ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

there is a certain way in which Woz's game is fascinating, kind of like how roadkill is fascinating

holy shit @ this shot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGKIQ7ykNsU

<3 A-Rad

sharapova a set and a break up against serena. this is weird

that was more like it

the women's final was hilarious (also pretty good), the men's final was absolutely dire (also pretty hilarious)

what could be even more satisfying than seeing Sharapova humiliated yet again? seeing her humiliated even after she played lights out, with Serena playing at 30% for half the match and giving her a set and a break lead!

95 combined UEs for Murray and Ferrer, two top 5 players whose strength is supposedly their consistency and accuracy, lulz.

Weeell, as a Sharapova fan seeing her lose like that was, in the end, tragically predictable, but at the same time ten times preferrable to another "this is literally the most NID thing in sports" confirmation. Don't know if this chance will ever present itself again, but on clay she could potentially get a look at it.

I really enjoy this "Maria might beat Serena on clay" meme that's going around, but I can't see much to it. If they're playing this year on clay, it's in a final. If Serena is playing well enough to get to a final, can anyone really foresee any outcome other than a beatdown? There's nothing particularly special about Maria's clay game, it's just that she is such a flop on grass nowadays. It's not like Serena can't play on clay - she can. But early losses are just a thing she does sometimes, and when she gets to the later stages, she tends to lose to a player with good clay pedigree. Look at Serena's FO losses when she actually gives enough of a crap to get past the first few rounds, say, QF or later. Capriati twice, Henin twice, Kuznetsova once and Stosur once. Three RG champions and one player who has made three semi-finals. None of them are disgraceful losses.

Sure, Maria performed well the last two years, but it's not as if Li Na is a clay court specialist or Sara Errani has big enough weapons to challenge the true elite on any surface. Serena would mutilate Maria in the final of any clay tournament they met in this year. Serena just hates the idea that she ever lost to Sharapova (twice!) and won't allow it again until she's barely able to move.

If Sharapova beats Serena again - and odder things have happened, even Zvereva beat Graf eventually - it won't be because the surface favours her or because she discovers some magic strategy that overcomes Serena's strengths. (Getting first serves in and keeping her groundies deep is not a strategy so much as basics that she should be doing anyway; and the tactics that get Serena out of her comfort zone, like getting every ball back, are not ones that Sharapova is even capable of.) It'll be because Serena comes out flat or gets nervous, which can happen occasionally, and which might get more likely the longer Serena keeps this streak going and it's seen as more NID. Even then Maria has to be able to take advantage of it, ie not serving DFs on BPs like she did in the second set on Sat. Or maybe wait til Serena is old and decrepit but something tells me that Serena won't stick around long if she turns into a Venus.

I don't think it'll happen, am more interested in whether Aga can ever score a win over Serena.

Serena just played not that well in a big final so of course it could happen again.

And the only time Maria has looked at taking a set vs Serena the past few years before Miami 13 is on clay. It's not really about "Maria might beat Serena on clay" but "this is the only place she's had a shot".

If Aga got a second wind as the WTA Santoro I'd start liking her.

I am really loving WTA tennis right now, the only top 10 players I dislike are Azarenka and Lolzniacki

also loving the bittersweet story of David Ferrer, who must love/hate the current ATP regime even more than post-US Open Roddick

I hope Serena beats Jankovic 6-0 6-0 in the final at Charleston. Seriously, what a cake draw to the final. The hopes of delusional "Empress" stans must be dashed swiftly and completely.

Oudin, Garcia, Pegula, Bouchard, Voegele. A tough draw in 2016 perhaps.

Don't forget her Bogota title. Undefeated on clay in 2013. 10-0! She hasn't faced anyone in the top 50 during that streak - only one in the top 80 - and half those matches have been three-set shitfests.

I do love her though, the strop she threw halfway through yesterday's match was Peak Jankovic. Spent the entire TB monologuing to herself and then didn't bother calling her coach down, just yelled at him from the chair <3

The all-Williams match was so awkward, Serena pushing disinterestedly in full-on practice session mode while Venus DFed and smacked everything out or in the net. I'd been looking forward to it out of nostalgia I guess, and the knowledge that it could be the last, and it was pretty much a reminder of why I've been avoiding them for the past decade.

