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

I've gone for
Djokovic
Nadal
Federer
Zverev
Tsitipas
kachanov
Cilic
Nishikori

Not sure how much tennis del potro will play this year.
Thiem might not do as well on clay this year due to Djokovic and Tsitipas coming on strong.

Had this have been 1st Jan instead of 11th Feb then I'd have 100% had Khachanov in my list, probably 7th or 8th. It's obviously still very early days, but he has had 2 1st round exits from his 2 ATP tour events as well as not matching his seeding in Melbourne, seeded 10th but went out in straight sets in L32, and event at this stage, Stefanos' 720 points for reaching the semi finals could be significant to Khachanov's 180 if those 2 are battling for that 8th spot.

I agree with that regarding Thiem and he is clearly reliant on clay to pick up most of his points.
 


I forgot the Davis Cup draw was this week, since the next stage in not until mid-November, but it has just been made and is the following:


Group A: France, Serbia, Japan

Group B: Croatia, Spain, Russia

Group C: Argentina, Germany, Chile

Group D: Belgium, Australia, Colombia

Group E: Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Netherlands

Group F: USA, Italy, Canada


We obviously don't know which players will show up for this event, but on paper, that's a pretty decent draw for GB. Assuming a fair amount of good players turn up, Group B looks tasty and considering Spain are at home and Russia fielded a strong team in qualifying, you'd expect those teams to be pretty strong.
 
Great to see Stan playing well and getting results again. He's just beaten Paire, Raonic, Shapovalov and Nishikori to reach the Rotterdam 500 final - plays Monfils tomorrow at 2.30pm.

Elise Mertens has done very little since the US Open Series last year, slipped out of the top 20 and was beaten by both Cornet and Garcia at home in the Fed Cup last week, but she has just beaten 3 top 10 players in Bertens, Kerber and today Halep to claim the Qatar Open, her biggest title to date.
 
Good win for Cameron Norrie earlier in Rio (500) over the seeded Lajovic. Didn't see the match but 6-2 6-1 looks impressive, unless the Serb was injured or something. Dan Evans plays Tiafoe around 11pm tonight in Delray Beach 250 1st round - Evans came through qualifying.

Watson out of WTA Budapest at the first hurdle and Osaka lost her first match as #1 and without coach Bajin, losing to Mladenovic in the Dubai P5 event - She was in tears in her post match press conference.

When will people find out about the Wimbledon ballot
Fingers crossed

I'm seeing posts on Twitter and pics that people are starting to get their Wimbledon tickets through the post. Someone had Men's Final tickets - I'd be happy with first Tuesday Court 2 :lol:. Think we have all this week for the first round (of approvals) and then it'll be next month for the next batch.
 
Last edited:
Sickener for Norrie is his Rio second round. Blew 4 set points to lose the first set tie breaker, broke at 3-5 in the second to eventually take it 7-5 and was then 3-1 up in the deciding set tie break but ended up losing 6-7 7-5 6-7.

Better news for Dan Evans though as he followed up him impressive win over Tiafoe with a 6-0 6-2 win over Lloyd Harris and now plays Seppi in the Delray Beach QF. He's provisionally ranked at 129 now - doubt it'll be too long before he's back in the top 100.

Oh and there's an Italian Challenger match between Jay Clarke and new Brit Jan Choinski tomorrow morning for a place in the QF.
 
Last edited:
Sickener for Norrie is his Rio second round. Blew 4 set points to lose the first set tie breaker, broke at 3-5 in the second to eventually take it 7-5 and was then 3-1 up in the deciding set tie break but ended up losing 6-7 7-5 6-7.

Better news for Dan Evans though as he followed up him impressive win over Tiafoe with a 6-0 6-2 win over Lloyd Harris and now plays Seppi in the Delray Beach QF. He's provisionally ranked at 129 now - doubt it'll be too long before he's back in the top 100.

Oh and there's an Italian Challenger match between Jay Clarke and new Brit Jan Choinski tomorrow morning for a place in the QF.
Watched a bit of the Norrie match. He was aggressive when trying to fight back and far too passive when in the lead. Needs to find the balance. Chuffed for Evans, he's a top 30 player but obviously an idiot at times.
 
Watched a bit of the Norrie match. He was aggressive when trying to fight back and far too passive when in the lead. Needs to find the balance. Chuffed for Evans, he's a top 30 player but obviously an idiot at times.

Yeah, I think you could argue that Evans is the better player of the our 3 current highest ranked and he'll be a very good addition when he's back properly on the main ATP tour. I enjoy watching him and hopefully he's in the top 100 before Wimbledon cut off.

I know what you mean with Norrie. There was a bit of a weird call in the final set tie breaker with the umpire who was giving Kyrgios that pep talk at the US Open. He called something out which wasn't, making Munar angry and then Norrie just couldn't seem to recover thereafter - an opportunity missed but he is at a career high and slowly going in the right direction. It's good that he is actively pursuing these South American clay events when there are hard court events in Europe and the States as it should put him in better stead when the main European clay season comes around.

Choinski beat Clarke in 3.
 
Dan Evans :cool:. Beats Seppi 6-4 6-4 to make the Delray Beach semi final. Up to 120 in the live rankings now and if he reaches the final, he'll be on the brink of the top 100. Isner is playing Mannarino now and the winner of that faces Dan tomorrow.

Chuffed for Belinda Bencic. She has just beaten Svitolina to make the Dubai final - basically the equivalent of a Masters 1000 in the men's. She's up to 28 in the live rankings and it looks like she is finally on her way back following 2 years of pretty much constant injury. She's beaten 3 top 10 players this week and plays another, Kvitova, in the final tomorrow.
 
