ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

I for one am shellshocked.

You mean a nO_Obody, surely.

Bartoli lost which is more of a shock.

Jelena Jankovic. To Julia Goerges. On hardcourts. Winning 4 games.

*Jelena Jankovic lost.

People don't seem to harsh on Jankovic the way they did Safina, but really, it's she that is the worst player to ever be #1, surely.

(I mean objectively she was more consistent for longer than Ivanovic, but Safina had more finals, Ivanovic won a slam and Wozniacki is mentally tougher and has loads of weeks at #1)

Jankovic doesn't seem to care any more. Her game has been a shadow of what it used to be since 2009 now, but almost every time I've seen her play this year she's so listless and just doesn't give a shit. Don't think she's winning matches against anyone any time soon.

I think Sweta's decline might be terminal too, usually in her vast stretches of moronic losses to nobodies there'd be a random huge result around the corner, I have no faith in that any more though.

CAKE was visibly injured in the Stanford final, maybe she isn't fully recovered yet? Also, Voskoboeva has made a really strong comeback this year, her results have been better than before her injury. Already beaten Kirilenko and A-Pav, gone from 528 to 135 in the rankings since the start of the year.

ugh this story:

Elise Tamaela is a 27 year-old Dutch player on the ITF circuit. She was playing a challenger in Versmold when she was verbally and physically attacked by another player's (Karen Barbat (DEN)) father. She's now in the hospital and the dude has fled with his daughter, presumably trying to avoid the authorities.

Here's the account from Elise's brother:

As the brother of Elise I can confirm the story... Elise has been attacked by the father of Karen Barbat whule watching her game. He was calling her names from the start of the game (all kind of racist things I'm not willing to repeat). After a while Elise said something about it, he then knocked her out with a punch and elbows to here temple. She immediately lost consciousness for about five minutes... After a while she was taken to the police station to press charges, the father and daughter flee, police still looking for them. At the police station Elise started the vomit continiously, an ambulance was called to take here to the nearest hospital. She's still on a intravenous drip with painkillers and needs to stay in the hospital till at least tomorrow morning (having a concussion and a bruised face)...

My father and I drove to Halle (where Elise is in the hospital) and are now in a hotel, we hope we can take Elise back to The Netherlands tomorrow...

The father/trainer of Karen Barbat will probably never see a (professional) tennis court again, that man is a true risk to all people around him!

ugh, wtf?

looking at the draw, Barbat was playing another Dutch player in qualies, not Tamaela, who's in the main draw, so I'm guessing Tamaela was attacked as she was supporting her compatriot?

yep seems like it - Barbat was playing Tamaela's doubles partner I think. Utterly horrible.

I wish there was some way to get psycho parents off the tour or at least limit their participation - there seems to be too many of these kinds of stories lately. But it's simply impossible given how many parents double as the players' coaches/managers/agents etc.

Why wasn't he ejected for yelling racial shit?

I'm guessing because it was just the qualifying event of a tiny tournament w/very few staff - I've been to the equivalent level of event in cardiff and they're just hosted in tiny tennis clubs, no ball boys and certainly no security.

There aren't really any spectators either, just the players and their coaches.

I think we need a lol after that story:

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/6847895/two-time-defending-champion-andy-murray-ousted-rogers-cup

Ugh Clijsters retired! I was so looking forward to the Serena rematch.

Q. What happened tonight?
JELENA JANKOVIC: Um,you know, it was my first match after, you know, the break, you know, since Wimbledon. So obviously, you know, I had a hard time, you know, playing my first match.You know, I need some time to get, you know, my rhythm and feel comfortable, you know, on the court playing matches again. So I made some, you know, bad errors and I made actually a lot of errors.I wasn't really feeling my game out there, and, you know, it was tough. I felt really rusty out there. So,you know, I tried, you know, the best that I could, but obviously I need, you know, some more time and hopefully more matches and I'll be better.

Clijsters out of Cincy. So if she plays the US it will be without any preparation, just like at the French and we know how well that worked out for her.

that's good news

Meh I really wanted a Serena/Clijsters rematch on US hardcourts.

Twitter says that Stosur just shanked a shot that hit Pennetta, playing on the next court over. I can't even.

hahaha

Twitter also says Woz is on her way out after a reportedly horrible match against Vinci.

Woz was up 5-1 in the second set

Words can't describe how happy that match made me. So ludicrously hilariously bad from the Woz. 3 DF's in a row at one point

amazing win for dodig over nadal! I left at 3-0 in the third, figuring he'd run out of gas. Glad I recorded it.

