Love, Balls and Courting: Tennis V

[mollymgr]

That was a great match. Both of them are champions IMO. It was so close and one of the more memorable matches in Wimbledon history. Congrats to Novak!!!

 

[quartz]

Wow! That was nuts! Now I can finally get my butt off the couch...

 

[Lorac]

And after that I turned my channel and saw England win the Cricket World Cup by the smallest of margins - a super over!!! Wow!!!

 

[Aceon6]

And after that I turned my channel and saw England win the Cricket World Cup by the smallest of margins - a super over!!! Wow!!!

And I turned mine to see Beef Johnson play his way into The Open next week.

 

[Lorac]

And I turned mine to see Beef Johnson play his way into The Open next week.

It's been quite a day of sport here in the UK!!

 

[skatesindreams]

That was a great match. Both of them are champions IMO.

You spoke for me.

 

[jenny12]

Great match! I hope both of them never retire!

 

[liv]

Sad for Roger. He played better for the majority of the match... but on those crucial points, he let it get away. The most painful has to be when he had 2 match points on his serve halfway through the 5th set... but then made errors. But, he should be very proud.. Most people thought he'd lose to Novak, they've been writing him off for years, yet this was barely the case even if the end result was a loss. At a month shy of 38 he still pushed Novak to the brink and it was a heck of a match. Something about him brings out the best in his opponents and the result was another epic match that no one will forget.

to have Roger, Rafa and Novak in the same era, pushing each other to get better and get to greater heights is truly a golden age for tennis. We are the lucky ones.

 

[Rob]

to have Roger, Rafa and Novak in the same era, pushing each other to get better and get to greater heights is truly a golden age for tennis. We are the lucky ones.

So true.

 

[Seerek]

What's up with the very delayed processing of Svetlana Kuznetsova's visa to compete during the U.S. Hardcourt Season?
I don't understand how the application could have been in limbo for that long (the initial application was apparently submitted in the late winter).

 

[sk9tingfan]

Meanwhile, Nick Kyrgios just won the Citi Open by soliciting coaching and serve placement advice from spectators!

 

[vanillashake]

Is anyone else depressed by the lack of up and coming talent in the mens game. It is there in the womens, but not the mens. And as much as everyone loves the "Big 3" and they might be the 3 best players in the Open Era, you should not have a 38 year old, 33 year old with years of injuries, and 32 year old totally dominating with nobody else challenging. There is also now not a single active mens slam winner younger than 31, with Cilic and Del Potro both turning 31 this month. And both of those only 1 time slam champions.

The young players either lack talent (Coric), work ethic and heart (Kygrios), structure to their game (Shapopalov), are only good on one surface (Thiem), or that extra something (Zverev, the various Russians). They are not only not challenging the Big 3, they arent even able to consistently reach 2nd week of slams or outperform non great older pros like Nishikori or Raonic.

 

[skatingguy]

Is anyone else depressed by the lack of up and coming talent in the mens game. It is there in the womens, but not the mens. And as much as everyone loves the "Big 3" and they might be the 3 best players in the Open Era, you should not have a 38 year old, 33 year old with years of injuries, and 32 year old totally dominating with nobody else challenging. There is also now not a single active mens slam winner younger than 31, with Cilic and Del Potro both turning 31 this month. And both of those only 1 time slam champions.

The young players either lack talent (Coric), work ethic and heart (Kygrios), structure to their game (Shapopalov), are only good on one surface (Thiem), or that extra something (Zverev, the various Russians). They are not only not challenging the Big 3, they arent even able to consistently reach 2nd week of slams or outperform non great older pros like Nishikori or Raonic.

Felix Auger-Aliassime? Stefanos Tsitsipas? There are good young players coming up but when you're comparing them to 3 of the best players of all time it's a hard hill to climb.

 

[vanillashake]

Felix Auger-Aliassime? Stefanos Tsitsipas? There are good young players coming up but when you're comparing them to 3 of the best players of all time it's a hard hill to climb.

Those are the only 2 coming up I have any hopes for. Too soon to tell on them.

The ones I mentioned are major flops though, apart from to a minor degree Thiem who might win a French or two down the road.

 

[caseyedwards]

Is anyone else depressed by the lack of up and coming talent in the mens game. It is there in the womens, but not the mens. And as much as everyone loves the "Big 3" and they might be the 3 best players in the Open Era, you should not have a 38 year old, 33 year old with years of injuries, and 32 year old totally dominating with nobody else challenging. There is also now not a single active mens slam winner younger than 31, with Cilic and Del Potro both turning 31 this month. And both of those only 1 time slam champions.

The young players either lack talent (Coric), work ethic and heart (Kygrios), structure to their game (Shapopalov), are only good on one surface (Thiem), or that extra something (Zverev, the various Russians). They are not only not challenging the Big 3, they arent even able to consistently reach 2nd week of slams or outperform non great older pros like Nishikori or Raonic.

