The Tennis Thread

[Scott]

^you have to give her credit. for all the criticism and the disdain expressed,the way she keeps playing and still managing to keep such a strong presence in finals.....not a lot of players can do that nor have there been any,that i can recall. i don't even think steffi,hingis and arantxa did that....and they played a lot too. and in a period when the williams sisters are absent,kim not playing as often and certainly not being as strong outside the majors....zvonareva has sort of been up and down.....stosur....well,sadly sam has been greatly disappointing this season and frannie hasn't quite kept her level since that marathon at the aussie open. so you know,far be it for wozniacki not take advantage of this period we're in.

as you said,chaky,RG looks like a logical place given the state of the game at the moment? i think the only real danger possible,as you said could be azarenka. it's still a little early at the moment as marbella didn't have the level of competition but it's still a clay title. perhaps zvonareva too....vera has beaten wozniacki this season and vera is a pretty good clay player. schiavone once more? frannie did decide to sit out this upcoming fed cup tie to prepare to defend so i feel like the way frannie has played maybe a signal of where her true focus at the moment. i even feel if dinara's back isn't as serious as she feared when pulling out of the match against vika,she could be a really dangerous floater this clay season. i do fear fatigue might come into play for woz as she's entered another three straight events in stuttgart,madrid and rome before heading to paris....she's played a lot of tennis in just the last month.....probably so much that even jankovic might be taken aback.

 

[MyNameIs]

Dolgopolov. What happened?

 

[Chaky]

^you have to give her credit. for all the criticism and the disdain expressed,the way she keeps playing and still managing to keep such a strong presence in finals.....

I'm not trying to have a real go at her. I think I'm just getting a bit sick of watching her. She was on Eurosport every day last week (she was even in the ad breaks promoting Turkish Airlines) and I was just amazed that she somehow managed to win, particularly against Wickmayer who played an excellent first set.

i do fear fatigue might come into play for woz as she's entered another three straight events in stuttgart,madrid and rome before heading to paris....she's played a lot of tennis in just the last month.....probably so much that even jankovic might be taken aback.

She's playing an exo at the ATP event in Monte Carlo today! She's a machine!

 

[Scott]

i wasn't meaning it in that way. i agree with you actually. it has got a bit monotonous. it would be nice to see woz take a breather and perhaps the media as well. like you said,we've all been consumed with everything wozniacki for the past four weeks if not longer. i'd love to see zvonareva in a couple finals.

in a strange twist....bad news for kim clijsters--she was attending a cousin's wedding over the weekend and bizarrely injured her ankle whilst dancing and now it looks like she'll be out for another six weeks in addition to all the other events she pulled out of before madrid. it's oddly similar to that freak accident serena had last year following wimby. so looks like we might have to endure yet more attention on wozniacki.

 

[Chaky]

Schiavone beat Wozniacki 6-4 in their exo at Monte Carlo. Right, that's enough Caro, take a break!

 

[Scott]

^ right!

and schiavone...i gotta say,we might be underestimating her as a possible threat to woz. with clijsters potentially absent....it'll be a little more interesting. not strictly from this win,of course not,but i really think given that she decided to sit out fed cup when she has always been so dedicated....that's serious business for her. i also believe that's why she hasn't done so well since Aus because like last year when she kind of went on that walk-about in her results before the u.s. open,following her victory,could be similar now....she being focused on doing well at RG.

 

[constanceMafioso]

Hi all, I haven't come here for long anyways it's was a pleasure reading the last comments here... So much has happened in the tennis world these last few weeks with Nole and his amazing streak...

But what really got me happier though is Victoria's 2nd. Miami title and finally Julia confirming how much potential she has by taking Stuttgart in fashionable manner.

Girls are in Madrid now and hopefully Vika, Maria or why not Julia do something something interesting there.
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[purplethistle]

Can't believe Novak beat Nadal on clay for the first time ever. I wonder no if he'll be able beat McEnroe's record of 42-0 to start the season in 1984.

