AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
edited July 2010
Oh thanks TSN (I should say NBC since they're just picking up that stream). Apparently it's too hard for you to broadcast the game live. Instead you have to tapedelay it by...1 hour.
I'm trying not to look at the live score now that the match is playing. I mean I already know who takes the first set but I don't want to know any more.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited July 2010
NBC, outside of the finals, always screws up tennis. CBS does a better job when it comes to the main networks.
But to not be spoilery, Nadal has made Murray stay right at the middle of the court, and is just picking his angles.
It's getting good though, I hope whoever wins is too tired to fight Berdych and the Berd wins.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited July 2010
So the Women's final was a joke, nothing new there. Zvonareva the head case showed up (she even choked away the women's doubles final too), and Jurgen Meltzer and Philip Petzschner (the guy who took Rafa to 5 sets) won the men's doubles. I'm kind of glad to see more of the middle tier singles players teaming up to play doubles, to me it's a lot more interesting than other doubles only teams save for the Bryan Brothers or the former Bjorkman/Mirnyi pair.
But the battle to make all other battles look like nothing but skirmishes starts tomorrow at 2:00pm London time, 9:00 am eastern. What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to have a Czech play a Spaniard in England??!?!?!?!
Nadal holds a 7-3 lifetime lead over Berdych, beating him most recently in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells this year. But if Berdych plays the way he did his last two matches, we might see someone else win a major outside of the usual Nadal/Federer whitewash of slams, with only Del Potro or Djokovic to stand out.
Here is the match I hope to see, minus Berdych telling Madrid fans to be quiet (go ahead to the 7:10 mark to see, this is why there might be some bad blood between the two):
I would like to see Berdych win, I like the guy's style and he's finally in a good place physically and mentally to show he's one of the best players out there. But if Nadal wins I wouldn't feel bad either, this is the first time in a long time I've had a final where I like both players.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited July 2010
Good for Nadal, good try by Berdych, hopefully he shows up strong at the US Open and Masters Tournaments.
I liked Nadal's somersault, and Berdych's response to the BBC lady when she said beating Federer was Mission: Impossible. "Well yeah but I beat him so it was possible." He's going to carry a grudge for a while in regards to that QF match and how no one is giving him credit.
Good for Nadal, good try by Berdych, hopefully he shows up strong at the US Open and Masters Tournaments.
I liked Nadal's somersault, and Berdych's response to the BBC lady when she said beating Federer was Mission: Impossible. "Well yeah but I beat him so it was possible." He's going to carry a grudge for a while in regards to that QF match and how no one is giving him credit.
He really did deserve that win. It wasn't so much Federer messing up all over the place as it was Berdych being damn awesome.
Only thing standing between him and the slam record is health. It's crazy how young he is.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited July 2010
When all is said and done, I think Nadal will complete the golden slam (since he won the Olympics), but will come short of Federer's final record, maybe 12-13 slams, but he'll crush the record for Masters Series wins and still have a great head to head against Federer.
And this will be a great debate as to who was the best tennis player of all time. And compared to Laver or Bjorg or Sampras, they were both in the same time so we have an accurate way to measure their accomplishments.
Played a match against my wife tonight, who acted like a baby when she lost.
Still, I'm having some trouble with my serves. The racket drop is the toughest part for me. I just can't find the sweet spot; either I drop too low and hit too hard, edging past the service box, or I don't drop enough and hit a wimpy serve that is easily returned if it doesn't go straight into the net.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited July 2010
You've got to realize that when you serve you want to bring it down and away, basically from making contact with the ball at 12 'oclock, moving the racket down to 3'oclock, and in doing so your wrist generates just enough movement of the racket to create spin.
I found this real good slow mo video of Federer's serve, look at this:
We interrupt this Federer match to announce that Roddick has seen the school nurse and isn't feeling so well, so he'll be heading home for the day.
Okay, dickish condescension aside, dude needs the points now that he's out of the top 10. All this will do is put a shit ton of pressure on him to do well at the Open. American tennis has a lot of catching up to do.
You've got to realize that when you serve you want to bring it down and away, basically from making contact with the ball at 12 'oclock, moving the racket down to 3'oclock, and in doing so your wrist generates just enough movement of the racket to create spin.
I found this real good slow mo video of Federer's serve, look at this:
(snip)
Are you using just a regular 20 dollar racket from Target? The head size should be big enough to not really be a problem.
Sorry, it's been a while since this thread was on page 1 so I missed this.
My service has improved and now they are typically returnable from the baseline, which makes me happy. I'd like to work on my topspin, but since that involves an upward swing and I only have 7 balls I'd be running around the court quite a lot. I'll go buy one of those giant buckets of balls after this next paycheck and find a wall. Also would be nice to find some regular partners around town other than my wife.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
So here we are, the US Open is about to start. Monday at 11:00 am the dogs of war are unleashed to pick up the tennis balls.
