Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

The others have all forgotten that it's Lawn Tennis

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Women’s Semi-Finals

    Jelena Ostapenko Lat [12] vs Angelique Kerber Ger [11]
    This match will present a fascinating contrast in styles, both of which are proven to be effective on grass. Ostapenko’s approach is to throw the kitchen skin at it, absolutely thump the ball and try and blow her opponent away with the pace of her shots. Kerber’s is too absorb and counter-punch, use the opponent’s pace against them.
    Which will work? Well that probably depends on what proportion of the Lativans big strikes find the court. Matches tend to be on her racquet, and I don’t see this as different even with Kerber’s superb defensive skills and previous record of success both in Slam and at Wimbledon. As noted up thread, Angie has a strong run in SW19 every other year at the moment with this Semi appearance backing up runs to the Semis in ’12, Quarters in ’14 and Final two years ago. Despite her titles in Melbourne and New York, London is Kerber’s most consistent hunting ground.
    As for Ostapenko, this is new ground as she only made the QFs last year (l to Venus). However given her own court approach and general attitude to the world, as exemplified by winning the French title last year for her first Tour level title, she is unlikely to be fazed by the situation. It’s a Tennis match, go out and whack those little yellow balls.
    The players will have to feel each other out a little in the early stages as they have never met before in tournament play. That will make the first games a little more nervy in one sense, but it also gives something else to focus on than the gameplans and thoughts as to what shots should work, what could and what needs to.
    My feeling is the key shots are the serves, Ostapenko’s first delivery and Kerber’s second. If Ostapenko can land the big blows on her first strike she can cruise through most of her service games, and if Kerber is missing and having to spin in her second then Jelena will unload on the returns. Which, I think, will prove decisive.
    Ostapenko in two.

    Julia Goerges Ger [13] vs Serena Williams USA [25] [PR]
    First up, we have to congratulate Julia Goerges on making her first ever Grand Slam Semi, and doing so at a venue where she can hardly have arrived brimming with confidence given how it has bitten her on the arse in recent years. But 2018 has been very different, with things really picking up after an epic R3 win against Strycova (10-8 in the third) to peak with turning the Quarter around against Bertens and running away with it in the end.
    Peak, though? Wouldn’t eliminating Serena knock all the rest into a cocked hat? Well, absolutely it would but I really don’t see it happening. Goerges’ game is just not quite big enough or reliable enough to live with Serena. I mean we saw that in Paris a few weeks ago when Goerges was on about her best surface, full of confidence and did push hard Williams but ultimately lost 3&4 which was a scoreline that felt like it was written before play had started. And then we found out a couple of days later that Serena had been playing injured for the latter part of the match, and still won anyway!
    Serena’s serves too big for Goerges to get enough back in court, she hits her groundstrokes too hard for Goerges to absorb and counter, she moves too well so will get in behind Goerges own big blows and finally she will whale on any tentative second serves, which can come from a player who is sometimes prone to double-faulting when the pressure is on. And there pressure there certainly will be on a first Slam last four appearance.
    There is also a pressure, albeit rather a different one, on Serena of course. She is not fighting for herself, but for all sorts of other causes like equal rights, mothers rights, black rights. She clearly feels herself to be doing this, that her success represent something (and she is correct in that assessment, of course). That doesn’t help make the process any more fun, but it can be a driving force to put the necessary work in to make it happen. There have been spells in Serena’s career where her work ethic was somewhat under question, but no longer, she is clearly the most driven player out there. Will she win this? I can only see injury preventing her from doing so.
    Williams in two.

