The 2013 In Between Grand Slam Thread

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

JosephPatrick wrote: »

Any predictions on Monte Carlo? Draw isn't out yet of course but its hard to bet against Nadal. I hope Djokovics' twisted ankle won't be an issue, I imagine he would have retired from his match if it was a genuine risk to the next few months, he has a lot of points to defend from a final appearances at Rome and Paris.

Djokovic was flying back to Monte Carlo today/yesterday/overnight (time zones?!?) and was getting an MRI once he got there to assess the damage. He did an interview with Serbian media after the match and he started crying when talking about the injury. Seems pretty serious.

Taking that into account it's hard to see past Nadal. At Indian Wells it looked like he'd never been away and that was on his hated hard courts. On clay I assume he'll be as unbeatable as usual.

JosephPatrick

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Djokovic was flying back to Monte Carlo today/yesterday/overnight (time zones?!?) and was getting an MRI once he got there to assess the damage. He did an interview with Serbian media after the match and he started crying when talking about the injury. Seems pretty serious.

Taking that into account it's hard to see past Nadal. At Indian Wells it looked like he'd never been away and that was on his hated hard courts. On clay I assume he'll be as unbeatable as usual.

Just watched him there on YouTube. Absolutely bizarre. Will be fascinating to hear what's the story is with the ankle during the week.

Bykobap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99SykJCac50

Floppybits

Murray batterd of the court by Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2.

RosyLily

Surprising, but Wawrinka can be exceptional. Love his backhand...so fluid. I hope Stan can build on this win; he'll play Tsonga in the QFs.

Murray's supposed to be playing Madrid & Rome before RG. Still has loads of time to get his clay game sorted.

Berdych was beaten by Fabio Fognini, 6-4, 6-2.

yerwanthere123

Del Potro out too. Would have been a great chance for him to win a few ranking points, considering he didn't play last year. Ah well.

Statistic about Andy Murray I find utterly amazing: He's never won a clay court tournament! I know clay is an obvious weakness of his, but still, you'd think he'd have at least won a 250 or something, or at least even made a final!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Statistic about Andy Murray I find utterly amazing: He's never won a clay court tournament! I know clay is an obvious weakness of his, but still, you'd think he'd have at least won a 250 or something, or at least even made a final!

Yeah, you'd think he'd go play a tiny tournament with no real competition instead of doing MC, Madrid and Rome before RG. A few wins, even against lower ranked players would do his confidence the world of good.

RosyLily

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Statistic about Andy Murray I find utterly amazing: He's never won a clay court tournament! I know clay is an obvious weakness of his, but still, you'd think he'd have at least won a 250 or something, or at least even made a final!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Yeah, you'd think he'd go play a tiny tournament with no real competition instead of doing MC, Madrid and Rome before RG. A few wins, even against lower ranked players would do his confidence the world of good.

It's strange. Surely if you're not good on a surface you start at the smaller tournaments and work your way up? I know the big names mightn't play the 250 clay tournaments but, like you said TME, a few wins under the belt before RG would be great for the confidence.

Nadal had a good win over Dimitrov earlier, beating him 6-2, 2-6, 6-4. He's looking healthy and moving well. He plays Tsonga in the SFs...should be a fun match!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Djokovic has a dislocated bone in his ankle according to his coach and Sky. Can't see how it makes any sense for him still to be playing.

RosyLily

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Djokovic has a dislocated bone in his ankle according to his coach and Sky. Can't see how it makes any sense for him still to be playing.

Broken bone and still playing???

I find that really odd! He could do more damage to himself and miss Roland Garros...and drop ranking points.

Withdraw from Monte Carlo. Better to be safe than sorry imo.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

They said dislocated bone, not broken, I don't know how different that is though. Seems stupid in the run up to RG to be making it worse.

mickmackey1

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Statistic about Andy Murray I find utterly amazing: He's never won a clay court tournament! I know clay is an obvious weakness of his, but still, you'd think he'd have at least won a 250 or something, or at least even made a final!

very surprising, if I'm not wrong he spent most of his teenage years practising on clay courts in Spain!

Fed back to No.2 by the way.

yerwanthere123

So we're looking at a Nadal-Djokovic final. Will be interesting to see if Nadal is back to full health (if there's any doubt left) and whether he'll be able to win his 9th consecutive title. If Nole wins then this could be a game-changer heading into RG.

walshb

Novak on fire. 3-0 up.

walshb

Novak wins his first Monte Carlo title in straight sets; 62/76.

mickmackey1

jaw-dropping stuff at times from djoker, and so ends one of the greatest streaks in tennis history.

yerwanthere123

Maria battles through to the final where she will probably play Li Na. It's been quite a tough few days for her, three three-set matches against Safarova, Ivanovic and Kerber. Not easy for your first three clay-court matches of the season! Getting to the final is great but I doubt she'll win if it's against Li Na.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Sharapova picks up another Porsche.

