The 2015 In Between Grand Slam Thread

Floppybits

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Terrific stuff from James. Weird that it's coming on clay too!

Another win for James today. Great to see. Hope he does well at RG.

yerwanthere123

Floppybits wrote: »

Another win for James today. Great to see. Hope he does well at RG.

Just qualifying would be enough for me, he got so close last year.

Does green clay generally play faster than red? I know it does at Charleston on the WTA side, not sure about elsewhere.

Pighead

Floppybits wrote: »

Another win for James today. Great to see. Hope he does well at RG.

Watched it last night and he looked really good in the first set. Second set was weird though. His body language was all wrong and he looked like he gave up the set after the first break. Was strange as he had been so in control. Got back on track though and closed it out impressively. Very close to breaking into the worlds top 150 now. Great to see.

I thought McGee would be favourite going into this evenings final but Chung is 1/2 favourite so he must be playing well. Hopefully James can get the job done.

StillIntact

The gradual improvement in performances and rankings from McGee has been impressive. The way things are going he could be seeded for Grand Slam qualifying or else he is very close to it.

As far as green clay goes, anything I've seen has said it is faster than red clay. Also the event in Mexico was at altitude.

It's not surprising James is the underdog tonight because his opponent has already won at Challenger level. Hopefully he can make the step up tonight and that he performs as well as he can.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I was a bit worried about McGee after last year's US Open. He talked about using the money to fund his training and all that but it was looking for a while there like nothing had come of it. I guess it was just slow progress, or all the work he's done has been on clay and we're only seeing the results of it now.

I wonder what chance he has of getting a few WC's into bigger events now. Around 160 he wouldn't be that far off the cut off point for automatic qualifying for slams, especially when you take a few people out for injuries. Be nice of Wimbledon to give him one, that is if he hasn't managed to climb a bit more before the cut off.

StillIntact

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

I was a bit worried about McGee after last year's US Open. He talked about using the money to fund his training and all that but it was looking for a while there like nothing had come of it. I guess it was just slow progress, or all the work he's done has been on clay and we're only seeing the results of it now.

I wonder what chance he has of getting a few WC's into bigger events now. Around 160 he wouldn't be that far off the cut off point for automatic qualifying for slams, especially when you take a few people out for injuries. Be nice of Wimbledon to give him one, that is if he hasn't managed to climb a bit more before the cut off.

I think after Dubai he would be delighted to get the chance again. It's a tough one though. He's making progress at Challenger level and would need to be more consistent at that level for a start. Would like to see him get a WC for one of the UK tournaments aside from Wimbledon and test himself there. I would have thought he needed to be closer to the 120 mark for getting automatically into the slams and realistically that's a couple of titles away.

yerwanthere123

In bizarre news, apparently Donna Vekic and Stan Wawrinka have been having an affair since Miami last year. Might explain the irate press release Stan's wife made a few days ago.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

StillIntact wrote: »

I think after Dubai he would be delighted to get the chance again. It's a tough one though. He's making progress at Challenger level and would need to be more consistent at that level for a start. Would like to see him get a WC for one of the UK tournaments aside from Wimbledon and test himself there. I would have thought he needed to be closer to the 120 mark for getting automatically into the slams and realistically that's a couple of titles away.

Yeah, you'd need to be in the top 120 for automatic qualification but there's always injuries and people pull out before play starts. 160 is probably a bit too far out but a couple more good weeks and you never know.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

In bizarre news, apparently Donna Vekic and Stan Wawrinka have been having an affair since Miami last year. Might explain the irate press release Stan's wife made a few days ago.

Jeez, that's a new one. They do/did have a lot of back and forth on twitter but I've never thought it was anything more than that.

He walked out on her and the kid before though, not officially, but said something to the effect that having to think about two other people took away from his tennis. They obviously stayed together through that time but he's come across as really selfish as far as they're concerned, to me anyway.

RosyLily

"His instability, desire to regain his freedom—at all levels—are the source. And I have to admit the repeated fibs and emotional betrayals eventually destroyed entirely the confidence I had in him."

