Is there a 2018 tennis thread yet?

[Satchmo Distel]

Serena should be a top 8 seed.

[Janik]

If she is fit. If she isn't, she shouldn't be seeded at all let alone in the top 8. And the Wimbledon seeding committee can only be guessing if they think she is fit, because there is nothing to demonstrate that. It would really have helped them justify doing what I think they will do (a seeding in the low 20s) if she had played and gone deep in Birmingham.

Frankly it barely matters to how Serena does. It's actually the other seeds who pay if she is fit to play and isn't seeded because if that is the case she will beat them whether she has a little number against her name or not. The ones who lost out in Paris were Barty and Goerges, not Serena. Seedings can be consider protection for the other 31 players rather than the seeded individual...

The WTA are considering changing their rules for next season. If so, fine. As long as it's the same rule for everyone, and not a special case for Serena only, because Serena is marvelous. That isn't a fair basis for making decisions.

There is some argument that she should be able to resume her career. But she can and has, of course. That is what the protected ranking is for. That defines what tournaments players can play. Seedings reflect recent form, which in Serena's case is almost a blank.

[Janik]

And what I came here to post - Djokovic has been pegged back at Queen's, which was rather against the run of play. He threatened Cilic's serve all the way through the second set, whilst Cilic won just two points in six games against Novak's delivery. Djokovic won a mini-break to lead the tie-break 4-1, but then Marin took six straight points including two against the Djokovic serve to claim the breaker 7-4. One of those points against the head, the first one to dissipate the advantage, was a double fault after a noticeable large amount of ball bouncing. It really looked like Nole got tight.

[Janik]

Cilic wins set three 6-3. So Djokovic, who was clearly highly motivated for this one, is without a Tour title to his name for the first time since his first ever final ATP level final in July 2006. Or will be when Wimbledon starts, because technically he is still the Eastbourne champion up until next Saturday.

[Janik]

The last two Wimbledon main draw wild cards went to the champions in Ilkley, Stakhovsky and Smitkova. That was all the Women's ones allocated but left four unused for the Men. The last Women's qualfying wild card was still TBA as of yesterday - leaving a decision on Laura Robson's fitness until the very last minute?
Play gets underway today at 11am in Roehampton in the Men's qualfying competition. The Women start tomorrow, with their draw to be published today.

[Janik]

Some good matches due up today in Eastbourne, in particular Stan Wawrinka vs Andy Murray which is a bloody extraordinary match for R1 of an ATP250. I doubt anyone will be complaining too much that they get essentially top billing, not before 4pm on Eastbourne's Centre Court. Before that, Jay Clarke gets his second shot at the tournament when he is one second on Court 2. Tough draw though, as he plays Ryan Harrison. And then, probably simultaneously with Murrar-Wawrinka, is Heather Watson vs Kiki Mladenovic. It's a huge match for Watson, who is looking at dropping outside the top 100 unless she makes the QFs. This is the fourth match on Court 1, and is followed by Harriet Dart vs Krystyna Pliskova.
There is also a couple of doubles matches, including Inglot/Skugor vs Bambridge/O'Mara, which, due to having three Brits gets the evening slot on Centre. Konta/Babos are meant to play Kichenok/Kudryavtseva, depending on how Babos' singles match goes.

[Janik]

Clarke beat Harrison 4&1. First Tour level win of his career and first top 100 win, in only his second matches in either (the first was against Querrey at Queens last week). His wild card to Eastbourne and arguably Wimbledon justified in one result.

[Janik]

Top ten teenagers on the ATP

1.(26) Dennis Shapovalov Can
2.(35) Stefanos Tsitsipas Gre
3.(77) Alex De Minaur Aus
4.(127) Corentin Moutet Fra
5.(144) Casper Ruud Nor
6.(151) Felix Auger-Aliassime Can
7.(182) Miomir Kecmanovic Srb
8.(222) Nicola Kuhn Esp
9.(236) Jay Clarke GBr
10.(284) Rudolf Molleker Ger - youngest male at ~17 1/2
Number in brackets is the overall world ranking.

