OT: The Tennis thread

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Genie wins a tough match over Cibulkova (6-1, 4-6, 6-4) and faces Cornet of France in the final.

 

[tducey]

Good for Genie, in the finals should be a good confidence boost for her.

 

[puckhead]

The Tennis Racket: Secret Files Expose Evidence Of Match Fixing

• Winners of singles and doubles titles at Grand Slam tournaments are among the core group of 16 players who have repeatedly been reported for losing games when highly suspicious bets have been placed against them.
• One top-50 player competing in the Australian Open is suspected of repeatedly fixing his first set.
• Players are being targeted in hotel rooms at major tournaments and offered $50,000 or more per fix by corrupt gamblers.
• Gambling syndicates in Russia and Italy have made hundreds of thousands of pounds placing highly suspicious bets on scores of matches – including at Wimbledon and the French Open.
  
• The names of more than 70 players appear on nine leaked lists of suspected fixers who have been flagged up to the tennis authorities over the past decade without being sanctioned.

 

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Good news: Genie wins her opening match
Not so good news: Vasek drops his opening match.

 

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MELBOURNE -- Back in 2007, someone tried to offer Novak Djokovic roughly $200,000 to lose a first-round match at a tournament in St. Petersburg, Russia, he said Monday at the Australian Open.

Djokovic said he wasn't approached directly. Instead, "I was approached through people that were working with me at that time," he said, making clear that the offer was flat-out rejected. He didn't even attend the tournament, but he said he still didn't like the fact that someone even bothered to consider him for such a thing.

"It made me feel terrible because I don't want to be anyhow linked to this kind of -- you know, somebody may call it an opportunity," he said. "For me, that's an act of unsportsmanship, a crime in sport honestly. I don't support it. I think there is no room for it in any sport, especially in tennis."

Djokovic: I was offered $200K to lose match

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Gotta agree with what ive heard that tennis could be one of the easiest sports to fix. Individual sport so only one person to buy. So much prop and set betting that even the best seed can throw a set here or there and few would blink an eye at it

 

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Gotta agree with what ive heard that tennis could be one of the easiest sports to fix. Individual sport so only one person to buy. So much prop and set betting that even the best seed can throw a set here or there and few would blink an eye at it

Heck, isn't that how Richard Williams got rich, whenever Venus played Serena, he decided who was going to win

 

[tducey]

Good to see Genie advance to Round 2, hopefully Raonic does the same tonight.

 

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A clinical performance from Milos (6-1, 6-4, 6-4) in just over 1 hour and 26 minutes. On to round 2.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Nadal out in the first round.

Match fixed?

 

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Nadal out in the first round.

Match fixed?

I watched that match, if Nadal tanked it, he deserves an Oscar. Verdasco was phenomenal, he was hitting bombs off the forehand wing.

 

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Heck, isn't that how Richard Williams got rich, whenever Venus played Serena, he decided who was going to win

On that note, Venus (seeded 8th) loses 6-4, 6-2 in the first round (not to Serena, but to an unseeded player).

/I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

I watched that match, if Nadal tanked it, he deserves an Oscar. Verdasco was phenomenal, he was hitting bombs off the forehand wing.

I think he deserves one just based on his amazing performances in those Poker Stars commercials.

 

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I think he deserves one just based on his amazing performances in those Poker Stars commercials.

Better Poker Stars actor, Nadal or Cristiano Ronaldo?

 

[KennyBanyeah]

A clinical performance from Milos (6-1, 6-4, 6-4) in just over 1 hour and 26 minutes. On to round 2.

Well yeah he dominated but who was the faster runner out there???

Wake up little snoozy!!

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

Better Poker Stars actor, Nadal or Cristiano Ronaldo?

Nadal in the tub is pretty dreamy...

 

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Well yeah he dominated but who was the faster runner out there???

Wake up little snoozy!!

Sorry, you're right Kenny, an Isner type slide is imminent for Milos.

/Which is kinda funny because Isner has his best season on tour last season.

 

[tducey]

Good win for Raonic last night. Genie plays tomorrow vs. the #4 seed. She's beating seeds as of late, hope she does so again tomorrow.

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

The Genie did not beat the #4 seed.

 

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The Genie did not beat the #4 seed.

She broke Radwanska to go up 4-2 in the first set, played a loose service game and was broken right back, and then proceeded to lose 9 of the next 11 games. To be fair, Genie played okay, but too much high risk tennis, she doesn't have to paint the lines with her ground strokes, if she dials that back some, the unforced errors will come way down.

/She still needs to fix her first serve though.