The Tennis Thread 2014

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

appreciate updates and discussion from anyone who's into tennis, but wonder what happened to Girly...she normally drives the bus for these threads but I don't think has been around for like a month now.

Did she give up CP for Lent? I'm not sure myself.

[Hot_Flatus]

Milos up 1 set to love on Becker and cruising. About as clean a first set as you could ask.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Milos up 1 set to love on Becker and cruising. About as clean a first set as you could ask.

Definitely. Solid match overall: 6-3, 6-4. Off to the quarters now.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by Mango

Did she give up CP for Lent? I'm not sure myself.

well, the timing would make sense but she also did start the Godless Apostate thread, so that would have been a pretty quick conversion.

looks like Milos' prize for his improved play is a date with the Mallorcan monster on Thursday. Rafa's play this tourney has been vastly improved so our boy is gonna have to come up with something special (TM) just to make a match of it.

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

looks like Milos' prize for his improved play is a date with the Mallorcan monster on Thursday. Rafa's play this tourney has been vastly improved so our boy is gonna have to come up with something special (TM) just to make a match of it.

Here's their head-to-head stats:

http://tennis.matchstat.com/index.ph...Id_Player2=677

Interesting that they've both lost to Dolgopolov...at the same tournament too.

I'm surprised they've only played four times. For some reason, I thought it was more.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

looks like Milos' prize for his improved play is a date with the Mallorcan monster on Thursday. Rafa's play this tourney has been vastly improved so our boy is gonna have to come up with something special (TM) just to make a match of it.

I think this is the best opportunity for Milos to make some noise against Rafa as he's ever had. Rafa has shown he's beatable this season, albeit rarely but its still something compared to the juggernaut Milos faced in Toronto last year.

Milos' big issue lately has been his serving believe it or not. The rest of his game is definitely better then it has ever been. If he tidies service up I think we will see a much closer match then most people expect.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Nadal pretty much embarrassed Hewitt, Istomin and Fognini. Not exactly world beaters but not scrubs either. Milos is gonna have to bring the A+ game to keep it competitive.

[Inglewood Jack]

That blue bionic arm and roboleg are working nicely for Milos so far...distracting Rafa into making way more errors than usual.

[Mango]

Nice job on that first set.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I guess Nadal is awake now...

[Mango]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I guess Nadal is awake now...

Indeed. It's like a bear waking from hibernation.

[Mango]

Baby steps? This is the first time Raonic has won a set versus Nadal, but ultimately losses in three sets.

[Inglewood Jack]

Rafa finding his way into that match was one of the most predictable things in the sport, and by the end the way he was hitting that forehand into the deuce corner, maybe there's nothing in Milos toolbox that could help.

that said, not being able to rely on his bread and butter, i.e. atomic serve was disappointing, especially the double faults on the two second set breaks. and watching him error very routine baseline shots or even easier attack shots close to the net, that gets very tiresome to watch. I know these extra tall guys will never be grinders, but there's still some fundamentals missing there that will keep him from getting any further if they're not fixed.

[Hot_Flatus]

Great match and fantastic to see Milos obviously having made drastic improvements to his game since last fall. If he keeps this going all year it will be a big one for the Canadian.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Genie with a matchup against Venus today. Sportsnet One has it at 11am.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Where the heck is Girly? She hasn't posted anything in over a month.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Genie is through to the Quarters with a 7-6 (6), 2-6, 6-4 win.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Genie is now in the 3rd set against Jelana Jankovic. There's an obvious trend developping with her game: When her first serve percentage is around 65-70%, she tends to win sets. When it drops around 50%, she tends to lose. Certainly needs to work on the second serve a bit more.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Semi-Final bound! 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

[Inglewood Jack]

no putting her back in the bottle now!