Topic: Wimbledon 2019

[Scottymuser]

Wimbledon seed however they want; the only tournament that retains that right I believe so they could have seeded them however they liked

Top singles players aren’t playing double anymore and really very few outside hard core tennis fans have an interest.
Williams and Murray were a huge draw and also one of the better partnerships in the draw (maybe we disagree on this but their previous doubles results and their first two rounds would suggest this was true) so them meeting the number 1 seeds in the third round wasn’t ideal for a tournament which has been something of a dud so far (Coco apart)
Anyway we disagree and it’s moot now.

What *previous doubles results* indicate that both players are decent doubles players?  Serena's I will give you, with the caveat that a) it is only in ladies she has done well in, paired with her big sister - even when paired with one of the greatest male doubles players of the past 25 years in mixed she has been a failure, and b) this was almost entirely before  2012, with one solitary decent performance with her sister since then in 2016; but Murray literally hasn't played *any* doubles over 3 sets at any half-decent level (no, the Davis Cup "doubles" matches do not count)  since 2008 - and even including some pointless tournaments where half the field don't turn up (and they don't even play 3 sets, lol!), he has barely scraped any half-decent results (best results in the last 5 years in any ATP doubles tournament was 1 QF in 2016 monte-carlo - of the other 6 competitions, he lost in the 1st round in 3, and the 2nd round in 3. 

[Gerry Attrick]

Any time Serena Williams loses a tennis match is a good time. I can’t stand her. Hopefully Murray teams up with somebody cool next time.

[Peabee]

Of course they're not a good doubles team they've played 3 games together. They both have success in doubles though - they're not specialists but they'd be a favourite against the majority of pairings in the tournament
They didn't play a 'competent' doubles pairing today they played two of the best doubles players in the world and the number 1 seeds in the 3rd round.

Given that doubles is dying on its arse and you have the gift of a huge box office pairing not giving them a top 4 seed and every chance of a deep run was weirdly short sighted. Its not as if this Wimbledon is bursting with reasons to watch it

I agree with this take on it. Massive chance to promote mixed doubles. Today’s match would have made a great final or semi-final after they’d played another two/three matches together.

[JackWard33]

What *previous doubles results* indicate that both players are decent doubles players?  Serena's I will give you, with the caveat that a) it is only in ladies she has done well in, paired with her big sister - even when paired with one of the greatest male doubles players of the past 25 years in mixed she has been a failure, and b) this was almost entirely before  2012, with one solitary decent performance with her sister since then in 2016; but Murray literally hasn't played *any* doubles over 3 sets at any half-decent level (no, the Davis Cup "doubles" matches do not count)  since 2008 - and even including some pointless tournaments where half the field don't turn up (and they don't even play 3 sets, lol!), he has barely scraped any half-decent results (best results in the last 5 years in any ATP doubles tournament was 1 QF in 2016 monte-carlo - of the other 6 competitions, he lost in the 1st round in 3, and the 2nd round in 3. 

Cool ... you genuinely think they lose a majority of matches to the 15 seed in the mixed doubles this year ... I don’t. We disagree let’s move on with our lives

[Nick110581]

Kei Nishikori is mentally weak.

[TheShanklyGates]

Cool ... you genuinely think they lose a majority of matches to the 15 seed in the mixed doubles this year ... I don’t. We disagree let’s move on with our lives

They put out the 14th seeds in the previous round...

[Scottymuser]

We disagree on this central point - the mixed doubles draw just isn’t that strong. They lost to the number 1 seeds not the number 8
But we’ll never know so....

(Top 4 definitely aggressive on reflection but they should have been seeded)

ok - and if they were seeded, but outside the top 8, they could still have met the number 1 seeds at this point, as this is the point where the seeds ranked 1-8 play those ranked 9-16.  I would argue it would be unfair on those ranked in the top 5/6 in the world to have 2 very good singles players who have never played together (or even played at all more than 1/2 tournaments between them, even with other partners) just because they are more "box office" - I could see a seeding somewhere around the 7-10 as being the highest I would be comfortable with giving them, with 11-16 maybe more fair. 

Edit:  Also, and I know I said I would move on, but just realized - the number 8 seeds have won 2 of the last 5 Grand Slams together (French open last year and this), and that it is only Wimbledon that seeds down to 16, rather than only 8, in mixed doubles.  Which does pose the question why does Wimbledon seed all the way down to 16.

[Scottymuser]

Cool ... you genuinely think they lose a majority of matches to the 15 seed in the mixed doubles this year ... I don’t. We disagree let’s move on with our lives

Agreed to move on (and also I never said a majority of the matches to the 15 seed, I said to the 5/6 seeds)

[jizzspunk]

We disagree on this central point - the mixed doubles draw just isn’t that strong. They lost to the number 1 seeds not the number 8
But we’ll never know so....

