Tennis 2012 Thread

[PunditLisa]

Originally Posted by Covered_In_Bees!

Well of course she hated you, you were sitting in front of her dad.

I was there first.

[Marley23]

The Olympic singles draws are out. The toughest first-round draw might belong to Andy Murray, who plays Stan Wawrinka. It's a match he should win, but still. Federer starts against Falla, the guy who took a two-set lead against him in the first round a few years ago. Djokovic starts with Fognini. And this is kind of awesome: John Isner (6'9") will play Oli Rochus (5'5"). I think they've played twice and Isner has won both. Serena will play Jankovic in the first round, and Venus starts against the #9 seed, Sara Errani.

[Marley23]

Interesting to note: three different men have won the first three majors of 2012 (Djokovic, Nadal, Federer). Once upon a time that wasn't so unusual, but it hadn't happened since 2005. And of course in the event that Andy Murray or someone else other than the Big Three wins the U.S. Open - I'm sure not a lot of people are going to put money on that, but I'll throw the idea out there because it has to happen eventually, doesn't it? - this could be the first year since 2003 that four different guys win the Slam titles. Meanwhile everybody seems to agree that Federer is a significant favorite in London, but the best-of-three format makes it that somewhat easier for a lesser player to score an upset. An Olympic gold in singles is practically the only major accomplishment Federer hasn't pulled off other than winning the Grand Slam.

[abbeytxs]

I know Fed is the favorite to win the gold in London, but if by some miracle, Murray were to take the gold, would that be enough to get the monkey off his back? I think mentally it would make a big difference for him, but will it be enough for the British public?

[Marley23]

It wouldn't be winning Wimbledon and it would not technically end the seven-decade drought of Slam wins by British players, but yes, it woudl be a huge achievement. I think he won over a lot of people with his performance at Wimbledon this year and I hope they give him a decent shake from now on.

Player is under way and we already have one big upset: Tomas Berdych lost to Steve Darcis of Belgium. Isner and Serena Williams won, but Americans Ryan Harrison and Christina McHale are out. Kim Clijsters won her first match. Tipsarevic and Almagro both had difficult draws but they each won in straight sets. Federer and Falla are on serve in the first set, 4-3 Federer. It's a little weird seeing all this color on the Wimbledon courts, but I like it - not so much for the Olympic purple shade.

EDIT: And Federer gets the break with a little help from the net cord and serves out the set.

[abbeytxs]

The first match I watched was Ivanovic/McHale. I thought, "wow, they are making them continue the white clothes only tradition". Turns out, they are just both sponsored by Adidas so were wearing the same outfit. I like seeing colors at Wimbledon!

When Murray first started playing I couldn't stand him. Hated the petulant brat nonsense, but he has matured over the years and I really like watching him play now. I think if he can just get his head out of the way, he can be a great player. I want to see Fed win the gold to complete his career, but I also want to see Murray finally win something so that he can relax and just play.

Call me a sentimental fool, but I loved hearing the story about how Roger and Mirka met and how much in love with her he was (is),

[Cicero]

Originally Posted by Marley23

It's a little weird seeing all this color on the Wimbledon courts, but I like it - not so much for the Olympic purple shade.

EDIT: And Federer gets the break with a little help from the net cord and serves out the set.

So, I now feel even more ancient. I recall when some guy got into strife for having a motif on his t shirt rather than all white. I think he was South African. Moore?

[Marley23]

Several tennis players carried their national flags in the parade last night, including Djokovic, Sharapova, Baghdatis, Mirnyi, and Stan Wawrinka. Here's why it was Wawrinka and not Federer. Since Nadal was not around to carry the flag for Spain, Pau Gasol did the honors. I liked seeing Mirnyi get a second chance at the Belarusian flag. He was supposed to be the flag bearer in 2004, but it was taken away from him after... well, to quote Wikipedia, "Belarusian sport officials changed their minds after they found out that Mirnyi let one Belarusian glamour magazine publish erotic images of himself and his wife." I'm still a big fan of the Beast even though he is now a doubles specialist and his singles career never quite got to where I thought it would.

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by Cicero

So, I now feel even more ancient. I recall when some guy got into strife for having a motif on his t shirt rather than all white. I think he was South African. Moore?

