Tennis
- Thread starter AngryGerbil
- Start date
- 17,781
- 25,896
Szlia
Member
- 6,572
- 1,328
In the past, Serena has been world N?1 without knowing how to play tennis. And now she knows how to play tennis. I don't expect her to lose more than 5 matches a year if she stays healthy and focused on the sport. So far in 2013 she is at 43 wins for 2 losses.
As far wta matches having big score swings, I would say it's because serve is a lot less dominant than on the men's side (there are exceptions on both sides obviously) and because a lot of wta players use very aggressive game plans with little to no margin for error. These two factors conspires to make things streaky (a good passage of play results in winners coming thick and fast, but if you get a little tense, suddenly the ball can't stay in the court) and unpredictable (6 close games on the atp tour means 3-3 or 4-2, on the wta tour that can be 6-0).
As far wta matches having big score swings, I would say it's because serve is a lot less dominant than on the men's side (there are exceptions on both sides obviously) and because a lot of wta players use very aggressive game plans with little to no margin for error. These two factors conspires to make things streaky (a good passage of play results in winners coming thick and fast, but if you get a little tense, suddenly the ball can't stay in the court) and unpredictable (6 close games on the atp tour means 3-3 or 4-2, on the wta tour that can be 6-0).
Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
- 18,145
- 6,946
I didn't know Djokovic was that close...although it's not really close, only halfway. You figure that's still 3 more years of semis in a row to reach. It's possible but unlikely he matches that I think. Federer's quarterfinal streak I don't think anyone matches in my lifetime. That longevity at that consistent play is just insane.
Wow Djokovic has an easy smash and then overbalances into the net before the ball bounces twice and loses the point. Break point to even things up in the fifth!
Based on the play in the second semifinal, Nadal is going to crush whoever he faces in the final. I wouldn't be surprised if it's straight sets.
Merrith
Golden Baronet of the Realm
- 18,145
- 6,946
eh, Murray's been poking his head in there, and Federer is still good for a win or two against them on grass or hardcourt. Sometimes even beats Djokovic on clay.
That Serena dude is great, wtf are you talking about? (Yep, same joke twice in two days...suck my balls).
For realz though, American women look good right now. Best player in the world by far (don't lose tomorrow, you fucking bitch), and like 6 in the top 100 who are all right around 20 years old or so. The future looks nice. American men are lulzy though...oh well.
Szlia
Member
- 6,572
- 1,328
Djokovic vs Nadal:
At the very beginning of the match, it felt like Djokovic was in for the kill. He won the first five points very convincingly and it took a very resilient Nadal to win his first service game without facing a break point. Then, as the set went on, Nadal won his service games with more and more ease, while it was harder and harder for the world N?1. At that point, neither player was playing particularly well. There were flashes of brilliance here and there, but not that many winners, surprisingly ineffective serving (Service winners and one-two punches being few and far between) and a considerable amount of unforced error. A cluster of those cost Djokovic a break in the 7th game and that proved crucial: the next two Nadal service games were unassailable (a service winner, an ace and a 1-2-3 Punch in the first, a 1-2-3 Punch, a winner and a service winner in the second). 6-4 Nadal.
When at 2-2 in the 2nd set Djokovic gifted Nadal a break with a cluster of three unforced errors (for a total of 8 in the set at that point), it felt like one of those days... but the serb, realizing he was going straight into the wall, reacted... and made only two unforced error in the rest of the set, bagging four games in a row to win it and allowing Nadal a single game point in the process. 6-3 Djokovic.
Back at one set all, on a four games run, all the momentum is with Djokovic, right? Right? Well... He brings Nadal to deuce in the first game of the third and... just went back to doing unforced errors. As Djokovic looked dejected, tired, lethargic, uninterested even, Nadal cruised through a set that game very close to be the first bagel in their 35 meetings. 6-1 Nadal. In press conference, Djokovic said he felt physically down at that point and that he had to wait for a second wind.
Luckily for Djokovic, that 2nd wind started right at the beginning of the fourth set. Out of nowhere, serve dominated during 6 games (10 out of 28 points were unreturned serves or 1-2 Punches - 14 out of 66 in the first set). Talking about wind, the conditions of the day were windy. Nothing huge, but enough to play a part. I am not sure if it picked up at that point or not, but has Djokovic served at 3-3 against the wind, he got broken. 4-3 Nadal, so they switched side and Nadal had to serve against the wind to confirm the break... and got broken. Djokovic then held with the win, they switched side, Nadal held with the wind and Djokovic, after a long game, got once again broken against the wind. If you counted right, that's 6-5 for Nadal serving for a spot in Sunday's final. But... he had to do that against the wind... and he could not. Galvanized by his ability to recover twice from a break down at such a critical juncture, Djokovic cruised through the tie-breaker, forcing a decisive fifth set. An exhilarating prospect for the spectators, because the quality of tennis dramatically improved in the fourth, because it was the second time in almost 60 matches at the French Open that Nadal was pushed to a decider (the first one was against Isner in 2011) and because, really, it was anybody's match (a lot less so against Isner as the american only manufactured a single break point in 26 return games).