For a quick recap of the summer US Open series:
-Fish won Atlanta's new tournament
-Querry beat Murray to win the LA title
-Nalbandian won DC and looked very well until last week. Dude needs to lose weight.
-Murray won the Toronto Master's
-Federer won the Cincinatti Master's
-Stakhovsky wins New Haven title
And for the Women:
-Azarenka won Stanford
-Kuznetsova won San Diego
-Clijsters won Cincy
-Wozniacki won Montral and New Haven
So the winners of the US Open series going into the tournament are Murray and Federer (tied for 1st) and Caroline Wozniacki
Serena Williams pulled out of the US Open with a foot injury. And Juan Martin Del Potro is out due to wrist surgery (he's been really messed up since winning the USO last year).
And the top 4 seeds are as follows for the USO:
1. Nadal
2. Federer
3. Djokovic
4. Murray
1. Wozniacki
2. Clijsters
3. Venus Williams
4. Jankovic
Thoughts:
-It sucks for Rafa that Nalbandian is in his quarter and Murray is in his half, both of those are probably harder match-ups for him than Federer. I'm glad Rafa and Roger are on opposite sides though, a final at the USO between them could be of Wimbledon 2008 quality, considering Rafa's hard court difficulties.
-Speaking of Murray, he's getting lots of hype (again), despite losing all major finals so far in straights.
-Does Mardy Fish have a better chance to go deep in the tournament than Roddick? The guy has been playing unbelievably recently.
-So much has been said about the emerging taller players on the ATP, which finally came to fruition when Del Potro won here last year. Based on current form probably Berdych or Soderling has the best chance to step up this time, or maybe even Isner if he isn't too badly injured.
-The women's side is even more wide open than usual. Wozniacki isn't getting the respect you'd expect of a no1 seed, and players like Clijsters, Azarenka, and Sharapova seem like fashionable picks.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
Ouidan is probably going to lose in the second round this year so the media won't have something to latch onto.
I would love to see Querry get to the QF this year, make a showing beyond winning smaller tournaments. Kind of on the Berdych bandwagon, Hewitt facing Federer in the 3rd round kind of annoys me but Hewitt will show no mercy and win it all hooray hooray.
Thoughts:
-It sucks for Rafa that Nalbandian is in his quarter and Murray is in his half, both of those are probably harder match-ups for him than Federer. I'm glad Rafa and Roger are on opposite sides though, a final at the USO between them could be of Wimbledon 2008 quality, considering Rafa's hard court difficulties.
But if he does win, it will make the victory all the sweeter. And Rafa beating Federer at the US Open would really kind of start the cementing of his superiority.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
Well everything went according to plan except that Hewitt lost in 5, he just fell apart in the 5th set, expecting Mathieu to just cave in after losing the 3rd and 4th set.
And Fernando Gonzalez lost (he retired). Monfils almost lost as well, but won in 5.
Felt really bad for Gabashvili last night. He was giving everything he had, took Nadal to two tiebreaks in a row and still had nothing to show for it in the end. He played some great tennis and Nadal basically won by barely edging him out in skill and great stamina. It must be depressing to come so close to nailing the world #1 in the first round and then losing largely due to attrition.
And Roddick is out in the second round. Fuuuuuuuck. He just looked so sluggish the entire time. There were balls that I would have gone after that he just let go. So disappointing.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited September 2010
Roddick losing isn't surprising, even with his mono (and pfft, Federer got to the AO semis in '08 with mono, man up Roddick). He's been in a funk ever since the clay court season, I don't know if the Honeymoon phase of his marriage is over or what.
I watched that match up to the 4th set and he's always had trouble with Tipsarovic (everyone does at some point in their career it seems).
And Oudin is out, the Cinderella girl from last year. Harrison beating Llkubicic was a nice win, he's been trained up in New Braunfels near Austin
Not surprising, no, but still disappointing. At least he won on his birthday.
And hmmm... Federer gets mono... Roddick gets mono... 2 year difference, sure... but I hear those guys are all good friends in the locker rooms
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited September 2010
Fish won, Blake won (and actually looked like he could do well), maybe someone else can fight for America. For Freedom.
The Hantuchova/Dementieva match is first this morning, look forward to that. And would like to see Nalbandian not choke on this match (or a hamburger because he's chubby lol m i rite?).
I've always kind of liked Tipsarevic too, that scrappy little hipster. His losing sets up Gasquet v. Monfils though... a clash of two flamboyant French headcases; could be interesting.
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited September 2010
The Wawrinka/Murray match was pretty good, despite some half-assed tennis in the third set, if only because Murray has some of the best mental meltdowns. I don't know how bad the tabloids beat him up int he UK but they will have a field day after this afternoon (the CBS people kept saying his mom is pretty central to his coaching, which I don't really believe because that's just how you ruin things).
