The 2017 In Between Grand Slam Thread

yerwanthere123

Qualies already underway so time to start the new thread.

Most of top players playing this week, WTA side are playing in Brisbane, Auckland and Shenzhen, whilst ATP are playing in Brisbane, Doha and Chennai. There's Hopman cup as well, of course. Don't think I'm even gonna attempt to make any predictions, after 2016 it's just too unpredictable.

Here's hoping to an excellent season!

2017 WTA Tour
2017 ATP Tour

yerwanthere123

Laura Robson begins her year with a loss in Auckland qualies. Loses to Tereza Martincová in a third set tiebreaker after having three match points. Not a terrible loss, but not a great start either.

I feel this is a big year for Laura, if she doesn't start to make some serious headway I fear she never will again. Sure enough she improved her ranking by over 600 places in the last couple of years, but she did have her PR and of course the British WC's to lean on. Now on a six match losing streak too. Time is on her side of course, she'll only be 23 in January, so I'm hoping for the best.

Shame Jamie Hampton will probably never make it back on the tour, almost three years now since she last played a match.

Floppybits

Bouchard loses in first round in Brisbane. She needs to take serious stock of the situation and start making changes.

http://www.tsn.ca/bouchard-falls-in-brisbane-opener-1.641911

yerwanthere123

So.... Serena, Kerber, Wozniacki, Cibulkova, Radwanska and Halep all posting early losses in the first week of the season. Great start :pac:

Everything going to plan so far on the ATP side, even Dimitrov is winning matches.

mickmackey1

No Aussie Open thread yet but... Simon Carr set to make his GS debut:

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=264683

yerwanthere123

So Verdasco just choked away four match points to Djokovic. Djokovic wins it in the third set.

yerwanthere123

Lisicki withdraws from the Australian Open.. draw blown wide open :pac:

Floppybits

Murray and Djokovic putting on a drop shot exhibition at the moment.

Jan_de_Bakker

I said at the start if Djokovic wins this he has a chance - a chance at the AO , if Murray wins it he is done for.

yerwanthere123

Murray saving all those match points :cool: This may only be a 250, but it's such an important match heading into the Australian Open.

Jan_de_Bakker

Easy 4 slams for Murray this year .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

RobertKK

Djokovic is back, he wins Australia.

RobertKK

That was a good game, apart from an ATP win, a psychological win for Novak, and showing form at the right time.

Jan_de_Bakker

RobertKK wrote: »

Djokovic is back, he wins Australia.

He has a chance now .... had he lost i would have thought mentally it would have been it for him ..

mickmackey1

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

He is indeed done for, especially losing it like that today after having 3 MPs .."

Stick to your guns lad :pac:

lostcat

pretty good win for djokovic, he looks like he might be refocusing (then again, he really should have lost yesterday so time will tell),

couple of walkabout games here and there from murray cost him dearly, he reverts to being waaay too passive without lendl in his box

Djokovic obviously did a bit of work on his overhead it was pretty good today, murray interestingly seemed to win most of the longer points

Overall I just wish these two could wrap it up a bit quicker in general, it took an hour longer than it should have.

Couple of interesting results doing the rounds this week, so looking forward to melbourne now

yerwanthere123

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

Easy 4 slams for Murray this year .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Oh hey the monkey/coyboy builder! Was wondering why I hadn't seen you in a while.

lostcat

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Oh hey the monkey/coyboy builder! Was wondering why I hadn't seen you in a while.

this

Jan_de_Bakker

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Oh hey the monkey/coyboy builder! Was wondering why I hadn't seen you in a while.

Howdy!

yerwanthere123

Big week for Dimitrov, wins Brisbane and defeats three top ten players along the way.

Pistachios & cream

James McGee just won his first round qualifying match for the Australian Open 7-6 7-5.

Jan_de_Bakker

ahayes84 wrote: »

James McGee just won his first round qualifying match for the Australian Open 7-6 7-5.

Yep .. really would love to see him qualify , 2 more rounds tho ..

RobertKK

I should be in bed.

Just watched Mertens beat Bertens in Hobart.

Jan_de_Bakker

McGee won his 2nd qualie !!

6-2 6-4

RobertKK

McGee has lost to Mott just there now.

