The Tennis Thread

[Faulkner]

 

[DramatistDreamer]

[Faulkner]

This article is claiming the decision to cancel Wimbledon will come on Wednesday. (They have no other slots in the calendar to even attempt to reschedule for this year, which would likely be in vain anyway.) And the French got slapped down (the ATP threatened not to allow ranking points for the event) and won’t likely play during its announced dates.

 

More:

 

Pavlyuchenkova fired Sam Sumyk and opened up about why:

 

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by Faulkner

[ChitHappens]

James Blake!!!!!

 

I was watching one of my favorite matches of all time, Blake vs Agassi 2005 USO quarters.  

 

So my question is what happened?  THAT FOREHAND!  Great serve, wonderful one hand backhand and super good movement.  Why wasn't he more successful?  Did he never find the right coach to help him put it all together during slams?  What was it?

[DramatistDreamer]

 

Blake recounted what Agassi told him at the net after he lost to Andre (was it that match or a different one?). Agassi told him that the one and only difference in outcome was that Blake didn't believe in himself. 

 

It seemed as though once James began to get confident in his game, things went wrong-- first with a horrible injury that he sustained in Italy, while preparing for the Italian Open (remember when he crashed into the netpost and injured his neck? He barely escaped permanent paralysis.  Soon after, his father was diagnosed with cancer and died (James actually said had it not been for the injury, he might have missed that critical time to spend with his father). Also, possibly as a result of emotional and physical trauma, James had developed Bell's palsy, which he recovered from but it seemed like a cascade of events that he had to endure and recover from might have caused him to miss valuable time building his game, competing and winning matches. For awhile, it seemed like Blake could have picked up from where he left off when he returned to the Tour (he had a very good record vs. Nadal for awhile) but again...confidence.

Blake seemed to be the type of player that needed to build confidence, brick by brick. He didn't seem to be the type of player that could quickly turn on the confidence and get in a groove by the second game of a match and then just go from there.  I suspected that, had he won a big tournament (Miami, IW) or gotten to the semifinals or finals of a major tournament (Australian or U.S. Open), he might have been able to summon that confidence right away upon his return to the Tour, but as it was, he didn't appear to be that type of player that could just 'turn it on'.  As it is, it seemed as if the timing in his career never quite synced. 

 

Ironically, when he sustained that neck injury, I felt as though James could have built a solid game on clay (for an American) because he had the patience and the athleticism, unlike many of his compatriots at the time but I suspect that, after that hard slam into the netpost, he became tentative with doing anything on clay, especially sliding (which he was practicing when he sustained the injury).

It's a shame, really.

 

One thing I've learned from watching people like Marcelo Rios (who never won a GS title but reached no. 1), Tsonga, and a few others who fell short of winning big tournaments is that sometimes a few points can really turn a match, a tournament and in a few instances, even the trajectory of a career. And Blake had a few complications beside all those.

[Soapsuds]

https://time.com/5812858/u-s-open-tennis-site-temporary-hospital/

[Faulkner]

“I’m loving my husband...” Alright now. Can we expect a Serena coronababy next winter?

 

 

[DramatistDreamer]

[Soapsuds]

Gawd....not surprised he got it. He is just dumb as hell and probably was all over the place.  

[Faulkner]

It’s official.

 

 

 

 

[ChitHappens]

Wow!  My least favorite surface but WOW!!!!!

[Soapsuds]

This year is a wash minus the Australian Open.  I thought "maybe" we could get a Canadian Open, Cincinnati tourney and the US Open but I'm finding that doubtful .

[Faulkner]

I’m just curious about who makes the most of this time off to work on weaknesses in their game. And those with little injuries have lots of time to heal.

Meanwhile...

 

 

[Soapsuds]

Roger won't win another major. He is lucky he got to 20 because of Andy and Joker not being around.

[DramatistDreamer]

Wimbledon used to be my favorite GS tournament when the courts actually played like grass courts.  That seems like so long ago.

 

The players who will suffer the most are the ones who lack the financial resources to keep on track and pick up where they left off. Those who were already struggling and needed to travel to play Challengers just to remain viable will suffer the most.

 

Roger has a HOF career and has had one for a decade. Nadal and Djokovic also are shoo-ins for the HOF as are, without question, The Williams Sisters.

 

The people who have yet to win a major and need good timing, good health and fortunate circumstances to go their way will be most at risk because so much can change in a year. Not to mention those who are still waiting to get their tennis careers off the ground.

Nothing is a given for anyone at this point.