Official Wimbledon (and grass court tournies) thread

[Smart]

I think it is a good think, don't you think so, bksballer? It shows it is more competitive than the men.

You are crazy if you think that seeds losing is an indication of the people towards the bottom being good, as opposed to the alternative. All you need to do is watch the matches and see how they are error machines.

Womens tennis is a mess beneath Serena. It's as weak as its been in my entire lifetime. There are some solid streaky talents, but nobody is consistently solid. Even a slumping Wozniacki with no weapons is a top five player. Coco Vandeweghe just beat #11 seed Karolina Pliskova for third round money at Wimbledon. Meanwhile on the Mens side, you have freakishly good players making $20,000 per year on the Challenger Tour.

It's pretty fucked up.

 

[cezero]

Women seeds dropping like crazy as always at a major.

3 more went down today

Women seeds dropping like crazy as always at a major.

3 more went down today

other than serana and kvitova, there's nobody you can feel assured in picking to win matches in the first week here. maybe sharapova this year at Wimbledon since she's had a lot of extra prep time?

and it's not because there's a bunch of ultra-competitive girls displaying their skills. outside a small handful, some are fast, some have a good forehand or backhand (never both), and almost none can serve worth shit.

the WTA is a shambles.

it goes through cycles. there will be 5 years here where the WTA has the better mix of talent, and then another 5 where it's the ATP. right now, women's tennis is borderline unwatchable....unless you're into sex moans/shrieks that so many of them do now.

 

[Liberal Icon]

You are crazy if you think that seeds losing is an indication of the people towards the bottom being good, as opposed to the alternative. All you need to do is watch the matches and see how they are error machines.

Womens tennis is a mess beneath Serena. It's as weak as its been in my entire lifetime. There are some solid streaky talents, but nobody is consistently solid. Even a slumping Wozniacki with no weapons is a top five player. Coco Vandeweghe just beat #11 seed Karolina Pliskova for third round money at Wimbledon. Meanwhile on the Mens side, you have freakishly good players making $20,000 per year on the Challenger Tour.

It's pretty fucked up.

Well, I am not crazy and the more things change the more they remain the same. You have seen how over the years you have one dominant person especially on the women side and also runs. I am sure veterans of the game will tell you that tennis players are hitting harder than ever before and even though it is difficult to construct points as in the past or with serve and volley women tennis have not changed very much and it is amusing to see how the current crop of women have been denigrated in comparison with men.
The problem is so many players especially the Europeans/Russians play too many tours and paddy their rankings what appear diluted in the rankings actually reflect more quantity rather than anything and injuries deplete their ranks. That is what happened in the past when players like Wozniacki and others rose to # 1 ranking without winning any slam creating the impression that women tennis is in shambles.
Apart from Djokovic who is dominating in the men side there are always 3 others like Murray, Nadal, Federer who are solid and may at anytime challenge Djokovic, it is more like a pattern now when Djokovi is still dominating. The same goes on the women side where Serena, like Djokovic dominates followed by Sharapova who creams everybody but Serena, Vika Azarenka who if healthy challenges Serena and sometimes beats her and Petra Kvitova who has won Wimbledon twice and still poses a challenge to Serena. Just as in the men's there seems to be a pattern in the women's as well. In terms of quality, there has always been no comparison with men's and that is a fact.

 

[cezero]

You are crazy if you think that seeds losing is an indication of the people towards the bottom being good, as opposed to the alternative. All you need to do is watch the matches and see how they are error machines.

Womens tennis is a mess beneath Serena. It's as weak as its been in my entire lifetime. There are some solid streaky talents, but nobody is consistently solid. Even a slumping Wozniacki with no weapons is a top five player. Coco Vandeweghe just beat #11 seed Karolina Pliskova for third round money at Wimbledon. Meanwhile on the Mens side, you have freakishly good players making $20,000 per year on the Challenger Tour.

It's pretty fucked up.

correct

but it goes in cycles, as i said

for a bunch of the 2000s, you really only had federer and then everybody else trying to catch up with him. until nadal came along, his only "competition" was roddick for years, and it was abysmal competition at that. the atp as a whole ended up adjusting, and then you had big talents like rafa come along, followed by nole and murray.

i have little doubt that we'll see another half decade where competition on the wta side is stronger than the atp side.

