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Post by The Chloe on Jan 17, 2008 13:27:00 GMT -5
Nalbandian versus Ferrero! Remember when this was almost a US Open Final? Nalbandian is significantly better than Ferrero these days. Please don't lose.
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Post by sasha on Jan 17, 2008 13:29:03 GMT -5
Fat Dave vs. Fit Dave was a given when the draw came out. I want to watch that nao.
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Post by The Chloe on Jan 17, 2008 13:39:04 GMT -5
Me too. Let's cancel the other matches and make that the final.
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Post by The Chloe on Jan 17, 2008 13:39:59 GMT -5
In other news, the entire first season of 30 Rock just finished downloading. This show better not suck. I've already caught up on the fourth season of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I need to fill a void until Lost is back. Any suggestions?
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Post by Maeby Fünke on Jan 17, 2008 13:41:29 GMT -5
Flight of the Conchords.
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Post by DBBN on Jan 17, 2008 13:54:06 GMT -5
In other news, the entire first season of 30 Rock just finished downloading. This show better not suck. Ohhhhhhhhhhhh it definitely rulez. I mean, it's super silly. No drama, if that's what you're into.
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Post by corswandt on Jan 17, 2008 18:10:19 GMT -5
I don't think Petrova is that talented. Her groundstrokes are always loopy and so ineffective. She has terrible contact point. I was excited about Petrova back in 2003, but then I came to dislike her game, attitude, and chokiness. When Petrova is confident and fully on, she can play awesome. Her demolition of Peer at some indoor tournament in late '06 should be used as a textbook example of how to play on fast indoors. And her mercurial temperament often makes for great entertainment. The '06 Charleston final was one of the funniest matches I have ever seen. Raymond is playing dubs with Schiavone! But they're about to lose to the Czech girls, Nicole and Barbara. That Strycova turned out to be such a disappointment making her transition from juniors to pros. Did she ever lose any weight? She's fit. I saw her play at the Estoril Open. She has no weapons whatsoever, apart from an obnoxious 'tude, and can't hit a winner to save her life.
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Post by DBBN on Jan 17, 2008 20:36:58 GMT -5
She's fit. I saw her play at the Estoril Open. She has no weapons whatsoever, apart from an obnoxious 'tude, and can't hit a winner to save her life. Untrue. She has a world-class drop shot which wins her many point. She also RULEZ like "30 Rock."
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 17, 2008 22:18:01 GMT -5
Fat Dave vs. Fit Dave was a given when the draw came out. I want to watch that nao. I don't think so. Ferrero has done well against Balby (?) Nalby since he started to stuck. Like, I remember those two wins in fall of 2005 when Ferrero was bad and Nalbandian was a top player. I think right now JCF is playing better and with more energy, and has the game to take out Nalby. Unfortunately for him, he's hopeless against his almost-namesake Ferrer. My worst fear is that Ferrero will beat Nalby just to lose to Ferrer, who will then lose to Djokovic, who will then lose to Federer. WTF, I really cannot believe Safin lost to Baghdatis. I haven't watched the match yet, but I'm disappointed. I thought he would straight-set the overrated poser!! Marat, come on wake up! You were even looking hot this event and beat darling Gulbis! Now I'm not even excited for Hewitt-Baghdatis or for the winner playing Djokovic in another boring baseline affair (like their matches at Wimbledon '07), because the anticiaption of watching Safin cream Hewitt in another AO night match was so wonderful. And Safin-Djoko could have been amazing as well. Has Safin really never come back from 2 sets down to win? That surprises me just because his 5th set record is fantastic and he wins so many 5-setters. I guess in most of those he won one of the first two sets if not both, then went walkabout, then regrouped in time.
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 17, 2008 22:19:14 GMT -5
In other news, the entire first season of 30 Rock just finished downloading. This show better not suck. I've already caught up on the fourth season of Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives. I need to fill a void until Lost is back. Any suggestions? Grey's sucks, as does DH, and I gave up on all TV. I agree, watch something on HBO or Showtime like Flight of the Concords.
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Post by Grarliner on Jan 18, 2008 1:39:23 GMT -5
We've seen the "good Blake" in the 2 matches so far. That probably changes once he stops playing defensive guys he's not worried about. Todd Martin > Any Current Tall USians. Bite your tongue! There's been a fair share of upsets on the men's side. The top 6 are dominant, but that's because they're really good. It's hard to say the same about the women's side... Do tell. How do you know if the reason things are one-sided is because someone's "really good" as opposed to someone "has no competition"? It just seems that people use one excuse for the women's game and one for the men's. It's bullshit.
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 18, 2008 1:55:40 GMT -5
Well that's what always happens. Whenever there is a dominant number 1, like right now with Henin and Federer, the rest of the tour is called CRAP. People say the competition is poor, and that contributes to the lack of variety with Slam winners. But if there wasn't one player so clearly the class of the field, I bet the others would look a hell of a lot better and more skilled. Roddick would be a multiple Grand Slam winner for sure, and Nadal would have Slams off the clay for sure, etc. And I think the same applies to people complaining about the women's tour in the past during the domination of Graf or the Williams sisters.
