Pity, would have been a nice storybook win for Venus.
Meanwhile, Fed’s in the final! Woot woot
I agree. My dad was pulling for Muguruza, but I was really hoping for another win from Venus. Plus she would have become the oldest woman to win a Grand Slam.
It amazes me how good she still moves and plays. I remember when Navratilova made her “old age” run in 1994, we all thought wow, look at that old lady go. Back in the 80s I always supported Chris Evert against Navratilova, but that 94 run at Wimbledon was something else. However, Martina was apparently 280 days older than Venus is now when she reached that final, so she still holds the record there. Still, that means Venus about the same age as “old Martina” in 94. That really puts her age into perspective.
Dominating performance by Fed over a rattled and possibly injured Cilic.
19 slams. Unreal.
I found it both disappointing amd humorous that the ESPN commentators were trying to make such a big deal about the world #1 ranking rather than mentioning US Open, just because another network will be carrying it.
Fedtastic! The match itself wasn’t very good but I’m happy to see Fed win Wimbledon again.
The crazy thing is that with Djokovic with an elbow problem and Murray with a hip problem, Fed is probably the favorite at the US Open, and if those two are slow coming back, he could be the favorite at all but the French next year. He may still have another major or two win in him.
The new guard isn’t showing much. The old guard is still dominant, and now Giles Muller at 34 is looking good too.
Yeah, it’s a shame it was such a poor match. I avoided the internet all morning, since I couldn’t go over to watch with my dad on ESPN. ABC was showing the match at 2pm Central, so I was trying to avoid all tennis news until then. And I was actually successful!
Oh well, at least Fed won. The injuries were rampant in this tournament, and yet, none of the young guys were able to take advantage of that. Thiem still looks like the most promising of the newcomers. Querrey is coming into his own. Muller too.
On the women’s side, I think Muguruza and Kerber are definitely the new guard. Pliskova too, if she hadn’t been attacked by that burglar. Halep still needs that extra help to get over the mental hump. Konta is one to watch now as well. Of course Sharepova isn’t that old yet, just sidelined for drug use. She should be back for the U.S. Open. Should be interesting.
As for the men’s side on the U.S. Open, I’d say Federer and Nadal are definitely the favorites. If Murray and Djokovic do pull out of the tournament, it will be interesting to see which of the young guys advances far into the tournament, and what that does for their confidence. I think Wawrinka is always one to watch, and I hope Del Potro does well. I really hope Monfils does well, and I really hope Tsonga wins at least one major in his career. Maybe now is finally his time? I hope so.
The U.S. Open will be carried by ESPN.
I like Zeverev too. Kygrios has the game but not the mentality. I can see Raonic winning a major too. He’s got the big serve and forehand that will go far at Wimbledon and the US Open, as he’s already done.
Really, though, Fed and Nadal (and Djokovic and Murray once they get healthy) are holding the door shut. They’ve wiped out an entire generation of tennis players.
That only makes me a little sad when I think of players like Monfils and Tsonga never winning any majors. For everyone else during this era, my attitude is: tough luck, but if you want to win, you have to get better. Djokovic and Murray and Wawrinka found a way to do it. Del Potro and Cilic found a way. They are the only ones though, once Fed and Nadal really got going. It is pretty amazing to look at this list.
Grand Slam winners
2017 Wimbledon Roger Federer
2017 French Open Rafael Nadal
2017 Australian Open Roger Federer
2016 U.S. Open Stan Wawrinka
2016 Wimbledon Andy Murray
2016 French Open Novak Djokovic
2016 Australian Open Novak Djokovic
2015 U.S. Open Novak Djokovic
2015 Wimbledon Novak Djokovic
2015 French Open Stan Wawrinka
2015 Australian Open Novak Djokovic
2014 U.S. Open Marin Cilic
2014 Wimbledon Novak Djokovic
2014 French Open Rafael Nadal
2014 Australian Open Stan Wawrinka
2013 U.S. Open Rafael Nadal
2013 Wimbledon Andy Murray
2013 French Open Rafael Nadal
2013 Australian Open Novak Djokovic
2012 U.S. Open Andy Murray
2012 Wimbledon Roger Federer
2012 French Open Rafael Nadal
2012 Australian Open Novak Djokovic
2011 U.S. Open Novak Djokovic
2011 Wimbledon Novak Djokovic
2011 French Open Rafael Nadal
2011 Australian Open Novak Djokovic
2010 U.S. Open Rafael Nadal
2010 Wimbledon Rafael Nadal
2010 French Open Rafael Nadal
2010 Australian Open Roger Federer
2009 U.S. Open Juan Martin del Potro
2009 Wimbledon Roger Federer
2009 French Open Roger Federer
2009 Australian Open Rafael Nadal
2008 U.S. Open Roger Federer
2008 Wimbledon Rafael Nadal
2008 French Open Rafael Nadal
2008 Australian Open Novak Djokovic
2007 U.S. Open Roger Federer
2007 Wimbledon Roger Federer
2007 French Open Rafael Nadal
2007 Australian Open Roger Federer
2006 U.S. Open Roger Federer
2006 Wimbledon Roger Federer
2006 French Open Rafael Nadal
2006 Australian Open Roger Federer
2005 U.S. Open Roger Federer
2005 Wimbledon Roger Federer
2005 French Open Rafael Nadal
2005 Australian Open Marat Safin
2004 U.S. Open Roger Federer
2004 Wimbledon Roger Federer
2004 French Open Gaston Gaudio
2004 Australian Open Roger Federer
2003 U.S. Open Andy Roddick
2003 Wimbledon Roger Federer
That is an amazing list. Both Fed and Nadal have more majors than any other male players, and Djokovic is tied for 5th with Emerson, who won his when the best players were on the pro circuit and couldn’t play in the slam events.
