TENNIS: Wimbledon - end of week one
Jul. 7th, 2019 08:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllThird round (Friday)
I kept an eye on some results, but when I came home did not plump for Djokovic’s match. I watched most of Gruff’s, although I thought Balding was guilty of over-egging the pudding, because while putting Murray and Williams in the mixed doubles on BBC 1 made sense, however fast Gruff’s star is rising, prime time TV? Suddenly WTA rules to protect fifreen year olds do make sense.
It wasn’t a good match of tennis, but a good match in terms of drama. Hercog choked, no two ways about it, and that explained her ranking somewhat. The first match point was on Gruff’s serve – fair enough, but Hercig failed to serve out the match. Gruff had done the right thing, staying close, not giving the errors, and took the momentum switch thankfully. Such cagey play, though, with Hercog slicing and slicing, and Gruff doing her own share. I agree with the commentators that her tennis brain, at 15, is impressive, too many players don’t have a plan B. Her composure and athleticism, too, but I didn’t react well to the hyperbole. The commentators noted the crowd were so far on Gruff’s side that they really weren’t fair to her opponent, but they were just as bad in the attention they gave Gruff too. And yes, she’s exciting, but, come on. She’s one of the stories of the first week, and perhaps the one that’s crossed over to the general public the most, but not the only story.
Also, apparently Jai Clark was meant to play with Harriet Dart (didn’t they have a successful run last year?) but dumped her over text to play with Gruff.
Halep who got through an error-strewn Azarenka quite easily will be a different kettle of fish. She’s a scrapper.
Instead of watching the highlights of the match I’d just seen on Today at Wimbledon, I watched the other teenager, Felix A-A, go out tamely to Ugo Humbert, who had faced Murray in the doubles. Perhaps they’ll be meeting a lot over the years. I was wondering during the French Open where the French next gen were, actually. Anderson is out, Raonic still in, and Pliskova too.
Saturday
This ended up being a (long) day of my watching British players. First, it was a chance to see Ashleigh Barty for the first time at Wimbledon this year. Harriet Dart managed not to get double-bagelled, but Barty was in another class entirely, and only wobbled once to go down 0-40, but her response was excellent. Serena might have been winning surprisingly easily at around the same time, but given recent form and match experience, you can see why Barty is the favourite.
I then watched Konta and Stephens (there might have been a bit of napping). Despite Konta’s excellent record against the higher seed this year, Stephens had brought something different, won the first and looked like winning the second. Konta was visibly frustrated but hung in there and nicked it. She then played with more confidence and Stephens, perhaps because Konta is a bogey player for her and perhaps because it’s grass, didn’t. Konta won. Somehow.
Her prize will be facing Kvitova. Unless if Kvitova reaches the sublime, untouchable form that’s won her Wimbledon, that could be quite a match.
With Tsonga a relatively spent force, Nadal won, and I wasn’t that bothered about Federer and Pouille (Fed won), so I watched the Evans-Sousa match. They were big on the redemptive arc, and it is certainly great to see such a talent as Dan Evans is apply himself, but after the first set, a stressful pattern emerged. Evans would break, Sousa would peg him back. They were closely matched.
So, Iturned to the mixed doubles for some relief. Williams and Murray had a break when I joined them, it was fun (I join in Sam Smith’s outrage that there was talk of dropping the sport, when how male players cope against female players – are they ruthless or can the woman beat them in a rally? – makes it even more fascinating). With Murray out of the men’s doubles and having asked her to play (after two others!), and both of them hating to lose, they had the edge, though Mees was good at the net. Some excellent shots and exciting play.
I then returned to the fifth set of the Evans match, under the roof – the tournament and the TV schedulers, if not the groundspeople, must love the extra roof – where the standard of play and retrieving and drama continued. In the end, it felt so close, but Sousa played the two last points better, and will now face Nadal. With a day of rest, I don’t know if such an intense match will be such a drain.
I kept an eye on some results, but when I came home did not plump for Djokovic’s match. I watched most of Gruff’s, although I thought Balding was guilty of over-egging the pudding, because while putting Murray and Williams in the mixed doubles on BBC 1 made sense, however fast Gruff’s star is rising, prime time TV? Suddenly WTA rules to protect fifreen year olds do make sense.
It wasn’t a good match of tennis, but a good match in terms of drama. Hercog choked, no two ways about it, and that explained her ranking somewhat. The first match point was on Gruff’s serve – fair enough, but Hercig failed to serve out the match. Gruff had done the right thing, staying close, not giving the errors, and took the momentum switch thankfully. Such cagey play, though, with Hercog slicing and slicing, and Gruff doing her own share. I agree with the commentators that her tennis brain, at 15, is impressive, too many players don’t have a plan B. Her composure and athleticism, too, but I didn’t react well to the hyperbole. The commentators noted the crowd were so far on Gruff’s side that they really weren’t fair to her opponent, but they were just as bad in the attention they gave Gruff too. And yes, she’s exciting, but, come on. She’s one of the stories of the first week, and perhaps the one that’s crossed over to the general public the most, but not the only story.
Also, apparently Jai Clark was meant to play with Harriet Dart (didn’t they have a successful run last year?) but dumped her over text to play with Gruff.
Halep who got through an error-strewn Azarenka quite easily will be a different kettle of fish. She’s a scrapper.
Instead of watching the highlights of the match I’d just seen on Today at Wimbledon, I watched the other teenager, Felix A-A, go out tamely to Ugo Humbert, who had faced Murray in the doubles. Perhaps they’ll be meeting a lot over the years. I was wondering during the French Open where the French next gen were, actually. Anderson is out, Raonic still in, and Pliskova too.
Saturday
This ended up being a (long) day of my watching British players. First, it was a chance to see Ashleigh Barty for the first time at Wimbledon this year. Harriet Dart managed not to get double-bagelled, but Barty was in another class entirely, and only wobbled once to go down 0-40, but her response was excellent. Serena might have been winning surprisingly easily at around the same time, but given recent form and match experience, you can see why Barty is the favourite.
I then watched Konta and Stephens (there might have been a bit of napping). Despite Konta’s excellent record against the higher seed this year, Stephens had brought something different, won the first and looked like winning the second. Konta was visibly frustrated but hung in there and nicked it. She then played with more confidence and Stephens, perhaps because Konta is a bogey player for her and perhaps because it’s grass, didn’t. Konta won. Somehow.
Her prize will be facing Kvitova. Unless if Kvitova reaches the sublime, untouchable form that’s won her Wimbledon, that could be quite a match.
With Tsonga a relatively spent force, Nadal won, and I wasn’t that bothered about Federer and Pouille (Fed won), so I watched the Evans-Sousa match. They were big on the redemptive arc, and it is certainly great to see such a talent as Dan Evans is apply himself, but after the first set, a stressful pattern emerged. Evans would break, Sousa would peg him back. They were closely matched.
So, Iturned to the mixed doubles for some relief. Williams and Murray had a break when I joined them, it was fun (I join in Sam Smith’s outrage that there was talk of dropping the sport, when how male players cope against female players – are they ruthless or can the woman beat them in a rally? – makes it even more fascinating). With Murray out of the men’s doubles and having asked her to play (after two others!), and both of them hating to lose, they had the edge, though Mees was good at the net. Some excellent shots and exciting play.
I then returned to the fifth set of the Evans match, under the roof – the tournament and the TV schedulers, if not the groundspeople, must love the extra roof – where the standard of play and retrieving and drama continued. In the end, it felt so close, but Sousa played the two last points better, and will now face Nadal. With a day of rest, I don’t know if such an intense match will be such a drain.
