Zverev Digs Deep For First Major Semifinal

I also liked what Zverev said about his father being in charge and sorting out the coaching situation.

Hard to believe Muster would criticize Thiem. What a player Thiem is. Imagine if he or Zverev had as much talent as Kyrgios, since all these tennis experts say Kyrgios is the “most talented” guy. Ha.

Kenin wins first set, on serve in second. Can Barty pull this out?

The story is Kenin. Unless Muguruza and Halep have something up their sleeve. They are the favorites for the final, but this has been phenomenal. Wasn’t sure if Kenin would pull out the past three matches, yet she did so. Finals!

Barty Party spoilt by the most unfancied opponent – great for Kenin but not good for ticket sales I’m afraid.

Kenin v Halep ?

Fans comments not terribly enthused over Kenin and obviously very disappointed in Barty. Haven’t seen the highlights yet, following Mugs and Simona. But Kenin bt Ash in Toronto I think ? So not something out of the blue.

What a turn-up if it’s Kenin not Coco.

Yeah, as much as we are loving the Kenin thing in our house since we have followed her and dad since the beginning, she won’t generate much buzz. She isn’t the next Serena or next Pova, not glamorous like Woz or Genie. Not a loud or exciting personality.

Just a hard worker, does things the right way, basic, nothing flashy. What I love about her and her dad is unfortunately not what the media or ad agencies or casual fans want.

Toe-to-toe Simona and Mugs first set.

Kenin’s mental toughness IS flashy. The heft in her consistency, technical excellence, and ability to play ahead as if she’s down in the count, and as if she’s the frontrunner when down in the count, is very formidable. She’s played a great tournament. These qualities would help players, flashy or not. Again she reminds me of players with many slams to their name. She’s not to my eye the greater athlete, but she has been for her matches the greater tennis player.

Some matchups will be bad for her. But she has a real shot against another slam champ in the final. I think we get Kenin vs Muguruza, but Cahill might have lit enough of a fire under Halep to propel her to a nothing to lose final.

Muguruza bt Halep in 2 and into the final. Now who could have predicted that at the start of the AO (don’t lie)?

Score 7-6 7-5 – and it’s possible Muguruza stood the heat better than Simona, who has struggled before in these conditions. I think Mugs has never lost to Halep on hard courts.

Catherine, yes Kenin beat Barty at the Rogers Cup, and then lost to Bianca in the SFs – in SS.

Further to our discussions about tennis players and social media, apparently success on social media can mean $. I have no idea if Inside Sport is a reliable source, or how social media “hits” can generate $, but this was interesting all the same. Actually, Bianca does not post all that often. I do check her IG to try to see when she will be playing, and it looks like she posts about once a week.

“Canada’s Bianca Andreescu has become a big name across the tennis world and the wider public following her 2019 US Open win in New York last year. And with it, her social media value has also skyrocketed. According to Inside Sport, Andreescu’s rapidly growing social media following has made the rising tennis star capable of commanding €32,000 ($35,331) per social media post.” (Tennis World)

FAA does his best to support Canadian tennis players on social media. He often “likes” their posts, although he doesn’t post very often himself.

I think she loves the attention because her journey started out with it, then faded, now back.

Kenin’s parents set up a website for her at 5 years old and kept it active all along. Since age 5 they got her in pictures with every famous tennis star they could by attending exhibitions, etc. She was touted by Macci and others as the next big thing. She appeared in videos at 5 then 6 years old for the USPTA.

But the plan got derailed along the way because her on court junior results were not immediate, and she ended up stopping growing at a smaller height then they thought she would. So they went into grind mode for years. It was not until the past 1-2 years that she was finally able to make the jump from low USTA pro events to where she is now.

The original plan was for Sonya to be a fast rising tennis superstar. She told people at 5 and 6 she wanted to be #1 in the world. In the end I think being forced to switch gears and work the process much harder for those years helped produce a better end result for her.

Andrei Kozlov is a cool guy and an excellent coach. We always look forward to playing his kids at tournaments. They play fair and enjoy the game.

I get the feeling Muguruza is quite indifferent to the attention she gets, at least these days. She’s changed a bit – a little older, more mature. Some people don’t seem to like her very much. And you just know she thinks press conferences are the biggest waste of time in the world.

Maybe Conchita only consented to return when Mugs convinced her it was a new Garbine. Successful mountaineer.

Muguruza vs Kenin. Thought I said something about Muguruza re-discovering the magic under Conchita Martinez…man, I am now predicting at about one percent accuracy, I might have to get a snack or something.

Muguruza seems more stoic these days, or angrier, or something, or at least was. At least Catherine said something about her climbing a mountain and feeling refreshed.

As to Scoop’s comment on Sumyck…that was FUNNY! I’d imagine he is writing and re-writing a text message that he can’t bear to send and admit defeat. Muguruza, I was wrong…no seriously, I am so…so…wrong….good job er, ah, Garbine…I mean well bravo or…UGH!!!

Or just a simple text:
“G.M., bravo”

And the text reply:
“Message Not Delivered”

Muguruza doesn’t hurt for attention and has plenty of it. I have noticed more of a scowl but I read into things too much. She seemed discontent and isn’t one of the more pleasant players especially in how she treats coaches which is why with Conchita Martinez, can’t do that to Conchita Martinez. Martinez would be like: Garbine, look at my hall of fame credentials. You will be there and greater than I am, but seriously, I won against some legends, respect your elders.

Who cares what he says? As Brad Gilbert said, paraphrasing, the best words in tennis are: “Game, Set, Match, [INSERT YOUR NAME HERE]”.

Whole “media unfairness” obsession is not a real thing. Unless you want your favorite player to make more sponsorship money. It works both ways. Look at Bouchard: lost nearly all her sponsors and now hawks random products on IG to make up for a lack of tournament earnings. No amount of press will help her get a new racquet deal at a premium.