Tennis 2025

Jark said:
well she's 22 years old and she's achieved more than you or I ever will so maybe 40-something men on the internet should cool it and get a little perspective.
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:D

Whilst I actually agree with this point (and I'm LOVING the shade), it is a BIT RICH considering the amount we all slag off anyone across any field...
 
Jark said:
well she's 22 years old and she's achieved more than you or I ever will so maybe 40-something men on the internet should cool it and get a little perspective.

I know some people have frustrations around Emma's choices but seriously - last year was her best since she broke through. there are encouraging signs. if she never makes it big again I'm sure she's at peace with that. if that invites vehemence and hate from people online... they should take a serious look at themselves and ask why they're so entitled. it's just tennis y'all.
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What an oddly OTT response. :D Are you ok?
 
I don’t understand how me commenting on Emma Raducanu has triggered you to be so personal, but go ahead… enjoy.
 
Oz is underway :disco:

Sabs vs Sloane turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. I'm pretty sure this will be Sloane's last year on the tour.

Sexy Casper Ruud won a 5 set epic 😍
 
Also congratulations to Hady Habib, who follows up being the first player from Lebanon 🇱🇧 to qualify for a grand slam by winning round 1 in straight sets.
 
^ Sloane’s been less than half arsed for years and has now lost 9 in a row so her match up with Sabalenka was only interesting on past name value, it was clear what was going to happen.
 
Tsitsipas out in R1 is a shocker for me. The decline is real, eh? He had a good draw here and normally plays well for the first half of the season. It's a shame cos when he was coming up through the ranks, he was my fave of all the 'NextGen' players (is that what we called them? Zverev, Medvedev, and himself!) - his game when confident and in full flow was a pleasure to watch, and he had the looks to be a marketable face for the sport post-Big Three. Just needed to keep his philosophical ramblings to himself! Can't believe it's come crashing down so fast, although I guess it's been six (!) and four (!) years since his statement wins over Fed and Nadal here, respectively. I think that FO loss to Djokovic really did mess with his conviction that he deserved to sit at the winner's table, and Alcaraz toying with him when he was still a viable threat seems to have damaged the belief even further. Now he's getting surpassed by more of the youngsters (e.g. today) and his Slam-winning window appears to be closing for good? Is his dad still the chief coach? Cos I feel like if they change that toxic set-up and get sb in to beef up the BH and ROS there's an opportunity for him to stay somewhat relevant, at least on the dirt. But people have been saying that for ages now, and dude still seems to be pedalling backwards.

ETA: 🇬🇧-watch, congrats to Jodie Burrage for getting to R2 to face... Coco Gauff. :/ Good result after an extended injury lay-off I think? Gauff taking out Kenin is pleasing (of all the random af women's Slam winners in recent years, Kenin might be the most dumbfounding one for me; also nice revenge for Coco). Awful Harriet Dart up a set, and my mate Jack Draper on court very soon. 🤞
 
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My favourite drama queen Jelena Ostapenko out in Round 1 to Belinda Bencic :(

I think it's also the last season for former champion Azarenka, beaten in straight sets by Lucia Bronzetti, the sort of player she used to dismantle in her peak years.
 
Sardonicus said:
My favourite drama queen Jelena Ostapenko out in Round 1 to Belinda Bencic :(

I think it's also the last season for former champion Azarenka, beaten in straight sets by Lucia Bronzetti, the sort of player she used to dismantle in her peak years.
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Oh, Sardonicus, not JELENA OSTAPENKO! I tend to side with Ajla Tomljanovic on that one. (Though as a big proponent of brainless ball-bashing, I can't help but wow on those rare days when Osta's redlining... seemingly only against Iga!)

The real story should be how nice it is to have Bencic playing at tour level again so soon after motherhood. Not sure a win against perennially-streaky headcase Ostapenko is a great barometer of where her game's at, but I nonetheless hope she gets a big title or two out of her return somewhere down the line.

On the flipside, can't help but feel that motherhood - or was it the custody drama? I spent a good decade+ very checked out of the WTA - waylaid poor Vika's career. Was rooting for her in all her USO finals, sigh. Hope she gets to end things on her terms somehow. What are your thoughts on the Tsitsipas decline plz?

Started watching Kyrgios-Fearnley, realised very quickly that a listless and undercooked Nick wasn't gonna be able to hurt Jake, so switched over to Djokovic-Basavareddy instead. First look at the young American and was very impressed! Bit more conditioning and bulk and he's a big prospect with those groundies and that return (Stefanos take notes!).

Having Sir Andy in Novak's box is something that's gonna take a LOT of getting used to. Also I'm tired of that UberEats ad already!

Oh, and I LOVE the Aussie crowds, sorry. Been at night matches there with locals playing and the atmosphere is just electric! Perhaps they go a bit overboard with one of their own but they're generally a good laugh imo. I'd rank them only behind the Brits at Wimbledon in terms of the Slam crowds (there is something to be said for the greater DECORUM we possess... though with a lot of the riffraff they let in nowadays - myself included - you might not know it).
 
old spice said:
Oh, Sardonicus, not JELENA OSTAPENKO! I tend to side with Ajla Tomljanovic on that one.
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I love Jelena :disco: her go for broke style is even more impressive live, & her antics crack me up. There's a lot more of the cartoon villain in how she acts then a genuinely malicious sort IMO.

Plus she took time to have a selfie & quick chat with tons of people (including me & my friend) after playing an epic match at Birmingham against Magdalena Frech last year, then was back on for the doubles within the hour, when many players would have been straight to the locker room & pulled out of doubles citing injury.
 
old spice said:
What are your thoughts on the Tsitsipas decline plz?
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Tits was damaged mentally by losing the RG final against Djokovic from 2 sets up IMO. He made the fatal error of not going even harder at the start of set 3 & you can't give a player like Novak a way back in.

He did get close again at Oz but I agree between that & his horrible record vs Alcaraz, he's not the player he was. The weird relationship with his dad certainly isn't helping, I think he's trying to cut the apron strings but he's struggling to do do.

It's not impossible for him to put it all together & grab an elusive slam but he needs to be more ruthless than he's shown so far (fire Dad & get in the right coach without his interference!), the window is closing rapidly.
 
love love love Vika. probably my favourite of that generation of players. would love one last run through to a slam QFs before she goes.

she's also 5th in the all time highest earners list :o remember when she dated the afro guy from LMFAO?
 
Raducanu lucky to get through her opener, looks like she's been hanging out at the Sabalenka school of double faults. I still can't help root for her to come through.

Norrie's bad form continues but wasn't expecting (or wanting) him to overcome Berrettini.
 
For Monfils to still be playing he is, at his age, with his play style, is really something quite extraordinary.
 
Medvedev, my God. There's rust & frustration due to it & then there's destroying a net camera while almost suffering an embarrassment of a loss to an unknown.
 
Boulter scraping through against Marino, with the way her next opponent Kudermetova was serving today it's likely she'll lose round 2.
 
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Didn't manage to catch anything today, annoyingly. :( From a quick glance of the results: good for Raducanu and Boulter scrapping their way through. As much as I'm 'over' the former, I'm much like @passthatdutch in that I can't help but engage in the masochistic pastime of rooting for fellow Brits. Well, except for Cam Norrie cos ew. I hope Katie brings the form she had against Iga at the United Cup to her match against sour-faced Putinista Kudermetova, blech.

Def need to catch highlights of Monfils-GMP. I'm expecting the latter to put all the pieces together for a true breakout run soon (I'm saying Wimbledon?), but seriously: hats off to Gael! Funny that Kyrgios and his 'wasted talent' was the news du jour yesterday. Sure he came of age in the worst era ever, but someone of Monfils' prodigious athleticism and skillset should really have stronger career stats than he does imo (esp given what was expected after juniors). Always felt that he relied too much on his insane defensive ability instead of pulling the trigger early as he was more than capable of doing during his prime. Given that he didn't quite scale the heights that others foresaw for him, I really love that he's still out here doing his thing - winning tournaments even! - and teaching the young 'uns a trick or two. A consummate showman and such a likeable character. Likeable, very much unlike his countryman Moutet who took out poor Pop. :( Was hoping Alexei would be the top Aussie performer this year, ah well.

