feather_ghyll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feather_ghyll) wrote2025-06-18 08:23 am
feather_ghyll) wrote2025-06-18 08:23 am
TENNIS: Queen's - Men's championship - R1
Day one: Joined the tennis with Dan Evans winning the first set against Frances Tiafoe. Impressively, he maintained his level at the start of the second set, playing smart, disruptive tennis that dismantled Tiafoe, the much higher ranked player. (He had a 6-3 record against Evans, but they’d never played on grass before.) Evans is ranked something like 199, and has been playing Challengers of late.
Next up Holger Rune vs. lucky loser Chris O’Connell (Arnaldi had pulled out), and although there was one ragged service game from Rune, he wasn’t under anything like as much pressure as he should have been because O’Connell was failing to get a good return shot on half the points (I’m still not sure which is the deuce court and advantage court despite all the years I’ve watched tennis.) Controlled play, a break in both sets and Rune had improved on last year’s results here.
The third match of the day involved Cameron Norrie, who’s seen an uptick in his tennis results recently, and young Jakub Mensik, seeded 8. First time I’ve seen Mensik play properly and at 19 he already has an imposing physicality, the big serve and shots that I knew of. Norrie, of course, knows how to play on grass, but it looked as if it would go to a tiebreak and did. Norrie got a minibreak, but did not succeed in taking his chances and win the set point. Mensik improved as the tiebreak went on and took it.
Norrie was a pro at the start of the second, but after a couple of service games, errors crept into Mensik’s game and he went on a bit of a mental walkabout, while Norrie remained a consummate pro and won the second set very easily. But at the start of the third set, Mensik looked to have reset and put Norrie under pressure again. A few double faults and a double break put Norrie down 0-5. He made Mensik serve it out, but Mensik looks like he deserves all the hype. His serve and big shots are top 20 worthy weapons already, he’s pretty fast, and yes, he did show some singes of callowness in the forecourt, and a lack of concentration on the second set, but he’s already won a Masters and looks like he could be a handful on grass. (I don’t think the groundkeepers loved his attempts to slide to get to a few shots.)
Jacob Fearnley, on a career high, was facing Alex Bolt, an Australian qualifier. Fearnley played effectively against him, and though Bolt was better in the second set, the match did not last much beyond an hour. Fearnley needs to make fewer double faults, though.
Day two – and I realised that Alex de Minaur was facing Jiri Lehetchka, something I’d missed when seeing the order of play on Monday in a tough, tough first match. Lehetchka put de Minaur in to serve first and, mainly because his forehand wasn’t fully working, broke. Lehetchka looked solid, serving well, willing to come forward (he’d played on grass a little the previous week). In the second set, he also looked the stronger player and so caused a minor upset.
Second up, Jack Draper vs Jenson Brookby, of whom I hadn’t heard. Draper was maybe feeling him out in the first six games – he has unorthodox shots and the commentators presumed that Brooksby’s unique service motion was to spare his shoulder. Draper’s serve was soon going strong, frustrating his opponent, and Brooksby’s serve wilted under the pressure. That’s what he needs to work on, meanwhile Draper progressed relatively straightforwardly.
Third match was Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alex (?) Walton, another lucky loser because Davidovych-Fokina had pulled out (because he’d just got married, although he cited illness. I have no idea why he put his name down for Queen’s.) Walton was doing okay, fairly willing to come forward, and Alcaraz was doing that thing where he was working him out. The one stat that startled me is that Alcaraz (according to the numbers) is better at returning first serves than even Djokovic. That told, and Walton crumbled in a service game. To his credit, he fended off a double break, making Alcaraz serve it out, which meant he'd serve first.
To his extra credit, Walton played better in the second set, meaning that it was on serve. In the 5-4 game, he had two set points, which led to Alcaraz serving big and better for two points. It went to a tiebreak, where Alcaraz eventually got the minibreak and served it out. In between all that, there’d been one acrobatic high backhand volley, a string of Alcaraz remembering drop shots are his thing and a lot of forehands unleashed. He was playing conservatively, for him, fully engaged throughout, probably still sussing out the conditions. I did think at times a part of his brain was already preparting to face Sinner (playing in Germany this week) at the Wimbledon final. Sinner, of course, being his last opponent in THAT French Open final, but Alcaraz’s comments in the interview suggested that he was very serious about grass.
I fast forwarded to the end of sets in the fourth and final match the Beeb were televising, to see that Moutet (lefthanded, French, awkward) beat Fritz (fresh off winning Stuttgart) in three sets. Two of those went to tiebreak. Also worth noting that Shelton was out at the hands of a Frenchman.