Clarke's win will lift him above Kuhn next week... but he will drop off this list entirely very soon as he turns 20 in about a month's time.


Just out of interest and comparison, this is the WTA's equivalent.

1.(76) Sofia Kenin USA
2.(84) Vera Lapko Blr
3.(85) CiCi Bellis USA
4.(109) Marketa Vondrousova Cze
5.(110) Anna Blinkova Rus
6.(113) Caroline Dolehide USA
7.(127) Dayana Yastremska Ukr
8.(133) Marta Kostyuk Ukr - youngest on either list, still under 16 for a few weeks!
9.(139) Sofya Zhuk Rus
10.(146) Anna Kalinskaya Rus
Top Brit on this measure
18.(207) Katie Swan GBr

[Etienne]

Have to be happy at Ryan Harrison losing to this guy:

[Etienne]

Murray demolishes Wawrinka.

[Jon]

Dart beats plitskova, in the biggest win of her career.

[Janik]

It was the lesser of the two Pliskova's (and not the one seeded 11 for the tournament as the BBC report on the day claims), but still very impressive and comfortably the highest ranking victory for Dart. I saw some of the first set, and hearing the result doesn't particularly surprise as Dart was well in the contest at that point, defending well using lots of slice to mess up Pliskova's rhythm. There is a very different challenge coming for Dart in R2, as Sevastova will bring much more guile than Pliskova can dredge up and be rather less susceptible to the low ball. Oh, and Murray-Edmund will be fascinating in R2 of the Men's. It's a long, long while since Murray has played another Brit who is a genuine contender in his own right.
Sadly there will be no R2 match for Heather Watson, who came close to beating Kristina Mladenovic in two but ultimately lost rather a marathon encounter in three. One might say a costly defeat because of the points being carried from last year, but the rankings fall has been many months in the making and this is simply the confirmation of it. It's likely to get worse before it gets better as well as Heather made R3 of Wimbledon last year so has to match that to avoid dropping even further (she is looking at ~115 already and a R1 loss in SW19 would turn that into ~135).

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Boulter reaches the Southsea QF and thereby overtakes N Broady in the live rankings. Watson in her sights.

[Janik]

Southsea is an interesting and somewhat different event. Just a 16-player main draw with no qualifying, a Friday final, an 8-team doubles draw, played effectively in a public park, but all at a high points level of an ITF $100k+H. That high prize money (with hospitality, the advantages of it being in a spacious place like a park1) all added up to a R1 win there having the same points value there as at the rather more prestigious and historic event up the south coast. However one look at the draw says this is basically justified - Boulter's R1 opponent, Alexandrova, was the last direct acceptance and that came with a ranking of 102*, which is little different from Harriet Dart's win over Krystyna Pliskova in Eastbourne. There are Tour level International events that would be quite satisfied with the last 16 field that Southsea had.
In some ways this is strong company for the two wild carded Brits, which was Gabi Taylor alongside Katie Boulter, to me in. However given how both have performed this year neither ought to be intimidated to be in such company. These players, from top seed Petra Matric on down, are very much Boulter and Taylor's peers now. As obviously evidenced by Boulter's R1 win, and even Taylor's losing performance (2&4) to a solid player in Jennifer Brady. One can realisitically hope that a nine months from now both young Brits will be plying their trade on the full Tour and playing opponents such as this on a week-in, week-out basis.

* - one slight caveat to that, and a flaw in the tournament structure - no qualifying draw means no-one is eliminated just shy of the main draw so will be kicking around the site to be roped in as lucky losers following a late withdrawal. It's highly unlikely that those who miss the cut are going to travel down to Portsmouth and pay for a hotel in the hope of sneaking in as an alternate. That meant that when someone (I think Belinda Bencic, who got injured again up in Ilkley) did pull out late, the only player they could find to fill in was one of the Doubles-only players, Renata Voracova. Voracova is a former top 100 player, but she is a veteran who has effectively retired from playing singles at the end of 2016 and is now a doubles specialist. So she was roped in... and beat 4th seed Johanna Larsson in R1, who must be steaming about that.


