French Open 2019

Thank you for the new thread, but I'm not optimistic on the jinx working. And if it does, it will probably deliver Djoko as the RG champion instead.

Last year's semifinalist Marco Cecchinato is out in five sets to veteran Nicolas Mahut. Cecchinato will drop from #19 to outside the top 40 (I don't think he has ever won a single Grand Slam match outside of Roland Garros).

Tennis Channel still claiming this Mahut-Cecchinato match is live when it's been over for 20 minutes.

[quote]And her big topsin-heavy forehand is very ATP and catches a lot of the girls by surprise.

69 yo girl here: she certainly caught me by surprise in the second round of the qualifier for Pelham back in Alabama! She got me to eat two bagels. Thankfully she had quite a few left for herself.

Boobs out Boob out

Hotty Fucsovics and Li'l Diego going to a fifth set.

I'm bored already. When does Wimbledon start?

R7 Curiously i find Wimbledon the most boring of all GS by far. I still have nightmares with that Sampras-Ivanisevic final, that was an ace after ace nightmare.

Felix injury is not serious, he will be fully recovered by the end of RG

Last year's Wimbledon also had an Isner-Anderson semi-final. :(

R9: Arggg. One of the good things of the big 3 (4) is that they were able to win Wimbledon playing good tennis

Anyone but Nole, please

I read an spanish tennis blog and i can't believe how annoying are some fans of the big 3 are, everytime i'm on that page i beg for a Thiem - Tsitsipas final

Even with a Sunday opening day, the crowds are pretty light on day one unless a French is playing.

Sloane through in 2 sets. She had to work for it

her mother has to be the prettiest tennis mother ever. Sloane is practically her mini-me

The French and Wimbledon have become a lot less exciting over the years. RG with its sluggish conditions, endless grinding/grunting, and obnoxious crowds. Wimbledon with its grim, shitty weather, boring servebotting, and courts that are completely destroyed by the end of the first week. Even though I think we get too much hard court tennis I find myself looking forward to the atmosphere of the US Open, the excitement of the night matches and the recent blockbusters we've seen there (Thiem v Nadal 2018, Venus v Kvitova 2017, etc.).

R14 Sloane's mother is beautiful and classy. She just has that look as if she has tonnes of money lol. Dayana Yastremska's young-looking mother is trying to become the tour's hottest MILF though (pictured in the middle here, was hard to find a good image).

ha well she has a good figure.

Venus got a rough draw-Svitolina on clay. No way was she going to win it. At least there was no bagel or breadstick

Mladenovic straight sets a countrywoman

I'm very surprised at grass and indoor specialist old man Mahut upsetting Cecchinato. That's 1 of the most unexpected results of day 1 for sure

R17 Svitolina was hungry for the win too after the time off. Her backhand was doing a lot of damage today, but she's still vulnerable and I don't see her making the second week. Venus was hitting with incredible pace (her average groundstroke pace must still be top 3 fastest on the tour) but obviously that arm/elbow is injured because her serve - formerly her biggest weapon - was her biggest liability. I think she broke Svitolina 5 or 6 times but could not hold on to her own serve. To break your opponent that many times and lose 3 and 3? Not good.

I agree that Mahut was a big surprise, especially because he came back from 2 sets down. What a thrill for him. I don't expect him to last long in the draw (the tank is probably already empty) but a lot of us thought that was a wasted wildcard, especially as he only really likes grass and has announced his retirement from singles multiple times. Cecchinato will drop 19 places down the rankings and potentially even more by the end of the tournament as others rise.

It wouldn't surprise me if this was Granny V's last French Open...she'll turn 39 in 3 weeks

[quote] and catches a lot of the girls by surprise

None of them catch me by surprise. They’re all...

[quote] Last year's Wimbledon also had an Isner-Anderson semi-final. :(

I abhor Isner, but I’m a fan of Anderson. I’m often on Anderson team.

I think it depends on if she plans to make it to Tokyo 2020. Points don't start counting until Wimbledon 2019 basically, and to get a spot she'd have to be one of the top 4 ranked American women. Not easy when you have Serena, Sloane, Madison Keys, Kenin, Collins, Anisimova, etc. Even Vandeweghe might come back eventually.

So she might play RG next year just to try rack up those points to make the cutoff (and probably go out with a bang, debuting one last clay outfit for her brand). She and Serena may even play the doubles.

Venus needs to get back into the top 32/seeding zone to avoid all these tough first round encounters. Even today she would have beaten a lot of other players in the draw. But she barely plays any tournaments so it's hard.

[quote] Even though I think we get too much hard court tennis I find myself looking forward to the atmosphere of the US Open

I agree about too much hard court tennis. Although I’ve been to the US Open several times, is by far my least favorite of the majors. Australian Open through Wimbledon my favorite part of the tennis year for me.

Brady-Jorovic and Sasnovich-Hercog got halted by darkness. I do wish RG would get some lights. If we already have a backlog on day 1, I imagine tomorrow when there's a fuller schedule it will be worse by day 3

Berrettini over Andujar in 5 in the eye candy match of the day

R24 I mean, I wouldn't call it a backlog. They suspended the match at 3 all in the third set. Last year was far worse.

R26 but if they're already adding 2 extra matches tomorrow, that will likely push things further behind

Hi gays!!! Guess who? I just got to Paris and for some strange reason there seems to be an abundance of male ass all over the city this year. Yum oh yum. More than usual that's for sure. I was having dinner with the ladies the night I arrived... just me, Billie Jean, Renee, Jamie, Martina, Sam and we were beside ourselves with all the hunk meat walking around. I cannot wait to set my eyes and hopefully sink my teeth into that raw sexual magnitude of hunk of hunks Carlo Suarez Navorro and his unnatural masculine power that just makes this girl weak in her knees. Oh the places I would not climb on that man. Hopefully all the hot guys get to the second week this so we girls can our money's worth. We who hit up the grand slams for the peen need to be rewarded after all. This year I'm gonna aim to beat my own record before the two weeks are over with. I'm feeling extra crazy this year gay! Talk soon..

My eyes just rolled into the back of my head.

I love you, R28.

Who is clay specialist?

Rafa can haz clay.

is he journeyman?

Why is that funny, R33?

it's one of the tennis threads inside jokes R34

Which is, R35?

WHET to Domi's bulge? Where it has gone? Did Kiki eat it?

Wise of FAA to sit this one out. At his age he's got the luxury of time to treat his body properly. He'll hoist that trophy soon enough...

^ sorry - 'he has the luxury of time ......'

[quote]WHET to Domi's bulge?

Domi's never shown much of a bulge, he's more stacked in the back

Anyway, he'll play Tommy Paul tomorrow

I don’t about bulge on Domicakes. I prefer backside.

What is the joke behind R31-R33?

[quote] there seems to be an abundance of male ass all over the city this year.

Which asses do you like Pam? Nadal? Thiem? Stanasslaw? Another’s?

It is ridiculous they haven't installed lights yet. So many other clay tournaments have.

They spent the past year and millions of dollars investing in wooden seats, new botanical gardens, and renovating some courts (incl. the 'new' Simmone Matthieu court), but they couldn't afford a few damn lights? Something that would actually improve the functioning of the tournament?

I live in a shit town and my local soccer ground has huge lights for them to play at night. Do they not want to for some reason?

Gurlzzzzz Putting the light will ruin the tradition It's all about Traditionnnnnnnnnnnnnn

Felix Auger Aliassime.

- 18 years old

- One (incompleted) career Grand Slam main draw match

- Top 25

In short os he next Sasha Zverev?

and as always the official RG site sucks. The live scoring doesn't always update so you have to manually refresh it. Horrible layout. Piss poor bios for the players

In the early 2000s all the slams seemed to be done by the same company which was great. Over the years RG has easily become the worst. Not sure why they keep making horrible changes

Petra withdrew thanks to that injury in Rome MAsters

Halep's draw really opens up without Petra in it. There's basically nobody in her entire quarter who can challenge her. The best may be Kontaveit lol.

Also I change my stream to the Chatrier match for a few seconds and what do I see? Caroline Wozniacki being a pest to the umpire and complaining endlessly about something even though she's 6-0 up...... this asshole can't retire soon enough.

Hi Rory at R49!

Konta won her first in RG

PHH down two sets to Medvedev :-(

Viki Kuzmova beats Alizé Cornet,

and [4] Kiki Bertens beats Parmentier. No joy for the home crowd today with their scrubs in play.

Perennial dangerous floater Kaia Kanepi has already killed off a seed this year in [18] Julia Goerges. She looks mummified as usual but still bulldozed the German with her power.

Wozniacki may have won the first set 6-0 and gotten her daily whine in, but she's now down 3-0 in the final set.

Iirc they cannot have lights because the surrounding municipality doesn't allow it.

Flopos Felix

No. 12 Medvedev, No. 32 Tiafoe both out, Auger Aliasime withdraws, not a great start for some of the Next Gen.

Pavlyuchenkova out, there's someone who always underachieved. Remember when Russian women started to take over the top of women's tennis? (Sharapova, Kuznetsova, Myskina, Saginaw, Dementieva, Zvonereva) Now it's just Kasatkina (No. 21) and Pavlyuchenkova (No. 44) in the Top 50.

I am happy PHH won

R56 And both of them are in terrible form right now. Pavs is always one of those players who you feel is on the verge of a BIG result, when she's playing well she can bash through anybody. This year's Australian Open was such a good chance to finally make that slam SF (after five QF appearances). She even won the first set 6-2 against Danielle Collins and almost won the second before losing. I'll cut her some slack as she and her coach split recently, but in these thin years there's no reason she can't win at least a PM title.

I genuinely do wonder how much of the lack of new Russian talent right now has to do with state-sponsored doping coming under attack and more stringent lists of banned substances. Not that they were ALL doing a Meldonia Sharapova, but I get the sense that a lot of money might have left Russian sports the past few years, and with it certain people, training camps, facilities, and development programs.

Medvedev is STILL yet to win a match at the French Open, this time losing painfully from two sets up. His clay court season has been so weird. SF in Monte Carlo, runner up in Barcelona, and then a 4 match losing streak. He hasn't won a match since Domi fed him that bagel.

He behaved like journeymen. There was no point in playing tournament after Italian open. He was injured today in his first round. Behave like a journeyman, get a result like a journeyman

Christen won.

R46: Zverev was a top player with great results outside GS and early defeats on GS. Felix is not a top player yet, his results outside GS are good but not remotely on Zverev level and he barely played any GS.

If in a couple of years Felix won a couple of masters 1000 and flop big time on GS maybe we can compare them, but right now there's no comparison possible (nor in the good neither in the bad).

Felix is young, his options here were reaching the fourth round, good result but nothing to risk the rest of the season. He'll need to recover and prepare Wimbledon and the US Open

[quote] She even won the first set 6-2 against Danielle Collins

Win? Against Collins? Not possible.

[quote] Behave like a journeyman, get a result like a journeyman

I don’t understand.

Uh, no R46, FAA is not the next Flopos, and, R61, is far ahead of where AZ was at Felix's age (AZ was ranked 70 and had compared to FAA's current ranking of 22. AZ hadn't yet made it past the second round of a Masters 1000 event or beyond the semis of any ATP 500 or 250 event, compared to Felix already reaching the semis of two Masters 1000 events and the final of a 500 and a 250 event.) It's way too early to start branding Auger-Aliassime with any names while he's only 18. If anything, he may become the next Del Potro or Monfils, i.e. continually beset by injuries/medical conditions, but it's too early to draw a conclusion one way or the other. AZ at 22 has flopped out of 15 GS main draws due to poor performances, never making it past the fourth round other than one quarterfinal appearance. Felix so far has qualified for one GS MD and had to default due to a medical condition, then had to withdraw from his first direct MD GS entry due to an injury. Apples and oranges.

