The Tennis Thread

[Karen0193]

Congratulations Rafa and wimbledon is next

 

[Scott]

okay so i awoke this morning not only to see that frannie indeed jumped to no.6 but also flavia was back in the top 10 again as well. unfortunately,i expect,it came at the expense of dinara and sveta's tumble out of the top 10 but still pretty extraordinary how present these two have become....how they've represented italy in a way we've not seen in our lifetimes i'm sure.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

Poor Dinara! So far this year hasnt been good for her.

 

[Scott]

so lindsay is returning this summer to play a couple california events with liezel huber. but insists she's not coming back,only playing for fun.

and speaking of not coming back,i just read through a twitter post on SI during RG,that mary pierce is healthy but made mention that she is not planning to return to tennis.

that makes me wonder now about jennifer? we haven't heard anything since 2007.

wouldn't it be great though to have these veterans back again though? with kim winning US Open,serena and now frannie winning RG and sam stosur doing so incredibly well....it's really been the two seasons of the veteran players.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

^I know! We're not seeing 17 year olds winning grand slams so much anymore.

 

[Scott]

^and now billie jean king is saying that following this summer's WTT that she thinks martina hingis may come back to play doubles.

i certainly don't see why not. i mean martina is still only 29 and she owns 9 majors in doubles.

 

[in the miso soup]

i can't believe i missed this thread all the years i've been posting here!!!
i am a tennis fanatic and watch almost every tournament (at least a match or two).
been playing myself since i was 8
really looking forward to sw19!!!

my favorite player to watch growing up was agassi. out of current players, my fave is NALBANDIAN!! but i also love to watch roger, rafa, almagro, del potro, blake, davydenko, gulbis, baghdatis, djokovic, etc etc etc. i have a lot of favorites. looking forward to posting here everybody!!!

 

[Chaky]

Hey miso, glad you found us. Tennis has a nice little following on tfs.

I'm really looking forward to Wimbledon now it's so close. I'm gonna be there on Monday.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

^Wow so happy for you!!

 

[Scott]

chaky,if you or miu miu(if you're attending??) happen to catch grace jones there again this year please don't hesitate with the camera

are you planning to bring one because it would be nice to see some candids perhaps?

sad news though about wimby....lena withdrew. i kind of expected it to happen given she retired at RG but still sad thinking about the performance she gave last year.

 

[miu_miu]

I'll go for a couple of days hopefully, I usually decide based on the OOP & always have a camera at the ready Will try and get some good stuff and fingers crossed we have good weather for two weeks and lots of exciting matches.

We never discussed it but how about Lleyton beating Roger in the Halle final on sunday? Dare to dream Andy Roddick

Here are the seeds!

EVENT 1 : Gentlemen's Singles
Roger FEDERER (SUI) [1] 1
Rafael NADAL (ESP) [2] 2
Novak DJOKOVIC (SR [3] 3
Andy MURRAY (GBR) [4] 4
Andy RODDICK (USA) [5] 5
Robin SODERLING (SWE) [6] 6
Nikolay DAVYDENKO (RUS) [7] 7
Fernando VERDASCO (ESP) [8] 8
David FERRER (ESP) [9] 9
Jo-Wilfried TSONGA (FRA) [10] 10
Marin CILIC (CRO) [11] 11
Tomas BERDYCH (CZE) [12] 12
Mikhail YOUZHNY (RUS) [13] 13
Juan Carlos FERRERO (ESP) [14] 14
Lleyton HEWITT (AUS) [15] 15
Jurgen MELZER (AUT) [16] 16
Ivan LJUBICIC (CRO) [17] 17
Sam QUERREY (USA) [18] 18
Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP) [19] 19
Stanislas WAWRINKA (SUI) [20] 20
Gael MONFILS (FRA) [21] 21
Radek STEPANEK (CZE) [22] 22
Feliciano LOPEZ (ESP) [23] 23
John ISNER (USA) [24] 24
Ivo KARLOVIC (CRO) [25] 25
Marcos BAGHDATIS (CYP) [26] 26
Thomaz BELLUCCI (BRA) [27] 27
Gilles SIMON (FRA) [28] 28
Ernests GULBIS (LAT) [29] 29
Albert MONTANES (ESP) [30] 30
Philipp KOHLSCHREIBER (GER) [31] 31
Tommy ROBREDO (ESP) [32] 32


