The 2013 In Between Grand Slam Thread

RosyLily

New year, new thread. No point in looking through 40+ pages to find out the latest news and views.

RosyLily

Loads of tournaments going on at the moment, Doha, Chennai & Brisbane on the ATP side and Brisbane and Auckland on the WTA. Doesn't feel that long ago that I was watching Murray and Djokovic at Flushing.:)

Hopman Cup also in full swing in Perth. Tatjana Malek has replaced Petko for the remainder of the tournament. Earlier, United States beat France 2-1; Tsonga defeated Isner in straights, 3 & 2 but Venus evened it up after beating Mathilde Johansson 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. The Americans came through in the Mixed Doubles in a championship tiebreak. Tomorrow's matches are Italy vs. Germany in the day and Serbia vs. Australia in the night session.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Anybody been watching Hopman Cup? Brilliant doubles match between Serbia and Australia just now. Serbia had MP in the second set and the point that followed was amazing!!
It's only an exho tournament but some really entertaining matches so far. Tomic beat Djokovic earlier too.

Ash Barty looks a real talent too, she could do with growing a few inches though, or feet

The women have been pulling the men through in nearly all the match ups. AMG for Spain, Ana for Serbia, Isner has been shocking, Venus doing all the work there. In a weird twist Tomic The Tank Engine has been pretty much the only male player getting the job done, although Barty was by far the better player in the doubles. Djokovic couldn't even read her serve.

Tomic says he was working on the mental side of his game a lot lately. It'll be interesting to see where he is at come the AO. I've always felt that he had the potential but wouldn't fulfill it.

One win over Novak in a glorified exhibition tournament isn't very significant IMO. 2013 is a huge year for him, IMO it's make or break due to the attitudes he has shown in the past. He needs to make at least a QF or SF at a Slam to show progress.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Deleted User wrote: »

Tomic says he was working on the mental side of his game a lot lately. It'll be interesting to see where he is at come the AO. I've always felt that he had the potential but wouldn't fulfill it.

He's said that his goal is to be Top 10 this year, which was met with a lot of mocking on twitter. I don't see why he couldn't be. He's got the talent, and if people like Isner can make the Top 10 it's not impossible that Tomic could.

Obviously it's the mental side of things he needs to sort out. I know HC is only a exho but he's shown a lot of fight in his matches so far which was non existent in his matches the latter part of 2012. I think second week of a slam is more realistic for him than QF or SF this year, and would be an improvement on last year anyway.

yerwanthere123

Really enjoyed the Sloane-Serena match. Sloane has a fantastic future ahead of her, without a doubt the most promising youngster on tour now. However, she got a little bit upset with Serena during the match!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YtbnZviyRjw

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ She said after that it was just a joke with her coach because she thought she was being too serious during the match? Dunno. They're quite good friends off court apparently, or as good friends as Serena is with any of the players.

yerwanthere123

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

^ She said after that it was just a joke with her coach because she thought she was being too serious during the match? Dunno. They're quite good friends off court apparently, or as good friends as Serena is with any of the players.

Hmm I dunno, after watching that video I think Sloane was being completely serious... I don't really see any indication that she was joking, more so that she was pissed off! Regardless, Sloane has backtracked now so it's all good.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Mmmhmmm. It seemed like she meant it, maybe she forgot her coach was mic'd up.

Sometimes it's obvious that Serena's "come on!!" is aimed at the opponent rather than at herself, but then I think it's the same with all the players with their various pump up noises.

Maybe she thought Serena shouldn't do it to her they way she'd do it to any other random.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Vika pulled out of her Brisbane SF. Got a bad pedicure apparently and now her big toe is infected. Had it removed by doctors and is on antibiotics. Should be fine for AO.

Means we didn't get the first Vika/Serena clash of the year. Serena will play Pavlyuchenkova in the final. She's been training at the same academy as Serena in the off season and is looking pretty trim compared to last season where it took her until RG to string back to back wins together. Could be an interesting match. Money would still be on Serena, unfortunately.

Lisicki has pulled out of Sydney qualifiers with a viral infection, that girl is constantly ill. Tsonga has pulled out too with a hamstring injury he picked up in Hopman Cup doubles.

Davydenko just thrashed Ferrer in Qatar. Plays Gasquet in the finals, who has also pulled out of Sydney, presumably because he is in the final here and didn't expect to be.

Hopman Cup final will be between Serbia and Spain. The USA had to forfeit their last match against Spain because Isner pulled out last minute and they had no US replacement. So Spain got the walk over even though they still played the ties with some 16 year old Aussie kid subbing for Isner.

