The real Tennis thread.

[Sciocco]

Re:

One set all. They should up the ante by promising the Falkland Islands to the country of whoever triumphs.

I believe you mean the Islas Malvinas.

 

[Red Rick]

Imma stop watching. Every stream I have access to keeps dying every 5 *** seconds

 

[BullsFan22]

Re:

Del Potro seems close to collapsing. Doesn't have the fitness to beat Murray

He's had a much tougher road than Murray. Played a brutal match with Djokovic, another couple matches that went the distance, and played another brutal (3 hour) match against Nadal yesterday. You can't just magically gain strength. It's totally understandable to be tired at this stage. I think he is actually fit, but 'match fitness' and getting used to big matches again after a couple years of being mostly injured.

I mentioned yesterday that Murray was fortunate to get an exhausted Federer in the 2012 final, and again he's fortunate to get an exhausted Del Potro in this final.

Look at Nadal today. Usually this type of matchup would be heavily in his favor, but he was visibly tired against Nishikori.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Hard not to feel sorry for Del Potro, produced a superb performance against Nadal but couldn't quite follow it up 24 hours later. One thing I've noticed about Murray over the years is his base level of fitness tends to be pretty good. In these long 4 hour matches you rarely see him falter.

Of course it's tough on Del Potro, but you can't take that away from Murray for just being slightly fitter.

 

[Red Rick]

Del Potro's problem isn't the fitness. There's always fit and less fit players on tour. It's both wrists. He had 3 surgeries on his left wrist last year, and clearly can't hit as he used to with that backhand. He can't force anything with it, which is the thing you need to do when you're up against a fitter player. IMO there can be only one reason why Del Potro hasn't switched to a one handed backhand after all the problems with the left wrist, and that is that the right wrist can't handle that. He's had major issues on that wrist prior to the left one, and he was also out for the better part of a year for that as well.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Re:

Del Potro's problem isn't the fitness. There's always fit and less fit players on tour. It's both wrists. He had 3 surgeries on his left wrist last year, and clearly can't hit as he used to with that backhand. He can't force anything with it, which is the thing you need to do when you're up against a fitter player. IMO there can be only one reason why Del Potro hasn't switched to a one handed backhand after all the problems with the left wrist, and that is that the right wrist can't handle that. He's had major issues on that wrist prior to the left one, and he was also out for the better part of a year for that as well.

Fair enough, I knew he had a wrist injury last year, but I didn't realise it was a real problem area for him.

 

[Atwood]

I thought it was an entertaining week of tennis and a good Rio final. Congrats to Andy Murray! I liked how he gave credit back to Serena and Venus preceding him when asked about making history and defending Olympic gold. Andy's negativity can be annoying on court but he's a humble champion and I hope he'll make it to ATP #1 soon.

Monica Puig pulled out with back trouble but Andy and Rafa are already in Cincinnati! Last week I felt both should skip Cincy and still wonder about Rafa's wrist thingy -- but have changed my mind about Andy. I think Andy is in a good position to go for another Cincy title. There's a few in the draw that could make it interesting if they show up in good enough shape.

 

[Red Rick]

Meanwhile, Wawrinka, Murray, and Nadal are all playing Cincinnati, so that turnup is better than expected. I do think they're all somewhat likely to tank or lose early though. Wawa didn't play Olympics, but this is Wawa we're talking about, and he'll find a way to tank an ATP 1000.

 

[Atwood]

Link to popular practice court in Cincy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgg4vL8GEjA

Watched Rafa this morning and Dominic Thiem practicing there now. Thiem is every bit as impressive as Rafa, imo. Good stuff.

 

[Red Rick]

So, Angie Kerber just missed what may be her greatest chance to ever reach world #1. Had to win Cincinnati, but lost in the finals to Pliskova, which is a winnable match.

