He's clearly not a joke on grass since he just won a grass court tournament by beating the greatest tennis player of all time (and defending Wimbledon champ) on his best surface. He simply had a bad day today against an opponent who was up for it.
Tennis 2018
- Thread starter Raoul
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He's clearly not a joke on grass since he just won a grass court tournament by beating the greatest tennis player of all time (and defending Wimbledon champ) on his best surface. He simply had a bad day today against an opponent who was up for it.
His record before Halle was 2-9 on grass, so he's clearly not a specialist.
His record coming into Halle was 2-9 on grass. He'd never won 2 consecutive matches on grass but as is often the case with young guns, you overhype them beyond belief. Even Haas beat Federer on grass last year, guess he was also going to achieve big things? The thing about Coric is a result like today isn't even a surprise. The surprise was the fact he managed to win more than 1-2 matches at Halle.
That defending Wimby champion lost to a 40 year old Tommy Haas on the same surface last year and struggled in the same tournament against the mighty Ebden and Kudla.
Coric had a perfect storm of a week leading into the match with a sub par and vulnerable Federer. The point here is that you shouldn't overrate or hype player based on a single match or tournament. Zverev is still struggling at Slams, Shapovalov hasn't done anything of note yet since beating Nadal, and you tipped them to compete this year. The old Top 4 won't go on forever (half of them are already fallen by the wayside), but there's little evidence that any of the youngster will step up in the near future to dominate the tour.
Yeah but he's 21 and not named Becker. You can't expect a 18-20 year old to suddenly show up and start having a winning record on grass. If you can win a grass court tournament at 21 by knocking off the likes of Zverev and Federer along the way then that's a very good sign that you are rapidly improving as a player.
Exactly. Federer had an utterly awful week and yet it took Coric 3 sets to beat him. Raoul has a history of overhyping young players who have achieved nothing. I can still somewhat understand hyping up Zverev as he's atleast won Masters titles but Coric is an absolutely nothing player right now and has proven nothing at all.
Definitely. I wouldn't say he's a grass specialist. He's a shorter player who is more reminiscent of Hewitt than Ivanesevic.
An injured Zverev who himself isn't that special on grass? And please don't mention Zverev in the same breath as Federer, especially on grass. Given his previous record, it was pretty apparent his run at Halle was an anomaly and he was hardly going to have much of an impact at Wimbledon either. Losing to an unseeded Medvedev isn't even a shocker.
Like it or not Zverev is the #3 player in the world and beating the #1 and #3 in any context (much less the same week) is a tremendous accomplishment for a rising player like Coric. Does that mean he is guaranteed to not lose an easy match, of course not. Losing early happens to many players. Becker won two straight Wimbledons as a 17 and 18 year old then lost an easy 2nd rounder to Peter Doohan the following year. Even your pin up boy Rafa lost in the first round to the #135 a few years back.
The Wawrinka-Dimitrov match has been very competitive after a rough first set for Stan. 1 set all and tied 5-5 in the 3rd atm.
Stanimal took the 3rd and 1-0 up in the 4th.
Would be absolutely huge for him to get this win
Would be absolutely huge for him to get this win
Great win for Stan. Didn't think he had him in it and thought more so after seeing the first set score.
Stan took the match 1-6 7-6 7-6 6-4.
Not quite back to his best, but that is still a marvelous result for him.
Not quite back to his best, but that is still a marvelous result for him.
Dimitrov will never, ever change.
Yeah but I doubt anyone was backing him to do anything at all at that Wimbledon(and no one does this year as well) and that's the difference. I'm not at all stunned by Coric losing in the first round but your opinion on him, as it is with most young players, was bizarrely inaccurate. You expected him to "enter the upper echelon of tennis" and to go deep at Wimbledon. Based on what exactly? One decent run at Halle despite the fact he's awful at grass court tennis and has never really done anything to prove he can go deep in a Slam?
He won at exactly the key moments - total points was 133-130 which is *very* tight for a 4-setter.
He's the poster boy for the woefully inconsistent and consistently mediocre Next Gen of players. Mens tennis is going to be so so erratic and wild once the Top 3 are gone.