(Top 4 definitely aggressive on reflection but they should have been seeded)

What..isn't that strong with household names? It can't be too bad if two players relatively unknown to the casual fans can take out a pairing of two multiple grand slam champions

btw... Wimbledon do not seed how they want..they use results over two previous years of grass court tennis in agreement with the players council and the ITF...in conjunction with the one year rolling points model which is the real rankings...

Stick to football Jack

[TheShanklyGates]

Shot Federer! Outrageous winner.

[JackWard33]

What..isn't that strong with household names? It can't be too bad if two players relatively unknown to the casual fans can take out a pairing of two multiple grand slam champions

btw... Wimbledon do not seed how they want..they use results over two previous years of grass court tennis in agreement with the players council and the ITF...in conjunction with the one year rolling points model which is the real rankings...

Stick to football Jack

That’s the men’s singles that they agreed a forumla for.
The committee can still seed doubles how they like I think based on previous performance (which you’d have an obvious argument for with these two players)
Whatever the case no need for the dig is there... don’t think we’ve talked before.  You don’t win the internet if you prove you know more about tennis than this Jack fella

[Hazell]

Kei Nishikori is mentally weak.

Is that in your professional tennis opinion?

[TheShanklyGates]

Is that in your professional tennis opinion?

I don't think you need to pick on him, he's a professional competitor who's doing his best today.

[Welshred]

Is that in your professional tennis opinion?

It just seems to be something that's levelled on anyone who loses a sporting match these days. People don't lose because the other person is better anymore it's always because they're mentally weak (tennis), bottlers (football), have a glass chin (boxing), etc and its getting pretty boring now.

[TheShanklyGates]

Federer gets the job done.

Roger v Rafa at Wimbledon for the first time since that final in 2008.

[Nick110581]

It just seems to be something that's levelled on anyone who loses a sporting match these days. People don't lose because the other person is better anymore it's always because they're mentally weak (tennis), bottlers (football), have a glass chin (boxing), etc and its getting pretty boring now.

Not at all.

He played really well in first set then switched off mentally.

He clearly has talent but doubt he will ever win a Slam.

[Welshred]

Not at all.

He played really well in first set then switched off mentally.

He clearly has talent but doubt he will ever win a Slam.

Did he switch off or did Federer just step up his game? Did he just not have enough in his game to push on from 1 set up against the greatest male tennis player of all time? Just because he has talent doesn't mean he has the right amount of talent to win a slam and if he doesn't then it's because he just wasn't good enough and not necessarily because he's mentally weak.

[sinnermichael]

Federer with his 100th win at Wimbledon. First man ever to win 100 matches at a single Grand Slam.

Ridiculous really. Most players don't win 100 Grand Slam matches in their entire career.

[Nick110581]

Did he switch off or did Federer just step up his game? Did he just not have enough in his game to push on from 1 set up against the greatest male tennis player of all time? Just because he has talent doesn't mean he has the right amount of talent to win a slam and if he doesn't then it's because he just wasn't good enough and not necessarily because he's mentally weak.

Agree to disagree then. Not sure the guy has the heart or added edge.

The big three wlll be in the semis again.

No one wants to step up and be the next superstar.

[Ray K]

Roger v Rafa at Wimbledon for the first time since that final in 2008.

That's just mental. Had no idea it was that long.

[Hazell]

I don't think you need to pick on him, he's a professional competitor who's doing his best today.

[Gerry Attrick]

Nadal looks in red hot nick here, think Federer has it all on beating him at Wimbledon this year.

[Nick110581]

Nadal looks in red hot nick here, think Federer has it all on beating him at Wimbledon this year.

Could be a classic

[Crosby Nick]

Nadal looks in red hot nick here, think Federer has it all on beating him at Wimbledon this year.

You called?

[IgorBobbins]

Federer with his 100th win at Wimbledon. First man ever to win 100 matches at a single Grand Slam.

Ridiculous really. Most players don't win 100 Grand Slam matches in their entire career.

Surprised Nadal doesn’t already have that record, considering he’s won the French about 784 times

[sinnermichael]

Surprised Nadal doesn’t already have that record, considering he’s won the French about 784 times

Won 93 matches at the French so it will be 100 if he wins it next year.

[BobPaisley3]

Can’t see beyond Djokovic from here.

[Red-Soldier]

Djokoic will be nice and rested for the final, whereas it'll probably be a five setter between Federer and Nadal.

Whoever comes through will be feeling it in the legs I'd imagine.

[Nick110581]

Djokoic will be nice and rested for the final, whereas it'll probably be a five setter between Federer and Nadal.

Whoever comes through will be feeling it in the legs I'd imagine.

