2022 Tennis

jon abbey

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I have been watching tennis since I was a kid, the days of Borg and McEnroe and Connors, and that might have been the single best match I've ever seen.
 

jon abbey

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Latest finish at the US Open ever by far (2:50 AM), the long-standing previous record was 2:26 AM.

Second longest match ever at the US Open (5:15) behind only an Edberg/Chang semi in 1992.

And the quality of play was just incredible, both guys hitting five or eight winners on one point and all of them just coming back with even more insane shots.

Wow.
 

jon abbey

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Alcaraz had five set points in the second set (he lost it), Alcaraz served for the third set (he lost it), Sinner served for the match in the fourth set and had a match point (he lost it). Just incredible.
 

StupendousMan

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And the quality of play was just incredible, both guys hitting five or eight winners on one point and all of them just coming back with even more insane shots.





(yes, I know that you know what the word means, but I couldn't resist ...)
 

InstaFace

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Bit of fun as an interlude: Fastest tennis serves. A list of personal-bests (so, each player listed only with their fastest).

I'd seen Taylor Dent cranking upper 140s at the US Open like a decade ago, had no idea he was actually that exceptional. Isner very high up of course, but Sam Groth owns the fastest. On the women's side, Caroline Garcia (whose guns / gym results were getting appreciated the other night) is tied for 6th-fastest personal best serve, only slightly behind Serena (#5) and Venus (#3). #2 is Lisicki, and #1 is some Hungarian I've never heard of.
 

jezza1918

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Bit of fun as an interlude: Fastest tennis serves. A list of personal-bests (so, each player listed only with their fastest).

I'd seen Taylor Dent cranking upper 140s at the US Open like a decade ago, had no idea he was actually that exceptional. Isner very high up of course, but Sam Groth owns the fastest. On the women's side, Caroline Garcia (whose guns / gym results were getting appreciated the other night) is tied for 6th-fastest personal best serve, only slightly behind Serena (#5) and Venus (#3). #2 is Lisicki, and #1 is some Hungarian I've never heard of.
Small correction but looks like #1 is a Spaniard who never cracked the top 100 and has only been in one singles slam main draw, so doubt many would know her (Georgina Garcia Perez)...I certainly hadnt. the serve, clocked at 136.7mph (a full 5.7mph faster than #2), happened at the Hungarian Open.
Really hoping that two straight 5 setters and ending at 250am sets Alcaraz back a step and gives Tiafoe an opening tomorrow night...
 

BigMike

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This made me check James Blake, who made the US Open QFs in 2005 and 2006 (and the AO QF in 2008), but never a slam semi.


I did a deep dive on the 3-vs-5 divide a few years ago, and as best I can tell, the difference persists primarily because of TV schedules: if they had all the women play best-of-5 for all the rounds, they might not be able to get all the early-round matches in in their time window, but in particular they wouldnt' be able to get as many matches into their TV windows.

However, that shouldn't preclude them from moving to best-of-5 for at least the later rounds (say, R16 and up), when schedule congestion is much alleviated. I hope they'll do that. There is absolutely nothing athletically that would prevent women from playing best-of-5.

So the persistence of the divide amounts to "historical reasons, plus maybe some minor logistical ones, bolstered by a well-known history of sexism throughout the game".
Do I believe that with training women would be able to adapt. Sure why not. These are great athletes. I Transition period could get ugly, and I really hate the idea of different rules of play as the tournament progress. And even just waiting for the later rounds still impacts TV etc. You could no longer do nighttime doubleheaders.

All that said. Why does extending to 5 sets make the sport better? Do you think the quality of play will increase? Do you feel 3 sets is not a test of a true champion?
 

InstaFace

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Do I believe that with training women would be able to adapt. Sure why not. These are great athletes. I Transition period could get ugly, and I really hate the idea of different rules of play as the tournament progress. And even just waiting for the later rounds still impacts TV etc. You could no longer do nighttime doubleheaders.

