ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Strycova d. Bouchard 0-6 6-3 6-3.

It's official. Bouchard is not the new Sharapova. She's the new Hantuchova. Barbie <3 :D :D

Impressed by the sheer variety of Bouchard's six-match losing streak.

IW QF, 76 57 46 to Lesia Tsurenko: losing to a qualifier from a double break up in the third, with a wide open draw ahead of her
Miami R2, 06 67 to Tatjana Maria: getting bagelled by a #113-ranked qualifier
Charleston R2, 16 36 to Lauren Davis: thrashed by one of the smallest and weapon-free journeywomen on Tour
Fed Cup, 46 46 to Alexandra Dulgheru: self-inflicted post-handshakegate humiliation in front of her home crowd
Fed Cup, 64 46 16 to Andreea Mitu: ditto, except to a #104-ranked substitute and from a set and a break up
Madrid R1, 60 36 36 to Barbora Strycova: handing out the bagel this time...and still losing

can't find a working stream but I'm sure Kvitova losing a set to Govortsova is going to be some champagne tennis, right.

Kyrgios's attitude was so pissy today. Not the slightest danger of him even putting up a fight let alone saving 9 MPs vs Gasquet this time

typical Sharapova today. comical DF to give Garcia BP, then she takes enough time before the next point that Garcia could have taken in a sightseeing tour of Madrid and got back in time to return - no warning, of course - and serves an ace

1-5 down in the TB, Serena casually reels off 6 straight points for the set. That Azarenka DF at 5-4 was closer to the baseline...

I wondered if this Serena/Vika match might be entertaining based on the score so tuned in at 5-5. It's pretty awful, though. Though Azarenka losing that tie-break from 5-1 up, 5-7 at that, was pretty funny.

x-post. I mean if Serena had been a little bit less casual when she moved forward on those two service points she lost...

The hell happened there

Azarenka serving at 6-5 40-0, having saved a MP down 4-5...

Serena huge FH winner, 40-15
Serena huge return, 40-30

AZARENKA THREE CONSECUTIVE DOUBLE FAULTS LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

TB!

lol, amazing

Serena wins 12 of the last 13 points from triple MP down

loooool

Vikapaws in full effect, really sad I wasn't able to watch this live

Azarenka totally thought she'd served an ace on the first of those DFs too

And she'd served so well ALL match!

So much hilarity in this fed-kyrgios match, from nick's total meltdown in the first set TB to roger declaring "we need a clown for this circus" :D

Kyrgios' grunting on big points is just absurd, please stop it Nick

I think Kyrgios will win multiple slams tho, so much talent with this knucklehead

always taken aback by the curious hiring practices for ballkids at Madrid

Fed much better than in MC or Istanbul but may lose anyway. Tough draw.

what a match

stunning tiebreak

Kyrgios deserved that for the dropshot that brought up his first mp alone, what a shot

Also, he beat both Fed and Nadal in his first meetings against both!

fyi Kyrgios just lost to Isner

yeah, I expected a comedown of sorts - mirror of his Wimbledon win over Rafa only to lose to a more experienced servebot in the next round.

Sveta EXPOSING the Claypova myth there

Oh god Petra, gets the early break, then 3 DFs in her own serve.

She's been amazing apart from that game. That sick dropshot switch-up >>>>>>>

Another one, on the FH this time!

DEAD at Petra's amazing play, especially grabbing a third break in the set.

I mean Serena's second serve is up to crap but you know, you gotta take it where you can get it.

thought she was about to blow it with that missed FH for a double break...but she got the double break anyway. She's so good right now.

That ace to save BP :D :D :D

Well let's hope that massive shank at 30-30 doesn't cost her. I don't think it will.

Today's tennis has been my silver lining

In their last matches before Madrid, Petra and Sweta got straight-setted by Brengle (!) and Zhang (!!) respectively. Then they struggled through two and three 3-setters respectively en route to their SFs. Then they thrash Serena and Maria with near-flawless performances wtf wtf

Murray! :)

Murray played so well <3 So aggressive and taking returns so early

A few vintage Rafa points here and there but when he wasn't shanking hilariously he was landing everything so short. Is he FINALLY in decline even on clay? He's done fuck all since last year's RG.

Also, hoping Kvitova and Murray haven't peaked too early in a tournament that doesn't play much like RG.

M-Nav dragging Azarenka in the commentary booth. "She can recover pretty quickly from near-death experiences."

SO HAPPY I managed to negotiate the Roland Garros site and pick up tickets in the last minute sale. If only I could have got another week off to do Wimbledon as well :(

In a not-at-all predictable development, Ivanovic v Gavrilova is comically erratic

lmao Ivanovic saved seven MPs just to do THAT on the eighth

Knew Dasha would pull it off in the end. She's actually tough mentally, like she really relishes the fight!

yeah Gavrilova's fun to watch, and even when Ivanovic saved triple MP twice you never felt Dasha would collapse. Her actual talent level is nowhere near as high as her mental strength though, half her shots look like accidental shanks whether they land in or not and her shot selection gives every impression of being completely random

that second set of murray-nadal was maybe the worst set of tennis Nadal has ever played on clay.

on the other hand, murray winning two clay titles out of nowhere is no joke. Clearly something good happening there. IIRC he had never even made a clay final until 2 weeks ago?

Where are the people crediting him for making astute choices in his coaching team?

also if Kvitova has battled through a 3-set shit-fest from 6-3 3-0 up to win in a tie-break in the third only to lose to god damned Jankovic again I might just have to kill myself. Please, Magda, prevent this.

Petra started last week with 3-set shitfests over Govortsova and Vandeweghe, remember. Though I expect her to lose to CSN in the quarters.

Great to see Goffin with a decent win this year, hopefully that kickstarts him a bit. Though I have no idea wtf Tsonga was thinking tactically in the last four games of the match

Watching Bouchard/CSN. First set: actually pretty good from Bouchard, ramped it up in the TB. Second set: kind of horrible from both, lots of early breaks, Bouchard choked for the match at 5-4, CSN played a glorious classic clay point to save game point at 6-5* and then Bouchard made two cringeworthy wild errors. Third set!