Possibly shaken to have lost two sets in which he lead by a break, Nadal made the worst possible start: an unforced error followed by a double fault. Djokovic spiked that with a winning return and converted on his third break point. Nadal had a shot to break straight back as another cluster of unforced errors found its way to Djokovic's game, but the world N?1 resisted and confirmed his break. At this point, it was really a case of 'keep it simple stupid': Nadal had to hold, try to be very solid in the return games and hope for the best. A good service game was followed by a shoddy return game even though Djokovic served a double. Things even got more tense at 3-1 since a double fault and two unforced errors resulted in three clutch points (30-30, deuce and deuce), but Nadal managed to be aggressive in all three and finally close the game on a winner. Still, another shoddy return game with two weak returns and two unforced errors did not help his cause at all. Cornered at 2-4 down, Nadal showed once again his incredible mental toughness and produced three clean 1-2 punches to once again ask Djokovic the question: can you win? Two winners and a dominating rally later, Nadal got a break point to even things out. But an overcooked forehand wasted this opportunity. As Nadal almost ate his racket, I thought he was done. Too many missed occasions. If you let Djokovic hang around too long, he'll win. The very next point showed I was more confident in Djokovic than the man was in himself, because in the all critical deuce point, the serb had a little ball to kill at the net, but by deciding to play it before the bounce he had to slide into it and play it very close to the net, so close in fact that he could not avoid touching the net before the 2nd bounce of his well angled shot. Christmas in June! Djokovic regrouped, saved the break point, but could not avoid facing another and losing serve. For that point on, Nadal was in the zone, dominating on serve and hoping to reap the reward from serving first. The world N?1 raised to the occasion and played one, two, three great service games packed with winners, but crumbled at 7-8. First he flaw a smash wide, then he played a decent 1-2 punch that Nadal countered by a shot down the line for a winner and then two other 1-2 punches ended in 1-2 Misses for a break to love.
Djokovic can have some serious regrets about that loss. He found himself leading in a 5th set against Nadal at the french after gifting him a set, taking very few opportunities to close points at the net, missing a lot with his favorite backhand down the line (a key shot to punish Nadal's weak forehand defense) and generally playing well only when behind in the score. It's also a bitter-sweet success for Nadal, because, yes, he managed to fight all the way through and prevail, but you can't help but feel he made things a little tougher for himself than what they could have been. When he fired some forehand winners in the fifth, I wondered 'Where was that guy in the first fours sets?' Today, these ups and downs proved enough to beat an equally up and down Djokovic, but will it do the trick in the final?
Ferrer vs Tsonga:
Noah won Roland Garros in 1983. Since then, Leconte reached a semis, a final and another semi (86, 88, 92), Pioline reached a semi (98), so did Grosjean (01) and Monfils (08). Maybe it was the weight of national expectations, maybe it was seeing the Djokovic vs Nadal match, maybe it was entering a center court with a stadium at half capacity (a good chunk of the public left to stretch their legs and grab a bite after the 4h45 epic that just took place), but Tsonga was ridiculously tensed at the start of the match. Like I often said in these posts, if you are nervous, you don't move as well, if you don't move as well you are not well placed to hit your shots and bad placement + stiff arm = unforced errors. Errors that increase the tension, bringing you further down the hellish spiral. This sad state of affairs also pushed Tsonga to second guess his game plan: should he be aggressive? Should he be patient? A pumped up Ferrer doing his thing certainly did not help Tsonga find an answer. No mater who you are, the guy with a clear game plan will almost always win against the guy who has none. 6-1 for Ferrer made that pretty clear.
Tsonga managed to react at the beginning of the second set and had a spell of three games where everything went as he hoped it would: clean, no-nonsense aggressive tennis, putting Ferrer far from the ball again and again. The thing is... lead 0-3 the spaniard did not bat an eye and went on with his business, three games later it was 3-3 and Tsonga was back to wondering what the hell he should do. Still, the frenchman managed to get a set point returning at 5-4 and earned the right to play a tie-breaker. All well and good, but Ferrer took an early lead in it and did not let it go. This did not help Tsonga to relax and just about everything was now bothering him. Ferrer was hitting too many lines, he had clay in the eyes, the declining lights made it hard to see the ball, Ferrer was hitting lucky returns on his great serves, etc. The new Tsonga that dominated all the way to the semi was nowhere to be found. In front of us stood the Tsonga of old, the unfocused one, the master of ups and downs and of silly shot selection. Through the match, we even got the serving of the old Tsonga, with a low percentage of 1st serves and many bombs that Ferrer often blocked early to rush Tsonga with flat, deep returns. Anyway... 6-2 in the third. A straight set victory and Ferrer did not play an extraordinary match. His average was just too much to handle for Tsonga's low.
