2021 In Between Grand Slam Thread

25-10-2021 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118072059#Comment_118072059

Murray hasn't been able to win more than 2 matches at a tournament all year - can he do it here?

First win over a player inside the top 20 in 13 months

klr87 · 25-10-2021 11:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118072527#Comment_118072527

So, for the hold-outs, the choices are now, in increasing order of common sense (which cannot be taken for granted with any of these):

Don't go
Allow no time for warm-ups events, arriving in Australia 14 days or so before the start of the tournament [NEW]
Go very early so that they can complete the 14-day quarantine before playing one or two warm-up events [NEW]
Get vaccinated!

The problem with option (3) is that a player and their entourage could be spending Christmas and/or New Year in quarantine. And option (2) would leave a player at a significant disadvantage in terms of preparation. There's a continuum between those two extremes, but there's no way I can see of completely avoiding both problems, exept by option (4).

klr87 · 25-10-2021 11:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118072531#Comment_118072531

He's also up to 99 in the live ATP race, which is a much more accurate indicator than official ranking of 143. The latter is probably still affected by 2019 points being retained due to COVID-19, just as for the women. So it's likely he'll make the AO main draw under his own steam, unless the rankings don't revert to normal.

yerwanthere123 · 25-10-2021 11:56pm

I wouldn't be taking that letter from the Australian Open as gospel. The messaging from the Australian government has pretty much been no vaccination no entry, so I doubt they'll be making any exceptions for tennis players. I personally think Djokovic et al. will come to their sense and get vaccinated soon.

Looking ahead at Vienna, hoping we'll have a decent semi final line up on Saturday because I'm after treating myself to some tickets 😎

klr87 · 26-10-2021 7:50pm

Emma Raducanu wins her first ever main draw match on the main WTA tour, beating Polona Hercog 4-6 7-5 6-1 in Cluj.

Odd thing to say about a Grand Slam champion 😀

lostcat · 27-10-2021 2:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118076698#Comment_118076698

She really caught a wave at the US Open, will be interesting to see if she can cement a place in the top 10 in the medium term. It doesn't look like she will qualify for the year end WTA finals which must be very unusual for someone who won a slam in the given year. it shows just how far from nowhere she has come I guess.

Some considerable see-sawing from various Aussies on the vaccination requirements in recent days, currently it looks like non-vaccinated people might be let into the country but not the state in which the tournament is to be played! Anyone for a shadow Aus Open in Perth?

27-10-2021 6:52pm

Murray downed by Alcaraz in 2 sets who was much better on the UE count compared to Indian Wells.

Murray out-of-breadth after points a lot by the end of the match.

Great movement by Alcaraz and that forehand is already one of the best shots on the ATP Tour.

29-10-2021 3:59pm

Another deeply impressive win for Alcaraz in a very compelling match that went the distance as he takes down another Top-10 player in the form of the powerful Berrettini in the Vienna quarter-final 6-1, 6-7, 7-6

Hard to believe that he's only 18 since May in terms of the composure that he displays on the big moments

There has been nothing seen like him on the men's tour in terms of doing it at 18 since Nadal

Itssoeasy · 29-10-2021 5:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118090641#Comment_118090641

I was keeping an eye on that match and as you say it’s amazing how well the young players both men and women are doing at only 18,19.

Simona Halep won easily against her fellow Romanian 6-1, 6-1 and is into the semi final in Romania where she could play Emma Raducanu should she win later today.

29-10-2021 5:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118091036#Comment_118091036

With all due respect there have been plenty of young female players beating Top-10 ranked seeds and who (the young players) are also tournament winners at 18 on the WTA over the years but not on the ATP since Nadal 15 years ago

(Nishikori won a tournament young but was not really playing like Alcaraz in terms of maturity and composure)

It's just much harder to do it against fully grown men in a tour that is much more consistent also over its history

29-10-2021 6:44pm

Raducanu blitzed by another teenager 6-2, 6-1

Increasingly looking like "Just another WTA Grand Slam Winner" - bizarre as that may sound it's not an oxymoron

It's hard to know what to make of WTA results

yerwanthere123 · 29-10-2021 7:36pm

Raducanu being written off in her second tournament post US Open win 😏

Anyway, looking forward to seeing Alcaraz in the flesh tomorrow! Had my eye on the potential Zverev match all week so glad to see it's come to fruition. I suppose the Austrian crowd will probably be cheering for Zverev? I might have to cheer for Alcaraz quietly.

