2018 In Between Grand Slam Thread

Rikand

Watching Eastbourne here at the moment. Yer wan Sabalanka looks to be a lovely player.

Powerful and quick!

Joe_ Public

Been impressed with Sabalenka all week, looks fairly dogged when pressure is on too. But think Woz just a bit flat after a great s/f with Kerber yesterday, just slow to get going here.

Joe_ Public

Thoroughly enjoyed that match and the whole tournament. Sabalenka seems to have a great attitude as well as a good game, that she'll be top 10 player very soon is an easy prediction to make.

mickmackey1

Bit strange that Halep doesn't support her home tournament in Bucharest.

Joe_ Public

"I have heard that all the girls play at the international tournament in Bucharest, it is very nice for Romania. I do not know for sure if I will participate, but mostly not because it's on the grass and it's hard enough" Halep explained, according to Agerpres.

She mentioned that she was trying to get used to the turf on the next grass as soon as possible. "Every year is the same, I'm trying to get there early and get the best out of Wimbledon," added the number one player in the WTA rankings.


A very crude translation it has to be said, but suggests it's surface related in some way and nothing to do with fatigue or injury.

mickmackey1

She did mention in her final Wimbledon presser that she was looking forward to a good holiday. More of a scheduling issue I'd say.

Joe_ Public

Yeah obviously didnt suit her for some reason anyway. She was there in the crowd this morning anyway so if she's on holiday, its of the busmans variety!

yerwanthere123

Before the Summer hard court season begins, anyone wanna try predicting the US Open champs, just for fun?

For the ATP it's difficult to see anyone outside of the big 3. Federer isn't playing as well as last year, so for me it'll probably be a toss up between Djokovic or Nadal. Djokovic seems to have his mojo or whatever back, so if it was a Djokovic/Nadal final my money would be on Djokovic. Del Potro is a wildcard pick, but he's lost to Nadal at three of the last four slams. Not even gonna bother making a case for Thiem/Zverev/Kyrgios etc, they flop too often for consideration.

Whilst RG has the reputation for being the random WTA slam, I've often felt it's the US Open that throws up more random champions when Serena doesn't win i.e Stosur, Pennetta, Stephens etc. Halep, Kerber and Wozniacki should be in the mix here, also worth noting that this has been Kvitova's strongest slam for the last three years, and was within two points of the SF's last year. I'd like Azarenka to be in the mix, but who knows what the story will be with her travelling situation this Summer, plus she didn't have any noteworthy results the last couple of months even when she has been able to travel. Muguruza has never made it past the 4th round here, but was unfortunate enough to meet peak Petra last year. This is also Pliskova's strongest slam and she's due a run. Of course I haven't mentioned Serena yet. Even when clearly not at her best she made the Wimbledon final, and I wouldn't be surprised to see her do the same here, but it still feels like it may be a little too soon to win #24, I think Melbourne might be the more realistic target still.

All things considered, I'll go for Djokovic and Halep.

jr86

Yeah looking forward to the US Open series, am always a big fan of the Autumn hardcourt season - in the main decent times to watch matches and I love that time of the year overall

I don't think federer will win any more slams, he's 37 in a week or two, and it was quite telling when he pretty much tailored his year again around the grass season but played so poorly compared to last year. I don't expect him to then just go and rock up and win in New York. In any case he hasn't won here in what ten years? I could actually see an earlyish exit draw depending

I'm still cautious about declaring Djokovic back to his best for the moment. he was tremendous in the Wimbledon semi and final, but a nice early draw let him play himself into form, at the US he'll have to start all over again. I don't think we'll ever see Djokovic reach the levels of before on a consistent basis.

I'd have Nadal as the favourite myself, I think he's playing consistently better this year, the Ashe court suits him and he's won here a few times. he appears to be playing injury free also. He's probably got the least uncertainty around him - for me

Delpo, raonic, Nishikori have too much of an injury cloud around them at all times, and along with cilic I'm not convinced they'll beat top guys back to back. All 4 are as likely to exit early as reach the final

I think we'll get a surprise run from someone here, maybe even a new slam finalist? Think the venue/courts may suit guys like Edmund, Shapovalov, Coric and they could be in contention to have a deep run

Always a tough slam to predict outsiders as a lot of players are burnt out/injured

Hector Savage

Can only see Nadal winning the US, nothing has changed since last year, yeah Djokovic is "back" ... but how back is he ?

New guys will do nothing .... as usual.

PlaneSpeeking

Hector Savage wrote: »

Can only see Nadal winning the US, nothing has changed since last year, yeah Djokovic is "back" ... but how back is he ?

New guys will do nothing .... as usual.

Of the newbies tbh only Sacha Zverev impresses me.

Royale with Cheese

I've a feeling we will see a winner outside the big 3 in New York. I am basing that on absolutely nothing.

Floppybits

When does the build up to the US Open start?

yerwanthere123

Floppybits wrote: »

When does the build up to the US Open start?

Depends what you mean by build up. There's tournaments underway right now, but the next big tournaments would be Toronto/Montreal starting a week from Monday, then Cincinnati the week after. San José (formerly Stanford) for the WTA begins next week.

