WIMBLEDON 2012

i've never gone the tktmaster route - i queue up from 8.15am or so on the day, which is enough to get you grounds passes (not the main show courts obv, those are overnight jobs)

i intend to do that again this year, almost certainly friday weather pending, maybe tuesday too

4R

Hsieh d. Martic
Clijsters d. Makarova
V. Williams d. Oudin
Stosur d. Li
S. Williams d. Shvedova
Kvitova d. Zakopalova
Vinci d. Wozniacki
Azarenka d. Martinez Sanchez

QF

Hsieh d. Clijsters
V. Williams d. Stosur
Kvitova d. S. Williams
Vinci d. Azarenka

SF

V. Williams d. Hsieh
Kvitova d. Vinci

F

V. Williams d. Kvitova

4R

Djokovic d. Troicki
Gasquet d. Berdych
Federer d. Mathieu
Tipsarevic d. Seppi
Del Potro d. Roddick
Murray d. Cilic
Wawrinka d. Beck
Nadal d. Paire

QF

Djokovic d. Gasquet
Federer d. Tipsarevic
Murray d. Del Potro
Nadal d. Wawrinka

SF

Federer d. Djokovic
Nadal d. Murray

F

Federer d. Nadal

taking it back to '07 teehee

dude you are totally high if you think Venus is getting out of the third round if she's lucky

dude i picked hsieh and vinci as wimbledon SFists, so duh

Heh. Also Stosur will probably lose way earlier than the quarters. Murray might go out early and I'd say Tipsarevic is a dead man.

If Kvitova doesn't win then really only Li or Venus would make me happy as champs.

idk how Nalbandian will react tennis-wise to the controversy, could easily imagine him just wanting to get out swiftly, and Tipsarevic has been surprisingly consistent ever since his ascension into the top 10

Hsieh would make me happy as a champ

Gonna document my day here as I go along probz. Just saw nadal practicing. He sucks obvs. Thought he'd be hitting the ball harder. I guess the spin was pretty cool but I'd def beat him. Nicolas Mahut also just said sorry to me because he was trying to get past, so he's my new fave. He also almost definitely overheard me telling my brother I wasn't v impressed with nadal. Hopefully he relays the message. Can't be dealing with capital letters on my phone so excuse me for that.

:D

also, jelz

also, I am CHOOSING to watch the Radwanska match you were so eager to avoid

Pironkova and niculescu were practicing next to nadal but no1currd.

Kveta peschke is in lisicki's support box.

Also saw practising: raonic, ferrer, and llodra vs simon. Also fought the urge to yell at everyone around me trying to figure out who nadal was hitting with that hitting partners do exist

BOMBSHELL, Lisicki and Young have both managed to win sets

This match is sad, you can tell Rybarikova is in the middle of a protracted slump.

Haha Youzhny beats himself up - literally bashing himself on the chest with his racquet - and suddenly the comeback is on. 15 points in a row to take the second set.

Hey, look, Djokovic is already playing an error-strewn shit-fest. Down a break. STill, it's to Ferrero, who is 90 years old.

By the time I realised Nole was down a break, he wasn't any more.

JCF's facial hair is just NO.

Still looks like something off a Catholic frieze.

Venus down 0-4 to Vesnina...

LOLOLOLOLOL at what ensued from 5-0, 40-15. Obvious really.

Vesnina is definitely going to try to choke in the next game. But Venus just looks completely done physically.

Aw Venus :( Sad to think she might be done, especially since her fighting Sjogren's has surely won all but the most hard-hearted around to appreciating her. Didn't see any of it because TV was showing Hobak/Juanqui, and inexplicably flicking to just about every other American playing (Blake? WTF? Who cares?), except Venus. BAD TV.

Well, anyway, the day can be salvaged by Granollers losing, and Bemelmans winning, because his resemblance to Justine Henin is always good for a lol and if he makes the second round I might get to watch it.

