The Gays and Tennis part 28!

Sock has pulled out of Atlanta citing an ankle injury. Carrying too much extra weight, perhaps?

BREAKING! Sharapova has a new bf! British millionaire Alexander Gilkes and he likes to munch on her ass

yikes ew ew ew

Germany had an amazing junior team with Molleker and Kuhn but Nicola decided he wanted to play for Spain (he was living here since he was 3). Kuhn was inside top 200 but he had and injury in a toe who let him out of the courts for two months. Unfortunately for him that period was when he had some of his best results last year and now he is near 350. Fortunately for him he doesn't have that much to defend (unfortunately for him his form seems to be not that great right now)

[quote] yikes ew ew ew

I take it no Vaseline and hand between pants for that photo?

He's apparently also friends with princes William and Harry. Serena of course is good friends with Meghan Markle.

from his wiki:

Alexander Gilkes (born 16 July 1979) is the co-founder and president of Paddle8, an online auction house specializing in fine art and collectibles, described by FT as "reimagined art collecting for the digital age."[1][2][3][4][5]

Raised in London and educated at Eton College and at the University of Bristol, Gilkes has been based in New York since 2008.[6] Prior to founding Paddle8 in 2011, Gilkes served as an auctioneer at Phillips de Pury & Company and an executive at LVMH.[7][8][9]

Gilkes has served as auctioneer for many high-profile auctions including Madonna’s Raising Malawi,[10] Elton John AIDS Foundation[11] and amFAR.[12]

Gilkes has been named as one of Fast Company's Most Creative Entrepreneurs in 2017,[13] the 100 Most Powerful People in the Art World (Art + Auction) in 2014, 2015 and 2016, a Digital Maverick (DETAILS), one of the 40 Most Important People Under 40 (Apollo), and was featured on Vanity Fair and GQ's best-dressed lists.[14] He serves on the board of the New York Academy of Art.[15]

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Carreño Busta finally beats Mayer.....I find CB quite attractive.

And what is Thiem doing in Hamburg playing on clay? Should not he be in the US preparing for the hard courts?

So Dimitrov was not at Dani’s wedding?

R8 It's Thiem. I wouldn't except anything else from his schedule.

Thiem's favorite surface is clay. He can lose to anyone on hard courts if he's having an inconsistent day

I don't think Gilkes is munching Sharapova's ass. He's just diligently trying to find one where it's supposed to be.

R12 = Domicakes, Jack Sock and/or Rafa

Federer withdraws from Rogers Cup

I know some of you are desperate for Sascha/Marcelo updates...well good news, they are in Florida (Saddlebrook) together.

R15, can it thus be said that they’re back in the saddle again?

Nice one, R16!

Ivan Lendl joined 'Team Zverev' ?

Lots of weddings going on, Tsonga also got married

Wow, R18 - Lendl must be being paid a lot; they actually got him to smile.

R19, Tsonga and his bride look so sweet and cute there. Thanks do sharing. Awwwwwwwww! Squee! Adorbz!

Which Team Zverev?

So Zverev has Murray's old trainer and now coach...

Tsonga and his wife will have good looking kids regardless of if they're male or female

He already has a kid. And it looks exactly like Tsonga . Few days back he was seen flying french flag when France won world cup

Sascha and Marcelo at least in the same location

How will Lendl deal with Melo?

[quote] How will Lendl deal with Melo?

Knock knock jokes and showtunes.

Ivan is no nonsense guy. Will he disrupt Melo/Sasha "bromance"?

[quote] Will he disrupt Melo/Sasha "bromance"?

The humorless asshole sure has hell disrupted my mentoring relationship with Andy. He would have had a fine future in acting after his tennis retirement.

Well he sure can play twin brother of Andrew Garfield in some movie

Spacey and Murray

Maria's boyfriend is kinda hot.

Really tacky and bizarre way to confirm her heterosexuality. He’s rimming her ass and she doesn’t seem to care. She’s always been her vacant and distant self.

Yeah she really looks like she's having a great time.

Lendl is not joining Zverev's team, just trained with Sascha a few times according to a German journalist...the one whose back Sascha jumped on a while ago, haha!

Hahaha

R 8: He is attractive (not as much as Pablo Andujar) unfortunately his game is like David Ferrer but without the speed, the good forehand and the fighting spirit

In Atlanta so far:

Young gets first main draw victory in ages (and second of the year) 2-6 7-6(5) 7-6(6) over Karlovic. Karlovic hit 30 aces but also 11 dfs both had match points

Fritz def. Newport finalist Ramanathan 6-4 6-4

Chardy def. Berankis 6-4 6-3

Norrie upsets Jaziri 7-5 6-0

Harrison comeback against Duckworth 4-6 7-6(2) 6-1

New prize money for the US Open...almost $4 million for the winner, wow

Tiafo & Fritz at the BB&T Atlanta Open

More ATL results:

Rubin def. Kokkinakis 6-3 6-4

Tiafoe def. Copil 6-4 6-4

I’m on Zverev Team!

M. Zverev def. Smyczek 6-3 6-7(8) 6-3

Is Fritz a deplorable?

Which Smyczek?

A. Smyczek

R45, no.

B. Smyczek

wow in Atlanta of the 8 second round matches to be played Wednesday and Thursday, all of them are first-time meetings except for Youzhny vs. M. Zverev. That's pretty unusual for any tournament

Which Youzhny?

The one who has just announced his plan for retirement.

Ah, R52. M. Youzhny

R53, who is scheduled to play M. Zverev soon.

You also can't help being in awe of Thiem who plays Hamburg this week, Kitzbuhel next week, then flies across the Atlantic to play both singles and doubles in Toronto.

R55 Seriously facepalming at Thiem, I knew he was in Hamburg but Kitzbühel too? Sheesh. I guess he wants to get some points on clay before hardcourts. He has QF and 4R to defend in Cincinnati and US Open but almost nothing after that.

Thiem must be looking forward to the day Nadal retires cause that's only chance he has of winning the french. The french is also the only slam he could maybe win.

R56 Kitzbuhel is in Austria though. He probably got pressure by Austrian Fed and a good behind the desk cheque to go there as he would help selling more tickets

R58 Maybe, but he didn't play it last year (played Washington instead). Well, maybe he will go only to tank in the 1st round and then fly straight to Canada.

ITF issued 49 TUEs in January-June 2018 approving 91% applications. Astonishing numbers considering

TUE as a last resort: it's hard to imagine that on 49(!) occasions in just 6 months players couldn't find a non-PED alternative to treat their condition

It’s hard to find the right treatment for heart conditions.

I see Serena's been moaning about being tested again and calling it 'discrimination'.

Yet research has shown she's not tested more than anyone else.

It's amazing the fragile health that so many athletes, not just tennis players, have that forces them to take PEDs. The poor things.

It seems like Setena’s inner Richard Williams is revealing itself yet again.

It seems like Serena’s inner Richard Williams is revealing itself yet again.

Article disproving Serena's claims

A look at Serena's TUEs

Interesting article

I was thinking the article was wrong about Federer not reaching qtr till 22 but barely because he was 21 when he won Wimbledon (a couple of months before 22) and i was surprised the best he did before was a 4th round. I knew he was known for being a big talented underachiever but i thought he made some final rounds before start winning GS, maybe because he had big wins against top players being very young

Tennis becoming more athletic has been for quite a while, which made it harder for young players to be successful and to be good at grand slams, in men's. You shouldn't do a lot of gym practice when you are still growing up, Zverev can overcome his problems in Slams by doing more gym practice, getting more athletic and muscles, they waited with him for that, then he will be better there; Eastern Europeans tend to have a very good athletic education, and his parents and other people in his environment know a lot about athleticism and educating athletes.

Federer was injured at the US Open last year. I could tell his movement was affected. So, it could be pulling out of the Rogers Cup is wise. I had a feeling, though, that Federer wasn't going to win Wimbledon this year, and I have the same feeling for the US Open. I think he may make it to the later rounds, but I don't see him winning it. On form this year, I see it as being between Djokovic and Nadal. Nadal could go out earlier than expected, too, but if he gets the gift draws he's been getting in Slams this year, at least through to the quarters, he should get to the later rounds.

Djokovic should try to get as high a seeding as possible. He has no points to defend, so if he does well in the warm ups, he could be Top 5 (maybe even as high as 4?). If he's not that high, neither Federer nor Nadal wants to see him in his side of the draw. I guess that's true of the semis as well.

Zverev is interesting. He really struggles in the best of 5 format. Only time will tell if he can overcome that.

How is Domi able to satisfy his urges now that Kiki is the US for tournaments and he's stuck in Europe for the next two weeks?

Oleg S., really hates Serena, doesn't he?

Top 4 seed for Djokovic is possible, but a big ask. He'd probably need to win both Canada & Cincy, or win one and reach the finals of the other, and hope that some of the guys in front of him (especially Zverev, Anderson, and Cilic) don't have much success.

Side note: Djokovic has *never* won the Cincinnati event (5 Runner-ups, 2 QFs).

What is amazing to me is that Nadal won Cincy one and Djoko still has to win it. CIncy is known as one of the fastest courts...

I hope Delpo gets enough points to be no.2 seed before USO so that we can have a chance to get Nadal, Federer and Djokovic in the same half and let them slaughter each other. Throw in someone like Krygios to tire them out would be ideal.

I think that the heat and humidity has always gotten to Djokovic in Cincy.

just like Nadal cannot win Miami. He's been to the final but came up short each time

DelPo Team

I just watched Basilashvili beat Cuevas. He is a very handsome man.

I was little bit surprised by good performance by Nikola. I have seen him playing before but not this well. Both his forehand and backhand were great today not to mention his attitude. He came back from 1/6 in tibreaker to take it by 8/6

Ever since someone on one of these threads posted some pics of him, he's been on my radar. He's very easy on the eyes.

Auger-Alliasime lost in three sets again. He probably be a top 100 player soon. A lot of potential, but a lot of things to work too (because he lost almost all his rival dropshots)

[quote]How is Domi able to satisfy his urges now that Kiki is the US for tournaments and he's stuck in Europe for the next two weeks?

Domi found some new arm candy

poor Rico Bellotti just lost 0-6 1-6 at a Challenger in Finland

Porna is in trouble against Laslo Djere in Gstaad

Domi has a very special fashion sense

I think Coric is destined to a Cilic type of career. I can't envision him being a dominant player or a multi GS winner

[quote] Domi has a very special fashion sense

Credit for his creativity in wearing his pajamas to a public event.

Is Coric gonna dope as well?

Domicakes team.

He looks like he’s hurting. Injury?

