The 2015 In Between Grand Slam Thread

yerwanthere123

Mirza has committed a big tennis faux pas though - getting to no.1 without winning a slam! The way she and Hingis are going though it probably won't be long

Floppybits

So the clay court season has kicked off this week with Monte Carlo. All the big guys are there except Murray. No surprises so far. Nadal crushed some guy from outside the top 100 in his first match yesterday. Today he plays isner which will be a big test for him and will I think give us an idea of where he is at coming towards the french open. I think nadal really needs to win today to build up the confidence for the french.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I hate the clay.

RosyLily

I think it's great that Nadal said he is nervous on court after coming back from injury. Not a lot of players would say that. Good to hear even the top guys suffer from nerves.:)

Will be interesting to see how he plays on clay. I wonder will Djokovic complete the career Grand Slam this year.

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

I think it's great that Nadal said he is nervous on court after coming back from injury. Not a lot of players would say that. Good to hear even the top guys suffer from nerves.:)

Will be interesting to see how he plays on clay. I wonder will Djokovic complete the career Grand Slam this year.

I imagine he's just trying to lower expectations so that if he messes up he'll have an excuse to fall back upon. I fully expect him to win the French next month, as usual. Would love to be wrong though.

Should be interesting to see how Sharapova plays throughout the clay season, especially given her questionable health at the moment. I really hope she's not putting all her eggs in the French Open basket, cause I've a feeling that she could mess it up this year. Personally, I'd take an earlier exit at the French if it meant she'd go far at Wimbledon. I also hope she uses her brain and plays a grass warmup this year, but I don't think it's going to happen

RosyLily

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

I imagine he's just trying to lower expectations so that if he messes up he'll have an excuse to fall back upon. I fully expect him to win the French next month, as usual. Would love to be wrong though.

Maybe so. But you'd rarely hear them discuss nerves as a reason for a loss, especially in a average match. Some of Nadal's losses this year have been a bit, "Why is he losing to him." At least for me anyway...maybe I just expect him to win.:pac:

Ireland will host 3 ITF tournaments, according to some players on Twitter. Really exciting news!! Hopefully, in a few years time, we could get a main tour tournament.

Pighead

James McGee's excellent form in S. America continues with a win today in Sarasota. Beat Arguello to reach the quarter finals. He was 4-2 down in the 3rd set as well. Plays sixth seed Bagnis next. Hopefully he can reach another final.

Also that second set today between Ferrer and Simon was top class. The amount of running both men did was ridiculous. Simon edged it but used up all his energy in doing so and was easily bet in the third.

RosyLily

Brilliant set, I don't know how they kept going!! Ferrer especially seems to be able to run forever. Hopefully he isn't too depleted for his match tomorrow!

Fed Cup SFs start the weekend. Russia vs. Germany and Czech Republic vs. France. Was impressed by Mladenovic and Garcia in France's last tie against Italy.

Davis Cup QFs aren't til July....they seem to drag on. 4 month gap between the first round and QFs then SFs aren't til September. Would DC not consider reducing the number of countries in the World Group? Fed Cup only have 8.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Martina Hingis is playing singles in Fed Cup tomorrow against Radwanska. Might have to tune in for that.

Rjd2

Nadal v Ferrer again?:(:(:(

Floppybits

What happened to Federer yesterday? I havent had a chance to see any of Monte Carlo since Tuesday.

Rjd2

Floppybits wrote: »

What happened to Federer yesterday? I havent had a chance to see any of Monte Carlo since Tuesday.

Watched it in the background, Monfils was very good.

Not a huge shock, Monfils best surface and Rogers worst and of course it was in France.

yerwanthere123

Bouchard refused to shake hands at the Fed Cup again. Pretty dumb thing to do.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Bouchard refused to shake hands at the Fed Cup again. Pretty dumb thing to do.

It is such a bizarre thing to take such a strong stance over. Unless you have zero immune system and physical contact with another human being might kill you I really can see no logic for it.

