ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

The rapid actual break-up of Wozzilroy is going to make me feel rather positive and sympathetic towards Wozniacki until the point at which I have to watch her play again. Which at this point might be a long time. Help.

I don't really know much about him other than as Wozniacki's bf/fiancé but what an awful little weasel to actually go ahead an issue an "it's not you, it's me" public statement after jilting your fiancée almost at the altar

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/10957117/top-seeded-sloane-stephens-loses-first-round-strasbourg-international

lololololol

lol @ taking a last-minute WC into a small tournament and then bomb out in R1 visibly giving no fucks, though will she ever top losing to Puchkova in Washington last year or losing to Duque Marino in Bogota a few weeks ago

Wasn't McIlroy seeing someone else when he started dating Caro too? He always seemed like a douche.

Excellent interview with Ernests Gulbis: http://tennis.si.com/2014/05/20/ernests-gulbis-interview/

That's a great interview, I always assumed he was entertaining but kinda douchey and that makes him seem more thoughtful at least.

I always assumed Serena's "black-hearted" comment was about McIlroy/Wozniacki, not Dimitrov/Sharapova (I don't believe she ever dated Dimitrov! There is literally no evidence that this ever happened) and recent events are bearing this out. The way he dumped his ex is reason enough for Serena to judge his black heart, and she's been very quick (and sweet) to support Wozniacki publicly today.

Yeah I don't know if they were serious or anything, but I def remember seeing pictures of Serena and Dimitrov seemingly on a date at an amusement park a few years ago. And she was spotted at a couple of his matches at around the same time.

Rumour has it it was a love triangle between Serena, Dimitrov and Mouratoglou (who was Dimitrov's coach then), cause right around the time Serena and his coach went public, Dimitrov abruptly left Mouratoglou's academy and started dating Sharapova shortly after. LOL tennis drama.

yeah I saw those pictures but even at the time I just thought people were jumping to conclusions off nothing, they didn't look loved-up or anything, just like friends hanging out

I think they prob dated but briefly - Dimitrov didn't exactly deny it when asked, he just told the reporter to "ask Serena". also re the black heart comment, I'm not sure she was talking about McIlroy because she was bitching about the player as well. The actual quote:

"She begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' – it's so boring," says Serena in a loud voice. "She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."

^That doesn't sound like Caro - whatever we think about her, Wozniacki is pretty popular on the tour. (Sharapova otoh isn't really friends with anyone else.)

Hingis / Zvonareva doubles team at wimbledon

^_^

Wonder why Bepa didn't request a singles WC if she's healthy? Still 4 to be announced but you'd think if she had, she'd have been in that first tranche. Though she's a smart woman and maybe she realises she's not up to singles any more.

Also can we talk about sexist ATP idiots, omgggg all coming out of the woodwork. Sort of knew Gulbis, Cash, Matosevic were all idiots but why must men be like this

Props to Kukushkin (whose wife is his coach) defending the idea of a female coach well though

Oh yeah also a special mention to the xenophobic British ATPers whinging about Bedene changing nationality. Evans and Golding, looking at you. Evans' claim that he's a better player is also laughable. If you're the better player how come you still haven't been ranked in the top 100, unlike Bedene?

Yeah unsurprisingly it's been one dumb comment after another.

Not Stepanek of all people to make sense about this

‘I think that the view from the others has no sense because it’s his choice. […] I think we have, you know, nothing to say to that. Nobody’s asking different guys when somebody is taking a different coach.’

But ugh at the extent of this

The fossilized attitudes in question may have reached their zenith when Murray was asked about the advantages of having hired a ‘lady’ rather than a ‘chap’.

