Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XIV

[MsMeow]

Good question.

They never really revealed what injury (or how severe it was) she had.

I'm guessing she played when she shouldn't have and made whatever it was much worse. Or maybe she's had multiple issues.

Either way, hopefully she can come back at some point and be the same player, but I'm kinda in the believe when I see it camp on that one.

There was one comment that seemed to have slipped out from her camp about a foot injury. You'd think with the knee injury from last fall, they would have had her undergo surgery at some point if things weren't going well.

 

[MsMeow]

Felix was walked all over in his match. He had an early break to go up 3-0 and then lost 4 and 2. Bublik played well.

 

[Tuggy]

Felix was walked all over in his match. He had an early break to go up 3-0 and then lost 4 and 2. Bublik played well.

Yeah, not a great day for Felix.

 

[kihei]

Yeah, Felix was up 3-love in the first set in a breeze and I was thinking: "Jeez, I didn't think he was this much better than Bublik," and then Bublik takes eight of the next ten games. I like Bublic a lot so I just had to laugh.

 

[kihei]

Rublev has turned into a smart player. Despite blowing a two break lead in the second, he played a fine match today against Bautista-Agut, 6-2, 7-5, especially down the line. He was tactically sound and patient when he got in trouble with no hint of the panicky flamethrower at all. Next to Shapo, I think Andrey the other player who used the long break most wisely.

 

[kihei]

Garin with a nice come-from-behind three set win over Bublik. Garin's star looks definitely on the rise,

 

[kihei]

Rublev and Tsitsipas make the finals in Germany, both after well-played wins. Rublev had the easier time of it, winning in straight sets while Tsitsipas beat Garin in three sets with the only difference being Garin choked on a few clutch points. Going on form of the week, the final should be a good one.

 

[kihei]

Rublev wins Hamburg in a three-set, wonderfully entertaining match. Anddrey played some great chances, but Tsitsipas was serving for the match and blew it and then got immediately broken again, this time ending the match on a shank and a double fault. By the far the biggest win of Rublev's career and a strong statement that he has reached a new level.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Fed & Serena are playing the Aussie.

 

[Tuggy]

All 4 Canadian men in the top 100 in action this coming week. Spread out in different events.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Many of the top players in history routinely skipped the Australian and the French and clay is a specialty. My top Open Era men ever are:

Federer
Sampras
Djokovic
Connors, McEnroe
Nadal
Borg
Becker

 

[MsMeow]

Many of the top players in history routinely skipped the Australian and the French and clay is a specialty. My top Open Era men ever are:

Federer
Sampras
Djokovic
Connors, McEnroe
Nadal
Borg
Becker

Yes, the Aussie was always really watered down and the French was quite lopsided with clay court specialists. Players have been forced to adjust since they started making certain tournaments mandatory.

 

[kihei]

Many of the top players in history routinely skipped the Australian and the French and clay is a specialty. My top Open Era men ever are:

Federer
Sampras
Djokovic
Connors, McEnroe
Nadal
Borg
Becker

Clay is the "specialty" that a huge portion of the world plays on. I think this list is just another form of special pleading. All this list does is show a strong bias toward American players. Ranking Connors (7 "proper" GSs, with one extra on clay) and McEnroe (7 GSs, but none on clay) over Nadal (7 "prpoer" GSs but 13 on clay) is especially egregious.

 

[Say Hey Kid]

1	CH	Novak Djoković	33.3	SRB1	11740	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	1	Rafael Nadal	34.3	ESP1	9850	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	CH	Dominic Thiem	27.1	AUT1	9125	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	1	Roger Federer	39.1	SUI1	6630	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	CH	Stefanos Tsitsipas	22.1	GRE1	5925	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	4	Daniil Medvedev	24.6	RUS1	5890	-	-	St. Petersburg R32	-	5890	6140
7	3	Alexander Zverev	23.4	GER1	4650	-	-	Cologne R16	-	4650	4855
8	CH	Diego Schwartzman	28.1	ARG1	3180	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	8	Matteo Berrettini	24.5	ITA1	3075	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	CH	Andrey Rublev	22.9	RUS2	2974	-	-	St. Petersburg R32	-	2974	3429

