The Tennis Thread

[NakedIfIWantTo]

Nadal v Ljubucic was interesting to watch. I thought Ljubucic really had a chance, if not for his wild shots.

On the other hand Roger might just be playing his best French Open this year. He really is a piece of art.

I think this year for the ladies it's Schiavone's yet again. There just isn't anyone out there now who can beat her.

 

[Scott]

so we never touched on this? so not only has the no.1 and no.2 gone but so has zvonareva. first time in the open era that the three top seeds have bundled out. i dunno what's going on with vera. she started the season in fine form....beating wozniacki in doha and suddenly she's failed to impress stretching back to IW. i read that she and her coach parted ways in april which i'm not sure how smart that move was seeing as with him she found all her best success the last year. she's also in the process of graduating from university soon.....in fact was supposed to be working on her thesis. could explain her dip in form.

and now kvitova fell today to li na. perhaps not so surprising on paper but kvitova was one of the favourites and i just thought no one would stop her at this point. credit though li na because she has found some new momentum since hiring on a new coach prior to madrid which resulted in a nice run to the semis there as well as rome. i definitely think she has the potential to cause another ruckus this fortnight. spoiler perhaps?

btw,kuzy.....egads was she impressive. she really held her nerve after losing that first set to daniela yesterday. she turned on another gear i feel and really utilised her experience and her versatility on the clay. i heard a week prior to RG beginning that anastasia myskina has began co-coaching sveta with larisa and it could explain,like li na,why she has regained her motivation again. i'm inclined to agree with naked if i want to....i feel as strongly that the winner will likely come from that side of the draw.....whether it's sveta or frankie.

 

[Chaky]

I don't know what to think about the women's draw. My predictions (and most of the ones I've read) have been way off the mark. Men's and Women's couldn't be more different.

Women - None of the Top 4 seeds made the semis.
Men - All Top 4 seeds are in semis.

I'm not going to try and guess who will win now. I'd quite like to see Fran win again because it just seemed so unlikely before the tournament and she's so entertaining. Would be quite interesting if Bartoli took the title considering she essentially shunned the French Federation and moved to Switzerland.

Men's semis are gonna be very exciting. Hope I actually get to see some. Having to do overtime at work every day this week so I dunno.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I am hoping for a Schiavone vs. Sharapova final and a Djokovic vs. Nadal final. But I am quite interested in all of the semifinalists - should be some great tennis!

 

[Scott]

it's so weird. i've never seen it like this before. thankfully schiavone is still in it as the 5th seed. i'd love to see schiavone in the final again,at the very least. she's worked so hard in this event and has shown such tremendous resilience....down against jankovic and then down against pavlyuchenkova....and her passion is so infectious. she really does have the heart of a champ. i gotta say,no one has really truly excited me in this tournament except for schiavone.

today was a real bummer. i was expecting so much from petkovic....at least to make more of a match out of it. very disappointing. i didn't really notice a clear game-plan....no real intentions. she tried to hit with sharapova too much and frankly that does not work when maria's hitting her stride. i would have hoped as she's a little more comfortable on the clay,she would have taken advantage and perhaps did what aga did by mixing up the pace....throwing in some droppers,maybe......really expose maria's lack of mobility moving forward into the court. but i give credit to maria because her focus has not wavered yet even when she was down and out against the youngster in garcia or radwanska.

and how about li na?! not only did she take out who many considered the no.2 favourite but she takes out the no.1 in azarenka as well.

 

[Scott]

li na....spoiler,she is indeed! congrats. maria played an awful match. didn't really adjust to the wind so well and it just made her game unravel. and those last points of the match showed who was more determined to be in that final....i mean li na just took it to her and made her pay.

it's funny because thomas hogstedt(sp?)was previously coaching li na and he knew her game so well but even that could not help the fact that maria's game begins and ends with her serve.

and frankie....for all the investment the crowd had,it didn't bother her. it got a little touchy when bartoli was up in that second set but i think schiavone's slice back hand and her movement really rattled bartoli eventually. they made a very interesting point though today on our coverage.....for all the talk about how much matches are often in the hands of power players today because of her tactics,schiavone was the one controlling this match.

i love RG though. to me this is the reason why! for so much talk about the in-form players coming into RG,none made it to the final. it's been so unpredictable....even more so this season. another interesting bit.....both francesca and li na alike have not played well for much of the season since australia....only in the last couple weeks did they find a spark.....and now both are in the final of a major.

