The real Tennis thread.

[Red Rick]

Re:

halep is completly spent, so I don't know if she will survive tomorrow.
kyrgios seems to lack physical condition to play more than 3 hours. I totally see (now) a semifinal between dimitrov and nadal, and roger vs djokovic. Federer has everything to win a 20th grand slam.

Kyrgios can play long matches, it's not that big of an issue. He's always prone to mental lapses, but I think it's pretty clear what the problem is.

Kyrgios' first serve return is subpar, and especially on the forehand side it's pretty bad. Then he cruises so many return points where he plays pretty passively, and he gets away with it against many guys in the top 50. But as the opponents get tougher, he can't get away with that anymore. As a result he has so much trouble breaking vs top 20 and top 10 players. Given that his serve is so huge, Kyrgios basically stands and falls with tiebreaks vs top 20 opponents.

His return stats are basically as good as Zverev vs opponents outside the top 20, but vs top 10 opponents Zverev breaks like 18% of return games while Kyrgios breaks less than 10%. That difference is so big. Kyrgios broke 4 times in 8 sets vs Tsonga and Dimitrov, which is basically top 10 level. Played 6 tiebreaks. Very hard to win a Slam on that.

That said, Dimitrov incredibly impressive. Was playing pretty terrible and then was completely dialed in yesterday. He is so tough in the rallies cause he constructs points so well and he can counterpunch from every position. Hope he keeps that up in his QF so he doesn't wast too much energy before likely facing Nadal, who by the way preserves his #1 ranking by reaching the QF.

 

[Red Rick]

Djoko and Thiem out now too. Thiem is such a basket case on HC it's not even funny. Djokovic lacks a lot of match sharpness. Expecting Fed to tear Chung to shreds in the semi's.

 

[portugal11]

nole would be destroyed by roger if he arrived to semi finals.

 

[Red Rick]

Just read that Djokovic has been playing with pain killers for over a year and that it's mostly wear and tear of over 12 years of tennis at the highest level. Honestly seems like Murray, surgery might be the last resort.

 

[Gigs_98]

Ffs Thiem. Not only does he lose to the number 97 of the world, he also could have played the number 58 if he had won. All stars align for him to make the semi finals and he doesn't even make the quarter finals. It's just ridiculous how a player like him can be the current number 5 of the world, but I guess that's what happens when every 2nd world class player is injured

 

[fauniera]

Re: Re:

Ostapenko gone. Halep just survived. I like Kerber for the womens. [...] The womens seeds have tumbled while the big three are still there in the mens.

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

 

[Red Rick]

Ffs Thiem. Not only does he lose to the number 97 of the world, he also could have played the number 58 if he had won. All stars align for him to make the semi finals and he doesn't even make the quarter finals. It's just ridiculous how a player like him can be the current number 5 of the world, but I guess that's what happens when every 2nd world class player is injured

At least Thiem makes the 4th round and beats top 50 players in best of 5 matches (I'm looking at you, Zverev).

Seriously though, Thiem is a tremendous headcase on hard court. He can play decently on hard court, but he's inconsistent and on bad days he can lose to anyone. He's a clay specialist though, but he keeps making 4th rounds at HC and grass Slams.

As for his ranking, it also helps that all big titles were played by the same few people.

I think he tries to play like Wawrinka. He is stronger, but less talented though.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Ostapenko gone. Halep just survived. I like Kerber for the womens. [...] The womens seeds have tumbled while the big three are still there in the mens.

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

Yes and Halep has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Kerber can also be up and down often.

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Ostapenko gone. Halep just survived. I like Kerber for the womens. [...] The womens seeds have tumbled while the big three are still there in the mens.

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

Yes and Halep has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Kerber can also be up and down often.

That's all of the WTA.

Eugenie Bouchard, one of the most famous current WTA players, was on a 9 match losing streak going into the Aussie Open

Kristina Mladenovic broke into the top 10 for the first time sometime during the summer of last year, is currently on a 13 match losing streak since.

