The Tennis Thread

[Scott]

^they're actually now suggesting nole could now possibly start competing for martina navratilova's whopping 74 match win streak!

 

[purplethistle]

I think that's a bit premature. But 74 matches in a row Just quickly looked her up on wiki, have to say that those stats blow Federer and Nadal out of the water.

 

[Scott]

^i have to say that blows everybody out of the water martina....love her or hate her....that warrants respect. it's a little bit surprising too given that she had chrissy to contend with for much of the 80's.

 

[Chaky]

Stunning effort from Nole to beat Rafa in the Rome final. After his exertions against Murray yesterday I didn't think he had it in him. It's almost unbelievable.

How soon until he's #1?

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Wow - NOVAK! He has been amazing and Nadal didn't really have the answers today. Then there was the excellent effort from Murray this clay season, with close matches versus Rafa and Nole (extremely close, that), and Fed's been playing better too. Should be a great French Open.

I was pleased to see Sharapova win today and get back in the mix. Imagine if she won the FO: she'd complete the career slam, owning all four!

 

[japoelflaco]

How soon until he's #1?

I wish I could bet about that one, but I think he needs to win the next 2 grand slams and if its against another player other than Rafa it´s gonna be easier and faster to win the points that Rafa looses in the way.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

This is what I read re: rankings:If Rafa doesn't win the French Open again this year, even if Novak loses early on, he will be number 1. If Rafa and Nole play in the final at the FO, and even if Rafa wins, Novak will be number 1. So he is close, very close. The thing is, Rafa cannot gain any points; he has 3 slams to defend, FO, Wimbledon, and USO, or he loses points. Novak will be in the same position next year, of course, as he will have to defend this insane streak, so even if he gets number 1 this year, he is likely to lose it next year.

There is a change in tennis right now, in that it is unlikely 2 players will dominate as they have, and thus it will allow other players not only to compete for slam titles but to shoot for number 1 too. Players like Delpotro, Murray and possibly even Soderling are in the mix, if they do well, consistently.

 

[amore per moda]

This is what I read re: rankings:If Rafa doesn't win the French Open again this year, even if Novak loses early on, he will be number 1. If Rafa and Nole play in the final at the FO, and even if Rafa wins, Novak will be number 1.

Correct.


The current rankings, after Rome, stand at:

Nadal 12,070
Djokovic 11,665

Rafa gained maximum points at RG last year (2000) and Nole lost in the quarters (360). So, if we take away their RG points, the rankings stand at:

Nadal 10,070
Djokovic 11,305

As you can see, Nole is ahead already. Coming runner-up would give him 1200 points, so he'll then have 12,505 points and Rafa will still have 12,070 points if he wins. If Rafa loses to Nole in the final, the rankings will stand at:

Nadal 11,270
Djokovic 13,305

It's basically a lose-lose situation for Rafa and totally out of his hands. The best scenario for him would be if Nole loses early or merely defends his points. If he gets past the quarters but loses in the semis, there will be only 45 POINTS between them. It's that close!

But regardless of how amazing Nole is playing right now, attempting to beat Rafa at Roland Garros, in a best-of-5 match, is probably the single most difficult task in tennis. He may have beaten him b2b in clay masters finals, but Rafael Nadal is... well, Rafael Nadal. He'll bounce back. I wouldn't expect anything less from the man.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

True, Rafa in best of five, especially on clay, is a tall tall ask. I think if Novak were to do it, it would have to be in straight sets.

Wimbledon is a different story, though; I think Rafa is more beatable on that surface. And of course, hard court follows.

Lots to which to look forward to with all these great players suddenly finding some good form - much more exciting than last year. Although Rafa's run of form was outrageously good!

 

[amore per moda]

^ Yes, Nole would absolutely have to do it in straights. If it went 1 set all or 2 sets all, you'd be foolish to bet against Rafa, imo.

And while I agree with you that Rafa is more beatable on grass than clay (duh!), he's still the man to beat at Wimbledon. Federer's in the mix, too. Nole is obviously in there, but his movement isn't as good on grass; his sliding works against him.

