The Tennis Thread

[kournikov]

Well Madrid wants to keep things interesting, players are always going to complain about something...especially Novak

 

[Scott]

yeah well the thing is it isn't just novak merely complaining needlessly,it's quite a few of the players saying it's playing differently. even sharapova who rarely says much in the way of criticism says the courts are slippery. from her perspective she felt it was more in the way of the amount of clay they're using that makes it feel that way. in other words,it's not nearly as heavy as red clay. and i got that sense from simply watching it on tv.....i noticed the players are able to penetrate the courts here more than the usual red dirt standard.

and already,we've seen and heard about more tumbles on this court than i ever do on red clay,particularly from players that generally move well on clay.

 

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[Scott]

The Tennis Thread

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what a disappointing performance from lena. and so handily too. i just think juju is in her head and she just can't purge it.

btw,there was a bit of news last week during IW that sort of went unheard....nicole vaidisova retired from tennis and is marrying radek stepanek in july. i have to be honest,i am not terribly surprised by this news. her focus for the last two years has been so far and away from tennis,i would have expected it would have been sooner.

 

[Scott]

yeah well the thing is it isn't just novak merely complaining needlessly,it's quite a few of the players saying it's playing differently. even sharapova who rarely says much in the way of criticism says the courts are slippery. from her perspective she felt it was more in the way of the amount of clay they're using that makes it feel that way. in other words,it's not nearly as heavy as red clay. and i got that sense from simply watching it on tv.....i noticed the players are able to penetrate the courts here more than the usual red dirt standard.

and already,we've seen and heard about more tumbles on this court than i ever do on red clay,particularly from players that generally move well on clay.

 

[Chaky]

Interesting contrast to Nole in comments made today by Rafa:

"If I lose here it's because I'm not as good as I should be, not because of the courts."

Apparently he also said that he asked the ATP if he could play with grass court shoes in Madrid and they said no because there's a rule in place forbidding it. According to Darren Cahill if the court is at all damp, grass court shoes will mess it up.

I haven't had an opportunity to watch too much from Madrid yet. But I have seen numerous comments complaining about the extreme lack of TV coverage for the women's event. Supposedly having a combined tournament will bring benefits to both but clearly to the tournament organisers (who partially fund the TV coverage) the women are just a sideshow here. World no. 1 Azarenka is playing right now versus Ana Ivanovic and there's not a single TV camera on them. It just shouldn't happen at a tournament of this size. You get better coverage of a $50k!

 

[Scott]

that's true! i've wondering why we haven't been seeing as equal coverage like we normally have in previous years. i wake up in the mornings and all i see are men's matches on for hours till the end. they have vika,serena and the like on live and they're broadcasting some lower-ranked male player. and i agree with you,the regrettable of all,is that this is the women's third biggest tournament outside the majors and they only have one more later in the season. i just wonder if the wta is even aware of this? they'd have to be,no? especially if everyone is conveying their grievances like you say.

 

[Chaky]

So Rafa lost to Verdasco from 5-2 up in the third set. Interesting comments in his presser, slightly contradicting what he said yesterday. He gave props to Nando but said about the surface, "If it continues like this, next year there will be one less tournament in my calendar." And "It's like Cincinnati playing on grass before the US Open."

Sore loser or valid point?

Having watched some more matches there it's obvious some of the players really don't like it. Djokovic is having a terrible time and said he'd like to wear football boots. Federer was serve-volleying against Raonic because he said he wasn't comfortable back around the baseline.

Seems Ion Tiriac acknowledges it's too slippery and says it will be fixed, but the blue clay is staying and he wants fluorescent balls for next year!

i just wonder if the wta is even aware of this? they'd have to be,no? especially if everyone is conveying their grievances like you say.

I'm sure they are making the argument. But a lot of it is down to the tournament. There is a lot of money there but they spent it on the courts, not on getting the TV cameras in! I don't think it helps that there isn't a really big-name Spanish player on the WTA. The locals aren't interested. It probably doesn't help that Madrid schedules all the women's matches to take place over lunch.

