Australian Open 2019 - Thread III

That ass... if only to lick it just once-- Mary!!

Predict the Tiafoe/Nadal score: 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 Nadal.

Thank God, OP finally came to his senses

Nadal is now over

Rafa!

I was watching highlights of the 1993 final with Seles and Graf. Unfortunately the angle of the camera is so different than they are now, but I was trying to figure if they hit as hard as the women do now (and what it would look like on 2019 era HD tv), and I conclude that not only do they, but they would beat most of the players now pretty easily. Do you agree?

The speed was different because the raquets were different, but a Seles or Graf type of player will be lethal to all the "top" players right now, because they not only hit hard, they were able to think, their groundstrokes had a meaning. The wta is probably in one of its worst moments. A Serena out of form is still the big favourite to win anywhere, something that didn't happened a decade ago, where she knew for sure that if she was not at her best Henin or Clijsters will defeat her.

Zverev needs to change something, i don't know what happens to him but it's obvious that something is holding him back. What happens to him is not normal. One thing is not winning or not getting to finals and other very different is that someone who is able to defeat Roger and Nole, and win Masters 100 and being consistent the whole year, is unable to reach qtr GS after GS and year after year.

Everytime the match is not going his way he crumbles. And he doesn't lose against the big three, he could lose with everyone. And it's not the defeat, Milos in a good serve day is a really tough player to face, but he totally tanked the first two sets.

If Stefanos is able to reach semis (and he is the favourite) or even the final (defeat Rafa will be a totally different story, but in my opinion Rafa will suffer if he is really challenged, something that didn't happened yet) the pressure on Zverev will be inmense.

Marat Safin is totally right, the big three were able to dominate because the younger generations never step up for the challenge. The next gen is lucky that Nole, Roger and Rafa will get worse no matter what, but till now only Tsitsipas is showing a real progression. We'll see if he is able to face the pressure of the next round, and Nadal kicked his ass on the previous matches, but on hard courts he has more chances than on clay, it will depend of how he starts the match (in case he is able to beat RBA).

Tiafoe is showing his potential, but i will wait to see if he is able to show some regularity

R6, brought up on today’s racquet technology, I think a Graf or a Seles (and especially even a Navratilova) would put paid to the careers of the Muguruzas, Pliskovas and even Swilliams of today. There was not one single stroke that didn’t have reasoning or strategy behind it. They were supreme strategists and, unlike Hingis, also had brawn to go with the brain. They would literally tear through today’s WTA offering.

The same could be said about the WTA and Serena. No one has ever really stepped up and matched her. Most of her bigger, Grand Slam final losses are her own fault. Only when she is injured/out are the lessers able to win. She hasn't had a true rival in years (if ever).

Yes r7, everything you said. And I think the younger generation not being able to step up to the big 4 is actually the same thing I'm getting at with the Seles/Graf comparison. Anyone can learn strokes and power, but champions with high tennis IQ and belief are a rare thing and come along once in awhile, and have qualities you cannot teach. I think that's why people are excited about Tsitsipas. He may have those qualities.

And I think that's why someone like a Seles would steamroll the WTA now. Extremely high tennis IQ - every shot with purpose. I look now, and most players not only bash the ball, but they do so pretty much in the center of the court. Where are the angles?

Titsy, bitches!

And Naomi!

And it's not even needed going to Graf and Seles level, someone like ASV with a little improvement (she was a hard worker and she would adapt her game) could be an absolute nightmare at Roland Garros to all the top players. Someone who makes you hit one more ball to win the point, who is fast and is mentally tough could cause meltdowns.

Some players like Kvitova and Muguruza just decided they don't need to play well regularly, it's ok to do it from time to time to win big titles. With people like the tops of the 90's that wouldn't be an option

I think people debate that older players wouldn’t be able to handle the power of today’s game but I agree / Graf or Seles would most definitely be #1 against the current crop.

Kvitova seems to be playing very well. She could win.

I so often think that R14 and then she goes and messes up. She was phenomenal in the recent match I saw but...

She's in good form and her weight loss seems to have done the trick regarding her movement.

She's very physically fit right now and that combined with her lethal talent is dangerous. Plus her comeback story after having her playing hand slashed in that burglary is simply lovely and she's one of the nicest women on the tour.

Obviously now I've said that she'll lose 0-6 0-6 next round.

80s/90s/early 2000s female players were trained to play differently and intelligently. It's only in the past 10-15 years that the idea has set in that all you need to do is hit hard.

as far as the men's game goes, I think the slowing down of the surfaces has greatly affected who most of the top players became in the last 15 years with the exception of Federer. Obviously Federer can thrive on fast courts but he's shown he's more than capable to play on slow courts. On a fast court, I don't know how easily Nadal, Djokovic and Murray would have handled peak Sampras' serve. Sampras was so consistent with his serving and hitting his spots in the 90s. Likewise, Sampras would have a lot of trouble today on the slowed down courts as he never won RG or many clay titles during his day.

you've got to be kidding. Serena and Venus owned Seles and they were competitive in the few matches they had as teenagers against Graf. Davenport was beating both Graf and Seles once she came into peak form too and she's not even a great athlete.

Now Graf would probably own a lot of the players who weren't powerful since she owned Hingis. Hingis had little trouble with Seles though.

peak Seles and Graf would certainly be competing with the best of the best from the last 15 years but they wouldn't be close to dominating. Graf even lost to Kournikova once and Kournikova was never able to beat Serena or Venus. Hingis also owned Kournikova

Tsitsipas already called for time violation warning early on again. His second service game

Why am I stuck with this women's doubles match instead of Titsy??

R21, because you’ve died and gone to the eternal Virginia Slims of Hell tournament.

I like Tsitsipas' look. I hope he doesn't cut his hair though he could lose the mustache

I love Titsy. However, I have no problem if he loses because bisexual RBA is super cute too

What sets the champions apart from the rest is primarily mental strength and intensity. When a top woman dominated (Evert, Navratilova, Graf, Seles, Serena, Venus, Henin, etc), they were intense and focused *every point*. You could see and feel the hunger in their games. You had great talents that could win majors without that intensity (Goolagong, Martinez, Davenport, Hingis, etc.) but that's a big reason why they were more inconsistent from event to event. The focus wasn't there from point to point. And that seems to be the case with today's top players (save Serena).

A lot of people like to claim the tour is so much deeper than it was, and that's why the top players lose more frequently or have closer early round matches, but what I see is the top players of today are so much more "in and out" mentally (Halep, Kvitova, Stephens, Muguruza, etc.) In many instances you'll watch a couple of points and think "do they even care?" Did we ever say that about Evert? Navratilova? Graf? Seles?

R6 I definitely think they used to hit harder. Everyone always writes about how the sport has supposedly developed (along with gym/training methods and racquet technologies) and even the GOATs like Graf and Seles would struggle today, but apart from a select few like Madison Keys who just statistically hit a faster ball, you can watch most matches from the mid-90s to the early 00s and see they hit significantly harder (and smarter). The courts were twice the speed of today’s courts too, so their movement was probably at least on-par as well.

Pull up any match featuring Seles, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Brenda Schultz McCarthy, Mary Pierce (whose ball made a massive ‘pop’ noise when she hit it), young Venus, Serena and Mirjana Lucic, even lesser players like Alexandra Stevenson who could thwack the ball…. Especially on a fast indoor court. Kvitova, Muguruza, Pliskova, Ostapenko, Osaka etc. would be toast.

This is a few years after your clip but look at the quality of ballstriking and tell me which current player could even win a few games off them.

Domicakes

Also the consistency is dead because the prize money has gotten so big that they can afford to be lazy week in week out (Sloane is the biggest offender, Garbine too). Some try peak for the big events, some just vulturing smaller tournaments to keep their ranking high enough to play the YEC (where the money is insane). I have a feeling that even Serena, if she didn't come from such a competitive era, would be the same way.

In all the grand slams Chris Evert played, she reached the SF or better in all but FOUR of them (and two of those were tough QF showings). 34 consecutive grand slam semis. Navratilova went on a 74 match win streak, some of her consecutive year-end win/loss stats are 90-3, 86-1, 78-2. Imagine a current player only losing 6 matches in the space of three years? You will never see that sort of week in week out hunger to be the best again. Even Martina Hingis kept her foot on the other girl's necks quite dominantly during her era.

John McEnroe's new guard has played a very lazy set.

[quote] Even Martina Hingis kept her foot on the other girl's necks quite dominantly

Of course she did.

the quality of the tour is much improved from the days when Evert and Navratilova were dominating. There is a lot more power and athleticism these days then back then.

So is RBA gay? Bi? Has he ever addressed it, or is it just rumors? I know he lost his mom (and his dad?) in the last year, so it's amazing and wonderful to see him playing so well. He's unbeaten this year! And gone through Djoker, Murray, Wawrinka, Cilic.... impressive list for sure.

RBA has shown support for gays on social media but to my knowledge he hasn't discussed or displayed his own sexuality beyond having a gf

He seems really shy and reserved anyway. My friend is a volunteer at the AO (the last few years) and said he's probably the quietest player on the tour. I wouldn't expect any sort of announcements.

He's pretty icy on court except when he wins a big point or the match unlike players who fist pump and yell every time they win a point.

He has a girlfriend who travels with him sometimes. When he won in Winston-Salem, he mentioned her, but he's not active on social media.

RBA is one of one of our biggest ally on the tennis tour. Anyone can give pro-gay sound bytes during a press conference in liberal places like Australia, Western Europe or America . . in fact it is beneficial for their PR image

But to wave pride flag [3 different years] in Dubai [] takes some real guts

Tsitipas just got a coaching violation. Thanks, Patrick M

You would think that Patrick would have learned his lesson at last year's Open

R19 They beat Monica because she was carrying an extra 30+ pounds. That's a real problem when you play with two hands. The one time Seles got slightly in shape she almost beat Serena twice in a row and had her only win over Venus. Of the 3 players you mentioned, Monica would've regularly beaten Serena and had much tougher head-to-heads with the other two who had big serves and heavier, flatter (meaning they stay lower and move through the court faster) groundstrokes than Serena's. The proof is in the head-to-head scores. All but one of the Serena matches is close with Monica losing steam in the 3rd set (due to lack of fitness). If she had been fit and confident it would've been a very different story.

