ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

okay lol

oooh a miami final is nice. even though maria has had a piss easy draw

Q: She thought you would be tired in the third after the long match you had the previous night. Didn't seem to be that way.

Sharapova: Because I didn't do the dance after. I wasn't tired.

that's cold, maria.

Just curious - who is your favourite current US male player, Lex?

I guess Ginepri? never particularly minded him. I think the two things I react most negatively to in a player are a big serve and media over-hype, and most US male players have one or both of those.

What a horrendous women's final. WTF happened to Bepa?

If Maria lets Vika win >;[

They've played some thrilling matches before, though.

nightmares of shrieking and unforced errors

Complaining about grunting is SO 2001. Unfortunately that's what all the preview articles will be about now.

Complaining about grunting is SO 2001

lol what does this even mean? why 2001? people complained about it - with good reason - in the early 90s with Seles. and then when Sharapova emerged in 2002-03. then again with the Larcher de Brito hideousness. it's got to the stage where I refuse to watch certain players unless the match is likely to be good enough to mitigate the screeching. (Sharapova and Azarenka cancel each other out.)

I don't see why shrieking is even a problem! I like it.

it's so grating and i can't take screechers remotely seriously.

They're the serious-est of the bunch!

it's just the most intolerable, hideous sound.

Btw that's the best dress Maria's worn in ages. Exactly the look she should be going for.

the likes of petkovic and schiavone's grunting is much more offensive to me than the sharapova variety

the conditions are humid so if the match is in the day (unlike vika's last 2 matches) azarenka's poor fitness should seal the deal for sharapova! a miami championship would be so nice and out of the blue

The Petkovic grunt sounds like a lineswoman's "OUT!".

here's that radwanska/schiavone point i gasped about earlier in the week!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN8waD6K7-g

all 3 of schiavone's forehand overheads were really lazy. i mean how do you not smash that first overhead up into the stands

the first overhead was pretty good, after that radwanska's lobs were too high and deep for schiavone to put away effectively

she was practically on top of the net for that first smash. really no excuse for it not to have been walloped into the crowd. don't see how radwanska's last lob was particularly high or deep either

For a second there I envisioned Fish winning this match.

nadal seems to have recovered from his arm injury nicely

brutal stuff.. I'm getting annoyed just thinking about being federer and hitting those crazy wide shots with nadal running them all down

I stayed in to watch Fed/Nadal and then fell asleep at 11pm lol. Not that I'm sad to have missed it, seeing the result, or that this result wasn't predictable. People are saying that Fed's finally in decline - I kinda disagree, I think he hasn't been the "same Federer" since 2008, when Djokovic and Murray started beating him on the regular. (by "same Federer" I mean that he can still go into God mode at times, but not reliably or as often.) And his 2009 "resurgence" was really more due to Djokovic and Murray regressing a bit, and Rafa's absence, than Federer actually recapturing his old level. Now Rafa's healthy and Djokovic is back on track, Fed's back to where he was in 2008.

He probably still has at least another Slam left in him - either he'll have a last hurrah in God mode, or 2009's circumstances will happen again. But it's not so much in his hands any more.

this is fucking ridiculous

Why am I watching this match. It's like an endurance test. Will these insane wenches SHUT THE FUCK UP.

It's not very good, either.

the first game was good

there's gonna be a lot of breaks in this match. both are way better returners than servers. i expect maria to come through in 3 sets once she properly finds her range

Well it's good if you take away the double faults.

and the errors making me flinch on every point

lololololololol what was that, Vika

why can't maria just pin azarenka back with some deep, high groundstrokes and then whack away a short ball? not that hard! it's hard to just bludgeon azarenka away

AWESOME dropshot, maria

did it even reach the net?

the weak drive volley straight back at Azarenka that preceded it was a bit special too

yeah it reached the net after bouncing a few times first

Another set like that please. Let this be over swiftly.

vika has so much more margin for error on her shots :[ stop being a brainless ballbasher maria ugh. if she keeps it close in this set azarenka will surely choke as she always does

I'm not sure I've ever seen a serve bounced into the net in pro tennis until now

Memories of Kournikova!

looooooooooooooooooool

i've seen hantuchova and venus do it. and probably a few others. it's not really that rare, sometimes you just whiff it

but for gods sake what was that forehand. whole court open. fuck this

DF to concede her eighth game in a row. LOL.

you see that's the kind of point maria should play more often. high percentage deep, high balls until azarenka gives a weak response.

RTeally, Azarenka's not even playing that well.

this is almost as good as last year's final

Wonder if Maria will manage to get more games off Vika than Bepa did the other day.

ahahahahaha

lol, two dead net cords in a row for Azarenka to finally win that game after Sharapova was 40-0 up

being demolished two tournaments in a row by the youngsters can't be good for sharapova's confidence :[

maria's as big a fighter as she always was but everything about her game is too unreliable these days. super pissed.