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SMB Tennis thread


I see Aryna Sabalenka won her first WTA tournament earlier today, albeit a €125k one. Superb last 2 months for her and definitely a big future ahead of her. Just 19.

JL1985 said:
Easy in hindsight but I would have gave Bemelmens a game. His serve would have gotten him a lot of free points.
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Couldn't have been much worse to be fair but I suppose if he had lost then people would be saying, Darcis is a 5th rubber specialist etc.

That's the tennis season pretty much done until new year when the Aussie Open warm up tournaments start, a couple of minor events here and there.
 
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The Bridge Lad said:
I see Aryna Sabalenka won her first WTA tournament earlier today, albeit a €125k one. Superb last 2 months for her and definitely a big future ahead of her. Just 19.



Couldn't have been much worse to be fair but I suppose if he had lost then people would be saying, Darcis is a 5th rubber specialist etc.

That's the tennis season pretty much done until new year when the Aussie Open warm up tournaments start, a couple of minor events here and there.
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Don't know what I'll do until the tennis starts up again. New Year's Eve it all starts again.
 
JL1985 said:
Don't know what I'll do until the tennis starts up again. New Year's Eve it all starts again.
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Yeah, there's one more $100,000 women's tournament in Dubai in December where there'll be some last minute scrambling for direct entry into the Aussie Open and the qualifiers, the cut offs are usually circa 100 and 200 respectively. Shame Australia is the worst time zone for the UK market with events starting at midnight and progressing during traditional sleep hours. Looking forward to that though, will be good to see some of the bigger men's names back and to see how the likes of Goffin and Dimitrov get on when they all return. Seems weird seeing Dimitrov at #3 and Sock at #8.

Didn't ever think Serena would play at the AO and it's looking more likely that she won't. To be honest, I've enjoyed it more when she's not been around.
 
chopsfc007 said:
Wouldn't surprise me if she won
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Yeah, nor me mate. I was kind of hoping she wouldn't be back and then return at the French. I'm hoping for a Muguruza or Ostapenko win or even Sabalenka - she's definitely arriving, although 2018 will probably be too soon for a Grand Slam impact (although Ostapenko did win the French so who knows...)
 
Safc_Number10 said:
Never accepted as a British player good riddance, no one will remember you.
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Yeah, never really felt British. Evans coming back should fill any potential void left, plus Norrie is/was closing in on the top 100.

Can't wait for the Aussie Open, despite the unfriendly UK times. Most of the big name male players should be back and last years was a cracking slam, the best overall in 2017 by far. Likewise with the women's, Serena probably will play, Azarenka has been given a wildcard (hopefully she makes it) and Belinda Bencic is now back in the top 100 after an injury nightmare and is on something like a 14 game winning run so she'll no doubt be the main one the top 32 seeds want to avoid in the early rounds.

I've watched so much tennis from May to October, these past 4 or 5 dry weeks have felt strange.
 
The Bridge Lad said:
Yeah, never really felt British. Evans coming back should fill any potential void left, plus Norrie is/was closing in on the top 100.

Can't wait for the Aussie Open, despite the unfriendly UK times. Most of the big name male players should be back and last years was a cracking slam, the best overall in 2017 by far. Likewise with the women's, Serena probably will play, Azarenka has been given a wildcard (hopefully she makes it) and Belinda Bencic is now back in the top 100 after an injury nightmare and is on something like a 14 game winning run so she'll no doubt be the main one the top 32 seeds want to avoid in the early rounds.

I've watched so much tennis from May to October, these past 4 or 5 dry weeks have felt strange.
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Norrie can fill the void of twitter shouts for not really being British then!
 
The Bridge Lad said:
Yeah, never really felt British. Evans coming back should fill any potential void left, plus Norrie is/was closing in on the top 100.

Can't wait for the Aussie Open, despite the unfriendly UK times. Most of the big name male players should be back and last years was a cracking slam, the best overall in 2017 by far. Likewise with the women's, Serena probably will play, Azarenka has been given a wildcard (hopefully she makes it) and Belinda Bencic is now back in the top 100 after an injury nightmare and is on something like a 14 game winning run so she'll no doubt be the main one the top 32 seeds want to avoid in the early rounds.

