Tennis

[Manwell Pablo]

Ffs man

[Manwell Pablo]

Get it done now please Rafael 

[Bobby Hundreds]

Good to see Uncle Tony’s magic potions still working.

[kingfox]

VAMOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Super_horns]

Wow - what an epic match  !

 

Outstanding fight back from Rafa .

 

Crushing for Medvedev.

[Vacamion]

 

Nadal truly has pulled the underpants of excellence out from the arsecrack of history...

 

 

[leicsmac]

Some effort from Rafa, that.

 

Kudos to Medvedev for this level of geniality too - if I'd lost a GS final from two sets up to someone with a great pedigree but now am way ahead of on paper on this surface I'd be spitting venom.

[Izzy]

In Tennis, is there an unofficial ‘order’ in terms of how prestigious the four slams are? (I.e. if the players had a preference of which one to win)

In golf it’s widely acknowledged that most American players rank it 1) Masters 2) The Open 3) US Open 4) PGA where most European players would say Open 1st, Masters 2nd.

What’s the general consensus in tennis and is there an obvious ‘worse’ slam like the PGA is in golf 

[StanSP]

Excited to see the highlights of the final

[The Year Of The Fox]

1 minute ago, StanSP said:

Excited to see the highlights of the final

They were on BBC1 about an hour ago

 

Unbelievable comeback 

[Jimothy]

47 minutes ago, Izzy said:

In Tennis, is there an unofficial ‘order’ in terms of how prestigious the four slams are? (I.e. if the players had a preference of which one to win)

In golf it’s widely acknowledged that most American players rank it 1) Masters 2) The Open 3) US Open 4) PGA where most European players would say Open 1st, Masters 2nd.

What’s the general consensus in tennis and is there an obvious ‘worse’ slam like the PGA is in golf 

Only thing I could find is this. It was over 20 years ago though so might be slight change in attitude.

 

There’s one last element to throw into the mix: the players’ preferences. Though both the WTA and the ATP (the men’s tennis entity) did not have player surveys at hand, there was a survey done back in the late 1990s by the French magazine, Tennis. That survey asked 108 top players to rank the four Slams in order of prestige. The ranking went as follows:

1. Wimbledon
2. French Open
3. U.S. Open
4. Australian Open

[oxford blue]

Balls. Is this why Radacanu won the US Open? It is the only grand slam which has lighter balls for women. Barty's coach thinks this hindered his player. It's intersting his views, particularly if,.like me, you thought all tennis balls were the same...

Wilson balls are used for both men’s and women’s events at Flushing Meadows but, unlike in the other majors, the men’s version is heavier-duty with a fuzzier yellow-felt coating.

At last year’s US Open, from which Barty exited in the third round, two bolters reached the final in British qualifier Radacanu and unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez.

“The US Open really needs to change the ball for the girls,” Tyzzer said. “The fact they still use a different ball for guys and girls, it’s a terrible ball for someone like Ash … the ball itself is so light.

“It was the only tournament last year and really for two years where she uses gut racket [most powerful strings] but I had to change her to a poly [polyester] just to get any sort of control of the ball. If they keep that ball the same, no one like Ash will win that tournament.

“I think you see the result at the US Open, it was two players who you go, ‘wow, that was two different players won that’. There’s no surprise when the ball is like it is.”

[Jimothy]

31 minutes ago, oxford blue said:

Balls. Is this why Radacanu won the US Open? It is the only grand slam which has lighter balls for women. Barty's coach thinks this hindered his player. It's intersting his views, particularly if,.like me, you thought all tennis balls were the same...

Wilson balls are used for both men’s and women’s events at Flushing Meadows but, unlike in the other majors, the men’s version is heavier-duty with a fuzzier yellow-felt coating.

At last year’s US Open, from which Barty exited in the third round, two bolters reached the final in British qualifier Radacanu and unseeded Canadian Leylah Fernandez.

“The US Open really needs to change the ball for the girls,” Tyzzer said. “The fact they still use a different ball for guys and girls, it’s a terrible ball for someone like Ash … the ball itself is so light.

“It was the only tournament last year and really for two years where she uses gut racket [most powerful strings] but I had to change her to a poly [polyester] just to get any sort of control of the ball. If they keep that ball the same, no one like Ash will win that tournament.

“I think you see the result at the US Open, it was two players who you go, ‘wow, that was two different players won that’. There’s no surprise when the ball is like it is.”

This is Barty's grand slam record, obviously the most recent are the most relevant when she reach the top of the sport.

 

Three wins since the start of 2019 is fantastic, but for someone of her talent I expect a minimum of semi every time. So what's the excuse for the other early exits at Wimbledon 2019, French 2021, 2 QF defeats at the Australian? And the year before she won her first slam, didn't get past round 3 in any of them. Just sounds like soar grapes and poor excuses. The best players adapt their game to all the conditions.

[StanSP]

Federer

 

 

[kingfox]

55 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

This is Barty's grand slam record, obviously the most recent are the most relevant when she reach the top of the sport.

 

Three wins since the start of 2019 is fantastic, but for someone of her talent I expect a minimum of semi every time. So what's the excuse for the other early exits at Wimbledon 2019, French 2021, 2 QF defeats at the Australian? And the year before she won her first slam, didn't get past round 3 in any of them. Just sounds like soar grapes and poor excuses. The best players adapt their game to all the conditions.

“I expect a minimum of semi every time”.

 

Despite her being World Number 1, with so much inconsistency in the Women’s game nowadays, you’re expecting slightly too much.

 

Wimbledon 2019 - Beaten by a good grass courter in Alison Riske.

French 2021 - Retired

Australian Open - Bottle job mentality until this year.

 

There’s no consistency in Women’s Tennis nowadays to expect such runs, Aryna Sabalenka is number 2 in the World for christ sake and her Slam record is shit  

 

[Jimothy]

4 minutes ago, kingfox said:

“I expect a minimum of semi every time”.

 

Despite her being World Number 1, with so much inconsistency in the Women’s game nowadays, you’re expecting slightly too much.

 

Wimbledon 2019 - Beaten by a good grass courter in Alison Riske.

French 2021 - Retired

Australian Open - Bottle job mentality until this year.

 

There’s no consistency in Women’s Tennis nowadays to expect such runs, Aryna Sabalenka is number 2 in the World for christ sake and her Slam record is shit  

 

You're missing my point. He coach is blaming the balls at the US for her early exit. I'm saying what's the excuse the other times she exited early. I'm aware there's no consistency. I'm saying she should be getting semis if she was consistent, but she isn't. So it her inconsistency that's the issue, not the balls that are used.

[rachhere]

17 minutes ago, kingfox said:

“I expect a minimum of semi every time”.

 

Despite her being World Number 1, with so much inconsistency in the Women’s game nowadays, you’re expecting slightly too much.

 

Wimbledon 2019 - Beaten by a good grass courter in Alison Riske.

French 2021 - Retired

Australian Open - Bottle job mentality until this year.

 

There’s no consistency in Women’s Tennis nowadays to expect such runs, Aryna Sabalenka is number 2 in the World for christ sake and her Slam record is shit  

 

Ah, Ali Riske! I somehow ended up sat with a load of friends of hers at Birmingham (I believe she had acquired them from a visit before). Had a great time joining in their cheerleading squad, and always made a point to support her ever since. 

[kingfox]

4 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

You're missing my point. He coach is blaming the balls at the US for her early exit. I'm saying what's the excuse the other times she exited early. I'm aware there's no consistency. I'm saying she should be getting semis if she was consistent, but she isn't. So it her inconsistency that's the issue, not the balls that are used.

When it comes to Women’s tennis it’s always about consistency.

 

Which I said and you’ve just agreed with  

 

And yes, Tyzzer is talking bollocks 👍🏻

[Jimothy]

39 minutes ago, kingfox said:

When it comes to Women’s tennis it’s always about consistency.

 

Which I said and you’ve just agreed with  

 

And yes, Tyzzer is talking bollocks 👍🏻

Yes I did agree, I'm not sure why you're trying to make out I've said something daft and you're teaching me something. I was pointing out how his point about the balls used in the USA was crap, you missed the point, not me.

[kingfox]

10 minutes ago, Facecloth said:

Yes I did agree, I'm not sure why you're trying to make out I've said something daft and you're teaching me something. I was pointing out how his point about the balls used in the USA was crap, you missed the point, not me.

When you said “For someone of her talent, I expect a minimum of semi finals every time” what do you expect me to think?  

 

I said he’s probably talking crap, but we don’t know that for sure, we’ve never used them and compared.

 

Some players like different court surfaces, some players like different court speeds, some players like different altitudes.

 

Some players might prefer playing with different balls 

[Jimothy]

7 hours ago, kingfox said:

When you said “For someone of her talent, I expect a minimum of semi finals every time” what do you expect me to think?  

 

I said he’s probably talking crap, but we don’t know that for sure, we’ve never used them and compared.

 

Some players like different court surfaces, some players like different court speeds, some players like different altitudes.

 

Some players might prefer playing with different balls 

Look it's not my fault you didn't understand. Read things properly in future 

[Jon the Hat]

My lovely wife is rather too impressed with Rafa's muscly arms for my liking.  He should retire on a high and stay of the television!

[kingfox]

4 hours ago, Facecloth said:

Look it's not my fault you didn't understand. Read things properly in future 

And you need to stop making idiotic claims in future.

 

Have a nice day mate 

[Jimothy]

1 hour ago, kingfox said:

And you need to stop making idiotic claims in future.

 

Have a nice day mate 

Again it wasn't idiotic, you just didn't understand it, not for the first time either. Cut the superiority complex and we're all good 

[Number 6]

Have been a huge Rafa fan since I watched him at Wimbledon for the first time. I was very much a minor tennis fan before, but something about that never say die attitude appealed to me - he could be 40-0 down and would still be running round like a madman on the next point. So I started watching a lot more tennis - getting into the other slams and of course paying particular attention to the French.

 

For all of this to culminate in (currently) being the number of slam record holder is crazy. This kid was stupidly good on clay, his game was perfect for it, generating more spin that anyone else by a mile. But that wasn't enough for him, and he adapted his game for each of the courts, enabling him to pick up other slams and of course all of them in time. There's a lot of talk about how his proportion of clay titles somehow diminishes his 21, which is not a great argument - he worked and adapted his game so much for each of the courts to enable winning on other surfaces and was never satisfied with being just a clay court king. I love that.

 

Imagine being so good at tennis that you can win 21 slams playing with your weaker hand!

 

I know people will argue long in to the night on who is the GOAT. If you want to have those debates then fine, we all have our favourite and there are many stats you can use to back up any of them. It has just been a pleasure to watch them all compete against each other. Imagine the dominance if any had been left to compete without the other two. Some of the most impressive sportsmen in my lifetime.

 

Absolutely delighted for Rafa though - I think back pre- US 2021, he was probably wondering whether he would play again and expected he would be watching Djoko pick up #21. Now he has 21 and is clear with the French to shortly follow. Think Novak will come back and eclipse his number, but if he could end of 22/23 that would be brilliant, especially after another year of knock-backs.