ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

something really dreamy about claycourt tennis at night

yeah i want this match to go on and on

I haven't seen a lot of Haas this year because he hasn't lasted long enough at many events, but watching him beat Stan today, I'm baffled that he was slumping at all.

Stan's FH was a mess though.

haas' shoulder is bothering him again. he said in munich that he won't have another surgery and that he just hopes he can finish the season more or less in one piece. i don't think he'll play for much longer.

Errani has an insane new service motion that has made the actual serve no better. Li is atrocious.

I really love Radwanska's new outfit.

Sure enough, out goes Haas after a set vs Dimitrov.

looks like a Venus design

MURDAL TIME GUYS. hope this isn't horrible

hah

pretty good match even if the conclusion was NID. andy looking better on clay than he has in ages. rafa peaking right at the end

I was out and was surprised to see it still going on when I got back (the last three points anyway). What happened in the first set? Rafa still below-par or is Murray finally, perish the thought, regaining some semblance of his usual form?

Murray resembled his "good" clay court form, but what is that really? IIRC he's never made a clay final.

I think Nadal's clay results this year kind of speak for themselves. Without Nishikori's injury he'd be riding one title in Rio. Now he's dropping sets to Youzhny and 2014's version of Andy Murray.

Really funny to remember how Murray said clay was his favourite surface at the start of his career.

It'll be disappointing if RG isn't crazy tbh. None of the usual favourites are peaking, all have form/injury question marks. But I can actually see them just ~fighting through and ending up with a normal-looking SF line-up.

Just looking at results these past few weeks you can say the edge is off Nadal's game but he is still a fierce competitor, and I expect that to carry him through in Grand slams for a little while yet.

Yeah, same applies to Djokovic and Sharapova (and maybe Azarenka though I can't see her entering with NO clay warm-ups under her belt?). It'd be disappointing though, I don't want to see the same old names coming through just on scrappiness alone.

LOL @ JaJa

Djoko wins in Rome - Can't wait for the French Open. Nadal's so so form opens a couple of possibilities.

Nadal's worst clay season in a decade. Certainly seems logical to conclude that this is up for grabs.

Nadal isn't a favorite vs. the field on the books. Can't imagine that's happened since 2006?

The rapid actual break-up of Wozzilroy is going to make me feel rather positive and sympathetic towards Wozniacki until the point at which I have to watch her play again. Which at this point might be a long time. Help.

I don't really know much about him other than as Wozniacki's bf/fiancé but what an awful little weasel to actually go ahead an issue an "it's not you, it's me" public statement after jilting your fiancée almost at the altar

http://espn.go.com/tennis/story/_/id/10957117/top-seeded-sloane-stephens-loses-first-round-strasbourg-international

lololololol

lol @ taking a last-minute WC into a small tournament and then bomb out in R1 visibly giving no fucks, though will she ever top losing to Puchkova in Washington last year or losing to Duque Marino in Bogota a few weeks ago

Wasn't McIlroy seeing someone else when he started dating Caro too? He always seemed like a douche.

Excellent interview with Ernests Gulbis: http://tennis.si.com/2014/05/20/ernests-gulbis-interview/

That's a great interview, I always assumed he was entertaining but kinda douchey and that makes him seem more thoughtful at least.

I always assumed Serena's "black-hearted" comment was about McIlroy/Wozniacki, not Dimitrov/Sharapova (I don't believe she ever dated Dimitrov! There is literally no evidence that this ever happened) and recent events are bearing this out. The way he dumped his ex is reason enough for Serena to judge his black heart, and she's been very quick (and sweet) to support Wozniacki publicly today.

Yeah I don't know if they were serious or anything, but I def remember seeing pictures of Serena and Dimitrov seemingly on a date at an amusement park a few years ago. And she was spotted at a couple of his matches at around the same time.

