The Gays and Tennis part 55: will the USO and other summer events actually happen?

Thanks for the new thread, OP.

Which top players do you think will decide to play the US Open? If few or none do, will they cancel it?if they don’t, will Margaret Court try to get a wild card to get yet another major via an easy draw?

It seems like the Americans, Canadians, some eastern Europeans and some Asians are playing. A lot of western and central Europeans are pulling out. I haven't heard about south Americans yet

I think the lists you see for Cincinnati are who you'll see at the US Open considering that's the only hard court tune-up for the men (the women also have Lexington). Obviously more withdrawals will come, but so far:

Men: Only four top 20 players out (#4 Federer, #9 Monfils #11 Fognini, #17 Wawrinka) and two of those have had surgery. A few other missing names include Kyrgios and de Minaur.

Women: A little more barren. Missing half the top 10 alone (#1 Barty - already withdrew from USO as well, #2 Halep, #5 Svitolina, #6 defending champ Andreescu, #10 Osaka - who apparently still plans to play USO, #15 Martic). Also NO Chinese players aside from Zhang Shuai, players like Goerges, Pavlyuchenkova, and former champ Kerber are missing.

Although it must be said that the women have 2 more clay tournaments than the men, so perhaps some players would rather just have one long clay season on the one continent than fly to the states for 2-3 events.

Barty did the right thing withdrawing early. It's a shame to be missing the #1 player in the world, but Australia is so far and she has genuine safety concerns. Also she's not the 'name' that #1 Djokovic is so it doesn't make as much of an impact (the womens 'draws' are Serena, Venus, Clijsters and Gauff at this point).

Will Osaka and perhaps even Andreescu enter with no warm-up tournaments? The latter has proven that she can win big titles while having barely any matchplay.

What's interesting is Nadal suddenly committing to Cincinnati despite him (and Novak too) originally saying they had concerns about safety and would likely skip the US hard court events. I wonder if he has some intel or just an inkling that the European clay swing (including the French Open) could be cancelled due to rising numbers??? Madrid Masters may be in trouble after COVID cases spike in Spain.

Well, Kyrgios and Coric keep insulting each other on twitter. Kyrgious said that his I Q was a big fat zero, and Coric called him drunk.

R4 De Miñaur is in Spain. He is playing a tournament at Juan Carlos Ferrero academy. He is in a round robin with Joao Sousa and Carlos Alcaraz

CINCINNATI? R4 What the fuck are you talking about? Cincy is my home tournament and now it's bastardized being played in New York right before the Open. For years European or Asian cities want the Cincy slot. We just spent millions renovating the place in Mason - albeit for really. really rich folks only - but there are fears if things get back to normal Cincy's date will be sold overseas.

R8 Erm... we are in the middle of a pandemic. Obviously it's not ideal to play the Western & Southern Open at Flushing Meadows and then play a slam immediately afterward at the same venue (after all, why should one be worth more than the other?), but your home tournament will be MUCH better off financially for having been held at all. It's the smaller tournaments who have been cancelled and are all taking a loss this year that will go into the red and struggle to be put back on next year without insurance.

Besides, Cincy will be fine. Almost every major player signs up every year, and the event is generally well-attended. It is the biggest, most historic, most prestigious, and most successful tournament in America after the US Open - it's not going anywhere lol, and European/Asian cities will not be able to randomly steal their Masters license in the middle of the US hard court swing. Nobody would fly back to Europe to play it. Even if the USTA went broke, first on the chopping block would be WTA San Jose, and then ATP Winston-Salem or ATP Houston which never get strong players.

The only ATP tournaments doing badly are most of the Chinese ones (which doesn't matter to them because their govt. will keep throwing money at ATP/WTA anyway), because everyone is tanking or withdrawing after a long season unless they are desperate to qualify for the YEC. And a few in the random stretch between the AO and IW/Miami - like some of the small French indoor tournaments that are losing spectatorship, and then tiny clay events such as Morocco and Munich. Cincy is fine.

wow how did this Kyrgios Coric feud start? lol

Coric said he didn't care about Kyrgios' criticism of the Adria tour and then Kyrgios wrote he should care and basically called him dumb

I never thought the day would come when I'm 'Yay, Team Kyrgios!'.

[quote] basically called him dumb

I iz smart.

Poor Borna :(

I agree with Kyrgios' criticism of the Adria bullshit, and he's right that Coric SHOULD care. I also can't say Coric seems like the sharpest tool in the shed, though he is gorgeous to look at, so Nick is probably right about that.

However, the comment about him and his tennis being boring and not exciting for the sport is (a) completely irrelevant, (b) not necessarily true, (c) a bit of a low blow, and (d) very conceited. Oh yes Nick, you are so exciting because you threw a few chairs around on the court...... yawn.

Clijsters, McNally, Venus, Stephens and Osaka have been given WCs to Cincy, so it turns out you should see Osaka at the USO. Pretty shameful that Stephens and Osaka would have made it with direct entry, but simply they or their teams didn't enter them by the due date so they now need the WC (which could have been given to another player, perhaps a lower ranked one). Very poor form especially with the struggles the lower ranked players are facing right now. Stephens' case is especially dumb because she DID enter Lexington directly by the due date, which was a week earlier than Cincy.

Kim Clijsters and Hailey Baptiste will play doubles together at the US Open apparently.

I like Kyrgios and find his SM aggro entertaining. He's been right to call out the Adria players for being so stupid, but openly criticising another player's tennis makes me feel uncomfortable. It's like a line has been crossed. There's no way that can be good for the game unless Coric is somehow inspired to thrash Kyrgios next time and it turns into a rivalry.

