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[TENNIS] is a game about smacking balls

joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class TraitorSmoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
edited June 2019 in Debate and/or Discourse
There's this sport that I've been finding increasingly interesting lately. It involves two people, a line judge, some ball boys, a furry green ball, a court complete with net and a couple of racquets.

It is called "tennis" and I'm shocked and saddened that we don't already have a thread for it!

So let's pad this OP fucker out.

Here's a classic from John McEnroe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekQ_Ja02gTY

Djokovic is a funny motherfucker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRiQjpqi4S4

The French Open is going on right now! I was really hoping that Federer would be able to go up against Nadal for the finals, but he just got knocked out by Robin Soderling. Now I'm rooting for Djokovic/Nadal.

So let's talk about tennis!

joshofalltrades on
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Posts

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Welp, guess a Nadal/Djokovic final isn't happening since they're drawn for the semi-finals. At least I'll get to see the match!

    joshofalltrades on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Berdych is playing very well this season and living up to his potential, I'd prefer a Nadal/Berdych final since they kind of have bad blood between each other.

    And Dementieva better win the FO this year and stop letting her head just completely screw up her game. Although I do like Sam Stosur's resurgence in singles since last year and her S&V game which the women's game has severely lacked since the 90's.

    TexiKen on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    TexiKen wrote: »
    Berdych is playing very well this season and living up to his potential, I'd prefer a Nadal/Berdych final since they kind of have bad blood between each other.

    And Dementieva better win the FO this year and stop letting her head just completely screw up her game. Although I do like Sam Stosur's resurgence in singles since last year and her S&V game which the women's game has severely lacked since the 90's.

    I think it's pretty much expected at this point that Nadal will be in the finals, but I'm still not sure if I want to see him win. Apparently he'll keep Federer from breaking the "#1 ranking for so many weeks" record if he does it.

    joshofalltrades on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Unless Almagro really goes gangbuster tomorrow (he's one of those Euros who are clay court hawks), it's all Nadal's.

    Berdych is more of a hard court player with his forehand, but he's really trained to have the stamina that he lacked in previous slams. If Soderling plays like today he'll be in the final again (and he also has bad blood with Nadal, mainly from '07 Wimbledon)

    And yeah if Nadal wins the FO he becomes #1 again since Federer lost before the semis.

    TexiKen on
  • Wet BanditWet Bandit Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    How do the draws work in tennis? Pretty much every other tournament in the history of the world is set up so that, barring upsets, the quarterfinal matchups are 1/8, 2/7, 3/6, and 4/5. Yet Federer, the #1 seed, was playing Soderling, the #5 seed, in the quarters. How does that work? What a strange system.

    Wet Bandit on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I know that they pair the expected finalists up with rookies for the first rounds, beyond that it is a mystery to me

    joshofalltrades on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    The slams have their own way of making draws, but what also happens is that players are injured and they remake the draws so that a wildcard or lucky loser isn't given a sweet draw to the quarters. Juan Martin Del Potro and Nikolay Daveydenko, ranked 5 & 6 in the world, weren't in the draw due to injuries.

    What also happens is that the slams move it around a bit and go by things other than ranking like wanting "their guy" (ie someone from the country) to have a good draw. Jo Wilfried Tsonga, the highest ranked Frenchman, they wanted to have a path to the semis so he was in the lower top bracket with Andy Murray.

    And at Wimbledon they have an addition to the draw match where it takes into account not only the ATP ranking but how well the player played on grass the past two years which skews things away from clay court players and to those better on grass like Roddick, Hewitt, Karlovic, etc.

    TexiKen on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    In honor of this thread I went out and bought Top Spin 3 today

    It's the first sports game I've ever purchased in my life

    I kinda like it, except it has the dance song from Napoleon Dynamite on the soundtrack and the crowd is all cardboard cutouts

    joshofalltrades on
  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I'm only a casual tennis fan, but I have to admit today was pretty fun.

    First, since I mildly dislike Federer and like to see him lose in non-cheap ways.

    Second, during some other match the announcers were going on and on about how Andy Roddick had been complaining about how the way they store the tennis balls at the French Open left them exposed to the rain.