To be fair, Zverev has probably only "flopped" out of half of his Grand Slam appearances. Losses to Murray, Nadal, and other top guys could hardly be considered flops when Zverev hadn't yet cracked the Top Ten. It's really just been the last two years where he's really looked choke-y.

Not even Coric can look good wearing the monstrosity that Nike has debuted for RG. Those voluminous black shorts hang on him like a tablecloth and hide one of his best assets.

Fed must be so grateful not to be saddled with that Nike crap this tournament

It seems like nike designers sit down at a table before every major and think: "how can we make it look EVEN forse than it already is". And they always succeed.

Good god, WTF is Serena wearing??

Apparently a Halloween tablecloth.

Why isn't Virgil Abloh behind bars already

Shiet she looks like she has been run over by a bulldozer

Last week's WTA winners - Putin and Yastremska - lost today.

Serena appears to have decided to tuck the front left side of the table cloth skirt up under her underwear. Odd look. It won't matter anyway...at this rate, this is the one and only time we'll see her wearing it anyway.

Serena retiring from this match in 3 ... 2... 1...

Tennis Channel is the worst, first for inflicting Gimelstob on us and now for having a website that just spins endlessly instead of showing the FO matches that they claim are available online. Calls to their main phone number indicate that there's not even an option to reach customer service. Unacceptable.

Actually I made that skirt for Re out of the drapes as the hotel.

[quote] now for having a website that just spins endlessly

And that is wrong why?

Also Tennis Channel never switches matches on TV. They stick to one, forcing everyone who wants to see something else to buy their app.

Diatchenko did a great job decelerating on every ground stroke in that second set to hand it to Serena. Why does she always get these scared bitches?

And she just gifted her a break after being up 40-15. Bye, Diatchenko. Loser.

Andreescu's on court -- I hope she's at a decent level. 75% should be enough to give Re-re the boot. That is, if she and Kenin don't wear each other out first.

yeah a lot of the #NextGen just isn't ready yet. They aren't consistent. Not sure how Tiafoe got bageled in the 5th. Surely he didn't get tired as he's quite fit. Was he mentally tired? Or Krajinovic summoned some GOAT form?

Shapovalov seems to be on his way out, down 2 sets.

Andreescu v. Bouzkova; 2-2

First 4 games took 26 minutes Bouzkova had to play 30 points on serve: Andreescu only 8

Too bad Domi's wearing black shorts.

There needs to be a dress code banning black shorts and tablecloths.

Bouzkova was just attacked by two pigeons and lost the point. Right out of the 'The Birds'!

7th time's a charm. Andreescu finally breaks!

Shapo eliminated by Struff

There was an article in The Guardian about Canada being a tennis superpower. Now just two players left and one is Genie.

US Men are 0-6 so far.

[quote]I am happy PHH won

He seemed to have some lower back issues and needed a MTO...big guy at the front is enjoying the view ;)

Shapo now has time to follow his idol Putin on Instagram, And looks like DL's favorite deplorable, Tenys Sandgren is OUT

R88: That's not even a surprise. Shapo didn't progress a thing since he defeated Nadal almost two years ago, and he is terribly bad on clay

R82 Tiafoe said he was vomiting during and after the match and had no energy left at the end of the match, wasn't sure what the issue was but didn't think it was food poisoning.

R92:_ Shapo didn't improved

Shapo needs to stop being mom-coached. I'm sure she's knowledgable and lovely, but time to make the break. He has the money. What was the story with his previous coach Laurendeau?

R95 not that Rob Steckley was a much better choice

drama queen Andreescu lost the 1st set (after 72 minutes)

That's worrisome. Andreescu should've had a comfortable 6-3 1st set win and loses it 7-5. Yikes. Clearly having some issues with her focus since she had so many unconverted break chances (1/11).

Kenin is trying to complicate her match too. Just win, dummies!

Nice to see winsome Lloyd Harris into his first GS second round and Sandgren and Stakhovsky stalled badly.

What's going on with Thiem today? Is Paul playing well or is Thiem below par? It looks like Thiem will close it out in 4 sets, but seems like the first three sets were tight.

TOMORROW MARKS THE RETURN OF GENIE BOUCHARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and at the end of day 2, there are 3 matches halted.

Chardy vs. Edmund are 5-5 in the 5th

Andreescu vs. Bouzkova split sets haven't started 3rd

Nara vs. Jakupovic split sets haven't started the 3rd

R102 If ever there were a reason for the entire world to switch off their televisions.

Already five men's seeds out with a third of the first round still left. This year is pretty much Monfils' last chance to make any real GS noise and fulfill at least a little more of his early promise. Looking for dark horses Garin and Djere also to make some headway...

I watched Shapo practice in Indian Wells. His mother basically just looked on and picked up balls. Steckley was in total control and running the practice.

Does anybody think Domi has done something weird to his hair? I don't know if they've dyed it or shaped up the hairline with a razor but he looks weird and receding and robotic.

I do think Tiafoe looks awfully tired and exhausted for someone with such a fit body. It's not just the profuse sweating (more than other players), he looks extremely spent after long rallies. I guess there's a difference between fitness and conditioning. And that ass is probably heavy to carry around.

I'm glad Jo-Willy Tsonga is through.

Andreescu/Bouzkova will resume tomorrow with one set apiece. Entertaining match so far.

Hsieh is through with a third set bagel win over Golubic (one handed on both sides versus Su-wei's two handed on both sides). Plays Petkovic next, and in the lives is at a new career high ranking at the age of 33 (#22).

Sam Prehistosur beats Strycova in a granny battle.

America's Sweetheart Danielle Collins doled out a 6-0 6-2 lashing and had something like 45 winners. I'm worried she may be poised for another deep run, I guess after all she did say "get used to me winning." But she plays Ash Barty next who can hopefully eliminate her.

TV channel played a bit of Carowhine Wozniacki's press conference and she kept saying her opponent "got extremely lucky".... BITCH.... you were up 6-0 2-0.

Oh, God...that can only be one remaining thing, R93. It must be pregnancy!

Bouzkova was attacked by pigeons but wasn't allowed to replay the point. Andreescu should've agreed that it was a let.

R101 Tommy Paul was hitting some incredible shots. They both were. The difference between the two is fitness and experience in a best of 5 set match. Domi-cakes can keep his level up for 4th and 5th sets.

Tommy Paul has a lot of potential. And unlike other players he really was there to fight against a top player. He was on the verge of winning the third

Plus Tommy Paul is really hot unlike so many other American men

I wouldn't say that Tommy Paul is hot. He played well, for the most part, though.

Is he “NextGen”?

ShapoStruff

R114, He's 22. He's super hot. He's generally injured.

[quote] Also Tennis Channel never switches matches on TV. They stick to one, forcing everyone who wants to see something else to buy their app.

I have the opposite criticism. They’re often focusing on a match, and near a critical moment switch to a less significant match or show the commercial window at the bottom of the screen and minimize the match window.

[quote] big guy at the front is enjoying the view ;)

Big guy at R90 looks like a pervert.

[quote] _ Shapo didn't improved

?

[quote] Does anybody think Domi has done something weird to his hair? I don't know if they've dyed it or shaped up the hairline with a razor but he looks weird and receding and robotic.

I see dead Domi.

[quote] Sam Prehistosur

Tehe.

R118, are you lost?

[quote]Big guy at [R90] looks like a pervert.

He also fought over a player's towel with some kids

There used to be this vicious person on Tennis Twitter who'd mercilessly troll players and other posters. But it loved Tommy Paul after Tommy started to flirt with it. Peter Polansky eventually got it banned.

[quote] Oh, God...that can only be one remaining thing, R93. It must be pregnancy!

Are there any other well-known black players who have gotten pregnant?

[quote] He also fought over a player's towel with some kids

A pervert, ugly, immature AND bad manners.

[quote] Peter Polansky eventually got it banned.

How did he manage to get someone banned?

Thanks, R114.

There are people now who go to tournaments just to scream at players for their towels. They don't even want autographs; just towels.

R129 I wouldn't want anybody's sweaty towel (well, maybe one of the Wimbledon towels; I'd give it a spin in the washer/dryer,though). No wonder some of the players treat the fans like plebs.

r120, he is an artificial boy in that one, not seeing dead people.

[quote] Plus Tommy Paul is really hot unlike so many other American men

[quote] He's super hot.

To each his own, but he looks very plain to me. He’s the Kansas of American tennis players.

Nadal and Djokovic start this tournament off in good form. Hurkacz is a decent opponent too. Sigh, I'm hoping ANYONE else in the draw can win the fucking men's title.

[quote] Too bad Domi's wearing black shorts.

Why Domicakes not wear white shorts?

so Serena now has 800 wins. Top 5 all time. I'm SHOCKED that Virginia Wade has 839

It's interesting to see that for all her match wins, there are so many other unexpected ones who have *played* more than Serena. I know she's always kept a limited schedule, but she's gone deep so much more than others on this list.

Venus and Sam Stosur are the only active players to place in the top 10 list of women with most matches played. Stosur especially surprises me because she has so many early exits (especially the past few years of mostly round 1 exits), and she wasn't really a singles player until the mid 00s where for example Venus and Serena had already been playing for a decade.

But also Patty Schnyder and Frank Schiavone are in the top 10 when both Steffi Graf and Serena are not.

Of current players Serena is actually 6th in matches played. Venus leads, then Stosur, then Jankovic (not really still active though), then Kuznetsova, then Dia Evtimova (who??) and then Serena.

Isn’t Patty Schnyder still playing?

R137 She got pregnant again a few months ago and officially retired (this time for good).

In 2018 she got to play Fed Cup one last time, and qualified for a GS for the first time in years (the US Open, where she got to play Arthur Ashe one last time in her round 1 against Sharapova). Nice for her to tick a few boxes before she went out.

Another surprising thing on that list is that Kiki Bertens is in the top 8 all time for clay wins. Serena, Halep, Jankovic, Venus, Stosur, Kuznetsova, etc. are not on the list. Bertens and Errani are the only current players.

When did Serena become such a pretentious cunt? Is she hanging out with Markle too much?

Quebec City WTA tournament will be sold to either an American or Chinese city.

This is the last remaining tournament played on carpet in professional tennis (I think there are some lower tier challengers and ITFs though). If it is sold before the date this year then it won't even be put on one last time.

well hopefully American. How many meaningless Chinese tournaments does the tour need? I could understand if China had multiple top 10 players but they don't

R107 I watched collins in Rome and I have to say that on clay she is nothing short of embarassing.

Sasha is so beautiful. Wish he was my wife

I still can't understand how anyone could possibly find Thiem attractive. I mean ok huge ass (personally I think it's completely disproportionated) but the face, yuck.

That WTA Records page on Wikipedia is a little misleading. It's not wrong, per se, but it's counting results from the "minor league" ITF events.

Take Kiki Bertens' clay court wins, for example. The wiki page shows 212 wins, Tennis Abstract shows 192 wins, so there a little discrepancy there. But on the Tennis Abstract page, you can drill down and see of her 192 wins on clay, 14 are at Slams (Roland Garros, obv), 35 are at Premiere events (Rome, Madrid, Charleston, Stuttgart, etc), 95 are at the "Tour" level (Slams + Premieres + Smaller Tour events like Gstaad, Marrakech, etc.). The rest of her Clay wins (97) are at Fed Cup or the smaller ITF minor league events, the ones that are played concurrently with the Tour events, that typically feature players ranked in triple digits.

So... a little misleading since the ITF events - while professional tennis events that award points and prize money - are not part of the WTA Tour calendar. It would be like counting minor league home runs towards a baseball players MLB stats.

Let's see how attractive Sascha looks when he gets rid of that mop of hair.

Sascha about Melo: “He has never won a singles match in his life – you can actually Google that. He’s a 35-year-old man who’s still single and doesn’t have a girlfriend. His best friend is a 22-year-old who does everything for him – organises all his hotel rooms and trips. That answers it. He’s beaten me a few times in doubles but that’s it.