It seems the fight is still going on

And Tsitipas gave an interview were he said that he was Pitagoras or Socrates in another life (because he is very philosophical), that there's no real friends in the circuit (he even said something about only having a woman and a friend as a life philosophy or something like that).

Next gens don't win GS, but they are not boring.

On an exhibition in Spain Alejandro Davidovich proved that he is still a hot head and lost a match he should have won against Pablo Carreño. Just the opposite of Carlos Alcaraz who lost 60 the first set but ended winning his match against Joao Sousa

Meanwhile, back in the UK the Battle of the Brits is providing an interesting format and some really hot Liam Broady.

[quote] It is the biggest, most historic, most prestigious, and most successful tournament in America after the US Open

Fuck you.

Sumit Nagal is so hot! Loved when he took that set off Federer at the US Open.

R18 There seems to be no love between Evans and Edmund either. It seems now the big 3 era is close to an end most players don't give a shit on pretend they are friends

Yep, I noticed that, r21. “Be careful, Kyle. Be very, very careful,” said Evans very darkly across the net after their match two days ago.

And what about Evans’s little Hitler ‘tache? Very close to his politics, I dare say.

R21 that makes the tour more fun

R20 yes he is

Novak Djokovic Finally Wears a COVID Mask ... It's a Miracle!!!

TOOK LONG ENOUGH!!

Here's Novak Djokovic FINALLY wearing a mask out in public -- and all it took was global public shaming after he contributed to an outbreak!

Remember, Novak blew off social distancing advice and hosted a tennis tournament in Croatia back in June -- and shocker -- a bunch of people tested positive!

Both Novak and his wife contracted the virus -- and while they eventually recovered, they were still spotted out in Spain just a few weeks ago without masks!!

But now, Djokovic has come around ... kind of!

The #1-ranked men's tennis player in the world was masked up during a shopping trip in Cadiz, Spain with his wife, Jelena, this week.

AMAZING, RIGHT?!

All it took was 674k reported global coronavirus deaths before he wised up!

Novak dropped his mask during part of the outing -- but hey, progress is progress.

lmao you know Djokovic is fuming this summer. Nothing means more to him than good pr and the last few months have been an epic failure

Djokovic should just give up trying to get good pr and become the bad boy of tennis. He's not naturally likeable, and his attempts to be likeable have always seem forced and false.

I really hope Djokovic and Kyrgios face off sometime this year. The antics during the match would be hilarious given the coronavirus feud

R25 At least he seems to learn something from the Adria tour debacle, i can't say the same about Thiem or Coric

Evans and Edmund had dinner together after the match, so there’s not much of a feud there.

Shapo released a single too.

I don't mind tennis players looking to express their artistry but maybe they should focus on tennis for a while (and have some talent)

Yastremska has also just released this slutty club banger. Interesting next move after defending Djokovic and her naked blackface photo.

Palermo qualies don't start until tomorrow. But a player has already tested positive.......

This is just a small sample size. Gonna be a lot harder at the US Open to prevent this from happening. Cautiously hoping for the best.

R33, I think they should cancel the US Open and possibly the French. There's just too much risk.

Dan Evans is so embarrassing. This is after one game played. In an exhibition. Alongside your countrymen.

He makes Kyrgios look like Kim Clijsters.

Who are the old equivalents of modern players?

Nicolas Mahut reminds me of Michael Stich.

ON the Juan Carlos Ferrero academy exhibition Carlos Alcaraz defeated Alex de Miñaur 63 26 64

Day 1 of Qualification tournament in Palermo

M. Trevisan vs G. Gatto-Monticone 64 76

M. di Giuseppe vs C. Paquet 06 62 64

[4] O. Dodin vs [WC] F. Biliardo 63 61

[6] A. Sasnovich vs A. Komardina 75 62

[1] V. Gracheva vs [WC] M. Paoletti 60 61

L. Arruabarena vs [3] G. Minnen 60 26 61

T. Martincova vs L. Kung 46 62 61

[8] Y. Bonaventure vs I. de Vroome 36 76 62

N. Podoroska vs R. Jani 63 61 Y. Wickmayer vs B. Haas 06 62 63

Have they confirmed which player tested positive for Covid in Palermo?

R39 Vktoriya Tomova from Bulgaria. She was entered in the qualification draw.

Kyrgios has pulled out of the US Open.

In Spain, a mask is mandatory now. That might be the reason why Novaxx is wearing one.

And it seems Zverev break up with his girlfriend.

Maybe this time he'll learn a lesson and don't start posting pics at the beginning of a relationship

Looks like Madrid is going to be cancelled.

Misery is still up for the US Open as of today.

Nobody really cares about World Team Tennis, but the New York Empire team won (Kim Clijsters, Jack Sock, Coco Vandeweghe, Neal Skupski, Nicole Melichar)

Empire team

Next...

Misery team

Jack Sock was named MVP ! (and Coco too)

Skipping to US Open sounded like a sensible idea before France and Spain started tallying 1,000 cases a day again. Considering Europeans have been much more responsible and willing to shut things down, it seems more likely cancellations will occur there than in the US. Certainly the ludicrous French plan to have thousands of spectators has to be thrown out now.

Donna Vekic in Palermo: "Here they talk about us being in a bubble but it’s not at all. I don’t want to pretend that I’m locked in the room the whole day when I’m not. I went to dinner in the city...I’m not locked in the room and 90% of the players aren’t."

What's weird is that Vekic says she is going to the city for dinner in Palermo but then says she wants to see fines from the USTA for people going outside the bubble in NY.

Why are tennis players so childish? Here Zverev dodges questions about the Adria tour and walks out of the interview.

Madrid is cancelled.

