2010 Tennis Thread (Grand Slams, ATP World Tour, Davis Cup)

[GregCentauro]

*requires further clarification* :.

I met Sabine twice about three years ago. She might have changed. I can't tell. My impression is based on what I perceived her to be. A good example that the girls can improve as they mature is Nadia Petrova. When I first came across her at a tournament in 1999 or 2000 she was a snippy brat. Now I think she's a shrewd, cool lady. :bowdown:

What Sabine's father does is irrelevant. Is Kim Clijsters a gifted defender because her father played for the Belgian football side?

Five languages? Easily! Polish is Lisicki's native language, she's German now and English is indispensable being a tennis pro. As a second language in school she must have learned French or Latin for a couple of years and maybe she picked up some Spanish at the beach or the taco stand. In that respect I speak five languages, too.

As for today's matches, I'm :crying: and :nanner: at the same time. Shahar crashed out against Safarova (not a chance) but Tammy beats Chakvetadze (who clearly has seen better times) to reach her first semifinal for 20 months. With her home crowd behind her I think she has a good chance against druggie Karatancheva.

Still looking forward to Dementieva - Petkovic.

 

[lechepicha]

I think it's a good thing to give all the other player a lot of credit, because the deserve it. In the Top 10 today there are 10 superb Tennis players. But at the same time you have to give Roger even more credit for being as dominant as he is in a time and age of Tennis where so many good players are on the Tour. And losing to Nadal in three different Slam finals, and to Del Potro in the US, just shows nothing is for granted when it comes to winning Grand Slams. All that makes Federer's accomplishments even look brighter than before.

Like Mats Wilander always says, Tennis is a major mind game, and Federer gets into people's heads. He owns Roddick, I think that's pretty much out of the question. Even with this epic Wimbledon final, he owns Roddick's ass. Even Davydenko who has beat him twice in a row, he owns him too, because in Slams, he's helpless against Roger. Same goes for Murray...Djokovic and Tsonga. And then there's Nadal, and he owns Federer, because he's way deep in his head. But as I said, all that, meaning serious competetion from all ends and a nemesis in Nadal, makes Federer even greater.

But all in all I think there's no better age to be a Tennis fan as of right now.

couldn't agree more, mate :thumbsup:

great post, buddy

rep to you :hatsoff:

and welcome to freeones :wave:

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

I met Sabine twice about three years ago. She might have changed. I can't tell. My impression is based on what I perceived her to be. A good example that the girls can improve as they mature is Nadia Petrova. When I first came across her at a tournament in 1999 or 2000 she was a snippy brat. Now I think she's a shrewd, cool lady. :bowdown:

What Sabine's father does is irrelevant. Is Kim Clijsters a gifted defender because her father played for the Belgian football side?

Five languages? Easily! Polish is Lisicki's native language, she's German now and English is indispensable being a tennis pro. As a second language in school she must have learned French or Latin for a couple of years and maybe she picked up some Spanish at the beach or the taco stand. In that respect I speak five languages, too.

As for today's matches, I'm :crying: and :nanner: at the same time. Shahar crashed out against Safarova (not a chance) but Tammy beats Chakvetadze (who clearly has seen better times) to reach her first semifinal for 20 months. With her home crowd behind her I think she has a good chance against druggie Karatancheva.

Still looking forward to Dementieva - Petkovic.

I'm surprised to learn Sabine is a little bitch. Or maybe not. Quite a few of those girls are rich types who got sent off to cushy tennis academies, schools and the like. But I had hoped she was a cool chick.

Dementieva and Petkovic are on the Tennis channel right now. After them is another quarterfinal. Don't know who's playing in that one.

 

[GWhizz]

Murray like DelPo is having an extended break claiming he doesn't want to over-exert himself this early in the year, although no sign if it's based on injury or not...

Murray misses Marseille for extended rest

Keothavong is back winning in a ITF tournament after been out 6-7 months.

Hingis coming back into Tennis, although only for WTT is old news, but Kournikova playing as well has just got me making sex wee in my pants...
:rubbel:

 

[lechepicha]

The Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry: The myth of the asterisk

http://blog.oregonlive.com/tennis/2..._rivalry_debate_the_myth_of_the_asterisk.html

i guess you people (titsrock, lungzyn) agreed with Bodo...

i don't, by the way.

 

[lechepicha]

semifinals in the ATP 500 at Rotterdam:

Davydenko - Soderling (damn! this is a hell of a match! can't wait to see it tomorrow)
Djokovic - Youzhny (piece of cake for Nole)

my guess: Davydenko - Djokovic and Kolya prevails to stay red-hot and get closer to Nadal's No. 4... WATCH IT, RAFA!