The revelations about the hateful messages Katie Boulter (and other players) are receiving from trolls/disturbed individuals who may have a gambling problem are dismaying.
Next up Holger Rune vs. lucky loser Chris O’Connell (Arnaldi had pulled out), and although there was one ragged service game from Rune, he wasn’t under anything like as much pressure as he should have been because O’Connell was failing to get a good return shot on half the points (I’m still not sure which is the deuce court and advantage court despite all the years I’ve watched tennis.) Controlled play, a break in both sets and Rune had improved on last year’s results here.
The third match of the day involved Cameron Norrie, who’s seen an uptick in his tennis results recently, and young Jakub Mensik, seeded 8. First time I’ve seen Mensik play properly and at 19 he already has an imposing physicality, the big serve and shots that I knew of. Norrie, of course, knows how to play on grass, but it looked as if it would go to a tiebreak and did. Norrie got a minibreak, but did not succeed in taking his chances and win the set point. Mensik improved as the tiebreak went on and took it.
Norrie was a pro at the start of the second, but after a couple of service games, errors crept into Mensik’s game and he went on a bit of a mental walkabout, while Norrie remained a consummate pro and won the second set very easily. But at the start of the third set, Mensik looked to have reset and put Norrie under pressure again. A few double faults and a double break put Norrie down 0-5. He made Mensik serve it out, but Mensik looks like he deserves all the hype. His serve and big shots are top 20 worthy weapons already, he’s pretty fast, and yes, he did show some singes of callowness in the forecourt, and a lack of concentration on the second set, but he’s already won a Masters and looks like he could be a handful on grass. (I don’t think the groundkeepers loved his attempts to slide to get to a few shots.)
Jacob Fearnley, on a career high, was facing Alex Bolt, an Australian qualifier. Fearnley played effectively against him, and though Bolt was better in the second set, the match did not last much beyond an hour. Fearnley needs to make fewer double faults, though.
Day two – and I realised that Alex de Minaur was facing Jiri Lehetchka, something I’d missed when seeing the order of play on Monday in a tough, tough first match. Lehetchka put de Minaur in to serve first and, mainly because his forehand wasn’t fully working, broke. Lehetchka looked solid, serving well, willing to come forward (he’d played on grass a little the previous week). In the second set, he also looked the stronger player and so caused a minor upset.
Second up, Jack Draper vs Jenson Brookby, of whom I hadn’t heard. Draper was maybe feeling him out in the first six games – he has unorthodox shots and the commentators presumed that Brooksby’s unique service motion was to spare his shoulder. Draper’s serve was soon going strong, frustrating his opponent, and Brooksby’s serve wilted under the pressure. That’s what he needs to work on, meanwhile Draper progressed relatively straightforwardly.
Third match was Carlos Alcaraz vs. Alex (?) Walton, another lucky loser because Davidovych-Fokina had pulled out (because he’d just got married, although he cited illness. I have no idea why he put his name down for Queen’s.) Walton was doing okay, fairly willing to come forward, and Alcaraz was doing that thing where he was working him out. The one stat that startled me is that Alcaraz (according to the numbers) is better at returning first serves than even Djokovic. That told, and Walton crumbled in a service game. To his credit, he fended off a double break, making Alcaraz serve it out, which meant he'd serve first.
To his extra credit, Walton played better in the second set, meaning that it was on serve. In the 5-4 game, he had two set points, which led to Alcaraz serving big and better for two points. It went to a tiebreak, where Alcaraz eventually got the minibreak and served it out. In between all that, there’d been one acrobatic high backhand volley, a string of Alcaraz remembering drop shots are his thing and a lot of forehands unleashed. He was playing conservatively, for him, fully engaged throughout, probably still sussing out the conditions. I did think at times a part of his brain was already preparting to face Sinner (playing in Germany this week) at the Wimbledon final. Sinner, of course, being his last opponent in THAT French Open final, but Alcaraz’s comments in the interview suggested that he was very serious about grass.
I fast forwarded to the end of sets in the fourth and final match the Beeb were televising, to see that Moutet (lefthanded, French, awkward) beat Fritz (fresh off winning Stuttgart) in three sets. Two of those went to tiebreak. Also worth noting that Shelton was out at the hands of a Frenchman.
The revelations about the hateful messages Katie Boulter (and other players) are receiving from trolls/disturbed individuals who may have a gambling problem are dismaying.