Tennis Thread

[BitterApple]

16 hours ago, mojoween said:

The crowd was really annoying from start to finish.  And who brings a toddler to a GS final?

I've always found the French crowd to be the most obnoxious with all the yelping and chanting between points. I'm all for cheering and getting excited about good tennis, but the Roland Garros fans yell right as players are about to serve. It's very distracting and it happens so regularly I'm surprised the umpires don't do more to control it. 

[sacrebleu]

I saw someone (a NYT sports writer) tweet out a pretty stunning fact. Theim, having won the second set, is the only men's player under 30 to win a set in a grand slam final.

Yikes. I know we're living in an amazing age for tennis-- but these younger guys have got to step it up.

That being said, I'm so happy Rafa won, especially after a difficult clay court season.

[theatremouse]

On 6/9/2019 at 3:04 PM, mojoween said:

And who brings a toddler to a GS final?

Someone whose babysitter cancels but is determine to use their tickets anyway?

[khyber]

I have had amazing fun watching Feliciano Lopez this week. His grass court game is lovely to watch. The touch at net is amazing.

[Harry24]

4 hours ago, khyber said:

I have had amazing fun watching Feliciano Lopez this week. His grass court game is lovely to watch. The touch at net is amazing.

Yes, it was so nice being reminded what a great game he has.  

It's funny that the newly retired or almost retired players who are now tournament directors of big tournaments are all so conspicuously gorgeous: Lopez, Blake and Haas.  Don't know what to make of that beyond the fact that, 1) most tennis players are pretty great looking, and; 2) being pretty just doesn't hurt.

[TVbitch]

I also enjoyed Lopez this week, and his trophy speech was so funny and charming. And yes, he and his fiance make an almost unfairly fabulous looking couple. 

I was pretty fucking pissed at Tennis Channel though, for not showing the womens' finals. I especially wanted to see Kenin. At one point they were showing it and it was 6-7, 7-6, 4-4 and they STILL cut away to show the first set of the men's doubles final. I have been checking in throughout the day to see if they would show it later but no. Lame!

[truthaboutluv]

And Sabalenka is out in the first round at Wimbledon. And she was the number 10 seed. I asked this before and no one responded so I'll ask again. Can anyone explain Sabalenka's rise in the rankings to me? 

Because so far this year she's lost in the first two rounds of Australia, French and now Wimbledon. She didn't win or get particularly far at Indian Wells or Miami and was virtually irrelevant throughout the clay season in the lead up to the French. So like how and why does this chick keep getting these high rankings. 

[SuburbanHangSuite]

Naomi Osaka needs to reevaluate her split with Sascha as her coach.  She's been a mess ever since their parting.

[truthaboutluv]

1 minute ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Naomi Osaka needs to reevaluate her split with Sascha as her coach.  She's been a mess ever since their parting.

YMMV, the moment I read her reasoning for the split with Sascha, I knew this would likely not end well. Obviously I don't know either party personally and the situation may have been a lot more toxic than Naomi was willing to admit but the reason she did give just sounded like she didn't like having a coach who was really pushing her.

And I'm sorry, I don't know any elite athlete whose coach isn't tough when need be. Coaches are not there to hold your hand and baby you. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating for abusive coaching practices but yeah I expect that coaches will be tough and push their athlete. 

Seems like the upsets kept coming today. Neither Naomi or Zverev was surprising to me but did not expect Tsitsipas to lose. Happy for Auger-Aliassime.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

31 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

Obviously I don't know either party personally and the situation may have been a lot more toxic than Naomi was willing to admit but the reason she did give just sounded like she didn't like having a coach who was really pushing her.

And I'm sorry, I don't know any elite athlete whose coach isn't tough when need be. Coaches are not there to hold your hand and baby you.

Right?  She was very vague about the reasons they split and she just seems so lost now.  

Someone who is not looking lost?  This young girl Gauff!  She looks pretty fearless right now and Venus has her hands full.  Serena said exactly what I was thinking---Cori reminds me of Venus too!  Especially those long legs.