Looking forward to seeing Ivanovic and Verdasco reunited on court

RosyLily

I was really impressed with the Australian team at the Hopman Cup. When I heard Tomic was participating I was a bit apprehensive considering what happened with him last year but he seems to have mellowed a bit. He's a great talent so hopefully it's the beginning of a new improved Tomic. Ashleigh Barty has a lot of potential! It'll be interesting to see how she progresses over the next few years.

Ivanovic & Verdasco were too ridiculously good-looking to work out anyway!!:p

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

RosyLily wrote: »

I was really impressed with the Australian team at the Hopman Cup. When I heard Tomic was participating I was a bit apprehensive considering what happened with him last year but he seems to have mellowed a bit. He's a great talent so hopefully it's the beginning of a new improved Tomic. Ashleigh Barty has a lot of potential! It'll be interesting to see how she progresses over the next few years.

Ivanovic & Verdasco were too ridiculously good-looking to work out anyway!!:p

Barty was in the stands watching the Serbia/Germany tie today (yesterday? tomorrow?) and the camera zoomed in on her. She was sitting with her agent and it looked like she was signing contracts. They said later it was maths homework but it did not look one bit like maths homework. It was loads of pages with different logos on them and she was just signing them, not doing long division.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Andy Murray won Brisbane today. Beat Dimitrov easily enough. After he was a bit weepy and dedicated it to his friend at home saying "you'll pull through." All very mysterious until Ross Hutchins took to his twitter a little while ago to announce he's been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma!

Probably also explains why his usual doubles partner Colin Flemming lost 6-0 6-0 in about 25 minutes yesterday.

RosyLily

Such sad news! Hope Hutchins gets better soon. I was wondering why Jamie Murray was playing with Fleming in Brisbane.

Aga beat Yanina Wickmayer in Auckland 6-4, 6-4. Good start to the year for the Pole; hope she get get better in 2013. Petra Kvitova was beaten in straight sets by Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1, 6-1, in Sydney. Not a good sign for Petra.

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

Such sad news! Hope Hutchins gets better soon. I was wondering why Jamie Murray was playing with Fleming in Brisbane.

Aga beat Yanina Wickmayer in Auckland 6-4, 6-4. Good start to the year for the Pole; hope she get get better in 2013. Petra Kvitova was beaten in straight sets by Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1, 6-1, in Sydney. Not a good sign for Petra.

Indeed. Makes you wonder if she did any work in the off-season. It's early days yet of course, and I'll feel pretty stupid if she takes the title in Melbourne

Does anybody else think she lacks the hunger to make her game better? Like she's happy enough to stay near the top of the rankings, but losses to the likes of Pavlyuchenkova and Cibulkova don't particularly bother her?

Rjd2

Is she still carrying the pupppyfat?

Any other walk of life it wouldn't be a problem, but in tennis where quick movement is essential it does hurt her, even Maria who was as mobile as a tank a few years ago has drastically improved her court coverage.

RosyLily

I hope Petra's "Meh, it's just one match" approach is just an on-court thing, and off it she's more feisty and annoyed by losing. After winning Wimbledon, she was hotly tipped to win multiple GSs but I just don't see it now. I'd love to be proved wrong as I think she's a great game and there's not enough female lefties.

Judging by recent pics, I would say she has lost some weight in the off-season.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Wozniacki lost again. 2nd round at Sydney to Svetlana Kuznetsova. Nearly 4 hours in 40degree heat!
Granted Sveta is a very talented multiple slam winner, but let's be honest, that Sveta hasn't been seen for quite some time. I don't know what goes on in Woz's head to be honest. She's been flopping hard for a full year now and doesn't seem to want to address that fact or change anything about her game. I don't know if she did a single thing tennis wise in the off season. It certainly doesn't look like she has.

Rjd2

I actually had a small bet on her to win the Aussie Open, after she won her last competition, she beat Stosur in the final and played really well. Sadly looking at her recent form, it does look like money poorly spent. She has regressed and she doesn't even have the consistency when it comes to beating the lesser players anymore which sadly is what Kuzy is these days.

She's more into being a bloody celebrity is her problem. The next Anna Kournikova, only less attractive.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Deleted User wrote: »

She's more into being a bloody celebrity is her problem. The next Anna Kournikova, only less attractive.

At least Kournikova pretty much admitted that outright and buggered off relatively young. Woz still talks like she want to be a tennis player but I really question it. Her dad has far too much influence over her still. That's fine when a player is 17 or so, but at this stage she should be on her own. They've hired two or three coaches over the past year and sacked them all in a few weeks. I'm no expert on how to coach someone but it's obvious she's not able to compete with the top players now and that they need to change something, and yet they don't.

yerwanthere123

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Wozniacki lost again. 2nd round at Sydney to Svetlana Kuznetsova. Nearly 4 hours in 40degree heat!
Granted Sveta is a very talented multiple slam winner, but let's be honest, that Sveta hasn't been seen for quite some time. I don't know what goes on in Woz's head to be honest. She's been flopping hard for a full year now and doesn't seem to want to address that fact or change anything about her game. I don't know if she did a single thing tennis wise in the off season. It certainly doesn't look like she has.

