My favourite Grand Slam is here!! I love it because of the night matches. Hopefully we'll see a lot of 5 setters that end around 12am.

Taylor Townsend is playing Qalifying matches at an ITF $25K Challenger.  Her next opponent?  69 year old Gail Falkenburg!  

 

 

 

The tennis channel brought this up today and were cracking up about it. They showed the exact same pic. As an avid tennis player maybe I should enter one of these challengers….LOL 

Good on Gail, who is trucking at 69 and has no intention of stopping but this needs to be a wakeup call for Taylor Townsend.  Just a few years ago, Taylor went to the 3rd round of the French Open and now she has to qualify just to gain entry into Challengers!  That feels sad to me.

Oh wait I didn't read that correctly…she is playing qualifying matches in challengers?…yikes…..she is too talented to be doing that…she needs a good coach and someone to tell her she needs to shed the pounds.

Oh wait I didn't read that correctly…she is playing qualifying matches in challengers?…yikes…..she is too talented to be doing that…she needs a good coach and someone to tell her she needs to shed the pounds.

The sad irony is that she used to be coached by Kamau Murray who has been coaching Sloane Stephens, who has now won 4 tournament titles since her partnership with Kamau began last spring/summer.

 

Although I didn't see the match, I read that Fognini got booed (what else is new?!) in his match vs. Lorenzi.  Someone commented that it looked as if he may have been slightly injured but the scoreline is weird as hell!  Given all the match fixing rumors involving Italian players, I expect speculation to begin about now.

Oh wait I didn't read that correctly…she is playing qualifying matches in challengers?…yikes…..she is too talented to be doing that…she needs a good coach and someone to tell her she needs to shed the pounds.

 

 

 

Although I didn't see the match, I read that Fognini got booed (what else is new?!) in his match vs. Lorenzi.  Someone commented that it looked as if he may have been slightly injured but the scoreline is weird as hell!  Given all the match fixing rumors involving Italian players, I expect speculation to begin about now.

I was watching it and thought what a weird score…LOL….Seemed like Fog was tanking….

Oh wait I didn't read that correctly…she is playing qualifying matches in challengers?…yikes…..she is too talented to be doing that…she needs a good coach and someone to tell her she needs to shed the pounds.

 

The sad irony is that she used to be coached by Kamau Murray who has been coaching Sloane Stephens, who has now won 4 tournament titles since her partnership with Kamau began last spring/summer.

 

 

I just don't get it. She has a lot of game. She could truly be #1. I know her first time didn't go well as coach but I'd love to see Martina N. coach her. She is a lefty like Taylor and was out of shape too. She'd tell her to slim down and give her great pointers with her lefty serve and volleying game. 

You're the 2nd person to suggest Martina as a good coach for Taylor.  There is merit to that suggestion, I would just wonder about the mix of personalities.  If Taylor is in any way feeling low in self esteem, well Martina can be blunt...but otherwise, she would make a great fit, technically.

 

As strictly a mentor (not a coach), I think Davenport would be very understanding as Davenport was quite overweight at the onset of her pro career.  She was very outspoken in her criticism toward the USTA when they revoked Townsend's right to compete at the USO as the #1 ranked Junior, several years ago.  Davenport was also very candid about how she changed her mindset about her weight and finally decided to slim down when she was on the Tour.

 

If Fogs was tanking...!  Honestly, I don't know Flavia is going to do with that guy, he must be some kind of wonderful under the sheets!!  

Edited April 12, 20169 yr by DramatistDreamer

Looks like the WTA is getting their money maker (I was going to say cash cow ) back:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3537513/Doping-WADA-announces-meldonium-amnesty.html

 

If it wouldn't have been this, it would've been some other way.  Those matches with Sharapova going up against Mladenovic and Cibulkova are going to be interesting, given what they said about her.

Berdych and Novak both out in second round of Monte Carlo….both finalists from last year gone! Berdych will drop to #9 in the world with loss. He could drop out of the top 10 depending on how others in the tournament do. Berdych also has more points to defend in the coming weeks. So his ranking could drop further. I'm kind getting over Berdych and rooting for him. He just doesn't have the mentality to win the big matches and Dimitrov…sigh….is going the same way…I am losing all hope that he will win a major. His loss yesterday was just horrible.

Edited April 13, 20169 yr by Soapsuds

 

If Fogs was tanking...!  Honestly, I don't know Flavia is going to do with that guy, he must be some kind of wonderful under the sheets!!  

Apparently the fans at the match thought he was tanking and booed him off the court….LOL

Looks like the WTA is getting their money maker (I was going to say cash cow ) back:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-3537513/Doping-WADA-announces-meldonium-amnesty.html

 

If it wouldn't have been this, it would've been some other way.  Those matches with Sharapova going up against Mladenovic and Cibulkova are going to be interesting, given what they said about her.

They are going to talk about it on Tennis Channel after all the matches are over. It is ridiculous if she doesn't get punished.

