Tennis Thread - Grand Slams & The Tour

Steady,if you're referring to my fellow tutors?!
On the female side there were four of us at Roehampton with major tournament experience,not right hand side of the draw material it's true but not Dog and Duck!
Day of top seeds losing,none really too surprising.
Osaka is having a let down the last two months. Perhaps hasty in changing coaches? Moreover Putintseva has beaten her before.
Fabianno had a good week in Eastbourne and is a good player,Tsitsi still not over the Roland Garros defeat I think and must convert more break point chances.
For Zverev,beware the qualifier. So often they are sharp as have had three tough matches.Vesely is a leftie which is worth a point a game on serve and has reached the second week in SW19 before. Zverev,despite winning the 02,seems to be at odds with Lendl and that never ends well!
Djokovic straightforward as was Edmund against an out of sorts Munar,who looked good at Next Gen in November but has dipped since.

 

Yeah a shame that. I could appreciate her capabilities that Osaka. But for some reason, she couldn't seem to hit a decent backhand the whole match. Lots of unforced errors..

 

15 minute Uber.

Kit out some junior in an IBB wig & luxuriate in a free afternoon.

 

I understand,the difficulty of the written word and no eyes or voice to read for aspect.
Mr IBB is strutting around,not exactly saying "I told you so",but very close regarding Gauff.
If you see the post match press conferences of Osaka,Tsitsi and Zverev,they were all very emotional.All are having to come to terms with the expectation and Zverev has an ongoing legal dispute with his ex manager and has split from his girlfriend.
Nadal had similar problems when his parents divorced,Murray too when he separated from Kim Sears* and Djokovic's meltdown was very public after his Wimbledon loss a few years back and his wife's revelations.
All three are very young and Gauff is still,due to age restrictions,protected from playing in every event.
She,like Tsitsi and Zverev has good athletic pedigree,Her mother a track and field athlete I think and her father a basketball player.
*One of my tutor colleagues has a very interesting choice to make allegedly, regarding whistle blowing and Murray's father in law!

Alternatively make them wear 'Marco' the snake?!

 

Not in the least.
All top players are vulnerable in the first round or two,especially on a surface that they play on for a month at most.
A net cord or a bad bounce,an edgy start,a good player on form but not seeded,especially with a good serve,makes all the men at risk,particularly the younger ones.
Not so relevant in the women's game as the serve is not such a weapon.

 

'Blackadder' hasn't been fit for about a year now.
Gauff very composed to defeat a good player in Rybarikova. Hardly any unforced errors and plenty of winners and very quick around the court.

 

She's no favourite with Harriet Dart!
Jay Clarke has apparently dumped Harriet by text in order to play with Gauff.
Not very classy if true.Suzy,Harriet's mum,played on our Middlesex county team a few times and she's not a lady to cross, so watch your back Jay!

 

Harriet's use of Hawkeye explains a lot about her mother's line calling!

 

Do you think you could use your connections to find out whether Harriet would be prepared to play mixed doubles with a 56 year old non-tennis player ? I have my own racket, somewhere, I think...

 

Just watched my first tennis this year, the Murray plus 3 other guys one on Court One.

Why did Murray & his French chum have to have a behind hands conversation before every point in the fourth set?

It was like 5th formers who’d got to first base at last week’s school disco & were on heat for more action.

Splendidly, on the completion of proceedings, they cut to Boris ‘Johnson’ Becker.

 

I've managed not to speak to Suzy Dart for about ten years and I'd like to maintain that!
I'll ask Sue Boulter if Katie needs a partner if you like? Although I think she's injured so you may have to wait until next year.Is that ok?!

She challenged a lot of balls that were clearly correct.
It was a dreadful match,a case of who was less ( few!) able to lose than the other player!
Evans is extremely able and 'Basil',like many top tier pros,sees the grass court section of the tour as an inconvenience.

They all do it now in doubles,juvenile,especially as there are only three possibilities for the server,wide,body or up the 't'.
Kyrgios making headlines v Nadal but yet again Nadal is not picked up on going liver the time limit.
I don't care for Kygios but Nadal and Djokovic habitually go over the allotted time. Lesser players are penalised and they are not.

