Tennis 2024

The rule change of letting people move around between games doesn't sound great, but it's rather stretching the definition of woke.

Tennis star brands Australian Open 'the wokest tournament ever' after rule change leaves players fuming in Melbourne

Thompson was left standing and waiting for fans to find their seats, and after asking the umpire to address the late fans, he was left stunned to learn of the rule change.
'You're kidding me, really? Oh my god,' he said. 'This is the wokest tournament ever.'
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/t...rnament-Jordan-Thompson.html#article-12964025
 
Not been able to watch any of it but sounds like Djokovic is in another battle, similar to R1.

Popyrin is a tricky R2 opponent to be fair and I think if he gets navigates this match, Etcheverry should be a much more comfortable R3 match.

Ben Shelton as a potential R4 match could be tricky and equally while I think there's less dangerous opponent Mannarino in R4 would make it a physical battle which could have an impact later in the tournament.

I still think he'll make the SFs at least but I don't think he can afford to have too many physical battles before potentially playing someone like Sinner in the SF and Medvedev/Alcaraz in the final.
 
Four set points missed by Popyrin to go 2-1 up. He was 0-40 up at 5-4 too. Feel that will cost him the set and match
 
Zverev is my least favourite 'big name' male player. I find his playing style not exactly thrilling (bland 'academy style' tennis), and I also consider to him to be thoroughly unlikeable.

I'm no fan of Djokovic, but whenever they play I firmly root for Djokovic there.

Swiatek had a tough win against Collins, who announced that this will be her final season.
 
Swiatek normally bagels players at these stages but this year she got the 2020 champion and the 2022 runner up in the first two rounds. Killer draw. Might be better for her, though, not to breeze through before facing the other top seeds.
 
The Raducanu Wang game is pretty good. Raducanu had a pretty terrible first set but just won the second playing far better. Should be a good third
 
Arthur Cazaux what a performance so far, looks like a very composed and astute player in this match.
 
Raducanu missing too many break points to do what she needs to do to beat Wang. It's a very even contest though, entertaining to watch, some nice tennis.
 
jojojo said:
Raducanu missing too many break points to do what she needs to do to beat Wang. It's a very even contest though, entertaining to watch, some nice tennis.
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She looked like she was going to pass out or puke about 20 minutes ago, I can't really work out how she's still in the match
 
Ibi Dreams said:
She looked like she was going to pass out or puke about 20 minutes ago, I can't really work out how she's still in the match
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And now she isn't :lol:

She did make a game of it after a poor first set. Ultimately though not converting those break points and game points on her own serves killed her - it turned practically every game into a marathon.
 
Cazaux turning in a remarkable performance.

It's so easy to forget though just how young Rune is, he's starting to feel like he's been around a while.
 
jojojo said:
And now she isn't :lol:

She did make a game of it after a poor first set. Ultimately though not converting those break points and game points on her own serves killed her - it turned practically every game into a marathon.
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Yeah, frustrating game for her. Even with that weird fitness/illness issue, she will probably feel like she should have won.

She continues the streak of never winning a match that I'm watching :lol:
 
Just seen Rybakina is out, lossing the final set tie break 22-20!! Need to catch some clips of that!
 
Blinkova had 10 match points and Rybakina 6 - crazy stuff !

So in the top half of the women's draw, the 3rd seed Rybakina and 5th seed Pegula lost, while the top seed Swiatek was 2-4 and 0-40 down on serve in the final set against Collins, before fighting back to win and prevent complete carnage.

Historically women's tennis used to be far more predictable than men's tennis, due to the fact that it had no serious depth (i.e. outside the top 10 or top 20) until the 21st century, while men's tennis had tremendous depth. The top female players could breeze through to the latter rounds without breaking into a sweat, when their tournaments properly the started, while the top male players had to worry about facing dangerous opponents during the early rounds. But the massively increased depth in women's tennis outside the top 20 nowadays (the standard of early round women's matches is lightyears beyond what we used to see), a weaker top 10 compared to previous eras such as the late 90s - early 00s, and best of 3 set matches at grand slams, has created more 'randomness'. I quite like it.
 
If Medvedev launches a comeback here, this can go to very early morning hours. It’s 1:45AM local time and 3rd set only just kicked off. Great for Europeans this, can’t complain!
 
Why is everyone rooting against Novak?
GuybrushThreepwood said:
Blinkova had 10 match points and Rybakina 6 - crazy stuff !

So in the top half of the women's draw, the 3rd seed Rybakina and 5th seed Pegula lost, while the top seed Swiatek was 2-4 and 0-40 down on serve in the final set against Collins, before fighting back to win and prevent complete carnage.

Historically women's tennis used to be far more predictable than men's tennis, due to the fact that it had no serious depth (i.e. outside the top 10 or top 20) until the 21st century, while men's tennis had tremendous depth. The top female players could breeze through to the latter rounds without breaking into a sweat, when their tournaments properly the started, while the top male players had to worry about facing dangerous opponents during the early rounds. But the massively increased depth in women's tennis outside the top 20 nowadays (the standard of early round women's matches is lightyears beyond what we used to see), a weaker top 10 compared to previous eras such as the late 90s - early 00s, and best of 3 set matches at grand slams, has created more 'randomness'. I quite like it.
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Do you reckon women deserve to earn as much as men tennis players?
 
