The 2013 In Between Grand Slam Thread

RosyLily

I think it makes him look younger. Suits him!:)

In other irrelevant tennis news, Masha officially confirmed her relationship with Grigor. Or as I like to call them "Sharatrov"!:D

yerwanthere123

Haha well they couldn't not confirm it could they... worst kept secret in tennis. They're a hot couple though!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

RosyLily wrote: »

I think it makes him look younger. Suits him!:)

In other irrelevant tennis news, Masha officially confirmed her relationship with Grigor. Or as I like to call them "Sharatrov"!:D

Pssssh, Dimipova.

RosyLily

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Pssssh, Dimipova.

Like!

Grigor will now be known as Mr. Masha!:P:pac:

(Aahhh, look at us discussing the really important issues in tennis!!:D)

yerwanthere123

Speaking of Maria, she's pulled out of Rome with a "viral illness". Methinks she just doesn't want to risk a beat-down by Serena in a clay-final in consecutive weeks!

Also, Djokovic knocked out by Berdych!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Speaking of Masha, she's pulled out of Rome citing "physical difficulties".

Djokovic just lost to Berdych after being up a set and 4-2 or 5-2. I'd love to see Tomas win a Masters, he wins so little but is really brilliant when he's on.

Rjd2

Legend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=165r4mM9edc

RosyLily

Rafa beats Berdych for the 13th straight time to reach the Rome final. Tomas just can't seem to beat him!! Paire-Federer SF will be on later tonight.

Women's SFs weren't too interesting. Easy win for Serena over Halep. Azarenka won the 1st set handily but Errani put up some resistance in the 2nd; it was too little too late though! Serena-Azarenka have met once before on clay in 2012; Serena won it 6-1, 6-3.

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

Rafa beats Berdych for the 13th straight time to reach the Rome final. Tomas just can't seem to beat him!! Paire-Federer SF will be on later tonight.

Women's SFs weren't too interesting. Easy win for Serena over Halep. Azarenka won the 1st set handily but Errani put up some resistance in the 2nd; it was too little too late though! Serena-Azarenka have met once before on clay in 2012; Serena won it 6-1, 6-3.

I'm impressed with Azarenka. I haven't seen her play all week but it's a good comeback after the disaster in Rome last week. If/when Serena wins she'll have won four consecutive tournaments and will be unbeaten during the clay season... you'd think surely this must be the year for her to win another RG?

yerwanthere123

And of course Nadal reaching the final, nothing new there. I wonder if he still "not the favourite" for RG? :pac:

the_monkey

SNIP: Unnecessary and unfounded.

Rjd2

Dull semi finals and final of both codes, no drama at all.:(

Looking at The French it does like only a few of other sex can win, grass can't come soon enough

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I agree it's gotten a bit dull on both sides now. Since about this time last year Serena has just dominated everyone. Her RG loss last year was an extreme blip and she's been on ever since. How many Maria/Serena/Vika finals have there been in the last 12-18 months.
I know people ridiculed the WTA for a while because it was all a bit random and they had a slamless #1 for over a year and all that but I think I preferred a bit of spontaneity to this dominance.

The men's has been like that for years now.

These days I prefer watching the smaller tournaments where the top players aren't playing. At least it's something a bit different for a while.

RosyLily

Seriously dull. In the past year, there have been 3 big surprises (imo) 1) Lukas Rosol beating Rafa at Wimbledon 2) Aga reaching the Wimbledon final, and 3) Serena losing in the 1st round of French Open. Other than that, it's been business as usual.

I would love it if Kerber/Lisicki/Aga etc. kicked it up a notch and won a GS. I think it would be great for the game and might gain the WTA a few more fans. Serena-Vika Rome final didn't exactly fill the stadium.

As for the men's side, Ferrer winning a GS would be amazing! Or Tsonga! Or Delpo! Anyone but the usual suspects.

