The Tennis Thread - Part 4

[Iceman]

Konta vs Halep on now. Bad start for Konta..broken already.

 

[Iceman]

She's lost the first set on tie break.

 

[Iceman]

Konta shows some spirit to come back and take the 2nd set on tie break. 1-1, final set coming!

 

[Iceman]

Konta wins!! Good match.

 

[regwec]

Go girl!

 

[Iceman]

Murray already a set up against Querrey.

 

[Iceman]

Murray out

Congrats to Sam Querrey (no.24 seed)

 

[Iceman]

Djok out too!! (retired hurt )

It really is Fed's year. He's 2 sets up and in the tie break right now.

 

[Kaleb]

Still the greatest.

 

[Iceman]

Would be a great way to sign off and he has to be favourite with the form he's in (no sets dropped) and his biggest rivals out.

On the women's front I'd like to see a Muguruza Konta final. If that happens I win either way.

 

[raisethe3]

^^^Pretty much agreed with everything you said there. I also want Muguruza to win the final.

 

[Sakuraba]

I wouldn't be so quick to crown Federer in laurel leaves just yet. Favorite? Absolutely, but he has work to do.

Berdych is a guy that's beaten Federer multiple times at Slams, and he is even beat Federer waaaay backat the Athens Olympics when Federer was in God-mode. Federer better pounce on him earlier and not give him any momentum. One thing Federer is generally good for is getting revenge, as evidenced by his frog marching Raonic to a straight sets goodbye, and taking Zverev to the woodshed in Halle after his upset the year prior.

Cilic is a guy that throttled Federer at USO semis in 2014 (oddly enough also the last time Federer had a clear path to a Slam title with Nishikori waiting in the finals.) Cilic also choked away his QF last year at SW19 against Federer.

So Federer should be cheering for Querrey and what a feel good story he is. It's hard to believe the USA had a Davis Cup team in 1992 that had a combined 30 something Slam titles between them. And now we celebrate because a American male has made it to a Slam semi for the first time in a decade

 

[Sakuraba]

Murray and Djokovic disgust me with their injury talk. Same old crap from them.

Djokovic has apparently been playing with an injured elbow ever since... well ever since he started to absolutely suck. How convenient. Glad he's finally going to go see a specialist after 18 months. I don't know if this nonsensical excuse-making gives Djokovic some comfort, but I'm so sick of him. He had a brief moment when he was a killer in 2011, and that was it. He'll always be soft and self-manipulative. A quitter.

Why can't they be a man like Nadal and just go to the press conference pissed off about the way they played and own up to it? "Oh I have a bad hip" "Oh I have a horrible elbow injury that I apparently have had for a year and a half and have yet to seek out treatment for yet!" A bunch of deceit.

At the very least, Muzz finished his match and didn't quit on his stool. So props to Andy for fighting and finishing his match

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Come on Roger, take it! It's yours!

 

[Iceman]

I wouldn't be so quick to crown Federer in laurel leaves just yet. Favorite? Absolutely, but he has work to do.

Berdych is a guy that's beaten Federer multiple times at Slams, and he is even beat Federer waaaay backat the Athens Olympics when Federer was in God-mode. Federer better pounce on him earlier and not give him any momentum. One thing Federer is generally good for is getting revenge, as evidenced by his frog marching Raonic to a straight sets goodbye, and taking Zverev to the woodshed in Halle after his upset the year prior.

Cilic is a guy that throttled Federer at USO semis in 2014 (oddly enough also the last time Federer had a clear path to a Slam title with Nishikori waiting in the finals.) Cilic also choked away his QF last year at SW19 against Federer.

So Federer should be cheering for Querrey and what a feel good story he is. It's hard to believe the USA had a Davis Cup team in 1992 that had a combined 30 something Slam titles between them. And now we celebrate because a American male has made it to a Slam semi for the first time in a decade

The last decade has been totally hijacked by 3 all time great players!

 

[raisethe3]

Murray and Djokovic disgust me with their injury talk. Same old crap from them.

Djokovic has apparently been playing with an injured elbow ever since... well ever since he started to absolutely suck. How convenient. Glad he's finally going to go see a specialist after 18 months. I don't know if this nonsensical excuse-making gives Djokovic some comfort, but I'm so sick of him. He had a brief moment when he was a killer in 2011, and that was it. He'll always be soft and self-manipulative. A quitter.

Why can't they be a man like Nadal and just go to the press conference pissed off about the way they played and own up to it? "Oh I have a bad hip" "Oh I have a horrible elbow injury that I apparently have had for a year and a half and have yet to seek out treatment for yet!" A bunch of deceit.

At the very least, Muzz finished his match and didn't quit on his stool. So props to Andy for fighting and finishing his match

I hate to break it to you, but Nadal does that too. At least the Nadal fans who does it. Every time Nadal is either getting beat or losing by a substantial amount, he plays off that "injury thing". "Oh my knees are no good, no?". I mean I am not calling Nadal a coward or anything, because I am fan of him too. (Got his apparel back in the day, lol). But yeah, I do noticed that Djokovic is known to be a quitter, but I can't say the same for Murray as I don't see him do it often though.

What's surprising to me is Djokovic, he was SO TOUGH mentally in 2011. Like literally GOD MODE, but now, like you said, he's a quitter. Really puzzles me. Honestly to avoid all this injury talk, if you're not 100%, then just don't participate??