 

[Lungzyn]

The Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry: The myth of the asterisk

http://blog.oregonlive.com/tennis/2..._rivalry_debate_the_myth_of_the_asterisk.html

i guess you people (titsrock, lungzyn) agreed with Bodo...

i don't, by the way.

I think Nadal was in his head somewhat, probably not as much as Bodo says...
After getting beaten in 'his' tournament, Wimbledon, and then losing to him on the hard courts of Australia, Nadals least favourite surface, he might be thinking where to from here? Nadal had shown he could win on all surfaces.
Of course, those victories seem to have come at a cost.
That 'absent from the draw' thing is kinda dumb and not fair. It was easier on Fed not having to meet Rafa in the French final though. All previous finals there were one way traffic. That would have to be on his mind I think :dunno:

semifinals in the ATP 500 at Rotterdam:

Davydenko - Soderling (damn! this is a hell of a match! can't wait to see it tomorrow)
Djokovic - Youzhny (piece of cake for Nole)

my guess: Davydenko - Djokovic and Kolya prevails to stay red-hot and get closer to Nadal's No. 4... WATCH IT, RAFA!

All I get to watch are Grand Slams and some of the masters series tournaments/ATP World Tour Finals :crying:

 

[lechepicha]

Nadal had shown he could win on all surfaces.
Of course, those victories seem to have come at a cost.

too high, IMO.

and somehow i don't feel pity for him. why? 'cause he (and his infamous uncle toni) is the guilty of that. I mean, who the fuck can play like he did in 2008 ? NO ONE can last longer playing like that. I mean, he was a BEAST, man. So, he should've step down and cool down. But no, let's play barcelona, let's play rotterdam, let's play davis cup, let's play with a huuuuuuuge topspin. Fuck it: he can't complain. He looked for it.

That 'absent from the draw' thing is kinda dumb and not fair.

couldn't agree more :hatsoff:

All I get to watch are Grand Slams and some of the masters series tournaments/ATP World Tour Finals :crying:

why ? don't have foxsports ? fromsport.com ? :dunno:

 

[Lungzyn]

why ? don't have foxsports ? fromsport.com ? :dunno:

Only Sky Sport :dunno:
fromsport would be good but my connection is usually too slow to stream well
Better than nothing though I guess

 

[lechepicha]

Soderling just beat Davydenko in straight sets... surprisingly, i must say.

Robin used his strong drive to get Kolya out of his comfort zone. Good for the swede.



the next week tournaments' draws are out!

- ATP 500 Memphis: Roddick and Verdasco will fight for the title, just like they're doing THIS week in San Jose.
- ATP 250 Marseille: Soderling, Tsonga, Monfils, Robredo and Simon (nice field!)

 

[lechepicha]

Federer reduced to tears on visit to Ethiopia

http://ca.reuters.com/article/sportsNews/idCATRE61C00320100213?sp=true

"How old are you?" one girl said. Super-fit Federer, 28, asked her to guess.
"I don't know about white people," she said, shyly. "45?"

 

[GregCentauro]

Keothavong is back winning in a ITF tournament after been out 6-7 months.

. She lost the QF against Marta Domachowska in Midland yesterday.

My sweetheart Tammy Tanasagurn reaches the final in Pattaya for the first time in 14 years. The old lady still has it! :bowdown:

Safarova has a great week in Paris. I really like that girl. Tomorrow against Dementieva. Should be good. Dem had a tough match against Petkovic in the QF. I wasn't disappointed. Three sets again today against Oudin. Lucie definitely has a chance.

Next week's draws:

Dubai - Eight top ten players are there. Only Serena and Safina are missing. I fear that Dinara will be out for a long time with her persistent back injury. It already spoiled her the Masters.

Memphis, Tenn. - Sharapova and Oudin top-seeded. The rest is silence.

And a smaller clay court tourney in Bogota. No draw yet.

 

[lechepicha]

I fear that Dinara will be out for a long time with her persistent back injury.

that would be a shame... i want more "real no. 1" fight...

 

[lechepicha]

next week draw for ATP 250 in Buenos Aires:
- top seeds: Ferrer, Ferrero.
- great players non-seed: Nalbandian, Gaudio




damn! Youzhny just waste 2 match points agains Djokovic!!! :eek:

great game! right now it's 7-6, 5-5... it seems it's going to be another tie-break...

 

[lechepicha]

^^
Youzhny finally beat Nole in the Rotterdam SF...

another disapointing performance by the Djoker... he doesn't deserve his no. 2 spot these days...

he will gain 180 points, so he will be 2860 points behind Roger... to damn much if he wants to grab the no. 1

so, the final will be Youzhny-Soderling. I would be VERY, VERY surprised if Soderling let this one slip. I saw both semis and Soderling played pretty strong, and Youzhny won only 'cause Nole sucks right now.

