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

scotch said:
Will hire Ivanisivic to sort that out once Djokovic retires ;)

Absolutely chuffed for him, brilliant young player, deserved number 1 (Ruuds had an excellent season but has not won a single tournament in the 500,1000, or major level).

Think we are going to get a great rivalry with Alcaraz v Sinner (match of the tournament on the mens side that one). Krygios/Medvedev 2nd

Australia 2023 could be the year Djokovic gets stopped (assuming he gets to play), Nadal, Medvedev, Krygios, Alcaraz, Sinner, Zverev, Berrettini, Tsitsipas, Felix, Thiem (who i hope gets back to his best) - what a tournament that could be

His french open draw was a cakewalk but he his good enough on clay to get to the final on merit. His hard court form this year has shown a huge improvement
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Been really impressed with how Sinner's improved, gone from looking like he's mostly just a hitter to a player that's potentially a big threat on all surfaces. Felix and Shapo still look like hitters, Sinner seems to have developed into a more rounded player. Hope the loss against Alcaraz doesn't scar him as much as it seems it might have Tsitsipas from the French final last year and Medvedev from AO final this year. Must be canny for him having the best coach and probably the most knowledgeable bloke in the world about tennis on his team mind.

Still not really sure about Ruud. Reckon you could pick 25+ players better than him since 2005. On that comparison earlier in the thread with him and Ferrer, 2010 - 2013 Ferrer beats Ruud right now on any surface pretty comfortably. If he becomes as close to as good as Ferrer was then he'll win at least one RG in this era no doubt. Only 23 of course so plenty time to improve.
 


MarcoG said:
Been really impressed with how Sinner's improved, gone from looking like he's mostly just a hitter to a player that's potentially a big threat on all surfaces. Felix and Shapo still look like hitters, Sinner seems to have developed into a more rounded player. Hope the loss against Alcaraz doesn't scar him as much as it seems it might have Tsitsipas from the French final last year and Medvedev from AO final this year. Must be canny for him having the best coach and probably the most knowledgeable bloke in the world about tennis on his team mind.

Still not really sure about Ruud. Reckon you could pick 25+ players better than him since 2005. On that comparison earlier in the thread with him and Ferrer, 2010 - 2013 Ferrer beats Ruud right now on any surface pretty comfortably. If he becomes as close to as good as Ferrer was then he'll win at least one RG in this era no doubt. Only 23 of course so plenty time to improve.
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Medvedev hasnt beaten a top 10 player since (0-3) plus 2 defeats to Krygios. Mitigated with the hernia injury and an improved showing on Grass (think hed have gone deep at Wimbledon) but by far his weakest US Hard court swing since 2018
 
Absolute legend, should have had even more slams really, still don't understand how he lost that Wimbledon final in 2019, but to beat Nadal in the semis and only be a point away from beating Djokovic in the final at 38 year old was incredible in itself.
 
Thought he'd give it one more go at Wimbledon and maybe Basel at the end of the year but might well be the right time to go out. Laver Cup next week with all Fed, Rafa, Djokovic and Murray all playing. Fitting really.

Deepest sympathies to @scotch at this trying time ;)

Augustus Winthrop said:
Can anyone tell me why Skupski who is ranked 3rd in doubles didn't play in a must win tie yesterday instead of Murray who isn't a doubles player?
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Davis Cup experience and Muzz is a far better returner than Skupski maybe. Need any benefit you can coming up against Jack Sock in a dubs match to somehow try and pin him away from that forehand.

Think it's one of them that looks worse with hindsight really, Murray was (surprisingly) better than Salisbury last night I thought. Although Skupski and Salisbury have won a title together so I could be talking complete rubbish!
 
Fed and Rafa doubles one last time tomorrow night, I'm probably looking forward to it more than I have any other tennis match all year :lol: Berrettini coming in for Fed on Saturday and Sunday so tomorrow is his last ever (proper) match. Knee must be absolutely goosed if he's not playing in Basel to end his career.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1572900497769787393

Been surprised how much I've actually enjoyed Laver Cup since it came in. Think most of that is generally due to Kyrgios, Fed and Rafa taking it far more seriously than they need to :lol: Opelka making it pretty clear what he and a few others think of Zverev last year was quite fun as well.
 
Federer and Nadal in tears last night, heartbreaking stuff. Dont think there was a dry eye in the arena or for anybody watching.

Arguably the greatest rivalary on a tennis court given the contrasting playing styles that just gelled from a spectator point of view.

