2022 In Between Grand Slam Thread

klr87

Ostapenko made short work of Kenin, although from what I've read elsewhere, Kenin gave up the ghost, not for the first time in the last 12 months or so. There's a good match on at the moment, Siniakova just levelling against Muguruza.

Girly Gal

It's good that Djokovic has come out and said he's prepared to face the consequences for not getting vaccinated. It's his choice to get vaccinated or not and he or anybody else for that matter shouldn't be forced to get vaccinated if they don't want to, as long as they are prepared to face the consequences. He got a lot of stick over the AO fiasco, some was deserved as he clearly tried to take advantage of a flawed exemption system ( don't really blame him for trying, the Australians really should has set the bar much higher for the exemption).

Personally I'd like to see him play the slams (think he's fine for Wimbledon and possibly RG, not sure about USO). From a purely tennis point of view, the slams would definitely be the poorer without him.

gmisk

Very impressive performance by Murray against Taro Daniel (who beat him at the Aus open) 6-2, 6-2.

Be great to see him string a few wins together.

poppy37

I admire Djokovic for sticking to his guns, he feels very strongly about the freedom of choice over what he puts into his own body. He was never going to Australia if he didn’t get the exemption and without raking over old coals again it was whomever gave him the original exemption that should shoulder most of the blame.

While I agree the timing of his Pcr test was very convenient until there is actual proof it was a fake it’s just idle speculation.

I hope he gets to compete at Roland Garros and Wimbledon purely because I think he’s the best player in the world and most probably the goat and the tournament’s are most definitely devalued without him.

I’m not a Djokovic fan boy either but I hope he gets a chance to equal and exceed the record. I am really looking forward to his next meeting with Nadal as there will be a real bite to it particularly after Nadal’s comments in Australia.

I don’t enjoy Roland Garros in general though, the endless, grinding rallies on the clay bore me to tears.

Slashermcguirk

It will be interesting to see how Djokovic performs when he returns to competitive play. On the one hand if he does get to play the French open he could be like a man possessed trying to get to 21 slams. On the other hand if he cannot compete in any of the hard court season in the US (Indian wells, miami etc) then he will miss out on a lot of important tournaments and the opportunity to play top players. If that is the case he will come in completely undercooked at French open and he could be vulnerable early. There is no substitute for real match practise no matter how good you are.

I hope he plays in the slams this year, having the number one player in the world missing hugely devalues a tournament in my opinion regardless of whether you like that player or not. You want the best players at the grand slams

josip

He'll get some match practice. He's got Dubai next week, so something to measure himself against there. He'll get March off like you said.

In April he will hopefully get to play in Monte Carlo, but will miss Barcelona.

He'll have Madrid and should also be able to play in Rome before RG.

Unlikely to be enough to keep #1 unless he wins Dubai and Medvedev tanks in the US.

klr87

In Dubai, Ostapenko beat Swiatek 4-6 6-1 7-6(4), in a typical Ostapenko roller-coaster match. Ostapenko is now 3-0 in the head to head with Swiatek.

.. I thought I'd posted this a couple of hours ago.

yerwanthere123

Oh dear, 06 16 loss for Murray to RBA in Doha.

klr87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118642242#Comment_118642242

Ouch. Glad I missed that one.

There's a rule of thumb that in a scoreline like this, the loser usually manages to win about 1/3 of the points, which is exactly what happened here - 28 points out of 84 played.

klr87

Ostapenko d. Kvitova 5-7 7-5 7-6(9). Another final set tie-break win, and 3 wins in a row over fellow slam champions. Petra served for the match in the second and third sets, and had a match point in the tie-break. Osta took it on her 4th MP. Not the best match, but over 130 winners between them.

yerwanthere123

Hope the winner of Dubai comes from the top half. Either one of Ostapenko, Halep or Jabeur is fine with me.

#61 ranked Arthur Rinderknech into the SF's of Doha. He peaked at #48 in January but I've somehow never heard of him, despite the fact he played Kokkinakis in the Adelaide final just a few weeks ago. Guess I was so focused on Thanasi winning I didn't pay any attention whatsoever to his opponent.

yerwanthere123

Meanwhile, De Minaur being investigated on suspicion of buying a fake covid passport.

https://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1494338417978605574

Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest, I'd imagine he's one of many. Iirc the ATP said a few months back that there'd be serious repercussions for anyone suspected of falsifying any covid related documentation. Let's see how they respond to this.

Quite ironic that it's Australia's top-ranked male player.

He has put out a statement denying it.

Maybe he's not at fault.

If it was a certain other player there would quite probably be 20 posts about how he should be burnt at the stake yesterday.

A bit reminiscent of all the shade the Brits were throwing on the Italian Olympic 100m winner and then a British sprinter had failed a drug test for not one, but two banned substances it turned out and ended up with their relay team facing being stripped of a silver medal. (even if that Jacobs guy did have "impressive" improvements)

https://www.rfi.fr/en/aussie-tennis-star-de-minaur-investigated-over-false-covid-pass-purchase-scheme

yerwanthere123

Well obviously if a famous, prominent player was accused of doing this, as opposed to a player few casuals have probably heard of, the reaction would be far more scathing.

Ujah failing a test after pointing the finger at Jacobs was delicious though. The Olympics was six months ago now, I wonder when a decision will be made regarding the British medal.

