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[TENNIS] is a game about smacking balls
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LOOK AT HIS EYES
Yeah, barring a miracle or a rain delay, we're now in the "Nadal beats his opponent like a rented mule" portion of the finals.
I will say this about the coverage, with Mary Carillo gone it's a much better presentation from the announcers, they stop talking while the point plays on (mostly). This has always been my gripe with how the US broadcasts tennis.
And one more thing, every year it always happens at the FO where someone in the crowd faints. Drink some water, dinkus. It never really happens to stop play in Melbourne or Queens where it's significantly hotter than a warm European Sunday.
edit: oh and like half a mil I guess that plate is to keep a small portion of his money in.
Also I almost forgot that it was the finals when I was watching.
Besides everyone
The Lawn Tennis Association welcomes the ladies to the beautiful city of
for the Aegon Classic! -
Website: here
TV: N/A
Players to watch:
The ATP splits and goes to:
Halle - for what is a very nice venue, but always a pretty shitty tournament!
Website: here
TV: DSF, Live Streaming
Players to watch:
and
London - where formal attire is a must!
Website: here
TV: Eurosport 1 & 2, all week, all day, live streaming.
Players to watch:
Haas is going to lose a lot of points this summer, he was the defending champion at Halle and had those Wimbledon SF points that he might miss due to this hip surgery.
I really wish there was a Master's tournament on Grass at Queen's, the grass season is too short (but that's kind of the charm). And now we get everyone on the BBC to act like they're big tennis aficionados for the next month.
At least it's not a grand slam tourney
Back in 2003 his game was nowhere near as developed as it is now, but he had such a better forehand then, where it was flat and just blasted it past you to make up for his weak backhand.
Now his backhand is improved, he doesn't slice as much, and is 20 lbs lighter and has more endurance but his forehand is so loopy and gets so high it's lost it's effectiveness, especially on hardcourts and grass.
And every eighteen months or so he gets really hot, you think maybe he'll win another slam, but then fizzles out.
I've always wondered if it was just me that saw it but apparently not. What happened to the forehand do you think? He's not injured or something is he? Why doesn't he ever just rip and hit through the ball anymore?
In the 05 AO semi-final against Hewitt, he started it with his inside out forehand where before it was a one-two punch and a winner, the "out" part of the combo he started hitting with so much spin Hewitt was able to get to it. The loop also made the ball stay away from the corners of the court.
And he's never gotten rid of it since, even during his Wimbledon run last year he wouldn't flatten it out. Even Nadal flattens out his forehand when he plays on grass.
I've read that Stefanki has tried to get him to flatten it out at least to shorten rallies, and in Indian Wells and Miami this year he did just that (and guess what, he won one tournament and was runner up in the other, it's not rocket science).
In Halle, Hewitt beats Federer 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, and actually wins the match on a net cord which I've never seen before:
And in London Sam Querry, the best hope for American Tennis post-Roddick, beats Mardy Fish 7-6, 7-5:
You know Fed is close to the end when he finally loses to Hew.
He had 0:40 @ 4:4 in the second to serve for the match but couldn't convert. Leyton played well, showed more spirit, saved a BP serving for the match and as you said converted on a lucky netcord. Credit to him.
Fish lost a match he should have won. He exploded serving for the second set and proceeded to fold in 2. Querrey played a good, solid game, but I do not believe he looked dominant at any one point.
In Birmingham Shara got absolutely schooled by Li Na, which should come as a bit of a shock as it's another hit to her confidence before Wimbledon at a moment where people were starting to talk about her finally being back and ready to join the favs after the solid performance so far in the week. Never got any kind of a ground game and Na was the one leading the rallies from start to finish.
Edit: I also got to watch Safina promptly lose in the Netherlands(it's a Sunday to Saturday week because of Wimbles). It pains me to say it, but I'm not convinced at all that she'd get out of the hole and be back to play at least somehow decent tennis.
Safina reminds me of Anna Chakvetadze, who was on her way to being a mainstay in the top 10 until that bizarre thing in 2007 I think where robbers broke into her home in Russia, tied her up and damaged her hand, and she's kind of been freaked out ever since, she's not even in the top 100 anymore.
Even her brother would get it together when he needed to to play well, and then turn it off and go crazy at a club or something.
The link also provides the formula for Wimbledon seeding as it's different from regular seeding. Hewitt, for example, is actually #26 int he world but he'll be seeded #15 because he always does well on grass and made the QF and won Halle.
So the top five seeds:
1. Federer
2. Nadal
3. Djokovic
4. Murray
5. Roddick
I thought Rafa wasn't going to be competing in Wimbledon? I could have sworn I heard in an interview that he's waiting for the US Open because he's never won it.
