The Tennis Thread - Part 2

[Kaleb]

Isner is a giant,looks like there is gonna be another game delay to to rain.

[Kaleb]

ok Game is back on still the first set Federer and Isner are tied at 4 all.

[Kaleb]

Congrats to Federer for beating John Isner in the final 7/6 6/3 and wins his 19th Masters title

[Sakuraba]

Hey tennis heads,

I just wanted to say: shut up Rafael Nadal. Just shut up about the blue clay and pass that on to your uncle Toni. You're usually the classiest player in defeat, and I know it hurt to lose to your mortal enemy Fernando Verdasco, but it give it a rest. Verdasco was running and his balls were landing on the same surface as you and your's. He beat you because he was mentally stronger which is usually a ridiculous thing to say.

So just shut up already.

[Kaleb]

Well said.

[Kaleb]

great win by Federer,now moves to no2 in the rankings.

[Sakuraba]

Federer remains remarkably dominate over the second tier players. It's unbelievable how competitive he remains after all these years. If only Djokovic had his drive to be the best every time out. You could literally see him him turning the lights off after the first set against Tipsarevic.

Federer could have checked out against Berdych, given all the trouble he's had with him in recent years, after the first set. If Fed wants to win Slam 17 he has got to clean up his closing of sets and matches. Twice he was serving for the set and then the match and Berdych broke. I mean, we can talk all day about Djokovic at the past two USOs, the first against Nadal at Roland Garros last year, Monfils at the Paris Masters two years ago, and numerous other matches that he nearly gave away. He's got to close better, and pray for Nadal to land in Djoker's half at the FO.

[Sakuraba]

Let's look at the French Open draw.

Nadal in an absolute cake walk to the finals, probably without dropping a set.

The only thing preventing a Djokovic-Federer semifinal rematch are a few landmines in Federer's quarter. But really since Wimbledon last year Federer has reestablished his dominance over everyone not named Djokovic or Nadal.

And those are the two matches that make men's grand slams. Those three guys in whatever combination.

Andy Murray has managed to fall into great irrelevancy. What happened to all the good press and results of the Murray-Lendl era? And the results? It's been all downhill since that five-setter against Djoker in Melbourne.

[webgorras]

It is going to be difficult to maintain this level of play for Nadal. It takes a ton of energy to get back on even ground, and imagine Djoker will close it out here at the end of the fourth set.
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[TMC1982]

Grading French Open TV Coverage

ESPN:
The Grade: A-. Great announcing team, solid production and online streaming give the ESPN tennis team production a very respectable grade.

How to Improve: Cliff Drysdale has probably seen his better days; it is time for him to retire. I’d like to see ESPN get Ted Robinson to help them with Wimbledon and the US Open since he will not be working during either of those tournaments. Also, I’m not a huge fan of Mary Joe Fernandez. She adds little to the commentary and struggles to remain objective. Getting Carillo back would be a HUGE win for ESPN.

Tennis Channel:
The Grade: I’ll give the Tennis Channel a B-. Not bad for a network that three years ago would have gotten a D.

NBC:
How to Improve: Time will help Tennis Channel’s newer analysts. Better graphics and online streaming would greatly enhance their coverage.

The Grade: Not much to grade, so I’ll give them an “S” for Satisfactory. They do the job and do it well.

How to Improve: Live Coverage to all time zones on semifinal Friday.

Overall, tennis fans are treated to pretty good coverage. ESPN is by far the superior network, but both the Tennis Channel and NBC do a nice job rounding out the coverage. Looking ahead, ESPN has complete coverage of Wimbledon this year, from the first serve to championship point. Mercifully, gone are the days where NBC would take over midday during the 2nd week of the tournament and then refuse to air live coverage to the entire country. ESPN will air the tournament live to the entire country, plus every television court will be available on ESPN 3/Watch ESPN throughout the tournament, including the finals. This is a great victory for tennis fans!

[kit1982]

I wonder how Murray's back is feeling today.....

[Hunter Rider]

[Prison Mike]

Looks like the final has been suspended until tomorrow due to rain.

[Hunter Rider]

[Harley2004]

Rafa is the king.

[Kaleb]

Can't believe David Nalbandian got himself disqualified in that manner.

[Kaleb]

Well david certainly didn't do himself any favours with that interview.