 

[Scott]

you know,i think yesterday he simply wanted to suppress his frustrations and concentrate less on the controversy. to be honest,they didn't seem genuine.....i still thought given the consistency of the days prior his feeling was very much the same.

as for tiriac....oh dear. is this guy's ideals completely shallow or what? he's so concerned about aesthetics yet completely ignores the very reason he has a thriving top tourney in the first place....the players. not only does he spend money needlessly on mere aesthetics and now can't afford camera's for others and now he's talking about changing the ball color? at this rate,he may not have a thriving tournament if he keeps spending money like he is and keeps ignoring the most important aspects of keeping a tourney going for the long-run.

 

[anaa lpz]

Speaking from "spaniard experience" : I'm from Spain, and I woke up this morning on time to watch Sharapova, but then I read on twitter the whole Safarova is ill thing... I turned on the tv and what did they do? they put Nadal's match against Davydenko! instead of showing Makarova's match or another match, they decided to repeat Nadal's match, which wasn't the match of the year btw!
I'm lucky because I have cable tv and I watched Makarova's match...but the whole thing is beyond ridiculous!
They don't show Vika's matches because "nobody knows who she is", well, she just won a GS, and she's the number 1...and I am supossed to be happy because they will broadcast Masha's (she's my favourite player) matches just to say silly things about her!
Then I had lunch while watching Caroline against Serena...and I even said: ok, put Nadal against Davydenko again, I can't stand this anymore!
One thing is not knowing how many GS Serena has won...and another one is saying it's unbelievable that she beated Caroline...and worst of all, they said they want Safina to be back on top (when she's retired and not coming back) and they compared Caroline's father with Dokic's father! too much for me!
The whole country shows no respect to women's tennis...and now that Nadal is out, is going to get worse! empty courts, and even weirder schedules!
I hate this tournament! I don't get how it can be a mandatory tournament, I can't!

I also heard Roger would be number 2 if he wins the tournament! It would be quite nice

and wow, I wrote a bit too much! And sorry, because my english is not the best thing in the world!

 

[Scott]

thank you anaa lpz for enlightening us. i had no idea there was such a level of negativity....mockery....regarding tennis in your country. for a country as tennis rich as spain is and has been,that's astounding the level of disrespect it gets inside the country. it's like the second biggest sports export outside football,and this is one of the biggest events in tennis.....you would think they would treat as such. shame. and seeing and reading everything about the organization,the leadership by tiriac certainly hasn't done much to avert any of it....in fact probably feeds into it.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

It sounds like Federer is also "against" the surface, even though he seems to be playing very well on it.

"Roger Federer said he understood Nadal's frustration.

"He was against it from the start and so was I so obviously for him to go out in the third round is disappointing," the Swiss told a news conference.

"We never felt comfortable on the surface, it is a tough surface and that only makes you angry even more.""

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/10/us-tennis-men-nadal-idUSBRE8491AF20120510

 

[MyNameIs]

These big guys (Roger, Novak, Nadal) need to just stop complaining. The blue clay is same for everyone, so if it's 'worse' everyone is in the same position. Why not just play. They sound whiny.

On a more positive note, what a win today for Dolgopolov against Tsonga. I thought for sure he was going to lose after he gave back all those breaks in the third set and it went to the tie breaker. But he really pulled through. Great win for him. Del Potro should be a huge challenge tomorrow. I'll wake up early to watch it.

 

[Chaky]

The whole country shows no respect to women's tennis...and now that Nadal is out, is going to get worse! empty courts, and even weirder schedules!
I hate this tournament! I don't get how it can be a mandatory tournament, I can't!

Wow, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I understand that there's no women in Spain right now who can match what ASV and Conchita did but it's no reason to wilfully disregard the entire women's game which is what it sounds like. It's a bit sad.

And Djokovic just lost. This, from the BBC radio commentator Jonathan Overend on twitter:

"Djokovic out and can't wait to get out of this place. Like Nadal, he talked himself into believing he couldn't win on this surface.