First round matches started in Palermo.

Vekic demolished Rus 61 62

Siegemund prevailed over Begu 63 64

FAA is against coaching (i like him more now) and Zverev run out of an interview after being questioned about the Adria Tour (it was supposed to be a banned theme, they could only ask about the tournament, which is censorship no matter how they try to put it)

Medvedev and Dimitrov have been fined for speeding, going 40-60km over the speed limit in Monaco. A bunch of drivers were caught by police speeding on the same highway.

Errani - Cirstea 75 16 64

Alexandrova-Mladonna 57 60 61

Cocciaretto-Hercog 76 63

Murray gets a wild card for Cincy.

Would you FUCK R57 stop calling it CINCY!!!!!!

Nadal isn't playing the US Open.

Smart move, R59. They should cancel the tournament.

Wawrinka not playing either.

The last GS without Federer and Nadal was 21 years ago

The red top on that car at R55 is hideous.

Palermo Day II

Voundrosova lost to Juvan

Mertens lost to Sasnovich

Easy win for Martic

they really should just cancel tennis for the rest of the year and all other sports

it's no fun having slams with 1/3 of the top 100 players there

Is there any news about young Grigor? Was he arrested? Did he go to jail? Did anyone do something bad to him there's? I'm just curious. Like I would be for anyone. Concerned. On a human level only I mean there would no other reason. I have children. And a wife. A real one.

Milos Raonic packed on some Corona pounds

The porcine Milos Raonic and the dwarf.

Not only has Milos packed on the kilos but he also appears to be wearing a Guga Kuerten wig.

Lil' Diego is so hot. Here he is with Shopbottom. His titties are looking nice.

Poor Raonic is getting dragged on SM. One of the replies was from Fognini who said it looked like Raonic had 'eaten an elephant' and Lil Diego had to disable comments.

It seems they want to make Rome a bigger tournament this year (like IW or Miami).

And Rafa is thinking of skipping Rome too, it's quite risky, but i don't think he has serious risk of losing in the first rounds and by fourth round he'll have rhythm enough to compete against top players

Djokovic has suggested he still might pull out of the US Open and won't confirm his decision for a couple of days.

R72 He will be incredibly stupid if he does that. At Roland Garros he is not the favourite unless Thiem goes on Nadal's draw.

Australian Open showed that the end is near for the big 3, the time when they will be contenders instead of the strong favourites will be there soon. Nole needs to win his 3 GS as soon as possible or he won't reach Federer

Titsy sharing a hammock in Mykonos with his friend Manolo (who's a professional POLE vaulter ;-)

Well, he said it very clear, the one woman one friend rules is perfect for him

R74 when was that pic taken? I didn't see it on his instagram

what's the friend's last name?

never mind found him

good taste, Stefanos

Cocciaretto ousts Vekic

R69, those shorts are quite see-through.

Diego dances...

Watch the short video for a sexy dance

Diego is adorable and such a hottie.

[quote] It seems now the big 3 era is close to an end

[quote] Australian Open showed that the end is near for the big 3

It seems my Andy may be back, and his end is not near.

[quote]One of the replies was from Fognini who said it looked like Raonic had 'eaten an elephant'

LOL, leave it to the Fog to get cunty. But Pig Snout looks like he has pigged out.

ATP Challenger Tour to start on 17 August with Prague tournment. A second tournment will be held in Prague the following week. Then Ostrava and Prostejov will follow

Todi (Italy) tournment will start on the same week. It will be follow by 3 other tournements in Italy: Trieste, Cordenons and Parma.

Vesely, Kohlschreiber, Fucsovics, Dzumhur, Haase, Herbert, Gulbis, Troicki, Klizan are entered in Prague.

Delbonis, Mager, Seppi, Carballes Baena, Travaglia, Caruso, Lorenzi and Cecchinato will be featured in Todi.

Prague Entry List (48 draw): Attila Balazs, Alex Bolt, Jay Clarke, Kimmer Coppejans, Enzo Couacaud, Steven Diez, Joao Domingues, Damir Dzumhur, Marton Fucsovics, Daniel Elahi Galan, Peter Gojowczyk, Ernests Gulbis, Robin Haase, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Filip Horansky, Denis Istomin, Ilya Ivashka, Martin Klizan, Dominik Koepfer, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Jozef Kovalik, Andrey Kuznetsov, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Henri Laaksonen, Yannick Maden, Pedro Martinez, Nikola Milojevic, Sumit Nagal, Sebastian Ofner, Dmitry Popko, Arthur Rinderknech, Blaz Rola, Lukas Rosol, Emil Ruusuvuori, Roman Safiullin, Mohamed Safwat, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Viktor Troicki, Botic Van de Zandschulp, Juan Pablo Varillas, Jiri Vesely

Todi Entry List (32 draw): Facundo Bagnis, Roberto Carballes Baena, Salvatore Caruso, Marco Cecchinato, Maxime Cressy, Federico Delbonis, Federico Gaio, Alessandro Giannessi, Lorenzo Giustino, Emilio Gomez, Yannick Hanfmann, Antoine Hoang, Lukas Lacko, Paolo Lorenzi, Gianluca Mager, Roberto Marcora, Joao Menezes, Alexei Popyrin, Jurij Rodionov, Andreas Seppi, Pedro Sousa, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Carlos Taberner, Stefano Travaglia, Mario Vilella Martinez

I don’t know if skipping the US Open in order to play RG is more heroic. RG is going to have up to 60% of the stands full of spectators, creating more possibilities for transmission of the virus. (The US Open will not have spectators). And there’s a separate issue to consider: because RG has been pushed back in the calendar, weather conditions will be different—apparently it will be more humid. Is there any player that benefits?

