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Tennis - General Discussion

Full draws are up! (Including the qualifiers)

Notable qualifiers into the US Open are

Men:
Ryan Harrison
Christian Harrison (Ryan Harrison's lil bro)
Radek Stepanek
Jared Donaldson

Women:
Cici Bellis
Laura Robson
Taylor Townsend
Jessica Pegula (Her dad owns the Buffalo Bills or something)
Barbara Haas
 

Diamond

Member
US Open possible QF's:

Men's:
Djokovic - Cilic
Nadal - Raonic
Del Potro - Wawrinka
Murray - Nishikori

Women's:
Serena - Halep
Venus - Radwanska
Muguruza - Keys
Kerber - Cibulkova

A Del Potro/Wawrinka match with the two at their full potential would be so good to see.
 

MIMIC

Banned

On second though, I do use the drop shot more often than I thought, but it's mostly accidental. Like today; if I hit a completely defensive BH slice, it usually turns into a drop shot (because my BH slice is really, really good)

But anyway, my BH grip is too weird to hit a BH drop shot on purpose. My FH grip allows me to hit perfect drop shots. But for the ones I hit intentially: I honestly don't know. I've always just felt more comfortable hitting over the ball. But today, this was in the back of my mind, and I hit a few FH squash shots, just to change up the rhythm.

As for today; I hit 5 aces and no double faults :) And I hit sooooooo many unreturnables. My serve was on fire today (but I was using my other racquet which always lets me go wild on the serve: Wilson BLX)

It was doubles. I was playing a guy that I hadn't seen in a while, and I was just murdering him on the ground. He's kind of a counter puncher (but not really speedy), and after I kept winning the ground shots, I could only help but think, "How in the hell did I ever lose to him?" But I guess I just got a lot better and he....didn't.

Another thing: it's always hilarious when ball bashers come back down to earth. My serve was broken when I was serving for the set at 5-4. To their credit, the were returning my serves really well. Incredibly well. But for my 2nd serves, one guy was just outright ball bashing, and they all managed to go in. He hit one shot so hard that I couldn't even hit it back over the net. But then he went back to the ball bashing well, but it was all dried up. That one guy smacked so many balls that weren't even close. We break, and serve it out 7-5.
 

Diamond

Member
On second though, I do use the drop shot more often than I thought, but it's mostly accidental. Like today; if I hit a completely defensive BH slice, it usually turns into a drop shot (because my BH slice is really, really good)

But anyway, my BH grip is too weird to hit a BH drop shot on purpose. My FH grip allows me to hit perfect drop shots. But for the ones I hit intentially: I honestly don't know. I've always just felt more comfortable hitting over the ball. But today, this was in the back of my mind, and I hit a few FH squash shots, just to change up the rhythm.

Well you're supposed to change the grip during the rally to hit them, that's the trick. Like when you change the grip when you're serving or coming to the net.

I like playing drop shots, even when it's not perfect it brings a change of pace in the rally and you can use it to your advantage. I'm way too lazy when I play them though, so I make quite a few unforced errors on them. If I had a better percentage I'd play them a lot more.

Played on new courts in my club today, rather weird. It's carpet but with a synthetic sand on it. We played indoor for two hours and it's 35°C outside these days. Good workout.
 

Ricker

Member
No OT hey,guess we will do this here...Serena at the VMA,shots fired by Genie...

"Serena at the VMA,should be concentrating on the US Open,oh wait you are Serena ;)"

Good Open guys.
 

oti

Banned
No OT hey,guess we will do this here...Serena at the VMA,shots fired by Genie...

"Serena at the VMA,should be concentrating on the US Open,oh wait you are Serena ;)"

Good Open guys.

I read this more like "if you were a human being you'd have to prepare but you're SERENA WILLIAMS the rules of mere mortals don't apply to you".
 
