cameras on the show courts with the way their coverage is. 

 

25 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Halep is looking really strong. I wouldn't mind seeing her break through to win her first Slam.

I always root for Simona to finally get that Major win but at the same time, I've learned to not expect too much since as far as I'm concerned, she should not have lost that final last year. Nothing against Ostapenko who I like well enough and definitely played fearless tennis those two weeks but Simona really lost that final for herself and she knew it. So would I love to see her finally win, yes. Am I holding my breath that it'll happen this year - no. 

 

1 hour ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Didn't know about Sharapova and Serena beefing over Grigor!

In the interest of fairness, if I remember this situation well, it was more like Serena came after Sharapova and threw shade because she was pressed that Grigor had moved on to Maria. As I remember it, Serena and Grigor's whatever was actually very, very brief. Maybe like a month or two. And then he started dating Maria and their relationship lasted I think a year and a half. When the relationship started, Serena did an interview with Rolling Stone where she threw all kinds of shade at Maria, talking about this one girl that no one likes and how she never gets invited to the "cool parties". 

The whole thing was very petty Mean Girl behavior and frankly I was embarrassed for Serena who I thought was too old to be acting like some shady high school girl. She never mentioned Maria by name but then after the article came out and all the buzz around it happened, she issued an apology statement, essentially confirming that she was talking about Maria. I can't remember the exact quote she made regarding Maria and Grigor's relationship but I do remember that Maria gave her the response. And while Maria is famously known as being kind of a bitch, I can't say I didn't laugh or think she was wrong in her response. 

Essentially she said that Serena should spend more time worrying about not dating someone else's husband rather than focusing on her relationship, as that was the time it was known that Serena and Patrick were romantically involved and Patrick and his wife were not yet divorced. Yeah Serena wisely didn't respond and that was the end of that saga. 

Edited May 31, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[dcalley]

Re: Grigor and Maria, this photo was taken after they were done, and Grigor's gaze was the topic of a lot of comments. That and Pete's shirt being bigger than Genie's dress.

[sally-can-wait]

3 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Coco just lost.  Got bageled in the final set.  Today is a good day.

I've been having a bad day but this just put a huge smile on my face. Bye Coco!!

[SuburbanHangSuite]

Serena and these, "COME ON!!!s". Ugh.  She's actually got me pulling for Barty.  

[Ohwell]

3 hours ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Coco just lost.  Got bageled in the final set.  Today is a good day.

Yaaassss!

2 hours ago, BitterApple said:

Minority opinion: I don't like the catsuit, but meh, I'm not the one wearing it.

I don't like it either.  Plus, I wonder how hot she gets in it. 

7 minutes ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Serena and these, "COME ON!!!s". Ugh.  She's actually got me pulling for Barty.  

I hate it, too, and I think she does it to rattle her opponent.  

[theatremouse]

18 hours ago, NowVoyager said:

I also wonder about the lack of "Hawk-Eye" or "Shot Spot" at RG. I appreciate tradition, but it's already been shown multiple times that the referees were wrong. Thoughts?

It's not about "tradition". Both the ATP and WTA require hawkeye to be accurate within 1mm precision to be used for officiation. Supposedly, the dust from the red clay means that it does not have that precision on clay. Since the company that makes haweye can't guarantee that precision on clay, it's not certified for challenges on clay. Hence the human "checking the mark". The cameras are still there, which is why TV can show the not-official hawkeye. But unless the replays show the umps being wrong by a wide-looking margin, basically, don't trust the replay.

[CheetaraThunder]

So if/when Nadal wins another French Open, will they just renamed it “The Nadal”?

[sacrebleu]

Yup. I'm watching.  (although the Tennis Channel really really needs to get more sponsors-- because the repetitiveness of the ads are driving me bonkers)

Maria Carillo has been in good form. I appreciate how she would not stop talking about how Sharapova seems to be getting louder-- so now I know to stay completely away from her matches.

I'm hoping to catch Djokavic/Verdasco on Sunday-- to get a good look at how Novak seems.  because he's been really spotty-- like 2009 levels of Novak spotty. Idk if its physical or mental or both-- but his game is still really inconsistent.

