2025 Tennis thread

[Karl]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Talk about taking advantage of the very late lucky loser given to him. It's great to see.

It sure is! And over a quality name like Norrie too. I know Cam isn't the player he was at his zenith a few years ago and Gabe was real sloppy at times throughout the match but Norrie is still a guy who by and large makes you earn your wins.

And it's also on by far Diallo's least favourite surface in his young career. A good stepping stone.

[Erick Estrada]

Nice result for Diallo on clay. Looking at the Shapo stats it appears he didn't have a great day on return against one of the weaker servers on tour.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Nice result for Diallo on clay. Looking at the Shapo stats it appears he didn't have a great day on return against one of the weaker servers on tour.

De Minaur will never have one of the biggest serves on the ATP but he has beefed up his serve a lot this year. He has been clocking many serves in the 205-210 KPH range this year, including a fair number of them this match today.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Karl

De Minaur will never have one of the biggest serves on the ATP but he has beefed up his serve a lot this year. He has been clocking many serves in the 205-210 KPH range this year, including a fair number of them this match today.

I know he's worked on his first serve but it was only 55% for the match which caught my eye as Shapo was getting a lot of 2nd serves and in two sets only got a single break point opportunity. That's not good enough IMO.

[dash_pinched]

Happy Zverev Elimination Day Everyone!!

[dash_pinched]

Geez, Jack Draper just blitzed through Tommy Paul 6-2 6-2 in just a little over an hour.

[Erick Estrada]

Draper is hitting his stride. I would not be surprised if he makes a grand slam final this year.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Draper is hitting his stride. I would not be surprised if he makes a grand slam final this year.

He's got all the tools - Big serve and forehand, good backhand as well, really good movement for a big guy as well. The only lingering question mark is conditioning, but if he can figure that out, he's going to be in the mix for grand slam trophies.

[dash_pinched]

By the way, Joao Fonseca and Felix are in the same half of the draw at the ATP Challenger event in Estoril, Portugal. Hopefully, we'll get to see these two guys clash.

[dash_pinched]

Gabriel Diallo just saved three match points in the 2nd set tie-break and has forced a 3rd and deciding set with Grigor Dimitrov. Some excellent tennis from Gabe today, hope he can seal the deal.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Gabriel Diallo just saved three match points in the 2nd set tie-break and has forced a 3rd and deciding set with Grigor Dimitrov. Some excellent tennis from Gabe today, hope he can seal the deal.

Was able to see most of this match and what a treat. Diallo was able to fend off match points in the second and absolutely cruise in the third, but still hold his own throughout the match against a stout clay player in Dmitrov.

Two huge stats to note - 48% of first serve returns made for Diallo in this match and 77% of first serves made. What a recipe for success right there.

Diallo jumps all the way up to #53 in the world.

[dash_pinched]

I would argue that this great week in Madrid along with the rise in the rankings is more important to Gabe than the prize money earned thus far, but 165,000 Euros isn't too shabby either.

[dash_pinched]

Great movement and shot-making from Gabe...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1917661354132897907

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

I would argue that this great week in Madrid along with the rise in the rankings is more important to Gabe than the prize money earned thus far, but 165,000 Euros isn't too shabby either.

Agreed. He's now past that murky 65-75 ranking where you don't know if you're going to have to qualify in order to play every week. Should be a big moment for his camp to be a main draw player now for the rest of the year.

He does have ~500 points to defend from the challenger and ATP tour events in 2024 the rest of the way, but he should be able to cover that and then some with this level of play. Grass should be an absolute boon for his game too. Given his great tactical/mental game and rapid growth, I'm fairly confident his floor is now in the 50s/60s if he stays healthy.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

By the way, Joao Fonseca and Felix are in the same half of the draw at the ATP Challenger event in Estoril, Portugal. Hopefully, we'll get to see these two guys clash.

Well, scratch the above as Fonseca lost to Jesper de Jong earlier today 6-2 7-5.

[dash_pinched]

So a breadstick was delivered in the Iga - Coco match, but it was Coco who sent the breadstick to Iga.

Edit: Coco sent two breadsticks to Iga. Wowza.

[dash_pinched]

Felix takes a wild card to a challenger event in Portugal after crashing out in Madrid and loses to Andrea Pellegrino in straight sets who is currently ranked outside the top 200. If this isn't rock bottom, I don't what to know what rock bottom is.

[dash_pinched]

Gabriel bows out to Musetti just now 6-4 6-3 and likely played his worst match of the week today which is too bad because the Italian was also far from his best. Still, an excellent week for Gabe and plenty to build on going forward.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Felix takes a wild card to a challenger event in Portugal after crashing out in Madrid and loses to Andrea Pellegrino in straight sets who is currently ranked outside the top 200. If this isn't rock bottom, I don't what to know what rock bottom is.

Shapo's even more competitive at this point. I don't know what it's going to take for him to realize that what's going on with him and his team simply isn't working. It's possible he just doesn't want it bad enough as when you have a lot of closely matched athletes, what separates them is usually the desire to do whatever it takes to win.

[GirlySports]

He may be satisfied now and doesn't have the competitive drive. Made millions, engaged, has an olympic medal.

FAA took the wildcard and wasn't really prepared. Meanwhile Andrea Pellegrino playing in a 175 is a BIG deal.