Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread X

[kihei]

You may owe him an apology.

Looks like I picked the wrong time to leave. I'll make it an apology to be named later, pending Rolland Garros results.

 

[Tuggy]

Looks like I picked the wrong time to leave. I'll make it an apology to be named later, pending Rolland Garros results.

I think the rain may have saved Rafa today.

 

[Asheville]

Thiem put it best. It takes something special to beat Nadal on clay.

He's 102-2 in best of five set clay matches.

To sustain that "special" level of play over a match of such length isn't impossible, just isn't likely.

408-36 on clay.

 

[kihei]

Thiem put it best. It takes something special to beat Nadal on clay.

He's 102-2 in best of five set clay matches.

To sustain that "special" level of play over a match of such length isn't impossible, just isn't likely.

408-36 on clay.

I misread this initially, but it is a very good point. Hard not to think of just how unlikely that Robin Soderling defeat was, though.

 

[MsMeow]

Has anyone read this book by Sharapova? I'm listening to Serena talk about it and it sounds quite catty from Sharapova's side. Curious to hear from anyone who read it.

 

[Tuggy]

Grass season starts Monday with a couple of tournaments! Some Canadians in the draws.

Federer back in Stuttgart.

 

[Vamos Rafa]

Federer splits with Nike and signs a 10-year contract with Uniqlo. They must've been really that desperate after Djokovic left them for Lacoste. They'll get 2 years at most before he retires.

 

[Hadoop]

Rafa once again 3 slams back of Fed. Considering Sampras only had 14 this is some kind of pursuit.

 

[kihei]

Federer splits with Nike and signs a 10-year contract with Uniqlo. They must've been really that desperate after Djokovic left them for Lacoste. They'll get 2 years at most before he retires.

True, but he is still gonna sell a lot of goods after he retires. I think Nole's new gear looks really sharp. In the old days, Lacoste always was the benchmark, no other outfit was even close.

 

[Tuggy]

Shapovalov up tomorrow in Stuttgart. Raonic also returning there. He is likely up Tuesday.

Pospisil in the Netherlands. He also likely up Tuesday.

FAA in Lyon for a CH. He is defending the title here, so needs a good week. He has also elected to skip Wimbledon Q. He is going to play out the Europe clay CH schedule instead.

It's a little surprising but I think he's still trying to find his groove this season, so he'll stick with what he's most comfortable with (clay).

 

[MsMeow]

Shapovalov up tomorrow in Stuttgart. Raonic also returning there. He is likely up Tuesday.

Pospisil in the Netherlands. He also likely up Tuesday.

FAA in Lyon for a CH. He is defending the title here, so needs a good week. He has also elected to skip Wimbledon Q. He is going to play out the Europe clay CH schedule instead.

It's a little surprising but I think he's still trying to find his groove this season, so he'll stick with what he's most comfortable with (clay).

Never thought I'd see the day where a Canadian felt most comfortable on clay than on other courts.

 

[kihei]

Roger draws Mischa, the lesser Zverev, for his first match in Stuttgart. Last year, under similar circumstances, Fed got blown out by Haas if memory serves. I'm really curious to see if he can come back as strongly as he has in the past. Time's erosions have to kick in eventually.

 

[kihei]

Tracking poor Gulbis who is playing a Challenger in Caltanissetta (never heard of it--somewhere in Sicily). Ernests none to quickly defeated Luca (Short Fat) Vanni 2 and 4. Luca is quite a story, the journeymen's journeyman. Now 33-years-old, he has been a professional for 12 years. He just barely cracked the Top 100, doing so on two different weeks in 2005 when appropriately he was ranked #100 in each week. He has made it up to the bigs for a total of 21 matches in all that time with a record of 5-16 overall. He has never won a title nor been a finalist. If nothing else this dude is perseverant.

 

[Hadoop]

Was casually checking out the live ATP rankings today and had a double-take when I saw Shapovalov's position. Currently he is just above one Nick Krygios and just below the Djoker himself.

Also can't wait to see how he does on grass (where he is a former Junior Wimbledon champ) and the fast North American hardcourts the second time around. Seems I'm not alone either as GQ recently did a feature on him: Denis Shapovalov: The Thrilling, Gutsy Teen of Tennis

 

[Tuggy]

Well we did have to wait for his first round match and just like that...he's done. He's got a full grass schedule, so hopefully he can win some matches before Wimbledon.