WTF at that loss! Especially with the leads Rafa had. Paves the way for a GROSS bottom half. Fish in the final again just as I was looking forward to his Cincy points dropping off. Why can I not be rid of Fish and Ivanovic from their unwarranted high rankings? Go awaaaaaaay.

LOL @ Wozniacki. Vinci never beats top players, ever! I do hope this is the start of everyone starting to beat Wozniacki.

Damn I am loving this tournament. Dodig!!! :D

Why can I not be rid of Fish and Ivanovic from their unwarranted high rankings?

oh come on, Fish at least won a title this year

Kvitova Kvitova Kvitova... US hardcourts arent good for her it seems.

Voskoboeva 6-3 5-4 40-0

followed by 2 doublefaults and an error.

6-3 5-5 :)

Maria was nice enough to gift her the next 2 games after that monumental choke though. Champions should really not lose to some qualifier who just threw away 3 match points. UGHHHHHHHHH. I just don't know what Maria can do any more. Awful awful awful all the time.

Well look, Kvitova, if you're going to lose, it's nice that you chose to do it to Petkovic, whom I also <3.

Also, yay for A-Rad! Not working with that dickhead father of hers is working out for her.

FUCK YEAH GALINA VOSKOBOEVA

god it gives me so much LIFE when Sharapova and Clijsters and Ivanovic all lose within 48 hours of each other

go go go Zheng

pity about Kvitova and Li though - this is why Wozniacki will be No 1 forever :(

FUCK YEAH ZHENG JIE

she just won an epic point there - she was at net, couldn't put it away, Serena smashed an easy BH straight at her, you know how that normally ends

except Jie hit a reflex volley past Serena for a winner and Serena looked SO PISSED OFF

<3 <3 <3

Lol @ these girls playing amazing against Serena and losing to Craybas 2 weeks earlier.

Shot of the tournament easily there. Forehand DTL pass from Serena. Ridic.

Oh are you one of those who buys into Serena's whinging that everyone plays better against her out of spite?

I thought Zheng's volley a couple of games before was better tbh, Zheng should have been more prepared for that to come back

It completely sucks that I am at work and can't watch this. I'm hearing from, of all people, my mum, that Jie is hitting some ridiculously good returns.

Well they almost always do play better against her. Like, where are these returns when she's facing Misaki Doi in the 2nd round of Wimbledon qualifying?

Is it some sort of rule that every time an underdog gets to a crucial point in the decider against Serena or Sharapova or some other insufferable top player, they serve a double fault?

Well they almost always do play better against her.

Um, no they don't? Look at all the underdogs who play terribly against her and all the times Zheng plays amazingly against other players?

I really hope I never see a Serena fan ever complain about an opponent celebrating off her DFs and errors, because she might be the worst on tour for it

"All the times Zheng plays amazingly against other players"

Um, not often? IDK

Haven't noticed many underdogs playing terribly against her. Since her comeback (too lazy to look further back) there's been Rezai, Halep, Kirilenko and Zheng playing way above themselves with only Bondarenko and Lisicki playing terribly.

LMAO @ how animated Serena is. Playing with so much passion even in non-GS events nowadays

Great match. Why does Serena always cut in front of her opponents to shake hands with the umpire first? Some sort of superstition I guess but it's kinda disrespectful.

Zheng's only made two Slam SFs, won three titles, won doubles Slams, reached the top 15. That's a lot of scope to play amazingly.

Haven't noticed many underdogs playing terribly against her

Are you actually serious lol. Most mentally weak WTA players shit themselves against any top player, not just Serena, and the match is won before they even start playing.

Who are these underdogs who play so shit against her then (as in, even more shit than they usually play)? It was just a throwaway whiny comment in my bitchy state of my favourite being on the brink of defeat but seems to me there's a hint of truth in it. Zheng has shown next to nothing since since AO 2010 iirc where she lost against Henin (1 & 0 or something), including her match against Clijsters the other day, but got pumped for it today and played out of this world. Rezai did the same at Wimbledon I believe (only saw highlights).

Rezai, Halep, Kirilenko and Zheng playing way above themselves with only Bondarenko and Lisicki playing terribly.

Rezai and Zheng didn't play above themselves, that's nonsense. Zheng is a great player when in form and healthy. Rezai is capable of running hot and cold against anyone, Serena didn't get a higher Rezai.