"Actually, he’s very shy and he cannot talk to ladies. This is a true story. He gets very nervous around them. Me? I can talk, I guess. I have no issues.”

^ He's almost as good at being modest as he is at playing grand slams...

I'd be pretty pissed off if my best friend spoke to the press about me like that.

When he throws a tantrum on court he is about as attractive as a trash bag

Sascha seems a lovely friend, but given how Melo was worried about gay players going to the showers when he is there he probably doesn't deserve better.

Sascha is going to be eliminated soon, maybe a good slump and getting outside top 10 in the ranking (something bound to happen if he is unable to rise his level) do wonders for his personality (because the one he got right now is awful)

[quote] Sasha is so beautiful. Wish he was my wife

Wife?

Forget about improvement in his personality. What I want is a bloody sex tape of Sasha. Be it with Melo or with his Russian ex-girlfriend or with his big brother Mischa

40-year-old Ivo Karlovic vs 37-year-old Feliciano Lopez in the oldest men's match-up (in terms of combined age) at Roland Garros in the Open Era. (I think Karlovic just won)

Kyle Edmund showed some thigh ohlala

Ana Karolina Schmiedlova just bagelled Osaka in the first set in 23 minutes.

She will probably come back but anyone with that serve eating a bagel is a mess of a player.

Honestly I think Osaka's serve is kinda overrated. She has a very strong flat first serve, but her second serve is not that good, especially her kick which is fundamental on clay.

Osaka is about to lose.

Never mind she broke to even the set at 5 all.

Babos

Hon

Zheng

Wang

Media alert: Bouchard is playing now. I repeat: Bouchard is playing now.

Can someone explain to me what the inside joke of naming random players at the end of the thread, and closing it out with Puig!, is about? Don't really know why but I find it hilarious

Dan Evans is scruffy, dim and not likeable, but I do enjoy it when he gets stuck into someone like Verdasco.

Osaka really should have lost this match, with Schmiedlova serving for it twice (at 5-4 and 6-5). AKS even got to deuce four or so times (eg was two points away), but she completely choked every time. Double faulting, missing sitters, shanking the ball miles out.

One of those girls who excels at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Whatever happened to Ostapenko's career?

Zverev on his recent personal problems. "I broke my phone in Rome and I'm very happy about it. I didn't fix it on purpose".

R161, it started as a way of bumping the thread to invite more comments.

Ostapenko makes too many errors per match to win consistently.

Osaka vs Azarenka should be a good match, at least on paper it looks like it.

R166 oh ok thanks

R164 what should have happened in the first place

Genie out 6-2 6-2 to Tsurenko

Nike design for women looks like somebody had a good idea for a funky summer patterns but used the materials that summer dresses for 60 yo fraus wear to church.

Nando faced a rude ball boy

...,.

Umbrella......bottle....umbrella....bottle.....geez what should I do?

"Most arrogant player on tour."

There are quite a few players in contention for that title, R176. Which player do you have in mind?

[quote] Nando faced a rude ball boy

Damn frogs.

[quote] it started as a way of bumping the thread to invite more comments.

True especially “Nole” which is the equivalent of “Bump” on tennis threads. Then posters started using players’ names when they won followed by an exclamation point, e.g., Gramps!, which culminated in “Puig!” being repeatedly used at the Olympics as she advanced and won the gold medal. Now people use “Puig!” to end tennis threads.

I'm watching tennis channel in the USA, i'm digging the tennis outfits for the ladies.

Why are “Who is a clay court specialist?” and “Is he a journeyman?” jokes here. They seem like valid questions. Also why do people post the player’s name followed by “team” so often?

Halep has lost weight.

R182 but hasn't lost her ability to make a 3 set mess of an easy match.

wow Verdasco is an asshole. He wanted someone who was already holding his umbrella to take his water bottle too? Talk about entitled and spoiled

it's a shame someone who's hot is a jerk but he is. He seems like the type who would be rude to the "little people"

So despite them both pinging to the high heavens, apparently Tsitsipas and Sakkari *are* dating. They look kind of cute together in his latest YT video, but I still think especially he comes across a little gay. I get a bit of 'brother/sister' vibe from them.

Sakkari just picked up the most comprehensive first round win, dropping only one game in her thrashing of WC Tatishvili (what a waste of a choice by the FTT).

today was a great day for seeds. Unless I missed something, the only seed to lose was Kontaveit. All the other women and men seeds won though several were pushed to the brink

Monfils is still playing but he should beat Taro Daniel on clay

R185: That looks way more about marketing than about a real relationship. I read somewhere that he dated Valentini Grammatikopoulou but when i searched for information i didn't find anything.

Anyway, everybody knows that being single when you are in the spotlight seems to be a really bad thing for an athlete, if you are not a magnet for hot chicks it seems there's something wrong with you and it's better to avoid that as soon as possible

Zverev and pick up lines? lol I really don't see him as super charismatic. I mean take away his status as a top tennis player and you're left with a very young scrawny super tall kid. Not sexy. He's cute from some angles but bird-like in the face from others. His lack of body is a turnoff.

and that's pretty pathetic that Melo is 35 with 1 of his best friends being 22. It's even more pathetic that the 22 year old makes all the calls for him for hotel rooms etc? What the hell is wrong with him? He seems severely stunted mentally

R186 and she lost to Muchova who is an extremely talented czech. Her game suits grass very well, I think she'll do well after RG.

Hot young daddy Taylor Fritz looked amazing out there today. I know he's still a long way off but I think he will become a top 10 player in the next several years

Garin v Wawrinka is an interesting match.

R169 I think the Puig! is a reference to how she popped in out of seemingly nowhere to pick up a gold medal in singles before vanishing again

R193, meet R169.

Wawrinka team

Oops! R193, meet R179.

Rafa team

Mostly because I dislike Fed and Nole

R196 I replied as I read, calm down.

I'm torn R195

I'm team Garin

Why are “Who is a clay court specialist?” and “Is he a journeyman?” jokes here. They seem like valid questions. Also why do people post the player’s name followed by “team” so often?

R201, I'm not exactly sure either, I think they're making fun of the tennis vernacular - but at some point you just go with it.

Rafa haz clay.

Rooting for second-round upsets over the title contenders in for R176: Ymer over AZ, Delbonis over Fognini, Garin over Wawrinka, Hoang over Verdasco; then Simon over Djokovic and Goffin over Nadal in the third round.

Is Hoang hung?

R43 - Carlo Navarro. Have you gotten a good look at the junk in the trunk that man is carrying. Yum o lum!!!

R107 I like Barty, but I would absolutely love to see Collins beat the living fuck out of Serena. I don't trust Barty to do it after last year's choke fest.

The best thing about Puig! is her hot, stud boyfriend.

Link please, R208?

R125 For the life of me I can't think of one.

r207, could happen. Barty is not as healthy as she could be going into the tournament. Danielle Collins was on fire round 1

Could Andreescu beat Serena?

Serena is definitely in the toughest quarter. If she gets through it then it's hard to imagine she wont win.

A Serena-DRC match up would rival Connors-McEnroe for the amount of rage on the court at one time.

R214 If she had been healthy and playing, then yes. She hasn't played in two months because of a shoulder injury.

Few ever reached the level of obnoxious and ugly that Connors reached. I can't think of any player who deserved (or deserves) to be punched in the face as much as he did, though there are some real contenders.

[quote] For the life of me I can't think of one.

Neither can I. (Sigh)

[quote] then Simon over Djokovic and Goffin over Nadal in the third round.

You're a funny guy/gal! (Psst, Goffin may not even get past Kecmanovic in R2.)

Schmied

Tennisforum.com says Sakkari and Tsitsipas are dating. Posters are surprised because they thought Sakkari was a lez and Tsitsipas was gay.

Is this a rare case of double bearding?

I think so

Tennis events/tournaments look so tedious and way too commercialized to enjoy it nowadays The commentary and crowd shots are cringe.

Danielle's Colon has much more of a killer instinct than Barty, and when she's on fire like she was in round 1 and at the Australian Open, I think she's harder to beat because you can't get a rhythm against her mindless, technique-free bashing.

But I find when people get feisty against Serena it just pumps her up more and makes her even hungrier to win. It's like when a bad line call goes against her and she hits 3 aces out of retaliation. If I were her opponents i'd be like "just let her have it" so as to not awaken the beast, so to speak.

Having said that Barty has improved a lot mentally since last year. This year the only players she has lost to are Halep, Svitolina, Kvitova (x2), and Mladenovic (on clay). And I think she'll really try and get that moral win after she shit the bed against Serena last year.

Nowadays, R224? Tennis has been commercialized since Virginia Slims.

Social media and sport endorsements become distracting. But with any Professional sports now, it become nauseating.

I have a baby

I fear for Collins if she tries to fist pump at Serena

Garbage Muguruza, Sloth Stephens, and Elise Mertens are through.

Elina Svitolina gets a walkover from fellow Ukranian Kateryna Kozlova, automatically into the 3rd round against Muguruza.

I didn't realise Nishikori and Tsonga had to play each other so early. :( They've just taken to the court.

Kei has been playing well. Can Jo Wili summon the old magic?

Even if Andreescu were healthy she'd still get her ass whooped. Random moonballs are not really the best tactic against Serena.

Only Nole wears white shorts in this tournament so far, and he's the only one I'm rooting for.

But Nole aint got no booty.

R234 - and your point is? His ass is fleshy enough, even though it's not 100 pounds of excessive fat like yours.

Next!

^ those butt cheeks looks like they were made at a Paris creperie!

Something should be savored in moderation!

Bianca has withdrawn from doubles. Wise decision

She played the longest womens match of the tournament so far, right? It's good that she is saving her energy for singles. Shes a fun player to watch.

Djokovic is one of the few players for whom black billowy shorts should be mandatory.

Why doesn't he wear a jockstrap, OP?

Serena’s draw is a fucking joke. The only player I could conceivably see beating her is Bianca but I don’t trust her so soon after a lengthy injury. Collins’ game is way too basic especially on clay.

And Nole loves to present his small uncut cock to us the hoi polloi whenever he wins big! I hope he does it again this time.

Kei has great legs

Dickey Gasket crashes out early ... again

[quote] And Nole loves to present his small uncut cock to us the hoi polloi whenever he wins big!

Dick out!

R245: Good, i can't endure another Gasquet/Nadal joke of a match

Bye Kiki, adieu, auf wiedersehen, arrivederci

Sascha Bajin doing wonders I see

He is way too busy breeding Kiki's boyfriend's ass

French twink Corentin Moutet had a surprise win over #19 Pella (who has most clay court wins so far this year)

Wimbledon Update

OUT: EKATERINA MAKAROVA

In: SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA

[quote] OUT: EKATERINA MAKAROVA In: SVETLANA

I’m so ova them.

[quote] Pella (who has most clay court wins so far this year)

Is he clay specialist?

I'd love to see Kuznetsova have one more big run at a slam before she retires.

Mahut just toyed Philip K 6-3,6-3, 6-3

It seems his win over Marco Cecchinato was no fluke

Nishikori-Djere Rd3 Should be nice.

^ agreed

good for Nico Mahut! Not dead yet.

Get to know Christian Garin,

Wow Wawrinka destroyed Garin.

Berretini out too in 3 to Norwegian Casper Ruud.

[quote] Wow Wawrinka destroyed Garin.

Wawrinka team

Stan team

Why is the OP pretending Novak has a sexy body.... he looks like a string bean.

Anyway the Tsonga/Nishikori match was very entertaining. Dimitrov/Cilic right now isn't bad either despite their choking tendencies. And I can't believe how well Mahut is playing on clay.

Stan was looking scary in his win today but I still don't think he's at his full powers to steamroll the big 3 this tournament. Would love to see it though. Nadal's porn grunt seems even louder than usual this year.