R84

That other guy is UGLY!

wow bad loss for Coric.

domi is getting massage after his victory

Cute...and I like Marcelo calling Alexander Sr. "Papa Zverev"

[quote] I like Marcelo calling Alexander Sr. "Papa Zverev”

P. Zverev?

And a verified journalist is offering his congratulations to the (married) couple, haha.

And Marcelo's physiotherapist is asking him if he behaved. Everyone is in on the joke now or there is a hint of truth to it, haha!

Murray is back.

Yay!

Did we discuss this? Will it affect Nole? Djokovic’s press team says in a statement on Thursday the family is in “complete shock over what happened” to 85-year-old Miloslav Radisavljevic. They say attackers broke into Radisavljevic’s house, kidnapped him, and took him to a field several kilometers away. Police said, without identifying Radisavljevic, they found a man early Thursday tied to a power pole close to his house in Ljig, some 50 kilometers south of Belgrade.

Well, that's pretty horrible, R100.

wow. I assumed by now Djokovic would have hired security for his and his wife's close family members.

Is this where we talk about World Team Tennis?

[quote]Is this where we talk about World Team Tennis?

Someone had better. We're getting no coverage.

Shout out to my USADA agent, John, who has been to my house more than my parents...and who has seen my dick more than my wife!

Nadia Petrova has given birth to her first child ,a baby girl!

Diego Lost!!!!!

Thiem leads Jarry 5-3 in games. Thiem leads Jarry 5-2 in tiebreak. Jarry wins this set.

Winners: Thiem 3, Jarry 19

This is a very strange match.

Now that Domi has lost, he's all mine bitches! Viens mon amour! Komm mein Lieber!

Thiem leads Jarry 6-3 in second set tiebreak. Jarry wins the set and whole match.

Winners: Thiem 11, Jarry 35

The Hamburg tournament is kind of a mess....the only seeded player left is Pablo Carreño Busta (3)

Mayer is so going to win this AGAIN

Jarry is actually trending on twitter because of this win which is surprising.

Wet t-shirt contest between Grigor and Novak

they both look underweight

Nole has a banana head.

What's up with the cameramen at this Hamburg tournament focusing in so closely on young women? It's really creepy. One even gave a lingering boob shot.

What Novak does with the bottle reminds me of Kyrgios and his bottle, just sayin'.

[quote] One even gave a lingering boob shot.

Was the boob out?

Marcelo's livestream featuring Sascha was amusing!

the DC ATP & WTA draws are out now. None of the other events yet except for qualifying.

Looks like we'll get a summer of Isner...with Kyrgios out in Atlanta he'll likely win that event and he's got an easy opening few rounds in DC too

San Jose (moved from Stanford) opens with a stacked draw-Serena, Venus, Muguruza, Azarenka, Keys all playing

Kitzbuhel is of course headed by Thiem and Kohlschreiber

Still waiting on Los Cabos draw

Abs Zverev

Let's hope not, R122. The less of Isner, the better. Fortunately the DC draw is a lot more competitive than Atlanta's: Murray, A. spoiled brat Zverev and his brother, Shapovalov, Nishikori, Tiafoe, Medvedev, Khachanov, Tsitsipas, Wawrinka, McDonald, Pouille, Rublev...way more chances to knock out Isner.

[quote] A. spoiled brat Zverev and his brother

Which brother?

Read the first letter, R126.

The WTA tournament in Moscow will have an all-teenage final between 17 year olds Anastasia Potapova & Olga Danilovic

Or put another way r128, anyone who's anybody couldn't be bothered to play in the Moscow tournament.

R129 lol basically, yeah...I watched some of the matches but there were hardly any spectators

R129: True but Potapova and Danilovic are very promising players

the Moscow event is a challenger so it's not surprising

oops wow I'm wrong. They're counting it as an international. Shocking.

yeah R132/R133 it's actually the 1st edition of this tournament, it replaced the Ericsson Open in Bastad (Sweden). The total prize money is 750,000 USD which is pretty high for an International (in Bastad it was around $225,000)

Los Cabos draw finally out

Del Potro and Fognini are the top 2 seeds

Querrey, Lopez, Harrison and Dzumhur also there

most interesting first rounds are Fritz vs. Kokkinakis and Mmoh vs. Escobedo (who has really slumped this year wow barely inside top 200)

Duck!

Duck

Goose!

Mmoh!

HO!

How does someone get designated a Troll on this site? I mean officially - where it shows up in red lettering.

Is ESL really a troll? What does that even mean?

Nole looks tiny in this photo, but it's a cute photo!

Wow. Novak really does look skinny in that pic, R142.

Also, can someone tell me how to "like" a post on here?

Berettini wins Gstaad over RBA

Anderson out of Washington

People really think that Marcelo and Sascha are something more than friends? because frankly they seem to be totally in the joke. I suppose if they were really gay they would be more careful (unless they don't care at all)

R144, you click on the "WW" circle in the lower right of the post to "like" it.

Thanks, R148.

Nicoloz Basilashvili sure likes to eat a baggel in the middle of his matches.

How does Djokovic manage to be so thin yet so successful?

No third time for Mayer in Hamburg. Basilashvili wins

Good question, R151!

Now let's talk more about their "special relationship" as DelPo described it ;). In all seriousness though, I love that they seem to be actual friends and how tactile they both are, which makes them exponentially so together!

R147, as discussed in previous threads, sometimes I think they are or there is an interest there and at other times, like you noted, it seems they are too in on the joke for it to be true. I can't decide, but enjoy the speculation nevertheless.

An Isner v. Harrison final seems apt only in a state as deeply red as GA.

I’m not an ESL fan, but how did he get labelled Troll 5194?

Actually, how does anyone get labelled a troll? Is it because lots of people ff you, or do the admins do it?

Sometimes a post is greyed out without a troll # in red, I assumed that's what happened when many people ffed, and that admin/mods did the troll thing. Anyone know?

I don't think ESL posted anything trollish or controversial here, did he go nuts in some political/trans thread or what?

nice to see 4 1st time title winners today

Basilashvili in Hamburg, Berrettini in Gstaad, 17 year old Danilovic in Moscow and Wang in Nanchang

not even watching the all deplorable final in Atlanta today. I had my hopes for that draw but ugh. Hopefully DC will be much better

Does one pronounce it "staad" or "guh-staad"?

R157, ESL gets a little lively on some of the political threads, and as a result sometimes his tennis postings get crossed out. It's an accidental result.

His political comments would fit in quite well with the Atlanta Open audience today, at least as far as Isner and Harrison are concerned, R160.

I don't think any current players are in the 'glass closet' as they'd be stupid not to come out. They'd win the biggest payday of their lives if they came out properly.

ESL is labeled as a troll? Is this a recent development?

ESL Is right0wing on the political threads, it seems.

I remember when "rightwing" on DL meant you had a different opinion than the majority, now it means you're a troll. We've become so delicate.

I don't think anyone with an open mind for debate and intelligent discourse begrudges others their right to opine and expound, R165. However, what seems to have increased exponentially is the degree of invective and ignorant deflection that has supplanted reason and substantiation. Trolls occupy that realm of unsubstantiated invective and deflection, regardless of where the trolls' opinions are on the political spectrum. I doubt that anyone with the ability to reason believes that trolldom is the exclusive domain of the right wing, no matter how well the Trumpsters have developed their occupation within that domain.

Even so, has anyone ever heard consistently intelligent, well-reasoned commentary from Isner or Querrey or Sandgren outside of their analysis of their serve, backhands, etc.? Or outside of the US, from Stakhovsky or any of the other infamous homophobes?

ESL makes some fascinating commentary at times, leave him alone.

I think ESL made some “white power” type posts which may have caused the red tag. I wish more red tags had the Editor’s creative labels like in the old days.

I thought ESL was Japanese or something.

I thought he’s from somewhere continental Europe.

Paire must have set a trend, noted heterosexualist Gasquet dyed his hair as well

I think ESL is from an Eastern European nation.

Gaquet excuse for the positive test was the same the Shawn Barber gave. But Shawn came out of the closet 6 months later

R162: That would depend of the player. A cute player with potential to be a top player would receive tons of sponsorship, at least at the beginning then if you don't fullfill the potential things will change (Genie Bouchard knows a lot about that).

Anyway, i think a gay player with potential to be a top player will live in the glass closet till he feels comfortable enough of his career. I doubt any player will come out very young, unless of course they were openly gay before reaching the circuit.

That's more and more common with singers and actors, but i doubt it'll be that common with athletes, and tennis seems quite conservative

Genie plays tons of exhos before men's events and makes as much money doing that as if she say, had played a tourney and reached a sf. Cute blonde girls rule! Melanie Oudin who inexplicably is a 'journalist' now rode the wave of that 2009 US qf for years, even though her career win loss record was bad bad bad. She used to get tons of w/c's for her looks alone.

R175: I don't doubt Genie makes a lot of money, but the sponsors dissapeared as her career flopped

R176 you heard about her settlement?

R177: But i'm not talking about that.

We are talking about sponsors for a gay player, something that would be granted if he is handsome and has enough potential (and interesting personality could help if he is not handsome enough because the circuit is not exactly crowed with smart players). But if you end not bieng the king of player they want, sponsors will abandon you.

Genie had money enough, not only for her settlement, but nobody considers her now a promosing player, so sponsords related to tennis dissapeared

All Genie needs is a good GS result and she'll be making more than Sloane Stephens or Madison Keys.

[quote]Cute blonde girls rule! Melanie Oudin who inexplicably is a 'journalist' now rode the wave of that 2009 US qf for years, even though her career win loss record was bad bad bad. She used to get tons of w/c's for her looks alone.

Imagine my surprise at coming to the defense of Oudin! She was never a wild card hog. She was a Top 100 player when she made that QF run at the '09 US Open, so she was getting direct entry into the lower WTA events. She continued to get direct entry based on her ranking, which was Top 100 in '09, '10, and '12. When her ranking dropped into the 100-200 range, she moved back down to the ITF events and Grand Slam qualifying.

I remember watching her at the 2009 US, thinking to myself "Enjoy the ride, Melanie, because this is a one-time occurrence." She was a scrapper, but nothing in her game stood out. And she was always going to be troubled by her size. While I was never a huge fan, she earned my respect by not acting as though she deserved more. She was more than willing to drop down to the minor events when her ranking dipped, and never once bitched about it. She really did have a great attitude.

I saw he commentating on World Team Tennis last night and she looks about twice the size she used to be.

[quote]I saw he commentating on World Team Tennis last night and she looks about twice the size she used to be

I noticed that too

Something about Jack Sock always seems off to me. What is it?

I very much miss ESL, even though I probably FF'd him on some political threads. Whatever his sins elsewhere on Datalounge, he was very much fun, informative, and a pleasure to speak with here. Sports has always been a great unifier I guess.

