Tennis 2020: There is an I in Thiem

jon abbey

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Australian Open kicked off today amidst still sometimes smoky conditions, rain today and the next few days will hopefully help.

15 year old wunderkind Coco Gauff drew 39 year old Venus Williams in the first round, same as Wimbledon and again Gauff won in straight sets although Venus pushed this one to 5-5 in the first set tiebreak before Coco pulled it out. 15 against 39 is incredible, any other sport where that has happened at a top level?

Djokovic coming up later, this is my favorite tournament of the year as it best fits my own ridiculous schedule.
 

jon abbey

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Chris Evert, not usually prone to hyperbole, said mid match that she thinks Coco is already a top three defensive player. She seems like a very smart player also, lots of savvy shots, not just power.
 

jon abbey

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#1 seeded woman Barty drops the first set 7-5, if she goes out it will be even more of a bummer that Osaka and Serena are scheduled to meet in the quarters.
 

jon abbey

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Djokovic loses a set in the first round here for the first time since 2006, but the German Struff was playing pretty great and then Novak came back and walloped him in the 4th, so nothing to worry about it.

Djokovic (7) and Federer (6) have won 13 of the last 16 Aussie Opens, that is insane.
 

gingerbreadmann

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Whatever it is, Coco Gauff has got it. Cirstea must be kicking herself for blowing that lead but Gauff hunkered down like a pro and grinded out a comeback from 3-0 down in the 3rd.
 

jon abbey

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Really nice comeback from Coco against Cirstea, loses the first set, wins the second, down 3-0 in the 3rd, she pulled herself together and won 7-5. If Osaka wins again later today, Coco against Osaka in the third round again like the US Open.
 

Matty005

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Really nice comeback from Coco against Cirstea, loses the first set, wins the second, down 3-0 in the 3rd, she pulled herself together and won 7-5. If Osaka wins again later today, Coco against Osaka again in the third round again like the US Open.
Osaka already won earlier. Rematch is on.
 

jon abbey

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Wozniacki has said she will retire after this tournament, to start a family with her husband, former NBA player David Lee. Today she was down 1-5 in the first set and 0-3 in the second (down two breaks) against the #23 seed Yastremska, yet she somehow came back and won both sets 7-5, 7-5. She is on track to meet her good friend Serena in the 4th, that would be a very emotional match.
 

jon abbey

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Gauff being interviewed on ESPN earlier, she evidently has gotten noticeably bigger/taller just since the US Open, but I can’t find any articles mentioning this. She said everyone has been telling her that but she doesn’t know specifics, and that she’s just happy she’s not experiencing growing pains like her brother. Also she stood up after being egged on and did a pretty complex dance at the end, go Coco.
 

jon abbey

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Couple of early breaks for Federer in the draw, Dimitrov who he could have faced in the round of 16 went out tonight as did #8 Berrettini who was seeded to meet him in the quarters, so he has what looks like a pretty easy run to the semis against Novak, who has #6 Tsitsipas in his quarter.
 

jon abbey

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The Serena/Wozniacki 4th round match people are hoping for is in danger right now, both of them down a set currently.

Osaka/Coco after 3 AM EST tonight, whoo hoo. Osaka demolished her at the US Open but this one should be a little closer at least.
 

jon abbey

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Serena down a set and a break now, Wang doesn’t look bothered one bit by her power.
 

jon abbey

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Sad to say but I think Serena might be done winning majors.
 

jon abbey

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Wang serving for the match at 5-4, Serena has had lots of chances on her serve but Wang keeps gutting out holds.
 

jon abbey

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Serena breaks with the best game I've seen her play all match, 5-5!
 

jon abbey

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Serena gets down again 15-40 on her serve and wins four straight points to go up 6-5, she is fighting herself as well as Wang.
 

jon abbey

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Wang holds at love, tiebreak was 2-2 and then Serena won five straight points to push it to a 3rd set. Wang isn’t backing down at all but maybe Serena has found it again.
 

jon abbey

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Wozniacki battles back a few times, wins the second set, gets back from 0-3 in the 3rd to 5-5 but goes down 7-5, her career is over (she has said this is her final tournament, as I wrote above).
 

InstaFace

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tuned in to Serena struggling and then straightening herself out at 3*-4. Up 30-0, down 40-Ad, rallies to level at 4-4.

Sounds like that's been the theme of the match.

I absolutely love how Alexis Ohanian is worth like $50M on his own, and owns or runs like 5 tech businesses... and always makes it his business to be in the stands for every single match of Serena's big tournaments. Dude is like the model husband for the year 2020.
 

jon abbey

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Wang breaks and wins 7-5, Serena never looked great. She should probably retire after the US Open.
 

jon abbey

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Serena beat Wang in 44 minutes 1 and 0 at the US Open, quite the reversal today.

