|
Day 6
Sept 5, 2009 22:16:07 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 5, 2009 22:16:07 GMT -5
Kvitova's going to blow this match, but now I'm positive that I was right about her big move. It's coming. She's really good.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 5, 2009 23:28:18 GMT -5
Post by leelee on Sept 5, 2009 23:28:18 GMT -5
Ugh, stop showing Flake/Boredo.
So, we can watch Kvitova blow this. Nice game at 5-5. Women's tennis.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 5, 2009 23:48:48 GMT -5
Post by GoDom on Sept 5, 2009 23:48:48 GMT -5
LOL.
So who's going to win eight points in the final now?
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 5, 2009 23:49:49 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 5, 2009 23:49:49 GMT -5
Kvitova doesn't even care. She wants more. She'll get it. Go get it.
22 hours.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 5, 2009 23:51:53 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 5, 2009 23:51:53 GMT -5
LOL. So who's going to win eight points in the final now? This looks like the bottom half of '07, and Kuznetsova's gonna pull it off again.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 5, 2009 23:56:19 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 5, 2009 23:56:19 GMT -5
And Flake loses easily. What a great day, even with the Roddick loss.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:02:15 GMT -5
Post by leelee on Sept 6, 2009 0:02:15 GMT -5
Yay, Safina finally sucked enough. And Kvitova gave the most nervous interview ever after winning. The top half is fun now. Thank you.
And I apologize for doubting Burley about Kvitova! Even though she's still fat, and chokes, and not that good.
Yes, this was an awesome day. What makes the Open great.
Also, Martina was gold late in that match. Ripping Safina constantly.
Jimmy: "Does the mini-break mean anything?" Martina: "No."
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:12:34 GMT -5
Post by leelee on Sept 6, 2009 0:12:34 GMT -5
Nothing can be worse than Chak/Sweta 07.
I think Dulko/Wozden are the best bets for the SF. Followed by a Venus/Serena SF. Commence media laughter.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:13:53 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 0:13:53 GMT -5
Jimmy: "Does the mini-break mean anything?" Martina: "No." LOL. Jimbo needs to STFU during points. Or draw graphics. Or commercials. Anyway. Safina is just as pudge as Kvitova! But it's really because the girls wear clothes which are too tight for them. WTA Tour is muffin top central.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:20:45 GMT -5
Post by leelee on Sept 6, 2009 0:20:45 GMT -5
Jimmy is really bad. Commentating ain't for everyone. And he obviously hasn't watched a second of tennis since retiring, except for Andrew.
No way. Safina is fit, she just wears those super tight ugly tops and has big core muscles. Kvitova is wide, got a big spare tire goin' on.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:24:02 GMT -5
Post by The Chloe on Sept 6, 2009 0:24:02 GMT -5
Tennis was exciting when I was sleeping! Or, it was terrible. Either way, discussion was had. Victorious.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:26:15 GMT -5
Post by The Chloe on Sept 6, 2009 0:26:15 GMT -5
As for women's tennis blowing, I don't know if I ever liked it enough to get really into two scrubs pushing balls back and forth at one another. I was really into it back when I had favorites, but stopped really caring after Henin "retired". If Serena wasn't such an obnoxious personality, I could probably like her for her tennis. Sadly, she's horrid.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:26:34 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 0:26:34 GMT -5
Dude, Safina has a core made of donuts.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:28:25 GMT -5
Post by The Chloe on Sept 6, 2009 0:28:25 GMT -5
I also don't see Safina as pudgy. Given that she actually used to have muffin top, I now see her as fit. That said, I haven't looked in a few months.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:29:38 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 0:29:38 GMT -5
She looks like Jesse Witten.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:29:55 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 0:29:55 GMT -5
I'm mostly kidding.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:31:48 GMT -5
Post by The Chloe on Sept 6, 2009 0:31:48 GMT -5
I don't know who Jesse Witten is, but I heard he's fat. He played somebody the other day, fatly. I should look this up and get back in the loop.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:33:17 GMT -5
Post by The Chloe on Sept 6, 2009 0:33:17 GMT -5
I should clarify that my failure to keep up on the USO as well as I do in other years is a result of the time difference, and not my having anything better to do. I've left my apartment once since Friday night, and that was to buy water. Being sick is super lame. Were the time change not so obscene, I'd have been in here adding another two pages. Three, had Rafa played.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:38:18 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 0:38:18 GMT -5
Get your light fixed so you can stop being sick.
Okay, I have to go to bed.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 0:49:29 GMT -5
Post by leelee on Sept 6, 2009 0:49:29 GMT -5
Your favorite tennis players are Spanish. You loved Boredo!
Lies.