7/6 3/6 6/3

In the 3rd set at 4/1 he lost on his serve, then broke back and got it 5/3. He got close to making it.

Jan_de_Bakker

It's a real pity, Irish tennis has a long way to go


https://twitter.com/jamesmcgee01/status/820159439227363329

Floppybits

Now that the Australian open is over what's the next big one up, is it Indian Wells? Think the rest are all 250 and 500s?

yerwanthere123

For the ATP yeah, next masters are Indian Wells/Miami in March. Dubai for the WTA in three weeks time.

Chivito550

Random question, but why do they no longer hold ATP events on carpet? I recall that being occasionally used for big events when I was younger.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Why has there never been at least one top level Irish tennis player i.e top 50 or better male or female.Just seems strange that we've produced a number of top level players in other sports but never one in Tennis.

I know the weather in Ireland doesn't maybe suit the sport but it's no different than Sweden or Switzerland and they've done pretty well in the sport over the years.

Chivito550

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Why has there never been at least one top level Irish tennis player i.e top 50 or better male or female.Just seems strange that we've produced a number of top level players in other sports but never one in Tennis.

I know the weather in Ireland doesn't maybe suit the sport but it's no different than Sweden or Switzerland and they've done pretty well in the sport over the years.

That's a question I meant to ask too. As a country we enjoy watching tennis, more so than many sports that we have actually succeeded in. Why does this interest not get translated to success on court?

yerwanthere123

Chivito550 wrote: »

That's a question I meant to ask too. As a country we enjoy watching tennis, more so than many sports that we have actually succeeded in. Why does this interest not get translated to success on court?

I remember this being discussed in a previous thread before, and I think the consensus was pretty much due to a lack of interest in the sport in this country. There really isn't much beyond the two weeks of Wimbledon. Lots of other factors contribute as well such as lack of facilities, extremely expensive tennis club membership etc. Another big one is the poor weather in Ireland means that most tennis courts in this country are Savanna. These play extremely fast and are totally unrepresentative of most of the surfaces in other countries, meaning that the few who do try to make it as a pro player in Ireland find it difficult to cope with the physicality of the game when they travel abroad.

I'm sure we will have a player some day who'll make some waves, we're pretty much the only Western European country to make zero impact on the sport in recent decades.

josip

I suspect that a lot of sports people with good hand eye co-ordination will end up playing either hurling or golf?

Jan_de_Bakker

Chivito550 wrote: »

That's a question I meant to ask too. As a country we enjoy watching tennis, more so than many sports that we have actually succeeded in. Why does this interest not get translated to success on court?

You think ?
Most Irish people I meet couldn't give a hoot about tennis.
It's also a rich mans sport in Ireland - clubs are very cliquey and closed to outsiders (execeptions of course - like Mt Pleasant - great club)

Have silly rules like whites only - absolute nonsense, non marking soles should be the only request.

99% of courts are Savannah - is this good for an aspiring pro to practice on ?

Get a few decent tennis centers built with indoor hard courts ... with the odd clay/grass court.

Govt can part fund it, there's plenty of money for other sports centers.

Did I see St. Annes in Raheny are removing some courts to put up astro turf 5 aside football pitches ?
I could be wrong here, but if it's true is it any wonder ?
one of the few decent public courts we have and being replaced ...

Chivito550

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

You think ?
Most Irish people I meet couldn't give a hoot about tennis.
It's also a rich mans sport in Ireland - clubs are very cliquey and closed to outsiders (execeptions of course - like Mt Pleasant - great club)

Have silly rules like whites only - absolute nonsense, non marking soles should be the only request.

99% of courts are Savannah - is this good for an aspiring pro to practice on ?

Get a few decent tennis centers built with indoor hard courts ... with the odd clay/grass court.

Govt can part fund it, there's plenty of money for other sports centers.

Did I see St. Annes in Raheny are removing some courts to put up astro turf 5 aside football pitches ?
I could be wrong here, but if it's true is it any wonder ?
one of the few decent public courts we have and being replaced ...