Just saw this from De Minaur now

https://twitter.com/alexdeminaur/status/1494344912560701447

Sounds plausible, so hopefully telling the truth.

klr87

In Dubai, Ostapenko has beaten Halep 2-6 7-6(0) 6-0, her third win in a row from a set down. Quite a turnaround after the first set. Halep was gassed in the third, even though it was not a long match.

Vondrousova gave a walkover to Kudermetova in the other semi-final. Both singles finalists are also in the doubles semis later today, but in different matches.

In other news, Osaka - who couldn't be bothered with the Dubai/Doha swing - has been given a wild card into Indian Wells.

klr87

Ostapenko rolls over Kudermetova 6-0 6-4 in the Dubai final. Kudermetova went up a break at the start of the second, but Ostapenko generally bossed it. This is "only" her 5th singles title, as in she really ought to have won quite a few more by now,

They both get to do it again in the doubles final.

yerwanthere123

Always a good day when Ostapenko wins a title 😎 She probably won't win a match for the next three months now, but hey.

In other news, Sara Errani lost to a 14 year old in Guadalajara qualifying tonight. In fairness, she lost to widely-tipped prospect Brenda Fruhvirtová... but still!

yerwanthere123

Alcaraz gets revenge on Berrettini, into the SF's of Rio to play Fognini. Hope he'll take the title now, would be his second of what many assume will be many. It actually passed me by that he's already won a title in Umag last Summer.

Delighted to see FAA into his second final in as many weeks, would love to see him take the title in Marseille after just winning his first. Tsitsipas lost in the QF's to #163 ranked Safiullin, bit of a weird result.

My hopes for Shapovalov didn't come good this week, lost in the QF's of Doha to Rinderknech. You'd expect a bit more from a player who's made the top ten and with a grand slam SF and two QF's to his name.

klr87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661318#Comment_118661318

I've heard of Fruhvirtova, but have yet to see her play. She only won her first ITF tournaments earlier this month, two of them back to back in Argentina. She must have a lot of promise to be getting a qualifying WC in Mexico. Maybe the Mouratoglou Academy (where she trains) swung it for her.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661364#Comment_118661364

Like the South American clay swing in February, those European clay events in July such as Umag tend to pass a lot of people by. You can get all tennised out after Roland Garros, the grass warm-ups and Wimbledon, and lose focus until the North American hard court season.

Girly Gal

I thought there was a minimum age limit introduced in the WTA a few years back- thought it was set at 16 - which prevented under age players from playing on the tour, to allow them develop properly and help prevent early burn out. It was common enough up until the early noughties for 13 or 14 year olds to start completing on the tour e.g. Capriati, Hingis, Graf etc.

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118661937#Comment_118661937

The limit is actually 14. A 14 year old can play on the tour but is limited to "8 professional events (WTA & ITF Women's Circuit), no more than 3 of which can have prize money at $60K or greater; plus Fed Cup". Age Eligibility Rules can be seen here on the WTA website.

Itssoeasy

Victoria Azarenka is 1-1 in sets against putintseva and in the third set has already got a violation for swearing and slammed her racket into the court.

Itssoeasy

Azarenka was 4-0 down in the third set but it’s now 4-3.

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118664528#Comment_118664528

Thankfully Azarenka gets the job done. Putin even tried the aul 'MTO before opponent serves for important game' trick but thankfully Azarenka pulled through.

Disappointed FAA couldn't get the job done today, but no shame in losing to Rublev.

Alcaraz-Schwartzman coming up later, hoping for title #2 for Alcaraz.

whiterebel

Alcaraz - Schwartzman could be an interesting match up.

yerwanthere123

Alcaraz' patience in rallies is remarkable, constructs the point so well and waits for his moment to strike. Beautiful touch at the net too.

klr87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118664679#Comment_118664679

Azarenka isn't exactly without sin herself when it comes to gamesmanship, but Poots is in different league. I'm kicking myself I missed this. It sounds like it had everything.

Brenda Fruhvirtova won her second (and final) round qualifier 6-2 6-1, and is into the main draw in Guadalajara. Her 16-year old sister Linda won a 25K ITF tournament in Cancun, where she beat some decent players en route to the title.

Cam Norrie beat Reilly Opelka in two tie-break sets in the Delray Beach final. There were no breaks in the match, and Opelka had no break points - Norrie was 0/5. Opelka's semi-final win over Millman was in three tie-break sets, although there was one break to each player.

yerwanthere123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118665655#Comment_118665655

True, Azarenka hasn't been an angel throughout her career but, to be fair to her, she left all that behind years ago. Putintseva is 27 now and has been the exact same way since she was a teenager. Here's Azarenka letting rip earlier tonight 🤣

https://twitter.com/tennis_gifs/status/1495472863004045320

Delighted to see Alcaraz win his second title in Rio, many more to come in the upcoming years.

Lots more great tennis coming next week, a lot of eyes will be on Dubai for Djokovic's return. I expect him to win the title without too much trouble, but we'll see.

Alcaraz improving all the time.

Didn't see this match but his shot selection and rally construction was really quite poor at times in Australia vs Berrettini which cost him the tie and I found it disappointing as would have liked to see him face Nadal instead of someone like Berrettini who has a terrible backhand weakness which gave Nadal the match

A grinder like Schwartzman, albeit a good one, was thankfully not able to prevail here

Alcaraz's first ATP 500 - what a player to watch.

whiterebel

Alcaraz-Schwartzman looked like good match from the highlights. Some brilliant drop shots from Alcaraz, tough to get right against speedster Diego. Some of Schwartzman's backhand winners in the first set were brilliant.