Also, Hingis beat Seles for the same reason. Just redirected her pace to get her on the run and she was done. A lot of their matches would've been more like the '98 FO semi if not for the stabbing.

He's straight, move on.

R25 Hingis had plenty of intensity and dominated the tour for years. How could you group her with the likes of Martinez? The only reason Hingis doesn't have 15+ slams is quite simply because of power. She is by far the most talented player -- considering one's all around game -- of the last 25 years. She could do anything she wanted with the ball.

Hingis is also the brattiest brat who ever bratted. And she carried that into adulthood and next Tuesday.

R42 The hypocrisy!

I enjoyed Hingis' game. It was very clever. But she had a fairly brief reign at the top. Her first GS was in 1997, and her last in 1999, though she appeared in several finals after that. She always lost to a power player. And yes, she was a cunt. I loved seeing her humiliated by Graf at the French.

Nice to see Sousa still sweating his way into the men's doubles semis.

R44 but they were a damn good 3 years, especially 97.

What happened to DL favorite Coco W ?in which round she lost? No one has mentioned her in this tournament.

[quote] What happened to DL favorite Coco W ?in which round she lost? No one has mentioned her in this tournament.

ESL, she was mentioned in the prior thread but not for playing in this tournament.

Petros is most calm person in Titsy 's box .Rest of them are going bonkers with excitement and understanbly so

R39 that's a bunch of bs. The Williams sisters hit harder and move faster than Seles. Even if she were fitter she would have never beaten them "regularly". She would have had a better record against Hingis though.

I hope the winner of this match takes out Nadal. I'd love for Tiafoe to do it but that's highly doubtful right now

Those years should rightly have been Seles', R46. Hingis had the worst character--all snark and arrogance and impudence and hubris. It was great seeing Hingis lose to Seles in the '98 FO, and to see Hingis lose more GS women's singles finals than she won.

Dang, tits really came back from a not so great start.

lmao Stefanos reaches a slam SF before THE CHOSEN ONE Zverev. I bet he's mad that he's being outdone by another young gun blond long haired guy

Titsy!

If we keep calling Tsitsipas "Titsy", Djokovic will get jealous. He likes his "tits out" moniker

You are assuming that Monica's game would not have evolved at all. Yes, both Venus and Serena are arguably faster. But they both often have horrible footwork, particularly Serena. Monica had impeccable footwork due to hitting with two hands on both sides. I think their matches would have been fairly even.

[quote] Hingis had the worst character--all snark and arrogance and impudence and hubris

She seemed to have improved when she returned as a doubles player. Perhaps it was because the stakes weren’t as high?

Tsitsipas can only hope that Tiafoe drags his match to five sets and wears Rafa out.

His brother's hair color is interesting. It's like when dark haired people bleach their hair and it turns a weird orange color. Not sure I like it.

[quote] He likes his "tits out" moniker

Boobs out!

Wow, Titsy! Atta boy!

Love you RBA, keep up the good work. Ranking will rise.

[quote] I hope the winner of this match takes out Nadal.

Same here. I’d be happy if anyone beat Nadal and Djokovic.

Titsy is the real deal. Zverev better take note - he's on his way to Kyrgios territory.

Good job, Titsy. Even though I was rooting for RBA, I'm not mad at this outcome.

Would be cool to see Tiafoe win

R57 there's no "arguably" about it. Seles was never as fast as Serena or Venus. Her serve wasn't as good either. If they're all playing at their peaks, Serena and Venus would be hitting a lot of well placed, very fast serves and they'd be returning serves with interest. Seles would be starting on the defense in most points.

Patrick Mourataglou pisses me off. He has used Serena to boost his own fame and career and now he's latching onto Tsitsipas because of their Greek connection. I can't stand Patrick.

Especially since he keeps coaching from the box and getting caught doing it. His players pay the price for it.

His ass needs to get banned.

He’s the worst.

Tsitsipas will get a lot of sponsors. He's good-looking, well spoken/intelligent and a great game. Zverev is going to be very jealous especially if Stefanos can get a Masters this year. If he keeps playing this way that's very possible.

Oh i can see Titsnass's agent was working hard getting his youtube channel on there, jesus can we keep this to tennis. Courier is obnoxious.

[quote] His ass needs to get banned.

Thiem's ass needs to get banned too.

[quote] Would be cool to see Tiafoe win

Tiafoe team

Seles had decent footwork before the Steffi Parche incident, but come on, Venus was so naturally tall and athletic she could cross the court in like 4 steps. Her arms were like twice as long as Seles' too lol. Young Serena was also like a dog with a bone chasing down balls.

I feel bad for RBA losing this while in the form of his life and having lost his parents recently. He comes across as such a good guy and has collected some HUGE scalps this year. Tough draw too and he was never the crowd favourite in any of his matches here. But this is still a best slam result for him and I hope he carries the form for the rest of the year. Tsitsi was the better player today.

Patrick Mouratoglou is the human embodiment of SLIME.

up next we get Collins vs. Pavlyuchenkova. Collins is in great form now but remember in Miami last year she beat Venus only to lose to Ostapenko.

Pavlyuchenkova makes the most of her abilities but she's another player who could be better if she got fitter.

Titsy bulging beautifully tonight, as well.

Rooting for a Tiafoe-Tsitsipas semi here as well. Please.

I'd like to see RBA have another deep slam run at RG. He's kind of similar to Ferrer but not as mentally tough (though he's better right now than before)

Petros doesn't have a high school to attend?

I'm hoping Tiafoe was able to recover but he looked spent in that third set against Dimitrov. I'm surprised he had a second wind to take the fourth set. To beat Nadal you've got to be ready for long point after long point set after set. Tiafoe doesn't typically like to end points after 2 shots so either he'll have to change his strategy and be more aggressive or hope his body is ready to run.

There is no way Tiafoe can win but he needs to stretch Rafa's fat ass to 5 sets

Tiafoe is young! How does he not have the fitness to go 5 sets???

oh here's another attention whore Mattek-Sands. Not sure why espn loves her so much. She's not horrible but her desperation for camera time is embarrassing

What a nice fat ass it is though.

[quote] Rafa's fat ass

[quote] What a nice fat ass it is though.

It's not as fat ass it used to be though.

[quote] oh here's another attention whore Mattek-Sands. Not sure why espn loves her so much.

Pretty and blond.

R82 he trains hard but he's not at his full potential yet. People forget that Murray was not a super fit beast until his early 20s. Tiafoe can do that but he needs more time.

It will be interesting to compare Nadal and Tiafoe's asses. Both are big

omg first time seeing Carreno Busta's reaction to that bad call. He really threw his bag while walking out

Tiafoe always has energy to rip his shirt off and celebrate...

It's a tough deal but his post match reaction is ridiculous.

Why do these tennis talking heads defend this childish meltdowns?

R78, I think RBA will do well this year[unless there is an injury ]Last year was really tough for him, His mom died after a long battle to cancer and just two months after that he slipped at a grass court tournament due to which he was out for months and his ranking slipped due to it . However, he seems to come back as a stronger player.

All he needs to do is proper tournament scheduling. He should choose his tournaments carefully and not too many tournaments unlike Thiem who is playing next week[a start of his long four-week South American clay court swing]just after retiring in Aussie open

Chris Evert has such a flat,monotone voice. Is that typical of native Floridians?

R50 Sorry to burst your bubble, but Seles would have throttled Serena several times in her early years. Serena's groundies would've sat up nicely for Monica to bash and she would've really widened the court against her forcing her into errors. Monica was no dummy. She'd probe your game, find the weakness, and relentlessly attack it.

I said her matches with Venus and Davenport would've been more difficult. It's likely those two wold've had a winning head-to-head against her.

*would've

There's something about Collins that reminds me of Lena Dunham.

Too bad Fed's forehand was a couple inches off the other night. I loathe Tittypaws.

Would love to see Collins get her ass handed to her here.

R97 = “I don’t think he played that well. I think the match was absolutely pathetic on all levels.”

R89 = Monfils

[quote] I loathe Tittypaws.

Why?

Drinking game alert: do a shot every time Cliff or Chris mention that Collins went to college.

R94 before Serena hit her peak OK. Serena at her peak would not lose much to Seles. Again she'd be starting on offense most of the time due to her great serve and return-of-serve. Seles didn't have the best serve

R99 did Fed say that?

Monica had a great return. So would be interesting to see if she could have cut off some of Serena's serves. Again, I am talking of peak Seles.

at some point this year I want to see Collins play Sharapova lol I'm hoping relatively soon like Indian Wells or Miami

Collins is fucking annoying.

I’m sorry am I the only one really feeling Collins. Girl got balls and no fucks to give. Also - great weapons. I’m into it.

Also - Tsitsipas will win majors before Zverev - which will crush him but end up relaxing and taking pressure off him, in my opinion.

He may win a major this year. Even the way courier interviewed him it was as if “they know” he’s going to be a superstar. Or they are at least hoping. No one else has gotten that kinda interview, introduce the box, etc. I’m thoroughly enjoying watching someone become a star before our eyes. He’s gonna be huge.

Tsitsipas moves seemingly effortlessly like Federer does, and he's articulate and diplomatic. Fortunately he lacks Federer's smug self-importance .

I really like Tsitsipas' personality. Hopefully as he succeeds he stays humble and focused.

Federer is graceful and catlike, very regal and well put-together. Tsitsipas and his broken shoelaces, sneakers falling off, clomping around the court... I think he's adorable but I wouldn't say that he's Fed-like.

He reminds me of a less put together Federer in his play and movement. But he's 20 so that can improve greatly.

R103 We never got to see Seles' peak. And she had great placement and that lefty spin working in her favor on serve. You can't tell me that someone who had so much difficulty with ASV (when she wasn't injured '99-'01) would've beaten Seles regularly or at all. Sorry, not buying it.

I'm with you, R108. Yeah, maybe she's a little over the top, but give me a player like that who says "My coaches gave me a game plan and I went out and executed it" over the head cases (Stephens, Keys), the ball pushers (Wozniacki, Svitolina), or the Pliskbots.

Wow. Collins really stunk up that first set. Where is the intensity she had with the match against Kerber?

[quote][R25] Hingis had plenty of intensity and dominated the tour for years. How could you group her with the likes of Martinez? The only reason Hingis doesn't have 15+ slams is quite simply because of power. She is by far the most talented player -- considering one's all around game -- of the last 25 years. She could do anything she wanted with the ball.