Any chance the tennis authorities could push for indoor tennis centres out at the National Indoor Arena complex in Abbotstown? There's a new 200m banked indoor athletics track, gymnastics arena, National Aquatic Centre, they are about to start building a cycling velodrome and a full sized indoor rugby pitch. There's other stuff out there too. If Tennis Ireland has any ambition should they not be looking to be part of this?

yerwanthere123

Got a nice email this afternoon; an offer of Wimbledon centre court tickets for the women's semi finals :cool:

CassieManson

yerwanthere123 wrote:

Got a nice email this afternoon; an offer of Wimbledon centre court tickets for the women's semi finals

From the Wimbledon ballot?

yerwanthere123

Yup! Very early too, I thought it's usually around March before they're rolled out.

Rob2D

Does this count as news? :p:p



Stupid Wilson and their cash grabs.........I may have to buy a couple :pac:

RosyLily

Sky and Discovery have come to an agreement so Eurosport stays with the Sky package.

Jan_de_Bakker

Rob2D wrote: »

Does this count as news? :p:p



Stupid Wilson and their cash grabs.........I may have to buy a couple :pac:

Nice stick - small head on it tho, but a great sweetspot id imagine!!

Chivito550

Anyone else been having tennis withdrawals this week?

walshb

Chivito550 wrote: »

Anyone else been having tennis withdrawals this week?

I'm still sort of in a daze at both Federer winning his 18th slam after a 5 year drought and the quality of his tennis in Australia.

What stood out more than anything was the accuracy and precision and power on his BH. I always felt that he got overly criticised for this shot. The reason being that he was so damn good in all areas that people had to pick some weakness. The truth is that his BH on form is better than anyone's in history.

You always here about Gasquet's and Stan's BHs. But that is as much to do with the fact that it's their real weapon as opposed to it being the best. Both very good, but not as good as Roger's. Roger doesn't have a real weapon. His presence and genius is his weapon. Their BHs are a little too predictable and deliberate and "forced." Roger's just happens. Just flows effortlessly. It is a deadlier shot


The final score was close, but a bit flattering to Nadal. Nadal threw everything he had, and was very very brilliant. It just shows how good Roger was. I can only think of a peak Nole being a winner against Sunday's Federer, but I am not convinced he beats Roger.

walshb

Am I back to being as big a Fed fan as years gone by? No. But my already massive view on his greatness as a tennis player has gotten a little more massive. No doubt that he is the GOAT as regards ability with a racquet. Nobody close.

Take Johnny Mac who is lauded as being a genius. Tennis wise looks ugly and boring when compared to Roger.

Rob2D

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

Nice stick - small head on it tho, but a great sweetspot id imagine!!

Best stick ever made IMO. Nothing serves better that's for sure. I own 2! :pac:

walshb wrote: »

Take Johnny Mac who is lauded as being a genius. Tennis wise looks ugly and boring when compared to Roger.

Mac has incredible skill with a racket, what planet are you on?! Just looks ugly because it's all natural talent; you can't teach that.

Best hands ever IMO. Plus an uncanny ability to read people. He is a genius............He's an idiot but he's a genius.

walshb

Rob2D wrote: »

Best stick ever made IMO. Nothing serves better that's for sure. I own 2! :pac:



Mac has incredible skill with a racket, what planet are you on?! Just looks ugly because it's all natural talent; you can't teach that.

Best hands ever IMO. Plus an uncanny ability to read people. He is a genius............He's an idiot but he's a genius.

With the ugliest ground strokes in history!

Next to Fed he looks as dull as dishwater.

Floppybits

Davis cup this weekend. Just watching Evans play some young Canadian guy, a lefties with a one handed back hand. He looks handy good backhand but Evans has too much for him.

No Murray or Raonic in this tie.

Jan_de_Bakker

Rob2D wrote: »

Best stick ever made IMO. Nothing serves better that's for sure. I own 2! :pac:

Nice, I used to have a pro staff 6.1 ... lovely sweetspot, but too many mis hits for my liking - you must play at a decent level ?
you have a USTA ranking ?

at best I play at 4.5 ...

Rob2D

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

you must play at a decent level ?

LOL, no just club level.

Jan_de_Bakker wrote: »

you have a USTA ranking ?

How would I have an American ranking in Ireland? :pac:

Jan_de_Bakker

Rob2D wrote: »

LOL, no just club level.



How would I have an American ranking in Ireland? :pac:

Its the only decent global ranking system...

yerwanthere123

Big drama at Fed Cup tonight, Denis Shapovalov defaulted for hitting chair umpire with the ball. Gave him a fine thump too!