Querry won, good show, and Simon didn't put up a fight against Nadal to go see his newborn baby (I would have done so too, if it came a month earlier than expected).
Wife and I played a match tonight and there was a dad giving his daughter lessons on the court next to us
He was really really serious about it too
She was trying to serve and failing, and when she failed he served a ball that smacked her most of the time
loltexas
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TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited September 2010
A good 5 set match from Wawrinka/Querry, shame Querry couldn't pull it off. Wawrinka could get to the SFs and Federer could lose int he QF's to Soderling tonight, wouldn't that be a change up?
Nadal's got a clear path, go for it. Youznhy might be the biggest problem for him if they face in the semis, only because the guy isn't scared of anyone and is relatively fresh compared to the other players in that half of the draw.
Didn't watch that Clijsters/Stosur match, but it seemed like Stosur might have choked like she has a habit of doing.
Didn't watch that Clijsters/Stosur match, but it seemed like Stosur might have choked like she has a habit of doing.
Middle of the 2nd set both of them lost their minds and suddenly couldn't hold serve to save their life. Wind had picked up, but some of the UEs were just ridiculous. Stosur was break up twice in the decider and nerves cost her, which is actually very unusual about her. If Wozniacki wins this I'll be taking a break from watching the WTA. It would bring the game back to pre-Seles level.
The match of the day for me was Ferrer vs Verdasco(I found the Waw match below average). Ferrer had 4:2 30:0 in the 5th set, fucked it to a tie break, then lead 4:1 with 2 mini breaks in the breaker only to lose 5 points in a row. I'm rooting for Youzh too, but I don't see it.
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
edited September 2010
Anyone else watching the Monfils - Djokovich match? If so, someone please tell me what the ever living fuck Monfils is doing?
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
edited September 2010
He's given up (I've only caught since the middle of the 2nd set), some of those jumping and just swatting at the ball moves he's doing is nothing more than someone who doesn't care, I've had that happen to people I play against at the local court. And he's going to get himself hurt, I thought the between the legs jump and hit did something to him.
It looks like he's putting up more of a fight now in the 3rd set but he doesn't care.
Tsonga is the only Frenchman who doesn't quit these days.
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But to not be spoilery, Nadal has made Murray stay right at the middle of the court, and is just picking his angles.
It's getting good though, I hope whoever wins is too tired to fight Berdych and the Berd wins.
But the battle to make all other battles look like nothing but skirmishes starts tomorrow at 2:00pm London time, 9:00 am eastern. What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to have a Czech play a Spaniard in England??!?!?!?!
Nadal holds a 7-3 lifetime lead over Berdych, beating him most recently in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells this year. But if Berdych plays the way he did his last two matches, we might see someone else win a major outside of the usual Nadal/Federer whitewash of slams, with only Del Potro or Djokovic to stand out.
Here is the match I hope to see, minus Berdych telling Madrid fans to be quiet (go ahead to the 7:10 mark to see, this is why there might be some bad blood between the two):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np2GSVEt5a4
I would like to see Berdych win, I like the guy's style and he's finally in a good place physically and mentally to show he's one of the best players out there. But if Nadal wins I wouldn't feel bad either, this is the first time in a long time I've had a final where I like both players.
I liked Nadal's somersault, and Berdych's response to the BBC lady when she said beating Federer was Mission: Impossible. "Well yeah but I beat him so it was possible." He's going to carry a grudge for a while in regards to that QF match and how no one is giving him credit.
He really did deserve that win. It wasn't so much Federer messing up all over the place as it was Berdych being damn awesome.
Only thing standing between him and the slam record is health. It's crazy how young he is.
And this will be a great debate as to who was the best tennis player of all time. And compared to Laver or Bjorg or Sampras, they were both in the same time so we have an accurate way to measure their accomplishments.
Still, I'm having some trouble with my serves. The racket drop is the toughest part for me. I just can't find the sweet spot; either I drop too low and hit too hard, edging past the service box, or I don't drop enough and hit a wimpy serve that is easily returned if it doesn't go straight into the net.
I found this real good slow mo video of Federer's serve, look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xbC31AQqSg&feature=PlayList&p=29D89FF13B03400B&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=2
Are you using just a regular 20 dollar racket from Target? The head size should be big enough to not really be a problem.
Okay, dickish condescension aside, dude needs the points now that he's out of the top 10. All this will do is put a shit ton of pressure on him to do well at the Open. American tennis has a lot of catching up to do.
Sorry, it's been a while since this thread was on page 1 so I missed this.