Oudin seems to have stolen Sock's beer belly in that photo.

I’ve noticed on other threads ESL also signs as ESL. However, I don’t visit political threads often, so I don’t know whether he signs as ESL on those.

[quote]I doubt that anyone with the ability to reason believes that trolldom is the exclusive domain of the right wing, no matter how well the Trumpsters have developed their occupation within that domain.

I agree with your sentiment, and probably shouldn't have implied all trolls are from the right wing. When I mentioned how we've become delicate, i was really thinking about the need for people to FF posts here, or whatever activities have gotten ESL banned or red-tagged, or whatever the proper terminology is. It's all so ridiculous to me. If you disagree with someone, I see three courses of action: (1) try to engage in meaningful debate; (2) ignore them; or (3) start to name-call and flame. I choose the first option 1-2% of the time, the second option 98-99% of the time, and the third option 0%.

Oudin had a great run in 2009 as she reached the 4th round of Wimbledon and then the USO QF. A couple years later she won a grass title-maybe Birmingham? Anyway part of her declinen was a health issue that sapped her energy if I remember. She had a scrappy game and and it was unlikely she'd ever go higher than top 30 but she wasn't horrible to watch. I think she's a deplorable though so good riddance

ooh yeah I think Oudin was doing crossfit and then came down with Rhabdomyolysis which ruined her momentum

I've always imagined ESL's first language to be Spanish or Portuguese.

ESL leaves out articles before nouns and is quite familiar with Eastern European players compared to others. Thus I suspect he’s Slav of some sort. There were other posts that gave more specific clues regarding the country he’s from. I seem to recall Bulgaria for some reason.

[quote]Melanie Oudin was a scrapper, but nothing in her game stood out. And she was always going to be troubled by her size.

Hey, that worked for me!

The blond hair works for Richard.

I do hope that we will hear from ESL again, he adds a lot to the tennis threads.

As it continues to rain in DC, we have a Los Cabos result

Mmoh def. Escobedo 6-3 4-6 6-1

r191 Coetzer wasn't a nemesis to Graf at all, nowhere close to her; just because she beat her maybe two times doesn't make her a rival and similar.

Los Cabos: Fritz def. Kokkinakis 7-6(6) 7-6(5) Kokk is gonna drop a lot of ranking points. He was defending finalist points

DC: Rubin def. Youzhny 6-4 6-4

DC: Murray def. McDonald 3-6 6-4 7-5 Murray served for the match at 5-4 had match points and got broken back. McDonald blew his 5-5 service game when at 30-30, he reached his racket over the net before the ball came to him to volley so he lost the point. He then was too emotional on break point and quickly got broken. Murray finally closed it out for 7-5

due to the rain they're playing late tonight

Murray cunting up the court in Washington: screaming at his box, limping around the court between points, complaining about calls, fistpumping errors. Then celebrates like he made the semi-final of a slam after finally winning on his 7th match point.

[quote] screaming at his box, limping around the court between points, complaining about calls, fistpumping errors. Then celebrates like he made the semi-final of a slam after finally winning on his 7th match point.

Nice to have Misery back and in his old form.

San Jose: Azarenka def. K Bondarenko 6-3 6-7(7) 7-5 Azarenka had a chance to win this in straights but blew it and had to finish in 3

So a battle of the Brits will ensue: volatile Murray vs cool calm and collected Edmund

R195: But Coetzer has more wins against Graf than any player of her level, and even when she was not able to defeat her she was able to give Graf a good fight.

On the other hand she had tons of trouble against Conchita Martinez, and she needed Conchita being injured to defeat her for the first time.

It's difficult to find a real nemesis for Graf (apart of Seles at her prime), she was a very dominant player and most of her rivals (even the ones who were able to did that at big matches) had a very negative h2h against her

Martina Navratilova was Graf's true rival and nemesis. They played 18 times, tying 9-9. Martina won 7 of the first 10 matches from 1985 through the US Open in 1987. Graf won 6 of the last 8 from 1988 (her Golden Slam year) through the 1994 Tokyo Indoor, which was the year Marina retired. But of those last 8 matches, 6 went 3 sets, one went 4 sets (back when the year-ending championships final was best of 5), and only one was straight sets--the last one the year Martina retired.

R202, Graf’s biggest threat, despite the almost 13 years between them, was actually Navratilova. Their final h2h was 9 apiece, and Navratilova actually beat Graf at a GS the last time they met at the USOpen in 1991 (Graf was 22; Navratilova just shy of 35).

Hahaha! You beat me to it by a minute, r203!!!

Ha, R204, great minds think alike. That 1991 US Open match was a very good match; one of my favorites of their rivalry.

Martina's serve out wide in the ad court to Graf's mainly slice backhand used to drive Steffi crazy. Martina definitely had the game and athleticism to stay with Graf. I think Graf has even said Martina was the rival she feared the most, at least until she faced the Williams sisters. She knew those two were a new level of player, particularly Serena.

More rain in DC. This weather pattern sucks. 2 nice days, 1 week of rain.

R180 are u serious? Mel whined about drawing Francessa Schiavonne in the 1st rd of the French - after having beaten her in Fed Cup the year before - saying it was 'unfair'. As for wild cards she was the queen - at the Family Circle Cup and the former Memphis tournament. She also enjoyed the comforts of the USTA Training Center when she's already been a pro for many years. Many more deserving gals (Taylor Townsend for one) deserved half the attention the little blonde ball got.

Frank

A nice, neutral answer there, Sascha

surprising result from last night in Los Cabos: Next Gen Elias Ymer def. Karlovic 6-4 6-3

I think Karlovic is going to retire soon...in particular this year he's been struggling. I won't miss him

R206: Graf really didn't have time to fear the Williams sisters. She was a pale shadow of herself in 1999. And with the sisters (like with Monica) at least she had the advantage of a surface, Graf was better on clay than Venus and Serena (like she was better than Seles on grass). I suppose she could sense the potential of the sisters, her two matches against Serena were very interesting even when both were very far from their peaks (even with that both won a GS that year). It's curious because i thought the years when both Williams dominated the circuit were a lot more. After three years Venus became a threat only at Wimbledon, and Serena alternate periods of domination with periods when she only appeared from time to time to win another GS. Probably her longer period of domination was when she was more than 30

I forgot Navratilova, who was a dangerous rival till the day she retired. I remember ASV saying how difficult it was for her play against Martina

Sloane is personable but she seems like an airhead, still enjoy her game when she's focused though

Wozniacki withdraws from DC with a leg injury

R210: The answer was fast and perfectly neutral and of course not what about he was really questioned.

Ymer's brothers evolution is quite slow. I remember Mikael winning against Verdasco a couple of years ago and he seemed very promising, i know he is still young but i expected way more than being near top 300 by this time

Yes, R215, it was very casually evasive...

[quote][R180] are u serious? Mel whined about drawing Francessa Schiavonne in the 1st rd of the French - after having beaten her in Fed Cup the year before - saying it was 'unfair'. As for wild cards she was the queen - at the Family Circle Cup and the former Memphis tournament. She also enjoyed the comforts of the USTA Training Center when she's already been a pro for many years. Many more deserving gals (Taylor Townsend for one) deserved half the attention the little blonde ball got.

Oudin got one wild card into the main draw of Family Circle Cup/Charleston (2014) and two wild cards into Memphis main draw (2009, 2012). That doesn't seem excessive to me.

I can't find her calling her 2011 French Open draw as unfair, although she does say "Basically, I pretty much got a clay court lesson."

As far as her use of the USTA Tennis Center, that isn't unusual. They regularly open their Center up to American pros: Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe both trained at the USTA center before the 2017 Australian Open.

R212, have to disagree that Graf was a pale shadow of herself in 1999. She won Roland Garros over #1 player at the time Martina Hingis and got to the Wimbledon final.

Also, Graf did indeed fear the Williams sisters. During the 1999 Wimbledon, her camp told the US commentators that Venus Williams, whom Graf beat in the quarters, was the person she feared the most. Of course the irony of that is she thought she'd get through Davenport in the final, whom she should have feared as well, and Davenport won that title.

Mattek Sands looks like a rodeo clown

Sloane gets her first win since the RG SF. R219 I agree about Mattek.

Osaka def. Pera

Vekic def. Dolehide

Defending champ Makarova loses and Bencic wins

In San Jose, Mladenovic loses to doubles partner Babos

Sascha not happy with Bouchard, haha:

managermyles: Need a manager? geniebouchard: @managermyles ugh stop with your love for him alexzverev123: @geniebouchard why do you always want all the love to go your way only?

Sorry, those should have been separate lines in R221

I hope I am wrong but I think Wawrinka will be retiring soon. His movement is lacking. Sad.

Wawrinka's forehand was a liability tonight, it was like how it used to be in his pre-slam days. His grip is just so unorthodox that players can rush him on that side and his timing goes off.

Young was smart to hit the ball high on Wawrinka's 1 handed backhand as we've seen Nadal do to Federer when he used to beat him. It was an entertaining match but the quality was up and down.

Paire-what a bitch! He broke a few rackets in his loss today to Baghdatis and tanked match point. The jerk even threw his broken rackets in the middle of the court for ball kids to pick up. Not sure why some on DL love him so much

In Los Cabos, Tomic loses to #301 Gerasimov (who?)

Misery team

What did or does Kevin Spacey see in Sir Andy Murray other than the fact that Misery is a man with breath in his body? He doesn’t seem like Spacey’s type or age range.

Serena's getting blown off the court by Konta in San Jose.

Beatdown city in San Jose.

It's not over until Mirka sings.

Serena was horrific today. I think that's the worst score line loss of her career. 1-6 0-6 and Konta has been shit most of the year too which makes it look worse

La la la la la la la!

Konta played fantastic but that was rough from Serena.

She lost 0 and 2 to Halep a few years ago.

We joke about Granny Venus but Serena looked like a grandma out there.

I'm surprised Mirka had her mouth unstuffed long enough to sing.

It was the worst loss of Serena's career (scorewise), if you don't count a 0-6, 0-3 (ret.) match she played against Patty "O.J." Schnyder in Zurich (2007).

De Minaur def. Pospisil in 3 sets

Popsicle vomited on court. He melts down in hot weather, so he'll never have good results in the US or Australia.

but he lives in the Bahamas now lol it's not he's still in Canada he should be used to humidity

The Bahamas aren't that humid.

Mean, nasty Canadians are making Wawrinka play qualifying in Toronto. No wild card for the 3 time slam champ.

R240, yes and I think his residence is purely for tax reasons. He was training in Florida, not the Bahamas recently.

Domi’s PDA on Twitter with Kiki really needs to stop.

It wasn't really hot in DC either.