 

[jemina]

I was so sad when Novak lost

 

[YoninahAliza]

I'm looking forward to another Federer-Nadal match. They always play a great game and force each other to preform their best. However that said, it would have been nice to see Novak in the finals. He's done so well this season so it must be heartbreaking to have a record like that broken.

 

[MyNameIs]

I'm still devastated over Maria's loss. I really thought this was going to be her big comeback moment.

But at least Novak lost today, almost makes up for Maria for me. I seriously couldn't stand to hear about him, see his smug face anymore.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

^Maria played terribly. Her serves were so bad to the point that if she didn't have to serve, her chance of winning was probably higher. I didn't watch any of her previous matches, so when I saw this one I was quite surprised that she made it this far...

If Roger wins Nole will be No.1 right?
I don't mind either one of the top three winning, but I hope Roger will.

And I will be rooting for Li Na! I hope she has a few more tricks up her sleeve to go against Schiavone.

 

[purplethistle]

So happy that Li Na won

 

[Aja Mok]

Congratulations to Na Li...

 

[MyNameIs]

Congrats to Na Li! She played so well. Second half of second half was really shaky for her, but she was able to pull it together and not let Schiavone come back. Schiavone on the other hand deserves some credit for not giving up, for fighting till the end and for almost changing the game around. Both ladies played their hearts out and it was difficult to root against either of them. But I'm glad Li won simply because it was a first for China and Schiavone won last year.

 

[Chaky]

Well done to Li Na on a first Slam title and a first for an Asian player!

Her new coach seems to have helped her so much in gaining more control over her game. I can only wonder what the viewing figures were in China.

But I'm so excited for tomorrow. The Federer-Djokovic match was amazing. I was so anxious to finish work as early as I could and get home to watch. It was some vintage Federer and he played the clutch points so well.

I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Nole becomes no.1. He just has to make sure he doesn't have a big letdown after these amazing six months.

And Roger needs to make sure he brings the quality he had in the SF to the final. Winning over Nole probably felt like a final but he has a huge task to get the title.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

I'm over the moon
I was literally screaming and kicking the whole way through, except during that little scare in the second set...We were dead quiet I thought if Li Na lost it there she'd have had to lose the match too because Schiavone would have gained momentum. I honestly did not expect Na to win!!! She probably played her best tennis I've ever seen.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Sad both Maria and Nole lost. Nole was gracious as usual and Fed had very nice things to say about him and the match in his interview.

But huge congrats to Li Na: very big win for her and her country.

Normally I wouldn't give Fed a chance versus Nadal on clay at RG, but I think it might happen tomorrow? Never know.

Hope it is a good match either way.

 

[Scott]

great final today! li na....making so much history today. incredible triumph. beautiful performance. what i want to know is,how the devil she was able to out-manouveur and out-duel schiavone on clay.....and even outwitting her at net,at that?

i'm loving this new relationship she has with the danish fed cup captain. did you know that piotr wozniacki is actually responsible for hooking them up? one would think he would like to have him on caro's team now. actually i hope he continues working with li na because her form has blossomed tremendously since they began working together before madrid.

 

[Chaky]

Well I'm not miserable after Roger's defeat. He had his chances. Made too many errors on big points. I do wonder how it would have turned out if he'd manage to get that set point at 5-2 in the 1st. Still, the signs are very encouraging going into the grass season. He had a fantastic Roland Garros and the defeat of Novak was really top drawer stuff.

And a nod to the champ: Rafa is truly the King of Clay. Quite amazing!

 

[tigerrouge]

There's no shame in losing to Rafa on a clay court, even when your name is Roger Federer. Nadal reigns supreme on that surface.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

I disagree, to a degree anyhow, that Roger and Rafa make each other play their best. Often, Rafa forces Roger to play badly, or not his best. Rafa is really Roger's "boss" on the court in an indirect way: he forces Fed to make mistakes and go for too much. And now with a H2H of 17-8 and slam finals 6-2, he really has a strong lead in their rivalry. Of course, I realize the clay factor slants all that though.

It will be VERY interesting to see what happens at Wimbledon though. Lots of drama heading in, on both the womens and mens sides.