Ouch!! Stinging statement from Mrs Stan. The full one is quite the burn. Can't blame her though, especially if the Donna rumors are true.

Nishikori successfully defended in Barcelona. Excited to see what he can do at RG! AFAIK, he was knocked out in the first round last year so a good run here will be great for his ranking.

Kerber still going well; beat Wozniacki to win in Stuttgart.

yerwanthere123

James lost the final, although he's up to a new career high of 152, so not all bad. He'll also be the 8th seed at the Tallahassee challenger this week.

RosyLily

Good stuff!! Hopefully he goes one better in Tallahassee. Tournament will be streamed if anyone's interested.

StillIntact

Great tournament from McGee despite not getting over the line. Perhaps not at his best in the final but his opponent looked a good prospect.

A lot of these events are streamed and there is a link through the Challenger tour section of the ATP website if anyone is interested for this tournament or the later US hard court season.

Floppybits

When is the qualifying starting for RG?

StillIntact

Floppybits wrote: »

When is the qualifying starting for RG?

The main draw starts the last week of May so the qualifiers will be the week before. Not sure whether they start on the Tuesday or Wednesday.

yerwanthere123

This thread has been too quiet recently. Delighted to see Andy finally win that elusive clay title. I did fear he may go a whole career without winning one. He is now level with Federer and Nadal this year, one clay title each :pac:

Delighted also to see Kyrgios get to his first career final, and on clay no less. Impressive when you consider he's only played a handful of clay events on the main tour. No shame in losing to Gasquet either. Very excited to see how far Nick can go. He'll get a crack at Federer now in Madrid.

Good to see Pliskova and Svitolina win titles also. Marrakesh is Svitolina's third title at just 20, bodes well for her. She flies under the radar too, which is the best way to be really.

On to this week, the ATP field will be delighted to see no Djokovic in Madrid. I think we could possibly see a repeat of last year's final. On the WTA side, Bouchard lost again, extend her losing streak to six. Sharapova has broken her mini losing streak, whilst Azarenka continues to play herself back to form, getting wins over both Venus and Tomljanović, although Serena is up next so that's unlikely to continue. Radwanska will likely drop out of the top ten this week, unless she can get past both Wozniacki and Sharapova/Garcia, which seems highly unlikely on recent form.

RosyLily

First clay final and title for Murray....not a bad start to the season!

Nice to see the Aegon Open in Nottingham will honour Elena Baltacha. The winner will receive the Elena Baltacha trophy. Hard to believe it's a year since she passed away.

CassieManson

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

This thread has been too quiet recently. Delighted to see Andy finally win that elusive clay title. I did fear he may go a whole career without winning one. He is now level with Federer and Nadal this year, one clay title each :pac:

Delighted also to see Kyrgios get to his first career final, and on clay no less. Impressive when you consider he's only played a handful of clay events on the main tour. No shame in losing to Gasquet either. Very excited to see how far Nick can go. He'll get a crack at Federer now in Madrid.

Good to see Pliskova and Svitolina win titles also. Marrakesh is Svitolina's third title at just 20, bodes well for her. She flies under the radar too, which is the best way to be really.

On to this week, the ATP field will be delighted to see no Djokovic in Madrid. I think we could possibly see a repeat of last year's final. On the WTA side, Bouchard lost again, extend her losing streak to six. Sharapova has broken her mini losing streak, whilst Azarenka continues to play herself back to form, getting wins over both Venus and Tomljanović, although Serena is up next so that's unlikely to continue. Radwanska will likely drop out of the top ten this week, unless she can get past both Wozniacki and Sharapova/Garcia, which seems highly unlikely on recent form.

It will be interesting to see how Federer v Kyrgios goes today - this will be their first match!

yerwanthere123

Whoa, just seen the Kyrgios result. What a win, and on clay! Didn't see that coming.

RosyLily

Was a great match! Nick's serve was unreturnable at times. He's playing Isner now; John just broke to go 5-3. Looking forward to seeing Kyrgios on grass and if he can improve at Wimbledon next month.

Good win for Dimitrov over Stan. Loads of 3-set matches the past few days!

