2021 In Between Grand Slam Thread

Hector Savage

josip wrote: »

Strange to pull out of the Olympics, unless he fancies his chances in the US Open?

Could be, he already has an Olympic gold, he'll also have an eye on AO2022, to try and get that career double slam ...

josip

josip wrote: »

Strange to pull out of the Olympics, unless he fancies his chances in the US Open?

Djokovic took his soul

He has to take time off to meet the devil at the crossroads again like Robert Johnson

josip

glasso wrote: »

Djokovic took his soul

He has to take time off to meet the devil at the crossroads again like Robert Johnson

One and the same according to some

Royale with Cheese

Would hardly be worth his while turning up in Australia next year either if he's going to go down this route. I wonder would he be allowed to eventually just play the clay season.

Royale with Cheese

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

Would hardly be worth his while turning up in Australia next year either if he's going to go down this route. I wonder would he be allowed to eventually just play the clay season.

he can play when and where he wants if can keep enough of a ranking to make the draw.

they can't make exceptions just for whomever in that respect

paulie21

Osaka has withdrawn as well

She'll be back for the tournaments where she gets past the third round

klr87

paulie21 wrote: »

Osaka has withdrawn as well

No shock there. She dug herself such a hole during the French Open, that to play Wimbledon would probably have been viewed as a climb--down of sorts. Not to mention her record is as poor at SW19 as it is at Roland Garros.

She's talking big about coming back for the Olympics and winning Gold. Well, "She would, wouldn't she?", but it's hardly going to reduce the spotlight on her. The pressure from the Japanese press may well be greater than anything she's yet experienced.

I suppose that there won't be press conferences at the Olympics in the same way as at a GS event so wouldn't be surprised to see her there and will defo be in for the US Open and kid gloves will be sold out in New York for the duration of the tournament.

As you said dug her own hole here the way she went about things.

Slashermcguirk

hopefully has left the tour, an absolute clown. Maturity of a 12 year old and spends more time just slagging the top players than winning matches. go and win a load of slams and then you can slag them off, until you do that you just look like a clown

Floppybits wrote: »

What is the story with Kyrgios? Has he given up? What a waste of talent.

Girly Gal

Slashermcguirk wrote: »

hopefully has left the tour, an absolute clown. Maturity of a 12 year old and spends more time just slagging the top players than winning matches. go and win a load of slams and then you can slag them off, until you do that you just look like a clown

Wasted talent, probably as talented as any of the top players, just doesn't have the application or mentality, players like Djokovic, Nadal, Murray and others have gotten pretty much every ounce of potential out of themselves, made huge sacrifices to do that, while he just turns up when he feels like it and expects to compete with them. If he had channelled all that wasted energy on his tennis he might have actually been a serious contender at GS level.

MisterAnarchy

glasso wrote: »

I suppose that there won't be press conferences at the Olympics in the same way as at a GS event so wouldn't be surprised to see her there and will defo be in for the US Open and kid gloves will be sold out in New York for the duration of the tournament.

As you said dug her own hole here the way she went about things.

I can see her opening a can of worms in Tokyo if she takes the knee or wears any BLM apparel.
Both have been banned by the IOC.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/apr/21/podium-protests-to-be-banned-at-tokyo-olympics-after-athletes-poll

gmisk

Watched a few of the queen's matches on Amazon prime.
Shapovalov Vs Norrie today was a decent one, Norrie started horribly but really improved as match went on he has come on leaps and bounds this year. Doesn't make many mistakes and really solid.

Enjoyed the Evans Vs Berretini match, would put him as clear favourite versus Norrie in the final, definitely not Norries best surface.
Berretini could do extremely well at Wimbledon with that big serve.

gmisk

Cracking final at queen's Norrie versus Berretini.
Norrie gave him a battle....but Berretini is a serious player...he could go very very far at Wimbledon

Girly Gal

gmisk wrote: »

Cracking final at queen's Norrie versus Berretini.
Norrie gave him a battle....but Berretini is a serious player...he could go very very far at Wimbledon

He can certainly get to the latter stages, has a good serve and Djokovic and Federer apart, very few of the top 20 guys have done anything at Wimbledon plus haven't played on grass for 2 years. If you were to take Djokovic out, it would be an extremely open tournament and would be difficult to predict a winner

klr87

Girly Gal wrote: »