Hsieh won :D

Not news, but Donald Young still really needs to grow up judging from his whining during the match and quotes after it. He also needs to stop with the facial hair and baggy clothes that make him look like an adolescent. You'd never guess he's 22.

Really good stuff from Tipsy btw. Fat Dave looked subdued but that was a reminder of why, in a tough section, Tipsy's the top 10 seed.

Llodracist out :)

Finally settling in a bit here. Suggest me a match to watch.

haha I popped out because there seemed to be a lull in popcorn matches when you posted that. Gulbis vs Berdych now, maybe?

Babos BELIEVE

Indebted to Babos there :D

Gulbis is a set and a break up on Berdman!

Golding/Andreev is one of the worst pro matches I've ever watched. Golding is a set up and his body language is so negative.

So I finally sorted a whole bunch of shit out and now tuning in for the first time, I find Ernie Gulbis on Centre Court and up a set. What is this alternate universe?!

What a ludicrous challenge from Ernie.

Two sets up though. I'm not that surprised, this is just the sort of match he randomly wins before a loss to like Janowicz in the next round.

Kind of a terrible match actually - Tomas' footwork seems particularly leaden today.

Golding's dramatics on losing the third set TB were funny. You can tell he was a child actor.

oh Isnerpaws

Berdytch! Fuckin' 'ell the billionaire's kid.

congratulations Ernie, for not women's tennis-ing that away. Wish you played like this all the time and not just once every three years.

loool Gulbis: "Interesting that I didn't choke in that *beat* as usual."

"I'm really known for my mental strength. Just watch my previous matches."

lol Ernie, he's so losing in the next round...(beat)...as usual. Great tennis in the third TB though, especially after the MPs fiasco earlier.

Fuck yeah Isner losing

Isner still hasn't gotten past the second round here lol

I look at American men's tennis these days and it's like... the most consistent, predictable performer we have is Michael Russell

also, lol: http://espn.go.com/tennis/blog/_/name/espntennis/id/8094132/wimbledon-why-do-pay-attention-donald-young

This really is the perfect match-up for Watson to showcase her skillz to Centre Court. A sulky grass-hater who has never been known for her fighting spirit.

After Youzhny hit behind him for a winner, Young yelled out, "Every time I get here, I play like a punk!"

I remember this moment, it was pretty special. But the US media has always seemed very confused when it comes to assessing their players' talent compared to that of foreign players. Even in this article:

For me, Youzhny was the perfect player for the one-time prodigy

...whut. Youzhny isn't Federer but he's no 50-100 scrub, he's been ranked top 30 for most of his career, he was once the hot young thing, he is WAY WAY WAY WAY more talented than Young. He's won a title this year and is coming off a SF showing in Halle. Young's highest ranking is 38, which is about where Youzhny's been ranked in his worst career periods. There's just no reason why you'd expect even a non-slumping Young to beat Youzhny at any point and that is where the inflated expectations can do so much damage.

It's a crutch you see often, people making out that when it comes to Player X or Underachiever Y, it's all in their head. Gasquet is similar too. No, it's just not the case that if you sorted your head out you'd suddenly win Slams. You're just not as good as you think you are.

iveta benesova ‏@IvetaBenesova
F WORD GRASS!!!!!!!!

lololololol Iveta

she is actually a Wimbledon mixed doubles champ

worst thing about Gulbis never living up to even middling expectations is the years of excellent quotage lost:

Q. Is there anything you enjoy more than playing tennis?

ERNESTS GULBIS: “Yeah, a lot of stuff.”

Q. Like what? Give me some examples.

ERNESTS GULBIS: “What do you mean, enjoy most in life?”

Q. Without being really, really like polite, what is the biggest thing which you enjoy in life? Music? Verdasco says it’s food.

ERNESTS GULBIS: “Okay, Verdasco, it’s his hairstyle it looks like he enjoys the most. Put gel in his hair. Me, I will keep it a secret what I enjoy. Think about it. I think you all know.”