    This doesn't sound amusing, except that it was pretty much 20 minutes of unintentional "balls" double entendres. "Andy Roddick kept complaining about having to shake out the wet balls" and "Some clay court players like Nadal prefer to play with a wet, heavy ball".

    Lawndart on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    That makes me wonder how often ball boys get teased off the court

    Also, I used to mildly dislike Federer but he seems to have lightened up a bit recently

    joshofalltrades on
  • UnderdogUnderdog Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Usually the only guarantee for match-ups is in the semis. 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3. How the other seeds get placed might as well be magic for all I know.

    I wish I'd paid some attention to Soderling today. I saw clicked in just after the second set and thought it was just a lucky go and then went to exercise. Came back from lunch and it was a completely different ball game.

    Ball.

    Underdog on
  • LavaKnightLavaKnight Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    So start of a downward slide, or a really great performance by Soderling?

    I'm sure it's nothing, but the eventual slide has to start sometime in the next few years, doesn't it?

    LavaKnight on
  • LawndartLawndart Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Underdog wrote: »
    I wish I'd paid some attention to Soderling today. I saw clicked in just after the second set and thought it was just a lucky go and then went to exercise. Came back from lunch and it was a completely different ball game.

    Ball.

    Considering how frequent the rain delays have been, there's a really good chance they'll re-show the entire Federer/Soderling match at least once.

    Lawndart on
  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I'm so happy somebody made this thread, twice I've started big OP's on the best singles sport in the world only never to finish them due to a very short attention span and general laziness.
    LavaKnight wrote: »
    So start of a downward slide, or a really great performance by Soderling?

    I'm sure it's nothing, but the eventual slide has to start sometime in the next few years, doesn't it?

    Soderling played a great match and winning or losing was on his racquet the whole time.
    Additionally, he tweaked his knee in the first set and walked awkwardly for the first hour of play, so it may even have been a 3:0 without the knock.
    Federer's career is pretty much done as far as motivation is concerned. I seriously doubt he'd have had the success he did last year if not for Nadal's knees and Djokovic going walkabout, but now with the twins his mind is obviously not that much into tennis, especially outside the majors.

    Here are my contributions:
    "WTA - It makes sense!"
    http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/2968/marionorigyc8.gif (800k)

    and how not to use a racquet:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi-CgSO9Evw

    zeeny on
  • MalkorMalkor Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I really need to make it to some US Open matches this year. I go to see the Mets all the damn time, all I have to do is turn right instead of left and I'm at Arthur Ashe. Also the Pilot Pen usually offers reasonable ticket prices.

    Malkor on
    14271f3c-c765-4e74-92b1-49d7612675f2.jpg
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Soderling still has a few good years left at this level, unless he injures himself like his coach Magnus Norman did.

    I've always had a problem with Federer because while he is a good guy truly, and has great talent, he has an ego that while rightfully earned comes off a bit weird, where he's only gracious when he wins. And it was even before 2005 and 6 where he really became dominant.

    If you ever want to see good matches, there was of course the Nadal/Federer '08 Wimbledon epic final that really was great, but also the 2005 Australian Open Semi-Final of Marat Safin vs. Federer. If you watched the match, they were crushing the ball for 4 and a half hours, it was so good:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6LeILBuPik


    Also there was the 2003 Davis Cup semi-final between Hewitt and Federer, where Hewitt won in 5 sets. I've always like Hewitt the most because he had speed and had this never give up attitude which he used in the match, I have never seen someone get completely inside an opponent's head like Hewitt did after being down 2 sets:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQE2JE6JtlU


    And finally one of the longest rallies from Federer and Hewitt in Indian Wells in 2005:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tZhQi8aDcg


    And Hewitt's wife is insanely hot.

    TexiKen on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    TexiKen wrote: »
    I've always had a problem with Federer because while he is a good guy truly, and has great talent, he has an ego that while rightfully earned comes off a bit weird, where he's only gracious when he wins.

