Love, Balls and Courting: Tennis V

eusebius

eusebius

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peibeck said:
With all the drama happening all over the world, it's like we've forgotten the Australian Open.

Lots of upsets in the first three rounds, especially Medvedev by an American wild card player I've never heard of! :eek:
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Learner Tien! He was in the recent NextGen finals. Adorably ordered himself a pizza for after the match because it would be either celebratory or binge eating/coping 🤣
 
Fiero425

Fiero425

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peibeck said:
With all the drama happening all over the world, it's like we've forgotten the Australian Open.

Lots of upsets in the first three rounds, especially Medvedev by an American wild card player I've never heard of! :eek:
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#4 Taylor Fritz knocked out by Monfils at 38 yrs. old! IMO, it's ridiculous that he's in the top 5! He has no real weapon! :confused: :rolleyes::wall:
 
peibeck

peibeck

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Fritz' serve is his big weapon, no? And recent results make the ranking, so getting deep into tournaments routinely moves players up.

Also Monfils is a tricky opponent even for the best of players. He comes up with the most impressive angles of any player I've seen, which is one of the things that makes him so entertaining to watch. I was surprised to see him in the draw, though. I thought I read he was retiring after last season.

Anyway... obscure American, Learner Tien now has advanced to the round of 16 after another win. :eek: He's the only qualifier left in either the men's or women's draw.
 
eusebius

eusebius

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peibeck said:
Anyway... obscure American, Learner Tien now has advanced to the round of 16 after another win. :eek: He's the only qualifier left in either the men's or women's draw.
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I think he has a great chance for the quarters as his R16 opponent is Sonego, but the Italian seems to be in the form of his life. Should be a great match either way.

Shelton def. Musetti in 4. Musetti is such a complete player but he needs Iga’s psychologist maybe …
 
Desperado

Desperado

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Daria Kasatkina is into the AO 4th round for the first time in her career! :cheer2:

After the match, she was asked to promote her What the Vlog series on YT and she adorably did.

If you haven’t watched it yet, it’s worth a look. The episodes alway make my day. Sometimes we get skating too (her partner is Natalia Zabiiako, former pair skater).
 
peibeck

peibeck

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:eek: Grandpa Novak beats Carlos again??? Australia really is his magic tournament.

At least the first 3 of 4 sets between ZZZZZverev and Paul were interesting.

Coco... :fragile: Although she's had tough matches with Badosa before, so maybe not completely surprising.
 
Fiero425

Fiero425

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peibeck said:
:eek: Grandpa Novak beats Carlos again??? Australia really is his magic tournament.

At least the first 3 of 4 sets between ZZZZZverev and Paul were interesting.

Coco... :fragile: Although she's had tough matches with Badosa before, so maybe not completely surprising.
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It should have been a complete day of upsets! Paul had his chances, but choked away leads & disappeared in those 2 TB's! I couldn't be more proud of the OLD MAN outlasting a KID, 15-16 yrs. his jr.! It makes me pause & think of "the haters" who tried to give cover to Roger Federer when he went down to Novak again & again; even on Wimbledon grass 3 times in finals! The 5-6 yrs. were enough to undermine the accomplishment of defeating the grass KING! Now's Novak's 37 yo. winning over kids 3 times younger than him when he was beating Roger in his prime! :rolleyes: :) :wall: :eek:
 
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peibeck

peibeck

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I like Novak the player. Off court, not so much. I just honestly didn't expect him to pull off the win against Alcaraz because the only match I saw him play early in the tournament, Novak wasn't moving as well as he usually does. But I read a recap where they said he was in prime form in this match.

ETA: Nice win for Madison Keys to get into the semis.
 
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Fiero425

Fiero425

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peibeck said:
I like Novak the player. Off court, not so much. I just honestly didn't expect him to pull off the win against Alcaraz because the only match I saw him play early in the tournament, Novak wasn't moving as well as he usually does. But I read a recap where they said he was in prime form in this match.

ETA: Nice win for Madison Keys to get into the semis.
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Nole supposedly got on a pain medication, but it took a bit of time to work; hence the late, great court movement in sets 3 & 4! Djokovic was in lockdown mode while Carlos committed too many UFE's! His service return position did him no favors as Novak got tons of free pts. running the ball into Alcaraz's body or swinging out wide to the forehand! It was a master class of "how to play these kids" as this old man of 37 can still bring it! :wall: 🥳:cautious::rolleyes: - https://fiero4251.blogspot.com/2016/08/fan-page-novak-nole-djokovic.html
 
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peibeck

peibeck

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@Fiero425 I read a bit of Andy Roddick's analysis that Nole smartly took one of Carlos's weapons off the table by keeping him close to the center and reducing the angles he could play. And Novak had a very strong service game day, keeping the second serve particularly deep.

Huge win for Shelton to make the semis. But Sinner and, on the ladies side, Swiatek have been demolishing their opponents. I don't see anyone stopping them before the finals. (Sorry Ben and Maddie!)
 
V

vgerdes

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Congrats to Madison. That was quite a match. And as her reward, she gets to play the 2-time champ. I hope she can pull it off. Nothing against Sabalenka, but it would be nice to see Keyes finally get a Slam. She has so much talent.
 
Fiero425

Fiero425

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Spoilers: Novak Djokovic ret. after dropping a 1st set TB vs Sascha Zverev in the SF contest! Alex awaits winner of Sinner/Shelton! ;-)
 
peibeck

peibeck

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All the negative buzz about Novak faking his injury during the Alcaraz match should hopefully be rescinded (cough cough, John McEnroe). How he was able to even finish that match with torn a leg and hip ligament is astonishing.

Sinner dispatched Shelton pretty easily after a tough first set. I'll hope the final isn't a lopsided battle and that if Zverev loses he doesn't go down the mental rabbit hole again.
 
Fiero425

Fiero425

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vgerdes said:
Congrats to Denis Shapovalov on winning his 3rd ATP title at the Dallas Open, taking out the top 3 seeds in the process. I'm so happy for him!
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Very impressive effort! I'm so happy for Denis! I was so afraid he might turn into one of those "perennial also-rans;" all flash, winning nothing! Getting past Fritz early & Paul in the SF was no small feat so he earned this victory over Ruud! :rolleyes: :40beers:🥳:grandpa:
 
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vgerdes

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Fiero425 said:
Very impressive effort! I'm so happy for Denis! I was so afraid he might turn into one of those "perennial also-rans;" all flash, winning nothing! Getting past Fritz early & Paul in the SF was no small feat so he earned this victory over Ruud! :rolleyes: :40beers:🥳:grandpa:
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Yes. I feared the same thing. He is so much fun to watch when he's at the top of his game. I hope this is a sign of bigger things to come from him.
 
Aaron MB Fan

Aaron MB Fan

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vgerdes said:
Congrats to Denis Shapovalov on winning his 3rd ATP title at the Dallas Open, taking out the top 3 seeds in the process. I'm so happy for him!
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Me too! SO beyond thrilled for him! He is my favourite player on the tour and so exciting to watch. His game is beautiful yet has a wow factor at the same time with the type of playing style to watch that if he could gain consistency and boost his ranking, he would become extremely popular globally. Hopefully he can build on this career milestone!
 
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