I never saw intensity from Hingis. I never saw "win at all costs" attitude. I saw a ton of talent, which was enough to get her 5 Slam titles, but she wanted to win on her terms. And when her game proved to not be enough against the power players, she walked away at age 22. Contrast that with Evert: she lost again and again to Navratilova in '83-'84. What did she do? She got pissed off, and actually hit the gym, improved her fitness, and started beating Martina again in '85, enough to recapture No. 1.

I'm not comparing Hingis to Martinez in terms of career achievements or how great of a player they are. I am grouping them in that I never saw raw hunger in their games, the kind or nose-to-the-grindstone, refuse-to-lose attitude. Did Hingis want to win? Of course. So do Kvitova, Muguruza, Stephens, etc. But did she do everything she possibly could to improve her physical conditioning, her mental strength, her overall game? Nope.

The same could be said for Martina. She got tired of losing to Chrissie. So she got herself fit, and the rest is history. The women's game is really missing key rivalries. We used to have it with Henin vs. Serena, and Capriati vs. Serena, and now...it's a bunch of blah. Williams is seeded 16th and still considered the player to beat. How pathetic is that?

r117 Outside of that cunt Serena i'm not familiar with any other female player. These European players are all the same.

Pavlyuchenkova looks like the type of girl who celebrate a big win with a couple slices of meatloaf and a few rounds of Long Island Iced Teas.

R111, I can see Tsitsipas move in a very catlike way--the ESPN commentators were saying that he reminds them of Mecir. What I can't see Tsitsipas doing is reaching Federer's level of pretension. Roger is just one sneer short of "cerulean".

He has 20 Grand Slams and made half a billion dollars. If anyone is allowed to be arrogant, it's him.

Unlike this stocky Collins cunt that no one ever heard of who is arrogant as fuck.

Collins is the new Coco if Coco was in shape, less whiny and wasn't born into wealth but a trailer park.

I fear that Bethanie Mattek-Sands is coming for my job.

Chrissie and Cliffy keep showing high level of SHADE by continuing to associate park tennis with Danielle Collins.

America's Sweetheart ™ completes the comeback and clinches a semifinal berth!! DL must be so happy.

Petra or Barty?

I want Petra to win. She defeated Barty last week in Sydney. Let's hope she doesn't explode. She has a great chance to reach another grand slam final. as the bottom half is now wide open

R121 Why don't you tell us how you really feel?

R121 You have to admit that that cunt can clock the ball when she has time to set up.

omg what is it with the Euros and their disdain for sunscreen? They just showed a clip of Tsitsipas' press conference today...his face is all burned! He's going to age as poorly as Dimitrov if he doesn't wise up

Collins is a laugh riot unless it's your fav she's pummelling.

We didn't know how cunty Coco was until about 2-3 years after arriving on the main tour. Collins has been there less than one and is already showing her arrogant trailer trash character. The tour does need a good villain though, and she certainly fits the bill. That backhand is incredible when it's on (and it's worth noting that it often isn't, she did basically nothing in between her Miami run and this tournament).

As for Hingis, I think maybe her achieving so much at an incredibly young age led to her early retirement too. As well as being able to roll over pretty much all the rest of them from 97-99 with relative ease. I think she was spoiled by her own talent. Once she actually had to work hard to win as Serena, Venus, Lindsay and Jenny grew stronger (she even lost to Pierce), she was over it and wanted to spend her life going to cocaine fuelled Euro parties.

Shit Petra is just bulldozing Ash out there. The Aussie crowd started applauding her double faults and errors but after that first set they're just dead silent lol. She's in the zone.

Good for Petra - her grand slam record back to what it should be. Ash is Kerry Reid-ish.

I see from the live scores that Tiafoe is just rolling over and letting Nadal fuck him royally. Normally, I’d actually pay to see that, but I do not want Nadal to win this tournament.

Cmon Frances!

I too want a Titsy-Tiafoe semi!

I can't stand Nadal but I've never seen any evidence Tiafoe has got anything that'd beat him.

Tiafoe has exceeded himself to get this far. His Hopman Cup performance was so bad I have trouble taking him seriously.

r133 no he won’t. Djokovic is the one to beat.

^ paging Jeff Gilooly!

Frances' ass sticking out while he serves is the biggest weapon on the ATP right now.

Moya looks... okay.

Tsitsipas becomes the youngest Grand Slam male semifinalist since Djokovic (US Open 2007) and the youngest #AusOpen male semifinalist since Roddick (2003).

Absolutely outstanding.

You know Moya has had Rafa’s ass.

Rafa mopped the court with Frances.

When will Tennis Australia (or the Australian television network) realize that McEnroe cannot do on court interviews to save his life?

I've met people with severe brain injuries who had better interview technique.

He is such a fucking clown. I remember a few years back where he called Petra Kvitova 'Russian' (this was after she'd won Wimbledon once or twice). Just send Rennae Stubbs out there. Remember this sweet moment from 2 years ago?

Titsy, bitches!

Collins better be praying that Petra has a very off day

Most of the posts stating that Serena, Venus, Hingis etc... beating Monica refer to her performance post-stabbing. Pre-stabbing, she won 7 of 8 grand slams entered. Has any woman done that since? She would’ve won Wimbledon had the press and Navratilova not shamed her into changing her game in the final with Graf...

I'm happy for Tipsy, and i'm happy RBA did so well this tournament. He deserves. I'd never heard any rumour about him (of course on sports pages those kind of rumours are alwasy skipped) but being supportive of gays is very common for spanish players. Even someone so conservative as Juan Carlos Ferrero is very gay friendly

Nadal is a beast, but i hope Tipsy gives him some trouble. It's a little ridiculous that nobody is able to give him a fight on a hardcourt

Titsy! team.

I am a huge Nadal fan - but even I would be happy with a Tsitsipas win. He’s the new real deal. Want him to win the tournament.

Tsitsipas and Osaka are my new fav young players. I like their character and personalities as much as their game.

Maureen Connolly won nine Slams that she entered - in a row.

Monica would never have beaten Steffi on grass unless she had a bigger serve. She was too vulnerable to being pulled wide and with both hands s he struggled. 1994 had she been able to play, she would won that year.

Would Seles have beaten Mo Connolly?

[quote] She was too vulnerable to being pulled wide and with both hands s he struggled.

She was indeed vulnerable, and she didn’t struggle.

Monica's idol was Suzanne Lenglen - just like Roger Federer's idol is Rod Laver. Neither were born when those great players were winning Slams but they've seen pictures.

Hahalexander Zzzverev must hate Zizipas right now

R157 no way you’re not right about that. Not only are the results showing - but it’s clear all the commentators think Titsy is going to be the bigger star. The interview Courier gave on court yesterday was a prime example.

I'd heard Tsitsipas and Zverev don't like each other much already. Didn't they have some kind of confrontation or war of words a while back?

Tsitsi beat him last year in Canada and Z was quite an ungracious loser, also criticised Tsitsi's (and some others') frequent use of towels between points at the end of the year when it became a topic after verdasco's Towelgate.

Tsitsipas is one of very few players who always says 'please' and 'thank you' to the ballkids.

I hope at the very least that Tsitsipas will take his match with Rafa to 5 sets. Nadal has had such an easy draw, it's absurd. I think the Final will be Nole v Rafa.

Rafa!

Nole.

Now that Tiafoe's out, could we please have a Tsitsipas-Nishikori final?

R165 it would be nice but it wont happen. It'll be Nadal and Djokovic in what will be a long as hell match if only cause they both are sooo damn slow on serve.

Rafa!!!

Nole.

Neither!

I love how Nadal with his typical theatrics was acting like he was questionable to play the AO as he pulled out of lead-up events but suddenly he's 100% and in decent form. Then after this tournament he'll claim he's injured again but magically he'll be ready for the clay season.

Him not playing a warm up tournament was purely to save energy. He didn't have an injury.

[quote]Then after this tournament he'll claim he's injured again but magically he'll be ready for the clay season.

Or maybe it's true. Be careful not to drown in your life's accumulation of cynicism.

I have no doubt that it's true in the land of alternative facts.

Zverev and even Medvedev hate Tsitsipas so much because he's the young one of Russian heritage who accomplished what they couldn't in a much shorter time. The jealousy is real. Actually Zverev hates most of his peers except for the likes of Kyrgios who aren't threats to his status as the crown prince of the next gen.

Even Tiafoe in his press conference mentioned that one of the next gen doing well encouraged the rest of them to, but they're in competition with each other and that he was a little salty that Tsitsipas reached the SF and he didn't. It was half in jest and he said "why not?" when asked if Tsitsi could go all the way, but I actually think it's good for them to try and beat each other to certain milestones (I mean Chung and Edmund already have deep slam runs from here last year). That might actually spur them on to challenge the top dogs.

God I want Kei to pull out a miracle against Djokovic. Although Nadal looked so locked-in and fearsome last night that I wonder if anyone can really beat him. He was playing with so much purpose it was like a French Open final.

I really doubt Kei will bother Djokovic, maybe he gets one set but that's about it. Nadal has looked really good but he's had a relatively easy road. Once you get to the quarters or semis getting past those two, barring them getting injured, becomes an exponentially more difficult task. Particularly if you don't get the job done very quickly in 3 sets so that they don't have any chance of working their way into the match.

r174 TitsNAss is greek not Russian.

R175, his mother is Russian.

By that logic Trump is Scottish.

He's not praising Putin like that other dick and he has a greek accent, he's greek.

The problem with Nadal is that he does it all the time. After every GS he has some health problems. In my opinion it's just to not put too much pressure on himself (and because he is a drama queen). But it's pretty obvious Nadal had an injury this time, he did the correct thing and didn't try to play when he was not 100%. He is not guilty that his rivals are defeated even before the match starts. It's unbelievable that nobody is able to give him a fight on hard courts. A lot of people have the game to give him trouble but they don't have the guts.

Unfortunately i don't think Stefanos game will cause Nadal too much trouble, he generally destroys players with one hand backhand, but i think it will depend of how the match starts. Nadal is spanking his rivals from the very beginning of his matches. If Stefanos is able to hold his serve it could be interesting. Because no matter how easy he is winning, it's obvious that he is not at his best because simply he can't be.

Curiously Nishikori generally gives Nole a lot of trouble (or at least he used to), but i don't think he has a chance if Nole plays well

The mothers of Titsy, Shapo and Zverev all played against each other in Soviet youth leagues.

