TENNIS: Wimbledon - early days
Jul. 5th, 2019 07:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllWimbledon 2019
Round 1 Day 1
I started watching quite early on in the V. Williams vs Gauff match, which had been flagged up as a generational clash. It was really absorbing to watch the teenager (15! She didn’t seem it until just after the end of the match) trade blows with Venus, but also throw in good shots, winning via position as much as power. And her poise and focus! A few nervy ball tosses and one double double aside, she did not wilt, although Venus rallied with force at some points. I would imagine that winning in qualifiers helped Gauff mentally, inasmuch as anything can help with stepping out on Court No. 1 (which looks different!) at your first senior Slam against a player who’s been inspiring you all your life. What a debut!
Osaka need to…take a moment after the run of the last few months. The much touted Zverev is also out of a Slam. Again. This seems to indicate that it will be another from the next gen who will make it through, although it doesn’t feel like the changing of the guard is happening in anything like the way it is on the women’s side on the men’s. (I note that Vondourosova, the French Open finalist went out already, as did Ostapenko and Cornet – playing Azarenka, who is still at the dangerous floater stage until she makes the breakthrough the seeds fear). Having two roofs ought to take out the conditions for Djokovic, who has to be the current favourite.
The BBC bigged up everyone playing on the second day – but it’s the first round, of course there will be loads of them. I imagine that not all will make it through.
Round 1 Day 2
Nothing quite as gripping happened. I followed the results (ooh, Federer dropped a whole set! Nadal his opening game, quite a few Brits won), came home to see a rusty Serena Williams win, Nadal win (in three) and Paul Jubb, one of the stories of the summer, lose to a man who demanded the adjective ‘professional’. Kerber, Konta, Barty and – delightfully – Kvitova are through. This is not going to be a tournament where Muguruza plays herself into form, and Thiem supported the seeding committee placing him lower than his ranking by losing to someone who knows their way around the court. Nick Kyrigos was particularly all over the shop, but his next match will be with Nadal.
Note to Claire Balding: if people wanted to be watching the footie, they would be watching it, not Today at Wimbledon. Stop talking about it when you could be giving Martina Navratilova time to opine about tennis. And if you’d rather be watching the soccer than doing your job, pull a sickie. (I’m Welsh and soccer isn’t my favourite sport.)
Round 2 Day 3
I got to watch Djokovic utterly outclass Kubot, although there were indeed some entertaining exchanges. Djokovic sometimes lost points by almost seeming cavalier, but what could he do? (In the main, he wasn’t cavalier, just too good.) Kubot had to play out of his mind to win some points. I feel justified that someone asked me who I thought would win Wimbledon. While I was more hesitant on the women’s side, I named Djokovic for the men.
Kyle Edmund should not be one of the Brits who didn’t make it to round 3.
We then got to see if Gauf (nearly everybody knows to call her Coco now) could back up her debut in the big girls championship. Rybarykova being a different challenge to Williams, plus more experiences, while they were under a bit of a roof. But the young teenager, who still doesn’t look her age until she stops playing, was not a whit discomposed, adjusted her game. Her serving game was amazing, and she’d contained Rybarykova’s wiles enough and was ready for the drop shots. Comparisons to what Capriarti and Hingis did don’t seem so outré.
Apparently all the former finalists are out of this half of the women’s game. You could think that’ll favour the other half, or go ‘Oh, women’s tennis!’
Round 3 Day 4
I was able to watch most of the most intriguing match of the day. Nadal vs whatever version of Kyrigos turned up, facing each other in the second round again. With Kyrigos having beaten him at this stage before, not to mention his attitude problem, there was a lot more edge to it.
I started watching with Nadal up a set and before Kyrigos started quarrelling with the dartboard. I wonder if the umpires have a dartboard with Kyrigos’s face on it or a special spreadsheet to make sure they all have to take his matches in turn. (I knew that Serena had lost her first set, but didn’t care to watch that match, and when Wimbledon went to one main channel, they rightly picked this match.)
It shouldn’t surprise you that I wanted Nadal to win. At one set apiece, Kyrigos seemed to be more about the tennis, and his could be very good and in some ways better than Nadal’s. But serve aside, not as consistent, not as physically strong, and after losing five tiebreaks to the Australian in the past, Nadal raised his game a gear to win one and the third set. As for the fourth, all the work he hasn’t done on his footwork told for Kyrigos.
I won’t even type the paragraph about what Kyrigos’s issues are doing to his tennis. But I will say that Boris Becker’s parental issues (and sneering about doubles later) showed. And more seriously, Tsonga is not the force that he was, but Nadal seems to have a tougher draw than other people.
The next match on was Murray and Hebert’s first doubles match as a team, and by the time they were on BBC 2, they’d gelled quite enough to be on the way to winning the third set. Once again, a roof was closed for light (I daresay I always think the courts look rough by this point) and after a long first game, they crushed the opposition. One or two moments of poor communication about who does what, but they should play into being a formidable team. And good to see Murray’s reactions as quick as ever and one or two runs that spoke to no worries about his hip – his shoulder might have needed loosening because he hasn’t played so much tennis recently.
Norrie and Clark succumbed to much better players, Harriet Dart and Ash Barty won to meet (surely NOT on court no. 2) in the third. Kvitova is through, Kerber is out – the latter probably being part of ‘the conversation’ about who would win, because you have to respect the defending champion who was a finalist at Eastbouren, but not a favourite.