I don't remember that, but it sounds about right. Wimbledon has relaxed its rules a little bit over the years: the rule used to be that your clothes had to be all white, and now you can include a little bit of other color as long as the clothes are predominantly white. That doesn't apply at the Olympics since this tournament isn't being run by the All England Club. I see Federer and Falla are showing off their national colors, and I like that.

[Cicero]

Just had a look. I think the guy was Ray Moore even though his "outrage" is not mentioned on Wiki. From what i recall he had a Mickey Mouse motif on his shirt.

[Marley23]

Federer hit a big speed bump all of a sudden. He had a triple match point on Falla's serve but couldn't finish it off and then got broken twice in a row. They're early in the third set now, with Federer up a break at 1-0. Meanwhile NBC just showed a montage of players slipping on the new grass. The weather has been dry, so that shouldn't happen.

[Marley23]

That was much harder than it should have been, but Federer recovered to win 6-3 in the third. Falla did catch.... sigh .... fire for a time and showed the kind of form he did in challenging Federer at Wimbledon at few years ago. And of course now Federer get to play Julien Benneteau, who took the first two sets off him at Wimbledon this year. He can't have that kind of lapse again if he wants to win this thing. Elsewhere "Baby Fed" Dmitrov won in straight sets, Petschner and Verdasco won, Donald Young lost to Andreas Seppi, and the Bryans just took a first-set tiebreak against the Brazilian wildcard team (Bellucci/Sa).

[Marley23]

A convincing 3 & 1 win for Venus over Errani, and Federer also looked much better in beating Benneteau 2 & 2. And fortunately no rain so far. I don't see any other upsets to this point after Radwanska and Li Na lost yesterday. Serena also won easily. Azarenka and Kvitova needed three sets, but they got through. Roddick, Hewitt, Raonic and Baghdatis, all unseeded, won their first matches. (Roddick plays Djokovic next.) Del Potro, Gasquet, Petrova, Monaco, Cilic, Isner, Kerber, Almagro and Kirilenko won. Zvonareva beat Schiavone.

[abbeytxs]

Originally Posted by Marley23

A convincing 3 & 1 win for Venus over Errani, and Federer also looked much better in beating Benneteau 2 & 2. And fortunately no rain so far. I don't see any other upsets to this point after Radwanska and Li Na lost yesterday. Serena also won easily. Azarenka and Kvitova needed three sets, but they got through. Roddick, Hewitt, Raonic and Baghdatis, all unseeded, won their first matches. (Roddick plays Djokovic next.) Del Potro, Gasquet, Petrova, Monaco, Cilic, Isner, Kerber, Almagro and Kirilenko won. Zvonareva beat Schiavone.

Thanks for the update! Cant get to a tv and apreciate the quick, inclusive report.

[Marley23]

You're welcome. Tomorrow should also be jam-packed if the weather holds up. If so, they'll be back on schedule Wednesday. It's fun to see the players rotating on and off the courts like this - Venus and Serena both won singles and doubles matches today, and Federer was back on the court later in his doubles match. He and Wawrinka beat the Japanese team in straight sets. There were really few upsets to be found today: Djokovic/Troicki, the #8 doubles team, did lose. I didn't notice that Sam Stosur lost yesterday, which is too bad but hard to get surprised about. Both Indian teams won, and just as impressive, I think they got back to the Olympic Village without killing each other.

[Marley23]

Djokovic smashes Roddick, Baghdatis upsets Gasquet, and Raonic and Tsonga are deep in the third set - they're tied 6-6 right now, so one service break could decide this one. Exciting!

[Marley23]

Raonic and Tsonga are even at 15-all in the third set. In terms of games, this is about to become the longest individual set in the history of Olympic tennis.

[Dead Cat]

Originally Posted by Marley23

Raonic and Tsonga are even at 15-all in the third set. In terms of games, this is about to become the longest individual set in the history of Olympic tennis.

Ha, having read this and your previous post, my first thought was "15-all, yes, but what game are they in?" . Nice.

ETA: 17-all now!

