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Post by falafaclese on Jan 2, 2012 14:10:51 GMT
Happy new year!
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Post by mooncreek on Jan 2, 2012 16:18:46 GMT
The first group of matches have happened at Hopman Cup and, while it's tough to use an exhibition as a guide, still can sense a few things (mostly from transcripts but Tennis Channel is airing the US vs Denmark matches right now):
1 - Welcome back, Li Na.
2 - It's likely I'll never see Frederik Nielsen (Wozniacki's partner) play again after this week but his match against Fish is the kind to actually get confidence and make a move up the ranks, maybe qualify for a major. At 28 years old, he's no spring chicken but I have to think what Bogomolov did last year is going to inspire other career Challenger-level players.
3 - I like that Petra is more focused on winning Slams than on being #1.
4 - It's weird to realize this but I'm liking hearing Lleyton in the commentary booth.
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Post by breezybee on Jan 2, 2012 20:54:48 GMT
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Post by falafaclese on Jan 3, 2012 0:36:12 GMT
Does anyone here remember the big boil Federer had on his face in 2008? It's baaaaack... Oof, that's angry looking. That looks worse than that killer bee sting he had before. So, it looks like less than 48 hours into the season, Serena has dictated at least 50% of the commentator/journalist discussion for the year: Is it just me, or does that sound like the beginning of the end? |
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Post by mooncreek on Jan 3, 2012 2:58:29 GMT
Lleyton was in the booth for at least the second set of Fish vs Nielsen (I left before the third started). He clearly knew more about the Dane than Cash, who'd been more interested in talking about Caroline's itinerary.
Re: Serena. Oy. The thing is that I bet this sounds a lot different than the way it's written but the commentators will definitely run with it.
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Post by falafaclese on Jan 3, 2012 3:14:32 GMT
I thiknk you could be right. She doesn't seem like expressing herself effectively is her strong suit, and I'm through trying to figure her out; but this:
Does sound familiar even for a public court scrub like me. The two thoughts aren't exactly mutually exclusive.
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Jan 3, 2012 15:27:57 GMT
I'm more struck by this part:
Sounds like she likes her new, smaller, size and if she can keep winning without bulking up maybe she'll be able to put her head together about what playing tennis and being feminine (something I think she has struggled with in her career) mean.
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Post by acre on Jan 3, 2012 20:28:06 GMT
What annoys me about the Se-ena quote, is not the quote itself, o- her. It's the feigned shock and dismay f-om the commenta-iat. What, this is new? Agassi hates tennis, Steffi hates tennis, and those a-e just the big names who have been open about it. Anyone raised the way those 3 we-e is bound to have, at best, a love-hate relationship with the spo-t. Not many elite sta-s raise thei- kids to be tennis playe-s. Obviously the-e's no financial incentive, the money's been made, thanks. But they also seem to want thei- own kids to have fulle-, mo-e well-rounded lives, instead of an obsessive focus on one and only one thing.
They'-e all f-eaks at that level, and even among the f-eaks my Fed, much as I love him, is an uber-freak, and I'm not just talking about the talent. He honest to God loves the game and the life in all its facets. That's freakish. Not to say that most of them don't enjoy the hell out of thei- lives and all the money and pe-ks that come with it, but fo- each reasonably happy and successful pro the-e a-e a couple thousand utterly mise-able kids wo-king and wo-king and wo-king fo- something they will neve- attain. It's only soft at the top. Well, if you conside- wo-king out 6(?) h-s a day, watching eve-y single thing you eat, and living out of suitcases soft.
ETA: Oh, and anothe- thing that annoyed me about the a-ticle is that the autho- took the leap that Se-ena was basically saying "See how good I am when I don't even ca-e? Just think how good I'd be if I did!" Maybe the-e was a tone of voice that did imply that, but I definitely didn't take it f-om the quote. God knows thee is puh-lenty of stuff to get on Se-ena fo-, no need a'tall to make shit up. Ah well. Venus got the double helping of verbal ease and felicity out of that duo.
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Post by falafaclese on Jan 4, 2012 2:11:11 GMT
For the amount of focus and intensity that is required to be top-of-the-foodchain in a sport like tennis, I'd bet most of them have a love/hate relationship with the sport. Think about who we're talking about: Djoker, Nadal, Sharapova, Venus and Serena, etc.. All of them, and probably anyone who's even had a sniff at the top 100, has been doing it since the were too young to realize what they were in for. Then before they know it, it has become their life, and they and the people around them realize they have a rare talent. So the choice becomes: pursue your talent, and give up what everyone else considers a normal life, or squander a precious talent with a finite shelf life. It's kind of a devil's bargain. And then on top of that, if you do hit it big, you can't relax or it all goes away.
I guess the payoff for success is so big because nobody would do it otherwise.
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Post by acre on Jan 4, 2012 3:57:29 GMT
Yeah, you just said it more succinctly than I did fala. I mean, Exhibit A:Capriati. And that's only in relatively recent yea-s. Think she loves tennis? I don't. A bunch of them a-e lucky enough to come th-ough the whole thing basically happy and healthy and filthy fucking rich, but definitely not all, and a whole lot more men than women make it okay. The p-essu-e on young female p-odigies is a whole nothe- level than on most young men. Not all (Agassi), but usually.
And btw, speaking of Agassi, I finally read his book not that long ago. I have enormous sympathy fo- the boy, but I don't like the man one bit bette- than I eve- did, maybe less.
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Post by breezybee on Jan 4, 2012 13:22:35 GMT
Acre - I read the book a couple of years ago and I agree. I wasn't fond of the man before the book and I wasn't any more fond of him after reading it.
I'm reading Rafa right now. I'm only about 1/3 of the way through. I thought I would enjoy it more than I am. It's not bad by any means but it seems like everything single thing in the book is related to his 2008 Wimby victory. Obviously was a life changing moment for him. Also, his family is kind of odd.
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Post by mooncreek on Jan 6, 2012 14:00:20 GMT
Federer withdrew from Doha with a back injury. It had been rather noticeable at times during his last match against Seppi. So it's Tsonga vs the winner of Nadal/Monfils in the final.
Given the strong field, who had Kanepi-Hantuchova for the Brisbane final? Clijsters is now added to the wounded while Kanepi lost three games to Schiavone.
In contrast, the men's side - which was a weaker field - has intriguing semis in that all four are kind of similar: Murray vs Tomic and Dolgopolov vs Simon. I'd have to say, given the round and country, this is probably the most pressure Tomic has had so it'll be interesting how he handles it.
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Post by falafaclese on Jan 8, 2012 14:25:53 GMT
I suspect Fed will be okay since he said that it was muscle rather than joint pain, and someone from Clisters' camp has already reported that she should be fine for the Open. What the hell is going on with all these injuries though? I saw Serena's ankle injury happen, and it was ugly. There are few things more cringeworthy in tennis than seeing someone roll over their ankle. Then to see them replay it in slow motion no less, can be rough.
As for Rafa, i wonder if his shoulder problem is a result of his new heavier racquet? It's unusual for him to have upper body issues.
There are so many injuries right now.
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Post by breezybee on Jan 8, 2012 17:31:27 GMT
Happy Canadian here! Just watched Raonic beat Tipsy. Very satisfying.
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Post by harry24 on Jan 8, 2012 17:46:55 GMT
I thought I remembered him mentioning his shoulder being a problem after the YEC in London, but I could be wrong.
Did anyone see his match with La Monf? I read some comments that Monfils played awesomely, at one point getting 19 straight serves in, but that Rafa looked negative (Rafa negative? Maybe the Mayans were right) in the second set.
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