Nadal withdrew from both the AusOpen and USOpen last year with injuries. He only played 9 tournaments in all of 2018. I don't understand the logic of faking an injury for extra rest. What is he resting from? Nadal has said that he wants to be 100% before he plays, because he's not willing to play through injuries anymore. At his age, that makes a lot of sense. Maybe in the past, he would have played a warmup tourney with a niggling injury, but why would he risk it now?

It's not like Nadal has been physically tested here.

If Nadal loses he will say he is extremely injured and that's why he lost.

R184: He knows he is not at his best, so he starts all the matches putting a lot of pressure on his rivals and they are failing. Generally to win against Nadal you need to be in an advantage position, because you know he is very strong physically and mentally, so it's very tough when you are losing. We'll see his real form when he is tested. I doubt he could defeat Nole so easily, but if he is lucky and Nole lose i think he will win. Stefanos is doing really well, and he has weapons to challenge him (unlike Alex de Miñaur) but i don't think he will be solid enough to defeat Rafa

R176 I literally wrote "of Russian heritage", you need to work on your reading comprehension dear. Nobody said he was simply Russian, nobody said Trump was Scottish R178.

Of course he's more Greek but the Russian heritage has been an issue with the other players, including his on court spat with Medvedev last year (who lied to the umpire and said Stef called HIM a 'bullshit Russian'), and Zverev just being jealous.

R182 Cringe of the month. I'm not one of those who thinks Z is bearding but that video is ALMOST enough to make me think he might be. I guess those gay rumours really got to him? Too bad I don't understand the Russian lyrics in the video, the cringe factor would probably be 1000x higher. Anyone know Ryssian here?

I stopped following Zverev. He is pathetic. I still follow Coric, I think he has more promise than Zverev.

R182 Deeply, deeply embarrassing; almost as embarrassing as his match against Raonic.

Nishikori used to give some trouble to Nole in the past, but unless Nole plays really bad i don't think he has a chance this time.. If Tsitsipas is able to give Nadal a fight (something i'm not sure he'll be able to do) we'll see Nadal's real form. In my opinion Nole is the favourite here.

And Zverev should relax, he is simply trying too hard. Maybe he is that cringeworthy but frankly, it looks something he does more for the audience than for himself

If it was discussed here, I missed it.....but why is Tiafoe's first name spelled the feminine way - Frances - instead of the standard male way - Francis. I know he has a twin brother named Franklin....but I am confused.

I remember years back some interviewer asked him if it was perhaps a spelling mistake that stuck and Tiafoe said no, it was supposed to be like that. I'm an actual Francis and have spent my whole life correcting people who spell it the female way so it's always got my back up.

His parents don't sound like they have much imagination to call their twin sons pretty much the same fucking thing. Does the brother play tennis too?

[quote] why is Tiafoe's first name spelled the feminine way

They try to make them lesbians. All of them!

Zverev is now in competition with Thiem for Social Media Attention Whore Couple Nobody Cares About or Believes, 2019....

Zverev is doing this at the wrong time. If this was his GS, the one who'll make him reach stardom it would serve to sell him as a poster material. He is kind of cute in a skinny way. But he lost, against someone who was supposed to win. In fact he was demolished, so he is wasting his time because nobody is really interested in him right now.

Yes, he won masters 1000, he is a top player, but right now people are not that interested in him, and if Stefanos reach the fianl or gives Nadal a good fight, the attention for a new player will flip to the greek (and i'm not totally sure any of them like that).

Given Melo reaction to being questioned about a gay player, and Zverev loving video, i'm pretty sure they are aware of the rumours

How come on the men’s tour some slender guys like Nole and Federer can be so good but on the women’s side Serena is so unbeatable. In other words why can’t a slender woman be as competitive with Serena as Nole is with Rafa or Murray who are much more muscular than him. I’m just a casual tennis fan but I always wonder when watching the slams.

For R188:

When I first saw you, your laugh, you reminded me of everyone who I loved and who I wanted to be with, and I froze speechless.

I barely convinced you [something], I already want to see you again even though we haven't parted yet.

I can't get enough of the smell of your hair. I ask directly, Can you stay?

The first kiss, your name on my lips, the words were simple but I was proud of them.

Lots of others around but you make me feel differently, I feel what you mean to me.

We fell asleep clasping each other's hand, I was afraid of losing you, my beauty.

I couldn't get enough of listening to you breathing.

I don't need anything else when I'm with you.

Tiafoe showed improvement this tournament. In another year (or maybe even before this season is over) he should be better able to challenge Nadal. He's still developing his game.

Tsitsipas is further along with his strategy and how he wants to play.

Zverev is not too strategic IMO generally (hitting repeatedly to the Isner and Raonic forehands aren't a good idea) but he wins because he has hard groundstrokes, a good return-of-serve and decent serve.

Shapovalov is still in the very raw phase. He's so hit or miss.

R197- its all about the ass.

I actually think if Raonic continues to serve well he can challenge Djokovic and Nadal. He's crushing his forehand and when he hits his service spots, even the best returners have a hard time getting it back. If he can hit a high percentage, he's a threat for this title. Big if of course. Obviously he's not going to win most long points but he has the ability to shorten them and the AO is playing pretty quickly

Or maybe Zverev is just straight and pussy-whipped.

It's killing Zverev that Stefanos is doing so well in a major

R198, what's the Russian equivalent of cheesiest cheese that ever cheesed?

Naomi, bitches!!

I hope Keys was watching that match. Osaka has similar strengths to Keys but she's become smarter and more consistent. That's the way you handle basic players like Svitolina. Thank goodness she won't be #1 now

Pusholina deserved to be knocked out of the tournament. Bravo Naomi!

Now number 1 will either be Pliskova, Kvitova or Osaka.

Very happy for Osaka!

Svitolina is now 0-4 in slam QF. Well at least she has Monfils to console her. He seems like he'd be fun in bed

Happy that Osaka got an "easy" match. She will need to rest up for the next round, whoever it will be.

R182, That was as embarrassing as Tom Hiddleston wearing "I love Taylor Swift " Tshirt

Can Osaka save the tennis by beating Serena in semies?.Just think how cool it would be backing her victory of US open . in Aus Open?

herHer last vicortory got tarnished by that controversery

Is this true

[quote] Is this true

B. Zverev?

Can Pliskobot win?

Why the knee wrap for Pliskbot?

R214

You can always pull out, Sascha. Sometimes I wish I had.

Pliskbot looks fully charged.

Pliskovas blowing a big chance here.

R220 What else would happen?

Should be 5-1

Can Pliskova hold on? Serena is the best at coming up with something when she needs it most.

R224 Yeah, like garbage tennis that opponents make ridiculous errors off of. Gross. I fully expect Pliskbot to break herself serving on the sunny side.

Dont blow it serving for the set Pliskova!

On twitter most of Serenas fans are blaming the sun for her losing the first set, even on groundstrokes.

R227 The sun that they try to make sure she never plays in.

Osaka: 3 11:00am matches

Serena: 0

^^^^^

2 11:00am and a nooner. Sorry.

Break!!!

They are disrespecting Serena by not covering the sun when it's her turn to hit the ball!

Gave it right fucking back!

Serena breaks back easily!

Too good from Serena now.

That easy backhand pass Pliskbot missed in game 1 of set 2 is going to cost her the match. Should've been up two breaks 4-1.

I get the feeling Serena will pull off the win in this one.

[quote] 11:00am and a nooner.

Did Serena conceive her baby during a nooner?

Conchi looks so butch in Pliskbot's box.

Fuck this old bitch!

Serena taking control now.

I hope Osaka wipes the court with this old fat bitch.

Plisbot is short-circuited

r342, why blame Serena when it is Pliskbot who is a certified loser? who got broken straight twice

Pliskova is probably gonna keep choking!

Reboot and system upgrade needed badly!

Looks like its gonna be a us open rematch. Hopefully with the same result.

[quote] Hopefully with the same result.

Not with quite the same happy ending.

Serena's gotten much more crowd support than she used to.

I hope Ramos umpires the Williams-Osaka match.

This fat old bitch is gonna win the whole thing, huh?

Uh oh Serena is "extremely injured"

I can't believe Pliskova leveled it.

Did the Russians hack Pliskova?

Serena's done.

Where is Serena's husband the one she had a baby with? I don't see him in the box.

There wasn't room for him and Venus's hair

Can Pliskobot serve it out? Never count Serena out, no matter the situation.

Anna Wintour is there though.

Oracene is like whatever.

Some Serena fans on Twitter are blaming the foot fault for this result. That is one point. I'm sure that is the only reason. Not the fact that she hurt her ankle.

Pliskbot!

yeah when she landed awkwardly on her ankle at 5-1 that seemed to throw off her form for the rest of the match.

I hope Osaka beats Pliskbot. Just not a fan of the robot

I want Osaka vs Kvitova as the final!

Me too, R264.

Bad luck on the ankle for Serena. She likely wouldn’t have been able to play competitively. It’s happened many times before - once before the match Sloan beat her, also when Pliskova beat her.

Serena’s serve completely changed after the ankle twist.

R238 Actually, it was during a change of ends in a match. It was televised. Didn't you see it? There were enormous FCC fines. I don't wanna see that!

Get used to me being in finals!

What if Collins wins the whole thing lol. Shes already so cocky. She would become truly insufferable.

I still can't believe the result.

What the fuck just happened? I love it. Now I can enjoy the rest of the tournament.

That was a crazy match.

R269 She would out-cunt Sharapova and Serena combined.

I have a feeling the final will be Pliskova and Kvitova.

[quote] What if Collins wins the whole thing lol.

She's Tonya Harding of WTA. She may very well have her Jeff Gillooly. Kvitova, you in danger gurl!

[quote] I have a feeling the final will be Pliskova and Kvitova.

Ova v. Ova?

Did serena actually foot fault? Many on twitter think she didnt.

No doubt Serena probably wants to hurry up and get the record so she can retire. Do you think she'll retire without it, or play on until she gets it, no matter how long it takes?

The latter, R278.

If shes healthy I think she will get Wimbledon this year.

I bathe in the tears of Serenas fans. Reading some of these Twitter comments is hilarious.