Rumour has it it was a love triangle between Serena, Dimitrov and Mouratoglou (who was Dimitrov's coach then), cause right around the time Serena and his coach went public, Dimitrov abruptly left Mouratoglou's academy and started dating Sharapova shortly after. LOL tennis drama.

yeah I saw those pictures but even at the time I just thought people were jumping to conclusions off nothing, they didn't look loved-up or anything, just like friends hanging out

I think they prob dated but briefly - Dimitrov didn't exactly deny it when asked, he just told the reporter to "ask Serena". also re the black heart comment, I'm not sure she was talking about McIlroy because she was bitching about the player as well. The actual quote:

"She begins every interview with 'I'm so happy. I'm so lucky' – it's so boring," says Serena in a loud voice. "She's still not going to be invited to the cool parties. And, hey, if she wants to be with the guy with a black heart, go for it."

^That doesn't sound like Caro - whatever we think about her, Wozniacki is pretty popular on the tour. (Sharapova otoh isn't really friends with anyone else.)

Hingis / Zvonareva doubles team at wimbledon

^_^

Wonder why Bepa didn't request a singles WC if she's healthy? Still 4 to be announced but you'd think if she had, she'd have been in that first tranche. Though she's a smart woman and maybe she realises she's not up to singles any more.

Also can we talk about sexist ATP idiots, omgggg all coming out of the woodwork. Sort of knew Gulbis, Cash, Matosevic were all idiots but why must men be like this

Props to Kukushkin (whose wife is his coach) defending the idea of a female coach well though

Oh yeah also a special mention to the xenophobic British ATPers whinging about Bedene changing nationality. Evans and Golding, looking at you. Evans' claim that he's a better player is also laughable. If you're the better player how come you still haven't been ranked in the top 100, unlike Bedene?

Yeah unsurprisingly it's been one dumb comment after another.

Not Stepanek of all people to make sense about this

‘I think that the view from the others has no sense because it’s his choice. […] I think we have, you know, nothing to say to that. Nobody’s asking different guys when somebody is taking a different coach.’

But ugh at the extent of this

The fossilized attitudes in question may have reached their zenith when Murray was asked about the advantages of having hired a ‘lady’ rather than a ‘chap’.

‘Lady and chap?’ Murray repeated, understandably amused. ‘Man and woman. Let's stick with that.’
http://www.livetennis.com/category/livetennis-news/atp-queens-tennis-live-andy-murrays-appointment-of-amelie-mauresmo-under-intense-scrutiny-at-the-aegon-championships-201406110008/

Haha, Radek of all people. Kukushkin was good on it too -

Kukushkin – who lost in straight sets to Radek Stepanek on Tuesday – said gender was not an issue in determining if someone was a good coach or not.
And the Kazakh predicts women coaches will become more common on the ATP Tour in the future.
"I see a lot of players and coaches, and I see some coaches on tour who do almost nothing on tour," he said.
"It's not so important if it's a man or a woman, what's important for me is really working hard to build together.
"My coach, my wife, she really knows my game and how to improve that. It's a relationship that's really good for me.
"It's not important if it's a man or a woman. It's a tough relationship at times, because she has to push me, she can't be soft on me.
"But for me it's really working good.
"Very few players have a female coach - but for me there's no difference between a man and a woman and I wouldn't be surprised to see more women coaching men in the future."

A relevant stat:

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/Bpy9u5PIMAEL8KO.png

Most of the main tennis journalists have been cool with it but I'm just WAITING for some nonsense to start once Wimbledon rolls around

Kimiko d. Hantuchova 64 60. Superlative grass court tennis, a joy to watch.

Kimiko is amazing

She first reached the QF at this tournament the first time she played it, in 1989

NINETEEN EIGHTY-NINE

in other news, fed just lost a set to sousa on grass despite serving 90% first serves.

ludicrous TB between Murray and Stepanek

Meanwhile:

Victoria Chiesa ‏@vrcsports 45s
Coco misses, screams "YOU PIECE OF CRAP. I'M PLAYING LIKE A FREAKIN' RETARD." Umpire: "Coco, you can't say that here. Not in this country."

this nadal/dustin match is amazing already. one point ended with both of them lying on the ground.

dustin takes the first set! this match is so much fun, very high quality.

ah Coco, such a charmer

Dustin is zoning, up 4-0 in the second. N

just put this on. Nadal tanking?

could be, but there's not much he could have done here.

either way this is really funny

amazing performance, well deserved