Highly disappointing by Shelton by losing to a veteran who played 3 consecutive 5 set games. This is the kind of games uprising stars should win consistently on a Grand Slam.
 
André Dominguez said:
Highly disappointing by Shelton by losing to a veteran who played 3 consecutive 5 set games. This is the kind of games uprising stars should win consistently on a Grand Slam.
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It is disappointing but I think Mannarino is tricky opponent. I wasn't hugely surprised that Shelton lost today.
 
Just checked my settled bets and I had a 7 fold acca that would have brought in over £600.

It had Khachanov, Anisimova, Dodin, Azarenka, Mannarino, Norrie (who is one game away from victory)...and Stephens who lost in 3 sets earlier. She was even a break up in the third set too ffs
 
Swiatek a game away from going out. Looks like one more comeback too many at the moment.
 
Noskova is yet another talented player to emerge from the hugely successful, and seemingly never-ending Czech female tennis production pipepline. The club system, and huge prevalence of courts in the country, both indoors and outdoors on clay (the best surface to train primarilary on as a youngster far more so than hard courts), clearly continues to pay divdends.

From the heavily decimated top half of the draw, I hope that Qinwen Zheng remains in the tournament for as long as possible (and if she can reach the final that would be amazing). I'm sure that many tennis officials will be hoping (even if privately) for the same thing, as she is clearly very marketable (of course greatly helped by her nationality).
 
Nani Nana said:
Do you reckon women deserve to earn as much as men tennis players?
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I don't have any problem with equal pay for female tennis players, and to be honest I've always found it amusing that some people get so worked up about it.

It goes without saying that the best of 3 vs. best of 5 set argument is completely irrelevant here. This is the entertainment industry, so how hard people work is meaningless compared to the value / interest / eyeballs that they generate.

Now of course generally men's tennis as a whole does generate more interest than women's tennis (though in the early 00s I believe that the WTA's revenues were almost level with the ATP's), but that male vs. female gulf is significantly smaller in tennis than in practically all other major / fairly mainstream sports (i.e. not ones that are just big every 4 years at Olympic games). And at any one stage, the top female players are typically more marketable and bigger stars than all male players excluding about 2 or 3 of them. Naomi Osaka earned more from endorsements than either Djokovic or Nadal did in both 2021 and 2022 (of course greatly helped by her having her foot in the door in both the lucrative US and Japanese markets). After Agassi retired, Serena's matches generated higher TV ratings in the US than that of any male player, including Federer and Nadal. And Li Na's big matches / grand slam finals understandably attracted the highest ratings in China.

And before equal pay was introduced at the Australian open in 2001, and both Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2007 (in every round of the draw and not just for the winners), the pay gaps between the male and female players was very small, and basically completely pointless, anyway. Though prize money in early rounds is typically far more important in the grand scheme of things (as it is crucial for many players that are desperately trying to establish and extend their careers for as long as possible) than what the winners earn, at Wimbledon in 2005 and 2006, the male champions earned GBP 30k than the female champions. It was like they maintained a small gap, just to be unncessarily stubborn.
 
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It was mentioned on the Tennis Podcast recently but at some point Swiatek’s performance in all non-RG slams will come under scrutiny. It’s not great given her dominance otherwise.
 
Having been hugely impressed with two French players named Arthur recently, Cazaux and Fils, I realised that in the open era, Yannick Noah's triumph at Roland Garros in 1983 (impressively beating Lendl in the quarter-finals and the reigning champion Wilander in the final), is the only singles grand slam won by a French male player in the open / professional era.

Hopefully that changes releatively soon - if you look beyond wealthy elites at Roland Garros that often prioritise fine dining than watching actual tennis (of course also very much present at Wimbledon), France is surely one of the countries where tennis is most enthuasticially followed in the world. Over the years lower level tournaments in France, including challengers, have been well attended. Plus as country that hosts a grand slam, clearly the French Tennis Federation is one of the wealthiest domestic tennis federations in the world.

I've enjoyed watching numerous French players over the years; Pioline, Escude, Grosjean, Santoro, Tsonga, Gasquet, Monfils etc.
 
Norrie beats Ruud in 4 sets.

Amazing how well Norrie does with that flat backhand.
 
LDUred said:
Norrie beats Ruud in 4 sets.

Amazing how well Norrie does with that flat backhand.
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It was a great match. None of them had that extra firepower to decide duels which made for some exciting exchanges. I was impressed by Norrie’s aggression and creativity, best I’ve seen him play.
 
Jev said:
It was a great match. None of them had that extra firepower to decide duels which made for some exciting exchanges. I was impressed by Norrie’s aggression and creativity, best I’ve seen him play.
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Yeah, what Norrie lacks technically he makes up for in mental toughness. Loved his net play today.

Ruud generally struggles against lefties as well tbf.
 
Djokovic vs Mannarino
Tsitsipas vs Fritz
Rublev vs Di Minaur
Sinner vs Khachanov

Should be some good tennis today
 
Really hope we get Djokovic vs Sinner and Gauff vs Sabalenka in the SFs in the respective draws.

The other half in the Women's draw is pretty depleted, but would be nice to see Svitolina make the final.

Think we'll have a good second week on both draws
 
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