The Tennis Thread

[NakedIfIWantTo]

Great match to end the year!

 

[Scott]

big awards week for the women--

kimmy was honoured as player of the year(surprisingly i thought it would be serena since she won wimby)as well as the player service award,which is voted on by the players. frannie was honoured as most improved player of the year. no surprise there as she went from just a long-time top 20 player a year ago to a major champ. talk about improvement. and to cap off a lustrous and exciting career,elena dementieva was honoured once again with the sportsmanship award. sharapova was given the humanitarian award. flavia and gisela got the doubles team of the year. i thought that one might have gone to shvedova and vania king actually.

outside the wta realm,sam stosur was honoured with the inaugural newcombe medal at the aussie tennis awards as player of the year. no surprise there,really. she's out shined everybody. having said that,it really puts what she's done into perspective. i mean,honestly,who would have ever thought we would foresee this three years ago?

 

[miu_miu]

And congrats to Serbia for their first Davis Cup
So great for Serbia, for Nole who just missed out on slams this year and for Viktor who played an incredible 5th rubber, it was a really inspired performance. Disappointing for France but they are a good team and I think will have other chances but I'm really happy with this result

 

[ckgirlbr]

I'm watching Agassi x Guga.
Exciting match!

 

[purplethistle]

Already can't wait for the Aus. Open. Seems like the top 100 men are all fit, and 98 or the top 100 women are fit. This should then make the competition really interesting.

 

[purplethistle]

Don't know if anyone else has or can watch the Hopman cup in Perth but it was great seeing Justine in action. I just love her backhand and a quick movement around the court.

 

[Chaky]

I'd like to watch some but the time difference isn't good for me. I'm excited about Justine coming back but she still sounds mildly concerned about her elbow.

 

[Scott]

yeah she still sounds pretty cautious about the elbow at this juncture. still if we haven't learned anything from juju,sometimes she has this way of kind of minimizing her chances yet somehow managing to play extremely well,even still....kind of like last year's AO i'm not reading as much into her comments though--personally i think she's partially trying to shield expectation so she'll play loose. with her run last year and serena out,many people have been saying juju is certainly a pick for this year's title.

btw,awfully excited for jelena dokic too. she did very well in the play-offs(even though she collapsed in the final after that lengthy rain delay) which subsequently allowed her the discretionary w/c for AO. she and glen schaap really seem to be on the right path with her game and her fitness. just some little things i would hope he will continue to work on,particularly her focus in long,tight matches. but i am really hoping she can make another impacting run as she did in '09.....that would be wonderful to see.

 

[Chaky]

Yeah a Dokic run would be cool to see again. She plays today in Brisbane so we can maybe gauge where she's at against tougher opponents.

 

[purplethistle]

I also hope that Dokic has a good run at the A/O this year as well.

Now I want to catch some of Mahut and Isner in action

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

What's happening with Serena? And why is Wozniacki World No.1?

 

[purplethistle]

Monfils is playing pretty average tennis. Hoping that he can win the third set, otherwise he'll be packing his bags.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

Wow Sharapova got off on a horrible start. Fortunately she's through.

 

[purplethistle]

Yay for Dokic getting through to 2nd round.

 

[Chaky]

Yeah good to see Dokic winning. Apparently she split from her coach a couple of days ago.

Watched some highlights of Roger's match and he looks to be playing extremely well.

I didn't see any of Justine's match but things were looking a bit ropey for a while there. I hope she can get into some good form and get far in this tourny.

Anyone watch the Rally for Relief? How about Roger and Rafa as a doubles partnership!

 

[purplethistle]

^ I thought Kim and Sam was a pretty good match too.

 

[Chaky]

Absolutely! They won! The ping-pong tennis was definitely a good match-up.

 

[Scott]

i was just going to ask that myself! kimmy and sammy whooped roger and rafa! how about they as a doubles team too? or sam and roger as a mixed team? that match conjured up a lot of ideas....

and yeah hurrah for jelena indeed. had no idea about the split from schaap though. i wonder if that's a good thing or not because he's done so much with her in such a short period. and since the qualies,he's been been kind of riding her about staying focused,so possibly some stubbornness on her part(which is not a shocking quality from a tennis player,let's be honest)which rendered some differences.

yeah i fell asleep before juju's match and i'm glad she got through. sania mirza has actually started to play a bit better of late. hope juju though will have some easier rounds to come though.

all in all,were you all bored by first day's action? especially the so-called highlight matches that were scheduled on laver. i kind of was to be honest. they should have put schiavone there instead of sharapova....her match went the distance.

 

[purplethistle]

^ I agree that yesterday was a bit boring, for me it was more like read a book and having the tennis in the background. Unfortunately for me when the big guns like Federer, Nadal, Djokovic etc. play the early rounds its usually a walk over match that makes it less emotionally excited despite their brilliant shots. The only exciting matches was Monfils vs. Thiemo de Bakker coming from two sets down and Wickmayer vs. Groth.

I'm shocked that Davydenko got knocked already.

Though day two seems more exciting at least on paper that should be the case. Can't wait to see Sam and Kim in their respective matches.

 

[Chaky]

Anyone missed Radwanska's racquet troubles? Her deadpan reaction is priceless.


I managed to catch Kim vs Dinara before work this morning. What a beatdown! Kim wasn't wasting any time. It's sad to see a talent like Dinara in such a poor form.

Pretty easy for Rafa too. Hard to say how well he's playing when his opponent is injured and can barely win a point.

I'm surprised to see Ana Ivanovic out in R1. She seemed to have a decent lead-up and was talking positively about her chances.

And I missed the epic Hewitt vs Nalbandian encounter but I had the livescores on at work. Seemed almost destined to go the distance this one. Just wish the other guy won.