ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

whos your 6

querrey plays so well in mexico for some reason jeez

whos your 6

Rafa, Novak, Murray, Stan, Thiem, Dimitrov

I think delpo would be in the picture if he got his backhand back to how it was last year but it seems something is wrong there

if raonic is healthy he cld win imo; fed will also prob be better odds to win than everyone but rafa/novak/andy

Stan on clay is always in the mix post-2013 imo

Thiem will put it together someday and win a French and with how messy things are right now it wouldn't shock me

raonic isn't really a good bet on clay is he?

Yeah I don't think Raonic is a factor at RG yet. He's not uncomfortable on clay but he's not good enough to overcome the disadvantages there.

Dimitrov otoh is about as good on clay as he is on hardcourt and he's been maybe the best hardcourt player in 2017

i think milos got p far at the french last yr iirc

He had a pretty bad clay season. R16 at the French where Ramos-Vinolas handled him

kyrgios is playing like such a maniac

The Kyrgios talent, what can you say

16 aces in a set vs Novak Djokovic

That Murray/Kohlschreiber TB was ridiculous. About as good as I've seen Kohlschreiber play. He really only had one MP on his racquet.

Kyrgios has now beaten Federer, Nadal and Djokovic in his first meetings with all three. He's 3-1 against them combined...and 0-5 against Murray, lol.

I would probably go further than Matt A's six: if the current state of the tour persists we could be looking at a pretty random winner to back into a collapsed draw. Not as likely as in the pre-Nadal era but if for whatever reason the established winners flop, I don't think the anointed next-in-lines will take advantage. Thiem is running his career into the ground with his schedule and other than last week's weak Rio title has had mediocre results for half a year now. I don't think I'll ever be convinced of Dimitrov's mental strength in a Slam final unless it actually happens.

I would definitely add Tsonga to the list of serious contenders though, with the start of the year he's had and his historic peaking at home.

meanwhile very interesting to see the new head of the FFT come out with such a strongly worded statement against a potential Sharapova RG WC...

Thiem is still essentially a clay specialist and he's won his only clay event of the year so I think it's viable.

His scheduling is a curiosity and Bresnik said they're finally going to stop it.

A real wild, chaotic, 90s/early 2000s fluke slam winner pick would be Goffin

the more I think about it...I think RG might be the least likely to have a rando winner atm. Like, a LOT of established clay-proficient names have to flop for that to happen and if Nadal, Wawrinka and Djokovic are still around at the QF stage they're probably in good enough form not to lose to anyone.

But at Wimbledon you can definitely envisage carnage à la 2013 and someone like Delpo peaking. PLEASE GOD NOT RAONIC.

watched the re-air end of kyrgios lmao @ him firing tshirt cannons into the audience after the win

rafa looks good

wow @ rafa

cilic has actually come back and played better this set and pushed him, he looks kindof incred

nadal / fed / novak (plus delpo, kyrgios, sasha zverev) all in the bottom qtr of indian wells

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_BNP_Paribas_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles

I cackled when I saw that quarter

I'm worried about Serena, there are way too many "imminent retirement" alarm bells ringing right now

rolling list of players speaking out against Sharapova getting WCs:

Murray
Kerber
Kyrgios
Tsonga

and NID that Cornet is piping up https://twitter.com/alizecornet/status/839825720356528128

ahahaha that is fantastic

Tomic's footwork in this match is identical to mine when I try to play through a hangover, it's uncanny

General attitude for that matter

Tiafoe's W/L record in ATP MDs falls to 3-13 with this loss to Lajovic. Not great for someone touted as the future of US tennis

come through Caroline

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C6q9XxeU0AAIKuL.jpg

pospisil played soo great yesterday

Fritz takes out Cilic from a set and a break down. Seems like he might be pulling himself back up to Tour level.

sock/grigor has been v entertaining

impressed w sock to not crack there, & malek jaziri his opponent next rd

Indian Wells really lends itself to messy chokes, huh? Bertens/Bacsinszky, Kerber/Parmentier, Young/Pouille and those are only the ones I've seen (missed Nishioka gloriously beating Berdych from 1-6, 2-5 down). Cackling that Dimitrov has reverted to his usual chokey self though.

Novak Djokovic post-RG16

Djokovic beats Delpo and loses to Kyrgios in b2b tournaments. Didn't see Acapulco but here he really looked like he had no idea how to counter Kyrgios's weird junk x power random variety. Actually, seeing Kyrgios bring out so many changes of pace and rhythm against Djokovic, completely makes sense how Murray is the only one of the big 4 he struggles against

I cannot believe what I just saw

nick k pulling out of his match w fed for food poisoning is interesting

My favorite tennis photo in a while

https://www.instagram.com/p/BR9Taj8A90G/

Tiafoe looked like a future number 1 tbh

― Matt Armstrong, Thursday, March 2, 2017 8:46 AM (three weeks ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ok you're going to have to explain this one. I keep tuning into his matches in the hope of seeing what the Future Of US Tennis hype is about and every time I see horrible, clunky movement and horrible, clunky technique. The wind-up on his FH makes me wince. And so many errors. It's like watching the male Bouchard. He's currently struggling against Challenger-level nonentity Kravchuk.

fed/kyrgios

~10 min hold by nick

nick using the sab(r)

wow rog

from set pt down, 3 unreturnable served from kyrgios

wishing this shit was best of 5

that point @ 7-7 in the tiebreak omg