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[TENNIS] is a game about smacking balls

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  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    facetious wrote:
    Murray/Djokovic was kind of an incredible match.

    It was the incrediblest. Those final 3 games were a amazing finish to the tale of the match. The story, the narrative they told was as good as anything that could be invented.

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  • Simon MoonSimon Moon Registered User regular
    Remember when the big knock on Djokovic was a lack of staying power?

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  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    Azarenka and Sharapova is starting. Or, they're on court now, at least. Why the fuck am I staying up to be screamed at for two hours?

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  • Alistair HuttonAlistair Hutton Dr EdinburghRegistered User regular
    Simon Moon wrote:
    Remember when the big knock on Djokovic was a lack of staying power?

    In the 29 shot rally that sealed Murray's fate it looked like Djok was crumbling before our eyes, he was moving sower and slower, stooping to make shots and then he pulled out that gob smacking winner.

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  • facetiousfacetious a wit so dry it shits sandRegistered User regular
    Nadal put in a first serve, and Novak returned it with a blistering winner that clipped the baseline.

    Nadal challenged his own serve. It turned out to have been correctly called in, barely clipping the line.

    That's how good of a return Djokovic has. His opponents regret getting their serve in.

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  • ChenChen Registered User regular
    That's it. I'm convinced
    Djokovic
    is a robot. No doubt about it.

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  • Delta AssaultDelta Assault Registered User regular
    The two finals couldn't have been more different. Azarenka dismantled Sharapova in an hour 22 minutes. The men's final went on for six hours?

  • Simon MoonSimon Moon Registered User regular
    So, on the one hand, I kinda wish I had DVR so I could have watched that final. On the other, when would I have the time?

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  • Delta AssaultDelta Assault Registered User regular
    Simon Moon wrote:
    So, on the one hand, I kinda wish I had DVR so I could have watched that final. On the other, when would I have the time?

    espn3.com is pretty handy.

  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    edited January 2012
    That was a great match, and what I like hearing is that this is a match that made people outside of tennis take notice about how tough and fit these guys are, because it was balls out from the first set. Better than Nadal/Federer '09 AO Final, but not as good as the '05 Federer/Safin SF (I might just be biased because that was from the "good old days" of my generation of tennis players).

    The worst thing was that when Djokovic was serving down 5-4 in the final set, and Nadal just floated balls, he's never that passive, it shows Novak is in Rafa's head now much like Rafa is in Federer's head. After that, I had a feeling it would be Novak. I guess at Roland Garros we'll get Nadal's Battle of the Bulge moment, to see if he still holds onto his clay king status. If Novak can do that, that would be something Federer has never done to a healthy Nadal.

    As for the Women's final, I was shocked because I expected that same score to happen in the opposite direction. And even the Bryans couldn't win.

    TexiKen on
  • Delta AssaultDelta Assault Registered User regular
    I've always been rather disappointed in the Women's game because of the amount of double faults. Sharapova is known for them. I just can't help feeling that professional tennis players being paid millions of dollars shouldn't be making them. It's like the equivalent of professional swimmers not being able to tread water.

  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    To add insult to injury is that women often used racquets with much bigger head size (that's what she said), which makes it even easier to create better spin to curve the ball over the net.

    Sharapova is just the new Dementieva.

  • ChenChen Registered User regular
    TexiKen wrote:
    The worst thing was that when Djokovic was serving down 5-4 in the final set, and Nadal just floated balls, he's never that passive, it shows Novak is in Rafa's head now much like Rafa is in Federer's head. After that, I had a feeling it would be Novak.

    Well, Nadal was up 4-2 in the final set and then promptly got broken twice. Anyone would have taken a mental hit. Still, Nadal had the chance to break him and level the score.

    But I agree on the Federer/Safin semifinal. What a game. I miss Safin.

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  • Simon MoonSimon Moon Registered User regular
    Chen wrote:
    But I agree on the Federer/Safin semifinal. What a game. I miss Safin.

    One of the all time great matches. Really made it clear how much Safin's headcaseness kept him from just destroying the men's tour for the first half of the decade.

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  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    I've always been rather disappointed in the Women's game because of the amount of double faults. Sharapova is known for them. I just can't help feeling that professional tennis players being paid millions of dollars shouldn't be making them. It's like the equivalent of professional swimmers not being able to tread water.

    Sharapova is still fucked up from that shoulder injury. If you notice, she barely even takes balls out of the air with an overhead. She almost always waits for them to drop and hits a forehand.

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  • Delta AssaultDelta Assault Registered User regular
    It's not just Sharapova though. It's a lot of the women. I remember the Williams sisters used to double fault a lot.

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    It's not just Sharapova though. It's a lot of the women. I remember the Williams sisters used to double fault a lot.

    Yeah but they're in serious denial about it.

    That's the difference between the women and the men. At least the men will admit fault.

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  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Awake, yon tennis thread, the red clay sticks to your feet and your soul.

