ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

700th win for Serena. Marion is very excited in the commentary booth about the imminent cake.

That was a brilliant game from Thiem to serve out the set from 0-30 down

So happy for CS Navarro, iirc she won her first career title about 6 months ago. Beautiful game.

Stupid time zones making me miss a Serena/Simona match that went 7-5 in the third

Fuck is this Isner revival bullshit

Isner has done this before, he looked incredible in IW last year. I think he has this mental block where he has 2 or 3 matches in a row where being aggressive doesn't work and he loses his commitment to it.

Fascinated by the way Halep's fans have become one of the year's stories though, when was the last time there was this kind of vocal support following one player around the world? If they're a bit OTT as new fans they'll learn but it has to be a great thing for the WTA

V happy that CSN breaks the top 10 with this run too!

isner did destroy kei, but ill be really surprised if he can do it to novak

serena/halep match was not that amazing - serenas unforced forehand errors were the only reason it was close; halep really needs a better serve to threaten serena more consistently imo

super ugly first set

novak looks tired but andy keeps hitting errors

gotta give murray the edge going into this third w/ how poor novak looks but he def could snap out of it obv

omg no one can hit an overhead

That was a pretty patchy match last night. Four bagels in six matches on the way to the title for Nole though, that's pretty amazing. Second big final of the year that's culminated in Murray getting bagelled by him, conversely.

I'm sort of astounded that CSN is only the third Spanish woman to make the top 10 in the open era!

wait really? conchita martinez is one right?

the other one is the "grass is for cows" woman maybe? Oh why can't I remember her name?

of course! Arantxa Sánchez Vicario! Can't believe I forget her considering how many finals I saw her lose to Steffi Graf in!

re: Djoko - Murray final. Quite a surrender. I didn't know Murray was unable to smash a fkn tennis ball..

18yo Sara Sorribes Tormo from Spain = Baby Errani. Moonballs and dropshots utterly confounding Shelby Rogers there.

Nice story on the mentor/mentee relationship between Jankovic and Danka Kovinic, the Montenegrin #1 who just beat Bencic and will now play...Jankovic: http://www.changeovertennis.com/changeover-diaries-2015-jelena-jankovic-mentor-extraordinaire/

Bouchard slump official. Bagelled by Tatjana Maria then wins four games off Lauren Davis?

That was some performance by 18yo Elizaveta Kulichkova. One thing to thrash the lesser Radwanska, another thing to do Kanepi like that in under an hour. Smacking winners everywhere. How the hell did she lose to Magda Linette in qualies though? (She's in Katowice as a LL)

linette played well against giorgi yesterday, very good serve & defense.

watching clips of Hingis/Mirza :D :D :D I love this team already

Mauresmo pregnant :)

Amélie :)

Giorgi had one of her on days vs A-Rad yesterday but A-Rad looked listless and grumpy...Giorgi vs Schmiedlova is a fine final, very happy that AKS is back on track with two finals this year after her slump post-RG last year. Love her game.

Keys vs Kerber should be good too, only saw the first set of Kerber/Petkovic but it was very high quality.

I really feel sad about A-Rad. Navratilova was supposed to be the secret weapon that would make Aga a slam winner, someone who could take out a Lisicki in a SF like she should have, and not get blown off the court in a SF by a player she once double-bageled like Cibulkova, and now the list of people beating her is far less impressive than back when she was only losing to Azarenka over and over again. I see her out of the top 10 pretty soon even if Bouchard tumbles. Petkovic is showing signs that she might actually hang on to lots of her points, Makarova has nothing to defend (if admittedly not much chance of picking up too much) around now, Suarez is in the ascendency and Keys and Pliskova have heaps of upside still. It's going to feel like a wasted career isn't it.

I don't see it as a waste really, early in her career I didn't even see her as the consistent top 5 player she became and I've never thought she'd be able to win a Slam except with a dose of draw-related luck...and she had that twice, and blew it twice.

Earlier this year I thought there might be an element of "a step back to go two steps forward" about the M-Nav appointment but maybe her window generally has shut, as it did with JJ a few years ago. Though given how draws routinely fall apart at Wimbledon, her best chance of winning a Slam, I'd still rate her chances at a Slam higher than Wozniacki's.

That pasting she got from Cibulkova in the AO SF was probably the equivalent of JJ's mauling at the hands of Stosur at RG, or something.

Kerber just did not miss in the second half of that third set, huh. That's what had her in the top ten for a few years and gave her that awesome win over Sharapova at Wimbledon. The WTA needs Kerber back in the top ten even if it doesn't realise it.

the most unfortunately-named man in tennis won the US Men's Clay Court Championships

I think Jack Sock's name would be fine if he didn't actually have problems with his socks/footwear.

There has to be a way for him to improve his backhand, it's such a technical monstrosity.

Even the Kerber/Keys youtube highlights were thrilling despite knowing the result. Sublime dropshots by Kerber towards the end, huh, so good to see her break her finals streak too.

Lovely to see Schmiedlova win her first title too, her crosscourt BH is such a great shot.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCajd7IW0AARnvu.jpg

After championship point. Great picture

I watched a lot of that sock/querrey final, was nearly comical sock running around his bh so often, he does have good speed tho, and he really did bully querrey w/ his forehand quite a lot, moreso 2nd set. sock had a double fault in every single service game but one I think, and still generally had little trouble holding serve. sock was fortunate to come back from 2-5 in the 1st set tiebreak, gotta think it was a really frustrating loss for querrey

that court in Houston is so weird looking

Andreas Haider-Maurer d. (13) Ernests Gulbis 61 60

^^didn't see it but I'm sure that was an edifying performance to watch

I watched a lot of that sock/querrey final, was nearly comical sock running around his bh so often, he does have good speed tho, and he really did bully querrey w/ his forehand quite a lot, moreso 2nd set. sock had a double fault in every single service game but one I think, and still generally had little trouble holding serve. sock was fortunate to come back from 2-5 in the 1st set tiebreak, gotta think it was a really frustrating loss for querrey

that court in Houston is so weird looking

― johnny crunch, Monday, April 13, 2015 3:18 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

now that he's improved his fitness Sock's only problem really is the backhand. If he could just get it up to a Roddick level he'd be headed for the top 10 in a hurry.

The forehand is amazing, the heaviest ball in the history of the game.

somewhere along the way Sock had a coach who gave him the most severe and avant garde western forehand on tour but let him hit a backhand like a toddler.

yea the announcers always mention how he hits his forehand and backhand with the same face of the racket, which i can like barely wrap my head around how is possible

it would actually make sense if he used a one hander!

in fact I wonder if that's what they should have done, but I'm a huge advocate of the OHBH

the big issue with his BH is that bizarre racket prep

Sock will get tossed in with all the other American serve bots but he actually has wonderful touch and volleys which you can see in his doubles success

http://www.tennisunleashed.net/jack-sock-backhand/

Wow. The bottom of the handle is pointing straight up immediately before he snaps through. I guess that could be...a good thing? For spin? Such a strange technique.

Good to see Funky Flo back on tour, I've missed watching him.

bad loss obv but cmon, monte carlo -- Wawrkinka was booed as he left the court.

MONFILS

Hingis is going to play SINGLES in Fed Cup. She's so beating Aga

meanwhile, so glad someone finally gave us the STATZ on the Nole smash: https://twitter.com/tennisabstract/status/588735317626105857

Hingis playing singles.

Hingis playing singles. I don't know whether I'm going to hyperventilate or get hugely aroused.