feather_ghyll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feather_ghyll) wrote2023-05-14 09:11 am
feather_ghyll) wrote2023-05-14 09:11 am
TENNIS: From Madrid to Rome
Further on the Madrid Open, apparently it was guilty of treating the women players shoddily, for which the organisers seem to have apologised. What I first heard was that Sabalenka (a former champion) had been given a smaller birthday cake than Alcaraz (the defending champion) on their joint birthday. I admit, I thought that could be put down to the fact that he was local. But apparently the schedulers also shunted off women’s matches into worse slots and didn’t give the women’s doubles players a chance to make speeches ar the ceremony AS THEY HAD THE MEN. (It’s been floated that they were afraid the players might comment on the discrimination.) I didn’t realise the latter, because I didn’t watch anything much beyond the tennis on the Sunday because of when I was watching them. Equal respect along with equal pay shouldn’t be that difficult to manage.
Anyway, tennis moved on to Rome and the Italian Open, where there are actual coin tosses and umpires going to check marks. I watched most of the second-round match between current Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and 2020 Aussie Open champion Sofia Kenin. But apparently the latter has been in the tennis wilderness; I couldn’t glean exactly why from the commentators. Certainly injury had played its part, and she hadn’t beaten a top 10 player since defeating Barty in the 2020 semis at the Austalian Open.
This was Sabalenka’s first match here, having had a bye in the first round, and it was clear that the very different conditions didn’t suit her, and she never really adapted. The first set did end up going to a tiebreak after a couple of breaks, but by the second set, Kenin was playing some quality points. She was also winning points because of Sabalenka’s errors and misfiring second serve, and a few shots from the American’s raqcuet that just about made it, but she’ll take that, I’m sure.
So, the next chapter of the story that was being set up about women’s tennis will not be told in Rome. (But I was pleased for Kenin, because it sounded like she’d had a torrid time of it, with many first round losses and not the results she’d have wanted on the challenger circuit.)
I like being able to have a look at what live matches are on and then choose to watch one from the start! I selected the third-round encounter between Beatriz Haddid-Maia and Magda Linette (not a match I’d have been excited about 10 months ago), both now top 20 seeds.
I was watching in a sunny south Wales, so it was odd to watch people in macs and huddling under umbrellas in Rome, although there were points where there were worries about the conditions endangering the players. The commentators thought the heavy conditions would favour Linette, but it was Haddid-Maia who broke first, and had a lead for most of the first set while her opponent seemed out of sorts, making a lot of unforced errors and, worse, bad decisions. But the Brazilian got nervy at the end of the first, the Pole broke back. Haddid-Maia responded strongly, and won it 7-5.
She took that form and steamrolled through four games. Linette finally stopped the rot, and momentum went her way, and she was playing better, while things were getting fraught for Haddid-Maia. But though her lead was now slimmer, she kept her serve and played an excellent final game. (I have a soft spot for her because she’s left-handed, and she did so well in the doubles at Madrid.)
Anyway, tennis moved on to Rome and the Italian Open, where there are actual coin tosses and umpires going to check marks. I watched most of the second-round match between current Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and 2020 Aussie Open champion Sofia Kenin. But apparently the latter has been in the tennis wilderness; I couldn’t glean exactly why from the commentators. Certainly injury had played its part, and she hadn’t beaten a top 10 player since defeating Barty in the 2020 semis at the Austalian Open.
This was Sabalenka’s first match here, having had a bye in the first round, and it was clear that the very different conditions didn’t suit her, and she never really adapted. The first set did end up going to a tiebreak after a couple of breaks, but by the second set, Kenin was playing some quality points. She was also winning points because of Sabalenka’s errors and misfiring second serve, and a few shots from the American’s raqcuet that just about made it, but she’ll take that, I’m sure.
So, the next chapter of the story that was being set up about women’s tennis will not be told in Rome. (But I was pleased for Kenin, because it sounded like she’d had a torrid time of it, with many first round losses and not the results she’d have wanted on the challenger circuit.)
I like being able to have a look at what live matches are on and then choose to watch one from the start! I selected the third-round encounter between Beatriz Haddid-Maia and Magda Linette (not a match I’d have been excited about 10 months ago), both now top 20 seeds.
I was watching in a sunny south Wales, so it was odd to watch people in macs and huddling under umbrellas in Rome, although there were points where there were worries about the conditions endangering the players. The commentators thought the heavy conditions would favour Linette, but it was Haddid-Maia who broke first, and had a lead for most of the first set while her opponent seemed out of sorts, making a lot of unforced errors and, worse, bad decisions. But the Brazilian got nervy at the end of the first, the Pole broke back. Haddid-Maia responded strongly, and won it 7-5.
She took that form and steamrolled through four games. Linette finally stopped the rot, and momentum went her way, and she was playing better, while things were getting fraught for Haddid-Maia. But though her lead was now slimmer, she kept her serve and played an excellent final game. (I have a soft spot for her because she’s left-handed, and she did so well in the doubles at Madrid.)