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

When I pulled up on my drive Konta was 4 1 up in the first set. By the time I got the telly on it was level and she never recovered.

Shocking performance from Konta - she does not have the mental strength to win a title - shame really as she works really hard.
 


The Red Telephone said:
I shall be eternally grateful that as a 13 year old I was allowed to miss school to see Virginia Wade beat Betty Stove on that Friday back in 1977...because I don't reckon I'll ever see it repeated.:(
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Yeah, it's looking unlikely. Strycova with crowd support to reach another semi final is very much an opportunity missed. It would be nice if she could reach at least the QF in the US Open in a few weeks, so that she's made the last 8 in all the slams, and I guess a realistic goal would be to try and end the year inside the top 8 and qualify for the money spinning WTA Finals in Shenzhen for the first time at the end of the year, but the 350 extra points just for winning this match would have come in very handy for that.

I suppose it is nice just to have involvement in the second week of the major events, like we have in the last 2 slams, but at 28, the window of opportunity for going further is narrowing, and if it isn't Konta then there's just very little little after that on the women's side. Dart is currently our #3, yet has been embarrassed in both her big slam matches this year and she's not really a kid.

There was a 14 year old who has made the last 16 of the junior event today and there is a lot of talk about her, having recently crashed the junior top 100, but at that age you just can't tell - Katie Swan made the final of the Jr Aussie Open a few years ago, yet at 20 years old, she is now outside the top 250, despite wildcard after wildcard.
 
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No surprise that Nadal is on C1 after Novak was there the other day, but perhaps a surprise that Fed and Nadal will be scheduled for roughly the same time, depending on how long the respective first matches last? Thought Nadal might have been on Court 1 first.

Murray and Serena are 3rd on Court 2 (play there starts at 11am), so probably around 3ish.


CENTRE COURT
1:00PM
N. Djokovic (SRB) 1 v D. Goffin (BEL) 21
K. Nishikori (JPN) 8 v R. Federer (SUI) 2


NO.1 COURT
1:00PM
G. Pella (ARG) 26 v R. Bautista Agut (ESP) 23
S. Querrey (USA) v R. Nadal (ESP) 3
 
HABA87 said:
For all tennis can be exciting, I just find doubles dull as owt.

Even this marathon that's on now.
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Especially when it's delayed from earlier in the day, ha. But yeah, I'm the same, very little interest. It's OK when it's 2 big names pairing for a one off event, but not much outside of that. If Andy eventually turned into a double's specialist, like his brother, then I wouldn't really follow his career, as Jamie is largely irrelevant to me.

Arkle said:
Not seen much of today but sounds disappointing from Konta.
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Yeah, it was going so well for about 20 minutes than sharp went downhill after that, didn't really see the sudden turnaround coming, but just far too many errors and went tight once she had the lead.
 
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Konta got a bit riled at the press conference when the bloke from the Express was a bit rude to her. In fairness she does have to look at whether she has what it takes mentally at this level, but it must be a bit galling to be asked about performing at the highest level by someone who can't do any better in his own job than working for that f***ing comic
 
Cockney Mackem said:
Konta got a bit riled at the press conference when the bloke from the Express was a bit rude to her. In fairness she does have to look at whether she has what it takes mentally at this level, but it must be a bit galling to be asked about performing at the highest level by someone who can't do any better in his own job than working for that f***ing comic
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She looked close to tears there.
 
Always found the questioning of Konta's mental toughness a weird one. I think it's one of her strengths. Her psychologist passed away in 2017 and she seemed to struggle with that last year because he was a big part of her life, I'd say that's a normal thing.

She was absolutely slaughtered in the media for most of last year for her performances despite what had happened and look how she's responded in 2019. She's back up to inside the top twenty. She's just beat two Grand Slam champions from a set down in previous rounds of this tournament. She just reached the French Open semis, Rome final and Bogota final after years of criticism for how poor she was on clay. She came from a set down earlier this year in both Fed Cup matches against Kazakhstan when she was struggling physically.