Floppybits

That was some mess on the schedule yesterday. first 2 womens matches on the show court took 6 hours to complete, where they having a chat between games?

RosyLily

Floppybits wrote: »

That was some mess on the schedule yesterday. first 2 womens matches on the show court took 6 hours to complete, where they having a chat between games?

It was fairly ridiculous. Murray finished his match at 3am then was out again this afternoon.

Another loong 3 setter for Sveta!! I was knackered just watching.

yerwanthere123

It's good to see there's still life in Kuznetsova when it comes to the clay season. She's always dangerous in Paris, especially since she'll be seeded.

RosyLily

That break did Kvitova the world of good!!!! She was brilliant in the final. Looking forward to seeing how she gets on in Rome and Paris. Tbh, I was surprised she was the one to end Serena's winning streak. She's never beaten her before then.

Hopefully Sveta will be fit for the French Open; she can still beat the best on her day!

I wonder if Andy will be able to pull off the upset in the men's final? He's never won a clay 1000 event.

yerwanthere123

I'm sensing a easy Nadal win later, but really hope I'm wrong. Some turn around for Murray though, from no clay finals to two in a row.

walshb

Murray's on fire. 3/0 up and a set up.

WaterLily.

I can't believe the tennis Murray is playing! I honestly don't think I've ever seen him play so well, he has barely made a mistake!!

Andy for the FO?!

walshb

Super win and play from Andy. Delighted.

Halloween Jack

walshb wrote: »

Super win and play from Andy. Delighted.

Closed out well, fairly nerveless, aside from that sitter of a volley he missed for the double break.

Joins a couple of elite clubs with that win: double digits for masters titles and becomes 4th man to beat Nadal in a final on clay...

RosyLily

Fantastic win for Murray!! He's playing some great tennis. 33 titles, the most successful Andy ever on tour.:pac:

Halloween Jack

Am i correct in thinking nadal will be ranked 7th now, with 2600 points to defend in the coming weeks? Mental.

Djokovic will be licking his lips......

Pighead

Two clay titles in the same week for Murray! Doubt that has been done too often before.

I was actually not too surprised he beat Badal today. Big surprise for me was him beating Nishikori in the Semi's. Thought he'd be well beaten in that one. Nosh has been in excellent form the last few weeks. Lots of work for Nadal to do to defend his French Open.

RosyLily

Murray really improving on clay. Mauresmo effect? Will be interesting to see how he goes in best of 5 at RG.

the_monkey

Nadal still to win his 10th FO this year.

Guaranteed.

mrkiscool2

RosyLily wrote: »

Murray really improving on clay. Mauresmo effect? Will be interesting to see how he goes in best of 5 at RG.

She is I think. He certainly seems to be moving better on the surface and also seems to be a lot more aggressive on it too. I think he will make the semis, if not the final. Don't think he will win it though.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Murray's form on clay certainly makes Paris interesting bit beating Nadal over 3 sets is a lot different from beating him over 5. Would be nice to see someone else win it.

Halloween Jack

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Murray's form on clay certainly makes Paris interesting bit beating Nadal over 3 sets is a lot different from beating him over 5. Would be nice to see someone else win it.

The way Nadal played today a 3rd set would have only prolonged the agony. Some decent points but overall was a complete mess.

yerwanthere123

Elated at today's result! Don't think Andy can win RG, still think we're headed for a Djokovic-Nadal final, but I also wouldn't rule out Andy making the final, which would be pretty incredible. I certainly think Djokovic will have sat up and taken notice of today's proceedings.

Rjd2

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Murray's form on clay certainly makes Paris interesting bit beating Nadal over 3 sets is a lot different from beating him over 5. Would be nice to see someone else win it.

Desperate for anybody else to win it and I don't even hate Rafa as much as others.

Heck I'd take Tipsarevic winning it. :eek::eek::eek:

walshb

RG is a whole different beast than a one week 1000 clay tournament over 3 sets. Has Murray got the mental staying power and discipline to go through the 5-6 rds before the final?

the_monkey

Halloween Jack wrote: »

Am i correct in thinking nadal will be ranked 7th now, with 2600 points to defend in the coming weeks? Mental.

