Tennis 2017

Infield Infidel

teaching korea american
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
11,463
Meeting Place, Canada
Serena's 20 weeks pregnant (meaning she won Aussie pregnant without dropping a set). She's out of the rest of the slams though. Who will step up? Sharapova comes back from her doping ban this month, Venus might be a value bet at Wimbledon.

Edit thanks SoxJox:D
 
Last edited:

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,754
Pittsburgh, PA
Serena's fetus has more grand slam titles than Radwanska or Wozniacki.

And Venus has more than one reason to be happy - she's a realistic contender for wimbledon and flushing meadows now, if not the odds-on favorite. She'd be favored to beat the likes of Muguruza or Halep and an even shot against Kerber.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
Moderator
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
70,713
Serena's 20 weeks pregnant (meaning she won Aussie pregnant without dropping a set). She's out of the rest of the slams though. Who will step up?:D
Not Kerber, she lost in the first round of the French today 6-2, 6-2 as the #1 seed.
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244

jsinger121

@jsinger121
SoSH Member
Jul 25, 2005
17,676
I agree especially at this stage in career and with how close the French and Wimbledon majors are in a time frame.
 

Ale Xander

Hamilton
SoSH Member
Oct 31, 2013
72,430
Don't know their names, but Djokovic's and Federer's opponents retired early, both on Center Court (at Wimbledon). Makes it 5 early male retirements in the first round already. ESPN brought a 4 way split screen to discuss this disaster. Most of the unified panel seems to support paying some portion of the entrance fee to those who make it in injured to give healthy lucky losers the spot.

This is clearly bad for the game and for the fans, to have these frequent retirements, especially on Center Court. Mary Joe I believe supports a best of three sets in the early rounds, and Evert wants to get rid of the advantages. John Mac still fuming over not doing anything after the Isner Mahut 70-68 match.
 

Infield Infidel

teaching korea american
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
11,463
Meeting Place, Canada
While Federer plays Mischa Zverev, BBC with a great Federer trivia question:

Since Fed won his first Wimbledon, he has 26 losses against lefties, 23 against Rafa Nadal. The other three:

Jurgen Meltzer
Federic Delbonis
Ramos Vinolas
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
I'm sure I've said it before. Simona Halep is such a joy to watch on the court,
 

Sliceboy

New Member
Aug 19, 2016
21
Well, well, well...after a boring first week at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club all of a sudden R. Nadal finds himself down 2 sets to none to journeyman Gilles Muller. Muller is left-handed which negates a lot of the Nadal advantages.
 

Sliceboy

New Member
Aug 19, 2016
21
Is Nadal sluggish...or getting old? Muller is 34 so it's not like some young 18 y.o. kid is running Nadal off the court. Following the 5 set closely here at work....
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
Feds dismantles Dimitrov

Good lord has Murray's draw been a complete cake walk, and now he has Sam Querry in the quarters. They took care of the home town boy big time.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,754
Pittsburgh, PA
This has been absolutely captivating since Nadal faced a break point at 4*-5. Muller's had the better of it, but both of them have had their chances. Just incredibly deft net play - not something you normally say about a Nadal match.
 

Sliceboy

New Member
Aug 19, 2016
21
Wow! Down goes Nadal. Quite an upset. Credit to Muller...who will probably lose in straight sets in the next round due to the length of this match. I'm surprised Roger F. had such an easy time (straight set win) against #13 seed G. Dimitrov.
 

fletcherpost

sosh's feckin' poet laureate
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
12,139
Glasgow, Scotland
Wow. I didn't see that coming at all. Muller has a great serve which is a huge weapon on grass but I thought Nadal would take the final set. Federer looks great, how does he do it, what a guy? Tough QF v Raonic though.
 

semsox

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 14, 2004
1,742
Charlottesville
The whole 5th set I was just waiting for Muller to crack, and to his infinite credit, he never did. What a performance for him.

I'm a bit worried about Federer/Raonic (though honestly felt the same about Dmitrov, so who knows). Fed is definitely healthier than when he lost to Raonic last year in the semis, and Raonic's form is not nearly what it was last year.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,754
Pittsburgh, PA
I'm sure I've said it before. Simona Halep is such a joy to watch on the court,
She's having a hell of a match vs Konta right now on Centre Court. 3rd set, on-serve, they're both hitting the corners with regularity. Split two tiebreaks already; someone's gonna have to break.

