Tennis discussion thread

[reflection]

Congrats to Roger, it was a thriller. Great game and tourny for Roddick, hope he can bounce back and have another finals at the US Open for all his hard work and improvement. Now Fed's one step closer towards being the indisputable GOAT.

I want to see a continuation of this ad now, heh.

[Cal-Reflector]

This match was brought to you by: Shonen Jump, where brave, outclassed protagonists fighting at 300% their potential challenge Boss-characters.

Analogies:
Goku's first fight against Vegeta (Federer)
Slam Dunk against Sannoh
Renji against Byakuya
Every single One Piece boss fight

Only in this case, the boss character won.

[Kakashi]

Originally Posted by Revenger1589

Atpworldtour.com to is doing a tribute to Federer since yesterday and they put a video today that's quite beautiful, it's worth a look.

The end was great. I'm trying to find the finals preview the BBC made, "Is this one of those special days?" Just like last year they really made it classy.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Agassi 'atones' for mistakes with tell-all book

Las Vegas (Nov 9): Andre Agassi says his controversial biography is part of his atonement for saying and doing things he now wishes he hadn't.

It turns out that he had been lying throughout his career. "I can't live with that any more," Agassi said in a telephone interview. "These lies — some of them came, certainly, out of fear. A lot of them came out of real confusion. A lot of it was thinking out loud. A lot of it was just getting stuff wrong. And a lot of it started with lies to myself," he says.

"When I retired from tennis, I had the opportunity, the time, the energy, to turn a real hard lens on myself."

His book, Open, available in stores from today, allows Agassi to unburden himself of secrets he's carried for years. Secrets about using crystal meth, about evading punishment for a failed drug test, about wearing a wig and about what he calls a long-standing hatred of tennis.

Along the way, he offers critical words for rivals such as Pete Sampras, Michael Chang and Boris Becker, discussing "tanking" matches and poignantly describing his childhood fear of his father.

On Sampras
Agassi says Sampras "sounds more robotic than" a parrot, adding: "I envy Pete's dullness. I wish I could emulate his spectacular lack of inspiration, and his peculiar lack of need for inspiration."

On Chang
He says: "That God should take sides in a tennis match, that God should side against me, that God should be in Chang's box, feels ludicrous and insulting. I beat Chang and savour every blasphemous stroke." On Chang's victory in the 1989 French Open, Agassi says: "I feel sickened. How could Chang, of all people, have won a Slam before me?"

On 'tanking'
Agassi says he lost on purpose against Chang in the Australian Open semi-finals one year so that he wouldn't have to face Becker in the final, adding: "It's almost harder than winning. You have to lose in such a way that the crowd can't tell."

On his wig
Of the 1990 French Open final, Agassi says: "Warming up before the match, I pray, not for a win, but for my hairpiece to stay on."

On his 1999 French Open win
He says: "I've already obsessed about this tournament for the last 10 years. I can't bear the idea of obsessing about it for another 80. If I don't win this thing right now, I'll never be happy, truly happy, again."


- ADELAIDENOW.COM

[TinyRedLeaf]

I'm a partisan supporter, without doubt, so pardon me for getting all excited over the news

Li Na and Zheng Jie through to semi-finals

Melbourne (Jan 27): Li Na defeated Venus Williams today in a quarter-final match to reach the semis of the Australian Open, while Zheng Jie will square off against Justine Henin tomorrow in her semi-final.

Henin defeated Russia's Nadia Petrova yesterday 7-6 (7-3), 7-5. If both Na and Jie win their matches it would be an all Chinese final and probably the biggest moment in Chinese tennis history.

- CNNgo

[Revenger1589]

God damn Federer, again?

I have to say, before this tournament I disliked Murray, but I'm starting to really warm up to him. The guy's got a lot of talent and was playing an incredible tennis, I hope he gets an slam someday.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Haha. Well, boring though the result might be, watching the match, there was no doubt that Federer completely outclassed poor Murray. The speed and tactical brilliance of some of Federer's volleys and drop shots were astounding, so I have to say the better man won.