Even Djokovic and Murray were in tears.
End of era stuff last night.

Shame Sock and Tiafoe didnt let Federer win his last match when they were down match point but in the end it really wasnt that important.

Farewell to my 🐏

I fear Nadal may go end of next season or the Olympics at Roland Garros in 2024.
 
scotch said:
Federer and Nadal in tears last night, heartbreaking stuff. Dont think there was a dry eye in the arena or for anybody watching.

Arguably the greatest rivalary on a tennis court given the contrasting playing styles that just gelled from a spectator point of view.

Even Djokovic and Murray were in tears.
End of era stuff last night.

Shame Sock and Tiafoe didnt let Federer win his last match when they were down match point but in the end it really wasnt that important.

Farewell to my 🐏

I fear Nadal may go end of next season or the Olympics at Roland Garros in 2024.
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Not an emotional person at all but it hit me hard last night , end of a truly great era , he reinvented tennis and made people who had no interest at all in it actually want to watch it, the bromance with him and Rafa is something else as well and I doubt we will see the likes of it again.

Made it clear my feelings on Novak before but he’s come across very well this week I think, must be hard for him knowing he will never get the love of Federer and Nadal but he’s genuinely acted with a lot of class this week and I have developed a weird sort of respect for him. That will probably all disappear once he takes the slam lead like :D.
 
Blue_Monday said:
Made it clear my feelings on Novak before but he’s come across very well this week I think, must be hard for him knowing he will never get the love of Federer and Nadal but he’s genuinely acted with a lot of class this week and I have developed a weird sort of respect for him. That will probably all disappear once he takes the slam lead like :D.
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Totally agree, I cant stand him.

But it's been impossible not to respect just how good a tennis player he is (he's in the Lewis Hamiltom bracket for me).

Had the fortune/misfortune to see him live 4 times now (never know who you will get at the slams getting tickets in advance) and each time hes been immense and not even been taken past 5 games in a set.

The Mrs (no) quote this week on Djokovic has been 'stop doing stuff to make me like you, you c*ck'.

As you said, he will have this week then the next time he has a close match he will chuck a racquet into the stands, take a 'toilet/medical' break, hit a line judge with a tennis ball, randomly scream at the top of his lungs, or promote being anti vaxxed/try to get into Australia etc...

Oh, and it'll be easier to appreciate his career if he ends up behind Nadal in the slam race and never gets an Olympic gold medal....cant have the least liked of the big 3 winning everything
 
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Watching Holger play Norrie at Stockolm Open and the commentators just said that Simone Halep has been suspended from all tennis because of positive doping tests ?
 
The stuff that was in Sharapova's system to me always just seemed like an oversight from herself and her team, I really don't think it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. This on the other hand...

Could potentially be career over given her age.
 
MarcoG said:
The stuff that was in Sharapova's system to me always just seemed like an oversight from herself and her team, I really don't think it wasn't as bad as people made it out to be. This on the other hand...

Could potentially be career over given her age.
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Been a long day sorry, but I don't understand this sentence. You don't think it wasn't as bad ? So you think it was as bad ? My head hurts.
 
alexander said:
Been a long day sorry, but I don't understand this sentence. You don't think it wasn't as bad ? So you think it was as bad ? My head hurts.
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Sorry, my fault. I'll try that again :lol:

Sharapova was caught with a large amount of meldonium in her system, she never attempted to cover it up. She was taking it regularly. It was introduced to the banned substance list at the start of 2017 and all players are made aware at the start of the year with an updated list of banned substances, rule changes and things like that. Sharapova and her team just didn't read the info they were given from the WTA about the new banned substances and she just kept on taking it like normal like she had done for years. That's why she was caught with it in her system at the first tournament of the year with her first drug test. Meldonium wasn't proven to be a performance enhancing drug at the time and it still hasn't been proven to be a PED. It's suspected it could be (and most likely was used to help recover/enhance but then so is paracetamol, ibuprofen etc) but for 99% of the time Sharapova was using something that was legal and just through ignorance and oversight didn't know that it had become a banned substance.

This drug that has been found in Halep's system is 100% a PED that has no right to be in anyone's system with a healthy body. The fact there's only a small amount of it (this next part is a guess from me of course) suggests that she's tried to flush it out of her system and failed to do so. There's not really another way she could have a small amount of this drug in her system I don't think, could be wrong though.

I was never really a fan of Sharapova whereas I do like Halep so not really saying this from a position of wanting Sharapova to be innocent and Halep to be guilty either.
 

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