ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

The prospect of an actual Jankovic revival through winning a relevant title is too horrifying to consider.

Maul her, Simona.

Fed looks ridiculously awesome v Berdych. Then I somehow failed to watch Raonic beat Nadal because, er, it was Raonic playing Nadal.

I haven't seen any of her matches but how the hell has Lisicki posted her first ever notable hard court result on these slow-ass courts. Have literally thought she'd lose in every round so far. Vinci, Errani, Garcia, Pennetta, that's not a bad run either.

lisicki is crazy talented, should be dangerous anywhere. Emphasis on should.

Serena w/d in another IW SF? That's...unfortunate and ironic. The crowd were good to her and she says she got closure and will be back next year, can't help but feel that it's a bit of an anticlimax without walking away with the trophy (or, lest we forget, an official apology).

As far as tweets after getting thumped go, this from Richel Hogenkamp is pretty funny: https://twitter.com/Richelhogenkamp/status/578898176419168256

really nothing much to say about that destruction of Murray by Nole, except lol @ Murray winning 46% of his second serves in the first set and merely 22% of his first serves

wtf is halep doing

winning?

kind of an epic of great rallies followed by untold unforced errors and a choking JJ. 18 breaks of serve and Halep at maybe 70% of her capabilities winning her biggest title.

JJ still fretting to her coach about blowing the 2nd set midway through the 3rd is all you need to know about her mentality really.

JJ single-handedly justifying on-court coaching in last night's changeovers. Amazing how she was completely immune to the most positive peppy motivational talks from her coach. She wasn't there for that, she just hauled him down to have a moan. Obv she was justified, she totally threw it away - Halep was very subpar and frequently outplayed but always the better competitor - the minute JJ failed to serve it out it was NID.

Was so tired I fell asleep during the men's final, briefly coming to for that absolute mess of a second set TB. Thought Federer was going to throw it away with terrible drive volleys but Nole repaid him with those b2b DFs.

Ugh, Bob Hewitt. Him & Frew McMillan were so much a part of my childhood Wimbledon viewing. I remember them outclassing McEnroe-Fleming for the title in '78 (Mac was 19 and hadn't developed *that* serving-round-the-corner-of-a-building action just yet).

impressed by 18yo Hyeon Chung's ATP debut - 60 46 64 over Granollers - and his game, he hit some fantastic BHs, though Granollers will make anyone look like a world beater

serve em twice, serve em twice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7AF5294ED4

I love this woman so much

oof what a ghastly ending to the first set from Delpo

had two BPs at 4-4, lost 8 straight points, the last two of which were a DF and a terrible shank

that Coric/Haider-Maurer final set felt like it would never end, NID that Coric wanted it more in the end though

these courts are slow as hell

Purple clay

Imo miami should just switch to clay and indian wells should be sped up. These two hardclay events add nothing to the season.

impressed by 18yo Hyeon Chung's ATP debut - 60 46 64 over Granollers - and his game, he hit some fantastic BHs, though Granollers will make anyone look like a world beater

The glasses bother me

Gavrilova is fun to watch

Saw the first set, she has moxie! Strutting around like she expected to win. Thought she'd blown it after failing to serve it out but Sharapova descended badly in the tb. Good win for my betting account

Some v tantalising R2 matches on today's schedule...Halep/Vaidisova, Jankovic/Azarenka, Stephens/Keys, Serena/Niculescu pt 2

Vaidisova showed flashes of the old talent against a very subpar Halep but totally collapsed in the third set. Don't think she's that far off Tour level though.

Azarenka ultra-sharp right now, albeit Jankovic isn't providing much resistance. Her dropshots have been especially immaculate.

lol the first 6-1 set lasted 29 minutes
the second 6-1 set lasted an hour, most of which was a ludicrous final game in which we all aged about a decade

unsure why Thiem's results have been so bad this year, he looked great beating F-Lo there

Didn't he fire bresnik

I agree he looked very good there, encouraging.

If thiem could consistently take the ball early like he did today the sky's the limit imo. Can't keep playing behind the baseline so much.

Saw the first set, she has moxie! Strutting around like she expected to win. Thought she'd blown it after failing to serve it out but Sharapova descended badly in the tb. Good win for my betting account

She's very funny and easy to root for imo

Horrible winds and rain all day, this tournament is the worst masters 1000 by a mile

Tatjana Maria's slicing and dicing currently lead Bouchard 6-0. WHY IS THIS NOT BEING STREAMED

(Tatjana Maria is formerly Malek, she got married and her name change induces so much confusion, not least if you just refer to her surname and her slicing)

(She also had a baby hence her absence for a while, came back at this time last year and is already on the verge of the top 100)

klizan is playing a good 2d set v novak

wow some really good hitting o_O

genuine headline on the WTA official site:

Bouchard: How To Take A Great Selfie

Are we ever going to get to the point where Radwanska looks like a slam winner or are we going to be watching her lose to Watson and drop sets to Begu forever like.

Also I'm going to be in Paris for two days in May so I AM GOING TO ROLAND GARROS HELL YES. Anyone got tips?

Wear a hat! My god, it gets brutal up high on Chatrier on a clear day. And if you're walking the grounds, don't decide to hug the Musketeers statue. The staff don't like that.

woo! I suppose this is a good time to mention that I'm gonna be in the UK from mid-April to early July so I am DEFINITELY going to Wimbledon and maaaaybe RG too if I have time to make it over to Paris.

this is awesome news roz, you should come with us!

would absolutely love to! I don't have any proper plans in place yet but I'll def shoot you a msg once I'm there. super duper excited!

Another great Thiem performance, getting my hopes up

Serena shut down the Bellis hype train with a quickness huh? Still, all top players got thrashed by the previous generation's top players...

Camila Giorgi has now hit 131 DFs in her 13 matches this year.

Rafa really going down with a whimper these days

ive noticed his service game is not really what it used to be, esp on hardct

Rafa has not looked good since Wimbledon for more than a set at a time.

It almost seems like his shotmaking ability is still there but his defence at crucial points is not? like in the last couple of games last night he just didn't retrieve a few Verdasco shots that would have been nothing for peak Rafa. Clay will be interesting.

Ivanovic really acting like 2014 never happened, huh. She trashed Lisicki 0 and 1 a couple of weeks ago.

I actually have the opposite take, the defense is still elite but he routinely has no depth on routine shots in rallies. Those balls sit up and people are teeing off.

They showed a graphic that 42% of his rally balls were in the service box vs verdasco, some very shallow

I'm glad more prominence is being given to stats like that - in the last few years there's really been an undue focus on winners and UEs without acknowledgement that most rallies are decided by poor decisions or weak shots before the one that actually ends the point

so from 3-5 down in the second set Venus plays nearly three games' worth of impeccable, patient aggression, totally and casually owning Wozniacki. And then at 5-5, 40-0 she serves three straight DFs, hits a BH five miles long and then another BH into the bottom of the net for no reason. WHY?

Venus peaked again in the TB :)