R271 you love seeing people injure their ankles when they're about to win, causing them to lose? OK gurl. It's sad that you hate a player so much you enjoy seeing them injured. I never enjoy seeing players get injured. I enjoy seeing players I dislike to be healthy and defeated. Pliskova got very lucky

She's too heavy to slide .... and pop goes the ankle!

R282 It's sad that Serena is such a narcissistic monster and a cheat that people are compelled to hate her that much.

R282 I wasn't watching (just following the score on my phone) and didn't know she was injured. So there's that.

The record will always be mine!

Hardcore Serena fans that only care about her and not tennis are sooo butthurt lol.

The Serena hate is strong. She wasn't even cunty today and she gave a nice handshake but everyone still piles on calling her a fat, old bitch who should rot in hell.

R287 happens with hardcore Federer fans too

Federer and Serena are nearing 40. Why are people surprised they arent dominating like they used to?

Raonic already up 3-0

Interesting that Serena gets injured at 5-1 in the third when her next opponent would have been Osaka. I'm thinking she wasn't feeling the rematch or the possibility she might lose and not have a chair umpire to blame.

Didn't she do something very similar before facing Sharapova at the FO last year? Hmmmmmmmm.

R286, Who is that lady?

Do you honestly think Serena is afraid to play Sharapova???

R292 yeah you're a real smart one. That's right. Serena made sure to reach match point and then tank the match away at a grand slam because she's scared to play Osaka.

R293 Rev. Margaret Court

Thanks R296

Raonic's shorts make him look huskier than normal. Reminds me of a chubby boy from the 80's wearing these shorts:

“I got an email that I was entered in Indian Wells so I guess that’s what I’m doing.” Lol Serena don’t give a fuck right now

Serena: "My ankle seems to be fine. I don't usually know until the next day. I think she just played lights out on match points, hitting lines."

"She just played unbelievable on match points." #AusOpen

Serena is trending worldwide and not Pliskbot . Why?

"I like to kind of just tough it out," Serena said on not calling the trainer.

Serena is repeatedly crediting Pliskova for playing well, downplaying the injury.

"I literally did everything I could on those match points...I can't say that I choked on those match points. She literally played her best tennis ever on those shots." -Serena. #AusOpen

Well, she's being very gracious here.

Maybe her fatass is trying to finally get her huge whiny ego in check. Good for her if that's the case.

F304 or your just obsessed with attacking her.

R305 calls it.

r305 Serena stan frau. Maybe if you were one of the ball boys/girls she's attacked over the last twenty years you wouldn't be licking her cunt

Anna Wintour was in her box. She jinxed Federer, too.

Not a Serena fan but kind of cringing a bit for her. These losses have got to sting (especially with so little time left to win the other two slams). Also I just hate Pliskova and her arrogance and her boring game and her not-so-closeted gay opportunistic husband. Concheater Martinez was also pretty cunty back in the day.

I feel like Naomi is a bit too early to just win two slams (and got very lucky Su Wei was about to beat her and choked dramatically!). A Czech final would be so boring, and Danielle Collins is Coco Vandeweghe on steroids. So i'm gonna need Petra Kvitova to win this slam and the #1 ranking.

In Serena's favour, the way she's moving (eg not well) she might be better on the slower Roland Garros courts, and obviously at Wimbledon where her serve is a bigger advantage.

R307 I don't recall her ever yelling at ball boys/girls. At umpires and Shino yes but not children.

r310 Aah yes, my bad, her verbal harassment of line judges and umpires....better?

Please let there be another Serena/Sharadopa match before either of them retires.

I can't decide whether I should be horrified that Serena was wearing pantyhose on court...or if I should be grateful that it helped hide those nasty fat cellulite-riddled legs.

Fucking pantyhose? Seriously?

I urge everyone to read Seerna Williams's response in the press conference and not her stupid overzealous fans responses who are calling umpire /lineman racist and misogynist . They are blaming umpire/lineman for Serena's injury . they are saying that was not foot fault Read Serne 's repsonse . She is being extremily graciosus here. She is not blaimng injury or or thatt foot fault call

She is totally giving credit to Pliskova . Not baling injiry or foot fault call

Ignore those stupid people . It is not good for your mental health and will turn you into a rabid hater.

DSL!

Sorry - ESL.

R313 It's for compression isn't it? I thin a lot of players have used that over the years (Kiki Bertens did when she was injured, for example).

r314 I'm pretty sure that Serena and her behavior last year prove she's just like those people on twitter saying the ump's are racist anti-women bigots. She's probably worried about her brand after that nightmare meltdown she had.

SERENA WILLIAMS: No, I think she just played well on my serve after that point. I think she just kind of started playing really, really good. I don't think it had anything to do with my ankle, per se. I just think she was just nailing and hitting shots.

Am I suddenly in the upside down? Who is this person?!

"She literally played her best tennis ever on those shots." Well, this was a little cunty.

pliskova’s husband is not so closeted and gay? News to me - and he could get it any day of the week !!

Nothing will ever be gayer than Justine Henin's first husband. You may need to be treated for exposure to severe heterosexual chemistry after looking at this photo.

why the fuck did she wear that horrible outfit? Is she blind?

She rolled her ankle coz she is too fat!

R322, what’s he doing hanging out with Haley Joel Osment in a wig?

Every time I hear Patrick McEnroe say "Pouille" I think he's saying "Puig"!

does she own a mirror?

Did she put on more weight since US open? She's really out of shape, she needs to get fitter if she wants to win more titles.

Porcine

Porcine

Pouille looks like a hotter Bradley Cooper no?

Porcine.

Th-th-that's all folks!

When Pliskova was 1/5 down and down match point I was about to write " Pliskbot collapse is complete ' Then suddenly I was urgently called by my neighbor's wife. And I went out for 30/35 minutes

By the time I returned to my room Serena Williams collapse was complete.

Speaking of collapses, how did Raonic lose that first set

[quote] Then suddenly I was urgently called by my neighbor's wife. And I went out for 30/35 minutes

Did she borrow some sugar or did you fuck? Or both?

No, her husband was beating her since morning I was tempted to intervene for hours. However when I offcially she asked for help I went t o her home

R334, Alsoi I dont fuck women . i like mens booty

No. Those are not compression tights. They are fishnet stockings which she wore for "fashion". If only she paid the same attention to her game.

Her tummy looks so weird...

[quote] . i like mens booty

Whose do you like?

This is what happens when you have too many "yes" people around you. You look like shit but nobody tells you.

Any ATP booty will do. Even Sasha's flat one too

R32, he looks like vasek pospilsil.

Speaking of Popsicle, here he is on a hospital bed.

Serena is being gracious. After the ankle twist, her serve completely changed. Night and day.

I don’t like her outfit either but having seen her in it in person, these pictures don’t do her justice. She looks much thinner in person than these photos suggest.

One big push from Pouille in this game could do it. It's good to see him back in this form after 18 months in the wilderness. Amelie's Lesbian Magic seems to be working.

She isn't thin. She is fat for a pro!

Judy's stepson lost in doubles

Raonic takes the third set tiebreak! Could we see another epic French choke?

Kudos to Raonic . He faced so many break points in the third set . Still managed to play great in those break points. Also he was robbed a crucial point at 6-5 due to stupid line call and line umpire but he held his nerves and complexly vanquished Lucas in the tiebreaker

I cursed him!

R350, Whom? Why?

I cursed Pouille with my comment at [R345]

I've never seen Pouille return so well against a big server. This is insane!

Fucking Pouille in the SF after doing NOTHING for a year

I guess we can pencil in Djokovic vs. Nadal now for the final

Poo-hey!

Pouille won. He was all over Raonic’s serve and volley obsession.

[quote] I guess we can pencil in Djokovic vs. Nadal now for the final

Is that you, Chrissie?

Was Anna Wintour in Raonic's box? Where can we send her next?

Maybe I didn't curse him after all. So stoked for Pouille after so much time in the wilderness. The talent's always been there.

Poo-hey looks so much better without the cap.

oh wow Pouille should keep his hair down. When he pushes it back he reveals a receding hairline. He'll be Dimitrov-status in a couple years

well at this point I'd love a Nishikori or Pouille vs. Tsitsipas final but that's unlikely

looks like the big 4 has become the big 2 but those 2 still dominate

It's a good advertisement for former female players as coaches. - Navratilova led Henin to her first Wimbledon final in her early years when she was barely a factor on the tour yet, - Mauresmo leading Andy Murray to slams/#1 and getting Pouille his best result of his career, - Pliskova always playing her best tennis under Rennae Stubbs (and now Conchita Martinez) - Conchita Martinez leading Muguruza to Wimbledon title and Doha final, those are the only two tournaments they worked together in.

The main one who flopped was Davenport with Keys.

Amelie Mau is wearing a scrunchie.

Can we arrange gofundme for John Mc to finish his interview early? Where is Jim C when you need him?

aww look at Lucas praising Mauresmo's coaching ability. That's lovely

John McEnroe looks like a tool with his backwards cap.

Pam Shriver should coach Raonic

[quote]Mauresmo leading Andy Murray to slams/#1

No Misery won alll his three grand slam under Ivan's coaching .

lol just heard the stat that male French players have gone 0-9 in their last slam SF matches. Can Pouille break that trend?

[quote] John McEnroe looks like a tool with his backwards cap.

He said he did it in honor of Pouille.

Maursemo - she looka lika man.

[quote] Pam Shriver should coach Raonic

Thanks for the recommendation, but with Milos' good looks, I don't think I could contain myself!

R362, Conchita Martinez regularly used to be in Garbine 's box during Mugu ‘s first French Open win in 2016. So even though she was not officially coaching Garbine then. she was still giving her important tips to win French open.

For Pam Shriver

After struggling throughout 2018 and considering taking a few months off, just like that Pouille is in his first slam semi-final and back into the top 20 at #17

Three first-time Slam semifinalists at #AusOpen for the second year in a row.

2018: Mertens, Edmund, Chung

2019: Collins, Tsitsipas, Pouille

Poohey??!!

[quote] For Pam Shriver

Stop it! I'm already quivering...down there.

[quote] Poohey??!!

Yes, Poo-hey. You have a problem with that, bud?

The wikipedia page for this AO has been defaced for like 30 minutes and someone penciled Poohey in the final!

There are few rabid Lucas fans on twitter. It may be one of them.