 

Went yesterday. Was a scorcher.

The queue to see Harriet Dart was ridiculous. Think she's a star.

Got to see Federer, moany Serena and Murray on Court 1 but really wanted to see Nadal/Kyrgios.

Can't have it all I suppose.

 

Was Kyrgios' local finishing school bombed?

Lacks the usual Aussie polish.

 

Albeit very slowly,bouncing the ball four thousand times!

 

She has done very well and Mr IBB will tell you there is an army of young US girls behind her,ready to populate the tour.
Let's not forget however that Hingis won the doubles at Wimbledon at 15 I think,with Helen Sukova and the singles at 16.
Austin Jaeger,Capriati and Seles were all top ten players as teenagers.
It is only the WTA restriction,quite understandably,that takes these youngsters from public view.
Good win for Umbert over Aliassime.
Look out for multiple shots of Suzy Dart as Harriet plays Ash Barty.

 

Watched most of Coco's match. Very impressed with her mental strength but bored by a match of non-stop bashing from the baseline.

But I know little or nothing about tennis

 

It was turgid.
If it had been two mid twenties pros it would have been ignored but as it's the latest Hingis/Capriati/Seles/Austin/Little Mo,it's news.

 

IBB, now there’s a gap in the cricket, please let me know if there’s a decent match between 2 non grunters.

 

I was a bit sad to see Dan Evans lose a great match with Sousa yesterday.

He is probably as far away as you can get from someone like Tim Henman.

No privileged upbringing, flawed, unreliable, swears in public, undiplomatic and had a years drug ban for cocaine, shows a lack of dedication and effort at times and whilst Henman made the most of his talent, Evans has, to an extent wasted, probably a greater talent.

It wouldn't surprise me if some people that know him, don't like him. But as someone who doesn't really know him, I like him.

I would have loved him to have had a spell in the world's top 10.

As a side note, I sense a distinct lack of killer instinct and/or motivation amongst Britains better players. Too often players like Kyle Edmunds and Evans seem to express only mild disappointment when they lose, almost as if they aren't that bothered. A sort of "well I'm proud to have got so far" attitude. That contrasts with how they seem to play when in the GB Davies Cup team, and have the benefit of a team spirit and drive, when they show they are more than capable of beating higher ranked players.

I'm not too sure about Konta's attitude either, but doing well at the moment.

 

I also greatly enjoyed Dan Evans’ match yesterday. It’s rare to see such a long match where neither player seems to be on top at any stage. Every game was in doubt, no matter who was serving, and you couldn’t call the result right up to and including match point.

On the point of British players’ attitude, I have the suspicion that, in all sports, the majority of our players have an unconscious feeling of “it’s the taking part not the winning that matters”. I wonder if this is somehow deep within us as a nation, along with our celebration of the underdog, rather than excellence and achievement. It feels like it takes an unusual, un-British approach for someone to come out on top as a winner and people are often suspicious of them if they do so.

 

It was a great match and I even had to miss five minutes of 'Inspector Moltalbano' to see the conclusion!
Brilliant footwork from Sousa and superb all court game from Evans.
Mr IBB was watching Evans about eight years ago at Flushing Meadows,either first round or qualies I think.
Evans saw Mr IBB by the court and started to chat to him and ask him about Palace's chances for that season!
Mr IBB told him perhaps he's better get on with his game.
He lost a big point and exclaimed,very loudly something that rhymes with 'clucking bell' and the LTA chap next to Mr IBB tutted and walked away muttering something about "not wanting his sort playing for GB".
I don't think all our players have a poor mindset.Murray and Henman for example.It's just incredibly tough.
Alan Jones will mention the chance of making a decent living on either tour ( top 70) is 0.0001%.

 

Middle Sunday. No matches. Bizarre really to not have games on a weekend in the middle of the tournament!

 

Day of rest. They're all at church.

 

Ah.

Well, the Tour de France it is.

 

I half-expected some anecdotes from those that actually knew him as a bit of a so-snd-so. Shame, though.

No of course, I didn't mean all British players. But we do seem to have had a few really decent players over the past 20 years that just don't seem to make the breakthrough, and I go a lot be what they say in defeat, as I think it reveals a lot.