Amazon-ing Disgrace: US Open (tennis) 2018

[multipleman78]

That bet didn't last long. I am delighted for Osaka, she is a great player to watch. My money is on her now.

[Satchmo Distel]

She might be the only non-American in the semi, assuming Keys dumps Sharapova, so she'll have to play the crowd.

Looks like Novak v Federer is a nailed on QF; winner probably plays Cilic or Nishikori, with the other SF probably being Nadal v Delpo. Of course that could be scuppered by upsets.

[Janik]

Osaka is American, though. She is a dual-citizen with a US passport. She has lived in the States for most of her life and English is her first language. But as players are only allowed one flag beside their name, hers is Japan.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Two British R1 wins in the juniors - Emma Raducanu and Aidan McHugh.

[Jimski]

Well, that was unexpected. John Millman had done little of note for most of his career, but he'll be remembered now.

[Etienne]

By all accounts he's a thoroughly decent chap so that's nice.

[Seven Saxon Kings]

Get in!!!!

[Satchmo Distel]

Could Federer lose his No. 2 ranking by year's end? Delpo, Cilic and Novak are still in.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Djokovic has already overtaken Federer (just!) into second place in the real time YTD table, Zverev is in 4th in the same table.

[Edit: or maybe he hadn't: the table linked below was edited later that day to change the numbers so that Djokovic needs one more win to overtake Federer in real time "race" i.e. YTD numbers. Presumably the previous numbers were wrong.]

[edit 2: now it's changed back to showing Djokovic 5 real time race points ahead, like it did when I originally posted....]

I hope Djokovic and Nadal dominate for a few years more (assuming Murray can't manage to get back to the top, which would be my ideal outcome of course), until someone else better than Zverev comes along.

https://live-tennis.eu/en/atp-race

[Jimski]

Even worse is the thought that deeply limited players like Raonic take advantage of the void and start winning slams.

[Jimski]

Btw that was the first time Federer had ever lost a US Open match to a player ranked outside the top 50. His record against such players was previously 40-0.

[Satchmo Distel]

I worry that the sport will become attritional rather than about talent.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Emma Raducanu just won her R2 match. Against the no.2 seeded girl. By a bagel and a stick. I think Etienne mentioned a few months ago on here that she was a very exciting prospect.

Edit: and Aidan McHugh also thru to R3.

[Satchmo Distel]

Is this Japan's best ever day at a Slam? Osaka and Nishikori both reach the semis.

The three first men's QFs were all competitive, but Novak might alter the trend tonight, being already a break up at 4-2 in the first.

I think Sevastova is the second Latvian woman in history make a singles Slam SF (first was Ostapenko). Larisa Neiland represented USSR and Latvia (but was born in Lvov, Ukraine) and won two Slam doubles titles plus numerous RU spots (but also served a drugs ban after testing positive for caffeine).

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Raducanu through to the girls' QFs.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

.... where she got an absolute drubbing. Ah well, she's still 15 (November birthday), so can have a couple more attempts at the junior title. Aidan McHugh lost in R3 of the boys singles so that's it for UK interest in all the singles events now.

[Satchmo Distel]

Nadal retires with an injured right knee. Sad to see.

[Satchmo Distel]

That must be the worst men's semi-final day in living memory. At least the two finalists will be fresh and have never met in a Slam final before, although they met in the 2013 Wimbledon SF and it went to 5 sets.

Freakish stat from last night is that Novak has not lost a Grand Slam semi since his 2014 Nishikori defeat in extreme heat. This was his ninth straight win in semis.

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/playe...w/atpd643.html

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Does Del Potro go to no.2 if he wins?

[Jimski]

Nah, he'd still be a smidgin behind Federer.

I really hope del Potro wins it. One of the unluckiest players (with injuries) of recent years. One of my favourite players against one of my least favourite.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Not immediately, no, he'd still be 120 points behind Federer in the official rolling 12 month rankings (with Djokovic over 1100 points behind in 4th). He would go to no.2 in the YTD ("race") rankings by narrowly overtaking Djokovic, as he is already ahead of Federer (4th) in that table.

If Djokovic wins, he overtakes Delpo to go 3rd in the official rankings (455 points behind Federer, and 2325 points behind Nadal), and consolidates his current 2nd place in the race rankings (1535 points ahead of Delpo in 3rd, and 1035 points behind Nadal in 1st).


Zverev is 5th and Cilic 6th in both tables, though Zverev's lead over Cilic is bigger in the YTD.

[San Bernardhinault]

Well this is bonkers, now. Serena is insanely upset, and has conceded first a penalty point and then a penalty game. The point was for a second violation, which was racquet abuse (and, I think, fair enough). But the first violation was for getting coached, and that's what's driven her into a rage. And I think she has a point.

[Satchmo Distel]

Shame for Osaka because she played the better tennis. The umpire clearly handled that very badly, presumably because he wanted to be the centre of attention. Well, he is now.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

The 5 Live commentary team reckon it was stupid of the authorities to let Carlos Ramos umpire the match, as apparently he has a bad reputation for this sort of thing (as, to be fair, Serena has for the kind of behaviour - verbal abuse - which earned her the game penalty).

[San Bernardhinault]

I feel terrible for Osaka who was obviously going to win without the penalties, and who basically had her moment of triumph stolen by a combination of Serena's tantrum and the umpire's stupidity.