The Gays and Tennis—Part 42

So we’re here now?

haha I had a feeling the other thread would get payrolled soon. Glad I mentioned the link to this one. Hopefully the others follow us here

Thanks to the OP for starting this ahead of time now there's less chance it will get payrolled

^ I think you mean paywalled.

Okay, so Fed and Note out. Nadal will end up as #1.

Nole.

a player we overlooked in Luxembourg qualies! In addition to Golovin making her return to the tour, Elizabeth Mandlik is there too. She's the daughter of Mandlikova. They've been raised by Mandlikova and her partner. The father apparently doesn't play a role in their lives. Mandlikova has twins and the son, Mark also plays tennis

Good prediction of the other thread being payrolled!

Back to the conversations in the other thread, it's true Berrettini's backhand needs a LOT of work. He is super vulnerable against left handers, and even in his match yesterday he was running around it to hit forehands WAY too much. Of course it's nice to maximise your weapons, but that won't always be possible.

Gauff's pusher game was the perfect foil for an exhausted and jetlagged Bertens on a slowish court. She is still underdeveloped but her movement is amazing. Can't stand the hype but will admit that she takes a lot to be hit through.

Hoping Golovin can turn back the clock but it will be tough against one of the seeded qualifiers. I mean she's been gone for more than 10 years!

Jabeur is one of the best shotmakers on either tour (along with Bublik and Hsieh). Watched the highlights of her match vs Putin and she's a one-woman hotshot reel. Hope she can take the title.

Video is from a month ago, but is this Ben Paire at a gay party in Mykonos? Lol...

wow Osaka is going to give up her US citizenship as required by Japanese law in order to play the Olympics next year. She currently has dual.

It's all about the money.

She will win way more money as japanese, unless of course another japanese talented player appears

Medvedev def. Tsitsipas 7-6(5) 7-5 now 5-0 in the h2h

It was clearly not the day for Tsitsipas, he had opportunities to break at the end of the first set, and he recover from a break down just to lose his serve inmediately.

Anyway, it was a great tournament for him and even more given the nightmare draw he had

Thanks OP for the new thread, and building a better mouse!

Gauff is a set and a break up against Petkovic

Petkovic looks quite emaciated

And i think Gauff in the doubles final too.

It's curious she lost in the qualies, she was going to lost in the second round, but suddenly she reach the quarterfinals and she puts herself in goat mode

As usual, the young guns can upset the Big 3 in the Masters and smaller tournaments. Unless and until they beat them in the Slams, the Big 3 still rule.

Yes, the GS will be the deciding point of the changing circle. But this is the first time in a good while that the four semifinalists are under 23. And one of the big 3 members doesn't reach semifinals.

The truth is Tsitsipas defeated a good version of Nole, and Zverev was clearly superior to Federer.

We are at the end of the season, so there's the possibility that older players are more tired than the younger ones, but i'll be very surprised if next year we don't have new GS champions (at least one new)

If Medvedev and AZverev are the future of tennis, I wonder how many current tennis spectators will stop watching and stop spending their money on Tennis TV, etc.

Gauff won

Gauff is HUGE for her age. And I don't mean the tennis, I mean physically. She has another 6 years of her body developing? Jesus... Petkovic was very warm to her at the net (btw who's voice is this in the clip lol? Someone needs to be fired from the commentary job).

Hilarious that she lost in qualifying and yet will probably win her first title tomorrow. Hopefully the other finalist is Ostapenko (feat. Marion Bartoli). Gauff's steadiness will make her explode.

No, i doubt she'll grow up that much. She always was very tall. Right now if you are not physically strong (Felix is another example) it's quite difficult being precocious because the game is too physical.

If she face Ostapenko and the latvian is inspired Gauff has nothing to do, but Ostapenko is not inspired since her Roland Garros final

[quote]Gauff won

"Call me Coco"

Petco-vic

very impressive by Gauff to reach the final defeating a variety of players. It's also often hard to back up a win over a top player the next day but she did that.

Nice to see Ostapenko finally reach another final. I believe this is her first since Miami last year when she lost to Stephens.

Moscow ATP/WTA, Luxembourg, Antwerp and Stockholm draws all out! Some interesting mixes but also a lot who aren't playing

Golovin lost her first match back (first after almost 12 years!) to #5 seeded qualifier Kaia Juvan.

6-3 6-1, but the first couple of games were close and she won 47 points overall. Comments say her serve isn't there yet, but she moved pretty well and her powerful forehand still dictates. Just not winning points quite as quickly as she was before. Seems like she belongs at this level comfortably and could definitely improve.

Not bad for someone who retired at 20 years old and didn't pick up a racquet for another decade! I hope we get to see her play more matches (especially if her sexy husband turns up).

Golovin's best shot by far was always her forehand. At her best, her serve was solid but not big. She could volley well too. Her movement was OK but not amazing and her backhand was always her biggest weakness.

She should feel encouraged by winning at least a few games so clearly she can play top 200 tennis right away

Why on DL tennis threads certain things considered funny such as:

Clay specialist

Journeyman

Saying "[insert player name] team" rather "team [insert player name]"?

Shanghai: Medvedev def. Zverev 6-4 6-1

this is Medvedev's first win over Zverev. They've played every year since 2016 but haven't faced each other since 2018 Rogers Cup. A lot has changed since then

This is Medvedev's 2nd Masters, 4th title of the year and 7th overall. He's on a 9 match winning streak as he won St. Petersburg too.

Medvedev has either reached the final or won the title of every hardcourt tournament he's played post-Wimbledon. The last time he lost early at a hardcourt event was in Miami

Early favorite to win the WTF for sure

The end of the season is way more interesting than the rest of the year.

First Medvedev really rose his level to be a candidate to win no matter what, and second Tsitsipas and Zverev are playing well agains. So Paris and the NITTO finals should be very interesting

Coco won the first set, but Ostapenko is winning in the second

Gauff wins her first WTA title, in Linz. Look at the kid already going to put her Rolex on after the match so she can be photographed with it at the ceremony... Hahaha. I think one of the gifts she received was a bottle of wine, too!

A pretty awful umpire decision cost Ostapenko a break early in the third set (the commentators kept insisting that she was robbed and it should have been replayed). It kind of decided the match, but Call Me Coco was looking too solid on serve and movement anyway.

In Tianjin it was raining and the final had to be moved indoors. Rebecca Peterson def. Heather Watson, 6-4 6-4.

Medvedev is kind of cute. I like that he wears briefs instead of compression shorts.

