2022 In Between Grand Slam Thread

Floppybits · 22-03-2022 12:43am

Should have guessed Federer and Djokovic would have won IW and Miami one after the other. It seems to be common practice now that if a player wins an event they usually skip the next one. In saying that Nadal and Fritz missing Miami is no surprise considering their injuries. Will be interesting to see when Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome are played will the player that wins one actually play in the next one.

whiterebel · 22-03-2022 10:10am

Nadal wasn't playing Miami anyway according to himself a while back.

22-03-2022 2:28pm

Andy "Wild Card" Murray if he gets through will face Medved in Miami

Fritz will face Alcaraz in the second round - can get to see how the alternative Indian Wells story could have gone.

Edit - nope -> read the draw wrong - better view and see that they would not meet til way further on

Really got the feeling that Nadal was trying extra-hard not to cede the "Spanish top-dog" crown at IW.

Kyrgios could face Rublev in the second round.

Hego Damask · 22-03-2022 3:08pm

Not a fan of Nadal (some of you might have guessed ;) ) but don't like to see him lose this way, if it were a knee or a leg injury fair enough, but anything in the chest is worrying.

Not long covid related (long covid is a myth), but hope it's not vaccine side effects.

22-03-2022 3:11pm

Oh

yerwanthere123 · 22-03-2022 3:20pm

Nadal out for 4-6 weeks

https://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1506270081814310927

Hego Damask · 22-03-2022 3:22pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819056#Comment_118819056

Good ...

as in good that it's a regular injury ... ;)

Floppybits · 22-03-2022 4:30pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118818689#Comment_118818689

I'd be very surprised if Fritz does play Miami with the his ankle injury. Nadal is going to miss the start of the Clay court season. He will definitely miss Monte Carlo.

22-03-2022 4:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819550#Comment_118819550

Well he's still in the draw as of now and not due to play until Friday due to a bye

Djokovic to return at Monte Carlo - with such a huge lack of competitive tennis though it's unclear if he can play into form and if his head is right by now after the Australian immigration experience

Floppybits · 22-03-2022 4:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819597#Comment_118819597

I wouldn't be surprised to see Djokovic play in a couple of 250 events if he can to get in some much needed match practice. There is one in Morocco before Monte Carlo and then there is also the Serbian Open. Are they any restrictions related to vaccination status in Europe or is Djokovic free to play as long as he doesn't test positive for Covid, not that stopped him before.

josip · 22-03-2022 5:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819622#Comment_118819622

According to French regulations, he's ok to play there. The Italians said a long time ago that he could play Rome.

€60 for great seats for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Serbian open if anyone is interested :)

Not sure if anyone of note will be there considering it clashes with Barcelona. Maybe Thiem.

22-03-2022 5:31pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118819622#Comment_118819622

Can't see Djokovic slumming it in Morocco - hard pass on his part I would say.

Monte Carlo is being touted as his return

I think that currently Djokovic can play all the clay Masters 1000 events in Monte Carlo, Rome and Madrid.

And the slam at Roland Garros.

yerwanthere123 · 23-03-2022 3:40am

So er, Ashleigh Barty just retired 🤯

https://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/status/1506452363363639301?t=_g8LMpKEWsyIUcVmAVZEfQ&s=19

HeidiHeidi · 23-03-2022 4:44am

Golly....... another Borg, walking away at the top.

Best of luck to her, that can't have been an easy decision (or maybe it was?).

Itssoeasy · 23-03-2022 7:35am

Just saw the news about ash barty. When she pulled out of Indian wells and Miami she said she’d be back in April. Didn’t expect this though. I’d have bet money that Naomi Osaka would’ve retired first.

dominatinMC · 23-03-2022 10:04am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821862#Comment_118821862

If only!

Very surprised with Bartys announcement. You'd wonder what she has in mind going forward, I know Borg called it a day at roughly the same age but 25 is very young.

Floppybits · 23-03-2022 10:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822185#Comment_118822185

While it is surprising, Barty has said that she is a home bird and does struggle with being away from home for long periods, so maybe last year with being away from home so long took its toll and this is the result.

loyatemu · 23-03-2022 11:05am

Clijsters retired at 23, but came back again later to even greater success.

Pistachios & cream · 23-03-2022 12:55pm

She got engaged last year also so maybe she plans to start a family.

