Tennis Thread

RobMCFC said:
From what I saw yesterday, he didn't play badly, he just came up against Bublik who was in sublime form and hardly missed anything.
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Bublik's forehand winners were quite impressive and he played about as well as I've ever seen from him.

RobMCFC said:
He'll rise to number 4 on Monday and I think he can look forward to good runs at Wimbledon and the US open.
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Draper will be a sentimental pull for me at Wimbledon outside of the US players, but as you note...
RobMCFC said:
But the rest of the field are miles adrift of Sinner and Alcaraz.
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Even more evident tonight after seeing Tommy Paul go down so easily to Alcaraz in 3 straight.

You have to admire the sheer power Alcaraz is putting on some of those winners in hitting them on a full sprint slide too, just amazing. Credit for the US Men for doing so well in this tournament overall, but beating either of the ones today was a tough ask.

Zverev vs. Djokovic on Wednesday should be the match to watch, but I'll be a bit more than surprised if it isn't a Sinner vs. Alcaraz final when it comes to it. Friday should be fun with Musetti playing well thus far, but he'll need to play pretty much near flawless to have a chance at upsetting Alcaraz.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Bublik's forehand winners were quite impressive and he played about as well as I've ever seen from him.


Draper will be a sentimental pull for me at Wimbledon outside of the US players, but as you note...

Even more evident tonight after seeing Tommy Paul go down so easily to Alcaraz in 3 straight.

You have to admire the sheer power Alcaraz is putting on some of those winners in hitting them on a full sprint slide too, just amazing. Credit for the US Men for doing so well in this tournament overall, but beating either of the ones today was a tough ask.

Zverev vs. Djokovic on Wednesday should be the match to watch, but I'll be a bit more than surprised if it isn't a Sinner vs. Alcaraz final when it comes to it. Friday should be fun with Musetti playing well thus far, but he'll need to play pretty much near flawless to have a chance at upsetting Alcaraz.
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Yes, I think yesterday's match was summed up nicely by the on-court interview:-

Mats Wilander: "Carlos, how did you play such a perfect game?"
Alcaraz: "I felt like even if I had my eyes closed, I could hit the ball in".

Incredible accuracy and power. Barring injury, it's a Sinner v Alcaraz final, no mistake.
 
RobMCFC said:
Incredible accuracy and power. Barring injury, it's a Sinner v Alcaraz final, no mistake.
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After today's late match, I'm hoping for that even more.

Meanwhile on the women's side, we have chalk with Sabalenka vs. Świątek and then this incredible run by Lois Boisson, a wildcard entry ranked 361, reaching the women's singles semifinals after recovering from ACL surgery last year.

She is the first Frenchwoman to reach the semifinals since Marion Bartoli in 2011.

Boisson came back again, this time from a 1-3 first set deficit in beating 6th seed Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, after going down 0-1 sets to win over 3rd seed Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16. She'll take on #2 Coco Gauff in the semis, and I'll be taking nothing for granted after watching Boisson's comeback against some very capable opponents. If she can upset Gauff, I'll be cheering for her in the finals.
 
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Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
After today's late match, I'm hoping for that even more.

Meanwhile on the women's side, we have chalk with Sabalenka vs. Świątek and then this incredible run by Lois Boisson, a wildcard entry ranked 361, reaching the women's singles semifinals after recovering from ACL surgery last year.

She is the first Frenchwoman to reach the semifinals since Marion Bartoli in 2011.

Boisson came back again, this time from a 1-3 first set deficit in beating 6th seed Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, after going down 0-1 sets to win over 3rd seed Jessica Pegula in the Round of 16. She'll take on #2 Coco Gauff in the semis, and I'll be taking nothing for granted after watching Boisson's comeback against some very capable opponents. If she can upset Gauff, I'll be cheering for her in the finals.
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I think Gauff will have too much for her
She will deal with the crowd and have too much for Boisson
I felt sorry for Andreeva she is obviously the better player but the crowd were at best partisan at worst disgraceful
 
Sheikh rattle and roll said:
I think Gauff will have too much for her
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And I felt she would, but there have been times in the past she's let her emotions get the best of her. Today, her service game was solid (no inconvenient double faults) and two sound sets of her best tennis yet have put her in the finals. Coco's game today really kept the French crowd out of it overall.

Sheikh rattle and roll said:
She will deal with the crowd and have too much for Boisson
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I was very impressed with her mental game today - all business.
Sheikh rattle and roll said:
I felt sorry for Andreeva she is obviously the better player but the crowd were at best partisan at worst disgraceful
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I will say that the French crowd noise at this tournament is probably the biggest negative for me in watching this Major through the years.

Even today, they were making stupid noises as Lois was about to serve, and even made her have to take pause and restart her service prep. Just annoying overall and really not helpful for one of their own.

That and making sounds like they're about to hurl is probably the biggest negatives about their fans in the stands. I've never understood it, and I won't miss it again after this week. Give me the crowds at any of the other 3 majors over this bunch.

Coco will have her work cut out for against Sabalenka. Hoping for the best again...
 