Yes, he has a lovely huge forehead that looks even larger with his receding hairline. Wouldn't surprise me if he were another Russian on PEDS.

very impressive for Gauff. She's the youngest title winner since Vaidisova won Tashkent in 2004 and 9th youngest ever to win a singles title.

Gauff also won the DC doubles title this past summer.

Not sure how many other 15 year olds have both a singles and doubles title

Hopefully she'll have a better career than Vaidisova

Daniil is definitely cute. Nice, fine-boned features with a nice smile that also shows in his eyes. I even like the fivehead; a large head is a sign of intelligence.

We can keep agreeing to disagree, R36. He has a very oddly shaped head and usually a scowl. And he's already alienated a great many tennis fans. You can keep putting a Band-Aid on that and act like it never happened, but the damage has already been done.

Medvedev may have acted like a twat in the past, but it's no worse than other comparable players in his age group and he's backed it up with wins.

Medvedev is quite underweight. He makes Zverev look filled out.

Medvedev looks like he should be the main character in a Dostoyevsky novel.

Yes, very Raskolnikov. Behaving as badly as Kyrgios or Zverev doesn't make it excusable for any of them, R38, no matter how many wins.

Daniil's face is cute and he has a great smile. His hair is unfortunately tragic. The long forelocks probably comb back a la Trump when they're dry, but when they're sweaty they just snake down the side of his face.

R41, NO one is as bad as Kyrgios so it is ludicrous to compare him to Daniil. Kyrgios is scum (followed by Jimmy Connor) who is a complete bitch in every single match.

I see Daniil more as Nastasya Flipovna -- long and lanky and passionate and impossible.

Fine, R43, Medvedev is as poorly behaved as Zverev has been and Hewitt was. Happy now?

It's not just the fivehead, but the bottom half of his face is so small and narrow and the top is incredibly bulbous and huge. He looks deformed. A Chernobyl baby. Couple that with the poxy skin, the greasy hair, the Dumbo ears, his sharp jagged teeth, the beady eyes, and the sharp, pointy nose (that always seems to be oily)? Doesn't help that he appears to be on the same diet as our Darfur Orphan.

Some of you queens need to get out more if you think this is cute.

Looks aside, he does seem like the next real threat to the big 3. Whether he can maintain it is another story, because it's only really on hard courts, and many players struggle to replicate successes that happened toward the end of the season when the next one begins. A bit of a 'hangover' effect. He seems super smart though, on and off the court. It's kind of a shame his success has coincided with him becoming a much more passive player. He's just a wall at the moment. Which is an effective strategy obviously and very hard to hit through, but it's like watching fellow five-head Wozniacki (just one with a serve). Not exactly awe-inspiring tennis.

Medvedev spent a lot of time counterpunching against Tsitsipas and Zverev. They both ended up hitting errors at key moments. Medvedev can hit winners when he wants to but his forehand is quite attackable especially if rushed on that side. Nadal exploited it during the USO final.

I'm curious how much Medvedev has left in the tank for Moscow this week. He does have a bye but will surely play by Wednesday.

Kyle Edmund keeps losing and will drop out of the top 70, which makes dirtbag Dan Evans the new British #1

Blimey, has British tennis hit a new low?

R49 And no good players on the horizon either. The guys have awful personalities to match their terrible games (Evans, Jay Clarke) and the girls seem to be real brats too with no talent despite all the money the LTA pours into them (Katie Swan scamming Zhang Shuai in Eastbourne, Katie Boulter going to RG and running off with her withdrawal fee after one day, Harriet Dart who threw some major tantrums this week).

Heather Watson randomly made the Tianjin final this week. But next week should be back to the doldrums for the 'British' tennis elite.

It is always darkest before the dawn.

It is rather astonishing that Slam country with absurd amounts of funding cannot produce seven players.

*Decent players

Well, at least Jay Clarke is fun to watch.

R50 wait what's wrong with Jay Clarke's personality? I don't know anything about him besides his appearance and game

Who will be #1 first, Bianca or Daniil? Who will win more majors in 2020?

R56 I wouldn't be surprised if neither wins a major. The ATP slams still seem locked down by the big 3 (it's still best of 5 after all). And the women are so inconsistent. It could be anyone from Andreescu to Halep to Zheng SaiSai, lol.

But I have to think Andreescu will be #1 first, not just because of the aforementioned inconsistency of the womens game... but she is already #5 and has basically zero to defend until the end of the year. Points to pick up at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and even Melbourne and Miami where she only won a match or two. Didn't play Rome P5, Madrid PM, St Petersburg, the Middle Eastern tournaments, even just entering the grass tournaments will gain her big points even if she loses in the first round... nothing really between Indian Wells and Toronto.

Even if she just wins a couple matches at the big events she should be in prime position. The bigger question mark is how her body will handle that schedule because she already seems made of glass.

Is Tsitsipas the only player this year to have wins over the big 3?

No, Thiem has also had wins this year over Nadal (Barcelona), Djokovic (French Open), and Federer (Indian Wells and Madrid).

ok well at least 2 of them have done it then. Better than most years

WHET Cici Bellis?

I think we'll watch new GS champions next year, at least one

R61 Multiple injuries. Really frustrating for her.

People are still making way too much over Daniil at the US Open this year. It was one match. And God knows the New York crowd can turn on someone on a dime. That whole snatching the towel away from the ball guy (it wasn't like it was a 10 year old ball kid) was not a big deal. People just wanted to blow it up and be over-dramatic.

Okay so neither was flipping off the crowd, or from before the US Open, throwing coins at the Jewish umpire, or yelling at Tsitsipas and getting in his face, throwing a tantrum and telling him to "shut your fuck up" because Tsitsipas muttered a barely audible insult at the net, or getting disqualified at a challenger for inferred racist comments implying that the black umpire was favoring Donald Young? Yea, he's a paragon of court virtue.

Tsonga still looking good.

R65 No-one's ever suggested Medvedev hasn't shown some bad behaviour in the past. You'd struggle to be able to name any player who's been saintly all the time. His recent form is the best in the world and his antics at the US Open won him more fans cos people have realised he's a good bloke with a sense of humour and he's fucking good at tennis. Give him the credit he's due.

R67, let's stratify and differentiate without conflating:

1) His tennis skills aren't in question. That hasn't ever been a bone of contention. However, he still hasn't beaten Nadal, in fact got destroyed by him 6-3, 6-0 in Montreal just two months ago.

2) Your criteria for "good bloke" are nebulous. Bad behaviour, of which Medvedev's displayed plenty, is a criterion whether you like it or not. Among his peers under 25 he's near the top in that pantheon of assholery, surpassed only by Kyrgios, AZverev, and maybe Reilly Opelka. Since none of those three has displayed any bad tennis behavior over the last month, are they all now "good blokes" too? Kyrgios often has a good sense of humor, but that doesn't excuse his misdeeds any more than it does Medvedev's. Give discredit where it's due.

R68: Citing he was bashed by Nadal on Montreal seems quite selective when their last match was way less one sided.

And there's a lot of athletes who behave way different when they are playing that when they are not. Spanish soccer player Juanito was a total asshole on the field but everybody who knew it outside the field said that he was a really good guy.

Medevedev behaviour on court has a lot to improve but it's true that he has an unexpected charisma and he is really good at interviews.

Anyway i don't know if there's a real interest in correct bad behaviours on court when Kyrgios is celebrated.

Nadal has a series of tournaments for U12 and U14 in Spain, an integral part of the tournament is showing the kids to behave well on court and to respect the rivals (something that sometimes coaches and parents just don't do).

Tennis used to be a gentlemen sport, but the truth is bad guys is nothing new, and some of them are even fan favourites

Not clicking on that probable virus, R70, and what's it doing in the tennis thread?

R71, It’s some random troll who’s been posting on numerous threads.

Forgive my ignorance - why did he throw coins at a Jewish umpire?

Remains open to speculation...

Medvedev has withdrawn from Moscow leaving a lucky loser to inherit his #1 seed

can't blame a bitch

WTA 2020 calendar out

some notable changes:

Sydney is gone and Adelaide is in its place

Tashkent is gone and instead indoors Lyon in March is in its place

2 new grass tournaments including Berlin. Mallorca is gone

Albany debuts a week before the USO

Hrm, I'd say that Daniil and Kyrgios are pretty much tied for biggest assholes. Krygios, I'm pretty sure, has mental issues. Daniil strikes me as just an asshole.

Is A. Murray (aka Misery) literally the whitest player in the ATP, or does someone else hold that title?

Edmund is quite pale

Well, it seems Gauff will be back to reality today 64 30 and serve for Blinkova.

Curiously her doubles partner will play Ostapenko in first round

64 60, i suppose it was expected

Yeah Kyle is ghost-like. In my tennis player/porn star roster, he's Todd Gibbs. (Khachenov/Kris Evans, Zverev/Kieran Benning)

Not that the Gauff loss was particularly bad (or even unexpected) but it clearly shows why the age eligibility rules are in place. A 15-year-old should not be allowed to play full time on the tour. She's not physically OR mentally ready to play at this level day in and day out. It doesn't matter how good she is. Her team has been trying to manipulate the system for months and they are clearly having Coco play more events than she should. After already securing main draw at the Australian Open shouldn't they have used this tournament for next year (since she has a limited # she can play).?

There's no way she should have played this week, but her family is greedy and wanted to cash in that fat appearance check anyway. Did anybody see the on court coaching session where she was literally crying and her father told her "you're better than this."?? Jesus.

Why is she spending three weeks in Europe in the middle of the school year anyway? Her parents should be careful not to break their golden goose.

Especially after winning last week I was surprised she played this week. Thought that would be the end of her year. Get a ranking in the 70s and your first title at 15 then take a break till Australia.

[quote]Did anybody see the on court coaching session where she was literally crying and her father told her "you're better than this."?

Not surprising. I'm sure Coco was mentally and physically tired after a big week. A lot of 19 and 20 year old players crash out of the next tournament after winning their first title too, never mind a 15 year old

and Dimitrov suffers his first loss to Querrey in a 3rd set tiebreak

Cute

And the players fighting for one place in the London finals failed big time, Fognini lost 61 61 with a semi retired Tipsarevic, Monfils lost with Sinner 63 62 and Goffin lost with Humbert 63 61

Goffin looks hilarious with his new military haircut. It's meant for a guy with a much bigger build, I feel.

While the guys desperately clawing for YEC slots are flopping, the girls are doing well. Kiki Bertens and Belinda Bencic have both survived tough three setters against dangerous opponents (including Bertens against one Kaia Kanepi). I do hope they both meet in Moscow and play for the chance to take each other out. Tennis with some stakes!

Thanks, R66. Tsonga is gorgeous. Especially with his hair shorter.

Jack Sock lost in a challenger to a Greek Cypriot player. He is 9 wins and 27 losses (at all levels) since the ATP finals in 2017, and in 2019 specifically he has only won THREE sets.

Still has some points on his ranking from Bercy, so it will be interesting if he loses there. At what point will he be completely unranked? Hmm

Sock needs to get fit before trying his coming back. He is fat and in bad form

Sinner won the first set against Tiafoe (now he is losing 4 2 in the second) if he wins he'll be the youngest player in the top 100

Sinner defeated Tiafoe 64 36 63 and became the youngest top 100 player, and probably one of the players who did it in less time and with less effort, most players spend a while around the top 100 without breaking that barrier

CoCo Gauff's appearance fee supposedly was more than the entire tournament at Lux

An exhausted Bertens is out to Mladenovic, which means it's now on Belinda Bencic to make the Moscow final if she wants to qualify for Shenzhen (bear in mind that Simona Halep could still withdraw and allow both in, in addition to the likely Serena withdrawal).

Flipkens choked three set points to Bencic today to hand her the win. The Swiss is not looking 'great', and her next match is against Mladonna who has beaten her the last four times they played. The two are also former friends who now hate each other, which adds an added element drama, in addition to the pressure to win and make the YEC.

Is Halep injured?

R98, does she need Help? Is she alright?

Murray won his match and he is into semifinals and top 200 again

Sugita sends homophobe Tipsarevic into retirement. It took about 10 match points or so but it's done.

Bencic qualifies for the finals

Shapo flirting with his first title. Stockholm. Only Krajinovic stands in the way.

Vienna and Basel draws out. Most of the top 50 is in action. Vienna is the tougher draw wow as far as unseeded players are concerned

Sinner had a great week but was swatted away by Wawrinka

Antwerp final Wawrinka vs. Murray should be interesting

Luxembourg final will be Ostapenko vs. Goerges they've never played before

Ostapenko with two finals in two weeks now (three if you include her Beijing doubles final). Maybe 3rd time will be the charm. This coaching collabo with Marion Bartoli (who blatantly lies to her and tells her everything she's doing is amazing) seems to be working lol.

Team McCoco win their second title in Luxembourg.

Shapovalov is one of the most annoying players on tour.

She starts the match, things don't go well, and in the middle of first set he smash his raquet two times. His body language and attitude reminds me of Hewitt, and makes me root for his rival.

