The Tennis Thread

[purplethistle]

Earlier today Serena had a bit of a scare, rolling her ankle after she had taken tapping off. Commentators just said that Serena has been told to stay off her ankle so I think she has withdrawn even though she won the match. I hope she'll be fine for AO even though I find her personality slightly irritating at times.

Can't believe that Sam was knocked out. She was playing unusually bad. She could hardly hold her own serve and had a lot of trouble to even win points against Benesova.

 

[purplethistle]

Sorry 'bout the double post but does anyone else find what Bethanie Mattek-sands' tennis attire really irritating. Right now she's got blue hair, bright yellow stringy headband, black sweatbands and black paint under the eyes NFL style, fushia pink top, white skirt and knee high socks and shoes that look like

so the effect is like she's wearing these boots

hitek-webstore and wuspba

 

[Scott]

^sometimes its fine but there are times when it veers toward total absurdity. i like bethanie and i like competitive spirit but i like her most when her quirkiness is subtle.

concur with you all about kvitova. i am so on the czech's bandwagon now. after searching so long for that player after my sentimental faves retired her game really excites me....and i love her attitude and her poise.

 

[purplethistle]

I everyone else I'm also on the Kvitova bandwagon.

Might be a bit premature but I think Grigor Dimitrov will be a future tennis player to look out for. Watching him is like watching a Federer in the making. The commentators at the Hopman cup and supposedly other insiders, have been saying that Dimitrov's skills are already better than Federer's at the same age. But I guess at the end of the day its one thing to have the skills an another thing to actually live up to them.

 

[Scott]

after the attitude showcased by the wta toward those that opted to play hopman cup and hopman cup in general,seems that it's all come back to bite them on the bum. with serena withdrawing,sam being ousted early,and today kim retiring in her match and the bigger the names all out early. as much as i hate it for brisbane specifically,i can't help feeling a bit of redemption for they treated those girls with those absurd fines.

meanwhile,very pleased to see kaia kanepi having such a fantastic event. after taking out schiavone today following stellar victories over petkovic and and dominant performance over pavlyuchenkova,she's in her second premier final since moscow and really in my eyes looks like the favorite to win it. hope this is a good sign for her season.

 

[Chaky]

Roger withdrew before his Doha semi as well. Only the second time he's pulled out mid-tournament in his career. I'm sure a lot of these are precautionary.

It's bad for the tour because the Aussie Open is so early on that these tournies like Doha, Brisbane and Sydney suffer a lot of withdrawals (or strategic tanking ).

Who benefits? Daniela Hantuchova by the looks of it. Walkover against Serena and Clijsters' retirement.

I noticed Kaia had some good results early in the week. Wasn't at all surprised to see her beat Petkovic and I'm thinking she'll probably get the title. A good pick for a dark horse for the Open?

 

[Scott]

i think she'll get the title too. i watched a repeat of the matches later in the day and daniela is still rather wobbly even though she got a huge break. she had so many opportunities to take that first handily.

but it's nice to see kanepi back on form after some horrible months out with injury after RG last year. kaia has really impressed me the last couple years.....not only is she much fitter and stronger now,she moves better and her serve has become an incredible force--in power and in variety. her return game has improved immensely as well. and she's not going for broke on every single shot like she used to.....she's really playing the points.

 

[MyNameIs]

Oh no! Watching Dolgopolov/Simon match right now. Dolgopolov started out really strong, playing some of his best tennis. Won the first set. And now he's getting medical treatment. Ugh. Hope it's not serious.

 

[purplethistle]

Watching Kanepi and Hantuchova right now. It's always painful watching Hantuchova play. She has great variety but seems to always squander all her chances and then everything fizzles into nothing.

Kvitova on the other hand just won a match against Bartoli. In the first set Kvitova clawed her way into the match from 3-5 (maybe it was 3-4, can't remember as I have a headache) to go on and win 7-5 6-1. I really hope she wins the diamond encrusted silver tennis ball.

 

[Scott]

^no you're right. after being even bartoli broke petra's serve for the first time and held to go up 5/3 but petra immediately raised her level to get back even and won that opening set. this is what i love about this young woman. although she can have her lapses,i am so impressed with how she's able to recover. and the sign of a champion is always the one who can raise their level. but even though kvitova won when it counted bartoli tough valiantly as she always does and i commend her for that. i think ultimately she couldn't combat that onslaught anymore and looked a bit frazzled by the end of it. congrats to the czech's!

and congrats to kaia kanepi.....she thrashed hantuchova today. must be elated to have this so soon after that heartbreaking loss in moscow. hopefully this will propel her in the same manner brisbane did for petra kvitova last season.

 

[Chaky]

I must admit I stayed up really late last night to watch a livestream from Hobart. It was the return of Anna Chakvetadze to the Tour after an injury/illness-hit 2011 and she was playing 3rd seed Niculescu.

