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Post by falafaclese on Feb 9, 2011 18:27:35 GMT
With Feli and Fer you have two strong servers on the same team, and maybe that helps too. I can't imagine Hewitt is getting as many cheap points off his serve, so I guess that puts more of a strain on Fer's movement and net play? Not that Fer's a bad mover, but he's sort of more of a blunt instrument a than a scalpel, isn't he? Na Li has gotten new sponsorships from Rolex (!) and Häagen Dazs (?). I never understand when athletes get linked to snack foods and deserts (Venus-Oreos), although Nadal has those cookies, doesn't he? I saw pics of her on the WTA site here, and she looked so great, I thought I'd link. I've been watching some of the Women's Paris Indoors when I get a chance (Momo is one of the organizers, and they keep cutting to shots of her between points. I miss her.). I have also been checking out the SAP Open in San Jose. Roanic, Berankis and Nishikori are there and played some good matches yesterday. |
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Post by breezybee on Feb 9, 2011 18:45:26 GMT
Oh, I get what you are saying now and I completely agree. He stood at the baseline yesterday and hit the ball as hard as he could at the other team. More often than not the other team picked it off for an easy volley.
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lt
Semi Finals
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Post by lt on Feb 9, 2011 19:23:54 GMT
That is disheartening! And most certainly not the way to play doubles.
I wanna be sponsored by Haagen Dazs (okay, maybe I am but they just aren't paying me. . . ). Speaking of Venus and Oreos, didn't Serena used to be a part of that? In the most recent commercial with John McEnroe, Venus is there but not Serena. Then again, Eli is there and not Peyton so maybe it was a one-sibling commercial?
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Post by breezybee on Feb 11, 2011 3:28:41 GMT
I'm watching Del Potro play Lacko in San Jose. The feed on my computer is amazingly clear. Looks HD. The commentator is by himself and is hilarious. Not intentionally mind you. Think his name is Ken Thomas or something like that. Knowledge of tennis appears to be limited, is unable to pronounce any names correctly and keeps reading emails, in the middle of break points, from people in far away places congratulating him on what a good job he is doing.
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Post by falafaclese on Feb 11, 2011 21:17:01 GMT
I assume you're using the Veetle feed from San jose, breezy? That's the one I have been watching, and I was able to get the HD quality feed after downloading the Veetle application. Stunning quality, although, I've had the sound turned down so i haven't heard the commentator. I'll have to check him out.
Kim Clijsters regained the #1 spot today by beating Jelena Dokic. Now maybe the press can focus on something other than whether Woz deserves her ranking.
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Post by acre on Feb 11, 2011 22:14:36 GMT
I for one am thrilled that Kim is #1. I don't begrudge Woz or Dinara their time there, they earned it under the system by playing a lot of very good tennis and winning a lot of matches. But to me Kim is a real #1, not there by default. I mean, in any match between those players I'd always be betting on Kim. She's just better - entirely reasonable that you can't be #1 if you don't play much, but really, give me a healthy Serena, even a healthy Sharpy back in the day. Those are players I feel merit the ranking.
I know the system has to work the way it does(and both Woz and Dinara are/were fantastic players), and you absolutely have to play to get the ranking, but we all know Serena is the best in the world when she's fit and motivated. And Kim is right there with her, maybe a hair behind, but still - I'm betting on them every time.
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Post by breezybee on Feb 12, 2011 0:41:25 GMT
Yup that was it. It was great quality. That guy is gone today though. It's actually being televised starting today so they have a real commentator now. Picture quality is not nearly as good.
I don't have any problems with Wozniacki or Safina being number one. Ranking system is what it is. That being said, I am happy to see Kim up at the top.
ETA - Turns out I'd rather have the clueless commentator that sounded like he was watching the match with his bong nearby. These two commentating the Verdasco/Istomin match are odd. They've just spent the last 20 minutes disceting Verdasco's love life. The have this lengthly list of all of his past girlfriends which they proceeded to read on air. And now they are making fun of the fact that Istomin's coach is his mother.
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Post by tikigirl on Feb 13, 2011 2:19:50 GMT
Hibernating again (pitchers & catchers report on Val's Day -- now that is sweet! /OT) but I just got the new issue of Tennis magazine. All I can say about the cover is either Woz was photoshopped within an inch of her life, or Stella McCartney should have her fashion designer license revoked for-fucking-ever. Probably the latter.