 

[Old Lion]

Well, I am not crazy and the more things change the more they remain the same. You have seen how over the years you have one dominant person especially on the women side and also runs. I am sure veterans of the game will tell you that tennis players are hitting harder than ever before and even though it is difficult to construct points as in the past or with serve and volley women tennis have not changed very much and it is amusing to see how the current crop of women have been denigrated in comparison with men.
The problem is so many players especially the Europeans/Russians play too many tours and paddy their rankings what appear diluted in the rankings actually reflect more quantity rather than anything and injuries deplete their ranks. That is what happened in the past when players like Wozniacki and others rose to # 1 ranking without winning any slam creating the impression that women tennis is in shambles.
Apart from Djokovic who is dominating in the men side there are always 3 others like Murray, Nadal, Federer who are solid and may at anytime challenge Djokovic, it is more like a pattern now when Djokovi is still dominating. The same goes on the women side where Serena, like Djokovic dominates followed by Sharapova who creams everybody but Serena, Vika Azarenka who if healthy challenges Serena and sometimes beats her and Petra Kvitova who has won Wimbledon twice and still poses a challenge to Serena. Just as in the men's there seems to be a pattern in the women's as well. In terms of quality, there has always been no comparison with men's and that is a fact.

Please do not tell me you are comparing who Serena faces with who Nole faces to win tournaments. In the words of Johnny Mac, "You cannot be serious!"

 

[Old Lion]

Posposil and Fognini was an interesting matchup. Posposil is the better grass player and he won out. Poor Fognini, such a big talent with such a little brain. The dude could have been top 10, but just does not have the mentality to get there.

Dr Ivo and The Dog is another interesting one. Just started up.

 

[cezero]

 

[gobigred]

Dustin Brown upsets Rafael Nadal in 4 sets in 2nd round

 

[Old Lion]

Nice. Finally a US man who is actually exceeding expectations for a change.

 

[cezero]

Nice. Finally a US man who is actually exceeding expectations for a change.

lol. brown is german/jamaican.

i agree completely about american men's tennis, though. isner does the best he can, but we have pretty much nothing right now. there are a few kids in the wings who might become something. sock can do well if he works a little harder.

 

[Old Lion]

lol. brown is german.

Doh!

 

[Hornsstampede2.0]

Nadal looks done

When it goes for a tennis player, it goes quickly...

 

[Old Lion]

Nadal looks done

When it goes for a tennis player, it goes quickly...

He is not aging well that is for sure. Maybe he takes the rest of the year off and tries to make 1 last push. maybe he gets lucky and wins another French. Wimby and the USO are a waste of his time at this point.

 

[bksballer89]

How far does Rafa drops now?

This cat is finish.

So happy. I'm off tomorrow so I finally get to relax the next 2 days and enjoy some Wimbledon

 

[bksballer89]

Just finally getting around to the results today. Wow Karlovic & Dolgopolov was by far the best match of the day

 

[bksballer89]

Lots of solid matches tomorrow. I always said GS tournaments really start to pick up in the 3rd round as we begin to have seeded players face one another.

Isner/Cilic
Kyrgios/Raonic
Novak/Tomic
Dimitrov/Gasquet

 

[cezero]

How far does Rafa drops now?

This cat is finish.

So happy. I'm off tomorrow so I finally get to relax the next 2 days and enjoy some Wimbledon

Nadal will stay 10th unless Tsonga does something miraculous.

 

[Fiero425]

How far does Rafa drops now?

This cat is finish.

So happy. I'm off tomorrow so I finally get to relax the next 2 days and enjoy some Wimbledon

Rafa will hang in there at #10 in the world for now! The closest behind him is 500 points back and Nadal is only defending 190 points for the rest of the year! He can't drop past #12 which is important concerning seeds at USO this summer/fall!

 

[cezero]

yeah, rafa haters are going to be sad to see him go straight back up the rankings every time he shows up a tournament and draws breath for the rest of the season

 

[Liberal Icon]

Please do not tell me you are comparing who Serena faces with who Nole faces to win tournaments. In the words of Johnny Mac, "You cannot be serious!"

Yes, I am serious. Are you trying to say that Serena is in the same situation like Steffi Graf, prior to Monica stabbing, where she dominated? The more things change the more they remain the same. You have to compare what women face over the period. I brought in Djokovic to show that within his own domain he faces the same competition that Serena faces. The difference we forget is that Serena's reign has been expansive masking any part of confrontation and rivalry with say Justine Henin, Venus , Capriati, Clijsters, Azarenka et al. And yes Serena has been beaten and often. In fact prior to Clijsters retirement, she was beating Serena consistently. I am not downgrading Serena. I believe she is arguably the Greatest player on the women side even though it is difficult to compare eras.