 

[Sakuraba]

I hate to break it to you, but Nadal does that too. At least the Nadal fans who does it. Every time Nadal is either getting beat or losing by a substantial amount, he plays off that "injury thing". "Oh my knees are no good, no?". I mean I am not calling Nadal a coward or anything, because I am fan of him too. (Got his apparel back in the day, lol). But yeah, I do noticed that Djokovic is known to be a quitter, but I can't say the same for Murray as I don't see him do it often though.

What's surprising to me is Djokovic, he was SO TOUGH mentally in 2011. Like literally GOD MODE, but now, like you said, he's a quitter. Really puzzles me. Honestly to avoid all this injury talk, if you're not 100%, then just don't participate??

For me, I've always viewed Nadal as being a class act off the court. He does his lame gamesmanship stuff during matches no doubt, but in the press room he seems to always give credit where it's do. When he cited injuries, I find that he tends to be genuinely injured in those circumstances and misses significant time afterward. It's not like Djokovic, where he retroactively invents an elbow injury to explain his pathetic and uninspired play for the past year and a half.

I've absolutely gotten on to Nadal about complaining about surfaces and whatnot, like his asinine argument that the Tour Finals should be played on clay L.O.Lz Rafa.

Djokovic has a long history of quitting in matches, whether by retirement or just basically giving up and not trying. He had that period from Davis Cup finals 2010 until the fall of 2011 when he was a warrior and going hard after everyone. But then his old quitting, half-arsed ways started creeping back to the surface.

 

[Sakuraba]

The last decade has been totally hijacked by 3 all time great players!

The last decade has also seen an absolute dearth of American talent from the juniors to the pros. Why isn't America producing top talent anymore? We'll say the Big Four are abnormally great players with abnormal longevity, but where are the American top ten players? Where are the American Top 20 players!?

How do you go from being an absolute machine in turning out top ten players and Slam winners, to having no one? Russian ice-skating isn't what it was under the Soviet system, but they still churn out contenders and medal winners. Where have all the American tennis players gone?

 

[Iceman]

The last decade has also seen an absolute dearth of American talent from the juniors to the pros. Why isn't America producing top talent anymore? We'll say the Big Four are abnormally great players with abnormal longevity, but where are the American top ten players? Where are the American Top 20 players!?

How do you go from being an absolute machine in turning out top ten players and Slam winners, to having no one? Russian ice-skating isn't what it was under the Soviet system, but they still churn out contenders and medal winners. Where have all the American tennis players gone?

Murray is consistent but I don't rate him up there with the other 3 at their best. And I have no idea about what happened to US players, it's crazy how much it's changed.

 

[Sakuraba]

Murray is certainly the junior partner of the Big 4, but the man has made 11 Slam Finals, 20 something slam semis, won the Olympic gold in a year when everyone wanted that gold, and has been ranked inside the top 4 pretty much every year for a decade. There's a large gap between him at 4 and Wawrinka at 5, for best players of the past decade. If he were American, he'd be a national hero here lol

 

[Sakuraba]

Raisethe3, I will grant you that Nadal's crying about not getting more matches on Centre Court is laughable. You've hometown hero and World No. 1 Andy Murray, and then you have a 7-time event champion who is also the sport's biggest drawing card. Yeah... They're going to get to play all their matches on Centre.

 

[Iceman]

Murray is certainly the junior partner of the Big 4, but the man has made 11 Slam Finals, 20 something slam semis, won the Olympic gold in a year when everyone wanted that gold, and has been ranked inside the top 4 pretty much every year for a decade. There's a large gap between him at 4 and Wawrinka at 5, for best players of the past decade. If he were American, he'd be a national hero here lol

Murray is consistently very good and has been for a very long time. The other guys have had continuous periods where they have been great. They've not just won tournaments becuase others have been out of sorts, they've been dominant and have played tennis out of this world, From that era it will be those 3 that go into a hall of fame and are remembered in future (aside from in the UK where Murray is the best). But Murray has done very well in a period where the next level of players after the big 3 have been lacking and he has been easily the best and most consistent out of everyone else.

 

[raisethe3]

Raisethe3, I will grant you that Nadal's crying about not getting more matches on Centre Court is laughable. You've hometown hero and World No. 1 Andy Murray, and then you have a 7-time event champion who is also the sport's biggest drawing card. Yeah... They're going to get to play all their matches on Centre.

LOL, Nadal really said that?!

Also to add, I agree, Nadal is classy off court especially during press conferences when he praises his opponents.

I do remember his statement about having more clay tourneys, lol. His excuse was, "If we have more clay tournament, it would be easier on the players' bodies. As for hard courts, its bad for the knees." or something like that.

I don't know if you recalled, but remember the time when Djokovic quit and said it was too hot or was fatigue. I remember that one clearly. What's funny is that it was like 2 sets into the match (approximately 1 hour and half or so) and then he declared fatigue? LOL.

 

[Iceman]

That is very considerate of Nadal wanting more clay courts to protect the other player's knees! If the majors all switched to clay he'd have about 40 grandslams right now.

 

[raisethe3]

That is very considerate of Nadal wanting more clay courts to protect the other player's knees! If the majors all switched to clay he'd have about 40 grandslams right now.

LOL, no. Come on, the only reason Nadal is suffering knee problems is due to the style he plays. Which is grinds on every point and chases down every ball.

But I did noticed as the years went on, he seems to be taking a different approach lately. (ie. shortening points, going for winners, faster serve to get "free points", etc) So in the end, it all works out anyways.