Meanwhile, I fully expect Murray to save Djokovic' record of being the youngest ATP1000 champion on the ATP Tour

 

[BullsFan22]

Cilic beat Murray in the Cincinnati final. Great win for Cilic, stopping Murray's 22 match winning streak. Didn't watch the final, but there were plenty of complaints regarding Murray's 'tiredness' having played so much tennis in the past couple months. To be fair, that's to be expected. Everyone would get tired making it deep into tournaments on a consistent basis. However, it was Murray who chose to play at the Olympics AND Cincinnati, with hardly any rest. The bigger picture, is, that he at Wimbledon, he played a tired Raonic (went to five sets against Federer in the Semis), beat a tired Del Potro in the Olympic final (Del Potro played brutal matches against Djokovic and then Nadal in the Semis), and played a tired Cilic (who beat Dimitrov at something like 1:30 am) in the final. Cilic had how many hours before the final? Murray should be happy with what he had in front of him these past few weeks. Cilic, by the stats and highlights just played a more solid match. If that guy is playing well, firing with that serve and forehand, he as dangerous as they come. His problem is still between the ears. He won the US Open in 2014, and got to the semis last year. I wouldn't be surprised if he had another semi or final appearance, OR if he wins it.

 

[ILovecycling]

I really wonder if Djokovic beat his crisis at US open. Surely its a good boost for him that Murray lost to Cilic, because he almost looked unbeatable since spring.

 

[Red Rick]

Murray played terrible in the final, but Cilic played very well. Cilic can be a very dangerous player. He doesn't have the biggest shots, serve and forehand together are big enough and a fearsome combo if his game clicks. Backhand is solid as well, he can take the ball early, and has net game as well. He can just overpower and rush you, which is why Murray had a hard time yesterday.

Djokovic is a bit of a wildcard for the US Open, because if he's recovered mentally and physically and is playing well, he's the overwhelming favourite, but if he's not he could be vulnerable to an early exit if he gets a bad draw for him. Murray is the other favourite obviously, but I'm not sure he'll be rested enough and he's usually somewhat vulnerable at the US Open.

For the first time in a while I think there's a somewhat decent chance an outsider can win.

 

[movingtarget]

Nick Kyrgios Article

http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pgjfazAEpDsrrkftYVwQpO3N00J38DL+XX7qTUpIenEkUj9JkUMN5m/D632LZR1dTgy2+U62YeNAa1yvIcZogOlZwvb26BzogqGoCEKLqzcJ8hQQ8YAMdfejuoN6r/giAVx8zaMb1wC69dNKhMnsUu4Q==&campaign_id=129&instance_id=81196&segment_id=94237&user_id=12d98412e3bcc0522f6cfbf4c21c54e6&regi_id=42685115

 

[Red Rick]

Tonight Kyrgios did a little Q&A on twitter and revealed that

He'll retire if he wins the US Open
You can smoke weed on the ATP tour

 

[SeriousSam]

So edgy

 

[movingtarget]

Muguruza out already. Second round exits for her at Wimbledon and the US Open after winning the French but this is not unusual for the women's game. Kinda surprised that Raonic has gone out already also.

 

[Sciocco]

I wonder if Wawrinka is planning to play this USOpen.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

I wonder if Wawrinka is planning to play this USOpen.

He'll have to if he wants to win in the 4th round in another edition of #sorrymategate, i mean if he wants to get past Kyrgios

 

[Dazed and Confused]

USOpen - watching match:

Thiem vs Busta

Fourth set.

Exciting tennis, could go the distance.

edit: Thiem wins in fourth.

Now for Delpo methinks.

 

[Red Rick]

Kyrgios out with injury. Just as he seemed to give a crap.
Murray played the worst tennis I've ever seen any male player play on television, still wins in 4
Dimitrov finally seems on the right track. He'll be playing Murray now. Interesting thing is that Dimitrov is now being coached by Dani Vallverdu, Murray's old training buddy and assistent coach.

 

[Sciocco]

Re:

Kyrgios out with injury. Just as he seemed to give a crap.
Murray played the worst tennis I've ever seen any male player play on television, still wins in 4
Dimitrov finally seems on the right track. He'll be playing Murray now. Interesting thing is that Dimitrov is now being coached by Dani Vallverdu, Murray's old training buddy and assistent coach.

And Novak's in the fourth round having only played 42 games...

 

[Sciocco]

Nadal about to drop out?

Edit: Yep, Pouille on to second straight QF at 22yo. Gratz to him.

 

[Sciocco]

And now Thiem retires. Happy for Delpo though as he's getting some nice points for his ranking and hasn't used too much energy going into the QFs against Marchenko/Wawrinka. Delpo in the Semis sounds nice...

Delpo beating Murray sounds even nicer...

 

[Red Rick]

Delpo up to 63 in the live rankings. He should beat Wawrinka hands down. Wawrinka hasn't beaten a top 10 player all year, and is somehow #3 in the world. Murray-Dimitrov should be a great match, Nishi-Karlovic shouldn't.