Tennis anyone?

[Johnnie Burgess]

Congrats to the Australian government for deciding the winner of the Australian men champion.

[Brahmsian]

Congrats to the Australian government for deciding the winner of the Australian men champion.

Pfffft. 

[SimonNZ]

sigh. I was really hoping Ons Jabeur would win last night (my time) but had to go to bed when I could tell in the second set that she was becoming over frustrated and losing the mental game. And after such a strong firt set.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

sigh. I was really hoping Ons Jabeur would win last night (my time) but had to go to bed when I could tell in the second set that she was becoming over frustrated and losing the mental game. And after such a strong firt set.

She really is a wonderful tennis player...and even better:  she strikes me as having a wonderful and kind personality and apparently is well-liked in the locker room by her peers. 

PD

[LKB]

Just a few random tennissy observations...

John McEnroe recently compared Nadal with his rival Jimmy Connors, while remarking on Nadal's tenacity. It's maybe the second time I've agreed with McEnroe in the last forty years.

I just can't bring myself to like Djokovic much, but l'll admit he's probably the best male player currently active. Get healthy, Roger...

Nick Kyrgios reminds me somewhat of Ilie Năstase, who was emotionally undisciplined while displaying unparalleled talent on the court. Mr. Kyrgios should take the lesson and start winning some Slams.

I miss Federer. I want him to come back, have one more dominant year and ride off into the sunset. Rafa can follow suit in a few years.

I miss watching Connors in his prime. He inspired me to take up the sport in my teens, and while l was never a fan of anyone's poor on-court behavior, he eventually outgrew it for the most part.

And finally: No, " tennissy " isn't a real word, I made it up specifically for this post. Feel free to make use of it, I'd get a kick out of seeing it in other's posts. 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Just a few random tennissy observations...

John McEnroe recently compared Nadal with his rival Jimmy Connors, while remarking on Nadal's tenacity. It's maybe the second time I've agreed with McEnroe in the last forty years.

I just can't bring myself to like Djokovic much, but l'll admit he's probably the best male player currently active. Get healthy, Roger...

Nick Kyrgios reminds me somewhat of Ilie Năstase, who was emotionally undisciplined while displaying unparalleled talent on the court. Mr. Kyrgios should take the lesson and start winning some Slams.

I miss Federer. I want him to come back, have one more dominant year and ride off into the sunset. Rafa can follow suit in a few years.

I miss watching Connors in his prime. He inspired me to take up the sport in my teens, and while l was never a fan of anyone's poor on-court behavior, he eventually outgrew it for the most part.

And finally: No, " tennissy " isn't a real word, I made it up specifically for this post. Feel free to make use of it, I'd get a kick out of seeing it in other's posts. 

  We think similarly on this one (in boldface)!  Don't know whether or not you had heard, but Roger is planning on playing in the Laver Cup (in the fall) followed by the Swiss Indoors (in Basel--where he worked as a ball kid growing up).  Must admit:  it was hard to see him walk out onto Centre Court at Wimbledon for that 100 year anniversary and knowing that he wasn't playing there this year--and possibly might never again.  Did you catch that ceremony by the way?  I thought that it was quite special.  And sad that Martina N. wasn't able to attend it.  She would have been the last one to have walked out as she won it NINE(!) times.  Both she and Berrettini had to bow out of Wimbledon due to contracting Covid.  For those who might not know, Berrettini was in the men's singles' final (losing to Djokovic).

Amazing that Rafa has been playing so long with his chronic foot condition.  What perseverance!

Kyrgios is amazingly talented; now if he can just work through his "demons" and figure out what he wants most in life and how to achieve that (easier said than done of course)......

Speaking of "tennisssy", there are some current tennis players with some fun and seemingly-tennis-related names out there:  Tennys Sandgren (named after his Swedish grandfather) and Katie Volynets for instance.   

PD

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Anyone else here watching the US Open?

Quite impressed with how Britain's Cam Norrie has been playing.

Raducanu was (unsurprisingly in my humble opinion,) beaten in the first round by the resurgent and dangerous Alize Cornet.  To be fair, Emma has been struggling with various injuries lately and hasn't gotten in a lot of match play.  She's young though and I think that once she settles on a coach for longer than a few months and is able to stay healthy that we'll see more good things from her. 

Pleased to see Serena make it through her first round match; she'll have a tougher opponent in her next round (tonight) against the No. 2 ranked player (A. Kontaveit).

All kinds of other fun and interesting stories--including Brandon Holt, Tracy Austin's son, make it through quallies at a major for the first time.  He then won his first round and is battling in a fifth set against No. 66 ranked Argentine P. Cachin.  He was up two sets (BH), but then lost the third, and then the fourth in a tiebreak and is now on serve in the fifth and deciding set.