Andy is supposedly saying that he isn't into his matches like he once was. Now that he has a family I think tennis is coming second in his life. I can tell on the court that sometimes he just isn't giving 100 percent out there. I wonder if he will retire earlier than predicted?

Andy is supposedly saying that he isn't into his matches like he once was. Now that he has a family I think tennis is coming second in his life. I can tell on the court that sometimes he just isn't giving 100 percent out there. I wonder if he will retire earlier than predicted?

 

 

Funny that in a podcast that I listened to a week or so ago, Andy said that seeing people like Roger and Ferrer playing well into their mid thirties (and not too far from their career high) was inspiration to him and that Roger, in particular proved that he could play past his early 30s with a family.  Hmm, I wonder what's changed from then to now.

 

Novak opened up his new Vegan restaurant in Monte Carlo and promptly lost his first match of the tournament.  Berdych who was also photographed at the restaurant as he was in attendance at the opening, lost his match today as well.

 

Oh, here is WADA's dubious statement to their stakeholders about meldonium.  I wonder what the real decision will come down to?

 

https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2016-04/wada-statement-on-meldonium-notice-issued-to-stakeholders

 

Edited April 13, 20169 yr by DramatistDreamer

Nadal wins Monte Carlo tournament

That was a thrilling final!  They don't call Rafa the King of Clay for nothing! He was hungry and determined, especially since no Nolé!  Peter Bodo, per usual, is dampening Rafa fans' exuberance by cautioning against being too optimistic about this win.  Typical Bodo.

 

I was glad to hear Monfils said he wants much more for himself and I hope for a big win for him, preferably at his home Slam tournament. He kind of ran out of gas in that final set but up until the final, he hadn't lost a set.  I just realized that in every tournament he's entered this year, he's gotten to at last the Quarters or better.  He looks to finally be making good on all that talent, I hope he keeps it up!

 

I saw the U.S. Fed Cup team beat Australia this weekend, without the Williams Sisters or Sloane Stephens (although both Venus and Sloane played in the last tie in Hawaii and won their matches).  I was expecting Madison to win her match (although it's never a given) but I was especially impressed with how Christina McHale and Coco Vandeweghe both stepped up!  I figure McHale should have better results on clay due to her style of play (it seems she should have success on clay) but the last time I saw Coco in a singles match on clay in Fed Cup, she was such a mess!  She had redeemed herself in doubles with Taylor Townsend last year after that singles debacle but when I saw her last night, I saw such improvement- I think her doubles with Bethanie has really helped her singles play!

 

ESPN3 sucks!  It looks like they've all but given up on the European red clay tournaments.  They didn't show Monte Carlo this year (is it because no U.S. men were entered?), it looks like they're only showing two rounds of Stuttgart this year and I don't know if they'll even bother with Barcelona, Madrid or Rome.    Tennis needs to see what the NBA and NFL do with their streaming because tennis is so scattershot and most of the commentators are turrible!  

Who is Peter Bodo? I was hoping Monfils would have won! I was glad when Nadal's reign on clay ended a few years ago. Seeing him on top at a major clay tournament is so boring and stale. Ive never cared for his game. I'm tired of Nole, Roger, Murray and Nadal…..love to see the newer players win….Thiem should have beaten Nadal in the 3rd round. 

 

The US women rocked this weekend against Australia!  If only they could play like that in major tournaments.

 

ESPN3 is awful!  I can see all the matches on Tennis Channel!  

Lucky you, although you have to endure Gimelstob, which is unfortunate.

 

Peter Bodo is a glass is barely half-full tennis journalist.  He's been around for ages.  Sometimes he can be insightful but more often he's dour and quick to accentuate the negative aspects and potential failures in a player at every turn.

 

At least we didn't have to endure a six hour match between Rafa and Nolé!  I too was hoping Monfils would win but I'm hoping the progress he's made will encourage him to have more self-belief and maybe build a bit more endurance (Coca Cola is not a good stamina builder ).  It was fascinating to see the match beteween Monfils and Tsonga.  Someone told me that Tsonga is used to being the Alpha French male and Monfils upended this and Tsonga did not look okay with it but they look quite close otherwise.

 

Maybe if the U.S. Fed Cup team continues to do well, it may build confidence for them in other areas.  The Czech women seem to have made a lot of progress individually since their team's couple of wins over the past few years.  Sam Stosur, though, does not do well when she plays in Australia, that I know for certain.

 

It will be interesting to see how Thiem pans out during this clay court season.  There will be many opportunities to see how he performs because there are so many damn clay court tournaments!

 

Speaking of the dreaded Big 4, or whatever, Becker is mad at Murray because apparently in an interview, Murray hinted at having had suspicions of certain players (he wouldn't name names) who can play at high levels for hours without ever appearing to get tired.  Someone brought up an old article where Becker threw accusations about Thomas Muster possibly doping.  Guess what?  Muster's old trainer now works for Djokovic!  Boris should keep quiet, he sounds ultra defensive.