Tennis Thread - Grand Slams & The Tour

Not many men play as women, so my Romanian colleague tells me.
Football of course, rugby, basketball, handball and swimming all above tennis in Romania.

 

When will be the time when it is decided that Radacanu isn’t actually very good? The US Open win is a while ago now and she has done absolutely nothing since then.

 

Everyone in the higher rankings ( 300 and above) is very close.
If you put Sinner and Tiafoe/ Swiatek and Kostyuk on court 1, number 30 and 50 on court 2, 80 and 100 on court 3 and so on, they'd be little to distinguish between them all,other than you'd recognise the players on courts 1 and 2.
Sometimes everything collides,as it did for Raducanu.
Every major tournament a qualifier reaches the second week for one. Confidence, familiarity with the surface, surroundings etc.
The draw was kind to her and it opened up almost as if it was pre ordained.

Since her win I believe she has made very bad choices, starting with separating from Andrew Richardson,her coach at the time. It was a temporary arrangement but still odd she didn't see fit to continue.

Since then she has chopped and changed,had numerous injuries, don't forget she'd played about four tournaments on the tour prior to FM. It takes about a year to get used to the rigours of the tour.

Furthermore she has made various commercial deals, Porsche, Cartier,Tiffanys and others.

She's an attractive lady and brands will always be keen to join forces. No one would blame her for such endorsements but the balance and timing of some of her commitments have been questionable. A piece for Porsche with a pink 911 at the NTC when the Fed Cup team were practicing was especially ill advised. Not least as she'd withdrawn from the team a short time before.

She is talented and has all the attributes to succeed but time will tell whether she reaches the top 20 or better. Time and tide etc.

She'll always be US Open champion,not many can say that,Murray,Wade and Perry notwithstanding in GB!

 

She isn't very good and the US Open win was a fluke.

 

Harsh.

The success came out of the blue a bit of a prefect storm and too early in her career. It's raised expectations which hasn't helped as she needs decent advice and some mental coaching.

If she can focus on fitness and getting her head in the game she has a bright future and the earning potential with the Chinese links is limitless. Needs to get a decent management team.

That being said, she probably never needs to work again.

 

I’d still rather her than that awful current Wimbledon champion.

 

You can't fluke a major tournament win!
You can get lucky in one match but not over ten!

 

She certainly doesn't need to do anything else,which is probably quite alarming for her at 21 I'd imagine.

 

What a very odd match that was ,Boulter v Bouzas Maneiro.
Boulter didn't seem able to find the court but was very close to being back in it, winning three consecutive games from a set and 2-5 down.
I'm always astonished that she doesn't have chronic shoulder problems with her service motion.
Feli Lopez appears to be changing into Groucho Marx!

 

I'm not especially certain that Jack Draper suits prune.

 

Hsieh and Mertens lose first round doubles to Mladenenovic and partner. Surprise.

 

That's just the way I look at it, others can look at it differently if they want. I share the same view with the men's side if they win one and nowhere near another after. Would be the same in Snooker, when they win a world title and nowhere near another after.

 

Rybakina has had a torrid time this year.
Illness and injury.
Injured this time.

 

Yes and no.
He was abysmal in Cinci and very agitated, smashing his racket.
Clearly something is irking him.

 

Wonderful match between Ruse and Badosa.
Mrs Tsitsi wins in Champ T.

 

Sinner's to lose,Medivet and Zverev in with a shout too and Dimitrov is playing well.
Tough for Djokovic I'd say.
Must be experiencing a post Olympic let down and seems beset by niggling injuries.
The picture in the attic can't last forever!

 

I can’t stand him but you feel Zverev has to win a slam one day soon, and this could well be the one (he’s already lost a final here, very narrowly on a 5th set tie-break). I’d make him favourite now.

Winning the Olympics took everything out of Novak, and so he ends the year without a slam for the first time since 2017, and it’s the first year since 2002 that none of Novak, Roger and Rafa will have won one in calendar year.

A hard match for Coco, but she got through. And now meets Navarro, who of course dumped her out of Wimbledon.

Nice to see Padosa win, just! She’s on the way back after injury. Easy to forget she was once World Number 2!

 

Sometimes you get days like this, especially if someone unexpected or up and coming,like Kruger,is playing.
They just hit the wall.

 

Looks like Dan ran out of gas too against Mr Boulter.

 

The Antipodean Duracell Bunny or Joey!

 

Be nice if 'Baby Fed' could win.
Navarro gets the better of Gauff again.
Mrs Tsitsi cruising.

 

Good of Draper to thank Ryan in his post match.
Medivet looking ominous.
Muchova keeps the Czech flag flying as Paolini runs out of energy.

 

You’d fancy Medvedev has another slam in him soon, after several near misses. New York his most likely venue.

Thank Goodness it’s Muchova flying the flag for the Czechs this time, and not that awful Wimbledon champion.

 

Zverev v Fritz.
The tennis equivalent of the Hamiltons v Al Fayed.