Tennis 2025 General Thread

Good commentary

45 year old Venus Williams won a singles match for the first time in 709 days. Shocked the heck out of me. I gave her no chance at all. She has looked pretty awful in all the matches I’ve seen her play in the last two years. Especially after being on court for an hour or so. But yesterday she looked pretty good. On Monday she won a doubles match, and actually looked good there too.

I have been more than a little annoyed that she was getting wildcard after wildcard and losing badly in R1. But she finally pulled one out against #35 Peyton Stearns. Next up #24 Magda Frech.

Youtube has been feeding a lot of Federer in his prime media. WOW …still the real GOAT in my view.

One of many

Eugenie Bouchard has hung up her (tennis) racket - announcing her retirement after the Montreal tournament. She has now taken up pro pickleball - ranked 12th in the world (singles). Genie Bouchard - UPA Tour Pro Pickleball Player from Canada

Agreed!! They need to rename the stadium to, “Rafael Nadal Stadium”. For many years, the only French titles Rafa didn’t win were the ones he didn’t play in because of injury.

Federer: Twelve Final Days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Xn8Olq5-0 &1

Bittersweet for me as Roger was the reason I started watching tennis…just a magician.
I saw his Australian match with Nadal when Nadal was an unknown and was shocked when he gave Roger a real scare…who is this kid.??
Been watching any number of his top matches on Youtube and catching some I’d never seen and marveling at his talent.
I still consider him the GOAT even if his wins don’t match up to some of the others.
Like the idea of the Lever Cup.
Lots of tears in the audience including from Roger, Rafah and even Novak

Great family and terrific athlete…well paid for his talent :+1:

In my heart, he is the best even of Novak is, uh, technically the best.

My favorite family story is when his girls returned from tennis class, he watched them hit and told them a better way to do something. His girls said, “Well, that’s not how our coach told us to do it.”

So he just told them to do it the way their coach said.

:laughing:

The GOAT discussion in sports is fun because there are always a myriad of opinions making the discussion eternal. Heck, there could be a 5-year old who is just picking up a racket and learning the game who eventually become greater than all those before him. The point is, who knows, really?

That’s why I prefer what I call the “Mt. Olympus Approach”. What group of players deserve to sit at the table of the gods on Mt. Olympus? With men, I’m thinking Laver, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic being the obvious choices. One might want to include Sampras, Agassi, Connors, McEnroe, and Borg because of their effect on the game. On the women’s side, I’m thinking the Williams sisters, Graf, Navratilova, Evert, King, and Court.

The Tinpot Mixed Doubles Championship prelude to the US Open is over.

It was reduced to a format that resembled a club social mixed doubled weekend more than a grand slam event, or even a generic professional tournament.

  • Draw was restricted to 16 teams
  • Invitations were based on star power rather than doubles rankings, so the top singles players were invited, but not most of the top doubles players
  • The matches were short sets, first to four games, and a tie break in lieu of a third set

In the end the only team of doubles specialists in the field won the tournament. They were ranked #291 and #308 in singles. They got more prize money than if they had won the last four grand slam mixed doubles combined.

I’m not sure what the viewership was. But I admit I followed it more than I normally follow mixed doubles, and I’m probably a bigger follower of mixed doubles than 99% of tennis fans.

The stands were full - I wonder if they paid full price as if it were a singles final (or close to it).

I can’t speak to the U.S. Open, but I go to the exhibition matches before Indian Wells. The prices for those are very cheap. They are a lot of fun. The players are relaxed and friendly and the crowd is in a good mood because everyone is there just for fun and entertainment.

Nosebleed seats were $65-$100. Better seats were in the $150-$300 range. As I understand it the cheap grounds passes did not allow you into Ashe stadium at all when mixed doubles was on. You could only see the qualifying rounds.

That’s a lot less than the singles final days usually are going for. I’ve only gone on the middle weekend. The only people I know who have been to the finals days were either given corporate tickets or are much wealthier than I am.

First round only had one big upset on the men’s side. #12 Medvedev went out to #51 Bonzi.

#6 Madison Keys went out to #61 Zaruzua.

Medvedev continues his charm offensive in America by throwing a tantrum and telling porkies in the press conference afterwards.

Ostapenko, not wishing to be shown up, decided to insult her opponent after being comprehensively defeated on the court in the second round. Sadly, this is nowhere near the worst thing she’s done on a tennis court.

The finalists are set on each side.

Sinner and Alcaraz are in their eight consecutive slam final. Cue the complaints that this is getting boring. It’s not. It’s a great rivalry already to replace the Big Three (sorry Sir Andy) of the previous two decades.

Djokovic went out yesterday after looking good at the start against Alcaraz. By the end he looked physically spent. He’s lost in the semifinals of all four slams this year, and despite playing very little elsewhere he’s going to be #5 on Monday. Almost certainly going to qualify for the year end ATP Finals.

On the women’s side we say the continued resurgence of two players. Osaka looked much improved and finally went out to Anisimova, who is having a very good summer having reached her second consecutive slam final. Hoping she does better this time than at Wimbledon, but personally I’m delighted to see her in the limelight again. She’s a really likable person in addition to being massively talented.

And of course Sabalenka is in her third slam final this year against an American. She’s going to have to contend with a hostile crowd tonight.

Wow, I didn’t realize it.

Will Novak win another grand slam? I actually think he will because he can and does beat these guys. But he is 38…

I don’t think he can. He’ll probably try, but as he said after losing in straight sets to Carlos Alcaraz:

“It will be very difficult for me in the future to overcome the hurdle of Sinner, Alcaraz, in the best-of-five on the grand slams. I think I have a better chance of best-of-three, but best-of-five, it’s tough.”

Alcaraz certainly is in the running for GOAT even this early in his career. I still maintain Federer remains the ONE but Alcaraz has many of the same qualities and is still getting better.

Slams won and lost are only one factor …..fan appeal and a certain magic always hung about Federer that none of the others had.

Add in clay court with Alcaraz and he might surpass Federer IMNSHO but time will tell and depends on whether I’m still around to see it. :person_shrugging:

He is certainly the best player at the moment. Career longevity will depend on staying healthy, and he has the means to have the trainers working for him.

Sinner is very very good, but his overall game just isn’t at the same level as Alcaraz. Either one can be the other, but Alcaraz has the advantage.

As I posted three years ago:

For the women, we have four Americans in the top ten. It’s a great time to cheer for the home players. :us:

Also, now is the time to buy tickets for the Indian Wells Open. Only six months away, and the best seats are going fast. Ground passes are still only $60, which is a great bargain for the amount of tennis you can see.