Popsicle has reached the final in Washington before (2014?)

R218: Graf was incredibly far from her peak in 1999 after two very bad years. In fact she retired soon after her Wimbledon final due to her back problems.

And Graf didn't fear the Williams at all, one think is saying a compliment (and Venus was pretty good in 99 specially on grass) and other really fear them. In fact in 99 Serena seemed very far from being a threat at the big titles till she surprises everyone winning the US Open. Everybody expected Venus (who was the best player back then and it would be the best player for a couple of more years) to win GS first.

I don't doubt the Williams would dominate the early 00's but they had quite easy access to the top because by them the 90's champions weren't even a shadow of their former self, and Hingis ended being a head case in bad form. Capriati and Davenport became their main threats (and Davenport always was pretty inconsistent, she was smashing Serena in their Australian open final, till she was out of gas in the middle of second set and tanked big time).

If not injured Graf had at least a couple of good years ahead of her, and she had enough game and experience to cause trouble. Because one of the things that Serena benefited through her career is to be mentally tougher than any other player, while on the 90's there were a good bunch of really strong mentally players

R243: He is so in love, it's understable because Kiki is a very sweet and humble creature

Thiem flopped again.

lmao Thiem is so dumb. Now he's 0-3 against fucking Klizan of all players

he'll come in cold to the Rogers Cup without hardcourt play

There's no way Thiem will be the first next gen in winning a GS.

Thiem has the game (specially on clay) but he doesn't have the mentallity, and he is 24 so i doubt thinks will dramatically change in the future. He could end winning a GS like Cilic

Domi. He’s so dumb! Has he even graduated college yet?

I think Domi just collected the fee, tanked the match and now is on his way to Montreal.

R252 he's playing doubles tomorrow so not going to Canada yet

I think players are behaving worse and worse in the young cathegories. I was searching for some information about a U12 spanish player and i found a video of her match today against a russian player (it was a girls tournament of the european u12) and the russian player was eliminated after two warnings. She was trying to tell what balls were out and in (like Nefedova did in the Eddie Herr a bunch of years ago) cheating big time, they called one referee (sorry i don't know the name in english) but she didn't react well, and end the match trowing a bottle of water against her rival.

Given her results she should be used to lose (because she doesn't seem very good) but i find incredible that kind of behaviour at such young age. Kyrgios is a saint compared to that little bitch

Tiafoe wins

M. Zverev just won. If A. Zverev wins another set against Jaziri, we'll have a Zverev brothers clash tomorrow

I hope Tiafoe plays better this week, last week it showed a very poor attitude (maybe he was tired but he looked like he didn't care at all about the match)

A Zverev better be ready, because he defends tons of points of the US hard courts. Fortunately for him he tanked on the US Open so if he is not as successful as last year he could recover playing a good US Open (it's time to make the final rounds on a GS)

Cringe.

Kohlschreiber got married in Hamburg this morning. This afternoon he played in Kitz. He lost to Istomin

correction: the wedding was in Kitzbühel. So at least he didn't have to travel....

Paire has been fined $16,500 for his behaviour in Washington yesterday

Sloane had another weird loss today. Similar to the RG final, she was up a set and an early break and then found a way to lose. This time against Petkovic. This was Sloane's last week to gain points. Next week she starts to defend a big chunk of ranking points in Canada and then Cincinnati.

R260 and well deserved. Disgraceful behavior.

I agree R262, so unprofessional...I doubt a fine is going to stop him from doing it again though

I hate Paire, he is such a fucking little shit.

Glad to see Petko with a solid win against Sloane.

[quote]There's no way Thiem will be the first next gen in winning a GS.

Is Theim considered "Next Gen"? I honestly don't know, but I would have thought he was older than them...

Tsitsipas def. Donaldson 3-6 6-3 7-5 Donaldson was up a break twice in the third set and even served for the match at 5-4. Bye deplorable!

Under Amour pays £15M to Andy Murray for a clothing deal and they dress him like that?!!!! Those are bespoke shorts? He looks like bozo the clown out there in Washington. Taylor Townsend's training shorts?

Murray def. Edmund 7-6(4) 1-6 6-4 in a very up-and-down match

[quote] in a very up-and-down match

Is that a reference to Kevin Spacey’s cock?

Andy's shorts look pretty awful indeed, like a big tent....at least Pouille knows how to dress properly!

Poohey

Are most American male players in the deplorable camp? Haven't been keeping up with Donaldson besides that outburst directed at an umpire - did he come out as a Trump supporter?

R272 He liked several of Trump's Instagram posts

well A. Zverev vs. M. Zverev is officially on for tomorrow

R272 most of the white American male and female players are deplorables. Nicole Gibbs is an exception. I haven't seen either way but I think Rubin and Fritz might not be deplroables either

Is Sock deplorable or just deplorable adjacent?

[quote] well A. Zverev vs. M. Zverev is officially on for tomorrow

Do you think A. Zverev or M. Zverev will win? Who will you be rooting for?

R272, here we go again lol

Marcelo was in A. Zverev's box.

M. Rios or M. Melo, R278?

Tennis is a country club sport in the US. Of course most American players would have been raised Republican. I’m not excusing them, that’s just the way it is.

If Thiem is Next Gen, then Fed is just entering the prime of his career.

R280, however many deplorables are not traditional country club Republicans. Some of the current deplorable players seem to be uncouth and trashy rather than upper middle class by origin. I could be wrong as I’m just basing this on their behavior and appearance.

A bunch of them are ignorant southerners; not hard to grasp who'd they vote for.

Nishikori def. Young who had a back injury from the long match yesterday

Goffin def. Herbert 6-2 1-6 7-6(5) Herbert served for the match

Shapovalov def. Medvedev 3-6 6-1 6-4 in a NextGen battle

Chung def. Baghdatis in 3

Los Cabos:

Norrie upsets Lopez 6-3 6-3

Nishioka upsets Fritz 7-6(3) 6-1

Mmoh def. Polansky in 2 tiebreaks and reaches his 1st main draw QF

R280 Isner’s father is a Democrat.

Sascha friend Melo lost to his old partner today in doubles today. Wonder if they had a fight today. On Instagram it looked liked they unfollowed each other and then followed each other again before Sascha's match. Marcelo should stop hanging so much with Sascha and get his doubles team going again.

the oft-injured Muguruza has withdrawn from San Jose, so Azarenka will take on a lucky loser instead. Bummer

Mugurutha

Muguseless

M. Melo from Brazil spotted today in A. Zverev's box during the doubles. He was also there for singles.

Do you prefer Tiafoe or Tebow?

rain again cancels play during the night session in DC

T. Bow

T. Afoe

Thanks for the pics, r267

R287 Thanks, I was wondering about that! When I saw that Sascha and Melo had started following each other on Instagram today, I thought, 'weren't they already following each other?' Hmmm

I agree with you Re Melo. Whatever the nature of their relationship,it's a little too cozy( they're together almost all the time). I think at times it has been a distraction for Sascha too.

#301 Gerasimov of Belarus continues his good run and backs up his defeat of Tomic by taking out Querrey 7-5 5-7 7-6(6) Querrey served at 6-4 in the tiebreak but double faulted and lost the last 4 points

Yay! Querrey defeated.

R261: She better correct that as soon as possible, Halep and Petkovic are fighters, if players who don't surrender realize that Sloane sooner or later gave up even when she is winning and dominating the match she is going to have a lot of trouble.

RG lost had to hurt because she was really dominating that match, Halep was helpess even when she was not playing bad. Sometimes that kind of loss is a problem, Medvedev never recovered from the loss against Agassi (and he was dominating the match with iron fist). Of course he break up with Huber after that and Anke gave him stability during their relationship so it's no surprise that he tanked after that (Medvedev was a player who seemed destined to win RG but he never fullfill his promising start)

To be fair not all deplorables are homophobes. I was surprised that Isner was a deplorable because he is quite gay friendly.

Of course Juan Carlos Ferrero is very conservative but very gay friendly too

I thought Juan Carlos Ferrero was gay when he was a player because he sure loved to put some blond highlights in his brown hair. Just like Jan-Michael Gambil.

Anyone else noticed how Nicoloz Basilashvili (a.k.a. Basil) jumped around 80 places and will now probably be seeded at the US Open?

He's such a cutie: with his dark brown hair and blue eyes...

R272, I remember that. Donaldson's outburst at the umpire was beyond unprofessional. I don't forget when people show their true colors, like Serena's deriding the line judge a while back. After displays like that, I have a hard time respecting them, and anything nice they do seems artificial to me.

Los Cabos looks like a free win for Delpo. I can't see anyone there can make it difficult for him.

Delpo team

And Thiem withdraw from the double. Quelle surprise

Wait, in what way is Ferrero conservative R300?

Agreed, R303--there's a difference between someone having a bad day and someone having a bad character. When players go on the verbal attack just for others doing their jobs as ably as possible (and we've seen Serena do worse than that), that comes from bad character...

Where is ESL?

R307, many of the Spanish players are on the center-right: Ferrero, Ferrer, Lopez.

R310: Exactly, like in the USA in Spain tennis is a posh sport (not that much that it was in the past because Manolo Santana made it very popular). Lopez case is very similar. He had a divorce that it was in the media all the time (his wife was a model who was discovered in a reality show and she likes to go to tv to tell everything) she hinted that maybe he was gay and he said he recieved tons of proposals from gay fans and he was very happy to know he has so many options.

Other unexpected gay friendly player is Nico Almagro

By the way, Serena's defeat against Konta must be the most clear defeat of her career.

I'm still surprised at how good her results were in RG and Wimbledon even when it was pretty obvious she was mileas away from being in good form

now that Serena is almost 37, she's going to have some very bad days. I've heard Evert and Navratilova talk about this as they played in their final years too. Some days even when your mind is ready, your body isn't-you get injured more often and more easily, you get tired more easily and require more rest, and your reaction time is worse.

Serena played like she had been up all night with her daughter or something. Her footwork was abysmal

and more rain in DC! I wonder if they'll finish the tournament before Canada starts

ESL’s been labelled a Troll by the DL, and has probably decided to go back to his Russian troll farm.

Center right in Spain is quite different from being a Republican in the US.

The rain is ridiculous! I am pretty sure it is all up and down the east coast. It sucks. I have tickets for tomorrow night. Fingers crossed.

wow anyone watching Isner-Rubin? Rubin is QUICK!!!! He had an incredible get and then a point or 2 later he actually broke his shoe mid-point lol

Isner is exhausted from Atlanta still and I think he's gonna tank the 2nd set breaker - when they get there.

He did tank the 2nd set. He looked very tired. And that Noah Rubin is handsome

ESL most definitely posted pro-Trump and anti-Democrats stuff (to earn a red tag). There are others on this thread of the same political persuasion, btw.

