The Official Tennis Thread

[dec]

Whatever happened with Venus anyway? When she won her last slam in 2008 it was her 7th and Serena was on 8 at the time.

There's only about a year or two between them in terms of age gap, since then Serena has won 15 slams to zero from Venus who retired a year or two back.

By "retired a year or two back" do you mean "competed in this year's Australian open"?

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/30871317/venus-williams-loses-sara-errani-injuring-ankle-australian-open

[Milltown Row2]

Djokovic strolls through.

Serena has another failure at the business end - 4 final defeats, 2 SF defeats and 1 QF defeat since she won her last slam.

Since she gave birth.  She was on some roll prior to that, hopefully she continues and gets the record.  My second favourite womens player of all time after Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

I think Serena is now in the predicament that I suspect Djokovic and Nadal are coming towards. Can she win 2/3 matches against the top 5/6 players who are all 10 years or so her junior from the last 8 on. It's a difficult ask for her. Osaka on the heels of Halep is a massive ask for a 39 year old woman. I really don't see her winning another one without some major luck in the draw.

Was Djokovic playing Thiem today in the semi final, on the back of a match with Zverev and one of Tsitsipas and Medvedev to come I'd put him as the outsider but he has got the break of the ball this time around. Slams from here on for the big three are priceless. I think Djokovic needs to end the year on 19 to put him in the driving seat to take over.

Would you stop writing off no1's? Ffs

[quit yo jibbajabba]

Whatever happened with Venus anyway? When she won her last slam in 2008 it was her 7th and Serena was on 8 at the time.

There's only about a year or two between them in terms of age gap, since then Serena has won 15 slams to zero from Venus who retired a year or two back.

By "retired a year or two back" do you mean "competed in this year's Australian open"?

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/30871317/venus-williams-loses-sara-errani-injuring-ankle-australian-open

Cue 10 pages of arguments and disinformation

[Angelo]

Medvedev storming through Tsitsipas at present.

The Greek is two sets down and will need to repeat what he did with Nadal on Wednesday.

[mouview]

Blown away. Med' seriously impressive.

[Mikhail Prokhorov]

the new GOAT

[Angelo]

Bookies have both at 9/10.

I have fancied Medvedev from the start and think he'll come through here.

He has beaten Djokovic in 3 of their last 4 meetings - though Djokovic has won their only meeting in a slam at the 2019 Australian Open - Medvedev has reached another level since then.

I think stylewise, Medvedev is going to be an absolute nightmare for Djokovic, you just can't throw him off. He will out-Djokovic Djokovic on keeping the ball in play and I think he will force the errors from the Serb and frustrate the life out of him.

On form you'd have to back Medvedev but Djokovic should be fresher and is the 8 time champ and world no 1.

I'm going Medvedev in 4.

[nrico2006]

Whatever happened with Venus anyway? When she won her last slam in 2008 it was her 7th and Serena was on 8 at the time.

There's only about a year or two between them in terms of age gap, since then Serena has won 15 slams to zero from Venus who retired a year or two back.

Venus obviously burst onto the scene earlier but then Serena came out of nowhere and won the US open when she was very young. 

I always loved Venus too, never saw another woman cover the court like her when she was at her best, took a lot of work for opponents to get winners against her.  She did get diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder about a decade ago that has obviously been the main factor in her decline. 

[Milltown Row2]

It'll be his second Slam final so this isn't new to him..

He's ten year younger than Novak so his fitness levels can't be questioned, his stamina is on a par also.. be nip and tuck and a lot of sets going to the wire I'd say.

[Angelo]

Immensely looking forward to this match tomorrow.

Medvedev pointed out in his post match interview that the pressure is all on Djokovic and you'd have to agree. Look at Serena in the women's, the older you get the harder it gets and every missed opportunity at this stage grates. Djokovic would be frustrated with last year, what happened in the US Open with a weak field with a lot of players not participating with Covid was a huge error, then the way he flopped in Paris as he went heavily fancied.

The weight of pressure on the shoulders of Djokovic, Nadal and Federer (don't think Federer will ever play a slam final again) is huge if they get there. They know the window is closing and closing quickly. Djokovic is the one who can maintain his level for probably another 3 or 4 years but his problem is that all the emerging players right now excel on hard courts (Thiem probably slightly better on clay) - so it gets harder to make those finals year on year and going in against guys 10 years your junior is going to be tough on them.

Few records for tomorrow.

Djokovic's 9th Australian Open title tomorrow if he wins (50% of his slams), will move him one ahead of Federer's Wimbledon haul and out on his own at 2nd behind Nadal's 13 at RG.
Medvedev will stretch his record to 13-0 against top 10 players if he wins tomorrow
Medvedev will go to no 2 in the world if he wins tomorrow (the first player to reach the top 2 outside of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray in 791 weeks)

A Medvedev win is a seismic change for the tennis scenery tomorrow, I think it gives the confidence for the next gen to push on (I know Thiem won in the US but it did have a lot of players missing and Djokovic defaulting). Kind of like how Down's win in 91 was the catalyst for the likes of Derry and Donegal and how Armagh sparked Tyrone in 2002.

I think Djokovic's best hope of a slam probably comes at Wimbledon from here on in.

Medvedev going no 2 also has a huge negative impact for Djokovic with regard to RG. It would mean that his path would mean he would likely have to beat both Thiem and Nadal if he is to win at RG, which is a huge ask for him. For RG I will be backing Thiem or Nadal depending which one is on the opposite side of the draw to Djokovic.

4hr+ marathon battle tomorrow please.

[Orior]

When is Medvedev's personality due to arrive? Only joking - the media sharks have not focused on him yet.

[Milltown Row2]

Detailed report as usual. This is even Stevens, bookies have it that way also.

Looking forward to it, these three players will never be matched, the new generation won't ever get the slams these unreal players have reached

[nrico2006]

Not convinced on this 'new generation'. Thiem and Medvedev are hardly spring chickens and should have more victories than they have if they were as good as some make them out to be. Djokovic will win tomorrow.

[Angelo]

First set Djokovic.

Bit of a steal, scrappy game from Medvedev at 6-5 and Djokovic breaks to take it 7-5.

[Angelo]

Medvedev has disappointed hugely here.

Djokovic about to take a 2 set lead. Too many unforced errors and Djokovic serving so so well on his second serve.