SMB Tennis thread (note there is a specific Wimbledon 22 thread)



Need to record the rest....oh.

I've been impressed with the coverage overall and not too bothered that they have it for at least 4 more years either but that is defo by far the worst thing. I ended up staying up til 3.30 the other day to watch the women's semi finals because you couldn't record it. The replay will be up at sometime tomorrow but you never know when.

P.S. You can't go to be yet man :)

Damn, what a chance that was to get 2 break points.
 
Good match that despite the straight sets. One extra break in 2 sets and then a tie break where Delpo had *3-1 at one stage.

Cracking effort by Delpo, but Djokovic was great.

All over now i fear :(
Really don't want Djokovic to dominate next year

Me neither. On 14 now, the 17 and 20 are well in sight.
 
It's very fun watching the greatest player of all time play this well again. Long may it last.
Rafa and fed weren't playing ;)

Me neither. On 14 now, the 17 and 20 are well in sight.
Think next year will decide if he does it.
Be near 33 end of year, similar style to rafa but with better knees...if he wins 1 he wont, 2 he may hit 20, 3 And he gets 21/22imo
rafa will be near 34 if he only wins French youd back him for the year after as well so thatd be 19 heading into 2020.
Would be nice for the goat debate if they all ended their careers in 20 slams imo

Remember last generation where agassi aside all the top players rapidly declined at 30...

Federer is 37
Rafa is 32
Djokovic is 31
Wawrinka is 33
 
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Rafa and fed weren't playing ;)


Think next year will decide if he does it.
Be near 33 end of year, similar style to rafa but with better knees...if he wins 1 he wont, 2 he may hit 20, 3 And he gets 21/22imo
rafa will be near 34 if he only wins French youd back him for the year after as well so thatd be 19 heading into 2020.
Would be nice for the goat debate if they all ended their careers in 20 slams imo

I'd be surprised if he doesn't get 2. The French factor does make the situation more interesting as you just expect Rafa to win that now.

Djokovic has made like £6m in 8 weeks in prize money alone
 
That's probably the most eventful grand slam there's been for a while - so many incidents, issues and statements:

Prime's early coverage problems, heat, heat rule for men, Murray-Verdasco break, Cornet shirt, Kyrgios-umpire, Serena-umpire, shocks galore (mainly on women's side), historic women's champ and now another slam for one of the all time greats.

Thoroughly enjoyed the two weeks mind (or 3 including the quals / draws etc). I absolutely love the slams.
 
Rafa and fed weren't playing ;)


Think next year will decide if he does it.
Be near 33 end of year, similar style to rafa but with better knees...if he wins 1 he wont, 2 he may hit 20, 3 And he gets 21/22imo
rafa will be near 34 if he only wins French youd back him for the year after as well so thatd be 19 heading into 2020.
Would be nice for the goat debate if they all ended their careers in 20 slams imo

Remember last generation where agassi aside all the top players rapidly declined at 30...

Federer is 37
Rafa is 32
Djokovic is 31
Wawrinka is 33

Imagine if he wins the next two and holds all four Slams titles for a second time. Be cute if Federer and Nadal could manage that once eh? ;)

Don't think Djokovic will reach Federer for what it's worth, Nadal could quite easily win the next three RG titles though. Think one more for Fed would probably seal it.

I think Zverev might get his first next year if he sticks with Lendl.
 
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I fear he will do exactly that.
Hopefully only having 16 seeds will make it harder for 1 player to dominate...don't think Fed will win another as unlikely to save energy in the earlier rounds by playing lower ranked players given his age.
Hope Djokovic get a 17th ranked. 18th. 19th ranked player in the first three rounds of every slam next year ;)
 
I always really look forward to the period that's just passed - 6 weeks of Grand Slam tennis in a 15 week period and of the other 9 weeks, there were 3 weeks of British grass events and a few other big US hard court tournaments at convenient times for the UK audience.

Still a few events this week - Heather Watson has reached the quarter final of an indoor WTA event in Canada and is now provisionally back in the top 100 and there's another WTA event in Japan as the women's tour enters it's 5 week Asian swing.

Davis Cup semi finals this weekend - Croatia vs USA and France vs Spain, plus GB have their playoff with Uzbekistan is Glasgow, but with all the changes it's a bit meaningless now with only seedings for the new changes on the line. BBC website / red button will be showing the GB matches with Evans vs Istomin and Norrie vs someone I've never heard of in the single's tomorrow afternoon.

Also just announced that the Grand Slams will be sticking to 32 seeds next year as opposed to the planned 16, which I think is good as it rewards solid performances and gives another incentive to do well on the main tour.

Oh and I see Osaka has signed a deal with Nissan to be a brand ambassador and is set to sign a deal with Adidas which will be the richest apparel deal in women's tennis.
 
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Not entirely surprising. Nishikori earns massive amounts in endorsements/sponsorship and he's not quite won a Slam.

Yep, I said on the Serena thread that she has pretty much gone from being a promising talent only really known within the tennis community to one of the worlds most famous female athletes overnight. She'll probably be the flag bearer at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well, which will be massive.

Horrible circumstances to win your first slam and I felt so sorry for her, but with my tennis hat on, I suppose a new star has been born and someone who could easily fill an Ashe, Centre Court, Laver session going forward. Hopefully she'll win many more slams and have happier trophy ceremonies and put that experience behind her.
 
Yep, I said on the Serena thread that she has pretty much gone from being a promising talent only really known within the tennis community to one of the worlds most famous female athletes overnight. She'll probably be the flag bearer at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as well, which will be massive.

Horrible circumstances to win your first slam and I felt so sorry for her, but with my tennis hat on, I suppose a new star has been born and someone who could easily fill an Ashe, Centre Court, Laver session going forward. Hopefully she'll win many more slams and have happier trophy ceremonies and put that experience behind her.
Osaka will win several more slams thankfully
 
Osaka will win several more slams thankfully

I'd be very surprised if she didn't, but you never know. I always love a good breakthrough and a story, but there's been 8 different Slam winners in a row since the 2017 Australian Open, so it would be nice if someone could back up a recent success soon.

Osaka-Sabalenka was IMO the best women's match of the fortnight by some distance, so I'm hoping they can go on and have many more exciting matches but in later stages of the big events once they continue to move up the rankings and improve their seeding.
 
Number 10 makes his long awaited return to league action this weekend. Weather forecast good and weekly preparation has went well. Will update SMB tennis with scores and report.
 

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