Tennis

Alice In Wonderland · 17 Jul 2023 at 14:11

I just feel relieved and so impressed that Alcaraz is clearly a gentleman, who is polite and humble, and so far I love everything about him!

I was beginning to feel worried that there was no one left really who could replace Nadal, Federer, Andy Murray and Novak, and who I would enjoy watching and getting excited for.

Novak is a phenomenal player and I did really appreciate how gracious in defeat he was towards Alcaraz, but I just don't like him as a person to root for and I was so bored of him winning that I no longer really wanted to watch the tournaments.

Now Alcaraz has suddenly bounded onto the scene, and being as lovely as he is, and having the incredible talent to knock Novak off his winning streak, I already can't wait for the next grass season, and I will definitely be following Alcaraz as I think he has a very exciting future ahead of him!

Reuben klang · 17 Aug 2023 at 11:12

V.Williams lost again. Think that’s every tournament she’s enter she’s lost first round this season - may be wrong.

She’s also been given a WC for the US, bit unfair. Surely there is someone more deserving of a WC

englishpremier · 17 Aug 2023 at 18:17

Reuben klang said:
V.Williams lost again. Think that’s every tournament she’s enter she’s lost first round this season - may be wrong.

She’s also been given a WC for the US, bit unfair. Surely there is someone more deserving of a WC

She won her first round match in impressive style after coming from behind.

Then she lost this second round match after winning the first set 6-1.

She's entered 6 tournaments in 2023 and got past the 1st round in 3 of them.

I get what you are saying though. She looked a bit like a zombie out there, almost as if she's up to her eyeballs on drugs. didn't really understand the umpire when he was saying we'll wait here a moment as it won't be raining long. She kept trying to walk off to the locker room.

Reuben klang · 20 Aug 2023 at 13:55

Repeat of the wimbledon final tonight.

Should be interesting, hoping Carlo wins again.

Reuben klang · 20 Aug 2023 at 22:24

Heating up nicely. Carlo starting to put pressure on Novaxs serve.

This match could/is be huge, if he can back up that win at wimby it’s on for the US and we’ve got a new king.

englishpremier · 21 Aug 2023 at 01:35

Well Djokovic did it. Was a good match in the end. Novak basically came back from the dead in the first set. We know he's done that before, but this time it looked like he was about to drop. Dug in and had the better of the second set. Alcaraz got fatigued in the third, to the point where he couldn't even bounce the balls. He too dug in and pushed Novak in the tie-break.

Good match overall. Must be one of the longest best 3 finals I've seen. Gotta love Carlos though. Even balling his eyes out, he managed to give off a smile.

Reuben klang · 21 Aug 2023 at 07:11

englishpremier said:
Well Djokovic did it. Was a good match in the end. Novak basically came back from the dead in the first set. We know he's done that before, but this time it looked like he was about to drop. Dug in and had the better of the second set. Alcaraz got fatigued in the third, to the point where he couldn't even bounce the balls. He too dug in and pushed Novak in the tie-break.

Good match overall. Must be one of the longest best 3 finals I've seen. Gotta love Carlos though. Even balling his eyes out, he managed to give off a smile.

Come back from the dead. His trade mark “oh I can’t do anything” once he loses a set. No chance anyone buys it.

englishpremier · 21 Aug 2023 at 09:46

Reuben klang said:
Come back from the dead. His trade mark “oh I can’t do anything” once he loses a set. No chance anyone buys it.

Normally it's some kind of leg injury or whatever. This time he really did look out on his feet. As it someone accidentally fed him gluten. Dr gave him some magic pills though.

Reuben klang · 21 Aug 2023 at 13:10

englishpremier said:
Normally it's some kind of leg injury or whatever. This time he really did look out on his feet. As it someone accidentally fed him gluten. Dr gave him some magic pills though.

Legit made me laugh.

englishpremier · 29 Aug 2023 at 18:42

Well just as predicted when Sky got the US Open rights, coverage is poor.

It's especially bad if you're a VM customer subscribed to Sky, as you can't use the main Sky Sports to view online. You have to use their special app, where you log in through VM then get routed back to the Sky website, then the app loads.

Image is fine. Sound was choppy on the first day, you pay £26+ yet there are ads every changeover (even some US channels don't do that). It's bad enough to have to resort to alternative means.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of complaints around. Pretty annoying Amazon didn't retain the rights. Even Eurosport's coverage of Rolland Garros is better.

