Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XI

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

This thread is open for comments. The prior thread has been locked per a revised site rule pertaining to threads containing in excess of 1,000+ posts.

The former thread can be reached here: https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/all-purpose-tennis-thread-x.2373755/page-55

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[Say Hey Kid]

Kerber played like a mother. Serena looked bad. The men's final should be great, although the top seeds are gone. This is such a Golden Age for men's tennis. What if after the Big 3 retire, there is a group of men who win a major once every couple years, but never win 10 career majors? Perry, Rosewall, Connors, Lendl, and Agassi each won 8 majors.

 

[Tuggy]

Auger-Aliassme got a WC into the 250 next week in Umag (clay).

He had to retire from a match last week due to a right ankle. Hopefully it was nothing and he can get back on track to the top 100 goal for 2018.

He gets a qualifier in R1 next week.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Some people (not me) are saying there should be a different form of 5th set tiebreaker than the 2 game margin of victory (7-5) we currently have. What do you think?

 

[rangerssharks414]

Some people (not me) are saying there should be a different form of 5th set tiebreaker than the 2 game margin of victory (7-5) we currently have. What do you think?

Nope. The marathon matches hardly ever happen. A tiebreak in the 5th would be awful.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

The Joker wins again!

Margaret Court only won 11 Grand Slam titles in the Open Era (against pros).

 

[MsMeow]

Who's going to the Rogers Cup next month?

 

[kihei]

Who's going to the Rogers Cup next month?

I have tickets for sessions on Monday, Tuesday and Friday's quarterfinals.

 

[kihei]

Scads on newfound respect for Anderson. I promise to never denigrate him as an awkward, feckless, gawky, graceless geek again.

 

[kihei]

Some people (not me) are saying there should be a different form of 5th set tiebreaker than the 2 game margin of victory (7-5) we currently have. What do you think?

While I like the present set-up at Wimbledon simply because of the importance that the tournament places on tradition, I could be persuaded to accept Kevin Anderson's suggestion during one of his press conferences: in Wimbledon's case, change the tie breaker to 12-all. That seems a reasonable compromise.

 

[Tuggy]

Pospisil won his first round match today at Newport.

Auger-Aliassme will play his first round match tomorrow at Umag.

 

[MsMeow]

I'm not convinced Djokovic is back. He still isn't playing aggressively and he was choking big time in the third set vs Anderson. Against a slightly better opponent that set could have changed completely. The rest of the season will be a better indicator. I also wonder how Roger is going to respond to losing to Anderson. He skipped out on a lot of play time going for Wimbledon and it didn't work.

 

[Tuggy]

Felix just won in straight sets in Umag! Second career tour level win for the 17 year old!

He moves into the 140 for the first time in the live rankings. Quest for top 100 in 2018 continues!

 

[Tuggy]

Genie won her first round match in Gstaad.

 

[Beau Knows]

I'm not convinced Djokovic is back. He still isn't playing aggressively and he was choking big time in the third set vs Anderson. Against a slightly better opponent that set could have changed completely. The rest of the season will be a better indicator. I also wonder how Roger is going to respond to losing to Anderson. He skipped out on a lot of play time going for Wimbledon and it didn't work.

From what I've seen Federer has declined from where he was last year, I could definitely see him retiring by the end of next season.

I think Djokovic is back, but I wasn't surprised that he showed some nerves in his first slam final in a while. He lost his aura of invisibility over the last 2 years and I think he can build it back up over the next year.

 

[kihei]

He lost his aura of invisibility over the last 2 years and I think he can build it back up over the next year.

Devilishly hard to recover from a loss like that, but here's a shot as I remember him from his glory days:

 

[Beau Knows]

Devilishly hard to recover from a loss like that, but here's a shot as I remember him from his glory days:

Dammit lol

 

[kihei]

Kerber played like a mother. Serena looked bad. The men's final should be great, although the top seeds are gone. This is such a Golden Age for men's tennis. What if after the Big 3 retire, there is a group of men who win a major once every couple years, but never win 10 career majors? Perry, Rosewall, Connors, Lendl, and Agassi each won 8 majors.

