OT: Canadian Tennis

[Canovin]

Medvedev is the favorite to win the US open IMO

 

[Drivesaitl]

Shaping up to be a great match so far, I think Thiem takes it (I like Thiem and would like to see him take the tourney).



Regarding Joker I can see people not liking his stance on Covid-19, guess the disqualify was karma of sorts. I really don't think he intended to hit her, but it was idiotic either way. The guy was having a great year but could have done with keeping his mouth shut a little more and avoiding controversy. He'll have to give his head a shake and "embrace the bad guy image" as per McEnroe (who knows the irony of that coming from him as an 'unlikable guy' himself).

You should watch Thiem, I think you'd like his style. Once the big guns retire I could see him being the guy to beat as long as he can find a level of consistency.

Yeah, like I said my love for the sport is gone. I loved playing Tennis. That equated to my interest in watching tennis. Seeing the ground strokes, replicating them, etc. To me there used to be a profound interest in playing watching, and I suspect its like that for a lot of people that are golfers. Maybe even for cyclists. Tennis just seems to be one of those things. My watching it started due to playing it, and with arthritis and deteriorating joints its not an ideal sport for me anymore, and the running,stopping, starting, too much impact.

Finally Tennis is kind of a finite sport. Theres only so much you can do on a court, so many shots. Its not like hockey which seems infinite in comparison. Tennis is much more rote. You just get bored of it after awhile. Even during my Tennis years I found eras like Connors/Sampras etc that were completely unfulfilling. Boring tennis.

A player would have to be absolutely amazing to even capture my interest now. Maybe like Andrescu, but only a bit. Tennis really seems to be a dying activity. In my heyday we would have to search around even to find a court that didn't have a lineup. Now you could go to any court and just walk on. Not just during the pandemic. Its been like this for years here. Drive by courts and they are empty, or 1/4 being used..

But understand this post comes from NA where Tennis is essentially dead. It seems to still be doing better in other parts of the world, but not here. I mean kids go to school now with not one other person in the school playing tennis. Its kind of sad.

 

[Frank the Tank]

A tough 5 set loss by Shapovalov in the quarter-finals. He started spraying too many returns around the court in the last half of the match. That grueling > 1 hour 2nd set appears to have taken its toll. It was only a matter of time when his serve started abandoning him at key moments in the 5th.

He's appears to be on the cusp of taking that next step.

 

[Oilhawks]

First comeback from 2-0 (in the men's) in 70 years. Congrats to Thiem. Hard fought on both sides. I could see Zverev being dominant in his prime.

 

[Oilhawks]

Historic win for Novak today, what an outstanding year for him so far

GOAT

 

[harpoon]

Tennis: Naomi Osaka tosses racket, loses US Open match to Fernandez, 18 - The Mainichi

Osaka loses to unseeded, 74th ranked Canadian that I’ve never even heard of. This may be one of the worst career meltdowns ever seen in tennis.

 

[Oilhawks]

Tennis: Naomi Osaka tosses racket, loses US Open match to Fernandez, 18 - The Mainichi

Osaka loses to unseeded, 74th ranked Canadian that I’ve never even heard of. This may be one of the worst career meltdowns ever seen in tennis.

Watched it. Osaka was playing frustrated which probably doesn’t help. Her mental game seems weak and predicated on her having success otherwise feeling entitled and letting that get to her game. However, she got largely outplayed by Fernandez who could end up being a breakout star for Canada. She’s been very good since turning pro.

Tsitsipas got owned by a youngin’ too, thoroughly outplayed. Alcaraz looks like he could be a top 5 player real soon. Hopefully the men’s side will have some stiffer competition after the big 3 have retired. Doesn’t look like there will be any dominant players as yet.

 

[BleedingOil]

Tennis: Naomi Osaka tosses racket, loses US Open match to Fernandez, 18 - The Mainichi

Osaka loses to unseeded, 74th ranked Canadian that I’ve never even heard of. This may be one of the worst career meltdowns ever seen in tennis.

If you haven’t heard of Fernandez then you don’t follow women’s tennis closely. Shes 18 and already has a won a WTA event.

 

[BleedingOil]

Leyla Annie with another great performance. This kid has serious composure

 

[Drivesaitl]

Watched it. Osaka was playing frustrated which probably doesn’t help. Her mental game seems weak and predicated on her having success otherwise feeling entitled and letting that get to her game. However, she got largely outplayed by Fernandez who could end up being a breakout star for Canada. She’s been very good since turning pro.

Tsitsipas got owned by a youngin’ too, thoroughly outplayed. Alcaraz looks like he could be a top 5 player real soon. Hopefully the men’s side will have some stiffer competition after the big 3 have retired. Doesn’t look like there will be any dominant players as yet.

You hate to see it..

 

[CycloneSweep]

If you haven’t heard of Fernandez then you don’t follow women’s tennis closely. Shes 18 and already has a won a WTA event.

And she just won against I think she was 16th ranked and moving on to the quarters. Great composure, wasn't looking good for a while

 

[Cloned]

Bianca and Leylah pushing Canadian tennis forward.

It's too bad Bouchard didn't fully pan out.

 

[Oilhawks]

You hate to see it..

