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SMB Tennis thread


chopsfc007 said:
Very enjoyable the women's game so unpredictable, aye she is scary how good you can be at that age and will only get better
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Yeah. Since Murray's absence, I've probably started enjoying the women's game more than the men's. The only issues Anisimova seems likely to face are injury and boredom/burnout. For every Graf or Serena, there's a Hingis or Seles, past their best as a tennis player in their mid 20s for one of many reasons.
 
Arkle said:
Yeah. Since Murray's absence, I've probably started enjoying the women's game more than the men's. The only issues Anisimova seems likely to face are injury and boredom/burnout. For every Graf or Serena, there's a Hingis or Seles, past their best as a tennis player in their mid 20s for one of many reasons.
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Aye the women's is more interesting and correct you can't really tell totally at this age they mentioned ostapenko who I like has gone downhill but Anisimova isn't as irratic
 
chopsfc007 said:
Aye the women's is more interesting and correct you can't really tell totally at this age they mentioned ostapenko who I like has gone downhill but Anisimova isn't as irratic
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Yeah. Aside from a couple of good runs at Wimbledon, Ostapenko's not reached week 2 of a Slam since winning in Paris.
 
Just caught up now, it's certainly a contrast to the respective SF line ups:

1) Djokovic vs 4) Thiem
2) Nadal vs 3) Federer

The 4 top seeds and you could have the expected Djokovic-Nadal final, or a repeat of last years final, or Fed coming out of nowhere to make the final. Whereas in the women's it's:

8) Barty vs Anisimova
26) Konta vs Vondrousova

Still interesting all the same, and a lot of stories to be made - potentially a British finalist, maybe 2 teens in the final, no previous slam finalist in a slam semi final for about 30 years and a guaranteed new winner, but it's obviously lower profile stuff.

The women have also kind of been made an afterthought with the semi final schedule, which is a bit of a shame, but you can understand it given the suspected forecast. Both women's matches are starting at 10am UK on the 2nd and 3rd (Konta) court, whereas normally these would have been on the main Chatrier. Nadal-Federer starts at the weird time of 11.50 and is followed by Djokovic on the main court.

Arkle said:
Yeah. Since Murray's absence, I've probably started enjoying the women's game more than the men's. The only issues Anisimova seems likely to face are injury and boredom/burnout. For every Graf or Serena, there's a Hingis or Seles, past their best as a tennis player in their mid 20s for one of many reasons.
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Finally seen the light Arkle? ;)

JL1985 said:
The door is wide open for Konta now. There will be a first time Grand Slam winner.
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Current odds:

Barty 13/8
Konta 11/5
Anisimova and Vondrousova both 4/1

It's traditionally Barty and Konta's worst surface, so to see those 2 with such low odds, at this late stage, would be a big surprise a few weeks ago. Probably the most surprising slam semi final line up that I can remember.
 
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The Bridge Lad said:
Just caught up now, it's certainly a contrast to the respective SF line ups:

1) Djokovic vs 4) Thiem
2) Nadal vs 3) Federer

The 4 top seeds and you could have the expected Djokovic-Nadal final, or a repeat of last years final, or Fed coming out of nowhere to make the final. Whereas in the women's it's:

8) Barty vs Anisimova
26) Konta vs Vondrousova

Still interesting all the same, and a lot of stories to be made - potentially a British finalist, maybe 2 teens in the final, no previous slam finalist in a slam semi final for about 30 years and a guaranteed new winner, but it's obviously lower profile stuff.

The women have also kind of been made an afterthought with the semi final schedule, which is a bit of a shame, but you can understand it given the suspected forecast. Both women's matches are starting at 10am UK on the 2nd and 3rd (Konta) court, whereas normally these would have been on the main Chatrier. Nadal-Federer starts at the weird time of 11.50 and is followed by Djokovic on the main court.



Finally seen the light Arkle? ;)



Current odds:

Barty 13/8
Konta 11/5
Anisimova and Vondrousova both 4/1

It's traditionally Barty and Konta's worst surface, so to see those 2 with such low odds, at this late stage, would be a big surprise a few weeks ago. Probably the most surprising slam semi final line up that I can remember.
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Yeah, I can't imagine many people looking at the initial draw and picking one of them as a semi-finalist let alone all four.
 
Arkle said:
Yeah, I can't imagine many people looking at the initial draw and picking one of them as a semi-finalist let alone all four.
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Agree. Barty would probably have been most likely as she has been one of the most consistent players (generally) since the back end of last year (and a high seed) but then again, she had never been past a slam QF and it's clay. She can only beat what's in front of her, but the draw did open up a fair bit for her, as it could have been:

R3: Hsieh (25) - not the best on clay, but has a tricky game that can affect most
L16: Serena (10)
QF: Osaka (1)
SF: Halep (3)

But turned out:

R3: Petkovic
L16: Kenin
QF Keys (14)
SF: Anisimova

And even the final if she gets there obviously isn't going to be a Kvitova, Bertens or Pliskova either. Not a cake walk, but it is quite generous the way it has opened up.

Oh, and prior to this, the four semi finalists had only won a combined 3 main draw matches at Roland Garros between them - Barty 2 from 5 appearances, Konta 0 from 4, Vondrousova 1 from 2, and Anisimova 0 from 1. Crazy.
 
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Got that completely wrong about Konta the other day, only managed to catch the first set but I think that's the best I've probably ever seen her play. Really really impressive. Good to see her back in the top twenty where she belongs, criticism of her in the media over the last 18 months seemed way too harsh when she was struggling with stuff off court.

Fair play to anyone who managed to call any of Konta, Anisimova or Vondrousova to reach the semis. Bit of a joke that the women's semi finals aren't being played on Chatrier mind...
 
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