TENNIS: QUEEN’S
Jun. 24th, 2019 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllSaturday: I ended up having an evening of watching Feliciano Lopez play tennis, which was nice.
The impressive teenager with the double-barrel name had got through to the semis, but was down a break in the third set by the time I found Queen’s on the red button. Lopez kept his composure to win through to face Simon in the final. Inverdale made the point that age prevailed – while grass defeated many (younger) seeds.
Lopez was then back on court in a jiffy to complete the quarters – a match I’d have been more into if I’d seen the beginning of it, but he and Murray strung together a larger sum of better points than their opponents – and then sat on court for the semis to follow. Enter an established, strong doubles duo in Kontanin and Peers.
In the first set, Murray’s serve seemed the weakest, but…BUT despite letting a few gaps in their middle, they won it. The second set was more dramatic – the longer Lopez was out there, the more you felt for him, although his competitive spirit, while not as obvious as Murray’s famously is, was present in their comeback after going down a bit. Some brilliant points, Murray’s return was back in, and they seemed the strongest pairing in the Champion’s tie.
Meanwhile, Murray’s movement and sharpness continue to please.
SUNDAY: Finals. A nervy opening from Simon gifted Lopez the first set, really, but he raised his game in the second. I have to admit that I didn’t find it quite as involving as the commentators, because I had a little nap during the third set. But I awoke to see Lopez staying strong enough to win what has to be his favourite tournament again.
I caught up on the doubles final thanks to iPlayer without knowing the result. Salesbury was particularly impressive, but losing a tiebreak you’d been leading 5-1 is the opposite of that. Salesbury/Ram might be a more established pairing, but the scratch pairing’s composure in the big points told all the more. However, Murray failed to serve the second set out, taking us to the Champions tiebreak, where Lopez was still brilliant, although it was nice that Murray won the final point, or got the error thanks to his work, then.
What a fairy tale.
And a word on the ATP doubles format. It is, whisper it, nice to know that a match is about an hour long, and the jeopardy of the ‘no ad’ point, with the returner’s choice element is exciting. The champions tiebreak still feels a little random, and though I wanted the tired Lopez/Murray team to win, I can’t see why the final isn’t decided on a full three sets. It did strike me that the step up to five sets at slams is quite a lot then.
After two days of the commentators going on about how Murray didn’t have a mixed doubles partner for Wimbledon yet, and the viewers thinking how could that be, it turned out that he hadn’t fully committed to playing the mixed yet.
The impressive teenager with the double-barrel name had got through to the semis, but was down a break in the third set by the time I found Queen’s on the red button. Lopez kept his composure to win through to face Simon in the final. Inverdale made the point that age prevailed – while grass defeated many (younger) seeds.
Lopez was then back on court in a jiffy to complete the quarters – a match I’d have been more into if I’d seen the beginning of it, but he and Murray strung together a larger sum of better points than their opponents – and then sat on court for the semis to follow. Enter an established, strong doubles duo in Kontanin and Peers.
In the first set, Murray’s serve seemed the weakest, but…BUT despite letting a few gaps in their middle, they won it. The second set was more dramatic – the longer Lopez was out there, the more you felt for him, although his competitive spirit, while not as obvious as Murray’s famously is, was present in their comeback after going down a bit. Some brilliant points, Murray’s return was back in, and they seemed the strongest pairing in the Champion’s tie.
Meanwhile, Murray’s movement and sharpness continue to please.
SUNDAY: Finals. A nervy opening from Simon gifted Lopez the first set, really, but he raised his game in the second. I have to admit that I didn’t find it quite as involving as the commentators, because I had a little nap during the third set. But I awoke to see Lopez staying strong enough to win what has to be his favourite tournament again.
I caught up on the doubles final thanks to iPlayer without knowing the result. Salesbury was particularly impressive, but losing a tiebreak you’d been leading 5-1 is the opposite of that. Salesbury/Ram might be a more established pairing, but the scratch pairing’s composure in the big points told all the more. However, Murray failed to serve the second set out, taking us to the Champions tiebreak, where Lopez was still brilliant, although it was nice that Murray won the final point, or got the error thanks to his work, then.
What a fairy tale.
And a word on the ATP doubles format. It is, whisper it, nice to know that a match is about an hour long, and the jeopardy of the ‘no ad’ point, with the returner’s choice element is exciting. The champions tiebreak still feels a little random, and though I wanted the tired Lopez/Murray team to win, I can’t see why the final isn’t decided on a full three sets. It did strike me that the step up to five sets at slams is quite a lot then.
After two days of the commentators going on about how Murray didn’t have a mixed doubles partner for Wimbledon yet, and the viewers thinking how could that be, it turned out that he hadn’t fully committed to playing the mixed yet.