He was lucky Sugita is one of those players without weapons which makes him and easy prey on indoors.

Unless he plays way better tomorrow, Krajinovic will win

Moscow final will be Rublev vs. Mannarino. Someone is winning his 2nd title

very impressive that now Coco has 2 doubles titles and 1 singles titles all at 15. Now time for rest, school and training.

Alexander Volkov died today, only 52. He was one of the most personable tennis players among the Russians. No cause of death is listed, nor are any survivors noted.

That is too, too sad, r111.

Wow, Coco’s family certainly aren’t wasting any time cashing in with all the exhibitions.

Mladonna got dumped by Sascha Bajin

Moscow: Bencic def. Pavlyuchenkova in 3 sets for her 2nd title of the year and 4th overall

Rublev def. Mannarino in 2 sets for his 2nd title

Luxembourg: Ostapenko def. Goerges in 2 sets for 3rd title

Antwerp: Murray def. Wawrinka in 3 sets for his 46th title

Stockholm: Shapovalov def. Krajinovic for his 1st title

Misery is back, bitches

Mladenovic had 1 of her best weeks in a while this week. Sascha interesting timing!

Murray v Wawrinka was a great match. Great to see them both back playing amazing tennis and touching to see the respect and friendliness they have for each other.

Popsicle with his coach 👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨

R119: They look like one of those instagram couples

I heard that Youzhny is training (or helping to train) Shapovalov, and it's really showing, but i don't say that for his winning but for him smashing his raquet against his foot. Sometimes i think Shapo is plain dumb, because it's not that difficult to be injured doing that

We'll know Shapo's training has reached its apex when he can end a point like this.

R120, Shapo IS plain dumb. Watch his Instagram stories. It will be evident that he’s a dim bulb.

I wonder if Sharapova and Shapovalov would ever play mixed doubles at a slam together...

Team Sharapovalov

Rafa and Mery/Xisca got married yesterday!

He looks good at R125. So does she/xi.

Yes, he looks good and happy

Sharapovalov team

I feel for Krajinovic. 3 times a finalist now. Hopefully he can win a title in the next year

plus he's cute

I'm sure Nadal had 100% all Spanish food at his wedding.

He even only likes Spanish paprika!

R129: He played pretty bad today

R130: Generally at weddings you have food of your own country, at least that's the usual way in Spain

Our Popsicle just won the challenger in Vegas over one of my favorites, Duckworth.

I like Popsicle’s chest hair pattern.

Isn’t Duckworth a chubby senator with no feet?

Shapo team

What is Shapo’s skin color?

Duckworth is a straight-up hunk.

DL faves Berrettini, Dimitrov, Schwartzman and Fuscovics all won in Vienna. Grigor tried hard to choke that second set to sexy Dzumhur though

Zhuhai draw is out

Group 1: Bertens Vekic Yastremska that is a tough group

Group 2: Kenin Riske Muchova

Group 3: Keys Martic Zheng

Group 4: Sabalenka Mertens Sakkari

Young Grigor doesn't look so young anymore

he's spent too much time in the sun without sunblock and too many headbands. He's all wrinkly which is unfortunate. Ruined his looks. He'll always be handsome but he's lost the youthfulness way before he should have.

Chung def. Raonic in a surprise. I'd think indoors would really suit Raonic

Fritz straight sets Zverev! really surprising. They have a similar game but until today Zverev just did everything (except the serve) better. a real flop this year

Everytime Zverev says something about the great he is, that he was to defeat the big three and winning GS, you know he is going to fail big time soon

Flopos

And Sinner will be top 100 next week after defeating Kohlschreiber.

Probably the most surprising and successful 18 teen in recent years (even Felix needed more time to crack into top 100) and all coming out of nowhere

Sinner's a few months ahead of FAA's age when he broke into the top 100, but then Felix jumped 44 spots from 104 to 60 when he made it to the Rio final. It'll be interesting to see whether he can get out of his recent slump when he plays against Rublev tomorrow.

Rublev and Sinner look like they could be brothers.

R139 No problem - the universe gave us Matteo Berrettini.

Sinner really is quite incredible for his age. I wouldn't be surprised if he, of all the next-genners, has the most spectacular career.

R145: Yeah, but Felix was hyped beyond belief and Sinner came out of nowhere.

Felix had already a ranking, he was 189 at the beginning of last year and he ended at 108. Sinner was outside of top 500 at the beginning of the year.

And Felix first half of the year was amazing, but he benefited a lot of the good bunch of wc he received.

Curiously, one of the Sinner loses this year was against Carlos Alcaraz when Carlos had 15. So his evolution is really amazing

Felix situation could be complicated next year, most of his points are from the first quarter of the year. Of course if he does a good Australian Open the pressure will dissapear, but if he fails at the Australian Open the pressure will be high.

I don't think the lack of good results in the last part of the years is something to worry about, but his attitude was pretty bad too. Not in the sense of other next gens (Felix seems a very polite guy) but he seemed unfocused and not really into his match against Shapo on the US Open, very weird attitude on him, maybe he should do like Tsitsipas and delete some apps in his phone

R149 He is outwardly respectful and for us the audience his attitude us much better than the likes of Zverev/Medvedev. But can be very grumpy and unstable on court, and in the end it's him and his results that suffer You can see the wheels turning.. I think he's putting too much pressure on himself in those big moments (all the DFs) and he looks to his box after every point with this look of great panic and anguish and confusion.

He's probably just played too long of a season though. Still young, and obviously time to develop and turn that around. In the end maybe sinking a bit in the rankings (after the first part of next year) and having a more slow, natural progression towards the top will benefit him in the long run.

I think everything happened too fast.

He had trouble for several months to reach the top 100, then he failed big time at the Australian Open qualies, and suddenly he started to get great results first on clay then on hard courts.

Of course he didn't live the hype after Miami, but his clay and grass seasons weren't bad at all. He was losing against players with a better ranking.

On Wimbledon he suddenly appears as one of the favourites which is utterly ridiculous (yes, he reached one final on grass, but the guy who defeated him, Berrettini wasn't on the faves lists), and something made crack and he never was the same.

Maybe it was overexpossure, maybe the pressure of being labeled the next big thing, maybe he was in love with that Tomljanovic cousin and lost focus, but the truth is something happened, because he always wanted to win and suddenly he acted like he doesn't care at all

Bottom line: I'd much rather watch Felix than the unsightly Sinner.

Well, i like tennis, and i watch tennis for the game, if they are handsome, perfect but that doesn't make me like their game more. They are tennis players not models.