Nadal vs Ferrer:
Ferrer just played two extremely close matches against Nadal on clay in Madrid and in Rome. There is two ways to read it: the first is to say that it should prove Ferrer that he can compete and therefore can win, but the second is to say that despite playing very well, he still choked and lost. What is certain is that in these two matches he played very soundly, going after the short balls, and rushing Nadal with his flat backhand cross court, so he has the game plan and he has the ability to execute it. What is up in the air is the grand slam final factor: some players just crumble in such momentous occasion and get slaughtered (Zvereva at the French in 88: losing 6-0 6-0 in 32 minutes against Graf), some are transcended (Del Potro's US Open final). How will Ferrer react? How will he react if he leads and the finish line is in sight? Answers on Sunday.
At the very beginning of the match, it felt like Djokovic was in for the kill. He won the first five points very convincingly and it took a very resilient Nadal to win his first service game without facing a break point. Then, as the set went on, Nadal won his service games with more and more ease, while it was harder and harder for the world N?1. At that point, neither player was playing particularly well. There were flashes of brilliance here and there, but not that many winners, surprisingly ineffective serving (Service winners and one-two punches being few and far between) and a considerable amount of unforced error. A cluster of those cost Djokovic a break in the 7th game and that proved crucial: the next two Nadal service games were unassailable (a service winner, an ace and a 1-2-3 Punch in the first, a 1-2-3 Punch, a winner and a service winner in the second). 6-4 Nadal.
When at 2-2 in the 2nd set Djokovic gifted Nadal a break with a cluster of three unforced errors (for a total of 8 in the set at that point), it felt like one of those days... but the serb, realizing he was going straight into the wall, reacted... and made only two unforced error in the rest of the set, bagging four games in a row to win it and allowing Nadal a single game point in the process. 6-3 Djokovic.
Back at one set all, on a four games run, all the momentum is with Djokovic, right? Right? Well... He brings Nadal to deuce in the first game of the third and... just went back to doing unforced errors. As Djokovic looked dejected, tired, lethargic, uninterested even, Nadal cruised through a set that game very close to be the first bagel in their 35 meetings. 6-1 Nadal. In press conference, Djokovic said he felt physically down at that point and that he had to wait for a second wind.
Luckily for Djokovic, that 2nd wind started right at the beginning of the fourth set. Out of nowhere, serve dominated during 6 games (10 out of 28 points were unreturned serves or 1-2 Punches - 14 out of 66 in the first set). Talking about wind, the conditions of the day were windy. Nothing huge, but enough to play a part. I am not sure if it picked up at that point or not, but has Djokovic served at 3-3 against the wind, he got broken. 4-3 Nadal, so they switched side and Nadal had to serve against the wind to confirm the break... and got broken. Djokovic then held with the win, they switched side, Nadal held with the wind and Djokovic, after a long game, got once again broken against the wind. If you counted right, that's 6-5 for Nadal serving for a spot in Sunday's final. But... he had to do that against the wind... and he could not. Galvanized by his ability to recover twice from a break down at such a critical juncture, Djokovic cruised through the tie-breaker, forcing a decisive fifth set. An exhilarating prospect for the spectators, because the quality of tennis dramatically improved in the fourth, because it was the second time in almost 60 matches at the French Open that Nadal was pushed to a decider (the first one was against Isner in 2011) and because, really, it was anybody's match (a lot less so against Isner as the american only manufactured a single break point in 26 return games).
Possibly shaken to have lost two sets in which he lead by a break, Nadal made the worst possible start: an unforced error followed by a double fault. Djokovic spiked that with a winning return and converted on his third break point. Nadal had a shot to break straight back as another cluster of unforced errors found its way to Djokovic's game, but the world N?1 resisted and confirmed his break. At this point, it was really a case of 'keep it simple stupid': Nadal had to hold, try to be very solid in the return games and hope for the best. A good service game was followed by a shoddy return game even though Djokovic served a double. Things even got more tense at 3-1 since a double fault and two unforced errors resulted in three clutch points (30-30, deuce and deuce), but Nadal managed to be aggressive in all three and finally close the game on a winner. Still, another shoddy return game with two weak returns and two unforced errors did not help his cause at all. Cornered at 2-4 down, Nadal showed once again his incredible mental toughness and produced three clean 1-2 punches to once again ask Djokovic the question: can you win? Two winners and a dominating rally later, Nadal got a break point to even things out. But an overcooked forehand wasted this opportunity. As Nadal almost ate his racket, I thought he was done. Too many missed occasions. If you let Djokovic hang around too long, he'll win. The very next point showed I was more confident in Djokovic than the man was in himself, because in the all critical deuce point, the serb had a little ball to kill at the net, but by deciding to play it before the bounce he had to slide into it and play it very close to the net, so close in fact that he could not avoid touching the net before the 2nd bounce of his well angled shot. Christmas in June! Djokovic regrouped, saved the break point, but could not avoid facing another and losing serve. For that point on, Nadal was in the zone, dominating on serve and hoping to reap the reward from serving first. The world N?1 raised to the occasion and played one, two, three great service games packed with winners, but crumbled at 7-8. First he flaw a smash wide, then he played a decent 1-2 punch that Nadal countered by a shot down the line for a winner and then two other 1-2 punches ended in 1-2 Misses for a break to love.