She's said it a few times that last year was very draining on her. She cut the season short and didnt play at the year end championships. I'm assuming she feels she has achieved what she wanted to with Tennis and its no longer the life for her.

Anyway its a real pity as i always liked her game and attitude.

Itssoeasy · 23-03-2022 1:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118822420#Comment_118822420

That’s a fair point. I mean wasn’t she away from her family for ages due to the strictness of the Australian borders being closed ? And she got engaged/married last year,I can’t remember which so maybe that and not wanting to be away from her family as much made her rethink things. I mean she’s not the only one that the pandemic made reevaluate their life in certain ways.

poppy37 · 23-03-2022 2:21pm

That was some bombshell to wake up to. I wish her the best but it’s very bad news for the wta. She was the most consistent player and a great figurehead for the tour, gracious in both victory and defeat, very articulate, popular among her peers and the public. I’m assuming she will request to be removed from the rankings straight away and that leaves Iga Swiatek as the new number 1. Definitely not the way she would want it to happen and hopefully she will relish the added responsibility.

Ash is getting married this year and is very family orientated so probably didn’t want to carry on the grind of the tour. It’s a pity but she can always make a return in a few years if the hunger resurfaces.

MisterAnarchy · 23-03-2022 2:40pm

I suspect she will make a return in a few years.

She looks alot older than 25 it has to be said.

yerwanthere123 · 23-03-2022 3:01pm

Being brutally honest I won't miss her at all. Despite her achievements she always had a pretty ambivalent attitude to the sport, and only played as much as she had to. Nice person and I wish her well, but I'll be moving on from her pretty quickly ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

23-03-2022 3:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118821862#Comment_118821862

Osaka would have to see out her commitments for the huge $$$ she signed up (majority being Japanese market influenced even if foreign companies) for before going anywhere

Some of them are probably looking for their money back though

https://justwomenssports.com/forbes-highest-paid-athletes-osaka-williams/#:~:text=Naomi%20Osaka%20has%20once%20again,last%20year%2C%20according%20to%20Forbes.&text=The%20number%20is%20a%20%242.1,of%20%245%20million%20in%20endorsements.

Floppybits · 23-03-2022 3:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118823745#Comment_118823745

Have to say I agree with you. I am not going to miss her that much sure she really only played the slams and couple of odd WTA events as it was. As I said above the whole being away from home for most of last year and then getting engaged either at the end of this year has probably hastened her decision. I think the whole being away for most of last year due to the restrictions in Australia has caused some to have a re-think, Darren Cahill is another Aussie who said he needed to step away. Look a Kyrgios as well, where is only playing certain events. As much as I love tennis I don't think I could be away from home as much as these guys are.

Girly Gal · 23-03-2022 7:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118823745#Comment_118823745

I won't really miss her either, just something about her that I never really warmed to, she seemed to have been a reluctant tennis player, only really played when she had to and also choose cricket over tennis when she was younger. Having said all that I'm very surprised by her decision to quit and she will be a huge loss for the WTA as she was the most consistent of the top players and really only in the last year or so established herself as the best player in the world. The WTA is really struggling to find a successor to Serena, first Osaka looked like the likely successor, but has gone completely off the rails and now Barty who looked fairly stable and secure has quit suddenly.

Floppybits · 24-03-2022 10:57pm

Raducanu in trouble here in the third set. She is very erratic in the third set.

Floppybits · 24-03-2022 11:02pm

And she has been knocked out.

24-03-2022 11:11pm

Radu-can't-du

It's hardly surprising at this point - only maintaining the results of the last 6 months

Still peddling that same pretty limited game that is not exactly rocket science to figure out without the "relative unknown" factor and unable to hold it together consistency wise

yerwanthere123 · 24-03-2022 11:36pm

Raducanu's conditioning needs work too, breathing very heavily by the end of the second set. Think she's finding out the difficult way the gulf in class between playing ITF's and the main tour. Still, probably to be expected for someone aged 19 and with a totally unprecedented ascent up the rankings as hers was.

Osaka beat Kerber pretty handily earlier, would've been closer if Kerber actually gave a sh*t. Think this will be Kerber's final year on your, she doesn't look remotely interested any more.

Meanwhile, Svitolina managed to lose to Heather Watson 😬

2022 In Between Grand Slam Thread

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