The 2016 In Between Grand Slam Thread

A Dub in Glasgo

Well done to Murray

lostcat

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

Murray deserves it, but what a shame that boring grinding pushing tennis is set to dominate the game for the forseeable future.
No wonder the game is dying and has no new fans, it's a horror show ..

I usually can't warm to these two playing each other (too similar in style), but thought today was better than most of their matches, there was a bit more shot making, and it was shortish

Coming into this tournament, I thought Murrays no 1 ranking was maybe a bit 'soft', given who he has been playing in the past few weeks, but he has just beaten most of the top ATP players over the course of a week, ending with Djokovic, so I have no more questions on that one. Well deserved no 1

As for the current no 2, hard to know what version will turn up in January, he looked like he didn't care all that much for most of tonight (for most of the last 5 months, in fact)..

happy for Murray (an unusual feeling, I have to admit) that he will now get a bit of a run at no 1.

Jan_de_Bakker

Murray will have the easiest 4 slams ahead of him next yr,
Djokovic not arsed - nothing motivates him ... and next gen are still too soft.

calendar slam for Murray next yr zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

mickmackey1

Federer must be pretty happy tonight too, some of his most prized records look safer.

A Dub in Glasgo

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

Murray will have the easiest 4 slams ahead of him next yr,
Djokovic not arsed - nothing motivates him ... and next gen are still too soft.

calendar slam for Murray next yr

zzzzz

lostcat

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

Murray will have the easiest 4 slams ahead of him next yr,
Djokovic not arsed - nothing motivates him ... and next gen are still too soft.

calendar slam for Murray next yr zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

next year will be very interesting:

what happens to djokovic (tennis wise, I am less interested in the fact that he may start floating around the place on a cloud of love or something)
will murray consolidate no 1 (liked to the above)
is there a final kick in federer or nadal? (I don't think so)
del potro might be back ( )
will raonic or thiem kick it up another notch?

and a few more

I'm looking forward to it already

Halloween Jack

lostcat wrote: »

next year will be very interesting:

what happens to djokovic (tennis wise, I am less interested in the fact that he may start floating around the place on a cloud of love or something)
will murray consolidate no 1 (liked to the above)
is there a final kick in federer or nadal? (I don't think so)
del potro might be back ( )
will raonic or thiem kick it up another notch?

and a few more

I'm looking forward to it already

Fed and nadal could meet the top 2 in what the fourth round of slams next year? either of them would be at least dangerous in that scenario

lostcat

so, before we close it up: best matches of the year?

I didn't see as much 'sub' slam matches as in other years, and no great slam matches come to mind. I think it was a sub par year for 'epic'.


I think the Rome QF between djpkovic and nadal was an epic in two sets, and for me that signalled the end of nadal as a serious force...

And also the way Djokovic dismantled Federer in the AO signalled that Federer was on the last lap also...

perhaps the relative ease murray had tonight says the same about djokovic himself, time will tell.

I honestly cannot think of another match that gripped me this year..

MisterAnarchy

lostcat wrote: »

so, before we close it up: best matches of the year?

I honestly cannot think of another match that gripped me this year..

Delpo vs Djokovic in the Olympics was a great match.
Delpos forehand was immense.

Federer vs Cilic at Wimbledon was epic too, Federer coming back from 2 sets down.

RosyLily

lostcat wrote: »

so, before we close it up: best matches of the year?

Off the top of my head, I enjoyed Kerber vs. Williams in the Aussie final and Kerber vs. Pliskova at Flushing. Radwanska vs. Cibulkova at Wimbledon as well. On the men's side, Djokovic vs. Delpo in Rio was cracking, Cilic vs Federer at Wimbledon.

Seeing Del Potro going from strength to strength has probably been my highlight of 2016. I honestly thought he was done but he's proved he's still got it. If he gets some luck, another Grand Slam title might not be out of the question. It would be great if he could finish the year with a Davis Cup win!