Sloane Stephens won the USO last year by winning 7 Bo3 matches in a row. Since then, she's lost in the first match of a tournament 8 times in a row and counting.

The WTA player with the most potential and the highest ceiling is barely top 20 in the world. Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's on and Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's off. If she keeps it up for another 3 matches she wins the tournament. No question.

The difference in points between the #1 and #5 at the WTA is less than 20% in points. At the ATP, the #1 has twice the amount of points of the #3. There's some consistency.

 

[BullsFan22]

Re: Re:

Ostapenko gone. Halep just survived. I like Kerber for the womens. [...] The womens seeds have tumbled while the big three are still there in the mens.

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

Yes and Halep has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Kerber can also be up and down often.

That's all of the WTA.

Eugenie Bouchard, one of the most famous current WTA players, was on a 9 match losing streak going into the Aussie Open

Kristina Mladenovic broke into the top 10 for the first time sometime during the summer of last year, is currently on a 13 match losing streak since.

Sloane Stephens won the USO last year by winning 7 Bo3 matches in a row. Since then, she's lost in the first match of a tournament 8 times in a row and counting.

The WTA player with the most potential and the highest ceiling is barely top 20 in the world. Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's on and Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's off. If she keeps it up for another 3 matches she wins the tournament. No question.

The difference in points between the #1 and #5 at the WTA is less than 20% in points. At the ATP, the #1 has twice the amount of points of the #3. There's some consistency.

Yeah good points. The WTA has been crazy (to put it mildly) over the past few years. I'd really love for Halep to win this tournament and then win the French at some point. I think she deserves it. She is unfortunately carrying an injury and that can't be a good thing. She just made it out alive in that marathon win over Davis. at 0-40, three match points down....talk about escape!! The previous match against Osaka she played pretty well and Osaka was missing. Halep I think we'll need another straightforward match like this to get more recovery from the 4 hour match against Davis, but she plays Pliskova next, and if Pliskova is on her game, then Halep could easily lose that match if she isn't on her game. The other side of the draw is just grinders, defensive players. Kerber and Wozniacki escaped with early round wins as well, so I suppose the winner of this year's tournament will be one whose luck doesn't run out.

 

[portugal11]

Re: Re:

Ostapenko gone. Halep just survived. I like Kerber for the womens. [...] The womens seeds have tumbled while the big three are still there in the mens.

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

Yes and Halep has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Kerber can also be up and down often.

That's all of the WTA.

Eugenie Bouchard, one of the most famous current WTA players, was on a 9 match losing streak going into the Aussie Open

Kristina Mladenovic broke into the top 10 for the first time sometime during the summer of last year, is currently on a 13 match losing streak since.

Sloane Stephens won the USO last year by winning 7 Bo3 matches in a row. Since then, she's lost in the first match of a tournament 8 times in a row and counting.

The WTA player with the most potential and the highest ceiling is barely top 20 in the world. Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's on and Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's off. If she keeps it up for another 3 matches she wins the tournament. No question.

The difference in points between the #1 and #5 at the WTA is less than 20% in points. At the ATP, the #1 has twice the amount of points of the #3. There's some consistency.

Yeah good points. The WTA has been crazy (to put it mildly) over the past few years. I'd really love for Halep to win this tournament and then win the French at some point. I think she deserves it. She is unfortunately carrying an injury and that can't be a good thing. She just made it out alive in that marathon win over Davis. at 0-40, three match points down....talk about escape!! The previous match against Osaka she played pretty well and Osaka was missing. Halep I think we'll need another straightforward match like this to get more recovery from the 4 hour match against Davis, but she plays Pliskova next, and if Pliskova is on her game, then Halep could easily lose that match if she isn't on her game. The other side of the draw is just grinders, defensive players. Kerber and Wozniacki escaped with early round wins as well, so I suppose the winner of this year's tournament will be one whose luck doesn't run out.

halep is tough and I really think she will beat pliskova. she just needs to make the match a battle of endurance. pliskova can't play more than 3 hours against a player who moves so well like halep

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Ostapenko gone. Halep just survived. I like Kerber for the womens. [...] The womens seeds have tumbled while the big three are still there in the mens.