Djokovic will be licking his lips......

Yep, he's dropped to 7th ... crazy..

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx

mrkiscool2

walshb wrote: »

RG is a whole different beast than a one week 1000 clay tournament over 3 sets. Has Murray got the mental staying power and discipline to go through the 5-6 rds before the final?

His 8 finals and 2 grand slams would suggest he is more than capable of that. His run to the semis last year, despite still struggling to find his form after back surgery, also suggests that fact. Winning two titles on clay in 6 days and utterly dominating one of, if not the, greatest clay court players ever in the final suggests it. I don't think he will win but he will make at least the semis, maybe the final.

walshb

mrkiscool2 wrote: »

His 8 finals and 2 grand slams would suggest he is more than capable of that. His run to the semis last year, despite still struggling to find his form after back surgery, also suggests that fact. Winning two titles on clay in 6 days and utterly dominating one of, if not the, greatest clay court players ever in the final suggests it. I don't think he will win but he will make at least the semis, maybe the final.

Yes, but I would argue that RG is physically the most challenging of the slams. Anyway, he has form, he has went far at RG, and I'd love to see him win it.

mrkiscool2

walshb wrote: »

Yes, but I would argue that RG is physically the most challenging of the slams. Anyway, he has form, he has went far at RG, and I'd love to see him win it.

Eh, I think the Australian, due to the heat and humidity, is tougher but it would be quite close between RG and Australian. I would love to see him win it too but I just can't see past Djokovic unfortunately. It just depends on which side of the draw he is on to say if it's going to be a semi or final.

Floppybits

I am not too surprised by Murray's performance on the clay this year. If you look back at his performances in other years he has always been there or there abouts on the clay. Last year he took Nadal to 3 sets in Rome in one of the matches of the year, he constantly goes deep into the French open. Maybe it is Maurismo has him moving better on the clay or some subtle change has been made that is the difference between being there abouts to actually competing and winning clay court tournaments. I still don't see him winning the French Open.

The French open is going to be very interesting this year, Federer, Nadal are losing there cloak of invincibility, Federer more so. The other players in the locker room must now go into matches against these feeling they have a chance of causing an upset. Both Nadal and Federer will need to have a good week this week in Rome, especially Nadal. He needs a major confidence boost before the French Open. Rome is going to be interesting this week with Djokovic back, it will be interesting to see how Nadal, Federer, Wawrinka and Murray perform. I don't think Murray and Djokovic need a good Rome as much as the other 3.

Still hard to look past Nadal and Djokovic for the French Open. Its going to be very interesting to see which half of the draw Nadal will end up in. We live in interesting times.

walshb

Floppybits wrote: »

The French open is going to be very interesting this year, Federer, Nadal are losing there cloak of invincibility, Federer more so.

I would say that Federer has lost it. He will not be a threat in RG. He hasn't been a major threat for a while now. I can't see Roger getting to the QFs or semis this year unless he has an "easy" draw.

With Nole back in Rome we can assess Murray further should he progress and meet Nole. I would love to see a Nole-Murray final, but I believe they meet in the semis and Nadal and Federer meet in the semis if that is the way it progresses.

yerwanthere123

Not that I expect it to happen, but can you imagine if Andy did win RG this year, winning it before Djokovic? It really would be one of the most incredible tennis plot twists in recent memory.

walshb

Anyone but fooking Nadal winning it again.

CassieManson

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Not that I expect it to happen, but can you imagine if Andy did win RG this year, winning it before Djokovic? It really would be one of the most incredible tennis plot twists in recent memory.

Big Murray fan - I would be delighted if he won RG, especially if he did it before Novak. I have a feeling that he will do really well in Paris!

RosyLily

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Not that I expect it to happen, but can you imagine if Andy did win RG this year, winning it before Djokovic? It really would be one of the most incredible tennis plot twists in recent memory.

Murray to beat Djokovic in the RG final......that would be hilarious!!:D What a twist! I'd love it.

Then Andy wins next year's Aussie to get the career Slam before Nole.:pac: