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Tennis - General Discussion

oti

Banned
Boris Becker says Kerber needs a full reset (new ways of training, new training team) or Kerber will never come back to the top.
 
i forgot RG is happening, can't remember the last time i cared so little about a GS.
truly the worst tournament in tennis.

Wawa going far is my only hope for some excitement but realistically the winner is NID.
best case would be a new slam winner on the men's side (Zverev!) and two qualifiers battling it out on the women's.
 

Ricker

Member
Easy win for Raonic wooo...

Francoise Abanda(qualy from Montreal)playing soon and she got a good draw on her first round...she usually plays great in FED Cup matches,lets hope she brings that form here.

I like the FILA outfits on the women,retro look but that sun visor looks a little weird lol.
 
Sharapova has withdrawn from Wimbledon Qualifying. She cites a hip injury but I'm sure it more has to do with the fear and embarrassment of possibly losing in the qualification rounds. Especially since most of her critics will be rooting for her failure. She plans to return to tennis in July for hardcourt season.
 

d+pad

Member
Sharapova has withdrawn from Wimbledon Qualifying. She cites a hip injury but I'm sure it more has to do with the fear and embarrassment of possibly losing in the qualification rounds. Especially since most of her critics will be rooting for her failure. She plans to return to tennis in July for hardcourt season.

Please tell me this is sarcasm.

At any rate, it's too bad she won't be there, but I doubt it'll keep Wimbledon from being a thriller. Can Kerber finally stop playing like shit? Will Kvitova round into form? How will Azarenka fare in her own comeback? And can Ostapenko follow up her French surprise with a similar run in London?

I can't wait to see what the answers are to those questions and others during the grass-court swing :)
 
Can Kerber finally stop playing like shit? No
Will Kvitova round into form? Yes. Quarterfinal run
How will Azarenka fare in her own comeback? 3rd round exit
And can Ostapenko follow up her French surprise with a similar run in London? 3rd round exit
 
When you remember Nadal pummelling the field in 2017 to win La Decima, remember also that this happened, and then his wrist gave out the next year. There was a long period where few in tennis thought he'd be a serious threat at RG again.

But apart from Wawrinka d. Murray in 5, that was a pretty forgettable RG.

Well, I suppose Ostapenko's run is memorable, but I so wanted to see Halep win it, especially after her comeback against Svitolina, undoubtedly the greatest mental performance of her career. Hope she can forgive herself for letting it slip, but somehow I doubt it.

I'm not sold on Ostapenko as the next dominant player, at least off clay where she'll have less time to set up for her immense power. Expect an early exit at Wimbledon. But her strike power is devastatingly good, from both wings, and her BH DTL (unlike Madison Keys) is reliable, which makes her almost impossible to rally with safely on a slower court.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Does anyone think Roger is a chance at Wimbledon? I think Rafa has him covered.

He always has a chance at Wimbledon. His last three results are F, F, SF, and I feel comfortable saying that if he had been healthy he would have at least made the final last year. Considering how he has been playing this year, I think it's safe to say he's one of the favorites. Anything can happen of course, but that's the slam with his best win %
 

Dizzan

MINI Member
He always has a chance at Wimbledon. His last three results are F, F, SF, and I feel comfortable saying that if he had been healthy he would have at least made the final last year. Considering how he has been playing this year, I think it's safe to say he's one of the favorites. Anything can happen of course, but that's the slam with his best win %

True and I don't doubt he can make it to the final but Rafa was mercurial in Paris.

Hopefully we are in for an epic final.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
True and I don't doubt he can make it to the final but Rafa was mercurial in Paris.

Hopefully we are in for an epic final.

It's possible things could change, but Nadal hasn't done well at Wimbledon for awhile now. He made the final in 2011, but since then his best result was the fourth round in 2014. Lost to dudes like Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis, Nick Kyrgios (who is better than the other guys I'm mentioning), Dustin Brown. 2012, 2013, and 2014 he won the French Open and had poor results (having also made the AO final in 2012 and 2014) at Wimbledon right after despite that.
 
I think the draw matters a lot to Rafa's chances. Once he's in a groove and scheduled on a worn Centre Court every match I'd say only Federer and perhaps Murray could beat him. But early on he'll definitely be vulnerable to a big striker on a slick court. His serve isn't strong enough to benefit from the grass in the same way as the likes of Kyrgios, Anderson, Raonic, etc.
 

leng jai

Member
Nadal needs to somehow survive the first week. He's too vulnerable to the servebots and big hitters on fresh grass. Even in his peak years he wasn't very convincing in the early rounds. His forehand is nowhere near as affective and his ROS is a liability.
 

d+pad

Member
Can Kerber finally stop playing like shit? No
Will Kvitova round into form? Yes. Quarterfinal run
How will Azarenka fare in her own comeback? 3rd round exit
And can Ostapenko follow up her French surprise with a similar run in London? 3rd round exit

I could see all of these predictions coming true. Sadly :(

I really hope the first and fourth ones are wrong, especially.
 