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lt
Semi Finals
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Post by lt on Feb 13, 2011 19:27:10 GMT
tiki, I didn't even realize it was Woz until you pointed it out. She should definitely get out of the dumpy McCartney dresses but there was quite a bit of work on that cover image. She looks a little more like herself on the TOC picture. She is so much longer and lankier than those horrid McCartney dresses make her look.
breezy, TTC had Gimelstob and Todd Martin as the commentators for the JMdP/Fer match. I hate when Gimelstob does Feli or Fer (or any good-looking player) matches. He come off as such a jealous guy. It was great to have Martin though. He's kinda flat, which is such a relief after the over-emoting commentators, and since his last gig was as a coach he does a good job explaining what the players should do. For instance, he was explaining how Delpo could stick with the crosscourt in the beginning of the rallies but after a few shots he needed to start going to Fer's backhand or he was never going to win the point. And that Delpo needed to sneak over to the left when Fer was serving his first serve. Obvious? Yeah, but he was commentating like he would coach a player and it was far more interesting to hear than Gimelstob saying the same-old-same-old about how Fer goes through stretches of bad serving. I guess the difference was that Todd would talk about how to play the point we were currently seeing and Gimelstob read from the script about how the two players normally play. Well, I know how those two play. I'm more interested in hearing how they should play that particular match.
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Post by breezybee on Feb 13, 2011 19:47:40 GMT
lt - I'm always thankful when I don't have to listen to Gimelstob so I guess I should count my lucky stars. These two guys sounded to be in awe of Verdasco. Not his tennis mind you, his sexual prowness. They talked about it a lot. It was a little weird.
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lt
Semi Finals
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Post by lt on Feb 14, 2011 3:00:21 GMT
Yeesh. I'm having deja vu--just one week ago I was watching a sporting event and getting all nervous about the outcome. At least this week, as much as I'm rooting for one guy, I also like his opponent so I'm not going crazy dusting my house (that's how I deal with sports stress). Still not happy how Fer lost that first set though.
I only saw highlights of Raonic at the Aussie Open so this is the first time I'm watching an entire match with him. When he's playing well, he's awfully fun to watch. His overhead is Sampras-esque. But what wacky legs he's got. I think they're taller than me. Isner is all stretched out and long--but it's both legs and torso. Raonic seems to be all legs.
eta: oh, and tiki, have you been watching any tennis on the TTC? There's some scoreline out there that has a M. Texeira playing. Needless to say, I get a little confused as to which sport I'm watching when I see that name come up. . .
eta2: oh, that's just wrong. Screaming out from the crowd after Raonic hits his serve and before Fer can hit it. Not the way to win a match. Raonic deserved a cleaner win.
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Post by breezybee on Feb 14, 2011 3:31:53 GMT
Well, I'm excited of course because there is finally a Canadian tennsi player, other than Daniel Nestor, to celebrate.
Yes lt, Raonic is all legs. He reminds me of Jeremy Chardy only bulkier. I have never seen legs like jeremy Chardy's. I swear he has no torso. Just legs up to his neck.
Poor Nando though. I think he would have lost anyway but what a way to lose.
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Post by mooncreek on Feb 14, 2011 5:14:54 GMT
It's pretty amusing that a Canadian wins a tournament where the champ ends up in a hockey jersey. Well done Milos.
I fear Verdasco is going to do permanent damage to that foot. Back to back hard court tournaments, plus the 2 1000s before his inevitably-too-packed clay season.
I hope Todd Martin is staying around as a commentator.
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Feb 14, 2011 15:54:30 GMT
And actually having a favorite team that wasn't the Sharks made his speech about the jersey pretty funny. His whole speech was cute.
The only bad thing about Martin as a commentator was that it made Gimelstob go so over-the-top. Like the producers were asking him to compensate for the even-keeled Todd.
breezy, Gimelstob mentioned that Canada (yes, the entire country according to him) was picking up the feed for the final. Did that mean you had to listen to him?
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Post by falafaclese on Feb 14, 2011 20:38:00 GMT
Raonic is built like a giraffe. It's somehow appealing though, and he moves quite well. I agree that he's a lot of fun to watch, and the fact that he seems like a pretty likable easygoing person certainly helps. He has a great serve, good focus, and nice powerful strokes. He could become a very interesting factor over the next 6 months. It's a shame the match and to end that way, but Milos was playing a very good match, and it seemed like he had things well in hand regardless. Short of his suddenly succumbing to nerves (and it didn't look like that was going to happen) he was moments away from finishing that match up anyway. Fer looked really pissed there at the end about the fan yelling.
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