2023 Tennis Thread

[dash_pinched]

Aryna has played a ton of tennis lately...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1656744621215555585

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Friday updates from Rome:

Iga delivering two bagels to Pavlyuchenkova
Felix loses in three sets to Popyrin as the Aussie takes it 6-4 4-6 7-5

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I should add that it was a 3 hour and 16 minute slugfest between FAA and Popyrin and Felix played better as the match wore on. Not to keep harping on this, but nine double faults is still too many, in these close matches, you can't be giving away free points.

[Inglewood Jack]

bizarre Canadian tennis singles synchronized dip. you'd think having a stable of talented players that at least one of them would be going hot while the others work their way through their issues

[Nadal Fan]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1656760340133343232

It was a beautiful ride while it lasted

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Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

bizarre Canadian tennis singles synchronized dip. you'd think having a stable of talented players that at least one of them would be going hot while the others work their way through their issues

In all honesty, I can't remember a time when there was so much depth on both tours. Aside from the top players on both tours (Iga and Charlie stand out at the moment), nobody is safe from an upset. The coaching and training available to players is really levelling the competition.

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Gabriel Diallo with a straight sets win 6-3 7-5 over #80 ranked Jordan Thompson and he moves into the semi-finals at the challenger event in Busan. Live rankings now has him at #142. That's getting him into qualifying for ATP main draw events.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

In all honesty, I can't remember a time when there was so much depth on both tours. Aside from the top players on both tours (Iga and Charlie stand out at the moment), nobody is safe from an upset. The coaching and training available to players is really levelling the competition.

I totally agree. A lot of fans think it's a down time because things are wide open without the big 3 being prominent but I argue the depth is far better than it's ever been. There's not much separating a top 50 player from top 10 these days as it's not like the days of old where a top 10 player could win matches when not playing their best. I've seen some outstanding matches this clay court season that didn't feature top 30 players. There's a reason Nadal won't come back unless he's 100% and that's because he knows he won't go far in any tournament if he's not at his best.

[dash_pinched]

Aside from Felix losing to Popyrin, other upsets on the men's side today (and granted, some of this is due to clay being a guy's favorite surface, but I'm just using current ranking as an upset).

De Minaur loses to Fucsovics
Kecmanovic loses to Fognini
Khachanov loses to Barrere
BVDZ loses to Djere
Baez loses to Shevchenko
Korda loses to Safiullin

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by Nadal Fan

It was a beautiful ride while it lasted

there's a slightly longer version of this that shows him leaning against the fence in tears

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by dash_pinched

Aside from Felix losing to Popyrin, other upsets on the men's side today (and granted, some of this is due to clay being a guy's favorite surface, but I'm just using current ranking as an upset).

De Minaur loses to Fucsovics
Kecmanovic loses to Fognini
Khachanov loses to Barrere
BVDZ loses to Djere
Baez loses to Shevchenko
Korda loses to Safiullin

Pretty poor clay season for Felix.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Pretty poor clay season for Felix.

Really hope FAA can reset for grass.....it certainly has been ugly on the dirt. I had high hopes that he would be having a huge season on the green stuff this year but it is usually not as simple as flipping a switch with a surface change.

[dash_pinched]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Pretty poor clay season for Felix.

He has a lot of points to defend at the French Open as well - I could see him trying to get into another clay tourney (wild card possibly?) prior to RG due to his early exit in Rome.

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Hey, might as well wrap up a great day of results in Rome with Bianca losing 6-0 6-1 to Marketa Voudrousova. Yikes.

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Girly's guy JJ Wolf with a nice straight sets win over Hubi Hurkacz. Hubi like Felix is struggling to find form in 2023.

[Erick Estrada]

Wolf is pretty hilarious. Is he one of those guys embracing the 80's or something? The mullet hair and earring makes him look like relic of an 80's grad book. Even the sun screen look this week screams look at me. Pretty decent tennis player though.

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Well, I for one didn't have Taylor Fritz losing to Yannick Hanfmann 6-4 6-1

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Even Charlie is prone to the upset bug in Rome...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1658099352580272128

[Erick Estrada]

Wow. That's a shocker for sure. I will say Alcaraz didn't look his best in this tournament. He's got a recent habit of starting slow in first sets and then turning things on as the set progresses but that's not always sustainable at this level of competition.

[Inglewood Jack]

he clinched #1 just by showing up in Rome, so my guess is he consciously or unconsciously was running at 50% effort this tournament. the priority is going into RG injury free.