All that said. Why does extending to 5 sets make the sport better? Do you think the quality of play will increase? Do you feel 3 sets is not a test of a true champion?
Two thoughts:

NHL/NFL/NBA: regular season minimal overtime. Playoffs: unlimited overtime, if needed.
Soccer: in league okay or group stages, no overtime. In tournament knockouts, added extra time and penalty shootout if needed.

Different stakes at different stages => slightly different match format.

(2) this article, specifically for women's tennis:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/serena-williams-grand-slam-us-open-best-of-five-sets/amp/
 
Why does extending to 5 sets make the sport better? Do you think the quality of play will increase? Do you feel 3 sets is not a test of a true champion?
Longer matches reduce randomness and should allow the better player to progress significantly more often than in shorter matches. It's much easier for an underdog to upset a significant favorite when he or she only has to win two sets instead of having to win three sets. (And given the ridiculous parity - if you want to call it that - of women's tennis these days, a format which identifies and elevates better players on a more regular basis would probably be a good thing, methinks.)
 

jon abbey

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Yep, just look at last night, if it was a best of 3 and went the same way, Sinner would have won 2 sets to 1.
 

jon abbey

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The first women’s semi was painful to watch, Garcia self-destructed and Jabeur nudged her all the way.

The second one was very high level, Sabalenka played a great first set, overpowering Swiatek 6-3, but Swiatek is incredible at figuring out matches she is losing and turning them drastically. This one she actually had to do that twice:

6-3 Sabalenka
6-1 Swiatek
4-2 Sabalenka
4-0 Swiatek
 

DukeSox

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The first women’s semi was painful to watch, Garcia self-destructed and Jabeur nudged her all the way.

The second one was very high level, Sabalenka played a great first set, overpowering Swiatek 6-3, but Swiatek is incredible at figuring out matches she is losing and turning them drastically. This one she actually had to do that twice:

6-3 Sabalenka
6-1 Swiatek
4-2 Sabalenka
4-0 Swiatek
I was there - first match was a pounding, second was great. Everyone thought Saba had it in the 5th. Lots of Saba supporters in the crowd.
 

jon abbey

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Ruud into the final with a 4 set win over Khachanov, so either he or Alcaraz will be #1 next week, Alcaraz if he wins the tournament, Ruud if he wins the tournament or if Alcaraz loses tonight.
 

Ed Hillel

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Taifoe has collapsed mentally. I mean he didn’t even put his racket up, that was quite hittable.
 

BigMike

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Taifoe has collapsed mentally. I mean he didn’t even put his racket up, that was quite hittable.
Yeah that was an ugly, ugly point. and it's not like the approach shot was so good that Alcaraz shocked him by getting to. He basically teed Alcaraz up for a passing shot, Alcaraz actually hit a poor passing shot right to his forehand, and tiafoe didn't even flinch

I only joined at the start of the third set, and am somewhat baffled tiafoe won the first. And now the Crowd is singing the Ole song for him
 

BigMike

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And now out of Absolutely nowhere Tiafoe plays a great game and breaks
 

Mloaf71

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Breaks again…4th this set? I just want a 5th set and see which of these guys can win the war of attrition.
 

BigMike

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Alcaraz has to lose the stupid drop shot. It is not working at all, and just cost him a match point
 

Van Everyman

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Man, this has been a fun match. Tiafoe looked dead in the water down 2-0 in this set and clawed back. Can he hold here?
 

Mloaf71

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Unreal match. Just a really fun sporting event to watch. Almost turned it off when when Alcarez first broke Tiafoe in the 4th set and said “I wouldn’t want to miss a great comeback”.

Glad I stayed up.
 

Mloaf71

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Earlier I wanted a 5th set. Let’s get greedy and get a 5th set tie breaker, by this point my blood is thin from the beer and my heart can take it!
 

Mloaf71

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Tiafoe’s first serve is like my golf swing. He hits a good one he'll serve 5 good ones in a row. A bad one and he puts the next 20 in the net