2016 Tennis Thread

[CofR]

Tsonga-Isner called for darkness following the 3rd set. Inner leads 2-1

[Senator Clay Davis]

So I experienced a day at Wimbledon...and almost literally a full day, I was there for almost 16 hours. I went in with the hope of getting show court tickets for court two to see Genie's match, so based on the research I had done I assumed being there right around 4:30am would probably get me those. Yeah, not even close. When I got my queue card, it was almost 1,000 spots too late to get those tickets. And I was in the first line of actual people, so that should tell you how many people are camping out. And there are people camping out for Monday so there's a they don't even count towards the card disbursement. I'll go through the rest in point form.

- You start in Wimbledon Park and go through the Wimbledon Park Golf Club to eventually get into the grounds. It takes about 90 minutes from when you start moving before you get into the grounds, so calling it a walk is a stretch. A crawl obviously better. I would guess you walk about a half mile to get there.

- Right away all of the non-show courts have unreserved seating. But while that doesn't change throughout the day, you generally will have to queue after the first set of matches started to get onto those courts during a match. A few people come and go every break in play.

- The ground is small relative to how many people are there. I'm sure they'd love to have more concession stands, they simply don't have any room. So the queue for anything except it seemed ice cream was pretty long. Predictably everything is expensive as could be.

- But for a North American I wasn't aware you could bring in a little booze and food if you wanted. Champagne and of course Pimms seemed to be the drinks of choice to bring in.

- It's funny how poorly the tournament is run from scheduling and logic standpoints, because the actual grounds operations were really well done. Maybe that was because that seemed to mostly be run by the London Fire Brigade, but everything was easy

- So while not getting show court tickets sucked, it doesn't mean you can't get on show courts....for cheap too. You just gotta queue....again. When people leave show courts, they are encourage to have their tickets re-scanned or drop them in marked red boxes to allow for those seats to be refilled. And getting resold tickets only costs £10 for Centre or one and court two £5. The queue for those starts at 3pm but really only picks up after 5pm from what I was told. I got onto 2 at the end of the Makarova-Kvitova match so I did see all of Genie's match.

- I sat in every non-show court except the inner courts close to Centre that are all small and the same. In order of how much I enjoyed them I would rank them 2, 18, 3, 12. 18 seemed to be the court with the longest queues to get into, even as it was the smallest and most difficult to go onto. I went right away since it was the first one I saw.

- I think I'm gonna go find a queue to get in just for the hell of it.

[Senator Clay Davis]

As to thoughts on what I saw....

- Starting with the only full match I watched, the Genie match. She didn't play that poorly, she just didn't play the big points well and had a few bad breaks. And as someone else mentioned her attitude cost her that match more than anything. She just needed to calm down at some point and never could. What probably doomed any chance was getting broken back to lose the first set.

- The coaches boxes basically never shut up between points. Cibulkova's in particular just said the same thing over and over again. Pretty annoying really.

- What is evident is Genie's lack of any great skill besides a skill that isn't a real skill (her fight) is what holds her back right now. Whatever it is, she needs something she can go to when in need. The backhand seemed more reliable.

- Biggest crowd support on the outer courts? Stevie Johnson. Sure I guess.

- The Novak match....yeah I passed up seeing the end (from him serving 5-6 in the 4th) to take a court 2 seat for sure. Whoops. Also could have probably saw the end Milos match on Centre (was just into the 2nd set when the Genie match ended), but I was barely awake at that point.

- I was in the queue for resale tickets when the 4th set was going on. Thought Querray for sure blew it when he did nothing with the 4 break points early on, but he came through. And everyone in the queue thought the match was over when Novak got the break in the 4th.

- Just to give you an idea of how loved Djokovic is at Wimbledon, when the result was posted on 2 the crowd roared louder than any actual point I saw today. I know Roger/Andy fans have new hope, but come on....

- Old man Hewitt was playing doubles. He won his match with a 19-17 third set, because of course. Aussies fans were rocking on a small court.

- I was hoping to see Felix but his match got cancelled.

- Predictably the people who were queueing for Monday tickets were almost all Federer fans. I'll be trying my damnedest to get on Centre Monday.

- #### the rain.

[GirlySports]

Did you buy an umbrella?

[Senator Clay Davis]

I have my golf clubs here too so I just used my golf umbrella. I did buy the Wimbledon fleece blanket which was a very popular item considering how many times I saw it. And the Kyrgios headband that he can't wear on the court unless it's in reverse.

[GirlySports]

guess what??

Isner's at it again! He and Tsonga are 14-14 in the 5th set!

[GirlySports]

17-17 now, Tsonga just saved a match point

Del Porto lost to Poullet

Felix won earlier, Sigouin is playing right now

[dash_pinched]

Tsonga breaks to take a 18-17 lead. I think this match is over.

[dash_pinched]

There it is, 19-17 for Tsonga in set 5.

[bigtmac19]

Great match. I'm glad Tsonga prevailed

[Mango]

Is Kygrios finally getting it together? He's looking real good at All England.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

As to thoughts on what I saw....

Got any pics Senator?

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Mango

Is Kygrios finally getting it together? He's looking real good at All England.

He next faces Andy Murray which should be a very intriguing match.

[Senator Clay Davis]

My phone was almost dead so I did not take many pics. I will take more tomorrow for sure. And I was just looking at StubHub to see what prices were for tomorrow on Centre....as much as the final! I know Andy-Kyrigos could be an amazing match, but that seems preposterous to me.

[dash_pinched]

PopSock move on in men's doubles, Vasek played very well.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

PopSock move on in men's doubles, Vasek played very well.

at one point when TSN switched over looked like Sock was going to give it away

[GirlySports]

All Round of 16 matches go tomorrow, should be a fun day

(28) Querrey (USA)
Mahut (FRA)

(11) Goffin (BEL)
(6) Raonic (CAN)

(3) Federer (SUI)
Johnson (USA)

(9) Cilic (CRO)
(5) Nishikori (JPN)

-----------------------

Vesely (CZE)
(10) Berdych (CZE)

(19) Tomic (AUS)
(32) Pouille (FRA)

(7) Gasquet (FRA)
(12) Tsonga (FRA)

(15) Krygios (AUS)
(2) Murray (GBR)


Waiting for the schedule to come out.

Federer/Johnson will be an interesting match. Johnson has won 8 in a row on the grass (won Nottingham last week)

[CofR]

Looks like Milos is last up on Court 2 tomorrow

[Senator Clay Davis]

Didn't realize PopSock were going up against the Hewitt Aussie doubles team on court 18 today. That's gonna be an awesome atmosphere, TSN better cover that match.

[Mango]

Querrey putting a nice run together at Wimbledon, advancing to the quarters of major for the first time in his career.