[truthaboutluv]

27 minutes ago, SuburbanHangSuite said:

Serena said exactly what I was thinking---Cori reminds me of Venus too!  Especially those long legs.

First moment I saw her, it felt like deja vu and the first time I saw a young Venus debut on the Grand Slam stage. I also knew she would pull off the upset. Good for her. Apparently she's signed to Federer's management company. Not surprising these people can spot a potential champion. 

Edited July 1, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[Harry24]

Coco (sp?) may resemble Venus visually, but when she exhorts "Come on!" she SOUNDS just like Serena!  Great win for a 15-year-old.  Rotten draw for Venus.

And wtf, Tsitsipas?!!!  You were supposed to beat Djoker!!  I guess it's now up to FAA.

[truthaboutluv]

13 minutes ago, Harry24 said:

And wtf, Tsitsipas?!!!  You were supposed to beat Djoker!!

lmao, I don't know why but this made me laugh really loudly. Personally after my fave got stuck with a draw from tennis hell, I'm completely whatever about Wimbledon this year. 

[KFC]

9 hours ago, truthaboutluv said:

And Sabalenka is out in the first round at Wimbledon. And she was the number 10 seed. I asked this before and no one responded so I'll ask again. Can anyone explain Sabalenka's rise in the rankings to me? 

Because so far this year she's lost in the first two rounds of Australia, French and now Wimbledon. She didn't win or get particularly far at Indian Wells or Miami and was virtually irrelevant throughout the clay season in the lead up to the French. So like how and why does this chick keep getting these high rankings. 

You had me curious too, so I went and looked it up. Sabalenka currently has 3365 points. About 2000 of those points came from the hard court season last year, from the U.S. Open series on thru the fall swing.

So if her current subpar results continue thru the next few months, that's when her ranking will take a big plunge. The hardcourt results from last summer/fall have been what's keeping her ranking afloat.

[TVbitch]

I am already pissed at ESPN for cutting away from the good/close Tsitsipas match to show us Sasha melt down yet again. Then they come back to it for a bit. Then at 3-3 in the 5th set, the cut to the Venus/Coco match and they haven't even entered the court yet. But hey, we can shell out for ESPN plus IF we want to see how the match ends. 

Wait, I'm not through bitching!  Certainly the commentators know that most people do not get up at 2AM to watch tennis and will be watching early matches on repeat. Do they have to constantly talk about who already won, such that I have to sit there with my remote ready to mute them at a moment's notice. It's hard, cuz I am already busy averting my eyes from the constant news scroll and graphics that display who's already gone through. 

[mojoween]

Was Coco Gauff even BORN when Venus won her first Wimbledon?

[truthaboutluv]

4 minutes ago, mojoween said:

Was Coco Gauff even BORN when Venus won her first Wimbledon?

Nope. The commentators had fun pointing that out. Venus won her first Wimbledon in 2000 and Coco was born in 2004.

[theatremouse]

In the presser the questions clearly kept trying to get Venus to give them a sound bite and I was incredibly amused at how she gave them absolutely nothing. She wasn't snippy or notably upset like most other players are/would be in this situation; she was entirely pleasant, and wasn't even evasive, but she gave them nothing even close to a useful quote. The closest thing to something reportable was when she said "that's the plan" when they asked her about next year's Wimbledon. I like this because I'm always annoyed at how asinine the questions they get asked in these are, and how it's always the same damn questions. It's clear the askers have a narrative in mind before they ask. I'm amused when the players don't go along with it.

[truthaboutluv]

2 hours ago, KFC said:

You had me curious too, so I went and looked it up. Sabalenka currently has 3365 points. About 2000 of those points came from the hard court season last year, from the U.S. Open series on thru the fall swing.

So if her current subpar results continue thru the next few months, that's when her ranking will take a big plunge. The hardcourt results from last summer/fall have been what's keeping her ranking afloat.

Ah thank you for going through the trouble to answer this one for me because it was really driving me crazy. I felt like I just suddenly starting hearing this woman's name but I never hear or see her win anything or even come close. 

[theatremouse]

She won (I think) a 500 point tournament in China last year. That's obviously not where all the points came from but I think the gist was she went deep-ish in a number of hardcourt events and won one tournament.