Agree 100%. Her loss to Kuznetsova looks even worse when you consider that this is only Kuznetsova's second tournament back after being away for over 6 months. It seems Caroline is more content living the high life than competing for major titles. On her Facebook page she's often posting about her and Rory and what they've been getting up to. I think her biggest problem is simple: tennis is secondary in her life.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Agree 100%. Her loss to Kuznetsova looks even worse when you consider that this is only Kuznetsova's second tournament back after being away for over 6 months. It seems Caroline is more content living the high life than competing for major titles. On her Facebook page she's often posting about her and Rory and what they've been getting up to. I think her biggest problem is simple: tennis is secondary in her life.

Yep, now maybe she just didn't mention it but over the off season it seemed she was just hanging with Rory all the time. All the other players were tweeting about being back in the gym, or working on this or that, lots of pictures of them being all sweaty and gross. I don't remember any of that from her.

She's still trying to play the way she did when she was #1, which is just to defend all the time and wait for the opponent to make a mistake. That doesn't work anymore and it's telling, she'll be out of the top 20 before long if she keeps like this.

yerwanthere123

Does anybody else think that Sloane Stephens has a genuine chance of winning her first title this week? She's reached the quarters of Hobart, she's the second highest seed left, the highest is Zakapalova. I think she can do it! Perhaps her biggest threat is Mona Barthel, but she's so streaky you never know what to expect.

RosyLily

RE: Wozniacki. I think she has to get rid of her dad as coach. It's all good having him around in the early years of her career but if she wants to step up and get that GS then she needs a proper coach. I wouldn't be surprised if Caroline was the first seeded player to get dumped out of the Australian Open.

With the golf & tennis seasons in full swing now, I'm hoping that we'll see less of 'Wozilroy'. Strange that he has won la good few tournaments since they began seeing each other yet she has kinda of plateaued.

yerwanthere123

Looks like Wozniacki could be facing another early exit! Lisicki in R1.
Interestingly enough, they haven't actually played each other since Wimbledon 2009.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

There's an Aus Open thread up and running for all the Slam chat. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82625671#post82625671

yerwanthere123

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

There's an Aus Open thread up and running for all the Slam chat. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82625671#post82625671

Thanks, I didn't know :o

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Thanks, I didn't know :o

That's okay, my bad really, should have mentioned it in here when I did it

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Great win for Bernie in Sydney. He's like a completely different player this year. Kept his cool, didn't show any signs of nerves. Lost 2nd set TB but came out in the 3rd calm as you like. Hope he keeps it up for the whole year. I know he's a bit of a tit off court but he plays some good tennis.

_Bella_

Wow did anyone read about the Czech Republic v Switzerland Davis Cup match? Second longest match in history and was played over three days. It lasted over 11 hours with a final score of 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-7 24-22!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

_Bella_ wrote: »

Wow did anyone read about the Czech Republic v Switzerland Davis Cup match? Second longest match in history and was played over three days. It lasted over 11 hours with a final score of 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-7 24-22!

The Czech/Swiss match was just over 7 hours. The 11 hour 3 day match was the Isner/Mahut match at Wimbledon a few years ago.

_Bella_

Whoops sorry, read the article wrong!

yerwanthere123

Mona wins the final against Errani! Good stuff, hope she keeps it up. Australian Open aside, 2013 has actually been pretty good for her: a title, a final and a semi.
Bit disappointed Sabine couldn't win in her final but it's been a good week for her. When is the last time she won four consecutive matches!

RosyLily

Berdych and Wawrinka spend 7 hours on court in doubles and had to come out today for the singles! Spare a thought for the doubles umpire, James Keothavong as well! Bit of a surprise...Kazakhstan beat Austria 3-1. Golubev beat Melzer to get the win for his country.

Maria Kirilenko wins Pattaya Open, her first title since 2008! Really good match; Lisicki did well to bring it back in the 3rd set and force a tiebreak.

bing3

Well done to Ireland beating Estonia in the Davis Cup today. Sam Barry winning the decisive rubber. Finland next at the beginning of April. Best of luck to them.

bing3

Rafa back on the winning track in Chile. Good to see him back. Reckon the next couple of weeks in South America will tell will he ever rejoin the other three at the top.

jupiterjack

good to see Nadal back...

StevoTG

jupiterjack wrote: »

good to see Nadal back...