Maria is fan of Titsy youtube channel

Petros just retweeted this

LMFAO OF COURSE NISHIKORI RETIRES AGAN

pathetic. I'm over Kei. He always does this shit. Goes long with everyone in the early rounds and comes up lame when it matters against the big boys

[quote] someone penciled Poohey in the final!

Chris Evert is busy I see.

Can we take a moment to note that Conchita Martinez' record as a coach/co-coach at Grand Slams with Muguruza and Pliskova is 16-1 !!

This is what Kei gets for those idiotic early 5 setters. I love him but he shouldn't get the losers prize money for that QF round.

I bet Pablo Carreno Busta is LIVID that he pulled out after all that.

Conchita got the pussy magic

If either Titsy or Poohey wins his semi, I personally will fly to Melbourne to blow him.

Now r388, no one likes Missy Pushy. It’s manners to be asked!

[quote]Can we take a moment to note that Conchita Martinez' record as a coach/co-coach at Grand Slams with Muguruza and Pliskova is 16-1 !!

And Conchita is such a lazy lezzie that she coaches them lying on a mattress only using her cane!

Australian Open wins before the 2019 edition:

Djokovic - 61 (6 titles)

Nadal - 55 (1 title)

Tsitsipas - 0

Pouille - 0

R362 Navratilova coached Henin?! What?!

Amélie Mauresmo was also Marion Bartoli's co-coach (with Marion's father) when Marion won Wimbledon!

R392 Yes, it didn't last too long but they were quite successful. Navratilova also coached Aga Radwanska briefly (to some success), but they split quite soon after. I think she can be very 'tough' as a coach lol. Which is no surprise because she's always brutal in her commentary and doesn't give them many compliments.

Henin herself is currently Yastremska's coach. Clijsters is working with Elise Mertens in some capacity. Hingis helped improve Bencic's game a few times.

R393 i'd forgotten that! And I remember she and Marion's father had some sort of dramas. Some of the creepy father-daughter relationships DESPERATELY need another coach in there - Bartoli was one, Giorgi is another one currently, and even Wozniacki won the YEC and a slam after partnering with Sacha Baijin and promptly firing him - but it's always going to be a tricky dynamic to work with a family like that..

Henin was coached by Carlos Rodriguez. I have never heard anything about her being coached by Navratilova. Please provide some proof of this.

Actually the other Caro with an overbearing father, Caroline Garcia could seriously use someone stepping in. Her game has seriously stagnated, and when he comes out for on-court coaching he just yells at her while she looks ahead nervously. She already has all the tools (massive groundstrokes, one of the better serves on tour, great movement, doubles-GS-winning netplay) but her poor tactics and mental unclutchness have cost her a lot of wins. I'd love to see Amelie or someone work with her and bring her back to the top.

R395 it was in a few of my tennis magazines back in the day. Struggling to find a link now though that confirms it, but it was pre-internet news coverage. There were photos of them on a training court together, perhaps it was more Navratilova overlooking her training in some capacity (she later criticised the fitness trainer Justine was working with).

Henin also briefly coached Svitolina. I wonder why both her students have been Ukranian players.

I know Navratilova has said some positive things about Henin in the past and they've played together in charity matches so they're friendly but I'm really having trouble believing Martina coached Justine at any point.

I'm a huge Henin fan so like to think this wouldn't be the first I'd heard of it. So much has been made of her relationship with Rodriguez, it's absurd no-one would have mentioned Navratilova coaching her. Sorry R397 but I think you might be misremembering.

R398 I might be misremembering the importance of the role. Maybe she wasn't there in an official coaching capacity, but rather just a guest during some training sessions analysing Henin's game and offering advice. There was definitely a photo! But I may be wrong.

I forgot another recent GS winning coach, Anabel Medina Garrigues helped Ostapenko throughout that clay season eventually culminating in a French Open win, but after being treated like shit and (again) having dramas with the family, she departed from the team.

Also Renee Richards (the infamously transgender female tennis player of the 70s) coached Navratilova herself to some of those Wimbledon victories.

Obviously there are some female non-players who have been great coaches... Oracene Price did a lot of work while Richard was out hunting for women younger than his daughters, as well as Hingis' own mother. Plus Jelena Gengic discovered and was an early coach for Monica Seles, Novak Djokovic, Goran Ivanišević, Iva Majoli, and others...

Mandela effect

Pliskova's husband pings to high heaven....i bet she wears the strap on in that relationship

He's hot. Good for her. And nice that she does catch and release.

[quote] Conchita Martinez regularly used to be in Garbine 's box

Now that I believe, r373.

[quote] Conchita Martinez regularly used to be in Garbine 's box

So do I.

Pliskobot's husband was extremely excited last night after she won (a shitload of money)

Serenas fans are the most aggressive, annoying fans out there. She lost cause she was injured and no credit given to Pliskova? Its sport, shit happens. Most of them dont care about tennis anyway and just watch for Serena. When she retires, good riddance to them.

R406 I made the mistake of discussing Serena's US Open meltdown on twitter with a friend. I suggested she was wrong to have behaved like that and I was getting replies for weeks afterward from absolute strangers. I'd not used any hashtags or tagged anyone but these insane Serena fans accused me of everything they could think of. It was crazy.

R407 All celebrities have kooky fans but the logic and reasoning Serena's rabid fans use is truly baffling.

Pliskova's husband definitely pings. It's not just the overly tweezed/plucked look, the bitchy and cliquey way he behaves in her box, or the homoerotic vibe between him and her fitness coach. But the way he clings to successful women is EXACTLY like Pierre-Yves Hardenne. This is when he was trying to cling to Kvitova before leaving her for Karolina.

Which was only 1 month after he'd had a baby with some Czech TV presenter.

This is him with some guys and girls while Pliskova was in Wimbledon.

Straight!!!!

Is that you, Martina Hingis at r371?....

Having a baby and dating/marrying multiple attractive women = pinging and possibly gay

R409 That's not Kvitova

Wait, maybe it is. The hair and off lighting make it look like someone else though. Apologies.

Anyone has his phone number? Asking for a friend.

Bring him to me

Hi R294! Do you remember how Serena playing just before and at the FO last year? You don't? Well, Utter Garbage. She absolutely withdrew because she faced Sharapova in the next round and, to be fair, just returning from extended maternity leave, had no shot at beating her. Call it fear, cowardice, wisdom, whatever. She knew she would lose and withdrew rather than dare nullify her solemn vow to never lose to that b--- again.

*was playing

[quote] just returning from extended maternity leave

?

her daughter was born in August 2017...she took a few months off for maternity leave...came back at the Australian and played like crap for a long while....what's to understand

Thanks, R422. I didn’t realize she’d had a baby.

[quote]I didn’t realize she’d had a baby.

She didn't take her baby to Australia because she was afraid a dingo might eat it

yes, baby was actually born Sept. 1. IMO she hasn't been at the same top form she was since before getting pregnant and has struggled with fitness since then - but she got much better the last half of 2018.

What's this shit about Serena having a baby? Are you fucking insane? When did this happen?

Sorry, meant to sign that from R422

Conchita worked even last year (for a brief period of time) with Garbiñe. They have a good relationship and Conchita always says nice things about her even Garbiñe didn't support her when she was unceremoniously fired as captain of Davis and Fed cup teams.

The way Garbiñe treats her coach is not exactly polite, of course she is far from being the only one.

If Tsitsipas is able to defeat Rafa, or even better to win the whole thing, Zverev will probably publish a porn video with his girlfriend. People keep telling how promising he is, but he will get the cold shoulder if he keeps losing before the semis. A lot of players start winning GS later, but most of them show glimpses of potential at Slams first. Nole didn't became a dominant player till 24, but he reached regularly the last rounds (and even winning Australia before).

There is a large section of devoted Serena fans that don't give a shit about tennis and just watch for her. Whenever they say anything about the game its hilarious and embarrassing cause they know shit about it all. They wont be missed when she retires.

I'm watching it now and Serena is still hitting the ball well...I don't know how she fucking lost it at 5-1??

Just watched the Serena Pliskova game. The American announcers were disgusting trying to explain away Serena’s collapse. Mary Joe was particularly bad. Serena’s game was the same throughout. It looked to me Pliskova’s game was the one that ebbed and flowed. Kudos to her...

R431 you didn’t get the memo. If Serena loses she is either i) cheated, or ii) injured, or iii) both cheated and injured.

Always.

Or had a baby, R432. Does that count as injured?

Serena deserved to lose for that get up alone. I mean, fish net stockings on a tennis court? Oy.......

MJ Fernandez is Serena's biggest apologist. She acts like she 'coached' her to the 2012 Olympic gold in London because she was coach of the US Women's team. She's married to Fed's agent and she's an insufferable bore.

It's nauseating how they all talk about Serena like she is the second coming, like we should feel grateful that Serena played a match that we peons were allowed to behold. But no one ever mentions that she is the meanest player ever in a sport not known for its congeniality and charm. Only player that even comes close is Sharapova. Or that she does cheat. I can't understand if it's because they want to support the American in the game at all costs or they just want to kiss her a--. Either way, May Jo can go and stop pretending she didn't get this job because of her husband and so can Pam Shriver - they were both boring on court and are even more boring off. And take the other blonde lady who I doubt ever even played tennis. They hired her for her attractive all-American face, and now she is getting old. So bye!

I agree with - R436 - a lot of what you say about the announcers but Serena and Venus were treated like shit when they came on the scene. Not that that's an excuse but still

And to her credit, Serena did not blame her injury, but lauded Pliskova for her superior play....

R437 I get it, you have a good point - but do they think they are making up for the sins of the past? Because they aren't. Perhaps they instead should try addressing the racism throughout tennis and how minority players are treated poorly instead of being sycophants.

As for Serena, if she is being gracious at all now, I have a feeling it has to do with the bad press after Osaka. I don't buy it for one second, doesn't erase two decades of bad behavior.

so you hate Serena and she lost yet you keep talking about her...

#obsessed

Ugh. Doubles.

For a Japanese, Nishikori has no shame in just giving up.

R440 For a good portion of my life, I was obsessed with tennis. Not so much anymore, but I still love the game. I have never been obsessed with Serena, but as a true tennis fan, how do you not get caught up with what's going on with the game and its players? Sorry, not sorry, for having hobbies and interests outside of work and my family. Try some.

Titsy, goddamit!

i realize that I should be rooting for Collins as the underdog American, but there's something so off-putting about her that I just can't.