Opelka won his match against Garin winning only six points in his return to serve. It seems to be a record or something like that but i reminds me why i hate his game and always root against him

big congratulations to Coric who is surely the only player in the top 30, maybe even top 50 and possibly top 100 who is now 0-3 against Kukushkin! Well done Borna

Coric really had an horrid year.

To be honest, i think his future is to be a solid top 20 player but nothing more

Obviously, R153, but all things being equal, it's nice to have the aesthetics as well. Even so I think that many of us on DL watch as much for the aesthetics as for the tennis itself.

Thiem defeated Verdasco for the first time

it's very interesting how Thiem struggles against Verdasco's spin. Even today it took him 3 sets. Thiem is peaking this year while Verdasco is way over-the-hill

Promoshion.

Verdasco had a sulk on Instagram the other day about not being chosen for the Davis Cup team.

Feels like he's barely played any matches lately, let alone WON any. And Spain always have a lot of options.

Tiafoe blew chances in the third set then got broken at 5-6 to lose the match despite having game points. When Wawrinka yells during matches it's annoying as fuck

Wawrinka then hands Federer a walkover...

#ATP

Wonder Boy Sinner falls out of Vienna in straight sets to Monfils, who keeps his hopes alive for London along with quarterfinalists Berrettini, RBA, and Khachanov, who's hanging on by a thread.

would be hilarious if Zverev who's currently in 7th place doesn't make it to the WTF

Flopos has made it to What the Fuck? but not quite to WTF.

The Paris masters typically has fluke winners and surprising results so it wouldn't be surprising if 2 of the other guys passed Zverev in the race

I mean just 2 years ago Sock won the damn title. Now that fat ass can't even on the challenger circuit

As it's a bit of a slow moment here on the Tennis thread, here's an otiose question: what does someone like Graf, who's sitting on millions of her own money and has married someone with millions and millions of his own money, do all day? Does she sleep in and eat chocolates in front of the telly till dinner comes around? Does she get up and hit the gym until it's time for lunch? Does she spend all her time on the DL? Does she play the role of mother and wife by getting the kids off to school and then doing the shopping for hubby?

Someone who loses 1st round Wimbledon/US Open is NOT peaking.

R166, Agassi complained that when he was married to Brooke Shields she always wanted to go places and do things and that drove him nuts. I assume both he and Graf are total homebodies. Graf probably goes out for a swim in the morning, works out a bit, and then she and Andre sit down and rewatch their old matches.

You think they actually sit and rewatch old matches? Hope you are joking cause how boring.

I don't think they'd rewatch old matches, but DEFINITELY would hang out at home a lot. Tennis players travel every week for their decades-long careers, so they relish the opportunity to be homebodies. Sampras and Evert have said this, and even a current player like Venus has said she loves being at home with her dog and businesses more than anything.

It's the ones who were slightly less successful in their careers that still need to hustle and make money that follow the tour and try get into commentary and coaching (Marion Bartoli, Nicholas Massu, Conchita Martinez, Carlos Moya, etc.), and then a few like Rennae Stubbs, Mats Wilander, and Martina Navratilova who probably have made enough $$ but clearly still love the sport to death and could never let it go, not even a little bit.

Most of the rich successful retirees like Graf/Agassi/Borg live boring family lives in nice homes, sometimes look over their business and investment portfolios and occasionally go to meetings. They might show up at a celebrity event or two per year, sometimes the grand slams.

And then you have those like Capriati and Safin who just try and avoid jail time.

Copious amounts of weed, stupid.

So beautiful

Uh oh, another tennis career about to head south ... Insta + gf = career killer

R169, yes, I was just kidding; they are probably just private people.

Shenzhen draws out

Group A: Barty Osaka Kvitova Bencic

Group B: Pliskova, Andreescu, Halep, Svitolina

R173: Zverev and Felix have an opinion about that for sure.

I fear Berrettini is one of those players who suddenly have a very good year only to vanish after that. I hope not, because he has a strong forehand and serve and he kept improving the whole year (and he is easy on the eyes)

Paris draw out too.

wow very surprised to see the big 3 all entered especially Nadal. Just glanced quickly but I don't think Murray took a WC

a bunch of interesting sections and a few weak ones too

I guess Félix has had sufficient for 2019.

R178: Felix ended his season, he is not going to play in Milan neither

[quote]Uh oh, another tennis career about to head south ... Insta + gf = career killer

Lil' Diego has a gf now as well

FAA has an ankle injury. He's trying to return for Davis Cup but nothing else this year

R173 Even if they’re dating another player?

Mat & Ajla are both gorgeous.

Basel final 4:

Federer vs. Tsitsipas

De Minaur vs. Opelka

Opelka has been tough to beat at this tournament, edging Goffin in 3 long sets and then upsetting RBA today in 3 as well

Vienna final 4:

Thiem vs. Berrettini

Monfils vs. Schwartzman

Schwartzman def. slumping Khachanov in straights today another surprise given their game style and indoor results history

final 4 in Zhuhai:

Bertens vs. S. Zheng

Sabalenka vs. Muchova

I hate listening to indoor tennis. The sound of hitting the ball is super annoying and the squeaking of the sneakers is worse than outside as well.

Amazingly enough, R184, you can turn off the volume and turn on the captions.

Graf and Agassi seem like the most boring couple alive but she probably fucks him in the ass twice a week.

g.e.m.s.life

R183: But De Miñaur is probably the worst nightmare of a player like Opelka (in fact the aussie won their three matches). He is llike speedy Gonzalez, he reach every ball and it's like playing a wall.

It's good that Alex was able to recover after his bad results after the injury. Right now he is the best player born in 1999

First set for De Miñaur. He is quite good at tie breaks

both Berrettini-Thiem and De Miñaur-Opelka are on the tight third sets.

Thiem is showing a pointy dick.

Gramps team or Titsy team?

it helped that Federer didn't have to play yesterday while Tsitsipas had another long match.

Basel final will be Federer vs. De Minaur

Vienna final: Thiem vs. Schwartzman

Zhuhai final: Bertens vs. Sabalenka

Agassi is ADHD (GBTQ). I imagine him bouncing around like a pin ball machine (underneath which he hides his dildos) while she takes long walks with big dogs and her yoga instructor, probably female. They have dinner with the kids, he runs off with the boys and she masturbates in the shower and falls asleep with the dogs watching Law and Order original.

Sabalenka officially back and I don’t think she’ll let pressure like end of last year affect her now. She will be breakout player of 2020, like Osaka and Andreescu before her, respectively.