He can certainly get to the latter stages, has a good serve and Djokovic and Federer apart, very few of the top 20 guys have done anything at Wimbledon plus haven't played on grass for 2 years. If you were to take Djokovic out, it would be an extremely open tournament and would be difficult to predict a winner

Between them, Zverev, Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas have been in 86 finals (43 victories), from ATP 250 level all the way up to the grand slams. But on grass, they have just 3 finals (1 victory, by Thiem). The last of those grass finals was in 2017. Medvedev made QF at Wimbledon in 2019, the other three have all been to the 4th round once there.

Even with relatively few tournaments on grass, and none at all last year, that is still a poor return on grass. None of them look to be Wimbledon champions in waiting, not in the near future anyway, unless the draw falls apart in their favour.

Girly Gal

klr87 wrote: »

Between them, Zverev, Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas have been in 86 finals (43 victories), from ATP 250 level all the way up to the grand slams. But on grass, they have just 3 finals (1 victory, by Thiem). The last of those grass finals was in 2017. Medvedev made QF at Wimbledon in 2019, the other three have all been to the 4th round once there.

Even with relatively few tournaments on grass, and none at all last year, that is still a poor return on grass. None of them look to be Wimbledon champions in waiting, not in the near future anyway, unless the draw falls apart in their favour.

Once Djokovic goes I think we're going to see a period in the men's game where players will come from nowhere, win a slam and disappear, similar to the women's game.

Hector Savage

gmisk wrote: »

Cracking final at queen's Norrie versus Berretini.
Norrie gave him a battle....but Berretini is a serious player...he could go very very far at Wimbledon

For sure, I was thinking Sinner was the Italian lad to watch, and then Berretinni ... boom.

Girly Gal

Girly Gal wrote: »

Once Djokovic goes I think we're going to see a period in the men's game where players will come from nowhere, win a slam and disappear, similar to the women's game.

Certainly there will be a void but it will never be two Eastern European nobody plod players world-ranked in the 30's in a GS final like the French there.

Fookedifiknowya Vs Whothehellrya

Tsipsitpas showed in the French final that he already has grit to go with the talent imo

And there are other prospects like Sinner that will hopefully rise to match him to have at least two consistent quality players. Ideally want to have 4 at a good level competing. Trying to replace the best ever is a very tall order.

Hector Savage

Hector Savage wrote: »

For sure, I was thinking Sinner was the Italian lad to watch, and then Berretinni ... boom.

Berrettini is 25 Vs Sinner 19 tho

Big difference.

Sinner has potential but has to realise it.

Berrettini is good with a big heavy serve and forehand but is not mobile enough to be top top level imo

He could go deep at Wimbledon nonetheless

He was 4R in 2019 so was showing an improving trend there

Girly Gal

glasso wrote: »

Certainly there will be a void but it will never be two Eastern European nobody plod players world-ranked in the 30's in a GS final like the French there.

Fookedifiknowya Vs Whothehellrya

Tsipsitpas showed in the French final that he already has grit to go with the talent imo

And there are other prospects like Sinner that will hopefully rise to match him to have at least two consistent quality players. Ideally want to have 4 at a good level competing. Trying to replace the best ever is a very tall order.

Tsitsipas looks the best of the younger guys atm, Sinner still has a bit to go, but, time on his side. For me Zverev, Medvedev and even Thiem have proven themselves not to be up to the task, will probably end up with a few slams each once Djokovic finishes up, but, that'll only prove that the level has dropped. If Tsitsipas proves to be the real deal he could really begin stacking up the slams once Djokovic goes. Don't think we'll ever see a player reach the levels the big 3 reached, but, it's quite possible that a dominant player in a weak era could break all their records, which isn't something I'd like to see.

Floppybits

Girly Gal wrote: »

Tsitsipas looks the best of the younger guys atm, Sinner still has a bit to go, but, time on his side. For me Zverev, Medvedev and even Thiem have proven themselves not to be up to the task, will probably end up with a few slams each once Djokovic finishes up, but, that'll only prove that the level has dropped. If Tsitsipas proves to be the real deal he could really begin stacking up the slams once Djokovic goes. Don't think we'll ever see a player reach the levels the big 3 reached, but, it's quite possible that a dominant player in a weak era could break all their records, which isn't something I'd like to see.