RosyLily

Good win for Sharapova! Kinda surprised she won it in straight sets.

Will be interesting to see if she can mount a challenge at Madrid or Rome.

yerwanthere123

Great performance from Maria, she's #1 in the race as a result of this win. Barring a meeting with Serena, I'd put her as the clear favourite to win RG.

yerwanthere123

Also, Lukas Rosol has been quietly creeping up the rankings this year. He won his first title in Bucharest today, which takes him to #35 in the world. If he could get a seeding in time for Wimbledon it would be interesting.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

She was flawless today but her three matches before that she was anything but. Of course that could just be her getting settled on clay again, and I suppose Kerber and Ivanovic are no slouches, but still, she'll have to play like she did in the final today rather than how she did in the lead up to it.

She's unbeaten on Red clay since 2011 now Which is so hilarious when you consider how awful she used to be. You have to give her credit for working out what wasn't working and fixing it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Also, Lukas Rosol has been quietly creeping up the rankings this year. He won his first title in Bucharest today, which takes him to #35 in the world. If he could get a seeding in time for Wimbledon it would be interesting.

A seeding would make it a lot easier for him to defend his points from last year.

I was reading today that his dad only died the other weekend. He had a stroke while watching the Czech Davis Cup match on TV. Rosol dedicated the win today to him.

RosyLily

Some very sad news from the ATP tour today.

Brad Drewett has passed away as a result of ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). He was 54.

Desperately sad! It was only announced in January that he was suffering from ALS. I first heard on Twitter a few minutes ago; honestly thought it was a mistake. Many people are confirming it now.

RIP Brad Drewett

yerwanthere123

Pavlyuchenkova wins her second title of the year in Portugal, will be interesting to see whether she'll make a move at the slams this year. I'm not really holding my breath though.

Madrid shall be interesting too as this is Vika's first tournament since Indian Wells. She hasn't exactly got an easy draw for her debut on clay, Pavlyuchenkova in the 1st, possibly Safarova in the 2nd and Bartoli in the 3rd. For some reason I don't Vika doing much on clay this season. I genuinely think Sharapova is going to defend her title at Roland-Garros. Obviously a little too early to tell though

Fed will be back too, it'll be good to see what kind of shape he'll be in. I doubt he'll be defending his title though!

RosyLily

Since 2009, the male winner of Madrid has gone on to win that year's Wimbledon.

The women's competition started today in Madrid. Sloane Stephens lost in the first round again, this time to Hantuchova. Hope she can pull herself together. Definitely some tough opening matches for the WTA; Azarenka vs. Pavy should be good!

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

Since 2009, the male winner of Madrid has gone on to win that year's Wimbledon.

The women's competition started today in Madrid. Sloane Stephens lost in the first round again, this time to Hantuchova. Hope she can pull herself together. Definitely some tough opening matches for the WTA; Azarenka vs. Pavy should be good!

Didn't know it had already started. Sloane out already? Christ. She needs to get her act together pronto. Laura Robson won her opener too, someone who also needs to to her act together. Sabine even won a match!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I saw this mentioned earlier about Sloane Stephen's needing to get her act together. I'm pretty sure this is her act.

She had a flukey run at the Aus Open which elevated her ranking way higher than it probably should be. Now she's back to playing how she always did. Obviously the Aus Open showed she's capable of better, but it's not like she was a world beater and started slumping, she's just as she always has been.

p.s. Anyone following the Jimmy Connors/Chrissie Evert drama?

yerwanthere123

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I saw this mentioned earlier about Sloane Stephen's needing to get her act together. I'm pretty sure this is her act.

She had a flukey run at the Aus Open which elevated her ranking way higher than it probably should be. Now she's back to playing how she always did. Obviously the Aus Open showed she's capable of better, but it's not like she was a world beater and started slumping, she's just as she always has been.

p.s. Anyone following the Jimmy Connors/Chrissie Evert drama?

:eek:
I definitely wouldn't call her run in Australia a fluke. I'd call her win against Serena a fluke alright, but she certainly deserved to get to the quarter-finals. She was making all the right moves before Australia to suggest that she was going to become a top player, 3rd round @ Wimbledon & US Open and 4th round at Roland-Garros. She also gave Serena a good match in Brisbane the week before Melbourne too. I do agree though that her ranking is inflated.
Just my opinion!

And I'm following the Jimmy Connors thing alright, but tbh it doesn't bear much significance with me as these are players that were at their tennis peak long before I was even born

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

:eek:
I definitely wouldn't call her run in Australia a fluke. I'd call her win against Serena a fluke alright, but she certainly deserved to get to the quarter-finals. She was making all the right moves before Australia to suggest that she was going to become a top player, 3rd round @ Wimbledon & US Open and 4th round at Roland-Garros. She also gave Serena a good match in Brisbane the week before Melbourne too. I do agree though that her ranking is inflated.
Just my opinion!