(edit: Konta broke in the 5th game and then held on for a 6-4 win; she'll face Venus as the first British lady to make the SF for at least like 30 years, and first time the Wimbledon crowd roots against Venus since, like, 1997)

It's kind of incredible that someone with Halep's skillset - she might have the fastest footspeed of anyone in the top 100 - hasn't won a major. She's reached two French Open finals and lost them both in 3 close sets (probably should have won this year's). Lost 2014 Wimbledon SF to Bouchard (?!), 2015 USO SF to eventual-champion Flavia Pennetta, and hasn't seen a SF other than that.
 
Last edited:

jsinger121

@jsinger121
SoSH Member
Jul 25, 2005
17,676
Despite up two sets to one, Andy Murray is in trouble down 4-1 in the 4th set but isn't moving well.
 

jsinger121

@jsinger121
SoSH Member
Jul 25, 2005
17,676
Murray in serious trouble now. Lost the 4th set 6-1 and now down 2-0 in the 5th with Querrey on serve
 

BaseballJones

ivanvamp
SoSH Member
Oct 1, 2015
24,375
Querrey is just pounding Murray right now. Crushed him in the 4th and is doing the same in the 5th. Murray is gimping around.
 

gingerbreadmann

Member
SoSH Member
Mar 11, 2008
750
This is more like the Sam Querrey it looked like we were going to get for years to come back in 2010. Really pulling for him to close this out.
 

Sliceboy

New Member
Aug 19, 2016
21
If (when?) Andy loses the stars certainly seem to be aligning for Roger...Novak has been complaining of shoulder soreness off and on through his first few matches.

FYI: The recent John McEnroe / Bill Simmons podcast is worth a listen. John, as usual, has an opinion on any / every subject most notably ripping Ivan Lendl.
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
If (when?) Andy loses the stars certainly seem to be aligning for Roger...Novak has been complaining of shoulder soreness off and on through his first few matches.

FYI: The recent John McEnroe / Bill Simmons podcast is worth a listen. John, as usual, has an opinion on any / every subject most notably ripping Ivan Lendl.
It will be interesting to see how Djoker is today,, His elbow apparently was breaking down yesterday, fortunately he had some random punching bag on the other side who didn't put up a fight. Berdych if he is anywhere close to on his game can force Djoker to have to be close to 100%

Feds has Raonic coming up. In the past Feds had done well against this type of player, but of course a wounded Federer fell apart late and lost to Raonic in 5 sets last year. So you never know
 

Dr. Gonzo

Member
SoSH Member
Jan 8, 2010
5,213
Wow. Federer gets the break in the first game of the second set. He is playing effortlessly.
 

Sliceboy

New Member
Aug 19, 2016
21
Roger up another break in the second set; according to the Wimbledon Radio broadcast Roger looks 'unbeatable'.
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
Definitely is going as expected so far. Roger just needs to stay healthy, and take care of business quickly.

And then hope Berdych vs Djoker is a gruelling 5 set epic
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,754
Pittsburgh, PA
Let's not lose sight of the fact that Querrey, an American, has a very winnable semifinal, in fuckin' Wimbledon, against an opponent who just had a similarly-grueling 5-set QF. And against the hated Cilic, he'll have the crowd on his side too. He's easily our best shot at a major since Roddick 2009. And after last year ending a healthy Djokovic's streak, nobody is thinking it's a fluke.

Meanwhile, Federer's game is finely-tuned to destroy opponents like Raonic, who have a big-but-not-Karlovic-sized serve but are mostly baseliners without tremendous consistency on creative shots, no real disruptive ability with spin, and can be wrong-footed somewhat easily. Obviously the holes in Raonic's game are not very large, he's ranked 7th in the world, but compared to Murray he's a cakewalk for Federer. I think Fed has like a 10-3 head-to-head against him.
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
Feds is only 3-0 against Querry, but that would be an almost ideal matchup for Federer if both were to make the finals

Cilic is one of those guys who is most impacted by playing in the golden age of tennis talent. Amazing considering where he was back in 2008 as an 18 year old already making the 4th round in majors that despite even winning that one US open he has never been ranked in the top 5 in the world. He did have the tough 5 set match today but had been putting on a clinic through the first 4 rounds in this tourney.

Querry has had the tournament of his life, but it has been 4 straight arduous battles

Djoker looks very strong and healthy so far against Brydych, but neither guy has been able to gain a break
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
Raonic playing better in the 3rd.

Brydych and Djoker head into a first set breaker
 

BigMike

Moderator
Moderator
SoSH Member
Sep 26, 2000
23,244
Berdych blows DJoker out in the first set breaker, and is now quickly up a break in the second set

And as Apisth said Djoker retires. So nice easy day for Berdych