Tennis

Adam12_sl said:

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.

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The US had four female players in the round of 16, the most of any nation! One was obviously Serena, another was Mattek-Sands who can play really well but who, at 28, is not exactly the future. The future is Jamie Hampton who is on the rise and Sloane Stephens who is a top 20 player already! You can add girls like Madison Keys too or the good juniors Taylor Townsend (yep... like the character in The O.C.!) and Louisa Chirico (semi finalist in the girls tournament). Melanie Oudin is also still young even if she never really confirmed after her great run at the US Open in 2009.

The men are in a darker place indeed. Isner and Querrey are top 20 material for sure, but don't seem like they can become long term top 10 residents and Sock and especially Harrison are still far from what was hoped they would be. Clay is clay, but there was also only a single american in the round of 16 in the junior tournament.

Maybe Sampras and Agasi can get bionic legs and unretire.

Sterling_sl said:

Maybe Sampras and Agasi can get bionic legs and unretire.

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Wonder how their kids are growing up.

You've already brought it up, but I bet if you took the countries that these players have been training in, US is probably #1, followed by Monaco. There is plenty of good infrastructure in the US, just not enough kids playing it.

Several players have their papers in Monaco, but that's purely for fiscal reasons (no income tax in Monaco). As for the formation of the players, it's an interesting question, but in this day and age I doubt that would boost the USA that much. On the ATP you could add Nishikori and Haas (Bollettieri's academy in Florida), then lower ranked players like Devvarman (college system). But Spain could add the likes of Murray and Wawrinka, France could add Dimitrov (Mouratoglou's academy), Germany looses Haas, but gets all those who got through Niki Pilic's academy such as Gulbis and... Djokovic.

Just ridiculous for a guy with a flare to be able to get on the court that easily. This happening after there was already a vocal protest that interrupted the match a few minutes prior too is just sad. While Nadal was firmly in control of the match, there had been some high quality points that were very entertaining and Ferrer was at least (sort of) making him work for it. The 2 games since the guy with the flare got on the court it looked like both guys were really rattled a bit.

Ferrer had to play very well to stand a chance today and he played an ok match. That was no enough. It's a bit disappointing, because Nadal did not play a particularly good match either and we saw here and there that Ferrer had the right tactical idea (always looking to step into the court after attacking the Nadal forehand to pounce should the ball drop short). Too up and down of an execution combined with several very poor service games made the whole thing not very suspenseful. It was very close to be a little more thrilling though as Ferrer had opportunities to be a break up in the third for instance and also chances to make the second set more competitive, but Nadal managed to hold fort.

I noticed that Ferrer's groundstrokes had extremely poor angles. He has never been known for hitting winners from the baseline, but it was painful to watch him hit 90% of his shots in the middle third of the court while Nadal was painting the lines. I'm sure part of it is Nadal's deep shots with heavy topspin causing Ferrer to hit the ball at shoulder level, but it was disappointing still to see Nadal hardly breaking a sweat on most rallies. Ferrer can't win if he isn't making his opponent run.

I agree we did not see nearly enough good inside-out forehands by Ferrer. He oddly played a lot of inside-in forehands at the beginning of the match which did not help his cause much, because when they were weak and/or short, Nadal played an aggressive backhand cross court for a winner or for control of the rally. I suspect Ferrer was a bit tense and not confident enough in the quality of his shots to dare give angles to Nadal: a couple weak inside-out forehands being punished by down the line winners did not help his confidence. Later in the match it was a little better, but also a little too late.

Fun facts:

- By reaching the final, Ferrer leap-froged past Nadal in the ranking (Only a matter of time for Nadal as he is ranked 5 in the world with only 4 months worth of events).

- Haas, god among men, is now ranked 11. He will possibly lose some points this week in Halle (defending title), but he lost in the first round of Wimbledon last year as an unseeded player.

- Haas will play the double with Federer in Halle! (today at 5 CET and I will miss it!)

WIMBLEDON

The super short grass season is reaching its climax: time for the all england lawn. Murray prevailed at the Queen's over defending champion Cilic (a tournament where Hewitt reminded everyone that beating him on grass is no walk in the park as he ousted Dimitrov and Del Potro). Federer won in Halle against Youzhny and avenging his 2012 final lost to Hass in this year's semi. Note that, with Gasquet, all four semi-finalists in Halle were single-handed backhand players. Eastbourne and 's-Hertogenbosch are not done yet, buts several fast court lovers like Lopez, Malisse (who beat Ferrer), Garcia-Lopez and Mahut(!) are still in there along with Wawrinka, Simon, Seppi and Dodig (well... Wawrinka just beat Garcia-Lopez).