Absolutely heartbreaking

 

[harpoon]

If you haven’t heard of Fernandez then you don’t follow women’s tennis closely. Shes 18 and already has a won a WTA event.

Unfortunately I don’t follow the sport as closely as I used to. There are probably dozens of up and coming players that I’ve never heard of. Due to where I live however, I do get plenty of information on the ups and downs of Osaka’s career.

 

[Barrsy]

Felix up to bat right about now.
Fernandez match was a must see.

 

[Canovin]

Leylah Fernandez, Carlos Alcaraz, Felix AA, Bianca Andresscu, Denis Shapovalov and Emma Raducanu are so exciting to watch right now. Looks like tennis has a bright future after the Big 3 and Serena

 

[Cloned]

Leylah's dream run continues.

 

[Delicious Pancakes]

Leylah's dream run continues.

I couldn't watch the match but was following along on the US Open website. I saw she got it to 5-2 in the last set and thought that was it for Svitolina. So I'm a little surprised to see it went to a tiebreak. Glad Leylah managed to hang on for another upset.

 

[Cloned]

I couldn't watch the match but was following along on the US Open website. I saw she got it to 5-2 in the last set and thought that was it for Svitolina. So I'm a little surprised to see it went to a tiebreak. Glad Leylah managed to hang on for another upset.

Svitolina is pretty underrated I think, she got to a lot of well placed hits and the tiebreak ended up being a coin flip.

I'm hoping Leylah has a chance to avenge Bianca's loss to Sakkari.

 

[Oilhawks]

Svitolina is pretty underrated I think, she got to a lot of well placed hits and the tiebreak ended up being a coin flip.

I'm hoping Leylah has a chance to avenge Bianca's loss to Sakkari.

Leylah losing to Svitolina would have been no surprise. Andreescu choked lasted night, IMO. Very frustrating loss, she lost to an inferior player. Understand that she is not fully up to speed but you need to be able to get back to game shape after coming back from an injury or risk losing footing permanently. Especially on the women’s side

 

[Cloned]

Leylah losing to Svitolina would have been no surprise. Andreescu choked lasted night, IMO. Very frustrating loss, she lost to an inferior player. Understand that she is not fully up to speed but you need to be able to get back to game shape after coming back from an injury or risk losing footing permanently. Especially on the women’s side

Women's tennis is insanely unpredictable unless you're talking about a generational star in her prime like Serena. Otherwise everyone else can win or lose on any given day.

 

[Oilhawks]

Women's tennis is insanely unpredictable unless you're talking about a generational star in her prime like Serena. Otherwise everyone else can win or lose on any given day.

It’s part of why I have trouble caring much about women’s tennis. Every time it seems like there might be a batch of dominant stars they seem to flicker and fall back to earth after only a few years.

Also find it a bit underwhelming that it’s a best of 3 and not best of 5 like the men’s side mbut that’s another story.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Women's tennis is insanely unpredictable unless you're talking about a generational star in her prime like Serena. Otherwise everyone else can win or lose on any given day.

This is my thought as well and for the most part it just precludes watching. The inherent feeling I get watching womens tennis is how inept some of the play is, of course relative to any competitive men.

For awhile as well it seemed like in Tennis big players had a bit of a day with Serena and Naomi and the like and even Bianca overpowering smaller opponents. But some of the fleeter footed players are starting to rebound and showing their mettle to cover court and make other opponents run. Naomi particularly seems like she got chunky in a hurry, how much of that is related to her not winning now? Not body shaming with that either, its tennis, any extra lbs will make it harder to cover court and have effects on endurance doing that.

But its the question nobody can ask her. Imagine the meltdown if some reporter asked her that..

 

[Oilhawks]

This is my thought as well and for the most part it just precludes watching. The inherent feeling I get watching womens tennis is how inept some of the play is, of course relative to any competitive men.

For awhile as well it seemed like in Tennis big players had a bit of a day with Serena and Naomi and the like and even Bianca overpowering smaller opponents. But some of the fleeter footed players are starting to rebound and showing their mettle to cover court and make other opponents run. Naomi particularly seems like she got chunky in a hurry, how much of that is related to her not winning now? Not body shaming with that either, its tennis, any extra lbs will make it harder to cover court and have effects on endurance doing that.

But its the question nobody can ask her. Imagine the meltdown if some reporter asked her that..

It seemed like Bianca was running out of gas last night too. Having to be fit to play best of 5s would probably help with this

 

[Drivesaitl]

It seemed like Bianca was running out of gas last night too. Having to be fit to play best of 5s would probably help with this

Yep. lets hit on something related as well. A lot of these upstarts can play with some extra weight for awhile, when they are very young, but soon as they add some years, and some more lbs it seems like it stymies them. The Williams sisters an obvious exception. I find too in womens Tennis how often now young, very young players are coming to forefront and then replaced by other young players soon as they age somewhat. Really suggests the womens players are staying in prime condition far less time than says mens players.

Somebody could probably run stats on this type of thing. But really could anybody even bet on womens tennis. Its so unpredictable and any day you could have a top 100 ranked player giving a topten player a run for money. To me it just means that there are very few Womens players that are even significantly separated from the herd of average players.