2020 In Between Grand Slam Thread

31-03-2020 7:19pm

whiterebel wrote: »

The same Fed who was one point away from adding to his total at the last Wimbledon? I wouldn't write him off just yet. He might still hang around for the Olympics.

or this thing might just retire him.

although I think that he has in his mind to stick around until he is 40 to make some sort of statement.

only has to make it to Aug 2021.

yerwanthere123 · 01-04-2020 4:01pm

Wimbledon cancellation confirmed.

lostcat · 01-04-2020 4:28pm

First time since WW2 that Wimbledon has been cancelled.

On the larger picture, and assuming that in fact no slam will go ahead this year,
this will hurt Nadal and Djokovic more that Federer. Fererer will miss out on max one potential slam (don't forget that he is injured anyway) , the other two will miss out on potentially 3.

Also a year out at this stage will only bring on the younger guys a bit and Nadal and Djokovic will be a year older in 2021, it will be slightly harder to win stuff.

Djokovic said after the AO that he intended to dedicate this year to getting the record for most weeks at No 1 and he would ease off on a full schedule thereafter. Will be (mildly) interesting to see how he approaches next year.

camz09 · 02-04-2020 1:21am

Djokovic stays undefeated for 2020 season, Idemo.

JK, I'm sad. I miss tennis. This sucks.

josip · 02-04-2020 10:23am

camz09 wrote: »

Djokovic stays undefeated for 2020 season, Idemo ("we go").

No mozemo, moramo da cekamo kuci. ("we can't we have to stay at home")

CassieManson · 21-04-2020 10:19am

Anyone else watching the Instagram chats with Nadal, Murray, Federer, Djokovic? They're very entertaining - nice to see how they interact now there's no tennis to watch.

Am really missing the tennis!

lostcat · 21-04-2020 11:34am

CassieManson wrote: »

Anyone else watching the Instagram chats with Nadal, Murray, Federer, Djokovic? They're very entertaining - nice to see how they interact now there's no tennis to watch.

Am really missing the tennis!

yeah i watched the djokovic / murray one and a bit of the djpokovic/stan one, they are fairly engaging guys and fairly frank once you take them out of the post-match presser scenario.

Bit taken aback that Djokovic seems to be an anti-vaxxer tbh, I had thought he had moved on from that stuff.... topic for a different thread in any case.

Murray made the interesting point that he has ended up playing against the best players of all time on each of the three surfaces during his career...

Chivito550 · 25-04-2020 8:14pm

European Athletics Championships in Paris 26-30 August cancelled. I think Roland Garros going ahead is very optimistic.

mzungu · 25-04-2020 10:43pm

Aye, RG is not looking likely at all. Thats before you take into consideration the strange reschedule date and all the problems that would cause.

yerwanthere123 · 28-04-2020 7:14pm

Surprised nobody mentioned Federer's proposal about the ATP and WTA merging as one.

https://twitter.com/rogerfederer/status/1252922285096423424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1252922285096423424&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennisnet.com%2Fen%2Fnews%2Froger-federer-and-rafael-nadal-want-to-tour-men-and-women-together

Nadal apparently agrees...

https://twitter.com/RafaelNadal/status/1252957445342846978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1252957445342846978&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tennisnet.com%2Fen%2Fnews%2Froger-federer-and-rafael-nadal-want-to-tour-men-and-women-together

... yet last year had a very different stance.

https://twitter.com/BellshawGeorge/status/1252994186267316229

A lot of people thought that Federer didn't just bring this up out of the blue, and was more than likely testing the waters a bit. Serena also tweeted this, but swiftly deleted it.

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More then likely all three were in on it to try and gauge the reaction.

Pospisil kinda blew their cover afterwards though:

https://twitter.com/VasekPospisil/status/1253013470015938563

Don't know how I'd feel about a combined tour, difficult to give an informed opinion when we've no idea what form it could take. I wonder what they have in mind, a completely combined tour? More combined tournaments? 50/50 precedence at grand slams? The women having to play best of 5 in some form?

I'd be cautiously in favour for the moment until we get more information. Knowing who the ATP have elected and re-elected to their player councils in the past, I'd be very wary of giving them any kind of a say in women's tennis.

It also makes me question whether they're trying to fix something that isn't broken. I know at the grand slams the ATP are often given precedence over the WTA, but this has to happen when the men play best of 5 and the women don't. At the combined tournaments though they women do often get given the late starts and less of the show courts.

