Wimbledon 2015

[heyabbott]

I guess a thread is neccessary, if only to gauge the lack of interest.

 

[BTExpress]

Lost in the first round of the French. Lost in the first round at Wimbledon. Lost 10 of 11 matches at one point this year. Last year's semifinalist at three Grand Slams, Genie Bouchard will be playing qualifiers in a few weeks.

 

[studthug12]

I wish Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would win a major. He had a lot of potential but has been injured pretty frequently for a tennis player I believe. In next two years could be now or never.

 

[Lugnuts]

BTE...

Re: Bouchard

Questions are WHY and if she can ever get it back.

I think she did the megabitch thing, which backfired... (Such as, but not limited to when she turned on Robson, Fired Saviano, Refused to shake Romanian player's hand).

But even more than that, she pinned her game to a gimmick --- taking the ball early. When that gimmick was exposed by Kvitova, she took a step back toward the baseline. Without her gimmick, she's just a so-so baseliner.

That, and something with her serve, which Saviano said he fixed... Now the hitch is back and may have contributed to her abdominal tear.

 

[da man]

BTE...

Re: Bouchard

Questions are WHY and if she can ever get it back.

I think she did the megabitch thing, which backfired... (Such as, but not limited to when she turned on Robson, Fired Saviano, Refused to shake Romanian player's hand).

But even more than that, she pinned her game to a gimmick --- taking the ball early. When that gimmick was exposed by Kvitova, she took a step back toward the baseline. Without her gimmick, she's just a so-so baseliner.

That, and something with her serve, which Saviano said he fixed... Now the hitch is back and may have contributed to her abdominal tear.

I think it's the black bra.

 

[heyabbott]

I think it's the black bra.

#blackbrasmatter

 

[sportsnut2002]

Bumping up after Nadal suffered another early loss, this one to Dustin Brown in the second round.
It marks the fourth year in a row that Nadal has lost to a player ranked sub-100 going in (Rosol, Darcis, Kyrgios, Brown).
Are we looking at the end of Nadal as a threat to win majors? Since he is no longer invincible in Paris, I'd say "Yes."
Am I wrong?

 

[BTExpress]

His shelf life was always going to be much shorter than, say, a Federer. But the drop has been quite dramatic. He not only didn't win in Paris, but he also didn't win a single European clay-court tournament for the first time. And now that his ranking has dropped to 10, he'll be facing the Djokovics and Murrays in the quarterfinals or Round of 16s of major events.

 

[sportsnut2002]

His ranking should fall lower after this because he was defending Round of 16 points, if I recall. He still is going to be top 10, maybe top 15 at the very worst, by the time the U.S. Open rolls around.
Are we on a collision course for Murray-Djokovic II at Wimbledon, or is one of them going to get knocked out beforehand?

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Wouldn't be Wimbledon without John Isner playing a marathon match, would it?

Great match between Isner and Cilic. Three tiebreakers in first four sets and fifth set suspended at 10-10.

 

[da man]

Wouldn't be Wimbledon without John Isner playing a marathon match, would it?

Great match between Isner and Cilic. Three tiebreakers in first four sets and fifth set suspended at 10-10.

It's no coincidence Isner plays in so many of those. His serve is so strong that most opponents can't break it (especially on grass), but the rest of his game is so weak, he can't break anyone else's serve, either. That's the recipe for a marathon match.

 

[BTExpress]

I have never liked watching his matches. The match score usually belies what a boring exercise they are, devoid of shotmaking and athleticism.

 

[Lugnuts]

Helluva nice guy, though

 

[BTExpress]

Sure is. He fired about a dozen serves at our columnist last year for one of those "This is what it's like to face John Isner's serve" stories. The columnist, a good 4.5 player, got a racket on a couple but was able to put zero in play.

 

[Lugnuts]

Ha! Sounds like a good column.

That shows you how far a 4.5 player is from Top 20 in the world ... contrary to what most 4.5 players think

 

[Webster]

When Serena decides to turn it on, she simply can't be stopped.

 

[da man]

Wow, Federer was absolutely clinical in polishing off Murray in straight sets. His serve was impenetrable -- 20 aces. 76 percent of first serves in, 84 percent of first serve points won. A magnificent match to get to his 10th Wimbledon final.

Can he take out Djoker? If he plays like this, I think he can. I'd love to see it.

 

[John]

Sure is. He fired about a dozen serves at our columnist last year for one of those "This is what it's like to face John Isner's serve" stories. The columnist, a good 4.5 player, got a racket on a couple but was able to put zero in play.

I did a version of this when John was a freshman at Georgia and I wrote for the Athens paper. I've played all my life and am well above average, but I knew this was going to be unlike anything I'd ever experienced. He was stunned when I actually got his first bomb up the stripe in the deuce court back in play. I did OK on the serves up the middle, but his serves out wide, I never got within a foot of them.

For the story I also borrowed a pitching gun from the UGA baseball team and clocked him on some serves, which were in the upper 120s, though I could tell he wasn't giving it the full gas because it was right before the NCAAs. I've never had more fun doing a story.

John has always been incredibly nice and gracious. We're not exactly friends, but we always stop and talk for a while whenever we see each other. Nobody ever enjoyed playing college tennis more, and one of the reasons I think he's always been so friendly and grounded as a pro is that he never expected to be doing what he's doing. He thought he'd have a nice college career and move on to something else, not reach the top 10, spend a really long time in the top 20 and win a bunch of tournaments.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I reckon Murray's a Scot again. The British only embrace him when he wins.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

And who the hell dug up Martina Hingis? She's been out of the picture at least a decade.