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SMB Tennis thread

Think he's a better bet to do it than Khachanov. KK looked shattered by the end.

Couldn't have backed Djokovic below evens at the start of the tournament just because of his mental collapse when he won the French Open a few years ago, but you're right I can't see who's gonna beat him right now. Berrettini would probably need to serve 100% first serves for five sets or something.
Have you changed your mind on Federer not being finished now?
Quarter finals was a fantastic achievement for him and he did play better than Halle but think he can't win Wimbledon and he will know that after today in his own mind too
Shit! roger is finished now nearly 40, 2 major knee ops in the last 2 years, and that killer loss to Djokovic with 2 match points, will always be the best for me tho 😳
Always be the goat for me joy to watch
 
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Have you changed your mind on Federer not being finished now?
Quarter finals was a fantastic achievement for him and he did play better than Halle but think he can't win Wimbledon and he will know that after today in his own mind too

Always be the goat for me joy to watch

I wouldn't say finished when he's just reached the QF of a Slam. Was a QF loss the other year against Anderson as well and he was two match points up in the final a year later. If he'd lost to some journeyman or Gasquet or something then maybe but Hurkacz is hardly a mug, he's about to go 11th in the world and just beat Meddy in the last round.

I thought for years Fed would retire at the end of last year after he'd had one last go at the Olympics Gold so I guess seeing him retire at the end of this year probably wouldn't be that much of a surprise. Although is he really going to let himself disappear from Wimbledon with a bagel against his name? Surely not.
 
Someone said on here a few weeks ago Djokovic wasn’t good odds for this :D was always winning this , playing at his second most successful slam, that’s before you mention how much the so called next gen are a joke on grass , then you have the fact his main rival is a 40 year old returning from major surgery, 11/10 he was the week before Wimbledon , bet of the year that .

Nadal must be kicking himself for pulling out , even half fit he could have got to the final .
I lumped on
 
Always be the goat for me joy to watch
Me too.
Started watching in the late 80's with my mam. The days of Becker, Edberg, Lendl. No clear best player back then (at least not in the Men's, Martina was streets ahead for the women until Steffi came along).
Then Sampras blew everyone away, but then he was gone, and ever since its just been Federer really, always there or thereabouts.

Hopefully he'll recover and come back, but if not I remember watching 2-3 days ago, on my new LG OLED, with BBC UHD on, and thinking "its a genuine pleasure to get to watch Roger on this TV today".
I wish I'd got to see him at Wimbledon, but for some reason we just never even thought "going to Wimbledon" was possible until very recently. I'll be applying for tickets every year from now on though.
 
I wouldn't say finished when he's just reached the QF of a Slam. Was a QF loss the other year against Anderson as well and he was two match points up in the final a year later. If he'd lost to some journeyman or Gasquet or something then maybe but Hurkacz is hardly a mug, he's about to go 11th in the world and just beat Meddy in the last round.

I thought for years Fed would retire at the end of last year after he'd had one last go at the Olympics Gold so I guess seeing him retire at the end of this year probably wouldn't be that much of a surprise. Although is he really going to let himself disappear from Wimbledon with a bagel against his name? Surely not.
See finished in terms of winning the big titles. If you get what I mean.

As for the bagel, not ideal but Hurkacz looks on the verge of becoming a real player especially in grass (he pushed Djokovic in 2019) and does Federer want to come back and risk losing to someone ranked 100 or getting Djokovic in a 3rd round etc...and being hammered.
I'd have loved him to go out on top i.e if he had won that final in 2019 but it wasn't meant to be and this as a whole was a positive tournament for him (and I feel sad saying this) but probably the best he can achieve now
Me too.
Started watching in the late 80's with my mam. The days of Becker, Edberg, Lendl. No clear best player back then (at least not in the Men's, Martina was streets ahead for the women until Steffi came along).
Then Sampras blew everyone away, but then he was gone, and ever since its just been Federer really, always there or thereabouts.

Hopefully he'll recover and come back, but if not I remember watching 2-3 days ago, on my new LG OLED, with BBC UHD on, and thinking "its a genuine pleasure to get to watch Roger on this TV today".
I wish I'd got to see him at Wimbledon, but for some reason we just never even thought "going to Wimbledon" was possible until very recently. I'll be applying for tickets every year from now on though.
Me too, but I did at least get to see him in the flesh atp finals 2014 destroying Nishikori
Just got Nadal to see live (pulled out of the ATP finals, Pulled out of this Wimbledon and had tickets for Djokovic day at the french). Just got tickets for the Paris masters in November quarter finals day - fully expecting Nadal to pull out of that too :lol:
Federer is 7 titles away from beating Connors record and around 20 wins away from most wins....I hope he plays enough for the rest of the year to break the latter record and it would be nice if he was to go out winning a tournament regardless of what level it was.
 
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Shapovalov's ability to throw in a horrendous service game at the end of a set and get broken out of nowhere is second to none. Few unforced errors, maybe even a double fault thrown in for good measure.

His biggest flaw by a mile.

First set;

- Drops two points across his first five service games
- Gets broken serving for the set at 5-4 with four unforced errors
- Wins 0/5 points on serve in the breaker with one double fault, three groundstroke unforced errors and one groundstroke forced error

Second set;

- Drops three points across his first five service games
- Broken at 5-5 to leave Djokovic serving for the set with one easy volley miss, one groundstroke unforced error and one double fault

:neutral:
 
Future Wimbledon winner Shapovalov without a doubt , more than matched Djokovic today just not taken advantage on key points and lacks the experience.
 
Barty was pretty unfortunate with those net cords in the second set breaker. Hope she clinches this. I like a pugnacious Aussie unless they are in the mens cricket team.
 
The wear on the court shows just how much tennis has changed over the years.
The grass stays green down the middle nowadays with the majority of players staying on the baseline & trying to out hit each other.
 
Wimbledon is only the 3rd quickest surface a Grand Slam is played on now. Unthinkable not so long back.
It did become pretty boring when Sampras/krajicek/ivanisevic blasting down aces and winning loads of points wit h volleys,
I’d take that over today’s baseline stuff as least it was a different style of tennis to the other grand slams and it wasn’t impossible to win then as a baseliner as Agassi proved
 
It did become pretty boring when Sampras/krajicek/ivanisevic blasting down aces and winning loads of points wit h volleys,
I’d take that over today’s baseline stuff as least it was a different style of tennis to the other grand slams and it wasn’t impossible to win then as a baseliner as Agassi proved

Agreed. A classic baseliner v serve-volleyer clash were classic finals. McEnroe v Borg, Lendl v Cash, Agassi v Ivanisevic. I think its gone too far the other way. Can't think of a top serve-volleyor now. Perhaps Rafter / Sampras were the last two? Surely not, that was bloody ages ago!
 
Yeah it probably is that long ago, ivanisevic won in 2001 beating rafter, then after that it’s been all baseliners , as the courts have slowed so much that the returner has much more time, making it pointless to try and serve volley regularly as you just get picked off more often than not!
Federer tried mixing it up occasionally but mainly in the early rounds or as surprise tactics on big points
 
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