Tennis Anyone?

[Skitechniek]

I think Murray spoke up about it and I think they want to change it. But only time will tell.

Any picks for Madrid?

 

[S.H.]

I think Murray spoke up about it and I think they want to change it. But only time will tell.

Any picks for Madrid?

Alcaraz/Rune/Tsitsipas

Swiatek/Sabalenka/Gauff

 

[Skitechniek]

Alcaraz - Ruusuvuori was pretty good!

 

[Plai]

I thought for sure Ruusuvuori had it after the 1st set. But as Martina Navratilova says, "Champions adjust".

Tsitsipas v Thiem just finished. It's good to see Thiem in good form again. Here's hoping he can be injury free for a while.

 

[Skitechniek]

Yeah incredible match! Tsitsipas hit 39 first serves in, in a row!!! I have never seen anything like it.

 

[Plai]

Certainly didn't see this coming. Didn't even plan on watching, because it was 'just obvious' right? Totally wrong.... I gotta make plans for more screen time.

 

[S.H.]

Certainly didn't see this coming. Didn't even plan on watching, because it was 'just obvious' right? Totally wrong.... I gotta make plans for more screen time.

Marozsan played well

Rome has been a good tournament. Back-to-back masters is tough. Sabalenka also lost early.

 

[S.H.]

Didn't see Meddy winning a clay 1000
On the men's side, hard to say who the favorite at RG is between Alcaraz and Djok, IMO. I think I'll take the field. Rafa officially out of RG is a bummer, but not unexpected. Murray, Kyrgios also officially out of RG (but weren't going to be major factors either).

Didn't like to see Iga pulling out with injury. Got to think that one of Sabalenka, Rybakina, or Iga win RG.

 

[Plai]

I don't think Nole is in competitive form yet. Alcaraz, Medvedev, Sinner come to mind as contenders for RG.
If Rune had taken Rome finals to a third set, he'd be in the discussion.

Didn't follow Iga's injury story. Wondering if she has time to recover. Probably going to be a Sabalenka v Rybakina story again.

 

[S.H.]

I don't think Nole is in competitive form yet. Alcaraz, Medvedev, Sinner come to mind as contenders for RG.
If Rune had taken Rome finals to a third set, he'd be in the discussion.

Didn't follow Iga's injury story. Wondering if she has time to recover. Probably going to be a Sabalenka v Rybakina story again.

Yeah, but if Djok gets a couple of rounds in at RG, he'll be okay, I'd think. Sinner has had a disappointing clay season, IMO.
Rune has to be in the conversation after being a finalist in Monte Carlo in Rome.

Iga should be okay to play in RG. We'll see how it goes. RG starts on Sunday, but I think we can be pretty sure Iga won't play on opening Sunday ... would bet she'll be given a chance to recover as much as possible and gets a Tuesday start.

Sabalenka and Rybakina have never played on clay, if the WTA h2h page is correct.

 

[Plai]

Ok, got my contrarian argument now....

It looked like Rune's legs hadn't recovered by Rome finals against Medvedev. That suggests he's not in condition to last 7x 5 set matches. I don't think this week will give him the conditioning needed.

 

[Skitechniek]

No Nadal and Federer at RG for the first time since 1998. Incredible!! Truly the end of an era.

 

[S.H.]

Ok, got my contrarian argument now....

It looked like Rune's legs hadn't recovered by Rome finals against Medvedev. That suggests he's not in condition to last 7x 5 set matches. I don't think this week will give him the conditioning needed.

eh, every other day vs. playing SF and F on back-to-back days in a tournament plagued by rain delays

 

[S.H.]

This thread has been disconcertingly quiet during RG.

SF stage in the singles
Sabalenka-Muchova in progress ... really good first 2 sets.
Swiatek-Haddad Maia ... Haddad Maia has been a great story

Alcaraz-Djokovic ... the one we've all been waiting for in a slam for a couple years
Zverev-Ruud ... will be slugfest. Zverev playing well for pretty much the first time since he destroyed his ankle on Chatrier a year ago

 

[James]

Yes Alcaraz-Djokovic should be the match on Fri.
How long will RG resist automatic line calling?

 

[S.H.]

Yes Alcaraz-Djokovic should be the match on Fri.
How long will RG resist automatic line calling?

Well, Hawkeye doesn't work well on clay. So it should be a while before fully automatic. Wouldn't be surprised to see them implement a FoxTenn challenge system soon though.

 

[James]

It’s really because they like getting down off the chair and pointing out marks. Part of the game. No way are the French going to change without lots of momentum behind it.

“I don’t think we need it. There are ball marks on clay, and our chair umpires are used to checking the marks when needed, and, so why would we need Hawk-Eye?”
-TD of Roland Garros

The Real Reason Why The French Open Doesn't Use An Electronic Line-Calling System

Why don't clay court tournaments like Roland Garros use electronic line-calling? Find out the surprising answer.

tennislifemag.com

Bigger problem pointed out in the video is the mark left on clay isn’t actually where the ball first hit. So, you’d get into looking at marks out that were in. I wish they went into it more. FoxTenn also has 40 cameras and 10 computers per court. That’s a lotta equipment.

 

[S.H.]

It’s really because they like getting down off the chair and pointing out marks. Part of the game. No way are the French going to change without lots of momentum behind it.

“I don’t think we need it. There are ball marks on clay, and our chair umpires are used to checking the marks when needed, and, so why would we need Hawk-Eye?”
-TD of Roland Garros

The Real Reason Why The French Open Doesn't Use An Electronic Line-Calling System

Why don't clay court tournaments like Roland Garros use electronic line-calling? Find out the surprising answer.

tennislifemag.com

Bigger problem pointed out in the video is the mark left on clay isn’t actually where the ball first hit. So, you’d get into looking at marks out that were in. I wish they went into it more. FoxTenn also has 40 cameras and 10 computers per court. That’s a lotta equipment.

I mean, I think when you have hawkeye saying it's in, but a mark that's clearly out, there's going to be a lot of issues. Players will lose faith, regardless if it's right or not.
FoxTenn is more likely to be believed/useful.

I don't think it's that important, honestly. Players disagree with the umpires assessment of the mark very rarely.

 

[S.H.]

Sabalenka-Muchova was an epic.
Swiatek was minorly tested vs Haddad Maia.
Can Swiatek take her 3rd RG? Hard to imagine she won't, but Muchova could give her a little trouble.
Muchova leads the H2H 1-0, but that was in Prague back in 2019, when Swiatek was barely 18 (it was clay, though). Muchova was a wild card, Swiatek was a qualifier.

Djok through -- Alcaraz lacked some maturity in the first 2 sets, but still managed a split, and then lost conditioning.
Ruud through surprisingly easily vs. Zverev.

Djok 23 seems inevitable ... though this is a nice return to form for Ruud. Djok leads the H2H 4-0 (8-0 sets) including 2-0 on clay (4-0 sets; Rome 2020, 2022).

 

[S.H.]

Well, Swiatek and Djok delivered.
Muchova showed up and battled hard.
Ruud seemed to tighten up and blow several opportunities to take the 1st set and then kind of went away.

On to the grass!

Raonic came back today with a win.
Murray won a challenger last week in Surbiton.

I think Djokovic is the clear favorite for the men at SW19, and therefore we should start getting hyped about a possible calendar slam.
The women's Championships, IMO, are much more interesting. Despite being the girls champion at Wimbledon in 2018, Iga has never been past the 4th round in the women's tournament (or past the 2nd round in any other grass tourney). Rybakina is the favorite in my eyes, but barely. Sabalenka could be a factor (SF in 2021).