He is very fat. But, we'll never see Witten again, so I wouldn't bother.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 4:45:26 GMT -5
Post by lexpretend on Sept 6, 2009 4:45:26 GMT -5
What amazing results. Sad I didn't get to see any play, except for my excellent timing in stumbling drunkenly home just in time to catch the Roddick final set TB. Isner outrallying him as well as outserving I remember thinking when Oudin beat Demented, that if she stayed confident she'd have a great chance against Shriek. Glad it ensued. And no matter how shitty Kvitova's form is, everyone has a chance against Safina (see: Rogowska). Lulz at Flake getting straight-setted in the night session. Obviously. The reason for me is the lack of ELITE players. The Williamses are responsible for this as they never pushed the field consistently. Instead of forcing them the catch up in 2003/04, they just went away and let bad players win Slams. And of course, Leach. Who was an elite player and yet didn't win Slams. Too many random winners. We've had so few on the men's side. Johansson is the only one I can think of, and it was awful. Costa that year too, when Juanqui choked in that RG final. And Gaudio, too. We haven't had too many random Slam winners on the WTA - more, random Tier I winners and Slam SFists. It's equivalent to the ATP days when Magnus Norman was No 2 and a RG finalist, or Slamless Rios at No 1, or...I dunno, Verkerk and Schuettler and blah. Anyway, your point is correct. Too few accomplished players on Tour: apart from the Williamses, only Sweta and MauMau are multi-Slam champions. And beating either of them in 2009 doesn't mean anything anyway. Really, it's not that Jankovic, Safina, Ivanovic et al are bad players...we've all seen how well they can play. But they backed into major tour titles and high rankings without having to develop mental fortitude or the knack of having to raise their game when it mattered. What sucks is that they're ALL Novotna figures. I loved Novotna, having one choker around is good for drama and the will-she-won't-she factor. And crowds really take to Novotna-type headcases. But there should only be one of them around at any given point. When half the top 10 is comprised of Novotnae, it just looks pathetic. No. She's way, way worse than any of the others. The scream is louder and lasts longer. The cheering UEs is constant, after almost every point she wins. There's no respite from her annoyances at all, watching a De Screamo match is wearying in a way that even Maria matches don't come close to. Sadly I agree with Leena about her potential. Enough power not to be a pusher, but her game is basically modelled around consistency. And such total self-belief and confidence - she could ride that into the top 10 no matter what her game was like, because half the WTA crumbles in the face of it.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 6:14:56 GMT -5
Post by janie on Sept 6, 2009 6:14:56 GMT -5
No. She's way, way worse than any of the others. The scream is louder and lasts longer. The cheering UEs is constant, after almost every point she wins. There's no respite from her annoyances at all, watching a De Screamo match is wearying in a way that even Maria matches don't come close to. Sadly I agree with Leena about her potential. Enough power not to be a pusher, but her game is basically modelled around consistency. And such total self-belief and confidence - she could ride that into the top 10 no matter what her game was like, because half the WTA crumbles in the face of it. I would have thought that, but her total self-belief and confidence, not to mention generous wild card gifts, sure didn't get her too far this summer. Sure, she confidenced herself past a choking Johansson, but she's barely in the top 100. Her other opponents all ignored the screaming and the will to win and made short work of her. She's got a long way to go before she becomes the next WozDen out there, confident or not. Dinara She and Ana need to take long vacations right now.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 6:37:05 GMT -5
Post by lexpretend on Sept 6, 2009 6:37:05 GMT -5
Well, her game - and especially her serve - have some way to go. But the raw material is there, and once those improvements are made...
Safina whining about the court change. How she has the nerve to call herself the best player in the world, I have no idea. Lulz, she'll still be No 1 when this is over and Serena holds three of the year's Slams. If I was Serena, I'd be actively trying to remain No 2. You just know that Serena finds all of this hilarious. When she woke up to that result, and Safina's interview, she probably laughed out loud for about half an hour.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 7:30:09 GMT -5
Post by Maeby Fünke on Sept 6, 2009 7:30:09 GMT -5
Gaah, last night I didn't care, now I wish I'd stayed up.
Obviously Vera is going to lose to Pennetta, then I can stop caring completely (again).
