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Posted

Coco has toned down her power shots and making fewer unforced errors... as she makes another one. 

Coco still feeling her way through this match, but... as she double faults to go down 5-6 in the first set... she seemed to be hitting too many long, so she is going for my top spin on the forehand and the ball is landing just past the service line and rarely anywhere close to the baseline. 

Posted

Coco definitely settled in in the second set and (for the most part) has been playing with power and yet under control. Much better match to watch after that messy first set. 

Posted

If you were to form a 4x400m relay team from the women’s tour, I think that Coco Gauff & Petra Martić would possibly be the first two ladies you would pick for the team. 
 

t

Though Martić may already be competing in the Heptathlon. 

Posted

RIP, GEMS. 

Quote

After making it through a rough 2020, a preseason of training in Spain and a two-week quarantine apart, tennis' golden couple Elina Svitolina and Gael Monfils have decided to take a break from each other. 

The news was announced on Instagram. 

"Gael and I decided to take a break from our relationship," Svitolina wrote. "The decision was incredibly difficult, because we still have love for each other, but it's just two best friends realizing it's time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled life as possible."

The split has come as a shock to many as Svitolina recently comforted Monfils after a first-round loss at the Australian Open that left him in tears. Following the Ukrainian's opening round victory over Marie Bouzkova, she wrote "Gael" with a heart on the camera lens and blew a kiss. She'd write "GEMS" after her next win. 

The couple that has been a staple on tour for years has also deleted their joint Instagram account, G.E.M.S Life. Monfils and Svitolina let everyone know they will not be commenting further and asked fans to respect their privacy. 

Monfils can't seem to catch a break as he hasn't won a match since last February. He's taken six first-round losses with the latest coming at the hands of world No. 86 Emil Ruusuvuori in a gut-wrenching battle in Melbourne.

Posted (edited)
18 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

RIP, GEMS. 

Gael's game & life are in turmoil and that weight is probably not working for Svitolina. This line:

"The decision was incredibly difficult, because we still have love for each other, but it's just two best friends realizing it's time to take some space and help each other live the most joyous, fulfilled life as possible."

That reads like someone who has decided to cut bait.


In other news... WTF with Sinner losing last night? Tyrolean Golden Boy... (I laugh every time they refer to him as "The Italian".) gets sunk in the 1st round. His rocket ship to the Top 10 needs to be returned from the launch pad for some tinkering and refueling.

Thanks @shadow_operative2.0 for the heads up about Rogers/Gauff.

Edited by Napoleon
  • Like 1
Posted

There were some amazing points in that 3rd set with both players absolutely crushing the ball. Wow! 

Coco’s chasing down balls reminds me of how lightning fast Steffi Graf was on hard courts. (Steffi could have run the 400m in my opinion or been a long jumper/ triple jumper.)

Coco’s backhand slice has miles to go to get to where Steffi’s was, but she’s only 16. 

Now Coco has to learn how to be ready to play by the first serve of the first set rather than sometime in the middle of the second set. 
 

Bencic & Swiatek have been looking good this week and should meet in the final, though you never know with Collins. (Not a fan of Collins, but she can play at times.)

Posted
13 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Danielle retires down 2-6, 0-3 with a back issue. 

I think it was more like an aching C***.

She was getting throttled and knew it, so she quit. I don’t think that there is anyone in tennis at the moment that I pull against more than Danielle Collins. 

I think that it was Venus who was obviously in major pin and couldn’t really put up a fight, though it may have been someone else, and was getting beat handily in the second set during the Australian Open and yet that women kept playing until she was beaten. 

Collins was down 6-2, 3-0 and lost a point (I think in the 4th game) and then decided, if I’m not going to win, then fuck it. 

She had taken an injury timeout, in my opinion to try to break up Iga’s rhythm, but when that didn’t work she just quit. I wish that she could be docked for that shit. 

Posted

Iga Swiatek is a force and continues to steamroll through the tournament. She should be in the Top 10 by the French Open and I expect her to win here in Adelaide. (I am not “here”, but...)