 

[lechepicha]

Robin Soderling won the ATP 500 of Rotterdam, beating Mikael Youzhny 6-4, 2-0 ret. It's the 5th title of his career, and the first one in the last 7 months.
He bounce back from a disastrous start of the season (lose in the 1st round of Chennai and Melbourne) and now looks strong for the Marseille tournament next week, where he's the top seed.

former No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero won the ATP 250 of Brazil, crushing Lukasz Kubot (who was playing the first final of his career) 6-1, 6-0. It's the 13th title of his career, and the first one in the last 10 months.
Ferrero is looking to be in the top of the game again, after a great 2003, where he won Roland Garros and made the US Open final.
He broke a long titles slump last year and now wants to be in-form for the clay season. I'd say he has chances to made a QF, maybe a SF in Montecarlo, Rome, Madrid or Roland Garros.
Good for him. And good for Spain in the upcoming 1st round of Davis Cup.
He now looks for the Buenos Aires title this week, where he is the 2nd seed (behind Ferrer)

Fernando Verdasco won the ATP 250 of San Jose (USA) beating Andy Roddick in three sets.
It's the Xth title of his career, the first in the last X months.
He will try to win another title in USA soil, in Memphis this week, where once again he's 2nd seed behind Roddick.

 

[lechepicha]

Fernando Verdasco won the ATP 250 of San Jose (USA) beating Andy Roddick in three sets.
It's the Xth title of his career, the first in the last X months.

ooops. sorry about that. It's the 4th title of his career and the first in the last 5 months.

good for him.

 

[GWhizz]

Vamos Verdasco.

Fernando Verdasco beats Andy Roddick in San Jose final

I think he's pretty dangerous in RG if he get's his game together, so hopefully he can make an impact on clay court season after this and push on.

Baltacha continues her steady rise this year with a excellent win in the Dow Corning Classic in Michigan.

Elena Baltacha wins the Dow Corning Classic in Michigan

She's moved up to 70 in the World rankings and faces Renata Voracova in the first round of the WTA tournament in Memphis. Good luck to her there, hope she continues to enjoy herself in the States.

As expected, Dementieva won comfortably in the Paris Indoors after the first set to win her 15th career title. Congrats to her.

Elena Dementieva clinches Paris Indoors title

She'll be a threat in all the GS this year but with the recent resurgance of the Belgians, the Williams Sisters as well the odd prospect of another Russian coming through as well as talented youngsters like Azarenka and Wozniacki in the tour, it'll be tough for her but not impossible. We'll see anyway.

 

[lechepicha]

I think he's pretty dangerous in RG if he get's his game together, so hopefully he can make an impact on clay court season after this and push on.

agree.

a SF or final in Montecarlo, Rome, Madrid or Roland Garros wouln't surprise too many people...

however, his mental strength is weak, to say the least... there's been many times where he's up in the score (or near) against top player and break down mentally (remember against Federer and Murray in the ATP Tour Finals)

 

[GWhizz]

Marseille boss cools Murray row

Scot's withdrawal frustrates tournament director

Marseille Open tournament director Jean-Francois Caujolle has denied calling for Andy Murray to be suspended from the ATP Tour for pulling out of his event this week.

Murray was due to be top seed in Marseille but has withdrawn to have some extra recovery time following his exertions at the Australian Open, where he lost in the final to world number one Roger Federer.

Caujolle was quoted in the Daily Express as saying: "Murray did the same thing to me last year. He can't know what it is to keep his word.

"The number one seed of a tournament should have a sense of responsibility. If he does not respect his commitments, he should be suspended by the ATP."

However, Caujolle later told Sky Sports News: "I never said that he should be suspended, but it's true I was really disappointed because he was my top player.

"There is a responsibility for the credibility of all the game when it's a top player. Sometimes you have to force yourself and be responsible.

"I understand he's quite young and it's not a huge tournament but it's quite disappointing and we had the same last year.

"Last year he played in Rotterdam and was a bit injured and I understand that. He sent me an email saying next year I will play.

"I understand everything but the fact is it's going to affect the tournament.
Difficulties

"One week before, to phone and say I am not coming would have been good. In that case I could have found another player, not as good as Andy, but made an offer to Marin Cilic or someone, but it was too late.

"A few minutes later Juan Martin Del Potro pulled out with a real injury so I lost my top two players.

"I think the top seed and marquee player...they have to not pull out because all the promotion is framed around them.

"There should be something but the ATP is working on that, it's not the fault of the ATP or even Andy. It's just life."

Lol, Don't think Cilic will bother with Marseille in the future.

If I were Murray, I would phone up Caujolle, tell him he will definately come, pre-order his suite then on the eve of the tournament tell him he couldn't make it because he had a date had a bad cold. That'll teach 'em.