Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XIV

[The Abusement Park]

Such a great point, guys. In a mind-boggling 17-year-stretch starting in 2004 and still continuing, the only time a player other than Roger, Rafa and Nole was a year-end #1, was 1917, when it was Murray. Had fate been kinder, he could have almost certainly won at least seven GSs rather than three.

Yeah I think the difference between Murray and a some of all timers isn’t that huge, it’s just that he came up at the worst possible time. I think he’ll be pretty underrated for that reason alone, but he really did a good job of making the big 3’s jobs tougher.

 

[kihei]

Yeah I think the difference between Murray and a some of all timers isn’t that huge, it’s just that he came up at the worst possible time. I think he’ll be pretty underrated for that reason alone, but he really did a good job of making the big 3’s jobs tougher.

I did a little research. It is worth remembering that the Big Three were once the Big Four, with Murray the additional member. Between 2012 and 2017 he did win three Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals and one tour final, along with being a GS finalist on four other occasions. That makes him a junior partner, I guess, for that six year period. You could call him something of an elite tweener, better than everyone else, including Stan, but not as monumentally awesome as Roger, Rafa and Nole. In terms of great players, in a less overwhelmingly exclusive era, I can see Andy having Lendl-type numbers (8 GSs).

 

[The Abusement Park]

I did a little research. It is worth remembering that the Big Three were once the Big Four, with Murray the additional member. Between 2012 and 2016 he did win three Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals and one tour final, along with being a GS finalist on four other occasions. That makes him a junior partner, I guess, for that five year period. You could call him something of an elite tweener, better than everyone else, including Stan, but not as monumentally awesome as Roger, Rafa and Nole. In terms of great players, in a less overwhelmingly exclusive era, I can see Andy having Lendl-type numbers (8 GSs).

That sounds about right to me. I'm not entirely sure who I'd compare him too or where I'd rank him all time, but I think on the face of it he could be a pretty underrated player down the line.

 

[kihei]

In Bastad, a rowdy Ruud radically ruins a ruffled Rune ruthlessly, love and 2, winning the first nine games and 42 of the first 54 points in the process.

 

[MsMeow]

De Minaur has covid and won't be going to the Olympics.

 

[MsMeow]

Dan Evans also tested positive for Covid and won't be going to the Olympics. I wonder what the percentage if unvaccinated tennis players is. I bet it's pretty high.

 

[kihei]

Tsitsipas roars our to a 5-love lead against Krajinovic before losing 6-3, 1-6, 3-6. Stefanos didn't play badly at all (34/16 w/ue ratio) but the match is a recent pattern starting with his downward turn in the French Open final and his wipeout to Tiafoe at Wimbledon. I think these extremes from match to match, sometimes from set to set, can be traced to grief. His much loved grandmother died five minutes before the start of the French Open final, and his performances since then look clouded by grief--stretches where you are okay and then stretches when you just can't focus on anything at all very well. You have to feel for him.

With his stylish, technically-sound game, Krajinovic always looks like a top ten player--that is, until you watch him against top ten players and then his insufficiencies finally emerge. Today he kept his fragile nerves intact through the end, having a field day on his backhand where he hit no less than 26 winners.

 

[kihei]

Bublik loses to Anderson 7-5 in the third at Newport. Bublik's career in a nutshell. He races off to a 4-love win in the first set, looking incredibly skilled in the process; he blows a service lead and loses a winnable breaker in the second set, his attention beginning to wane; and he can't quite even limp to a breaker in the third set. His returns become desultory littl chips and blocks; he dallies with low-percentage drop shots; he wastes his challenges on balls he knows are out; he has brilliant moments, fewer and fewer, but cannot hit a decent passing shot to save his soul. And he shakes hands at the end, as always, like he is blissfully unconcerned and happy for the other guy.

 

[MsMeow]

Gauff tested positive and is out of the Olympics

 

[kihei]

Sunday Round Up

In Bastad, Ruud beats Coria 3 and 3. Ruud hit scads of winners not because of power but because of placement, running Coria like crazy and hitting to the open court. Federico had no answer. At 4-love in the first, Coria had that dejected/ashamed "this guy is just better than me" look but made it a little more competitive in the second set because of Caspar's intermittent lapses.

In Newport, Anderson beat out-of-the-blue youngster Jenson Brooksby 6 and 4. Anderson served extremely well and his backhand volley won him big points all week. He's one rehab who could make it back into the top 25.

In Hamburg, Carreno Busta defeated Krajinovic 2 and 4. Pablo played with more pop and aggression in the first set and looked terrific. He reverted to the norm in the second set, but Krajinovic couldn't quite raise his game high enough to extend the match.

 

[kihei]

Denis suffers an utterly mystifying loss to #249 Vit Kopriva, who possesses no weapons that should bother a house fly and a 190/200 kmh first serve that gave Denis fits all day. This must count as one of his most madddening and inexplicable losses yet.

 

[MaxV]

How do players qualify for OG tournament?

 

[kihei]

Denis might take some solace in the fact that despite first serving only at a 44% rate, Kopriva crunched his next opponent Ymer 1 and love. This is only the guy's second tournament. He had a career record of 1-1 on the ATP tour coming into Gstaad.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Tokyo Olympics: Ashleigh Barty upset in first round by Sara Sorribes Tormo - Sports Illustrated

 

[MsMeow]

Felix was supposed to play Andy Murray who withdrew at the last minute with a quad injury, so Felix played some guy ranked in the 100 to 200 ranking range...and lost.

 

[MsMeow]

Naomi had a straight sets win.

 

[kihei]

FAA keeps discovering new ways to disappoint.

 

[MsMeow]

FAA keeps discovering new ways to disappoint.

I was thinking after this loss, I wonder how long Uncle Toni will stick with him.

 

[kihei]

Nole out of the Olympics. One word: Pressure.

 

[ScottishCanuck]

That was quite the tantrum earlier

 

[MsMeow]

How is it Djokovic throws one racquet into the stands and smashes the hell out of another one against the net post and doesn't get more than a warning? Imagine if that was Kyrgios!

I see he withdrew from the mixed, citing a shoulder injury.

 

[kihei]

Hubris comes with demons or what? Good luck with that US Open title, Nole.

 

[kihei]

The way the press is reacting to Nole's tantrum at the end of his defeat to Careeno Busta, you'd think he killed a baby seal with a penknife. Nole is no bad guy. He is just someone who makes impulsive decisions and doesn't think things through in some key situations. A flawed human being, like the rest of us. That being said, I wish he wouldn't shoot himself in the foot so much.

 

[Beau Knows]

Nole out of the Olympics. One word: Pressure.

The pressure at the US Open will be insane, I think this tournament was just a small taste of what he's going to be dealing with in New York.

 

[kihei]

The pressure at the US Open will be insane, I think this tournament was just a small taste of what he's going to be dealing with in New York.

And he is worse off to deal with those pressures than he was before the Olympics. Now he will have confidence issues that he didn't have before going to Tokyo. I feel sorry for Stojanovic who now won't have a chance at an Olympic bronze. Against the advice of his coaches, he chose to play mixed doubles. Sure he is fatigued and maybe a shoulder really is bothering him, but it looks like he withdrew more out of disappointment and pique rather than for any other reason.