I thought Djokovic was going to top Federer after he won the French last year. He looked like he was good for 2-3 majors a year for a few years. Then the wheels came off. I think he will come back and win again, but he’s 30 now and players tend to not win as much after 30. Murray I could see quitting if his hip issue is something that might affect his post-tennis life.
If you think about it, it’s easy to see how the Big Four kept everyone else at bay, other than Warwinka. If you’re a young player you will have two of them in your side of the draw, so you potentially have to beat them both. You might get one upset, but it’s difficult to get two upsets. Imagine having to beat both Djokovic and Federer to win a major. Tough task.
Djokovic doctor says it’s a bone bruise, and he’s unlikely to play in the U.S. Open.
Hmmm. Google says this:
Most bone bruises slowly heal over 2 to 4 months. A larger bone bruise may take longer to heal. You may not be able to return to sports activities for weeks or months. If your symptoms don’t go away, your health care provider may give you an MRI.
He may shut it down for the rest of the year.
The U.S. Open coverage should start in 30 minutes on ESPN in the U.S.
This time I’m subscribing to SlingTV for a month. It’s really annoying that you can’t do DVR on ESPN though. It means that when I’m at work, there’s no way to watch the coverage later. ESPN3 coverage is not as good, because it’s individual matches you can replay, not the broadcast coverage that goes from one match to the next, covering the most important moments.
So where’s the men’s field?
Wawrinka, Djokovic, Murray out of the Open, to injuries. Federer had some kind of knee injury that was blamed for him losing a warm-up tournament leading to the U.S. Open.
So I figure Nadal is a shoe-in as the favorite to win, not just that he’s the top seed for the first time in years.
I secretly hope that Tsonga will finally win his first major, or barring that, that Federer’s injuries aren’t as bad as they’re saying.
I’m not sure what’s going on on the women’s side this year. Is Azurenka back from having a baby yet? I know I haven’t heard of Serena giving birth yet, so I don’t think she’s back.
EDIT: Coverage started at 1pm Eastern, not Central, so we’re already underway apparently.
Oh hey, on the Women’s side, Sharapova is back from her drug use ban tonight. And because she’s not ranked, she’s playing Halep tonight. So that should be a really good first round match under the lights tonight.
Also, apparently the Federer injury in question is his back, it gave him trouble in Montreal, and he pulled out of the Cincinnati tournament because of it.
Fed tweaked his back but still played the Cincinatti Masters final and lost to Zeverev. He says he’s ok. I wouldn’t really call Nadal the favorite. This is not a clay court tournament. He didn’t make the finals in any of the run-up hard court tournaments.
I think there’s a good chance we will see one of the younger players break through. Dimitrov just won a tournament, beating Kygrios. Zeverev beat Fed recently.
There is an astonishing number of top players missing from the US Open, though. Besides Murray, Djokovic, and Warwinka, both Kei Nishikori and Milos Raonic are out. That’s five of the top 11 missing.
Fed Fed Fed Fed Fed Fed Fed
that is all.
It’s weird that Murray waited until they made the draw before withdrawing because of his hip injury. There’s some speculation that he was trying to game the rating points a bit. By letting the draw proceed he made it more likely that Fed and Nadal would play before the final, which means the loser would receive fewer points.
I don’t know if that’s why he did it, but you’d think he would know before the draw if he was going to play. If he had withdrawn before the draw Fed would have moved up to the second seed and would not have been in the same half as Nadal.
Wow, that’s just mean. Not only gaming the system, but depriving the fans of a potential Fed-Nadal epic final, potentially.
Speaking of the draw, can’t imagine Halep is too pleased with it right now
My favorite headline from yesterday:
GOAT has kid.
Different topic, I’m relieved that Federer didn’t have to do another five-set match last night.