Tennis 2024

[Deanjam]

Sakkari apparently won five points in the second set. Jesus Christ. Maybe harsh to judge her too much because of the quality of opponent, but still, not good!

She's a bit of a mental flake, to be honest. One of the few episodes of that Netflix show that I saw was about her, and she came across as being overly reliant on her coaching team.

[selectivememory]

I see bag of Terf hatred (and fan of Enoch Powell) Navratilova is still being used on these broadcasts. I don't know any other minority that someone can be so openly hateful towards and have no comeback from the media.

Yeah, it's really disgusting. I have to think a lot of people in the tennis media and establishment are massive cowards, because they have spoken out against and sidelined bigots (Margaret Court for example), but they just choose not to in this case, because Martina I guess has a lot of friends and influence.

[selectivememory]

She's a bit of a mental flake, to be honest. One of the few episodes of that Netflix show that I saw was about her, and she came across as being overly reliant on her coaching team.

Yeah, I did hear her talking to her coaching box during this match and it didn't inspire confidence. She sounded defeated as soon as she went a break down in the second set.

I do find her career a bit of a strange one. In 2021, when she had a real chance to win both the French and US Opens, I thought she was overachieving a bit, but she's stuck around the top 10 for so long since then, and there have been so many missed opportunities that it now feels like she's underachieved.

[selectivememory]

https://twitter.com/TennisTV/status/1769484032251719703

You really only get these kind of points in Alcaraz matches. One of the most entertaining players to ever do it.

[Deanjam]

Yeah, Carlito is a lot of fun to watch, and seems a nice lad by ATP standards. Good to see him winning again. Feel like he's been overlooked a bit amid the Sinner hype.

[selectivememory]

Yeah, some people have been very weird about what was a very minor dip in form in the last few months. I wasn't really worried about him long term, seemed very natural for a 20-year-old to not quite have the consistency down just yet.

Anyway, extremely impressive week for him. Seemed like he really fried Sinner and Medvedev's brains by the time he'd done with them.

[Deanjam]

Sabalenka's boyfriend has died aged 42. Obviously horrible news for her.

[selectivememory]

Ah, that's awful. Hope she'll be ok.

[selectivememory]

Talking of horrible terfs in the tennis world, disappointing to see this today:



I'd seen people hint at her being like this for a while, but looks like she's leaning fully into it now. I'd like someone to ask Andy what he thinks about his mum using her platform to stir up hatred against a minority.

[Deanjam]

Justifies my previously unjustified dislike of her.

[Deanjam]

I just discovered that the woman who performed Andy's hip surgery, Sarah Muirhead-Allwood, is trans.

[selectivememory]

Yeah, I saw some people talking about that. Pretty grim stuff from Judy.

[Blue Jam]

Watched a microsecond of the tennis in the pub and caught this... WHUT?

https://twitter.com/jadestratusxo/status/1770151156137807953

[selectivememory]

Hahaha. Better than the bee invasion in Indian Wells last week at least.

[Deanjam]

There was a big iguana invaded Miami a few years ago.

[Deanjam]

Woke up to see both Świątek and Gauff lost in Miami. Pretty wide open now.

[selectivememory]

Rybakina, if she is healthy, should win it from here, but she did pull out of IW with illness and apparently doesn't feel 100% fit yet. Still, might be able to blast everyone off the court without having to run too much if she's in the zone.

Always here for a Garcia run (I say tentatively, because it is Caroline Garcia). Very good couple of wins for her this week over Osaka and Gauff. Does seem to be managing an arm/shoulder injury though.

Seen Andy's ankle's fucked, which I guess is going to severely curtail his farewell tour. Hope he still gets a crack at the grass season at least.

[selectivememory]

Dimitrov putting in an all-timer of a performance to take out Alcaraz is one of those results which is hard to enjoy, because it feels inevitable that he'll just roll over for Zverev in the next round. Would love to see him take the title, but it's not going to happen, is it.

Impressed with Rybakina earlier managing to see off Azarenka after barely winning a point in the second set. Would quite like to see Collins make the final as well, hope she closes out this match.

[Deanjam]

Dimitrov's been in really good form for the last 8-9 months or so, but hasn't been able to win any big matches. The 250 final in Brisbane being the biggest win. Sums up his career really. For a guy with his talent, he's massively underachieved. Same as Monfils.

Impressed with Rybakina earlier managing to see off Azarenka after barely winning a point in the second set. Would quite like to see Collins make the final as well, hope she closes out this match.

Laughed at Collins saying she wouldn't get so many questions about retirement if she was a man. I imagine Andy Murray chuckled too.

[selectivememory]

The thing with Collins is, her decision to retire is related to her endometriosis and her ability to have kids, so I can sympathise with her annoyance at being asked to justify it over and over again when she's already explained herself. She might be playing some of the best tennis of her career, but that's not really a consideration for her in that decision. Still, yeah, I guess if someone like Dimitrov had announced he was playing his last year on tour, he'd be getting similar questions given the form he's been in.

(poor Andy, the tone of the questions for him are a bit different: 'When will you retire?' instead of 'Have you considered not retiring?')

Quite an appealing final on paper for me anyway. Would be nice to see Collins win a big title before she goes, but also need to see Rybakina pick up a few this year if she's going to keep up with Swiatek and Sabalenka. Given their respective forms in this tournament, kind of fancy Collins to get the upset.

[selectivememory]

Sinner 6-1 6-2 over Medvedev. He's won their last five matches after being 0-6 down in their head-to-head following last year's Miami final. Quite a nice little measure of how far he's come in those 12 months, because at that time it really did feel like he was still a level below Meddy, and now it seems like he's leaving him in the dust.

Fairly confident he'll deal with Zverev if it comes to it, but really hoping the lad Grigor puts him away tonight.

[Deanjam]

Nice one Grigor!

[selectivememory]

I never doubted him.

[selectivememory]

Honestly, a stunning title run for Collins there. Good to see her win a big one at last, always capable of an extremely high level, but has been very streaky over the years.

Rybakina not got a great finals record at the moment, but if she keeps making them she'll rack up the titles soon enough.

[selectivememory]

Hope to see some more Sinner-Alcaraz match-ups this year, because Jannik is not having trouble with anyone else at the moment. Snuffed out Dimitrov's challenge easily today. He's just so clinical.

Interested to see if he can keep this going on the clay.

[Deanjam]

Danielle Collins with another tournament win on the clay in Charleston. Crazy run she's on.

[selectivememory]

Very good players she's beating too. Good for her. Wonder if she's got another slam final run in her before she calls it quits at the end of the year. US Open probably her best shot.

Nice to see Berrettini pick up a title. Definitely think he's one of the few players outside of the usual suspects who could do something at Wimbledon if he's healthy when it rolls around.

[selectivememory]

Furious that Tsitsipas has allowed Zverev back into this match, after having points to close it out with a second set bagel. Pitiful collapse.

[selectivememory]

OK, got him in the tie-break at least. The most important thing is that he's out.

[Deanjam]

They're both mental dwarfs when it comes down to it. A few years ago, I thought they both would win slams when the big 3 retired, but Sinner and Alcaraz look on another level to the both these days.