ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

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.

Also she is a ginger!

I love scorelines like that too. I know someone who refers to them as scoreLiNas, on account of a certain player who often wins/loses by them.

remember the name

Hard not to!

Yeah I haven't seen any of her matches, but people were talking after the Schnyder win. Let's hope she's the real deal.

Keep playing tough matches on clay the week before Roland Garros, Caro.

Hope she makes the final.

or like...Dulgheru

Not if she's only getting ONE GAME off Bepa. Still, well done Bepa.

After Bepa had to go to three sets against some nobody yesterday.

wozniacki might have the easiest draw to the quarterfinals ever.

Clijsters/Sharapova QF :/

Mens title is wide open now that Roddick's withdrawn.

Crazy qf/sfs lined up. At first, sucks that Maria gets Clijsters and Vika in her half, but Vika has Cibulkova and Kvitova in her quarter so at least some baddies will be gone.

Federer and Nadal's got it pretty tough.

Don't people always say that and then Nadal makes mince-meat even of the tough people?

(I say this without even having looked at the draw and gone "Oh anyone even remotely hard in Wozniacki's section will lose to a nobody" first)

Mens title is wide open now that Roddick's withdrawn.

Also, this <3 ! I wish tennis were more widely followed as this is excelsior-worthy.

start a new thread for roland garros someone, i don't have time right now

start a new thread for roland garros someone, i don't have time right now

It would have taken about 10 seconds longer out of your busy life than posting that did.

thanks for the snark but when i start a slam thread i like to do draw commentary and such as well, which takes rather longer than 10 seconds

Someone snark at lex for me, I don't have time right now

Okay, I am going to force myself through a SHITTY STREAM for you Francesca, so beat Wozniacki!

So much amazing net play from Schiavone and so many loose points between them :(

Women's qualies placed. Predix from 4R!

Wozniacki d. Begu
Goerges d. Stosur
Zvonareva d. Pavlyuchenkova
Schiavone d. Mattek-Sands
Kvitova d. Li
Azarenka d. Watson
Sharapova d. Radwanska
Clijsters d. Hradecka

Wozniacki d. Goerges
Schiavone d. Zvonareva
Kvitova d. Azarenka
Sharapova d. Clijsters

Wozniacki d. Schiavone
Kvitova d. Sharapova

Kvitova d. Wozniacki

That actually looks too NORMAL to happen. Christ, I have no idea whatsoever.

fuck, wrong thread

http://sports.yahoo.com/tennis/blog/busted_racquet/post/Serena-8217-s-back-Williams-confirms-tennis-re;_ylt=AsFjd16Gh7d7EcOTNgkdi7w4v7YF?urn=ten-wp1389

I could cry. I truly could.

YOU GUYS MIRJANA LUCIC BEAT A TOP THIRTY PLAYER.

Even if it was just Roberta Vinci.

For some reason I'm surprised that was - by far - the biggest win of her comeback!

Nice to see Wozniacki shooting her minimal Wimbledon chances in the foot by playing an indoor hard court tournament this week.

I don't think I can take the arguments over the Williamses' Wimbledon seedings again. Every year this happens. Every yeeeeaaaaaar. And still no one seems to read the rules.

(What are the rules?)

Man, I'm enjoying watching Mona Barthel. She can volley, she's got variety, she can flatten the ball out and go for a killstrike. She's good. Her game looks perfect for grass. She should be in Birmingham.

- If you're out for six months you get protected rankings for tournament entry but NOT seeding (ie even if Serena's ranking dies after Wimbledon she'll still be able to enter tournaments without a wildcard, but she won't be seeded in them until her actual ranking merits it)
- Seeding in non-Slams goes by ranking (both Venus and Serena will be unseeded next week at Eastbourne)
- Seeding in non-Wimbledon Slams goes by ranking
- Seeding at Wimbledon occasionally deviates from rankings (but not as a matter of course). They employ a grass-court formula for the men but not the women. The official rule is that only the top 32 players can be seeded, but they can move those 32 around as they see fit. (A rule they broke for Sharapova in 2009, which I am still pissed off about.)

Presently Serena is 25 and Venus 32. Serena will definitely be seeded, almost certainly bumped up to the top 24, probably into the top 16, maybe into the top 8. Venus...could be overtaken by Errani and/or Safarova this week, and no one ahead of her looks likely to pull out, which would make things interesting. Would Wimbledon break its own rule again to seed her? Even though it backfired when they did it for Sharapova? Of course if she stays at 32 it won't matter.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/tennis/2011-bethanie-mattek-sands-blog.htm

Very few times have players gotten in each other's faces on the court in a match, but the doubles match between Rennae Stubbs/Casey Dellacqua and Liezel Huber/Lisa Raymond got a little heated, mostly due to the fact that Liezel and Rennae aren't the best of friends. In the middle of the match, Rennae told Leizel what she really thought of her, got a warning from the umpire and ended up getting fined $2,000. I personally get along with both players and think the whole thing is hilarious but what's even better is Rennae set up a locker room fund for other players who appreciated what she said to contribute to the fine.

My respect for Rennae Stubbs just skyrocketed.

Although, NB: Rennae Stubbs is 40 years old.

kind of enjoying this nauseatingly low and dynamic camera angle the BBC are using for Ward - Querrey. Also Ward has seemed decent whenever I've seen him, top 100ish certainly, why's he seemingly so bad the rest of the time?

Kleybanova withdraws from Wimbledon and Venus is guaranteed a seeding.

Eastbourne draw tomorrow! Venus and Serena will be unseeded floaters. Should be good.

Although, NB: Rennae Stubbs is 40 years old.

Huber's almost 35!

I saw the second set of Ward/Queer Eye yesterday. Ward has a big serve and Queer Eye seemed really off apart from his own big serve, which probably explains his above-average performance on grass.

Lucic/Ivanovic earlier may have been the worst pro tennis match I've ever seen, really disgusting stuff. Lucic is 29 goddamn years old and has no idea how to control her power at all, and cannot sustain any rally beyond two shots. Ivanovic did her best to sink to Lucic's level for a while but it was impossible to match really.

lisicki in the semifinals makes me really happy

And Barthel :D

Haha Serena drew Venus-slayer Pironkova. As good a 1st round as I could have hoped for!

lol this draw is insane. vika-peng and venus-petko in the first round as well

bepa-serena in the 2nd round!

Eastbourne draw got me HYPED. Funny that the most overranked player drew the most underranked! So weird to look at it and think, Ekaterina Makarova is the defending champion (and it wasn't like it was a weak draw last year). Azarenka/Peng and Bepa/Watson 1Rs!

Nice to see Murray thrashing Roddick so comprehensively.

All-Philipp final in Halle should be good.

Definitely pulling for Lisicki to win Edgbaston today too - bit sad she put out Peng in the SF though, Peng is really really overdue a first title.

Loved that thrashing of Murray's -- hate when Roddick makes a joke out of it, tho'.

The way Tsonga put out that plucky British player who will surely go back down the rankings again is what I forgotten Brit Tennis was -- the hopeless cheering and weary acceptance. We'll miss Murray in a few years when its back to this.

It's been said before, but Petzschner is a very handsome man.

Kohlschreiber played the best point in that TB, sneaking into net on the Petzschner serve and putting it away on the third volley.