Tennis 2017
- Thread starter Infield Infidel
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Federer wins. Semis now Querrey vs. Cilic, and Federer vs. Berdych. Setting up nicely for Roger but there are some dangerous opponents out there still.
Would be pretty incredible if Roger and Venus won Wimbledon like it was the mid 2000s all over again.
Berdych vs Federer. Feds leads series 18-6, and has won the last 7 matches between the 2.
Right now Roger is going off at 1-3 on the betting line in England, and I can't imagine putting your money anywhere else
On the women's side Muguruzu is the favorite at 13-8, and Venus is 3rd at 3-1
Interesting to see Martina Hingis is still there, and looking great. Hard to imagine it was 20 years ago she won her first Wimbledon, and more than a decade since she competed in singles (15 years since her first retirement). Too bad she lost that french final in 97, or else she would have the career gland slam in singles, and both doubles
Right now Roger is going off at 1-3 on the betting line in England, and I can't imagine putting your money anywhere else
On the women's side Muguruzu is the favorite at 13-8, and Venus is 3rd at 3-1
Interesting to see Martina Hingis is still there, and looking great. Hard to imagine it was 20 years ago she won her first Wimbledon, and more than a decade since she competed in singles (15 years since her first retirement). Too bad she lost that french final in 97, or else she would have the career gland slam in singles, and both doubles
Would have been a calendar slam as well had she won in '97 (she lost another French final in '99). What an amazing year she had in 1997 and what a start to her career.
Have to think Djokovic might shut it down for the year to get this shoulder fixed. If he does so it will be the first time since 2006 where he did not make a slam semifinal.
Make that zero. What a display by Venus. Wobbled exactly once, down 15-40 at 4*-4, she immediately kicked it up to her top gear and sustained that level the rest of the match. Konta doesn't yet have that level of focus in her arsenal, it would seem.
Muguruza is a worst-case-scenario matchup for Venus though. Very, very similar to a young Serena in terms of skillset, although I suppose with an A- serve rather than A+. Super-powerful groundstrokes, precise positioning on sharp angles, excellent footwork, moderate speed mitigated by a great ability to read shots before they're hit. Net play might make the difference. Will be a great match.
Muguruza is a worst-case-scenario matchup for Venus though. Very, very similar to a young Serena in terms of skillset, although I suppose with an A- serve rather than A+. Super-powerful groundstrokes, precise positioning on sharp angles, excellent footwork, moderate speed mitigated by a great ability to read shots before they're hit. Net play might make the difference. Will be a great match.
Querrey put up a good fight. The announcers are saying he was out of gas, which is undoubtedly true, but he looked totally overmatched against Cilic's serve, which I think was the bigger issue. Cilic is easy to root for, but I'm firmly in the Federer camp at this point.
He is playing really well. Just not good enough against Roger, who hasn't been as sharp as he has been during the tournament.
Compelling match so far. One more set to go for Roger.
It must be completely demoralizing to play the best tennis of your life and lose to Fed, especially at this age.
Venus is playing very well, had two set points at 4*-5 15-40, and is getting wrecked. Muguruza has faltered for a few moments but she's just been the more consistent player, and now Venus is melting down. Muguruza up two breaks, 3*-0, in the 2nd.
I watched Virginie Razzano beat Serena Williams at the 1st round of RG in 2012 and thought, "fluke, Serena's mind was just elsewhere".
I watched Garbiñe Muguruza beat Serena Williams at the 2nd round of RG in 2014 and thought, "holy crap, she just took it to Serena, I can hardly remember a time where someone outplayed her so badly, at least since Henin retired". She's now won two slams and was runner-up at a third, and her style of play is modeled on her idol Serena Williams so it's a lot of fun to watch. If Venus is going to lose to someone, it might as well be someone legit rather than a fluke like Flavia Pennetta.
I watched Garbiñe Muguruza beat Serena Williams at the 2nd round of RG in 2014 and thought, "holy crap, she just took it to Serena, I can hardly remember a time where someone outplayed her so badly, at least since Henin retired". She's now won two slams and was runner-up at a third, and her style of play is modeled on her idol Serena Williams so it's a lot of fun to watch. If Venus is going to lose to someone, it might as well be someone legit rather than a fluke like Flavia Pennetta.
Insta, I agree with you. that's why I mentioned a couple days ago that it is amazing she hasn't won more. She is basically dead even with Serena when they both play well, as their head to head record has shown.
Garbine though so far has been wildly inconsistent, and has only won 4 titles in her career, with 2 of them now being majors.
Garbine though so far has been wildly inconsistent, and has only won 4 titles in her career, with 2 of them now being majors.
Yeah, she certainly isn't the first player to have all the tools necessary to win majors but struggle with consistency in an offense-first style of play. That said, here's the list of ladies in the last 20 years with multiple major titles before the age of 24:
Martina Hingis
Lindsay Davenport
Venus Williams
Serena Williams
Justine Henin
Maria Sharapova
(Capriati's peak was 25-26, Mauresmo 27, Clijsters 26-28, Azarenka 23-24, Li Na 28-32!, Kvitova 24-?, Kerber was 28 last year)
Everyone in that list is going into the Tennis HOF; Hingis, Davenport and Henin are already in, the others are merely waiting for retirement. Muguruza is 23, and with her results, her floor appears to be the injury-riddled career of Azarenka's mid-to-late 20s. With health and coaching, she could quite possibly be in the Sharapova-Venus-Henin tier of "borderline top-10 all-time".
Of course, everyone wants to compare her to Serena. Entering the spring of 2002, at age 20 (!), Serena had the '99 USO to her name, plus had made the QFs of every slam in 2001 (and was runner-up in the USO). She then won 5 of the next 6 titles including the next 4 straight. That's a completely unfair standard. As they turned 24, Graf had 12 major titles (!), Evert 8, Serena 6, Navratilova 2. I think we can agree Muguruza's trajectory doesn't put her on the Mt Rushmore of women's tennis, but it should surprise nobody if she ends up an outer-circle HOFer.
Well yes I get the majors are very tough to win, and there are only 4 chances a year.
She hasn't won a non major WTA event since Beijing in fall of 2015, and has something like 5 first round losses this season. That is what I mean by being surprised she hasn't won more.
She hasn't won a non major WTA event since Beijing in fall of 2015, and has something like 5 first round losses this season. That is what I mean by being surprised she hasn't won more.
Yes, I'm surprised by that too. I have a feeling the run of titles will come, and that right soon.
Serena's maternity leave hangs over the WTA like a Tom Brady suspension hanging over the NFL. Everyone's wondering how she'll be when (if?) she comes back.
Serena's maternity leave hangs over the WTA like a Tom Brady suspension hanging over the NFL. Everyone's wondering how she'll be when (if?) she comes back.
Usain Bolt is the only one I could come up with who might be close
Seems like Cilic just lost his composure there? Didn't seem like there was any physical injury. These next few games will be interesting to see from him...
He's definitely rattled. I'm not sure if he's hurt, but he did take a tumble. It didn't look bad b/c it was a skid, but you never know.
Yeah, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Federer has this one pretty easy and it might not take too much longer.
Less than a month away from turning 36, Federer wins Wimbledon without dropping a single set in the tournament. Incredible.