Oh, and while doing results from yesterday, over in Eastbourne Jo Konta beat Aleksandra Krunic comfortably (helped by Krunic being injured) and Cameron Norrie beat Daniel Brands in three. That leaves three matches featuring five Brits on the schedule today, as Norrie's next opponent is Jay Clarke. Two Men's Quarter-Finalists guaranteed, then. Whether Konta will also win to make a QF is rather dubious as her R3 opponent is top seed, runner-up last year and also former champion of the event Caroline Wozniacki. Jo has really struggled against top players this year, so this is a very big one from her perspective with the ranking points drop of not matching last years Semi spot only a minor consideration.

Eastbourne
3rd on Centre: Wozniacki vs Konta
3rd on Court 1: Clarke vs Norrie
4th on Centre: Murray vs Edmund (not before 16:00)

Southsea
2nd on Court 3: Schmiedlova vs Boulter (not before 14:30)

[Janik]

Serena should be a top 8 seed.

Instead she will scheduled to play a top 8 seed as early as possible as she has been put at 25. It's what I expect them to do, and similar to what Wimbledon did once in the past when Serena was nominally around 80-odd on the rankings, and they up her into the high 20s (she won the title). That seems the worst of both worlds though, as the 25th best player is basically the one place Serena isn't. If she is fit she is one of the top handful. And if she isn't, she is outside the top 32.

Anyway, the full lists:-

LADIES' SINGLES
1.HALEP, Simona (ROU)
2.WOZNIACKI, Caroline (DEN)
3.MUGURUZA, Garbiñe (ESP)
4.STEPHENS, Sloane (USA)
5.SVITOLINA, Elina (UKR)
6.GARCIA, Caroline (FRA)
7.PLISKOVA, Karolina (CZE)
8.KVITOVA, Petra (CZE)
9.WILLIAMS, Venus (USA)
10.KEYS, Madison (USA)
11.KERBER, Angelique (GER)
12.OSTAPENKO, Jelena (LAT)
13.GOERGES, Julia (GER)
14.KASATKINA, Daria (RUS)
15.MERTENS, Elise (BEL)
16.VANDEWEGHE, Coco (USA)
17.BARTY, Ashleigh (AUS)
18.OSAKA, Naomi (JPN)
19.RYBARIKOVA, Magdalena (SVK)
20.BERTENS, Kiki (NED)
21.SEVASTOVA, Anastasija (LAT)
22.KONTA, Johanna (GBR)
23.STRYCOVA, Barbora (CZE)
24.SHARAPOVA, Maria (RUS)
25.WILLIAMS, Serena (USA)
26.GAVRILOVA, Daria (AUS)
27.SUAREZ NAVARRO, Carla (ESP)
28.KONTAVEIT, Anett (EST)
29.BUZARNESCU, Mihaela (ROU)
30.PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia (RUS)
31.ZHANG, Shuai (CHN)
32.RADWANSKA, Agnieszka (POL)