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Post by sasha on Jan 18, 2008 2:08:08 GMT -5
Fine, let's compare.
Federer-Henin. Justine is known for struggling in early round matches. Federer is the greatest player ever, and takes pride in winning every single point against a Gnome.
Nadal-Kuznetsova. Lolz.
Djokovic-Jankovic... we don't need to go on. The top of the men's game is clearly much more solid.
As for depth, I'm not arguing it. It's improved tons of the women's side, but there's obviously more on the men's side. Because men play tennis more.
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 18, 2008 16:31:06 GMT -5
Yeah, but...
Davydenko-Ivanovic. Ana is a future GS champ, Nikolay is probably not.
Ferrer-Sharapova. 0 Slams to 2.
Roddick-Chakvetadze. Lol, okay men win that one.
Gonzo-Serena. Women win this one by a mile. Gonzalez has done nothing of note since last year's AO final, whereas Serena is champion.
Gasquet-Venus. Once again, choker vs. champion.
Plus it wasn't that long ago that Robredo and Stepanek were top tenners, lol.
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Post by Edna Krabappel on Jan 18, 2008 16:53:56 GMT -5
But if there wasn't one player so clearly the class of the field, I bet the others would look a hell of a lot better and more skilled. We saw how that one worked with the women at the AO last year. Justine wasn't there and fat Serena embarrassed everyone. I see Leena's point. Take Federer out of the game and there are still a few really, really good players around. While if Justine had been too heartbroken over her divorce and missed the entire last season we could have seen fat Serena go 4/4. Except maybe at Wimby where she'd lose in the final to her sister who'd have her usual one good tournament in two years.
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 18, 2008 17:02:27 GMT -5
No, I definitely see her point as well. But I see Sjengster's point too. And I know my feelings about the strength of the WTA change with my mood. But I am optimistic that we may actually have 2 more years of solid Grand Slam tennis fought out between Henin, Sharapova, and the Williams sisters (if those 2 stay interested). Then Serena and Venus will retire to pursue fashion design, acting, celebrity bullshit. Maria will burn out - I think her early shoulder issues in 2007 are a sign that her body won't hold up. And by 2010, Justine won't be hot shit anymore. I'm also excited about the new gang of players like Paszek, Cirstea, and Cornet, and curious about Ivanovic's future. I think Ana is one of those girls who will stick around and win some Slams, even if she never becomes dominant.
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Post by Grarliner on Jan 19, 2008 2:15:09 GMT -5
I'm not sold by your "comparison", Leena.
You didn't address my point, which is how do you tell? You can't. You can see the absurdity in it over Sampras and Federer fans arguing over who had more "competition". Such as ... Sampras is better even though he won less because he had more competition, and we know he had more competition because he won less.
It's a circular argument and a fallacy of logic.
There is this canard that women's tennis has only a few "good" players. Every single fucking time a top woman easily wins an early-round match, people say that. They never, EVER, say that when Federer, Nadal and Djokovic roll someone 1, 1, 0. Which they do. A lot. And when "the scrubs" give a top woman a run in the early rounds, it's always oh, Justine was OFF. Venus was SUCKING. When someone does it to Federer, OH MY GOD, WHAT TALENT WHAT A MATCH. Every single time.
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Post by lexpretend on Jan 19, 2008 7:07:05 GMT -5
I agree with that last post, but really "depth" is a bit of a red herring when comparing the quality of the tours - the real issue is trouble with the WTA is how often big matches between top 10 players turn into damp squibs. I mean...look at that Chak/Sweta USO SF last year. That was a match between the No 2 player in the world and an up-and-comer in the top 10, there was no reason for it to suck as much as it did - and matches like that aren't even the exception, sadly. I'm really tired of watching these endless litanies of unforced errors and crap serving from supposedly elite players on the WTA, especially as they can all do so much better.
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Post by Grarliner on Jan 20, 2008 2:02:24 GMT -5
I agree with that last post, but really "depth" is a bit of a red herring when comparing the quality of the tours - the real issue is trouble with the WTA is how often big matches between top 10 players turn into damp squibs. I mean...look at that Chak/Sweta USO SF last year. That was a match between the No 2 player in the world and an up-and-comer in the top 10, there was no reason for it to suck as much as it did - and matches like that aren't even the exception, sadly. I'm really tired of watching these endless litanies of unforced errors and crap serving from supposedly elite players on the WTA, especially as they can all do so much better. That seems like a different subject, though. And the other USO SF was amazing ...
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Post by Self-Love, Baby! on Jan 20, 2008 2:50:30 GMT -5
Yeah, it was really amazing, easily one of the top 5 best women's matches I've ever seen. That's why Justine and Venus need to play more.
The 2nd week of this AO is set up for great matches.
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