Zhuhai final: Sabalenka def. Bertens 6-4 6-2

this is Sabalenka's 3rd title of the year and 5th overall. She was too good today. Bertens struggled to win 2nd serve points

R194: Well, not exactly, Osaka and Andreescu came out of nowhere. Osaka was 68 at the beginning of 2018 and Andreescu was 107 at the beginning of this season.

Sabalenka is a former top 10 player, she has the potential to be big and probably she'll be way more dangerous now that she seems to have the maturity to deal with the pressure moments

Is this the thread where we talk about Rafa's sham wedding to his sister's girlfriend? They went on a pre-honeymoon to the bahamas with Rafa's long time companion Tomao Salva. The newlyweds couldn't honeymoon after the wedding because Rafa needed to dedicate himself to his injury.

Just look at the heat coming off this couple, we get the same photo twice a year for the past 10 years.

R194 It's interesting that all Sabalenka's titles this year have come in China (in fact they make up four out of her total five). Though that may also be a symptom of the tour moving so many damn events to China in the first place.

R197 Loll, it really is the same exact photo every time.

And you get Thimotee Chalament - LRD vibes from it

There are many candid shots of Rafa and his sister. You can see how relaxed he is and the love between them.

Por ejemplo:

I adore Rafa.

His draw is quite easy on Paris.

Nole had a way tougher draw, with Bautista, Tsitsipas, Medvedev or Thiem in his part of the draw

Yo tambien.

Gramps team or Minotaur team? (Rather late to ask though)

Thiem team or dwarf team?

This Asian swing seems like it's gone on for months upon months. It's boring too. It feels like this the third Shenzhen tournament in the past couple of months.

here's an early link to the next thread, anticipating for when this gets payrolled. It'd be nice if we can finish this one but just in case:

I thought De Minaur would give Federer a much harder match today. Didn't see it but was he tired? Or Federer was just too good? His record in Basel is quite astounding.

De Miñaur is probably the young player who will benefit the most when Federer and Nadal retire.

He is good enough to give a lot of trouble to most players but i think his game is totally useless against Nadal (who is able to defend as well as him but with way more offenssive weapons) or Federer

Who was breakout player of 2019?

R211 I'd say Medvedev

Good choice, R212.

Yeah Medvedev for sure.

Unless Medvedev would be most improved. Does "breakout" need to be a previously complete unknown having a good season?

R215, I think it’s fair to interpret “breakout player” to mean someone who is suddenly known to the general public.

Andreescu might count as breakout player on the WTA, or would that have been last year?

Bianca and Medvedev

props to Domi for coming back over lil Diego to win Vienna

The Osaka vs. Kvitova was highly competitive but Naomi was more solid in the end

Bencic out-scrapped Barty in the 1st set but then Ash won the next 2 convincingly

Breakout indeed....

This is how I imagine Chris Evert’s home life; going out for drinks with the girls before heading home to smoke some weed and watch male/male porn.

He's on drugs, just like Hillary.

[quote]going out for drinks with the girls before heading home to smoke some weed and watch male/male porn

A gurl could do worse.

Halep over Andreescu in Shenzhen!

Jeez this WTA Finals court seems like it's like playing on molasses.

wait WHAT?

the GOAT lost to Halep? It can't be!!!!!!!!

Fed withdraws from Paris in a not surprising move.

And trying to decide which of her girlfriends' husbands she can steal, R222. She's probably fucked all of her friends' boyfriends and husbands.

That's ironic, R223, considering DJT's country of true affiliation and the longstanding tradition of steroids with Russian athletes. So pretty much a non sequitur.

Paris results

old Verdasco def. Coric in 3. Coric now on a 5 match losing streak

Raonic finally gets a win, def. Norrie easily

Garin straight sets Cuevas in hot South American battle

Chardy def. Querrey in 3. No one knew how that match was going to go with those 2 flakes

Tsonga def. Rublev in 3.

Cilic def. Hurkacz

223 here. You're right, I was on drugs when I posted it. Jezzuz this thread. Posting Tennis scores, Chrissy's a stoned whore, Sabalenka zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz Coma.

The tennis threads are the Lesbian Bed Death of DL.

Poor Coric!

And Damir Dzumhur has to be one of the biggest mental midgets on either tour.

My friend was a laundry volunteer at the USO years ago and said that Pablo Cuevas had an enormous dick.

The WTA YEC is a mess. Mud-slow court (in an ugly pink colour that makes it hard to follow the ball), everyone injured in some way, ZERO spectators or atmosphere aside from Halep's Hooligans imported from Romania. You can literally hear the sound of the air con over the matches. I know the money was huge but why did the WTA commit to TEN YEARS in Shenzhen? Even 5 would have been a big risk.

Poor Mary Pierce and Martina Hingis and Alicia Molik etc. commentating and having to pretend the quality is good. Chrissie was smart to stay home watching gay porn and smoking weed this year.

I would pay big bucks to see Chrissie destroy Hingis in a Celebrity Deathmatch.

Hingis would maul Chrissy. The latter must be older than Methuselah by now and is not as "flexible" as she used to be.

In spite of being knocked out Chrissy would be declared the winner after she flashes her cooch at the umpire and promises to sleep with him. Much like in her tennis days.

Or someone could just sprinkle coke on the ground and Hingis would get on all fours to give it a good snort into default.

There wouldn't be very much coke left on the ground for the Hing to snort. Most of it would likely have been sucked up by Chrissy's gaping, naked coochie. Pammie Shriver hasn't been seen since she offered to look up Chriasy's dress and help her retrieve her pencil that had fallen down Chrissy's open blouse and into the Grand Canyon below.

Osaka out at the YEC with a shoulder injury.

damn. She was off to a good start too

Bertens to replace Osaka. Unsure if she already gets the point for Naomi's prior win over Petra or not. She is going to show up against Barty tonight like a walking corpse, lol... nobody has played more matches this year than Kiki B.

With Halep and Andreescu's injuries (both taking simultaneous MTO in their match yesterday), Kvitova's elbow sleeve, Svitolina's knee problems, and Bencic's injury and fatigue... and watching them all push each other to death on this slow ass court? We could see even more replacements. Do they have enough alternates? I've seen Kenin in the crowd.

Even one of those bitch Chan sisters had a bad fall on an already injured knee in the doubles yesterday. If Hingis passes a doping test just send her in (she already won slams with Latisha Chan). Pierce is heavier these days but if you let her just stand there and punish slow ass second serves she could win a few games. Rennae Stubbs is fit and on site. Or start pulling from the doubles draw... players like Hsieh, Strycova, Sabalenka and Mertens will probably be more fun to watch than Pliskova and Svitolina anyway.