"In 2003 Nick Newlife, from Oxfordshire, made a wager of £1,520, at odds of 66/1, that the Swiss tennis star would win seven Wimbledon titles by 2019.

Mr Newlife died in 2009 but had left the betting slip to Oxfam in his will.

Federer's defeat of Britain's Andy Murray in Sunday's Wimbledon final means the charity will now collect a payout from William Hill of £101,840."

New rankings! New No 1s!

1. Victoria Azarenka (2)
2. Agnieszka Radwanska (3)
3. Maria Sharapova (1)
4. Serena Williams (6)
5. Samantha Stosur (5)
6. Petra Kvitova (4)
7. Angelique Kerber (8)
8. Caroline Wozniacki (7)
9. Sara Errani (10)
10. Marion Bartoli (9)
11. Na Li (11)
12. Ana Ivanovic (14)
13. Vera Zvonareva (12)
14. Maria Kirilenko (19)
15. Dominika Cibulkova (13)
16. Kaia Kanepi (16)
17. Flavia Pennetta (17)
18. Sabine Lisicki (15)
19. Andrea Petkovic (18)
20. Jelena Jankovic (21)
21. Nadia Petrova (20)
22. Francesca Schiavone (23)
23. Lucie Safarova (22)
24. Julia Goerges (24)
25. Jie Zheng (27)
26. Anabel Medina Garrigues (28)
27. Roberta Vinci (23)
28. Christina McHale (32)
29. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (30)
30. Petra Cetkovska (25)
...
35. Kim Clijsters (47)
36. Tamira Paszek (37)
46. Yaroslava Shvedova (65)
58. Tsvetana Pironkova (38)
68. Venus Williams (58)
79. Heather Watson (103)
89. Camila Giorgi (145)

1. Roger Federer (3)
2. Novak Djokovic (1)
3. Rafael Nadal (2)
4. Andy Murray (4)
5. David Ferrer (5)
6. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (6)
7. Tomas Berdych (7)
8. Janko Tipsarevic (8)
9. Juan Martin Del Potro (9)
10. Nicolas Almagro (11)
11. John Isner (10)
12. Gilles Simon (13)
13. Mardy Fish (12)
14. Juan Monaco (14)
15. Marin Cilic (18)
16. Fernando Verdasco (16)
17. Gael Monfils (15)
18. Kei Nishikori (20)
19. Alexandr Dolgopolov (21)
20. Richard Gasquet (19)
21. Philipp Kohlschreiber (30)
22. Florian Mayer (29)
23. Milos Raonic (22)
24. Marcel Granollers (23)
25. Stanislas Wawrinka (24)
26. Radek Stepanek (27)
27. Andy Roddick (25)
28. Mikhail Youzhny (33)
29. Feliciano Lopez (17)
30. Andreas Seppi (26)
...
34. Denis Istomin (39)
45. Bernard Tomic (28)
75. Brian Baker (126)
78. Ernests Gulbis (87)
103. Lukas Rosol (100)
195. Robin Soderling (154)

Ok, can you explain Rosol? Last 32 of the main draw vs out in the first round of the qualies last year? And yet he's dropped? I know there's no bonus points for beating Nadal thesedays but this seems weird.

Last year he won the Braunschweig challenger in the second week of Wimbledon (125 points), which a 3R at Wimbledon (90 points) doesn't quite make up for.

Olympics are gonna make the rankings extra-wacky this summer, with tournaments shuffled around and held in different weeks than last year, plus I expect all the scrubs who didn't get into the Olympics to vulture up all the high-tier points on offer in the weakened high-tier US hard court draws (as well as a couple of shameless top players, Mardy Fish I'm looking at you).

Right, thought it must've been something like that - thanks, Lex!

On yr second point - they retain true 52-week rolling ranking even in Olympic year, right? There's no provision for Rogers Cup 2011 points not dropping off until the Rogers Cup 2012 is held (whenever that is)?

