The Tennis Thread

https://sports.yahoo.com/news/williams-beats-italian-hope-errani-130535283--ten.html

Told you Novak would win it for his fellow Serbs.

 

This is the best time of year for tennis. The French Open is under way with Wimbledon coming hard on the heels of it. :icon_mrgreen:

It's hard to look beyond Djokovic or Nadal in the men's singles. Wawrinka has the potential to win it but he's been a bit inconsistent since winning the Australian Open. I think this is going to be the year Djokovic finally wins it and completes the set of Grand Slam titles.

The women's event is far harder to predict. There's been a few unexpected winners of the French Open down the years. Serena Williams has been carrying an injury coming into the tournament so there's a small question mark there. Li Na is very good on the clay but I watched her play Sara Errani the other week and she was quite poor in that match. I'm going for Maria Sharapova to win it I think. She's won a couple of tournaments on the clay in recent weeks and seems to be in good form heading into the tournament. The one worry for Sharapova is that Serena is in her quarter of the draw and she has a shocking record against Williams. If there's going to be another surprise winner I'm going for Simona Halep.

 

Nadal for the French and an outsider for Wimbledon I think.

 

Wawrinka 2-1 down in sets to Garcia-Lopez(who has beaten him twice on clay before). Could be an upset on the cards here.

 

Wawrinka a double break down in the 4th set. Garcia-Lopez is playing out of his skin here.

 

Wawrinka is out. That's good news for Andy Murray as he is in that section of the draw.

 

Li Na and Grigor Dimitrov head the list of big name casualties on Day 3. Kinda disappointed to see Dimitrov going out to Ivo Karlovic. Dimitrov is a shot maker and pretty entertaining to watch as opposed to Karlovic who has a big serve and nothing else.

 

Serena Williams becomes the latest seed to crash out. Really annoyed at myself for not putting money on Muguruza to win today, I had an inkling she was going to beat Serena.

Not so many shocks in the men's singles with Djokovic and Federer going through in straight sets.

 

I don't understand the match choices of ITV sometimes. On one court you have Rafael Nadal v Leonardo Mayer and on the other show court you have Fabio Fognini v Gael Monfils. ITV choose to show the Nadal match.

I know Rafa is popular but he's going to stroll through his match. Fognini and Monfils are two of the most unpredictable and most exciting to watch players on the tour. Their match could end up being epic. It's a far more exciting match on paper than the Nadal match. Get the finger oot, ITV.

 

Hahahah, Lajović, amazing result for him.
Imagine if he beats Nadal (although chances are minimal and I hope at least he can take 5-6 games), Đoković will be freaking out because he is trying it for so many years to beat him at RG.

 

I feel somehow strange when I see Petković and Mladenović playing against each other and representing Germoney and France.

 

Pure switching between the Murray match and the boxing. Murray in a tough one here, 5th set, 4-4 each

 

10-9 Murray in the final set. Murray saving a break. Kohlschreiber attacking Murray when he can

 

Murray wins the 5th 12-10.

Gulbis 5-4 up on Federer in the first

 

I think I'm the only person who likes Gulbis and have some sympathies for Fognini.

 

I like Gulbis, he's an interesting character.

 

Gulbis knocks out Federer in 5 sets. The momentum really shifted towards Gulbis after he went off for an injury timeout in the 4th set. Federer looked pretty unhappy about it and seemed to be playing with a cloud hanging over him after Gulbis returned.

Was Gulbis really injured or did he feel like the match was slipping away from him and decided to use an injury timeout to get his head together? Only Gulbis really knows.

I do hate the way that bathroom breaks and injury timeouts have crept into tennis though. There is no doubt that on some occasions players are using them as a delaying tactic to try and throw their opponent off. That totally goes against the spirit of the game.

 

What if one truly needs a jobby?

 

It does seem like some players use it to their advantage. Bending the rules to get some breathing space isn't too bad, but when it's repeatedly taking advantage of, it can be annoying. Djokovic and Nadal have both used the medical timeouts in the past to break the momentum of an opponent. Federer has been critical of Djokovic a few times about it.

As you say, it's hard to regulate. But then again, I think Federer is a sore loser so 'nah-nah' Roger

 

I also hate a medical time-out, but Federer won the 4th set. :smiley-laughing002:

Anyway, delighted for Gulbis.

Đoković beat Tsonga so easily.

Sharapova in trouble.