I still think the large-format tournaments might get cancelled.

R85 I think it's more to do with the fact Covid is out of control in the US and no-one in their right mind would want to travel there at the moment.

R87, it’s a volatile situation all over the world. NYC actually has done very well (just don’t take a side trip to New Jersey), while cases are rising again in France.

I know RG want to pay off that new roof, but they are definitely going to have to compromise on that rule about having spectators. Can't imagine that will stay in place when the tournament comes around.

At this point it would be shocking if Djocovid didn't play the US Open, for any other reason than safety a la Ash Barty. It's basically a slam waiting to be picked up for him. He already got the virus, and his two biggest threats (Nadal and Wawrinka) are out. It would take a real peaking performance from someone like a Medvedev, Sissypants, or (most likely) Thiem to stop him. With no crowd he probably benefits the most too, given how much they bother him.

Wild cards for the US Open have been announced. Mostly American players this year + Kim Clijsters & Andy Murray

Interesting that they're not doing the reciprocal WCs with Australia and France this year? Not that we will miss some sub-200 flop that they will rig the draw to put against a top player (Bouchard getting club-level French player Harmony Tan in the first round springs to mind), but I wonder if it has something to do with the French Open being such cunts about reserving the good date for their own slam and fucking up the calendar.

I suppose Nakashima and Korda are expected. And the lack of play probably made the promising juniors unsuitable (if there's a qualification it'll be a different story).

[quote] With no crowd he probably benefits the most too, given how much they bother him.

He seems to curry their favor though. Perhaps not having a crowd will affect him. Who would he boobs out to?

[quote] ....it’s a volatile situation all over the world. NYC actually has done very well (just don’t take a side trip to New Jersey), while cases are rising again in France.

NY is doing better, yes, but all of that international travel in and out of NY is a problem. Folks who live, work, and visit NY are then gathering in subways, airports, etc. Air traffic has slowed, but cases are still being spread around, even more so in areas that have not been as strict as NY. The only way to get this to settle down is for people to stay the hell home as much as possible.

R74. Did Stefano post this? Lying in a hammock with a hot man, with post orgasmic faces, on Mykonos? I demand more information!

WTF, is Titsy coming out??!

Palermo Last 8

Martic-Sasnovich

Kontavei-Cocciaretto

Ferro-Errani

Yastremska-Giorgi

R96 Not going to happen, not now, not never.

I remember what Ian Thorpe said about the impossibility of coming out when you are considered a national hero. Well, Australia had a lot of amazing swimmers (none like Thorpe, that's true), Tsitsipas is the only greek tennis player who reached top 100, in history. There's no way he'll come out, and i think a bearding contract will be on his way

Svitolina and Bertens have pulled out of the US Open. Monfils too.

Wawrinka asked for wild card for the 2 Prague Challengers.

R100 Challengers? Odd... he is probably one of the 15 or so best players in the world right now lol. But these are different times I guess and with all the clay warmups looking perilous (eg Madrid being cancelled) he probably wants the matchplay where he can get it.

Is anyone sick of seeing people/websites/blogs repost that video of Federer "SURPRISING" two young Italian girls and hitting with them? Not realising it's a massive corporate ad for Barilla that they are all just happily sharing.

In other ad news, Call Me Coco getting a damn MICROSOFT campaign? This chick will be richer than Ion Tiriac by the time she's 19 lol. Also what's with this Serena story about her getting migraines for years and signing on as a spokeswoman for some drug? She getting that Big Pharma $$$?

Apparently Djokovic has threatened the ATP Top 20 will boycott the US Open if quarantine exemptions are not guaranteed for those returning to Europe for the French Open.

[quote] Did Stefano post this? Lying in a hammock with a hot man, with post orgasmic faces, on Mykonos? I demand more information!

R95, his friend has a bunch of photos of the two of them in recent weeks. I guess they've been on vacation together - or hanging around each other a lot - this summer. The photos gave me the impression that they're either really, really good friends (and the photos show no one else) or they're together as a couple. Either is fine, and I'm not passing judgement in any way. Everyone deserves to be happy.

According to OK Grece magazine Stefanos and his girlfriend Theodora were enjoying a vacation in Mykonos with their friends.

I get massive gay vibes from both Stef and Mano but I can't say for sure they are together. Mano is very quirky and silly on social media in general and close to a lot of athletes. He and Sakkari are also good friends and had dating rumours a while back, for example.

I can see Tsitsi coming out a few years down the track (when he has tumbled far down the rankings, like Stosur recently coming out), like most of the YouTubers he grew up watching and admiring. But not when he is his country's greatest athlete, meeting with the prime minister, lots of endorsements, etc. Especially a country like Greece (I am half Greek, btw). I certainly wouldn't imagine him to be in a public relationship with a black/biracial guy, as sadly old fashioned as that sounds.

Jan Michael Gambill still hasn't come out and he retired years ago.

R105 Not going to happen.

There will be too much pressure on him. A tennis player from a country with a lot of tennis players and with a good rating on gay rights is probably the best option.

Anyway, i don't want to be mean but Zverev and FAA started to tank after they start to post pics of the girlfriends on instagram, so he better keep his girlfriend, real or fake, out of social media

from @AtpThirst:

Is Fed play the US Open? A great opportunity for him, though he would have to do it without being constantly fawned over.

Federer is injured

Straight men don't go to Mykonos with their girlfriends and then lay in a hammock togethe with freshly fucked faces and then post it on Instagram.

And you use rumors of Sakkari as evidence of straight?

Poor Maria, can't seem to find the right man.

I always thought Maria would be the chosen one, they would make a beautiful lavender couple

Now that your latest fantasy turned out to be as straight as expected, can we back talking about our -restart?