    I don't know. They interviewed him after his loss to Soderling yesterday and he said something along the lines of, "I don't think I played all that bad, he just came up with some really great strategies" or something like that.

    joshofalltrades on
  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    TexiKen wrote: »
    I've always had a problem with Federer because while he is a good guy truly, and has great talent, he has an ego that while rightfully earned comes off a bit weird, where he's only gracious when he wins.

    I don't know. They interviewed him after his loss to Soderling yesterday and he said something along the lines of, "I don't think I played all that bad, he just came up with some really great strategies" or something like that.

    Nobody thinks higher of Roger Federer than Roger Federer.

    Edit: Speaking of egos, those two would gladly fight with baseball bats(about 2.55 is the highlight, but the whole thing is worth watching)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QSK9t6OrgU

    zeeny on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I can't watch the match at work, but it looks like Stosur is possibly giving Williams some trouble today

    EDIT: Yep, last set, Stosur is up a game and if she takes this one it's the match

    EDIT EDIT: Shit, match point

    joshofalltrades on
  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Very nice win. Deserved too, saved a match point and her forehand was awesome 2nd match in a row.

    zeeny on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Geez, Rafa and Almagro are approaching 50 minutes game time and the first set isn't even over yet

    joshofalltrades on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Cool, Nadal moves on

    Not cool, Djokovic loses to Melzer

    joshofalltrades on
  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I may be totally wrong here, but for the past year and a half, it seems like there's been a surprising number of upsets, compared to 2006-2008.

    Septus on
    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    There have been a lot of upsets just at this French Open!

    But yeah, I agree.

    EDIT: Also, if Rafa wins, he'll have had a perfect clay court season.

    joshofalltrades on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Septus wrote: »
    I may be totally wrong here, but for the past year and a half, it seems like there's been a surprising number of upsets, compared to 2006-2008.

    Yeah, it's been because of the new guys like Tsonga, Murray, Del Potro, Verdasco, who don't have Federer or Nadal living in their heads. Before 2008 it was basically Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic, and every now and then Davydenko or Roddick would get hot somewhere in the season.

    For the longest time the only people who weren't scared of Federer were Nadal and Nalbandian. Hewitt wasn't scared but he's been injured a lot and started a family and his mind has really been elsewhere (when you're game is based on speed like Hewitt or Blake or Michael Chang's was and you get injured, you're done).

    And as far as Roger's ego, if anyone deserves it it's him, but when he is beat soundly like against Nadal, he has trouble accepting it, and it's not like it's a fluke, Nadal is one of the guys who has a winning record against Federer (14-7 record; Murray has a 6-5 H2H record). Like with the 2009 Aussie Open, after that great 5 setter, Roger cried and said he was the "true" #1, which was a slap in the face to Nadal who worked himself to injury to finally get to #1 after being #2 for 4 years in a row.

    TexiKen on
  • SeptusSeptus Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I feel the same for Women's Singles as well. Sharapova, Henin, Jankovich seemed to be pretty solid top-tier players for a couple of years, prior to last year's grand slams.

    Septus on
    PSN: Kurahoshi1
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Women's tennis is such a joke the past two years. And they get equal pay at Grand Slams which is complete BS because they don't play as many sets so they get paid more for less and at least imo a much inferior product. A few of the girls are pretty like Wozniacki, Hantuchova, and Stosur is pretty cute but a bit buff but talent wise? Henin was the best of the generation.

    And when Clijsters can come back from 2 years of retirement and win a Grand Slam in only her second tournament coming back, something's really wrong.

    TexiKen on
  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    The two WTA semis are about to get completed in approximately 2 hours of tennis.
    Schiavone vs Stosur final is pretty much set up.

    Edit: And never mention how men play more as an argument against the equal pay, because the "obvious" solution to the people in charge is to make them play best of 3 too. They already fucked the masters finals, they could go and fuck the Slams without blinking.

    zeeny on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Dementieva going out like that didn't look good.

    Stosur is running away with it and serving herself out of trouble, I just hope she doesn't get the yips in the final.

    And while making slams go to 3 could be possible, I doubt it would happen because then you would be saying "from this point on every person who won a slam did so at only a fraction of what past players did." It would make current slams much more meaningful.

