Who's idea was it to put Zverev in a white vest?
Tennis
- Thread starter backstreetjoe
- Start date
I was thinking about her and Ostapenko earlier today. It's just sad at this point. At least Stephens backed up her Slam with a string of nice results through 2018 but Ostapenko just plumeted... with THAT game. Jelena can beat anyone on a good day. I imagine how frustrated they both must be, Jelena even moreso.
Sloane comes nowhere near close to "deserving" anything. She has frequently shown up to events blatantly not in shape and giving zero fucks on the court. She seems to be actually trying lately but that bad attitude catches up with you and makes every other player think they can beat you. I feel sorry for her situation this time with losing relatives to COVID, I'm sure that didn't help her this week, but we can't act like it's a situation like Vika pre-summer 2020 where a player was putting in the work and just not able to translate it on the match court. Sloane getting another run would merely see her becoming complacent again soon after.
Ostapenko to be fair did at least have a Wimbledon semi and Miami final in 2018, so it could have been worse? But yeah I'm sure she does get frustrated. But even with her, her service motion being completely unchanged despite constantly going through double fault patches, and never having it as a weapon is ridiculous.
Speaking of Vika, pretty disappointed for her today even as a non-fan. Some people are saying it looked like she could have had a panic or asthma attack or something along those lines, looked like she wasn't able to get air. Hopefully she can sort whatever is up with that. Could literally just be quarantine messed with her mental game, I feel like she has to put a lot of effort into feeling healthy and calm, doesn't come naturally to her as a player (as any of us who remember her pre-2011 can attest to). I think her rant about medical stuff after was a little much, but overall she has been pretty balanced and mature about things this last couple of years so I'll cut her slack.
Sakkari going was a shock too, but not exactly a gutting loss. Great to see Kokkinakis get a win today. I found today's side of both draws particularly dull given the treats we got from day one.
Ostapenko to be fair did at least have a Wimbledon semi and Miami final in 2018, so it could have been worse? But yeah I'm sure she does get frustrated. But even with her, her service motion being completely unchanged despite constantly going through double fault patches, and never having it as a weapon is ridiculous.
Speaking of Vika, pretty disappointed for her today even as a non-fan. Some people are saying it looked like she could have had a panic or asthma attack or something along those lines, looked like she wasn't able to get air. Hopefully she can sort whatever is up with that. Could literally just be quarantine messed with her mental game, I feel like she has to put a lot of effort into feeling healthy and calm, doesn't come naturally to her as a player (as any of us who remember her pre-2011 can attest to). I think her rant about medical stuff after was a little much, but overall she has been pretty balanced and mature about things this last couple of years so I'll cut her slack.
Sakkari going was a shock too, but not exactly a gutting loss. Great to see Kokkinakis get a win today. I found today's side of both draws particularly dull given the treats we got from day one.
@Trousers well to be fair to Stephens it's not like she completely faded away post 2017 either; she's in fact won the Miami final you credited Ostapenko for and also made the French Open final that very same year, the WTA end of year finals... she did well for herself.
Both Jelena and Sloane went off the rails in 2019, although Jelena did experience a late season revival as soon as Bartoli became her coach, making the Linz final and winning Luxembourg right after; I do remember her serving quite well through those few weeks but... Bartoli got pregnant and Covid happened so we can only wonder what would have happened if they continued.
Both Jelena and Sloane went off the rails in 2019, although Jelena did experience a late season revival as soon as Bartoli became her coach, making the Linz final and winning Luxembourg right after; I do remember her serving quite well through those few weeks but... Bartoli got pregnant and Covid happened so we can only wonder what would have happened if they continued.
Erm, what?
Show me where anyone has done that? Nowhere in your post on Sloane did you state that the reason she deserves another good run is become of what she has gone through in the last month or so with her family. If anything your post made it sound like you felt she deserved one last run before she ends her career or something. Particularly given the context; Stephens has performed poorly for a good while now, even pre-pandemic, so it was absolute not clear what you were getting at. Not to mention I'm personally not sure putting together "a good run" will do anything to help her with the losses she has had and struggles she will have gone through; it might be that she deserves to stop enduring the grinding tour life that she hasn't seemed to enjoy hugely lately, and settle down, given that she has seemed very settled in her home life this last couple of years.