Hoping I'll see Sinner tomorrow also, don't mind who he plays against.

29-10-2021 7:43pm

Well Raducanu is going down the Sofia Kenin route more than anything else so far.

If she was actually going to be consistent quality she shouldn't be getting hammered 6-2, 6-1 by another teenager (19) who has been around on tour for a few years but who has done absolutely nothing

Outside Serena there hasn't been a consistently good WTA player since Henin retired in 2008 (not counting the comeback effort)

MisterAnarchy · 29-10-2021 7:46pm

He is pretty handy for 97

https://twitter.com/WeAreTennis/status/1454048896066457607

yerwanthere123 · 29-10-2021 7:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118091615#Comment_118091615

Better forehand than Gasquet

29-10-2021 11:06pm

Sinner is in good form

He should get to the final

Zverev is the heavy favourite against Alcaraz but hopefully Alcaraz can make a match of it - will be interesting to see if he can get any change out of the Zverev serve

Itssoeasy · 29-10-2021 11:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118091425#Comment_118091425

She struggled to win her first match of this tournament but looked much better in her second match and I didn’t see the one today(I saw the end of the halep match which is why I gave the score) but it sounded like she never got into the game.

30-10-2021 12:10pm

This guy at 18 gets it.

Love the way he tries to play big tennis on the big points - and getting smarter all the time on shot selection.

Djokovic has shown these guys the importance of the trait - paving the way for the next generation of standard bearers.

Driving the standard - without that well you can see what happens.

30-10-2021 2:27pm

Alcaraz over-powered by Zverev today who was very good - serving just too good with 80% first serves in and they were big.

Alcaraz wanting on his own serve with 50% first serves in.

30-10-2021 3:48pm

Looks like Sinner is cruising to a straight sets win also.

Not very interesting semi-finals.

Final should be better - two form players.

Sinner really motivated to do well here because he wants to lock down his place for Turin and he has a tough draw in Paris so can't count on getting a lot of points there.

dublin49 · 30-10-2021 4:58pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118094329#Comment_118094329

He was,and now looks like Tiafoe cant lose from here.funny ould game,

30-10-2021 5:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118094588#Comment_118094588

Yes.

Surprising turnaround there.

Didn't watch it as looked like a done deal.

Can't see Tiafoe troubling Zverev too much in the final but if Zverev's serve is off might have a chance.

dublin49 · 30-10-2021 6:28pm

watched his comeback,Sinner caved once Tiafoe started to play a little,Tiafoe can work the crowd with his antics and then feeds off them,great win.

30-10-2021 6:36pm

Halep rinses the rinser of Raducanu 6-0, 6-1 (Kostyuk)

The prize money in that tournament is a bit of a joke - less than 30k dollars for the winner

30-10-2021 6:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118095100#Comment_118095100

Sinner not impressed apparently with the "crowd working / stirring" on the part of Tiafoe

“In my opinion, Tiafoe went too far today. He did too much. It’s one thing when you put on a show, it’s another thing when there’s no respect. I don’t know what happened, but today I think he went a bit too far.”

yerwanthere123 · 30-10-2021 8:22pm

Good day in the arena today, even if none of the matches were exactly classics.

I think what turned the Sinner-Tiafoe match around was the crowd. Tiafoe got them on his side and thrived off of it. The Austrian crowd were already a few beers in at this stage so it didn't take much to get them going 😂 Once sinner failed to serve it out it was a different match.

It was weird cause I was expecting the crowd to be on Sinners side with his Austrian roots, but apparently not. I stayed for the doubles SF at the end too but wasn't very invested tbh.

klr87 · 31-10-2021 6:06pm

In the Cluj fnal between the top two seeds, Annett Kontaveit beat Simona Halep 6-2 6-3, and in doing so took the last spot at the WTA finals from Ons Jabeur, who was injured this week. There's no stopping Kontaveit at the moment. That's her second title in two weeks, her third since the US Open, and her fourth since August.

yerwanthere123 · 31-10-2021 10:07pm

Kontaveit won 26 of her last 28 matches to qualify, impressive stuff. Love these end of season tears that players sometimes go on to make the finals, reminds me of Kuznetsova back in (I think) 2016.