Got to agree with you there. Tsitsipas looks the best of them atm and able to handle it physically and mentally. Zverev as good as he is unless he pull himself together is never going to win anything. Thiem I thought had got over that hurdle winning the US Open but he seems to have gone to pieces since. Medvedev I think can do it, he seems mentally strong maybe needs a bit more physicality.

In other news I see Niaomi Osaka is on social media promoting her picture on the cover of Vogue magazine, I thought she was suppose to be taking it easy with friends and family

Floppybits

Floppybits wrote: »

Got to agree with you there. Tsitsipas looks the best of them atm and able to handle it physically and mentally. Zverev as good as he is unless he pull himself together is never going to win anything. Thiem I thought had got over that hurdle winning the US Open but he seems to have gone to pieces since. Medvedev I think can do it, he seems mentally strong maybe needs a bit more physicality.

In other news I see Niaomi Osaka is on social media promoting her picture on the cover of Vogue magazine, I thought she was suppose to be taking it easy with friends and family

probably road-testing an outfit for her New York Met Gala co-chair social-anxiety buster event?

for her supposed don't ask me questions about surfaces I don't win on / or as it is to be be coined "mental health sabbatical" she should just keep a low profile and have a few of these

dominatinMC

Girly Gal wrote: »

Tsitsipas looks the best of the younger guys atm, Sinner still has a bit to go, but, time on his side. For me Zverev, Medvedev and even Thiem have proven themselves not to be up to the task, will probably end up with a few slams each once Djokovic finishes up, but, that'll only prove that the level has dropped. If Tsitsipas proves to be the real deal he could really begin stacking up the slams once Djokovic goes. Don't think we'll ever see a player reach the levels the big 3 reached, but, it's quite possible that a dominant player in a weak era could break all their records, which isn't something I'd like to see.

I know we're told to never say never, but there isn't a hope that's happening IMO. The next gen are much too inconsistent to get anywhere near the records of the Big3.

Also, you'd have to imagine that the current homogeneity of the courts (which certainly favoured Nadal and Djokovic's games) will not last forever, and we will have a greater disparity in court characteristics, leading to the clay-court specialists, grass-court specialists of old. In this case, you won't have the same players competing at the latter stages of all events.

dominatinMC

Floppybits wrote: »

Got to agree with you there. Tsitsipas looks the best of them atm and able to handle it physically and mentally. Zverev as good as he is unless he pull himself together is never going to win anything. Thiem I thought had got over that hurdle winning the US Open but he seems to have gone to pieces since. Medvedev I think can do it, he seems mentally strong maybe needs a bit more physicality.

In other news I see Niaomi Osaka is on social media promoting her picture on the cover of Vogue magazine, I thought she was suppose to be taking it easy with friends and family

That's not really saying much though is it. He was up 2 sets on Djokovic at the FO and, as well as Djokovic played, Tsitsipas crumbled. I know Djokovic is one of the greatest, but you really need to be capitalising on those sort of situations.

Floppybits

dominatinMC wrote: »

That's not really saying much though is it. He was up 2 sets on Djokovic at the FO and, as well as Djokovic played, Tsitsipas crumbled. I know Djokovic is one of the greatest, but you really need to be capitalising on those sort of situations.

I would give him the benefit of doubt on that one. It was his first GS Final and maybe that got to him a bit. As they say sometimes to got to lose a final to win a final.

I thought that Tsitsipas did ok.

Djokovic is the best player over 5 sets ever seen after all.

Most of the service breaks were very hard won for Djokovic.

Tsitsipas fought to the end and didn't "crumble" imo.

To me that showed a fair bit of promise for the future - grit and resilience shown.

Crumbling to me would be easily losing the fifth set with no resistance which didn't happen.

There was tension up until the last point in Djokovic's own service game where he took the match.

Girly Gal

dominatinMC wrote: »

I know we're told to never say never, but there isn't a hope that's happening IMO. The next gen are much too inconsistent to get anywhere near the records of the Big3.

