2017 Tennis Thread

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wlu_lax6
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2017 Tennis Thread

Post by wlu_lax6 »

Karlovic has 75 aces in his first round Aussie open match.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/karlovic-sl ... 1484692011

Frances Tiafoe (kid from the DC area) got his first grand slam win.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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wlu_lax6 wrote:Frances Tiafoe (kid from the DC area) got his first grand slam win.
At first, I assumed wlu misspelled his first name. But, after checking, I see that the kid's first name is actually spelled in the feminine form.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by wlu_lax6 »

sancarlos wrote:
wlu_lax6 wrote:Frances Tiafoe (kid from the DC area) got his first grand slam win.
At first, I assumed wlu misspelled his first name. But, after checking, I see that the kid's first name is actually spelled in the feminine form.
Has a cool story
* immigrants from Sierra Leone
* Dad was a day laborer that built the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, MD
* Then his dad became the janitor there.
* At age four, Frances began training at JTCC. When he was eight, a tennis pro at the Center became his coach and mentor.
* Youngest winner of the Orange Bowl (Big Junior tournament)

One of the emerging young generation of tennis players that the U.S. has high hopes for (others include Noah Rubin, Long Island/Wake Forrest kid who just got knocked out in the 2nd round to Roger F)
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Joe K »

Federer just became the oldest man since Jimmy Connors in 1991 to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. And he'll be favored to win at least one more match, as he'll be facing unseeded Mischa Zverev, who just upset Andy Murray. (Mischa is overshadowed by his 19 year old younger brother, Alexander, who is one of the top young players in the sport and just lost a tough 5 set match to Nadal.) With Murray and Djokovic both eliminated, I'll predict that Milos Raonic breaks through and wins his first major.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by degenerasian »

Joe K wrote:Federer just became the oldest man since Jimmy Connors in 1991 to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. And he'll be favored to win at least one more match, as he'll be facing unseeded Mischa Zverev, who just upset Andy Murray. (Mischa is overshadowed by his 19 year old younger brother, Alexander, who is one of the top young players in the sport and just lost a tough 5 set match to Nadal.) With Murray and Djokovic both eliminated, I'll predict that Milos Raonic breaks through and wins his first major.
Raonic has to get past Monfils or Nadal in the QF. That might be the de facto final.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by DaveInSeattle »

Joe K wrote:With Murray and Djokovic both eliminated, I'll predict that Milos Raonic breaks through and wins his first major.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by degenerasian »

Could be back to the future.

Williams sister, federer and nadal in the final
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Joe K »

degenerasian wrote:Could be back to the future.

Williams sister, federer and nadal in the final
Well, we're 3/4 of the way there. It will be a Williams final (Serena looks untouchable) and Federer beat Wawrinka in a tough 5 setter to reach the final. He'll face either Nadal or Dimitrov, who was given the nickname "Baby Fed" when he first came up due to having similar a similar playing style as Federer.

I didn't think Federer would ever reach another Grand Slam final, and definitely not anywhere besides Wimbledon. He got a break when Murray got upset but still had to beat 3 legit top-10 players to make the final (Wawrinka, Nishikori and Berdych). And the Wawrinka and Nishikori matches both went the full 5 sets. Hopefully with two days off he'll be fresh for the final.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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Joe K wrote:
degenerasian wrote:Could be back to the future.

Williams sister, federer and nadal in the final
Well, we're 3/4 of the way there. It will be a Williams final (Serena looks untouchable) and Federer beat Wawrinka in a tough 5 setter to reach the final. He'll face either Nadal or Dimitrov, who was given the nickname "Baby Fed" when he first came up due to having similar a similar playing style as Federer.

I didn't think Federer would ever reach another Grand Slam final, and definitely not anywhere besides Wimbledon. He got a break when Murray got upset but still had to beat 3 legit top-10 players to make the final (Wawrinka, Nishikori and Berdych). And the Wawrinka and Nishikori matches both went the full 5 sets. Hopefully with two days off he'll be fresh for the final.
Couldn't sleep last night and was watching the Fed/Waw match. It was an interesting one. I can't believe SW made him go 5. At the end of the second he looked like he had just given up and was having issues with his knee. I fell back asleep on the couch after he got his first break on RF in the 3rd, so he must have really ramped it up. There was a point in Set 2 where SW was serving at almost 80% on his 1st serve. And he lost both those sets.

It's been a fun tournament to watch when I've been able to. Since we were in Hawaii, the first round stuff was starting at 7-8pm local so we could check some of it out at night without having to be up into the wee hours.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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Excuse me for yelling but THERE'S A 36 YEAR OLD AMERICAN WOMAN WITH A FATIGUE-CAUSING DISEASE IN THE FINALS OF A MAJOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT HELD BASICALLY ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN and pretty much nobody knows
he’s a fixbking cyborg or some shit. The

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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by A_B »

And her little sister is probably gonna ruin the story.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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Ryan wrote:Excuse me for yelling but THERE'S A 36 YEAR OLD AMERICAN WOMAN WITH A FATIGUE-CAUSING DISEASE IN THE FINALS OF A MAJOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT HELD BASICALLY ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN and pretty much nobody knows

ESPN holds the rights to all 4 grand slams, how do they not promote tennis more?
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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degenerasian wrote:
Ryan wrote:Excuse me for yelling but THERE'S A 36 YEAR OLD AMERICAN WOMAN WITH A FATIGUE-CAUSING DISEASE IN THE FINALS OF A MAJOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT HELD BASICALLY ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN and pretty much nobody knows

ESPN holds the rights to all 4 grand slams, how do they not promote tennis more?

