Tennis 2024

[Chipper]

Radacanu struggling against a qualifier. How she ever won a major is beyond me.

Women's tennis seems to be like that, at least to me as as a casual who might watch Wimbledon and then very limited amounts of tennis throughout the rest of the year plus whatever I pick up on the sports news bulletins. A lot of inconsistency.

I don't expect everyone to be like Serena Williams, and Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic from the men's side was truly unique with their dominanace. Outside of that going back to the 90s and 00s there seemed to be more women who would regularly get to the latter stages of tournaments over the course of a few years.

For a more casual watcher it was good for name recognition, making it a bit easier to follow everything with lots of big name matchups. Look at when Raducanu won the US open - 8 different players made the grand slam finals, 6 out of 6 the year before when Wimbledon was cancelled. Last year's Wimbledon champ won it as unseeded player and was out in the first round this year, the runner up was out in third round, 2021's winner has retired. It can be a bit all over the place.

 

[Jev]

Gauff out as well after a very bad performance. Just two top 10 seeds left in the women’s draw with half the fourth round matches yet to be played. Pretty incredible.

 

[Pexbo]

Women's tennis seems to be like that, at least to me as as a casual who might watch Wimbledon and then very limited amounts of tennis throughout the rest of the year plus whatever I pick up on the sports news bulletins. A lot of inconsistency.

I don't expect everyone to be like Serena Williams, and Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic from the men's side was truly unique with their dominanace. Outside of that going back to the 90s and 00s there seemed to be more women who would regularly get to the latter stages of tournaments over the course of a few years.

For a more casual watcher it was good for name recognition, making it a bit easier to follow everything with lots of big name matchups. Look at when Raducanu won the US open - 8 different players made the grand slam finals, 6 out of 6 the year before when Wimbledon was cancelled. Last year's Wimbledon champ won it as unseeded player and was out in the first round this year, the runner up was out in third round, 2021's winner has retired. It can be a bit all over the place.

I listened to a female footballer on 5Live about 6 months ago discussing how sports science is only just beginning to learn about the female body and specifically menstrual cycles. Whereas Men are generally consistent from day to day, week to week, the female body goes through a cycle of ups and downs. It was a really interesting listen, she said it obviously varies from one women to another but for her it can be quite extreme: one day she can be struggling to get out of bed, feeling generally weak and low on energy and then a few days later she feels like she could run through walls and do just about anything.

It was much more complex than that and it covered injury recoveries, how training sessions and diet are based on research from the men’s game etc etc but your post reminded me of her talking about that specifically. It’s just pot luck where their cyclist land but it can really impact both their physical and mental state to a non-trivial degree, especially when you consider it’s tiny percentages that make the difference at that level.

 

[Duafc]

Navarro absolutely demolished Coco’s FH there. Not a great look.

Navarro and Sun both playing very big, to the lines and maintaining for the whole match, great hitting from both I thought.

 

[Brophs]

The women’s draw is much better than the men’s this time around. Some great stories in there. Sun, Navarro, Collins, Paolini. Ostapenko looking good. Likewise Svitolina. Rybakina the pick of the lot, but she rarely stays healthy for a few weeks nowadays. Navarro v Rybakina final, I reckon.

 

[croadyman]

Same. Such a wholesome interview afterwards.

I feel like the Wimbledon crowd always tends to get behind players after they've knocked our own out. Unless their name is Novak.

Just have this horrible feeling Vekic will deal with her easily and people are left wondering where was the player who beat Raducanu. Draw really opened up for her after Swiatek and Gauff lost so can't help feeling absolutely gutted as it's a huge missed opportunity.

 

[DutchSerb]

Some fantastic games today. Might be Novaks first real test this tournament.

 

[Doracle]

Just have this horrible feeling Vekic will deal with her easily and people are left wondering where was the player who beat Raducanu. Draw really opened up for her after Swiatek and Gauff lost so can't help feeling absolutely gutted as it's a huge missed opportunity.

Yes, a shame for Raducanu as a lot of the players left look more suited to her game. I didn’t see all the match but the main problem seemed to be that she really struggled with the leftie serve. Only breaking twice in 3 sets in WTA tennis is always going to made it hard to win, especially when her return game is usually so strong.

It has to be remembered that she is still a novice in terms of actual experience. If she can somehow stay fit - suggestions of wrist, back and leg injuries in this relatively short run of successful matches isn’t great - she can hopefully kick on and get the experience to make best use of her undoubted talent.

 

[croadyman]

Yes, a shame for Raducanu as a lot of the players left look more suited to her game. I didn’t see all the match but the main problem seemed to be that she really struggled with the leftie serve. Only breaking twice in 3 sets in WTA tennis is always going to made it hard to win, especially when her return game is usually so strong.

It has to be remembered that she is still a novice in terms of actual experience. If she can somehow stay fit - suggestions of wrist, back and leg injuries in this relatively short run of successful matches isn’t great - she can hopefully kick on and get the experience to make best use of her undoubted talent.

