The real Tennis thread.

[tobydawq]

Quite a lot of Chileans in the semifinals in Rome this year...

One of whom is an 8-year-pro yet to make his debut at Roland Garros.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

From the Giro to the French Open, love it when there are sports to watch every day!

What are Rafa's chances tomorrow? Would kind of suck if he got beaten in the first round, but Father Time spares no one.

 

[Red Rick]

To keep in line with watching things that sound good on paper but aren't, I've gone from watching the 2024 Giro to watching Murray-Wawrinka.

 

[Red Rick]

From the Giro to the French Open, love it when there are sports to watch every day!

What are Rafa's chances tomorrow? Would kind of suck if he got beaten in the first round, but Father Time spares no one.

Feel like it should a Contador zero zero zero meme here, but then weirdly he's talking really optimistic and people who have trained with him are saying he's playing great.

Still, I think Alexander Zverev is the single one most disgusting matchup for Nadal here.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Feel like it should a Contador zero zero zero meme here, but then weirdly he's talking really optimistic and people who have trained with him are saying he's playing great.

Still, I think Alexander Zverev is the single one most disgusting matchup for Nadal here.

Pardon my ignorance, but how do they select who plays whom in the first round?

 

[Red Rick]

Pardon my ignorance, but how do they select who plays whom in the first round?

Top 32 in the world as of 2 weeks before the tournament is seeded, and they can't play each other in R1. The rest is placed completely randomly.

Top 8 seeds are placed with #25-32 in R3 while 9-16 are placed with 17-24, and then for R4 #1-4 are placed with #13-16 and #5-8 with #9-12. QF draw is just a top 4 seed with a 5-8 seed. Semi has #3 and #4 randomly allocated to either the #1 or #2 half.

Wimbledon used to have a system where they'd have their own ranking where they'd give bonus points for grass achievements in the past, but they since dropped that. They also retain the ability to give a player a bonus seed on the women's side, which they used to seed Serena Williams a while back when she was coming back from injury and not in the top 100.


The most famous R1 draw IMO was when Isner and Mahut played their 11 hour 70-68 5th set match in 2010, they again drew the 1st round in 2011. Still think that one was fixed hard.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Top 32 in the world as of 2 weeks before the tournament is seeded, and they can't play each other in R1. The rest is placed completely randomly.

Top 8 seeds are placed with #25-32 in R3 while 9-16 are placed with 17-24, and then for R4 #1-4 are placed with #13-16 and #5-8 with #9-12. QF draw is just a top 4 seed with a 5-8 seed. Semi has #3 and #4 randomly allocated to either the #1 or #2 half.

Wimbledon used to have a system where they'd have their own ranking where they'd give bonus points for grass achievements in the past, but they since dropped that. They also retain the ability to give a player a bonus seed on the women's side, which they used to seed Serena Williams a while back when she was coming back from injury and not in the top 100.


The most famous R1 draw IMO was when Isner and Mahut played their 11 hour 70-68 5th set match in 2010, they again drew the 1st round in 2011. Still think that one was fixed hard.

I'd probably need a powerpoint presentation because I'm slow (lol), thanks for the info!

Well, Rafa and Zverev are warming up now, I'm sure every tennis fan who is able is glued to their TV right now. Can't wait to see how this turns out, I'm rooting for Nadal, but would be very surprised if he advances.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

First set goes to Zverev 6-3.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

7-6 Zverev in the second set... Nadal has been making some great shots, but so has Zverev. Hopefully Nadal will have enough gas left for the third set, watching him is triggering my arthritis.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Some great back-and-forths in the third set, and just like in the second set Nadal is/was ahead. But then Zverev comes back from behind to win the set, I expect the same to happen in the third set.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

6-3 Zverev in the third set, and that's that.

I thought Nadal played great for about half a set in each set, but then he started making unforced errors and such... still, it was good seeing he still had some spark left, unfortunately it wasn't enough.

 

[Red Rick]

I'm gonna need a new television

 

[SHAD0W93]

I'm gonna need a new television

View: https://youtu.be/YPUhGNmW4Pc?si=6OMO2k8Amlj6XW6l

View: https://youtu.be/hQ_H5rY9zKA?si=X1Wl285Vxr_BwHKY

 

[Rackham]

Thank god Zverev didn't have one of his usual brain fades or inexplicable collapses. I was hoping he'd do a clean job & that's what he did. No fuss, straight sets. Job done. Au revoir Nadal.

In the end this is best for Nadal as well (because going out against some no name scrub would look bad).

 

[Tricycle Rider]

I'm gonna need a new television

Will you be watching all the matches or just the big ones? I fear for your new television set either way...