And I stated within my post that I felt sorry for her situation and didn't judge her performances this Aussie swing as not having her head in the game this time is fully understandable.
The inference in this post is ludicrous, mean-spirited and unnecessary. This thread has always been a friendly place where people debate in good spirit and bond over commonalities. I'm surprised and disappointed to see you interpret my words with such bad faith.
Anyway, I won't continue to derail the thread.
MollieSwift21
Staff member
Sloane does have some motivation issues but I do believe she will turn it around. Obviously a tough time right now with losing three relatives, I wasn’t expecting a big run here. She has all the components to be great though, needs a nice run to turn it around.
There is a lot of personalities I like on the WTA but in terms of watching their game/feeling invested I am feeling the retirements. Interested to see how Gauff does against Svitolina though!
The men’s side was off to a much better start for me.
Novak’s win was routine. Borna played very clean. Felix kept it moving after another loss in a final. The only players that I like to lose were against top ten players and... well!
There is a lot of personalities I like on the WTA but in terms of watching their game/feeling invested I am feeling the retirements. Interested to see how Gauff does against Svitolina though!
The men’s side was off to a much better start for me.
Novak’s win was routine. Borna played very clean. Felix kept it moving after another loss in a final. The only players that I like to lose were against top ten players and... well!
My girl and favorite nutcase Sorana took out Petra today!
So in typical fashion she will probably go out 2-6 1-6 or something against Vondrousova next but still a great win for her! With both Petra and Bianca out, the fifth section of the draw is wide open now for either Cirstea, Hsieh, Venus or Vondrousova to reach the quarterfinals.
So in typical fashion she will probably go out 2-6 1-6 or something against Vondrousova next but still a great win for her! With both Petra and Bianca out, the fifth section of the draw is wide open now for either Cirstea, Hsieh, Venus or Vondrousova to reach the quarterfinals.
londonrain
Staff member
It’s not going to be Venus, based on the thumping Errani is giving her at the moment...
Wait, I just checked the scoreline and WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT? How can Errani and her serve demolish Venus? Edit: it appears she got injured but still...
One must applaud Errani for her resilience though, from losing in like 25K ITFs back in 2019 to a GS Round 3, without a serve at the age of 33. Probably back in the top 100 with this result.
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Goodness gracious. Tomljanovic wasn't even THAT good today, neither the most powerful player Simona's lost against but the third set was a goddamn thriller. Down 2-5, Halep comes back and closes it on serve, glad she served it straight away because the serve was a mess up to that point. Tomljanovic had 17 break points of which she converted 7...
Stan losing like that was an absolute gutpunch, so very glad Simona pulled it out somehow. Is it just me, or has she not been hitting the ball as hard as usual? I'm not expecting her to hit Serena winners, but she can still hit a bit deeper than what she's doing so far.
Her hitting didn't look soft to me, the main issue I think was her basically camping out on the Melbourne sign of her courts, buried behind the baseline for two and a half sets; some of Alja's dropshots were lethal precisely because of that. The last five games were gutsy though. No errors, clean hitting from the baseline, and Alja choking big time. At least she has Matteo's shoulders to cry on to and damn.
The Kyrgios match against Humbert was also a cracker. I'll always root for that kind of raw talent although him being the idiot he sometimes is it's making it hard.
I think Kyrgios fighting through against Humbert makes a refreshing change, but I'll believe it's the start of greater things when I see it, and not a minute sooner.
Stan, I think, is another one we might not see on the draw sheet come next January. He's 36 next month, has achieved far more than I think anyone expected him to, and he certainly isn't going to win Wimbledon.
Stan, I think, is another one we might not see on the draw sheet come next January. He's 36 next month, has achieved far more than I think anyone expected him to, and he certainly isn't going to win Wimbledon.
On a good day he can trouble anyone so Thiem shouldn't be an exception next; I see they've only met once as of now, 5 years ago... Should be a great match.