I really don't get the criticism she receives. She deserves so much more credit. Should have told that bloke to fuck off in her interview rather than giving him a proper response.
 
MarcoG said:
Always found the questioning of Konta's mental toughness a weird one. I think it's one of her strengths. Her psychologist passed away in 2017 and she seemed to struggle with that last year because he was a big part of her life, I'd say that's a normal thing.

She was absolutely slaughtered in the media for most of last year for her performances despite what had happened and look how she's responded in 2019. She's back up to inside the top twenty. She's just beat two Grand Slam champions from a set down in previous rounds of this tournament. She just reached the French Open semis, Rome final and Bogota final after years of criticism for how poor she was on clay. She came from a set down earlier this year in both Fed Cup matches against Kazakhstan when she was struggling physically.

I really don't get the criticism she receives. She deserves so much more credit. Should have told that bloke to fuck off in her interview rather than giving him a proper response.
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I think the question of her bottle or lack of it, wasn't just about today's defeat.
Didn't she get rinsed recently in Paris, by a relatively unknown player, when her good form (until that match) suggested she could get to the final in Paris ?
 
Horley Chorley said:
I think the question of her bottle or lack of it, wasn't just about today's defeat.
Didn't she get rinsed recently in Paris, by a relatively unknown player, when her good form (until that match) suggested she could get to the final in Paris ?
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She is getting herself into some great situations only to seemingly be her own worst enemy and throw it away with poor execution and shot choices. The number of unforced errors today was staggering. Something has to change to enable her to go the extra step. If the reporter had just asked what she needs to do to take the extra step, then fair enough, but it seemed that he was insinuating that she was a bottler. She knows she is and bit, imo.

The semi-final in France and the match today were arguably lost by Konta, more than won by her opponents. I hope she learns how to adapt and improve. To be fair Serena will batter anyone in her path atm, so it doesn’t make much difference to the outcome of the tournament imo.

Shame, I like Konta and would love to see her win something big.
 
Big Dave 53 said:
She is getting herself into some great situations only to seemingly be her own worst enemy and throw it away with poor execution and shot choices. The number of unforced errors today was staggering. Something has to change to enable her to go the extra step. If the reporter had just asked what she needs to do to take the extra step, then fair enough, but it seemed that he was insinuating that she was a bottler. She knows she is and bit, imo.

The semi-final in France and the match today were arguably lost by Konta, more than won by her opponents. I hope she learns how to adapt and improve. To be fair Serena will batter anyone in her path atm, so it doesn’t make much difference to the outcome of the tournament imo.

Shame, I like Konta and would love to see her win something big.
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I agree with your comments.
I also like Konta and would love to see her go on to win a Grand Slam.
She undoubtedly needs to find that something extra, for her to go from being a "nearly" player to winner.
The same unforced errors cost her dearly in Paris.
I think players should be given a 15 minute cooling off period after a match, before giving interviews.
Doing an interview straight after throwing a match away in the way she did, isn't the best idea imo.
She was emotional and the interviewer clearly hit a nerve with his questions.
 
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Big Dave 53 said:
She is getting herself into some great situations only to seemingly be her own worst enemy and throw it away with poor execution and shot choices. The number of unforced errors today was staggering. Something has to change to enable her to go the extra step. If the reporter had just asked what she needs to do to take the extra step, then fair enough, but it seemed that he was insinuating that she was a bottler. She knows she is and bit, imo.

The semi-final in France and the match today were arguably lost by Konta, more than won by her opponents. I hope she learns how to adapt and improve. To be fair Serena will batter anyone in her path atm, so it doesn’t make much difference to the outcome of the tournament imo.

Shame, I like Konta and would love to see her win something big.
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His questions were totally relevant to the situation, particularly after what happened in France.

She can't go throwing lines to journalists like "in your professional tennis playing opinion?" and then accuse journalists of being patronising either.
 

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