There is a compelling match between Ferro and Errani right now

Tittypas on Mykonos makes me think of sex like Errani makes me hungry for a bowl of Lucky Charms.

Speaking of elves, Goffin is still undecided.

R102. Where did you hear this?

Once again Djokovic is making everything about himself. How dare he expect to know if he'll be able to return to Europe to play the French Open if he goes to NY. He probably threatened all the other players to agree with him just so he can try to cheat his way to another grand slam which he obviously does not deserve. He probably even spread the virus on purpose, knowing he already had it. The other day, he was driving 150 miles an hour in Monaco but only the other players got caught. I'm certain Djokovic called the police to make sure the other guys got tickets. Also, He says he's vegan but I know for sure he drinks babies blood, like his parents. Never ever forget the time he stopped play in the rain. Never, ever.

The concern about RG is legitimate. The tournament are very close together in time, aren't they?

R116 There's three weeks between the two. If they have to quarantine for 14 days that really messes up their preparation. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more players pull out of the US Open since I can't see how they'd be able to guarantee exemptions for so many players from so many different countries.

makes sense to me R117

No, US Open final is 9/13, Roland Garros starts 9/21, 9/29 main, final on 10/11.

It's either safe or it's not and it's obviously NOT, because nothing has changed in the past few months except attitudes. The virus is just as dangerous and prevalent as ever. We've done great in NY by staying home and wearing masks. They should cancel everything for the year.

Martic, Kontaviet, Ferro and Giorgi are the last 4 standing in Palermo

r9, IW is the biggest after US Open

I think players who love clay are going to skip USO. Players who suck on clay or who love hard are going to play the USO

[quote] I think players who love clay are going to skip USO

Who are clay specialist?

[quote] Players who suck on clay or who love hard

That doesn't include any WTA players because they're lesbians. All of them!

"Who all" is for cancelling the US Open and/or the French Open?

R113 Turned up to have a girlfriend (or at least that's what the press in his country said, and the press in his country seems quite desperate for a girlfriend becuase they linked him with Sakkari before). Saying that the only gay player who came out, Vahaly, had a girlfriend during his whole time in the circuit

you mees me beetches, no?

This will be a compelling day of tennis.

Kontaviet vs Ferro for Palermo's final showdown

Prague draw is out. Pretty stacked for such a small event

Halep, Hercog, Sevastova, Pavlyuchenkova, Yastremska, Begu, Siegemund, Strycova, Bouchard, Siniakova, Giorgi, Mertens, Kasatkina and Martic.

Ben R is seemingly opposed to any tennis being played right now whatsoever. He's very scoldy.

Jan Michael Gambill doesn't hide his partner. Why does he or anyone else need to make a grand pronouncement to the media about their sexuality? They're just trying to live their lives. As long as they're not being hypocritical like Aaron Schock, let them do their own thing.

R132 I don't believe he's obligated to have some huge coming out event and I know these things are complex and personal. However I do think were he to come out publicly, it'd be good for the sport - he'd be the most famous male player to do so.

I understand that's probably what's stopping him from doing so as he seems to be pretty happy with things how they are, but you can't deny if he were to come out it'd have an immeasurable effect on those who haven't had the courage to do so yet.

[quote] ...on those who haven't had the courage to do so yet

So you ARE shaming them for not coming out publicly, as in they lack courage.

Lexington draw out!

top section is loaded Serena vs. Pera will get winner of Venus/Azarenka. Stephens is also in the quarter

Anisomova, Zvonareva, Putintseva, Konta, Jabeur, Gauff and Sabalenka in the other 3 sections

R134 There's a lot of reasons to not come out and yes, lack of courage is one of them.

This is not soccer, football or basketball. You don't have to deal with teammates or coaches, you don't have to deal with far right hooligans, coming out won't make more difficult to get a contract from another team, and so on.

It's difficult nobody denies that, because a player can lose his focus on the game, and because not everybody is going to react well, but right now a gay tennis player won't lose sponsors (probably the other way around), and tennis is a sport where you can win a lot of money if you are good only with your results.

Unlike gymnast or divers or even most athletes, a tennis player doesn't depend of anyone but himself.

So yes, if a player really wants to come out he could do it without too many problems. But that's exactly the problem, you need to be a special kind of person, someone who feels uncomfortable lying (because you will lie sooner or later).

And i'm not talking even about a big coming out, just doing what straights do, letting your partner go to your matches.

Of course, every player is a different world, and it's not the same if the player is from France, Spain or the USA than if he is from Russia, Belarus or China. And of course there are personal reasons. Most tennis players come from conservative enviroments

I'd like to see Malek eat out JM's ass in the commentary booth. THAT would be coming out!

I'm with R137 - and willing to pay to see it.

That Top Seed Open draw is ridiculous... USTA loves a good rigging. Poor Venus and Azarenka always getting screwed. I hope Sabalenka stops the Coco train in round 2.

Palermo is far from my favourite tournament but i'm impressed at how they've put it on this week without a hitch. I'm watching the final now and it's an enjoyable level (Fiona Ferro will soon be the French #1 if she keeps playing like this) and as close to the regular tour as we could possibly get. Hopefully a good omen for the other events going forward, especially the bigger events and combined WTA/ATP ones.

where has this form from Ferro come from? She's 23 and barely done anything previously and now here she is winning the first title since the tour resumed!

To win her first title she defeated Alexandrova, Errani Giorgi and know Kontaveit

I am expecting this next couple months to see a bunch of unexpected results. Long layoffs affect players differently. We'll probably see some previously not very successful men and women upsetting a few top 50 players like this week

Do we know if young Grigor will be making the trek to New York for the US Open or should I wait to quarentine for Paris? For work I mean. No other reason. I have kids like Serena.

