ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

another no doubt classic match for this week

delpo/murray best of 5 for gold
rafa/nishi for bronze

Wonderful. Tomorrow's final is maybe the only time I'll be cheering against Team GB this Olympics. I was concerned the way he got mobbed by the Delpo-chanters he was going to get another injury. He still hasn't quite left the court.

del potto showing murray a lot of respect in the on-court interview, humble guy

rafa/kei murray/delpo is a sick final 4 tbh

puig!!

id forgotten she was only 22, wtg girl

that's the second night in a row i went to bed halfway through tennis matches and woken up to surprisingly thrilling results.

Didn't expect Puig to come back against Kvitova on Friday night, and just couldn't keep myself awake through Nadal-Delpo yesterday. And Puig winning the gold! So awesome. So much great tennis this Olympics - so sad i had to miss so much of it due to damn timezones.

Puig and Delpo were so awesome yesterday, what a great tennis day

Oh Kei. Set and a double break up vs Nadal but now into a decider.

what a great battle murray/del potro

delpo has great movement/coverage for his size and skills

Lol was complaining about having to miss matches because of sleep - today I woke up and the match is still going! Vamos Delpo!

(Also omg that last rally.)

That Delpo pass was Murray-esque. <3

Murray will prob finish this off though, seems crazy it's even gotten this far.

I have no idea how they're still moving after all this...

great play by both guys, wld luv to see a rematch @ usopen

Congrats Murray and Team GB, but also to Delpo just for this whole week. Incredible stuff.

Whew, what a match. Regret not being able to see all the tennis I could but there was just too much going on.

Murray's not my favourite player but god I love him when he does things like this: https://twitter.com/Rellimj/status/765009897356419072

Fell asleep after the second set (which was because I was hungover but the quality at that point wasn't helping either). Murray had the shortest ever purple patch in the first set and then it all got pretty scrappy.

Soooooo happy Nishikori got bronze. Rafa can sit all the way down re: complaining about anyone else taking too much time to do anything.

Annoying that they don't give points for this, I know competing for points isn't the "point" of the Olympics blah blah blah but forget the supposedly unseemly motivation*, the rankings should at least make some sense. After their heroics this week it's ridiculous that Puig falls a couple of spots to 35 (and won't be seeded at the USO) while Del Potro doesn't budge from 141 (and I think his protected ranking has expired, which means the Olympic silver medallist either needs WCs to enter main draws or will be stuck in qualies and Challengers).

*which isn't even the reason they stopped awarding points, the reason is the endless politicking between the ATP/WTA and ITF...

watching opelka @ cincy, he looks good!

hes in a 3d set tiebreak w chardy rn

could def see him getting a wc for the open

i guess there are only really 3 discretionary slots the commentators were saying...still, seems crazy theyd make delpo have to play qualifiers

Opelka is the new Isner, I intend to avoid his entire career (which I hope doesn't happen).

The USTA is a joke if they give a WC to some 150-ranked American over Delpo. But the reciprocal arrangement with AUS and FRA is worse because that's why there are so few discretionary slots to start with.

Opelka is the new Isner, I intend to avoid his entire career (which I hope doesn't happen).

obv I get why u say this but at 18 yr old he looks less awkward and moves better than isner ever has. groundstrokes look vaguely like delpo

Strycova with her second classic post-handshake gif <3

https://picload.org/image/rrigowgw/barareactionhandshake.gif

bouchard was really in distress during that match, dunno what was up

glad del potro got the auto wc for the open (also happy that ram did)

wau @ the scoreline of coric over rafa

also stevie johnson over tsonga, johnson leapt isner as the highest ranked us male i believe w that

im @ nhaven qualies some good stuff

kozlova played some great dfense, but doesbt have weapons to hurt kontaveit really and immed after getting back onserve 3rs set dumped the match at love ouch

16 yr old kayla day v flipkens

day looks ok - lefty, good serve, good ct coverage just think flipkens is prob crafty enough to not let any16 yr old beat her

its really cool the scores app updates in real time pt by pt so i can know whats up on the ct behind me ~40 feet

kd took a medical timeout at 4-all second set, came back looking fine and flipkens is p pissed

i can see how qualies can b super frustrating thereve been sum iffy lines calls

kd up 4-1 3rd set!
flipkens cursing in german rn

konjuh looks imposing, has a real serena-esque thickness to her

lucic baroni looks .... bad :(

keys w/draws :(
i saw her practice for a sec yesterday, looked fine but i get it

Keys gets minor injuries at the worst times...

jealous, qualies are so much fun

Kerber is one win over Pliskova from becoming world #1! (And if they gave points for the Olympics she'd probably have made it already)

Went to Cinci for the women's SF yesterday. Grounds are pristine, and the staff are friendly and committed to putting on a good show.

Pliskova d Muguruza was even less competitive than the score line suggests. Muguruza's play was sloppy and indifferent to the outcome. The majority of her shots that stayed in the court landed halfway between the service box and the baseline, which allowed Pliskova to set up and crack winners at will. When Muguruza missed, she sent the ball sailing feet past the baseline: She reminded me of Capriati whenever J-Cap came out flat and unable to keep the ball in the court. She had no plan B, and Pliskova was unfazed by springing the upset.

Kerber d Halep was odd. It's impressive to see how Halep generates power off her forehand, because she is even more slight in person. She lost the match be cause she kept pulling the trigger too soon and over-hit when she did. Particularly after the rain delay, she was struggling to find the range on her shots. She rallied late, but Kerber was too consistent to let the lead slip. Kerber's backhand looks incredibly awkward in person: it's not like the capoeira dance move Jack Sock does on his, but it's an unnatural-looking shot. She definitely played more of a defensive match, but she used some surprise power and changes of pace off her forehand side to crack some winners. She'll need to do that today to beat Pliskova.

pliskova 4-0!

could watch pliskova all day. such an effortless game

So Serena is now guarantee to tie Graf's record of consecutive weeks at #1. Kerber's still within striking distance, but stoked for Pliskova today!

long piece on nick k

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/28/magazine/tennis-us-open-electric-infuriating-nick-kyrgios.html

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ct7R_o1UAAEVWH6.jpg

I'm the biggest Sharapova fan around but as I said when this thing first rolled out obviously some blame should be placed on her. The celebratory mood over a punishment that is still being executed and still will affect next season is a bit much. I think the CAS marks a solid line between negligence and intentional 'doping' - while maintaining that negligence is still the player's responsibility. Even though the ITF is rightly criticized for _their mangling of the whole process.

A final ruling is good to have, anyway, and I hope for some more years of tennis.

goffin is just a difficult matchup for cilic but that match gave me a whiff of cilic as berdych-ish, abt the worst thing i could say abt a ~top level player

just when u it seemed nick may'ev been maturing

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2016/10/12/kyrgios-booed-during-listless-effort-in-shanghai/91935680/

I was just coming in here to mention that Mischa Zverev is outstripping his kid brother for once! Older Zverev took out Granollers too and now plays Novak in the QF - only his second ever last-eight appearance at this level (Rome, 2009 being the other), and as a qualifier ranked 130-odd.

Younger Zverev lost to Tsonga 7-5 in the 3rd, last 16.

I do wonder just when Mischa started losing regularly to Sascha on the practice court. Maybe only in the last year or so.

sock/zverev is p fun to watch