RG Day 12 - Womens Semi's

I know most won't be interested, but it is intriguing as both Semi's have the right balance. Also we can discuss all that has transpired over the 2 weeks and any else tennis associated.

Errani v Stosur. I quite fancy the Italian. She has been moving well and her CC FH has been solid. I fancy Errani in 3.

Sharapova v Kvitova. I think that 3-setter yesterday may have left Kvitova a bit jaded. Both players will not let up and plus both have to serve much better than their respective games yesterday. Sharapova in 2.

Kyle Edmund.

He is an interesting prospect. 17 years of age. Reached the Australian Open Juniors QF. Has defeated a couple of seeds during his run at RG. Has had some interesting results on the FU events.

What is good is that he is working with Rusedski. I am hoping this partnership may yield some fruitation. So in a couple of years could we see some genuine competition for the British No.1 ranking.

Andy Murray no doubt will be the buzz word today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18348505

Again another defeat sparks a 'Must get fitter' reflection. Is this really where Andy's chances on Clay or BO5 format really going to improve on the back of?

Stosur in 3, Sharapova in 3. (Would like Stosur to win at RG).

This is an interesting piece about Womens tennis in the US. On the back of Lepchenko and Stephens at the FO this year has prompted some optimism.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20120603/french-open-us-women-sloane-stephens/index.html

legendkillarV2 wrote:Andy Murray no doubt will be the buzz word today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/18348505

Again another defeat sparks a 'Must get fitter' reflection. Is this really where Andy's chances on Clay or BO5 format really going to improve on the back of?

I would recommend staying 'healthy' rather than 'getting fitter'. Take care of the back. Grass is different and a shorter season, etc.

Stosur has come out supporting the state of Australian tennis.

Some golden names that LF may remember

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-07/stosur-backs-australian-tennis/4058496?section=sport

Be good if we had someone championing the youngsters in Britain.

legendkillarV2 wrote:This is an interesting piece about Womens tennis in the US. On the back of Lepchenko and Stephens at the FO this year has prompted some optimism.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20120603/french-open-us-women-sloane-stephens/index.html

I would add Christina McHale to this list, LK. Also, Sharapova, despite her RUS label, is as American as I can think of. Also, the Bogomolov Jr saga (in the context of Masha and Lepchenko comes to mind).

Madison Keys is another one to consider.

Thanks, LK, for the Aussie list. Very fond memories, especially with Goolagong and Court. Laver, Rosewall and many others on the Men's side.

laverfan wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:This is an interesting piece about Womens tennis in the US. On the back of Lepchenko and Stephens at the FO this year has prompted some optimism.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20120603/french-open-us-women-sloane-stephens/index.html

I would add Christina McHale to this list, LK. Also, Sharapova, despite her RUS label, is as American as I can think of. Also, the Bogomolov Jr saga (in the context of Masha and Lepchenko comes to mind).

Madison Keys is another one to consider.

Aye Sharapova moved to the US in her junior days and flourished in Florida.

Also I was surprised Oudin was overlooked. Seems to have stuttered.

There is a lot to discuss me thinks even if your not a fan of the womens side

A piece here by Murray on his defeat

"He had his chances and converted them. He's solid and consistent and if you don't convert opportunities against him, the games become longer and the pressure builds on you," said Murray, who had reached the semi-finals in the last five Grand Slams.

"But it was a good tournament for me. I felt better coming in this year than I did last year. I lost to a better claycourt player tonight. There are things to work on but I knew it would be a tough match."

Asked who he thought would win the tournament Murray replied: "I think the four best claycourt players in the world are left in and whoever plays best will win.

"Probably have to favour Rafa (Nadal) slightly, but everyone is playing very, very well."

Least Murray has given an honest observation of his standing on Clay.

Some more from the Almagro/Nadal encounter:

"I played well. I applied my strategy. I tried to do my best," Almagro said. "But he was at such a high level."

This year, though, Nadal's level has been even higher than usual. Not only has he won all 15 sets he's played, but get this: Nadal has won 60 of his 61 service games, 54 in a row since getting broken in the second set of his first-round victory over Simone Bolelli. He has saved 16 of 17 break points, including going four for four against Almagro.

"If I'd not lost any set and not lost my serve, it would have been a miracle," the second-seeded Nadal said. "It's just impossible to achieve that."

Nadal and his serve looking like granite this year. Shades of 2010 to come perhaps?