Rubin is cute. He can't be over 5'8". I wanted to give his momma a big hug

glad Rubin ousted the deplorable. Hopefully Isner will suck in Canada, Cincinnati and the USO too

A. Zverev vs. M. Zverev happening now

lmao of course Courier had to comment on the Zverev brother bodies. He said "Mischa is A BULL!"

other DC results: Tsitsipas def. Duckworth

De Minaur def. Johnson

Rublev def. Paul

Vekic wins 15-13 third set tiebreak over Stollar I wonder if Stan stayed in DC to watch her or if he's gone to Canada as he'll be playing qualies

And whoever designed those ugly Adidas T-shirts needs to be fired....

Mischa is sexy AF.

R327, yes, he is.

Melo filming as the brothers embrace after their match.

[quote]Melo filming as the brothers embrace after their match.

Ya, I'm saving that for later....

Isner probably tanked his match so he doesn't have to play under shitty weather and can start preparing for the 3 main events after this.

Venus def. Watson in 3 sets.

Keys withdrew from San Jose

Nishikori def. Shapovalov

Rublev def. Rubin

Goffin sweeps Tiafoe

Murray up 5-0 in the tiebreaker loses the tiebreaker 7-5.

Murray finally won. 3rd set tiebreak at 3;00 am!!! He started crying, sat down and continued crying for a good while. Touching.

Oh Andy! I really should have been there to comfort him!

I agree, R303. Once a player goes after a linesperson or chair umpire with so much anger, I have trouble seeing past that. It's one thing that prevented me from ever rooting for Agassi and Roddick, who I felt would use their positions as highly ranked players to bully and intimidate. There was one year at the US Open where there was some problem with water coming up on one of the show courts that Roddick was supposed to play on, and he started to boss around the tournament director about moving his match to another court. He had no consideration for the scheduling, the security, the fans, the tv contracts, etc. He just demanded that his match be moved to another court and packed up his bags to "take charge".

Insufferable prick. The media used to just kiss his ass all the time, which didn't help.

The pull outs of Woz (DC), Mug and Keys(San Jose) should be alarming to the WTA. These ladies just don't want to play. Do they know how to support their tour? Geez. Lame ass bitches.

I don't think Isner tanked the match he is just spent from Atlanta. The guy is just not that fit. He also smashed his racket into his shin while serving. Either way his game sucks. Just keep the point going and he will eventually choke. Rubin was super aggressive too. All Isner has is serve.

Courier also commented on Sasha's long flowing swings and compared it to his long flowing hair or something like that. It was totally gay.

Inner also (oddly) struggles with fellow Americans.

Since 2015, he has a 21-15 record against American opponents. While that's a winning record, it's pretty dismal considering (1) he's been the top ranked or second ranked American during that stretch, and (2) his opponents in this category aren't exactly the toughest players on tour. (For instance, none of the opponents in this category have been ranked in the Top 20 when the match was played.)

The wta is not interesting right now.

I always was more interested in women's tennis maybe because i became a fan with ASV at the end of the 80's. But right now there's absolutely nothing attractive on the wta, you have a lengend playing very bad, a bunch of top players who are totally unconsistent and no exciting new player on the horizon.

On the atp you have three living lengends playing well, top players like Wawrinka and Murray trying to coming back and a good bunch of young players trying to rise on the rankings.

Marcelo filming the Zverev hug

R341 Who is the cutie clapping on the left?

Arturs Kazijevs, R342, and he really is cute, I agree!

[quote] The pull outs of Woz (DC), Mug and Keys(San Jose)

You should have call Keys “Mad”.

R344 she's too dull for that!

Coco out of Montreal too!

Maria Sharapova is there tho.

Vandeweghe's ranking is about to drop like a stone if she doesn't start winning soon.

I think the WTA is having a bounce back year with top players reaching the Slam finals. I think what the tour needs to continue an upward trajectory is (1) consistency from the top players, so they play each other more often and develop rivalries; (2) top players as ambassadors of the sport (more on that in a minute), and (3) better management and marketing - by playing so many combined events, the women are rarely in the spotlight, and by allowing on-court coaching, it makes it appear as though women can't win unless a man helps her.

Part of the problem on the women's side is that the top players don't want to talk to the media and market the sport. Someone like Wozniacki has perfected giving non-answers in interviews. Stephens gives clipped responses to most interviews, and rarely provides thought or insight. Muguruza has made it known she wants as little to do with the media as possible. I think Halep and Kerber try, but both seem so shy that it's difficult to get them to open up. Look what happened to the LPGA when the top golfers became Koreans with little ability to promote the sport in English. What was making headlines 20 years ago for Annika Sorenstam at number one, Michelle Wie coming up and daring to play with the men, etc, now gets little if any press, and has all but disappeared from the sports landscape. Quick - name a Top Ten LPGA golfer! If you can, you're in the minority. The sports need their stars.

Shapo is having his "teachable moment" year after his last amazing year.

The ATP won't be truly interesting again until the young guys start winning slams. We've started to see new masters winners which is progress but not good enough.

I also think in a couple years the ATP will have a lot of random winners and up-and-down players too. They're really holding onto Federer, Nadal and Djokovic but they won't last forever.

Keys didn't want to pull out of San Jose as she was defending her Stanford title from last year. She's just injured a lot like Muguruza which causes players to lose momentum.

[quote] Keys didn't want to pull out

I just knew she had a dick!

WTF Kokk...that arm sleeve tat is TRASHY

Fabio...what you do to your hair?

Kokkinakis looks like he's in his mid-thirties there, instead of 22.

I know he's young, but I was expecting him to have a stronger follow-up to the Federer win earlier this year. But he's done absolutely nothing since then.

his ranking will take a beating this week as he was defending Los Cabos finalist points but lost to doubles partner Fritz in the first round

Istomin-Klizan is the final in Kitz

[quote]Istomin-Klizan is the final in Kitz

..and they're both qualifiers

Lainie-Kazan is the final shoplifter.

I somewhat agree, R349. It would certainly make it more interesting if the younger players were in the mix and winning a Slam or two. Thiem finally got to the final of the French, but A. Zverev (fuck off, which Zverev troll), Kyrgios, Dimitrov, Coric, Shapavalov, etc., can't seem either to get to the semis or finals of Slams or only do it on rare occasions (Dimitrov twice). Coric and Shapavalov are still a bit young, but the others are just not consistent.

You see the same thing on the WTA. All the way through Graf, and as much as it pains me to say because I hate her, even Hingis, there was sustained excellence from the top players getting to later rounds and winning Slams. The rivalries were fun to watch. The Williams sisters were the first to be very up and down. Henin was pretty consistent, but struggled with injuries and illness a couple seasons. When Serena is healthy and focused, though, she is always the favorite. I'd love to see that sustained quality again, but maybe the power game is not made for that?

You called?

R358: Surprisingly Roger Federer didn't reach any final (or semis) by the age that A Zverev has now. It's true that he had two qtr and two 4th rounds wich is better than what Zverev has achieved. I think he even talked to Zverev after Australian debacle because he though he was very sad after losing with Chung and he told him he was in a very similar position back in the day.

Federer seems to be fond of Zverev and Kyrgios maybe because they remind him of himself at the beginning of his career (when everybody though he was incredibly talented but he was bound to waste his talent).

In my opinion the change in the domination of the atp will be out of the blue, one day you have the big four, and the next they will be the underdogs. In fact the changes in domination between Roger, Rafa and Nole were a bit unexpected, Roger was expected to win the whole GS (Nadal was always a burden at RG) and suddenly it was Rafa the one who had options, and Nole seemed destined to be the third wheel but he won the Davis cup and started to dominate after that.

If the new players are able to really challenge the domination we'll get a very interesting situation like in the wta by the end of the 90's with a lot of new players wanting the throne but the veterans resisting to give them room

Do we think A. Zverev took HGH? He is so much taller than M. There is about a 6 inch difference which seems odd.

R361: They have completely different body types (wich is not unusual between brothers). Sascha was almost as tall as his brother when he was 14

Madi Keys has also withdrawn from Rogers Cup (wrist injury)

I didn't know she's dating Bjorn Fratangelo

Murray OUT of Toronto; Wawrinka gets his Wild Card.

Wawrinka to play Kyrgios in the first round three years after Nick's infamous outburst against him in 2015.

R348, if he was on vacation in July, that was after Loeffelholz died, which was on June 29th. Pay closer attention.

Murray is out why? 1 wild card and he can't do qualies?

Grandpa Murray is exhausted.

Murray is going early to Cincy to train, he's exhausted from 3 setters in DC.

Madison Keys and CoCo don't train well, do they? They have zero momentum. Head cases. These injuries are suspicious as hell.

Oh...and at DC Tennis Channel didn't bother to bring Tracy, Mary, Lindsey or Chanda. Why? Because they knew the women would get short shrift?

R369 the women's event in DC is treated like crap. They only allow 1 match per day on center court (and today none).

Isner predictably got a very easy Rogers Cup draw. He seems to be quite lucky this year.

The women's event is the lowest; the men's is a 500 and attracts a much better field.

Murray OUT of DC now.

I don't think Tennis Channel has rights to WTA Washington; I think it's only on WTA TV. (Correct me if i'm wrong...)

Murray will never return to Washington. He's livid. And while I agree 3am is a ridiculous end time for a match, (1) it was a 3+ hour long match; (2) there were weather delays; and (3) Washington has ALWAYS had late start times. But I don't know why they didn't suspend the match after the first set or something.

Marcelo there again today...but he seems tired going by what Sascha just posted, haha!

lol Murray's always bitching about something. Hard to believe any woman would be sexually attracted to him and would want to have babies. As a gay I find him hideous. He's progressive but a diva.

I'm just questioning how Murray plans to play best-of-five tennis in a few weeks.

R377 I do not think he can. Yesterday, his movement was very compromised. He could not have gone best of five.

[quote] Hard to believe any woman would be sexually attracted to him and would want to have babies

I don’t find him ugly. His thighs and legs are nice, and his butt is decent if not great like Thiem’s. His face is goofy and verges on cute sometimes.

Murray has himself to blame. He blew a 5-0 lead in the tiebreaker. He could've finished the match much sooner.

At least Chrissie and Martina stayed in shape when they got old. Serena needs to lose at least 20 kgs.

Montreal draw is out and it's a fucking mess. There are going to be a load of fun first round matches.

Serena in particular draw from hell. She drew Cornet who she's struggled with in recent years and if she wins that, she gets a rematch with Kerber.

Polansky getting a WC in Toronto makes no sense. Yeah he's Canadian but he sucks and has never been close to being a decent player.