 

Quote

So if/when Nadal wins another French Open, will they just renamed it “The Nadal”?

heh hehe-- wasn't it in Madrid that they renamed the stadium court after him-- so he played matches on the court named after him-- that's gotta be intimidating for his opponents!

Edited June 1, 2018 by sacrebleu

[TVbitch]

What the hell with Tennis channel not being streamed online or showing replays? How are we supposed to watch it?   

I did see some of the Donaldson/Dimitrov match, such a shame he cramped up. I think he would have won it if he had not. 

[truthaboutluv]

10 hours ago, sacrebleu said:

heh hehe-- wasn't it in Madrid that they renamed the stadium court after him-- so he played matches on the court named after him-- that's gotta be intimidating for his opponents!

It's the Barcelona Open. The stadium court is now called The Piza Rafa Nadal. My thought actually is that it would really suck for him to ever lose on a court named after him. 

[theatremouse]

15 hours ago, TVbitch said:

What the hell with Tennis channel not being streamed online or showing replays? How are we supposed to watch it?   

They have been showing replays. I'm west coast and yesterday it aired from something like 2am-11am. Then they reaired the same matches I watched at 5am later in the afternoon/evening. Today's matching are on NBC so TC doesn't have rights to that, but earlier this week there were reairings every day as far as I could tell.

[VCRTracking]

Maria should accept winning is not in the cards for her and her best option is try to at least take Serena to a third set so it won't be that humiliating.*

*edited to fix grammar error

Edited June 2, 2018 by VCRTracking

[TVbitch]

4 hours ago, theatremouse said:

They have been showing replays. I'm west coast and yesterday it aired from something like 2am-11am. Then they reaired the same matches I watched at 5am later in the afternoon/evening. Today's matching are on NBC so TC doesn't have rights to that, but earlier this week there were reairings every day as far as I could tell.

Sorry, I meant it wouldn't stream online. I just figured out I had to turn off my ad blocker for tennischanneleverywhere.com to get it to stream. It's working now, YAY!  

[AimingforYoko]

3 hours ago, VCRTracking said:

Maria should accept winning is not in the cards for her and her best option is try to at least take it Serena a third set so it won't be that humiliating.

Some commenter on Deadspin said that Serena will be sending a car for Maria to ensure she arrives at the stadium.

[theatremouse]

I felt torn this morning because I didn't want Sharapova to win, since I pretty much never want Sharapova to win, but knew she'd likely be easier for Serena to beat in the next round than Pliskova, so I probably should've wanted her to win since I want Serena to win. Cognitive dissonance.

[BitterApple]

I'm with everyone saying Maria doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning this match. Serena's getting stronger every round and my 72 year-old mother could probably beat Sharapova in a foot race. I predict an easy two set win for Serena.

[theatremouse]

...I mean...don't jinx it. Serena still isn't quite in top form. But even Sharapova herself basically said "the numbers speak for themselves" (she might've literally said that in her presser today)

Still I think just stylewise, SW's got her number. Unless Serena's serve goes off or she has absurd unforced errors, should should win.

[truthaboutluv]

14 hours ago, theatremouse said:

...I mean...don't jinx it. Serena still isn't quite in top form.

This exactly. That said, this is probably Sharapova's best chance to get a win against Serena and if she doesn't, yeah might as well just not bother showing up to any of their other match-ups. Because this is a Serena coming off months of lack of match play and not in peak physical form. If she can't make this a match, then there's really no hope. 

Looking forward to Thiem/Nishikori tomorrow and Djokovic/Verdasco could also be a good one. 

Edited June 3, 2018 by truthaboutluv

[Spunkygal]

I had an iTunes credit that was about to expire and bought some books, one of which is Open by Agassi. Has anyone else read it? I don't have any particular feelings about Andre so don't know what to expect but so far, it's pretty good.

[truthaboutluv]

9 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

I had an iTunes credit that was about to expire and bought some books, one of which is Open by Agassi. Has anyone else read it? I don't have any particular feelings about Andre so don't know what to expect but so far, it's pretty good.

It's been on my "To Read" list for years since I'm not a big fan of autobiographies. That said, I've only heard great things about it and the reviews were stellar when it came out and I think it topped the NYT Bestseller list. 

