Rafa and Nole Are Passing By Roger

Fed is more of a 2 out of 3 set player now so slams look to be out of his sphere, but he had beaten Nadal five straight in a row so he can obviously still compete with Nadal and Nole.

Is this the women’s finals no network head wants to see? Ash Barty v Vondrousova! Wow, I can’t even bear to watch that match. I mean it might be competitive, but this is a bad look for the women.

Dan – who was your pick for the final ? I thought you liked Barty – or maybe I got that wrong.

Why is it a bad look for the women ? Either of these two could win all sorts of titles in the future. Are you suggesting the WT should fix the final for the TV from those players who bombed out ? Keys vs Anasimova ?
Sloane Stephens anyone ?
As you know, tennis can be like this. Your fave Osaka lost I believe, but that’s life. My fave didn’t get past the first match but I’m not complaining.

That was over quickly. Marketa sunk by nerves and the occasion I would guess. Ash fired up to win. First Oz women’s title since Margaret Court in 1975. The crowd can go home now.

Yes, the on court interviewer said Court was the last Aussie to win RG, and it was 1973. Ash was quick to say that Sam had done well at the tourney.

It’s a shame that Marketa was hampered by nerves, so it was not a competitive match. But it will be a good learning experience for the youngster, and she should be able to play better in her next big match.

Thomas – Just be grateful you weren’t watching in 1988 when Steffi Graf beat Zvereva 6-0 6-0 in just over 30 mins. On her way to the Grand Slam. Sometimes one-sided matches tell you something.

I’m slightly disgusted, but not amazed, at the number of unpleasant comments on social media about this match. Same old same old…men’s final might also be one-sided but we won’t see much criticism of that I bet. (I know I know – I should stop reading online comments )

I thought Ashleigh played brilliantly, mixed style, everything people have always been asking for in women’s tennis. Barty and Halep are both shortish players but Ash has developed a game where this is not so much a disadvantage. Simona hasn’t done the same and she seems to have peaked now.

I agree, Ash was brilliant. Even she acknowledged that she’d played very well. She is fun to watch, with her wonderful variety. She especially likes grass, so she could do very well at Wimby.

It’s not so much about the players, but the stories attached to these players. People like to follow the stories attached to players as much as they like to watch a player play. That’s why Serena is larger than life or Navratilova was or Evert or Graf or Seles. The story of Ash Barty is developing, but she’s not a colorful personality and her story of giving up tennis to play pro rugby is a very unusual one, but I don’t know if at Wimby or the US Open, people will be flocking to her matches. Vondrousova does not strike me with her story although it’s just beginning. The stories in women’s tennis are not very compelling right now except for Anismova and Andreescu. And we’ll see if they soon add to their stories.

On the men’s side, obviously the stories of the Top 3 are epic. Who would ever believe the GOAT would come from Switzerland?! None of the American men except for Tiafoe have interesting stories. You don’t have the brash precocious New Yorker or the skinny mop-haired guy taught by his mother and grandmother. You don’t have the Las Vegas flash taught by his Iranian boxer father sent off to a Florida academy where a the Forehand Maker ran the shop. There are none of those stories out there.

Dan – people can’t help their ‘stories’ or their personalities. Everyone has a story somewhere but some are more public than others. Remember when Chris was criticised for being bland and boring ? You might not, but I can assure you she was. And Navratilova ? Her story’s a bit complicated as I’m sure you know. Not tremendously popular for a while. Justine Henin, who seems to have acquired legendary status, she didn’t have much of a story, or to me, much of a personality. I could go on.

I imagine most spectators watch tennis for the game, not just the personalities. Not much good having a great personality if you’re crap at the game. The WTA tries to build up the players in this way and ends up looking silly. I’ve been critical of the women’s event at RG this year because I think quite a few players underperformed – I couldn’t care less about their life histories, many of which we don’t know anyway.

And what’s epic about Nadal ? Spain has a famous tennis history. Rafa was a talented boy who was groomed to become the great player he is. Admirable but hardly ‘epic’.

Scoop’s right. Ashleigh is a gift to the WTA. And it was cricket she gave up tennis for, not rugby.

