TENNIS: Wimbledon - most of week two
Jul. 13th, 2019 09:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllRound 4 (Monday)
I kept an eye on the results on a day of some shocks on the women’s side, with favourite Ash Barty out and other potential favourite Pliskova out – apparently she had chances to win too. I arrived home to see what looked like Konta about to serve for the match, and then learned this was the second time of asking. I was less nervy than viewers who’d watched the first attempt. A good win, showing strength of mind to come back and dominate. Williams played well, Halep showed Gauff who’s the boss – I think the point about all the matches Gauff has played catching up with her also applied. The other winners are not big names, but may be and were clearly playing well.
From the churn of women’s tennis to the men’s side, where the top 3 still outclass everyone. I saw Federer trounce a young player who didn’t look like a future top 10er on that display, and apparently Nadal and Djokovic were also on top of things. Is being seeded no. 3 putting fire in Nadal’s belly? Coverage then joined the end of the Nishikori match, but I can’t say I got into it. The last set between Raonic and Pella was much more compelling, and Pella’s creativity made me root for him by the time he started getting match points.
A little bit of mixed doubles and Venus is out. Meanwhile, I have a theory that playing the mixed, apart from giving her more match practice, may help Serena with her ‘Margaret Court’s record’ thing, by relaxing her. This will be tested by her having to play two matches on Tuesday.
The Hit and Miss feature works better on Today at Wimbledon if Claire Balding doesn’t say too much before it starts.
Women’s quarter finals
So, during the day, I saw that Konta was up in the first set, and thought all she had to do was keep her serve to win that, and the next thing I knew when I checked, she’d lost the first set and perhaps her head in the second. Oh dear, she should have won that on paper, all day long. Serena is looking more and more powerful. Halep put her lower ranked opponent back in her box and Svitloina outlasted her tired opponent. Svitolina is one of those names you’ve heard about but can’t put a face to because until now, she’s never done well at any Slam.
These – Serena aside – are not necessarily the semi-finalists we were expecting to see, but woe betide anyone who harbours expectations of women’s tennis. My theory about playing the mixed helping Serena seemed to be backed up by Bartoli.
Men’s quarter finals and onwards:
I’d seen that Djokovic had beaten Goffin, but came home only just in time for Today at Wimbledon not knowing the other results. Except that Williams and Murray were out to the top seeds, so there’s no shame there. Competing helped both – Murray seems to have a better idea of where he’s at, while Serena has played herself into form.
Nishikori did get one set off Federer, which makes it respectable for the only quarter-finalist outside the Big Three currently in the top 10, but Federer adapted and won. Like others, I’d thought Querry and his serve might prove trickier for Nadal, but oh no, none of it. He broke him in the first and thrashed him in the second and third. This set up a semi-final everyone is drooling over.
Not least Djokovic, who will probably face a tired opponent. Which is fair, as he’s the no. 1 player. In the round-up of the Batista-Agut vs. Pella match, I learned the former hadn’t dropped a set so far (which cannot be said of the Big Three) and so was clearly less tired than Pella, the relative giant-slayer. Well, the Spaniard has won Djokovic this year, which many can’t say, so it shouldn’t be entirely one-sided…
Meanwhile, there is a Brit (or are they Brits plural?) through in the mixed doubles, if not the one ‘the fans’ hoped. I’d get ready for more mispronunciation of Llanelli.
And wouldn’t it be funny if the women’s finalists turned out to be Svitolina vs Strycova!?
Those were Wednesday’s thoughts. But the women’s semis were convincingly won by Halep and Williams – I only saw a bit of Hoyt and Silver playing at the end of the second set of their match on Thursday.
I’d also resigned myself to seeing little of the men’s semis, so I would like to thank Bautista-Agut for making enough of a match of it for me to be able to see the much-anticipated Federer-Nadal clash from the end of the first set onwards. It was close then, until Federer won the tie-break, but then he seemed to mentally drift in the second set (against Nadal?). I settled in for the third. As always, their styles make for a compelling conflict, plus their brilliant play. Federer was the one to break, and apart from Tim Henman mentioning his backhand, I never got an explanation for how Federer won so many of the longer rallies. You could hear he was exerting himself. Although Nadal made it tricky at times, Federer was mostly better. There were some great points, and the final game was brilliantly tense. It couldn’t live up to That Final, but in and of itself, it was a great semi.
Can Federer find that level again to make another match of it against Djokovic, who still has to be the favourite? (But he won’t be the crowd’s.)