Jan_de_Bakker

lostcat wrote: »

next year will be very interesting:

what happens to djokovic (tennis wise, I am less interested in the fact that he may start floating around the place on a cloud of love or something)
will murray consolidate no 1 (liked to the above)
is there a final kick in federer or nadal? (I don't think so)
del potro might be back ( )
will raonic or thiem kick it up another notch?

and a few more

I'm looking forward to it already

Only positive I see about next year is the "possible" return of Delpo

Sadly I don't see it, I see more of the same 3 hour 6/4 6/4 grinders
with 50 break points being saved ... baseline slugfests .... snoozefest.

Speed up the surfaces and introduce one chance serves to lighten things up a bit ..

Halloween Jack

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

Only positive I see about next year is the "possible" return of Delpo

Sadly I don't see it, I see more of the same 3 hour 6/4 6/4 grinders
with 50 break points being saved ... baseline slugfests .... snoozefest.

Speed up the surfaces and introduce one chance serves to lighten things up a bit ..

There is evidence they are doing this, Paris and London both played quicker this year than before, hence you saw isner, cilic and raonic going fairly well, was only really the two matches Murray was involved in that were long, iirc.

My problem isn't necessarily courts being slow, it's the uniformity of speeds that is the problem, would we have seen 3 guys complete the grandslam (and another reach all 4 finals) if Wimbledon was played on the same court they had in the 90's?? There has definitely been a move to homogenise the surfaces which is great for the marketing guys because you have guys who are competing at the sharp end of all the big tournaments all year round...

Chivito550

Anyone watching Davis Cup final. Absolutely epic drama and incredible atmosphere. Cilic was 2-0 up but Del Potro came back to win in 4 hours 53 mins. Down to final rubber now.

RosyLily

Such a great match!! I'd give the edge to Karlovic in the final match but you never know.

Davis Cup and Fed Cup finals have been brilliant this year - really tense and exciting!

RosyLily

Delbonis is up 2 sets on Karlovic. Flicking between the tennis and Planet Earth.....don't know which is more tense!

RosyLily

And Delbo has done it!! Dismantled Karlovic in straight sets. Argentina's first Davis Cup title. They're only the second team to win playing all four ties away from home. Lots of tears on court now.

What a fantastic year for Delpo!

yerwanthere123

Ballot for Wimbledon 2017 open today
https://www.aeltc.com/BallotApp/os/BallotForm

RosyLily

Bits of news over the last few days. Johanna Konta has split from her coach Esteban Carril after their most successful season together. Surprised by this one - I thought maybe after 2017 they'd split if there was no progress. Konta's mental coach, Juan Coto, passed away 3 weeks ago. Such a tragedy; the high of the season followed by the low of losing a coach.

Raonic has also split from Carlos Moya. Tis the season for splits!

Anne Keothavong has been appointed GB Fed Cup captain. She takes over from Judy Murray. If they get Watson, Robson and Konta fit at the same time, they could do some damage. Group play-offs are in February.

yerwanthere123

So now it's finally all over, your personal highlights and lowlights of the season?

Highlights:
Murray winning another slam, doing so well on clay, winning another gold medal and of course finishing the year #1.
Kerber having the most unpredictably, inconceivably brilliant year
Muguruza winning RG
McGee winning his first challenger
Seeing glimpses of the old Azarenka again, albeit briefly
Pliskova finally making a slam run
The rise of Zverev
Kyrgios winning three titles and finishing at a new career high, even if it was a frustrating year otherwise
The rise of Lucas Pouille
Wawrinka winning slam #3
Osaka and Konjuh rising
Delpo's resurgence

Lowlights:
The whole Sharapova saga
Muguruza being irrelevant at almost every other tournament not called Roland-Garros
Azarenka's pregancy! (Obviously purely from a tennis viewpoint, I love kids and it's amazing for her and her partner!)
Kyrgios being Kyrgios
Bouchard and Stephens being irrelevant and staying irrelevant. Genie actually only improved her ranking by two spots on 2015!
Serena's odd year, even if she did win a slam
Zverev missing that volley on match point against Nadal at Indian Wells
The ridiculous decision to put the brilliant Aga-Cibulkova match on court 3 at Wimbledon
And for me personally, being so busy throughout the year that I got to watch nowhere near as much tennis as I'd like

My favourite match of the year, and one that I always go back to would be Serena and Kerber at the Australian Open final.

