ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

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!

CSN is absolutely determined to spurn every chance Bouchard gives her, nonetheless Bouchard has managed to choke for the match three times across two sets now

What was CSN thinking on four consecutive MPs???

LMAO this match

CSN lost five straight points from *6-2 up in the TB, starting with a DF and continuing with basic errors
Then Bouchard DFed twice in a row
Then CSN finally won the thing

Seriously impressed that Bouchard has managed to _not_ gain points outside the Slams this year given how she did fuck all outside them last year too.

classic murray though to consider withdrawing, play and win his first match, then withdraw

begu played an amazing last few games to push it to a 3d v azerenka

already some really stellar pts & shotmaking in rafa/stan match

has been kinda a vintage display by both guys here

dam nadal played like doo doo in the 2nd

he is NO WAY the fav in the french, he could get upset like 3d round just as easy as win/make finals or w/e

CSN now 4-0 vs Halep, in another three setter, big emotions on her team

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CFIMWS6WgAASPaE.png

4-0 on clay, that is

I guess the only silver lining for Halep is that she definitely hasn't peaked too early. Bad that she couldn't defend the #2 seed though, I would've liked Serena and Maria in the same half at RG.

CSN with the early break. Have been so impressed with the finishing ability on her FH this year, seems like the biggest improvement in her game to me.

Maria ;) An improvement on earlier clay tournaments but mostly only one thing really worked per match. Needs improvement. Working the angles in this match, not enough depth though.

If the winner of FO is Serena or Maria that will be the active player with most clay titles.

novak is really going hard @ feds backhand

amazing break, such a good return of serve to be in that

I'm surprised that Rublev's ranking is still so low, considering that he's winning ATP matches all the time. Is he even going to get into RG qualies?

nevermind, I just read that he declined the WC

lol that Tennis Australia had to hand their women's WC back because there's literally no one they could justify giving it to

I'm surprised that Rublev's ranking is still so low, considering that he's winning ATP matches all the time. Is he even going to get into RG qualies?

― groovemaaan, Monday, May 18, 2015 8:48 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nevermind, I just read that he declined the WC

― groovemaaan, Monday, May 18, 2015 8:53 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

his ranking only got into Slam qualy range this week, too late for the entry deadline, but as you say he was offered a WC (as the previous year's boys' champion) (I wonder why the girls' champion Daria Kasatkina didn't get this?! they had to scrape the barrel with French journeywomen and she's healthy and playing the Caserta ITF this week) but anyway, Rublev didn't decline but would have had to lose R1 in Geneva to make RG qualies, and he beat Nieminen...

I was interested in seeing how another WC, Corentin Moutet, did. Youngest player (and only 1999-born) in the ATP top 1000, and apparently quite a character, judging from this report from last week's Bordeaux challenger:

I don't know what/who started it (According to Moutet it's Haase of course) but at 58:30 Moutet shouts Allez on Haase's DF. Then he encourages himself again after another DF. When Haase wins the game he lets out a huge Allez :lol: (59:20). After that before starting his service game Moutet talks to Haase and tells him "shut your mouth you're ranked 90 in the world you're 27 there's nothing to brag about"

(Moutet lost 2 and 2 to Berrer, tough draw though)

oof Rublev should've had Cilic there, he was playing so well up til 5-5 in the TB

the amazing thing about Rublev to me is that while most other teenagers who break through to the ATP look v well-developed physically (from Nadal to Kyrgios and Tiafoe), Rublev doesn't just look young but could probably pass for an U14. And yet generates so much easy power.

Jankovic's retirement against Stephens has finally gifted Sloane her first semi-final since the AO 2013.