A gruelling opening 7-5 set that Nole won led to two seemingly exhausted players in set two, neither of whom could hold serve. Nole won the second set 6-4, despite seven service breaks. One of those Perils of Pauline instances from Djokovic, a set where Nole looks near death much of the time, surely moments away from defaulting, only to pull it out in the end. Annoying as hell, but what are you gonna do? Ultimately a match where whoever lost it should (and will) be kicking himself.
Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XVI
- Thread starter MiamiScreamingEagles
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Playing his best tennis in ages and ages, Tsitsipas defeats Khachanov 4 and 2. Stefanos is a two-time champion here so he must feel at home. He needed this run badly, but Sinner is in the road next, and that almost certainly will be too much to ask.
Sinner wins a tough three set match over Rune, who came out super aggressive and stayed that way most of the match. Sinner, though, just played his game and after failing two opportunities to close the second set tie breaker, made no such errors in the third. The big train rolls on....
Ruud wins over Humbert 6-1 in the third. Caspar should have won in two sets but went from 2-love to 2-4 in the second set rather inexplicably. Another fine tournament for Humbert whose improvement this year comes as a surprise to me.
With a lot of help from a very good Tsitsipas, Sinner finally hits a wall. Jannik was leading 4-2 in the third but it had been a struggle in which he somehow managed to save 12 of 13 break points to get to that point. But Stef kept the pressure on and won the last four games. A late match. hamstring pull sealed Jannik's fate.
Ruud takes his first set off Djokovic in his sixth match against him. Nole is very low energy and error prone.
Despite first serving at a measly 24% for the set, Nole wins it 6-1. That's says all you need to know about Caspar that set.
Ruud grabs a 2=love lead and holds on for his first win over Djokovic. Nole was his worst enemy in this match--as much psychologically as physically-- which results in a missed opportunity for him.
Despite first serving at a measly 24% for the set, Nole wins it 6-1. That's says all you need to know about Caspar that set.
Ruud grabs a 2=love lead and holds on for his first win over Djokovic. Nole was his worst enemy in this match--as much psychologically as physically-- which results in a missed opportunity for him.
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Tsitsipas completes his great run at Monte Carlo with an excellent straight set win over Ruud in the final. Caspar continues his unfortunate streak of never having won a tennis tournament above the 250- level.
MsMeow
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Seyboth Wild and Nardi are playing. Nardi injured his ankle at match point in the 3rd but got taped up and is still out there hitting very soft serves and not moving. Painful to watch. SW is also playing badly because it's so hard playing an injured player.
So what do we make of Seyboth Wild? He has some nasty assault charges pending back in Brazil. But he is fun to watch play. I can't quite bring myself to Zverev levels of distaste. Yet.
MsMeow
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I have to google him as I knew nothing about the assault charges.
Edit: ewww, he is horrid. The only difference is he is more of a nobody than Zverev.
Maybe I should update.
Later: not much new. He is horrid, though. Doubt the case ever is resolved.
Rafa's first match today, not, on paper, a challenging one. But we shall see.
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Felix ekes out a win over career-long toad stool Max Marterer in three breakers, having to save a match point along the way. Conditions in Munich looked frigid as fans were bundled up to the max (no pun intended) in heavy-duty winter gear. Felix continues to look like a shadow of his former self.
I caught the first set before falling back to sleep. Cobolli, completely baffled by spin, was not competitive, nerves, probably. About the best that can be said for Rafa is that he kept the ball in play well. He looked quite a bit slower than usual in terms of court coverage, his groundies had little snap, and his service motion looked compromised to the extent that he was hitting first serves at somewhere between 167 and 178 kph with a very few gusts into 185 kph range. Two takeaways: very hard to imagine him being in a tournament and physically able to go beyond the second or third round at best, and there will be an awful lot of players, like the top 40, capable of beating him if this is the best that he has got.
After reading some reports, it seems Rafa improved significantly on the ground in the second set while remaining very cautious on serve.
Good spirits, though: "I'm just having fun and happy to start with a victory."
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MsMeow
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Say Hey Kid
They met at the crossroads.
Rafael Nadal wins first clay court match in 681 days, defeating Flavio Cobolli in Barcelona
Injuries have kept Nadal away from clay for nearly two years, but now he's back and ready
sports.yahoo.com
It's a shame Rafa had to run into Demon in the second round. He lost, but he showed signs of improvement today. He was hitting with more freedom, including some nasty forehands into corners, finding angles around the court and moving Alex around. His serve is still the weakest part of his game, but he was hitting some terrific plus ones that put De Minaur immediately on the defensive. Stamina and agility are still issues (Demon had a field day with drop shots), but they will come around. If he can go three rounds in Madrid and three rounds in Rome, I think he could well be competitive by the time he gets to Paris. Definitely wouldn't write anything off just yet, barring another injury, of course.
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Barcelona is going to have the same finalists as Monte Carlo: Tsitsipas versus Ruud. Stefanos struggled with Lajovic today so he may be getting a little weary. Barcelona is 500-level so Ruud gets another chance to win something other than a 250. Going with Tsitsipas anyway.
Say Hey Kid
They met at the crossroads.
Two-time major champion Garbiñe Muguruza retires from tennis
Two-time major champion Garbiñe Muguruza announced she's retiring from professional tennis at age 30 after an extended time away from the court. Muguruza beat Serena Williams in the 2016 French Open final and Venus Williams in the 2017 Wimbledon final, making her the only player to defeat each...
sports.yahoo.com
Nadal has a ridiculously easy time with 16-year-old Darwin Branch. Rafa looked fit and was moving well, but he might as well as been rallying against a talented ball boy.
FAA and Shapo get by tricky opening rounds. Let's hope one or both go deep, though they are in tough next round versus Mannarino and Etcheverry respectively.
FAA and Shapo get by tricky opening rounds. Let's hope one or both go deep, though they are in tough next round versus Mannarino and Etcheverry respectively.
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