I also don't think Andreescu can beat Serena, she has too much rust right now and even in her singles match was massaging her shoulder in the changeovers. I just realised that Hsieh and Barty are the other two seeds in that quarter. I know Barty is more likely to come through, but nothing would be more entertaining than seeing Hsieh dismantle Serena limb by limb on Chatrier. Ash is the stronger player with bigger weapons, but nobody will run Serena ragged like Su-wei with her weird mix of flat hitting, feather-light touch, and painting the lines. She will have her running from corner to corner.

2015 French Open finalist Lucie Safarova has made her retirement official after her first round doubles match

I’m not a Serena fan but do want her to beat Margaret Court’s “record”. I put “record” in quotes given how the Australian Open was played in her days where the incumbent champion was automatically in the final and few players travelled to Australia.

R263 just because it’s not sexy to you doesn’t mean it isn’t sexy to someone else. Roger through safely to 3rd round.

[quote] Why is the OP pretending Novak has a sexy body.... he looks like a string bean.

Where is there a reference to Novak’s body in OP’s post?

Djokovic used to be hot years ago when he wasnt so skinny.

I quite liked Djokovic in his role of The Night King in GoT.

Skinny? Compared to whom? 300-pound DL troll?

Nole's next opponent: Henri Joona Julius Laaksonen is a Swiss-Finnish tennis player. His highest singles ranking is world No. 93, which he achieved in August 2017, and his highest doubles ranking is world No. 191, achieved in December 2018. When Laaksonen started playing tennis, he represented Finland.

Cilic is wearing white shorts if anyone cares. He always wears high-cut, tight briefs.

R267 The OP is the same Novak stan in this thread (and the others), who posted the picture of him and has vehemently been rooting against Nadal (don't blame them tbh).

Did anybody else just see [one of the] tournament favourites Kiki Bertens shaking and have to retire from her match after just a few games? I don't know if it was an anxiety attack or a reaction to some medication (the doctor was called to court and assessed her). Her eyes looked really red and she wasn't finding her range.

That opens the draw up significantly for Halep and the others now.

Unfortunate cause she was playing so well coming into the tournament. Not sure she could win it but I thought Bertens would go into the later rounds.

R272 you should take some psyche meds that help with your paranoid schizophrenia as I've never ever mentioned Nadal in any of my posts in any DL threads, ever. Delusional much, bitch?

French Open 2019: ‘My extra incentive’ – Novak Djokovic bidding to win all four Slams

//Carry on gawking at his beautiful ass....

Andreescu has withdrawn as well, Kenin gets a walkover into the 3rd round

[quote] The OP is the same Novak stan in this thread (and the others), who posted the picture of him and has vehemently been rooting against Nadal (don't blame them tbh).

OP here. I am neither a Djokovic or Nadal fan. In fact I frequently criticize Djokovic’s ingratiating behavior and his off court stances (including regarding Gimelstob). I’m more of a fan of Federer, Wawrinka and Misery (used to be and still a fan of his off court stance and personality).

FYI, I’m not R274.

LOL Grigor just celebrated an outrageous netcord winner (the net ended up wrongfooting Cilic) with a fist pump and a jump and then raised his hand in apology. Looks like they're going 5 again unless Dimi chokes away the tiebreak.

R276 Sorry, thanks for the correction, must have been confusing the two post(er)s but there is a repetitive Nole fanatic in here (for the record I don't have a horse in the race as I don't really go for any of the big 3 or 4)..

R277 I saw that celebration lol. To be fair it was a great get from him and he was rewarded for going big on the shot. Cilic's footwork is so bad, he's getting dropshotted to death out there.

Womens draw is really imploding now. Looks like either Screamona repeats, or one of the out-of-form lazy girls like Stephens, Muguruza, or similar will benefit from empty draws and chokes against them and their reputation. I wouldn't mind seeing a young likeable up and comer like a Sakkari or Vondrousova making a deep run (a la Ostapenko but less obnoxious and with more variety).

R263 the problem with hsieh is her serve. Most players are thrown off by how slow it is, Serena though is very likely to hit right through it. Their only h2h was in AO 2016 and Serena won 6-1 6-2

Please don't compare poor Sakkari and Vondrousova (especially the latter, whom out of all the youngsters I think is by far the most talented) to that mess Ostapenko.

At the time I thought these were fake, but apparently NOvak was hacked and did not deny it. Does anyone know more about this?

Andreescu really wore herself out and injured herself badly during the sunshine double. Shes a talented player so that's too bad.

R281 no way is his dick that big.

R232 Andreescu plays fantastic defense, can turn defense into offense, and has a slice backhand and drop shots that would drive Serena nuts. I think Andreescu, playing well, toys with Serena's lazy ass and beats her pretty easily. Unfortunately, and surprising no one, she has withdrawn.

I bet Serena wins the whole thing. I know shes only played one match but she looks pretty and who can stop her?

Maybe that's why he never denied it!

Meant to say pretty good not just pretty

Djokovic might not be commenting so as to not direct further attention to it. Whether true or not.

R284 yeah but the way she uses variety is purely nonsensical. I remember watching her in Indian Wells and her shot selection is extremely random, it's not like she constructs points. She throws in a random slice backhand, or a very high topspin forehand in the middle of the court and does nothing with it. It seems like she doesn't have a clear game plan. And I think that can't work with Serena. A variety like that of Vinci, who had a great net game, might surprise her. Andreescu though, I doubt.

R279 It's true her serve is ridiculously slow (I mean her arms are basically toothpicks), and Serena will try feast on that. But Serena has been missing a lot of those return winner attempts cause of the rust.

I saw that 2016 lashing when it happened, but Hsieh was a different player then, with low confidence who in her 30 years had only ever beaten three top 50 players or something like that and was a doubles specialist. In the past year and a half she's beaten Osaka, Halep, Kerber, Pliskova, Muguruza, Wozniacki, Radwanska... in a couple of cases she's come close to doing it twice (Kerber, Osaka, Pliskova) and even gives big hitting Kvitova a good run for her money.

Obviously she's unpredictable and can also lose to anyone (it's not even a guarantee she'll get past Petkovic lol) but she plays best on the big stages against big opponents now, and her funky game seems to be kryptonite for these basic baseliners. With Serena's movement right now, the way she 'windscreen-wipers' her shots into the back corners and throws in perfect dropshots could be a tough ask for Serena.

I thought Serena moved fairly well in her opening match. Good enough to beat most people. She also looks more trimmed down.

Not sure about his big schlong. But I'm quite aware now that he has big and heavy balls.

djokernole: Today warming up in the gym before my practice I used a medicine ball by slamming it on the floor pretty hard. As a result, I wrecked a wooden floor. @rolandgarros please forgive me. Or actually I will pay my dues.

Just fyi I left Paris for several days until the investigation is completed.. my participation at RG is maybe under review? 😆🤔🚧

I doubt Hsieh would beat Serena, but she could certainly wear her out a bit, especially if Serena goes into it unfocused or starts slowly like in the 1st round.

R289 No, Serena has abominable footwork most of the time. Bianca would jerk her around the court all day with that unpredictable shotmaking and draw errors while tiring her out. We know she can stay out there for hours. If Serena's serve is misfiring she loses every time.

Also while I don't like her or her antics, I also wouldn't mind seeing Serena destroy Margaret Homophobia Court's records and then hitting the bricks into retirement.

If Hsieh can't beat her, she might as well get one of those wins out of the way at this ghetto slam with its collapsed draw and (so far) boring womens matches. She'll be gone sooner too, lol.

P.H.H. just hit a near identical shot to the Dimitrov one. After saving MPs in the 4th set tiebreak, he had his own set point. Came forward and slammed a backhand into the net. It somehow clipped the tape and flew high over Paire's head, a perfect fluke to snatch the set away from Paire. That one will sting.

You can see in this video at 4:30 how excited he was to win. He even glances down to make sure that snake is contained.

R294 what we saw in the first round is not how she has been moving lately. She has seriously lost some weight (not like at the beginning of the year, when she was still gigantic) and in Rome and in practice she has really improved her footwork.

R272 Halep is on the opposite half of the draw, so it doesn't really affect her. It helps Pliskova, Konta, Mugu/Svitolina winner, and Stephens.

R294 Serena's footwork has been garbage since 2013

Berrettini is so cute, too bad he lost today.

(Not so) Young Grigor thru in 5!

R225 I assume you meant "tactic-free" bashing. You don't hit as hard as Collins and get the ball in as much as she does without good technique. She's a very clean ball striker.

She's becoming this generation's Mary Pierce, but fiery.

Hopefully that will really help Grigor's confidence some, was pretty clutch for his standards in the final set imo, despite getting broken when serving for it.

R299 That's true, but I really think Bertens was a big obstacle for *anyone* to take the title. And now that obstacle has been removed.

Of course she was never guaranteed to reach the final or anything, but she did beat Stephens, Kvitova, Halep, and other potential tournament faves in Madrid, never seems to lose finals any more, and and i'm sure all of the girls (Halep included) will be glad she's out of the running.

Apparently Bertens has stomach flu though there was talk at first that she had some kind of panic attack.

R305 I wouldn't trust Bertens to beat a hobbled Errani in the French final. It's fine that she's out. I've never seen someone with her weapons so spectacularly bad at winning tiebreaks -- she's a head case.

R307 Bertens has only ever lost two finals in her entire career (out of 11). In one of those she almost won too, against Kvitova who won her 3rd title in Madrid where she obviously plays well. She's one of only 4 players to win multiple titles this year. You are not giving her enough credit.

She can have her headcase moments but so can literally everyone else on the tour (even Serena). Her numbers speak for themselves and aside from Svitolina she is the best when playing finals, in fact one of the best 'big match players' on the tour.

Svitolina (13/15) - 86.7%

Bertens (9/11) - 81.8%

S. Williams (72/94) - 76.6%

Kvitova (27/36) - 75%

Press conference.

R285: Everybody can stop her.

Sorry but Serena is not the dominant force she used to be. Can she win? of course, in that mess that's the wta right now she can win for sure, but she is far from being unbeatable, there are a lot of players who can defeat her right now, and clay is not her best surface. If she keeps losing sets she'll be without steam the second week

R303 you do actually hit as hard as her with bad technique. Just look at Ostapenko or young Muguruza lmao. Collins' forehand is terrible technique-wise.

Is Agassi even in Paris to watch Gaygor? He and Steffi showed up in Melbourne earlier this year.

[quote] Did anybody else just see [one of the] tournament favourites Kiki Bertens shaking and have to retire from her match after just a few games? I don't know if it was an anxiety attack or a reaction to some medication (the doctor was called to court and assessed her).

Could be a heart condition.

Stan really thumped Garin. Stan when he's on can beat anyone, and it's a beautiful thing to see. I think he's still got the most amazing OHBH in tennis.

Who goes further this RG:

Titsy or Gramps?

Sascha or Titsy?

I’m not sure about question 1, R315, but for the second one I’ll say Titsy.

a bunch of good matches on paper tomorrow

The Djokovic stan is beyond annoying, unfunny, obnoxious, and tasteless in all aspects of the word. Djokovic used to be cute long ago, before he was overtaken by surly scowls, jeers, condescension, rages at umpires, ball boys and crowds, and cringe-worthy, transparent too-little-too-late attempts to win back the crowd. And very few ATP players are looking as anorexic, assless, and stick-figured.

^ somebody read a bitch!

[quote] And very few ATP players are looking as anorexic, assless, and stick-figured.

I resemble that remark!

Why is nobody else willing to address the fact that Jo Konta was obviously cloned from the DNA of Aunt Hetty from [italic]Anne of Green Gables[/italic]?

[quote] Why is nobody else willing to address the fact that Jo Konta was obviously cloned from the DNA of Aunt Hetty from Anne of Green Gables?

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone.

Slutty Donna Vekic broke up with Stan. How can she do that? I would never let such rich prime meat go.

DL faves Carlo and Young Grigor both advanced.

Will we WTA fans ever be able to enjoy a Bertens/Mertens final at a major? Seems like Leslie Nielsen-esque comic gold...

