lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Aug 15, 2013 13:10:27 GMT
That makes me sad--she isn't a player I particularly enjoy watching but I was so glad to see her with a team at Wimbledon. She looked so happy, and not just with the winning--she looked happy the entire tournament. I know 28 isn't young in tennis but I think this shuts the door on her father's grand experiment for a new style of tennis.
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Post by skyz on Aug 15, 2013 13:56:50 GMT
I'm shocked, seriously. I know she had a stomach strain in Toronto and she lost this week in Cincy, but I didn't expect retirement. But at least she's going out on a high note. She's a grandslam winner and that's amazing in of itself. I was at the Cincy tournament a couple of days and she seemed so happy when I saw her practicing. Maybe it's a weight off her back now. I hope Marion's happy.
And I'd recommend going to the Cincy tournament if anyone ever gets a chance, I hadn't gone since they made it a mixed event, and I was really surprised at how nice it was. So many different matches going on at the same time and so much less congested. I really enjoyed my two days and can't wait to go back next year.
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Aug 15, 2013 18:36:45 GMT
skyz, who'd ya see? What are the grounds like? Any pictures? And now it won't rain again at the Open for ten years. . . . I'm not quite sure how I feel about some of the new design and I think they might be roof-crazy now but it makes sense. Plus, it will be nice to have two choices during rain instead of just the main court.
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Post by skyz on Aug 15, 2013 20:56:12 GMT
I went Tuesday and Wednesday and it was fairly hot Tuesday, but Wednesday was perfect. I went mainly to see Venus since she won't be playing much longer, I suppose. I took my aunt on Tuesday and we got there around 10am and managed to see both Serena and Venus practicing, they usually practice much earlier in the morning. Serena looked in amazing shape, so fit, and she looked good, was working on her serve and backhand volleys. Her whole group was there, Mackie the trainer, Patrick, Sacha, Esther, and her puppy Chip. Chip was adorable and very quiet, didn't bark at all. Venus was cooling down, stretching with therabands for about 15 minutes before she left the court with David Witt. They were on the same court at the very end of the practice court area, court 14. We also saw James Blake practicing, Cibulkova and Mladenovic hit together, and Marion Bartoli came onto court 14 when Serena was practicing, because she was up next. You can also watch a court 15 right outside of the 2nd biggest court, the Grandstand, while inside the Grandstand. Which is what we did while watching Feleicano vs Nishikori, we stood at the top row and looked down on Djokovic hitting with Berdych. Nole looked very skinny.
Since they added courts, the site's been spread out, so the problem with congestion has been solved. You used to feel crushed by people as you walked around, but not anymore. You've got center court which there's really not a bad seat, and the Grandstand where you're close, and then court 3 which is very intimate and you're so close to the action. Court 3 is where I watched Venus vs Vesnina and where Del Po played Davydenko. That was a hard hitting match with some nice rallies, and Davydenko had his chances. Court 8 and 9 are nice and intimate, we watched Stan vs Seppi on 9 and it was a nice court, you're very close to the action.
Funny thing was that while in Grandstand, Vika was playing on Center court, and was playing against Vania King and losing, and once her grunt/squeal got going you could hear it clearly on the Grandstand. It was crazy. Plus when I was watching Venus practice on Wednesday Vika had the court next to her and she was squealing/grunting then too.
There were so many matches it was hard to choose what to watch and that's not even counting the doubles action. The grounds are spacious and the food court is spread out more so there's plenty of seating, plus good food. All the courts are great for watching tennis, and not a bad seat. I had a great time.
As for pictures I wasn't very prepared. I just had my phone and I took a few but they didn't come out very well. I did take some video of Serena and Venus practicing and a few pictures. Next year I will invest in a camera and definitely take more. I had a great time, spent more than six hours there both days and hadn't expected to stay that long.
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Post by skyz on Aug 15, 2013 23:11:46 GMT
I don't know what ESPN2 is thinking. You can watch Rafa vs Dimitrov on ESPN3, which is useless because not a lot of people can even get that. And then they're going to air Serena live at 9 and re-play Rafa's match after Serena's. All for Little League baseball, which is fine, but what a stupid decision.
