*Official* Tennis Thread

[lachlan43]

Crushed about Dementieva, to be honest. Definitely one of my favourite players.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Sad news.

Tennis' coolest player Dustin Brown became less cool by defecting to Germany.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

FTR, this is still a great picture:

George Bastl on the left of beating Pete Sampras fame.

 

[Jono]

Lol!

 

[Jono]

Haider-Maurer looking like he'll beat fellow Austrian Melzer to win the Vienna tournament.

Amazing if he does it, since he lost in the qualifying stages and got through the main draw as a lucky loser!

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Haider-Maurer looking like he'll beat fellow Austrian Melzer to win the Vienna tournament.

Amazing if he does it, since he lost in the qualifying stages and got through the main draw as a lucky loser!

I think he retired in the qualifying game because he was guaranteed a main draw spot, but he was still well down so it has been pretty amazing. Not to mention he was apparently awful against Muster in the first round and lucky to win.

Didn't someone like Ram do the same in one of those US tournaments last year/this year?

 

[Jono]

Yeah Ram did it last year.

 

[Jono]

Clijsters paying 1.81 against Wozniacki in the WTA Tour Finals.

Put your house on that I reckon.

 

[Jono]

Haider-Maurer looking like he'll beat fellow Austrian Melzer to win the Vienna tournament.

Amazing if he does it, since he lost in the qualifying stages and got through the main draw as a lucky loser!

Lol, nice jinx from me there. Choked when serving for the match.

Carn Melzer!

 

[vcs]

Kimmiiieeeeeeee!!!

Amazing comeback. WAG.

EDIT : Meant "comeback" in the sense return from retirement, obviously. Nearly threw this particular match away but she manages to pull out the tough ones these days.

 

[Jono]

Clijsters paying 1.81 against Wozniacki in the WTA Tour Finals.

Put your house on that I reckon.

Phew.

Almost **** myself when she let a 4-1 lead slip in the second and then went a break down first game in the third.

 

[vcs]

The commentators on the stream I was watching were so pro-Wozniacki it was cringeworthy. It's almost as if they desperately want her to beat a top player and win an important tournament to validate that No. 1 ranking. They should just accept that she's there by playing many more tournaments than Serena and Clijsters. That's no slight on her, because those 2 are legendary players, but I don't see how it's any different to Jankovic/Ivanovic getting to No. 1.

 

[Jono]

You're definitely right that she isn't truly a #1 and has benefited by playing lots of tournaments whereas Serena and Henin haven't played since Wimbledon I believe, and Kim and Venus were also injured. But that's fine, good on her for playing her heart out.

Serena, Henin and Kim are obviously better at this stage. Probably Venus too when push comes to shove.

 

[vcs]

You're definitely right that she isn't truly a #1 and has benefited by playing lots of tournaments whereas Serena and Henin haven't played since Wimbledon I believe, and Kim and Venus were also injured. But that's fine, good on her for playing her heart out.

Serena, Henin and Kim are obviously better at this stage. Probably Venus too when push comes to shove.

Yeah. But I think she'll do better than Safina/Ivanovic/Jankovic in the long run because she seems to be willing to improve and add stuff to her game. She'll always be a hardworking, grafting type player but she is capable of making some good shots when she needs to. Her forehand was pretty good in patches.

That said, at the Majors, I still see the old guard taking home the silverware. Unless injury strikes, or at the French, which is a free-for-all in the WTA.

 

[Jono]

Yeah she's better than those three.

Ana won a Slam though, which Safina and Jankovic probably will never do.

 

[vcs]

Yeah she's better than those three.

Ana won a Slam though, which Safina and Jankovic probably will never do.

She was seriously good in that brief patch in which she made 3 Slam finals and won one. The decline has been steep after that.

 

[_Ed_]

Got me some tennis tickets...I think.

Payments have gone through for two days of the women's tournament and two days of the men's. Just nervously awaiting confirmation emails aws.

 

[Anil]

damn it clijsters, you are a 3 time slam champion, why would you have jitters against someone like wozniacki? the wta ranking is a joke...

 

[Jono]

No it's not. The system is the fine. Serena, Kim and Henin aren't playing tournaments because of injury.

Unless you think Grand Slams should be worth even more points than they already are? They're worth around 8 times more than most tournaments or something.

 

[vcs]

The ranking system is OK but the quality of the next generation of women's tennis players is very worrying. Maybe we are starting to see the ill-effects of homogenizing surface speeds, huge racquet heads, and strings with ridiculously high margin for error. Not much nuance or variety in the games of most of the upcoming players on the women's side. Mindless baseline bashing, or relentless retrieving FTW.