We shall see.

 

[Scott]

you know,i would say maria would be a favourite but given her most recent history it may be a little too precocious. and there are no favourites in essence anyway right now. with the state of the game and no real stand out and the no.1 having been so beatable the last weeks,there's a lot of strong contenders but no clear-cut favourites.

i will say i am rooting for sam stosur. even though she lost today things could definitely have a different aura once she steps onto the grounds she had all her success last year. definitely still a potential champ. and we all know this time of year tends to be so unpredictable. also kvitova,she's somebody i'm looking forward to seeing as well. i love her game. she's like a lefty version of mary pierce.

but egads,doesn't this current state of the women's game make you miss dementieva and henin? both certainly picked the worst times to decide to retire. alas....

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Oh yes, forgot Kvitova; she is something else! Her go-for-broke style means she could win it all or lose first round. But she is exciting to watch; I'd love to see her make a run at a slam.

Re: grass, I think both Andys R & M could be threats at Wimbledon and maybe Raonic?! Or is Roddick done? Hmmmm... not sure.

 

[Chaky]

but egads,doesn't this current state of the women's game make you miss dementieva and henin? both certainly picked the worst times to decide to retire. alas....

Ah, if only Justine hadn't been injured. She could have cleaned up this year.

But Dementieva, well she would have had a shot, but knowing her would have found a way to mess it up!

Kim has confirmed she's playing but who knows what form she'll be in.

I'm mildly surprised at Sharapova's Rome win but given the state of the women's game right now perhaps it's not so surprising. I'm not so sure she would have beaten Azarenka if she didn't have to retire so a touch lucky.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Tennis + Fashion: why not?! Here are a few shots of Nole modeling at Cannes in the Fashion for Relief show (in support of Japan, of course

Photos via Novak Djokovic's Official website

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

Looking good.
Did he ever model in underwear? I thought I saw him on tv the other day.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Yep, he did so at a fashion show in Montreal. Here are some pics of Nole and his girl Jelena on the red carpet:

Daylife.com

 

[Chaky]

Thoughts on the first day of Roland Garros?

I'm still not totally convinced by these Sunday starts. The atmosphere is not quite there yet. Maybe it's because they didn't schedule any of the top 5 seeds today.

Ferrer played well and looked like he was in a hurry. Tsonga had no troubles. But what's happening with Marin Cilic? He was the rising star not too long ago. Is he struggling with the weight of expectation?

For the women, Pennetta and Peer are gone. Stosur went through easily. There was a lot of focus on Julia Goerges as a dark horse contender but I wonder if her inexperience going deep into slams will hold her back. She was good in the first set today and then made hard work of it in the second set.

Most of the commentators here spent a long time talking about the new Babolat balls. The consensus seems to be that they are harder, shoot through the court faster and don't take spin as well. Bad news for Nadal, good for Djokovic and Federer.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Yeah, I have read a bit about the babolats: Could favour big hitters and servers, which seems weird for clay! But also read they bounce high, so that may work with topspin, and thus for Rafa.

 

[Scott]

yeah i'm not liking the sound of this either. to me it seems like it's taking the spirit of the pure clay game out of the clay courts....turning them into,essentially,slower HC,like at australia. then again,they said it also depends on the conditions....if they remain warm and dry as it is now,that combination will surely benefit the bigger hitters. it does anyhow,i believe. but if it rains and the surface gets heavier it could change the pace in an instant. the thing about nadal though is that he's able to generate enough power in his shot-making it maybe compensates for his use of spin. so he may still do fairly well,nevertheless. the one that perhaps this may not bode well for,ultimately,is probably schiavone. she had a very emphatic win over oudin this morning but it'll be more telling once she faces probably say pavlyuchenkova or farther in zvonareva.

 

[purplethistle]

The match is still going at this point but Isner took a set off Nadal Well I'll have to wait till morning to see what is to become of this match.