# Tennis 2012 Thread
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [May 21, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620 "2012-05-21T16:54:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 8
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/141 "2012-06-25T18:00:01Z")
John Isner just lost to Alejandro Falla, the Colombian guy who almost beat Federer in the first round a few years ago. The final score was 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, 6-7, 7-5- a tight match that went fairly quickly because of all the big serving. So there will be no Isner-Mahut III this year. Instead we got a similar type of match featuring Isner and a different guy. 😉 Isner was the 11th seed, but as upsets go, he may not be the biggest one to lose today. In a matchup of big but erratic talents, Ernsts Gulbis has a chance to take down Tomas Berdych (#6). Gulbis had two match points in the third set and they’re about to play their third straight tiebreak.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2012, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/142 "2012-06-25T18:38:18Z")
Gulbis did it! Clijsters also won her first round match against Jelena Jankovic.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/143 "2012-06-25T21:05:38Z")
> [@notfrommensa](#):
>
> IMO, Venus had no interest in being on the court today.
I doubt that’s the case. She continues to say she is determined to keep playing, and I assume that’s true because she doesn’t have anything to prove to anybody at this point. I think the likely story here is that she could tell early on that she did not have enough energy to win or make a real match of it. She did what she could but she knew it was not going to happen. She’s on the wrong side of 30 and with a disorder that sometimes saps her energy, making a strong showing at a major would be a huge challenge.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/144 "2012-06-28T00:30:58Z")
Federer kicked butt today and has a pretty easy draw so far. Djokovic, on the other hand, has an awesome draw and has not major challenge until the quarters or semis.
Roddick also looked awesome today. I’d love to see him the quarters at least.
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### Author:  [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/145 "2012-06-28T18:58:05Z")
Nadal is having a tough match today, down a break at one set all. Should be interesting. Rosol is playing lights out tennis so far.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/146 "2012-06-28T19:12:32Z")
Andy Murray moved on to the next round with a four-set win. Yesterday Sharapova was pushed to a third set by Pironkova, who always seems to play well at Wimbledon. The first two sets went to tiebreaks and the ending of the match was postponed, but Sharapova won the third set 6-0. Ryan Harrison (one of the young American guys) gave Djokovic a nice challenge. He didn’t threaten to win the match, really, but he competed throughout and Djokovic won 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. Meanwhile Caroline Wozniacki lost a tough match and Sam Stosur suffered another inexplicable early-round loss at a major.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/147 "2012-06-28T19:16:14Z")
Rosol takes the third set. I don’t know anything about this guy, but wow does he pound the ball.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/148 "2012-06-28T19:16:44Z")
Nadal now down 1-2 in sets. He definitely needs to get his head in the game quick, but I believe he’ll win in five (EDIT: As opposed to in six or seven of course lol)
If Nadal wins the fourth set, I think he’ll win the match. Rosol needs to close him out now, otherwise Nadal’s fitness will kick in and allow him to outlast Rosol.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/149 "2012-06-28T19:21:57Z")
I agree. I’d still expect Nadal to win because he’s been in these kinds of situations before. But sometimes you run into a guy who is just having an unbelievably good day and you can’t keep up with him. It happened to Nadal (not at full strength) against Soderling in Paris a couple of years ago and maybe it’s happening again today.
I meant to mention this earlier, by the way, but for the first time in a while the men’s #1 ranking is kind of up in the air. Djokovic will obviously keep the top spot if he wins the tournament, but if he loses a few rounds early, Nadal could take it back and Federer will actually become #1 if he wins - and in turn I think he’d be guaranteed to break Sampras’ record for weeks on top of the rankings. The seedings say Federer would have to beat Djokovic and then Nadal to make that happen, but is that about to change?
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/150 "2012-06-28T20:42:53Z")
Nadal is down a break in the 5th set.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/151 "2012-06-28T20:59:25Z")
Bloody hell! this will be an astonishing result if Rafa loses.
Rosol has returned some exceptional shots though, it isn’t just Rafa errors (though there are a few!)
I don’t know what to wish for, the underdog upset or a glorious Rafa recovery.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/152 "2012-06-28T21:06:28Z")
Down goes Rafa! Down goes Rafa! Wow. That’s the biggest early-round upset we’ve seen at a major in years.
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/153 "2012-06-28T21:06:28Z")
:eek:
or in other words
:eek:
Well done young man, Poor Rafa looks absolutely gutted bless him, will he never find success in life?..oh, wait. Great entertainment there. What nerve he had serving those last games…both to love.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/154 "2012-06-28T21:13:20Z")
Shows what the hell I know about tennis. Even when calling Nadal to win I get it wrong!
So tennis strategists, would Rosol have beaten Federer or Djokovic had he played one of them instead? Or was it a combination of how he played matching up favorably with Nadal’s weaknesses and mistakes?
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### Author:  [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/155 "2012-06-28T21:18:08Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#):
>
> So tennis strategists, would Rosol have beaten Federer or Djokovic had he played one of them instead? Or was it a combination of how he played matching up favorably with Nadal’s weaknesses and mistakes?
The BBC are calling it right, a freak performance. doesn’t matter who was on the other side of the net when someone is hitting like that. Stick any of the top four in there and they would most likely have lost unless they too were at the top of their game.
I like the comment on the[BBC text blog.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18630970)
> [@](#):
>
> I’m not sure what to say about that - while Rafa’s got his shirt off, it’s worth checking for tyre tracks, he just got mown down by a Czech-made juggernaut. Let’s put this in perspective - this guy has lost five times in the first round of qualifying at Wimbledon and is ranked 100 in the world. What computer is the ATP using to do its rankings? A Commodore 64?
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/156 "2012-06-28T21:25:17Z")
Current (check while you can) intro sentence on Rosol’s wikipedia page:
> [@](#):
>
> Lukáš Rosol (born July 24, 1985 in Brno, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech professional tennis player who floored Nadal - what a lad.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/157 "2012-06-28T21:27:10Z")
> [@](#):
>
> this guy has lost five times in the first round of qualifying at Wimbledon and is ranked 100 in the world. What computer is the ATP using to do its rankings? A Commodore 64?
A nice reminder that you, too, can be a sports commentator without knowing anything about sports.
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### Author:  [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/158 "2012-06-28T21:32:17Z")
Seems like Rosol enjoyed quite the celebration, [according to Wikipedia](http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/7429/lukasrosol.jpg).
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### Author:  [@abbeytxs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abbeytxs)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/159 "2012-06-28T21:38:03Z")
Wow! Just wow. That was something to watch. Nadal looked so shellshocked.
I fear this is a one time only deal for Rosol, but I hope we do get to see more from him. It was such a joy to watch a player step up and just go for everything.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tennis-2012-thread/622620/160 "2012-06-28T21:43:49Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#):
>
> So tennis strategists, would Rosol have beaten Federer or Djokovic had he played one of them instead? Or was it a combination of how he played matching up favorably with Nadal’s weaknesses and mistakes?
Yeah, he could have beaten anyone today, but Nadal was also not at his best. Rosol just played amazing, though. Good for him.
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#):
>
> Seems like Rosol enjoyed quite the celebration, [according to Wikipedia](http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/7429/lukasrosol.jpg).
You owe me a new keyboard.
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