Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XII

[Tuggy]

I know that Peliwo was never supposed to be an elite talent, but, with his junior record, it's been disappointing to watch him toil away at this level for so long. It doesn't feel like that breakthrough will ever come.

Yeah, seems unlikely at this point.

He's had a couple of nice stretches but then goes back to losing or gets injured.

He did make the QF in Cary last week, so maybe he'll hit a good run.

 

[kihei]

Alexander Bublik is fun to watch play. He has "class clown" written all over him, though on court this gets translated to "mostly charming bumbler." He does some oddball things, like serve underhanded occasionally, hit little touch shots rather than easy volleys at the net, and serves like a demon, all while boyishly smiling away life's little hardships. In his loss to Caspar Rudd yesterday, Bublik came up with a fascinating little statistic that tells you all you really need to know about him. He averaged hitting his first serve at 201 mph but with his second serve he averaged 202 mph. Just think about that for a second.

 

[kihei]

"I think time is working for her," Mouratoglou told Sky Sports. ... "She is getting back in shape, and the more in shape she will be, the more dangerous she will be. I think she has started to play really good tennis."

I'm a Serena fan, but I don't know if time is on her side. She'll be 38 on the 26th and are she and fellow 38 year old Federer getting faster or slightly slowing down?

Coaches are such positive thinkers--probably because they don't want those pay checks to end. Zero and four in her last GS finals. That's concrete evidence that Serena has slowed down.

 

[MsMeow]

"I think time is working for her," Mouratoglou told Sky Sports. ... "She is getting back in shape, and the more in shape she will be, the more dangerous she will be. I think she has started to play really good tennis."

I'm a Serena fan, but I don't know if time is on her side. She'll be 38 on the 26th and are she and fellow 38 year old Federer getting faster or slightly slowing down?

Of course coaches say things like this. He'd be a pretty lousy coach if he said she's slowed down.

 

[tony d]

Serena's still pretty dominant though. I can see her playing until she's 40.

 

[discostu]

Laver Cup starts today, with Shapovalov and Thiem about to play.

Barring some big upsets, Team Europe should have an easy time with this. Their team is essentially top 10 players, with Team World grabbing guys much farther down the list. Jack Sock, despite being horrible this season, is on the roster. He did well last year though, so I think they're going with that angle.

It will be interesting to see if this tournament does well in popularity. There's always appeal to sew the top players, but I don't think there's much bragging rights involved.

If anything, I see it as extra chances for some young players to go up against the big 3 with less pressure on the line, that can hopefully help them when they run into them in the big tournaments.

 

[Pensionsraddare]

Laver Cup starts today, with Shapovalov and Thiem about to play.

Barring some big upsets, Team Europe should have an easy time with this. Their team is essentially top 10 players, with Team World grabbing guys much farther down the list. Jack Sock, despite being horrible this season, is on the roster. He did well last year though, so I think they're going with that angle.

It will be interesting to see if this tournament does well in popularity. There's always appeal to sew the top players, but I don't think there's much bragging rights involved.

If anything, I see it as extra chances for some young players to go up against the big 3 with less pressure on the line, that can hopefully help them when they run into them in the big tournaments.

I don't think Laver Cup can ever get the same status as Ryder Cup has in golf. They doing it wrong from the first start by playing it every year. Europe missing some big names but will still probably cruise to victory.

 

[discostu]

I don't think Laver Cup can ever get the same status as Ryder Cup has in golf. They doing it wrong from the first start by playing it every year. Europe missing some big names but will still probably cruise to victory.

On a podcast I was listening to, they made a good point about next year, that there's going to be a lot of international play outside the usual tournament events. They've added the ATP tournament in January. Davis Cup has its new format. It's an Olympic year, plus the Laver Cup.

It's quite a bit of international play in one year.

 

[kihei]

Sock currently clobbering Fog, 6-1

Jack looks out of shape, but then again the dude always looks out of shape.

 

[kihei]

Looking at that bench, Rafa seems to be the head cheerlleader, like he thinks this is the Davis Cup, not the Laver Cup.

 

[kihei]

After he got blown out in the first set 6-1, Fog's level of concentration has gone up about 700%. No way these guys want to lose when their teammates are peers.