MisterAnarchy

Djokovic has split from Boris.

The mystery of Novaks decline deepens

RosyLily

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

Djokovic has split from Boris.

The mystery of Novaks decline deepens

They've achieved loads in their 3 years together! 7 GSs, 3 GS finals, and he finally completed the Career Slam. Will be interesting to see if Marian will go back to being full-time or will someone else be brought in.

Boris Becker must be target #1 for a few coach-less players. Raonic split with Carlos Moya. Milos/Boris could be an interesting pairing.

lostcat

RosyLily wrote: »

They've achieved loads in their 3 years together! 7 GSs, 3 GS finals, and he finally completed the Career Slam. Will be interesting to see if Marian will go back to being full-time or will someone else be brought in.

Boris Becker must be target #1 for a few coach-less players. Raonic split with Carlos Moya. Milos/Boris could be an interesting pairing.

No doubt Becker was an amazing appointment, however i'm not sure he would work as well with anyone else. He basically had a 'perfect' tennis player in djokovic who needed someone he respected to give him focus and bounce things off. Raonic needs a bit more and I don't think that becker is a 'technical' kind of coach...

he can walk away from djokovic (looks like he was given the heave-ho whatever the statement says) after a job well done and his reputation considerably embellished

walshb

Becker may have had an effect, but like Ali with Dundee, a great will always be a great.

MisterAnarchy

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Ballot for Wimbledon 2017 open today
https://www.aeltc.com/BallotApp/os/BallotForm

I applied but I'm not sure I like the draconian terms they have introduced for overseas applicants .

If you are offered tickets in the ballot, you must pay for them yourself in advance by credit or debit card and then collect the tickets in person from the AELTC on the day of play. You will need to show photographic identification which shows your name (e.g. passport or driving licence) as well as a current proof of address (issued within the last 3 months of ticket collection) which matches the name and address with which you applied (e.g. utility bill, bank statement etc) in order to collect your tickets
You cannot ask someone else to collect your ballot tickets for you; ballot tickets cannot be given as gifts or sold or transferred to someone else

lostcat

walshb wrote: »

Becker may have had an effect, but like Ali with Dundee, a great will always be a great.

He certainly had an effect, Djokovic let 6 slams pass him by in 12 and 13, when he was good enough to have won 2/3 of them (at least).
It was apparently Vajda who encouraged him to get another voice into the camp to turn things around.
There's no way Djokovic would be sitting on 12 slams now if Becker hadn't been there.

yerwanthere123

MisterAnarchy wrote: »

I applied but I'm not sure I like the draconian terms they have introduced for overseas applicants .

Pretty sure the ballot has always been like that though?

RosyLily

^ Yeah, I had to bring photo id and a bill when I got ballot tickets a few years ago. They never checked them (just looked at the confirmation email) but if I didn't bring them they'd probably ask.

MisterAnarchy

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Pretty sure the ballot has always been like that though?

Last time I applied online ,there were no such restrictions but that was a few years ago.
Before that I had to send in a stamp addressed envelope to enter ,I dont recall any restrictions then either but saying that I have never won any tickets .:(
Hopefully this will be my year

Jan_de_Bakker

Murray wins sports personality of the year for a record 3rd time.
According to the BBC it must be because he is the greatest tennis player of all time.

So there.

yerwanthere123

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

Murray wins sports personality of the year for a record 3rd time.
According to the BBC it must be because he is the greatest tennis player of all time.

So there.

Oh really? Is that what they advertised him as?