Anyway, rant over.

In other new Djokovic is now world #1 again. And with only 3,500 points up for grabs, and Alcaraz defending 2,000 from the US win last year, it's almost certain Djokovic will end the year as #1. Possibly even go into next year and make it a new record 400 weeks as #1 (he already holds the record by 79 weeks over Federer).

Pigeon_Killer · 29 Aug 2023 at 19:21

Thought it was weird how he was number 1 now rather than after the tournament but forgot he missed it last year.

Wonder if he'll actually make it through to the final without being a **** at least once.

Reuben klang · 29 Aug 2023 at 20:33

Pigeon_Killer said:
Thought it was weird how he was number 1 now rather than after the tournament but forgot he missed it last year.

Wonder if he'll actually make it through to the final without being a **** at least once.

No chance, it’s just not his style.

—

I too am slightly annoyed sky got the coverage. Amazon coverage of sports is superb imo

Reuben klang · 30 Aug 2023 at 20:19

Tsip looking like he’s away to get knocked out.

Pigeon_Killer · 31 Aug 2023 at 19:55

Murray's on his way out against Dimitrov, 2 sets down and 5-1 down in the fifth, think his time's up tbh

Reuben klang · 31 Aug 2023 at 20:10

Pigeon_Killer said:
Murray's on his way out against Dimitrov, 2 sets down and 5-1 down in the fifth, think his time's up tbh

It’s been up for a while I’m afraid.

Brutal way to end his career after being the best player in the world then getting that hip injury.

Psycho Ned · 31 Aug 2023 at 20:15

Realistically at his age and with the physical miles on the clock he's not going to do much better than he's doing now (lower end of the top 32). If he's happy playing at this level and enjoying his tennis then good for him but I suspect he probably isn't. Stan Wawrinka is much the same really, also won 3 slams in the peak Novak, Nadal, Fed years then had a ton of injuries now is a low end top 50 level player.

Murray ran himself into the ground trying to become world number 1 in 2016 which he of course managed but to be honest it finished his career.

Pigeon_Killer · 31 Aug 2023 at 20:23

Psycho Ned said:
Murray ran himself into the ground trying to become world number 1 in 2016 which he of course managed but to be honest it finished his career.

Probably his greatest achievement, considering the era he found himself playing in, but the one that'll get the least attention when he retires.

Reuben klang · 31 Aug 2023 at 20:52

Psycho Ned said:
Realistically at his age and with the physical miles on the clock he's not going to do much better than he's doing now (lower end of the top 32). If he's happy playing at this level and enjoying his tennis then good for him but I suspect he probably isn't. Stan Wawrinka is much the same really, also won 3 slams in the peak Novak, Nadal, Fed years then had a ton of injuries now is a low end top 50 level player.

Murray ran himself into the ground trying to become world number 1 in 2016 which he of course managed but to be honest it finished his career.

Not only number 1 but didn’t he get year end number 1? I’m sure he beat Novak in the tour final as well to seal it.

I remember him playing some 250/500 events to rack up the points as well, in the end he didn’t need to play those events as he was clear. Was that the actual reason he ended up doing his hip? It seemed to be wimbledon he went quite far with one hip then never really played again.

Pigeon_Killer · 31 Aug 2023 at 22:43

Draper hammered Hurkacz in straight sets, bright future ahead of him.

englishpremier · 31 Aug 2023 at 23:07

Reuben klang said:
Not only number 1 but didn’t he get year end number 1? I’m sure he beat Novak in the tour final as well to seal it.

I remember him playing some 250/500 events to rack up the points as well, in the end he didn’t need to play those events as he was clear. Was that the actual reason he ended up doing his hip? It seemed to be wimbledon he went quite far with one hip then never really played again.

Wasn't it 2017 when he lost to Warwarinka in a marathon SF at RG. Both were injured after that and later had surgery.

Andy Murray reveals he 'never felt the same' after Wawrinka match in 2017

Andy Murray admitted that he has never fully recovered from his loss against Stan Wawrinka in the semi-finals of Roland Garros in 2017.

tennishead.net

Currently Murray is doing just fine, but outside of a good day on grass he isn't top 20 material in his current form. Since his return, the majority of his wins have come against players outside of the top 20.

In other news though Katie Boulter played a great match to get through to the 3rd round. Surprised no-one has mentioned her, and the focus seems to be male players. WTA is pretty exciting this year.