So since it has been over 2 years since I last uploaded a vid of me hitting I decided to film myself again. This time I'm hitting with a guy I play on average once a week. We've probably played well over 300 sets of tennis over the course of 4 years and the closest he has gotten to winning a set was when I won 7-5 a few years ago. He loves talking about tennis history, and he'll rattle off statistics of former players like Borg, Edburg, Mats Wilander etc. during games and I just respond with "uh-huh, yeah, and okay" because it gets real annoying after a while. If you listen closely at the beginning of the video, he's still talking about some former pro. He also gets really pissed when he misses a shot, and I play a consistency game so I don't know why he likes to play me. He cracked one of his frames while serving today, and I told him it probably had more to do with him throwing it on the ground over and over again and the shanked serve just finished the job, but I don't think he believes that.

Anyways, here's the short video of me playing 2 games against him. I've lowered my service toss since the last vid btw. Too bad I only managed 2 first serves to go in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NUZv15kwOc
 

Dispatch

Member
Did you show your opponent that video? I bet he would stop throwing tantrums so much if he saw how ridiculous he looked.

At this point, my back will only let me play doubles. Maybe I'll ask if the guys would let me record a match. It would be interesting to watch how badly I play. :)
 
Did you show your opponent that video? I bet he would stop throwing tantrums so much if he saw how ridiculous he looked.

At this point, my back will only let me play doubles. Maybe I'll ask if the guys would let me record a match. It would be interesting to watch how badly I play. :)

I told him I was recording. I even recorded a video for him a little later and he still acts the same lol.
 

Diamond

Member
So since it has been over 2 years since I last uploaded a vid of me hitting I decided to film myself again. This time I'm hitting with a guy I play on average once a week. We've probably played well over 300 sets of tennis over the course of 4 years and the closest he has gotten to winning a set was when I won 7-5 a few years ago. He loves talking about tennis history, and he'll rattle off statistics of former players like Borg, Edburg, Mats Wilander etc. during games and I just respond with "uh-huh, yeah, and okay" because it gets real annoying after a while. If you listen closely at the beginning of the video, he's still talking about some former pro. He also gets really pissed when he misses a shot, and I play a consistency game so I don't know why he likes to play me. He cracked one of his frames while serving today, and I told him it probably had more to do with him throwing it on the ground over and over again and the shanked serve just finished the job, but I don't think he believes that.

Anyways, here's the short video of me playing 2 games against him. I've lowered my service toss since the last vid btw. Too bad I only managed 2 first serves to go in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NUZv15kwOc

Nice!
You are clearly the better player there. Solid tennis all around, good positionning, very few UEs. Must be a good test to play you. Only thing I notice is you could probably gain a little more pace on some serves and shots by rotating the hips more and not interrupting the swing to soon.

Did you show your opponent that video? I bet he would stop throwing tantrums so much if he saw how ridiculous he looked.

At this point, my back will only let me play doubles. Maybe I'll ask if the guys would let me record a match. It would be interesting to watch how badly I play. :)

Lower back problems? I resolved pretty much all my back issues by throwing in some deadlifts in my off-court training. Worth trying (with light weights at the beginning of course).
 
Nice!
Only thing I notice is you could probably gain a little more pace on some serves and shots by rotating the hips more and not interrupting the swing to soon.

Ah good advice. I try to make sure to bend my knees and explode into the ball but I noticed watching the video back I still looked a bit stiff. I'll try rotating my hips more and hopefully I can get that extra pop on my serve. Thanks!
 
Not that I know of, but with Sharapova and Azarenka, by far the two most prominent grunters at the top of the women's game (I don't think Azarenka's "double scream" can really be called a grunt since it lasts till well after the ball's gone from her racquet and the exertion of the shot has ended), both on extended absences there's been fewer complaints. The Pliskova v Kerber USO final was played in near silence during the points, and if you ask me, was all the better for it. I think the hope is that the next generation of players makes less noise.
 
Longest match of Murray's career and his second 5 set loss in consecutive weeks. Epic match with some incredible shot making and resilience from both men. DelPo's forehand was money throughout, but Murray's very low 1st serve percentage was perhaps more important in determining the winner. Curious why the UK powers that be chose to put this match on such a slow court when it's unfavourable for the matchup. Maybe to help Edmund? They need him now...

Del Potro has beaten Djokovic, Nadal, Wawrinka and Murray in the past 60 or so days. Think this comeback could go down as one of the greatest ever.