[quote] DL faves Carlo and Young Grigor both advanced.

In what round would they meet?

Grigor and stan will face other

Has there been a mention of a hotel for Grigor? Just curious. No not curious...I mean wondering. Yeah, wondering that's what it is. Just a wonder. Because my wife is fan. And my kids are fans. They enjoy his playing style that's all.

[quote] Grigor and stan will face other

How about Carlo and young Grigor?

They have scheduled Serena /Nara match on court Philip-Chatrier and Osaka/Vika match on Suzanne-Lenglen. French Open organizers are stupid AF

To be fair Serena has won this 3 times and I still don't think ticket buyers like Vika that much.

Osaka is definitely a draw in certain places but in her round 1 match it was only a few Japanese fans who had come there to watch her and Kei and they got a miserable match from her lol.

Actually having watched a lot of the womens matches, there seems to be barely anybody at all. Maybe that will pick up in the 2nd week, but I think a lot of people who go to the slams don't actually follow tennis, just the people from their country and the big 3 men.

Small VPL presented by Nole. Yum yum!

Domicakes drops 2nd set to Bublik in a TB. Kiki must be muttering to herself in 17 languages...

R308 Remind me. How many of those have been slam finals?

Adios, Lil Diego 🇦🇷☹️

Wow! Azarenka has terrible luck. A bad call nearly let Osaka back in the 1st set. Vika should have won the second set/match but Osaka got saved by a net cord on game point for Vika and she ended up breaking (plus Vika had already missed that easy pass on break point in the first game of set 2). THEN the umpire stole a break from her in the 3rd because she fucking fell asleep apparently. Come on!

In Rome, a net cord at a critical moment screwed her against Kontaveit too. Then she lost the set and retired with an injury. Is her luck ever going to change?

R331 Nobody wants to watch Serena beat down a Japanese little person. Azarenka/Osaka absolutely should've been on Chatrier. My tv will be going off now. Click.

^ this

I'll tune in again when there’s an interesting match.

Salvatore Caruso, 26, 0 career wins on clay at ATP level is in the Roland Garros R3 after defeating Munar and Simon

Tennis Channel still claiming this Mahut-Cecchinato match is live when it's been over for 20 minutes.

Serena is through. Sloppy play for the first six games but then she stepped it up.

Hasn't that match been over for more than 3 days R340 ?

Its doubles match. Just now Mahut defeated Marco is doubles too

Novak and Federer are both pains in the arse. I’ve always disliked Federer's smugness and squidgy face (looks like a giant hand has squeezed his features together). Novak used to be bearable but has steadily become more obnoxious. Maybe he’s permanently starving. I’m rooting for Rafa’s 12th or one of the young guns.

R334 Just stop. Bertens has beaten Halep in two massive finals with the obnoxious Romanian fans jeering against her. She single handedly led her country to the latter rounds in Fed Cup with all that pressure. She beat Venus in a tight match on Wimbledon centre court 9-7 in the third set. Almost made the finals of the year-end championship, had the most wins over top 10 players last year, and pushed Serena to the edge in a French Open SF on Phillip Chatrier.

Nobody said she was guaranteed to win this thing but she's not some headcasey shrinking violet, and her record posted above shows she's actually sturdier in big matches than most of her contemporaries. Obviously none of the examples were from GS finals because she hasn't made any yet. Stop being facetious.

Is Serena actually playing well or are her opponents too basic? I havent been able to watch.

Boobs out!

R346 So far her opponents have been too basic. But it's not usually until the 3rd and 4th round she gets tested anyway. She was okay today in the 2nd set but nobody has really given her any rhythm or anything, even when Diatchenko won that first set over her it felt awkward and clunky.

Poor Delpo seems so laboured in his movement and almost a bit grim out there. The medic has already come to court to help him with his legs and it's like he can barely move or generate any excitement. :( Going best of 5 against Nishioka? He must really love the game to be bothering at this point. Similar to Venus.

I like Delpo but I’m really tired of his drama queen physical problems. Gurl is so delicate!

"Puig!" def. Kasatkina (who was defending SF points) 6-3 6-1

Bencic def. Siegemund 6-4 in the third after their match was postponed to today.

Siniakova def. Sakkari in three rollercoaster sets (Sakkari was up 5-1 before choking the first). Match went longer than 3 hours.

Alexandrova def. Prehistosur in three sets. Sam couldn't take advantage of a good draw here..

Good def. Evil (Ash Barty def. America's Sweetheart Danielle's Colon).

Anisimova def. Sabalenka 6-4 6-2. Exact same score as in Melbourne. Kyrgios was in her box (no pun intended).

Teenaged Iga Swiatek def. seeded Q. Wang 6-3 6-0. Has only lost six games in her first two rounds.

Hsieh lost 8-6 in the 3rd set to a surprisingly in-form Andrea Petkovic (and her boisterous German fans). Good match though.

[quote] Good def. Evil (Ash Barty def. America's Sweetheart Danielle's Colon).

What happened to our getting sick of her winning?

Hai Ram! What happened to Garcia?

Was Nick playing on the phone during Anisimova's match?

R352 really don't know. She played great tennis in the first set, and also in the second. Blinkova somehow won the second set despite being second in all the stats (points won included). She was leading comfortably in the third set and blinkova managed to break her twice (really don't know how, the second time garcia missed three shots by half an inch maybe) and she messed up in the last game.

Rd3

Nole vs Rank 147 Salvator Caruso from Italy

underrated hottie Struff vs Porna

Dusan Lajovic vs Sasha

Thiem vs Cuevas

Monfils vs Hoang[ who defeated Verdasco]

Jodan Thompson Vs JM DelPortro

[quote] Jodan Thompson Vs JM DelPortro

DelPo team

[quote]Jordan Thompson Vs JM Del Potro

Del Potro hasn't won yet, Nishioka just took the 4th set

CMON delpo win this.

Today is just a mess on the women's side. Sakkari I'm so disappointed

Bautista Agut, who lost to Fritz in Lyon QFs *exactly* one week ago, beats Taylor 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the 3rd round

They shifted Madison Keys's match from court Simon -Maheiu to court 7 thanks to JM Del Po

Yeah i'm really disappointed about how the womens draw is shaping up. There just aren't a lot of interesting or likeable players left, and one side of the draw is almost totally empty.

At this point I wouldn't even mind if professional baseball player Madison Keys just bashed her way through this joke of a field and claimed this dud slam.

It has to be said; Delpo is dreamy hot.

Poor Tippy 🐢

Theres still lots of great players on the womens side. The ones that lost just arent as good this time around.

Delpo gave Nishioka a sweet hug

I would pay good money to get even a hug off Delpo.

He's basically my perfect man.

According to Czech tennis people on twitter and tennis forum, in her Czech presser Karolina Pliskova was complaining about having too much time off:

"Those two days were very long, I had to go training on both days. I did some light fitness exercise in the gym, killing off half a day. Then we went to the town and, as usual, I watched as many tennis matches as possible.'

'My opponents were not good enough to test me, their level wasn't very high.'

Help was 6-4, 4-2 up then she decided to go to the third set against Magda fucking Linette.

how the hell she is going to beat Serena?

Love this bit of revisionist history about Osaka/Azarenka straight from the French Open website (rolls eyes):

"Staring down at break point, a brave second serve skimmed the line..." NO. Shot spot showed that it was nearly an inch out...and no mention of the net cord that saved her in the second set either. What BS.

R369 That will be Osaka's job -- assuming she gets there. It better not be Madison fucking Keys.

The top speed of Nara's serve was 93 mph. What is this, 1985?!! Serena's draws are ridiculous.

R345 I've read more than once just in this thread about her having panic attacks and have literally never seen her win a tiebreak (half the time she never should've been in one). If that isn't "headcasey," I don't know what is! Who gives a shit about Bertens anyway? Are you Dutch?

Any new ass-baring shots from Domi Thiem?

R331 "To be fair Serena has won this 3 times and I still don't think ticket buyers like Vika that much."

Yeah, who would want to watch one of the best matches of the tournament when they could watch Serena beat up on someone half her size? I know I would've been pissed if I had spent the extra money for Chatrier tix today. Terrible scheduling.

So RBA v. Frognini in the third round. Hope "the princess" annihilates him.

R362 please ANYONE but Keys. I'd even root for Kanepi over MLB's favorite Madison Keys.

R373 I'm not Dutch, but Bertens has been a top 10 player for about a year now and has won big titles against big players. She actually had a shot at being #1 after this fortnight before she had to withdraw from this tournament. Anyone who has the most top 10 wins of the season is going to be talked about. "Who gives a shit about Bertens"? Literally anybody who follows womens tennis, you moron.

A quick google search shows she has won 6 of her last 10 tiebreaks (not many players would be winning +70% of all tiebreaks), so I don't know why you're making up facts [again]. If you could read clearly, it was said that she had symptoms RESEMBLING a panic attack, but it has been confirmed she had a viral illness (vomiting, diarrhoea, nausea and feeling faint). You obviously have some image in your head of her as this fragile nervous player that she simply is not. But i'll leave you to your delusions.

R377 I would actually love to see Kanepi make a deep run, but I doubt her body will allow it. She already looks mummified. She has a winnable next round tomorrow against Kudermetova but the problem with her has always been her health.

Popcorn matches tomorrow:

Stan v Young Grigor

Kei v Djere

Titsty v Krajinovic

(does the Elf have a prayer v Rafa? Probably not)

[quote] and has won big titles against big players.

Taylor Townhouse?

Is Aliona Bolsova, the Moldova-born Spanish player, a new DL Fave? She's tatted up and is speaking out against the patriarchy. Her best friend on tour is CSN.

She's into the 3rd Round, too.

Links not working. :(

looking forward to Muguruza vs. Svitolina. Should be a fun one

That Moldovan dude is HOT!

Puig!

Did she win today, R386?

Yes, Puig dominated Kasatkina.

Thanks, R388.

Puig!

I think Muguruza will win the title if she can get past Svitolina. This feels a lot like 3 years ago when she rode a joke draw to the final and played the *perfect* match against Serena

That’s a joke draw, bro.

kudos to Osaka for being a #1 player who can survive matches without choking. She's shown a lot of mental growth since her breakthrough at Indian Wells last year. She's won a number of clutch matches against a number of great players.

The woman's draw always collapses after one round. Nothing new here.

what are you talking about? The women's draw has not collapsed. There are a number of legitimate contenders into the third round.

So Kvitova withdrew, Bertens had to retire...how is that a collapse?

Stan/Grigor match is scheduled on Suzanne court and Titsy / Krajinovic is on Philippe Chatrier

Another wrong move by schedulers

It's not just the players that are out, it's the structure of the draw itself. If Tsurenko loses to Krunic when they resume play (currently at 6-6 in the third set), Halep won't have to face a single top 50 player until the SF (and it's not like Tsurenko is much of a 'top 50' anyway).

Meanwhile you have one quarter that still has Sloane, Muguruza, Svitolina, Bencic, Vekic, and Konta (who normally sucks on clay but is in the form of her life) and several others all battling it out.

The top quarter has Serena, Barty, Osaka, and Keys, meanwhile Pliskova has an empty section with only Kanepi really a threat.

Obviously it's not the players (like Halep) fault that others flopped or were sick and injured, but I don't think it's wrong to say that several sections of the draw have 'collapsed'. We could be seeing some very random players in the QF or even SF.

R396,, Martic is extremely dangerous

Halep said she wasn't feeling well after yesterday's match and didn't look too great. Maybe there's a bug going round?

Catherine Whitaker on the podcast said all the top female players seem to be staying at the same hotel (the Mercure).

[quote]Stan/Grigor match is scheduled on Suzanne court and Titsy / Krajinovic is on Philippe Chatrier... Another wrong move by schedulers

Krajinovic beat Cecchinato at the Australian, beat Medvedev and Goffin at Indian Wells, beat Wawrinka at Miami, and beat Coric at Budapest en route to the finals.

