All Purpose Tennis Thread XVII -- 2025 edition

[Tuggy]

Denis takes out Tommy Paul in straight sets. He had a handful of blips but was never broken. Into the final against Ruud tomorrow.

And Denis wins it!

Big title for him and vaults him back up the rankings to #32.

 

[otown]

And Denis wins it!

Big title for him and vaults him back up the rankings to #32.

Not an easy road to the title! A turning point for him moving forward! Congrats Shapo!
Must be the balls!

 

[MsMeow]

I love this version of Denis! He plays such an exciting game and when he isn’t acting like a brat he is a pleasure to watch.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

FAA and Shapo cleaning up the lower events so far this year, would be nice for Canadian tennis if both found their form especially the latter. Shame FAA had to retire at Rotterdam.

Nice story for Bencic after coming back from maternity leave to win Abu Dhabi

 

[kihei]

Finally watched Shapo's final against Ruud, which was consistent with the rest of the week after his first set, first-round loss to Fritz. In total, his performance looks less like a surprising 500-level victory and more like a rebirth. He was back to vintage top-ten Denis in so many ways. For starters he didn't just beat but actually hit through two of the best athletes on tour, Machac and Paul. He was hitting winners by the dozens. So many aspects of his game were in sync:

--great plus ones off both service and service return that allowed him to keep points short and opponent's intimidated;
--one of the best single shots in tennis--Denis' wide serve--was back in full force;
--for the most part, his footwork was vastly improved, especially his backhand on the run; but, in general, he cut way down on being off-balance on his groundies;
--better shot selection or, at least, he recognized when he had driven opponents so far back that he could win points outright on drop shots;
--stellar crosscourt play against virtually everybody.

Is this a turning point? Too soon to tell, but this is the first time in a couple of years that I thought Shapo was actually capable of recovering form.

 

[kihei]

Speaking of "hitting through" an opponent, check this out. Keep in mind this is happening on red clay against a skilled clay court player:

 

[MsMeow]

Ostapenko just destroyed Swiatek. She looks like she’s lost a bit of weight and is hitting the hell out of the ball.

 

[Tuggy]

Pretty convenient timing.

Doesn't lose any past titles and won't miss any Grand Slams.

Ban in name only really, not much substance

Ban ends right before Rome and RG. So he'll be rested up.

 

[Filppula]

Absolute joke. Picked his own suspension window basically.

 

[17futurecap]

Wouldn’t have expected a bigger joke of a ruling from WADA.

 

[kihei]

Good. The punishment seems to fit the so-called crime as far as I am concerned.

Now let's clean up and normalize a sane method of adjudicating these decisions with consistency and transparency. That's the main thing that has to be fixed.

 

[hockey20000]

lol doesn't miss a slam what a fixed suspension. oh well once novak is retired i will probs slowly tune out of the sport anyway the big 4 is what got me into it and them almost all being done plus stuff like this is gonna make me tune back out.

 

[kihei]

Medjedovic finally making a move. He defeats Medvedev to make the Marseille final. And Fonseca plays another masterful match beating Djere in three sets to make the final of the Argentine Open. Both of these guys are fun to watch, especially Joao.

 

[Tuggy]

Fonseca wins his first title in Buenos Aires. First of many I'm sure.

 

[kihei]

Felix parlays four unreturnable serves into a third-set breaker win, 7-2, over Halys.

 

[kihei]

Nice straight set win by Berrettini over Djokovic. Matteo somewhat surprisingly won the first set breaker than looked like his old self blowing Nole away 6-2 in the second set, forehand and serve blazing away.

 

[Tuggy]

Felix parlays four unreturnable serves into a third-set breaker win, 7-2, over Halys.

Felix took the first set from Medvedev, who then retired.

Felix into the SF to face Rublev.

Alcaraz falls in 3 sets Lehecka.

 

[kihei]

Felix took the first set from Medvedev, who then retired.

Felix into the SF to face Rublev.

Alcaraz falls in 3 sets Lehecka.

Daniil's retirement took me by surprise. I thought Medvedev played well that set, even ripping some forehands with more velocity than I have seen from him in some time. But Felix just played better and was more clutch. He fully deserves to be in the semis.

 

[kihei]

I bet Carlos had no inkling he was going to lose that match until the final point. He had a full-to-bursting highlight reel of shots that match, but Lehecka was like the tortoise that wins the race.

 

[kihei]

Draper defeats Berrettini in three sets by the simple expedient of forcing long baseline rallies that Jack dominated by at least a 2 to 1 margin.

Rublev knocks off Demon in three sets and a good thing, too. Andrei might have killed himself in response to failing to close the contest out several times, including a simple match point that he utterly botched.

 

[BMOK33]

WTA is clearly becoming deeper again, this is no longer 2019-2023, I think Swiatek/Gauff/Sabalenka/Rybakina better be ready because these others who we were waiting forever to show they're legit are starting to do so.

 

[Tuggy]

Felix loses a 3rd set breaker to Rublev. Good match, but a couple of bad misses in the TB cost Felix.

 

[kihei]

Felix loses a 3rd set breaker to Rublev. Good match, but a couple of bad misses in the TB cost Felix.

A real heart-breaker for Felix. Man, those guys were just pounding the ball in exchange after exchange.

 

[kihei]

Rublev beats Draper 7-5, 5-7, 6-1 for the Qatar championship. He continued his excellent play all week, just ripping his ground strokes with purpose and consistency.

 

[Tuggy]

For some Canadian tennis news, quite the start to the season for the 18 year old: