2022 ATP/WTA thread

[Napoleon 8874]

3 minutes ago, perfectchaos007 said:

not-fat Sloane is actually a good tennis player. Who knew!?

Sloane lost two relatives to COVID in 2020 (I think) and couldn’t have been much more depressed and still semi-function for about 12-16 months. 

She would barely go through the motions while losing in one first round after another, but finally started coming out of it last fall. 
 

LOOK AT THESE BIG BUCKS (Zapopan Prize $)

 

[perfectchaos007 6795]

Her prize winnings look better in the local currency

 

[Napoleon 8874]

How about Marie Bouzkova’s español?!

That girl is adorable!

(and I didn’t even comment on her cute little butt cheek peeking out of the bottom of her trunks!)

[perfectchaos007 6795]

 

[Napoleon 8874]

No Russians should be allowed to play at all until this is resolved. It sucks for them, but they should be banned in all sports. 

Belarussians as well. 

If Azarenka wants to switch to the USA or Karatsev wants to switch over to Israel (who is being suspiciously quiet… 🤬), then they can play again, but not as long as they play for the Belarusian or Russian federations.

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Leylah rolling up Schmiedlova on TC. 

[Napoleon 8874]

Sorry Leylah, but Schmiedlova’s name is still more fun to say. 🤷‍♂️
 

Especially in a variety of character voices. 
 

It is what it is. 🎾 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Ukranian Yastremska just beat Bogdan in a 3rd set breaker, then got very emotional. Damn good sportsmanship by Bogdan. 

 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

She’s back. 

Quote

Elina Svitolina's match against Russia's Anastasia Potapova at the Monterrey Open on Tuesday will go ahead after the Ukrainian top seed was given assurances her opponent will compete under a neutral flag. 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/60576936

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Madison blew a MP in the second against Martic, had her shoulder looked at, then barely gave a shit in the third. She wasn’t interested in this 250. 

Elina/Potapova now. 

[perfectchaos007 6795]

Keys 1 and done in Mexico for the 2nd straight week. Yikes 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Elina bombed the Rooskie, 2 & 1. 

[Napoleon 8874]

When she pounded her chest/heart after winning, my eyes got a bit misty.

It’s amazing that she kept her cool when the uppity Russian kid had breakpoints. 

I’m a big Svitolina fan these days. I won’t even hold it against her that she recently got lip injections. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Leylah up now in a bright-ass top. 

[Napoleon 8874]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Leylah up now in a bright-ass top. 

I wore a similarly colored top tonight when I headed out for a bike ride just before dusk. 

It’s a great color for visibility.

Same reason that tennis balls went from white to their current yellow. 

Same reason Gyasi Zardes bleaches the top of his ‘fro. (Although Zardes is pretty easy to spot due to his “unique” first touch.)

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

This match REALLY should not be going 3. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Breaker time for the match. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Bright yellow survives, tourney organizers rejoice. 

[Napoleon 8874]

Re: Bright yellow…

Three absolute rules should be in place for professional tennis.

1) You can’t where any clothes/shoes in a solid color that matches the color of the tennis ball 🎾.   (Yellow is okay, but not that yellow-green of the ball… Leylah Fernandez)

2) Your grunt cannot last past when the ball crosses the net. (Sonego -ATP, Sabalenka -WTA are the w worst offenders.)

3) You cannot smack your racket, wave your arms, or scream out to distract when you’re opponent is preparing to serve or hit an overhead. (Brooksby)

[Napoleon 8874]

Svitolina is extremely tight in her match with Tomova from Bulgaria. 

She was up 5-3 and I think lost a Breakpoint that would have given her the set. She definitely lost at 5-4 when serving for the set. 

So many rallies were weak forehands just waiting/hoping for the Bulgarian to dump the ball into the net. A good opponent would have crushed many of her shots into next week. I can’t recall a top seed being so timid. 

I think that Svitolina is just feeling so much pressure that she doesn’t have any touch in tonight’s match. 🇺🇦 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

In typical Monterrey fashion, we are playing 3 again. 

[Napoleon 8874]

After going dow 0-2 in the third, she’s gone through 4 straight to be up 4-2, but now let’s see if she can get through her service game. (She definitely has the crowd behind her.)

[Napoleon 8874]

The level of play, the power of the first serves and most of the forehands of the Martic v Bouzkova match is a level or two above almost every rally of the Svitolina v Tomova match  

It just illustrates how tentatively Svitolina was playing that she played down to a level that allowed Tomova to be competitive.

Finally, after Bouzkova just wrapped up the last game to win the first set, they were going to commercial and there was a closeup of Marie Bouzkova’s water bottle by her bench seat.

From Prague to Florida…

”BOUZIE BOTTLE”

…to a court near you!

 

 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Martic is sneaky hot. 

[Napoleon 8874]

12 minutes ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Martic is sneaky hot. 

I have a friend who had a thing for long legs back at the end of college/early post undergrad. 

He wouldn’t have been able to stop talking about Martic if we had attended a match in Monterrey and she had been playing back then.
💃🏻 . . . 👀

Edited March 4, 2022 by Napoleon

[Napoleon 8874]

Yastremska keeps on rolling. 

She is not a patient player. 👀

She goes for a winner almost immediately rather than settling into a rally and waiting for an opportune time to go for it. 

There were lots of breaks in this match, including when Yastremska was serving for the match at 5-4 in the second, but she pulled it out in the tie-breaker on her third match point. (After racing to a 6-1 lead.)

She has the power to be really good if she can develop a head for the game. Maybe the tragic events in Ukraine will sharpen her focus. 🤷‍♂️
🇺🇦🤞

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

^ And she gets hot Sorana next in the semis. Ms. Cirstea is living right, today's #79-ranked player was the highest she's faced so far. 

[perfectchaos007 6795]

Osorio and Svitolina playing 3!

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

This whole tourney, there was a 9-7 match breaker before this. 

On 3/3/2022 at 9:26 PM, shadow_operative2.0 said:

In typical Monterrey fashion, we are playing 3 again. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

And COS also wins in a breaker. 

Leylah ain’t even started yet. 

[Napoleon 8874]

Fernandez trying to show Monterrey that she can handle a wang at 2:45am. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Dayana beat hot Sorana in a tough 3-setter earlier, into the Lyon final against Zhang. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Leylah v. COS in a spicy Monterrey final. 

[perfectchaos007 6795]

4 hours ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

Dayana beat hot Sorana in a tough 3-setter earlier, into the Lyon final against Zhang. 

It's a great story..... even ESPN is running it on their front page

 

https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/33434422/dayana-yastremska-makes-wta-lyon-open-final-week-fleeing-ukraine

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Zhang won in 3, nothing easy in either tourney this week. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

4-1 for Leylah already. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

COS pulls a straight robbery on that set, the 4-5 breaker point was sick. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Leylah serving at 1-4 in the decider, this has been a strange match. COS is playing well though. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

She holds then breaks, back on serve at 3-4. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Lefty saves a MP, 5-all. This is fun. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Leylah showing her age here, calling for the tourney organizer on COS’ 5th MP because the crowd is too loud. This is some whiny shit. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Correction, a light flickered, now they have to restart the system. 

Is imma in Monterrey too? 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

Fittingly for this tourney, breaker for the title. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

That was some crazy shit, Leylah finally wins to defend her title. 

The light situation was weird as hell, but COS had 5 MPs too. 

Edited March 7, 2022 by shadow_operative2.0

[Napoleon 8874]

I watched the replay just now and something weird happened with the sound when a flicker happened on the TV, but I thought that that was the storm in Dallas. 

I did notice the crowd yelling out during points when they thought that a ball may have gone out. 

Perhaps premature exultation is a problem with the fans in Monterrey,  but I thought that they needed an adult to tell them to stop touching themselves and keep it in their pants until the point was actually over. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

The audio was just shitty timing, it happened live too.

COS probably cost herself the title by not stopping play on MP #3, it looked long.

Leylah’s gamesmanship worked in the end. 

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

[perfectchaos007 6795]

Sloane and Osaka first round. Very anticipated match of unseeded players!

[shadow_operative2.0 16332]

This is the real crazy part. 

 

[perfectchaos007 6795]

1 hour ago, shadow_operative2.0 said:

This is the real crazy part. 

 

Looks like all the Ruskies dropped out