Bautista Agut might surprise a few - played well this week.

[TheShanklyGates]

The comments here questioning Konta's mentality are way off. She was a challenger level standard five or so years ago and made a serious jump in a short time. She's made it as a top 10/20 player. Nobody was calling her rise to the top.

She's maxing out on her ability and now whenever an opponent beats her for execution on the day, she's accused of being mentally frail.

Absolute nonsense.

Sorry, not having that. Konta is, like you say, a top 10/20 player and has made it as high as 4th in the world.

Strycova is 33 and and had only once in her entire career made it past the 4th round of a slam before. Are you seriously suggesting that Konta didn't have the ability to get past her?

What better explanation is there for the way her level seems to drop off a cliff at crunch points in matches or at the business end of tournaments?

[Old No7]

Could be a classic

cashed in all my luck & got ballot tickets for Friday

[Lone Star Red]

Not a tennis expert by any means. In fact, Wimbledon is the only tournament I regularly tune into. But it's nearly must-watch for me though every year and typically coincides with me dusting off my tennis racket and hitting the nearby courts to play for a few weeks. 

Can't believe it's been 11 years since Federer and Nadal have met at Wimbledon. Can't wait for Friday.

[Scottymuser]

It was just a bad match-up for her. Lost her previous match to her in Tokyo in straight sets. Personally had it down as a Strycova win as soon as i saw they were meeting.

She's reached a few GS semi's now. If i'm right, she beat Halep in the final to win the Miami title. Not an easy task at all.

Think many are forgetting where she came from. We're speaking of a career which was on the trajectory of say someone like Keothavong and now she's competing at the top with the best. I'm not sure what exactly many are expecting from her. Won a Premier title and reached three GS semi finals.

She's getting everything she can out of herself. Nothing to do with mentality.

So the bad match up is against a lowly ranked player who has once been to a QF before.  That screams mental issues for me, rather than talent/ability, if your hoodoo is against another player who you have played only once before, in a warm tournament for a WTA "Premier" tournament (yes - the whole tournament was seen as a warm up for the Chinese WTRA tournament the week after, and only had 28 players), is ranked almost 40 places below you in the rankings, has spent 4 months *ever* ranked in top 20 at the start of 2017,  (peaking at #16 for 1 week, and #17 for 5 more in that time) AND is 33.  And someone who has only once got to a QF before in Grand Slams, and only 4 times on top of that reached the 4th round. 

Her talent is there to see, beating *significantly* better opposition in the last 2 rounds here, AND 3 times in the run up to the SF in France, before, again, losing to a much lower ranked player where she was suddenly the favourite.  She has done a great job making the most of it, just at the last hurdle continually fails, often against players she should be beating.

Also, she beat Halep in the 1st round in Miami - beat Wozniacki (another who I feel trheir mental block in big tournaments meant she didn't quite win as much as her talent promised) in the final.

[The G in Gerrard]

Any "surprises" in the women's matches tomorrow or will it be a Halep & Williams final?

[sinnermichael]

VVD at Wimbledon.

https://twitter.com/Wimbledon/status/1149291278758289408

[TheShanklyGates]

Good performance by Halep. That was much closer than the scoreline would suggest.

[Andy82lfc]

Barker needs to shave that fringe off from her eyes the dithering old cockwomble.

[Andy82lfc]

Is she interviewing that guy presenter off ‘tales from the crypt’?

[sinnermichael]

Meh. Two completely underwhelming semi finals today. Roll on tomorrow.

[Scottymuser]

Not sure taking any hit at her for her French Open semi-final loss stands at all. She done great to reach that far considering how awful she has been on clay for a long while. Only beat Stephens of any note. Lost to a more accomplished clay-courter in Vondrousova on the day. Not a shock at all. She beat her a few weeks earlier but unfortunately lost the second time round. Missed a crucial set point and if she took the first set, probably would have gone on and won.  That's sport at the highest level. Missed shots, hitting the post, own goals, Fine margins. Especially in tennis when it's a tight contest, and down to a point here and there.

But that's my point - she got into a dominant position, with a set point, then bottled it, lost that set, and then lost the next (admittedly in a tie break).  And not sure you can say a 19 year old with 1 clay court win to her name (not tournament, *match*) a "more accomplished clay-courter".  She may go on to be, but as of the moment, before this year, had never even competed in the Madrid or Italian Open (prefering the hard court season), and this year for the first time entered one, got to the QF, before Konta took her game apart.  So no, she didn't "lose to a more accomplished clay-courter" she "lost to a 19 year old who had never before the week prior to the French open even qualified for a WTA clay court event, and in the  one the week before, made her debut before losing in the QFs to Konta herself".  Vondrousova  has beaten Konta before - on a hard court, which she prefers.