I feel for Nadal, three times he's meed Novak in a master final this year and three times he's lost.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

OMG i CANNOT believe there is a tennis thread here!!! I love Noleeee and was so happy today that he won. Can you believe his streak? It's outrageous!!

 

[Not Plain Jane]

p.s. Julia "Gorgeous" is something else hey?

 

[Chaky]

I'm quite pleased Djokovic won Madrid. It's certainly making the French Open more interesting. A month ago I would have said that Nadal taking that title was a dead certainty but Novak has created an element of doubt.

Rafa is still the overwhelming favourite and I know the altitude in Madrid maybe doesn't favour him as much as Paris so I don't want to read too much into it. Hey, we'll see how Rome turns out.

The women's side is still wide open as usual. Wozniacki definitely isn't as comfortable on clay and I like seeing the emergence of some newer contenders like Goerges and Petkovic. Kvitova seems to be making waves too. Azarenka maybe is the favourite now though?

 

[Scott]

it's been a really enlightening period these last weeks in women's tennis,no? goerges stunning woz not once but twice in a row? kvitova winning this week. petkovic doing so well coming off her miami performance. i'll be honest,this lull in women's tennis has seriously made some serious head-way for the younger women to make their presence known and felt. and these three women,aforementioned,are certainly going to be looming prospects for RG. i think they could potentially be favourites. i just think with the current depth and the form of these particular women.....it's not impossible.

and azarenka too.....although she came up short in the final this weekend she's playing some good ball again and she looks confident. she is playing so much stronger at the moment than anybody in the top 10 other than kvitova who's now in the top 10 herself. i just hope(touch wood)nothing stands in her way and she remains healthy and injury free from here onward. because we've been disappointed before.

and nole.....egads....i thought for sure after his performance against bellucci it would be an end of his streak against rafa but alas he marches on. i can't explain it.....all i can muster is that i am wholeheartedly impressed with his desire. you get the sense though,that he wants to win and that he wants to be the best which is something i've never seen as intensely from him before....ever.

 

[Chaky]

Nole seems so much calmer and focused on court these days. He always used to be moaning about some injury or something getting on his nerves. But now it's about getting the job done quickly in the early rounds and then bringing his best against the big guns in the later ones.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Nole hired a holistic doctor, who has been credited with finding Nole's gluten allergy and changing his diet accordingly, but I read somewhere that he is kind of a sports psychologist too, hence the holistic label and hence Nole's newfound composure. Though I am glad we still get to see the odd Serbian operatic lament on the court, as that is something unique to him. Ha.

As for the ladies, I have no idea who will win the FO! Woz is due for a slam but she tends to play overly-passive and that hurts her sometimes, kind of like Murray. Both need to bring a killer instinct to big matches to win slams and Masters.

Lots of exciting things happening though - the European slams on both the women's and men's sides could be revelatory.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I feel for Nadal, three times he's meed Novak in a master final this year and three times he's lost.

Just look at Nadal's head to head with Nole (or anyone else) and you won't feel so badly for him anymore. Rafa has what, the record in Masters titles and 8 or 9 slams? I think he is doing fine.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Dolgopolov. What happened?

I don't know either. He showed so much potential at the AO and during the south American clay swing but he has kind of collapsed since. Too bad: I like his ecentricity. Hopefully he will come round later in the season!

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Nole wins again, but he was looking like running out of steam in set one versus Wawrinka.

 

[purplethistle]

^ I didn't watch that match but looking at the score I don't think Nole was losing steam. Besides he went on to clean up Soderling 6-3 6-0.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

How many till he beats McEnroe?

 

[purplethistle]

McEnroe went 42-0 for season start. All time streaks goes to Guillermo Vilas 46-0 in 1977. I think Novak is on 35 for the year and 37 since last year. This is also not counting three singles matches at the hopman cup which he won.