With Krejcikova being the only grand slam champion to play it this year though I can't exactly see it being a sell-out...

klr87 · 31-10-2021 11:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118099539#Comment_118099539

Correct, Kuznetsova won Moscow in 2016, and literally had to go straight from there to Singapore to play in the WTA finals, where she caused a stir by cutting her own hair mid-match! At least there is now a week between the last qualifying tour event and the finals.

In 2017, Caroline Garcia came from nowhere to win the two big Chinese events (Wuhan and Beijing) back to back, eventually edging out Jo Konta for a place in the Finals.

There was also just one slam winner in the 2015 Finals (Flavia Pennetta), as Serena finished her season after losing to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-finals, failing to complete the calendar year slam. It was still a strong line up though: This year's is not going to be as strong, but it should be very competitive.

klr87 · 01-11-2021 10:52pm

Well, that's a sickener for Murray. He had 7 match points against Lucky Loser Daniel Koepfer in Paris, but lost 4-6 7-5 7-6(9). There was a match in Queens in 2014 where he lost in straight sets to Stepanek despite having 9 set points in the first set, but that was just the first set. He's usually been on the other side of these episodes. In the Shenzhen final the same year, he saved 5 championship points against Tommy Robredo, and another 5 against Robredo again in Valencia a few weeks later! Then there was that epic 20-18 tie-break in Dubai in 2017, when he saved 7 match points against Kohlschreiber.

01-11-2021 11:20pm

Zverev's serving did big damage again (82% first serves in) taking the final against Tiafoe but some fun points, like this one.

https://youtu.be/ebK6NzZoA00?t=300

01-11-2021 11:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118104473#Comment_118104473

7 MP's - no excuses tbh

to some lucky loser guy who has almost as many double faults as aces in his career!

The Whitaker and Croft Amazon pearl-clutcher duo were massively bigging Murray up also pre-match, saying how inferior Koepfer was (even though he's ranked far higher)

Some gutless play on the MP's - didn't have the balls to try to win them - most were pusher shots down the middle that were eventually punished or terrible shot selection such as a poor drop shot attempt or wild wide backhand cross-court swipe.

It's coming up on 3 years since Murray had his hip surgery (Jan 2019) - must be the longest "comeback" ever?

I get that he might sell a few extra tickets at tournaments with all the wildcards that he got this year but how long can that go on?

You'd have to wonder how much toll Murray put on his body in Autumn 2016 when he played all those consecutive tournaments to get the ATP points to get to No.1 The following June, in 2017, the long-standing hip problems forced him out of tennis and he's still on the "comeback".

02-11-2021 4:31pm

Alcaraz comes through a very entertaining match vs Herbert (who rose to the occasion with the home turf backing, he was superb at the net at times and very attacking and unconventional even if he did crack a bit with double faults at the end of the last game)

But yet again Alcaraz shows a lot of maturity and composure in terms of the mental stakes on the big points, especially for his age but impressively for any age really as many ATP players falter exactly there

Only his second indoor ATP Tournament - and he got to the semi-final in his first one weekend

Up against Sinner next - Sinner surely favourite but can hope for a good match

Alcaraz progressing nicely - needs to do some work on the serve (he had no chance vs Zverev with his own serve off) which will surely be an off-season focus but couldn't really hope for a better "coming out season" on the ATP and rising in the rankings steadily to set himself up for next year

02-11-2021 4:40pm

Thiem only got vaccinated last Friday

https://www.krone.at/2545752

02-11-2021 11:05pm

it's game on between Djokovic and Fucsovics

Back on serve in the final set 3-2

Solid robust player Fucsovics who has a game that can trouble Djokovic

But Djokovic comes through as the difference in class tells eventually.

03-11-2021 1:19pm

Just watching Musetti there losing against the unheralded journeyman Duckworth

Have rarely seen such a half-hearted player on the ATP

I called it when Musetti just quit on the court against Djokovic at Roland Garros that he wouldn't go far, despite protestations here I recall

Since that he has done absolutely nothing, going out in the first or second round wherever he goes

It later turned out of course that he had in fact, quit for no reason other than he just felt like it

https://tennishead.net/musetti-retired-because-couldnt-win-a-point-musetti-admits-he-was-not-injured-against-djokovic/

Big job for a sports psychologist right there

03-11-2021 7:57pm

Alcaraz beats Sinner (who had broken into the ATP Top 10 this week at a younger age than Federer).

Alcaraz got lucky in the first set tie-break with some net-cord help but he got there after coming back from a break down. Big composure on the big points in evidence again.

Such variety in his play also.

