The Bryan Brothers won their 100th tour title and 16th major championship by beating Lopez and Granollers in straight sets. They have won the Australian Open six times, the French twice, Wimbledon three times, and the US five times. They also won gold in London, three World Tour championships, and have been the year-end number one team nine times. They have a total of 380 weeks at number one, also a record.
So now we get Serena vs. Wozniacki. Does anyone think Wozniacki has a chance?
No surprise there.
Yup, fairly easy: 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 15. She is now tied with Evert and Navratilova with 18 majors.
Ignoring this year as an off-year for him, I kind of think of the “Big #” as the top guys with a sharp dropoff after them, and I think Murray is below that dropoff even during his good years.
The Big 3 comfortably hold the top three spots, and then a severe dropoff to fourth place. Third place is not quite, but almost, double the points of fourth. (And Murray is 10th.)
I was just browsing her results page, and I see that not only did Serena not drop a set, but nobody took more than 3 games from her in any set. That seems like it must be a record, but who knows.
I see your point. I think it just depends on the view you’re taking. It’s inarguable that Murray has been the fourth-best player in the world over the last six years - in fact he has finished every year since 2008 ranked #4 except for 2012, when he was #3. I do see that in 2012 he was a reasonably close #3, and last year nobody was even close to Djokovic and Nadal; they each had twice as many points as Ferrer, who finished third. He’s been a consistent semifinalist. But right now it’s a stretch to say Murray is in the same class as the three guys ahead of him historically. Federer and Nadal have been at the top of the sport for about a decade, they’re both in the teens in majors and have won career Grand Slams. Djokovic has seven majors and he’s spent more than two years total as the #1 guy. Murray is almost exactly Djokovic’s age, he has two majors, and he’s never been #1. Do we think he’s going to win at least five more? He didn’t look like it this year.
Speaking of records, has anybody (male or female) older than Serena is now won a major without dropping a set? (Not counting something like the French back when, IIRC, the defending champion got put straight through to the finals.)
Don: I believe that system was used for Wimbledon and the US too. Believe it ended sometime around WWII.
Yes. Navratilova was almost 34 when she did it at Wimbledon in 1990, and Steffi Graf was about 33 1/2 when she won the Australian Open in 1994. Ken Rosewall was 36 when he won the Australian Open in 1971. Here’s the full list of women who’ve done it, and here are the men. Serena will be 33 later this month. Navratilova did this a total of six times, by the way. Serena and Graf are tied at five, so we’ve just identified two other records Serena could break.
It’s looking good for Cilic so far. He’s up a set and a break.
Cilic won the US Open.
Good for him and who would have guessed?
I picked Cilic, even though they split matches before when they met. Think he was fresher.
And Federer is nearing the Davis Cup Final, one of the few things he has not won. Other than a singles Olympic Gold, what hasn’t he won? He got the doubles Olympic Gold.
And Switzerland is in the Davis Cup final. With Stan and Roger, they have a big-time shot to win the whole thing.
That French team looks good, too: Monfils, Tsonga and Gasquet. It could be a great final.
Li Na has retired because of recurring right knee injuries. She hasn’t played since Wimbledon, and it’s too bad she couldn’t keep her late-career resurgence going a little longer. Still, she’s a two-time major winner and the first Asian player to bring home a Grand Slam title, and she became the world #2 this year after she won the Australian Open. She had a great career and she was always fun and funny with the public.
Good for Li Na. I don’t blame her for retiring. Coming back from the injury and returning to the tour would have been really hard.
And now Gael Monfils has an injury that could potentially take him out of the Davis Cup final. Federer has to be hoping that happens.
Nadal has appendicitis, but plans to play Shanghai anyway.
Holy crap.
Roger withdrew from the final of the championship tournament because of a back problem. Wow. Is this his first withdrawal in his career?
He does plan to play the Davis Cup final next week. I wonder if he gave that priority.
I’m shocked.