Tennis: French Open 2023

[kihei]

This match get curiouser and curiouser. Daniil breaks back only to be broken yet again. 4-2 Seyboth Wild in the 4th set.

 

[kihei]

We're going to a fifth set. I'm picking both of these guys to lose.

 

[kihei]

Thiago breaks for 1-love. When the cameras pan to the coaches, both these guys alternate looks of bewilderment.

Yet again, Thiago chokes away a 30-love lead on serve and we are back to even. My prediction is looking pretty damn good at the moment.

Hold on, folks. Daniil is immediately broken as Seyboth Wild regains the upper hand. Mama mia.

What are the odds of Thiago holding three times in a row for the match? 100-1? Higher?

Cue maniacal laughter. Daniil breaks at love. 13 service breaks in all now. Somehow this set is only at 3-3.

Daniil is broken yet again. 4-3 TSW. To quote former New York Yankee manager Casey Stengel. "Can't anybody here play this game?"

Thiago holds at love for 5-3. One game away.

TSW to serve for the match. What could possibly go wrong?

And there is the upset that we have been lacking so far. And it is a huge one.

 

[Tuggy]

So much for Medvedev slaying the clay demons

 

[Ben Grimm]

Wild upset probably predicted by @kihei.

 

[MsMeow]

Wow, Medvedev is out!

Bianca/Vika is entertaining so far.

 

[Tuggy]

Hard fought win for Andreescu. I thought she was done in the second set.

 

[MsMeow]

OMG this interviewer keeps calling Bianca "Andrea"!!

 

[kihei]

I watched the first set loss to Azarenka and switched off the match bemoaning Bianca's diminished power, mobility, technique, footwork and her inability to change directions much quicker than a super tanker. So I did a classic cartoon-character double take when I later saw that she won the second set. Turned the match back on, and, man, that was nerve racking as she seemed only half a step ahead of the rabid hound that is Azarenka snapping at her heels right until the end with the fifth match point. Whew.

Next to Zverev, I love watching Azarenka get beat.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Wild is the lowest ranked player to beat a top 2 player at a major in 20 years.

OMG this interviewer keeps calling Bianca "Andrea"!!

Probably reads here. Excluding Canucks, the lack of women talk here is criminal.

 

[PanniniClaus]

Wild is the lowest ranked player to beat a top 2 player at a major in 20 years.


Probably reads here. Excluding Canucks, the lack of women talk here is criminal.

Which is odd... I love womens tennis. . . I just don't post here much.

 

[SlafySZN]

Gael Monfils man… what a guy.

 

[kihei]

Wild is the lowest ranked player to beat a top 2 player at a major in 20 years.

Seyboth Wild obviously and understandably had nerve issues today and as well trouble holding serve. My question is why is this guy with a weapon like his forehand (he had something like 45 forehand winners to Medvedev's 15), ranked so low in the first place? He's got a bright future, I think,.

 

[SlafySZN]

Seyboth Wild obviously and understandably had nerve issues today and trouble holding serve. My question is why is this guy with a weapon like his forehand (he had something like 45 forehand winners to Medvedev's 15), ranked so low in the first place? He's got a bright future, I think,.

He won a first ATP 250 on clay in Santiago in 2020 at 19 or 20 years old. I remember he gave a great match to Coric in Rio de Janeiro few weeks before. He then got domestic violence accusation in court from his ex-girlfriend, had to stop playing for a while, not sure where they are with his case now.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Garbiñe Muguruza, 2-time Grand Slam champion, gets engaged to fan who asked for selfie in NYC

There's a romance you don't see every day.

sports.yahoo.com

@kihei should start asking for selfies.

 

[kihei]

Poor Shapo stuck out on Court 12. I don't think that is even a television court normally. Lots of complaints about slow, fluffy balls this year. If true, it doesn't favour Shapo's game at all.

 

[Tuggy]

Shapvalov about to go up 2 sets to 1.

And Daniel takes the second set against Alcaraz. Would have bet big on that one in straight sets...I'm sure Carlos will straighten it out.

 

[kihei]

Shapo playing solid, smart tennis and keeping the errors down to reasonable limits against a guy whose few wins are all on clay.

...and he takes it in four efficient sets That's the best he has looked on clay since I don't know when.

 

[kihei]

Two rounds in and Davidovich Fokina has knocked off both the French wunderkind in impressive fashion in front of rabidly partisan crowds, Fils on Tuesday, Van Assche today. Djokovic is (likely) next for Alejandro. I'm not predicting an upset, but if Nole is going to get knocked off in the early rounds, this is where it's going to happen.

 

[MsMeow]

Leylah came back to take the second set. Went down quick in her first service game in the third but came back to win it. Hopefully she keeps the pressure on.

 

[kihei]

Fernandez loses in three sets. Love watching her hyperactive water sprite game, but Tauson is talented, too, and bigger and stronger, a combination that often limits what Leylah can accomplish.

Fucsovics comes from a break down to take Nole to a first set breaker....and, like usual, Djokovic plays a near perfect breaker so that is that.

 

[Filppula]

Sinner could go the way of Medvedev if he’s not careful.

 

[kihei]

It turns out that Seyboth Wild is quite a piece of business even if only a small portion of his indictment in Brazil for sexual violence and domestic harrassment is true. If it is all true he is a monster.

 

[kihei]

Having already saved a match point that he should have lost, Altmaier wins the 4th set breaker and forces Sinner to a 5th set.

Sinner down 3-5 and cramping.....Sinner breaks back for 5-all even though his legs are failing him.

Jannick's got nothing and is broken at 15, so Altmaier gets a re-do at serving for the match.

Altmaier chokes away a 40-love lead, blows another two match points, one a midcourt lob that he doesn't let bounce, but finally pulls out the victory with an ace.

Hate to see Sinner go out to a pusher, one he should have probably solved in three uneventufl sets.

Still, kudos to Altmaier for an amazing demonstration of steadiness and perseverence across five long sets.

 

[Tuggy]

Sinner could go the way of Medvedev if he’s not careful.

He gone.