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

1	CH	Ashleigh Barty	24.4	AUS1	8717	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	1	Simona Halep	29	ROU1	7255	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	1	Naomi Osaka	22.9	JPN1	5780	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	CH	Sofia Kenin	21.9	USA1	5760	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	3	Elina Svitolina	26	UKR1	5260	-	-	-	-	-	-
6	1	Karolína Plíšková	28.5	CZE1	5205	-	-	-	-	-	-
7	4	Bianca Andreescu	20.3	CAN1	4555	-	-	-	-	-	-
8	2	Petra Kvitová	30.5	CZE2	4516	-	-	-	-	-	-
9	4	Kiki Bertens	28.8	NED1	4505	-	-	-	-	-	-
10	1	Serena Williams	39	USA2	4080	-	-	-	-	-	-
11	4	Belinda Bencic	23.5	SUI1	4010	-	-	-	-	-	-
12	9	Aryna Sabalenka	22.4	BLR1	3675	-	-	-	-	-	-
13	4	Johanna Konta	29.4	GBR1	3152	-	-	-	-	-	-
14	1	Victoria Azarenka	31.1	BLR2	3122	-	-	-	-	-	-
15	1	Garbiñe Muguruza	27	ESP1	3016	-	-	-	-	-	-
16	7	Madison Keys	25.6	USA3	2962	-	-	-	-	-	-
17	CH	Iga Świątek	19.3	POL1	2960

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[MsMeow]

Milos is about to play now. They said he had a knee injury and that's why he pulled out of the French Open.

What a painful match this is. Wolf is a qualifier in a mullet, not that his play is impacted by his hair, but he should not be this much trouble to a guy who was once #3 in the world.

Milos takes the first in a very tight breaker. And the second much easier.

 

[Maestro84]

Clay is the "specialty" that a huge portion of the world plays on. I think this list is just another form of special pleading. All this list does is show a strong bias toward American players. Ranking Connors (8 "proper" GSs, with one on clay) and McEnroe (7 GSs, but none on clay) over Nadal (7 GSs but 13 on clay) is especially egregious.

Putting Sampras above Djokovic/Nadal is pretty asinine not only because they both have more slams than him but because Pete never sniffed one of the majors while the other two won all 4 of them.

I'd go as far as to say among all the all-time greats over the years, Sampras' results (or lack thereof) at RG is by farrrrrrr the most glaring.

 

[kihei]

Now if this guy was a tennis announcer, I would turn the sound on:



Excellent points:

Rafa's amazing service return performance
Slow speed of the court was more important than the low bounces caused by cold weather
How Nadal changed his positioning strategy to blunt Nole's dropshot tactic
Nadal's mind-boggling dominance in short rallies (53-25 in points of 0-4 strokes)

 

[Tuggy]

Tennis ace's shock escape after getting COVID-19

Sam Querrey tested positive for Covid in Russia but fled on a private jet to avoid being stuck in Russia.

American tennis player Sam Querrey and his family have reportedly fled Russia on a private jet after getting COVID-19, to evade local health authorities.

That's when things got wild, according to reporting from New York Times tennis writer Ben Rothenberg, who dedicated a Twitter thread to Querrey's next moves. The ATP Tour has acknowledged Querrey's reported actions and launched an investigation, fuming at what supposedly went down.

Rothenberg reports that Querrey and his family, wife Abby and eight-month-old son Ford, were told to quarantine in their hotel for 14 days. Their accommodation was the five-star St Petersburg Four Seasons - no problem.
But then, Querrey was called by Russian health authorities. He was told that they would be assessed by a doctor and may be forcibly hospitalised if symptoms were visible.
With only mild symptoms, the Querreys did not want to be hospitalised in a foreign country and were especially fearful of being separated from their baby son.
So Querrey, who has previously promoted private jet companies on his tennis apparel, arranged and paid for a private jet to get out of Russia. He and his family sat at the back of the plane to hopefully limit any COVID-19 exposure for the pilots.
The plane got the Querreys across the Russian border to what Rothenberg called "a nearby European country" which doesn't require a negative coronavirus test for entry. They remain in accommodation within that country and intend to keep their location secret.

