ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Ugh, as much as I love tennis in my timezone, watching (male) commentators doing the whole Asexual (Though Possibly Sexual) Man Love thing for Jack Sock of all people is... please stop. I mean, at least Roddick back in the day was smashable.

Wozniacki can't even beat her pigeon to make a MM final these days:

https://twitter.com/Dimonator/status/685587570923802626

Azarenka/Kerber was pretty great until 3-3 and then Kerber completely fell apart, totally scrambled tactically.

Didn't get home in time but 61 62 is a DELICIOUS scoreline for Djokovic to finally take the h2h lead over Nadal

Coric is the first teenager in an ATP final for eight years, I knew about the drought of young talent but even so that surprises me!

Azarenka is going to win the AO isn't she

Not sure a title run that went Q, LL, Vinci, Q, Kerber really institutes anyone as Slam favourite (nb I don't believe any of the others are exactly on their deathbeds)

Makarova just slipped on a beetle

berrer/zverev is a nice contrast of styles rn

Um, Russia have lost the first 3 rubbers in Fed Cup to the Netherlands. Sharapova is playing... in doubles? Nice dead rubber to keep her eligible for Rio, that. Kuznetsova is now losing to Hogenkamp and Bertens for fun these days.

pretty interesting match between Taylor Fritz and Michael Mmoh in Memphis last night. First time I'd seen Mmoh play, I really like his strokes and his defence was pretty amazing against Fritz absolutely whaling on every stroke. Fritz's power just too much though. A bit surprised Fritz's serve wasn't the weapon I've remembered it being before, or maybe Mmoh can just read it well.

The latest instalment in the tragicomedy that is Donna Vekic's career: losing to Sevastova from 4-0 up in the third set in Kaohsiung.

coric/monfils is p entertaining

coric's fitness level seems v solid hes waay behind the baseline sprinting side to side and getting balls back...is still not gonna be enough unless gael falls apart but still..

watching thiem-nadal, it's really startling to see the rafa decline in real time. so many forehand shanks for what used to be such a reliable shot, and he doesn't have a clue how to change it. seeing your best weapon disintegrate like this must be terrifying for a player.

fritz into the mem final; good effort by berankis there too

only saw the middle set of Thiem/Nadal, it's getting to the stage where that would have been a bad loss for Thiem - even in that set he was bullying Rafa on most points.

Fritz's game and personality don't appeal to me but he's scary good tbh. Def overtaken Rublev, who's had some really disappointing losses this year, among the 1997 generation.

Bencic/Kasatkina was fun, first pro meeting of erstwhile junior peers. Bencic becomes the first teenager in the WTA top 10 since 2009 (er, Wozniacki). Vinci/Ivanovic was also hilarious, as expected.

lol @ isners latin american results

Errani AVENGING that golden set Shvedova dropped on her four years ago in style, 63 60.

Halep is such a bad player these days. She makes so many bad decisions on court and makes so many routine errors and it's like...not doing those things was literally the only special thing about your game, you're literally left with fuck all.

Fitting that this historic WTA feat of all the seeds in a tournament going 0-8 in their first matches should be sealed by Shitra managing to lose to Brengle after bagelling her in 19 minutes

On the plus side, Vinci breaks the top 10 at the age of 32!

Haven't seen any of Delpo's matches this week but great to see some pretty easy scores and a deep run off the bat - final vs Dimitrov upcoming? Thiem/Nadal rematch in the Rio final looks likely too! Kyrgios trashing Gasquet 60 64, lol, maybe he'll make the Berdych match more interesting this time - Berdych was lucky to escape Zverev in R2.

Legit looking forward to the Strycova/Errani final in Dubai more than any other big final in ages. I think Errani might actually be my favourite WTA player right now. A true inspiration to those of us who can't serve to save our lives.

ive watched some delpo - hes playing ok, not doing anything truly great but not that youd expect that, the results are mostly the effect of moving well and his opponents mostly not doing much, chardy in partic played terribly for a lot of that match

SARA ERRANI <33333

Hahaha at Dimitrov losing to Rajeev Ram. He will never win a Slam. That rhymes, and is also true.

