WIMBLEDON 2014

lol, McEnroe can't figure out why Federer's taking a bathroom break when he has the momentum, presumably the idea that someone might actually need to use the bathroom is a foreign concept now

"he is human" er..

lmao let the dude pee

At least Stan is serving first.

Even if he were to summon up the energy you wonder in what shape he would be for the SF.

Its all academic...this is an awful day. Forget Stan, I'm ill.

the commentary re: Fed took a bizarre turn there

come on - that was Stan's best for a while.

no energy left.

Great. Raonic - Kyrgios 'industrial' tennis left

I think popping in for the TBs might be the way forward with that one

TB decided by one mini-break, happily it went Kyrgios's way :)

shot of the fucken tournament there

Fed through - what bollocks.

Raonic has just broken in the 2nd

Cheap point follows on with cheap errors, etc.

Dbl break - Kyrgios' mum was right.

Raonic is as close as I get to calling a player 'unwatchable'

Who is going to play worse next - comedy from Raonic, K breaks.

No need for tie breaks here.

I mean I'm watching, but yeesh.

Raonic is a truly pathetic creature. 2nd serve thrashed away by K and the scream...you know that cliche about Canadians as too nice? Well, its like the government decided to change that by designing too unlikeable to say the least tennis players in Raonic and Bouchard.

i only tuned in for two games earlier but is there a reason why Raonic's wearing only one sleeve? it's almost as bad as watching him play tbh

(Although I don't dislike or like Bouchard)

New fashion statement from Raonic - must be putting K off!

K showing some guts, he had an arg with the umpire at the end of the 3rd but kept his head throughout. Looks like, yes, a breaker coming up.

But its all too much, five MPs

He's saved four of 'em

But he has that ace in the locker.

Went for a walk. Got back at 6-1 in that TB. For a second fantasised about Raonic losing it from 5 MPs up but not to be. BOOOOOOOO servebots (especially cheating servebots)

(I refer to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM3KZo61FZ4

)

I stayed through that - feel like I need a prize so I'll be going round the pub and get myself into a punch-up. See you later!

Incident was hilarious - could Raonic concede the point?

ugh totally forgot abt that.

But yes, Raonic could have conceded esp after the replay. I think I said this at the time, but I've often seen Del Potro himself concede points when he thinks his opponents got a bad call, so that incident just made Raonic look like that much more of an asshole.

Yeah, in much the same way players can concede points on wrong line calls...Raonic didn't exactly cover himself in glory talking about it either (a day later his PR team hurried him out to apologise properly iirc). Hard to say he "should" have conceded when it's an umpiring mistake first and foremost but it was such an egregious error, no room for uncertainty about what happened (similarly to that amazing doubles match where Vesnina and Mirza went into hysterics over a blatant Liezel Huber double bounce on MP).

Soooooo your SFs. Two potentially great (though I can imagine them falling flat tbh), two...less likely to be great.

(13) Eugenie Bouchard vs. (3) Simona Halep
(23) Lucie Safarova vs. (6) Petra Kvitova

Halep leads Bouchard 1-0 (at Indian Wells this year, a three-setter)
Kvitova leads Safarova 5-0 (4-0 this year, 1-0 on grass; two of those went to three sets, including a third set TB at Eastbourne, but maaaan that's a steep hill for Lucie to climb)

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (11) Grigor Dimitrov
(4) Roger Federer vs. (8) Milos Raonic

Djokovic leads Dimitrov 3-1 (no matches this year or on grass; Dimitrov's win came on clay, Madrid 2013)
Federer leads Raonic 4-0 (1-0 on grass; Raonic won a set each time except their one Slam meeting, AO 2013)

The Huber controversy, only a tenuous connection but it's always worth rewatching. "But Carlos, it was TWO BOUNCE!!!1111" *takes ball from pocket and bounces it violently on ground*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLic-eiO5_8

And then Mirza HAMMERING Huber in the throat with the FH, bow down. And then Vesnina's amazing post-match tweets. Peak WTA drama, that was.

"What's wrong with the umpires at the Australian Open?!!!" lmao there -was- a lot of controversial line-calling that year...

Bouchard and Safarova (!) are the only players to have reached the SF without dropping a set. Kvitova has dropped one (to Venus) and Halep one (to Tsurenko). Djokovic has dropped three (one to Stepanek, two to Cilic); Dimitrov two (to Dolgopolov); Federer one (to Wawrinka) and Raonic two (one to Nishikori, one to Kyrgios).

Kvitova expected to win this handily I guess. Been decent stuff so far.

lefty Czech FTW ;)

Kvitova could easily go on a big losing streak here after losing that break, or she could just go into God mode for four games and take the set.

HYURR. Had to go for a run in this weather and it was intense in this heat and now I can slob on the sofa all afternoon guilt-free

Was thinking how strange it is that pretty much every tennis fan is familiar with Safarova and knows her talent and her general deal but for fans who only follow the Slams, there's really no reason for her to have crossed your radar. Astonishing how she's underperformed at Slams since the start of her career.

sweet xcourt fh

SHOT Lucie

her dad looks like Popeye's dad. she is playing well

would accept win for Lucie if it meant people learned how to say her name correctly (including myself lolol)

the previously established pronunciation of her name was one of my favourite to say, gutted by how wrong it is

ha yeah as much as I was amused by people have to say Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, Safarova's is the most-mangled name on Tour. I've heard it pronounced properly and I don't even think I can approximate it.

money

strong point there

Really feel Safarova has been the braver player out here this set

And yet, you always felt that blink was coming...