My service has improved and now they are typically returnable from the baseline, which makes me happy. I'd like to work on my topspin, but since that involves an upward swing and I only have 7 balls I'd be running around the court quite a lot. I'll go buy one of those giant buckets of balls after this next paycheck and find a wall. Also would be nice to find some regular partners around town other than my wife.
For a quick recap of the summer US Open series:
-Fish won Atlanta's new tournament
-Querry beat Murray to win the LA title
-Nalbandian won DC and looked very well until last week. Dude needs to lose weight.
-Murray won the Toronto Master's
-Federer won the Cincinatti Master's
-Stakhovsky wins New Haven title
And for the Women:
-Azarenka won Stanford
-Kuznetsova won San Diego
-Clijsters won Cincy
-Wozniacki won Montral and New Haven
So the winners of the US Open series going into the tournament are Murray and Federer (tied for 1st) and Caroline Wozniacki
Serena Williams pulled out of the US Open with a foot injury. And Juan Martin Del Potro is out due to wrist surgery (he's been really messed up since winning the USO last year).
And the top 4 seeds are as follows for the USO:
1. Nadal
2. Federer
3. Djokovic
4. Murray
1. Wozniacki
2. Clijsters
3. Venus Williams
4. Jankovic
If we can't have a Nadal win, though, I would love to see Roddick advance far for once. He's just been so disappointing lately.
-It sucks for Rafa that Nalbandian is in his quarter and Murray is in his half, both of those are probably harder match-ups for him than Federer. I'm glad Rafa and Roger are on opposite sides though, a final at the USO between them could be of Wimbledon 2008 quality, considering Rafa's hard court difficulties.
-Speaking of Murray, he's getting lots of hype (again), despite losing all major finals so far in straights.
-Does Mardy Fish have a better chance to go deep in the tournament than Roddick? The guy has been playing unbelievably recently.
-So much has been said about the emerging taller players on the ATP, which finally came to fruition when Del Potro won here last year. Based on current form probably Berdych or Soderling has the best chance to step up this time, or maybe even Isner if he isn't too badly injured.
-The women's side is even more wide open than usual. Wozniacki isn't getting the respect you'd expect of a no1 seed, and players like Clijsters, Azarenka, and Sharapova seem like fashionable picks.
I would love to see Querry get to the QF this year, make a showing beyond winning smaller tournaments. Kind of on the Berdych bandwagon, Hewitt facing Federer in the 3rd round kind of annoys me but Hewitt will show no mercy and win it all hooray hooray.
But if he does win, it will make the victory all the sweeter. And Rafa beating Federer at the US Open would really kind of start the cementing of his superiority.
And Fernando Gonzalez lost (he retired). Monfils almost lost as well, but won in 5.
It was kind of weird, she had to be taken off in a wheelchair.
Berdych up next, flip the crowd the Berd (hows that for making it work for the USO?)
ediy: Just an FYI, you if you're in the US you can watch online for free, lots of courts to choose from
I watched that match up to the 4th set and he's always had trouble with Tipsarovic (everyone does at some point in their career it seems).
And Oudin is out, the Cinderella girl from last year. Harrison beating Llkubicic was a nice win, he's been trained up in New Braunfels near Austin
And hmmm... Federer gets mono... Roddick gets mono... 2 year difference, sure... but I hear those guys are all good friends in the locker rooms
The Hantuchova/Dementieva match is first this morning, look forward to that. And would like to see Nalbandian not choke on this match (or a hamburger because he's chubby lol m i rite?).
Querry won, good show, and Simon didn't put up a fight against Nadal to go see his newborn baby (I would have done so too, if it came a month earlier than expected).
He was really really serious about it too
She was trying to serve and failing, and when she failed he served a ball that smacked her most of the time
loltexas
Nadal's got a clear path, go for it. Youznhy might be the biggest problem for him if they face in the semis, only because the guy isn't scared of anyone and is relatively fresh compared to the other players in that half of the draw.
Didn't watch that Clijsters/Stosur match, but it seemed like Stosur might have choked like she has a habit of doing.
Middle of the 2nd set both of them lost their minds and suddenly couldn't hold serve to save their life. Wind had picked up, but some of the UEs were just ridiculous. Stosur was break up twice in the decider and nerves cost her, which is actually very unusual about her. If Wozniacki wins this I'll be taking a break from watching the WTA. It would bring the game back to pre-Seles level.
The match of the day for me was Ferrer vs Verdasco(I found the Waw match below average). Ferrer had 4:2 30:0 in the 5th set, fucked it to a tie break, then lead 4:1 with 2 mini breaks in the breaker only to lose 5 points in a row. I'm rooting for Youzh too, but I don't see it.
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It looks like he's putting up more of a fight now in the 3rd set but he doesn't care.
Tsonga is the only Frenchman who doesn't quit these days.
Slice forehands, blocked serves instead of actual returns, theatrics instead of tennis. You know, the usual. Terrible performance.