Tennis 2013 Thread

Wimbledon have said there is nothing different in their preparation of the surfaces, plenty of players are managing just fine and say that they don’t detect any difference so…who knows?

It may just be that it is bad luck and pure coincidence but once the first couple of people say it is to do with slippy courts then that becomes fixed in everyone’s minds.

Not a chance. This is the one year in about the last 70 that there’s a chance a Brit might actually win. People will be guarding their tickets with their lives.

Blake’s playing that brat Tomic, not well, I must add.

Looking at the draw it seems fairly clear that Djokovic now has the tougher side to contend with.

Murray’s run to the final looks (dare I say it ) routine. Certainly they are all players that he should crucify playing anywhere near his normal grass-court form.

However…nothing is seeming quite that straightforward this year.

Wee bit of rain.

And Blake is out. I admire Blake and he should retire this year after the US Open.

Ferrer through, Almagro is having a tough go of it.

Robson looked very impressive again in her match earlier today, from what I saw of it. I probably just haven’t watched enough of it recently (the grunting tends to put me off), but my impression of women’s tennis is that it is a war of attrition where the victor will be who can make the fewest errors, rather than make the most winners. Whereas Robson is really going for her shots and consistently hitting the ball deep into the corners - makes for a much better spectacle, in my view. Of course, the surface has a lot to do with this as well I suspect.

Murray is on fire!

Sloane Stephens won the first set in a tiebreak, got bageled in the second, and now play is suspended before the third begins. That’s probably a good thing for her since she’s been outplayed by Cetkovska.

And now the serve and volleyer Dustin Brown is out.

She is playing NZer Erakovic next. Erakovic is a very good grass player & has become much more aggressive since switching to her present coach. I’m just hoping she doesn’t choke under the pressure of playing a local hero.

That match was all over in the second set. Or so I thought.
I was wrong.

I think I’m the lonely massive Serena fan here… I enjoyed her dismantling of the ageless Date-Krumm today.

Not alone.. impressed with her minimizing her errors as well..

Yes, sounds like Erakovic choked. she & Black also lost in the doubles which is a real shame. She is still going in the mixed doubles, but other than the Commonwealth Games in India, I don’t think she has played mixed in years.

I saw part of the Tomic Gasquet game which was an absorbng contest.

Serena and Venus are why I even like tennis. So that makes at least three massive fans.

I love watching Serena play. I wish she’d cut out a lot of the other crap that people talk about instead of talking about her actual game, but if you ignore that and just focus on what she does between the lines, she’s incredible and seems to be playing her best right now. She is head and shoulders above the rest of the field and I still wouldn’t be surprised if she pulls off another Serena Slam.

I like Serena as well. Date was probably the only woman in the field at the start older than Serena.

Schiavone. But other than her, yes, Serena may have been the oldest player in the draw after Date-Krumm. I found this comment at tennis.com: “When [Date-Krumm] made her Wimbledon debut in 1989, 59 women in this year’s singles field weren’t born yet.” During her retirement from tennis she ran marathons.

I find her tedious in the extreme. She hits hard for a woman but to the extent that when she plays well there is no contest and no interest for me and in comparison with the men it is second rate.
When she plays badly and others get a chance then it does introduce some interest but then you are watching two people play badly…where’s the fun in that?

I’m not a fan of women’s tennis in general.