ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Seems really unnecessary to let Stosur win any of her serve games.

Thankfully Stosur's being nice and giving us some of her trademark shank shots 20 metres out.

YES YES A THOUSAND TIMES YES

That's the bloody way to do it! 2nd set more spotty than it needed to be, you could see the nerves - this is the first tier 1 tournament victory for her in 20 months. Almost doesn't feel real tbh.

Beating Wozniacki and Stosur back to back with forehand winners <3 More than anything she seems much more mentally strong than a few months ago

http://i939.photobucket.com/albums/ad234/abcfsk/this-is-my-home-gif.gif

http://i56.tinypic.com/2dhch3m.gif

That image doesn't work.

smh I remember when no one on ilx tennis threads was a Sharapova fan.

in Nadal/Djokovic news, BLOODY LIVE STREAMS what is wrong with them

dark ages

This stream works smoothly atm http://www.fromsportcom.com/v-2/4/188/v-258956.html

Why do their points always have to be so long.

of course a Sharapova fan wouldn't be able to appreciate long, compelling rallies, ie the essence of the sport

(and thanks)

Started chopping as soon as I said that.

Well I do! but they could agree on skipping the introductory ten 'five meters above the net' top spin exchanges before getting to it. Starting to get good now, though.

it's classic clay tennis, I love seeing the ebb and flow of rallies around a neutral position

Alos, Petra Kvitova lost in her hometown Challenger that she played instead of Rome - to the renowned claycourter RYBARIKOVA wtffffffff

Sure, but I guess I don't think some of these guys' long long long clay court matches have been among the best. But then I really disliked Nadal before he started adding weapons to his game, and generally like him now.

(Ah, Kvitova. Now she and Wozniacki will inexplicably play in Brussels the week before RG)

I've always liked long-rallying counterpunchers and finesse players rather than caveman hit-winner-now big servers and bashers. Says a lot about Woz that even she is beyond the pale (though I always hated the pure retrievers like Coetzer and Smashnova too). Zvereva, Myskina, Henin are pretty much my ideal female players.

fucking hell some of Djokovic's shots...that volley...the ANGLE of that fh!!!

I don't like pure bashers, believe it or not, and I'm only happy with Marias play when she doesn't hit at random. She hasn't this week, except when the nerves have gone to her head - she's been patient, created opportunities for the pure winners. There's a beauty in finding the angles, the lines, the surgically precise depth, and the game would be so boring if the counterpunchers didn't have heavy hitters whose balls they could impressively run down.

I mean, Sharapova - Henin was a great match-up. Clean, ruthless attacks vs the slices, the speedy backhand. That three-setter in the year-end chship which Henin ended up winning was a classic. And Henin's most entertaining match was against power-Capriati, US Open '03.

The only type of players I'll always hate are the Isners and the pushers.

Nadal needs to just go for it without being down a break.

I think I could like Maria's game - I love Kvitova - but the corporate hype immediately after she won Wimbledon + the shrieking = no no no no.

Amazing x-court BH winner and Nole takes the set despite failing to serve out. Astonishingly high quality.

It really is amazing how quickly he's gained dominance over Nadal.

Oh hey Nadal did a cow on ice.

Rafa's turn to be a cow on ice!

hahaaaaa xp

Rafa loses a 40-0 lead on his serve to get broken!

Bounce that ball one more time why don't you.

lol

These streams are gonna drive me to murder one day, maybe today

They always seem to stutter only just when a point starts.

Djoker so close now.

AARGH YOU FUCKER WORK BEFORE I SMASH YOU UP

That's itttt. Four finals in a row.

4 and 4 o_O

holy shit that was fucking amazing

i don't think anyone could have expected Djokovic not to lose a set to Nadal across two clay finals this year, even given the streak.

so impressive - what i saw of the second set wasn't as whoa tennis-wise, but in terms of a) being unafraid to take the streak, and the pressure, into Paris, and b) surely knowing he had to get it done in two, because there were some tired-looking errors creeping in - so impressive from Nole.

the last game and point were super dramatic - holy shit, Djokovic has three championship pts! omg he flubs one! deuce! phwoar BH. wtf net cord. wtf net cord again, oh yay Nole!

fucking live streams, saw none of that

am sure they get extra choppy on match points

:(

there's always the highlights reel?

yeah, i have seen pretty much every Rafa/Nole match start to end this year so overall i'm doing okay. if it hadn't been for the rain delaying it, i might well have missed this entirely.

don't get why Nadal keeps trying to hit to Djokovic's BH though - i mean obvs it works when playing Fed but Nole's CC BH is just vicious.

this is ridicccccccc

i am salivating for a nadal-djokovic french final. best of 5. omg.

So nervous about the French Open draw right now.

Lol @ reading Wozniacki's dinner plan tweets with every man and women on the tour, and then:

Sharapova, who took a long period off the circuit following surgery two years ago, said she kept to herself on the circuit.

"It is tough to have really good friends on the tour," she said. "I find it difficult to be having dinner with someone one night and then having to play them two days later because it is at the end of the day an individual sport and we are all very competitive.
...

"I don't hang around in the locker room - it's my least favourite place in the world.

fuck. clijsters is confirmed to be playing the french :[ go awayyyy

It would be worse than anything if Clijsters won. Would much rather see Wozniacki take the trophy. Hopefully the clay tears her down.

I still <3 Kim and I hope she wins but I doubt she will. Obv a Schiavone repeat would be much more fun but that's not happening either. It will be "one of those" tournaments where people will look at the draw and work out that certain match-ups are more favourable for certain players, and then everyone will be wrong and it'll be won by Kuznetsova* or someone.

( * obv not actually Kuznetsova)

I just want something completely nutsy to happen. The GREAT ARN SLAM is upon us!

or like...Dulgheru

lol Shahar Pe'er just lost to Casey Dellacqua. LOLOLOL how is she ranked so high anyway!

ALSO. Patty Schnyder just lost. This isn't particularly noteworthy, and arguably she could have retired some time ago, but now seems about right, given that the woman she lost to is called ALISON VAN UYTVANCK.

Similarly - JJ, how can you lose against Sofia Arvidsson?

Ayumi Morita def Casey Dellacqua 1-6, 6-0, 7-5

I love scorelines like this

Because JJ is shit ;_;

I watched a bit of Alison van Uytvanck's loss to Wickmayer today and seriously, remember the name. I don't think I've seen anyone play quite like her - and her game is super-effective. Pretty much controlling things until she served for the first set - at *6-5 30-0 she tried to be a touch too cute and then lost, like 10 straight points, fin. But we'll be hearing of her again sooner rather than later. It's been ages since I've been this impressed with a junior player.