Also, you'd have to imagine that the current homogeneity of the courts (which certainly favoured Nadal and Djokovic's games) will not last forever, and we will have a greater disparity in court characteristics, leading to the clay-court specialists, grass-court specialists of old. In this case, you won't have the same players competing at the latter stages of all events.

Had just one of Federer, Nadal or Djokovic not ever appeared, the other 2 would have probably added another 5 slams each, so it's not that far fetched to think that a dominant player could emerge in the future with no real serious competition (similar to Serena in the women's game from about 2010 on), they could have most of their career without a really serious opponent who could play to their level, they could very well break any record set by the big 3 ( apart from FO wins which will last forever). The big 3 at various stages of their careers robbed each other of slams

Floppybits

I see Thiem retired in his match today in Mallorca with a wrist injury.

klr87

Girly Gal wrote: »

Once Djokovic goes I think we're going to see a period in the men's game where players will come from nowhere, win a slam and disappear, similar to the women's game.

Quite possibly. As long as it's not the big servers at Wimbledon though. I don't think i could stomach a final between (say) Reilly Opelka and some other beanpole, Average rally length of oh, 2.1 shots, no break points, and thus a tie-break in every set.

For all the talk of random slam winners amongst the women, I've got to say that (for me) by far the most unexpected slam run in recent years was by Karatsev, who qualified and then made SF in the Australian Open this year, before Djokovic beat him in straight sets. It was the first time ever in the Open era a slam debutant made the semi-final.

klr87

Floppybits wrote: »

I see Thiem retired in his match today in Mallorca with a wrist injury.

From what I've read, it seems very unlikely he will play Wimbledon, and will probably be out for much longer.


In other news, del Potro will miss the Olympics, which should come as a relief to Djokovic - anyone remember their R1 match in Rio? Few singles players have contributed more to Olympic tennis than Delpo, but it seems he'll never win gold now.

Girly Gal

klr87 wrote: »

Quite possibly. As long as it's not the big servers at Wimbledon though. I don't think i could stomach a final between (say) Reilly Opelka and some other beanpole, Average rally length of oh, 2.1 shots, no break points, and thus a tie-break in every set.

For all the talk of random slam winners amongst the women, I've got to say that (for me) by far the most unexpected slam run in recent years was by Karatsev, who qualified and then made SF in the Australian Open this year, before Djokovic beat him in straight sets. It was the first time ever in the Open era a slam debutant made the semi-final.

Karatsev has shot up the rankings and has done fairly well since, but, he could well be a sign of how things could go in the future, had Djokovic not been there, Karatsev could well has gone on to win it. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see a few unusual names in the latter stages of Wimbledon as not many in the top 20 ( Djokovic and Federer apart) have done much on grass.

Rob2D

Thiem's wrist looked nasty. Highly doubt we'll see him next week.

Girly Gal

klr87 wrote: »

From what I've read, it seems very unlikely he will play Wimbledon, and will probably be out for much longer.


In other news, del Potro will miss the Olympics, which should come as a relief to Djokovic - anyone remember their R1 match in Rio? Few singles players have contributed more to Olympic tennis than Delpo, but it seems he'll never win gold now.

A pity Del Potro's career was so blighted with injury, one of the few players who on his day could live with the big three even when they played well, would imagine he'd have added a few more slams but for all the injuries.

Del Potro was a fine player with a forehand that was fun to watch but a bit over-rated also in his absence.

He only really threatened seriously at the US Open when fit.

(even tho he got to SF's in other tournaments he was never going to win the French or SW19)

Girly Gal

glasso wrote: »

Del Potro was a fine player with a forehand that was fun to watch but a bit over-rated also in his absence.

He only really threatened seriously at the US Open when fit.

(even tho he got to SF's in other tournaments he was never going to win the French or SW19)

Tbf to Del Potro the main reason he didn't seriously contend at the slams is that he was constantly either getting injured or coming back from an injury, he never really get a proper injury free run, very stop start career which must have been very fustrating for him. The injuries may well have been as a result of his playing style.

First man to beat both Nadal and Federer in a slam, the injuries pretty much started straight away after winning the US open, think he was only around 21 at the time, so the potential was there to win more.

there is far too much "if my auntie had balls she would be my uncle" stuff in this tennis forum.