Anyway... the draw from the POV of the top 8 seeds:

[1]DJOKOVICdid not play a grass event leading to Wimbeldon.

1)Mayeron paper the worst possible draw as the german is the highest-ranked non-seeded player. A tricky customer that could cause troubles especially for a first match on the surface.
2)ReynoldsorJohnson. At least one american for sure in the 2nd round!
3)Chardy[28] is the seed but young americanHarrisonor slovenianKavciccould be there as the frenchman has troubles with consistency.
4)Haas[13] is the top seed here and most likely candidate to go through this part of the draw (Simon[19] andLopezalso in it)


[7]BERDYCHlost to Cilic in Queen's quarter final.

1)Klizanis also a tough first round draw ranked at 35 and on the rise.
2)Brands(!) orGimeno-Traver.
3)Anderson[27] is the seed, but I don't think the low bounce and his big forehand preparation make him that comfortable on grass.
4)Gasquet[9] andQuerrey[21] both love grass and in this part of the draw there are two unseeded grass lovers: veteranBlakeand in crisis youngsterTomic. Intriguing part of the draw.


[4]FERRERlost to Malisse in 's-Hertogenbosch.

1)Alund.
2)Bautista Agut(on the rise but... grass?) orGabashvili(who played a great match against Nadal at the US Open in 2010).
3)Dolgopolov[26] is the seed. He is in a bit of a slump, but the other three guys are clay court specialists so...
4)Kohlschreiber[16] andRaonic[17] (who also suffers from the Anderson syndrome I believe) are the seeds, withDodigandSijslinglurking.


[8]DEL POTROlost to Hewitt at Queen's.

1)Ramos.
2)PellaorLevine.
3)Dimitrov[29] is the seed. The bulgarian as the tools to be a great grass player, but he might like the experience (there are so few events on the surface that only the older players or UK/Australia players have significant play time on it).
4)Nishikori[12] andSeppi[23] are the seed, but fast court specialistLlodrais also in this part of the draw, as is the always trickyNieminen.



[5]NADALplayed no grass event.

1)Darcis
2)Kubot
3)Paire[25] is the seed, but veteranFalladoes enjoy his grass.
4)Wawrinka[11] andIsner[18] are the top seeds, but the swiss has a tough draw withHewittin the first round and two fast court specialists inBrownandGarcia-Lopezas potential second round match. If somehow we get a Brown vs Isner match, the Mahut vs Isner records might get broken!


[3]FEDERERwon in Halle (but not by playing particularly well it must be said).

1)Hanescu.
2)Stakhovskyshould be a great grass player and a great player in general really, but it has yet to materialize.
3)Fognini[30] is the seed, but, who knows, maybeRosolwill be magically find the sort of form that allowed him to beat Nadal.
4)Almagro[15] orJanowicz[24]. Almagro is not much of a grass court player, but last year Janowicz, then totally unknown, reached the 3rd round.


[6]TSONGAplayed no grass event.

1)Goffin, the belgian hope that never materialized.
2)Gulbis, probably the most dangerous unseeded player.
3)Benneteau[31] is the seed and loves grass.Malisseis lurking.
4)Cilic[10] is the top seed, but he will have to deal withBaghdatisin the first round.


[2] MURRAY won at Queen's

1)Becker(not Boris!)
2)Lu(who beat Roddick on center court in 2010 but is far from his best) orWard(the british N?2... ranked 216 at the ATP).
3)Robredo[32] is the seed but grass is not his thing.Mahutis more likely to go through.
4)Tipsarevic[14] andYouzhny[20] are the seeds, but there is a serbian duel in the first round againstTroicki.



COMMENTS:

- Nadal and Federer got dicked by the draw as the winners of 9 of the previous 10 editions are scheduled to face each other in quarter final.

- Djokovic is laughing hard: not a single match has been played and he already is in a position to win the title by playing only one other member of the big four and his draw might open up even more as Del Potro and Ferrer are not grass lovers. He probably is more worried about his quarter final (potentially Berdych) and his opening round.

- The opposite of the previous point is also true: there are several people in the top half of the draw that must see this as a big opportunity to reach a grand slam final by beating only one member of the big four instead of two. Berdych, Haas or even Gasquet must have this on their mind.

- Tsonga has a nightmarish draw. He gets the toughest unseeded player, two seeds who love grass, Murray in quarter, Federer or Nadal in the semi, Djokovic in the final... He plays well on grass though and should not feel the pressure he had at the French.

