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

Probably not a tennis player I've slagged off more than Grigor Dimitrov. Genuinely over the moon he's had this run, gutted he couldn't get it done today. One of the nicest guys in the world and more talented than pretty much anyone in the sport. He's more talented than Zverev, Tsitsipas, Medvedev and whoever else. Hopefully this finally makes it click for him.

Born Never Asked said:
No doubt Murray has probably achieved more than Wawrinka when it comes to finals but he has still only win 3 slams. I just think it comes down to slams you have won at the end of the day and not finals you have lost. As it happens I hate the whole goat argument and I like Djokovic the least out the three of them, however if it came down too it and I had to pick one player to save my life in a game of tennis I would pick Djokovic.
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Murray has two gold medals. Fed would swap about ten of his Slam wins for one single gold medal.

We're so quick to forget that Andy Murray beat Roger Federer 3-0 on centre court at Wimbledon with ease.
Not gonna pretend I have any idea what it's like to play sport at an insanely high level against arguably the greatest of all time, but jeeeeeeeeeez. Please don't stand on the basline against Rafa! You aren't going to win!
 
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Damn. Matteo did so well fending off a fair few break points, and set point, to get it to a tie break and then had 4-0, 5-2 and then set points and serving at 6-4, but then lost the next 4 points. He badly needed that set. Think I'll watch the first couple of games of this set and then bed, as I was up until after 4am yesterday. The next 2 sets might last the same length combined as that first set.
 
Should be a good final hopefully as long as medvedev has the energy.
My worry is that hes so far behind the baseline that Rafa might just steamroller him.
Us open badly needs a competitive final after the last few years of one sided wins.
Cant see rafa not biting the trophy come sunday night
 
Quite strange that both finals are repeats of the Canadian Rogers Cup finals from 4 weeks ago. Obviously BO3 in the men, but hopefully both finals are better spectacles this time, as Nadal won 3 and 0, and Andreescu won 3-1 retired.

On paper 2 very good finals. From a WTA perspective (those in charge), Serena-Andreescu couldn't be much better - you're either going to get arguably the (female) GOAT finally getting that elusive 24th major, or you're going to have a teen sensation, who's had a stunning year and a potential superstar, winning a slam in her first proper year on tour, and as she has won Indian Wells and Canada (2 Masters 1000 equivalents), it's not as if she just blew extremely hot for 2 weeks like Ostapenko before fading away - if she can stay fit, she's the real deal. Serena has looked the best since I've seen her since her comeback these past 2 weeks and was dialled in straight from that Sharapova R1 match, so unless she does suffer those increasing recent slam final nerves, or her back goes again, I think she will win here. I have a bet on Andreescu and said a few weeks ago that it would take a very good player to beat her, and they don't come much better than an in form Serena.

I think most would have preferred a Fedal final, and maybe even a Novak-Nadal final in terms of views / interest etc. but I do like this. Medvedev was the 5th seed, so one of the highest ranked outside of the big 3, had a super run in the warm up events, and was part of the original NextGen Milan finals group, so it's good that a 23 year old is translating his form onto the biggest stages. Might be too early for him tomorrow, but progress nevertheless.

I'm looking forward to both and I'll go for Serena in 3, Nadal in 4, but I hope the 2 younger underdogs both win. Both finals start at 9pm tonight and tomorrow respectively.
 
Unless she's facing one of my favourites in the final, or someone who I think winning will be good for the tour, I'm at the point now where I would actually like to see her get 24. Who knows how long she will stay around for - will she want a second child soon? I'd imagine she'll definitely want to play the Olympics next year, so you'd think she'd have at least 4 more chances in slams, but without wanting to state the obvious, the more these slams pass, the more the window will narrow. She's proven her level is still more than good enough against the vast majority of the tour, but was a bit unlucky that her last 2 finalists in particular were absolutely inspired.
 
MarcoG said:
Probably not a tennis player I've slagged off more than Grigor Dimitrov. Genuinely over the moon he's had this run, gutted he couldn't get it done today. One of the nicest guys in the world and more talented than pretty much anyone in the sport. He's more talented than Zverev, Tsitsipas, Medvedev and whoever else. Hopefully this finally makes it click for him.



Murray has two gold medals. Fed would swap about ten of his Slam wins for one single gold medal.





Err, no, no he wouldn’t 😁
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I see Medvedev has come in from 5/1 to 9/2 to 4/1 at Bet365 and he is 7/2 at the likes of Betfair and Betway - that's shorter than I thought it would be. I'd love him to take the first set to make a real match of it.
 

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