Before the French, Dimitrov's only somewhat significant win in 2019 was over Verdasco in Barcelona,

I'd say the schedulers got it right. I'm not anticipating Wawrinka- Dimitrov to be much of a match.

^ I'm hoping for a surprise on Grigor v. Stan, but you're probably right

CSN and Pliskbot both on the verge of losing

Wishes come true, R368 (yours and mine). You wanted a challenge, Pliskova? Guess you weren't up to it. This is what you get for trashing opponents whom you claim didn't challenge you and, I guess, got you farther than you deserved. Excuses, I'm certain, to follow.

Thank you, Martic!

Pliskbot out to Martic in straight sets. Yay! Can't stand that serve-bot. Glad to see she's out, especially after reading R368's post. She's got plenty of days off now!

Mertens/Sevastova is a good match on right now.

Reminds me of when the Pliskbot said "Serena behaves bigger than her game is", said she wasn't scared at all because she had beaten her before, and got slaughtered by her in the next round at the US Open. Hopefully Martic's (brilliant) performance today was enough of a 'test' for you.

R404 i'm enjoying it too. Very classical clay tennis, with them both varying the spins, finding short angles, lots of drop shot and slice, big shape on the forehand, and then trying to paint the lines when they see an opening. Mertens' defensive squash shot is so good she's basically a wall.

Klizan is HAWT

That Mertens - Sevastova match was the best of the year so far.

R397 was absolutely right

[quote] Maybe there's a bug going round?

Damned frogs.

Ivan Ljubicic has become fat

How long has Muguruza had a moustache?

Muguruza could get hot this tournament and take it. Didnt she win Wimbledon when leading up to it she had no good form or results?

It's really just that botton section that's been decimated and will have a semifinalist who hasnt gotten to the end of a slam. Except for Sevastova at one US open.

R412 She couldn't hold her serve if her life depended on it...

Martin Klizan is hairy sexy!

Pliskova, Halep, Wozniacki, Muguruza et al are all whiny head cases. Womens tennis is a joke and nobody can string together two victories in a row anymore.

Thank goodness Osaka came along I hope she blows them all out of the water.

Svitolina another head case has never ever advanced beyond the QF of a Slam too--and she probably never will.

Bolsova seems to have a personality and sense of humour, something most wta players seem to lack nowadays.

Muguruza once more is able to do a good job on RG even if she sucks the whole clay season

I will laugh if Osaka wins her third Slam in a row here, but totally not surprised.

R416 svitolina is a joke. She is so overrated it's absurd. Her serve is WACK; forehand subpar; average backhand. She can't attack for shit. She Is decent on the defense and even there she is so poorly coordinated that if you make her change directions a couple times she implodes. Not even gonna get into her volleys cuz that would be just ruthless.

R418 why? Shes a really good player with a lot of weapons.

R418 it would be a lot like when Serena won her first French in 2002. She had no idea how to play on clay yet but her weapons were so massive it didn’t matter.

Yeah the Sevastova/Mertens match has been my favourite of the tournament so far too. I hope she has the legs to keep going but she plays Vondrousova next - that one is going to be dropshots galore. If she has a good week here she can finally make her debut in the top 10.

Kaia Kanepi is also through, to play against Martic in the fourth round. Never underestimate her ability to bulldoze through her opponents.

Elina Svitolina isn't the most exciting player, but every once in a blue moon she actually plays aggressive tennis and it's great to watch, because so few of the actual aggressors on the tour are fast like she is. The combo is great (like Camila Giorgi, but less psychotic and reckless on the court). Having said that the last time she played that way was probably when she bageled Halep in the Rome final last year...

R419 = Whitney Houston

R420 = Ben and Courtney

Next thread let's have ATP and WTA separate threads. The only ova I'm interested in is Navratil.

R421: Then Henin appeared and she needed to wait till her retirement to win again. In the 90's Serena's chances of winning Roland Garros will be very little

Djere was so close

Ruud's hairy legs. YUM

R423 crack is wack? Lmao

A potential Stephens vs Muguruza match could be very good. The person that gets through that section will probably be the fav to get to the final.

[quote]The only ova I'm interested in is Navratil.

That Navratil has been ova for a long time R425. On the contrary, I was very convinced by Genie's game even though she lost to this year's probable winner at the French Open, Tsurenko. Will be in the final at Wimbledon for sure!

Muguruza has made the second week here 6 years in a row now. No matter how shiteous her form is, she always seems to be able to bring it on the Paris clay.

Which is weird because even when striking the ball well, she's not that much of a *consistent* power hitter, doesn't use much topspin to hit through the clay, and isn't usually the fittest player/best mover to keep grinding in long rallies. Must be a confidence thing.

Oh no. Nadal dropped a set.

I’m sure it won’t happen, but if Goffin is able to win two more sets it would make my year!

Elf team!

R432 Muguruza is moving terribly atm. And she doesn't hit half as hard as she used to. She seems very confused. Svitolina wasn't a real test because she's playing awful tennis so I guess the real test will be Stephens if she makes it to the next round.

[quote] Muguruza is moving terribly atm.

Perhaps Stephens would be able to PIN her down.

Vamos, Rafa!

🎾🎾

Stephens just blew 4 match points and is in a 3rd set with Polona Hercog lol.

Mahut desperately trying to cling on in a 4th set tiebreak.

Nadal survives the elf.

Mahut out to Londero (who can probably do more damage overall anyway, though it was a nice tournament for the old man).

Dimitrov-Wawrinka MOVED to Court 1, about to start. Thanks to sLoth stpehens

Wawrinka team

Stan team

[quote]Mahut out to Londero

Mayer, not Londero....Moutet's playing against Londero

Moutet and Londero are both gay right?

God, Tsitsipas really seems unable to not start the match losing his serve.

That's quality against Nadal or Federer means he'll be in a big dissadvantage from the very beginning (of course he needs to get there first, because his draw is not remotely as easy as Nadal or Federer's)

And Londero beat hothead, self-important Moutet. How'd you infer they're both gay, R444?

Sloane just shamelessly pushing the ball over the court.

And it was enough to win

R378 Just admit you're some delusional fan of hers. Other than this back-and-forth NO ONE is mentioning her or cares that she's out. Also (speaking of reading comprehension) I wrote of matches that I'VE SEEN she loses every tie break. And I just love that the video you posted was a perfect example of exactly what I described. Way to own yourself, moron.

Good God! That Stephens/Hercog match was like watching a match in slo-mo compared to the Azarenka/Osaka match.

No need to be so damn hostile. Its tennis. Chill the fuck out.

When did Konta get so good on clay?

R392 Actually, she did start choking she just got away with it because of linesman and umpire incompetence. She DF'ed on break point at 5-3 in the 3rd and it wasn't called. Azarenka got screwed.

Die, Rafa, die! But he won't. I hate him, but damn, he's good. Of course he plays #78 in the world next. Cake walk to the quarters where he'll face either Paire or Nishikori, so basically he's in the semis.

Svitolina--who has been on tour 7 years and ranked as high as #3--continues to prove how overrated she is by keeping up her streak of never advancing beyond the QF of a major.

The big 3 all have easy draws to the semis. Maybe boobs out has it a bit harder but it wont matter.

[quote] When did Konta get so good on clay?

Is she clay specialist?

If the draw holds, Federer could face Tsitsipas in the quarters. I wouldn't call that easy.

I will let Svitolina off the hook because she was injured this go around and hadn't won a match since Indian Wells. Not that she's much better normally, but she was never going to break that duck at this RG.

Someone needs to halt Konta's unexpected climb back up the rankings. I can't deal with her ugly tennis and her mechanical looking technique. Not to mention all her drama.

R458: No, that wouldn't be easy, but he had a really easy draw till then

R426 Yeah and she had to wait for Hingis' retirement and playing her sister in the final to win that first one too.

R451 What goes around comes around. They got ugly first, and this is a bitchfest after all.

Way off base about Hingis, R461. Hingis and Serena never faced each other at RG. Moreover, Hingis never even won RG. She was always taken down by bigger hitters (Seles, Pierce, Capriati, Majoli), which is exactly what Serena was. And Serena in 2002 was pretty much unstoppable at the Slams. She was playing great tennis and was in the best shape of her life. Hingis retiring was a non-factor.

There are riotous scenes at RG today with fans not being allowed in

R447 in her defense it's not that easy to just smack the ball against hercog, she has an incredibily heavy topspin on her forehand.

R446: What Mouted did or said for you to say something like that?

Why Domicakes not wear white shorts yet?

Jo Konta is the real number 1, the favorite to win Roland Garros, and a lock for Wimbledon!

R463 Way off? Five years in a row SF or better for Hingis. I think she (sans foot issues) would've been a very significant hurdle for Serena to get over. That kind of obstacle -- which is mentally and physically fatiguing -- can end up costing you later matches. Knowing she'd no longer have to face someone like Hingis during a slam was a massive psychological boost.

For example: Serena squeaked past Capriati in the SF in part because she had the easiest QF (an off (WC) Mary Pierce -- 6-1, 6-1). If that had been Hingis instead, she probably would've played a 2-1/2 hour three-setter and been tired going into the SF. Capriati then likely finishes her in straights. Obviously, that's a hypothetical, but very plausible. (Note: Capriati went 3 sets with Dokic in the QF)

Similarly, look at what the Seles stabbing did for Graf. Take out that difficult opponent, which then rearranges the draws, and suddenly Graf's making the final of and winning almost every slam again.

What's up with the Wawrinka/Dmitrov match? The French Open website says that it's been interrupted.

Stan caught his woman cheating on him during the match.

Darkness, r270

R470 they stopped it because of low light after Wawrinka won the second set. There were also a lot of pigeons flying in and out of the court causing interruption and delay.

Because Slow-Anne Stephens took so long on Court Suzanne Lenglen, they had to be put on the Bullring court. And because that court doesn't have as big a capacity, a lot of angry french patrons are outside the court complaining and booing. So I think part of the reason they delayed it as well is because it will quell the frustration of fans who couldn't watch it (they can join back tomorrow).

Despite Tsitsi wanting to get off the court (to be fair it is getting VERY dark), he and Krajinovic will play this one last game before suspending play until tomorrow.

Thanks, 472 and 473. I was following the score on my computer and thought it was odd that Tsitsipas and Krajinovic continue to play.

Krajinovic is cute.

Welp, the official and the umpire seem to want to continue (and the players agree). I think they all thought Krajinovic would simply serve out the set and they could resume tomorrow at the start of the 4th set, but Stef saved two set points and broke Krajinovic back to get it on serve again.

So hard to see that in the last game three different ball marks had to be checked and a point replayed.

I agree, r475. He reminds me of a bigger, taller Tom Hardy.

R466, Moutet looks to be a diva-in-waiting already, yelling at the umpire and grimacing and grandstanding. To be fair, I haven't seen him play before now, so maybe the big RG occasion had him over the top.

Some funny shit on this thread!

Such as, R479?

Am I the only one a bit disconcerted by the Hydrogen gear at this year’s FO? I swear, that skull and lightning bolts gives me the willies it’s so reminiscent of the Nazi SS logo. Surely it can’t be an accident?

R481 Polona Hercog wearing that skill and lightning kit with all her tattoos (including a full sleeve) and piercings looks like some steampunk bikie. I can't think of a more perfect player/brand match up.

I'm glad Fognini has moved on from Hydrogen to Emporio Armani, although the skulls suited his 'bad boy' image as well.

It's all ugly to me but still refreshing to see something different from the Nike/Adidas clones. There are some brands I can't even pick out because so many players are wearing the same thing and it's just one or two very low-ranked representatives for the brand. And of course unsponsored Hsieh wearing six different brands at once.

R397 My compliments on your nod to Martic... I was not expecting her to win today. Her game is a pleasure to watch.

R438 ❤️ I was starting to feel alone in my principles.

I really enjoyed Martic's interview she seems like a cool girl.