Celebrering with the Trophy

R140 She emerged in 2019. She won Lausanne and she reached R3 at US Open (beating Gavrilova and Mladenovic). She is #53 in the ranking. She will go up to #44 now

R140 I remember her from U14 tournaments. She is a brainless ballbasher, when she is on she is very dangerous, but she is not usually on. I remember CSN defeating her very easily (she only had to put the ball on the other side of the net and let Ferro destroy herself)

David Ferrer is coaching Zverev, but he's still 156 in the world. A few more no shows and he could get a wc.

R145 I don't think they'll last. Zverev is a spoiled brat and Ferrer has bad temper. If everything goes their way they'll be ok but once the problems start (and they will start soon) it'll be a time bomb

Are you on Kafelnikov team or Martin team?

R143, is she journeywoman?

[quote] Zverev is a spoiled brat

I saw Zverev talking on a headset to his coach the other day during that recent team match, and he seemed like a real dick -- cocky and self-important - especially for being only 23 and not being in the top tier for very long.

I have a daughter.

R149 Just watch how he talked to his father at the atp cup and you know everything you need to know about him. Making your father cry on court blaming him from your own mistakes is a new low.

Anyway, you can't expect nothing better from someone who trashed his best friend on an interview like he did

Bouchard wins 60 63 in Prague vs Kudermetova

The tackiness of the WTA Lexington is epic. Brave Jo Konta needed medical time out for heart palpitations after ONE game. There is a busy roadway behind the court, you see traffic in full flow. There's a fire station next to the court McNally is playing on - and of course it a fire truck went off blaring. I know Serena an Venus grew up in Compton and saw worse things than can be imagined, but this is a joke. 1st prize is $25,000!!! That's what the US Open women's champ made in 1973.

Serena loses the first set against Pera 6-4.

Yes, sure she lost the first set but she had a [bold]baby[/bold]...

Baby? What baby?

R155 She lost the first set but she won the other two.

Simona had a hard time today too.

I think the US Open will be full of surprises

Ben R, in his continued one-man campaign against Bo5, is suggesting players won't be prepared enough to potentially play five sets at the Slams.

Serena had a baby?

Venus demolishes Azarenka 6-3 6-2 incredible at 40 years old

I had a feeling Serena would struggle against Pera who played quite well the last few weeks in World Team Tennis

Now we have Serena vs. Venus round 31 !!! amazing

Gauff with a solid win over Dolehide

Stephens continues her pathetic slump with a quick loss to talented but little teen Fernandez

R31 and not a single interesting game, set or match. A few fun points here and there in-between the palpable drudgery, which I don't begrudge them. WHET Richard Williams? He was some sort of mad genius, but that whole J.Witness cult is so strange. I always loved Orasine, talk about a poker- face. The definition of unflappable.

R161 Unflappable? She's so uninterested in their matches she regularly falls asleep during them.

Richard hasn't been at their matches in a while. There have been rumours he disapproved of Mouratoglou and Serena's relationship, though I also heard he's 'not all there' anymore. Only rumours, of course.

R162, Richard Williams has suffered a series of strokes and is probably pretty impaired by now. I think he has always been closer to Venus than to Serena.

R162 this article is a year old, but is a fantastic read and talks about Venus and Richard's relationship.

R164 Thanks for that. A lovely read.

Porna on a jet ski

Coco's daddy is blatantly coaching her in Lex. Is that allowed?

R166 I'd like to be that jet ski seat.

R166 the tan lines ruin it but he's so cute and has great muscle tone

big win for Gauff today! Upsets Sabalenka in 3 tough sets

Rules are for other people

Apparently coaches can coach from the stands right now and not go on court because of covid concerns which is kind of confusing cause they are part of the players team.

Yeah I think the confusion was that Coco left the sit-down area and actually went over to him near the stands to chat. Which is not allowed (not sure if it's for COVID safety or what). It got a little awkward with both her and her dad arguing with the umpire. She also took a very long toilet break and keeps criticising herself verbally on court (I heard her say "disgraceful" when she missed a ball). I'm not sure that relationship is the healthiest, but time will tell.

It was not a quality win over Sabalenka (both played rubbish) but i'm sure it will give her a lot of confidence anyway. I think she plays Brady next who has been red-hot this entire year.

It's actually quite a good draw still as we approach the QFs. Some fun players to watch like Jabeur and Putin (who junkballed poor Tomljanovic to death), the two legendary sisters, teen queens like Gauff and Fernandez (who is only one year older than Coco and just as impressive), Marie Bouzkova who is part of the next great Czech generation of players.

Prague: Halep is playing like shit again (see last match too) but again managed to win.

Bouchard 2 match win streak!

Lexington: Serena def. Venus 3-6 6-3 6-4 it was a pretty good match apart from too many double faults by both. Venus is in good form. Hopefully it continues in Cincy and she doesn't get injured.

Surprised Teichmann upset Putintseva in 2 easy sets

Venus is in good form and she should have won, but there's a burden when she plays against Serena

Venus was up 4-2 on serve in the final set, and should have closed it out. But the sun seemed to be bothering her ball toss and Serena started smacking return winners for fun out of nowhere. Some dodgy line calls and Serena hitting a purple patch and the match was over.

Their level was very good (definitely one of their more competitive matches), but I am always so impressed at the fight. When you look at the performance Halep, Stephens, and other slam champions and top players have given this week, it's incredibly how much effort they were putting in, at their age, in the backwoods of Kentucky.

