Tennis Thread - Grand Slams & The Tour

Kartal out first round.

 

If I were a betting person I would have put money on Michelsen beating Tsitsipas.

Draper in five but how much does that reduce him?

Win in three in the first week,conserve your stamina, especially early season.

 

Fearnley doing well against the French present.
Burrage out.
Dart too after winning the first set v Vekic.
Draper teetering on the brink v the Hellenic kitted Kokkinakis,complete with Trojan helmet motif on his shorts, reliving valiant Hektor.
The match has followed a pattern.
Rally, rally, rally, rally. Draper hits a forehand long.

 

No,alas for TK he was Paris/Alexander and not Hektor.

 

Boulter gone.
Sinner finding Skoolkate,or whatever he's called, tricky.

 

" Keys using the wide serve going wide".

Magnificent insight as ever from Simon Reed.

 

Danielle Collins giving it large to the partisan Aussies!

 

On this occasion Aussie crowd fair in giving Draper the bird.
Calculated delaying tactics having choked when serving at 5 all and on second serve return break point.

 

Think he may find Alcaraz a different level!

 

Raducanu allowee one game by Swiatek.
Learner Tien continuing to progress, together with his teddies!
Monfils beats Fritz who had been imperious before.
Michelsen wins again.
Sonego beats Marozan

 

I feel Radacanu’s body is just not up to regularly competing at the highest level. I hope I’m proven wrong, but I’m not confident about that.

 

In fairness she won two matches at a major tournament so that's a beginning.


Swiatek however unpleasant a woman has been ruthless and has spent minimal time on court.
Whether ER is robust enough to maintain her fitness only time will tell but she needs to build up her volume of matches.

You can't win a major tournament in week one but you can lose or make it almost impossible to make the latter stages.

Swiatek,Sabalenka,Gauff in the female draw and Sinner, Alcaraz, Zverev in the men are good examples.

Winning in three. Conserving energy ready for the second week.

 

I refer the honourable gentleman to my reply to '63 yesterday.
When Murray cramped at the AE when he was 17 he went away and became incredibly fit and he had the excuse of being a boy and still growing.
Draper is 24 this year.
Emma Raducanu has made numerous errors off court but she will always be a major winner.
Draper has Fritz, Zverev,Sinner, Alcaraz,Rune Medvedev many others not to mention Djokovic ahead of him.
Behind he has Fonseca,Borges, Michelsen,Thien all announcing themselves.
He needs to review his S&C team quickly.

 

My comment was not based purely on her defeat by Swiatek; that will happen to more good players in the future also. I just feel that her injury record suggests she rarely has anything left in the locker as she plays and always seems to be at her limit physically. Not sure she will be able to become more robust.

 

Some players just can't stay fit.
Del Potro a prime example in modern tennis.
ER could well be another as could Draper.
No reason physically for ER,Draper is a big guy and probably needs to tweak his game style to play shorter points.
The women's game does, with a few notable exceptions Kasakina, Muchova for example,lack variety and the hard,harder, hardest merchants prevail.
Raducanu has changed her serve to use more wrist.
I'm not sure that's wise for someone known for wrist injuries which are usually a death sentence for a player. Back to Del Boy again.

 

The first sentence in your post is exactly what I’m saying and that is why I think any further big tournament wins will be rare and will depend on many factors all aligning perfectly. And by ‘big tournaments’ I don’t just mean slams.

 

In ER's case she has made too many coaching changes,where have we seen that before?!
She's also been distracted by her marketing opportunities.
She didn't suffer as a junior with injuries.
All of the chopping and changing can't have helped.

 

I take the point about the lack of focus both in and out of competition. The thing about physicality amongst juniors is that development is capricious and junior ‘monsters’ (in many sports) often get caught up by the time they’re 20. Can they find the next level?

 

Yes some flower early, Mervyn Day, Michael Owen,Martina Hingis who realised she couldn't compete with the physicality of Venus and Serena.

Others have a steadier rise perhaps via university.

Early specialisation is dangerous not necessarily for those who join the ATP or WTA main tour but those who aspire but never get off the bottom rung.

One former colleague of mine in a Hertfordshire club allowed his son to turn professional after completing his GCSEs.

The lad is still grinding away on the British Tour,the lowest level possible aged 20.

Last week he lost in the quarter finals to a 16 year old.

Everyone has a different path but awareness of standards in this country has always been lamentable.

The players still hacking away in their mid to late 20s are being financed by wealthy parents.

Not a problem that Raducanu will ever encounter. Those 16 days made her for life.

For every Kasakina or Safin or whoever comes out of the Spartak club's one indoor court there are a 100 who don't dent the rankings.

Conor Niland's book 'The Racket ' is an excellent read and contrasts the 'right hand side of the draw' bias,if you ever get there!

 

Good win for PB v CG.

Pavlyuchenkova making Sabalenka work hard.

I'll go ND v Alcaraz.

 

Djokovic is astonishing.

 

Uff disappointing result, but yes what a performance. From losing that opening set in his first round match to making the semi yet again at his favourite slam.

Well done Murray too.

As somebody who doesn’t like Zverev, Sinner or Novak so much, I’m only focussing on the ladies now.