Crazy and stupid

 

[discostu]

Tennis ace's shock escape after getting COVID-19

Sam Querrey tested positive for Covid in Russia but fled on a private jet to avoid being stuck in Russia.





Crazy and stupid

Why would you take your 8 month old on a work trip to Russia? There's a series of bad decisions here, but that seems to be the first domino of stupidity.

 

[MsMeow]

Tennis ace's shock escape after getting COVID-19

Sam Querrey tested positive for Covid in Russia but fled on a private jet to avoid being stuck in Russia.





Crazy and stupid

This is pretty funny but also he's an idiot.

 

[kihei]

I posted this earlier in the French Open thread, but probably nobody will be going there, so I thought I would re-post it in this thread just to see if anyone has an opinion:

So what would it take for those of us who see Roger as the GOAT to switch our vote to Rafa? Would another French Open win for Nadal do it, giving him 21 GSs? Each new French Open win only reinforces the argument that he is a transcendental player on clay, but not the greatest player overall. Still, that would be enough for me to consider grudgingly switching votes, but not happily and with a great big asterisk. What would work for me? An ATP finals win would help, but what would really clinch the case, what would really turn me into an unapologetic defender of Rafa as GOAT, would be if he won another Australian Open for his 21st slam, giving him at least two GSs in every GS tournament, a very rare feat. Then he would have my wholehearted support.

 

[sjsharks92]

I posted this earlier in the French Open thread, but probably nobody will be going there, so I thought I would re-post it in this thread just to see if anyone has an opinion:

So what would it take for those of us who see Roger as the GOAT to switch our vote to Rafa? Would another French Open win for Nadal do it, giving him 21 GSs? Each new French Open win only reinforces the argument that he is a transcendental player on clay, but not the greatest player overall. Still, that would be enough for me to consider grudgingly switching votes, but not happily and with a great big asterisk. What would work for me? An ATP finals win would help, but what would really clinch the case, what would really turn me into an unapologetic defender of Rafa as GOAT, would be if he won another Australian Open for his 21st slam, giving him at least two GSs in every GS tournament, a very rare feat. Then he would have my wholehearted support.

At this point, the Tennis Goat debate is a partisan issue. There are those dug in on Federer and vice versa for Nadal. I am honestly unsure where I stand though. On the one hand, I view Fed as the Goat as he was the standard of excellence for about 15 years. It has been him that Nadal and Djokovic were chasing and it is so strange to think he might be passed by not just 1, but 2 of his contemporaries.

On the other hand, Nadal's 10-4 H2H record against Fed in Grand Slams is huge. And while Nadal's dominance has been consolidated predominantly to Clay, he's also had great success on grass, particularly against Fed who is likely the greatest male grass player of all time.

With all that said, I think if Nadal were able to win the Aussie that might do it for me. Historically that's been his weakest major, and winning another title on a different surface given him the overall edge on Fed would probably be it.

 

[discostu]

I'm someone who's always preferred Nadal in the Federer/Nadal discussions, but, I don't think there's any scenarios where this debate ends conclusively. Even if Nadal wins AO or Wimbledon, or Federer takes the French, these two have been intertwined as equals for so long, that a slight uptick of one over the other at the end doesn't erase that long history of it being close to a coin flip.

 

[Tuggy]

Denis cruising along in St. Petersburg. Easily into the QF's.

Felix will play later today in Cologne.

 

[kihei]

What's that 10-4 GS match advantage look like when the French Open is eliminated, though? Then it's 4-4. The more I think about it, I don't think winning another French title actually does the trick for me; in fact, it only reinforces the already obvious point that Nadal is by far the greatest player ever to step foot on a single surface. Rafa's overall won/loss record with Federer shifts in Federer's favour if you eliminate the clay court meetings. His GS meetings record evens. And then there is that 19 to 7 advantage of Roger's on non-clay court events. I agree, though, especially given their friendship, it almost feels like they deserve to viewed as a single entity.