Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread X

[Tuggy]

Vasek takes the tiebreak! What a comeback.

Rublev with possibly the worst serve I've ever seen to DF and give Vasek set point.

 

[Tuggy]

Vasek takes the match! He had some vocal fans there

 

[Loosie]

Pospisil wins! He broke to open the 2nd set and hung on to take it 6-4! What a celebration! Deepest run at a masters since last years Indian Wells.

 

[MsMeow]

Amazing!!

 

[kihei]

Wozniacki out unexpectedly to Pueto Rico's Monica Puig. Woz took the first set 6-love though I thought Puig played quite well. But I wasn't expecting her to overpower Caroline in the next two sets, 4 and 4. Monica started hitting with a lot of pace and won just about all the key points the rest of the way.

 

[kihei]

Watched an extended highlight package of Rublev/Pospisil. What a long distance slug felt. That bears no resemblance to the game I used to play. The reflexes and strength needed by both players to stay in points from deep in the back court were absolutely astounding,

 

[Know Your Enemy]

Shapo vs one of the best returners in the game Dzumhur. Not even half way through the set and Shapo is emotional

 

[Tuggy]

Denis gets it done.

 

[kihei]

2-2 on serve in the third set against Kokkinakis and the bloom seems very much off the Federer rose. Roger won the first set in lacklustre fashion and then things got worse in the second set when Thanasi started to pound his forehand in harder....statistically Roger is allegedly having a good day (30-20 winner/unforced error ratio) but he is not passing the eye test...Kokkinakis is throwing fastballs, the sort of stuff that a 36 year old might indeed have trouble with--and Roger is countering by playing a lot of balls to Thanasi's less intimidating backhand, 3-3.

4-4 now and Roger quite defensive during TK's service games. Needs to fight fire with fire but Fed is not doing that....Thansi not making a dent on Roger's serve this set either--tie breaker kind of feel to this thing. Plus, of course, TK not the greatest of closers, 5-4....Roger suddenly taking the net more aggressively--looks better right now than he has all game, 6-5.

Tie breaker time---3-3 as Roger both giveth and taketh away....and Roger is toast.

Great win for Kokkinakis who if he ever finds consistency is going to be a very good player. As for Roger, time for a little soul searching perhaps.

 

[Tuggy]

Shapovalov beat Dzumhur twice today. Singles and doubles.

 

[Hadoop]

What is going on with Novak? That's 3 losses in a row for a guy who is close to top-5 all time.

 

[kihei]

Well, the result today puts paid to any lingering doubt that Roger will play the clay circuit this year. After this, I'd say the French Open is no longer any sure thing either.

 

[kihei]

The only 36 year old athlete whom I know who liked hard fastballs was Nolan Ryan....and he didn't have to hit them.

 

[Tuggy]

What a great win for Thanasi!

And Rafa back to #1.

 

[Tuggy]

What is going on with Novak? That's 3 losses in a row for a guy who is close to top-5 all time.

Approaching 31 and coming off an injury layoff.

Not sure what the future holds for Djokovic. Might too early to write him off but many, many tennis players drop at this age. Given his grinding style aswell...

 

[Tuggy]

Well, the result today puts paid to any lingering doubt that Roger will play the clay circuit this year. After this, I'd say the French Open is no longer any sure thing either.

Doesn't look like any clay this year or ever again for that matter (just a guess).

 

[rangerssharks414]

So, Roger's run back at #1 didn't last very long.

And that isn't surprising about the French, unfortunately.

 

[kihei]

So, Roger's run back at #1 didn't last very long.

And that isn't surprising about the French, unfortunately.

He probably will get back to #1 soon enough, though. During the clay court season Rafa has no less than 5000 points to defend compared to Roger's zero.

 

[MsMeow]

Approaching 31 and coming off an injury layoff.

Not sure what the future holds for Djokovic. Might too early to write him off but many, many tennis players drop at this age. Given his grinding style aswell...

It seems more mental than physical with him. Physically I don't think he's anywhere near where he should be but he seems lost out there.

 

[MsMeow]

He probably will get back to #1 soon enough, though. During the clay court season Rafa has no less than 5000 points to defend compared to Roger's zero.

Good that he isn't playing clay. He's played a ton already this year and really needs to conserve energy.

 

[Cruor]

Approaching 31 and coming off an injury layoff.

Not sure what the future holds for Djokovic. Might too early to write him off but many, many tennis players drop at this age. Given his grinding style aswell...

He's been slumping for almost 2 years now, we've been told he is "injury free" or "finally able to play his game" or variations thereof dozens of time now. This time he was apparently finally pain free for the first time in two years. What was most shocking to me was that he looked completely winded after 5 or 6 games, surely his elbow hasn't prevented him from working cardio?

 

[kihei]

Kyrgios toyed with Lajovic, winning in an easy two sets. His behaviour--hitting balls between his legs during back court rallies; being too casual when putting away sets ups at the net; sneaking up to the service line while Lajovic was serving; outrageous slices on ground strokes--wasn't illegal nor necessarily glaringly offensive, but they did serve to take the hapless Serb off his minuscule game.

 

[Hadoop]

Glad to hear Roger is skipping Clay.

 

[kihei]

Can you imagine how drunk Thanasi and Nick are right now?

 

[kihei]

Last time Federer lost back-to-back matches: 2014

In Roger's time as #1 in the world, Kokkinakis is the lowest ranked player (#175) that Federer has lost to. You would have to go back to 2003 to find a #1 ranked player (Hewitt) lose to a more lowly ranked player (Chavet, #178).