EDIT: I need to learn to click on the link and read the whole thing before I post
At least Rafa and Roger aren't going head-to-head unless they make it to the finals. It'll make for an interesting final if they both make it.
And as far as he's concerned, he has no points to defend at Wimbledon so if he just makes it to the QF that's a lot of points to help keep him at #1 for the US Open, unless Federer wins the Toronto and Cincinnati Masters.
I think this time Wimbledon is going to put Roddick and Murray on opposite sides of the draw this year. The fans there love both players for different reasons and any chance for Murray to get to the finals (probably on Rafa's side) is what they want. The Queen needs to watch him play and all that jazz. I do expect everyone to root for Roddick though after last year's epic.
I didn't even think about it really, but even if Federer wins Wimbledon this year all he'll have done is maintain his points
I'm really hoping Nadal can hold the #1 place for a while, but I have a feeling he'll drop off of it eventually when the loss of his clay court advantage starts catching up
He did have an amazing clay season though
And he isn't even losing on Court 2 which is the graveyard for tennis players.
Haven't seen it either, but I'm going to see if I can find a replay when I get off work
Rafa will hold the #1 spot for a good while, barring anything catastrophic. Wimbledon has been his second best slam for the past few years and he is already #1 with no points to defend there and through most of the late season hard court tournaments. He actually seems healthy and he's seems to have learned a lot about keeping a sensible schedule to go easier on his knees.
Federer looked like he had a hangover today... late to every ball, really shaky on his serves. Even when he was in position he didn't go for his shots. Falla had some kind of groin injury that slowed him down for a while, but he still had multiple opportunities to get back in it. You had to know when he failed to win it in four that it was over though.
Taylor Dent won, Serve & Volley is back! (not really but it's nice to see him back)
Actually, I didn't make the team my senior year because I unsuccessfully tried to serve and volley against a really annoying pusher who was giving me fits. My serve was too inconsistent to make it work back then, and I'm still peeved that we had elimination tryouts even though I had made the team the previous two years, and was better than the pusher who beat me.
Usually pushers aren't that developed in their games to handle being at the net which is where they try to stay, otherwise if they try and get back to the baseline they're out of place and you can finish the point.
-Nadal makes quick work of Kei Nishikori, and John McEnroe continues to talk about the new Babolat strings that the players are using that don't move (he's doing BBC commentary on the weekdays and he said the same stuff during the French Open)
-James Blake lost pretty convincingly, I think the guy might be done for. He just doesn't care and isn't as fast or confident in his game.
-Former 2 time Wimbldeon QF and world #1 Ferrero loses in 5 sets, he seems to be going downhill as well
-'06 SF Marcos Baghdatis loses as well, to someone from Slovakia
-Almagro loses in the first round as well
-Querry wins easily, John Isner has a 5th set to play tomorrow as play was suspended
On the women's side
-French Open finalist Sam Stosur loses
-Grass court specialist Tanasugarn loses as well, more of a shock than any other loss.
It's kind of sad to see the players I watched growing up are not the old timers, and with the exception of Federer, Roddick, and maybe Hewitt everyone else is really showing signs of decline. It's a real changing of the guard.
Knee problem. Shouldn't have played at all and should call it for the year, but he's saying he'd play the US Open too. Not a good idea, IMO.
Now here is a guy who doesn't care about tennis on specific days.
Strakhovsky was ill. Probably alcohol poisoning after the win last week.;o)
Mahut/Isner is a coin toss. Two bad points in a row on serve by one of them and it swings either way tomorrow.
And about he rpm blast, McEnroe is just ranting at this point, seriously. It's a fucking string that plays ridiculously like any other poly string.
I kind of want to try it out, but I feel just fine with the Hurricane Pro Tour 16 gauge I have. It doesn't move at all, and adds enough spin to my flatter shots to keep the ball on the baseline, and like all Babolat strings last forever. And if I want to play S&V in a match I have a racket with KLIP uncoated natural gut.
I didn't know about Blake's knee problem, I've just noticed since his comeback in 2005 he can lose confidence instantly, like in the '06 Indian Wells final against Federer he went up 5-2 in the opening set, was on a serious roll with his Sampras like slam dunk smash, and then Federer comes back and wins the first set, and he just collapses, getting bageled in the third set. Or the '06 Masters Cup final, where he gets bageled the first set and just seemed content with being a finalist.
I'm starting to think one of you all should have started the thread
Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut looks like this 5th set could go a long, long time. Interesting how on grass no one can return Isner's serve, but at the same time all the balls come in too low for Isner to hit effective groundstrokes.