Tennis

Not sure if I think anyone has been consistently eye-catching so far, although Nadal-Thiem and Djokovic-Tsitsipas as the semis could be pretty saucy, hopefully with a good final to follow.

I'd take Svitolina to win the women's, she was heartbreakingly close two or three years ago when she lost to Halep.

22 hours ago, Michael* said:

I'd take Svitolina to win the women's, she was heartbreakingly close two or three years ago when she lost to Halep.

Finger on the pulse as usual. 

On 10/5/2020 at 6:30 PM, Michael* said:

although Nadal-Thiem and Djokovic-Tsitsipas as the semis

Well, one of these is not going to happen.

What a match Thiem - Schwartzman!! 

And I'm genuinely surprised by Sinner! 

12 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

And I'm genuinely surprised by Sinner! 

Yeah, for sure, Sinner can go home with his head held high, two extremely good sets against Nadal on his favoured surface, pushing Rafa as far as anyone has done this tournament.

All we need now is to find a player called Saint to go up against him. Licence to print money. 

49 minutes ago, Michael* said:

Yeah, for sure, Sinner can go home with his head held high, two extremely good sets against Nadal on his favoured surface, pushing Rafa as far as anyone has done this tournament.

And he's only 19! His career will surely be interesting.

49 minutes ago, Michael* said:

All we need now is to find a player called Saint to go up against him. Licence to print money. 

I think everyone was waiting for a breakout tournament from Swiatek and she's already had a string of eye-opening results.

It's also a reminder that successors to a nation's top player can arrive quicker than we think. Maybe it's a sign of old age setting in, but it barely seems like five minutes since Radwanska, one of my all-time favourites, was at the top of her game.

Looks like we're getting the men's final most people wanted and/or expected. From what I saw of the Nadal match it was a valiant effort by Schwartzman, although he was probably never going to seriously trouble Rafa on Chatrier. Djokovic-Tsitsipas ended up being a real thriller, albeit after a slow start.

What the hell happened there lol? I turned it off when Djokovic had won the second set. 

I am sure Tsitsipas will be kicking himself for failing to convert a dozen or so break point opportunities he had  in the first two sets. 

It will be a real struggle for Nadal  under these conditions against Novak. It was evident even today till he hit three forehand winners from 15-40 at 5-all in the third set. 

9 hours ago, elfstone said:

What the hell happened there lol? I turned it off when Djokovic had won the second set. 

It was a strange one and perhaps more of a thriller than a showcase of high quality. Neither player seemed to play well at the same time which ideally is what we want to see, but there was probably more drama that way and I preferred it to the Thiem match.

Amazing tournament by Iga Świątek. She wasn't a complete unknown, but I think it's reasonable to say she didn't have any results to suggest this was possible.

Just as I had been suspecting, Roland Garros switched to an even heavier Wilson ball for this year like the other three slams did in early 2010s. This is why Nadal forehand seems to be  lacking the vital zip that made him invincible on clay in the first place. 

Men's Tennis is FUBAR.  That an utterly talentless tool like Djokovic is able to dominate it for so long is proof enough! 

2 hours ago, jkjk said:

Amazing tournament by Iga Świątek. She wasn't a complete unknown, but I think it's reasonable to say she didn't have any results to suggest this was possible.

It's been a completely dominant slam from start to finish for Swiatek, which is certainly not something I'd have called beforehand, but the results have been as comprehensive as you're ever likely to see across a two-week tournament.

It was well deserved though, her footwork has been inch perfect and her imagination was just on a higher plane to any other player. She takes risks that other people wouldn't think of, let alone try. 

Nadal is the underdog today lol. 

This has been a real beatdown so far, the intensity from Nadal with so few unforced errors is pretty astounding. Djokovic just doesn't look right at all.

Totally inexplicable! I don't have an explanation for what's happening out there. 

If someone had told me beforehand that Djokovic would struggle to win four games by this point in the final, I would have said they were crackers.

Well, yeah. His return game has been abysmal today.