‘Lady and chap?’ Murray repeated, understandably amused. ‘Man and woman. Let's stick with that.’
http://www.livetennis.com/category/livetennis-news/atp-queens-tennis-live-andy-murrays-appointment-of-amelie-mauresmo-under-intense-scrutiny-at-the-aegon-championships-201406110008/

Haha, Radek of all people. Kukushkin was good on it too -

Kukushkin – who lost in straight sets to Radek Stepanek on Tuesday – said gender was not an issue in determining if someone was a good coach or not.
And the Kazakh predicts women coaches will become more common on the ATP Tour in the future.
"I see a lot of players and coaches, and I see some coaches on tour who do almost nothing on tour," he said.
"It's not so important if it's a man or a woman, what's important for me is really working hard to build together.
"My coach, my wife, she really knows my game and how to improve that. It's a relationship that's really good for me.
"It's not important if it's a man or a woman. It's a tough relationship at times, because she has to push me, she can't be soft on me.
"But for me it's really working good.
"Very few players have a female coach - but for me there's no difference between a man and a woman and I wouldn't be surprised to see more women coaching men in the future."

A relevant stat:

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bpy9u5PIMAEL8KO.png

Most of the main tennis journalists have been cool with it but I'm just WAITING for some nonsense to start once Wimbledon rolls around

Kimiko d. Hantuchova 64 60. Superlative grass court tennis, a joy to watch.

Kimiko is amazing

She first reached the QF at this tournament the first time she played it, in 1989

NINETEEN EIGHTY-NINE

in other news, fed just lost a set to sousa on grass despite serving 90% first serves.

ludicrous TB between Murray and Stepanek

Meanwhile:

Victoria Chiesa ‏@vrcsports 45s
Coco misses, screams "YOU PIECE OF CRAP. I'M PLAYING LIKE A FREAKIN' RETARD." Umpire: "Coco, you can't say that here. Not in this country."

this nadal/dustin match is amazing already. one point ended with both of them lying on the ground.

dustin takes the first set! this match is so much fun, very high quality.

ah Coco, such a charmer

Dustin is zoning, up 4-0 in the second. N

just put this on. Nadal tanking?

could be, but there's not much he could have done here.

either way this is really funny

amazing performance, well deserved

yay Dustin!

always an upset in the making imo, given the rapidity of Nadal's clay/grass turnaround and Brown's grass-only skillset

lol not that i think he meant to tank that match, but let's face it, Nadal's prob more excited for the World Cup rn

Stephens displaying her trademark heart and fight in that second set. Zhang didn't even bother with her c'mons

omg @ everything about the Brown/Kohlschreiber match. 18-16 final set TB!

omg @ stepanek saving that set pt @ 4-6 in teh tiebreak!

yeah that was amazing. shame about the stupid errors after that, though.

Azarenka/Giorgi R1 in Eastbourne lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kw83n9RPI4

Federer wins a match, fails to notice

here's the amazing point in the stepanek/lopez match (at 0:52)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WZ572AWZgY

wasn't my ideal semi final lineup but Birmingham was fun yesterday.
really classy performance by Ivanovic.
BZS is great value with the slicing and volleying and inexplicable tantrums.
Julie Kjendlie is the coolest umpire

hahaha, Grigor digs deep to hold at *5-6 - and Lopez dumps a second serve return into the net on MP - and then Grigor PEAKS while Lopez totally collapses in the TB. Fantastic returns by Dimitrov but that shank and those missed volleys by Lopez...6-1.

Third and final set TB. Quality match!

Haha no way. Serving masterclass until Lopez nets a BH slice to give Dimitrov MP...and then Dimitrov shanks a FH

Lopez's serve is really amazing, really should have done more in his career with a weapon like that imo

as disappointing as Grigor has been at times this year, this is what, 4 titles since hiring Rasheed?

Lopez blinked three times - once on MP in the second set (and in the ensuing TB), once on those DFs to give the third set break back, once in the third set TB. And that was enough. And otherwise, there was nothing to separate them...

4 titles since hiring Rasheed?

and, impressively, on indoor hard, outdoor hard, clay and now grass

really great match between giorgi and azarenka, despite camila hitting 17 double faults.