    Quick recap of the big things since the AO to the FO:

    -Federer wins Indian Wells against Isner in his first Masters final
    -Djokovic wins Miami (Roddick actually beat Federer for only the 3rd time in his career then promptly lost in the next round, bravo Andy)
    -Nadal won Monte Carlo against Djokovic easily, snapping his losing streak
    -Nadal wins Barcelona
    -Federer won Madrid against Berdych
    -Nadal won Italy against Djokovic


    As for the French Open, it's kind of been a bad week. Roddick, Meltzer, Nalbandian and Hewitt out in the first round, Serena and Venus are out (Serena's too busy doing hella bad rapping), Isner is the only remaining US player of prominence. Even Dolgopolov went out in the first round, and Nishikori had to pull out of the draw because of injury. And it's one of those years where it feels like no one really seems to have captured lightning, as there is now a three way tug of war between Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer, and everyone else is by the wayside. And it's kind of been that way for the whole year, really, no one is stepping up in any significant way, maybe it's because all the European players have this malaise over them, I don't know. Berdych is showing some signs of life, that's about it. Should be an easy 7th clay crown for Nadal.

  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    Yeah, I've been meaning to revive this thread as well, so I'm glad you did that Texiken.

    The clay court season has been awesome if you like Nadal. I didn't mind seeing him go out in Madrid, since both he and Djokovic have claimed they won't be returning to Madrid unless they fix the clay. Apparently it was very slippery and wasn't at all the way they should have been highlighting blue clay. They still need to work out the kinks, I guess, but it wasn't a great showing to have a lot of the players up in arms about it. Personally, I thought the blue clay looked damn cool, but when players are petitioning to wear their grass court shoes, you know something is wrong.

    The French Open has been a lot of fun to watch. My girlfriend is there now, actually. We hit the US Open together last year, and she says that Chatrier is way more intimate than Arthur Ashe, so I'm dying of jealousy.

    While the US men haven't been doing too great, all of the US women (except Serena) made it through to the second round, and Sloane Stephens took out Bethanie Mattek-Sands today to make it to the third round. Even Oudin won a match, and she hasn't done anything notable in a long, long time.

    I watched Venus's match today since she went out to my favorite player, and Venus was just not on. She made something like 30 unforced errors, which explains why she went out 2-3. I love the WTA right now, because it seems like a lot more players have a chance than on the ATP. (Seriously, does anyone doubt Rafa, Nole, or Fed will be winning?) I think that Stosur has a good chance at going all the way this year, and I think Ivanovic has a chance at making a good run as well. It should be fun to watch it all unfold.

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  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    I honestly haven't had a lot of time for tennis lately, except for my own matches. What's this about blue clay?

  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    ten_madrid_clay_600.jpg
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    Nadal is killing Schwank on Chatrier. It's on ABC or NBC.

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  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    That clay looks damn cool. I guess there were problems with it? That sucks.

  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    That clay looks damn cool. I guess there were problems with it? That sucks.

    It was very, very slippery. (Though, everyone always complained about Madrid's courts anyway...) Apparently they salt the clay, and the salt fucked it all up, because Carlos Moya said it played well before they did that. We'll see what happens next year.

    I agree, by the way, that it looks damn cool.

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  • PentaghostPentaghost Classification: NOT SO BAD The Southern OracleRegistered User regular
    This is the first year that I've actually watched the French Open, usually because it's on some obscure channel and I overlook it, but are the French crowds always as partisan as the Murray/Gasquet game? I've never seen a player being booed the way Murray was. I know he's not everyone's cup of tea but damn, not cool.

  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    It's a few things. French are homerists, barring that they root for Federer because he speaks french, so Gasquet gets extra attention (he was also a top 10 player at one point who beat Federer in his prime). But also Murray's at a point in his career where he's always a bridesmaid, never getting over the hump, and he's got this attitude where he's talking to himself but he's yelling just to yell, and it's gotten to the point where he's more just trying to pull some gamesmanship on the opponent. The French are some of the ruder crowds in tennis (to be fair, the US Open seems to be getting too many Jersey Shore drunks in the stands for night games), they've never really warmed up to Nadal either, particularly because of the 2006 match he had against Paul Henri Matheiu where he was losing and "choked" on a banana to kill time and the flow of the game.

    This is probably the worst the french have been, the Hingis portion of this clip:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqLr00Krd0k

    It's an unwritten rule that you don't do underhand (even Chang got some flak in '89 for it and he was injured), but there is something to be said about booing the hell out of an 18 year old going up against the best female tennis player ever.

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    TexiKen wrote: »
    It's an unwritten rule that you don't do underhand (even Chang got some flak in '89 for it and he was injured), but there is something to be said about booing the hell out of an 18 year old going up against the best female tennis player ever.

    Unwritten rules in competitive games are kind of a pet peeve of mine. If they were really something that broke the game, they would be written rules. The only reason for a rule to be unwritten is because people don't know how to deal with it in their game and they want an excuse to get angry when it's used against them.