Wow. Djokovic comes off his long run in press conference. Lays into former ATP Chief Adam Helfant for signing off the blue clay deal."

This is Tiriac's explanation of why the courts are so slippery:

Madrid tournament owner Ion Tiriac admits that are problems with the blue clay courts in Madrid, not having to do with the color, but because they are too slippery. Tiriac told the press that the problem might relate to having to install new courts every year, as they*are torn up after the event is over.

"We've had the same [guy] who has been working on the courts at Roland Garros for 12 years," Tiriac said. "We know that a new court is never good, even if we keep sweeping it, they have to play on it, Here in Madrid, we have to built and dismantle it each year. There's a reason that the court is what it is. We did not want to have so many bad bounces as before. What happens is that they have been pushing, pushing and pressing it to compress it, and have done it so much that it has become too hard."

Tournament director Manolo Santana added: "It's my fault. I just wanted that no players got hurt, like what happened in Monte Carlo, where there were two injured (Juan Monaco and Julien Benneteau). The sliding court is getting better day by day, but I'm disappointed. There has to be a better court."

tennis.com

 

[anaa lpz]

it's true that if you don't have cable tv, watching most tournaments it's quite difficult!
but most spaniards just care about Nadal, but, at the same time they just care about him if he wins, and they only watch his finals : Rolleyes:
it's really sad!

I'm starting to think Novak and Rafa lost on purpose, just to complain about the court : Lol: just kidding!

but their press conferences are not a joke! when you go to watch tennis in Madrid, you have a place to buy tickets for the 2013 tournament, and since Nadal said he may not be coming back, the place is empty..and they even have to return the money to some peope who don't want the tickets anymore!
so, my point, would Novak do the same in Belgrado? I don't think so...I know Rafa might be worried about getting injured, of course he can be, but, c'mon man, is your country we're talking about...go to insult the organizers if you want to, threaten them with the "i'm not coming back thing", but saying all this to the public, is bad for the country (even for Madrid as a city, since they want to organize the Olympic Game in the futur) , and...we're pretty bad already!
same for Almagro, he was so stupid during his match against Ferrer : Puaj:

and, Chaky said a few days ago: Sore loser or valid point?

most people in Spain chossed sore loser...they didn't like the way he spoke!

I have to agree with Verdasco, which doesn't make me happy, when he said the problem is not the clay, but the courts...they've always been bad!

 

[kournikov]

Wow, so Serena won Madrid, beating Azarenka in the finals, and beating Sharapova in the QF!s, undefeated on clay thus far.

In Rome now...Serena pulled out because of lower back pain. Sharapova beat Venus in the Quarterfinals, pretty good match I must say, it's so weird seeing Sharapova dominate on this surface, or at least her opponent, hopefully my Venus will do well at the French!

 

[Chaky]

I don't know if anyone watched that Sharapova vs Li final but wow... that was one terrible match. Finally going to Maria after a rain-delayed final set tiebreak. The court had turned to mud. Both players seemed to find the situation comical. I lost track of how many unforced errors they made but it was a lot. So Maria is really good on clay now apparenty.

Men's final delayed to Monday which went down well with the crowd. They rained bottles onto the court.

 

[anaa lpz]

It was one of the worst matches I've ever seen...but as a fan, I'm extreamely happy for Maria!

I loved when they were 6-5 and deuce, and Maria was serving, and the umpire asked them whether they wanted to continue or not, and they both said they'll continue! The match was bad, but they were such fighters!
I don't like Na Li, but I felt bad for her...they both deserved the win!
and, how polite is she! I won't smile like she did after a match like that!

 

[Scott]

disappointing from li na. i was really hoping she would have taken it being up a set and 4/0....she really played a stronger match than maria till that point. then struggling to keep her composure and gave a lot of games away. then re-gaining her play in the third and having a match point.

but generally impressed with how li na's game has improved since returning to the clay. this is the best she's played since syndey earlier this season so despite the loss she should still be in a good frame of mind trying to defend her title.