R469, yes, I still think way off. Hingis never even won RG. She was not an obstacle for Serena. In 2002, the biggest obstacle for Serena was her sister. Serena and Venus didn't care for Hingis, either. When they don't like someone, they can be brutal, especially back then. Just ask Maria Sharapova. Serena delights in taking her apart. Serena won her last three matches against Hingis in 2001-2002, including thumping Hingis 6-4, 6-0 in spring 2002 in Miami, just a couple months before RG. Plus you're forgetting the form Serena was in during 2002 from the French Open on through the rest of the year.

Serena had tougher matches back then with Capriati, so it's no surprise she had a tough semi with her, so I'm not buying your hypothetical about some match with Pierce helping her get by Capriati. As for your comparing Graf's sweep of titles after Seles got stabbed to Hingis leaving the tour maybe having a similar effect, Hingis doesn't compare to what Seles was doing when she got stabbed. Seles had won 3 of the 4 Slams in both 1991 and 1992, as well as the Australian Open in 1993. Seles was owning the Slams when she got stabbed. In contrast, after 1999, Hingis was no longer winning them.

Hingis came along at a time when there was a vacuum, just before the power players started to come into their own and Graf and Seles were starting to fade. She won 3 Slams in 1997, but Graf was out injured and Seles was coming back from injury, plus Seles was never the same mentally after the stabbing. After that, Hingis won the Australian in 1998 and 1999. Had Graf stayed healthy and Seles never was stabbed, I think Hingis may have grabbed a Slam or two, but she'd have never won five. Once the power players matured, they started taking her out.

i agree with r486. Hingis got lucky that the power players haven't fully realized their potentials when she won those GS.

R469 "In 2002, the biggest obstacle for Serena was her sister." Is that a joke?

That is precisely when Venus (out of guilt for being ahead 4-1 in slams) threw Serena a bone or 3...and pretty much hasn't wanted to beat her since. She really drank the Richard Williams Kool-aid about Serena being the better player even though she regularly owned her to that point. 5-1 before 2002 and Serena's one "win" came at what was basically an exhibition tournament. Sorry, she didn't improve that much between the end of 2001 and mid 2002.

2002 French: barely got past Capriati; and if Zvonareva hadn't been exhausted from qualifying and her lengthy match with Schiavone, Serena may have gone out in round 4

2002 Wimbledon: Nearly lost in round 3 to Els Callens (who?) 2 tie breaks (her toughest match; also avoided Capriati)

2002 USO: Davenport was her toughest match in the semi (again avoided Capriati)

2003 AO: Should have lost to Clijsters in the semi, but was saved by a net cord on match point (typical) -- Venus obviously threw the final to hand Serena 4 in a row "for the family." If you think otherwise, you're extremely naive.

You definitely need to check Hingis' stats on wiki. She reached the semi or better in 19 of 22 slams from the end of 1996 to the start of 2002. 5 wins. 7 finals. 7 semis. The 3 losses were a QF and those 2 fluke 1st round loses. That's more dominant than Serena has ever been.

Serena beat her easily in Miami (and the other 2 of their last 3 matches) because Hingis was having foot problems from mid-2001. If they had played at the French, a healthy Hingis would have run her ragged and worn her out. No question.

r394, 12 out of the top 20 are gone before 3rd round is done. How many more do we add tomorrow?

R489 all of them except Serena

r490, she actually does have a chance now, one she did not have before the Clay season superstars all started to drop like flies.

R488 you can quote all the Hingis statistics you want, none of which are relevant. We're talking about WINNING Slam titles, not getting to the later rounds. That's what counts. Hingis was not a big obstacle for Serena in 2002. No, Hingis would not have been a threat to Serena. The power players came into their own and Hingis couldn't win anymore, and she was a petulant little bitch about it, too. Hingis got to the later rounds--big whoop. Serena won titles, even after being away from the tour for months. Whose records sounds more impressive--Serena with 23 Slams or Hingis with 5? Who cares if Hingis was consistent, her one biggest attribute. How many of Hingis's semis or finals appearances do you think she'd trade for an actual Slam title? All of them. That wasn't translating to Slam victories.

When Serena played well, Hingis really couldn't beat her. Hingis needed an off Serena to win as Serena matured. At 17, an in-form Serena took out Hingis at the US Open. Hingis knew if Serena was on, she really couldn't win. Then eventually Hingis got taken out by other power players left and right. When Hingis came back to the tour, she was a Top 10 player, but she regularly lost to the big hitters at Slams. Until she got caught for snorting coke.

I did get a big chuckle from your "Serena almost/should have lost" list from 2002 and who she "avoided." She won the titles. That's what counts, not your "almost" ridiculousness.

[quote] before the Clay season superstars

Are clay superstars no clay specialist any longer?

Sadistic spoiled brat slut coke whore Hingis was a blight and a blot on the tennis landscape. The RG crowd showed great judgment of character in their dislike for her. It's too bad that Spirlea didn't bump into Hingis instead of Venus. That'd have killed two tennis skanks off at once.

r493, nope the season is over.

I see Jen C. is out on parole and posting in this thread.

Bullshit 496 Serena got past Capritai before she began her big reign in a match she should have lost. 2002. Capriati choked but was clearly the better player.

Capriati was also miles better than most Americans on clay. At the time she was the only American who was trained on clay

And I like Hingis but stop. When she decided to retire Venus, Serena, Davenport and Capriati were blowing her senseless off the court. She could no longer compete.

Zoooooooooooooooooooom

it's time for some of the male seeds to get upset. The big 3 really need to lose

Lmao I had no idea my comment on Serena winning an early RG would spawn a Hingis troll. How fun.

r499 She was a much better player than all these American players, and all this Venus talk on dl always, phh. She played beautiful tennis with culture, none of the Americans and Canadians did that nor do that. Americans are so obsessed with success and idiotic statistics, yet don't take into account things like artistry, culture et al. Clay is clearly the best surface for tennis, Americans don't do well there, grass is also better than hard court, for a shorter player, who doesn't attack that much, she did very well there as well.

E.g. there are restrictions that make it harder for big servers nowadays, and much harder for serve and volley, the success of the successful male tennis players of today is also somewhat part of restrictions and changes, the female power players did not profit much from restrictions, but if there would become changes to aide culture and artistry the power players would become less successful, and the making lesser the differences between the surfaces was something the power players helped and e.g. Hingis harmed, it also harmed all clay court players, which is the most important surface for tennis, the clay court tournaments are not enough in numbers either, which is the hardest surface for smashers and athletes/non-players. Athletics can also be helped a lot with doping, artistry, playfulness and culture are even strongly impeded by it. Pro Sports is very important for companies, Europeans very rarely make big stars, being a great player certainly is not enough for being very successful nor for being successful at all. Modern tennis helps learned hard court players quite a bit, and impedes the others. Most global economic players tend to be American and English-speaking world.

The artist formerly known as Sasha is in trouble in the opening set! He seemed to do better under his old nickname

A. Zverev!

Sascha won the first two sets, the one complicating his life now is Tsitsipas who lost the third and is losing the fourth

It was tough but finally Stefanos is in fourth round. Sascha is now complicating his life after being two sets ahead

So basically, R503, you like Hingis's game and think she's a better player because you prefer how she played tennis. How silly of rest of us to use "idiotic statistics" like actually winning titles and Hingis losing to players whom you deem unworthy because you don't care for their playing style. Interesting, though, based on your talk of artistry and culture, that the French crowd hated Hingis. If ever there was a crowd that would appreciate artistry and culture, it's the French. Could just be that was overridden by Hingis's petulant bitchiness. Is that part of her artistry and culture, too?

R499 stated it simply. That's the truth. And Hingis's return to the game proved she couldn't compete for the big titles anymore. To give credit where credit is due, Hingis is an excellent doubles player, but after 1999 she couldn't win Slams in singles anymore. Another one of those pesky, idiotic statistics.

Titsy needs to cut down on the UE if he plays Stan. Stan is CRACKING the ball.

Christ, Titsy's shoulders are broad!

Dusan (who's kinda hot) is giving Sascha a match.

Cuevas v Thiem is an eye-candy match, and could be really good.

Hingis was very talented but in my opinion her rise was too fast for her own good. In 1997 Graf got injured, Seles was out of form and Arantxa and Conchita were on a brief slump, suddenly her main rivals were Davenport and Novotna. It was too easy for her. If she had to fight way more to win GS i'm pretty sure she would be fitter and mentally stronger by the time Davenport rose her level and the Williams arrive in full force.

She had the tennis to compete even if her serve was very weak, but she was not ready to defeat one after the other.

It was a pity because it would be very interesting to watch who could be the most annoying diva, and the contrast of styles was amazing to watch

R509: Stan is having trouble with Dimitrov, if Stefanos plays well he will win

^ Grigor has played well I think and it's been a good match. Stan sealed both TB's with great serving. I think Stan could beat Titsy with pace if he's on, but he has to be ON.

I agree that Hingis just couldn't compete with the hitters any more, and the multiple AO losses in her last few years really squandered the last of her confidence and drive (especially that BIG choke to Capriati). Insanely dominant for her age, and an amazing court IQ, but her opposition just succeeded her.

Watching the Djokovic/Caruso warm up, and had to literally laugh out loud at the stats they showed. "Best result of 2019 - Australian Open champion". Whereas his opponent has "Best result of 2019 - Lost in the first round of the Estoril Open".

No wonder the big 3 are so dominant when this is what they're playing against. The womens draw may be messy and full of chokers but at least they provide something interesting to watch in the first week of a slam.

Please dezverev this tournament, Dusan.

R513: In my opinion she could compete with big hitter, but her fitness made impossible to compete with several big hitters in a row. Her main problem is that she lost her confidence, she was unable to evolve and work for being more competitive.

Tsitsipas and Thiem draws are way tougher than the big 3 draw

Sascha reacted in the fifth set. In good or bad form he needs drama on GS (and that always end badly)

The Fog is through, plays Sascha next. Drama deluxe!

And Zverev finally won.

I like Dimi but he's not going to be able to challenge Cheatsipas, so please get yourself together and finish this, Stan

I doubt Stan could challenger Tsitsipas either (unless the greek plays badly)

I always enjoy a good history rewrite, which our Hingis fan seems to be doing. She was a very good player who was overtaken by stronger players relatively early in her career. She didn't have an answer, then got hurt and retired (temporarily). Kudos to her for reinventing herself as a doubles champion. I do miss players like her who provided a contrast in style and some consistency even if her Grand Slam winning days were over early. The fact that Serena, 20 years after her breakthrough and pushing 40, is still considered a favorite any time she steps on the court even without much match play, is a testament to her greatness but also a sign of inconsistency at the top. If there were another 2-3 players always in the mix at the end of a big tournament, we would be looking at women's tennis a lot differently than most of us do. Hopefully Osaka will continue to be one of them.

Tsits will be the favourite, yes, but Stan at least has that other gear he can switch to and surprise (whether he will be able to is another story of course, but it's there in theory).

She didn't have to reinvent as a doubles champion because she was a doubles champion before the injury.

Martina has the talent but she needed to work on her serve and her resistance if she wanted to really compete with Venus and Serena (and then Clijsters and Henin), she never seemed commited to that work.

After her defeat against Graf in Roland Garros her mental strength suffered a lot, she was never the same. For someone as arrogant as her losing against a veteran who was on the verge to retire due to injuries was simply too much, and the way she did (when she was on the verge to win) ending being booed by the crowd for her behaviour was just the ice on the cake.

It's curious that she ended without winning Roland Garros when she was clearly way better on clay than others who came after her (at least she won Wimbledon, a title who would be totally out of her leage after Venus rose her level)

Didn't Hingis get back to the singles Top Ten in one of her comebacks? Went far in GS tournaments?

I understand a lot of people don't like her for various reasons, but her accomplishments and ability are undeniable.