Whatever the motivation is for whatever they're proposing it may become a necessity when the tours return. Both might not be in great shape and may need to work together to get back on track.

lostcat · 29-04-2020 6:25pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Surprised nobody mentioned Federer's proposal about the ATP and WTA merging as one......

Obviously choreographed, Federer and Nadal are usually closely aligned and they are both recently back on the ATP players council.
Federers management company - Team 8 - has male and female clients (inc. Coco Gauff, heir apparent to the WTA) so a bit of synergy may not be a bad thing from his point of view.

As a casual viewer I don't really see whats in it for the smaller party (WTA) unless they are promised a trailer of cash. They already have equal prize money and play most of the same tournaments at the same time so its difficult to see where a load of additional sponsorship might come from.

The constant shenanigins at the top of the ATP would concern me if I were the WTA also.

As noted, it may be that by the time everyone gets back on court in a serious way both tours will be seriously weakened and a bit of mutual propping up will be a matter of neccessity rather than choice...

Hector Savage · 10-06-2020 9:25am

It's just woke nonsense and virtue signalling another way to say womens tennis is just as good as mens .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.. we get it !!

anyway USO not looking likely either ...

https://sports.yahoo.com/impossible-play-under-u-opens-172413984.html

whiterebel · 10-06-2020 4:20pm

Federer missing the rest of 2020 due to another knee arthroscopy. I presume he'll win the AO again next year now......:D

Hector Savage · 10-06-2020 4:42pm

whiterebel wrote: »

Federer missing the rest of 2020 due to another knee arthroscopy. I presume he'll win the AO again next year now......:D

"The rest of 2020" ... pity he'll miss a whole bunch of tournaments :rolleyes:

No tennis till AO2021 earliest and even that probably won't happen

mzungu · 10-06-2020 9:47pm

Hector Savage wrote: »

"The rest of 2020" ... pity he'll miss a whole bunch of tournaments :rolleyes:

No tennis till AO2021 earliest and even that probably won't happen

AO21 may very well happen, but most likely behind closed doors. If all other major sports are back up and running, then there is a good chance tennis will also get the go-ahead.

Hector Savage · 11-06-2020 12:29pm

mzungu wrote: »

AO21 may very well happen, but most likely behind closed doors. If all other major sports are back up and running, then there is a good chance tennis will also get the go-ahead.

Players don't want it going ahead behind closed doors...

yerwanthere123 · 11-06-2020 2:15pm

US Open announcement coming on Monday the 15th. Seems like they'll confirm what we've known all along and cancel.

Chivito550 · 11-06-2020 11:51pm

Grand slam tennis without fans is not grand slam tennis.

Some sports can take place without fans. I don't believe tennis is one of them.

yerwanthere123 · 11-06-2020 11:57pm

Chivito550 wrote: »

Grand slam tennis without fans is not grand slam tennis.

Some sports can take place without fans. I don't believe tennis is one of them.

What's the solution though? Supposing a vaccine isn't rolled out until late 2021 or early 2022, what do they do? They'll have to get on with it.

yerwanthere123 · 15-06-2020 3:06pm

US Open still going ahead, apparently.

It's been mad seeing tennis happening at the Adria Cup in the Balkans this week. Full crowds, ballkids, handshakes and no social distancing.

Meanwhile, here's Djokovic, Zverev and co. enjoying a night out
https://twitter.com/NBASerbians/status/1272458960856068097

Apparently Djokovic had a word with the Coronavirus and it agreed to take a few days off in Serbia. Thanks Nole!

yerwanthere123 · 16-06-2020 5:36pm

Mayor of New York confirms US Open will be played in its original slot, will be interesting to see how this goes and who'll show up. Halep already said she won't be, and that she won't be playing anywhere outside Europe for the rest of the year.

Doubt we'll be seeing anyone from Australia either, given they'd have to quarantine for two full weeks when they come back. Although it could be worth the trip for someone like Ashleigh Barty who'd be a genuine contender. I imagine for a lot they'll choose between one of the US Open and the French.

josip · 16-06-2020 6:08pm

What are the proposed dates for the US Open and revised French Open?