Round 1 Day 1
I started watching quite early on in the V. Williams vs Gauff match, which had been flagged up as a generational clash. It was really absorbing to watch the teenager (15! She didn’t seem it until just after the end of the match) trade blows with Venus, but also throw in good shots, winning via position as much as power. And her poise and focus! A few nervy ball tosses and one double double aside, she did not wilt, although Venus rallied with force at some points. I would imagine that winning in qualifiers helped Gauff mentally, inasmuch as anything can help with stepping out on Court No. 1 (which looks different!) at your first senior Slam against a player who’s been inspiring you all your life. What a debut!
Osaka need to…take a moment after the run of the last few months. The much touted Zverev is also out of a Slam. Again. This seems to indicate that it will be another from the next gen who will make it through, although it doesn’t feel like the changing of the guard is happening in anything like the way it is on the women’s side on the men’s. (I note that Vondourosova, the French Open finalist went out already, as did Ostapenko and Cornet – playing Azarenka, who is still at the dangerous floater stage until she makes the breakthrough the seeds fear). Having two roofs ought to take out the conditions for Djokovic, who has to be the current favourite.
The BBC bigged up everyone playing on the second day – but it’s the first round, of course there will be loads of them. I imagine that not all will make it through.
Round 1 Day 2
Nothing quite as gripping happened. I followed the results (ooh, Federer dropped a whole set! Nadal his opening game, quite a few Brits won), came home to see a rusty Serena Williams win, Nadal win (in three) and Paul Jubb, one of the stories of the summer, lose to a man who demanded the adjective ‘professional’. Kerber, Konta, Barty and – delightfully – Kvitova are through. This is not going to be a tournament where Muguruza plays herself into form, and Thiem supported the seeding committee placing him lower than his ranking by losing to someone who knows their way around the court. Nick Kyrigos was particularly all over the shop, but his next match will be with Nadal.
Note to Claire Balding: if people wanted to be watching the footie, they would be watching it, not Today at Wimbledon. Stop talking about it when you could be giving Martina Navratilova time to opine about tennis. And if you’d rather be watching the soccer than doing your job, pull a sickie. (I’m Welsh and soccer isn’t my favourite sport.)
Round 2 Day 3
I got to watch Djokovic utterly outclass Kubot, although there were indeed some entertaining exchanges. Djokovic sometimes lost points by almost seeming cavalier, but what could he do? (In the main, he wasn’t cavalier, just too good.) Kubot had to play out of his mind to win some points. I feel justified that someone asked me who I thought would win Wimbledon. While I was more hesitant on the women’s side, I named Djokovic for the men.
Kyle Edmund should not be one of the Brits who didn’t make it to round 3.
We then got to see if Gauf (nearly everybody knows to call her Coco now) could back up her debut in the big girls championship. Rybarykova being a different challenge to Williams, plus more experiences, while they were under a bit of a roof. But the young teenager, who still doesn’t look her age until she stops playing, was not a whit discomposed, adjusted her game. Her serving game was amazing, and she’d contained Rybarykova’s wiles enough and was ready for the drop shots. Comparisons to what Capriarti and Hingis did don’t seem so outré.
Apparently all the former finalists are out of this half of the women’s game. You could think that’ll favour the other half, or go ‘Oh, women’s tennis!’
Round 3 Day 4
I was able to watch most of the most intriguing match of the day. Nadal vs whatever version of Kyrigos turned up, facing each other in the second round again. With Kyrigos having beaten him at this stage before, not to mention his attitude problem, there was a lot more edge to it.
I started watching with Nadal up a set and before Kyrigos started quarrelling with the dartboard. I wonder if the umpires have a dartboard with Kyrigos’s face on it or a special spreadsheet to make sure they all have to take his matches in turn. (I knew that Serena had lost her first set, but didn’t care to watch that match, and when Wimbledon went to one main channel, they rightly picked this match.)
It shouldn’t surprise you that I wanted Nadal to win. At one set apiece, Kyrigos seemed to be more about the tennis, and his could be very good and in some ways better than Nadal’s. But serve aside, not as consistent, not as physically strong, and after losing five tiebreaks to the Australian in the past, Nadal raised his game a gear to win one and the third set. As for the fourth, all the work he hasn’t done on his footwork told for Kyrigos.
I won’t even type the paragraph about what Kyrigos’s issues are doing to his tennis. But I will say that Boris Becker’s parental issues (and sneering about doubles later) showed. And more seriously, Tsonga is not the force that he was, but Nadal seems to have a tougher draw than other people.
The next match on was Murray and Hebert’s first doubles match as a team, and by the time they were on BBC 2, they’d gelled quite enough to be on the way to winning the third set. Once again, a roof was closed for light (I daresay I always think the courts look rough by this point) and after a long first game, they crushed the opposition. One or two moments of poor communication about who does what, but they should play into being a formidable team. And good to see Murray’s reactions as quick as ever and one or two runs that spoke to no worries about his hip – his shoulder might have needed loosening because he hasn’t played so much tennis recently.
Norrie and Clark succumbed to much better players, Harriet Dart and Ash Barty won to meet (surely NOT on court no. 2) in the third. Kvitova is through, Kerber is out – the latter probably being part of ‘the conversation’ about who would win, because you have to respect the defending champion who was a finalist at Eastbouren, but not a favourite.