Floppybits

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Floppybits wrote: »

When does the build up to the US Open start?

Depends what you mean by build up. There's tournaments underway right now, but the next big tournaments would be Toronto/Montreal starting a week from Monday, then Cincinnati the week after. San José (formerly Stanford) for the WTA begins next week.

Well I was thinking of the ATP 500/1000 when we will see the big boys come out to play. Is sky showing these build up tournaments or have the lost those as well?

Niles Crane

Floppybits wrote: »

Well I was thinking of the ATP 500/1000 when we will see the big boys come out to play. Is sky showing these build up tournaments or have the lost those as well?

I think they are on sky this year but next year there will be no ATP tour matches on UK or Irish TV.

Chivito550

Niles Crane wrote: »

I think they are on sky this year but next year there will be no ATP tour matches on UK or Irish TV.

Will Queens not still be on BBC? And the ATP Finals?

Niles Crane

Chivito550 wrote: »

Will Queens not still be on BBC? And the ATP Finals?

Might be special deals for thoise events but the deal seems to be that all ATP matches will be on Amazon Prime next year.

this is what it says on wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Video

In August, Amazon acquired the British television rights to the ATP World Tour beginning 2019, replacing Sky Sports. The deal will run until 2023 and will exclusively show all masters 1000 events and 12 500 and 250 series tournaments. Amazon will be the third party pay TV provider for the ATP finals and starting in 2018 for Queens Club and Eastbourne tournaments.

Rob2D

Proper good tennis here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqAthw-ZJ9g

CassieManson

Andy Murray wins his first match in Washington

Floppybits

CassieManson wrote: »

Andy Murray wins his first match in Washington

I think the big test for Murray is how is after the match rather than result of the match. It is good that he won but for me it will be how is his hip is for the next game?

yerwanthere123

Um. Wow. Jo Konta hands Serena her worst ever career loss, 6-1 6-0. Serena won the first game and then lost the next twelve.

Probably not too much to take away from this, probably just a horrible day at the office for Serena when she's approaching 37 years of age and returning from maternity, but still, what a result for Jo Konta.

Rjd2

How on earth does anyone let alone Serena lose a match 6-1 6-0 to Jo Konta in 2018?

Floppybits

Rjd2 wrote: »

How on earth does anyone let alone Serena lose a match 6-1 6-0 to Jo Konta in 2018?

It is all these drugs tests she has to do.

CassieManson

Floppybits wrote:

I think the big test for Murray is how is after the match rather than result of the match. It is good that he won but for me it will be how is his hip is for the next game?

Yes bigger test against Kyle Edmund in the second round

yerwanthere123

Rjd2 wrote: »

How on earth does anyone let alone Serena lose a match 6-1 6-0 to Jo Konta in 2018?

Apparently Jo played lights out tennis, and Serena was appalling, so I guess anything can happen really, especially at her age and returning from having a child.

Floppybits wrote: »

It is all these drugs tests she has to do.

Yeah I'm really not sure what the motivation behind those complaints by Serena were. All very bizarre

Floppybits

Roll on 9.30 this evening for Murray vs Edmund, the battle for the British number 1 because we all know that's the only number 1 that counts. 

Rjd2

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Yeah I'm really not sure what the motivation behind those complaints by Serena were. All very bizarre

She knew it would be lapped up by a lot of people who had zero interest in actually fact checking her statements. Clever if obviously cynical PR.

Joe_ Public

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Apparently Jo played lights out tennis, and Serena was appalling, so I guess anything can happen really, especially at her age and returning from having a child.



Yeah I'm really not sure what the motivation behind those complaints by Serena were. All very bizarre

I'd guess a combo of Williams at her grimmest low and Konta at her most delirious high could contribute to such a result. Still a shock, sure, but Konta, on her day, is a powerful and damn fine player. Just needs more consistency, but you can say that for most of them really.

As for the testing, well I'd have limited sympathy for Serena given that the number of times she gets tested pales into insignificance when you compare athletes in other sports. 5 out of competition tests in 2018 may be bothering her because it seems excessive compared to her fellow players, but then Madison Keys claims to have been tested "8 or 9" times so we can't even be sure of that.

Niles Crane

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I'd guess a combo of Williams at her grimmest low and Konta at her most delirious high could contribute to such a result. Still a shock, sure, but Konta, on her day, is a powerful and damn fine player. Just needs more consistency, but you can say that for most of them really.

As for the testing, well I'd have limited sympathy for Serena given that the number of times she gets tested pales into insignificance when you compare athletes in other sports. 5 out of competition tests in 2018 may be bothering her because it seems excessive compared to her fellow players, but then Madison Keys claims to have been tested "8 or 9" times so we can't even be sure of that.

The best players should be tested much more often than the lesser players and that applies to every sport.

If the number 50 in the world is a doper well that's no problem for the sport as nobody gives a toss about them, if the best in the world is a doper it's massive negative for the sport and so the best have to be kept on their toes and make sure they don't even attempt to try breaking any rules.