Ex Basketball pro Wilbert Jones loves tennis

The Oak tree cant beat Dan! I remember his free throws! I like him, but he missed a lot of free throws.

Wta predictions: Halep makes a big run. Kerber extends hwr legend hall of fame career as 2016 a little longer. Serena Williams bags another slam. And i think wta due for an atp style shakeup. I think all the favorites from years past face their hardest year yet.

A prediction im willing to make: more tennis players retire in the first and second rounds at the australian than ever before.

I also predict a first round loss for Coric.

Nope, not brave enough for WTA predictions. I used to do them but the WTA is like the Wild West right now. My 1 prediction is I think Kerber will have a solid season, not as great as 2016 but perfectly respectable. But looking at what happened in 2016 who could have, in their wildest dreams, put Kerber at No. 1 with 2 Slams, Cibulkova at No. 5 and winner of the year end championship, or Kunta at No. 10?

Thanks for the info on Moya and Nadal. Had not seen it. So that explains why Moya is no longer with Milos. I know Nadal admired Moya when Rafa was a youngster. This could be a good move for Rafa, at least there will be a fresh perspective.

So fog in southern England, must be fairly mild.

I will be very interested to see how Simona does next season. A couple years ago thought that she would do very well, perhaps win a Slam. But although she has stayed around the top 4 she has not had that last breakthrough. Can she deal better with the mental aspects of the game?

Muguruza blows hot and cold but can see her winning a Slam next year. Would love to see Aga win a Major but do not see that happening.

Will Vika be back early enough to be a factor?

Interesting that you think Serena will retire at the end of the year. I wonder if that largely depends on whether Venus is still playing, have a hard time imagining Serena retiring if Venus is still on the tour.

Yes, agree, would like to see Serena win another Wimbledon. As long as she is not injured she has to be the favourite there, so here’s to an injury-free Wimby!

Was watching the Australian Open wildcard tournament held at Melbourne Park, the site of the AO, it was great tennis and I think a much better selection process than the way the USTA does it in picking the highest finisher in 3 challenger tournaments. This is one tournament winner take all, a teenager beat JP Smith in the final with a full house watching

Andrew – I said a while ago that Angie won’t be No 1 for long and I believe it more than ever now. She’s got where she wanted to be after almost a decade of grinding away and then the final push over the last year (‘per ardua ad astra’ as the RAF motto goes) and now I think her subconscious is going to be saying, ‘ok, I’ve done that’. So, like Penetta, yes.

She might be inspired by some real intense rivalry (Simona are you listening ?) but I can’t see that happening with the instability in the WTA ranks.

I wouldn’t be amazed if Kerber retires sooner than we might expect.

Scoop, Lucy can conjure the magic. She wins some big dubs match coming in and a favorable fans base may propel here down under. That for me is tennis, full of unknowns. We’ve been lulled into believing the big four will dominate forever and dwelling on it miss the upheaval on both tours and the dedication of a lot of pros waiting in the wings to bag huge titles.so sure why not Lucy. She’s been pushing herself and with good vibes some good matches she can create her own lefty luck.

Scoop –

Angie could but my betting is she won’t.

She’s giving too many interviews 🙂

Players addicted to being No 1 generally start younger than her.

Andrew: neither Angie nor Simona seem that keen on doubles – or am I wrong ?

Catherine, you are right, Kerber and Halep avoid doubles like the plague. I put stock in it because it gives players another look and more practice and confidence if they play tough there. But like you said Kerber plays maybe two, three tournaments a year in dubs.

Regarding Safarova, if she can stay healthy in the coming season, think she could have some good results. She is another player who changed coaches this season, going from Rob Steckley to Frantisek Cermak. At least she was with Steckley for over 3 years, a lifetime by WTA standards. I don’t know anything about Cermak as a coach, other than he worked with Kvitova. Anyone have any info?

Lucie is a good example of how playing doubles can be a big help, both in giving experience with net play, etc. but also in allowing a player to stay in a tourney if the singles did not go well. And those doubles titles and strong finishes must be great for her confidence.

To further the pt, i looked at stats for high potential players like Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys (i assume same goes for Genie Bouchard) and neither nor plays more than a few dubs tournaments a year.

I personally think it is shortsighted and puts way too much pressure on a player and provides too few real world matches to test out shots. But im sure if one were to ask Kerber she’d say that she didnt play much dubs and cant speak for anyone else.

To me i think a player can use dubs strategically and pocket some extra cash. Guys like Fritz dont think twice about it, probably because they dont have to worry as much about icing every pain. But Sock plays a lot of dubs and he seems to bring that edge into his success in singles.

Works for already very good singles players. And it helps a country come davis or fedcup.

Puig and Safarova, I think Safarova should do well. She just won Fedcup with her Czech compatriots and practices hard, is match tough. Sure.

Again like Hartt said it is the wild west. The favorites are good for the semis and that’s it!

Scoop – that Kerber comment was what I wanted to refer to but was too frightened.

And she shouldn’t interfere in the politics of another country 🙂

Just saw news story about injury to Kvitova – I imagine she will be out of AO as it is her left hand.
Very bad luck, and extremely unpleasant experience.

Madison Keys could do it. She is a confidence player so would benefit from a savvy partner like Kuznetsova.

Wow. Why would someone hurt her, awful.

Yes – it all depends on how much flexibility she can regain in her fingers – hope very much that it’s not career-ending.

Awful injury for her but she’s probably thinking how much worse it could have been.
She’ll bounce back somehow – she’s like that.

According to a report on the WTA site Kvitova underwent extensive surgery on her hand and will have a fairly long recovery period, but the surgery was considered successful.

Catherine, I agree. The two events, the attack on Seles and the burglary and attack on Kvitova are different.

I hope Kvitova gets help . She will need it.

Kvitova’s PR person said it will be at least 6 months before she can play. Let’s hope she makes a full recovery and we see her back on the tour this summer.