[BitterApple]

I didn't know Andy Murray and Serena were playing mixed doubles. I've never been a huge Murray fan, but this is an interesting pairing. I love watching doubles, so I hope ESPN or Tennis Channel shows their match.

Edited July 3, 2019 by BitterApple

[theatremouse]

It sure sounded like they just entered and it wasn't known before today. I'd actually been hoping since he announced he was playing doubles at Wimbledon that he'd play mixed doubles with Venus, but I'll take it.

[selkie]

I was very impressed at Lauren Davis' upset of Angelique Kerber, especially since about 40% of Davis' body is currently covered by support braces and kinesio tape

[truthaboutluv]

36 minutes ago, selkie said:

I was very impressed at Lauren Davis' upset of Angelique Kerber, especially since about 40% of Davis' body is currently covered by support braces and kinesio tape

I know you're being serious but this still made me laugh. 

So I'm watching the Rafa/Kyrgios match and let's face it, we all know Kyrgios is kind of a nutcase and you expect his whatever-ness. But dude seems to have a massive chip on his shoulder towards Rafa specifically.

This is more than his usual antics. He's been a shitty asshole from the first fucking game. First his issue was that Rafa was taking too long between serves. Except Rafa is not going over the shot clock. Yes he takes longer than Nick when serving but as long as he's within the time limit, everyone has their own serving pattern. 

Then he claims Rafa is never ready when he is ready to serve which is not true. Then he does his under handed serve, then starts moving around like a crazy person as Rafa is about to serve, all clearly an attempt at gamesmanship. Yeah it's all legal and within the rules but it's still dick behavior.

I always want Rafa to win anyway but after this first set, I'm so beyond ready for this tool to get his walking papers. I'm so over Kyrgios' bullshit, his stank attitude and his general unpleasantness. It's tired at this point. Of course now he's just acing which makes it hard to break him so this mess might not be over anytime soon. 

Edited July 4, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[Ohwell]

The announcers keep saying that Krygios is liked by the other players.  I have no way of knowing if that's true or not and, frankly, I don't care about what they think of him.  All I see is an asshole on the court. 

[anniebird]

I've never liked the bad boys of tennis and this guy seems like a bigger asshole than most.

[mojoween]

I normally have warm feelings toward Rafa, but don’t generally root for him one way or the other, but it’s Kyrgios.  Viva Espana!  🇪🇸 

[truthaboutluv]

Thank you Tennis Gods for hearing my prayers. I will say I think Krygios' bullshit angered Rafa enough to make him even more determined and a normal Rafa is already giving a 110%. Rafa's celebration at the end made his feelings very clear. 

Listen, I have no expectations of Rafa winning this thing. Although he did surprise me last year with the semi-final finish and I think Kyrgios might have been his toughest challenge until Federer in the semis, since Shapovalov and Cilic are both out now. 

But like I've always said, when it comes to Wimbledon and Rafa, I hope for the best but expect the worse. So I wouldn't be devastated if he lost. I just didn't want him to lose to that asshole. 

[Ohwell]

Yaaaasssss!  Rafa beat that ass!

[TVbitch]

Kyrios was extra kurios today.

I keep trying to diagnose him. My best guess is some kind of impulse disorder. 

[shok]

10 hours ago, Ohwell said:

The announcers keep saying that Krygios is liked by the other players.  I have no way of knowing if that's true or not and, frankly, I don't care about what they think of him.  All I see is an asshole on the court. 

Felix Auger Aliassime played him last week at Queens - and beat him - yay!! - and was interviewed afterwards. He said it was really really hard to keep his concentration when there was so much nonsense going on and Kyrgios was pulling all his antics. Felix said that Nick had lots of talent but that he (Felix) could never be friends with a guy like that, that Nick wasn't the sort of person he would ever hang out with. I've loved Felix for a long time but that just made me admire the kid even more.

[BitterApple]

Lol, so apparently Nick's brother called Rafa a "fucking pussy" in a drunken Instagram story after the match.