I had Fonseca down for the upset against Rublev but didn't think it'd be in straights! This feels reminiscent of a teenage Alcaraz beating Tsitsipas at the US a few years back. Fearless young upstart and possible generational talent (still haven't seen Fonseca play oops) slamming the door on a long-plateaued established star that's about to embark on a downward trajectory. I like Rublev and hope he still has a few good years left in him (is he seeing a sports psych yet?!), but seems like there's another new kid on the block! We love to see it.

Also, is this farewell to Stan? His classic AO encounters v. Novak from 2013-15 = the stuff career highlights reels are made of. Wtf were they doing putting him on Court SIX? The disrespect. Finally, a quick shout-out to the real Chinese QUEEN, Zhang Shuai, continuing to fan the last embers of her career after a historical losing streak that would've broken mere mortals. 加油！:disco:
 
rhythmbandit said:
I was surprised to see Zhang win, especially against Kesseler who had just won a title last week.
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Zhang ended that horrendous losing streak by beating Kessler in straight sets towards the end of last year so wasn’t overly surprised to see it, glad for her as she seems to be one of the nicest out there.
 
Sexy Casper Ruud lost to Mensik :angry: Clay can't come quickly enough.

Nice performance from Burrage against Gauff, shame she couldn't take it to 3 sets but encouraging signs for a return to the top 100.

Perennially injured Thanasi Kokkinakis on the verge of taking out Draper...
 
Sardonicus said:
Sexy Casper Ruud lost to Mensik :angry: Clay can't come quickly enough.

Nice performance from Burrage against Gauff, shame she couldn't take it to 3 sets but encouraging signs for a return to the top 100.

Perennially injured Thanasi Kokkinakis on the verge of taking out Draper...
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But not quite managing it.... that was tense! The last game from Draper was a superb way to seal the victory.
 
Is Ruudboy being 'sexy' a legit thing? Who knew! The upset alert with Mensik was strong imo, file under same category as Fonseca-Rublev. Casper's form has been questionable af for a long while now (random Turin run excepted) - feels like he's top five in the world on clay, barely top fifty on hard, and barely top five hundred on grass lol. It's a shame cos by all accounts he's one of the nicest guys on tour and I'd like to see him stick it to his naysayers with a big title somewhere, but as time goes by I'm less and less convinced.

Another that I always wanna root for who makes life difficult for himself is FAA. Had him down in the same 'future Slam winner' group as Alcaraz and Sinner not so long ago and... sigh. :( I'm going to blame the bête noire of my tennis life - that dastardly bitch-ass Toni Nadal - for this regression/clear act of sabotage. ADF is a hella tricky opponent, but Felix should really be winning these matches if he's gonna come good any time in the near future. How many times has he lost from two sets to love up now? That scar tissue be building. As a related aside, I don't think winning a lead-up tourney mere days before a Slam starts is all it's cut out to be nowadays.

I was watching mah boiii Draper in action right up until 5-3 Kokk in the fourth set, at which point I decided that I was causing him bad luck and abandoned ship. And LO AND BEHOLD! (Weirdly enough, when I saw him in person at I think this same stage last year, I brought him plenty of good luck apart from his puking after the match.) These unnecessary marathons early in the Slams remind me a little of the young Zverev. Sascha eventually figured it out, and I suspect Jack will hit the ground running more often in future as well. Not much he could've done with the Kokk those first few sets tho - the match definitely felt like it was on the Aussie's racket from what I saw. I don't cheer for him cos of the Kyrgios dudebro thing, but gotta admit that he's quite thrilling to watch when he's on. I suspect all Kokkinakis' (considerable!) scar tissue has already turned to brainrot based on how things played out after I turned the match off! Can't say I'm too fussed. 💅

On the ladies' side today I see that Iga, Emma, and lovely Ons are already safely through, so I'm a happy camper.
 
Nice to see Raducanu through in a tricky match up, but there are clearly back issues there with the medical time outs and serve issues. Doesn't bode well for the Swiatek match which is a shame. People slag her off for all the injuries but it really feels like she can't catch a break. Girl's clearly not making it up, so don't get all the hate. Would love to see her stay healthy for a season and prove rhe naysayers wrong.
 
Encouraging signs from Emma but no way can she challenge Iga with an injured back. I'm getting Hyeon Chung perma-injured vibes from her, really hope she gets a small title or 2 this season but I've lowered my expectations considerably over the years.
 
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