Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XVI

[MsMeow]

Carlos is so damned fun to watch! Can't wait to see him and Sinner. Zverev was annihilated.

 

[kihei]

Alcaraz over Zverev 3 and 1. What a show Carlos put on tonight. Good to see him back to his spectacular self.

 

[kihei]

Carlos is so damned fun to watch! Can't wait to see him and Sinner. Zverev was annihilated.

While I was watching this match and regularly oohing and aahing, it struck me that his wonderful showmanship might someday be an Achilles heel. He clearly wants to entertain; wants to give the crowd a good time. It's fun but it is not the most efficient way to go about your business. Maybe that will change a little as he grows older.

 

[Elvis P]

Bee invasion delays Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alexander Zverev Indian Wells quarterfinal match

The match is halted until officials can figure out a Plan Bee.

sports.yahoo.com

 

[TCTC]

Love Medvedev's coach and his NHL hats. Different team every tournament lol.

 

[SlafySZN]

Love Medvedev's coach and his NHL hats. Different team every tournament lol.

Right? Lol

 

[kihei]

Medvedev over Rune in straight sets. Rune had a pretty good tournament, showed signs of life. He was consistently outsmarted by Daniil, though, and 40+ unforced errors didn't help.

 

[MsMeow]

While I was watching this match and regularly oohing and aahing, it struck me that his wonderful showmanship might someday be an Achilles heel. He clearly wants to entertain; wants to give the crowd a good time. It's fun but it is not the most efficient way to go about your business. Maybe that will change a little as he grows older.

I loved that moment when he saw the woman with the tshirt that had his picture all over and he smiled!

 

[Incubajerks]

Shelton reminds me of Denis in a number of ways. Lefty, tons of flash, long bad spurts of play, too dramatic. Hopefully he can reign some of that in.

I believe that the sooner he stops having a bully attitude, the sooner he can reach his maximum potential.

 

[kihei]

I believe that the sooner he stops having a bully attitude, the sooner he can reach his maximum potential.

I've got zero problems with Ben Shelton's attitude.

 

[17futurecap]

Pretty crazy Maria Sakkari only has two career singles titles at the main WTA level. It looks like she made the right choice hiring David Witt after Pegula let him go.

 

[Elvis P]

Novak Djokovic withdraws from the Miami Open

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic will skip the Miami Open, saying less than a week after a surprise loss at Indian Wells that he needs to balance his “private and professional schedule.” Djokovic's announcement Saturday on his social media accounts follows his 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 defeat to unheralded Luca...

sports.yahoo.com

 

[MsMeow]

Rain delay at 2-1 Sinner.

 

[kihei]

So Sinner shares his umbrella with a delighted ball girl, and then proceeded to have a nice chat with her as though he didn't have a care in the world. Meanwhile while walking off the court headed to the locker room, Alcaraz pauses to let Sinner catch up, and they proceed to have a chat. Nice guys or what?

 

[MsMeow]

So Sinner shares his umbrella with a delighted ball girl, and then proceeded to have a nice chat with her as though he didn't have a care in the world. Meanwhile while walking off the court headed to the locker room, Alcaraz pauses to let Sinner catch up, and they proceed to have a chat. Nice guys or what?

It's really refreshing to see.

 

[kihei]

So, more frequently it seems, the Alcazar/Sinner match up doesn't deliver a very good tennis match. Sinner dominated the first set 6-1, making Carlos' claims that Sinner is right now the better player seem a reality. But Carlos went to work in the second set and held on to his early break to take it to a third. In the final set, Sinner just ran out of gas, losing 6-2. These guys are going to have a weird atmosphere around their matches for awhile, a lot psychological nuance going on. These days you never know quite what you are going to get

 

[kihei]

The second semi had a similar narrative. Paul won the first with another breadstick then Medvedev went off to a 4- love lead in the second which he blew, but managed to take the breaker. Paul hurt his leg a little and couldn't put up much resistance in the third

 

[kihei]

Iga won the first three games, Sakkari the next three, and then Swiatek ran the table the rest of the way. Midway through it looked like Maria was going to be quite competitive, but then Iga turned up her game and that was that.

 

[MsMeow]

Carlos is just unreal. Down 0-3 in the first, 3 games I missed, then he evens it up and wins in a breaker. Up 4-1 now. Daniil looks defeated. And 6-1 in the 2nd.

 

[kihei]

Re: the serve problem. Well, maybe not so much these days. As of 2-all in the second, 53% of his first serves have not been returned.

 

[kihei]

The slump is over. Which, I'm sure, comes as good news to a lot of people as Carlos brings so much joy and jaw-dropping skill to the game.

Not a vintage Indian Wells. The weather was surprisingly fickle, for the most part the level of tennis wasn't great, and early upsets made for some flat quarterfinals on both sides. The best matches were basically Carlos shows, closer to a one-man show. The early Djokovic exit seemed to drain some energy from the event. Still the right guy won and that set up some fascinating questions for Miami and the clay court season.

 

[kihei]

Funniest moment: after a point against Rune, Medvedev elaborately hitched up his tennis shorts in an imitation of Holger's short shorts look. Holger was not amused. Classic Medvedev move, though.

 

[MsMeow]

Terrible news. Sabalenka's boyfriend passed away in Miami. Konstantin Koltsov, former hockey player for the Penguins.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

Terrible news. Sabalenka's boyfriend passed away in Miami. Konstantin Koltsov, former hockey player for the Penguins.

He jumped from a hotel balcony.

She's expected to play in the tournament. No idea how she's going to keep it together vs Badosa...

 

[PanniniClaus]

He jumped from a hotel balcony.

She's expected to play in the tournament. No idea how she's going to keep it together vs Badosa...

This just keeps getting worse. I'm shocked she is playing... there has to be more to this story.