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



Colbert said:
Halep’ s pulled out of the WTA Finals, Kiki Bertens in.
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Yeah, a shame as you want the best players competing and she's currently ranked number 1, but at least it's now so that Kiki can get there with the mindset of competing, not just a replacement and far better than her joining the event halfway through. Not a shock though.

Nice to see Konta putting a few wins together reaching the Moscow semi. Think that's just her second this year after Nottingham and certainly at this Premier level. Plays Pavlychenkova or Kasatkina tomorrow and they are on court at the moment.
 
The Bridge Lad said:
Well, Djokovic did add the Shanghai title to his growing collection since Wimbledon beating Coric 3 and 4 in the final - that's Wimbledon, Cincy, US Open and Shanghai within the past 3 months and is indeed looking unbeatable again and @Benjamin's worst fears look like they are coming true. 27 wins from his last 28 matches, the last 10 in straight sets.

Garcia beat Pliskova to take the Tianjin title. Giorgi beat Alexandrova to take Linz and Yastremska beat Wang in Hong Kong - all 3 women's finals in straight sets.

Still a few more weeks on the men's tour to go and there's 250 events in Moscow, Antwerp and Stockholm this week but it's the final week of the women's tour with a premier event in Moscow and an international event in Luxembourg. Stephens officially joins the 4 current slam holders + Kvitova in the Singapore Year End Champioships and 2 of Svitolina, Bertens and Pliskova will join them. The latter two are playing in Moscow and if both reach the semi final, they will qualify and Svitolina will miss out. Anything less and she will make it.



What day are you going? I'm always a bit put off by the singles-doubles combo as I've not really got any interest in the latter and would be disappointed if I had something like Cilic-Anderson and a doubles match. I will definitely try and go before 2020 though as I reckon it'll definitely move to a new venue after that.

Assuming there's no withdrawals, the current top 8 look nailed on.
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Yep Djokovic definitely back to his best, still don’t know what he is really, he is just like some unbeatable robot who just turns up for a slam and beats everyone out of sight without even breaking sweat. Bad for the game of tennis him cleaning up again and makes it a lot less watchable. He just Dosnt have that wow factor or likeability that other great champions have had.
 
I think it's a very good idea too. Keeps some tradition but avoids what happened last year where the 2nd semi finished the next day, taking some shine off the women's final and Anderson was pretty much done in the final as well. 12-12 seems perfect although there is a bit negativity on social media.
 
Got a fiver on Sloane at 9/1. Fancy her to either win the whole thing or bomb out in the groups probably without winning a match.

Great value against Osaka tomorrow as well I think. Suppose it depends how seriously Stephens is taking the tournament.
 
On Tour said:
Well done Kyle Edmund.

First career ATP title

Just won 2-1 against Gael Monfils.

3-6. 7-6. 7-6
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Great stuff mate. Thought he might have blown it at 4-4 40-15 and a chance to serve for the match instead of serving to stay in it, but held his nerve really well. To be fair, Monfils hit 2 great first serves so didn't have much chance.

First main tour British championship for over 18 months.
 
Youth beat experience in all 3 ATP finals today - Edmund obviously beat Monfils in Antwerp. Tsitsipas also won his first ATP title, beating Gulbis in Stockholm and Khachanov won his 3rd title, beating Mannarino is Moscow. Speaking of youth, 15 year old Emma Raducanu, arguably our best prospect in either sex, won her 2nd ITF event of the year - she'll move up to around 720 in the rankings.

I do enjoy BT's coverage on these finals but I don't like this years line up half as much as last year. I am looking forward to Osaka-Stephens tomorrow though and think that is the pick of all the 12 group matches - hopefully I'll avoid the result and watch when I get back, although that will mean avoiding Twitter etc. all day :lol:
 
2 wins from 2 now for Svitolina and she is on the brink of the semi finals. She just needs to win a set against Wozniacki on Thursday and she has qualified and she may already have qualified before she plays if Kvitova beats Pliskova in the earlier match. Nobody is eliminated yet, but it is looking very bleak for Kvitova - she has to beat Pliskova in straight sets first and then hope that Svitolina (who will have already qualified in that scenario) beats Wozniacki later on.

The first match losers Osaka and Kerber play first tomorrow at 12.30pm and is followed by Stephens vs Bertens.
 

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