RobMCFC said:
Annoyingly, I have to agree. :)

Zverev's form seems a little erratic the last few months. Don't know what's going on with him.
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Zverev's gameplan was very unimaginative, and to Djokivic's credit, he made adjustments and Zverev did not. After a while Zverev has to know his playing that far back for the serves is going to keep making him vulnerable to the drop shots, and he never really adjusted at all, so sets 2-4 played nearly the same way.

I am hopeful Sinner's team will both have an execution and gameplan adjustment advantage tomorrow over what we saw from Zverev and his team.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
Zverev's gameplan was very unimaginative, and to Djokivic's credit, he made adjustments and Zverev did not. After a while Zverev has to know his playing that far back for the serves is going to keep making him vulnerable to the drop shots, and he never really adjusted at all, so sets 2-4 played nearly the same way.

I am hopeful Sinner's team will both have an execution and gameplan adjustment advantage tomorrow over what we saw from Zverev and his team.
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If Sinner doesn't win, I'll eat my virtual hat.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
I'm glad you didn't have to stuff yourself. ;-)

1 vs. 2 in both Women's and Men's Finals. Hopefully some classic matches this weekend.
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Three tight sets but in the final reckoning, it was a 3-0 win for Sinner.

Djokovic, good as he is for a 38-year old, won’t win another Grand Slam whilst these top 2 are around and uninjured. Sinner and Alcaraz are so far ahead of the others in the men’s game, it’s ridiculous.

I thought that Rune might join them and Zverev post-injury three years ago has done well, but even he has faded.

Musetti has had a great season on clay and if he can back up his semi-final spot at Wimbledon last year, and continue his good form, I’d expect him and Draper to be pushing for that number 3 spot come the end of the year.

I’ve got to be honest, I don’t really follow the women’s game other than knowing who is generally winning stuff and is at the top. I know that unlike some of the deluded folks on here, that isn’t Raducanu :)
 
RobMCFC said:
Three tight sets but in the final reckoning, it was a 3-0 win for Sinner.

Djokovic, good as he is for a 38-year old, won’t win another Grand Slam whilst these top 2 are around and uninjured. Sinner and Alcaraz are so far ahead of the others in the men’s game, it’s ridiculous.
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I would only note that this is probably Djokovic's weakest surface to play on, so I'm not sure of the clear advantages on the other surfaces. Djokovic didn't win his first French Open until 2016, so think about that a bit. Granted, he was up against the best clay court player ever in Nadal in most years, but again, he's better on the other surfaces.

One thing Jim Courier noted post match was if we see the smiling Djokovic vs. the top players at Wimbledon or the US Open later this year, it might be a saying goodbye to playing these, but something tells me we won't. Djokovic knows he can play better on those other surfaces, but again, will it be enough? He got in 71% of his first serves as compared to Sinner's 51% (yes, NOT a typo), and it still wasn't enough given Sinner's ground game, so just imagine if those first serves were getting in more like is more customary.

RobMCFC said:
I thought that Rune might join them and Zverev post-injury three years ago has done well, but even he has faded.
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I agree, there are two at the top right now and it's going to be tough for others to break through at this time.

RobMCFC said:
Musetti has had a great season on clay and if he can back up his semi-final spot at Wimbledon last year, and continue his good form, I’d expect him and Draper to be pushing for that number 3 spot come the end of the year.
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Agreed, and hopefully more improvement from Draper and consistency from Musetti and Fritz and some others will add more spice to the top.
RobMCFC said:
I’ve got to be honest, I don’t really follow the women’s game other than knowing who is generally winning stuff and is at the top. I know that unlike some of the deluded folks on here, that isn’t Raducanu :)
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Correct, and that is looking like a one run anomaly than anything lasting as it currently stands.
 
Black&White&BlueMoon Town said:
1 vs. 2 in both Women's and Men's Finals. Hopefully some classic matches this weekend.
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Ok, for the lovers of stats out there, I was trying to find this last night but got it today:

Both Women's and Men's 1 vs. 2 in a Grand Slam final hasn't happened since the US Open 2013:

Djokovic vs. Nadal, S Williams vs. Azarenka

and for the first time at the French Open since 1984! Holy Van Halen! ;-)

J. McEnroe vs Lendl, Navratilova vs. Evert

That's some interesting history and proof on how rare this happens. Of course, probably easier on the men's side when it isn't a "Big 3" or "Big 4" with Andy included at his peak to have to seed from.
 
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Watching the women's final now....anyone know why it's so poorly attended? Barely half full.

Is that normal for the French open? - pretty sad to see a major final and it being half empty
 
Crooked_rain said:
Watching the women's final now....anyone know why it's so poorly attended? Barely half full.
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rolling-eyes-icegif-19.gif


;-)
 
Crooked_rain said:
Watching the women's final now....anyone know why it's so poorly attended? Barely half full.

Is that normal for the French open? - pretty sad to see a major final and it being half empty
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Maybe they can’t stand the sound of that player who screams like a twat every time she hits a shot. Must be very off putting for her opponent and makes her very dislikeable.
 
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