[truthaboutluv]

Just now, BitterApple said:

Lol, so apparently Nick's brother called Rafa a "fucking pussy" in a drunken Instagram story after the match.

Not the first time the family has shown their "charming, classy" selves. I mean, Nick got it from somewhere. Whatever, Rafa's still in the third round with his 18 Grand Slams and Nick is still a win-less tool. 

[theatremouse]

Kyrgios and Nadal have a fairly long history of loathing each other. Aside from Kyrgios being pretty much always on the verge of a breakdown on court, he starts at an 11 when it's anything to do with Nadal. It's not even an interesting rivalry. They straight up dislike each other immensely. 

I think the players who've said they like Nick might mean something more like "I see his talent and potential and have seen him be personable in one-on-one situations and hope he gets his shit together to be a decent human being all the time". Something like...they don't think he's a completely lost cause. I don't have a horse in that race one way or the other, but everytime I've seen someone say they like the guy it seems to be dripping with subtext rather than a straightforward statement.

[truthaboutluv]

15 minutes ago, theatremouse said:

It's not even an interesting rivalry. They straight up dislike each other immensely. 

lol, this made me laugh out loud. Pretty accurate though.

[BlackberryJam]

Kyrgios is just such a total dick for no apparent reason. And total dicks can be likable, but Kyrgios is lacking charm. He’s not out there being a dick and having fun. He’s being a petulant, whiny dick. 

It seems pretty rare for Rafa to straight up dislike someone. Even his tiff with Robin Soderling, who was a total ass in their Wimbledon match, went by the wayside.

I wonder if Nick hates Rafa because of the comparison issues, “Nick stop just checking out on points/games/sets, give your all on every point, like Rafa does.”

Or maybe Rafa accidentally dropped a filthy clay sock in Nick’s racquet bag and has never been forgiven.

[truthaboutluv]

Looks like Coco's dream run may be coming to the end. 

Meanwhile, anyone feel like sometimes Djokovic deliberately drops a set to try and make his match semi-exciting because he realizes no one is talking about him or cares seeing as he has the most basic draw ever?

Rafa and Kyrgios' drama is so odd though just because I of course adore and follow Rafa and I can't even say what has led to this intense dislike between the two camps. I guess it all stems from the Acapulco match where Kyrgios felt Rafa was being salty and rude because he lost and Rafa felt Kyrgios was disrespectful during the match. It definitely feels like was posted above, the two just plain don't like each other. 

[Crs97]

It’s funny because Nadal usually bothers me as being too emotional so watching yesterday and finding him to be the calm, collected one . . . 

I hope Kyrgios gets fined for trying to hit Nadal in the chest.  Jerk.

[mojoween]

At least Kyrgios knows he doesn’t train hard enough to be elite.  Why he doesn’t fix it is another story.

If Novak’s side of the draw were a person I would shove it into a locker.  (Yes I know bullying is wrong)

[truthaboutluv]

The kid showing some heart. Poor Hercog. She seems nice enough, sucks that basically the entire crowd was rooting for her to lose the second set. 

Quote

It’s funny because Nadal usually bothers me as being too emotional so watching yesterday and finding him to be the calm, collected one ...

Hmm, I never think about Rafa as being too emotional. Fidgety and twitchy yes, which I know drives many people insane. But emotional, not really.

I remember how it occurred to me when there was all the talk of Federer slamming the ball into the crowd in frustration during his French Open semi-final match against Rafa, that I can't remember ever seeing Rafa slam his racket in frustration or hit a ball into the crowd. 

Not saying it's never happened but I really can't remember seeing it. 

Edited July 5, 2019 by truthaboutluv

[Etta Place]

56 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

Meanwhile, anyone feel like sometimes Djokovic deliberately drops a set to try and make his match semi-exciting because he realizes no one is talking about him or cares seeing as he has the most basic draw ever?

I feel like he thinks it's just too easy sometimes and so he loses his concentration ... and gets a rude awakening when the other player is actually decent. On the other hand, if he were dropping a set, I'd think it was because he wants the love the underdog tends to get.