Diamond

Member
It will be a very open Wimbledon. Everyone could see Rafa would be hard to beat at Roland Garros. It's different here.
Now, the obvious favourite would be Federer if he had played recently, which is not the case. At this point he could win it but he also could be surprised by a guy in a good day. I mean he won the Australian but he had several close calls on the way.
Rafa is in form but hasn't gone deep on grass for years. Even when he plays relatively well, a lot of players are a threat to him on grass. Plus he won't even play Queen's this year. Murray played well in Paris but is inconsistent this year. Djokovic is in turmoil.
So why not a Kyrgios, a Raonic or a Zverev stepping up?

And don't even try to ask me about the women side, I really don't see a clear favourite. We could very well have a surprise winner like Ostapenko again.
 
So why not a Kyrgios, a Raonic or a Zverev stepping up?

Because Kyrgios will blow up over a tough 5 setter and Raonic and Zverev aren't strong enough returners to win 7 matches on grass. Raonic's body is also almost as fragile as Nishikori's. Quote me and LOL when one of these three wins this year as you please. (Zverev may well win in the future though - I think he's the next new #1).

I honestly find it very hard to see a non-Big 4 winner at this year's Wimbledon. The bookies have them way ahead of the field, and for good reason. There simply isn't much grass talent out there.
 
Because Kyrgios will blow up over a tough 5 setter and Raonic and Zverev aren't strong enough returners to win 7 matches on grass. Raonic's body is also almost as fragile as Nishikori's. Quote me and LOL when one of these three wins this year as you please. (Zverev may well win in the future though - I think he's the next new #1).

I honestly find it very hard to see a non-Big 4 winner at this year's Wimbledon. The bookies have them way ahead of the field, and for good reason. There simply isn't much grass talent out there.

Prime conditions for Del Potro to rise up
 

Diamond

Member
Because Kyrgios will blow up over a tough 5 setter and Raonic and Zverev aren't strong enough returners to win 7 matches on grass. Raonic's body is also almost as fragile as Nishikori's. Quote me and LOL when one of these three wins this year as you please. (Zverev may well win in the future though - I think he's the next new #1).

I honestly find it very hard to see a non-Big 4 winner at this year's Wimbledon. The bookies have them way ahead of the field, and for good reason. There simply isn't much grass talent out there.

Raonic wasn't that far from doing just that last year. Put a less fierce competition against him... But I agree that the new generation doens't seem mature enough just yet. It's just that it could happen, given the right circumstances. We'll see!
 
Mirka walked past me last sunday with her 4 kids and their nanny.

i felt the aura of greatness.
multiple singles, doubles and mixed GS coming in about 20 years.
 
Thompson lost in qualifying on Sunday and was sitting around watching the tennis in the London sunshine when he got the call that he had made the draw at lunchtime on Tuesday after Bedene picked up a wrist injury.

The luckiest of lucky losers Thompson took Aljaz Bedene's place in the main draw then beat Murray 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 in a huge boilover at the traditional Wimbledon lead-up.

Straight sets insanity. Murray had so many unforced errors but a fine career high win for our 23 year old Aussie at Queen's Club.
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
nadal only needs to win 100 something points more than murray this grass season to be ranked number one. still thought it was unlikely, especially since murray was going to play queens and wimbledon, but now it's a real possibility if nadal manages to avoid big servers since even grassray is gone.

murray would pretty much have to win a ton from canada to us open to have any chance of reclaiming his number one ranking if he did lose it, since no way is he defending all his post us open points.
 
secured that top 4 spot for wimby!

nadal only needs to win 100 something points more than murray this grass season to be ranked number one. still thought it was unlikely, especially since murray was going to play queens and wimbledon, but now it's a real possibility if nadal manages to avoid big servers since even grassray is gone..

i'm not convinced that nadal bot won't suddenly stop working during the HC season.
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
i'm not convinced that nadal bot won't suddenly stop working during the HC season.

neither am i, after all he has only won two tournaments outside clay since 2013 (one of them in january 2014), and both were 250s. but he has very little to defend, so if he passes murray at some point sir andrew will most like not be the one to overtake him.

it would once again be the job for federer to save tennis.
 
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