- Murray has a pretty easy path to the quarter final as I suspect the quality of his returns and of his passing shots should make him safe against a Mahut that is otherwise extremely tricky to play against on grass.

- The composition of the second quarter of the draw (Del Potro - Ferrer section) seems well poised for a surprise semi-finalist... but there is not really a solid wild card in there as Nishikori, Dimitrov and Raonic combined account for less wins at Wimbledon than Del Potro for whom it is by far the worst surface. So maybe Kohlschreiber? Llodra?

A single note on the WTA: Jamie Hampton is awesome.

I saw some bits and pieces of some of her matches at the French and it made me want to see more and boy I was not disappointed. She is playing in Eastbourne at the moment and reached the final after going through the qualifications. On her way she beat Radwanska, Safarova and Wozniacki. There are several things that stand out for me: Firstly, her composure on court. She sometimes show signs of frustration, but she never dwells on thing. It lasts five seconds and then she is again focused on the next point. Secondly and most impressively: well constructed offensive all court tennis. When you watch her play, you feel she has a very good idea of how to build points, how to bring a rally to a winner in three or four shots. And she does that with a number of different patterns using all the shots of the game. When it clicks, it's a joy to watch really. On top of that technical and tactical mastery, she also, from time to time, produces insane shots. Against Safarova (?) she countered a brilliant cross court passing shot that was dipping viciously with a cross court drop shot played with a half volley with her back toward the net. Federer-like!

Weak points? She suffers from the Blake virus. What I mean by that is that she play really fast between points. That's great when you are playing well, but when you lose a bit of focus or are in trouble or you lost rhythm on serve, it's important to take time to re-focus and work things out. She does not do this, so, just like James Blake, she can lose her serve in a flash. Other than that, she is not a huge hitter (but it's fine as she builds and place her shots) and I have yet to see her play against someone who can really hit a heavy ball, potentially making it hard for her to find the depth and the variations needed for her game. Second serve is a bit of a liability, first serve is efficient without being huge.

Checking her draw for Wimbeldon, I feel there is something for her to do. If she manages to beat the 19th seed, her compatriot Sloan Stephens (a very good defender, but defending on grass against all court tennis is a serious challenge), she finds herself in a pretty neat part of the draw as the seeds are Wozniacki (that she just beat in Eastbourne) and Erani who is also a good tactician, but one with a clay court game. Looking further ahead it would be Sharapova in quarter final, but the russian as a super tricky draw so she might not reach this stage... and then it's Kvitova that she beat at the French or Azarenka that she pushed to a decider at the Australian Open.... There you have it: Jamie Hampton in the final against Serena Williams! Or she lose in the first round because she just played eight matches in a week in Eastbourne!



Some good old fashioned slice approach shots still work well on the low bouncing grass, as hitting top spin on a low ball is a perilous exercise.

Jesus you're not kidding, Tsonga has it fucking rough. I'd love to see him win this though, and I'll take Blake as a darkhorse just because it'd be great to see him make a little run.

Yeah, I caught a few of Hampton's matches in Paris and she is impressive, she's the most fun to watch of the young American women (who are all exciting...I mentioned them in a post during the French). Still though, Serena will probably take the championship at love, with maybe Sharapova threatening her with a deuce or two~

Well it was super windy in Eastbourne and Vesnina handled the condition a little better and played the important points better, so Hampton lost on an unflattering scoreline. Oh well...

Mahut won the title against Wawrinka in the Netherland. First career title at 31, first final since 2003 or something. A great turn of event considering he struggled with injuries last year, declined a wild card for the Australian Open because he did not feel his current level would allow him to make good use of it and had a gut-wrenching loss in the French Open double final (leading in the third set tie-break against the N?1 seed - the Bryan brothers).

I still think Murray will be too high a hurdle for him because their games do not match up well, but again they played each other last week in London and it ended in a 6-3 7-6 for Murray, so somewhat close.

I really hate ESPN's coverage.

Huge upset by Puig in the making and they switched over to show us Federer walking out onto center court, and then showed their warm ups before going to a "Oh this just happened on court 18" bullshit. Couldn't even show the point live, even though they were at deuce on Puig's serve (the game that eventually won it for her) when they cut over to center court. Not to mention that Mike Tirico has no fucking business hosting this shit, as he can't even get the easy Eastern Euro names correct. At least we get McEnroe to call the big matches, so it isn't all bad.

I need to get ESPN3 setup so I don't have to deal with this shit.