No Delpo kind of gave up as Murray gained momentum. The rain came after.
This Ramos-Vinolas guy is just walking around as if he has no enthusiasm or energy. He’s got to perk up or something if he wants to beat Djokovic. Come on man! Get some pep in your step brother!
Dude was up a break in the first set and when he ended up losing the set, I guess he thought that’s it, I’m done.
He didn’t seem to have any kind of weapon to hurt Djokovic. When I was watching he seemed content to swat the ball back to the middle of the court most of the time. I guess he didn’t want to give Djokovic any angles to go for.
He impressed me a few times. Like when he came from 0-4 down in the 1st tie break to almost win the tie break (only to then lose the tie break). Or in the 3rd set, when he won a couple of really incredible rallies. Those games in the 3rd set at 1-2 and then at 2-2 were the key games. He put up a good fight, but when Djokovic won those games and it became 3-2, it was all over.
Johnny Mac in fine form as the self-appointed Commissioner of Tennis talking about Margaret Court:
The match this morning was glorious. Jeļena Ostapenko kicked butt. She was so fun to watch and root for. Halep was good to, in her reliable defensive way, but Ostapenko was the one taking all the chances, hitting shots and either missing or making them. I’m so happy for her.
French Open champion, and she just turned 20 two days ago. She still looks and acts like a teenager, and she still has baby fat on her face. I loved seeing a person of a new guard win. I think Halep will get another chance and win a grand slam one day too.
In tomorrow’s match, it’s old guard vs old guard. Rafa Nadal in his 10th French Open final against Wawrinka. It should make for a good match, I hope.
That final was so good this morning. It’s a great reminder that the French Open is my favorite Grand Slam and that I’m mad at the world for not having more accessible French Open coverage, damn it. I hope ESPN picks it back up next year.
Be fun if Stan the Man could make it happen. He’s only beaten Rafa on clay once, at the 2015 Italian Open. (I actually attended a match there on my honeymoon, but not that one!)
Well, that was a clinic.
I guess Rafa’s back.
Yeah, like McEnroe said, that was like watching Picasso at work. You can’t help but just admire it.
Makes you wonder if he can catch Fed? He’s 31 and 3 majors behind. He could win another three French Opens – really not inconceivable. He might win a different major too. I don’t see him winning on grass but he’s a threat at the US and the Aussie.
So when is the younger generation going to rise up? Where are the new lions? The top 5 are all 29 or older now, aren’t they?
Oh yeah, take a hike, Discourse:
This topic is clearly important to you – you’ve posted more than 20% of the replies here.
Are you sure you’re providing adequate time for other people to share their points of view, too?
Hahaha, forum software with attitude. I just got that message too.
Jon Wertheim:
This is meant not to enflame a border war but strictly as an historical observation. The fifth set of the Federer/Nadal 2017 Australian Open—a 42-minute interregnum—will have consequences on tennis history that will echo for decades. Nadal holds that break of serve, the major title differential is 17-15. Nadal wins here and it’s 17-16. And his head-to-head record is superior, especially in the biggest matches. And—get this—he would have won a major at age 31; Federer’s last would have been 30. As it stands, Federer wins that match, goes up 18-14 in Majors and banks a biggie at age 35. That, kids, is a rivalry.
He’s right. The stakes of some Fed/Nadal matches have been immensely high. (Nadal also probably stopped Federer from winning a calendar-year grand slam twice.)
It’s pretty nice that what must be the greatest rivalry in tennis history is still going on. (Rivalry in the larger sense – career vs. career – in terms of head to head, it’s obviously pretty heavily in Rafa’s favor.)
Thread title is one for four so far. .
Alright, so Murray is out, Jerkovic is out, Nadal is out. Three big tall servers remain on the men’s side and Roger Federer. If this was the old Wimbledon of the 90s, I wouldn’t like his chances. But this new slower Wimbledon? I think the tall bombers have their advantage equalized a little bit.
I still think he can easily lose to Birdych, Cilic or Sam Querrey, but I really hope this is Slam # 19 for him, to put some more distance between him and Nadal and the likely resurgent Djokovic who will come back and win some more slams soon.
For the women, it’s down to Mugaruza, the really attractive French Open Champ from last year, and Venus Williams, who really has not won enough slams in her career unlike her sister. So I’ll be rooting for Venus.
Also, how about that Sam Querrey huh? He beat Djokovic in the 3rd round last year, and this year took out Tsonga in a really exciting 5 set match, and outlasted an ailing Murray in another 5 setter. Wouldn’t it be kind of amazing to have the first men’s US champion at Wimbledon since 2000 when Sampras won for the last time?
I think Fed either needs to have an off-day or Berdych needs to have a great day. Federer often doesn’t try to do much with the return other than chip back and make the opponent volley up if rushing the net. Once he gets his return in the point, things start to shift Federer’s way.
The other thing is no one is cracking Federer’s serve this tournament. I think he’s lost 3 service games so far. He’s placing it so well he’s getting all kinds of easy points.
All things being equal, Federer, even at 35.9 years of age, is the better player than the three remaining in the draw. His normal game against their normal game, he likely wins.
He recently said he likes playing as the favorite. He didn’t like being the underdog during the last few years. I think he’s got this. It’s the old Felix. The engine is back. (Armor by John Steakley reference).
I was really surprised to see Venus was in the final. I think at some point over the last couple years I assumed she had retired.
And down goes Querry. Cilic will be a tough opponent in the final. He’s won a major before. One of the few outside the Big Four who have won one in the last 10-12 years. I think it’s just Cilic, Del Potro, and Warwinka. (It really should be the Big Five as Warwinka has equaled Murray at this point.)
Wimbledon has always been Venus’s best major. She has five wins there and seven majors overall. Interestingly, she has been runner-up to Serena seven times in majors. They are an amazing pair of tennis players.
Bummer… I watched the first set before work and Querrey played well. I was hoping he’d win it.
Federer is still the favorite IMO.
Wow. That was quite the turnaround in the women’s final. It started out as a hard fought match, but seemed to me like Venus would gut it out. Then Muguruza just flipped a switch or something and didn’t drop another game. Almost makes me wonder if Venus has a nagging injury or something. She was so dominant coming in to the match that I didn’t even think it would be that competitive.
Yeah, that was a great, tense final in the first set. Every point was so hard fought. Great rallies, lots of power strokes and rallies. And then Venus missed those 3 break chances at 5-4 that would have won her the first set. And then when she didn’t break there, she never won another game in the rest of the match. Once she was broken at 5-5, she started making all kinds of errors, and just seemed to be mentally checked out to me.
Still, great first set. Good final overall.