    The masters series I understand why they did it (though the year end tournament should be best of 5) because players constantly skip them even though they're required and did so in order to make the tennis calendar, which is one of the toughest in sports, a bit more accommodating.

    TexiKen on
  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Dem calf tear since day 1 and says she thought she would have retired in the first week. Speaks volumes about he level of her opponents. Sweet Sam will destroy Francesca in the final.
    And the Masters series did it because in 2006 we got 2 amazing matches back to back in the Monaco & Rome finals which left the Hamburg tournament slightly unhappy with Rog & Rafa withdrawing, IIRC.
    I'm all for the top players playing as often as possible, but giving us best of 5 memorable moments is worth way more than seeing them week after week as far as I'm concerned.
    Don't think I'd ever forget the Monte carlo final, right there with wimbledon & oz.

    Edit: I'm speaking only of the best of 5 finals btw, not of the whole tournament being best of 5. With the current calendar, there is no way to have so many est of 5 tournaments, I agree with that.

    zeeny on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Yeah I remember that Rome final morseo, because of that 5th set where it seemed like both players just hated each other so much for making it go that long.

    I remember in 2007 they made the Miami final best of 5 because CBS asked for it to be a best of 5, and you could kind of see that Djokovic and Canas only knew about it when they were walking onto the court.

    TexiKen on
  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    TexiKen wrote: »
    Yeah I remember that Rome final morseo, because of that 5th set where it seemed like both players just hated each other so much for making it go that long.

    You're correct of course. It's the 5 setter that I remember, so Rome for me too.

    zeeny on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I watched that 4 hour Djokovic match when I got home, it wasn't as interesting as I thought it would be

    joshofalltrades on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Clay tennis never really is interesting, to be honest. It's a matter of endurance.

    The clay slows down the ball, serve and volley isn't very effective, so it's basically a back and forth making the other player get an unforced error.

    TexiKen on
  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    That Djoko match was good actually, except for both players being in shit physical condition and it was showing as early as set 2. Berdych vs Soderling would be an absolute blast and will prob have 2x more winners than UE's.
    TexiKen wrote: »
    Clay tennis never really is interesting, to be honest. It's a matter of endurance.

    The clay slows down the ball, serve and volley isn't very effective, so it's basically a back and forth making the other player get an unforced error.

    We'll have to disagree. Best surface to watch as I love extended rallies and especially best surface to play on, IMO. I don't see it as an endurance contest and certainly not one lacking winners!
    Henman and Llodra both showed that there is a way to play serve & volley on clay, but certainly not to win consistently as it's too physically demanding. Martinez Sanchez also did very well with short rallies and going to the net in Rome. It's a bit sad that more players aren't being taught anything but the standard "stay back, hit hard". Especially on the women's tour, where having any kind of different game gives you a decent enough chance vs almost anybody.

    zeeny on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I like clay courts just fine, it's just that there weren't very many interesting rallies during that game

    Unless something happened after the first two hours that I missed because I did something else instead

    joshofalltrades on
  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    A Nadal/Soderling Final is looking increasingly likely

    joshofalltrades on
  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Kind of a weak final in the sense that Stosur couldn't pull it off, and the player who had really had a breeze of a draw pulls it out simply because she was playing like someone who had nothing to lose. Schiavone reminds me of Myskina actually in the 2004 FO where Dementieva could have won if she didn't have the yips and the pressure of making it be a breeze. Stosur's always had trouble winning in finals though, only winning her first singles tournament this year.

    Hopefully tomorrow it's a good match or a Nadal-2008-FO-final level of a beatdown on Soderling.

    TexiKen on
  • LavaKnightLavaKnight Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I have always wanted to play on clay. The closest thing I've done is play in the rain on really slick hard courts where you had to slide to the ball.

    I need to take a trip to Spain or somewhere sometime and bring my racquet. I've only ever played hard courts, unfortunately.

    LavaKnight on
  • hadokenhadoken Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Fuck you ugly italian monsterwoman.

    I hate it when the ugly one wins in women's tennis. it ruins it! But seriously, aussy pride D:.

    hadoken on
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