And amazingly she won 6-0 6-4! Not bad for your first match in six months. Better than I could have hoped for.

Anna needs to pick up some points early on in the season before her injury-protected special ranking priveleges run out. She's defending a 2nd round at AO so she might need some luck on her side too.

 

[Chaky]

Oh no! Watching Dolgopolov/Simon match right now. Dolgopolov started out really strong, playing some of his best tennis. Won the first set. And now he's getting medical treatment. Ugh. Hope it's not serious.

Murray won Brisbane final against Dolgopolov 6-1 6-3 so good start for the Murray/Lendl partnership. But yeah, add Dolgo to the injury list.

"I couldn't move much on my right leg," admitted Dolgopolov. "It was tough to go right and push from it. I just tried to do my best and still stay on the court because the stadium was full and you don't want to pull out of something like that."

 

[MyNameIs]

Yeah you could tell he wasn't 100%. The worst part is that it not only jeopardizes his run at AO but rest of season too. And just when he was starting to hit his stride.
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[Not Plain Jane]

I have a feeling Murray might be a force this year. Lendl will be good for him.

Dolgo is an interesting player, but in a way it might've been a better final had Simon won their semi, since Dolgo injured himself in that match.

Tomic and Raonic also showing tons of potential.

I could be mistaken, but it is beginning to feel like "Fedal" domination is well and truly over. I am not saying they won't still win slams, they are both too good not to, but it finally feels like Nole, Andy, and maybe Tsonga and Delpotro will be serious contenders for slams. Personally I am glad for it. 26 slams between two players was too long/many of the same people winning the biggest events.

As for the ladies, it's almost the exact opposite. I guess the Williams sisters have been dominant at slams, but even in there, there were occasional other winners to mix things up. But now there is almost no consistency. I suspect Kvitova will change that. She could be a superstar. She is very close to taking over number one now.

 

[purplethistle]

Tomic beat Berdych at Kooyong in three sets in fairly windy conditions. He really is one to watch, twice beaten top 10 players at atp events and twice beaten top ten players at non-atp events (that I'm aware of).

Today Kvitova is playing like there is no wind. A set up, 6-0, against Hantuchova and already broken serve in the second set. The thing is, Hantuchova isn't playing badly. The commentator just said that Kvitova is like a left handed Serena William's when she's switched on, and I whole heartedly agree with that statement.

 

[Scott]

^i've been saying that for many months now. she really does remind me of a young serena. people keep bringing up davenport and pierce when comparing her and certainly in the weight of her shot but that sheer power and being able to hit from any place in the court and her desire to win. the only thing i see differently between the two is that kvitova at her age has developed so much more dimension and finesse than serena did when she was that young. for all the talk about her power she doesn't get enough credit for her versatility. and it's scary to think that she can and will likely get even better in these coming years.

btw,yeaaa for aga radwanska today! she got a bit of revenge over wozniacki beating her emphatically 6/2 in the third set. talk about a player who's improved so much.....aga radwanska has become a completely different player in matter of months. she hired on a new team after wimbledon and it's transformed her. still has her feel but she's playing with a lot more aggression and even has a few more MPH's on her shots now. i even think her serve has improved a great deal.

 

[Chaky]

Petkovic another one out with an injury: stress fracture in her lower back. She'll drop QF Aussie Open points.

On the positive side, Anna has won her first two matches back. Plays Peer next.

 

[Scott]

it doesn't sound too good from petko. it probably explains her poor results at the moment. hopefully it's not quite as serious as it sounds.....back injuries frighten me,in general. especially unfortunate after everything she went through late last year with the knee injury and rehabbing that. but yeah she's already lost finalist points from brisbane and now QF points from AO.

i think petko's issues are with how she plays. her game is very mechanical.....her body always looks a little too stiff and it may have caused the injury. mainly as she's now a top player. she really needs to work on loosening up and playing with a bit more fluidity in her movement and how she opens up her body on shots.

 

[Scott]

too bad for kvitova today. i think being inundated by all the no.1 drama may have crept into her thoughts as she was so close to the finish. and i haven't seen the kind of emotional display she's showcased in that match in a long. now that it's over i really hope she can just forget about this match and no.1 and regain her focus for the AO. this loss changes nothing for me.....she's still a cut above everybody else at the moment and her prospects are still at pretty favorable.

and credit to li na for staying tough and elevating her game the way she did. she's actually having a nice start to the season and is in her second straight sydney final.

 

[Chaky]

Didn't see the Kvitova match unfortunately. I really want her to become the new #1 but it would have been so much better if both her and Wozniacki had made it to the final. The added drama would have been fantastic. Given that wasn't going to happen perhaps it's more fun if the #1 ranking is up for grabs at the AO.

Anna Chakvetadze was a set up today against Shahar Peer when she starting cramping in her leg. She ended up retiring at the start of the third set. At least it's not a major injury but her comeback this week has been immensely encouraging.