I see Garcia beat JaJa in Bogota! Truly the week of...one over-achieving and one under-achieving Frenchwoman
― lex pretend, Sunday, 13 April 2014 18:13 (ten years ago) link
Fognini is just the kind of player to bring out Tsonga's inner moron on clay, his touch is so wonderful
― lex pretend, Thursday, 17 April 2014 09:53 (ten years ago) link
Fognini in full rant mode <3 Unfortunately in Italian.
― lex pretend, Thursday, 17 April 2014 10:17 (ten years ago) link
meanwhile in KL, Cagla Buyukakcay has become the first Turkish woman to make a WTA QF. Hilarious moonballing by Majeric in the closing two games to attempt to stave off defeat.
― lex pretend, Thursday, 17 April 2014 10:31 (ten years ago) link
lol, and I turn back to Fognini/Tsonga to find Fognini tanking and getting booed in the third set
― lex pretend, Thursday, 17 April 2014 10:33 (ten years ago) link
great win for ferrer but a pretty awful match
― groovemaaan, Friday, 18 April 2014 12:54 (ten years ago) link
First set of Stan v Raonic was pretty good until halfway through the tie-break in the first when Raonic decided just to hand Stan the set. Rafa v Ferrer was hilariously entertainingly unforced-error central.
― ailsa, Friday, 18 April 2014 13:30 (ten years ago) link
what's up with Djokovic? Fed winning his first Monte Carlo title at 32 would be kind of cool
― cerealbar, Friday, 18 April 2014 17:19 (ten years ago) link
yay all swiss final
― cerealbar, Saturday, 19 April 2014 15:08 (ten years ago) link
Djoker's dealing with a wrist injury. Probably shouldn't have played. Didn't seem to affect him in the first set tho.
― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 19 April 2014 15:53 (ten years ago) link
he was barely competitive in the second set, astonishing that the first set was as high quality as it was given how serious it looked
not really here for Olderer nostalgia
v excited that at 17, Donna Vekic has now made three WTA finals! please win this one, it'll be an uphill battle vs Domi though.
― lex pretend, Saturday, 19 April 2014 16:23 (ten years ago) link
LOL what PR advisor is telling Bouchard that being an awful person will win her fans https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/genie-bouchard-gives-opposing-slovak-fed-cup-bulletin-022356714.html
― lex pretend, Saturday, 19 April 2014 16:40 (ten years ago) link
that is pretty annoying.I like Cirstea's attempt at a mean face here:https://24.media.tumblr.com/29b51e5f0cf1e886422dadcf3c0d3ca5/tumblr_n49jblLeGz1sllw2oo2_500.png
― cerealbar, Saturday, 19 April 2014 17:05 (ten years ago) link
I guess Bouchard is just weird. Better than being fake I guess.
― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 19 April 2014 17:07 (ten years ago) link
it seems fake to me, never heard of her doing it before and it's just the sort of thing some clueless PR would tell her to do - "be MEAN and BAD-ASS like Sharapova and Serena!" or something. Except obv a terrible way to do that.
― lex pretend, Saturday, 19 April 2014 17:10 (ten years ago) link
Sounds like Djokovic will have to miss Madrid
― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 19 April 2014 17:36 (ten years ago) link
At least he doesn't need surgery.
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 19 April 2014 19:04 (ten years ago) link
Stanimal is all the way back. Had maybe one bad set in the whole tournament. Making it to number 1 isn't out of the question.
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 20 April 2014 19:33 (ten years ago) link
Him & Vekic winning titles at the same time made me smile
― cerealbar, Sunday, 20 April 2014 20:23 (ten years ago) link
Felt so appropriate given that they're BFFs <3
The KL final was very high quality, and Vekic displayed mental strength I didn't know she had to take it despite nearly choking that 5-1 lead.
― lex pretend, Sunday, 20 April 2014 21:58 (ten years ago) link
definitely still on the Thiem team, impressive win over Granollers today. Epic game to hold for 1-1 in the decider and then steamrolled. He has such a versatile game, almost Djokovician.
never mind "time to retire", watching Fran these days she's all but already retired. woeful to lose to Beatriz Garcia Vidagany as defending champ in Marrakech. BGV (career high rank 146, current rank 248) now owns two career victories over Slam champions (she beat Clijsters in Marbella 2010). Which is only one fewer than Sloane Stephens.
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 17:59 (ten years ago) link
nicest story of the day: Kleybanova's win over Tomljanovic today brings her back inside the top 100. Amazing comeback after cancer, hope there's much more of it to come!
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 18:03 (ten years ago) link
First triple tie-breaker three-setter in years with Safarova and SHarapova right now. Despite the massive choke in the third set before she got her head back on in the TB the match was pretty fun with positive W/UE stats for both and solid serving.
― abcfsk, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 20:45 (ten years ago) link
I don't like to make many BOLD PREDIX with tennis but if Thiem gets a little better on serve I think he's a top 5 player.
― Matt Armstrong, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 20:52 (ten years ago) link
*stares at the shots Barthel tried to hit on MPs*
*gives up*
― lex pretend, Tuesday, 22 April 2014 22:07 (ten years ago) link
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bl7sm3wCMAE9TXK.jpg
― Matt Armstrong, Wednesday, 23 April 2014 20:23 (ten years ago) link
That outfit is probably a bigger concern than her loss to Kleybanova. No, it totally is, I mean I love Petra, but why would anyone support someone so talented but so lazy against someone who wants AND deserves success?