I've watched so much tennis from May to October, these past 4 or 5 dry weeks have felt strange.
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You should try being in my house. My wife has it on 24/7 and will even stay up through the night if Murray is on. I'm relegated to watching stuff on my laptop.
Having said that she is a level 2 coach and loves the sport.
 
K3NA said:
You should try being in my house. My wife has it on 24/7 and will even stay up through the night if Murray is on. I'm relegated to watching stuff on my laptop.
Having said that she is a level 2 coach and loves the sport.
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Sounds like you've got a cracker there mate, have you no interest in the sport at all?
 
The Bridge Lad said:
Sounds like you've got a cracker there mate, have you no interest in the sport at all?
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I don't mind watching it but not 24/7. I can't play it due to a bad back injury (motorcycle accident), I have 2 x titanium rods screwed up either side of my spine.
 
JL1985 said:
The WTA season starts tonight. The Brisbane qualifiers start at 12pm.

Any up and coming players we should look out for this season?

@The Bridge Lad
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Yeah, looking forward to it mate, timings aren't ideal, but should be able to catch some of their early morning stuff (midnight) or evening sessions, 8am(ish). It doesn't look like you can stream any of the Brisbane qualifiers (may be wrong) but you can stream the AO qualifiers in a couple of weeks. Watson is 4th on today in her qualifier, so probably looking at around 5am our time.

In terms of less known prospects outside of your seeds like Barty, Kasatkina etc, I think Aryna Sabalenka will make a big impact this year. She had a very good last 2 or 3 months of the season and has a massive game - a bit like Ostapenko but more powerful, just 19 as well. Think she could be pushing the top 32 by the end of the year.

Vikhylansova and Vondrousova are two others who could do well, although the latter broke through early last year, but had back problems for the second half so hopefully she's over that. Donna Vekic has a very credible new coach so could finally realise her big potential. 17 YO Aussie Destanee Aiava has been tipped as a big future star and she'll have a few wildcards for Brisbane, Hobart/Sydney etc and already has a place in the AO main draw so you'll hear more of her in the first few weeks, but probably a year or two early for deep runs.

Also, great to see Belinda Bencic back in the top 100. She had a nightmare 2017 though injury, but ended it very strongly, winning something like 15 games in a row to date and 1 couple of WTA $250k events. Obviously she has reached #7 before and is a slam quarter finalist and has a Premier 5 title but she is still just 20 so very pleased she is back.

They'll be some of the names that the top 32 will want to avoid in the early rounds of the AO, particularly Bencic and Sabalenka.
 
The Bridge Lad said:
Yeah, looking forward to it mate, timings aren't ideal, but should be able to catch some of their early morning stuff (midnight) or evening sessions, 8am(ish). It doesn't look like you can stream any of the Brisbane qualifiers (may be wrong) but you can stream the AO qualifiers in a couple of weeks. Watson is 4th on today in her qualifier, so probably looking at around 5am our time.

In terms of less known prospects outside of your seeds like Barty, Kasatkina etc, I think Aryna Sabalenka will make a big impact this year. She had a very good last 2 or 3 months of the season and has a massive game - a bit like Ostapenko but more powerful, just 19 as well. Think she could be pushing the top 32 by the end of the year.

Vikhylansova and Vondrousova are two others who could do well, although the latter broke through early last year, but had back problems for the second half so hopefully she's over that. Donna Vekic has a very credible new coach so could finally realise her big potential. 17 YO Aussie Destanee Aiava has been tipped as a big future star and she'll have a few wildcards for Brisbane, Hobart/Sydney etc and already has a place in the AO main draw so you'll hear more of her in the first few weeks, but probably a year or two early for deep runs.

Also, great to see Belinda Bencic back in the top 100. She had a nightmare 2017 though injury, but ended it very strongly, winning something like 15 games in a row to date and 1 couple of WTA $250k events. Obviously she has reached #7 before and is a slam quarter finalist and has a Premier 5 title but she is still just 20 so very pleased she is back.