Yeah definitely had a problem dealing with the leftie serve, however can't help feeling serious annoyance at Judy Murray and the media for not just leaving her alone to play. She really didn't need to be playing under a cloud but unfortunately that's what happened.

 

[LDUred]

Wonder if De Minaur is possibly the quickest on the tour now, covers the court almost as well as Nadal did.

Very absorbing game today vs Fils but looks like he's injured himself in the process.

 

[saivet]

A bit of a mismatch between Rune and Djokovic thus far

 

[RobinLFC]

FFS Zverev, two sets up and still out

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

I don’t know what is worse, watching this version of Djokovic or watching our Danish kid struggle to lay a glove on him.

 

[Bole Top]

not a good match. Djokovic isn't playing even close to his best, it's Rune who's hitting everything in the net/outside the court.

 

[Camy89]

Rune just gifting this match to Djokovic. Incredibly frustrating to watch. Making so many unforced errors and terrible first serve percentage.

Djokovic not even having to do anything exceptional and still looking like cruising to straight sets.

 

[Camy89]

Cannot stand Djokovic.

 

[giorno]

Women's tennis seems to be like that, at least to me as as a casual who might watch Wimbledon and then very limited amounts of tennis throughout the rest of the year plus whatever I pick up on the sports news bulletins. A lot of inconsistency.

Yep, checks out. In actual fact it's got a really strong top 3 of Iga, Sabalenka and Coco, plus Rybakina when fit, and they tend to dominate the slams except Wimbledon, which has nothing to do with the rest of the season pretty much. Outside Wimbledon it's pretty normal, with the caveat that the dominant #1 is pretty much Nadal on clay but can be beaten on the other surfaces yet

Zverev if there's a way he can lose then by god and the outer spirits he will find it couldn't happen to a more deserving scumbag

 

[Brophs]

Love this version of Djokovic. He’d fight the entire crowd if they wanted it.

 

[Samid]

He's such a crybaby

 

[Wayne's World]

Novak really is a prick isn't he?

 

[Solius]

Djokovic rattled.

 

[Camy89]

He’s such a bellend.

 

[Chip]

Not a good look tbf

 

[saivet]

I love that from Novak

 

[Duafc]

Love that from Djoko, what a psycho he is

strong Ronaldo vibes but much less of a cnut.

 

[Rajma]

They were clearly winding him up at some point by going Ruuuune after he reacted during the game (when he first thought he was booed) I guess it’s a fair game from Novak.

 

[Duafc]

Loved Kyrios on commentary again, he and McEnroe at times talking a bit too much but seemed to enjoy each others chat.

 

[Camy89]

He’s made himself look a right knob.

Get over yourself.

 

[Dan_F]

Not the first Serbian to make themselves look like a tit due to moaning about the crowd this summer.

 

[Cloudface]

Feck sake Novak...

"I was saying Rune-Urns"

 

[wr8_utd]

Man has had a proper meltdown. Feels like the days the United crowd would go Ruuuuud and people thought it's booooo.

 

[DutchSerb]

I don't understand why the most succesful player ever has the thinnest skin in the game, but I loved that. My unhinged king.

 

[DutchSerb]

Loved Kyrios on commentary again, he and McEnroe at times talking a bit too much but seemed to enjoy each others chat.

They are great together. Could do without the 3rd guy, though.

 

[Jev]

Rune continues to frustrate. Has any tennis player ever had as big a gulf between their floor and their ceiling? It’s unbelievable how bad and disinterested he can be at times. At this point I really don’t know which way his career is heading.

 

[wr8_utd]

Rune continues to frustrate. Has any tennis player ever had as big a gulf between their floor and their ceiling? It’s unbelievable how bad and disinterested he can be at times. At this point I really don’t know which way his career is heading.

Its only headed down right now although the way he speaks and clubs himself with Carlos and Sinner in comparisons with Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, you get the feeling that he's a fair bit deluded.

 

[Jev]

Its only headed down right now although the way he speaks and clubs himself with Carlos and Sinner in comparisons with Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, you get the feeling that he's a fair bit deluded.

I think he’s been playing slightly better these past couple of months but then you get a match like today’s and feel like it’s one step forward and two steps back.

 

[DutchSerb]

This was Rune's 10th straight loss against a top-5 opponent.. Rough.

 

[Rajma]

To be fair I have watched quite a few Rune matches and while you would occasionally hear the crowd go ruune, I have never seen it done at such frequency almost after every point, including unforced errors from Novak, to me it also implies part of the crowd was being sneaky for sure, nothing wrong with calling them out.

 

[Kevin]

Man has had a proper meltdown. Feels like the days the United crowd would go Ruuuuud and people thought it's booooo.

He's won. What a king, my GOAT. He's rattling the people calling him rattled. heh heh heh.

 

[Nani Nana]

Man has had a proper meltdown. Feels like the days the United crowd would go Ruuuuud and people thought it's booooo.

Come on that is a ridiculous excuse. They were definitely booing him at times. Can you imagine a football crowd shouting SIUUU every time CR7 touches the ball? This was after every single point.