Tennis

AllRed

AllRed

Sick Sad World said:
Aslan v Matteo

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Berrettini is built in such a weird way. Calves nowhere to be seen and as you go up, his thighs are big, his buttocks are big and his stomach/chest look almost like a huge rectangle. Still, a beautiful man and a great player.

Incredibly sad to see him withdraw due to his injury. I guess Novak didn't want to share his miracle-working physio with Matteo?
 
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M

Mike

Gabeee9292 said:
The women's top half of the draw is hysterical now. Svitolina isn't ever winning a slam, isn't she?
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I'm hesitant to write her off too soon, as we could have said the same about Simona three or four years ago, but Elina has squandered several chances to really make a run and got thrashed in both of her semi-finals, so the signs are not encouraging.
 
Gabeee9292

Gabeee9292

Mike said:
I'm hesitant to write her off too soon, as we could have said the same about Simona three or four years ago, but Elina has squandered several chances to really make a run and got thrashed in both of her semi-finals, so the signs are not encouraging.
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This is true but Simona did benefit of a more transitional era when there just weren't as many young guns creeping in as there are now. Svitolina not only has to face the established top players she already was but she also has to now deal with the youngsters squad of Swiatek, Andreescu, Kenin etcetera consistently going deep in their draws, potentially facing them and it's only going to get worse from now on.

What's alarming is that her last two slam losses weren't even against any of those. Podoroska at RG and now Pegula just brought their A game and that was enough which makes me think the mental hurdle for Svitolina being the clear favorite in her latter matches in a Slam could be huge and too much to overcome for now.

Speaking of Kenin, her three sets loss an 18 years old Australian ranked #988 at the Philip Island Trophy was... I'd just take a break and reasses things.

Edit: I am SCREAMING at this.



"There's birds shit all over!" skskssksksk

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PushyBakerFriend

PushyBakerFriend

Man, Naomi is so clutch, what a hard-court player. Hsieh's angles are electric, but she's not quite able to finish off a few of these rallies. I can see this being two pretty comfortable, but very entertaining sets.
 
AllRed

AllRed

Serena was amazing today. Can't wait to see what the outcome will be in the end. Naomi is such a tough opponent so it will be incredibly interesting.

Also, the Russian king is through to the semi-finals. We have to stan.

 
M

Mike

If a 27-year-old qualifier who's never made it to a main draw before succeeds where almost an entire generation has failed, I will never stop laughing.

Serena was brilliant today, but I can't help feeling Naomi will have too much for her. I'd love to be wrong though; Naomi is getting to a slam count in double figures whatever happens this week, but there can't be many more shots left for Serena.
 
Gabeee9292

Gabeee9292

Sad for Simona but you can't beat an in form Serena without a proper serve. Add in a couple of misses on crucial points and the scoreline perfectly makes sense. Serena will have to raise her level for Naomi because there were moments today when she did lose the plot, Simona was just incapable on capitalizing and dragging the match on to a decider.

Thrilled for Karatsev though!
 
M

Mike

Oh Ashleigh...and this with the announcement that Melbourne's snap lockdown is not to be extended, meaning there will be a live crowd for the final.

Hoping Tsitsipas can get the job done against Nadal, but I'm not betting on it.
 
AllRed

AllRed

Wow, that was a phenomenal match! I was on the edge of my seat the entirety of the last 2 sets. Fantastic tennis, just brilliant! Such a shame there was no crowd to experience it.
 
M

Mike

It's kind of fascinating to me that for all the big three's astonishing achievements, the double Grand Slam (if that's what you call it?) remains out of reach. I think it would have to be a second Roland Garros title for Novak at this point, and after Rafa bulldozed him in last year's final having sailed through the tournament even in radically changed conditions, I wouldn't bet the house on that either.
 
M

Mike

Someboy said:
The biggest signifier of a changing in the guard though will be when the Big 4 lose Wimbledon. They’ve had an iron-fisted grip on that tournament for nearly 20 years, and always seems to be the place that rejuvenates them.
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If - for instance - Roger grabs one last win this summer and Novak wins it again next year, that will be twenty years of dominance by those four players.

On top of that, there's no clear heir apparent emerging on grass yet. By the time of this year's tournament, there will only be three players under 30 who have reached even a quarter-final at Wimbledon, and I certainly don't see any of them winning it.
 
M

Mike

Sadly, I suspect Serena has already made her decision. There really aren't words to describe what a loss she will be.

I think Wimbledon is still her best chance to get her 24th. If you look at the other champions still in the game, Venus and Angie look finished while Petra, Garbiñe and Simona are still liable to go out in any round. Meanwhile, as with the men, the young guns are still to prove themselves on grass - Bianca and Iga have yet even to win a match there, while even Naomi hasn't gone beyond the third round. It's there that Serena's absence will be most strongly felt whenever she does call time on her career.
 
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