The movement of Alcaraz took Sinner's net game out of the equation effectively and forced him to force the baseline shots so he missed more.

Alcaraz is perturbing for opponents in terms of how quickly he can get around the court and disrupts their normal game plan.

When he gets around to developing a good serve he will be a beast.

Future of men's tennis is assured with Alcaraz around in any case.

He's the genuine article, no flash-in-the-pan.

Would love to see him come up against Djokovic when he has his serve in order, before Djokovic fades too much.

yerwanthere123 · 03-11-2021 10:24pm

It's a bit disappointing that Alcaraz-Sinner weren't put on Centre Court. You'd think given the fears about men's tennis when the big 3 retire they'd have hyped this one up to the max.

I know it's easy to say this about any young up and coming player when they're breaking through and playing without fear, but he really does look like he'll be around for a long time to come. At this very early stage I think he'll have a better career than Sinner, just got bigger weapons with more variety too.

04-11-2021 6:27pm

Zverev doing a Medvedev New York 2019 on the Bercy crowd.

Bring it on gestures etc

I know of someone who won't approve

His NOT No.1 fan.

She'd have a whale of a time if he lost.

Dimitrov blew 7 break points in the third set.

Truly a baby Fed in that regard.

Zverev converted his one.

https://i.imgur.com/aLHyALn.png

yerwanthere123 · 04-11-2021 10:50pm

F*cking hell. We've gone from obsessing over the lineswoman who got struck in the throat last year, to Naomi Osaka and now Catherine Whitaker, complete with weight jibes. Such sad stuff, why isn't this thread moderated any more 😭

Anyway, interesting match between Korda and Medvedev there. Korda obviously a great prospect but not yet experienced enough to hang with players like Medvedev in longer rallies on slow courts. I hope he's a factor going forward though.

Alcaraz and Gaston coming up now, will be interesting to see how Alcaraz handles the crowd. Although he overcame Herbert in the first round so he does have some experience this week already.

04-11-2021 11:10pm

Well she's not afraid to throw her opinions about on players so as an ever-increasing presence as a public figure she is not immune to comment herself!

That's the way it works for precisely any person in the media.

If Sharon Ní Bheoláin appeared on the news looking like someone who ate her sister it wouldn't escape comment.

05-11-2021 12:03am

Some great points in the Alcaraz - Gaston match

Tough crowd literally and Gaston is so fast

Not your typical tennis match

yerwanthere123 · 05-11-2021 12:39am

Um, so yeah. After being up 5-0 in the second set, Alcaraz loses it 5-7, including a streak of 17 consecutive lost points. Gaston wins 6-4 7-5. Hopefully a tough lesson that he'll be able to learn from and not something that'll linger in the mind.

05-11-2021 12:47am

Tough day at the office for Alcaraz

The entire crowd pretty much cheering your every missed serve, nevermind shot not easy for sure especially not having faced anything like that before

Even the New York crowd at their worst don't get that bad!

They got him

Gaston is an interesting player but Medved will tear him apart most likely in the next round

Medvedev is well-versed in handling home crowds

Probably will work out an experience that will stand to him for Alcaraz in the long run that Ferrer will debrief him on

05-11-2021 7:46pm

Good response

He'll never lose to Gaston in his career ever again I will predict

Hope the octopus / giraffe Medvedev shuts up the frogs this evening

https://www.instagram.com/p/CV5DOw8qmsh/

yerwanthere123 · 05-11-2021 8:32pm

The French crowd lustily cheering missed first serves 😬

05-11-2021 8:54pm

Medved hitting 80% FS so not much net cheefing and Gaston couldn't put his foot on the piston to take his chances in the first set - had 2 set points and netted a couple of drop shots when it would have been better to play the percentage

Now a break up in set 2 it's hard to see Gaston getting back in

Medved showing how to deal with the crowd by setting his own pace of doing things

Big serve very useful on these occasions

Alcaraz will have to pose more of a threat in that area

Double break

She'd be safe to break into song in the Amazon studio

lostcat · 05-11-2021 9:28pm

that second set was good fun

05-11-2021 9:31pm

That crowd are brutal

Far worse than RG at its worst because it's indoors

Don't know how Medvedev managed to get over the line there in that "atmosphere"

Glad he did it

yerwanthere123 · 05-11-2021 11:11pm

Medvedev must be one of the most experienced now at getting through awful crowds, at least in recent times anyway. Bloody hell.

2021 In Between Grand Slam Thread

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