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

Yes and Halep has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Kerber can also be up and down often.

That's all of the WTA.

Eugenie Bouchard, one of the most famous current WTA players, was on a 9 match losing streak going into the Aussie Open

Kristina Mladenovic broke into the top 10 for the first time sometime during the summer of last year, is currently on a 13 match losing streak since.

Sloane Stephens won the USO last year by winning 7 Bo3 matches in a row. Since then, she's lost in the first match of a tournament 8 times in a row and counting.

The WTA player with the most potential and the highest ceiling is barely top 20 in the world. Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's on and Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's off. If she keeps it up for another 3 matches she wins the tournament. No question.

The difference in points between the #1 and #5 at the WTA is less than 20% in points. At the ATP, the #1 has twice the amount of points of the #3. There's some consistency.

Yeah good points. The WTA has been crazy (to put it mildly) over the past few years. I'd really love for Halep to win this tournament and then win the French at some point. I think she deserves it. She is unfortunately carrying an injury and that can't be a good thing. She just made it out alive in that marathon win over Davis. at 0-40, three match points down....talk about escape!! The previous match against Osaka she played pretty well and Osaka was missing. Halep I think we'll need another straightforward match like this to get more recovery from the 4 hour match against Davis, but she plays Pliskova next, and if Pliskova is on her game, then Halep could easily lose that match if she isn't on her game. The other side of the draw is just grinders, defensive players. Kerber and Wozniacki escaped with early round wins as well, so I suppose the winner of this year's tournament will be one whose luck doesn't run out.

I easily forget about women's tennis, but it's always been crazier then the men's game in terms of consistency. It's way easier to forget too, but it can't help that you've consistently got big champions retiring early or taking major breaks, often because they get pregnant. But random retirements in the mid 20s are common in the women's game while they're unthinkable in the men's game. Justine Henin was the most complete WTA player around, was the favourite going into Rolang Garros one year and just said "*** it, I'm retirign" and boom, WTA has been crazy since except for Serena being the only consistent factor in it. And Sharapova, to some degree.

Women's tennis is notoriously one-dimensional in general. I think it's a combination of the women using lighter balls (easier to generate pace) combined with lesser upper body strength. I think they have trouble hitting with enough spin while gettin enough pace at the same time to create pressure. That's why it's so one dimensional. In the men's game, even the tiniest guys can absolutely demolish the ball if they really go for it.

 

[movingtarget]

Re: Re:

Ostapenko gone. Halep just survived. I like Kerber for the womens. [...] The womens seeds have tumbled while the big three are still there in the mens.

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

Yes and Halep has a habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Kerber can also be up and down often.

That's all of the WTA.

Eugenie Bouchard, one of the most famous current WTA players, was on a 9 match losing streak going into the Aussie Open

Kristina Mladenovic broke into the top 10 for the first time sometime during the summer of last year, is currently on a 13 match losing streak since.

Sloane Stephens won the USO last year by winning 7 Bo3 matches in a row. Since then, she's lost in the first match of a tournament 8 times in a row and counting.

The WTA player with the most potential and the highest ceiling is barely top 20 in the world. Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's on and Madison Keys is ridiculous when she's off. If she keeps it up for another 3 matches she wins the tournament. No question.

The difference in points between the #1 and #5 at the WTA is less than 20% in points. At the ATP, the #1 has twice the amount of points of the #3. There's some consistency.

Yeah good points. The WTA has been crazy (to put it mildly) over the past few years. I'd really love for Halep to win this tournament and then win the French at some point. I think she deserves it. She is unfortunately carrying an injury and that can't be a good thing. She just made it out alive in that marathon win over Davis. at 0-40, three match points down....talk about escape!! The previous match against Osaka she played pretty well and Osaka was missing. Halep I think we'll need another straightforward match like this to get more recovery from the 4 hour match against Davis, but she plays Pliskova next, and if Pliskova is on her game, then Halep could easily lose that match if she isn't on her game. The other side of the draw is just grinders, defensive players. Kerber and Wozniacki escaped with early round wins as well, so I suppose the winner of this year's tournament will be one whose luck doesn't run out.