I never know what to think when players seemingly waltz thru a draw in the way Rafa has done. Are they playing great and will then easily win the whole thing or will they find it difficult to cope with a tough match having not been fully extended up until then?
Both Rog and Djoko have had some hairy encounters. When was the last time that two semi finalists in a GS have BOTH come back from two sets down in an earlier round (praps someone could look it up) .
Doubt whether anything, or anybody, is going to worry Rafa too much this year, though. Without Soderling's win in 09 we'd be looking at Rafa achieving a mighty number of consecutive RF triumphs.

sirfredperry wrote:Without Soderling's win in 09 we'd be looking at Rafa achieving a mighty number of consecutive RF triumphs.

I know - Soderling

The 606V2 World Tour really hots up on Friday. So many have correctly guessed the last 4.

Bring it on emanci!!!

lol...I saw this thread and thought..."wow, a womens tennis thread with 14 replies already!"...and then I looked inside and saw it had quickly flipped to men's tennis discussions.

Say's it all really about general interest in the women's game doesnt it. Perhaps a thread title/poll could be "Are you interested in watching women's tennis anymore?".

Wow LK...."Nadal has won 60 of his 61 service games, 54 in a row since getting broken in the second set of his first-round victory over Simone Bolelli. He has saved 16 of 17 break points, including going four for four against Almagro."

That is an unreal set of stats, especially when we're not talking about a guy with an Isner-serve.

lydian wrote:Wow LK...."Nadal has won 60 of his 61 service games, 54 in a row since getting broken in the second set of his first-round victory over Simone Bolelli. He has saved 16 of 17 break points, including going four for four against Almagro."

That is an unreal set of stats, especially when we're not talking about a guy with an Isner-serve.

It is, but on clay: (a) he's always got that lefty serve to the advantage court, so useful on BP or 15-30; (b) he's murderous in the rallies, so if he gets to start them with a serve the advantage is that it nullifies any advantage his opponent might have.

Lydian. Have posted on other threads about the poor play in the women's matches at RG. Can't help but think that the absence of the Williams at the business end of tournaments adds to air of decay within the women's game.
Have never been a big fan of Venus and Serena - totally one-dimensional players and, in Serena's case, fairly charmless too. But they certainly brought an air of gladiatorial grandeur to the women's circuit. If you didn't like them it was fun supporting those trying to beat them.
Aint much to get worked up about now, though.

lol lydian.

I think there are many issues surrounding the decline the womens game:

1) Grunting - Say no more. Just a plain irritant.

2) Lack of quality serving - Past Clijsters, I can't see any top server in the womens game. There was a time when you had the likes of Williams/Davenport/Henin who looked comfortable on serve.

3) Consistency of Champions - Since 2009 in 13 Slams we have seen 8 different winners and only Clijsters and Williams have won more than 1 in this period which suggests some one hit wonders.

4) Rankings - Wozniacki/Safina/Jankovic all number 1's without a Slam to their name. Hopefully in time this sort of thing might not occur.

L'killar. Good post. The women could do with a big-three, big-four rivalry which they just don't have at the moment. The fact that Sharapova - nothing like as good as she was around 04-07 - is again close to number one says it all.
At least we're getting GS winners at the top - Azhashrieker, Kvitova (a non-shrieker and somewhat refreshing) and Maria. Expect to see no-weapons Wozniaki sink into oblivion along with Jankovic and Ivanovic and - has she actually retired ? - Safina.

Just a quick point on the current state of ladies vs. men's tennis. To a certain extent the ladies seem to most observers poor if the same two or three players dominate( like they did in the past) and no better when it's seemingly a free for all with no obvious dominant players (as has been in the case for the last few slams).

Nobody criticises the men although they now suffer from complete and utter dominance by the top 3 or 4 -you could actually skip the first week and a half as the tournament only starts in earnest in the QF stage (Nadal's tournament hasn't even kicked off yet!)

If you want upsets and glimpses of future top players by the score then sorry the ladies had much more to offer until now. Granted they cannot compete with the gladitorial match ups the top 3 can offer at the business end of the two weeks but give me the chance of a David slaying Goliath (or should that be Davina beating some Amazonian?) any day of the week rather than some one sided affair more akin to an exhibition style warm up match for the top guys in the early rounds.