    It's like banning particular special moves or characters (boss characters excluded, obviously) in a fighting game because they're "cheap". No, you just don't know how to deal with it and so you're taking a tool away from someone so they can't use it against you.

  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    So, the women's final is set and the men's semis are also set.

    The women's final, which will be on Saturday morning, will be between Maria Sharapova and Sara Errani.

    Errani took out Stosur today in the semis to get there and has been playing really solid tennis for a while now. She's a clay court specialist and hits with a lot of pace, which may give her a slight advantage over Sharapova.

    The men's semis, which are tomorrow, will be David Ferrer vs. Rafael Nadal (best match of the year was them playing in Barcelona), and Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer. Will we see another Rafa/Roger final?

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  • LoveIsUnityLoveIsUnity Registered User regular
    For the fourth slam in a row we are getting a Nadal/Djokovic final. Something tells me this one will turn out a little different than the last three.

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  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Man the french need to get their shit together, that match went on longer than it should have before they suspended play for the second time. The balls retain moisture (lolz), and especially with Nadal's serve you could see the extra weight messing with shots (and it's not even a balanced weight, one side of the ball gets heavy and it messes with spin, Nadal's key point). There were also a few line calls where they should just get hawkeye, screw tradition you need to be like every other tournament.

    I mean, I am a Nadal supporter, but the guy never complains, so when he's kind of not paying full attention to the match because of the rain, maybe you give the guy the benefit of the doubt? I'm not taking away from Djokovic, he clearly worked something out after the first rain delay, but the match should have stopped after the third set.

    I think Nadal can still win this either tonight or tomorrow but it has to be where the two know from the beginning it's the final run, no more pauses.

  • zeenyzeeny Registered User regular
    The day they do hawkeye on clay is the day I stop watching tennis.

  • Simon MoonSimon Moon Registered User regular
    That's interesting. Would you mind expanding on why?

    I mean, I'm not a fan of the hawkeye challenge system in general, as I think handing players more tools to interfere with momentum is, in general, not the best policy (though admittedly the existence of the technology and use on broadcasts was leading towards line calls becoming somewhat of an issue), but on clay, the chair ump is climbing down to point at marks anyway, so it'd just be replacing one momentum breaker with another, slightly more accurate one.

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  • NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    Yay Rafa!

  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Bringing this thread back a little early in the grass season just to go what the hell.


    At Queen's Club, Roddick and Murray both lost in the first round, Tsonga got knocked out later, resulting in a final with Nalbandian and Cilic where Nalbandian was disqualified because of this completely asinine move:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fqTgpnrIek&feature=related


    And then over in Halle, Hewitt lost right away, Nadal lost in the QF, and then 34 year old Tommy Haas beat Federer in the final, although he's been injured so much he's more like a 32 year old in tennis time. If this keeps up, this will just be a weird Wimbledon season, doubly so since the Olympics will also be there and I wonder if maybe Federer focuses more on winning gold.

  • joshofalltradesjoshofalltrades Class Traitor Smoke-filled roomRegistered User regular
    What...

    What in the hell did I just watch, Nadal?

  • Form of Monkey!Form of Monkey! Registered User regular
    edited June 2012
    What...

    What in the hell did I just watch, Nadal?

    I was watching too. Usually guys who hit with that much power are lumbering lummoxes who you can outplay if you keep them moving and stay away from their forehands. (*cough* Del Potro *cough*).

    A dude with that much racket speed who is also fleet of foot is a godamn oddity.

    I still don't know who this Czech guy is, but I'm rooting for him as of today.

    Form of Monkey! on
  • Simon MoonSimon Moon Registered User regular
    Lukas Rosol, a 26 year old Czech, whom I have literally never seen nor heard of before today. Pretty much anything can happen in that quarter of the draw now, and, while I'm sure everyone now thinks the bottom half is Murray's to lose, I wouldn't put money on anybody.

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  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Man, and Nadal had a tough draw too, just didn't expect it to happen today. He follows Hewitt, Nalbandian, Isner, and a bunch of others out.

    What's the deal with Wozniacki? She lost early and I haven't heard much about her this year.

    But hey, this might be Roddick's year now! Or Haas, go Haas, pull an Ivanesevic!

  • either,oreither,or Registered User regular
    That was such an incredible match, I hadn't felt like that watching tennis for a few years, I really hope that Rosol takes a lot of confidence from that and starts to qualify and win matches in the majors from now on, because he won that game rather than it being Nadal who lost it. Nadal wasn't at his best but even at the level he played today he beats 99% of the tour.

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  • Form of Monkey!Form of Monkey! Registered User regular
    I mean sure, Nadal wasn't himself, and this wasn't on clay, where he is a god among men, but still crazy impressive. Shocking even.

  • TexiKenTexiKen Dammit! That fish really got me!Registered User regular
    Well, he's just going to be in better form for the Olympics then. It would be really cool to see Nishikori breakout in the bottom half this year and be the real dark horse.

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