ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Both these women are playing as if a bomb will go off if either hit a forehand more than five miles an hour.

Of course, Pironkova loses the first set on a DF. So I flick over and find Petra absolutely zoning. From 2-4 to 6-4 4-0. Jankovic's game is just so, so, so fugly and ineffective and Petra is doing some Quality Bashing.

Janowicz the first qualifier to make a Masters 1000 final since Pavel in 2003. His game is absolutely amazing to watch- a ton of drop shots, huge serves, flat groundstrokes. A breath of fresh air for sure.

Boom Ferrer

So glad he got his Masters title. Sure he backed into it but he's way better than some of the players who bagged MS titles in the pre-Big Four era.

Also thrilled that Nadezhda THRASHED Woz in the Sofia final.

Ferrer gets a bad rap for no reason. Sure, under most circumstances he would have no chance against the Big Four except v Murray on clay, but that's true for pretty much everyone outside the top 10 and he's a lot more consistent than Berdych and Tsonga.

Petrova winning was NID - Wozniacki played atrociously against Pironkova. That first set is one of THE worst sets of tennis I've seen this year.

Why is Tsonga such an idiot :(

More idiocy.

RT @melanie_oudin RT @Cali_Betchh (O)ne(B)ig(A)ss(M)istake(A)merica

smh

Vandeweghe is a die-hard Repub too, in news that will shock no one

MOre tennis players are probably conservative than you'd think. Oudin doesn't surprise me at all. I mean, I'd be surprised if the Williamses voted Romney even if they are 5000 times more self-made than Oudin could ever claim to be (BELIEVE!).

(Yes, I have a list in my mind of who is a tory in the WTA but I won't dare.)

Does make it even easier to laugh at Oudin's tennis misadventures.

Yeah didn't John Isner say on twitter he read Decision Points? smh

Isner can read?

The Williamses have said they don't vote b/c they're Jehovah's Witnesses.

Does make it even easier to laugh at Oudin's tennis misadventures.

Binders full of 1R losses :D

Davenport was raised Republican but has definitely drifted left (or liberal at least) over the years, in '08 she voted for Obama. Navratilova of course spends 90% of her time on Twitter RTing leftwing newspaper articles. Petkovic says she wants to found a left-wing, youth-orientated party in Germany when she retires. I love her.

And a zing from a rising US junior on Facebook:

Sachia 'Minaj' Vickery
Just letting everyone know that if Romney wins this election I will tweet and Facebook you when I'm picking corn from the cornfields, and chopping wood in Africa..... :))))

As for the British players, iirc Keothavong and Murray both vote Labour.

Oh yeah the tournament happening this week, the Murray/Djokovic match yesterday was really great! Murray played as well as I've ever seen him play for 1.5 sets, then on the first BP he faced made the spectacularly ill-advised decision to S&V for the first time, and then collapsed after that. Would have been somewhat shameful except his near-comeback in the third set was really good.

Problem with Petkovic is she'll hire a lot of lame guitar bands for her political rallies.

Or dubstep acts. Petko loves drops.

She just got dropped by 18-yr-old Elina Svitolina in the Pune SF. Svitolina gets a resurgent Mrs. Krumm in the final. Svitolina was born the week after Krumm made her second USO QF.

Meanwhile, Federror played The Worst Tiebreak Of His Career and Pony responded by losing the first eight points of the second set.

Federer broken in the third on...a shanked BH. Obviously.

Quality-wise, the WTA YEC round robin >>>>>>>>>>>> the ATP WTF round robin

Though I expect the ATP SF/F will >>>>>>> the WTA SF/F

I feel like the WTF never gets good until the final. They should go back to 5 sets for the final too imo.

2nd set was the best Fed has played since Cincinnati, no idea who is winning the final

Was sure Murray would win this, so didn't stay up for it. Wondering what the chances are of being able to wake up in the morning, about five hours after the F finishes, and being able to find a download or at least a highlight real so I don't get it spoiled? Probably zero.

I don't know who's gonna win this. That's a good thing.

(I'll go with...Federer!)

Agree I'd go w/Fed, just for the fact its indoors...

Federer won the first nine points :o

Roger is no Shvedova though.

How about doing something more with a short ball than tapping it harmlessly at the Federer FH next time, Nole

That was very nearly 4-0 to Fed but Nole's clawed it back to 3-3 through sheer tenacity.

OMG THAT SHOT

Followed up by a shanked BH, lol

And Fed breaks in an 11-min game at the start of the 2nd. What time are the last trains from North Greenwich?

http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/FedDjokovicInsanity3.gif

what a point to end on!

Very appropriate

Not a bad final!

And Djokovic takes player of the year then, too

Gisela Dulko is RETIRING. Lovely farewell letter: http://www.dulkotenis.com/en/n/20121118_happy_end

I saw her final match vs. Lucic in Wimbledon qualies, I guess. She hasn't played singles since then so I'd assumed she was retired from that discipline, but I'm surprised she didn't become a doubles specialist with Pennetta for a while yet.

The climax of her finest win. God this match was a MESS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmw52WIQI9c

aw that's a bummer. Always liked seeing her in a Slam draw - she was such a wildcard. so choke-tastic and yet so many memorable wins... Henin, Sharapova, Azarenka etc.

plus, she and Flavia made the hottest doubles team.

some nice shots of the year:

http://tennis.si.com/2012/11/28/shots-of-the-year-awards/

Nadal now out of Doha and AO.

He isn't ever coming back, is he? :/

Oh Brisbane.

Pervak d. Wozniacki.

Why did I not turn the TV on for that.

Wow, Karolina even losing to D versions of herself now.

Sweta kicked off her comeback with, er, a 1R loss to Bertens in Auckland. Retire. McHale only winning five games off Parmentier confuses me. Vandeweghe choking match points to Daniilidou amuses me.

Watching my first tennis of 2013 - Ying-Ying Duan vs. Mrs. Krumm in Shenzhen. Duan is unusual for a CHN player - she looks at least six foot tall and has a game to match. Huge serve, bashy groundstrokes, not exactly consistent. Krumm's defence and angles caused her problems in the first set but she's pulling away now.

Stosur extends her Australian losing streak to 4 with a straight-sets loss to Arvidsson.

It's weird, early in her career Stosur actually did better at home than elsewhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxVcF__TIa0&feature=player_embedded

Everything is embarrassing

I am totally amused by Stosur flopping to general non-entities like Arvidsson (who I have seen play solidly) and Hantuchova d. Errani is.. not exactly funny, but.. it's something. What I am not amused by is Kvitova losing to Pavlynchenkova. In eight years time I am going to be mourning the loss of what could have been a brilliant career as Kvitova is but a memory and Azarenka has ten slams, aren't I :(

Piotr Wozniacki would be insufferable at charades.

This match literally made me get out of bed on two hours' sleep, I was hazily checking the scores and went WTF out loud when I saw Johansson leading. Immediately had to swing into action to put some money on the choke. Which was inevitable and hilarious.

Venus has always made wild UEs and that's nothing new but what's sad is seeing how harmless she's become more generally.

In eight years time I am going to be mourning the loss of what could have been a brilliant career as Kvitova is but a memory and Azarenka has ten slams, aren't I

Sad. Prescient :(