    Comment


      Yesterday’s doubles results

      Women’s QFs
      Rosolka/Spears bt Babos/Mladenovic [1] 2-0
      Krejcikova/Siniakova [3] bt Watson/Maria 2-1
      Melichar/Peschke [12] bt Begu/Buzarnescu [15] 2-1
      Dabrowksi/Xu [6] bt Mattek-Sands/Safarova 2-1

      Mixed R3 – selected
      Azarenka/Murray bt Larsson/Middelkoop 2-0
      Makarova/Soares [2] bt Stephens/Sock 2-0

      A somewhat bitter end to Wimbledon for Heather Watson, as she was penalised a point in the final set of her Women’s QF for a second code violation. She appears to be justifying her swearing at a line judge on the grounds of others get away with it because the insulted person doesn’t understand they have been. I’m not sure it’s a good argument… Sadly that is likely to be Watson last appearance on a big stage for now, given her likely disappearance into qualifiers or ITF events in the US over the summer.

      Comment


        It seems to summarize certain aspects of Nadal and Federer's careers that Nadal would win a close five-setter and Roger lose his.

        How many times have Nadal and Novak met at Wimbledon? Without checking, this seems to be the Big 4 head-to-head match-up that has happened least often*, certainly since Novak reached No. 1 for the first time.

        *except in the French, which Roger and Murray have both skipped or under-performed in.

        Comment


          Nasal beat Djokovic in the 2007 semi finals (Djokovic retired in the third set) and Djokovic won the 2011 final. They have met 7 times at Roland Garros (Nadal 6-1), 3 times at Flushing Meadows (Nadal 2-1) but only once in Melbourne (Djokovic won the 2012 final).

          Comment


            I can't decide which would be the most tedious waste of my time. Eng - Bel 2, or Isner - Anderson?

            This sort of match up is one of the main reasons I generally prefer watching the women to the men.

            Comment


              The women's semi-final seemed nearly superannuated. Görges is almost 30, and Kerber already 30, Serena is 37. Only Ostapenko is young. At one point, it seems to me, really young players were dominating. Asking as a more casual follower of the game, is the age-range here an outlier created by the collapse of the Top 10 seeds, or is there a new pattern?

              Comment


                Are Isner and Anderson still going to be playing their fifth set on Monday?

                Comment


                  Men’s Semi-Finals

                  Kevin Anderson RSA [8] vs John Isner USA [9]
                  I’ve not got a lot of time today, but then what can be said about these two matches that isn’t obvious to all? In the case of Anderson-Isner, we are looking at a servefest where one or two points will be crucial, most likely in tie-breaks. Opportunities are likely to be extremely fleeting, and rallies quite rare.
                  Of the two, Anderson feels like the more accomplished player, the one with the greater extra skills than what nature gave him with his height, which allied to the strength and timing, allows both to absolutely biff the serve. The South African has experimented with repeatedly getting to the net against Monfils in R4, which might also work on his own delivery here. It might be really old school in fact, with a good chunk of serving and volleying.
                  Isner is unlikely to go the same way, as his volleying skills are not great. He will stay back and look to unleashed from the baseline if his serves don’t punch the hole he wants. The American actually leads their h2h 8-3, but the last of those was back in 2015 before Anderson truly broke through to the top echelon and their paths since then are quite different, which gives Anderson notably greater experience on a stage such as today.
                  It feels like a toss-up, so I’ll call Anderson in four.

                  Novak Djokovic Srb [12] vs Rafael Nadal Esp [2]
                  No secrets here, either. Not really seeing as this will be Nole and Rafa’s 52nd professional meeting, which is the most between two Men in the open era (Djokovic-Federer is the second most common at 46). Djokovic actually leads the h2h 26-25, which is highly unusual as Nadal trails to basically nobody. And Rafa is only close to parity as he won the last two, which were both on clay, a surface where he leads the h2h 16-7, which just indicates Djoker’s success on the other surfaces.
                  Slams are 9-4 to Nadal, but again it’s 6-1 in Paris. And even there Djokovic won their last meeting, as is also true in Melbourne and at Wimbledon, though Nadal bucks the trend with the US Open where it went his way in 2013. That match was actually the last encounter between the two at Slam level outside Paris, so this, for all its deep history, is still an encounter where the contenders will be looking for changes in their games. Particularly Nadal, as that New York match was the last time he has beaten Djokovic on anything other than a clay court.
                  Game style? Well, it’s probably the two best defenders of all time up against each other. Expect long rallies. In fact just expect a massively good sporting spectacle. It can’t help but be close, surely, given how evenly matched they are both. About the only fly in the ointment is that Djokovic might be a little tight, having not been at the level he is returning too for two years. But I think and hope that that won’t be the case, that the impressive win over Nishikori means the Djokerman is fully back.
                  So a call? Again there is hardly anything in it. Toss a coin and hope for the best...
                  Nadal in five.