GENTLEMEN'S SINGLES
1.FEDERER, Roger (SUI)
2.NADAL, Rafael (ESP)
3.CILIC, Marin (CRO)
4.ZVEREV, Alexander (GER)
5.DEL POTRO, Juan Martin (ARG)
6.DIMITROV, Grigor (BUL)
7.THIEM, Dominic (AUT)
8.ANDERSON, Kevin (RSA)
9.ISNER, John (USA)
10.GOFFIN, David (BEL)
11.QUERREY, Sam (USA)
12.DJOKOVIC, Novak (SRB)
13.RAONIC, Milos (CAN)
14.BAUTISTA AGUT, Roberto (ESP)
15.SCHWARTZMAN, Diego (ARG)
16.KYRGIOS, Nick (AUS)
17.CORIC, Borna (CRO)
18.POUILLE, Lucas (FRA)
19.SOCK, Jack (USA)
20.FOGNINI, Fabio (ITA)
21.CARRENO BUSTA, Pablo (ESP)
22.EDMUND, Kyle (GBR)
23.MANNARINO, Adrian (FRA)
24.GASQUET, Richard (FRA)
25.NISHIKORI, Kei (JPN)
26.CHUNG, Hyeon (KOR)
27.KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp (GER)
28.SHAPOVALOV, Denis (CAN)
29.DZUMHUR, Damir (BIH)
30.KRAJINOVIC, Filip (SRB)
31.CECCHINATO, Marco (ITA)
32.VERDASCO, Fernando (ESP)

[Gangster Octopus]

I thought that you'd started a Wimbledon thread.

[Janik]

I had. But I was responding to a question from Satchmo on this one, so it felt like the more natural place to post these up. Or something...

Anyway, on looking it up there is no record of Serena winning Wimbledon as a seed in the 20s. Or indeed ever having been seeded at Wimbledon lower than 8th previously (when seeded, she was unseeded the first time she ever played at SW19). Maybe it was Venus? I definitely remember something like that happening. And no, I'm not confusing it with the Aussie Open when Serena made a comeback from injury, was unseeded and won the title. I could have sworn it was a different occasion.

[Janik]

Southsea
2nd on Court 3: Schmiedlova vs Boulter (not before 14:30)

And not long after 14:30 either! Blink and you missed it stuff as Boulter absolutely mashed Schmiedlova 2&0 in 49 minutes. This is a former Slam seed with a highest ranking of 26 and three time champion on the WTA including one pot in 2018, currently ranked in the top 100. Admittedly Schmiedlova is at her best on slow courts (this is her only grass warm-up for Wimbledon, having still been playing on clay after the French), but even so that is some result. Boulter won her first $25k tournament in April (Obidos, Portugal), her first $50k in May (Fukoka), and she is now one win away from her first $100k final. Taking over as British No.2 is looking increasingly likely as even if Boulter loses the SF in Southsea her ranking points with Wimbledon 2017 stripped out are higher (456) than those of Watson (448) or Broady (423).


Over at Eastbourne Konta is a set up on Woznaicki but a break down in the second. Norrie is a set up on Clarke.

[Janik]

Wozniacki is yet to win a set against Konta, of course. I forget that. Jo beat her twice last year, and in big matches as well - 3&1 in R3 of the Aussie Open (where she looked awesome, IIRC) and 4&3 in the Final of Miami. They have been on different trajectories since that Miami meeting, but it's still something to fall back on.

[Etienne]

At 5-1 30-0, I'm saying she's going to break her duck here.

[Janik]

Yeah, I rather cursed that didn't I? 6-1 6-4 to Wozniacki in sets two and three. So over to Murray and Edmund.

[Janik]

Which went with current ranking, i.e. Edmund won. Murray's first loss to a fellow Brit since Henman beat him in 2006 (in singles at least, not sure if it also holds for doubles). Scotland, your boy took one hell of a beating, etc. Norrie beat Clarke with a very similar straight sets scoreline in the other all-home Men's match. QFs today pit Norrie against Lacko and Edmund versus Kukushkin.

[Etienne]

Apparently Laura Robson is going to have hip surgery. I suspect that might be career ending.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Boulter is in the FINAL today at the Southsea 100k + H event, against Flipkens. I hope Flipkens doesn't burst her bubble, geddit.

By the way, Janik, do you know what "Hospitality" means in the context of ITF event classification? I assume the public don't get greeted on arrival by the Tournament Director with a "how terribly nice to see you!" and a welcome glass of bubbly.

[Etienne]

It means that the organisers supply accomodation etc to the players. Makes a big difference to the costs for the players (and because of that the tournaments offer more points than their equivalents without hospitality.