I do feel she gets a lot of unnecessary stick for a lot of other things she says and does but I have no defense on this one, it's just weird and rude.

Stevecw

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Martina Hingis is playing singles in Fed Cup tomorrow against Radwanska. Might have to tune in for that.

Watching it here, she just lost the 1st set 6-4 to Aga Radwanska. Playing well though for someone who hasn't played singles in so long.
Great to see her play again, feels like going back in time!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Stevecw wrote: »

Watching it here, she just lost the 1st set 6-4 to Aga Radwanska. Playing well though for someone who hasn't played singles in so long.
Great to see her play again, feels like going back in time!

She could probably make top 10 easily if she came back to singles full time.

Stevecw

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

She could probably make top 10 easily if she came back to singles full time.

Getting outplayed a bit here now in 2nd set, but I reckon if she was back full time she'd get very close to top 10 anyway. Such a pity she didn't come back to singles at same time as doubles.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Dulgheru beat Bouchard in straight sets then did a fake handshake celebration with her team. Amazing.

RosyLily

^:D

I know this question has probably been asked before but why doesn't Bouchard shake hands?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

RosyLily wrote: »

^:D

I know this question has probably been asked before but why doesn't Bouchard shake hands?

Her reasoning seems to be that because she doesn't actually wish her opponent well before she plays them that to shake hands and say good luck or whatever would be fake and lying. I mean.... If that's how she feels that's how she feels but, as I said before, it's such an odd thing to take such a strong stance over. It's just a traditional thing to do before a match. Dulgheru said in her presser after that it motivated her more to win and that she felt Bouchard's stance on the handshake went against everything Fed Cup stands for. Which is hard to argue with.

A couple of other players have been re tweeting the gif of Dulgheru's celebration and applauding her for it. Bouchard not doing herself any favours at all.

RosyLily

Definitely a weird stance to take. I always felt that the pre-match handshake was a sign of good sportsmanship, rather than wishing your opponent well. Can't see others following her example.

RosyLily

Russia vs Czech Republic in the Fed Cup final. Tie will be played in Czech Republic. Both won easily enough.

Good to see Kvitova back. Hope she's fully fit for Wimbledon. Don't understand why Germany played Goerges and Lisicki in the opening singles matches. Should have stuck with Petkovic and Kerber imo, especially with Kerber winning last week and Andrea having played so well against Australia in the last round.

I'm guessing Maria Sharapova and Ekaterina Makarova will be back for the final. Ages away though and anything could happen before then.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

RosyLily wrote: »

Good to see Kvitova back. Hope she's fully fit for Wimbledon. Don't understand why Germany played Goerges and Lisicki in the opening singles matches. Should have stuck with Petkovic and Kerber imo, especially with Kerber winning last week and Andrea having played so well against Australia in the last round.

Apparently Kerber had an awful time getting to Sochi, 5 or 6 flights and lots of messing around so she wasn't in the best shape to play yesterday. Not sure why Petkovic didn't play. I suppose it is a team event and on paper Germany really should have won that tie, especially with Sharapova and Makarova missing for Russia.

RosyLily

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Apparently Kerber had an awful time getting to Sochi, 5 or 6 flights and lots of messing around so she wasn't in the best shape to play yesterday. Not sure why Petkovic didn't play. I suppose it is a team event and on paper Germany really should have won that tie, especially with Sharapova and Makarova missing for Russia.

Bad luck for Kerber. I was really surprised Petkovic was left out for the opening matches. She looked devastated after the doubles match. Germany should have won it. Rittner decided to shake things up at the wrong time.

the_monkey

No mention of Djokovic winning the 1st 3 masters of the season ???


Surprised the mens game gets so little talk here .. far superior to the WTA yet thats all that gets discussed really here.

Djokovic looking good for French ?

Mind you it looked that way last year too ...

Nadal still favourite for sure.

Floppybits

the_monkey wrote: »

No mention of Djokovic winning the 1st 3 masters of the season ???