Dimitrov must rue not taking advantage of the early double break points in the 4th. Stan never really faced any danger in his service games after that.
Not liking Fed's swooshless headband. Good that he got a nice easy opener though.
Stan vs Grigor was a very enjoyable match, result was a bit predictable after Dimi failed to serve out the third but great to see Stan getting a big win under his belt.
Stan vs Grigor was a very enjoyable match, result was a bit predictable after Dimi failed to serve out the third but great to see Stan getting a big win under his belt.
Had a 10 fold accumulator bet on for a bit of interest today, Dimitrov was the only one to let me down 
You deserve to lose money for putting it on DimitrovHad a 10 fold accumulator bet on for a bit of interest today, Dimitrov was the only one to let me down
Nadal wins in straights today. He played decently enough.
Thiem retired from his match today (he was 2 sets and a break down). Mischa Zverev a potential R3 opponent for Nadal is on the the verge of losing in straight sets to Bhagdatis.
Goffin out in straight sets to Ebden and Carrreno Busta lost in 5 sets in 'notable' names out.
Goffin out in straight sets to Ebden and Carrreno Busta lost in 5 sets in 'notable' names out.
Thiem's season of irrelevance has begun now. He'll fade into obscurity till Monte Carlo next year.
I'm surprised Mischa lost. Had a strong feeling he'd be the winner of the Annual Shock Rafa at Wimbledon award.
I'm surprised Mischa lost. Had a strong feeling he'd be the winner of the Annual Shock Rafa at Wimbledon award.
Why are Nadal's first round matches always on the second day?
Guess because he's the second seed here. But he does seem to usually KO on the 2nd day, irrespective of seeding.
Some interesting stuff from Federer in regards to his new deal with Uniqlo.
Word is he's getting around 30m EUR yearly from his new deal with a length of 10 years. Didn't know Nike have temporary ownership over the initials rather than only a royalty.
Nike are not doing too hot aren't they? Dropping us to Adidas a few years back and now lost Federer as well.
Still feels wrong not seeing the swoosh though. That being said, 300m total is very steep for someone whose playing time left is uncertain.
Still feels wrong not seeing the swoosh though. That being said, 300m total is very steep for someone whose playing time left is uncertain.
Fed cruises through the first two sets against Lacko
100% first serve points won.
100% first serve points won.
His return game still need a lot of improvement if he’s to win the whole thing. Lacko served a couple of service games to love and it is something that shouldn’t happen.
Anyway, 2-0 up in the 3rd already so it should end soon enough.
He faces Karlovic next and a possible matchup with Medvedev in the 4th, which would be interesting.
Also a good thing that he manages to avoid both DelPo and Djokovic on his side of the draw. Cilic is a tough cookie but he still seem to have a bit of a mental block against Fed. Same thing can’t be said of the other two.
Have a look at this from Nadal! One of the best shots I've seen. A no-look overhead slice! Fantastic.
What do my fellow tennis fans say of that shot? @InfiniteBoredom @wr8_utd @Raoul @Enigma_87
"Dolphins are less graceful than that."
"Dolphins are less graceful than that."
Saw it yesterday. Nice shot. Glad he didn't injure himself attempting it.
Why would he injure himself? This is the best he's been fitness wise in quite a while. He got through Roland Garros without any issues apart from the cramp in the final which wasn't serious. Also he was fine in the opening of the grass season.
Sharapova and Stephens both sent packing in the first round. Sharapova especially is wildly inconsistent.
I'll buy everyone in the thread pints if Halep wins.
I'll buy everyone in the thread pints if Halep wins.
I doubt he's as fit as he was a decade ago given his injures over the past couple of years. People look at him and think he should be able to pull of the same shots he did at 19, but that's simply not the case on any consistent basis. Nice shot though, have to hand it to him.
5 of the top 7 women in the world have not made it past the round of 64 this year. Simply amazing.
Keep an eye out for Naomi Osaka
Just seen the score in the Karlovic match it's 9-9 in the 5th set. He has 57 aces . The match is going to last a very long time.
. The match is going to last a very long time.Just seen the score in the Karlovic match it's 9-9 in the 5th set. He has 57 aces
57 ? Wow. Suppose they don't call him serving from the tree branches for nothing .
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