Newballs. Totally agree about the attractive unpredictability of the women's game and the constant appearance of new faces at the business end of tournaments.
But may be you're being too kind to the women. The standard at RG has been really poor. Watching the end of the Kvitova match yesterday was painful, with point after point ending with an unforced error.
Intersrting to see what the crowds will be like for today's semis when there's no men's singles. Long lunches for some, I think...

newballs wrote:Just a quick point on the current state of ladies vs. men's tennis. To a certain extent the ladies seem to most observers poor if the same two or three players dominate( like they did in the past) and no better when it's seemingly a free for all with no obvious dominant players (as has been in the case for the last few slams).

Nobody criticises the men although they now suffer from complete and utter dominance by the top 3 or 4 -you could actually skip the first week and a half as the tournament only starts in earnest in the QF stage (Nadal's tournament hasn't even kicked off yet!)

If you want upsets and glimpses of future top players by the score then sorry the ladies had much more to offer until now. Granted they cannot compete with the gladitorial match ups the top 3 can offer at the business end of the two weeks but give me the chance of a David slaying Goliath (or should that be Davina beating some Amazonian?) any day of the week rather than some one sided affair more akin to an exhibition style warm up match for the top guys in the early rounds.

Not entirely the case. Take the Graff years. People enjoyed the game because she was able to adapt her game to all surfaces. She had rivals in Seles, Sabatini and Vicario and the emergence of Pierce and Hingis in that period. Once she retired and you had the likes of the Williams/Davenport/Hingis/Henin/Clijsters/Mauresmo/Capriarti you had a wealth of talent that helped carry the WTA tour when the likes of Williams sisters opting out of tournaments as well as competing at the Slams.

What you have now is young talent carrying the WTA but not being able to shine at the Slams when players like the Williams or Clijsters can stroll right in and win it without the miles of the WTA tour which most of them do. The WTA have the stigma that the players who win WTA events, cannot do it at the Slams. Most fans would still not look past the Williams or Clijsters because many believe despite being past their best years can win in a field of weak players.

The reason the men's tour thrives and is still interesting to the masses is because the guys who contend the Slams, contend the Masters too and lower ATP events too. They have consistency. Clay being probably the last surface to encounter consistency amongst the main contenders. If you take the 90's where Sampras/Agassi didn't have much joy at the Clay events, given that they dominated the HC/Grass Slams.

Errani and Stosur are on serve in their encounter.

Edmund lost in the boys quarter finals

5-5 in the first set now. At last a half-decent encounter. Errani looking far from over-awed (so far). As I write Stosur hands her opponent a chance to serve for the set at 6-5.

Errani breaks to go 6-5

Errani takes the first set 7-5

Interesting stuff I still think Stosur will win in 3.

Guys, is it OK for me to do the Day 13 thread?

This first semi is SO much better than some of the stuff we've endured so far. Very good first serve percentages, most points won with a winner, both playing sensibly.
Stosur, if she wants to win, has to hang in there now and bring her greater experience to bear if things get tight.

Stosur has an immense hold in the 1st game and breaks in the 2nd - game on.

She's got to feel she has unfinished business against Italian opposition at RG, I wonder how much help has been asked from/offered by Schiavone.

Stosur 3-0 up in the second set. Wonder if Errani can hold herself together. The good thing is that at last we're getting some nice tennis.

Sounds like Stosur is powering back and how!

Errani may have got some mental toughness advice from Schiavone

Wow Stosur is not wasting anytime in waiting for her fortunes in the match to change. Something toasty about to be dished up it seems.

Errani alive, just, in this set but Stosur now serving at 5-1.

Be good for Errani to start the final set with the serve.

One set all

Good hold by Errani to make it 1-0 at the beginning of the third set. Errani got 88% of her first serves in during that second set yet still got broken twice. This one could go either way, but you have to fancy Stosur. Whoops, it's now 2-0 Errani.

Errani has broken serve? Wow that is some courage given it sounds like she was beaten up in that 2nd set.

Errani has kept herself together well, But Stosur has gone off the boil. Still, at 0-3 it's only one break. Good match, though.

Stosur isn't the best closer out of matches. Even with a GS under her belt.

Important hold from Stosur from 0-30 to limit the damage to 1-3.

Hey. Stosur breaks back to get it on serve at 2-3

3-3 final set. Fine match.

Errani holds for 4-3. At least this looks worthy of a semi. Tricky one to forecast.

Well, well, well. Errani breaks again and will serve for the match at 5-3.

I am using this as my source of info for the Stosur-Errani match. Quite early on I have given my mild support to Stosur for the title, but of course may the best and least noisy lady win

Errani 1 point away from a famous victory at 40-0

GSM to Errani 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.