 

[Red Rick]

Will you be watching all the matches or just the big ones? I fear for your new television set either way...

Tennis lately I've just been picking and choosing matches.

 

[tobydawq]

Thank god Zverev didn't have one of his usual brain fades or inexplicable collapses. I was hoping he'd do a clean job & that's what he did. No fuss, straight sets. Job done. Au revoir Nadal.

In the end this is best for Nadal as well (because going out against some no name scrub would look bad).

That's certainly one way to look at it...

 

[Rackham]

That's certainly one way to look at it...

I'm keeping things polite because I'm actually amazed the 'majority' (seemingly everywhere) was actually cheering for Nadal yesterday. It's a form of Stockholm syndrome in sports terms. This guy has cannibalized the French Open to the point it became a trivial event on the calendar (& that's notwithstanding all the other stuff which belongs in the clinic).

I mean he got as 'clean' as exit as any washed-up past-his-best former champ could hope for. Now it's time for the sport to move on to new rivalries & adventures.

 

[tobydawq]

I'm keeping things polite because I'm actually amazed the 'majority' (seemingly everywhere) was actually cheering for Nadal yesterday. It's a form of Stockholm syndrome in sports terms. This guy has cannibalized the French Open to the point it became a trivial event on the calendar (& that's notwithstanding all the other stuff which belongs in the clinic).

I mean he got as 'clean' as exit as any washed-up past-his-best former champ could hope for. Now it's time for the sport to move on to new rivalries & adventures.

O-kaaay.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

For the first time in my life, I wanted Nadal to win at least a set. To go out in the first round, not winning a set even, just feels wrong. Only saw the end of the match, but he was really unlucky with that draw. Most players he won't loose that match to. No set at Roland Garros, more faults than the opponent, unlucky draw. Basically the opposite of a normal Nadal match.

There's much I won't miss if this season is actually the end. Mostly him consistently beating players I wanted to win tournaments, usually in a way that screamed clinic or unpunished time violation (even though the slight rule change made that much more bearable).

 

[Rackham]

For the first time in my life, I wanted Nadal to win at least a set. To go out in the first round, not winning a set even, just feels wrong. Only saw the end of the match, but he was really unlucky with that draw. Most players he won't loose that match to. No set at Roland Garros, more faults than the opponent, unlucky draw. Basically the opposite of a normal Nadal match.

There's much I won't miss if this season is actually the end. Mostly him consistently beating players I wanted to win tournaments, usually in a way that screamed clinic or unpunished time violation (even though the slight rule change made that much more bearable).

There's the whole 'this is my last Roland but possibly not' thing as well which screams 'he's tied up in multi-year sponsorship deals so he won't quit yet'. There's absolutely no way Nadal & his team can seriously imagine he'll be better in 12 months time. So his lack of proper 'hero worthy' send off & retirement ceremony is purely for financial reasons IMO.

The seeding issue won't be any better next year either. He'll still haver a tough draw & be a year older.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Round two in the men's is underway, currently Alcaraz v. De Jong is on tap. Don't think this should be a problem for Alcaraz, he's already won the first two sets. But let's see if De Jong can at least win the third set to keep things interesting...

Did anyone catch the Djoko match yesterday? I'll have to watch the replay, or at least the second set, the second set sounds like it might have been a good one.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Round two in the men's is underway, currently Alcaraz v. De Jong is on tap. Don't think this should be a problem for Alcaraz, he's already won the first two sets. But let's see if De Jong can at least win the third set to keep things interesting...

And here we are, 2:1 in sets, and a break down in the 4th against De Jong. Right now he is really struggling.
But I wasn't aware of de Jong before, he's playing a very good match.

Did anyone catch the Djoko match yesterday? I'll have to watch the replay, or at least the second set, the second set sounds like it might have been a good one.

Only the match point, which was quite a bummer, a double fault iirc.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

And here we are, 2:1 in sets, and a break down in the 4th against De Jong. Right now he is really struggling.
But I wasn't aware of de Jong before, he's playing a very good match.



Only the match point, which was quite a bummer, a double fault iirc.

Yes, De Jong is playing well and seems to have plenty of spunk left, things have definitely gotten interesting.

On a side note it's amazing for me as an aging person to watch these young people play, they are so quick and agile and have stamina, it's great to see no matter who ends up winning.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

Yes, De Jong is playing well and seems to have plenty of spunk left, things have definitely gotten interesting.

I only knew spunk from other contexts. But yes he shows great determination.

On a side note it's amazing for me as an aging person to watch these young people play, they are so quick and agile and have stamina, it's great to see no matter who ends up winning.

On a side note to the side note: my grandparents always said the same, and, concerning cycling, always pointed out much how hard work it was, so they forgave them their sins and admired the grind.