Sock continues to play fine tennis, though, and takes the breaker, 7-3, for the win.

 

[kihei]

In a match of stupendous sloppiness, Medvedev knocks off even more error prone Rublev in straight torturous, error-dominated sets.

 

[inthe6ix]

Laver cup? meh... waiting for Bianca to play the Beijing open and dominate again

 

[MsMeow]

Laver cup? meh... waiting for Bianca to play the Beijing open and dominate again

Is it even on tv anywhere? All I see is tweets.

 

[kihei]

Poor Nick. He's gotta stay away from deciding set tie breakers with Roger in these things.

Judging from this, Fed was making spectacular shots look commonplace:

 

[kihei]

Is it even on tv anywhere? All I see is tweets.

Next match in on TSN right now: Rafa versus Milos.

 

[Elvis P]

—Talent pool: The higher level of interest in tennis in Europe, compared to the U.S., may mean that a higher percentage of promising young athletes choose the sport.
—Coaching: When Patrick McEnroe announced his departure as head of USTA player development a few years ago, he cited “coaching education” as the most important aspect of the U.S. game that needed to be improved. Knowledgeable observers say there’s higher standard of expertise for coaches in Europe, and what’s happening in Canada right now might bear that out. Since hiring the former head of France’s junior development program, Louis Borfiga, Canada has had a surge of success, which peaked this month with Bianca Andreescu’s win at the US Open.
—Surface: The baseline game that was once the exclusive province of clay is now played on every type of court. That seems to give Europeans, who are more likely to play on clay as kids, a leg up in learning the patience and point construction that’s needed to succeed everywhere today. American men, meanwhile, mostly write off the two-month clay season and the ranking points that come with it.
—Mindset: European players, who speak multiple languages and cross national borders regularly, seem to adapt more easily to the disorientingly international nature of tennis. Medvedev, of Russia, made his breakthrough in the foreign lands of Washington, D.C. and Mason, Ohio, and he played the New York crowd like a fiddle during the Open. By contrast, the highest-ranked player in the U.S, John Isner, has won 14 of his 15 career titles on home soil. Why does Europe dominate the Laver Cup, and men's tennis at large?

I always wonder why the world can't compete with Europe in men's tennis. Here are some possible answers.

 

[kihei]

I always wonder why the world can't compete with Europe in men's tennis. Here are some possible answers.

These things can be cyclical, too. For decades upon decades the only countries that mattered were Great Britain, US, France, and Australia. From 1900 through 1973, no other country won the Davis Cup. Until 1960, no other country even got to the finals except Belgium in 1904 and Japan in 1921. I think the advent of the open era really did a great deal for tennis world-wide, especially in Europe. I also think the new Davis Cup format will Pejorative Slur growth rather than encourage it, so how long Europe will continue to dominate is an open question.

 

[kihei]

Nadal over Milos 6-3. Typical win for Rafa; typical loss for Milos. We have all seen this movie before.

 

[kihei]

I tell myself that I don't believe in miracles. And then I remember that Milos Raonic got to #3 in the world.

 

[kihei]

The deciding second set breaker found Rafa going out to a 6-love lead over Milos (at which point a smelt couldn't have done any worse) and took the match to give Europe a 6-3 lead in the competition so far. Not exactly a lot of suspense.

 

[discostu]

For those in Toronto, there's an exhibition event this week with Roddick, Courier and others. A podcast I listen to is giving away free tickets. I can't go, but, there generally isn't many people who respond, so if you enter, your chances to win are good.

 

[MsMeow]

I watched a bit of Milos/Rafa. It was a pretty bad match so I turned it off. Rafa was rusty and Milos has slowed down to a crawl now.

 

[Maestro84]

Serena's still pretty dominant though. I can see her playing until she's 40.

"Dominant" is a stretch. She hasn't won a major in nearly 3 years and has lost the last 4 major finals she's played in (all in straight sets and to opponents she would've beaten with ease in her prime). She also hasn't won a title at any level since her comeback. Is she still one of the best in the world? For sure. Is she still the same Serena from like 2012? Absolutely not

 

[kihei]

I dig this: Osaka wins Osaka.