Yup, 52-week all the way - there's already been a calendar stagger this year with everything shifting a week later than usual (so for this week's rankings it's not just Wimbledon points off but the tournaments held in the week after Wim last year - hence eg Vinci's fall, as the winner of Palermo 2011). It makes things a bit crazy but given that lots of tournaments may not exist from year to year, or new events may pop up, it's probably the more sensible option.

This coming week is madness, 4 ATP events (Stuttgart, Bastad, Umag, Newport) and 2 WTA events (Stanford, Palermo) crammed into what's usually a quiet week thanks to the Olympics.

what happens to the rankings now ATP company is liquidated?

Rankings will be agreed by a committee drawn from members of Mogwai, Shellac and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Roscoe Tanner expected to re-enter at #31 next week.

Bollocks to all this "We like Murray now 'cos he cried" nonsense

What he could do now to reverse this tide of sentimentality would be to withdraw from the Olympics, citing "grass court season is over, need to prepare for North American hardcourt season", and then go and win the US Open. That would be great.

haha, yeah it really would.

"I don't want to represent Britian, I'm fuckin' Scottish right, fuck the Queen!"

Yeah. "Put tennis in the Commonwealth Games, I might be interested. Glasgae 2014 COME ON."

re: crying at finals - does that always happen? all 4 singles finalists cried at the end at this wimbledon. is it a particularly emotional year? also, the collapsing on the floor after winning thing - genuine exhaustion/emotional overload, or contrived?

liked that federer put on his special gold watch before lifting the trophy though

Federer's bawled a couple of times after winning and at least once after losing. Murray's cried after losing before SO I DON'T KNOW WHY PEOPLE ARE GOING ON ABOUT IT SO MUCH NOW unless they literally have no idea that the Australian Open 2010 existed. The only one of those I felt was anything other than embarrassing was Murray yesterday. Don't think Djokovic and Nadal have cried after finals before?

Novotna after choking in '93 - the first tennis match I ever watched, no wonder I'm hooked on the psychodrama of the sport - was understandable and turned her into a British sentimental favourite 4eva. Hingis at RG '99 was an epic tantrum.

I wasn't sure whether Radwanska was crying out of emotion or illness on Sat - prob both. That wa OK b/c it was such a surprise, she's usually so poker-faced.

The first prostrate-on-the-ground moment I remember (apart from Charlie George) was Agassi in '92. There was some suggestion that Bolettieri was gesturing for him to do this as soon as Goran missed his volley. Made for a more marketable image or something. Obv, you've got Bjorn on his knees. You seem to get a combination of the two thesedays.

With Fed it does seem a bit contrived; the one time he didn't do it was 2009 which was a real match-point-out-of-nowhere moment with little build up, so I guess he wasn't thinking about it.

Lendl might've cried when one of his German Shepherd dogs died but not on the court.

xp

Nadal definitely cried after beating Fed at Wimbledon the first time. At the time I was pleasantly surprised; it wasn't the kind of thing that somebody off the back of a Hed Kandi compilation would do (that's how I had him pegged, in my mind).

Lendl might've cried when one of his German Shepherd dogs died but not on the court.

That makes him sound like Hitler.

Also heard some dimwit this morning, re: the anti-English joke, going on about how Murray should always be careful what he says because he is "representing Britain", NO HE FUCKING ISN'T! (Well, OK, he is at the Olympics... and Davis Cup)

2003: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6vds22Bdy1qm8d0to1_r1_1280.jpg
2009: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6vds22Bdy1qm8d0to2_500.jpg
2012: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/07/09/article-2170778-13FBFCAB000005DC-480_634x418.jpg

a steady upwards trajectory

nah Fed is on his way back to smugness i think.

Serena does improve every year. :)

how's rog managed to not age a day in nine years?

you just know Roger looks back on his old hair and cringes so hard

and well he might

Serena looks like she wears a ton more make-up than she used to, both on and off court. I blame Jankovic for that. Her fashion sense has improved so much, at some point it's like she and Venus swapped in that regard.