Think this could be Caroline's final year.

Yeah, I wouldn't be too surprised either, probably after the US Open. I thought once she won a slam it wouldn't be too long and this arthritis condition and pulling out of a few events recently with a virus (which may be linked), plus obviously being settled in her personal life, you feel it's all pointing towards that. She's also sliding down the rankings a bit. Mind, she's won a title at every level you can, so she has nothing to prove in that sense.

Do you still follow the tennis much these days? There's hardly any depth in Danish tennis at the moment as proven by the Fed Cup team getting relegated to the lowest level earlier this month, but just as Wozniacki is retiring (assuming that does happen within the next 1-2 years), the current Aussie Open junior champ Tauson may well have started to make her move in the pro ranks.
 
Last edited:
Chuffed for Belinda Bencic. She has just beaten Svitolina to make the Dubai final - basically the equivalent of a Masters 1000 in the men's. She's up to 28 in the live rankings and it looks like she is finally on her way back following 2 years of pretty much constant injury. She's beaten 3 top 10 players this week and plays another, Kvitova, in the final tomorrow.

Same. Huuuuge BB fan. More than a few years ago I thought she'd be a multiple Grand Slam winner by now. Great to see her back at this level.
 
Yeah, I wouldn't be too surprised either, probably after the US Open. I thought once she won a slam it wouldn't be too long and this arthritis condition and pulling out of a few events recently with a virus (which may be linked), plus obviously being settled in her personal life, you feel it's all pointing towards that. She's also sliding down the rankings a bit. Mind, she's won a title at every level you can, so she has nothing to prove in that sense.

Do you still follow the tennis much these days? There's hardly any depth in Danish tennis at the moment as proven by the Fed Cup team getting relegated to the lowest level earlier this month, but just as Wozniacki is retiring (assuming that does happen within the next 1-2 years), the current Aussie Open junior champ Tauson may well have started to make her move in the pro ranks.

Agree with all of that.

Caroline won Wimbledon as junior player and with Clara now the current Australian Open junior champion they already have a bit in common and am hopeful the transition will be smooth. Clara is said to be even more talented than Caroline but I have only watched a couple of her matches and to me her opponents may have made her look better than she is. I don't know. She is basically still just a kid, really, and who knows what will happen in the next few years. One of the things I like the most about Caroline is her spirit of fight and unwillingness to not chase up and go after every ball. She can, or could, run the sun black. For me Clara is still missing that part in her game.

Like you say, Caroline has nothing left to prove, really, but those are some big shoes to fill and Clara will probably always be compared to her.
 
Agree with all of that.

Caroline won Wimbledon as junior player and with Clara now the current Australian Open junior champion they already have a bit in common and am hopeful the transition will be smooth. Clara is said to be even more talented than Caroline but I have only watched a couple of her matches and to me her opponents may have made her look better than she is. I don't know. She is basically still just a kid, really, and who knows what will happen in the next few years. One of the things I like the most about Caroline is her spirit of fight and unwillingness to not chase up and go after every ball. She can, or could, run the sun black. For me Clara is still missing that part in her game.

Like you say, Caroline has nothing left to prove, really, but those are some big shoes to fill and Clara will probably always be compared to her.

Naturally, it's pretty likely she will get compared, both junior champs as you say, very few other Danish players, even the blonde hair I guess. I've also only seen her a few times, bits and pieces in her Aussie Open jr run, vs Raducanu in one of the slams, and vs Swiatek in the Fed Cup, so it's hard to make comparisons, especially when she's more or less just turned 16. Seems to have a decent serve and forehand and more aggression, but still very early days.

List of Grand Slam girls' singles champions - Wikipedia

Probably too early to assess those jr slam champs from 2017 onwards, although Anisimova is already pushing the top 50 and looks a huge talent and some of the others do look like they'll go on to very good things, but a mixed bag of those from 2013-2016. Ostapenko, Bencic, Kasatkina and Konjuh (although rocked with wrist injuries) have all had very good transitions and Potapova has had a brilliant 8 months and really making her mark, but for others, it hasn't been quite so smooth. I guess for now, at least there is someone in Danish people's minds who could go on and do well, so the interest won't suddenly completely die once Caroline does hang up her racket.

Same. Huuuuge BB fan. More than a few years ago I thought she'd be a multiple Grand Slam winner by now. Great to see her back at this level.

Me too. Won Canada and Eastbourne and crashed the top 10 2015/16, but has had so many injuries since. Thought she was on her way back this time last year after beating Venus at the AO, but then lost to Kumkhum and then injured again at IW. I really hope she wins (don't expect it though), but either way, she is in the slam seeding positions now and only has a couple of wins here and there to defend until Wimbledon so a chance to really kick on again.
 
Last edited:
Did anyone (who applied) receive their Wimbledon tickets this week? Just checked my door and no post :(, so that's the last chance of the first batch and the best chance gone. Might go down anyway, if I'm not successful, and queue for a grounds pass, but it's a lot more hassle, effort and inconvenience especially living up here.
 
Did anyone (who applied) receive their Wimbledon tickets this week? Just checked my door and no post :(, so that's the last chance of the first batch and the best chance gone. Might go down anyway, if I'm not successful, and queue for a grounds pass, but it's a lot more hassle, effort and inconvenience especially living up here.
Likewise on the raffle front :cry:
 

Back
Top