ATP M1000 WTA 1000 Cincinnati 8/13 - 8/20 2023

[JTContinental]

Going to picture in picture while play is still happening and then showing a commercial in one of the windows should be a crime punishable by death.

[ti-amie]

Going to picture in picture while play is still happening and then showing a commercial in one of the windows should be a crime punishable by death.

[JTContinental]

Jabeur about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

[skatingfan]

Jabeur about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Kalinina trying to do the same thing.

[skatingfan]

Taylor Fritz on the court speed, and issue with the balls this week.

[JTContinental]

Jabeur wins 5 games in a row to now lead 6-5

[nelslus]

I thought I was the only one thinking that way. But I was not able to pinpoint any deviations from his game.
I don't see him as a factor against any other top 10.

Apparently, you forgot about #10 Tiafoe.

[meganfernandez]

Why don't more women work on their serve and make it a weapon? Who has a first serve that's a reliable weapon these days? Such a missed opportunity.

Other than Serena, Pliskova and Osaka are the last players I can think of who had a reliably big and well-placed serve. Maybe Georges - the one year when she was on a tear, 2017-18, she was bombing them left and right. Jabeur serves well but I don't think it's her big weapon. Who am I missing? Who bombs it and gets out of tight spots with it? Kanepi but she doesn't have a ton to show for it.

[JTContinental]

No final for Rublev I guess

[skatingfan]

Why don't more women work on their serve and make it a weapon? Who has a first serve that's a reliable weapon these days? Such a missed opportunity.

Other than Serena, Pliskova and Osaka are the last players I can think of who had a reliably big and well-placed serve. Maybe Georges - the one year when she was on a tear, 2017-18, she was bombing them left and right. Jabeur serves well but I don't think it's her big weapon. Who am I missing? Who bombs it and gets out of tight spots with it? Kanepi but she doesn't have a ton to show for it.

Rybakina

[meganfernandez]

No final for Rublev I guess

Oops, Tignor.

[meganfernandez]

Why don't more women work on their serve and make it a weapon? Who has a first serve that's a reliable weapon these days? Such a missed opportunity.

Other than Serena, Pliskova and Osaka are the last players I can think of who had a reliably big and well-placed serve. Maybe Georges - the one year when she was on a tear, 2017-18, she was bombing them left and right. Jabeur serves well but I don't think it's her big weapon. Who am I missing? Who bombs it and gets out of tight spots with it? Kanepi but she doesn't have a ton to show for it.

Rybakina

Yes. More should develop it like she has. Sabalenka's is destructive when she gets it in, but it's not nearly consistent enough. Kvitova's was a weapon when she was in form.

[ashkor87]

Why don't more women work on their serve and make it a weapon?

if you compare with the situation 10 years ago, women have much better serves now.. almost everyone has a decent to good serve.. and Rybakina/Samsonova have lethal first serves too, in addition to the ones you mentioned. In fact, I used o so admire Alicia Moulik because whe had the correct serving action - arched back and everything.. nowadays it is quite commn: Parry, for instance is someone whose action is admirable.

[ti-amie]

Wednesday, August 16, 2023 Day 5

Center Court Starts At 11:00 Am

(Q) Martina Trevisan VS (3) Jessica Pegula
Not Before 12:00 PM
(1) Iga Swiatek VS (WC) Danielle Collins
Followed By
(4) Stefanos Tsitsipas VS Ben Shelton
Not Before 7:00 Pm
Alejandro Davidovich Fokina VS (2) Novak Djokovic
Not Before 8:30 PM
Mayar Sherif VS (7) Coco Gauff

Grandstand Starts At 11:00 Am

Lorenzo Musetti VS (3) Daniil Medvedev
Followed By
(8) Jannik Sinner VS (Q) Dusan Lajovic
Not Before 3:00 PM
Qinwen Zheng VS (WC) Venus Williams
Not Before 7:00 PM
(Q) Ann Li VS (2) Aryna Sabalenka
Followed By
(10) Frances Tiafoe VS (WC) Stan Wawrinka

