The Tennis Thread

[I Am A Swede]

 

Wow, what a classy remark!  

Please register in order to view this content

There's no need for name-calling like that simply because you don't like someone.

[Faulkner]

Serena didn’t seem to be that enthusiastic about her team during her remarks.

 

 

I just read that Simona made THREE unforced errors during that whole match.

[ChitHappens]

I said I could not watch, and with that scoreline, I'm super happy I did not.  

[DramatistDreamer]

Welp.  Welp.  

I could've done without that shoutout to that racist, sexist Ion Tiriac but congrats to Halep.  

 

That's not grass court tennis, that's clay court tennis!  The grass is certainly slow enough now, lol.

[Toups]

Why does Serena keep blowing these opportunities in the finals? She’s still the best to ever play the game but I want to see her break the record.  Very disappointed.  

[Fevuh]

She just needs to play more tournaments.  Even being great on grass she didn't play a warm up tournament and that's not unusual for her but when you get older, things change.  She's trying to play herself into mental shape during the tournament.  It's an amazing accomplishment to make a GS final but I think it hits her in the moment.  

 

One thing that has always driven me crazy about her and I've never heard anyone say it because she generally moves well when she's in top form, returns well, etc.  But she doesn't bend her knees - she bends at the waist and stands there basically, bent slightly at the waist on returns.  And there were several times even during this match where she left Halep an opening, and she just stood up and stood there, even just instead of making a guess to one side or the other, she just gave up on points.  But the lack of bending her knees on returns, getting down low, and even on alot of her groundstrokes, not alot of knee bend.  And I've never heard anyone say it.

 

With lack of match play, if her serve lets her down like it did today, anyone can be a danger.  Her serve was basically on all tournament.  I think Mary Jo said it best - Serena is still the best player on tour regardless of her ranking - but she doesn't have a Plan B.  I noticed Simona said in her interview - her team and her had a plan and Tom Rinaldi said, "what was it?"  And she said we're not going to tell you.  I thought that was funny.  

[Soapsuds]

BIllie Jean King: if Serena stops being a star and instead concentrates on Tennis she might win 24.....ouch....haha

[Toups]

 

I don't think she does need to play more, especially at her age.  She still has the skill and experience to get the finals of a grand slam - same goes for Federer and Nadal.    See, I don't think being in the finals should "hit her in the moment" because of the experience.  I don't watch enough tennis to know the ins-and-outs of people's gameplay, so maybe your "plan B" theory is right.   Going out 6-2, 6-2, without a fight, is just sad to see from a superstar like Serena.   If it was a hard fought battle in 3 sets, then maybe I could give her some slack.  

I don't agree with BJK.  Serena's been a star from basically the beginning of her career, so why would "being a star" affect her now?  It's not like she was out partying these last two weeks during the tournament. 

[DramatistDreamer]

 

IMO, OTOH, the weight of all this talk of record-breaking and history has got into her head.  It's been put there by media, sponsors, some tennis pundits (who also happen to be ex-players) and even some of her fans and in a way, she has bought into it. 

In the past, talk like this had fueled her but as some players have claimed, when a player gets older they get more nervous and tend to play with less freedom in tight situations because too many things are going through their minds.  Chris Evert (who we all know is no fan of Serena) once talked about the closer to the end of a career a player gets, the more anxious thoughts tend to get into their minds during matches.

 

OTOH, the way the court played throughout this tournament was less like a grass court and closer to a clay court, and Serena was definitely not able to power through on her serve as she might have in years past. 

 

Simona was a highly motivated and well-coached opponent today.  Unlike Alison Riske (who had a genuine chance to pull off the upset) in the QFs, Simona had won a major title (RG) and was not going to be overwhelmed by the occasion and realizing that the focus more steadily on her opponent (Serena/history) than on herself, made it much easier for Simona to play with little pressure. Court conditions aside, Simona's footwork was really her best weapon today. Sometimes Serena's footwork drags and volleys have never come easy to Serena (on her best days, Serena was cognizant of this and would make the necessary adjustments) and Serena needed both to be sharp to have had a real chance today and both were lacking and helped raise her UE count. 

 

I disagree a bit with @Fevuh about Serena lacking a Plan B.  I know that Chris-what's-his-name mentioned this but I think he's wrong.  In years past, I've seen Serena pull out whatever tactic she needed when she knew that her bread and butter shots weren't working for her.  At RG, in particular, I've seen her struggle, use guile and an array of shots that were far outside her comfort zone in order to take the title but her mind wasn't with that today and on some level, Simona, whose game put a lot of pressure on Serena, wouldn't allow it.

 

I think that Kerber's win over Serena last year gave many baseliners belief and why not?  For the past six years, the grass at Wimbledon has been getting slower and slower. I've noticed this and even Chris Evert (a devoted baseliner who preferred the clay) mentioned it.  This is no longer the fast grass courts where players like Sampras used to reign. 

 

Also, like others have mentioned-- Serena hasn't played a whole heck of a lot of tennis this season.  Considering her first grass court match was Round 1 at Wimbledon, the Finals (while disappointing to many, including Serena herself) is a great effort at 37 years of age. 

 

Was I the only one who noticed how chewed up the show courts looked from Day 1?  I know parts of Europe has a bit of a heat-wave this year and Wimbledon's courts were adversely affected.  The baseline was brown on Day 1 and Court 1, Court 2, in particular looked in really poor shape with brown patches in the back court.  As evidence of how few people serve and volley now, the greenest parts of the court were closest to the net.

Edited July 13, 2019 by DramatistDreamer

[Fevuh]

It wasn’t Chris - it was Mary Jo.  What Serena does need to end is the crazy yelling and dramatic stumbling around.  She does it when she’s rolling over people and she does it when she’s losing badly.  She acts.  It’s bad.  Just play tennis.  The yelling and the stupid stumbling around look ridiculous.  

[Soapsuds]

+1. She's done that her entire career. She was stomped on in less than an hour....lol

[Faulkner]

Weirdest, jankiest GS final ever.

 

I love Novak and I’m glad he won his 5th Wimbledon and 16th Slam, but that was terrible. And the TB sort of felt like a coin toss.

[Soapsuds]

Joker played like sh!t and still won. 

 

Roger retire....you ain't winning another major. You only got to 20 because Joker and Andy were missing.

[ChitHappens]

Djoker played "keep the ball in play" and hope Fed hits an error for most of the match, very passive. 

 

Fed bout to cry any minute now.

[DramatistDreamer]

That was...not grass court tennis. These are not grass courts, I've maintained that from Day 1 and I've seen nothing to change my mind but hey, let's continue to make the courts slower and have ridiculously long matches at Wimbledon. 

 

Fortunately, I only caught half of this match because I had sh*t to do today!