EVENT 3 : Ladies' Singles
Serena WILLIAMS (USA) [1] 1
Venus WILLIAMS (USA) [2] 2
Caroline WOZNIACKI (DEN) [3] 3
Jelena JANKOVIC (SR [4] 4
Francesca SCHIAVONE (ITA) [5] 5
Samantha STOSUR (AUS) [6] 6
Agnieszka RADWANSKA (POL) [7] 7
Kim CLIJSTERS (BEL) [8] 8
Na LI (CHN) [9] 9
Flavia PENNETTA (ITA) [10] 10
Marion BARTOLI (FRA) [11] 11
Nadia PETROVA (RUS) [12] 12
Shahar PEER (ISR) [13] 13
Victoria AZARENKA (BLR) [14] 14
Yanina WICKMAYER (BEL) [15] 15
Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) [16] 16
Justine HENIN (BEL) [17] 17
Aravane REZAI (FRA) [18] 18
Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS) [19] 19
Dinara SAFINA (RUS) [20] 20
Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS) [21] 21
Maria Jose MARTINEZ SANCHEZ (ESP) [22] 22
Jie ZHENG (CHN) [23] 23
Daniela HANTUCHOVA (SVK) [24] 24
Lucie SAFAROVA (CZE) [25] 25
Alisa KLEYBANOVA (RUS) [26] 26
Maria KIRILENKO (RUS) [27] 27
Alona BONDARENKO (UKR) [28] 28
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) [29] 29
Yaroslava SHVEDOVA (KAZ) [30] 30
Alexandra DULGHERU (ROU) [31] 31
Sara ERRANI (ITA) [32] 32

Draw is out on friday

 

[Scott]

i know i complain about this every year but i'm not liking that the women's seedings are placed reflective of the ranks but they gave roger the no.1 seeding. i mean i understand why they did that for him being a defending champ and everything but they couldn't throw justine a bone being a two time finalist as well as making a comeback? they could have at least seeded her 9th or 10th or possibly higher given she's the only person other than serena and venus to win more majors. they certainly obliged one to venus a couple years ago when her ranking had fallen into the 30's.

 

[Chaky]

We never discussed it but how about Lleyton beating Roger in the Halle final on sunday? Dare to dream Andy Roddick

I watched that match. Roger had his chances to break in the second set. I think he had 3 BPs at 4-4 but Lleyton held on. Pretty unexpected result but I like Hewitt so I'm happy for him. For Roger, I guess more people will say this is the beginning of the end but I think repeat this match-up at Wimbledon and Roger would come out on top. He brings his best stuff for the slams.

 

[Chaky]

i know i complain about this every year but i'm not liking that the women's seedings are placed reflective of the ranks but they gave roger the no.1 seeding.

They do it like this every year don't they? The women always go on the rankings. The men are done with a formula agreed with the ATP where they add 100% of grass court results from the last 12 months (including Queen's and Halle) plus 75% of the points from the best grass court result of the year before last. Rafa didn't play any grass court events last year so Roger overtakes him. The biggest beneficiary is Hewitt who jumps up to #15.

I'll definitely be bringing my camera (Grace Jones, really?). I always take tons of pics but I'm quite bad at sorting and sharing them. I've got loads from last year I never picked through. Got some of Dementieva.

 

[Scott]

^and that includes the results at wimby,yes? it's a weird system and i know even the women are allowed the same circumstance of moving seeds around if they see fit so to me it feels biased.

so that means justine will undoubtedly play a high seed early on.

as for pics....yeah apparently grace is there every year and i love that woman. she's just cool. even cooler now being a fan of tennis. she was at sveta's match last year as well as the one with francesca against that de brito girl who shrieks louder than sharapova....shouting outloud "mamma mia"

anyway if you can that would be brill. and if you can spot my other fave flavia

 

[Chaky]

Yes it includes Wimby 09. I found this on another website which spells it out:

Federer currently has 8,525 ranking points but gets to add 2,150 points in grass court results from the past 12 months (2000 for winning Wimbledon ’09 and 150 for being runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt in Halle, Germany, on Sunday). He also adds 75% of the 1,200 (900 points) points he received for being Wimbledon runner-up to Nadal in ’08.


Nadal, who has 8,745 ranking points, gets to add 45 points for reaching the quarter-finals of Queen’s Club in London last week and 75% of the 2,000 (1,500 points) he received for winning Wimbledon in ’08. He did not play any grass court events in 2009 because of knee problems.


So Federer’s adjusted points total by the Wimbledon system is 11,575, and Nadal’s is 10,290.

I think if the seeding committee wanted to do the same with the women they'd have to agree it with the WTA and that hasn't happened so they always go on entry ranking.

 

[colourmepretty]

Yeah, I think the Wimbledon ranking is fine. I mean, Rafa got the top spot last year but had to withdraw due to his knee injury. The whole point system is so confusing. But, I'm really excited for Wimbledon---especially since French Open was kind of a let down.

Who are people rooting for?!

I'm rooting for:
Women's: Sharapova but I think Serena Williams might take this one.
Men's: Federer; I think he has a great shot at it.

 

[Scott]

^for me on the women's side,i'm rooting for sam stosur(i hope she can transition and use her tremendous kick serve and volleying),kimmy and hoping frannie might make it through deep. with her attacking style,on grass,she should be a delight to watch. but i have a feeling venus might take it this year considering how well she's played this season. she's actually outperformed serena despite the latter winning the aus open.

on the men's side,like RG for rafa,it would be hard predicting anyone against roger but like miu miu pointed out,he did lose last week in halle to lleyton and in general he's been looking rather vulnerable. so for me it's up in the air and depends on his draw.

 

[colourmepretty]

That's true.


Henin will also come out fighting for this one. Stosur was very impressive wasn't she? I have a feeling the loss at Rolland Garros will effect her though.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

agree with Scott on the predictions.