                  Comment


                    Yeah, this is special. The 'lunks' can fucking play.

                    Comment


                      Things mostly settled down after the early fun, Anderson taking the set 8-6 in a breaker.
                      Isner is the man coming to the net more often, which surprises me.

                      Set 1 ace count: 10-8 to Isner

                      Comment


                        Three tie-breaks in, Isner leads two sets to one. Anderson actually broke and served for set 3 at 5-3, but was immediately broken back. Going on to lose the breaker 11-9 means he has a particular mental challenge now.

                        Comment


                          Even more so now, as Anderson has just failed to consolidate a break for the second time. 3-2 up with a break in set 3 has become 3-all.

                          Comment


                            Anderson breaks again, and will serve for set 4 at 5-4. Surely lightening can't strike three times, can it?

                            The scheduling of Anderson-Isner first is not good for the Corporate Hospitality crowd. This will be well beyond 4 hours in length, and past 5pm before it ends and the big match of the day takes the court. But many of those seats get vacated by the early evening. If they do, they will miss the notable and historic match that their ticket gives them access to. They will just have to stick it out for once. Your heart bleeds, doesn't it?

                            Comment


                              It didn't.
                              Both players were 100% efficient on break points in set three, Isner converting 1/1 and Anderson 2/2. Overall in the match is 3/5 for the South African and 2/5 for the American. Now we get to the set where someone has to break, or Rogin will be quite right.

                              Comment


                                Anderson finally takes the fourth set on his fourth set point.

                                Comment


                                  14 games played in set five so far. Not even a hint of a break of serve. Match duration 4h25 and climbing.

                                  Comment


                                    How long before they have to consider moving Rafa and Novak to Court No 1?

                                    Comment


                                      In between conspiracy theories, these fuckers are up for it.

                                      And Crveni, the Centre has a roof, and lights.

                                      Comment


                                        Why on earth did they put these 2 lumps on first? No one gives a toss about either of them and this drudgery was completely predictable.

                                        And half the possible new audience for tennis waits and waits, and buggers off for a Friday night out.

                                        Comment


                                          Many will be listening in horror at how much the umpire occasionally sounds like Maggie Thatcher.

                                          Comment


                                            I've been struggling to understand the umpire at all, frankly.

                                            Comment


                                              All too plausible:

                                              https://mobile.twitter.com/stu_frase...13301588385793

                                              Comment


                                                Originally posted by Rogin the Armchair fan View Post
                                                Are Isner and Anderson still going to be playing their fifth set on Monday?
                                                Told you ...

                                                Comment


                                                  13-14. I’ve got to give my woman a lift shortly. I’ll see you all in a bit.

                                                  Comment


                                                    Originally posted by Crveni Vrag View Post
                                                    How long before they have to consider moving Rafa and Novak to Court No 1?
                                                    I doubt that. For one there is a match halfway through on that Court (the 3/4 British Mixed Doubles affair, though this is nearly done). Another is that Centre Court has a roof and floodlights, #1 doesn't - they can play on Centre to 11pm. Then there is ticket holders who will be expecting two matches. In theory Isner-Anderson is never more than five minutes away from being done.
                                                    It's more likely that they will tell Nadal and Djokovic they won't even start today. And that is unlikely before 9pm or so.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X