Tennis

PushyBakerFriend

PushyBakerFriend



She's got a great draw until the fourth round, so it'll be interesting to see it she gives a proper run here!

Kenin-Ostapenko, and Vika-Kuznetsova first rounds are hurting my soul. And Carla hadn't exactly been given an easy final go around - she's got Sloane to deal with straight off.

On paper we should see Serena-Kvitova in the fourth round, and I really think it's been so long since she's been in the quarters that we could see Serena activate another level if that happens... I really think her best chances in slams now are to run into old foes a.k.a. Kvitova/Muguruza/Halep/Azarenka/Sloane, who she still has scar tissue over.
 
M

Mike

I've no faith in Serena getting to the fourth round, so that section looks set up nicely for Petra to get another decent run if she’s in the mood. Kenin is having a dismal year, so a somewhat resurgent Ostapenko could well take her out first round. Interested to see if the Barty-Gauff and Muguruza-Swiatek fourth round meetings work out. Biggest free-for-all has to be Andreescu's section; I'll be amazed if a seeded player makes the QF from there.

For the men, at least there's a bit of intrigue with the big 3 all landing in the same half of the draw. With Thiem not looking himself, this could be a good opportunity for Tsitsipas to make his first final (although I have a horrible feeling it might be Zverev)

Also, I know they stick pretty rigidly to the rankings, but isn't it a bit ridiculous that a player who's never won a single match here is seeded above the 13-time champion?
 
M

Mike

Great underdog win for Andujar, but I'm not sure what's wrong with Thiem at the moment.

Kerber is approaching Stosur levels of washed. Does she even bother taking luggage to Paris these days?
 
Gabeee9292

Gabeee9292

No one in the tennis community is being ecen remotely supportive of Naomi dddd.

She's not gonna change the status quo by skipping press conferences either so I'm not sure what her end goal is. She will have to attend the pressers sooner or later much like EVERY other player does, win or lose beforehand.
 
PushyBakerFriend

PushyBakerFriend

There was a real opportunity here for tennis to have a dialogue about mental health, something you'd think they'd be especially keen on doing following everything that's happened with COVID. Instead the slams have just escalated it to an extreme level of confrontation that makes it a lose-lose situation when it shouldn't even be a situation where someone can 'win' or 'lose'.

Sure, you might wish that Naomi's statement or follow-up tweet about 'change' went into more detail, but I'm surprised at people who barely want to engage with what she's said and just want to have an instant set judgement on it. And there's a double standard in the way that several media people who seemed to be very nuanced about framing mental health as a way to characterise or contextualise many male players' on-court/off-court behaviour aren't willing to give the same benefit to the doubt to someone who's literally addressing it as an explicit mental health issue???
 
Sick Sad World

Sick Sad World

I think Naomi's mistake in all this was trying to speak for others. If she had kept it being about herself and saying something like 'press conferences take a lot out of me emotionally and for the sake of my mental health I'll be skipping them for this tournament and will work on a way forward with the WTA, slams, etc'. then I think it would've been better received and wouldn't have provoked such a defensive reaction from all the tennis people.

I imagine something will be worked out tomorrow at some point. I doubt the slams will want a reputation of bullying a young woman into submission and I doubt Naomi will want to be denied an opportunity to defend her titles at the US and Australian Opens. Both sides will want to resolve this before it gets too ugly... but I doubt we'll be seeing the oversharing, therapy type pressers that we used to see from Naomi any time soon.
 
Sick Sad World

Sick Sad World

The president of the French Tennis Federation just gave a press conference about Naomi's withdrawal... and refused to take any questions when he finished his statement. The irony.
 
M

Mike

Amongst all the Naomi drama, no-one seemed to notice Muguruza lost yesterday. In true WTA fashion, the field of six former champions in the draw has already narrowed to three.

With a potentially very tricky fourth round opponent out of the way, Iga must be thinking she has a good shot at defending her title.
 
M

Mike

I don't think anyone was expecting much from Bianca, were they? Having not played since Miami, she got two easy wins in Strasbourg against nobodies and then had to withdraw. Hopefully she can stay fit enough for a decent run over the grass and hardcourt seasons.
 
M

Mike

I love Venus. She ran out of fucks to give years ago and isn't afraid to let the world know it.

I notice the slams' joint statement after Naomi's withdrawal took a much softer stance. Would be nice to think they've suddenly decided to start taking mental health seriously, but I think it's more likely they've realised they risk alienating the biggest star the sport has under 30 - male or female - and that they may need her more than she needs them.
 
Sick Sad World

Sick Sad World

I don't think Naomi, the FTT or the rest of the tennis establishment realised this would be such a massive story. The whole thing has cast a massive shadow over the tournament and the slams have a lot of damage control to do. The optics of bullying a young black woman out of their tournament... Yikes.

I doubt Naomi will be back in time for Wimbledon.
I really hope she can make her comeback at the Olympics and get that gold medal.
 
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