Osaka/Gauff are in the same quarter as Serena/Wozniacki, so this opens up the draw some for the winner there.
 

jon abbey

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#10 Madison Keys goes out in straight sets, blowing out a 4-2 lead in the second. Not a great hour for the American women...
 

Marciano490

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Wang breaks and wins 7-5, Serena never looked great. She should probably retire after the US Open.
Even if she doesn’t win and is one away from tying the record? Man, I don’t know if she would/could. Imagine the mindfuckery of it all.
 

jon abbey

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Even if she doesn’t win and is one away from tying the record? Man, I don’t know if she would/could. Imagine the mindfuckery of it all.
She's lost four Grand Slam finals in a row, all in straight sets, all to different players, I think the window may have closed.

That being said, Patrick McEnroe strongly disagreed right after the match and said she is still good enough to win majors, so what do I know?
 

jon abbey

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Also they just showed her press conference and she is not even close to thinking about retiring, she said at the end she was going to start training again tomorrow to stop this from happening again, so we'll see.
 

Marciano490

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She's lost four Grand Slam finals in a row, all in straight sets, all to different players, I think the window may have closed.

That being said, Patrick McEnroe strongly disagreed right after the match and said she is still good enough to win majors, so what do I know?
You might have the most impressive athletic resume on the forum. I remember you were talking about what it meant to go back to back as NCAA champions. If your team had lost your senior year, and you had the eligibility to play two more seasons as a post-grad, you'd have done it right? Rather than regret it the rest of your life.

Shit, I still sit around and think about every time I ever lost; even hockey games from when I was 9.

I know it's not healthy, and I know Serena is the best woman's tennis player ever and one of the greatest athletes ever. But I bet through all that, a healthy child, a seemingly happy marriage, it'd eat at her if she retired at 23.
 

Matty005

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When Serena was chasing Chrissy and Martina (at 18) and then Steffi at 22, Court's "record" was hardly ever shown. It was all about the, "Open Era." Now that Serena is one away, it's like that has come back in play. I hope she does get it though. Margaret Court is an awful human being and I would love for her to lose her place on top (I also hope the Aussie Open changes the name on her court some day).
 

jon abbey

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You might have the most impressive athletic resume on the forum. I remember you were talking about what it meant to go back to back as NCAA champions. If your team had lost your senior year, and you had the eligibility to play two more seasons as a post-grad, you'd have done it right? Rather than regret it the rest of your life.
Hmm, interesting. Actually our team was so loaded that if I had come back for a 5th year, I might not have even started (three sabre fencers) even though I was around 5th-10th in the country my junior/senior years. The guy I (barely) beat out for the 3rd spot senior year was NCAA individual champ two years later and overall national champ soon after yet he couldn't crack the top three at Columbia until his junior year, it was really a ridiculous collection of talent.

But it is funny, I had occasional dreams for many years about somehow discovering I had extra eligibility and coming back to compete, but there is not one iota of overlapping comparison between me and Serena. She is a top 2 player of all time (I still pick Navratilova) and I don't think a few more majors would affect that much, but much more importantly, I don't know if she has any more in her and it's a little sad to watch her mildly diminished (not that this should matter to anyone but her). Of course everyone thought this about Federer too, and he rebounded with a vengeance, so we'll see.
 

Matty005

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Coco takes down the 3 seed Osaka in a relatively easy match. 6-3 6-4. Naomi was all over the place. Could not get a return of serve in to save her life. I actually think Coco might lose the next round to either Kenin or Zhang. Just another amazing run for Gauff here. It's been incredible to watch.
 

jon abbey

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Was watching on DVR so couldn’t post but Coco was incredible. Osaka got rattled a bunch but at least part of it was Coco’s relentlessness and incredible serving. Biggest win of her career by far so far, Coco!!
 

jon abbey

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#32 Raonic takes out #6 Tsitsipas in straight sets, that is Novak’s quarter.
 

jon abbey

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Fed is in a struggle early against Aussie Millman, who beat him in 4 in the 2018 US Open, down a set and on serve in the second. Fed had maybe the worst service game of his career to lose the first set, broken at love including one awful double fault.
 

jsinger121

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#32 Raonic takes out #6 Tsitsipas in straight sets, that is Novak’s quarter.
Tsitsipas just can’t get over the hump. And you wonder why the big 3 keeps winning majors. None of these so called new guys like Tsitsipas, Zverev can do anything in majors. Medvedev is the only one to reach a final.
 

jon abbey

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Fed still in a struggle against Millman, I don't think Fed has broken him all match. Two sets 6-4 to Millman, two tiebreaks to Fed, and we're in the 5th.

Edit: Fed won one of those 6-4, I've been up all night.
 

jon abbey

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Fed and Millman traded breaks at 1-1 in the 5th, Fed just fought back from 0-40, still on serve at 4-3.
 

4 6 3 DP

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Millman doesn't sleep well tonight. From 8-4 to 8-10 in about 3 minutes to lose the match of your life. Federer is something else...