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 10:07:10 GMT -5
Post by Iorix on Sept 6, 2009 10:07:10 GMT -5
I saw Nadya and Amelie play such a spectacular match one time, indoors. Both were rushing the net constantly. If that Nadya would show up here, she could get some fans. Paris GDF SF 2007. Some of the best serving I've ever seen on a WTA match. I'm glad Oudin won, don't get me wrong. But this crowd was so quick to hustle Maria out, when they're probably going to wish they had her on Thursday, Friday, maybe even Saturday... That's exactly what I was coming in here to say about this match. But come to think of it, the WTA must stop marketing itself on the basis of individual stars. RIGHT NOW might be a good time to begin. It's not it at all. They could all be fat and ugly and terrible. YOU and ME and HIM? We'll still watch! We are 100% irrelevant because we are sold on the product no matter what. Even die-hards eventually draw the line somewhere. Bingo. Following women's tennis properly is a time-consuming business. I print draws and fill them in by hand as a way to follow results; I watch as many matches as possible to keep myself up-to-date re: the current form of even relatively minor players, and I really go out of may way to watch young hopefuls for the first time. If the game is consistently shit, and above all if I actively dislike every single player who actually wins stuff and/or makes it to TV, I'll begin to drift away. Sooo much I want to reply to. When did this board suddenly revive from the dead. Indeed. Hurley made a very good point about the insane pressure to deliver Generation Suck must be under right now, and how that may be hampering the development of some players who might actually have some talent. But the main reason for this mayhem is the sheer lack of quality of the 1989-1991 age group. Is this Roddick match worth looking up somewhere? I found it amusing. Isner has improved immensely, even though at least some of it was due to Roddick letting Isner boss him around. I remember actually believing Hurley's smitten fanboy report when he first saw Isner play (Washington 07?), and then being horrified when I saw him on TV (USO 07 vs Fed IIRC). But he can actually hit BHs and volleys now.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 10:37:40 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 10:37:40 GMT -5
I watched much of the Isner-Becker match. Isner moves pretty well for a guy of his size, which will always make him very tough to beat. The pivotal point of the match was at 5-5 in the second set, when Becker played a mediocre drop shot at 30-30...which would be a good play against most giants, but Isner ran it down, went on to break and hold for a set all. Isner's got meat on him...he's lean, not spindly like KING IVO. He has the serve but also impressive stamina, which is proved by his winning three marathon matches in a row. He may become really really good, which will be scary. BUT he is a crazy fist pumper and COME ONer, like a louder Hewitt. It's kind of annoying, but the crowd eats it up. Plus he's pretty cute (especially for a freakishly tall person) so he is quickly becoming a fan favorite. I'll admit I'd bone him This is really not that smitten-kitten. It's fairly tempered, and...basically has come true, no?
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 10:39:05 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 10:39:05 GMT -5
LOL at the post directly after that: As for Del Potro...man, he should have pwned Odesnik. Wayne isn't a bad player, for a midget, but JMDP had a foot on him and so much more power on his groundstrokes. JMDP, however, has an average first serve and a pretty terrible second serve, especially for his height. He also was returning from five feet behind the baseline, which is dumb on this surface (duh), so his tactics are pretty sketchy. He had a MP in the second set TB and was outplayed, but once he lost the set he became very petulant and made way too many UE's. It was annoying to see But he did super-suck that day. I mean, Odesnik! Pony improved so rapidly.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 11:10:37 GMT -5
Post by Iorix on Sept 6, 2009 11:10:37 GMT -5
I watched much of the Isner-Becker match. Isner moves pretty well for a guy of his size, which will always make him very tough to beat. The pivotal point of the match was at 5-5 in the second set, when Becker played a mediocre drop shot at 30-30...which would be a good play against most giants, but Isner ran it down, went on to break and hold for a set all. Isner's got meat on him...he's lean, not spindly like KING IVO. He has the serve but also impressive stamina, which is proved by his winning three marathon matches in a row. He may become really really good, which will be scary. BUT he is a crazy fist pumper and COME ONer, like a louder Hewitt. It's kind of annoying, but the crowd eats it up. Plus he's pretty cute (especially for a freakishly tall person) so he is quickly becoming a fan favorite. I'll admit I'd bone him This is really not that smitten-kitten. It's fairly tempered, and...basically has come true, no? It's not what you said - more what you left out. In 2007, Isner was wholly inept at anything else than serving and hitting the odd big FH.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 11:19:02 GMT -5
Post by DBBN on Sept 6, 2009 11:19:02 GMT -5
Yeah, well, I figured you do enough doomsaying for the both of us. As you know, I am perpetually spreading beatific rays of sunshine, rainbows, and puppies.
Anyway, way back in 2007, bug serving and bug forehands got one everywhere, including Isner, who had a great summer.
|
|
|
Day 6
Sept 6, 2009 13:37:50 GMT -5
Post by leelee on Sept 6, 2009 13:37:50 GMT -5
De Screamo is not like WozDen, at all. She's strong off the ground. She has that wicked CC BH that Safina routinely hits when she's not being a moron. Sure, she's struggled at times this year... the serve is still a huge liability, and she seems to be very immature at this point. But, the skills are there, as much as we don't want them to be.
It's kind of the same with Mladenovic. Although, she's a massive choker. Oh man, if Kiki gets to the top of the game... if you think today's wimps are bad.
Eh. Isner, like Ivo, can suddenly look competent from the baseline when they HAVE TIME. Even more so with Isner, and his enormous swings, especially on the FH. Andrew just played that match horribly.
|
|