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SMB Tennis thread

Good to see Serena back today in an exhibition with Ostapenko, she lost in a champion's tie break final set (first to 10 points).

Naomi Broady is out in the 2nd round of Auckland qualifying. Katie Boulter's 2nd round Q match is about to start in 10 mins or so. Watson has a tough final qualifying match for Brisbane against Kanepi in the early hours.
 

Watched the first set of Serena's exho, be a little surprised if she plays in a fortnight. She's never been one for exerting much energy in knock about matches and she's basically a superhero at this point though so who knows.

Whereas I'll be amazed if Murray plays, he could barely move in his set against Bautista Agut the other day. Doesn't sound great for Djokovic, Nadal and Stan either. See how Murray (and Raonic) gets on this week. Not expecting much.
 
Murray withdraws from Brisbane International with his hip still troubling him, but says he will try to make the Aus Open.

Not looking good for Andy after six month rest.
 
I just saw him on the news pushing his luggage, he looks in a terrible state. This is probably the beginning of the end.
 
Federer looks to have this first grand slam sewn up already before it has even begun, Murray Djokovic and Nadal all struggling to even make it, Wawrinka not fit, still not convinced anyone below that is good enough to breakthrough and actually win a slam yet.
 
Benjamin said:
Federer looks to have this first grand slam sewn up already before it has even begun, Murray Djokovic and Nadal all struggling to even make it, Wawrinka not fit, still not convinced anyone below that is good enough to breakthrough and actually win a slam yet.
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Hopefully, someone can make a breakthrough. Zverev seems most talented but his slam record is woeful. Thiem seems much better on clay than other surfaces. Maybe Dimitrov but I can't help feeling that his finals title last year was a best of the rest thing more than anything.

TBH, looking at the top 20 and excluding the likely absentees, the name that stands out is del Potro but a) he's made of glass b) with the way his draws go, he'll be up against Federer in the last 16 or quarters.
 
Arkle said:
Hopefully, someone can make a breakthrough. Zverev seems most talented but his slam record is woeful. Thiem seems much better on clay than other surfaces. Maybe Dimitrov but I can't help feeling that his finals title last year was a best of the rest thing more than anything.

TBH, looking at the top 20 and excluding the likely absentees, the name that stands out is del Potro but a) he's made of glass b) with the way his draws go, he'll be up against Federer in the last 16 or quarters.
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Agree with pretty much all of that, the US open was poor to watch because of all the dropouts and injuries, Nadal won it without breaking sweat, looks like the Australian open could already be heading the same way for Federer.
 
Yeah it's a shame for the men's side as most were looking forward to the big guns coming back after a pretty lacklustre US Open (men's), especially after such a good Aussie grand slam in 2017. Could really do with Kyrgios stepping up on home soil. Still probably a couple of years too early for Shapovalov to make an impact, especially after losing to Edmund the other day in a 250. As others say, A Zverev could really do with taking his 3 set Masters 1000 form into the 5 set slam format. If those 2 (Zverev and Kyrgios), crowd favourite Del Potro (who can beat anyone on his day) and say Goffin and/or Dimitrov go deep then it should be fine and we won't miss the big names as much, but if it's your Kevin Anderson's, Tsonga's, Berdych's and Querrey's who take advantage of an easier path then IMO it will feel like another waste. Still very much looking forward to it starting though.

Good to see Konta get back to winning ways and she followed up her Keys victory with another come from behind 3 set win to make the Brisbane QFs where she'll probably play Svitolina on Thursday.

One to watch Aryna Sabalenka won 6-1 6-0 today to make the Shenzhen QFs where she will likely face Halep (again on Thursday). She is now up to a career high 67 and her odds are shortening to win the AO - in from 66 - 50/1 at a lot of bookies. Massive potential.
 
murray at 30 years old, even after hip surgury if he goes that route would have 18 months left at his top level (it'll take him 6 months to get back to his best and the worst scenario is that he'll never be 100% as he's already said he'd be happy just getting back to top 30).
Real shame for a bloke that put in the effort to be number 1
 
What's people's thoughts on Stefanos Tsitsipas? Seems to be pretty highly rated and has had a very good 2nd half of 2017, particularly on the Challenger circuit. Has just made the quarters in Qatar as well where he plays Thiem tomorrow and was also a reserve for that Next Gen Milan tournament the over month. Don't think I've seen him play. Big future?
 
The Bridge Lad said:
What's people's thoughts on Stefanos Tsitsipas? Seems to be pretty highly rated and has had a very good 2nd half of 2017, particularly on the Challenger circuit. Has just made the quarters in Qatar as well where he plays Thiem tomorrow and was also a reserve for that Next Gen Milan tournament the over month. Don't think I've seen him play. Big future?
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I watched him play Karlovic last season and he was all over thr Katlovic serve. He has a very good return game. He does seem to struggle against the players he should beat and does better than expected against opponents ranked higher than him.

Konta gas just retired against Svitolina in the 3rd set despite not being broken at all during the match. Not sure what's wrong with her.
 
Fuck sake :lol:. Just watching the Konta match now at 6-1 4-4 and there's 30 mins of the recorded programme left so just assumed she would have won in straight sets and done her interview and that would be that.

Was gonna say obviously a massive blow that Murray has pulled out (even if not unexpected) for the tournament, British press and general interest, and while it's not the same due to Murray pretty much carrying the sport here over the last decade, and from a lot of people's perspective it's men's tennis, at least Konta would be going into it in very good form and that a straight sets win over Svitolina would be great for confidence. Can't even say that now and I assume she might he a doubt for Melbourne too?
 
The Bridge Lad said:
Fuck sake :lol:. Just watching the Konta match now at 6-1 4-4 and there's 30 mins of the recorded programme left so just assumed she would have won in straight sets and done her interview and that would be that.

Was gonna say obviously a massive blow that Murray has pulled out (even if not unexpected) for the tournament, British press and general interest, and while it's not the same due to Murray pretty much carrying the sport here over the last decade, and from a lot of people's perspective it's men's tennis, at least Konta would be going into it in very good form and that a straight sets win over Svitolina would be great for confidence. Can't even say that now and I assume she might he a doubt for Melbourne too?
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She might have pulled out as a precaution. She was serving very well (didn't get broken) and should be confident. I actually think Svitolina will will win the Australian Open.
 
JL1985 said:
She might have pulled out as a precaution. She was serving very well (didn't get broken) and should be confident. I actually think Svitolina will will win the Australian Open.
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She's said that she felt some pain a couple of games into set 3, basically wants to get some physio, a night's sleep and see how things go but is hopeful of playing in Sydney next week.
 
JL1985 said:
Anyone know roughly how far Murray will drop in the ranking after the AO is finished?
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By my reckoning, he'll lose 180 points from the Aussie Open as he reached round 4. Not sure what he loses for other tournaments played before the Aussie last year but, assuming he only loses 180 and assuming everyone else stands still, he'd drop to 19 in the world. Of the Slams, if he misses the French, that's his biggest ranking loss.
 
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