The Official Tennis Thread

[mouview]

Where are we with the Ladies set-up? Who is going to be the next big thing once/if Serena ever does finally pack it in? Every time a neophyte wins a Slam, they seem to be laboured with the tag of next one to dominate the game. E.g., in the past few years, we've seen the likes of Naomi Osaka, Sofia Kenin, Angelique Kerber, Bianca Andreescu, Simona Halep, Ashleigh Barty, Iga Swiatek etc. all win Slams. Every time one of them win, they're touted as the next 'player to beat' in women's tennis. Even comparatively recent winners like Garbine Murguruza and Petra Kvitova seem like yesterday's girls. Will Eugenie Bouchard (mmm...) ever make the big breakthrough? Of these, maybe Swiatek or Halep will do best within the next 4-5 years. At least there's healthy competition there, unlike the big-3 dominated men's game.

[Angelo]

Tsitsipas and Nadal going to a decider.

Think that ends Nadal's chances in this tournament. Didn't finish the job out in the 3rd set tie break. Regardless of whether he comes through here, a 4 and a half hour marathon and Medvedev up next and then a well rested Djokovic is not going to happen for him at 34 years of age on a hard court.

[mouview]

H'on the Tippytoes !!

[Angelo]

Tsitsipas beats Nadal, Medvedev up next.

Djokovic has the advantage from here, a chap ranked at 114 in the world in the semi and an extra days rest over his opponent.

I'd put it as 50/50 if Medvedev can get past Tsitsipas without a battle. I'd give Tsitsipas a 30/70 chance against Djokovic.

You're going to see Djokovic and Nadal failing to reach a lot more finals from here on in.

If the likes of Zverev, Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas now consistently start playing to their form then I don't see Nadal or Djokovic having it in the tank at this point of their careers to sustain matches against them from the quarters on. Djokovic had the luck of the draw this time around with Thiem falling in R4.

[nrico2006]

The women's game is in a poor state to be honest and I'd like to see Serena equal Court's record, which she would have probably eclipsed by now if it wasn't for giving birth.

Djokovic is as fit as a fiddle and still moves brilliantly, he will be regularly appearing in finals and winning for the next 5 years or so.

[Angelo]

Djokovic is as fit as a fiddle and still moves brilliantly, he will be regularly appearing in finals and winning for the next 5 years or so.

We will see, if it was Thiem he was facing tomorrow I'd put that probability at 50% and Medvedev is another 50/50.

[Milltown Row2]

Tsitsipas beats Nadal, Medvedev up next.

Djokovic has the advantage from here, a chap ranked at 114 in the world in the semi and an extra days rest over his opponent.

I'd put it as 50/50 if Medvedev can get past Tsitsipas without a battle. I'd give Tsitsipas a 30/70 chance against Djokovic.

You're going to see Djokovic and Nadal failing to reach a lot more finals from here on in.

If the likes of Zverev, Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas now consistently start playing to their form then I don't see Nadal or Djokovic having it in the tank at this point of their careers to sustain matches against them from the quarters on. Djokovic had the luck of the draw this time around with Thiem falling in R4.

If Novak wins his semi and goes on to win the title, then the French open, Nadal will win as he has that in his locker every year bar injury, they aint doing bad, which means the younger ones are way off the mark

[Orior]

The women's game is in a poor state to be honest and I'd like to see Serena equal Court's record, which she would have probably eclipsed by now if it wasn't for giving birth.

Djokovic is as fit as a fiddle and still moves brilliantly, he will be regularly appearing in finals and winning for the next 5 years or so.

Yes, and let's see more of Serena's outfit, lol.

Fair play to her - she puts up with a lot of facism.

[Angelo]

Tsitsipas beats Nadal, Medvedev up next.

Djokovic has the advantage from here, a chap ranked at 114 in the world in the semi and an extra days rest over his opponent.

I'd put it as 50/50 if Medvedev can get past Tsitsipas without a battle. I'd give Tsitsipas a 30/70 chance against Djokovic.

You're going to see Djokovic and Nadal failing to reach a lot more finals from here on in.

If the likes of Zverev, Thiem, Medvedev and Tsitsipas now consistently start playing to their form then I don't see Nadal or Djokovic having it in the tank at this point of their careers to sustain matches against them from the quarters on. Djokovic had the luck of the draw this time around with Thiem falling in R4.

If Novak wins his semi and goes on to win the title, then the French open, Nadal will win as he has that in his locker every year bar injury, they aint doing bad, which means the younger ones are way off the mark

Thiem is going to win a French Open soon. I think that at least 2 of the slams this year will be outside of Nadal/Federer/Djokovic. The problem for Djokovic is that the likes of Medvedev/Zverev/Tsitsipas are improving and all are at the their best on hard courts. Thiem is also a top class hard court player not actually probably better on clay though he has yet to win one.

These guys are going to start hitting QFs on a regular basis now which makes it tough on the older guard to survive the gruelling schedule at the business end of slams.

[Milltown Row2]

Nail on head, older guys who have been winning slams since their early 20's or younger! Thiem  has won one last year aged 26, he's 27 now, he'll never match or get close to those three.

[Angelo]

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.

[nrico2006]

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.

[Angelo]

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.

[Mikhail Prokhorov]

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.

glad serena is out, horrible individual, unlike her sister who always behaves with class, williams outbursts and threatening behaviour on court through the years disqualify her imo from being mentioned in same breath as true greats king, court, graf, evert and navratilova

[Angelo]

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.