They'll be some of the names that the top 32 will want to avoid in the early rounds of the AO, particularly Bencic and Sabalenka.
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any bets on marra
 
The Bridge Lad said:
Yeah, looking forward to it mate, timings aren't ideal, but should be able to catch some of their early morning stuff (midnight) or evening sessions, 8am(ish). It doesn't look like you can stream any of the Brisbane qualifiers (may be wrong) but you can stream the AO qualifiers in a couple of weeks. Watson is 4th on today in her qualifier, so probably looking at around 5am our time.

In terms of less known prospects outside of your seeds like Barty, Kasatkina etc, I think Aryna Sabalenka will make a big impact this year. She had a very good last 2 or 3 months of the season and has a massive game - a bit like Ostapenko but more powerful, just 19 as well. Think she could be pushing the top 32 by the end of the year.

Vikhylansova and Vondrousova are two others who could do well, although the latter broke through early last year, but had back problems for the second half so hopefully she's over that. Donna Vekic has a very credible new coach so could finally realise her big potential. 17 YO Aussie Destanee Aiava has been tipped as a big future star and she'll have a few wildcards for Brisbane, Hobart/Sydney etc and already has a place in the AO main draw so you'll hear more of her in the first few weeks, but probably a year or two early for deep runs.

Also, great to see Belinda Bencic back in the top 100. She had a nightmare 2017 though injury, but ended it very strongly, winning something like 15 games in a row to date and 1 couple of WTA $250k events. Obviously she has reached #7 before and is a slam quarter finalist and has a Premier 5 title but she is still just 20 so very pleased she is back.

They'll be some of the names that the top 32 will want to avoid in the early rounds of the AO, particularly Bencic and Sabalenka.
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Great stuff! I seen Sabalenka was the lead player for Belarus in their Fed Cup Final v USA.

I've been following a fair bit of the ITF Futures circuit the past few months. Gabriella Taylor is making very good progress. GB have a good few prospects coming through.
 
chopsfc007 said:
any bets on marra
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Not yet mate, but will after the draw and my usual match accas. I'll have a few quid on Sabalenka and Bencic, I don't think either will win, but I'd be gutted if they did and I didn't back them :lol:, plus at 66/1, I'll be able to lay them off it they do win a few rounds.

I saw one bookie had Caroline Garcia at 100/1 (ranges from 16-25s) but it said error when I tried to place the bet, so that was a shame. I'll see how the draw pans out, but might look at the likes of Wozniaki and Vandeweghe, the latter's odds are starting to generally come in now after reaching 3 GS semi finals last year and less of an unknown quantity and she basically won the US the Fed Cup final single-handedly the other month.

JL1985 said:
Great stuff! I seen Sabalenka was the lead player for Belarus in their Fed Cup Final v USA.

I've been following a fair bit of the ITF Futures circuit the past few months. Gabriella Taylor is making very good progress. GB have a good few prospects coming through.
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Yeah, she had a great final few months. Lost to Shaapova in a full WTA final, got to another semi final and then won one of the $125k events and then beat (an out of form) Sloane Stephens in the Fed and give Coco a good match in her other game. Hell of a grunt on her mind, probably worse than Azarenka and Sharapova :lol:.

I was following the ITF scene a bit more than normal since October with no reula WTA stuff and year a few are making good progress. Katie Boulter was at a career high 198 (think it's early 200s now as she ended her season about a month ago), but she has just made the AO qualifying cut and is in qualifying for another event, I think Brisbane, so hopefully she can make more progress this year and get nearer the the top 100. Eden Silva (21) won a $15k event in Finland the other week and Taylor as you say won a $25k (i think) event in India a week ago and she is just 19. Think Boulter, Taylor, Emily Appleton and Katie Swan (still just 18 or so,but hasn't come on as well as some had hoped) are the most likely candidates to close in on full WTA level in the coming years, although it is really hard to break that top 100.
 
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