Can't believe this mess has the biggest prize money in all of tennis, mens or womens. Was it worth it? None of the girls seem to want to be there.

[quote]Unsure if she already gets the point for Naomi's prior win over Petra or not

I don't think she does. It's a miracle she never seems to get injured with the amount of matches she plays

For the first time in the 49-year history of the WTA Finals no American player has qualified in either singles or doubles for the year-end tournament.

Verificatia of Cuevas sizemeat

R241 Right. I guess because she won't have the 3rd match on her record, her win/loss total will only have two matches then. Just unsure who goes through to the semis if for example one of the others goes 2-1 (but Kiki ends up 2-0).

To be fair Serena probably would have qualified if she'd won an extra match at any tournament. She only entered 8 events this year and it took Bertens, Svitolina and Bencic killing themselves to try and qualify just so they could get ahead of her. She could use the practise against the other top girls (should she face them in another slam final lol) but was probably wise to skip this shit show.

Cuevas is HAF even with that buzzard's beak.

Bertens (Osaka's replacement) beats Barty in 3 sets, despite only hearing an hour earlier she'd be replacing Naomi!

Bencic def. Kvitova in 3 sets. Terrible serving day for Petra.

Things are very up in the air now with some live rubbers... Bertens vs Bencic and the winner will qualify for the SF. If Barty beats Kvitova in any combination, she is through. If Kvitova wins in 2, or wins in 3* (*as long as she has 4 more games than Barty), she will be through.

Hsieh / Strycova are the first team to qualify for the doubles SF. Sam Prehistosur/Zhang Shuai will face Krejcikova and Siniakova for the other SF spot from that group.

Defending champion Karen Hemsworth has lost at the Paris Masters. In three sets, to big hitting Struff.

Loses 1000 points and tumbles out of the top 10 to (at best) #16... he can still be lapped by others this week too.

Looks like the Paris curse continues.. hopefully we don't have another Jack Sock on our hands.

[quote] Defending champion Karen Hemsworth has lost at the Paris Masters.

Must be the family turmoil or glee resulting from Miley’s departure.

I’ve had experience with both live rubbers and used ones.

Khachanov and Coric have been in horrible slumps for most of the year. Their unorthodox forehand grips are what let them down most of the time. Last year both seemed to have their timing down better.

Medvedev just lost to Chardy in 3 sets

Medvedev loses to Chardy

[quote] Medvedev loses to Chardy

Dose that mean that Raskolnikov might be out of the YEC??

Medvedev out to Chardy in Paris...plop.

Unfortunately not, R252...the current YEC stats are in the link mid-page.

Does anyone else get a gay vibe from JL Struff?

Not at all, R255.

46 year old lesbian doubles specialist Lisa Raymond is back! While coaching Allie Kiick she is also partnering with her for doubles events.

They won their first round 6-3, 6-1.

Chardy looks so handsome with his new haircut. He also has a kind of sexy voice (at least in French), it's cute in a stoner-ish way lol.

Andreescu retires giving the match to Pliskbot

And Elaine Svitolina beats Screamona Halep in straights. Monfils won his match against Paire earlier in Paris and wrote "Bravo Eli" on the camera.

Andreescu will have a scan and see if she can play her next RR match. If I were her coach I would advise her to get the fuck to a hospital before she breaks her body permanently.... with two losses she probably can't even make the semi final anyway. Her retirement also messes up the round robin a bit because now Pliskova has another win but only one set. If Andreescu withdraws completely, [alt 2] Kenin will play a match against Svitolina I guess.

It's supposed to be the biggest tournament ever in female tennis (at the very least the biggest prize money), and even the players don't care to continue on. Remember when they used to fill out Madison Square Garden and have great atmosphere? This is depressing.

Its cause Chinese people dont care about tennis as much but these Chinese tournaments have the money and sponsors to put on these events.

Poor little Diego.

Tsonga upsets Berrettini. Monfils now has a chance to qualify for the YEC but only if he reaches the SF in Paris

Garin def. Isner and is now 2-0 h2h!! both on hardcourt which is surprising but I love it

Dimitrov def. Goffin 1 of his best wins ranking wise all year (but it helps that he owns Goffin)

Tsitsipas def. Fritz and faced no break points

Thiem survives Raonic in a long 3 setter

Shapovalov upsets Fognini in 3, now leads h2h 2-0

De Minaur out-grinds RBA in 2 tiebreaks

Wawrinka def. Cilic in 2 tiebreaks

Wow those are good wins for Alex and Garin

I’m glad whenever Isner loses.

I’m surprised by the Shapo win though.

lmfao Jack Sock will be UNRANKED in singles this coming Monday

just 2 years ago he won Paris and competed in the WTF

This is cute (I wasn't so sure about Shapovalov early on but he is growing on me)

Mmoh, one of my top five ATP hotties for sure, was defaulted from a challenger in Charlottsville because he slammed his racket and it hit and injured a linesman. Instant DQ. Not sure if there will be further penalties. Too damned bad for many reasons

yeah that was disappointing. I'm hoping he learns from it like Shapovalov did when he hit a ball that ended up hitting the umpire in the eye a few years ago.

Mmoh is known as a nice guy. I was surprised and disappointed to see him throw that tantrum but his form has been so dire since coming back from injury. It ruined all his momentum.

He deleted his instagram right away today too.

Does he have "a" Vine?

O/T, does anyone know what's up with the SI tennis coverage? There hasn't been a new story (or mailbag from John) in several weeks.

R271, I think SI has dropped its tennis coverage. Our Courtney tweeted something to that effect a couple of days ago.

R271, I found Wertheim's column last week when I went to the SI site.

Sad that Mmoh dropped his Instagram account. I've seen him in person and he's a smooth player when he's on (seldom, sadly), and, again, he's one of my top five hottest ATP favorites. He's a stud. Agree with above that his progress has now been stalled in a way that might see him far away from even the challenger circuit.

Michael Mmoh has an amazing ass. He looked great in that Adidas/Pharrell collaboration collection a few years ago.

Jeremy Chardy lost a heartbreaker in Paris after knocking out Medvedev and getting a decent draw. Won the first set, but eventually loses the match 8-6 in a third set tiebreaker to Christian Garin. He had a MP or two.

In Shenzhen, Barty def. Kvitova and is through to the SF from this group. Kiki Bertens is the next soul claimed by this molasses-slow court. She was leading by a break but got injured, and eventually retires to Belinda Bencic at the advice of the doctor.