And I'm following the Jimmy Connors thing alright, but tbh it doesn't bear much significance with me as these are players that were at their tennis peak long before I was even born

Maybe fluke wasn't the right word, but to me that would be the surprise tournament rather than these ones where she's losing.

I don't remember Connors or Evert playing either but it's a pretty $hitty thing to reveal about someone without even telling them that you were going to do it.

RosyLily

Perhaps Sloane Stephens will end her career as "that girl that beat Serena in the Australian Open one time". Who knows!

And Sabine got a win today!:) Happy with that; she'll play either Cibulkova or Tsurenko next.

RE: Connors/Evert thing....very personal thing to reveal about someone, especially if they didn't know it'd be in the book. If someone did that to me I'd kill him!!

yerwanthere123

Yet another first round exit for Wozniacki

yerwanthere123

Uh-oh. Sloane Stephens "blasts" Serena Williams apparently:
http://tennis.si.com/2013/05/04/sloane-stephens-serena-williams-2/

RosyLily

Bit of a verbal diarrhea moment from Sloane. She might live to regret it. Dying to see them play each other now!:D

Any time I've been at a tournament, neither Serena nor Venus have stopped to sign autographs. They're not gonna change now.

RosyLily

As if we need more proof that Bernard Tomic's dad is a crazy...he goes and headbutts his son's practice partner and is now in custody in Madrid.

*slow sarcastic clapping*

This guy needs some serious anger management. Reminds me of Jim Pierce and how nutty he was. If John Tomic is found guilty, Bernie could be done for the season. But don't quote me on that, read it on Twitter so could be a lie for all I know.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

There's conflicting reports on it. His hitting partner was definitely "assaulted" outside the hotel they're staying in, but some people are saying they saw a guy being arrested and it wasn't John Tomic. Others are saying it was.

Whoever it was is due in court in the morning, so we'll know for sure then.

RosyLily

Yeah, loads of different reports. One Aussie site said it was John who attacked Drouet and that it stemmed from an altercation between father and son in Monte Carlo last week.

Between Jimmy Connors' book, Sloane's comments and The Tomics, tennis is making all sorts of news! May not be for good reasons though....

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I read one report that the guy that got beaten up had been arguing with John Tomic since Monte Carlo over him actually hitting Bernie. Bernie has apparently said that he was there when it happened and it's "a f**ked up situation" and that he hasn't seen his dad since it happened.

I feel quite sorry for him. I know he's a but of a tit at times but his dad's behaviour has always been questionable and we have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. Best thing for Bernie would be to cut all ties.

RosyLily

Same report I read. I do feel sorry for Bernie. Can't be easy on him, especially when he seemed to have been getting himself together. Just needs to get away from his dad for a while. And think about employing a new coach.

On Sky Sports earlier Miles Maclagan referred to John as a "strong personality" i.e. mad as a box of frogs!:p

jupiterjack

Djokovic out....

mickmackey1

jupiterjack wrote: »

Djokovic out....

can't believe it... stopped watching after the Tb :mad:

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Such a horrible crowd. Djokovic shouted "Suck my ****" at them at one point.

RosyLily

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Such a horrible crowd. Djokovic shouted "Suck my ****" at them at one point.

Seriously!!!:eek: Crowd must have be awful so. Rare that Djokovic loses his cool that bad! Only saw bits of the match...hope they'll show highlights of it tomorrow.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

He shouted it in Serbian after he won the 2nd set. Crowd were whistling and booing him from the MTO he took for his ankle.

RosyLily

Wow! Crowd seem pretty crappy. Almost like something you'd have at Roland Garros.

BTW, John Tomic has been banned from all ATP tournaments until further notice. Source

yerwanthere123

RosyLily wrote: »

Wow! Crowd seem pretty crappy. Almost like something you'd have at Roland Garros.

BTW, John Tomic has been banned from all ATP tournaments until further notice. Source

Excellent news, hopefully this'll help Bernard. Sure how could he properly focus on his tennis with a lunatic like that for a father.

Great to see Dimitrov take out Djokovic! This is exactly what Dimitrov needs, he had yet to have that big win. Also I'm not a huge fan of Djokovic, and it's quite right the crowd boo him for taking a timeout. Hate those tactics.

yerwanthere123

I feel more and more sad for Bernard the more I hear
http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/05/drouet-bernard-tomic-was-hostage-his-dad/47358/#.UYmbcLWfiSo

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

The WTA need to ban Tomic as well before he gets any notions about switching to the younger sister.

Bykobap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSNJay-ui04

woopah92

Sloane Stephens is nothing but the next Melanie Oudin. It's not like she had a series of amazing wins to reach the SF of the AO, only a sup par Serena. I mean Jovanovski took her to a 7-5 third set. Her over inflated ego is getting in her way too. I can see her falling from the top 30 by YE.

Madison Keys is the next big American youngster. Her game is massive and she doesn't appear to be a choker yet anyway.