ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

sebastian kordas 1st tour match... looks great tbh

must take after his mother then (boom tish)

fed's path to #1 is Bemelmans > kohlschrieber > stan (probably)

actually n/m ~ he only has to *get to* the semis match vs stan

nnng scratch that, was right the first time!!

Funny that he's decided to play here - think the first footage I ever saw of Federer was his QF vs Kafelnikov in Rotterdam in '99. On...TransWorldSport or something, C4 Sunday morning? Ah, Kafelnikov - now there's a guy who wouldn't let 32 defeats in a year, six of them in a row, stand between him and the #1 ranking. He would scoff at this cherry-picking approach to schedule. Play all of the tournaments, two at a time if possible.

lol & a clearly not 100% back yet stan goes out to tallon griekspoor 1st rd btw; a def theme of roger's re-ascendancy is draws being p accommodating/fortuitous

kevin anderson 6-1 1st set over nishikori in 21 minutes, only dropped 4 pts on serve o_o

Poor Goffin - match vs Dimitrov was warming up to the level of their O2 final, when an attempted volley ricocheted off his frame full into his eye. Couldn't continue.

Love that Fed's #1 again but, aside from lucky draws, I do feel like he's been treated like #1 ever since he came back. Never gets messed around by schedulers, gets to play most outdoor matches under lights where there's an evening session (no struggles in 41C Melbourne heat for Roger), etc. He's played all four matches in Rotterdam *at exactly the same time*. Who gets to do that?

I assume he's skipping Dubai now; if he beats Dimi tomorrow I don't think Rafa can overhaul him by winning Acapulco while Fed is idle. (No idea if/when Rafa is playing again; Djokovic returning for Miami/Indian Wells, I'm guessing?)

yea goffin seems a lil snakebit

nishi always comes back in these matches

fed goat

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW7itMLXUAEwoKM?format=jpg&name=large

@josemorgado
3h3 hours ago

OUT of Indian Wells

#2 Nadal (also OUT of Miami)
#7 Goffin
#12 Wawrinka (also OUT of Miami)
#21 Murray (also OUT of Miami)
#36 Tsonga
#37 Gasquet

kvitova 18 double faults, advances

1st main draw win for auger-aliassime, next plays raonic

First set tie-break between Marterer and Karlovic a couple of nights ago: first 27 points went with serve. I’m guessing it ended on a DF.

Was thinking that all these wildcards that Tiafoe seems to get wasn’t really doing him any good - needed a solid run of Challenger-level wins - but then he went and won Delray Beach ATP250 from a ranking of 91. And now first round defeat here, so reversion to the mean.

serenas def not completely herself yet but also still looks damn good, considering

vs venus next rd, shd be a great match

novak struuuggling v taro daniel, who i like but has no real weapons

& now not running for balls, rip

this fed/delbo set is p hi level

Wait, when did Nishikori pull out? Bemelmans suddenly dropped into the L64 draw as a lucky loser (and the qualies finished on...Wednesday?), and then lost to Mayer anyway.

Djokovic - 61 UEs? Ugh.

yea kei pulled out like ~6 hrs ago, illness

id guess djoko wont play miami now, hes just not match ready at all yet imo

caroline dolehide 6-1 over halep set 1 o_o

fascinating match, lest of all cuz dolehide has the uh ample chest that halep once did before the surgery

corics results thus far are eye-opening

6-0/6-2 // 6-0/6-3 // 6-1/6-3

Finally Coric comes up short in a bit of epic vs Fed. A set and 4-2 up, and later twice a break up in the decider. But Roger chugs on, 17-0 for the year. Look forward to highlights of that.

I've been wondering after which round I should state the bleedin' obvious about Kasatkina being The Real Deal, and now it's too late, cos it's too Real. But so is Osaka and I think she'll win.

so osaka has arrived

It's getting to the point now where Paire can beat Novak in straights and no one even notices. Kokkinakis though! So Rafa gets to be #1 through the spring until such time as he loses a match or pulls out of an event. Only 4680pts to defend, no pressure. Fed not bothering with clay again. Meh.

wow @ danielle collins

I realise that Rafa on Spanish clay in Davis Cup has always been utterly invulnerable, but, still, the crushing of Zverev suggests he's Back-Back-Back. (He's now 24-1 in DC singles; sole defeat being his first ever rubber: vs Jiri Novak on indoor carpet in Brno in 2004).

Suddenly those 4680pts look sort of defendable.

isner v stevie johnson on wet clay is actually a p compelling watch, no i swear

lmao rain stoppage at break pt on isners serve

nadal/thiem tmorrow in monte carlo qtrs

welp so nadals not losing again til say wimbledon qtrs ish, he is a legend

The gulf on clay between RN and everyone else who has ever lived is extraordinary. Thiem had just beaten (a semi-rejuvenated) Novak, ffs. I was watching the point-by-point on my phone app yesterday and practically every game was going to multiple deuces, but Rafa was winning them all anyway. I'd give Dimi a 15% chance today, which is more than I'd give Kei or Sascha on Sunday.

The idea that Roger can just sit out the CC season and have #1 drift back to him seems silly now. But... you never know. Rafa's knees and so on. It's still six weeks of slog, even if he's killing people one and three. There may be a Soderling moment yet.

50 consecutive sets won on clay

this is a great 1st set rafa/thiem

rafa w two really uncharacteristic errors, 2nd chance for dom to serve it out ~

props dom! 7-5 1st set.. he played really well

two set losing streak on clay now !@!

A 3-6 record vs Nadal on clay (and they've only ever played on clay) is really pretty good - better than Djokovic!

nice rome final 4 -- rafa v novak; cilic v zverev

sascha got great bounce height on smashing his racquet

cilic is tough, couple gutsy as hell shots down set pt, is currently 10-10 1st set tiebreak

zverev takes it 15-13

Well, that was inevitable. As soon as the rain came I had a feeling Rafa would just roll through on the resumption.

Quite impressed with Sascha this week, coming through some tight matches (I’d pegged him as a bit fragile after losing a lead) but to fold after winning 9 of 11 games before the rain delay was really disappointing.

queens club semis tmorrow are interesting

krygios v cilic
&
djoko v chardy

chardy has been on fire but notably is 0-10 all time vs novak, has never won a set and only once has even gotten to a tiebreak o_o