France v Croatia is split 1-1 after Gasquet routined Coric and Cilic held off Pouille in 4.
 
After watching Edmund do so well at the USO I thought he would beat Pella. Now team GB is down 2:0. Not a great start but they are strong in doubles which will be played tomorrow to get back in it.
 

Diamond

Member
Funny vid on the french team. Too bad Monfils got injured, tomorrow doubles will be decisive.

Extraordinary effort from Delpo. 5 hours against non other than Murray, 2 sets to one down, in Scotland... I'd love him to win a slam again, and it's by winning these kind of matches he's gonna convince himself it's possible.
 

oti

Banned
Lol the presentation in St. Petersburg is HILARIOUS. They have dancers with glowing tennis rackets and Russian flags jumping around.

Look up the quarter final between Stan and Troicki if you can. It's on the Eurosport Player.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Congrats to Osaka for making her first tour final, but Wozniacki was too solid overall. Osaka is definitely on the rise, think this puts her in the top 50 now.
 

Ricker

Member
Didn't see any of it due to work, but Zverev beating Wawrinka in St. Petersburg to win his first title may well be a landmark moment in his career. I think he's the best bet of the next gen to really get to the top. Very tall, moves excellently for his height, solid off both wings, bit too passive and not solid at net, but got a great head on his shoulders. Props to Stan for fighting so deep at a 250 so shortly after winning the US Open - I'm sure he kept Russians who paid his appearance fee happy.

Saw Woz's matches against Radwanska and Osaka. Good to see her competing at the top again but I'd be surprised if she had much left for Wuhan, starting tomorrow. Osaka looked like she was going to overpower her at the start before she dug in, took an MTO for a groin issue, and took over. Her resolve against Aga the day before was commendable - match looked done in both 2nd and 3rd sets but she hung in and fought like crazy to turn it around. Her first serve was key. Worrying that Osaka had a shoulder issue that clearly hampered her serve in the second set - on the same day that Bencic had yet another injury and had to retire in Wuhan. Injuries are one thing, but so many so young isn't good.

Muguruza was strangely low power against Svitolina, but still took a set. No idea what's going on with her right now.
 
It was a brilliant contest. Kvitova finding her game against the new #1 and overpowering her into submission over three hours, running up against the limits of exhaustion. Kerber looked out of all three sets down 4-2 but dug deeper and deeper to stay in and fight, even after completely losing her temper towards the end of the 2nd set. It started with a 13 minute game with 12 Deuces, peaked with a 22 point tie-break and ended after three sets, three hours, a 41 shot rally of relentless striking and running and 7 match points. What a sport this is when two players play as hard as that.

Shame it was in Wuhan, not a Slam finals weekend in front of millions.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Just finished watching the Kvitova-Kerber match on Tennis Channel (replay)

HOLY FUCKING SHIT @_@ The shot-making in this match was absolutely insane! Especially in the 3rd set when Kvitova had to fight to hold during those long service games.

Definitely one of the most dramatic matches of the year.
 

oti

Banned
Wuhan is super weird. Top line up of players and empty seats everywhere. Atrocious line judging this week and terrible weather. But Kerber vs. Kvitova though. So gooooood.
 
http://sport360.com/article/tennis/...ndar-changes-says-matches-need-to-be-shorter/

WTA CEO wants to introduce no-ad scoring and match tie-breaks to promote more exciting matches (like the ATP Doubles do), which I think suggests he doesn't quite get the sport's appeal. The most exciting games are the long Deuce games where the players invest so much, break points are saved, chances are squandered, and one of them comes away with the spoils. He wants to start by introducing it in the juniors and then phasing it in over the generations. Good luck.

Focus more on speeding up your super slow court surfaces and curtailing MTO use than on trying to mess with the best scoring system in sport, the same scoring system that links Serena with Steffi, Steffi with Navratilova, and so on all the way back (acknowledging the tie-break was brought in during the 70s). And the last thing you need to do is introduce a bigger random element leading to more upsets when the top of your sport is so volatile and only going to get moreso when Serena retires.

