TENNIS: Madrid Open finals.
May. 8th, 2023 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI’ve acquired Amazon Prime, which meant that, for the first time, I could watch the Madrid Open (director, one Feliciano Lopez). Over the weekend, I watched three finals.
The women’s singles final.
It’s also been ages since I’ve seen a whole match, so I was struck by the creepy robot that carried the balls, that it was a virtual coin toss and a different-looking challenge.
I caught some of the build-up, where the talk was of how exciting it was to see the world nos. 1 and 2 playing each other in a repeat of the final in Stuttgart, which Swiatek had won. If Sabalenka could win, women’s tennis might have a decent rivalry at the top (with Rybakina as the other player who’s impressed recently.) If Swiatek won, though, she’d clearly have the best of Sabalenka. I was supporting the young Pole, in the main because the was so impressive winning her first Slam and in how she stepped up and dominated last year.
The match was certainly gripping. In the first set, it was Sabalenka, hitting fiercely, who dominated, while Swiatek looked perturbed and dropped the set. After the traditional toilet break, she came back a different woman and was the first to break. Sabalenka fought back, but Swiatek found a way as champions so often do, and Sabalenka could not take the chance to get a lead in the second, and Swiatek was back.
I really appreciated that the commentary was boosted by turning to Daniela Hanchukova who was down in the stands and able to offer some insights about what was going on at court level.
Swiatek was looking more like the world no. 1, and then there were exhilarating stetches where both players were at their best. But mainly it was one dictating the points, To her cedit, Sabalenka came back, and even though Swiatek made the final game tough, finally took her championship point.
Apparently Madird is at altitude, which favours Sabalenka, so Swiatek should have the edge in other tounraments, but she has taken her Australian Open win, her experiences over the past 18 monrhs and built on them. It’s promising for women’s tennis.
The women’s doubles final
This featured top seeds Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, who I learned were quite an established team, who’d won quite a few titles, verus scratch pairing Viktoria Azarenka and Beatriz Maia-Hadid, with the latter being the least experienced and decorated doubles player. It was notable that with Azarenka, as with Sabalenka, the Belarussian flag was discreetly not shown when Amazon flashed up the score.
Blows were exchanged, but then suddenly Azarenka found her blistering backhand, ably supported by her partner, and the touted, experienced Americans were down a set in under half an hour.
They steadied things after going down 0-30 in the opening game of the second set, and even got a break. One feature of these doubles was that as soon as they reached deuce, it was a deciing point, which I found disconcerting. There were a lot of these in the second set.
But the relatively new team steadied, and the Americans could no longer dominate, with the Brazilian finding telling gaps, and the unseeded pair broke back, broke again, and Gauff couldn’t win her serve under the pressure. Surely Azarenka and Maia-Hadid will play together again. Of course, Gauff is only 19, but has been an established talent for so long, while Maia-Hadid broke through last summer, really.
The men’s singles final
no. 2, local favourite Carlos Alcaraz, who had just turned 20. Here, as he will be in other places, he was defending champion, and expected to win against Jan-Lenard Struff, a whole teenager older than him, playing the tournament of his life, having entered the main draw as a lucky loser, and having never won an ATP title before.
It has to be said that Struff lost his opening game, so although Alcaraz was up 2-0, he hadn’t done much to get there. But when his opponent settled down, he started playing te kind of tennis Greg Rusedski had been calling for/always calls for, serving and volleying, and volleying well, disrupting Alcaraz, who just never quite settled into a rhythm for most of the match. The Spaniard won the first set, but the second was a different matter. Struff played excellently when he faced break points; there was one game that lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, and Alcaraz had to laugh because he’d got four break points but was unable to convert any.
There were points/stretches where he wasn’t laughing, because the German broke him. There were shots that he usually pulls off that were out in a variety of ways, all because of the pressure Struff was exerting on him. Struff’s loud coach was quite a character and the camera did find a very, very few German fans; the majority were supporting their ‘Carlito’.
One set all, and one thing came to mind, having played in the qualifiers and a lot of third sets, Struff had to be tired, plus being in a Masters final was completely new to him. Alcaraz was facing a new kind of pressure, sure, but he’d won more easily duing the week (and was younger). The other thing the commentators picked up on was that Struff’s first serve percentage was down to about a third, which is simply not good enough. The first few games of the third set were tense, but Alcaraz found a way to break, and his last two service games were excellent, showin he can win in a variety of ways. We even got to see a few of thos amazing drop shots that he hadn’t got to play for the bulk of the match.
Alcaraz clearly had the champion’s ability to find a way to win, especially on the important points, and although Struff’s game is not one he likes and he mostly wasn’t able to play at his best, he really showed why he deserves all the accolades he’s getting. The only male player who has done so well at such a young age is Nadal, (and while female players share the same difficulties with experience and emotions because of their youth, it’s on the physical side that it makes more of a difference for men.) Alcaraz has now emulated Nadal in wnning the Madrid Open back to back. Comparisons were made to Agassi and Federer. Borg was watching the match. He’s in a scrap for world no. 1 with Djokovic. No wonder the Madrid crowd were excited.
