The 2014 In Between Grand Slam Thread

Slashermcguirk

walshb wrote: »

As good as Novak is playing he still is being really challenged, particularly by Federer. It's amazing to think that Roger is still at or close to he best. He's challenging so hard for 1000 tournaments. His style IMO matches up best vs. Novak.

In fairness I think federer has only beaten djokovic once in his last 7 or 8 matches. Djokovic defo has the upper hand over the past couple of years eve. I do agree though that he matches up well against Novak. Then again Novak beats nadal a lot and federer hardly ever beats nadal.

I actually think djokovic is incredible, he has a combined 34 wins against federer and nadal......some accomplishment against two of the greatest ever players

walshb

Slashermcguirk wrote: »

In fairness I think federer has only beaten djokovic once in his last 7 or 8 matches. Djokovic defo has the upper hand over the past couple of years eve. I do agree though that he matches up well against Novak. Then again Novak beats nadal a lot and federer hardly ever beats nadal.

I actually think djokovic is incredible, he has a combined 34 wins against federer and nadal......some accomplishment against two of the greatest ever players

Including Roger's win at Wimbledon 2012 Novak holds a 4-3 advantage. Very tight. Nadal is Roger's problem style.

Slashermcguirk

walshb wrote: »

Including Roger's win at Wimbledon 2012 Novak holds a 4-3 advantage. Very tight. Nadal is Roger's problem style.

From 2011, it is 10-4 in novaks favour. I don't doubt federer has proven a tricky customer for Novak but over the past few years, Novak has far less of a mental block with federer

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Petko just beat Lisicki 6-1 6-0 in Charleston.

RosyLily

James McGee won the first match in Ireland's tie with Egypt. 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.

Sam Barry is playing atm and he already has a 4-1 in the first set.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

RosyLily wrote: »

James McGee won the first match in Ireland's tie with Egypt. 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.

Sam Barry is playing atm and he already has a 4-1 in the first set.

Some kind of row between the Egyptian guy and the umpire happening, according to Tennis Ireland's twitter.

Rjd2

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Petko just beat Lisicki 6-1 6-0 in Charleston.

Not a complete fail for Lisicki, she managed to conserve some energy for Wimbledon.:P

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Genie Bouchard is backing up her Australian Open run with some good wins in Charleston. Took out Venus over 3 sets and took out Jankovic today. She's not the complete package yet but it's amazing to see the changes she's made in her short time on the tour from how she was as a junior. She could do well. Definitely one of the strongest mentally of that age group.

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

James McGee won the first match in Ireland's tie with Egypt. 6-0, 6-3, 6-2.

Sam Barry is playing atm and he already has a 4-1 in the first set.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Some kind of row between the Egyptian guy and the umpire happening, according to Tennis Ireland's twitter.

I was there! Had to leave in the 3rd set of the Sam Barry match though to get my train home. It was an absolute joy to see professional tennis in the flesh for the first time. Excellent atmosphere too, the crowd were 100% involved in the matches.

It's a shame Sam Barry lost, he was doing so well, up a set and 3-0 double break. He didn't do a lot wrong though, Safwat just dialed up the intensity big time. Particularly impressive moment from Barry was falling to 0-40 when serving to stay in the third set, only to win five points in a row and hold for 5-5.

Seriously, if ye have no plans for either tomorrow or Sunday ye should consider going for the day, well worth it for a €20 ticket.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Seriously, if ye have no plans for either tomorrow or Sunday ye should consider going for the day, well worth it for a €20 ticket.

I always feel bad about not going when they play in Castleknock. I live quite close, it'd be so easy to go. It always ends up being a bad weekend for me though

yerwanthere123

Ahh you've no excuse so! McGee-Safwat would be an excellent match. They're close enough in the rankings too so it should be very competitive.

Another thing that impressed me yesterday was McGee's volleys. They were sublime. I'd say not a single shot got past him when he came to the net.

RosyLily

Fedrinka lost their doubles match earlier. If you read the stats and ignored the score, you'd think the Swiss should have won it! I'd say it was tight. They gotta win their next 2 matches to get into the SFs.

Doubles in Ireland-Egypt tie are at 4pm.

yerwanthere123

Yay, another win for Ireland. I imagine we have it in the bag now, no way both McGee and Barry are going to lose tomorrow.

yerwanthere123

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Petko just beat Lisicki 6-1 6-0 in Charleston.