Coco is crumbling. She “has her back against the wall” and is trying to “overcome adversity” serving down 1-4 in the second set after cratering from late in the first set. 

Coco holds, but lost the second point in Bencic’s 4-2 service game because Bencic was hitting deeper and then Coco turns that around the next point a comes in to hit a volley way out. 

Let’s Go

Co Co

Posted

Women’a tennis is going to women’s tennis, even down under.

Coco breaks Bencic to get back on serve at 3-4.

Bencic breaks Coco to go up 5-3.

Coco staves off a match point to break Bencic to come back to 4-5.

Double faults have been common occurrences.

 

Posted

Bencic is a moody challenger of calls. 

She did get screwed on that deuce call, but then showed her lack of cool by challenging the 2nd point of the tie-breaker to use challenge that she just gained for the tie-breaker. The set point was closer than the shit shot she challenged on the 2nd point of the tie-breaker. 

Coco could be smarter on her forehand, but she is just going to be a force. She and Iga will be Naomi’s biggest adversaries in the coming decade. 

Posted

Adelaide WTA event ends tonight (Friday night/ Saturday morning) in Central Standard Time we have:

11:30pm CST Women’s Doubles Final

1:30am CST (or later) Women’s Singles Final

Because Adelaide has the peculiar time zone of GMT +10.5, the matches are listed to start “on the hour” in Adelaide, which means “on the half hour” in the USA. 
 

 

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Posted (edited)

The Tennis Channel people said “Coming up tonight at 2am on the East Coast and 11pm on the West Coast, the women’s of Adelaide...

That’s not correct according to the world clock and the local time listed for the start time, but maybe they want people to stay up so they are teasing a 30 minute earlier start that they will fill with intro.

UPDATE: The Doubles Final is 1-1 in the second set right now (13 minutes before 1am), so the women’s final sure as shit isn’t starting at 1am and it’s highly doubtful that it will even start by 1:30am CST, especially considering that the first set went to a tie-breaker and there should be an awards ceremony after the match. 

Edited by Napoleon
Posted

The ladies have just taken the court to warm up @ 1:52am.

I am picking Iga to win this and to be the favorite in Paris (where she won last fall) & London (where she won as a junior).

Serena doesn’t have a prayer in Paris and will need her serve to be on for most of probably 4 out of 7 matches, including the final 3 if she’s going to win it. 

Naomi supposedly isn’t quite as confident on the skidding surfaces (clay & grass) yet, but will adapt in the coming seasons. 
 

The Women Have Started!

1:58am on Tennis Channel+
And it will be on The Tennis Channel as soon as this set b/ Cilic & Popyrin is done. 

Posted (edited)

The match finally came on in the middle of the 5th game with Iga winning her serve. Then Bencic serves 4 double faults out of 6 points and breaks her own serve to go down 4-2 to Iga. 

Edited by Napoleon
Posted
15 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

6-3, 3-1 for Iga. 

CORRECTION: 6-2, 6-2

Iga is an absolute monster on the court. She will crush a lot of women’s hopes of winning majors over the coming years. Her biggest weakness at the moment is that her serve isn’t dominant... yet. That is about it. 

She and Naomi will be like:

”All your trophies are belongs to us!”

Posted

ATP 250 Singapore Semi...

Alexander Bublik is one of the Top 20 to perhaps Top 10 talents in the men’s game today, but like Ebby Calvin “Nuke” Laloush (sp?), he’s got a million dollar arm and a ten cent head. Nadal would absolutely want to kill him if they played each other because his head, his shots, and his point development are all over the place. Frequently he goes through spells where it is obvious that he does not respect the game.

Ranked 46th in the world, he is a service hold away from the final and a shot at his first title.

http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Bublik

1B528D7C-4792-484F-8E2C-1CC126261805.jpeg

Posted
On 2/27/2021 at 4:51 PM, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Aryna/Garbine in R2 is fucking silly. 
 

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In this section of the draw alone, I would rate Svitolina 4th best and possibly 5th or 6th. 

Jen Brady

Arena Sabalenka 

Belinda Bencic are all better than Svitolina.

