ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

wow nowis rafa gonna lose

holy shit insane get by fabio, beats rafa

really hesitate to write off Rafa bc we've been through a number of "is Rafa done?!!!" cycles now but...there are more warning signs this time

was excellent to see Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, who I first saw in Wim qualies in 2013, play her first final vs Errani in Rio, she put up a good fight and really should've taken the first set but just couldn't put it away, and fell away in the second. She's beefed up her game though, which is positive, and her cross-court angled BHs are still gorgeous, and she's officially out of the slump she went into after beating Venus at RG last year :)

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/12365437/ivo-karlovic-wins-delray-beach-open

Young did his best to force Karlovic into baseline rallies so that he could maneuver his way to the net, a tactic that had been effective in his previous matches. But the Croat, who lives in nearby Plantation, forced the issue by lunging at every opportunity.

Serving at 3-3 in the first set, Young elected to let a Karlovic backhand passing shot go long. Instead, the ball landed inside the baseline. Young, clearly unnerved, double-faulted on the next point and was broken when Ivanisevic approached and knocked off a forehand volley winner.

No wonder Donald Young couldn't win, what with Goran lunging out of the stands and hitting random balls at him

xp def are some warning signs but I did think he looked better vs fognini than I've seen him play in a while; wasn't exactly a flukey loss but its not like losing to berrer

krajicek has a good forehand

like six months ago I got an email asking me to do a survey for the WTA as I had attended the Sydney tournament. Literally, for the last question whichs was how they could improve the tournament experience, I put, "For me to not have to watch my favourites lose to scrubs, or Roberta Vinci". Now I have apparently won a signed item by a WTA star, what's the bet when it arrives in the post in a few weeks that it is signed by Roberta Vinci?

loool

dimitrov just dropped the first set to ryan harrison and destroyed his racquet

just tuned in for a bit before bed, Grigor seems to have regained control

Baghdatis retired at 4-4 in the final set TB earlier vs Coric...

This third set has been appalling from Dimitrov

First serve points won in third set after five games

Harrison 89%
Dimitrov 0%

It actually got worse and worse. Utterly shameful performance

Harrison sat 30 metres behind the baseline and pretty much spectated his way to a bagel set

he was super frustrated & just did not battle at all after that v first break 3rd set, def shameful

Coric just breadsticked Murray :o

lol @ an 18-yr-old out-thinking Murray, really, some superb changes of pace and improvisation from Coric here, to which Murray reacts with errors

Coric serving for match, Murray with 0-30...netted smash, FH five miles wide.

So at 18, Coric has wins over Nadal and Murray...

Just turned over about ten minutes ago to see how Murray was getting on. Was he really terrible or was Coric really good, or both?

I only saw the second set, Murray was making a fuckton of errors but a lot of them seemed to be about Coric out-thinking him - all the changes of pace, dinky short shots and crazy defence that Murray usually does. Only winning five points on return - and it's not as if Coric is a servebot at all - was bizarre though.

Also funny to think that Coric is a LL - lost in qualies to #350 Fabrice Martin, struggled past WC Jaziri in R1 in three sets, got to the QF with that Baghdatis retirement...and then thrashes Murray 1 and 3.

wow @ lucky loser. yea I saw some of 2nd set, otm abt out-thinking

SESIL!

Karatantcheva outgrinding Puig to make a rare SF and the prospect starts to brew of a Karatantcheva/Sharapova rematch, 11 years after "I'll kick her ass off"...

great play by fed

wow @ scoreline last night of ferrer/harrison 46 60 60

berlocq is dictating v nadal in this tiebreak

& he has the home ct advantage here, will be a good test for rafa to have to comeback if he drops this

omg berlocq chokq

really amazing dfense by nadal props

nishikori being outgritted by ferrer

kei losing so many bhand to bhand rallies is prob a deathknell

Nicole Vaidisova, now ranked #370, got a WC into Monterrey qualies and got bagelled in the first set of her opener by #531 Makoto Ninomiya...but she came back, won another two matches to qualify and is in her first WTA main draw since Feb 2010. Where she will play...Ivanovic in R1!

I am pretty sure Vaidisova is a selectable player in one of my old tennis games

isner and these interminable matches is the worst

davis cup is kinda cool but id honestly jst like let a bryan bro play singles or w/e over having to watch/root for isner

I am pretty sure Vaidisova is a selectable player in one of my old tennis games

― DJP,

Top Spin 3 is a classic

So excited to see Hsieh in another SF, presumably Peng and Mirza dumping her in doubles within six months of each other motivated her

sam querrey went on bravo's millionaire matchmaker

wow I didn't notice that Mayer and Souza played the longest David Cup match ever yesterday. 15-13 in the third after 6h 43min!

*in the 5th, rather. Argentine TV is still all over it.

First girl born in 2000 has acquired a senior ranking, just in case you're feeling young. Claire Liu (USA) is your new world #1221.

I remember feeling old when the first girl born in 1990 (Cornet!) got a ranking :(

Serena's Indian Wells return happens this week. I love that her opponent in the most anticipated and historically significant beyond the sport match of the year could be...Niculescu

(It'll probably be Krunic though)

so glad that they are finally streaming first round matches

I'm woefully way behind on other tennis news, but my 2009 self is extremely happy that Delpo and Cilic are playing doubles together this week. <3

what the hell, jack sock
https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/576517600009678849/photo/1

would cherish forever a nicalescu upset here

tennis channel has all but created an animation of serena as jesus rising from the dead 4 this return

serena is p shook

Would laugh if she lost this to troll. Should really have gone down a double-break there, like if Niculescu had aimed 1mm higher on that volley..