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Aug 16, 2013 13:08:49 GMT
Oooh, skyz, sounds like fun--I'm glad you had a good time and jealous you got to see my Feli (especially since he actually won that match).
Well, no Jo for the Open. That knee injury has really done a number on him which is so sad since he was so fit going into Wimbledon.
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Post by falafaclese on Aug 16, 2013 13:14:02 GMT
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Post by harry24 on Aug 16, 2013 16:32:57 GMT
In his onset interview after the Haas win yesterday, Roger explained further that because of his back and poor play at the smaller tournaments the last few weeks he simply couldn't get comfortable enough in tournament play with the new racquet. |
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lt
Semi Finals
Posts: 3,223
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Post by lt on Aug 16, 2013 19:01:05 GMT
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Post by skyz on Aug 16, 2013 20:02:26 GMT
This is the best I've seen John Isner play in a long, long time. Very good match and win for him. As for Novak, I wonder where his head is. He's not been playing his best for a while now. I want Nole to do well at the US Open, win it, but if not him then I'd love for Del Po to win.
And it's shocking how not shocking Maria's split with Connors is. She needs someone...I don't even know who, but someone to make her look past her one dimensional game and expand it. Someone like Patrick did for Serena, except Serena has a better all around game, but he opened her mind to new things. I'd actually like to see if say Elena Demntieva could work with Maria, or Hingis. Maybe a woman would bring something different to Maria.
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Post by falafaclese on Aug 17, 2013 20:02:45 GMT
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Post by mooncreek on Aug 18, 2013 18:22:06 GMT
The thing about Jimmy Connors is that he can say something that could really get under someone's skin. We all saw that with the promotion of his book.
It looks as thought Maria is going to take advantage of her father being in town to prepare for the US Open.
Watched the Azarenka/Jankovic semi. Two excellent returners teeing off on some of the worst-placed serving I've ever seen. Score: 4-6 6-2 6-3. Holds: JJ 1 hold in 1st, Vika 2 holds in 2nd, Vika 1 hold in 3rd. There are some awesome reactions at their ineptitude. I'd be seriously concerned if I'm Vika.
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Post by falafaclese on Aug 18, 2013 19:22:03 GMT
Watched the Azarenka/Jankovic semi. Two excellent returners teeing off on some of the worst-placed serving I've ever seen. Score: 4-6 6-2 6-3. Holds: JJ 1 hold in 1st, Vika 2 holds in 2nd, Vika 1 hold in 3rd. There are some awesome reactions at their ineptitude. I'd be seriously concerned if I'm Vika. I agree. If Serena's serving well, Vika's in big trouble. However, after seeing Serena's match yesterday, I'm not 100% confident that her serve will be on point. Knowing her, she's likely to find a way, but yesterday she was hitting 85 mph serves early on, and appeared to have something going on with her abdomen. Hopefully for her it's nothing serious. Isner/Nadal was enjoyable if not surprising. john is playing really well, but Nadal is clearly dominant right now. I'm impressed by how he has modified his game and is taking control of so many more points. |
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Post by mooncreek on Aug 19, 2013 3:24:45 GMT
Well. That was a genuine surprise. Way to go, Vika!
On the men's side, I can't help but think that playing this many hard court matches in the past two weeks (which include grueling matches vs Djokovic and Federer) cannot be good for Rafa's knees. Rafa himself said that, for him to succeed on hard court, he has to play well as opposed to on clay where he can get away with lesser levels of play. So even though Rafa has momentum and will likely finish the year as the #1 player in the world, it's tough for me to picture him actually winning the US Open.
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Post by harry24 on Aug 20, 2013 20:36:57 GMT
Someone on the TWOP tennis board mentioned reports of family drama in Serena Williams's life. Anyone know what that's about? I did a quick Google search, but that only brought up June stories about her comments about the Ohio rape victim.
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