[BlackberryJam]

57 minutes ago, truthaboutluv said:

The kid showing some heart. Poor Hercog. She seems nice enough, sucks that basically the entire crowd was rooting for her to lose the second set. 

Hmm, I never think about Rafa as being too emotional. Fidgety and twitchy yes, which I know drives many people insane. But emotional, not really.

I remember how it occurred to me when there was all the talk of Federer slamming the ball into the crowd in frustration during his French Open semi-final match against Rafa, that I can't remember ever seeing Rafa slam his racket in frustration or hit a ball into the crowd. 

Not saying it's never happened but I really can't remember seeing it. 

Uncle Toni told baby Rafa back in the day that if he ever broke a racquet, he would stop coaching him.  Rafa has never damaged a racquet, ever. I don't know if I've ever seen him hit a ball into the crowd in frustration, but that sort of behavior was just not permitted from him. 

I have thoughts about how Rafa was trained/treated, after having read his memoir. Some of it seemed borderline abusive or at least infantalizing him.

AND HOLY CRAP. COCO PULLED IT OUT, stealing the match with a break in the third.

[mojoween]

Hercog is going to see that double fault that gave Coco life in her nightmares from now to the end of time.

[truthaboutluv]

That win was good for Coco. I think that match more than the win against Venus is the one that shows she may very well be the real deal. Because kid showed some serious grit and heart to come back from that big of a hole. Not sure she can beat Simona if she plays like she did today but then Simona can sometimes be a bit of a wildcard so who knows. 

[Crs97]

I probably should have said “hyper” instead of “emotional.”

[Ohwell]

My heart was in my throat, I felt like I was watching my (grand😲) daughter play.   I did kind of feel bad for Hercog because it looked like she only had her coach in the stands, and it seemed like the whole crowd was rooting for Coco.  

1 hour ago, Etta Place said:

On the other hand, if he were dropping a set, I'd think it was because he wants the love the underdog tends to get.

I've always thought that was Djokovic's problem:  always looking for love.  Which is why I could never warm up to him, no matter how good he is.

[theatremouse]

4 hours ago, mojoween said:

At least Kyrgios knows he doesn’t train hard enough to be elite.  Why he doesn’t fix it is another story.

He's good enough when he doesn't try that I'm pretty sure he's convinced himself that actually trying would somehow lessen his impressiveness. While he is talented, because he finds large parts of the game easy, he gets bored if he has to put in effort. So he doesn't. He flat out doesn't want to and has said as much. He's not out there to be an elite athlete. He wants to be able to say he did it all without even trying. He wants to be a superstar, not an elite athlete. At least that aspect of his attitude is not uncommon with prodigies, but coupled with his rage issues makes him even more frustrating to watch.

Djoker is also a whiny ass but in a completely different way, and he puts the effort in...usually.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

Really Hercog?  A medical timeout after losing (choking!) in that 2nd set?  If she had any crowd support, I'm thinking it waned after that move.  And I don't know if she gave any post-match interviews but it will be totally classless if she tries to blame the loss on an injury. 

[BitterApple]

5 hours ago, Ohwell said:

I've always thought that was Djokovic's problem:  always looking for love.  Which is why I could never warm up to him, no matter how good he is.

This x a million billion. Novak's too needy and I loathe his celebration ritual of making bug-eyes at the crowd and holding out his arms in expectation of their worship and adoration. It's just so desperate.

[shok]

3 hours ago, theatremouse said:

He's not out there to be an elite athlete. He wants to be able to say he did it all without even trying. He wants to be a superstar, not an elite athlete.

A number of armchair psychiatrists say Kyrgios has "Fear of Failure", that he can't handle the idea of losing so he acts like an idiot so he can say it was someone else's fault he lost or that he wasn't trying anyway. Whatever the reason, he is an ugly person inside and out.

What gets me is how the media plays him up so much and give him so much attention. I think they're a big part of the reason NK is such a jerk because he's the sort who loves the attention even if it's negative attention. I wouldn't normally ever watch one of his press conferences but I wanted to know what he said about the Rafa match so I made an exception. He was so rude and churlish and insulting to the reporters and yet the media tittered and giggled as if he was saying cute things. It was nauseating.