There always has to be an asterisk beside Rosewall, Laver, Gonzalez, Hoad and others of the era that straddled the old "amateur" days and modern tennis. Had Rosewall, Laver and Gonzalez been allowed to enter Grand Slam tournaments after they turned professional, they would have won a lot more GS tournaments. Look at it this way: Laver turned professional in 1963 and pros were finally allowed to compete in GS tournaments five years later in 1968. So he missed 20 opportunities to add GS tournaments to his collection. He won all four titles in 1962 and did so again in 1969, the only player in history to achieve this rare feat twice, the very Everest of tennis accomplishment. How many titles might he have added if he would have been allowed to participate between 1963 and 1968? I think ten additional GS titles would be a conservative estimate. One could also easily argue that Rosewall would have likely picked up many of the titles that Laver didn't win, as he was to Rod what Rafa is to Roger--a very near equal.

 

[rangerssharks414]

Devilishly hard to recover from a loss like that, but here's a shot as I remember him from his glory days:

Well played.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Court won 11 Australians when no other top woman went, because it was played at Christmas.

 

[Tuggy]

Vasek had a nice win today over M Zverev at Newport and he's into the QF.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Counting doubles, Martina won 59 Slams. The last one was a month before her 50th birthday.

 

[Tuggy]

Hard fought win today for Genie over Golubic. Down 2-5 in the first and fought back to take it in a TB. Down 4-5 in the second, fought off multiple set points and got the break and eventually won it in a TB. She almost blew the TB, she was up 6-1 and needed to win it 9-7. Like 6 or 7 MP's.

It's the type of match she hasn't been winning, but she seems to be coming back mentally and physically.

With this win, she'll jump over Zhao for Canadian #1.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

What is your all time favorite match? 1981 Wimbledon Men's Final for me. My guy broke a 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles streak and finally beat kihei's android to win Wimbledon.

 

[kihei]

What is your all time favorite match? 1981 Wimbledon Men's Final for me. My guy broke a 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles streak and finally beat kihei's android to win Wimbledon.

I saw "my android" come of age at the Canadian Open in 1973. That was really special. Up and coming Borg, just barely 17-years-old, had worked himself into the top 40, oozing massive potential, but had yet to make a really big splash against a top player. In the round of 16, he ran up against the ultra-dangerous 38-year-old Ken Rosewall, still #6 in the world, who won the Australian Open the previous year and was a Wimbledon finalist the next year. It was the only match that these two legends played against each other. Borg lost the first set 2-6 as Rosewall schooled him, but then quick learner Bjorn won the next two sets 6-1 and 7-5. The quality of tennis in the third set was brilliant on both sides, with most games going to deuce and numerous break points being saved by both players. That was the most memorable match I ever witnessed live, and also quite likely the best played single set.

Favourite matches that I saw on TV would include several contenders:

Rafa over Roger at Wimbledon in 2008 (tweedle dee)
Roger over Rafa at Wimbledon in 2007 (tweedle dum)
Roger over Rafa at the Australian Open in 2016 (best fifth set comeback that I have ever seen)
Borg over McEnroe at Wimbledon in 1980 (the match that included the epic 18-16 fourth set tie breaker which Borg actually lost, only to win 8-6 in the fifth having surrendered only 3 points on serve in the set)
Ilie Nastase over Arthur Ashe in the US Open in 1972 (Ilie the Artist)
Arthur Ashe over Jimmy Connors at Wimbledon in 1975 (Greatest strategical win that I have ever seen, bar none)

But my favourite tennis match would be:

Marat Safin over Roger in five superb sets in the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2005 (just an incredibly high level of play and a wonderfully suspenseful match between two gifted players)