[Hunter Rider]

Originally Posted by Kaleb

Well david certainly didn't do himself any favours with that interview.

What did he say?

[Sebastos]

What happened?

Also, onward to Wimbledon!

[Kaleb]

He basically got himself disqualified from the match by kicking an advertising board onto a linesman leg which cut the guys shin and started to bleed.

Then later during the ceremony he apologised for his actions only to call out the ATP for their "unfair" rules,it was like watching a wrestling promo.

[Sakuraba]

ECL is playing Sampras-Federer from 2001. Watch it! What an awesome throwback. When grasscourt tennis was grasscourt tennis. When they serve-and-volley EVERY point. When your long rallies were five shots.

Of course today every rally is a minimum ten shots due to the courts.

They show the player's box and I see Paul Annacone (then Pete's coach, now Roger's) and there's also Mirka when she was in playing shape and pretty cute.

Interesting thing I read the other day, if Djokovic and Federer are matched up in the same half of the draw and Federer wins the tournament, Federer is the new World No. 1. Isn't that crazy? And we know Fed is like one week away from tying Sampras's record time as #1.

[Sakuraba]

ECL showed the Roge/Rafa final from 2007 last night, which from a shot-making standpoint is one of the ten best matches ever, and let me say that it hurts to watch the old Rafa.

I miss the pirate pants and the sleeveless shirt. And that ginormous bandana too! That stuff gave Rafa character and put him in such stark contrast with the regal and aristocratic Federer, he of the tuxedo shorts and cardigan warm-up sweaters.

I hope against all hope that we'll see the return of the dirt warrior uni he wore before Nike turned him into Federer-lite to sell more gear.

As for Djokovic, I already miss those ridiculous Tacchini outfits. Those fit Djokovic. He lost something when he lost the dragon patterns.

[Sakuraba]

Sampras's second serve... what a beast. It looks like a contemporary first serve.

[Sakuraba]

Uh oh, now they're playing Nadal-Fed Wimbledon 2008, aka the most epic best match ever played.

This was the mono season, Fed had lost an upset to Djokovic in the Aussie quarters, Nadal totally destroyed him in the French finals with Fed only winning four games, and this was Nadal's third crack at beating Federer at Wimbledon and snapping the 65 match win streak on grass.

[Kaleb]

[1]Djokovic v Ferrero
Harrison v Lu
Becker v Blake
Stakhovsky v [28]Stepanek
[24]Granollers v Troicki
Klizan v Chela
Chardy v Volandri
L.Mayer v [15]Monaco

[12]Almagro v Rochus
Rufin v Darcis
Berlocq v Bemelmans
Kamke v [18]Gasquet
[31]F.Mayer v Tursunov
Petzschner v Kavcic
Bolelli v Janowicz
Gulbis v [6]Berdych

-------------------

[3]Federer v Ramos
Fognini v Llodra
Menendez-Maceiras v Russell
Muller v [29]Benneteau
[17]Verdasco v Wang
Zemlja v Goodall
Malisse v Matosevic
Mathieu v [13]Simon

[11]Isner v Falla
Lorenzi v Mahut
Andreev v Golding
Istomin v [23]Seppi
[26]Youzhny v Young
Cervantes v Cipolla
Sweeting v Starace
Nalbandian v [8]Tipsarevic

-------------------

[7]Ferrer v Brown
De Schepper v Bachinger
Odesnik v Phau
J.Baker v [30]Roddick
[19]Nishikori v Kukushkin
Kuznetsov v Serra
Soeda v Kunitsyn
Haase v [9]Del Potro

[16]Cilic v Stebe
Ito v Kubot
Pospisil v Querrey
Giraldo v [21]Raonic
[32]Anderson v Dimitrov
Montanes v Baghdatis
Karlovic v Sela
Davydenko v [4]Murray

-------------------

[5]Tsonga v Hewitt
Roger-Vasselin v Garcia-Lopez
Lacko v Ungur
Melzer v [25]Wawrinka
[20]Tomic v Goffin
Levine v K.Beck
Ward v Andujar
Ramirez-Hidalgo v [10]Fish

[14]Lopez v Nieminen
B.Baker v Machado
Ebden v Paire
Bogomolov v [22]Dolgopolov
[27]Kohlschreiber v Haas
Zopp v Jaziri
Rosol v Dodig
Bellucci v [2]Nadal