Surprised the mens game gets so little talk here .. far superior to the WTA yet thats all that gets discussed really here.

Djokovic looking good for French ?

Mind you it looked that way last year too ...

Nadal still favourite for sure.

It will be interesting to see how Nadal does in the other build up tournaments for the French, especially Madrid and Rome. I know he is playing Barcelona but himself and Nishikori are the top seeds there so I don't think that will tell us much about Nadal if he wins. It is hard to look beyond Djokovic and Nadal for the final fo the french. I would have Djokovic favorite for the French simply because he wants it so much. I can actually see him putting so much into the French that he will sacrifice Wimbledon if it means he will win the french.

I seen on twitter that Stan has broken up with girlfriend of 10 years, I wonder if that was a reason for his early exit in Monte Carlo?

walshb

the_monkey wrote: »

No mention of Djokovic winning the 1st 3 masters of the season ???


Surprised the mens game gets so little talk here .. far superior to the WTA yet thats all that gets discussed really here.

Djokovic looking good for French ?

Mind you it looked that way last year too ...

Nadal still favourite for sure.

I was thinking the same myself. What's this infatuation with the women's game? It's not near as interesting. Like slo motion compared to the men.

BTW, Nadal is not favorite at the bookmakers. Surely this year Nole can get the title barring an upset before he gets to Nadal.

Although, Nadal seems to raise the game at RG. He seems more fired up over the 3 sets on clay. Last year Nole was performing better on clay yet Nadal still trumped him in Paris.

RosyLily

Really looking forward to the French Open. I think Djokovic could do it this year. He's looking like he did back in 2011, maybe a bit better. Having 3 players in the same era that have achieved the career Grand Slam would be something very special. As mentioned, I can see him sacrifice Wimbledon. Even if he doesn't win the FO, I think he'll be drained physically, mentally and emotionally and could get beaten early in London.

Serena is unbeaten in singles this year (yes, I'm going back to WTA) and will begin her clay season in Madrid next month. Will be interesting to see if she can win the French again.

Bryan Brothers won their 106th men's doubles title in Monte Carlo. Most of any men's doubles team - really impressive!

the_monkey

Floppybits wrote: »

It will be interesting to see how Nadal does in the other build up tournaments for the French, especially Madrid and Rome. I know he is playing Barcelona but himself and Nishikori are the top seeds there so I don't think that will tell us much about Nadal if he wins. It is hard to look beyond Djokovic and Nadal for the final fo the french. I would have Djokovic favorite for the French simply because he wants it so much. I can actually see him putting so much into the French that he will sacrifice Wimbledon if it means he will win the french.

I seen on twitter that Stan has broken up with girlfriend of 10 years, I wonder if that was a reason for his early exit in Monte Carlo?

Unlikely they will meet in the final, I reckon Nadal will be seeded 3 ... so ..

SF meetup - which incidentally it was the SF Djokovic almost beat Nadal 2 years ago ...

I'd love Djokovic to do it, but can't see it happening ..

Floppybits

the_monkey wrote: »

Unlikely they will meet in the final, I reckon Nadal will be seeded 3 ... so ..

SF meetup - which incidentally it was the SF Djokovic almost beat Nadal 2 years ago ...

I'd love Djokovic to do it, but can't see it happening ..

That depends on what way they do the seedings for the French, do they take a players record on clay as well as their world ranking into account when doing the seedings, similar to what they do at Wimbledon, if this is the case I could see him being at 2 and not 3 but either way Djokovic will have to beat him and I hope it is Djokovic that does beat him and not some unknown in the early rounds that catch him out or that he his injured or sick.

I do see Djokovic beating him, the changes Djokovic has made by getting Becker in and what is on the history making at the French Open is what will get him over the line. Djokovic has a chip on his shoulder because he is doesn't have the same appeal or is not considered a great like Nadal and Federer and if he can win the French beating the best clay court player then that will put him up there with Nadal and Federer.