Stadium 3 Starts At 11:00 Am

Ugo Humbert VS (14) Tommy Paul
Followed By
Lorenzo Sonego VS (9) Taylor Fritz
Followed By
Hubert Hurkacz VS (15) Borna Coric
Not Before 5:00 PM
(4) Elena Rybakina VS Jelena Ostapenko
Followed By
Donna Vekic VS Victoria Azarenka

Porsche Court Starts At 11:00 Am

(14) Daria Kasatkina VS (LL) Varvara Gracheva
Not Before 12:00 PM
(10) Marketa Vondrousova VS Anastasia Potapova
Followed By
(8) Maria Sakkari VS Sorana Cirstea
Followed By
(9) Petra Kvitova VS (Q) Linda Noskova
Not Before 5:00 Pm
Elise Mertens VS Marie Bouzkova

Court 4 Starts At 11:00 Am

(16) Alexander Zverev VS Yoshihito Nishioka
Followed By
(Q) Max Purcell VS (5) Casper Ruud
Followed By
(PR) Gael Monfils VS Alex de Minaur
Followed By
(6) Holger Rune VS (WC) Mackenzie McDonald
Followed By / After Rest TBF 6/5
Rinky Hijikata/Jason Kubler VS Hubert Hurkacz/Mate Pavic

Court 7 Starts At 11:00 Am

(OSE) Alycia Parks/Taylor Townsend VS Latisha Chan/Zhaoxuan Yang
Followed By
(3) Nicole Melichar-Martinez/Ellen Perez VS Tereza Mihalikova/Yifan Xu
Not Before 2:00 PM
Petra Martic VS Karolina Muchova
Followed By
(Q) Jasmine Paolini VS (Q) Cristina Bucsa
After Suitable Rest
(WC) Jennifer Brady/Asia Muhammad VS (7) Hao-Ching Chan/Giuliana Olmos

To Be Arranged
(OSE) Irina-Camelia Begu/Sara Sorribes Tormo VS (2) Storm Hunter/Elise Mertens

Court 8 Starts At 11:00 Am

Robin Haase/Karen Khachanov VS (2) Ivan Dodig/Austin Krajicek
Followed By
Maximo Gonzalez/Andres Molteni VS (3) Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury
Followed By
(WC) Emma Navarro/Peyton Stearns VS (4) Desirae Krawczyk/Demi Schuurs
After Suitable Rest
(6) Su-Wei Hsieh/Xinyu Wang VS (OSE) Anna Blinkova/Varvara Gracheva
After Suitable Rest
(WC) Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Anastasia Potapova VS Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/Luisa Stefani
Followed By
Miyu Kato/Aldila Sutjiadi VS Gabriela Dabrowski/Erin Routliffe

Court 11 Not Before 2:30 Pm

(7) Kevin Krawietz/Tim Puetz VS Felix Auger-Aliassime/Adrian Mannarino
Followed By / TBF 6/7(10) 1/2
Lloyd Glasspool/Harri Heliovaara VS Max Purcell/Andrey Rublev
Followed By
(WC) Lorenzo Musetti/Lorenzo Sonego VS (8) Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos

[meganfernandez]

Why don't more women work on their serve and make it a weapon?

if you compare with the situation 10 years ago, women have much better serves now.. almost everyone has a decent to good serve.. and Rybakina/Samsonova have lethal first serves too, in addition to the ones you mentioned. In fact, I used o so admire Alicia Moulik because whe had the correct serving action - arched back and everything.. nowadays it is quite commn: Parry, for instance is someone whose action is admirable.

Agree the average serve might be better, and returns have improved, too. But I think not nearly enough players are seizing the opportunity to have a truly great serve and a weapon. They can control it. They can improve it. It is still the most important shot in the sport. It's bizarre to me.

Rybakina and Samsonova CAN produce a lethal serve, but their first serve !% is too low for it to be a reliable weapon - 57% and 54% respectively. They need to get that to 60 or above (Serena and Barty were both at 60% for their careers, so that seems like a good standard for winning multiple Slams and getting to No. 1). Then it's the weapon I'm talking about. They both have a high percentage of first serves unreturned (along with Qinwin Zheng, Garcia and Marino). But they could use more consistency. Even a few percentage points could make the difference between their current results and No. 1