Tennis Thread - Grand Slams & The Tour

At last a terrific match we will remember for a long time. Smashing match, and as many of us have predicted from the moment the draw and seedings were announced, Tsi in the final.

Now we need a boring straight set win for Rafa please. My nerves can’t take another five setter lol

 

Now all we need is Novak to get through.

 

Wow what a standard of play so far

Come on Rafa

 

Mr Clayspin wasnt exactly gonna lose was he.

 

Blimey my boy Novak got a set.

 

Well done Tsitsi!
I saw the first two sets and it was very nervy, understandably.
Didn't see the last three and glad I didn't,I don't think I could have stood the anxiety!
My pals tell me he cried,bless him.
Low Fat breaks for a lead in the third.
Best thing for Tsitsi is if these two keep taking lumps out of each other as they are now.
Rafa does look less than 100%.
My neighbour has his Ingerland flag out.
I'll put my Greek one out soon!

 

Allowed to stay.

Big opportunity for Novak now 2-1 up.

 

Nice of them to play an exhibition match!
Extraordinary tennis.
Not sure either will be able to walk tomorrow.

 

Incredible stuff so far in this one.

 

Get in Djoko!

 

Something wrong certainly with Rafa.
Blisters are problematic for him but perhaps it was elsewhere.
Come on Tsitsi!

 

Djokovic is a machine! What a match though, one of the best matches in the last couple of years.

 

The chance to make history Sunday. Winning all the slams more than once.

 

Go on Tsitsi lad!
Happy for who ever wins today.
I thought Rafa spoke very well after his defeat. Always an impressive man, as Mr IBB never ceases to tell me.

 

Djokovic was much the better player on the day. Shouldve won easier had 17 or so break points in the 3rd set.

And whats looks got to do with anything. Its a tennis court not a night club.

 

Come on Pavs! Win the 2nd set at least.

 

I’m supporting her too. She’s marginally nicer on the eye.

Come on! Let’s have a deciding set.

 

ITV4’s coverage has once again been outstanding. Well done to all concerned.

Inverdale a masterful and knowledgable host. As ever.

Great team of commentators, and very decent experts like Bartoli, Petchey and Fabrice.

Let’s hope the BBC aren’t their usual self-indulgent selves in a fortnight’s time and spoil Wimbledon for us.

 

The worst ladies tournament I can ever remember at Roland G.

The rot started when Halep couldn’t take part, continued with the shameful bullying of Osaka and then day after day of retirements.

A very average final, with a very average winner, who fluked a grand slam by hardly having to play anybody of note, and will now surely vanish again to merely be a sports quiz question in years to come.

I have higher hopes for the doubles tomorrow. The always excellent Swiatek and Pippy Longstockings should triumph. Hopefully!

 

Boris.

 

Actually more unseeded players have won grand slams these past few years than you’d imagine.

Often though they are big names fighting their way back after injury. Serena won a slam unseeded. Clijsters too after being away having a baby,

In 2017 two of the four ladies slams were won by unseeded players. The French (Ostapenko) and the USA (Stephens).

Men’s wise, yes Becker (in those days there were only 16 seeds, not 32 as now). Ivanovic as a wildcard (but he’d already been a three times losing finalist at Wimbledon so he was a big name). Agassi was unseeded when he won his second slam, after being away injured.

 

I'm pleased for Krejcikova and she was a worthy winner,she beat all her opponents with stylish and varied tennis.
Malt I think some of your comments are unworthy of your usual considered approach but in terms of appraisal and overly personal to the two ladies concerned.
That's a shame for ITV.
They have arranged a good team of commentators. Mullins is far better than Simon Reed and the Essex duo of Mark Petchey and Sam Smith ( one of whom I have beaten) are very good at reading the game.
Very hard to see anything other than a Djokovic victory unless he is fatigued after five,four and four sets in the last three rounds.
Come on Tsitsi!

 

Apologies @I Blame Bassett the sunshine put me in a mischievous and frisky mood earlier. I hope you can forgive me.

Interesting stuff I thought about how many unseeded females have won slams in the not too distant past.

Regards the men I can’t recall the year but I want to say 2007 or around then, when Gaston G won in Paris, just before the Rafa era started.

 

Nothing to forgive Malt!
2004 when GG was handed the title by Coria in the most outrageous choke I can recall.
It was so painful to watch and Coria never really recovered and retired eighteen months or so afterwards. Horrible to watch the utter disintegration of a player.
Yes I agree regarding the majors. ( I cannot refer to a major event as a 'slam',that is all four together to old twits like me!)
Djokovic did not hit yesterday.
I hope that means he has an injury,no offence to his fans.
I expect it to be three straight to ND but hope for better as I suffer in the heat and tarmac of Regent's Park Will to Win courts at noon!

 

Glad you’re not mad at me. I shall obviously refrain from commenting on the appearances of today’s male finalists lol.

Tsi definitely has a chance today, but much will depend on how he settles and deals with the occasion of his first slam final.

Hopefully he won’t buckle in the same way Medvedev did in the Aussie Open final back in January (in his second slam final I know, not his first).

I haven’t looked it up but I guess it’s been a long long time since a male player actually won his first major final? I want to say Stan W as I think he won all three of his finals. It’s certainly not happened for ages as the big three have dominated so much, and the only other recent winner Thiem had lost a couple first.

 

I think Tsitsipas will win or else he’ll get his dad to strike Novak with a lightning bolt.

 

An update to the question I posed.

I think it was actually Cilic.

In 2014.

Both he and Stan won majors that year in their first slam final. Cilic’s was the USA, so therefore the more recent.

 

Come on Novak!