[Marley23]

Elsewhere Andy Murray and Venus Williams both won, and Lleyton Hewitt is up a set and a break again Cilic and Sharapova has a similar lead on Laura Robson of Britain. Other winners were Kerber and Lisicki. Lisicki beat the woman won who logged the Golden Set at Wimbledon, Yaroslava "Camptown Ladies" Shvedova. I'd like to get that going as a nickname for her: her last name is pronounced SHE-duh-VUH, not, as I had thought, she-DO-vah. That gives her full name the same cadence as the first line of "Camptown Ladies," if I'm explaining this right. You can remember how to pronounce the name by saying to yourself "Yaroslava Shvedova, doo-dah, doo-dah." (And yes, I tested it.)

Meanwhile Tsonga and Raonic are still going at on serve at 19-18, Raonic to serve. This is now the longest single set in Olympic singles or doubles tennis. Raonic looks more tired than Tsonga does and Tsonga has had opportunities in each of Raonic's last two games.

[Colophon]

21-21 now in the third. They should at least try to make a game of it.

[Marley23]

"Tsonga wins the Olympic marathon," says one of the commentators. 25-23 in the third set.

[Mahaloth]

Once again, Hewitt reminds us that he has not retired. He advanced as well.

[Marley23]

Finding an Olympic draw sheet is a pain, but Wikipedia has one. Federer will play Istomin in the third round, Djokovic gets Hewitt, and Murray plays Baghdatis. Ferrer still has to play his second round match today.

[notfrommensa]

D-Joker and Hewitt 1 set apiece.

Anyone think it is kind of weird to see players wearing non-white outfits at Wimbledon?

Just doesn't look right.

[Marley23]

So that Tsonga-Raonic match with the longest set ever in Olympic tennis? The record almost got broken after less than 24 hours. One of the Brazilian men's doubles teams (Melo/Soares) beat the fifth-seeded Czech team, and the third set went 24-22. The Tsonga-Raonic record survived, but just barely. Jo-Wilfried is already back on the court against Feliciano Lopez.

Meanwhile Lleyton Hewitt is turning back the clock! He took the first set against Djokovic and Djokovic rallied to get the second. They are on serve at the beginning of the third set.

Tough Olympics for the Radwanskas: Aggie, the #2 seed, also lost in the first round. Ursula, a lesser player, was matched up against Serena in the first round and also lost. Then in doubles, they won their first match and then ran into the #1 team (Huber/Raymond) and lost. Because the tournaments are so small and the national delegations are limited, that's probably happened to a few teams.

[Marley23]

Murray and Djokovic were both pushed to three sets today, but they both came through. Venus lost in two tiebreak sets to Kerber, and Clijsters pulled off an upset against Ivanovic. Tsonga managed to win in straight sets over Lopez, which is impressive. One upset in doubles - the Israeli team (Erlich/Ram) beat Federer and Wawrinka in three sets. Probably a good thing for Federer's chances in singles, but no repeat gold in doubles for the Swiss.

[Marley23]

Some really good matches today. Almost all of them were close and there were a couple of upsets including Isner over Tipsarevic and Clijsters over Ivanovic. The women's quarters are set, and the last men's third-round match will finish tomorrow - Nishikori and Ferrer have to play their third set. The quarters look like this in singles:

Women:
Azarenka (1) vs. Kerber (7)
S. Williams (4) vs. Wozniacki (8)

Clijsters vs. Sharapova (3)
Kvitova (6) vs. Kirilenko (14)

Men:
Federer (1) vs. Isner (10)
Nishikori/Ferrer vs. Del Potro (8)

Almagro (11) vs. Murray (3)
Tsonga (5) vs. Djokovic (2)

All of the remaining men in singles have already lost their doubles matches, and on the women's side, only Serena and Kirilenko are still alive in both draws. However a few other players are active in singles and mixed doubles (Del Potro, Azarenka, and Murray, who hasn't played his first-round match yet). Mixed doubles is shorter than regular doubles since the third set is a super tiebreaker. And I mention earlier that the Radwanskas had a tough Olympics - Aggie and Marcin Matkowski were entered in the mixed doubles and also lost on the first round. So the sisters went 1-4 combined in the Olympiad.