[quote] Polansky getting a WC in Toronto makes no sense. Yeah he's Canadian but he sucks and has never been close to being a decent player.

And he raped a girl!

Azarenka wins a tiebreak then hurts herself in the second set and retires against Collins 0-3

[quote] Hard to believe any woman would be sexually attracted to him and would want to have babies.

I call his nob “the big four”.

I wonder if Andy cried because he got injured again.

In the parallel universe I'd go out with Murray before Thiem, who looks too much like a Keebler elf and is Kiki nauseating. I even prefer Murray's muscled ass to Thiem's girly cakes.

Not according to the Washington Post, R386...

[quote] is Kiki nauseating.

?

[quote] Thiem's girly cakes.

What do you mean by “girly cakes”?

I think Murray's career is over. He could play 3 sets but has a total mental collapse at the end sobbing? I like him, and was looking forward to his tortured style of playing but I think this is the end folks and that is what it was all about. There is no way he could play a 5 setter and then get his ass back up again to play another.

The DC tournament is usually hotter than hell so they play matches later which is kind of funny seeing the hottest part of the day is at 6pm in the summer time.

I hope Murray draws Nadal or Federer in the first or second round of the USO. That would be hilarious

These pussy players. Chris Evert played a late night semi vs. Marita Redondo at the Slims San Fran event in 1976. She came back from 1-5 down in the third and won 6-7 7-6 7-6, then played a midnight doubles match that didn't end until 1pm. She got up the next day and played the singles final at 11amSan Fran time to meet a CBS broadcast EST time of 2pm.She won the final- 7-5 7-6 against Goolagong on her least fave surface of indoor carpet. She never bitched once or complained of an injury to pull out. She never had a ball kid hand her a towel either. Fuck these assholes who play today and act like prima donnas.

[quote] her least fave surface of indoor carpet.

My favorite.

Yes, in principle you're right, R393, but comparing tennis of today to 1976 is kind of ridiculous. It wasn't that physically demanding a game at the time, and particularly not on the women's side. Most of the female players were playing powder puff tennis with a lot of moon balling.

R395 yet the viewers loved it! A regular tour event live on CBS when there were only three channels.

What is A. Zverev's skin color?

The way both men and women played back in the 70s wasnt as physically taxing as today.

[quote] The way both men and women played back in the 70s wasnt as physically taxing as today.

I agree. It wasn't that physically demanding a game at the time, and particularly not on the women's side. Most of the female players were playing powder puff tennis with a lot of moon balling.

In San Jose Venus loses to Sakkari in straight sets. She's been awful this year. Konta crashed out to Mertens.

DC Rublev/Kudla did not finish and the other 3 women's matches didn't either. A. Zverev def. Nishikori in 3 sets, Tsitsipas sweeps Goffin and De Minaur walkover over Murray. Petkovic def. Bencic in 3

Los Cabos: Del Potro and Fognini win and play in the final tomorrow

RIP Murray. He's done. Thanks for the memories.

Judy Murray bullying Yoko Ono on twitter is still the weirdest semi-tennis related story of recent years.

WTF? Why did Andy Murry cry like a baby? it was a 3 hr match, big fucking deal!

It is the first time the 31-year-old Murray has passed the three-hour mark in a clash since his return from a hip problem which kept him out of action for nearly a year

He's fucking weak mentally, obviously. Yeah, his best is behind him.

I think Murray cried because he realized his hip will never take the abuse of a 3-hour match. Which means that henceforth, he'll no longer be a contender for GS titles.

Vika withdrew?

What the fuck do assholes know about tennis in 1976? Evert played hard hitting Marita Redondo who had a huge forehand. The next day she had to play her top rival Goolagong who was at peak form that year. Sports Illustrated who chose Evert as Athlete of the Year for 76 cited those matches, the quick turnaround to point out her professionalism and dedication to her sport. You fuckers are not going to tell me the pampered, over paid and everything done for them 'stars' of today can't train properly. They don't even play every week. They are entitled mental midgets who do little if nothing for their tour and livelihood. If you like just bashing baseline tennis then today's tennis is for you.

Murray's always been emotional but I do think there might be some truth that his tears were part of a realisation that he's never going to reach the heights he did before. That said, I think I'd probably be in tears if I was playing high intensity tennis at three in the morning.

Quali vs Quali in Kitzbuhel final but the (amazing & big) stadium is *packed*.

Was 75% full for the doubles final earlier today as well.

Kizan

The ATP claycourt season is over.

See you in february

Nice display of sportsmanship. by Dennis and Martin

First title for Domnik Hrbaty as a coach

Champagne shower

Another Champagne shower

SERENA WILLIAMS COLLAPSE IS COMPLETE !!

Tennis Canada has announced that #Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup in Montreal for personal reasons. Scheduled to now play just Cincy then the USOpen.

I've always seen Murray as a whiner and a complainer more than a diva. I don't know if he's high maintenance, but he certainly seems weak emotionally and kind of an immature spoiled brat. He reminds me of early McEnroe without the abrasiveness. Controlling one's emotions is a sign of maturity and stability,

Serena better get her fat ass together and lose some pounds.

R418, I'd rather have Murray's brand of intelligence and dry humor even with his crumpling and self-flagellation, over the self-satisfied , smug arrogance of Federer, or Nadal's threatening umpires that he'll get them fired. The level of immaturity and lack of emotional control displayed by Djokovic and a lot of the younger players (who should still be able to control themselves on court if they're old enough to play with the big boys) is execrable.

A Zverev, M Zverev, P Zverev, Mama Zverev, L Zverev (the dog), Melo and a banana

Tsitsipas, that's all. I like to say it. And he looks like a musketeer.

I think people is really harsh with Murray. He came from a very long injury, he is having trouble in coming back to the circuit, in my opinion he is in a situation where he fears getting injured again and not being able to be the great player he was. Murray always was emotional wich in my opinion it was a burden, he has a quite close h2h against the big three but on GS he was losing to them most of the time.

Anyway as person he is the most inteligent and interesting of the four by far

did he get stem cells or whatever that shit Kobe got? Kobe recommended the procedure to many pros.

Tsitsipas played well in the second set and had a chance to hold for 5-4 but was too inconsistent. It was a bit disturbing to see him smack himself in the forehead a few times during the first set. You don't want to whack your head...

LOL Kuznetsova - who I thought retired (?) is in the DC final and in San Jose I don't who any of the semi finalists are.

Shame on you. I won Hobart, Lugano and Rabat this year!

I have to wonder if Murray had back surgery. Just watch him walk on court, it's not his old walk, and it looks laboured and painful. Back surgery is tricky, often not successful. I wonder if after a 3 hour match he came to realize that he's on a very short fuse in tournaments. I feel sorry for him.

do tennis players play with injections like the soccer players when injured?

Agassi was playing with cortisone injections for the last few years of his career until they stopped working

we're guaranteed a new WTA titlist this week. Mertens was the only one left in San Jose who had won titles. Buzarnescu defeated her and will play in a final again. The other SF features Sakkari vs. Collins who are both seeking their first title too

Fantastic semifinal match for de Minaur / Rublev in DC! de Minaur gets to the final.

The San Jose semifinalists:

Buzarnescu won big on the Challenger circuit, then last fall, qualified and reached the semifinals of Linz Austria. In 2018, she reached the finals of Hobart and Prague, but it was the French Open where she broke out, beating the No. 4 seed Svitolina en route to the 4R.

Mertens is known best for her run to the Semis of the Australian, and has won multiple smaller events 'this year.

Collins first break through was Indian Wells (4R) and Miami (SF) where she beat Venus en route.

Sakkari qualified and reached the semis of Wuhan (Tier 1) last fall.

Rogers Cup Day 1 Qualifying notable results:

Montreal:

Suarez Navarro, Safarova, Niculescu and Puig all win

Stosur loses to young Russian Sofya Zhuk

Flipkens def. Mattek-Sands

Wickmayer loses to Dolehide

former top 40 Canadian Rebecca Marino wins. She decided to come back to tennis this year after quitting due to depression and anxietyT

Toronto:

R. Harrison def. Gulbis

McDonald wins

Jaziri loses to Canadian journeyman Filip Peliwo

Lopez loses to Italian journeyman Stefano Travaglia

Herbert and nextgen E. Ymer win

Danielle Collins is very pretty.

DC finals set

Zverev vs. De Minaur

Kuznetsova vs. Vekic

San Jose final set

Buzarnescu vs. Sakkari

Collins had a set and 2 break lead over Sakkari before the match completely turned

Los Cabos final: Fognini def. Del Potro 6-4 6-2. This is Fognini's 1st hardcourt title, 3rd title of the year and 8th overall

I'm shocked that Delpo lost to Fognini on hard court.

I hope Aussie twink beats Zverev tomorrow.

All four next gen players in Washington semifinals.

People are trashing De Miñaur for not having weapons, well, he is doing perfectly fine without them anyway.

Zverev is playing very well, it's obvious that his burden are GS because he didn't feel the pressure of defending so many point till now and he had tough rivals

De Minaur's forehand is a weapon but he relies a lot on his movement. Rublev got tired after blowing those 4 match points in the second set. They had some nice rallies but it would have helped had 1 of them thrown in some slices, drop shots etc. Very 1-dimensional hitting.

R441: De Miñaur is a non annoying version of his mentor Lleyton Hewitt. He has a solid backhand and a solid forehand and good serve, and very good return to serve and he is fast and with a good mentality. None of his shots make the difference, he is not a player who can bully rivals with his power, but he had enough positive things in his game to make his transition from junior to pro very easy and he has a promising future.

I'm sure spanish federation is regreting not helping him when he was younger

wow it is so hot in nyc right now. i wonder if it's even hotter in DC. we have a heatwave. I can't imagine playing in these conditions for hours.

R443, is it a tropical heatwave?

Andy Mowway

Jamie Mowway

Jamie's accent is a lot thicker.

[quote]did he get stem cells or whatever that shit Kobe got?

Do you mean Platelet Rich Plasma therapy (PRP). This is what gave Nadal's knees a much needed rejuvenation. I don't know if it has any indication for back pain.

I like De Minaur but I'm afraid that he will be the ATP version of Martina Hingis: he'll hopefully grab a couple of GS titles but generally being overwhelmed by the power of a few great players. It's not the 80s anymore.

R449; He'll be lucky (in fact any of the next gen players) if he follows Martina footsteps.

Martina downfall was a combination of bad athleticism and being a head case. Yes, there were a lot of big hitters coming for her throne but she made everything easier starting half sleeping all her finals in the new millenium. She was able to defeat one, or even two big hitters at GS but when she had to face the third she was out of gas.