Bencic, Barty, and Svitolina are through (Halep/Pliskova will play for the final SF spot tomorrow). Can we just cancel this entire event now? Shit crowds, shit courts, terrible tennis quality, and already THREE withdrawals (plus more injuries). Sofia Kenin wasn't even top 10 in the race (she's actually #12 behind Serena and Konta who didn't play) and she will show up for an inconsequential round robin match against Svitolina tomorrow. I know it's record prize money, but why bother?

At what point does the WTA cut their losses and try wriggle out of the contract with Shiseido and Shenzhen?

Dimitrov leads DomiCakes 6-3 and 3-1.

Thiem is out

In Houston, Garín beat Chardy after saving five match points, today he beat him after saving 3 (in a row)... that classic French mental strength!

Tsitsipas defeated De Miñaur 63 64

Mmmm...Chardy

Boobs Out!

I love Garin. Glad to see he's playing better again this week.

That stupid pink court as someone posted before, makes it very hard to see the ball. And the players seem to have ZERO motivation.

just a reminder here's the next thread for when this inevitably gets payrolled

Also. The court in Paris looks Like something out of the 70’s. And Court 1 looks very small, as if they are playing in someone’s garage.

Shapo just took out Zverev in Paris, teehee!

I’m shocked that Shapo has had two meaningful wins in a row.

It’s odd… while earlier in the season, he was hitting 15+ double faults per match, at the moment Zverev doesn’t do much well EXCEPT serve. Which is getting him through a lot of wins (it really is a good serve), but he used to at least be a good pusher with a decent backhand.

Strange evolution (or devolution) of his playing style and ability. But if you’re gonna do one thing well it might as well be serve.

[quote]Strange evolution (or devolution) of his playing style and ability.

... and then he discovered girls ...

[quote]Thiem is out

Young Grigor didn't want to let go of Domi at the net

Yes, the girlfriend and the instagram post were the beginning of his downfall.

It was a tough year for Zverev. He started like a possible candidate to GS, and he wa overcome for other youngsters and right now it's pretty obvious Tsitsipas will end the year with a better ranking than him just like Medvedev

R289: Young Grigor always seems on the verge of kissing his rival at the net

But good recovery for him at the end of the season, irregular but with some good results after and awful year

Tsonga has beaten Rublev, Berrettini, and now Struff. He can still play top 15 or so tennis when he wants to. Hopefully next year he can be healthy and also do it outside of just a few French tournaments.

Everyone needs to calm down and let Young Grigor hook up with men at the net like he wants to. Keeps him happy.

Video

bitch slipped me the tongue!

Nadal beat Wawrinka very quickly. Talk about a boring match.

Wawrinka is a terrible rival to Nole, but against Rafa and Roger he seems powerless half of the time

Flopos

Wawrinka's forehand usually can be exploited by the big 4. It used to be a serious weakness until he was in his late 20s. For the last several years it's been much more consistent but Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray make him misfire off that side.

[quote] Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray

Aka the...

Judy Murray at R298, stop talking about the Big Four. Your ugly, whiny son was never in the league of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. He was and will always be a second-tier champ of his era, along with Wawrinka.

La Monf!

If Monfils defeats Shapovalov tomorrow, he will clinch the 8th WTF spot. Berrettini will get it otherwise

Nole.

Prole

I hope LaMonf wins it. It will be good for him to win in front of the home crowd (would love to see Jo-Willy and him continue to cause upsets), and even though I love LOOKING at Berrettini, he will get slaughtered in the YEC in London. I don't even think he'd win a set in the round robin, no matter who else is in his group. Even Flopos routined him the other day in Shanghai.

In other news, Nike have gone 'all in' on Amanda Anisimova. Reportedly signing her to a $100million dollar endorsement contract (this was reported in Australian media so the figure may be in AUD, but still a lot). She is talented, but I have to think this is a lot for a player who still hasn't really earned *those* kind of results, especially one who is constantly injured.

They're trying to make her into the next Sharapova (white, blonde, skinny Russian/American). It's not like Sofia Kenin has this sort of money coming at her. But a huge risk. And is she even that attractive? Or just blonde... Her face is kind of homely to me but i'm gay.

Lisa Raymond’s pussy stinks!

R305: I think Berrettini deserved it way more than Monfils who is profiting of an easy draw.

And Anisimova has a big potential, and she always delivers at GS. She is very far from her peak but unless she gets injured she will be one of the tops in the next years.

She is not as beautiful as Sharapova, but Maria never was as beautiful as Kournikova. She is pretty enough to cash on her beauty if she wins GS

R309 I mean neither of them feel like they can do much there, but Monfils is profiting off an easy draw? Berrettini got a cakewalk to the USO SF - the only seeded player he even faced on the way WAS Monfils who almost won the match anyway in that tight 5th set. Without that and his two measly 250 titles he hasn't really done anything of note this year. Beating Flopos Zverev during his massive losing streak and having wins over slumping Karen Khachanov are not promising top 10 scalps.

I like him a lot (actually prefer him to Clownfils who also hasn't done much this year) but he will be pummelled in London. Monfils can at least take a set off the big names before bending over for his spanking (lol).

Of course Anisimova has huge potential, her upside is enormous at her age. But "always" delivering at the slams? She's only played at 5 and three of those were losses in the first or second round. Giving someone a $100million contract is a huge gamble in a sport that is losing popularity/viewership, and where long, surgery-needing injuries and illnesses are becoming de rigueur. How much return is she going to bring them?

And she's not ugly by any stretch, but is she really going to be that profitable? With her flat boring voice and looking like an Alfred E Neuman clone? Hmm. Meldonia Sharapova had at least won some slams and major titles before getting deals like that. Kournikova was sassy, charismatic, looked incredible, and frequently made it to the later rounds of tournaments during the peak years of the sport when everyone followed tennis... and even SHE was retired at 21. A deal like that would have been a wasted gamble even on her. It's just a lot of money for an unproven earner.

R308: Berrettini improved a lot this year, Monfils did what he does every year, waste his inmense talent

Anisimova made the fourth round at Australia and semis on Roland Garros, in both cases lost against top players. The only GS she underperformed was Wimbledon.

And she was pretty near to be in RG final.

Unlike other players who show potential but fail at GS at the early stages of their careers Anisimova went way further than her ranking

Grigor is on fire!

Don't forget, I'm pretty too!

Pliskova is the last into the SF in Shenzhen. She will play Barty for a place in the final, and Svitolina (who beat Kenin earlier) will play Bencic.

Here's the coaching video of Halep's coach calling her an "absolute disgrace." What a hot mess this tournament is lol.

That's Darren Cahill right?

Yes. They are working together again (probably fucking again too).

I like Darren as a commentator.

Me too.. Darren is the best!