Oh a complete rout after losing the first set, that's even better. God, I love Serena so much now.

10 games in a row to win miami <3
her fight with jankovic during her final win in charleston <3

red clay time :'(

oh man if you can get to any source showing Youzhny/Djokovic, do so immediately

this third set is fucking incredible

yay working from home

lol, no surprise that Djokovic won (I was out) (though I saw the score and just assumed his ankle's still giving him issues)

If Youzhny wasn't a headcase he could have won; he had Djokovic legit on the ropes several times.

Anyone hear watch Dimitrov/Nadal? Grigor definitely had chances, and even kicked up the fight in the final game despite cramping. I only saw the final set, mind.

i wonder what sloane stephens thinks she's doing with this. the definition of coming at the queen and missing by a mile. i pity her if she's drawn to face serena any time soon, though given their rankings and the fact that stephens can't even beat hantuchova 2013, she'll prob be saved that fate.

http://tennis.si.com/2013/05/04/sloane-stephens-serena-williams-2/

This interview would be interesting and maybe even make sense if Sloane wasn't playing like wet garbage at the moment.

wow this djokovic/grisha tiebreak was insane

please win grisha

he did it!

that was so great

WTA Year-End to Singapore.

oh YESSS... just a few hours' drive away for me! :D

unnnghhh I can't believe I missed yesterday's match, nothing about it made sense at all. Grisha choked for the set AGAIN but still won the TB after saving SPs? I went out at that point but all I saw on Twitter was Nole winning the second amidst DRAMA and Grisha cramping, and everyone saying the third set would be a formality, which it...wasn't?!

Anabel Medina Garrigues becomes just the seventh player ever to bagel Serena.

(AMG's career record against top 10 players is 5-41. Of those five, three were retirements)

You know it's going to be 5-42 soon enough. She can't close it.

That pass that would have given AMG two MPs...

The inevitable.

For posterity, all of Serena's bagels in her career:

Q1 Indian Wells 1997, l. Alexia Dechaume-Balleret 46 06
3R Roland Garros 1999, l. Mary Joe Fernandez 36 61 06
SF Dubai 2005, l. Jelena Jankovic 06 34 ret.
F Miami 2007, d. Justine Henin 06 75 63
1R Zurich 2007, l. Patty Schnyder 06 03 ret.
RR Doha YEC 2008, l. Venus Williams 75 16 06
QF Madrid 2013, d. Anabel Medina Garrigues 63 06 75

great trolling by andujar this week

Excuse me, I have to go onto Tennisforum for some quality schadenfreude. Five games. Best clay-courter going. Pah!

never gets old

Sure, but let there be no doubt that she plays a lot lot worse against Serena than other players the rest of the week / season. There's no excuse for that kind of hyper impatient game and it's all mental. She may lose anyway but not in such a pathetic fasion.

Oh well, so far the results are mirroring last clay season quite nicely.

Serena is also a lot, lot better than all the other players Maria beats. Why couldn't I have had this violently pro-Serena revelation 10 years ago?

In general yeah, but did she play a lot better than the others this tournament? Nope. Someone else will probably beat her at Roland Garros.

Does that matter even remotely? She won all the matches in front of her.

My original point here is what's important to me: Maria didn't put up a decent fight and I'm pissed off.

Look at it this way - you can let go of expectations that clay significantly increases Maria's chances of beating Serena and then be pleasantly surprised if she backs up last year's RG.

All I have to say is LOL

(@ Maria, not this convo)

@BenRothenberg:"Thanks Maria! Thank you! Good try! Thank you!" -Serena to Maria at the net.

amazing

I'm just gonna start calling Serena "Shade"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=165r4mM9edc&feature=youtu.be

:-D

kinda strange Gulbis doesn't join the conversation with an eloquent and well-mannered opinion of his own

that was amazing

quite an achievement to be the craziest person on court with Gulbis right there