[surreysmum]

41 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

I had an iTunes credit that was about to expire and bought some books, one of which is Open by Agassi. Has anyone else read it? I don't have any particular feelings about Andre so don't know what to expect but so far, it's pretty good.

I read it back in'14, so had to go back to my goodreads account to remind myself of exactly what I thought. Rather than summarize, here's my lazy copy-paste from there:

I have had this on my "mildly interested" list for a few years now, and after reading it, I remain mildly interested. It is, as advertised, better written than most sports autobiographies, and this is doubtless partly because the ghost writer managed actually to prod or extract a fair bit of emotional detail out of his subject, and not just about the big wins, big losses, and major rivals.

The presence of that ghost writer, J.R. Moehringer, however, is also a stumbling block for me, and that's because I am never fully convinced I am hearing Agassi's own voice. Delightful as the carefully crafted repetition of themes, and well-structured narrative (rise, fall, rise again) can be, they do not sit easily with the story that is actually being told, which is that of a young man without formal education who is reluctantly and obsessively enfolded into a profession he dislikes, and sticks with it a long time at cost to his body until forced by said body to retire. Ironically, the Agassi we are told about is nowhere near as self-aware as his narrator; in fact, he's very much a "guy", chasing women, casually entitled to his good fortune and grumbling about the bad, and just generally proving that those who dislike him personally probably had some reasonable grounds, just as those who love him and remain loyal to him probably also have some reasonable grounds. Pretty ordinary, in fact. So where is the explanation of the extraordinary life?  I doubt Agassi understands it any more than those of us not gifted with extraordinary talent or with the will (however reluctant) to reinforce that talent with obsessive training. So while we get plenty of the "guy" (getting himself kicked out of tournaments for swearing, for instance, or being in aggressive courting mode with Steffi Graf), we don't really get the sense he considers these things as anything more than good stories you would tell your ghost writer.

Would I therefore be more interested in Agassi's story as actually told by Agassi himself on all those tapes his writer has? Probably not. Did Mr. Moehringer's well-crafted piece of literature provide me with some enjoyment over the last couple of days? Yes, it did. And if I want to revisit the thrill of Agassi as I first encountered him when I was younger fan of tennis? Youtube. Definitely youtube.

[TVbitch]

I was a fan of his way back in his big hair days. Alls I remember from the book is...

Spoiler

being disappointed that he cheated. (Both with tennis and the hair!) I find it odd he remains so beloved as an icon of the sport when he admitted to cheating. 

I spoilered that in case you don't already know these revelations. @Spunkygal

Well, the only match that held my interest today were the final ladies. Hope I am able to see the end tomorrow, but with all other play AND rain who knows what matches and when Tennis Channel with play them. I wish they would post an Order of Play for their coverage. I can't afford Tennis Channel Plus!  

[NowVoyager]

On 6/2/2018 at 3:33 PM, VCRTracking said:

Maria should accept winning is not in the cards for her and her best option is try to at least take Serena to a third set so it won't be that humiliating.*

*edited to fix grammar error

 

On 6/2/2018 at 6:37 PM, AimingforYoko said:

Some commenter on Deadspin said that Serena will be sending a car for Maria to ensure she arrives at the stadium.

 

On 6/2/2018 at 6:56 PM, theatremouse said:

I felt torn this morning because I didn't want Sharapova to win, since I pretty much never want Sharapova to win, but knew she'd likely be easier for Serena to beat in the next round than Pliskova, so I probably should've wanted her to win since I want Serena to win. Cognitive dissonance.

 

On 6/2/2018 at 7:48 PM, BitterApple said:

I'm with everyone saying Maria doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning this match. Serena's getting stronger every round and my 72 year-old mother could probably beat Sharapova in a foot race. I predict an easy two set win for Serena.

 

On 6/2/2018 at 8:35 PM, theatremouse said:

...I mean...don't jinx it. Serena still isn't quite in top form. But even Sharapova herself basically said "the numbers speak for themselves" (she might've literally said that in her presser today)

Still I think just stylewise, SW's got her number. Unless Serena's serve goes off or she has absurd unforced errors, should should win.

