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

So another relatively early exit for Djokovic today in Monte Carlo (quater's) and he's now just 5-3 since winning the Australian Open. Is it a case of all eggs in the slam basket these days or a genuine cause for concern?

If you look at his results from Queens last year:

Queens (500) F
Wimbledon W
Canada F
Cincy W
US Open W
Shanghai W
Paris F
ATP Finals F
Dubai (500) SF
Aussie W

To his past 3 events:

Indian Wells L32
Miami L16
Monte Carlo QF

That's a notable difference compared to his Masters 1000 results last year.

Anyway, great win for Medvedev who has started the year well. Plays another Serb tomorrow in the semi final, Lahovic. Nadal vs Fognini in the other semi.

Konta plays Diyas first in the Fed Cup tomorrow at 1.30pm and that's followed by Boulter vs Putintseva. Hopefully no worse than 1-1 by the end of play.
 


The Bridge Lad said:
So another relatively early exit for Djokovic today in Monte Carlo (quater's) and he's now just 5-3 since winning the Australian Open. Is it a case of all eggs in the slam basket these days or a genuine cause for concern?

If you look at his results from Queens last year:

Queens (500) F
Wimbledon W
Canada F
Cincy W
US Open W
Shanghai W
Paris F
ATP Finals F
Dubai (500) SF
Aussie W

To his past 3 events:

Indian Wells L32
Miami L16
Monte Carlo QF

That's a notable difference compared to his Masters 1000 results last year.

Anyway, great win for Medvedev who has started the year well. Plays another Serb tomorrow in the semi final, Lahovic. Nadal vs Fognini in the other semi.

Konta plays Diyas first in the Fed Cup tomorrow at 1.30pm and that's followed by Boulter vs Putintseva. Hopefully no worse than 1-1 by the end of play.
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Djokovic will just be saving himself for the slams now I reckon, if he manages to beat Nadal in the French Open we might aswell just give up watching tennis.
 
Anyone see the Nadal match? Fognini had 6-4 5-0 40-15, so 2 match points away from giving Rafa a clay bagel. Nadal fought back and then held next game and eventually went down 6-4 6-2, but a bit of a surprise. Not too many would have picked Fognini vs Lajovic in a Masters 1000 final 7 days ago.

Konta came back from a set down and very nervy start to beat Diyas (4-6 6-3 6-2) to take the first rubber. Boulter vs Putintseva next.
 
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Fair play to fognini hammering Nadal on clay :eek: no ones beaten him that comfortably on clay since Djokovic beat an injured Nadal in straight sets at the French in 2015.
be interesting to see how he gets on in The next tournament
 
Fabiooooo! The absolute king.

9/1 is absolutely mental! Djokovic and Fognini are the only people good enough to beat Nadal on a regular basis on that surface.

Zverev was 1/4 to beat Fognini, Coric was 1/2 to beat him! How has no one ever watched King Fabio play?!

Oh and a shout out to Jay Clarke, fair play to the kid potentially winning his first challenger and all time high ranking after a really awful six months.
 
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MarcoG said:
Fabiooooo! The absolute king.

9/1 is absolutely mental! Djokovic and Fognini are the only people good enough to beat Nadal on a regular basis on that surface.

Zverev was 1/4 to beat Fognini, Coric was 1/2 to beat him! How has no one ever watched King Fabio play?!

Oh and a shout out to Jay Clarke, fair play to the kid potentially winning his first challenger and all time high ranking after a really awful six months.
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Great week for Jay, kind of cane from nowhere after a tough 6 months as you say. That's (at least) 2 top 100 wins as well and the Indian lad he beat in the final beat him comfortably earlier in the year. Up to around 160 now and can hopefully push on further and have a decent grass season.

Arkle said:
Disappointing for Boulter! However, she was playing their number 1 and pushed her all the way. I get the feeling that the doubles will be key in this tie.
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Heart breaking for her, she was in tears at the end. I guess it is the score we'd expect after 2 rubbers, but could have been on the brink of victory.

The two singles should be closer today on paper, so they may well exchange wins again and tbh, the doubles should be 50/50ish as well. Looking forward to watching.
 
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It's been on the cards for a while, especially with all the Kermode business, but the ATP Finals are officially moving away from the O2 after 2020 and will be held in Turin, Italy from 2021-2025. A shame the UK is losing an event, especially outside of the grass season, but a change will probably be good and at least the matches will be on at a similar time.
 
So, another semi final clay defeat for Nadal, this time 4-6 4-6 to Thiem in Barcelona. This time last year he won both Monte Carlo and Barcelona, all 10 matches in straight sets and was never even forced into a tie break in any of them. Certainly makes thing more interesting leading up to the French Open. Thiem plays Medvedev, who is having a really good season, in tomorrow's final.

Kvitova vs Kontaveit in tomorrow's Stuttgart final.
 
2 excellent Madrid men's semi finals, Djokovic seeing off Thiem in 2 tight tie break sets and Tsitsipas beating Nadal in 3 sets. That's 3 successive clay semi final defeats for Nadal heading into Rome, the last big event before the French Open. Federer has confirmed he'll also be playing Rome next week after his first clay event for 3 years.

Bertens beat Halep in the women's final and is now up to a career high of 4.

Sad news for Katie Boulter who has withdrawn from the French Open and is expected to miss all the grass season as well with a stress fracture in her back which was bothering her at the Fed Cup. Worst time to suffer a bad injury.
 
Cheering on Tsitsipas tomorrow :lol:
Worrying thing about rafas form is i don't see anyone else beating Djokovic over 5 sets at the French, hope im wrong and thiem or someone new wins it.
Rafa could play thiem in the quarters in rome, maybe fed in semis but he's not been great in rome for some time now (before his 3 year skip), Djokovic in final
 
scotch said:
Cheering on Tsitsipas tomorrow :lol:
Worrying thing about rafas form is i don't see anyone else beating Djokovic over 5 sets at the French, hope im wrong and thiem or someone new wins it.
Rafa could play thiem in the quarters in rome, maybe fed in semis but he's not been great in rome for some time now (before his 3 year skip), Djokovic in final
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You probably have to make Djokovic favourite for the French title now. Nadal is still just about at the bookies, but he is drifting and after Rome it could look different again. Assuming the draw allows it, I think the 4 Madrid semi finalists are likely Roland Garros semi finalists and it does feel like the most open RG for some time with a few genuine contenders - no doubt Novak will take win it without dropping a set...:lol:
 
Was yesterday's play at Rome a washout?

Same's to be a lot of matches going on today for a Thursday.
 

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