And, frankly, Murray looked like such a sore loser, crying the way he did in the end. I'm more worried about Nadal, to be sure. His knee doesn't seem to have improved, despite the surgery.

[Revenger1589]

There was too much pressure on the poor guy, he had to play with the weight of the UK over his shoulders. There is no doubt Federer was brilliant and fully deserved the win, I just feel a little bad for Andy.

What's happening to Nadal is a real shame but most people saw it coming. He started putting too much pressure on his knees before his body was fully developed and his tendons suffered a lot. Sadly, Tendinitis is a chronic disease so he's probably going to be dealing with this for the rest of his life.

[TinyRedLeaf]

*gasp* An Argentinian feeling sorry for a Brit? Wow, what will I see next? Queen Elizabeth giving a hero's welcome to "hand-of-god" Maradona?



All in all, Murray is only 22, versus Federer's 28 years. Meaning to say, time is on Murray's side. Still, if Federer keeps up his form, this looks set to be another great year for him. The pressure's off of him now, and that was very evident in his composure today.

[Revenger1589]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

*gasp* An Argentinian feeling sorry for a Brit? Wow, what will I see next? Queen Elizabeth giving a hero's welcome to "hand-of-god" Maradona?

Lol, he's technically Scottish, people here are more concerned with the football rivalry with England than with the war.

As you said, time is on Murray's side, but with Federer playing so relaxed right now, I wouldn't be surprised with anything he achieves anymore. I think that if Del Potro manages to stay healthy and improves his net game, he's going to be unstoppable on hard surfaces so every chance to win a slam counts.

[reflection]

I have this analogy now where Federer is basically the endgame boss in a ridiculously hard japanese game. In order to beat him, you must have your powerbar maxed out for the duration of the encounter and have closely studied the FAQ on the fight. Or, he somehow glitches. =P

Anyways, congrats to Roger on #16! Hope he continues tennis at this level so to have his twin daughters witness their father and be thoroughly inspired. Maybe they could be the next Williams sisters, haha! Murray, like Fed said, is an exceptional player and his time will come. It'll just be more difficult when you have the master on the watch.

[Kakashi]

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

And, frankly, Murray looked like such a sore loser, crying the way he did in the end. I'm more worried about Nadal, to be sure. His knee doesn't seem to have improved, despite the surgery.

He wasn't a sore loser, he just put in a lot of work for the AOpen. Think he was there for three weeks before the slam started acclimatising to the heat...

[Dilla]

John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are currently in the longest grand slam tennis match in history at Wimbledon and they're still going. 54-53 in Isner's favor in the fifth set last I checked, that's about nine hours of tennis with no significant breaks.

[Dop]

The Isner-Mahut match is just completely insane, goes on and on and on, breaking record after record. People have won entire Wimbledon championships and played fewer games!
These guys have just carved their names indelibly in the record books, I doubt anyone would ever top this.
At this rate I think it'll end when one of them drops. John McEnroe was saying he hopes there are doctors on the court.

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Dilla

John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are currently in the longest grand slam tennis match in history at Wimbledon and they're still going. 54-53 in Isner's favor in the fifth set last I checked, that's about nine hours of tennis with no significant breaks.

Originally Posted by Dop

The Isner-Mahut match is just completely insane, goes on and on and on, breaking record after record. People have won entire Wimbledon championships and played fewer games!
These guys have just carved their names indelibly in the record books, I doubt anyone would ever top this.
At this rate I think it'll end when one of them drops. John McEnroe was saying he hopes there are doctors on the court.

Their epic match reminded me immediately of this ad. Never expected it to be replayed in real life.

[Bonta Kun]

Oh it's now 2 sets to Djokovic!

I really wonder if Nadal will pull it back.

EDIT: And Djokovic wins!

6-4, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3

Not a bad final to watch overall.