Also, really doesn't look good if he's suggesting the women can't handle longer matches physically when the WTA's supposed to be fighting for equality with the ATP...
 
http://sport360.com/article/tennis/...ndar-changes-says-matches-need-to-be-shorter/

WTA CEO wants to introduce no-ad scoring and match tie-breaks to promote more exciting matches (like the ATP Doubles do), which I think suggests he doesn't quite get the sport's appeal. The most exciting games are the long Deuce games where the players invest so much, break points are saved, chances are squandered, and one of them comes away with the spoils. He wants to start by introducing it in the juniors and then phasing it in over the generations. Good luck.

Focus more on speeding up your super slow court surfaces and curtailing MTO use than on trying to mess with the best scoring system in sport, the same scoring system that links Serena with Steffi, Steffi with Navratilova, and so on all the way back (acknowledging the tie-break was brought in during the 70s). And the last thing you need to do is introduce a bigger random element leading to more upsets when the top of your sport is so volatile and only going to get moreso when Serena retires.

Also, really doesn't look good if he's suggesting the women can't handle longer matches physically when the WTA's supposed to be fighting for equality with the ATP..
.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. A deciding sets should be the norm for both the ATP/WTA. A player that wins a match 20-18 in a deciding set may as well have lost because they won't have much left for their next match. 6-6 needs a tiebreak. Also, in the juniors they have already started to implement a "shot clock" for servers. A server must serve within 30 seconds of the last point and there actually is a shot clock instead of it just being a guesstimated judgement call by the chair. This will move matches along quicker and I like the idea. Add that with eliminating all the MTO's and there's no need to go no-ad scoring to shorten matches.
 
Her match lengths this week are quite funny. Completely destroyed all her opponents (well, Konta got 7 games) en route to first title in over a year, except Kerber against whom she played a 3h20m epic. When she's on, she is something else.

The race for the last couple of spots in Singapore will probably be decided this week in Beijing. Keys, Suarez Navarro, Kuznetsova, Konta and Kvitova (needs SF or better) are likely playing for the last spot since Cibulkova and Muguruza have a good lead over them in 6th and 7th now. Of course if Serena pulls out there's an extra space.
 
The ban locks her out of Stuttgart so Madrid will likely be the first big tournament with her back (she could choose to play Prague or Rabat beforehand). The French, which she won in 2012 and 2014 will be her comeback Slam, so will be hype around how far she can go there.

Really good video from Craig O'Shannessy on tennis strategy and how analytics should and will change practice and development. Short version: 0-4 shot points rule all, 2nd serve is uber-important, surface differences are massively overrated, most common rally length is 1, depth, not direction is key on return, as players go up in the rankings they play more points on return games than on their own serve but none of the #nextgen has managed to get to that stage yet. If you play or coach should definitely watch this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfIpnphDav4
 
http://sport360.com/article/tennis/...ndar-changes-says-matches-need-to-be-shorter/

WTA CEO wants to introduce no-ad scoring and match tie-breaks to promote more exciting matches (like the ATP Doubles do), which I think suggests he doesn't quite get the sport's appeal. The most exciting games are the long Deuce games where the players invest so much, break points are saved, chances are squandered, and one of them comes away with the spoils. He wants to start by introducing it in the juniors and then phasing it in over the generations. Good luck.

Focus more on speeding up your super slow court surfaces and curtailing MTO use than on trying to mess with the best scoring system in sport, the same scoring system that links Serena with Steffi, Steffi with Navratilova, and so on all the way back (acknowledging the tie-break was brought in during the 70s). And the last thing you need to do is introduce a bigger random element leading to more upsets when the top of your sport is so volatile and only going to get moreso when Serena retires.

Also, really doesn't look good if he's suggesting the women can't handle longer matches physically when the WTA's supposed to be fighting for equality with the ATP...

Pretty spot on there mate. I'd also go with reversing the heavier and fluffier balls for faster play. Hewitt complained about that slowing play.
 
Pretty spot on there mate. I'd also go with reversing the heavier and fluffier balls for faster play. Hewitt complained about that slowing play.

Side comment: Did you know there's actually such thing as "High altitude tennis balls"? I've played tennis for almost 15 years and I just learned about high altitude balls earlier this year.
 
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