The Gods Who Lord Over Tennis

My grammar and spelling both go out the window when I type online.
‘existence’
‘Serena’s past records and reputation aren’t’….

Scoop – you are right to suggest Simona has already lost v Serena before she has stepped on court. Other great players have exerted the same mental dominance.

Agree – an idiotic statement from Simona and I see no reason why she should be particularly generous about Serena’s position in the game. Maybe her agent told her to say it. Often the players seem just puppets in the hands of PR people etc.

I just had a look at Kerber’s press conference after her qf loss. I may have missed something but I didn’t hear anyone ask Angie a single challenging question about Kasatkina’s game and why she had such a difficult time playing her, or anything like that. Angie clearly couldn’t get out of there fast enough. What a total waste of time. No wonder her English is stuck in a rut. She only needs a vocabulary of about 20 words. And that goes for almost everyone else as well – except Federer who gets special treatment 🙂

Querrey and Raonic played their QF match today and, in all honesty, it was a terrible match, with neither guy playing well. As Goran said, whoever won would be the one who played the decider less badly. That turned out to be Milos. At least Milos has an excuse, he is still rusty, lacking match play, but what was Sam’s problem?

The QF between Kohli and Delpo was much more entertaining. Kohli squeaked out the first set, Delpo won the 2nd and ultimately the decider. But both players made some terrific shots, there were entertaining rallies, and it was not clear who would win until the end of the match. Kohli is playing some terrific tennis for a 34-year-old. He obviously plans on being around for some time yet.

I don’t have a problem with it. Bottom line is Simona Halep is still playing this week and Serena is not.

Why criticize her when Ando said he can compete vs. Fed then couldn’t even beat Coric to get to that matchup? Ando somehow should be lauded for this?

Dasha just beat Venus in a long, hard-fought match. She win face the winner of Halep vs Osaka which is just about to start.

Both Dasha and Simona looked stunned at the end of the their matches – for very different reasons 🙂

I’m hoping Simona doesn’t pull a ‘I was really sick/ my foot hurt’ in her press conf.

Sharapova out of Miami but who cares ?

I checked the scores when I got up and was shocked at the score for Simona vs Osaka. There are several Simona fans at Match Call Migrants and they thought that she simply had a bad day, when nothing was going right.

Catherine, as you said, Dasha showed persistance and grit.

It was also one of the few times I thought OCC made some sense. For the first one, her coach gave her specific technical advice about using her slice, kick serve, etc., but delivered it in a positive way. He did say something about Venus being 37 to Dasha’s 20, “so make her work.” But somehow it did not come across as nasty. He wanted to talk to her after she won the 2nd set (certainly unusual). He asked her why she thought she’d won that set. She said something like because she went for it in the big moments. He told her “No U turns.” And she looked at him while he talked, instead of staring into space, and was responsive to him.

So we will have 2 youngsters in the final. Should be a good match, with a definite contrast in styles.

Hartt- I think the mark of being a good pro player, in any sport, is that you battle it out even if you are having a bad day. I never got the impression Simona was doing that.

It’s been a weakness in the past and it’s one Cahill has had conflicts with her about. I still sometimes wonder if he is right for her and not simply indulgent.

Big volte face from Daria’s coach. I’m still against occ. A match is a match, not a coaching session. For ambitious players these tournaments should be rehearsals for GSs.

I don’t know if Cahill came out for Simona, only saw highlights. Maybe she knew it would be pointless.

Re the final – from what I saw of Angie’s match, Kasatkina has this ability to change the tempo of the game with her shots and many times she flipped a slower slice or something similar forcing Angie to generate pace, which she finds really hard to do with her game on slow courts. Osaka also likes to whack the ball so I’d expect to see the same tactic from Daria in the final.

Hartt – there’s a great bit in one of the highlights of Sascha and Naomi’s occ – it’s more a pep talk but she does listen and they obviously get along well together. ‘We’ve got this’ he says as he gives her a fist punch and runs off. That was after the 1st set.

Those things are called ‘high rise terminals’ in language study. I thought they were out of fashion with young peole these days. But apparently not.

Q to Dasha:’ Where are you drawing the confidence, like ice in your veins ?’

Dasha: ‘From cold Russia.’

Cahill came down for occ with Simona in the first set and she just sat there and stared into space. Her mind is elsewhere. Maybe aspects of growing up.

Ha ha well living in Canada you’d better like stuff on ice (it is snowing in London as I speak so that’s probably heading your way as well).

I always understood high rise terminals started in Australia (‘Neighbours’) but they certainly weren’t widespread when I lived there. Those habits travel fast nowadays though through social media etc
I agree they are extremely annoying to listen to. Sloane Stephens could probably win a competition v Naomi re use of ‘like’.

Scoop –
I agree with Chris – as I mentioned above I think any pro player has obligations – to themselves, to the game and to the spectators who have paid to see them. Even on a bad day. To me, Simona fulfilled none of those obligations and didn’t seem to care. To call Simona No 1 after that performance is a joke.

Chris never let herself or others down that way, and when she commented that Hana Mandlikova ‘didn’t deserve to win Wimbledon’ after their final in the 80s she was criticised for being over-frank. I didn’t agree. I thought she was absolutely right to say that, and she’d earned the right.

‘Brutal words’ – yes, and maybe they’ll wake Simona up from whatever dream she’s inhabiting.

Scoop, the way the Fed vs Coric is going at the moment, the question could be how does Delpo or Milos play against Coric.

Chris makes a point in tweeting how much she admires Roger’s fighting spirit and attitude although he is not playing well.

Sugar Ray and Sampras enjoying the tennis and rooting for Federer

That was a huge relief for Fed fans! Way too close for comfort. But he is in the final, and he has to be a favourite against either Raonic or Delpo.

Yes, I certainly thought that Svitolina would do well. Am looking forward to the final – a good contrast of styles, and 2 youngsters who should be fighting for big titles in the coming years.

I wish I could post pics here – there is a great one of Dasha in full flight, hair flying, and looking very determined.

Catherine, I think you are right when you said Dasha had nothing left in the tank. I was impressed with the way Naomi used her power, but kept the ball in the court. If she can continue to show that balance between aggression and consistency, she will have some great results.

I was disappointed that the match was not closer, but it was good to see 2 young players make it to such a big final.