And more news....but I'll let you all catch up on that.

Any favorite matches that any of you have watched and enjoyed?  Or any favorite players that you are rooting for?  I know that we have at least one Ons Jabeur fan here. 

PD

[vandermolen]

I don't especially follow tennis but I don't have much patience for 'Our Great Tennis Star' Raducanu. I suspect that she may end up as a one trick pony. I know that she is very young but what changed my attitude to her was her ditching her coach immediately after winning the US Open last year (look how well that has worked out!)

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I don't especially follow tennis but I don't have much patience for 'Our Great Tennis Star' Raducanu. I suspect that she may end up as a one trick pony. I know that she is very young but what changed my attitude to her was her ditching her coach immediately after winning the US Open last year (look how well that has worked out!)

This might help you to understand more what her thinking was at the time:  https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/24/emma-raducanu-splits-from-coach-who-guided-her-to-shock-us-open-triumph-tennis

Last I heard, she's trying out a Russian coach Tursunov ( = trial run).  https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/WTA_Tennis/118887/emma-raducanu-reveals-latest-regarding-her-trial-with-russian-coach/

I think that she realizes that she has a lot of work to do--physically, etc., and is trying to find "a good fit".

PD

[Irons]

I don't especially follow tennis but I don't have much patience for 'Our Great Tennis Star' Raducanu. I suspect that she may end up as a one trick pony. I know that she is very young but what changed my attitude to her was her ditching her coach immediately after winning the US Open last year (look how well that has worked out!)

+1

[Pohjolas Daughter]

This might help you to understand more what her thinking was at the time:  https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/24/emma-raducanu-splits-from-coach-who-guided-her-to-shock-us-open-triumph-tennis

Last I heard, she's trying out a Russian coach Tursunov ( = trial run).  https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/WTA_Tennis/118887/emma-raducanu-reveals-latest-regarding-her-trial-with-russian-coach/

I think that she realizes that she has a lot of work to do--physically, etc., and is trying to find "a good fit".

PD

+1

Pardon, and I'm trying my best to be kind, but did either of you read the articles that I had linked to...particularly (from what I remember) the first?  I do realize that I'm probably one of the few tennis enthusiasts  here and, yes, I don't know everything.  One of the things though that I read early on was that Raducanu had only hired him for a certain amount of time (through the US Open), which is different from him being her full-time employee/coach.  I don't know exactly what it is like to be a professional tennis player/life on tour/life for the coaches, etc., though I do read a number of articles/listen to stories, etc.  And, yes, at first, when I heard that about her coach, I was surprised, but also looked into it further.  From the bit more that I can find, it sounds like she was thinking smartly and realizing that he had limited experience in certain areas (like as far as him having been on the WTA Tour and from what she said "no") and that she would need more experienced help at her new level.  Please be so kind as to (if you haven't already) read those articles.    And she also (according to an article) said that (along these lines) that it would be o.k. with her if she needed to go back to having basically no points and having to deal with Challenger matches, etc., and working her way back up and that she had [probably] missed certain lessons/experiences/knowledge, etc. that she needed to learn.  And that she was o.k. with that.  And, a reminder, she also had a dose of Covid and injuries to boot.  Food for thought gents. 

PD

[vandermolen]

This might help you to understand more what her thinking was at the time:  https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/24/emma-raducanu-splits-from-coach-who-guided-her-to-shock-us-open-triumph-tennis

Last I heard, she's trying out a Russian coach Tursunov ( = trial run).  https://www.tennisworldusa.org/tennis/news/WTA_Tennis/118887/emma-raducanu-reveals-latest-regarding-her-trial-with-russian-coach/

I think that she realizes that she has a lot of work to do--physically, etc., and is trying to find "a good fit".

PD

I've been at work all day (back to school!) and I've only just got round to reading the Guardian article. Thanks for posting it and it does give me more understanding of her decision making process. However, it doesn't really change my view of Raducanu and her tendency to blame others for her disappointing performances. I think that the stars were aligned for her at the US Open last year but I wonder if this will ever happen again.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I've been at work all day (back to school!) and I've only just got round to reading the Guardian article. Thanks for posting it and it does give me more understanding of her decision making process. However, it doesn't really change my view of Raducanu and her tendency to blame others for her disappointing performances. I think that the stars were aligned for her at the US Open last year but I wonder if this will ever happen again.