― oh, boy, .GIF! That's where I'm a Viking! (edwardo), Wednesday, 23 April 2014 23:09 (ten years ago) link
Pavs vs Ma$ha is a pretty awful match
― lex pretend, Thursday, 24 April 2014 13:07 (ten years ago) link
Literally no idea what just happened in the Sweta/Simona match. Halep was basically dominant and hitting all her spots really well until 5-2 up. And then lost 21 of 22 points and the set *blinks*
― lex pretend, Thursday, 24 April 2014 19:25 (ten years ago) link
Almagro about to serve for the match vs Nadal, he's probably not going to win another point now.
― groovemaaan, Friday, 25 April 2014 16:55 (ten years ago) link
well, he was up a break a minute ago and that went quickly
as is this too, it seems
― lex pretend, Friday, 25 April 2014 16:57 (ten years ago) link
i can't believe Almagro shanked two FHs that landed in the service box and Rafa netted that
― lex pretend, Friday, 25 April 2014 16:58 (ten years ago) link
!!!!!!!!
― lex pretend, Friday, 25 April 2014 17:02 (ten years ago) link
wow. first win in 11 attempts
― groovemaaan, Friday, 25 April 2014 17:03 (ten years ago) link
is it foolish to get excited about RG now?
― groovemaaan, Friday, 25 April 2014 17:04 (ten years ago) link
i'm not doing that just yet, 5 sets is a different beast, but...maybe MORE excited than at any point in the past half decade?
― lex pretend, Friday, 25 April 2014 17:06 (ten years ago) link
meanwhile, PEAK SWETA FH!!
― lex pretend, Friday, 25 April 2014 17:54 (ten years ago) link
aside from what it means for Rafa, very happy for Almagro. He has a beautiful game and I hope it helps him perform on the bigger stages.
1-25 vs. Ferrer and Nadal now!
― Matt Armstrong, Friday, 25 April 2014 22:37 (ten years ago) link
Nishikori has played SO WELL this week and it's continuing vs Gulbis now
― lex pretend, Saturday, 26 April 2014 12:08 (ten years ago) link
yeah he's playing like peak level kolya right now, it's incredible
― groovemaaan, Saturday, 26 April 2014 12:28 (ten years ago) link
that gorgeous angled volley in the last game, that BH pass now, wonderful stuff. Working with Chang has counter-intuitively brought out his most aggressive game. I LOVE how good he is at changing the direction of the ball
― lex pretend, Saturday, 26 April 2014 12:32 (ten years ago) link
also, Gulbis is not even playing badly!
HOW did Nishikori win that
― lex pretend, Saturday, 26 April 2014 12:39 (ten years ago) link
― lex pretend, Saturday, April 26, 2014 12:32 PM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Chang was actually an aggressive player considering his tools. Arguably the first power baseliner?
― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 26 April 2014 21:53 (ten years ago) link
I guess Chang would probably be more of a pusher with today's slow courts tho, idk
― Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 26 April 2014 21:58 (ten years ago) link
yeah I guess his reputation for speed and the fact that he was still competing against s&v-ers made him look more defensive than he was.
Good weekend of tennis that I actually got to watch most of!
- LOL @ the absolutely NID way the Stüttgart final went after Ivanovic led 6-3, 3-1 40-15. I honestly thought she was going to choke the first set from 5-0 but Sharapova threw in a really loose game there; still, that planted the seeds for the inevitable.
- Nishikori played 11 sets in Barcelona this week and won six of them 6-2 or better. Just stellar form and his game is wonderful to watch. PLEASE DON'T BREAK YOURSELF AGAIN.
- Watch out for Maria Teresa Torro Flor, who won Marrakech, this clay season. She's only really put up notable results on clay so I assumed she was your usual topspinning LDL type but wow, she smacks the shit out of the ball and has serious shotmaking skills. Thrashed the White Mug in the SF - talking of the ESP stereotype, that match would've been unrecognisable as an all-Spanish affair not too long ago. They were absolutely barrelling the ball at each other. With the right draw, MTTF could cause havoc at RG.
- Taylor Townsend finally won a senior title, a 50K challenger. Sigh, she's 18 now and I really feel that with her talent she should be making way more progress than she has. She's received WCs in 11 of her last 18 tournaments and I don't think it's benefited her. Anyway, her run included a hilarious-sounding QF against Karatantcheva in which Sesil led 4-3, then Taylor won eight consecutive games to lead 6-4 5-0, then Sesil won seven consecutive games (!!!), then Taylor won six consecutive games (!!!!). 6-4 5-7 6-0, straightforward.
― lex pretend, Sunday, 27 April 2014 18:43 (ten years ago) link
Rooting for Townsend but she's just so slow
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 27 April 2014 23:11 (ten years ago) link
Chang was actually an aggressive player considering his tools.
I was gonna say, the very first glimpse I had of Chang was vs Leconte at Wimbledon '88; what was incredible, aside from his court speed, was the way he leapt into service returns. I'm not sure I'd ever seen anyone swing away at first-serves on a grass-court like that before; for two sets Leconte was flailing at thin air at the net.
(You can all go to YouTube now and find a highlight reel and prove me wrong. I've just watched Edberg-Agassi, Indian Wells 1990 and I don't know what's worse, Andre's moonball backhands or his bleach-tipped mullet.)
― Michael Jones, Sunday, 27 April 2014 23:43 (ten years ago) link
the only Agassi I like watching is bald eagle, surly old man Agassi
― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, 27 April 2014 23:47 (ten years ago) link
Safarova wins last 12 games against a collapsing Rybarikova. Apart from that first set Lucie has looked good every time I've watched her this season and she's still only 27th in the race. So many tight defeats against top 10 players :(
― cerealbar, Monday, 28 April 2014 18:36 (ten years ago) link