Hope Venus finally gets some luck with the draws at the bigger events coming up. They were both visibly pissed at having to play each other again so early in the tournament.

Andreescu has just confirmed she will NOT be playing the US Open.

Svety Kunz is also out the OPEN allowing for Tennisisova to move up.

[quote]Svety Kunz is also out the OPEN

Well she's gotta be nearing 70, so ya, it was the prudent thing to do.

ATP new calendar

22/08: 1000 Cincinnati

31/08: US Open

7/09: 250 Kitzbuhel

14/09: 1000 Rome

21/09: 500 Hamburg

27/09: Roland Garros

12/10: 500 St. Petersburg

19/10: 250 Antwerp and Moscow

26/10: 500 Vienna

02/11: 1000 Paris

09/11: 250 Sofia

15/11: ATP Finals

NFW.

Shelby wins over Serena. 16 64 76

Big unforced error by Serena when she was up 3-1 in the tiebreak. Then 2 points with Shelby being lucky hitting the line. Another mistake by Serena to give Shelby the 6-4 lead. She was wise with the first serve on the match point.

Is Andreescu even playing?

[quote]Is Andreescu even playing?

No, B. Andreescu isn't ready yet to 'compete at the highest level'

R182 She officially pulled out of US Open yesterday

I miss this shit

So Serena is gonna win another slam because all the top players pulled out? Is Osaka playing?

R186 so far Osaka hasn't withdrawn

however diluted the USO field will be, if Serena wins it will still count more than the empty amateur AO fields that Court used to vulture up

R186 Serena's level didn't guarantee a victory even if all top players are out.

And i have to say that i'm impressed with Gauff. I watched the beginning of the match and i though she'll lose for sure. She wasn't inspired and Jabeur is a tricky player, but she was able to come back. Her game is pretty good, but her attitude is fantastic

Semifinals

Prague

Mertens-Pliskova#2

Halep-Begu

Lexinton

Rogers-Teichmann

Gauff-Brady

Halep and Martens are the finalists

Wawrinka has a bye for the first round in Prague. He will get the winner of Safiullin-Rosol

I see Andrey Kuznetsov in the draw. I forgot about him. Anyway he loses to Tallon Griekspoor.

The seeds are 1 S. Wawrinka 2 J. Vesely 3 P. Herbert 4 P. Kohlschreiber 5 J. Kovalik 6 S. Nagal 7 H. Laaksonen 8 I. Ivashka 9 B. Rola 10 Y. Maden 11 K. Coppejans 12 M. Klizan 13 A. Rinderknech 14 E. Gulbis 15 S. Ofner 16 S. Diez

Todi also starts next week. Lower prizemoney and lower level field (after many withdrawals by main Italians compared to original entry list) . Seeds are

1 R. Carballes Baena 2 M. Cecchinato 3 F. Gaio 4 C. Stebe 5 F. Bagnis 6 A. Hoang 7 Y. Hanfmann 8 L. Giustino

S Diez has one of the worst grunts of the circuit (of both circuits).

He was considered at a time the best 12 y o player, but he never lived to that hype. He used all the help of the spanish federation and all the wc, but once he got 18 he decided he was canadian (the chances of getting attention as canadian were higher, but if you never reach top 100 it doesn't matter that much)

Evidence

wow in a field with Serena, Venus, Azarenka, Stephens and Sabalenka, the Lexington final will be Teichmann vs. Brady. Brady hasn't lost a set. I'm most surprised by Teichmann who showed more clay court success last year

I have a daughter.

La Thiem is being roasted for not having masks at the airport. She needs a better publicist but who’s the hunk traveling with her?

Thiem is probably the player who screwed more his image on this pandemic.

He screwed his good guy image almost as much as Shawn Mendes in his Rolling stone interview.

I was willing to do away with the idea that this US Open should have an asterisk next to it until I learned today that Konta will be a Top Ten seed.

Thiem and La Mendes would make beautiful babies together.

Thiem is with his BFF Dennis Novak in those pictures. The old guy is probably some FOP voter

Thiem is a typical, elitist, out-of-touch conservative moron

CoCo G is nowhere near as good as Andrea Jaeger or Jen Capriati were, at age 15-16. She's got a good serve and foot speed, but really questionable shot selection.

I don't know that Sister Andrea or crazy cokehead Jen are life goals.

Tennis media seems not to know what to do with Gauff. They're hyping her to extreme levels but at the same time expressing concern that it might be too much at such a young age. Despite this, they criticise the WTA for limiting the amount of tournaments she can enter as she seems able to handle it, yet also are fully aware of what she said on her Behind The Racquet in which she admitted to problems with depression.

An example would be Catherine Whitaker on Amazon Prime called her "one of tennis's Great Problem Solvers" and another tennis journalist (rightly) pulled her up on it saying "wtf? How can you say something like that when she's won basically a handful of pro matches?".

It's insane. Yes she's good and she seems more mature than her years but they're talking about her like she's the Second Coming while also covering themselves in case she melts down.

Fed and Mr. Mary Joe Fernandez have a piece of CoCo.

I miss crazy bitch Jen Jen. Always entertaining whether giving us a classic thriller on the court or doing meth in seedy motels and beating up and stalking boyfriends. Jen gave good drama. A true messy crazy bitch.

Mary C said on a podcast recently that Jen was in a very bad place now. Jen must've spent all the money she made by now and who knows how she's paying the bills these days. She almost skipped out on her Hall of Fame Induction and the last I heard about her was she was supposed to participate in that WTA booze cruise a few years ago that got canceled at the last minute with Chrissie, Davenpot and BMS.

Gauff doesn't seem to have the mental fragility of most of the young phenoms. Jaeger hated playing tennis and Capriati went totally off the rails.