Just shows how when one guy is hoovering up ALL THE POINTS EVERYWHERE, the difference between being low top 10 low top 20 is not that much, and even at Dimitrov's peak ranking he was still a fair way behind the guys just above him.

Shame Del Potro will probably lose to a useless, dislikeable flake like Querrey here.

lol so much if del ray final is raj ram v querrey

i feel happy for jan hernych apparently into a challenger final in poland after i saw him destroy his knee last summer in person

cuevas/nadal has been.....interesting

lol @ cuevas unable to not hit slam overheads rt to rafa

2h 37m already & its going to the third ~~

vintage rafa for 1 pt there otherwise funny how this reminds me of his match almost a yr ago to the date, this is what nadal is now, its still entertaining tbh

rafa is def laboring v carreno busta rn

― johnny crunch, Thursday, February 19, 2015 6:58 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Haven't seen any of Delpo's matches this week but great to see some pretty easy scores and a deep run off the bat - final vs Dimitrov upcoming? Thiem/Nadal rematch in the Rio final looks likely too!

lmao @ how these assumptions turned out. Rafa can't even vulture the South American clay events any more, amazing. The Thiem loss might actually be weirder though.

Kyrgios played really well vs Berdych, he's been so much more disciplined this week than I've ever seen from him before.

First title of many for Kyrgios. Only a 250 but Pospisil, Gabashvili, Gasquet, Berdych, Cilic is a pretty impressive title run regardless (and without dropping a set). On his best behaviour all week I think. Remarkable the things he can do with his racquet when you'd swear he was completely jammed up on court. Takes over from Thiem as youngest ATP titlist!

Meanwhile in Doha, Pliskova lost in less time and won fewer points against Gasparyan than the Omani WC did against Vekic :o

SCHIAVONEEEEEEEEEE

https://twitter.com/alcalejon/status/701513545565999104

She looked just as elated to win Rio as she did when she won RG <3

Three years since her last title, 16 years after her first final (Tashkent 2000, lost to Tulyaganova!)

May the Italian veterans never retire

Wozniacki out of the top 20 for the first time since August 2008, and Konjuh is a set up on her...

Konjuh needs to play every point like she's MP down. So frustrating to watch her botch putaways until, from 2-5* down, she's reeled Wozniacki back to 5-5 - saved five MPs so far, four with amazing winners (one with a very Wozniackan volley error)

Finally Zheng Saisai's time to shine with her weirdo game. 75 61 over AO champ Kerber then a 76 61 hammering of Bouchard <3

I was going to say I was sort of hoping Bouchard might get a date with Kvitova, who, even in Peak Shitra mode should be able to take her but I'm quite sure she's now going to lose to Ostapenko.

Kvitova sacked her coach, hasn't bothered replacing him and is engaged. She's lucky she drew a fellow Czech to break her losing streak. Did you see her lose to Brengle last week? Absolutely hilarious stuff.

At least Wozniacki is still Slamless and out of the top 20. That's all Kvitova fans have now.

And everyone else is a mess. We knew that Halep's game and strategic approach were a mess but look at her proving that in addition to that she has less mental strength than 2016 Vesnina. VESNINA! Who chokes to Vesnina!

Anyway, Shitra just hit another two home runs to go down a double break in the third. It's nice to see Ostapenko getting back on track after her mini-slump!

In Radwanska's win over Niculescu, not only did she hit the ball somewhat hard (for her), she also.. wtf... serve-and-volleyed, what even... and even more weirdly, won a couple of points. Don't go trying that against a heavy hitter, Aga.

4 weeks ago Kyrgios got completely schooled by Berdych, now he casually dominates him

ooooooooh we're nearly on for a Wawrinka/Kyrgios rematch

Vinci/Radwanska was such a treat, so many delightful cat n mouse points

yeah that was probably the best match i've seen this year, some unreal points from both

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B76v1XZZjSo

The most popcorn revival in men's tennis ends with a second straight retirement

thiem is leveling up

great tiebreak rn marcos/stan

15-13 stan!

I was watching Ostapenko/CSN, Ostapenko was on fire for a set and a half until inexperience kicked in and CSN just dug in grittily. Third set was really high quality. Ostapenko is the real deal tho

PEAK racquet smash by Thiem in Davis Cup

https://www.facebook.com/bolamarelapt/videos/992789044139013/