This ones a tough sell because of the time difference I think.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by degenerasian »

A_B wrote:
degenerasian wrote:
Ryan wrote:Excuse me for yelling but THERE'S A 36 YEAR OLD AMERICAN WOMAN WITH A FATIGUE-CAUSING DISEASE IN THE FINALS OF A MAJOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT HELD BASICALLY ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN and pretty much nobody knows

ESPN holds the rights to all 4 grand slams, how do they not promote tennis more?

This ones a tough sell because of the time difference I think.

Sure but the daytime talking heads should be all over it instead of droning on and on about the NBA.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Giff »

Maybe people care more about the NBA than they do tennis?
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by BSF21 »

degenerasian wrote:
A_B wrote:
degenerasian wrote:
Ryan wrote:Excuse me for yelling but THERE'S A 36 YEAR OLD AMERICAN WOMAN WITH A FATIGUE-CAUSING DISEASE IN THE FINALS OF A MAJOR TENNIS TOURNAMENT HELD BASICALLY ON THE SURFACE OF THE SUN and pretty much nobody knows

ESPN holds the rights to all 4 grand slams, how do they not promote tennis more?

This ones a tough sell because of the time difference I think.

Sure but the daytime talking heads should be all over it instead of droning on and on about the NBA.
I assure you, anyone watching First Take is not looking for hot JohnnyMac fire. Plus, anyone affiliated with ESPN that's not actually in Melbourne doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground about tennis.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by brian »

Not to turn the conversation away from Venus, but is Serena the greatest female athlete of all-time? At worst, she's on the shortlist right?
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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brian wrote:Not to turn the conversation away from Venus, but is Serena the greatest female athlete of all-time? At worst, she's on the shortlist right?
I'd wholeheartedly endorse that. People always throw Babe Dedrich Zaharias out on that list but I confess I'm not to familiar with her other than she was an excellent golfer.

Who else? Sheryl Swoopes? Martina Hingis? Jackie Joyner Kerese? I was going to say Aly Raisman is well on her way before googling and figuring our there is a Soviet woman with 19(!) Olympic meals
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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She is by a mile. You have to factor in depth of field and tennis the only women's sport people care about outside of the Olympics.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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I vote Babe.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Joe K »

degenerasian wrote:She is by a mile. You have to factor in depth of field and tennis the only women's sport people care about outside of the Olympics.
You can make a good argument for Serena, but is she really "a mile" better than Navratilova or Graf? They both had pretty incredible careers too.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by sancarlos »

BSF21 wrote:
brian wrote: there is a Soviet woman with 19(!) Olympic meals
Wow! She should, like, enter the 4th of July hot dog eating contest!
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Joe K wrote:
degenerasian wrote:She is by a mile. You have to factor in depth of field and tennis the only women's sport people care about outside of the Olympics.
You can make a good argument for Serena, but is she really "a mile" better than Navratilova or Graf? They both had pretty incredible careers too.

Yes. There was less competition back then. Navratilova had to defect to become great. Tennis allowing pros in the Olympics in 1988 and the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 turned tennis into a worldwide sport instead of being one dominated by the West and the Elite. And Serena dominated them all.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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degenerasian wrote:
Joe K wrote:
degenerasian wrote:She is by a mile. You have to factor in depth of field and tennis the only women's sport people care about outside of the Olympics.
You can make a good argument for Serena, but is she really "a mile" better than Navratilova or Graf? They both had pretty incredible careers too.

Yes. There was less competition back then. Navratilova had to defect to become great. Tennis allowing pros in the Olympics in 1988 and the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 turned tennis into a worldwide sport instead of being one dominated by the West and the Elite. And Serena dominated them all.
Navratilova won the US Open mixed doubles title in 2006, at the age of 49. Her accomplishments are incredible regardless of era. It's nearly impossible to make comparisons across eras, but I just don't think it's clear that Serena has clearly had the best career.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Shirley »

degenerasian wrote:
Joe K wrote:
degenerasian wrote:She is by a mile. You have to factor in depth of field and tennis the only women's sport people care about outside of the Olympics.
You can make a good argument for Serena, but is she really "a mile" better than Navratilova or Graf? They both had pretty incredible careers too.