R203 You are comparing totally different eras. Right now it's not that easy to make a good shot selection because the ball is way faster. Raquet technology changed everything.

What makes Gauf special are not her serve or her shots (she has good serve and good shots, and good movement, but there are players who are better) her attitude is totally different. She is llike a female version of young Nadal, there's a big determination there to win, she doesn't surrender

That determination on court can make a guy destined to be top 20 or lower top 10 like Ferrer be top 5 for years or the reason of the latented bunch of guys born in 2003 Carlos Alcaraz is more than 300 positions ahead in the ranking of anyone else

Yeah, Jen was good theater with a perfect mix of cuntiness and vulnerability.

Halep beats Mertens in Prague to win her 21st title.

Does Jennifer Capriati still have family? Father? Mom? Brother? (I met the brother once at a party and he was SOOOO yummy but only chasing the opposite sex).

Leave it to the DL to flame Andrea Jeager, who gave up a life of money and fame for charity philanthropy and serving others.

R214, I agree her brother was yummy, and I even followed him on social media until he started promoting Trump. Sayonara.

Shopbottom has started a Shapo music Instagram page.

R215 Nobody was trashing Andrea, in fact she was compared (favourably) with Gauff.

Andrea had the talent but she didn't have the ambition

I don't think the world is ready for R217

there's no need to attack Gauff. She's already had a great start to her career with a single and doubles titles at such a young age. You can't just go off someone's first few years anyway. By that logic Lucic would have won multiple slams. Gauff is by far the most promising teenager we've seen in a while.

Lexington, Brady wins her first title 6-3 6-4 over Teichmann

wonder if Brady will keep up her good form. Big hitter but can be quite erratic

R220 Lucic career would be very different without her psycho father

R217 He could make a duet with Moutet (but it seems quite dangerous to be around Moutet when he has one of his rage moments)

So it looks like most players are now arriving in NYC and getting their first COVID test. How many do you think will be positive? Who will be the first to violate the bubble?

And what do you know but Kei Nishikori has COVID. Tested positive in Florida.

R224 I think it was Marcel Granollers the one who was surprised when his test results were that he had covid. He thinks it was in march

We have our first whiner.

Pat Cash: the rules are too strict!

Who hired this loser.

Has Kei has on Grindr?

has Kei BEEN

It's going to be so weird seeing the USO courts used for 3 weeks and 2 separate events

Here's the main draw entry lists. Main draw play starts Saturday

Jack Sock ass.

As expected, Halep has pulled out of the US Open.

Andreas Seppi tested NEG for covid.

damn, Thiem has a chance to win.

What a surprise after bein finalist of three GS

a look at life inside tennis bubble from tennsi channel international's insta page.

i'm looking forward to watching Medvedev Daniil play. He was exciting last year.

I am a Gauff fan since her mature off court speeches, but I'm not so sure about her tennis. Yes she is getting the high profile wins (Osaka, Bertens, Sabalenka, Granny Vee, etc.) and she's already a great athlete (helped by her Venus-esque height and length) but so far her actual level doesn't seem that amazing, nor her mentality to be honest.

All throughout the past week she was really chastising herself on court, screaming at herself and her father was giving her the business too. She would hit a huge number of DFs, especially in pressure moments, and seemed incapable of holding onto leads. She nervously screams "COME ON!" on almost every point, even an opponent's error, and argues with the umpire about being allowed on court coaching.

I really feel like a lot of her wins are coming because her OPPONENT doesn't know how to play against the hype or doesn't want to lose to a kid, and starts to feel immense pressure. Easiest example is Polona Hercog at Wimbledon last year, or Ostapenko in their final last year. When Jen Capriati, Andrea Jaeger, Tracy Austin, Martina Hingis, and Monica Seles were 16, they had much more complete games and were winning with their actual *tennis*, not these shitfest matches where both parties choke tremendously and nobody can hold serve.

I wonder what will happen when she gets a little older, or other young girls come through (Fuhritova?), or the hype dies. Fernandez is only a year older and already achieving a lot too. Don't get me wrong she's impressive (especially on defence, she tracks down EVERY ball), but it doesn't really feel like she's going out and *winning* these matches. In 90% of them it's the opponent folding.

R238 I think her mentality is pretty good. Yes, she has ups and downs, which is pretty normal at her age, but she keeps trying even if she is in a bad day (the same that Carlos Alcaraz, who was trashed this week, too many UE in his match). She has a very good attitude on court.

Seles lived in a totally different era. The speed of the ball was way lower. The same for Hingis. Both were very good and very precocious.

Gauff still needs to develop her potential.

And Fruhvirtova (the little one) is amazing, but she is the typical czech ballbasher. We'll see first how well other promising youngsters like her older sister, Eala or Jimenez Kasintseva do.

Clervie Ngounou is a good player too, with a lot of potential.

But the truth is that it's been a while that a 16/15 yo girl was able to do what Coco is doing. She needs some time, but she'll be a top player in little time.

Anyway, Bianca Andreescu is still my fave of the new players (If only she was able to keep herself healthy)

R238 Gauff isn't that tall she's only 5'9 that makes her serve all the more impressive.

R240 Gauff is 16, she is going to be tall

R241 Venus, Sharapova and Davenport were all at least 6' by the time they were 16. Serena stopped growing at 5'10 in her teens

thx R236

Khachanov is so fucking hot

Gauff is already out!

Out of what, R244?

The Western & Southern Open, Rose, the Western & Southern Open,

[quote] The Western & Southern Open

The Western & Southern Open is neither western nor southern nor open. Discuss.

R247. More entertaining than tennis. Sad! Thanks for the laugh.