I know she's always been flaky, but it's amazing that's she managed to become less consistent. Just two years ago she took Sharapova to three sets in the Australian Open 4th round. Before that she also got to the 4th round of the US Open. Would anyone actually be surprised if she didn't win another match throughout the claycourt season?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Genie Bouchard is backing up her Australian Open run with some good wins in Charleston. Took out Venus over 3 sets and took out Jankovic today. She's not the complete package yet but it's amazing to see the changes she's made in her short time on the tour from how she was as a junior. She could do well. Definitely one of the strongest mentally of that age group.

It really is amazing how quick the transition has been. I remember the first time I ever saw her play, it was against Sharapova at RG last year. She looked so hopelessly ordinary. I doubt anyone could have anticipated this change. I'm also surprised at how well she's playing on clay this week, I wasn't sure how it would go. She just took the first set 6-1 against Petkovic.

Another impressive thing about Bouchard is that she's good on all surfaces. Could be a very dangerous player.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

It really is amazing how quick the transition has been. I remember the first time I ever saw her play, it was against Sharapova at RG last year. She looked so hopelessly ordinary. I doubt anyone could have anticipated this change. I'm also surprised at how well she's playing on clay this week, I wasn't sure how it would go. She just took the first set 6-1 against Petkovic.

She said it herself recently, she knew the game she had on the junior tour wouldn't cut it on the senior tour and she wants to be as good as she can as soon as she can and have 10 years at the top rather than take 3 or 4 years to adjust and then only have a few years of success. Seems to have a very good head on her shoulders.

RosyLily

Sensible girl. She's definitely one of my favourites of the up and coming bunch.

Just lost to Petko in the Family Circle SF 6-1, 3-6, 5-7. Tough match but she played well. It's Petkovic's first Premier final since 2011 and she'll move up to #28, I think. Pretty good considering she was in the 120s this time last year.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ Yeah, Petko's taken ages to get back to where she was before all her injury problems. Nice to see her get a bit of a run going.

yerwanthere123

Unfortunately for Petkovic, I doubt she'll ever get anywhere near the type of level she found in 2011. Three grand slam quarter finals, that was some year. She's been so terribly unlucky with injuries though.

Also, I think I read that her father wouldn't let her turn professional until she finished school? That will be something she regrets later in life.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Also, I think I read that her father wouldn't let her turn professional until she finished school? That will be something she regrets later in life.

Well, with the WTA age rules they can't compete that much at that age anyway, although they probably weren't in place when she was that age. She's older than I thought she was.

yerwanthere123

Didn't even realise but Louk Sorensen was in the Houston qualies. He just lost in three sets to Ryan Harrison.

yerwanthere123

McGee wins and Ireland survive relegation

Can someone tell me how the hosting works? Ireland hosted once this year, twice last year, didn't host at all in 2012, and twice again in 2011. How is it decided?

Johnmb

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

McGee wins and Ireland survive relegation

Can someone tell me how the hosting works? Ireland hosted once this year, twice last year, didn't host at all in 2012, and twice again in 2011. How is it decided?

If the teams played before, whoever was away last time is home this time. If it's a first meeting I think they draw lots.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Petko won Charelston this evening. Biggest win of her career so far, which is kind of sad considering she's 26. I don't know why but I kind of thought she was one of the younger ones. Not the Robson/Bouchard age group but maybe like Wozniacki age group.
She's only 5 months younger than Sharapova. Such different success levels though.

yerwanthere123

In irrelevant tennis news, apparently Laura Robson and Genie are no longer friends. You never see any photos of them together any more, and Laura has unfollowed Genie on Twitter.

yerwanthere123

Not looking for Laura Robson right now, she'll probably have to miss the French Open and Wimbledon.

http://www.espn.co.uk/tennis/sport/story/300307.html

Rjd2

I hate clay, I really do.

And while I admire all his hard work and he is a nice lad etc, Ferrer bores me senseless
Really hope we don't get to see he and Nadal play each other much in the next few months.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I hate the clay too

There's so much of it and then less than a month of grass

Rjd2

Rjd2 wrote: »

Really hope we don't get to see he and Nadal play each other much in the next few months.

Tomorrow they play each other.

yerwanthere123

Good to see Tsonga finding a bit of form here. He needs it.

yerwanthere123

Confirmed by Laura today, she's having wrist surgery, so will miss the French Open and Wimbledon and who knows what after that. Basically I think it's safe to say her 2014 is pretty much a write-off. Good news is she's still crazy young