Same here. I'm hoping for an Osaka v. Kvitova final.

On the men's side I'm hoping for a Titsy v. Poohey final, although I seriously doubt that will happen.

Closing the roof will hopefully benefit Kvitova.

I just want Collins to win some other titles first before a slam. We already have Ostapenko who is currently in a slump and so far she's only won 1 other title after RG.

Kuerten also won his first title at RG but of course went on to win a lot of others after that.

Collins needs to shut the fuck up.

Guga

[quote] Collins needs to shut the fuck up.

Bud Collins is dead, dear.

Enough with the fuckin commercial about how great Melbourne is! That and the Rolex commercials are the worst.

Collins is a cunt.

R453 Agreed, wow, what a fucking harpy! (Also I thought way back that Taylor Townsend had lost a bit bit of weight? She looks about the same as Serena now (though Serena has way more muscle).

Praying that Collins just become unraveled now

She could use some self-awareness.

When total frauish cunt behavior is described by Pam Shriver as "feisty." Sure, bitch.

Not watching right now. What did Collins do?

haha i think the fat guy has to go to the bathroom.

Got down 1-5 in the tiebreak and took it out on the chair ump.

Nothing really out of the ordinary from her. Petra though is POJD'ing like crazy. She's loud too.

"Poor Carlos in women's matches"

Serena-level umpire abuse, or just being mouthy?

If it were Serena Williams who is bitching at Ramos like this, he would have taken the set from her by now.

[quote] If it were Serena Williams who is bitching at Ramos like this, he would have taken the set from her by now.

I doubt it.

Collins has a similar temperament to Capriati lol I really want to see Collins play Sharapova, Putintseva and Strycova this year. Those will be hilarious matches

Serena fans coming to the uncomfortable realization that Carlos Ramos is a stickler for the rules not a racist who hates mothers like Serena.

She's just constantly bitching and claiming that she's being treated differently. There were some problems with the let cord beeping for no reason- she's saying that the umpire didn't give her the point when she served the ball IN but gave her a fault when she served the ball out.

But that actually makes sense because the beep comes AFTER she serves and BEFORE Kvitova returns. So the difference actually makes sense.

They showed the beep going off before the ball crossed the net.

The thing was beeping as she was serving, Ramos was in the wrong on that one.

DL=Shino right now

Collins is the oldest-looking 25yo. She looks like a 40something soccer mom.

Collins has active and resting bitch face. Plus, it looks like she's wearing diaper

So glad Petra's acne cleared up.

The beeper, Carlos, and Petra's ground strokes have collaborated to end Collins.

But, that's tennis for you: sometimes there may be minor mistakes that benefit you and sometimes they will be to your detriment. If she can't process it relatively quickly and will allow it to completely derail her, she doesn't have the maturity nor does she deserve to be in the final of a major. She's not a 16 year-old; she's been playing the professional tour for over a year.

This is the most engaged I've seen Petra play in a long time.

Just played it back on the PVR - you're right, the beep seemed to happen both times as she was actually serving. So she was actually in the right about that one. (Sigh, I hate to admit it because she's being SO BITCHY but I try not to let that sway my objectivity.)

Collins does have a face that could advertise war though.

That being said, we were calling her a harpy BEFORE that incident because she was whining about something ELSE "That happened 300 times and I never get the point how come you're giving her the point" (something like that) and the second time was "Every time hit a good serve you... " (indistinguishable).

It's like a masterclass in how to win friends and influence people.

GOATra's ground strokes are so good!!!!!! Dropping those thirty pounds did wonders for her.

I half-expect to see MAGA hats in Collins' box.

If I'm being honest, I don't find Collins' face ugly, it's really her expressions that disfigure it.

[quote]Praying that Collins just become unraveled now

She has shit the bed.

Petra has been the major factor, though not Collins' meltdown. And she absolutely destroyed Anisimova and Barty earlier.

Collins is going to be insufferable in her press conference later.

THANK GOD.

It was satisfying to see her get bageled.

at least Collins gives good handshakes when she loses

I love that Petra is close to claiming a slam title outside of Wimbledon.

Is it fair to say we just saw the nicest player on tour beat the biggest cunt on tour?

MJ is high if she thinks Collins won a lot of new fans.

To be fair to Collins, Maria is still the biggest cunt on tour

Basically I'm happy with whoever wins the title now.

Cocky Collins Collapse is Complete

Yay!

[quote]MJ is high if she thinks Collins won a lot of new fans.

She has such an ugly personality. She didn't have the crowd even when she was shitting the bed in the 2nd set. They weren't even encouraging her to get on the board. Says a lot.

[quote] Basically I'm happy with whoever wins the title now.

Same here.

I'd say 95% of the public hadn't heard of Collins before this tournament.

I want Osaka or Kvitova to win. Not a Pliskbot fan. Dull game and has gotten arrogant the last couple years. Don't forget when she hit the umpire chair last year that mysteriously didn't result in her being suspended. That was quite an aggressive act

FYI, Titsy v. Nadal will be on the main ESPN channel in the U.S., not ESPN2, at 3:30 Eastern.

Why is Patruick M on TV?

[quote] Why is Patruick M on TV?

Who knows? Best thing for him really. His therapy was going nowhere.

Osaka vs Kvitova would be fun.

R503 I was surprised to find they havent played eachother.

[quote]Why is Patruick M on TV?

He thinks he's the star. Can't wait until he coaches Tsitsipas tonight during the match and gets caught (again).

Patrick was quietly running his academy in Paris with players like Dimitrov, Pavlyuchenkova and Chardy until Serena trained there once and then decided to hire him. He's turned into such a fucking famewhore. He knows Serena won't be playing for that much longer so he's looking for a new superstar to latch onto. Tsitsipas has that Greek heritage connection so I'm not surprised.

6-2 so far. That's' right Osaka whoop that robot's ass

Who is the cute, dark haired guy sitting directly in front of Conchita Martinez in Pliskova's box? I might be wrong, but I think he was in Tiafoe's box as well, and I can't figure out who he is.

yay Naomi! now we got Naomi vs. Petra. I don't care who wins. Glad it won't be someone who sucks.

Bye Pliskbot! no luck for you today

Osaka!

What a high-quality semifinal for at least first two sets

Third set was also very good but there were more unforced errors from both players in that set

There is a huge improvement in Nadal's game is past 4/5 years. Same with Nole. Other players have not improved one bit. They are playing just like they were playing 5/ 10 years ago . in fact a bit worse.

And mental wise also they have not learned anything thing through their experience. If anything mentally they have gone worse.

With the intrduction of on curt clock, Nadal's game have become far more watchable. it is now entertaining . Earlier it was scuh a drag to see him take 45 /50 seconds between two serve not mention his ODC antics between serves .

His body is great . Only problem is his butterface. .

Thank god Pliskova lost.

R509 whoever wins the title will also become the new world number one.

I remember years ago when Kvitova had the chance to become No. 1 if she made it to the second week in AO or something like that. Of course she didn’t.

Okay it was not in AO. According to her Wikipedia:

“At the Apia International Sydney, Kvitová lost in the last four to Li Na. Had she won the tournament, she would have been the new world No. 1, but pressure blocked her.”

Kvitova's improved fitness has allowed her to be more consistent and that's really improved her level of play.

Osaka has also gotten fitter and is moving better so her consistency has gone up too. She's also able to think better when she has periods of spraying the ball (like in the second set today) so she can recover her form.

On the other hand Keys has stalled. She hits harder than Osaka but has not won any big titles. She hits herself out of matches.

nice recovery for Tsitsipas to get out of that 0-40 game with a hold

Nadal looks so locked-in.

I agree that Petra's fitness has made the difference. Speaking of Madison Keys, i've never seen someone who would so clearly benefit from a coach as she would from hiring Sacha Bajin (if he ever split with Naomi). As a former hitting partner his whole thing is coaching players to hit with more power but also much more consistency to make sure they can come out on top in the long rallies, and developing a plan B, C, and D when things aren't working. He's also given his players a big mental edge that got them to win big titles and play more clutch (Azarenka, Serena, Wozniacki, Osaka).

Madison already has the fierce power and isn't the *most* terrible mover considering she's always injured. But with his tactical play and giving her consistency in rallies she might be unstoppable.

well Tsitsipas had a great slam run like Tiafoe but like Tiafoe, he's just not ready right now to defeat Nadal. Nadal is so consistent and so speedy that you have hit multiple winners almost every point to get the ball out of his reach.

We can look forward to yet another Nadal vs. Djokovic grindfest...

Ohhh Lord

And you guys were chiding me for eating that bagele .

I really think Nadal is in slam winning form. Which is good if so because then maybe him AND Djokovic can catch the old man.

I totally agree with the earlier poster who said he (or she) had never seen Kvitova play like she wanted to win so badly. I'm sure part of that was because Collins is such a cunt.

So Tiafoe actually did better against Nadal, winning a total of nine games, than did Tsitsipas, who won six games. With Tsitsipas out I've lost interest in which man wins the title, but it will likely be Nadal, who has yet to lose a set. Zzzzzzzz....

Oi r526! What about me!

Tsitsipas's forehand got him to the semis, that backhand was always a liability when it comes to the ways in what Nadal can do with it.

^^comes to what Nadal can do with it.

Yes, Ducky/R527, you won a total of 12 games against Nadal, the most of any player in the 2019 AO so far. Congrats!

Yeah, r528, Rafa really knows how to exploit a one-handed backhand.

Did you guys see MacEnroe ask Nadal to rip his shirt off like Tiafoe?

The old perv was then banging about bursting in on Nadal naked in the locker room. Nasty.

Mary Pierce at the AO after a short ceremony on court with Li Na for their Hall of Fame inductions. She looks really beautiful. Has obviously gained some weight in the 10+ years since retiring but aside from that she looks healthy and happy.

Never seen Nadal play better. He is on the attack.

Nadal is going to overtake Federer's GS total easily. Djokovic also has a chance if he wins another 2 GS this year.

I don't think it's going to be all that easy for Nadal to overtake Federer's total Slams. He has only won 1 non-RG slam since 2013. If he doesn't pick up titles at the other 3, then he'll have to play (and win) another 4 French titles. I don't see him lasting that long, and someone will beat him. If he doesn't win the AO now, as well as he has played, I think his chance for the record his done. The field is getting better and he is getting older. I think Djokovic has a better chance for the record because he's won more outside his most prolific Slam.