 

On 6/2/2018 at 8:42 PM, truthaboutluv said:

This exactly. That said, this is probably Sharapova's best chance to get a win against Serena and if she doesn't, yeah might as well just not bother showing up to any of their other match-ups. Because this is a Serena coming off months of lack of match play and not in peak physical form. If she can't make this a match, then there's really no hope. 

Looking forward to Thiem/Nishikori tomorrow and Djokovic/Verdasco could also be a good one. 

O!M!G!!! Watching Rafa live, waiting for Serena/Sharapova to take the court. Something about Serena just withdrew due to an arm injury....

[BitterApple]

7 minutes ago, NowVoyager said:

 

 

 

 

 

O!M!G!!! Watching Rafa live, waiting for Serena/Sharapova to take the court. Something about Serena just withdrew due to an arm injury....

Wait, what?!!!! *running to put on Tennis Channel*

Edited June 4, 2018 by BitterApple

[NowVoyager]

Serena's giving a press conference. It's true. She's out.

A pectoral injury. She can't serve. Maybe that's why Venus & Serena bagelled that last set in doubles. Did anyone watch that? I missed it.

[sally-can-wait]

5 minutes ago, NowVoyager said:

Serena's giving a press conference. It's true. She's out.

A pectoral injury. She can't serve. Maybe that's why Venus & Serena bagelled that last set in doubles. Did anyone watch that? I missed it.

Noooo! Damn it. I wanted to see her kick Maria's ass one more time. I'm all in for Halep now. 

[truthaboutluv]

Yup. Was just coming to post about it. Guess Maria's fairy godmother sprinkled some little fairy dust for her. Oh well. Sucks for Serena but hopefully it's nothing too serious and she'll be fine in a few days and ready for Wimbledon. 

[NowVoyager]

A pectoral strain. An injury she's never had before. Typically due to overuse. Serena hasn't retired from a match since 1998. Lindsay Davenport & the other talking heads were suggesting playing doubles may have been too much. 

[NowVoyager]

13 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

Yup. Was just coming to post about it. Guess Maria's fairy godmother sprinkled some little fairy dust for her. Oh well. Sucks for Serena but hopefully it's nothing too serious and she'll be fine in a few days and ready for Wimbledon. 

Quick Google: a pectoral strain takes 3-6 weeks to heal. Serena's due to have an MRI before she leaves Paris. I think Wimbledon is out for her.

[theatremouse]

It depends on how bad it is. If she feels fine in 3, I'd expect her to play. If she's hurting, she won't, but if the issue is just that she's out of form, she will. As we've seen dozens of times, she plays her way into a tournament.

[Harry24]

Sorry to hear about Serena.  I'm home sick and was looking forward to seeing Maria get her annoying, condescending, screeching ass handed to her by Serena.  Again.  

Oh, well.

But wtf, Tennis Channel?  Cilic/Fognini and Kerber/Garcia (who I was hoping might pull it out for the French fans) are playing, and we're seeing Rafa kill this cute German guy on replay?

Edited June 4, 2018 by Harry24
Comment that was considered political.

[BitterApple]

Bummer for Serena. From the comments I've read, fans seem to be equally divided. 50% think her ego couldn't handle a potential loss to a fitter Sharapova and the other 50% think it's legit. 

On another note, I'm really wanting to root for my sweetie Del Potro, but gosh darn, suffering through an Isner match is like watching paint dry. 

[CheetaraThunder]

So, I guess my interest is now fully on Nadal winning again, with Serena out. I am glad though that Serena took herself out so she doesn’t further injure herself. Just get better and prepare for the next Grand Slam. 

[NowVoyager]

36 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Bummer for Serena. From the comments I've read, fans seem to be equally divided. 50% think her ego couldn't handle a potential loss to a fitter Sharapova and the other 50% think it's legit. 

On another note, I'm really wanting to root for my sweetie Del Potro, but gosh darn, suffering through an Isner match is like watching paint dry. 

Serena couldn't carry her own bag off the court the other day after the doubles match with Venus. I don't think she's faking.

As an American, I'm very proud of John Isner's record. But, usually his matches are.... zzzz.... snoozers!