Several of the other women can beat her, but they aren’t consistent enough for me to wager against her. 

I like Svitolina, she’s a good player, pleasant to watch, and good in interviews, but her ceiling just isn’t that high. 

Posted (edited)

WTA Lyon getting ready to start. 

Arantxa Rus - NED... (79 rank / 30 years old and is built like an Olympic pole vaulter) vs Xiyu Wang -CHiNA (127 rank / 19 years old).

Will check the box score later.

😴

EDIT: Watched Rus serve to start the match and get smoked at Love. Want is now up 30-0 in her first service match and will smoke Rus in straight sets. Holy crap this Chinese  kid is better than Rus. 

Edited by Napoleon
Posted
4 hours ago, Napoleon said:

WTA Lyon getting ready to start. 

Arantxa Rus - NED... (79 rank / 30 years old and is built like an Olympic pole vaulter) vs Xiyu Wang -CHiNA (127 rank / 19 years old).

Will check the box score later.

😴

EDIT: Watched Rus serve to start the match and get smoked at Love. Want is now up 30-0 in her first service match and will smoke Rus in straight sets. Holy crap this Chinese  kid is better than Rus. 

Well I sure as fuck got that wrong.

1) After the women exchanged breaks of serve over the first 3 games, Xiyu Wang settle in and was up 5-2 and serving for the first set... when she promptly choked.

2) Then Rus held and Wang could serve again for the first set, and she choked again. So it was 5-5 in the first set with 6 breaks of serve.

3) Then Wang is up a mini break at 5-4 and can serve for the set... but gives up a point to even it 5-5 in the tie-breaker and she eventually loses the set and then the match.

IN SUMMARY: What a fucking choking loser! She was much better than Rus, but I guess that being 19, she just choked. (Then again, Iga Swiatek is 19 and a mental giant.)


Also watched Jen Brady (USA) vs Annett Kontaveit (EST)

Spoiler

Kontaveit played great. 
-great backhand
-very good forehand
-was returning FIRST SERVES for winners

She was on fire.

Jen didn't play great, but she wasn't horrible either. It was just that she ran into a strong competitor and she needed to be better than she was.

It wasn't like the first round of the 2020 French Open where Jen was playing great, but her opponent was hitting forehand howitzers. 

At one point in the first set:

WINNERS:
Brady 1 vs 11 Kontaveit

In the first set:
Kontaveit had 13 Winners & 3 Unforced Errors
Brady had 4 Winners & 9 Unforced Errors

Kontaveit raced out to a 5-0 lead in the first set in only 18 minutes.

 

Posted
14 hours ago, Napoleon said:

It wasn't like the first round of the 2020 French Open where Jen was playing great, but her opponent was hitting forehand howitzers.

Your favorite 18-year old Dane rolled up the #1 seed in Lyon too.  Could get Giorgi in the QFs if they both win next. 

Posted (edited)
14 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Your favorite 18-year old Dane rolled up the #1 seed in Lyon too.  Could get Giorgi in the QFs if they both win next. 

To quote Mike Tyson ...

“That hit like a fuckin’ mule kick!”

When that Dane is on, her forehand is men’s tour level. 
 

The Tennis Channel replay on now:

Azerenka vs Kusnetsova

Azerenka (from Belarus) is putting her her time in the USA and the training she gained going through a nasty divorce to good use by dropping F-bombs on the court after one particular point. The Tennis Channel announce (British) just apologized. 😂🤣

“I hit that fucking point.”

”Hit that FUCKING ball.”

”I’m FUCKING rushing all the time.”

”FUCKING cross court.”

Then the British announcer (male) says to his female co-announcer: “Something I got accustomed to when I met you in your green room this morning.”

Azarenka looks like Jughead from the Archie comics’ twin sister, but she cracks me up. 

Edited by Napoleon
Posted
43 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

I saw Anisimova had to withdraw. She can’t seem to get her season started 

Or last season. 

She hasn’t had much spark since her father passed away in September of 2019. It’s been a rough ride for the kid. 

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