Del Potro wasn't always injured and never did anything at the AO (never past a QF in 9 attempts) and as said might have got to a SF at RG but was never going to going to win there as didn't have a clay game.

Likewise with Wimbledon.

As said he was good at the US Open but either Djokovic and Nadal could take him out there also.

Djokovic beat him in 3 sets in the 2018 final when he wasn't injured for example.

Nevermind the fact that being able to stay fit is quite an important aspect of professional sport in general.

A brittle body in general is just part of his makeup and leaves him unsuited to it.

right-wrist, left-wrist, back problems, broken kneecaps etc etc.

yerwanthere123

I laughed at Shapovalov pulling out of the Olympics in the interest of "everyone's safety". He's played in Australia, Qatar, UAE, USA, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and the UK this year, but Japan? Too dangerous!

sort of like the golfers who couldn't be arsed playing golf in the Olympics in Rio and all pulled out due to Zika virus.

(including Worey and Shane Lowry).

Didn't seem to bother the 14,000 other athletes and I don't remember hearing of 1 actually getting it.

then the Zika virus turned up in Florida where pretty much all the golfer live :pac:

yerwanthere123

It's a bit disappointing, because after they were all in for Wimbledon 2012 I thought tennis at the Olympics had turned a corner, but it seems to have gone backwards again. I know Djokovic is taking it seriously though, he really wants a medal, and was devastated when he lost to Delpo back in 2016.

DecoTurf is the surface for the Toykyo Olympics - same as the U.S Open up to 2019 (from 1978)

Probably a fair choice overall.

lostcat

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

It's a bit disappointing, because after they were all in for Wimbledon 2012 I thought tennis at the Olympics had turned a corner, but it seems to have gone backwards again. I know Djokovic is taking it seriously though, he really wants a medal, and was devastated when he lost to Delpo back in 2016.

The Olympics should probably treat Tennis like they do Soccer, have it as an U23 (or Next Gen) competition. No one (including most of the players) particularly care about it.

Whatever the Olympics 'says' to me, its not tennis, golf (or soccer or rugby), they add nothing to the flavour of the Games.

Correct on Djokovic, he very badly wants to win a gold.

CassieManson

lostcat wrote: »

The Olympics should probably treat Tennis like they do Soccer, have it as an U23 (or Next Gen) competition. No one (including most of the players) particularly care about it.

Whatever the Olympics 'says' to me, its not tennis, golf (or soccer or rugby), they add nothing to the flavour of the Games.

Correct on Djokovic, he very badly wants to win a gold.

And Federer too I think?

klr87

Meanwhile ... there is still tennis this week, plenty of it in fact, between the last of the warm-up events and Wimbledon qualifying,

At Eastbourne, the 3 women's semi-finalists so far are all have serious pedigree on grass: Kontaveit, Giorgi and Ostapenko. Ostapenko started terribly against Kasatkina (finalist last week in Birmingham), but finished it well on top, hitting winners from everywhere as only she can. That wasn't the best part of the match though. Drama follows Ostapenko everywhere, from being ratted out by a line judge for bad language, then telling the umpire to change said line judge, adding "I don't want to see her face ...", then being wrongly awarded a point at a critical stage two minutes later.

whiterebel

Thiem is out. I really feel for him, it has been terrible for him since the US Open.

klr87

There was a great match now in Bad Homburg (Germany): Kerber beat Kvitova 3-6 4-6 7-6. It was the second match of the day for both, after a washout yesterday. It's not often two multiple slam champions go head-to-head in the semi-final of a low-level (WTA 250) event.

klr87

Serena Williams has opted out of the Olympics. No reason(s) given as of yet, but we can make some educated guesses:

- Concentrating on the US Open
- Nothing really left to prove at the Olympics
- Not being allowed to take her daughter to Tokyo
- Would have had to slum it down with the plebs (as in all the rank and file athletes) under tightly controlled conditions, rather than hiring out some luxury penthouse for herself and her very large retinue

josip

I forgot that I pass this place every morning on the dog walk.

I must call in some time to see if they have any vaccine-free, vegan spare ribs.

yerwanthere123

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117618292#Comment_117618292

Que?

josip

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117619922#Comment_117619922

Djokovic's restaurant in Belgrade