Like you said TME, spontaneity would be nice for a change.

yerwanthere123

Yeah I agree things are slightly dull at the moment. I'm not really excited about RG at all tbh. I know that will change once it comes round, but at the moment.. nothing!

Meanwhile, Yulia Putintseva continues to make friends on tour:
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/05/vandeweghe-says-putintseva-insulted-her-after-match/47516/#.UZqdprWfiSp

RosyLily

These young ones were obviously busy when manners and good sportsmanship were being handed out! First Sloane's rant and now this. Prove yourself on the court for God's sake!!

woopah92

Wozniacki splits completely with Piotr as her coach (finally!!).

Source: http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Oevrig_sport/Tennis/2013/05/25/132235.htm

Hopefully it'll be something permanent instead of the last few times. I hope she does something with Krajan, I think she needs an authoritative figure to coach her, so long as he doesn't start to ruin her like he did with Safina and was starting to do with Robson (before she had the sense to split with him).

Maybe Woz will return to 2010/2011 form one day and win a random USO or something

yerwanthere123

Great news, but it will remain to be seen whether or not she'll go running back to daddy after like 2 weeks

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

He implied that he's the one quitting, so it doesn't seem like he'll be available for her to go running back to.

Her poor form started around the time that they started changing her coach and trying her with other people. It must be a hard transition to make when you've been coached by someone for 20 odd years.

The fact that he's "retiring" might be a good thing as she'll have no safety net to fall back on and will have no choice but to find someone that she can work with.

RosyLily

About time! Hopefully by this time next year we'll be seeing an improved Caroline.

yerwanthere123

Great news: James McGee has reached a career high ranking of 243, and he's after getting into the Wimbledon qualifying rounds!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^Shame they're not streamed anywhere.

RosyLily

Grass season kicks off tomorrow with Queens!:)

Draw was made earlier this week. Murray is top seed, followed by Berdych, Delpo, Tsonga, Cilic, Querrey, Dolgopolov and Anderson; all of them have first round byes. Murray and Tsonga are in the same half. Could be interesting. I wonder will we see another Nalbandian-style meltdown?:p

yerwanthere123

I see that there's a tournament in Nuremberg, Germany this week, except it's on clay! Why on Earth would you play a clay tournament in the warm-up to Wimbledon?!

Also, Melanie Oudin is the defending champion in Birmingham this week, somehow I don't think she'll be defending that title :P Tamira Paszek is another one who will tumble down the rankings this grass season (defending Eastbourne, QF at Wimbledon), and rightly so! It's ridiculous she's seeded at slams. I think I read somewhere that since last October she's only won 1 or 2 matches?! Open to correction on that.

pconn062

Can't wait for Queens, my favourite tournament of the year by far, I think it's because it's the first grass I've seen all year!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Should we all migrate back to the "In Between Grand Slam...." thread now?

Usually a bit sad when this happens but as we've said this year's RG was a let down.

RosyLily

Let the migration begin!:)

(Unless you want to discuss what's been a meh RG)

BV4

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I see that there's a tournament in Nuremberg, Germany this week, except it's on clay! Why on Earth would you play a clay tournament in the warm-up to Wimbledon?!

Roger Federer is playing in this tournament. Also entering the doubles draw with Tommy Haas, defending singles champion. They play grand slam winners Melzer and Petzshner tomorrow.

yerwanthere123

BV4 wrote: »

Roger Federer is playing in this tournament. Also entering the doubles draw with Tommy Haas, defending singles champion. They play grand slam winners Melzer and Petzshner tomorrow.

The tournament in Nuremberg is for the WTA tour, and is on clay.
Roger & Tommy are playing in Halle, which is on grass

BV4

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

The tournament in Nuremberg is for the WTA tour, and is on clay.
Roger & Tommy are playing in Halle, which is on grass

My bad. I just assumed Halle was in Nuremberg when you said it as I know it's in Germany.

That makes more sense so!