Nadal is the worst player a rookie can face on a GS. And that when he is average, when he is on fire like on this AO he is a nightmare.

Tsitsipas made an amazing tournament, but his game is not the best to fight against Nadal (i think Stefanos admires him but i think he'll be glad with Rafa retires).

Osaka is becoming the real deal. She has the power but she has the brains too.

And about Serena and Venus, it's totally true that they were not well treated when they started, but that was probably because Richard had a big mouth and keep telling everybody his girls were the best way before they won anything at all. Their bratty behaviour didn't help either

Watched the Nadal match on catch-up. The camera lingered long enough at the change over to catch his bottle placement routine. Lord he’s OCD personified. All the serving ticks make him a very unpleasant player to watch. No ignoring his talent on a court but my he’s mental illness on legs.

[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.]

"I'm going to make some people jealous here. I've got to be honest, at the end of the second set I had to take a quick bathroom break,' McEnroe began.

'I was finishing taking this very quick bathroom break when all of a sudden I started to walk out and I saw a naked Rafael Nadal in the bathroom.'

'What was your impression?' Nadal asked.

'I thought to myself, that looks a lot like my body. No. Absolutely lying about that. I said to myself, I wish I had a body like that.'

Online, fans were quick to point out the questions' odd nature, with some labelling him 'obsessed' and 'disrespectful'.

Thanks for posting that interview, r534. Yeah, it's so nice to see Mary Pierce happy, especially given her abusive father. A couple interesting things from the interview: Martina seemed to say that Pierce hits harder than Seles (I would have thought they hit equally hard) and Pierce talked about having the time after her injury to pursue new things, but the interviewer didn't ask what those things are. Anyone know what Pierce is currently doing?

Was TitsNass up all night vlogging?

I thought Pierce was a born again Christian these days.

Seems like Mac is obsessed with Nadal's bod. I would've of loved it if he said "that is one fine ass!"

[quote] Richard had a big mouth and keep telling everybody his girls were the best way before they won anything at all.

That uber-basketball dad (Levon Bell?) reminds me of Richard.

[quote] Anyone know what Pierce is currently doing?

All I know is it probably involves lesbianing.

Who should be the cover boy or the next and final thread?

Anna Wintour has recovered from Federer's Uniqlo sportwear and made a statement about gay marriage.

Anna W. was also at last night's Kvitova match with Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban

Tragic when the 'show people' end up hogging the camera time.

Rafa!

McEnroe should be banned from going within ten feet of a microphone.

Is Mac shading Courier when he does these interviews?

[quote] Richard Pryor

Now or then?

[quote]'I was finishing taking this very quick bathroom break when all of a sudden I started to walk out and I saw a naked Rafael Nadal in the bathroom.'

You're right R546, except Richard Williams's kids had the goods to back up his bluster...and Lavar Ball's don't.

R557: Yes, he was right about both, but disrespecting rivals (when you didn't win anything yet) is a very stupid thing to do.

Venus and Serena had the type of personalities that deal well with all that, but that kind of behavious could royally screw the chances of a shy type of player. The french are expects on frustrate all their good prospect putting a lot of pressure on them when they are clearly not ready to deal with it.

Gasquet and Nadal were at the same level all their junior years, and even made similar impact on the circuit at first (both defeated Federer at the early stages of their careers), but Nadal did things the right way, climbing his way to the top 100 playing itf tournaments, while Gasquet received a lot of wc to big tournaments (where a pair of victories made their ranking rise fast). Then a bunch of injuries (Nadal suffered them too), too much pressure and a not so confident personality and everybody knows how the story ended.

There's a video of both playing at Les petits as when they were 12, and it's pretty clear that with patience and less pressure Gasquet career's could be way better. I never saw in him the determination as a pro that he had when he was younger.

And going back to the Williams, even their fans (specially Serena's) tend to be annoying as hell, i think the perception of them changed a lot through the years. Venus behaviour has nothing to do with the brattiness from the beginning, and Serena has a brawl from time to time, but she can be very funny too. Like other legends (Navratilova is a perfect example) tennis fans weren't fair with them at the beginning but ended liking them a lot

Poo-hey.

Nole

I hope Nole wins. Poulille would be destroyed on the final.

And even this being Australia (which clearly works in Nole's favour) i think Nadal will win

Gleb

Nole’s always been a good sport and never once displayed diva tendencies.

I don't know if anyone mentioned this yet and during the match last night it was primetime so couldnt post but....

I really WANT to like Naomi Osaka - and I do - but I gotta say, her incessant "come ons" after every point she won reminded me of Ana Ivanovic and I HATED when Ivanovic acted like that. It's extremely obnoxious - I don't think she does it as a disrespect to the other player, but goddamn its fucking annoying. There, I said it.

R558 Very good points about Gasquet and Nadal. I didn't know a lot of what you said about his coming up through the ranks, and I never realized the pressure on him, but he truly is one of the most naturally gifted players who didnt realize his potential. But I always love watching and imo he has the "most beautiful" game to watch, if that makes sense.

I'm not a big fan of the Williams family but I give Richard all the credit in the world. You are right, he took risks in the way he managed and marketed his daughters, taking perhaps not the best approach, but as a parent and in this very elite whitewashed, I am guessing he did what he thought was right at the time for his kids. I just wish Serena's off camera self matched her on camera persona a bit more, but at the end of the day, she doesn't owe anyone anything.

At R563, Djokovic looks like he has more bulk at six and a half than now.

R564 I think she's just kind of mimicking Serena (who she frequently mentions as her idol), perhaps without even realising it. She never used to do that many 'come ons' until her breakthrough last year at the US Open. I also find her a little annoying. The way everyone obsesses over her 'oh-so-awkward-and-so-REAL' persona in interviews is pretty strange as well. It's such an affected and whiny vocal cadence. I work with people about her age and they ALL talk like that. This is the Youtube generation.

I remember when she won Indian Wells, Daria Kasatkina (who is obviously ESL) gave her gracious runner up speech, thanking everyone including the ballkids, tournament people, encouraging young people watching to follow their dreams and never give up. She told Naomi congratulations, "you were amazing, i'm sure you're going to get many more titles' etc. and even put in a warm personal joke about how she wished she saw Naomi's tweener in the match (earlier in the week WTA had released a sweet video of Kasatkina teaching her the shot).

Naomi who is the same age and speaks English as a first language got up there to give her winners speech and was like "omg this is going to be the worst speech eva!!!! I'm SO bad in front of crowds.... um... thanks!"

I'm not sure what is so charming about her? Even the way she plays - I like her aggressive game though but it's all just power hitting from the baseline... she's just a counterpuncher with heavy pace. Even the other hitters of her generation like Sabalenka come to the net or mix it up every once in a while.

The maturity and grace with which she handled the awful situation thrusted upon her in the US Open final endeared her to many.

Osaka comes across as very sweet but also possibly retarded.

To be honest, a lot of North American kids of her age come across as such. I know - I work with them, teaching 18-20 year olds at a university.

Osaka seems like a real introvert.

So I watched Collins post match interview and she didn't really seem so bad and she looks pretty with her hair down and smiling. It's like a totally different person.

I'm about as good now as 6 year old Novak was then

Osaka is still quite immature. Or she acts like it. She has that Japanese 'act cute' thing going...

[quote] Osaka comes across as very sweet but also possibly retarded.

Quite.

New thread. Continue your foolishness.

For the posters bashing Osaka for saying "c'mon!" a lot these days, do you get annoyed at Nadal's "vamos!" or Wawrinka and Anderson yelling "cmon!" a lot when they never used to? It helps certain players get more intense so that's why they do it.

Djokovic is a player who had an "I've already made it" attitude when he first came on tour too. He's never been a fan favorite since (except for the brief period when he did player imitations)

If Djokovic had never become a slam champion I think he'd be 1 of the most hated players on tour for his attitude. He's chosen to become more gracious for PR reasons

Federer would be the most hated player on the tour because of his attitude if he hadn't been that successful. He's one of the most fake and arrogant players on the ATP tour. Just look for excerpts from his matches before he won that first Wimbledon and the PR machine took him under their wing.

Unless you are on the tour or closely associated with someone who is, that is a stupid post at r577. By all accounts, he is liked and respected.

[quote] For the posters bashing Osaka for saying "c'mon!" a lot these days, do you get annoyed at Nadal's "vamos!" or Wawrinka and Anderson yelling "cmon!"

I prefer it with the apostrophe.

[quote]If Djokovic had never become a slam champion I think he'd be 1 of the most hated players on tour for his attitude. He's chosen to become more gracious for PR reasons

Possibly. Or maybe he just grew up. Most of us are at our absolute most self-centered at that age. Most teenagers think they have all the answers, and once you mature you realize what an idiot you were when you were young.

[quote] He's chosen to become more gracious for PR reasons

Most notably by using the boobs out gesture.

Wow R577, really? Please give some examples, because I have only heard the opposite. Sure, he is arrogant but a lot of that is just stating facts which are on his side. But most people, from different sports, like him, respect him, and say he is a nice person.

Is Djokovic the skinniest guy on the tour?

[quote] Is Djokovic the skinniest guy on the tour?

Currently I’d say yes. A few years ago Frank could’ve given him some competition.

Herbert could give Djokovic some competition for skinniest too

I'm not going to search for the posts, but there have definitely been allegations that Federer is the worst kind of mercenary prima donna, refusing to budge unless his every demand is met and he is paid exorbitant amounts for appearances, etc. I don't think it's a secret that he's a bit of a stuffed shirt to boot.

Murray used to be very skinny too. Lendl whipped him into shape and the outcome is quite remarkable.

yes, he (RF) tried to change his session to night at US OPEN, they said NO.

And this makes him a horrible person R588?

I’ve been campaigning for a different phrase....c’mon is tired. What about Let’s go! I do like Vamos! Andiamo is too long. Let’s take a poll on this one.

R589, yes. He was scheduled to be in the morning during the super hot days last year. His team kept asking to change to night...He thought he was special and deserved special treatment. CUNT

Why you say vamos. Say allez!

Anderson team

[quote] Andiamo is too long.

Troia pompinara!

Great shot!

Pickle!

Pickle?

R590 "let's go" is corny to me but Murray sometimes yells that

[R597] Everyone's juicin' with Pickle at the AO!

New thread. Thread IV.