[Marley23]

Originally Posted by Marley23

All of the remaining men in singles have already lost their doubles matches

I spoke too soon here. Tsonga and Ferrer were still alive in both draws when I posted, but they're now both out in singles. This morning Nishikori completed his win over Ferrer and is now in the process of losing to Del Potro, and Djokovic beat an understandably exhausted Tsonga in straight sets. Murray beat Almagro and Federer is up a set on Isner, so the singles semifinals are almost set. On the women's side Kirilenko upset Kvitova, Azarenka beat Kerber, and Serena wiped the floor with Wozniacki. I hope Clijsters can pull off one more surprise against Sharapova in the remaining match.

[Marley23]

Federer and Del Potro made it through by identical scores, 6-4 and 7-6. Bravo stuck with Federer/Isner over Del Potro/Nishikori, which made sense to me. It was a close match, but Isner didn't have a lot of chances against Federer's serve and Federer made his opportunities count. Clijsters just didn't have enough to keep up with Sharapova, so we're now ready for the medal round in singles. All of these players will have a chance to play for a medal. It's very nice to see Del Potro make it this far, and while I hope he gets beaten and sent a chance to play for the bronze, I'd like to see this push him toward bigger things. I think he and Tsonga should be playing for the fourth semifinal spot at majors - Ferrer is very consistent and always gives his best effort, but he's reached his ceiling. Tsonga and Del Potro have more talent, and of course Del Potro is a major champion even if it feels like that was a fluke since he hasn't come close to repeating that result in the last three years. If he stays healthy and plays with confidence I think he still has that ability. On grass, though, Federer should win this one. The other semifinal should be interesting since Murray did so well at Wimbledon. Djokovic has looked better during the Olympics than he did a couple of weeks ago. The semifinals will be tomorrow, and then there will be a day off before the finals and the bronze matches on Sunday.

Federer (1) vs. Del Potro (8)
Murray (3) vs. Djokovic (2)

Azarenka (1) vs. Serena (4)
Sharapova (3) vs. Kirilenko (14)

[Marley23]

I was going to stop multi-posting, but the match between Federer and Del Potro was just incredible. Del Potro was firing early and got the first set. Federer toughed out the second set in a tiebreak, and the third set just kept going and going. Federer served for the match at 10-9 and got broken at love, and on they went for 4 hours plus until Federer finally got another break in the 35th game and served it out 19-17. Federer didn't look his best for most of this match, but he dug in and his defense and court coverage were as good as ever. He was pretty emotional afterward. So Federer is finally going to win a medal in singles, silver or gold depending on what happens Sunday. Serena/Azarenka and Murray/Djokovic have been waiting and waiting throughout all this. Meanwhile Sharapova beat Kirilenko pretty easily.

[Mahaloth]

What an amazing match. I will be cheering for Del Potro to win the bronze no matter who he plays.

[Dead Cat]

Do people think we are getting more lengthy final sets (than Wimbledon) due to the fact that they only play 3, so both players are fresher and less likely to make mistakes that hand the match to their opponent? As opposed to 5 set matches at Wimbledon, where by the final set at least one player is already exhausted? On the other hand, does that even make sense?

I assume there are more long final sets because the surface (grass) means it's easier to hold your serve even if you're not playing quite as well as the opponent. I haven't seen any of the long final sets though - those that have, does this theory look viable?

[Marley23]

There have been two really long third sets out of (so far) 62 matches, and there was one very long one in the men's doubles as well. So it's hard to say there is a specific reason these long sets happened, but everything you said is plausible. Del Potro definitely started having knee problems during his French Open loss to Federer, where he blew a two-set lead, and he looked fine throughout this one. Turns out this was the longest three-set match ever by a wide margin: 4 hours and 26 minutes. The previous recordholder was a Nadal-Djokovic match that lasted 4:03, and those guys play slow. The Tsonga-Raonic match probably had a lot more aces and service winners.

On the other end of the spectrum, Serena just demolished Azarenka. The score was 6-1, 6-2, and it didn't even look that close. It was maybe the most impressive hurting I've seen Serena put on a top player since her comeback win against Sharapova at the Australian Open a few years ago. Even against another major champion Serena has to be a heavy favorite in the final.

Murray and Djokovic have a lot to live up to, but the quality looks good so far. It's 3-all in the first set.

[Marley23]

And as Djokovic and Murray head toward a first-set tiebreak, I see the second doubles semifinal - Llodra/Tsonga (France) vs. Ferrer/Lopez (Spain) - is at 14-14 in the third set.

[Covered_In_Bees!]

Fuck. My. Life.