Yeah the women seem have short periods of success then disappear except for Serena Williams in recent times. Sharapova went off the boil as did Azarenka and they have also had other issues. Ostapenko came out of nowhere last year. Look at Stosur : demolishes Williams at the US Open after making the French Open semis and final and losing, got to number 4 in the world then just tumbled down the rankings. And now she is not far from retirement. But most people after the US Open would have predicted she would be a regular in the top 10 but it never happened. Her big weakness seemed to be her mental game. She reminded me a little of Jana Novotna who eventually got her Wimbledon win and was a much different player to Stosur but they had the same fragility. On her day Stosur could beat anyone or be beaten by anyone ! She was someone who did put a lot of spin on the ball and had a great kick serve but like others her window at the top was narrow and she was very inconsistent. Oddly she was also one of the only Australian players in recent times that did well on clay courts. When she managed to control her nerves such as in the US Open she was hard to stop.

 

[Brullnux]

Wow, I don't think even Edmund's mum expected this

 

[movingtarget]

Zverev Fined

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jan/23/tennis-mischa-zverev-fined-record-45000-for-poor-performance

 

[fauniera]

Re: Re:

Svitolina is still there and she is playing well. She could win her first Grand Slam tournament.

Or not.

 

[movingtarget]

Nadal retires in the fifth set against Cilic. What odds Federer ?

 

[portugal11]

cilic is playing very well, he can win this tournament for sure.

 

[Red Rick]

The entire tournament is a wreck on the men's side.

 

[portugal11]

keys was a joke today... my daughter would have beaten keys with one leg...

 

[portugal11]

after watching berdych vs roger, I think cilic has a chance of winning the big trophy.
halep toyed with pliskova, I already knew that thid match would be a walk in the park for halep. Pliskova can't play long rallies

 

[fauniera]

Halep dominated short rallies as well. Her return is simply too good for Pliskova. Now i hope she can beat Kerber.

 

[movingtarget]

Yeah I'd like to see Halep win even though I tipped Kerber..

 

[BullsFan22]

Kerber is probably one of the most uncomfortable players to play against. Lefty, runs a lot of balls down, doesn't beat herself, feeds off the opponents pace and can produce some power of her own. Halep is similar in this regards, but Kerber has the GS trophies.

Hope it's a Halep vs Mertens final. Was never a fan of Wozniacki.

Wouldn't it be something if the men's final is Edmund vs Chong??? Wow.

Cilic is playing pretty well, on that, plus MUCH more experience, merit and general ability, he's the favorite to make it to the final and Federer is self explanatory in the other semi.

Cilic vs Federer in the final. Federer obviously would be the favorite, and it will depend on which Cilic shows up if the final is to be exciting/close. That said, let's see if there are more shockers in the semis first!! What a weird opening slam!!

 

[Red Rick]

Kerber is probably one of the most uncomfortable players to play against. Lefty, runs a lot of balls down, doesn't beat herself, feeds off the opponents pace and can produce some power of her own. Halep is similar in this regards, but Kerber has the GS trophies.

Hope it's a Halep vs Mertens final. Was never a fan of Wozniacki.

Wouldn't it be something if the men's final is Edmund vs Chong??? Wow.

Cilic is playing pretty well, on that, plus MUCH more experience, merit and general ability, he's the favorite to make it to the final and Federer is self explanatory in the other semi.

Cilic vs Federer in the final. Federer obviously would be the favorite, and it will depend on which Cilic shows up if the final is to be exciting/close. That said, let's see if there are more shockers in the semis first!! What a weird opening slam!!

Federer is still not playing well, but every player of note has melted all by themself, or they were drawn against each other. The men's tournament is super underwhelming and the women's tournament has 3 defensive players left.