Sorry, did a google for my lazy question

French 20th Sep - 4 Oct
US 24th Aug - 14 Sep

So would anyone who takes part in the US Open be ruled out of the French Open under current quarantine requirements?

yerwanthere123 · 17-06-2020 1:47pm

Venus is 40 today! What an unbelievable career, I wonder how long more she'll keep going for.

yerwanthere123 · 17-06-2020 5:15pm

Revised WTA calendar. Can't believe they're actually planning to go ahead with Wuhan :pac:

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And the ATP.

Note also that there's now an extra week between the US Open and the French, perhaps trying to entice more players to play both. Serena has confirmed today that she'll be playing the US Open, might be her best chance yet to finally get #24.

yerwanthere123 · 21-06-2020 7:50pm

Grigor Dimitrov has tested positive for Covid-19. I have absolutely zero sympathy for him and everyone else who partook in this Adria Cup sham, cúnts every single one of them. Tournament has now been cancelled.

mzungu · 21-06-2020 11:48pm

The Adria Cup was irresponsible from the get-go. I hope this is a wake up call for all involved to take things seriously from here on in. It puts not only the restart in jeopardy, but more importantly the public.

lostcat · 21-06-2020 11:50pm

mzungu wrote: »

Adria Cup was irresponsible. I hope this is a wake up call for all involved to take things seriously from here on in. It puts not only the restart in jeopardy, but more importantly the public.

The whole affair was ill judged but, in fairness, there is no lockdown in Serbia at present (all restrictions were lifted around 45 days ago which was handy as the elections they had over the weekend would have been constitutionally invalid if there had been anything 'unusual' happening in the 45 days beforehand).

The pubic in Serbia were nightclubing and galavanting anyway so not sure what a tennis tournament will add to the mix. I expect numbers to be going up there anyways.

I can't see how it puts the restart in jeopardy but it will certainly reinforce the need for a test 14-16 days before attending. It would be ironic if Djokovic, Thiem, Zverev etc. missed the upcoming slams due to this tour which was, I assume, well meaning but dumb.

CassieManson · 22-06-2020 10:15am

Borna Coric also tests positive for covid

whiterebel · 22-06-2020 11:47am

I’ve seen it mentioned that 2 coaches have tested positive too.

yerwanthere123 · 22-06-2020 12:36pm

whiterebel wrote: »

I’ve seen it mentioned that 2 coaches have tested positive too.

https://twitter.com/tumcarayol/status/1274973813491535877

Djokovic, meanwhile...

https://twitter.com/tumcarayol/status/1274969936046239745

Where to even start?

Rjd2 · 22-06-2020 5:23pm

I don't mind tennis happening atm, lots of other sports happening, but this event their seems to have been no precautions taken and at times it felt like Novak was saying **** you to those worried about it.

Novak if he were to get it will be absolutely fine, heck he may not even know he even had it, but does he not realise that everyone he bumps into these big gathering simply are nowhere as healthy as he is?

josip · 22-06-2020 5:26pm

I'm surprised any of the top guys risked it.
Even a small amount of lung scarring will severely impact a high level athlete.

lostcat · 22-06-2020 11:22pm

Rjd2 wrote: »

I don't mind tennis happening atm, lots of other sports happening, but this event their seems to have been no precautions taken and at times it felt like Novak was saying **** you to those worried about it.

Novak if he were to get it will be absolutely fine, heck he may not even know he even had it, but does he not realise that everyone he bumps into these big gathering simply are nowhere as healthy as he is?

In fairness anyone who is worried about it didnt have to come. There is a very different attitute to this in the Balkans, 25k turned up for the belgrade soccer derby last week. Big gatherings are happening with or without the tennis.

I would have expected a bit more cop on from the players in fairness, and apart from maybe Zverev they are old enough to know better. Djokovic was looking for a good news story, but this has really blown up in his face. Given that he spent a good deal of the lockdown in Spain and so would have been well aware of the horrors there, its hard to know how he rationalised this. I dont agree with much of what Kyrgios says, but his 'boneheaded' tweet is spot on.

josip · 23-06-2020 1:08pm

(Very) unconfirmed word on the ground is that Djokovic has tested positive for Covid but I can't find it on any news feed yet.

