*Official* Tennis Thread

[Jono]

Slowest hard courts ever

 

[Jono]

Wtf, someone in the crowd has fainted in the heat.

Car crash + someone fainting + slow courts.

Proof tennis should never be played in Cairns again

 

[El Nino]

Did they show them fainting? just switched on and it was on the crowd and people crowding them.

 

[Jono]

Nah, just randomly play stopped and they showed a bunch of people looking at the floor.

Pretty hot there and there's no cover for the crowd.

 

[Jono]

Lleyton wins.

Just saw Peter Luczak wearing his cap the right way. Wtf?

 

[El Nino]

Never even herd of this guy playing for Aus now?

 

[Lillian Thomson]

You have already given the reason why the fact that Borg hasn't won the Australian shouldn't be held against him. We must keep in mind that players were effectively competing for 3/4 Slams in the '70s (non-Australians) because they did not want to make the long trip down under as it would mean missing Christmas. Having said that, Borg had promised that had he won the USO in one of his 4 final appearances, he would have made the trip to try and complete the calendar year Slam.

Also, it's amazing how much tennis guys like Laver, Rosewall, Gonzales etc. played on various professional tours. I mean, they have head-to-heads against each other running into hundreds of matches! I have absolutely no doubt Laver would have around 20 Slams if he hadn't missed five years worth of Slams in his prime. Winning each Major atleast twice puts him on a different plane to everyone else to have played the game.

Lendl is also under-rated in these discussions, he dominated the toughest era in men's tennis, but understandably had a less-than-great Slam final win ratio (8/19) as he was competing with the likes of McEnroe, Connors, Wilander, Becker, and Edberg.

Totally agree about the achievements of Lendl being under-rated. He was very much a base-liner and he never really developed a great technique on the volley. Yet despite this he still made two Wimbledon Finals and circumstances rather conspired against him in both. Not many players peak at 18 but in the 1986 Wimbledon Tournament Boris Becker played to a level he rarely repeated and beat Lendl in the Final. At Wimbledon in 1987 Pat Cash played almost flawless grass court tennis beating Wilander, Connors and Lendl, and Cash never reached anywhere near the same heights again in his career. In those days the courts were genuine fast grass courts. I don't know if Lendl is one to look back and think "if only" but if he is he would be looking very enviously at Nadal being able to slug it out from the baseline on today's slow grass courts.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Pretty ordinary performance from Carsten.

 

[vcs]

Totally agree about the achievements of Lendl being under-rated. He was very much a base-liner and he never really developed a great technique on the volley. Yet despite this he still made two Wimbledon Finals and circumstances rather conspired against him in both. Not many players peak at 18 but in the 1986 Wimbledon Tournament Boris Becker played to a level he rarely repeated and beat Lendl in the Final. At Wimbledon in 1987 Pat Cash played almost flawless grass court tennis beating Wilander, Connors and Lendl, and Cash never reached anywhere near the same heights again in his career. In those days the courts were genuine fast grass courts. I don't know if Lendl is one to look back and think "if only" but if he is he would be looking very enviously at Nadal being able to slug it out from the baseline on today's slow grass courts.

Agree.

 

[benchmark00]

Lleyton wins.

Just saw Peter Luczak wearing his cap the right way. Wtf?

One of the greats.

 

[vcs]

****, Bopanna just lost an epic, epic match to Bellucci.

 

[vcs]

C'mon Somdev!!

 

[Jono]

C'mon Somdev!!

Devvarman v Mello gonna go 5 sets as well!

 

[Jono]

Wtf Wawrinka? Match point down in the 5th against Kukushkin

 

[vcs]

Ugh, Mello up a break in the fifth. We're not out of this even if we lose today because I'm sure we'll win the doubles but it might be too big a mountain to climb.

 

[Jono]

WHAT AN EPIC BREAK BACK!

Huge

 

[Jono]

Another 5th set loss

 

[vcs]

I really, really want Argentina to win this Davis Cup for Nalbandian's sake even though I really like Llodra also. He is the most dedicated Davis Cup player I've seen in a long time.

 

[Faisal1985]

He was awesome in the US Open. Runner up in men's doubles alongside Bopanna and mixed doubles as well.

I know he teamed up with an Indian player and they call it something like IndoPak Storm.

He was given a red carpet welcome in Pak...

 

[Jono]

I really, really want Argentina to win this Davis Cup for Nalbandian's sake even though I really like Llodra also. He is the most dedicated Davis Cup player I've seen in a long time.

Nalbandian and Hewitt live and breathe Davis Cup.

However it looks like Monfils is about to put away Nalbandian.