With better fitness and stronger mentality her game was competitive (of course an improvement on her serve was needed because that serve was an invitation to players like Serena to make winner after winner).

I think a fair comparission to De Miñaur could be Hewitt, and if he follows his steps an he is precoucious he could benefit of the fact that most next gen player are still green (and the veterans are going to fade sooner or later).

Anyway a winning mentality is the key, without people like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer blocking the access to GS the players who are mentally competitive and solid in their game will have their chances. It's probable that there were a lot of different winner for some years when the big three decline unless someone became dominant really fast wich doesn't seem that easy right now

Is this where we talk about Laver Cup?

First we talk about Rogers Cup R451 ;)

Borna will face Popsicle tomorrow in the 1st round

Zverev won the first set against De MIñaur 62

And the second too, 62 64

I would totally let Sasha Zverev have his way with me.

What is the answer to the Great Mystery?

I'm going to the Virginia Slims of Dallas next year. What does one wear?

Something slimming...

wow Sveta has a HUGE back tattoo it goes to both shoulders

How about a new thread for Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open?

Can someone set it up with a title "Is this where we talk about Rogers Cup?"

Also, provide a direct link to the new thread please.

R460, your wish is my command.

Buzarnescu routs Sakkari 6-1 6-0 to win her first title in San Jose

Kuznetsova saves 4 match points to win DC over Vekic 4-6 7-6(7) 6-2

Sveta is jubilant while Donna is crying. I'm guessing Vekic will fly to be with Stan now in Toronto since she had to pull out of Montreal qualifying due to her DC run

I wouldn't mind Stan The Man consoling me.

Happy to see Kuznetsova still out there. Even with her two GS titles I really think she underachieved.

Poor Donna.

Puig!

New thread for Rogers Cup & Western & Southern

R469, is that where we talk about Rogers Cup?

No, R470, it can't' be mentioned.

Tennys Sandgren didn't qualify? Has he tweeted lately? I wonder if he's pro-Q or anti-Q on Twitter.

[quote]Tennys Sandgren didn't qualify?

Has he even played since Wimbledon? I don't think he entered the Toronto qualies

Sandgren played World Team Tennis.

Kevin Anderson just tweeted support for a gay cause in NYC: HousingWorksBks in Soho. Kevin makes him very easy to cheer.

R474 The event in question is called Being Queer and Out in Pro Tennis.

Featuring a discussion with former Top 65 tennis player Brian Vahaly and other panelists in a first-of-its-kind event.

R474 I'm there!

Haha Sock is a joke. He is going to be out of top 100 after 2018.

From 2015 Wimbledon - is this Paire?

Hmmmm, R442. I wonder if De Miñaur has seen the monster in Lleyton's shorts, rumored to be the biggest of the tennis guys.

That groupie's post was from long ago, R479, when Agassi was still on the tour. Has there been much of anything more recently about who's packing what?

Delpo is cursed. He has wrist injuries every time he is close to no.1. Hopefully his left wrist doesn't need surgury this time.

Azarenka defeated Kiki 60 61. Well Kiki is a very low cost version of Vika so not surprising

R480, a guy named Basic ("Bah-sich") played yesterday against Djokovic, who was packing quite a lot in his shorts, so much so that the cameras gave him far fewer full body shots between points than Djok. He's ugly as sin though, with a very low brow, This picture doesn't do justice to the schwing in his shorts has we walked around between points.

Why no tennis updates since last Wednesday?

R484 we've been in the special Rogers Cup thread

neither the Harrison brothers nor Tennys Sandgren made it into the Cincy main draw

Yay! Anti-deplorables!

R487: Is Christian a deplorable?

Vika, Kuzzy, Sta n have been given the wildcard for US Open

I miss Vika.

[quote]I miss Vika.

Vika's been playing quite regularly lately?

Dmitry Tursunov (who coaches Aryna Sabalenka) looks pretty rough for a 35 yr old

Rennae stubbs is doing a podcast for racquet magazine on iTunes or something. It is actually pretty good.

Ah, I THOUGHT I recognized him, R492! He's letting himself go a little. I recall he's known for his amazing bod and humor. Toward the end of his career, he also took advantage of the protected ranking rule, losing everywhere, but collecting the gS first round prize money. Can't really fault him on some level because I doubt the ATP has any sort of pension.

Jesus Christ, R492! That's him? Wow. He was hot as a player and I really enjoyed him and his humor. What in the hell happened to him?

Dina back in the day

*Dima

r493 I love that podcast. She's pretty funny and seems very sociable, not at all grumpy like she's on court lol. I was pleasantly surprised.

This double pair is so hot.

Most tennis players age badly, because of their years in the sun. Looks like Tursunov is losing his hair too, so he should keep a close-cut cropped hairstyle instead of growing it out.

I hope Djokovic wins the USO as well. Fuck Fedal.

Lil' Stefan really is a living paternity test of his daddy. Minus the anorexia.

Is this where we talk about the Winston-Salem Open?

Domi's Kiki loses to Sasnovich this week

Somebody needs to a USO thread as the qualification draws are out!

Biggest rd1 match is Tomic vs. Kokkinakis wow

none of the formerly prominent women in qualifying have drawn each other in rd1

R500, losing his hair? In the stands the other day it was crazy how much long, curly hair he had.

R502, Stefan is super cute. Both li'l Stefan and big Stefan.

R507, the hairline is receding.

Is this where we talk about the Virginia Slims of New Haven at Yale presented by Aetna, part of the US Open Series?

The gnome pulled out. No, not Errani, the other one.

Goffin, R509?

I can't believe Bertens and Kvitova are playing in NH considering their performances in Cincinnati. They could be pooped by the USO if they go deep here too.

Kvitova def. Radwanska

Sabalenka destroys Stosur (I feel like she's going to retire soon)

Makarova crushes Ka. Pliskova

Puig def. Bacsinszky who is now 0-7 for the year (she is coming back from injury)

What do you guys think?

[quote] What do you guys think?

That Lendl actually managed to smile? It’s like the second coming.

Probably a good idea. And if he is able to make the little brat behave even better

Does that bloated US Open series still have a winner of a giant pay off at the OPEN? Obscene money that could go to grass roots programs instead pad the pockets of millionaires. It gets no p.r. so maybe Katrina Adams ko'd it to pay for the statute to Althea Gibson?

R512 It would be great if it worked out; but I'm doubtful. Unless Sascha's father, Alexander Sr., steps aside,there's too much room for conflict. Also, Sascha's temperament may not mesh very well with Lendl's. Sascha is quite headstrong;and has been indulged by his family(groomed to be a champion). How well will he take advice from an 'outsider'? Time will tell.

A. Zverev, Sr.

Happy birthday Mischa!

Kuzzy's back ink:

Kuz is married to a man!

Kuzy is not married. And, she hates being called Kutzy. And, that isn't even part of her tattoo. Her entire back is done.

Kokkinakis def. Tomic 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 to reach the QR2 at the US Open

Genie B. is also through to the 2nd round, Gulbis lost to C. Harrison

Dour and dourer, R512...

Class of 2019 Candidates Announced

Jonas Bjorkman? They’ll let anyone in nowadays.

R516: True, and that's exactly the reason why Zverev needs an outsider.

Lendl doesn't put up with temper tantrums though. Murray had to act more mature than when he had other coaches. I wonder if A. Zverev can do that

From that candidate list, Li Na and Mary Pierce are the best options, but that's still not saying much.

With Roddick in there, though, the bar has dropped dramatically.

I just don't get why Kafelnikov isn't in the HOF yet. He won 2 slams and was #1. If someone with just 1 slam can get in, he should be automatic

I think a player should win at least 2 majors in singles and or doubles. Maybe Roddick was helped by the fact that he held the torch solo for american male tennis for awhile.

[quote] Maybe Roddick was helped by the fact that he held the torch solo for american male tennis for awhile.

I think players are helped by the quality, restraint, beauty and, of course, thinness of their wives.

Not only 2 singles slams, R529, but 4 in doubles as well. I do think he was always disregarded for some reason, and I was a big fan of his at the time so followed this closely.

It has to rankle Bruguera, Kafelnikov and Ivanisevic that Roddick got in before they did.

If Conchita had more than one GS she would be clearly the best candidate, she was a top player for ages (something that didn't happened with Pierce and Li who were way more irregular). From the men Kafelnikov is a no brainer

And in 1996 he won RG singles and doubles. Not exactly a common achievement in recent decades.

R535; That year was when Sampras reached semifinals. I don't know what happened but some hard courts are slower than clay at Roland Garros that year

Lordy - Melanie Oudin has packed on the lbs. She is commentating at the US Open Qualifying. What happened to cute little Mel with her c'mons!

R526 I agree, you need someone else in there besides the family(and that's true for any player); but Sascha's father is still coaching him(along with Lendl now). Perhaps it would be better if Alexander Sr stepped aside and allowed Lendl to fully take the reins. There was conflict with Ferrero; if there was a disagreement between Lendl and dad, Sascha would likely side with his father.

Novack in Fed's qf at USO.

Serena and Venus would play in the third round, and potentially face Help in the fourth.

Venus has a fucking nightmare draw-Kuznetsova then likely Giorgi, then her sister then Halep and that's all to reach the QF. She could lose any of those matches.

Nadal has a relatively easy draw again...unless Khachanov decides to play up to his potential in the third round

cannot believe Dimitrov and Wawrinka drew each other again!

Official US Open Thread

And Carla reached the final in New Haven after three of her four rivals retired

Attendance for the CT Open was 50k for the week. It had 78k back in 2009, and 100k in 2005. Granted, you also had the men's event, plus true "star" players that could sell tickets back in the early 00s, when players like Venus, Seles, Davenport, Hingis and Capriati would play.

But it makes me wonder how the event - and others like it - will survive. No discredit to Sabalenka, a rising talent, and Suarez Navarro, who's been ranked as high as No. 6... but they're not selling tickets. They're not bringing fans or tv viewers in. Specific to New Haven, the tournament director does a lot to keep the event entertaining. She pulls in sponsors and vendors (like a craft beer tent, or ladies fashion show), and tries to pitch those aspects along with the tennis. She pulls in big name vets (McEnroe, Navratilova, Davenport, CT native James Blake, Tommy Haas, etc.) to play exhibitions after the night match. I shudder to think what the attendance numbers would look like without those attractions.

As a longtime fan of the sport, I've moved into the "acceptance" stage where tennis is just going to become a niche sport, and no longer mainstream like football, basketball, golf. It rarely gets press in the sports page, or on Sports Center. Even on the Sports Illustrated website, it doesn't get its own banner tab, you have to go into the "other sports" tab to get to the main tennis page.