[Update] Now confirmed.
https://sport.blic.rs/tenis/korona-virus-adria-tour-novak-djokovic-vesti-ima-koronu-pozitivan/lpgwnfm

yerwanthere123 · 23-06-2020 1:26pm

Yep, and his wife too. Also Viktor Troicki if that wasn't already mentioned. Dumb idiots all round. This is gonna be hugely, hugely damaging to Djokovic, don't think he'll ever live this down. At the very minimum his position on the ATP council is no longer tenable.

dominatinMC · 23-06-2020 1:37pm

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Yep, and his wife too. Also Viktor Troicki if that wasn't already mentioned. Dumb idiots all round. This is gonna be hugely, hugely damaging to Djokovic, don't think he'll ever live this down. At the very minimum his position on the ATP council is no longer tenable.

One would wonder how the disease will impact on his physical performance too. I know he is a finely-tuned, extremely fit athlete, but there is some evidence that Covid-19 can lead to lung scarring and other long-term consequences.

josip · 23-06-2020 1:57pm

Maybe this was his plan all along to get immunity, like a chicken pox party

velo.2010 · 23-06-2020 2:07pm

What a prat. He (and the organisers) has put the return of tennis this year in danger of not happening. Talk of him being voted out of the players council head role.

Apparently, he is anti-vaccine and has spouted a lot of pseudoscience nonsense recently. I wonder if this postive test wil change his mind... probably not.

Gwynplaine · 23-06-2020 9:26pm

No matter how good he does for the rest of his career, this will haunt him forever. A foolish man.

Royale with Cheese · 23-06-2020 9:54pm

Maybe now he can stop trying so hard to be loved like Federer and Nadal, stop doing his stupid boob throw celebration and can embrace being the villain.

mzungu · 23-06-2020 11:12pm

No great shock that this happened. No idea what he was thinking tbh.

lostcat · 24-06-2020 8:23am

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Maybe now he can stop trying so hard to be loved like Federer and Nadal, stop doing his stupid boob throw celebration and can embrace being the villain.

the fact that this 'tour' was taking place party to promote places where he is pretty well loved and respected wuold suggest that it wasn't necessarily 'self promotion' he was aiming for. He ended up getting somewhat more self promotion than he bargained for...

This will have some legacy issues I would think, but it will fade into the ether in time, if he gets to 20 odd slams, he can hang his hat on that.

Between this and the recent 'magical powers with a snake oil salesman' social media stuff, it would be preferable if someone with such influence kept his questionable health and wellness ideas to himself.

yerwanthere123 · 24-06-2020 2:35pm

All this is made even worse by the fact that Serbia has massively under-reported their figures. Twice as many have died than the government announced and hundred more infected.

Girly Gal · 28-06-2020 10:23pm

josip wrote: »

Maybe this was his plan all along to get immunity, like a chicken pox party

Wouldn't be a bit surprised by that at all. He'll be recovered in time and probably cleared to play for the US and French opens, if he were to win both, this episode will be long forgotten about. It'll only be brought up if he fails to win either.

walshb · 30-06-2020 11:35am

BBC2 1.30 the next while is Wimbledon Rewind. I missed it yesterday. Anyone know what they showed? Today they revisit four U.S. champions; Evert, Navratilova, Davenport and Venus Williams.

yerwanthere123 · 04-07-2020 2:28pm

Now Tiafoe has tested positive for Covid-19, had been playing an all-American exhibition event in Atlanta. More question marks for the US Open.

Hector Savage · 07-07-2020 10:52am

https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/53048847

Vote for your favourite womens Wimbledon final.
I voted for 1998 Novotna v Tauziat purely for what it meant for Jana after that 1993 heartbreaking final against Graf - even Graf was crying!!

Hector Savage · 08-07-2020 12:28pm

..and the mens ..
https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/53052577

2008 Nadal v Federer probably the best for tennis and drama, but had to vote for 2001 Ivansevic v Rafter ... amazing final ..

dominatinMC · 08-07-2020 1:51pm

Hector Savage wrote: »

..and the mens ..
https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/53052577

2008 Nadal v Federer probably the best for tennis and drama, but had to vote for 2001 Ivansevic v Rafter ... amazing final ..

2008 Fedal all the way for me. Transcended the sport and made a tennis fan for life out of me

Hector Savage · 08-07-2020 2:30pm

dominatinMC wrote: »

2008 Fedal all the way for me. Transcended the sport and made a tennis fan for life out of me

I'd agree but I was a huge Goran fan .... also can't stand Nadal but yeah still an amazing final ...

2020 In Between Grand Slam Thread

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