I started the live stream just in time to watch the last ten minutes of Novak/Andy, and I'd have been a lot happier with that if it wasn't the ugly douche bag Murray winning, in high definition no less.

Sigh. Surely I'll find comfort at the bottom of a Dr Pepper can.

[Marley23]

Look at that: we're going to have a rematch. (Figures that I stepped away for one game...) Murray also hit one of the best volleys I've ever seen during this one. Near the beginning of the second set he managed to hit a winner while doing a sommersault along the left sideline. Djokovic played better during the Olympics than he did at Wimbledon but he ends up with pretty much the same result. At least this time he gets one more match and a possible medal out of it. He takes representing Serbia very seriously and their Davis Cup win in 2010 helped pave the way for his incredible season last year. Even so, I think the whole thing might mean more to Del Potro.

[Marley23]

Something important to remember here, and I think it's good for Federer: the final is going to be best-of-five sets, not three. I forgot about this until just now.

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Marley23

Something important to remember here, and I think it's good for Federer: the final is going to be best-of-five sets, not three. I forgot about this until just now.

Yep, I give Federer the advantage. It would be absolutely huge for Murray to win, but I think Federer is up to the challenge. I'll be watching live; I assume you folks will be too.

[Mahaloth]

Oh, and the Bryan brothers won the Bronze in Beijing.

They will be in the final for the gold medal(or silver). Against Tsonga.

It's on tomorrow.

[Chicagojeff]

Damn.. 6-0 6-1.. I timed my cardio today just so I could see who would get the "Golden Slam" first.. and to paraphrase my old man.. "Serena beat Maria like she stole something"..
Just a complete domination.. Serena seemed to get whatever she wanted .. whenever she wanted.. she put so many shots at Maria feet.. Sharapova looked clumsy.

If this is a glimpse of what's to come.. I think I know who I'm betting on at Flushing!!

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Chicagojeff

Damn.. 6-0 6-1.. I timed my cardio today just so I could see who would get the "Golden Slam" first.. and to paraphrase my old man.. "Serena beat Maria like she stole something"..
Just a complete domination.. Serena seemed to get whatever she wanted .. whenever she wanted.. she put so many shots at Maria feet.. Sharapova looked clumsy.

If this is a glimpse of what's to come.. I think I know who I'm betting on at Flushing!!

An embarrassing final for Sharapova.

The Bryan brothers won gold today as well, which completes their career slam + gold medal.

[Alka Seltzer]

If the roof stays open, I think Murray will win. If the weather forces it to be closed, Federer's serve will probably be too strong. Without the air swirling around, he really hits the tramlines.

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Alka Seltzer

If the roof stays open, I think Murray will win. If the weather forces it to be closed, Federer's serve will probably be too strong. Without the air swirling around, he really hits the tramlines.

Looks like it was closed, but now they are opening it.....delaying the start by 30 minutes or so.

[Mahaloth]

Or not, they are out there warming up now.

Oh, and the Williams sisters won the gold medal. Both doubles and the female singles were won by Americans.

[Alka Seltzer]

First set Murray. The venue may be the same, but this really isn't Wimbledon.

[Evil Captor]

6-2, 6-1, 4-2 Murray so far. I have never seen Federer do so badly against Murray. Of course, Murray did pretty damn well at Wimbledon this year. Wonder what's going on? Has Murray levelled up or is Federer tanking the match to make the Brits feel good.

[Mahaloth]

Wow, Murray wins the gold. Amazing.

Good for him.

[notfrommensa]

MURRACULOUS!

Fed looked genuinely pleased for Murray when they shook hands. It makes me wonder if there was any empathy from Roger during because he just isn't dominated like that at Wimbledon.

Anyways, Murray did play an outstanding match. The Grand Slam Monkey is not completely off his back, but the monkey is thinking about climbing a tree for some bananas.

Congratulations to Andy Murray

[PunditLisa]

Make no mistake, Federer wanted the singles gold medal BADLY as it's the only missing gem in his crown. No way will he be a contender in 2016.

However, he's got a heart and I'm sure that having Andy Murray beat him on the Wimbledon court in front of a pumped up home crowd was the best way to lose.

WAY TO GO, little Andy Murray!

[eenerms]

Good for Andy but I felt for Fed...