Edited June 4, 2018 by NowVoyager

[NowVoyager]

10 hours ago, Harry24 said:

Sorry to hear about Serena.  I'm home sick and was looking forward to seeing Maria get her annoying, condescending, screeching ass handed to her by Serena.  Again.  

Oh, well.

But wtf, Tennis Channel?  Cilic/Fognini and Kerber/Garcia (who I was hoping might pull it out for the French fans) are playing, and we're seeing Rafa kill this cute German guy on replay?

Hope you feel better soon!

Ah! Good times! Watching Serena whup up on Maria..... Mmmm!

Edited June 5, 2018 by NowVoyager

[Ohwell]

3 hours ago, BitterApple said:

On another note, I'm really wanting to root for my sweetie Del Potro, but gosh darn, suffering through an Isner match is like watching paint dry. 

Yes!  I can't watch because of Isner, so I'll just wait for the results and hope my sweetie Delpo has won.

Wow, I just checked and DelPotro kicked his ass in three sets.  Thank goodness! 

Edited June 4, 2018 by Ohwell

[sacrebleu]

Quote

I had an iTunes credit that was about to expire and bought some books, one of which is Open by Agassi. Has anyone else read it? I don't have any particular feelings about Andre so don't know what to expect but so far, it's pretty good.

 

I enjoyed it-- although I was stunned to find out the real reason he lost that French Open to Gomez 

 

Spoiler

His frickin' toupee fell apart, holy shit! That's what distracted him!?!?! 

There was a lot of introspection-- he didn't shy away from some of the more unpleasant aspects of his downward swings, or his difficult relationship with his dad.  He also told some great stories-- so, as a long time Agassi fan, I'd give it a thumbs up.

[sally-can-wait]

Is the Tennis Channel freaking kidding?! Halep and Kerber are going to a third and they switch to the START of Rafa's match? Come on!!

[truthaboutluv]

Damn, Muguruza delivered a beat down on Sharapova. Honestly, I was surprised how many so called experts thought this was going to be close and were picking Maria, largely based on their H2H record. Yes, Maria had a 3-0 H2H over Muguruza coming into the match, but all of those wins happened years ago before Muguruza truly came into her own. Maria isn't the player she was then and Muguruza sure as hell isn't either. 

[TVbitch]

Tennis Channel is pissing me off so much! Really, we can't even see the final games of Halep/Kerber cuz we have to watch every moment of Rafa on court! 

Does anyone know which semis NBC will be showing? It will be shown delayed at 11AM on the west coast and I am trying to figure out a way to watch both without getting spoiled.  

[Spunkygal]

@TVbitch, I couldn't find an order of play for NBC but here is TC's order of play. That may not help you much. The description of the semis on the NBC site just says women's semis. Sorry I couldn't be more help.

http://thetennischannel.com/news/top-stories/oop

[TVbitch]

Thanks for your efforts @Spunkygal! How very kind of you.

So TC is showing them all live? I thought when NBC showed one, TC had to not show it or show it later on replay. 

[Spunkygal]

22 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Thanks for your efforts @Spunkygal! How very kind of you.

So TC is showing them all live? I thought when NBC showed one, TC had to not show it or show it later on replay. 

According to my DVR guide and the link I sent, TC is showing it live beginning 8 am central time and coverage ending at 1 pm. However, with so many matches to finish, I imagine coverage will go beyond 1 pm. I'm just sticking with TC and probably won't watch NBC.

Update! Looks like TC has the men's quarters at 5 am and then women's at 8 am (all central so adjust accordingly for you). 

Edited June 7, 2018 by Spunkygal

[crimsongrl]

49 minutes ago, TVbitch said:

Tennis Channel is pissing me off so much! Really, we can't even see the final games of Halep/Kerber cuz we have to watch every moment of Rafa on court! 

Does anyone know which semis NBC will be showing? It will be shown delayed at 11AM on the west coast and I am trying to figure out a way to watch both without getting spoiled.  

I expect NBC to show the all American semifinal. I'm more excited for Halep/Mugu. I'd love to see Halep win but Garbine was on fire today.  I can't believe how much I still enjoy Sharapova losing!