Felix, on the other hand, began his first title defense yesterday in Lyon. Straight forward win. His R2 match is up a little later.

Raonic back in Stuttgart and wins his first match.

 

[kihei]

Denis loses in three sets to 28-year-old Prajnesh Gunneswaran, a super-nobody who makes the above-mentioned Vanni look like a household name. As far as I can tell this was Prajnesh's first match ever on grass on the ATP tour and only his fourth match overall. First match of the season on grass or not for Denis, this still counts as a very, very bad loss.

 

[kihei]

Mischa Zverev is so far surviving against Roger, 3-2. For a serve and volleyer who takes such prohibitively deep first volleys, Zverev's still finding some nice angles (and Roger looks quite rusty, too). However, it seems like just a matter of time before Federer breaks him....but it is the other way around and Mischa serves for the set at 5-3....Taking at least the last eight points in a row, Mischa holds for the set. Shades of last year for Roger when he lost against Haas in his first match.

2nd set: Each of Mischa's service games have been played in one minute, 15 seconds. With Roger making a hash of Mischa's first volleys, Fed is making Zverev look like a world beater at the moment, 2-2. The match seems to be going downhill for Roger....after blowing two break points by about a combined thirty feet, Roger takes advantage of a pair of weak volleys, 4-2....but he doesn't come close to consolidating the break, 4-3....raising the severity of his serve and groundstrokes, Roger holds easily and then breaks for a 6-4 win.

3rd set: Powerful love game on serve from Roger, 1-love...poor Mischa is doing all the running in this match....Roger continuing his much improved play lately gets a break for 3-1....Roger saves a break point with a nice serve and volley, 5-2....Roger breaks again to win the match going away. Impressive set.

Roger went from looking understandably creaky to looking pretty damn good in the course of those three sets. He shook a lot of rust off, though obviously there is a lot more still to do if he is to defend his Wimbledon title strongly.

 

[Tuggy]

Title defense continues for FAA.

He had his match suspended yesterday but he finished the job today and is into the QF. In the second set, he was down 2-5. He got it back to 4-5 before play ended yesterday, and today he won the next 3 games to take the set 7-5.

 

[kihei]

Raonic wins an easy first set tie breaker against Berdych, 7-2. Tight set otherwise with only two break opportunities in all, both for Milos.

Second set is a carbon copy of the first with Milos winning an even easier tie breaker, 7-1.

A big yawn for the most part.

 

[Hadoop]

Poor Berdych. The sun the setting on his career like all the other second tier players from Rafa/Federer's generation and the best way to describe it is that he is one of the best players in history with neither a major nor a top-3 world ranking.

 

[Tuggy]

Federer a win away from going back to #1.

 

[Tuggy]

Title defense continues for FAA.

He had his match suspended yesterday but he finished the job today and is into the QF. In the second set, he was down 2-5. He got it back to 4-5 before play ended yesterday, and today he won the next 3 games to take the set 7-5.

Won his QF pretty easily today.

He is the highest ranked player left in the draw, so it's likely on his racket to defend his title.

 

[Tuggy]

And don't look now but the Tomic comback tour continues. He is into the SF at s-Hertogenbosch.

Seems he is focused solely on tennis now...

 

[kihei]

And don't look now but the Tomic comback tour continues. He is into the SF at s-Hertogenbosch.

Seems he is focused solely on tennis now...

I wish him well. He has a ton of talent, soft hands, great racket control, and every shot in the book including one that isn't (that swervy undercut forehand change of pace or whatever the hell it is). When he is trying, he is one of my favourite players to watch play.

 

[MsMeow]

Is the Raonic match available online anywhere?

I'm just watching the score. It looked like Pouille was serving well but Milos just broke him to go up 3-2

4-3 Milos. First serve percentage was 25% but he won 100% of the points

Milos takes the first set 6-4. His first serve percentage is 52% after being low the entire set. Pouille's went down which might have led to the only break in the set.

Second set, on serve 3-2 Pouille

4-3 Pouille on serve

6-5 Pouille, Milos serving to get into a breaker

Milos wins in a breaker 7-3!

Next up, Kyrgios vs Fed.