I don't think anyone is saying she wasn't a great player, just that her success was short lived (for a variety of reasons) and that the excuses about surfaces and height don't really matter, nor do prognostications about what 'COULD' have happened in her career. The criticisms about the competition being diminished during her peak are somewhat true (though you can say that for a lot of champions), as well as her peaking early. Well maybe not so much the peaking early but the burnout eventuating from doing so well so quickly at that age.

Also it would be entirely fair for a gay board to hate on her given how homophobic she was when she was at the top of the game.

Osaka loses the first set for the third match in a row now. Will she be able to scrape through this one as well? Hmm.

After her coming back he reached quarterfinals in Roland Garros 2006and Australian Open 2007. and third round in Wimbledon and US Open 2007, with the exception of Laura Granville in Wimbledon she lost to top players, two times to Clijsters and one to Azaranka (one of the matches against Clijsters and the one against Azarenka were in three sets)

Not an Osaka fan, but she does seem to be showing signs of mettle in staying the course & pulling it out after a first-set loss.

R524: If someone made the kind of comments she made about Mauresmo now it would be trashed to no end.

People remember her for her talent and her beautiful game, but when she was at her peak she was an arrogant bitch

Wow, Osaka about to be sent packing

Osaka really shitting the bed here.

Just hand the trophy to Serena already. Who will beat her? These novice girls that keep winning will most likely be overwhelmed when they face her.

r530 she is so not going to win.

Jesus, R530, you’re annoying.

Not really Serena's fault that the WTA is a joke. Next time I hear "the depth in the women's game is incredible" I'm gonna randomly punch someone in the face. Which is probably going to be in 10 minutes I guess.

R533 and theres depth in the mens game when the same 2 or 3 guys win all the time?

Doubles #1 thrashing the singles #1 (i'm sure that has happened before but it's probably been a while - was Vinci #1 when she beat Serena?). Naomi couldn't hit a backhand over the net in that second set.

To be fair she was playing WAY better than Halep was in today's match, but Halep was playing against Tsurenko....

R530: If Muguruza stays in the draw is too soon to give the trophy to Serena. I know Muguruza was playing really bad but she is always able to rise his level here.

And Simona is still there and so is Sloane

Osaka doesn't know how to play on clay, she didn't have a chance. Once he'll learn this will be a different story

I don't know, R530. Serena seems to have trouble closing the deal the last few Grand Slams where she's been a factor. I remember she seemed to struggle mightily in the mental department to get to number 19 to overtake Chris and Martina in the total Grand Slam tally. I think she's similarly struggling to tie Margaret Court for 24. But no question if she's on, she's going to be tough to beat. If Serena does win, she will be the second player (besides Graf) to win at least 4 titles at each of the four Grand Slams.

LOL, R520, the Hingis shipper is definitely rewriting history. It's beyond laughable, if it's the same person, that he or she claims Hingis's decline was somehow a factor in Serena winning Roland Garros in 2002, which is how all that discussion got started. Plus add to that the whole "Serena got lucky/should have lost close matches." Um, great players pull out those matches and go on to win titles. After Australia 1999, Hingis didn't have that quality anymore.

r530 PUIG!

R534 domination is good for the game, it means there are strong players. And aside from the domination, the top 30 in the men's game excluding the last 2 years has always been full of great players . Which the wta now is clearly lacking if you don't take into account 5 or 6 players. "Depth" is just a polite way of saying "the level is so worringly low that a top 20 player could lose to a player ranked in the 150s and no one would bat an eye".

I'm so bored with the men. I need someone else to win besides the usual suspects.

Domination is boring as fuck. I barely watch mens tennis now. Especially not when the big 3 play other people unless it looks like an upset will happen.

R492 I didn't bother reading your entire garbage post. The point was that Hingis always went deep in slams, so it was nearly inevitable you'd have to go through her to reach the final or win the title. Stop being obtuse and stop pretending that Hingis would've a pushover on clay when she had just beaten Serena 8-6 in the third at the 2001 AO -- on a hard court where Serena should've won easily, right? (also followed that up with a 6-1, 6-1 beat down of her sister)

Everybody knows why Hingis didn't win FO 97...fell off her horse a few weeks before the tournament and had no lead-in play. Besides, Majoli was basically "in the zone" in the final. And then, of course, the 99 final was a circus that she was very close to winning.

Let's also not ignore the fact that Serena has played twice as many FOs as Hingis and shouldn't have gone past the QF in two of her title wins.

2013: Kuznetsova choked away what should've been a 2-break lead in the 3rd set; then Serena got Sharapova in the final (essentially a walkover at this point)

2015: cheated against Azarenka in the 3rd round; Sloane was beating the shit out of her in the 4th round and choked; then Bacsinszky choked in the SF (though unsurprisingly)

^^^^^^^

*would've BEEN a pushover

R537 Serena is the luckiest MF'er to ever set foot on a tennis court. Period. Jesus, you could make an argument for that just based on her last 10-12 slam draws which were easy to begin with and then fell completely apart almost immediately. Nevermind the favorable/unfair scheduling, the rankings bumps, and the ungodly amount of choking from her opponents. The poster up thread is correct. The powers that be would just hand her the trophy if they could.

Oh, R542, no one is buying your history rewrite. You're the type of person who ignores facts to support your view of things. Hingis's first exit from tennis had no real effect on the game as can be seen by her return, and certainly no effect on Serena's inevitable rise to the top. Hingis couldn't get past the quarters of Slams after her return. Who did she lose to? Power players. You obviously hate Serena and love Hingis, thus the motivations behind your ridiculous statements is clear. Too bad it doesn't match actual facts.

For those of you who aren't a fan of boobs.

R541 without domination there can't be an upset. And it's not just a matter of domination. The fact is that the level has dropped significantly in the WTA. If the level were actually high I would definitely enjoy watching more of the WTA besides 3 or 4 players that I like. Commentators that say "the women's game has great depth" are just deluded, and consciously denying the bad moment that women's tennis is living.

Damn, I was really hoping Blinkova would be able to close the deal and take out Madison Keys. Setting aside her truly repulsive physical appearance, Keys' style of play alone makes her an absolute chore to watch.

R547 You're partially right because the Seles stabbing is what had a profound impact on Serena's trajectory. There would've been no slam as a teen and she sure as fuck wouldn't have won that 2002 FO.

Womens tennis > men's tennis

The WTA fans need their own thread and the Hingis troll needs to write tennis lesbian fan fiction; which I would read but not here.

r548, disagrees as baseball is the national pastime.

Go Maddy!

r551, I'd read it too! But this should be about 2019. People need to stop living so much in the past.

R520 It's called having a serve on a tour full of idiots that DF their way to one or two breaks a set. Real tough to win these days.

Did someone say something about the men's seed?

Whoever is putting all the shit matches on Chatrier needs to be fired immediately.

Unfortunately, discussing the past is usually more interesting than what's going on in tennis today. Nadal will probably win RG for the 12th time. Yawn. As for the women, who knows, and more importantly, who the fuck cares anymore? I've watched tennis since the 1970s. The WTA is a bore-fest and the ATP needs a break from the Big 3 and their stranglehold on majors.

I actually am more interested in who wins the women's r557, that the same old Rafa or Joker win on the mens' side.

r557, and you could open your own thread to discuss it.

R558, no because I don't pay for this site. Just ignore the posts if you don't like them. That's what I do. if it bothers you that much, seek help.

poor Puig! just lost to Polish teen Iga Swiatek (after winning the 1st set 6-0)

If it's so boring to you, get the fuck outta the thread and go start a Tennis of the Past thread with the weirdo Hingis lover. My god.

Not the fault of the Big 3 that with all of them thirty(ish) or well over that, young tyros are not there to take them down to any significant degree. What is up with that?

The thread police always make me laugh.

The cunts who whine about how boring tennis is, whilst 500 posts deep in the tennis thread, always make me laugh. Who is forcing you to be here? Go outside and play.

Melanie Molitor has found this thread.

It's hard to say, R563. I've read countless articles on why, particularly on the ATP, the generations younger than Federer, Nadal and Djokovic can't seem to challenge them. You'd think by now there'd be a talent who can challenge. I think at least a part of it is that the Big 3 are three of the best who have ever played the game. Toppling them won't be easy.

Cunts like R565 always make me laugh. I still like tennis and watch it even though I find it boring in its current state, and have gone through periods like this in the past. At some point it always gets more interesting. This thread doesn't preclude some posts about the past, which I've seen in every tennis thread. Discussions about Rafa's and Thiem's asses always show up in these threads, too, which I don't care to discuss, but whatever, have at it. No one owns this thread. I scroll past posts that don't interest me without comment. Funny that you can't seem to do the same.

Nada's uncle Toni was just holding forth on purported lack of inclination in the younger wave, for the single-minded, obsessive grind necessary to be a dominant presence in tennis. He notes they just want it all to be fun and easy. Sasha whatshisname got canned for straight-talking to Osaka on that theme.

You don't need to be a paying subscriber to start a new thread, dumbass.

Didn't know that, R569, and don't care anyway because I'm not going to start a thread. Deal with it and move on.

What's with the cuntfest today, it's just tennis, who cares if the other person is wrong about Hingis or Bertens or whatever

I never imagined this thread would include a back-and-forth discussion about Hingis.

[quote] Commentators that say "the women's game has great depth" are just deluded

Are you calling Ben and Courtney deluded? Say it ain’t so.

I love you, R538.

At R505, McBongo does indeed look like A. Zverev.

Borna is really becoming the biggest choker on the ATP. So frustrating to watch.

Struff beats Coric. Looks like Djokovic's path just got a little easier. He and Struff only played once in 2017 with Djoker winning in straight sets. But Struff has played pretty well this clay season. Still, I suspect Djokovic wins in 3 or 4 sets.

I agree, R551.

No comments on Hoang? He's hot.

Indeed, I'm having improper thoughts about Hoang teaching Monfils the errors of his ways.

How long has ugly Monfils been doing the Wakanda salute to all four sides at the end of the match? That is WAY more annoying than Novak doing boobs out.

Maybe to you, R580, but I think the Djick shtick rates much, much higher on the cringe-o-meter. Plus Monfils isn't a dick.

Coric is becoming such a disappointment. He quickly rose to the top 50 as a 17 year old then had an injury. He stalled for a bit then won 2 titles. Occasionally he shows great form and promise but all too often he chokes and his forehand becomes a very wimpy, error-prone shot. He'll remain Djjokovic-lite (game-wise) until he finds some mental fortitude and starts winning big titles (if ever)

New thread:

Domicakes through to next round.

DelPo about to as well.

R573 I don't even know who they are

Serena just dumped the first set 2-6

Kenin is playing well. I didn't expect it as she had a hard first round against a no-name

Serena looks off-balance and unsteady

Why is no one talking about Jordan Thompson in sweaty white shorts and tight blue briefs?

Serena "I can only win a point if I hit an ace or shank a ball onto a line" just got bailed out of a loss again. Lucky bitch! I've never seen someone get rewarded for heinous footwork like she does.

In memoriam of Borna's choke today, here is his ass.

And Aliona reach the fourth round and the top 100. And she was back to tennis only a year ago

Someone needs to help Coric get a more steady forehand when he's under pressure. He decelerates and it turns into a mess

And Anisimova is tanking right now. After an 3-0 that puts her in clear route to the next round she is on the verge of losing her serve for the second time in a row

Serena broken.

Sofia serves to win, but i bet on a choke (or Serena being inspired in her return to serve)

I caught just the last set of one of Serena's matches last week that went three sets and she looked better than today. But Kenin is playing well, too, so that's a factor.

Wow, i wasn't expecting that. Good for Kenin.

Anisimova seems to wake up just in time to win the match

Hahahahahha

Glorious! Bye, you whiny cheating fucker.

Serena and Osaka out on the same day. Good. Both lesbians of course.

New thread:

Puig!

Serena OUT!

Puig!!

Well now that Serena's out of the tournament. Some of those reminiscence posters will go to