Definitely!! Federer won Wimbledon in 2003 and almost won it again in 2019 and then you have The fact that now people are born in 2000 and 2001 becoming next big things!! So people born very close to when Federer started winning are now playing him!!!! That no one born between 1990 and 2000 have had much success!!!! It’s so bad and crazy to me!!

 

[vanillashake]

Definitely!! Federer won Wimbledon in 2003 and almost won it again in 2019 and then you have The fact that now people are born in 2000 and 2001 becoming next big things!! So people born very close to when Federer started winning are now playing him!!!! That no one born between 1990 and 2000 have had much success!!!! It’s so bad and crazy to me!!

and it is worrying for the future of the mens game. Eventually the top 3 will have to retire/age out of relevance, but who wants a bunch of randoms winning slams, kind of like what the womens game would have been several years ago without Serena. Or even worse Milos Raonic the dominant player for a few years.

 

[aftershocks]

We've simply been spoiled, and the greats of the game who have been at it for so long (Williams sisters, Nadal, Federer, Novak, et al) are one-of-a-kinds. They have carved out incredible, humanly impossible careers. We are spoiled rotten, and now have expectations that are overly high regarding younger players.

 

[vanillashake]

We've simply been spoiled, and the greats of the game who have been at it for so long (Williams sisters, Nadal, Federer, Novak, et al) are one-of-a-kinds. They have carved out incredible, humanly impossible careers. We are spoiled rotten, and now have expectations that are overly high regarding younger players.

Maybe but the current crop of young players and middle aged are also the least successful in tennis history, so they are very weak not just by comparision to the GOAT era, but by comparision to any era. There isnt a current mens slam champion younger than 31. Both Cilic and Del Potro (the youngest active slam winners) turned 31 lately. For some reason there is literally no new talent emerging at all.

 

[aftershocks]

^^ Okay, well that's interesting in light of the fact that the giants of the game are the ones mostly still winning after all these years. I suppose they are sucking all the energy and air out of stadiums -- so there's nothing left for the recent younger crew to feed upon and build momentum.

Surely there are some very young players we don't know about yet who might break through eventually. The greats of the game will not be lasting forever. Over the next several years, unfortunately they will be retiring. But let's not think about it too much just yet.

 

[eusebius]

Bianca in the final of Toronto!! First Canadian in the final in 50 years... I just hope she can stay healthy!

 

[Sylvia]

I like Bianca Andreescu's fighting spirit! She wants to play Serena in the final tomorrow and I hope she gets her wish. Serena dominated Naomi Osaka last night (her first win over her in 3 tries) and faces Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova tonight (Halep withdrew from their QF match due to a problem with her Achilles heel).

 

[eusebius]

I like Bianca Andreescu's fighting spirit! She wants to play Serena in the final tomorrow and I hope she gets her wish. Serena dominated Naomi Osaka last night (her first win over her in 3 tries) and faces Marie Bouzkova tonight (Halep withdrew from their QF match due to an Achilles heel injury).

ITA, Andreescu/Williams would be an amazing final. I expect we will also be seeing a great deal of Bouzkova in the future if she too can remain injury-free

 

[Parsley Sage]

Serena withdraws 20 minutes into the match. Bianca wins in Toronto.

 

[eusebius]

Serena withdraws 20 minutes into the match. Bianca wins in Toronto.

I am sorry to see Serena in this state but Bianca was so kind to her ... it was nice to see that humanity on the court

 

[quartz]

How disappointing to end this way. Kudos to both ladies for their respect and compassion to each other.

 

[caseyedwards]

Ugh!! It’s not that I want a new Federer or Nadal or Djokovic!! Can’t any man in their 20’s at least ready Andy Murray at his best level?!?

 

[Sylvia]

Women's final in Cincinnati tomorrow will feature the 2004 U.S. Open champ Svetlana Kuznetsova, 34, who defeated top seeded Ash Barty today in 2 sets, and Madison Keys (won in 2 sets over Kenin).

 

[Lacey]

Daniil Medvedev, of Russia, (any relation to anyone we skating fans know?) just defeated Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Masters semi final, two out of three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Don't know anything about him, but he was powerful, started serving two first serves and it totally unnerved Novak. Final tomorrow.

 

[peibeck]

Medvedev has been the hottest hard court player of the season. Djokovic acknowledged it was going to be a very tough match after his win last night over Pouille.

 

[caseyedwards]

Medvedev has been the hottest hard court player of the season. Djokovic acknowledged it was going to be a very tough match after his win last night over Pouille.

And Nadal crushed Medvedev like he was nothing!!! so that means to me really that Nadal is best hard Court player right now and will win US open very easily.