When I first started watching as a kid in the 70s/80s, tennis was HUGE: Borg, McEnroe, Connors, Vilas, Evert, Navratilova, Austin, King. Headlined by players who were known beyond the tennis circles. Now, no casual sports fan knows a thing about tennis other than Federer, Nadal, and Venus and Serena... all of whom are likely to be gone in the next couple of years.

R544 I'm with you 100%.You could include Sharapova with Fed, Nada, V & S. But that's it. A local Cincinnati radio sportscaster, during the Western and Southern, pronounced Halep's name as Huh-Lip. She's no 1 in the world and nobody cares.

Women's tennis is in a slump. There's no real top players (no matter how good you are if you are not able to play well for more than two weeks), zero charisma and no new young rising stars.

Even without the big three men's tennis is a way more interesting right now with a lot of new players rising in the rankings.

Atp right now could be la wta in 1999, with a good fight between veterans and rising stars. The only danger is that new players are not really able to rise the level and dethrone veterans in the next years, because if they reach the top just because the big three get too old or retired it won't be good for the game

Actually, R546 the women's ratings are bigger than the men's. Statistic. The only men's matches that are being filled are the matches with the top 4. Consistently the women are filling stadiums for all matches. If the men's were doing so great, there would be no need for Davis Cup format changes.

[quote]Actually, [R546] the women's ratings are bigger than the men's. Statistic. The only men's matches that are being filled are the matches with the top 4. Consistently the women are filling stadiums for all matches. If the men's were doing so great, there would be no need for Davis Cup format changes.

I'm not sure what you're referring to, or where you're getting your statistics. The Connecticut Open stadium has been less the half filled for the Women's final for the last two years (attendance of 5000 or less in a stadium that holds 12,000). Additionally, as I pointed out above, total attendance for the event is at 50% of what it was drawing 10-12 years ago. If that's not a troubling statistic, I don't know what is.

Well.....women's matches that feature Serena, Venus, Maria will draw ratings. Even someone like Kerber, Halep don't draw much of a crowd on their own. TV ratings for Serena's loss to Kerber at Wimby were MUCH higher than Novak's win over Anderson. That's the power of a star.

I don't see anyone suggesting that Venus or Serena are not huge stars and ratings-grabbers. But what is troubling is what Tennis has to offer once the biggest names (Venus, Serena, Sharapova, Federer, Nadal) are gone. Lower attendance, no ratings, no buzz around the sport within mainstream sports press. The sport is staring a crisis in the mouth, and the tennis press is largely ignoring it.

I think the women catch more flak because they're closer to the precipice. Venus will be lucky to be Top 50 at the end of the year, Sharapova has not had a successful comeback from her doping ban, and while I believe in Serena's ability to comeback, she's very near the end. Also, the men seem better positioned with possible star players. For whatever reason, among the young players, Zverev, Tsitsipas, Shapavalov generate more interest than Halep, Svitolina, Ostapenko. Although, I do think Stephens has the ability to be a big star if she would stop being so surly and churlish with the media.

Since when has surly churlishness been a deterrent, R550?

Stephens just seems lazy to me. She is a beautiful woman but she doesn't have IT.

Was not impressed with Cornets Code violation of unsportsmanlike conduct, especially after the Open came out and agreed.

R553 the Open didn't apologise but they did say she wouldn't be fined. It seems the rules were up for interpretation and they've since clarified them.

R549: Tennis is a global sport and right now there are way more interest in men's than in the women's circuit.

Maybe in the USA a final with Serena can get impressive rankings, but in other countries the men's final had way more impact.

And you can make Serena carry the torch much longer. The problem is there's no replacement in women's tennis, no new stars, no current consistent top players, no big personalities, nothing.

Of course if the big three retire and the youngers didn't replace them by then, atp will be in great trouble too, but they had a good bunch of prospects and that's way more than what wta has

Oopsies forgot to sign off!

The first US Open thread is full. Can someone start Part II?

New thread:

US Open thread pt 3

US Open thread Part IV. Continue your foolishness.

New US Open thread. Part V.

I'm sure no one has been following but this week a big Chicago combined challenger debuted. A lot of names we recognize entered on both the ATP & WTA side. DL favorites Bouchard and Pospisil both lost in the first round.

The draws for WTA Quebec City and Hiroshima are also out. Bouchard is skipping her home province for Hiroshima which obviously means she's planning on playing the full Asian swing. Sabalenka is the top seed in Quebec City and is obviously the overwhelming favorite.

The men will have Davis Cup next weekend so no pro events this week

So we can all come back here now that the Serena Shit Show (aka US Open) is over for another year?

Nole!

Puig!

Domi and Rico Bellotti reunited in Südstadt!

Domi has a bit of a lantern head, or is that just the angle?

Genie :( loses 4-6 4-6 to Nao Hibino in Hiroshiima. She's now 0-2 against her

Umpires may boycott Serena Williams matches after outburst at US Open final

Wow, r569. What a sorry state of affairs. I hate to say this, but if she'd just kept her cool after that first code violation, and especially if she hadn't played the feminism card (an insult to *real* issues of sexual bias in the world of tennis), this whole shitstorm could have been avoided. Mind you, other idiots (Katrina Adams) decided to run with the feminism angle because it gave instant cachet in the wake of the legitimate MeToo movement.

oh please that's a bunch of shit if the story is in fact true. So Jimmy Connors saying to an umpire "you are an abortion!" was OK. You don't hear umpires complaining about DJokovic even though he once pushed an umpire's arm. Or saying they won't officiate Kyrgios, Paire and Fognini matches. There are countless other examples.

Ramos inserted himself needlessly into the final and most former players agree it was wrong. Did Serena overreact somewhat? yes but Ramos did not come out of that match looking good

I don't want to watch a tennis match where one player is unfairly advantaged over the other through cheating anymore than I want to watch doped up Russian athletes sweep the track & field medals at an Olympic games. Serena was being coached from the stands, I don't care whether she agrees or disagrees about receiving the coaching.

Likewise it has been the case where Olympic athletes had no idea that their team was providing them with illegal PED's, and frankly I don't care, the crew can go down with the captain in that case.

And Serena instantly changing the focus of the incident from 'cheating/deplorable behaviour' to 'Sexism' is trump-worthy in it's deftness.

I can't wait to see Naomi beat this bitch again. Hopefully she will also take away the no.1 spot from useless players like Halep.

uh R572 Osaka was being coached by Sascha and wasn't called on it. So if anything was unfair, it was that she wasn't warned.

R575: You seem to not understand what happened at all, it doesn't matter if Osaka was coached or not, Serena was caught, that's what matters here, and she lied, and she denied and she behave like she has no education. She shoot herself on the foot but in the end she got what she wanted, nobody is talking about the fact that Osaka was clearly being the best player on court

"Needlessly", R571? Are you saying that Ramos should have overlooked the blatant coaching, the smashed racket, and the tirade against him?

Nobody's saying that the level of umpires' laxity in ATP/men's matches is the ideal or even acceptable. And two wrongs don't make a right. Of course the players for the most part, especially the Serenas and the Benoits, would like as little umpire intervention as possible.

[quote] . She shoot herself on the foot

An automatic match retirement.

It also is a big deal that Sascha was not called for blatantly coaching Osaka.

and I say "needlessly" because yes the racket breaking is an automatic warning. The warning about coaching especially if Serena wasn't even looking at Patrick is very questionable. He could have issued a soft warning as many commentators have said. It's also questionable to count being called a thief as so offensive he must add another penalty. We've seen so many worse examples and little or nothing happened. Ramos did interfere and unevenly so against Serena. Most players do not think Ramos was right with his umpiring in that match and I happen to agree. I'm not excusing Serena's outburst but it's understandable because she got another shitty call and it offended her. You have the USO thread if you want to keep debating this. No need to go around in circles again.

"FOOT FAULT!"

[quote]overreacted somewhat

r571? You think Serena “overreacted somewhat”?? You’re either a Serena cultist or blind to what happened at that match. She should have curbed her temper. She seemed almost hellbent on creating a scene to justify an inevitable loss or to destabilize her opponent.

Have you ever stopped to think what might have happened had Serena’s insane tantrum led to Osaka eventually losing the match in the third? Because I’m sure that’s what would have happened had Ramos just sat back and smiled and indulged the arch brat as she continued with her tirade.

That the WTA came out with the statement it did and that Katrina Adams made the statements she did, all in thrall to the most self-centred display of a childish narcissist, is one of the most appalling miscarriages of justice I’ve ever seen in the sport of tennis. And to cynically pull the feminist card is an insult to real feminist causes against bias and injustice in the world and in the world of tennis.

I loved Serena until the infamous match where she threatened to shove e ball down a linesperson’s throat, when I moved onto the fence about her. Saturday’s performance, for me, just completely tarnished her image and her achievements. Much as I loathe Margaret Court, I now hope it’s not Serena who eventually breaks her record, and if she does (and I doubt she won’t) then you Serena stans can celebrate, but without a significant part of the tennis-loving world.

[quote] And to cynically pull the feminist card

It’s called the woman card.

R579

1. Serena DID look at Patrick. She claimed that he gave her a thumbs up, which is a lie since we have video evidence and Patrick himself admitted coaching.

2. Calling the umpire a thief and a liar IS verbal abuse. According to ITF GS rules, 'verbal abuse is defined as a statement about an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or other person that implies DISHONESTY or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise.'

3. "We've seen so many worse examples and little or nothing happened." WRONG AGAIN. Carlos Ramos gave Andy Murray a code violation because he said 'stupid umpiring'. Last year Fognini was bannes from the USO because he called the umpire a 'whore'. Even McEnroe was defaulted once for verbal abuse.

Stop defending Serena and blaming Ramos. Serena lost the plot and any sensible people should be able to see that.

I think it'd be great if Serena were to have a baby one day. I reckon motherhood would really suit her.

I eat babby.

r584, haven’t you heard? Serena’s already HAD A BABY!!!! She mentioned it in passing while she was having a bit of a chinwag with a chair umpire the other day. I think she’s also a feminist now.

Ramos is the umpire for Croatia-USA this weekend in Davis Cup

In addition to R583's points, R579, you're assuming that Ramos saw coaching for Osaka. I doubt that he did.

Croatia: Cilic, Coric, Skugor, Pavic, Dodig

USA: Johnson, Sock, Tiafoe, Querrey, Bryan

Other semi is France-Spain

France: Pouille, Gasquet, Paire, Bennetteau, Mahut

Spain: Carreno, Bautista, Ramos, Lopez, Granollers

Is this where we talk about Davis Cup?

Briefly, R590. Nine more posts.

This is where we talk about Davis Cup:

The

Gays

And

Anyone know where Serena's menstrual cycle is at?

Tennis

Nole.

Puig!

Laver Cup

NexGen