Interesting, but she never "blamed anyone"?  She just said, according to the Guardian article, what she was looking for in a coach.  There's more in the other link.  I'm trying to figure out why you seem to be reading more into that article and am confused.  That second article talked more about her being o.k. with needing to go back to challenger levels and needing to learn more and o.k. with her ranking dropping back to basically zero and willing to claw her way back and what she needed to learn.

PD

[LKB]

Emma will undoubtedly prosper. And at the age of twenty, folks should make allowances in any case, imho. Hell, l wasn't truly an adult until l was thirty, and l don't think l was fully mature until forty. So she's going to misjudge, blunder and be comically incorrect for some time yet, in certain cases.

[vandermolen]

Emma will undoubtedly prosper. And at the age of twenty, folks should make allowances in any case, imho. Hell, l wasn't truly an adult until l was thirty, and l don't think l was fully mature until forty. So she's going to misjudge, blunder and be comically incorrect for some time yet, in certain cases.

Fair points - I still don't think that I've grown up now - in my 60s (I suspect that my wife would agree). 

[vandermolen]

Interesting, but she never "blamed anyone"?  She just said, according to the Guardian article, what she was looking for in a coach.  There's more in the other link.  I'm trying to figure out why you seem to be reading more into that article and am confused.  That second article talked more about her being o.k. with needing to go back to challenger levels and needing to learn more and o.k. with her ranking dropping back to basically zero and willing to claw her way back and what she needed to learn.

PD

Fair points and you know far more about tennis than I do. However, I wonder what would have happened if she'd stuck with her original coach. When football teams do badly they often sack their manager (Bournemouth FC in the UK most recently). I'd have thought that the carousel of Raducanu's coaches is indicative of where she attributes blame. I've been impressed, however, when Raducanu suddenly switches to Chinese in her press conferences.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Fair points and you know far more about tennis than I do. However, I wonder what would have happened if she'd stuck with her original coach. When football teams do badly they often sack their manager (Bournemouth FC in the UK most recently). I'd have thought that the carousel of Raducanu's coaches is indicative of where she attributes blame. I've been impressed, however, when Raducanu suddenly switches to Chinese in her press conferences.

I don't know re original coach (actually, that wasn't her first-ever coach by the way), but I've also read that she is in no hurry to find a more permanent coach.  I believe that she also mentioned elsewhere that she was wanting to learn different things from different coaches and that she knew her approach was not traditional, but it was what she wanted to do.

In any event, time will tell and I wish her well. 

Poor Rafa, he accidentally hit himself with his racquet during his last match, was left dizzy and had to call for a medical trainer!  He ended up winning his match, however against the ever clever, talented and often mercurially-tempered Fognini (after a poor start on Nadal's part).

The British men have been making a good showing.  You should be very proud of them.

Not looking forward to seeing Madison Keys and Coco Gauff battling it out today; they are both Americans and I like both of them--wish that they wouldn't have been meeting up 'til later in the slam.    So it goes!

Best,

PD [aka "She who will never grow up."  ]

[vandermolen]

I don't know re original coach (actually, that wasn't her first-ever coach by the way), but I've also read that she is in no hurry to find a more permanent coach.  I believe that she also mentioned elsewhere that she was wanting to learn different things from different coaches and that she knew her approach was not traditional, but it was what she wanted to do.

In any event, time will tell and I wish her well. 

Poor Rafa, he accidentally hit himself with his racquet during his last match, was left dizzy and had to call for a medical trainer!  He ended up winning his match, however against the ever clever, talented and often mercurially-tempered Fognini (after a poor start on Nadal's part).

The British men have been making a good showing.  You should be very proud of them.

Not looking forward to seeing Madison Keys and Coco Gauff battling it out today; they are both Americans and I like both of them--wish that they wouldn't have been meeting up 'til later in the slam.    So it goes!

Best,

PD [aka "She who will never grow up."  ]

Haha 
Yes, the British men are doing well (surprisingly!)

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Haha 
Yes, the British men are doing well (surprisingly!)

According to this article, it's the first time that four British men will be playing in the round of 32 at the US Open:

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/34506262/cameron-norrie-dan-evans-win-reach-third-round-set-british-record-us-open

Even Murray (despite all of his previous injuries and hip surgery) is still in the mix.  Good for him!  Amazing to see the fight and determination in him after all that he's been through.  *He could have easily retired some time ago rather than putting his body through more stress and potentially damaging it further.

*And felt good about all of his accomplishments and achievements

PD

[Brahmsian]

Hoping for Shapovalov to keep it going. He's the last remaining Canadian in the singles. Enjoyed watching Serena as well. The epitome of never giving an inch and never giving up.

Great intense matches so far!