Talk About Tennis 2.0

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Fri May 10, 2024 11:02 am Always willing to put theories to the test...
1. Paolini is quick, up there with Coco and Iga.Not particularly useful on a slow court ..lacks big guns so should not do well
2. Pavlyuchenkova and Keys are powerful and slow..should do well at the Italian...

Paolini is beaten in her first match.Keys beat COS..who is the ultimate defensive player..may not get past BHM who is probably simply a better player these days..great serve, volley, drop shots..

Ruud is a puzzle..something wrong with him? Lost badly yesterday...

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 1:59 am Ruud is a puzzle..something wrong with him? Lost badly yesterday...

From the highlights it seemed that he wasn't moving well to his right. Maybe some injury is involved.

Agree that he is a puzzle. He is obviously damn good on clay; you don't make two RG finals in a row unless you are pretty good on the stuff. And then, he has these odd losses.
Maybe a Robin Soderling, more than a Wilander. Let's see how he fares this year.

Osaka is playing great..beat Kostyuk then Kasatkina, very different players...she has never played this well on clay, has she?
Kerber too..apart from Stuttgart

Ruud I think of as a mini Ferrer...never likely to win a major but can beat anyone except the big boys. But he is not even playing at that level nowadays ..as I had pointed out earlier, he had never won even a 500 level event until this year..
He is a bit over-rate, maybe..but also, as noted above, he maybe injured...in which case we should not criticise him

Mini-Ferrer. I think that is accurate. Except that Ferrer had two things he never got credit for: he volleyed much better than most people, and the running FH got him back into a lot of points.
I can't think what is/are Ruud's exceptional shots.

I think Ruud's backhand weakness is hurting his results - we're seeing similar things across the board right now in men's tennis where players with a weak side are struggling because the top guys can hurt you off both sides, and there is no safe place to play to when your opponent hits to your weaker side.

Sun, 12 May, 2024 (Day 7)

Center Court
Starts at 11:00 am

M. Sakkari (5) Vs A. Kalinina (30)
Followed By
D. Yastremska (32) Vs A. Sabalenka (2)
Not Before 2:00 pm
N. Djokovic (1) Vs (29) A. Tabilo
Not Before 7:00 PM
E. Svitolina (16) Vs A. Kalinskaya (23)
Not Before 8:30 pm
A. Zverev (3) Vs L. Darderi

Grand Stand Arena
Starts at 11:00 am

F. Passaro (Q) Vs N. Borges
Followed By
T. Atmane (Q) Vs (8) G. Dimitrov
Not Before 3:00 PM
S. Sorribes Tormo Vs J. Ostapenko (9)
Followed By
D. Collins (13) Vs C. Garcia (22)
Followed By
B. Shelton (12) Vs Z. Zhang

Pietrangeli
Starts at 11:00 am

T. Monteiro (Q) Vs M. Kecmanovic
Followed By
F. Cerundolo (20) Vs (16) K. Khachanov
Followed By
T. Fritz (11) Vs (24) S. Korda
Followed By
V. Azarenka (24) Vs M. Sherif
Followed By
M. Arnaldi/F. Passaro (WC) Vs (2) R. Bopanna/M. Ebden

Court 12
Starts at 11:00 am

E. Mertens (27) Vs I. Begu
Followed By
S. Kenin Vs R. Sramkova (Q)
Followed By
J. Murray/M. Venus Vs (3) R. Ram/J. Salisbury
Followed By / After Suitable Rest
F. Cerundolo/T. Etcheverry Vs (6) K. Krawietz/T. Puetz

Court 1
Starts at 13:00

M. Granollers/H. Zeballos (1) Vs A. Davidovich Fokina/A. Fils
Followed By
W. Koolhof/N. Mektic (7) Vs (Alt) S. Baez/T. Seyboth Wild
After Suitable Rest
C. Dolehide/D. Krawczyk (8) Vs (OSE) A. Kalinina/D. Yastremska

Court 2
Starts at 11:00 am

S. Gille/J. Vliegen Vs (8) H. Nys/J. Zielinski
Not Before 1:00 PM
C. Gauff/E. Routliffe (3) Vs (OSE) M. Andreeva/V. Zvonareva
Followed By
A. Abbagnato/A. Zantedeschi (WC) Vs Sara Errani ITA/Jasmine Paolini ITA
After Suitable Rest
S. Hsieh/E. Mertens (1) Vs S. Kenin/B. Mattek-Sands

ti-amie wrote: ↑Sat May 11, 2024 9:11 pm

Come on. That should be an immediate default.

Agree. The ball kid was right there. That was reckless.

I know Mertens is not a clay courter but still...stunning defeat at the hands of Begu..
Meanwhile, Sakkari looking stronger and stronger every round...
Sad to see Korda playing Fritz next..these poor Americans need a break...!

very strange score between Gauff and Cristian - what happened, actually? I cant see it so.. if anyone did, please update me/us..
of course, on clay, a tiny advantage can give you a bagel but what did Gauff do different in the first and third sets? Or Cristian in the second?