Anyway, I wanted to post this before today’s finals.
I kept an eye on the results on a day of some shocks on the women’s side, with favourite Ash Barty out and other potential favourite Pliskova out – apparently she had chances to win too. I arrived home to see what looked like Konta about to serve for the match, and then learned this was the second time of asking. I was less nervy than viewers who’d watched the first attempt. A good win, showing strength of mind to come back and dominate. Williams played well, Halep showed Gauff who’s the boss – I think the point about all the matches Gauff has played catching up with her also applied. The other winners are not big names, but may be and were clearly playing well.
From the churn of women’s tennis to the men’s side, where the top 3 still outclass everyone. I saw Federer trounce a young player who didn’t look like a future top 10er on that display, and apparently Nadal and Djokovic were also on top of things. Is being seeded no. 3 putting fire in Nadal’s belly? Coverage then joined the end of the Nishikori match, but I can’t say I got into it. The last set between Raonic and Pella was much more compelling, and Pella’s creativity made me root for him by the time he started getting match points.
A little bit of mixed doubles and Venus is out. Meanwhile, I have a theory that playing the mixed, apart from giving her more match practice, may help Serena with her ‘Margaret Court’s record’ thing, by relaxing her. This will be tested by her having to play two matches on Tuesday.
The Hit and Miss feature works better on Today at Wimbledon if Claire Balding doesn’t say too much before it starts.
Women’s quarter finals
So, during the day, I saw that Konta was up in the first set, and thought all she had to do was keep her serve to win that, and the next thing I knew when I checked, she’d lost the first set and perhaps her head in the second. Oh dear, she should have won that on paper, all day long. Serena is looking more and more powerful. Halep put her lower ranked opponent back in her box and Svitloina outlasted her tired opponent. Svitolina is one of those names you’ve heard about but can’t put a face to because until now, she’s never done well at any Slam.
These – Serena aside – are not necessarily the semi-finalists we were expecting to see, but woe betide anyone who harbours expectations of women’s tennis. My theory about playing the mixed helping Serena seemed to be backed up by Bartoli.
Men’s quarter finals and onwards:
I’d seen that Djokovic had beaten Goffin, but came home only just in time for Today at Wimbledon not knowing the other results. Except that Williams and Murray were out to the top seeds, so there’s no shame there. Competing helped both – Murray seems to have a better idea of where he’s at, while Serena has played herself into form.
Nishikori did get one set off Federer, which makes it respectable for the only quarter-finalist outside the Big Three currently in the top 10, but Federer adapted and won. Like others, I’d thought Querry and his serve might prove trickier for Nadal, but oh no, none of it. He broke him in the first and thrashed him in the second and third. This set up a semi-final everyone is drooling over.
Not least Djokovic, who will probably face a tired opponent. Which is fair, as he’s the no. 1 player. In the round-up of the Batista-Agut vs. Pella match, I learned the former hadn’t dropped a set so far (which cannot be said of the Big Three) and so was clearly less tired than Pella, the relative giant-slayer. Well, the Spaniard has won Djokovic this year, which many can’t say, so it shouldn’t be entirely one-sided…
Meanwhile, there is a Brit (or are they Brits plural?) through in the mixed doubles, if not the one ‘the fans’ hoped. I’d get ready for more mispronunciation of Llanelli.
And wouldn’t it be funny if the women’s finalists turned out to be Svitolina vs Strycova!?
Those were Wednesday’s thoughts. But the women’s semis were convincingly won by Halep and Williams – I only saw a bit of Hoyt and Silver playing at the end of the second set of their match on Thursday.
I’d also resigned myself to seeing little of the men’s semis, so I would like to thank Bautista-Agut for making enough of a match of it for me to be able to see the much-anticipated Federer-Nadal clash from the end of the first set onwards. It was close then, until Federer won the tie-break, but then he seemed to mentally drift in the second set (against Nadal?). I settled in for the third. As always, their styles make for a compelling conflict, plus their brilliant play. Federer was the one to break, and apart from Tim Henman mentioning his backhand, I never got an explanation for how Federer won so many of the longer rallies. You could hear he was exerting himself. Although Nadal made it tricky at times, Federer was mostly better. There were some great points, and the final game was brilliantly tense. It couldn’t live up to That Final, but in and of itself, it was a great semi.
Can Federer find that level again to make another match of it against Djokovic, who still has to be the favourite? (But he won’t be the crowd’s.)
Anyway, I wanted to post this before today’s finals.