The women’s singles final.
It’s also been ages since I’ve seen a whole match, so I was struck by the creepy robot that carried the balls, that it was a virtual coin toss and a different-looking challenge.
I caught some of the build-up, where the talk was of how exciting it was to see the world nos. 1 and 2 playing each other in a repeat of the final in Stuttgart, which Swiatek had won. If Sabalenka could win, women’s tennis might have a decent rivalry at the top (with Rybakina as the other player who’s impressed recently.) If Swiatek won, though, she’d clearly have the best of Sabalenka. I was supporting the young Pole, in the main because the was so impressive winning her first Slam and in how she stepped up and dominated last year.
The match was certainly gripping. In the first set, it was Sabalenka, hitting fiercely, who dominated, while Swiatek looked perturbed and dropped the set. After the traditional toilet break, she came back a different woman and was the first to break. Sabalenka fought back, but Swiatek found a way as champions so often do, and Sabalenka could not take the chance to get a lead in the second, and Swiatek was back.
I really appreciated that the commentary was boosted by turning to Daniela Hanchukova who was down in the stands and able to offer some insights about what was going on at court level.
Swiatek was looking more like the world no. 1, and then there were exhilarating stetches where both players were at their best. But mainly it was one dictating the points, To her cedit, Sabalenka came back, and even though Swiatek made the final game tough, finally took her championship point.
Apparently Madird is at altitude, which favours Sabalenka, so Swiatek should have the edge in other tounraments, but she has taken her Australian Open win, her experiences over the past 18 monrhs and built on them. It’s promising for women’s tennis.
The women’s doubles final
This featured top seeds Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, who I learned were quite an established team, who’d won quite a few titles, verus scratch pairing Viktoria Azarenka and Beatriz Maia-Hadid, with the latter being the least experienced and decorated doubles player. It was notable that with Azarenka, as with Sabalenka, the Belarussian flag was discreetly not shown when Amazon flashed up the score.
Blows were exchanged, but then suddenly Azarenka found her blistering backhand, ably supported by her partner, and the touted, experienced Americans were down a set in under half an hour.
They steadied things after going down 0-30 in the opening game of the second set, and even got a break. One feature of these doubles was that as soon as they reached deuce, it was a deciing point, which I found disconcerting. There were a lot of these in the second set.
But the relatively new team steadied, and the Americans could no longer dominate, with the Brazilian finding telling gaps, and the unseeded pair broke back, broke again, and Gauff couldn’t win her serve under the pressure. Surely Azarenka and Maia-Hadid will play together again. Of course, Gauff is only 19, but has been an established talent for so long, while Maia-Hadid broke through last summer, really.
The men’s singles final
no. 2, local favourite Carlos Alcaraz, who had just turned 20. Here, as he will be in other places, he was defending champion, and expected to win against Jan-Lenard Struff, a whole teenager older than him, playing the tournament of his life, having entered the main draw as a lucky loser, and having never won an ATP title before.
It has to be said that Struff lost his opening game, so although Alcaraz was up 2-0, he hadn’t done much to get there. But when his opponent settled down, he started playing te kind of tennis Greg Rusedski had been calling for/always calls for, serving and volleying, and volleying well, disrupting Alcaraz, who just never quite settled into a rhythm for most of the match. The Spaniard won the first set, but the second was a different matter. Struff played excellently when he faced break points; there was one game that lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, and Alcaraz had to laugh because he’d got four break points but was unable to convert any.
There were points/stretches where he wasn’t laughing, because the German broke him. There were shots that he usually pulls off that were out in a variety of ways, all because of the pressure Struff was exerting on him. Struff’s loud coach was quite a character and the camera did find a very, very few German fans; the majority were supporting their ‘Carlito’.
One set all, and one thing came to mind, having played in the qualifiers and a lot of third sets, Struff had to be tired, plus being in a Masters final was completely new to him. Alcaraz was facing a new kind of pressure, sure, but he’d won more easily duing the week (and was younger). The other thing the commentators picked up on was that Struff’s first serve percentage was down to about a third, which is simply not good enough. The first few games of the third set were tense, but Alcaraz found a way to break, and his last two service games were excellent, showin he can win in a variety of ways. We even got to see a few of thos amazing drop shots that he hadn’t got to play for the bulk of the match.
Alcaraz clearly had the champion’s ability to find a way to win, especially on the important points, and although Struff’s game is not one he likes and he mostly wasn’t able to play at his best, he really showed why he deserves all the accolades he’s getting. The only male player who has done so well at such a young age is Nadal, (and while female players share the same difficulties with experience and emotions because of their youth, it’s on the physical side that it makes more of a difference for men.) Alcaraz has now emulated Nadal in wnning the Madrid Open back to back. Comparisons were made to Agassi and Federer. Borg was watching the match. He’s in a scrap for world no. 1 with Djokovic. No wonder the Madrid crowd were excited.