Played a great final with Zeballos too. His serve and forehand looked good but his backhand and movement were still shy of his best. Not a bad effort at all for his first tournament back though.

Huge credit to Zeballos. He played sublime tennis and dealt so well with the pressure mentally. He backed himself on the big points, took the initiative and became just the third man after Federer and Djokovic to beat Nadal in a final on clay!

RosyLily

Good to see himself back alright. It will be interesting to see how he gets on playing the hard courts of Indian Wells et al. I'd still put him as favourite for Roland Garros. He's just on another level when he plays there!

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

Good to see himself back alright. It will be interesting to see how he gets on playing the hard courts of Indian Wells et al. I'd still put him as favourite for Roland Garros. He's just on another level when he plays there!

No matter how good/bad he plays over the next couple of weeks, I can't see him playing Indian Wells or Miami. I still think his No.1 focus is the clay court season.

Doha should be good this week, all the top players there. Really hope Serena gets back to No.1. Laura Robson is already out.

RosyLily

Yeah, hard courts would be tougher on his knee so I wouldn't expect much from him at Indian or Miami. He'll want to keep himself fresh and healthy for Roland Garros.

Imagine he has 7 French Opens at the age of 26!:eek: Seriously impressive.

In other news, Piotr Wozniacki argued with the chair umpire during Caroline Wozniacki's match with Mona Barthel in Qatar. He also refused to leave. Classy guy.:rolleyes:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ She didn't lick it off a stone then. She gets a right head on her when things don't go her way. I'd be so embarrassed but she doesn't seem to care.

Nadal doesn't have a choice with IW/Miami does he? They're mandatory events I thought, and if he's playing a bunch of clay up to them he can't just then say, oh sorry my knee's too sore, and then magically be better again for clay season.

RosyLily

I would be absolutely mortified if my father acted like that!! Doesn't faze her though.

AFAIK, you can be exempt from certain mandatory ATP tournaments if you need certain criteria, i.e. X amount of years on tour, X amount of matches won, but I'm not sure if Nadal qualifies for any of them.

RosyLily

18 yrs on tour, 169 titles including 21 Grand Slams, 4 Paralympic golds, 668 wks as No.1 and unbeaten since January 2003.

There's only one Esther Vergeer. What. A. Career.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

RosyLily wrote: »

AFAIK, you can be exempt from certain mandatory ATP tournaments if you need certain criteria, i.e. X amount of years on tour, X amount of matches won, but I'm not sure if Nadal qualifies for any of them.

I don't think he does because I'm sure I heard them mention last year how Federer would be long enough on the tour this year that he could do that. I know Rafa's been around since he was very young but I don't think he's there yet. He can skip them if he wants but he'd need medical proof that he's unable to play, which I'm sure he could get but it'll raise some eyebrows.

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

18 yrs on tour, 169 titles including 21 Grand Slams, 4 Paralympic golds, 668 wks as No.1 and unbeaten since January 2003.

There's only one Esther Vergeer. What. A. Career.

Indeed, what an incredible champion! Feel bad I only found out who she was last year

In other news, Serena is finally back at the top!

RosyLily

Yeah, it's a shame not many people would know about Esther and what she's done for wheelchair tennis. I only came across her about 2 years ago. Imagine being able to retire at 31!:eek:

Serena back at No.1. She also broke Christ Evert's 30 year record of being the oldest female Number 1. Hope she can stay there for some time. Clay season should be interesting.

Julien Benneteau caused an upset at Rotterdam, beating defending champion Roger Federer 6-3, 7-5. Great win for the Frenchman. His 2012 was a bit injury ridden but here's hoping he'll stay healthy this year.

yerwanthere123

Kinda hilarious the way that all Vika had to do to justify her #1 ranking was to beat Serena and now she's done it as she falls to #2. Comical! An excellent win for her though, hoping for a rematch in Dubai.

Really happy Delpo won in Rotterdam also, he needed a good win to really kick start his season.

In utterly irrelevant news, Milos Raonic badly needs a haircut :eek:

RosyLily

Azarenka still has a crap record against Serena- 11-2 I think. Should be interesting to see how the next few weeks go on the American swing of the WTA tour. How long will Aza keep her unbeaten record? Will Serena cement her No.1 status by claiming Miami or Dubai?

Great win for Delpo. He's got a pretty good record in finals (14-5). I've high hopes for him this season. He looks in good form and seems healthy. On his day, he can beat the best. He's a player no one wants to see on their side of the draw.

And yes, Milos is in desperate need for a haircut. No one but Federer & del Potro should be allowed wear a headband.:p

RosyLily

Got Wimbledon tickets in the ballot!!!:D:D 4th time's a charm!