Djokovic can have some serious regrets about that loss. He found himself leading in a 5th set against Nadal at the french after gifting him a set, taking very few opportunities to close points at the net, missing a lot with his favorite backhand down the line (a key shot to punish Nadal's weak forehand defense) and generally playing well only when behind in the score. It's also a bitter-sweet success for Nadal, because, yes, he managed to fight all the way through and prevail, but you can't help but feel he made things a little tougher for himself than what they could have been. When he fired some forehand winners in the fifth, I wondered 'Where was that guy in the first fours sets?' Today, these ups and downs proved enough to beat an equally up and down Djokovic, but will it do the trick in the final?
Ferrer vs Tsonga:
Noah won Roland Garros in 1983. Since then, Leconte reached a semis, a final and another semi (86, 88, 92), Pioline reached a semi (98), so did Grosjean (01) and Monfils (08). Maybe it was the weight of national expectations, maybe it was seeing the Djokovic vs Nadal match, maybe it was entering a center court with a stadium at half capacity (a good chunk of the public left to stretch their legs and grab a bite after the 4h45 epic that just took place), but Tsonga was ridiculously tensed at the start of the match. Like I often said in these posts, if you are nervous, you don't move as well, if you don't move as well you are not well placed to hit your shots and bad placement + stiff arm = unforced errors. Errors that increase the tension, bringing you further down the hellish spiral. This sad state of affairs also pushed Tsonga to second guess his game plan: should he be aggressive? Should he be patient? A pumped up Ferrer doing his thing certainly did not help Tsonga find an answer. No mater who you are, the guy with a clear game plan will almost always win against the guy who has none. 6-1 for Ferrer made that pretty clear.
Tsonga managed to react at the beginning of the second set and had a spell of three games where everything went as he hoped it would: clean, no-nonsense aggressive tennis, putting Ferrer far from the ball again and again. The thing is... lead 0-3 the spaniard did not bat an eye and went on with his business, three games later it was 3-3 and Tsonga was back to wondering what the hell he should do. Still, the frenchman managed to get a set point returning at 5-4 and earned the right to play a tie-breaker. All well and good, but Ferrer took an early lead in it and did not let it go. This did not help Tsonga to relax and just about everything was now bothering him. Ferrer was hitting too many lines, he had clay in the eyes, the declining lights made it hard to see the ball, Ferrer was hitting lucky returns on his great serves, etc. The new Tsonga that dominated all the way to the semi was nowhere to be found. In front of us stood the Tsonga of old, the unfocused one, the master of ups and downs and of silly shot selection. Through the match, we even got the serving of the old Tsonga, with a low percentage of 1st serves and many bombs that Ferrer often blocked early to rush Tsonga with flat, deep returns. Anyway... 6-2 in the third. A straight set victory and Ferrer did not play an extraordinary match. His average was just too much to handle for Tsonga's low.
Nadal vs Ferrer:
Ferrer just played two extremely close matches against Nadal on clay in Madrid and in Rome. There is two ways to read it: the first is to say that it should prove Ferrer that he can compete and therefore can win, but the second is to say that despite playing very well, he still choked and lost. What is certain is that in these two matches he played very soundly, going after the short balls, and rushing Nadal with his flat backhand cross court, so he has the game plan and he has the ability to execute it. What is up in the air is the grand slam final factor: some players just crumble in such momentous occasion and get slaughtered (Zvereva at the French in 88: losing 6-0 6-0 in 32 minutes against Graf), some are transcended (Del Potro's US Open final). How will Ferrer react? How will he react if he leads and the finish line is in sight? Answers on Sunday.
- 17,781
- 25,896
Like I said, the Spaniards. *cough*
Also, only Ferrer could beat Nadal in the final and me be okay with it. Either way, I will enjoy this final.
Also, only Ferrer could beat Nadal in the final and me be okay with it. Either way, I will enjoy this final.