Yes. There was less competition back then. Navratilova had to defect to become great. Tennis allowing pros in the Olympics in 1988 and the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989 turned tennis into a worldwide sport instead of being one dominated by the West and the Elite. And Serena dominated them all.
Probably my American bias, but is there really more tennis competition now? It certainly seemed like tennis was a much bigger deal in the 70s and 80s than it is now. I suspect that in most of the world, a ton of kids who used to play tennis are now moving to basketball, soccer, and XBOX.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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I think it's probably fair to say there's more competition now. Less women overall participated in sports (pro or amateur) back then and until the mid-80s it was essentially impossible for anyone from the Soviet Bloc to play pro tennis without defecting. Other European countries were behind the U.S. in the boom of women's sports as well, though tennis was probably ahead of most other women's sports to be fair.

If you look at the results of the Grand Slams, it's a lot less top heavy now that it was then even with the Williams sisters essentially dominating at times over the last decade and a half.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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Australia once again proves they are 10 hours ahead and 10 years behind.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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If I lived somewhere where sports betting is legal, I would load up on Nadal to win the final. I've seen people say that Federer has an advantage due to an extra day of rest, but recovery from long matches has never been an issue for Nadal. I have my theories on why, but that's another story. I think the betting odds for the match are about even, but Nadal should be at least a 2:1 favorite in my opinion.
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Joe K wrote:If I lived somewhere where sports betting is legal, I would load up on Nadal to win the final. I've seen people say that Federer has an advantage due to an extra day of rest, but recovery from long matches has never been an issue for Nadal. I have my theories on why, but that's another story. I think the betting odds for the match are about even, but Nadal should be at least a 2:1 favorite in my opinion.
Nadal is the favorite. -130
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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degenerasian wrote:
Joe K wrote:If I lived somewhere where sports betting is legal, I would load up on Nadal to win the final. I've seen people say that Federer has an advantage due to an extra day of rest, but recovery from long matches has never been an issue for Nadal. I have my theories on why, but that's another story. I think the betting odds for the match are about even, but Nadal should be at least a 2:1 favorite in my opinion.
Nadal is the favorite. -130
I think Nadal at -130 is stealing. It looks like some books are offering Nadal about +450 to win in straight sets. That's also a solid bet. Federer has had a great run to the final, but Wawrinka had a better chance of beating Nadal in the final. When Nadal is in form, the best way to beat him is to hit him off the court, which has never been how Federer plays. Understandably, ESPN is trying to hype this as an epic match, but unless Federer has an incredible serving performance, I don't think it'll be close.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by degenerasian »

It's pretty crazy that even most Fed fans expect him to lose tonight. Even when he was playing Novak the past few years they thought Fed had a chance, even though Novak's level in that run is much higher than Nadal's current form. Shows just how afraid Fed fans are of Rafa. Obviously how Roger serves is important, but it's more about the break chances he'll get than anything. Nadal is going to give Roger a good amount of break chances, Roger just has to take advantage of them. Dimitrov only went 4 for 16....which actually is probably better than Roger would normally do in a big match with something like a 1 for 11. But if Roger can get 4-6 breaks in this match, I would think he's going to win.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Ryan »

Gambling is for the birds, huh?
he’s a fixbking cyborg or some shit. The

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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Joe K »

Ryan wrote:Gambling is for the birds, huh?
Yup. I definitely did not think Federer had it in him to win a five setter, let alone one where he fell behind by a break in the fifth set. Lots of parallels between Federer's tournament run and Sampras's run at the 2002 US Open, which was his final Grand Slam title. Both won the tournament as #17 seeds, with a series of wins over highly ranked players, including a win over their biggest rival in the final. Federer beat #4, #5, #9 and #10 this tournament. Sampras beat #3, #11 (Roddick) and #6 (Agassi, in the final).

I'm watching the replay of the final, and I think the key adjustment Federer made is hitting his returns and his backhands more aggressively than usual. It naturally led to some errors but it also allowed him to knock Nadal out of his rhythm at times.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by wlu_lax6 »

Billie Jean King selling World Team Tennis to the Washington Kastles and San Diego Aviators owners.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc- ... 60fd13bddc

It is a nice experinece. I have gone a few times to see DC play. Cheap ticket, not great Tennis but the format is unique (which the Olympics should jump all over).
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by Shirley »

UVA won their third-straight NCAA men's championship yesterday. Fourth in five years. Quite the dynasty going. Unfortunately, it was the last match for coach Brian Boland, who's leaving to be the USAT Head of Player Development. His numbers at UVA were staggering.
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

Post by wlu_lax6 »

Shirley wrote:UVA won their third-straight NCAA men's championship yesterday. Fourth in five years. Quite the dynasty going. Unfortunately, it was the last match for coach Brian Boland, who's leaving to be the USAT Head of Player Development. His numbers at UVA were staggering.
W&L played UVA this year. W&L is a very good DIII team. W&L took 12 games in the 5 singles matches (2 sets each match), 5 games in the 3 doubles matches (1 set each)
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Re: 2017 Tennis Thread

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Maxime Hamou banned from French Open.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2712 ... =editorial
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Image
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A_B wrote:Image
Foot Fault
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