Nadal’s story? Quite possible the best of the bunch. He comes from where, Majorca? Alright, Moys came from Majorca, but no one ever knew that until Nadal came around. His uncle was a famous soccer player. The other uncle, a failed tennis player, takes Nadal under his wing, switches him as the story is told from being a righty to a lefty—whoever did that before?—and teaches the young Nadal all these arcane discipline rules that Nadal lives by and makes him not only this historic junior player—Spain has had good players before but nothing like this devout from Majorca—but a kind of Forrest Gump of tennis. He’s got biceps—what tennis player before Nadal had biceps?-/and he wears sleevesless shirts to display them and Pirates baggy shorts. He hits the ball like a combination of Bjorn Borg/Guillermo Vilas and Muster zapped with steroids (not saying he was on them, but he’s from Spain, one of the steroid capitols). All that and he’s got all these tics on the court like pulling at his crotch and lining his water bottles up just so. He’s like this tennis genius aligned with an obsessive compulsive. He’s like Babe Ruth married to Bobby Fisher. Nadal’s story—Epic!

Mladenovic and Babos just won the doubles championship against the Chinese team of Duan and Zheng. They won in SS, and showed their doubles experience. The Chinese team had played together just once before, in an ITF back in 2012. In her speech, Zheng said they will play more tourneys together. Duan was in tears during her speech.

Kiki will become the No.1 player in doubles. It’s also nice for the French fans to have a title winner in this RG.

Apparently Uncle Toni is there. In fact, someone said that her Spanish friends saw him at Rafa’s practices at RG.

Ruud trains at Nadal’s academy, so Toni would be watching him in an official capacity.

Or, Nadal breaks first game of 3rd and rolls 1and1 from there..

Dont want to harp on gamesmanship, but Nadal leaving the court after losing the 2nd, turned out to be the momentum changer he needed.
Thiem has probably seen every kind of gamesmanship, but it still works..Nadal comes back looking like he showered, hair combed..its a joke..

I know I’ve been away for a bit. But Dan’s two favorite players now, are Fed, and Serena? Wow!

Old Tennis Week posters would be scratching their heads

I think Dan’s a bit confused about women’s tennis and ‘stardom’ – one moment he’s talking about being super-attractive and a sex symbol and ‘Madison Avenue’ and the next he’s including Steffi Graf in this gallery. Now Steffi was a great player but she wasn’t in any way a natural beauty and wasn’t marketed as such. People came to see Steffi because she was good. You try to sell glamour, sex etc without the talent and see what you get. Kournikova ? Right. Bouchard ? Right again.

There’s being a sex symbol and there’s being a great player. No reason the two should exist together and the likelihood is that most of the time they won’t. Who cares ? This is a ridiculous argument to be having in 2019. I suspect Barty would find it laughable.

Never the case I changed on Blake. True story yesterday my son was playing in the quarters of the 16’s event at the NY Tennis Club in the Bronx that hails itself as the first tennis club in NYC and it was a long afternoon he’d already won in the Rd of 16 earlier. I walked into clubhouse and on the counter was Blake’s Breaking Back, a clear thievery of title from my Break Point book with Spadea and I picked it up and brought it out to the court Callum’s match was on and tried reading it as he played (something I once saw Blake’s father do during one of his son’s matches in Miami that impressed me), but I couldn’t read it because there’s still a block u have with Blake and also when Callum’s playing I can never avert my eyes. Maybe I should have he lost.

For the record Harold my three favorite players are still Dustin Brown, Dudu Sela and Mannarino and on the women’s side, Giorgi.

I certainly think women’s tennis would be helped by more attractive and successful players. Sharapova brought many casual viewers to the sport for sure. The German girl who scored the goal the other day in the World Cup is a beauty too.

Having said that, there have been many great women champions with great personalities like Barty and the sport hasn’t suffered. They can’t all come from central casting.

And while it’s true that Bouchard has washed out, Svitolina is arguably more attractive and has to be considered a possible future Slam contender. And in general, you would have to believe the odds are in favor of a few cutie pies in the top 40 on any given year just based on numbers alone.

How about equal time for women tennis fans? We demand more top male players who are exceptionally good-looking as well! Why do we have to cope with players like Novak, who is merely a great talent, but will never win any prizes in the looks department? 🙂

You make a valid point: Djoko, Fed, Nadal no Brad Pitt’s. Diego Schwartzmann’s a good-looking guy, kind of looks like Matt Damon. Benoit Paire handsome as is Nico Mahut and Herbert, Fognini’s handsome as is Pouille and Pella.

Hartt – I’ve read a few reports of Ashleigh’s FO triumph and it seems her height is now firmly fixed at 5’5″ and will be until she retires I dare say. Some unchivalrous reporter also referred to her as ‘squat’. Dear me.

5’5″ seems the WTA go-to height. Bianca is clearly taller than that. You wonder where WTA gofers get their information from.

Catherine, I am glad there is now agreement on Ash’s height. The fact that she is a short player makes what she is accomplishing even more impressive.