*Official* Tennis Thread

[Magrat Garlick]

Well she did get through, and Serena DFed at 3-2 and wasted 4 MPs, but we'll hear the 'mental giant' meme for the rest of the week anyway.

 

[Jono]

Probably because she's about to win her 14th Grand Slam singles title.

Tsonga vs. Verdasco should be interesting. Verdasco is hitting a bit of form after a long time.

 

[Magrat Garlick]

Probably because she's about to win her 14th Grand Slam singles title.

Well yes, but she actually has a tennis game too. She won this match largely because of awesome serves, but they came at 'unimportant' points.

 

[Jono]

True, she's obviously good at tennis, but she's won Slams when her game has been pretty ****house too and when she's had very little match practice. Sure that says a lot about the quality (or lack thereof) of the rest of the field, but it also says a bit about how scared ****less the rest are of her at times. Aust Open 2007 probably the best example when she had no right winning and did so on the back of believing she's just better than the rest whether she is in form or not.

She really shouldn't win here either all things being equal. But with all the seeds falling, and unless Wozniacki actually steps up for the first time in her career, she will do it again.

 

[Anil]

if serena is not injured, she will win...and if she keeps her focus throughout, she won't lose a single set...whether wozniacki steps up or not is completely irrelevant, right?

 

[Jono]

if serena is not injured, she will win...and if she keeps her focus throughout, she won't lose a single set...whether wozniacki steps up or not is completely irrelevant, right?

Yes you are right, but you basically agree with me by putting out the injury disclaimer. You used the term injured, but I basically mean match fit. At Wimbledon it was obvious she didn't have enough match practice behind her, and she didn't come close to winning the title. Similar was expected here at the US Open and instead she's dominating. It seems like she has had enough practice now, so if that is the case, you can't see Wozniacki beating her, no. But considering what actual amount of tennis she had played heading into the US Open, she should not have won really.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Yes you are right, but you basically agree with me by putting out the injury disclaimer. You used the term injured, but I basically mean match fit. At Wimbledon it was obvious she didn't have enough match practice behind her, and she didn't come close to winning the title. Similar was expected here at the US Open and instead she's dominating. It seems like she has had enough practice now, so if that is the case, you can't see Wozniacki beating her, no. But considering what actual amount of tennis she had played heading into the US Open, she should not have won really.

Why shouldn't she win here? She's won two pretty big tournaments since Wimbledon. Had every right to be considered the favourite.

 

[Jono]

Because she came in under an injury cloud. After those wins she injured her toe and claimed to be heavily fatigued as well.

 

[Jono]

Anyway my point is that she is far and beyond more mentally tougher than the rest of the women's game right now, and just because she didn't convert a couple of match points immediately doesn't prove otherwise. The fact she can go from playing **** all tennis to being absolutely dominant in the space of 3 months shows just how tough she is on the court mentally. It's not easy coming back from long injury lay-offs or breaks. She's done it a lot since 2006 and always returned soon after and won a Slam.

 

[Anil]

Because she came in under an injury cloud. After those wins she injured her toe and claimed to be heavily fatigued as well.

hasn't the cloud being lifted based on her performance in the opening rounds? i don't think match fitness is a problem, what i meant was she will win if she is not injured during the course of this tournament...

 

[Burgey]

Shoulders Stosur goes through to the quarters in three.

 

[Jono]

hasn't the cloud being lifted based on her performance in the opening rounds? i don't think match fitness is a problem, what i meant was she will win if she is not injured during the course of this tournament...

Yep true.

 

[Jono]

This was lol btw:

Nadal collapses with cramp live at US Open press conference - YouTube

Looked like someone was under the table

 

[Jono]

Dolgopolov leads Nole 4-0 in the first set tiebreak and then lets Nole win the next 5 pts

 

[Jono]

12-12 now and Dolgopolov playing the most outrageous tennis.

Such an awesome tiebreak. Novak is so pissed off with Dolgopolov's unconventional playing style.

 

[Somerset]

Always amazes me at the US and Australian Opens how late some of these matches are played at - with the Tsonga-Fish match going five sets and Wozniacki taking three hours to beat Kuznetsova, the Federer-Monaco match began at 11:50pm - fortunately that wasn't a tighter contest with more evenly matched players otherwise they might've been going until about 3am...

 

[Jono]

Blessing in disguise. Tsonga vs. Fish >>>> Federer vs. Monaco everyday of the week. The fact that Federer vs. Monaco was the night match was stupid, but in the end Tsonga vs. Fish became the main event anyway. Fed then wiped the floor with Monaco in the wee hours.

 

[Jono]

Weather permitting, Federer vs. Tsonga should be amazing tonight. Most anticipated match of the tournament by a mile. Most anticipated match since Wimbledon really.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Blessing in disguise. Tsonga vs. Fish >>>> Federer vs. Monaco everyday of the week. The fact that Federer vs. Monaco was the night match was stupid, but in the end Tsonga vs. Fish became the main event anyway. Fed then wiped the floor with Monaco in the wee hours.

Apparently Fish/Tsonga wasn't the night match because it was in the timeslot CBS get access to.

 

[Jono]

I don't quite understand you. You mean CBS had the afternoon slot and they wanted Fish vs. Tsonga so it had to be played in the afternoon?