Tennis 2020: There is an I in Thiem

InstaFace

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I'm not even sure what you're seeing in the replay. No, he didn't aim at her. But he did clearly hit the ball too hard right at a person.It's his responsibility to make sure he doesn't do that. I'm sure there was probably a little extra punch on the ball because he was frustrated, but that doesn't even matter. If there aren't severe consequences for this sort of thing, then it will happen more often. Djokovic has just reminded players around the tour to pay attention.
Yup.

The other thing is, if he had hit the ball in a soft, looping motion to, in effect "toss it to her", and she didn't notice, then it might have hit her, but I'm not sure they'd have defaulted him. A big part of it was that he hit it at her. It had some oomph. 90% of the time, they just catch it and it's fine. But if you wouldn't hit it at your 5-year-old that way, then don't hit it at a line judge that way. Leave no possibility of injury.
 

djbayko

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Yup.

The other thing is, if he had hit the ball in a soft, looping motion to, in effect "toss it to her", and she didn't notice, then it might have hit her, but I'm not sure they'd have defaulted him. A big part of it was that he hit it at her. It had some oomph. 90% of the time, they just catch it and it's fine. But if you wouldn't hit it at your 5-year-old that way, then don't hit it at a line judge that way. Leave no possibility of injury.
The camera view looking straight on Djokovic as the ball sailed through the air was kind of amusing. There was a look of horror as he realized what was about to happen and then it turned into a look of defeated acceptance.
 

bosox188

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Given that there are no fans and the use of Arthur Ashe is essentially meaningless, I can't believe the Osaka match has to wait for this one to end. I'm not sure I can even see how it helps ESPN since it could be midnight by the time this match is over, not exactly maximizing their viewership at that point. Maybe they didn't plan on having a B-crew to do a second match after primetime?
 

jon abbey

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Serena in a tough one against #15 Sakkari who beat her a week or two ago. She got down 2-0 in the third but broke back and is now up 4-3 on serve and threatening at 0-30.
 

InstaFace

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Serena gets the break, serving up 5-3 now.
This is the best I've seen her look in well over a year. She looked like crap in Lexington (with apologies to @Conigliaro's Potential , who may well be partial to a match he got to call). To my eyes, she couldn't get the usual snap on her serve, wasn't moving her opponent much, wasn't taking many risks at speed (went for either angle or power but not both). Right now she's regularly cranking ~120mph-ish first serves, with placement, her stretches and digs have oomph behind them, she's made some great shots from both forehand and backhand. What a difference a few weeks make.
 

jon abbey

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Yeah that was impressive, Sakkari really battled but Serena pulled it out.
 

jon abbey

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3 American quarterfinalists for the women, Kenin will try to make it 4 later.

If Serena manages to beat Kenin and then Osaka, she definitely will have earned this.
 

BaseballJones

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Serena and Federer are unbelievable. Serena is 38 years old. Roger is 39. Both still at or near the top of their sport. Remember when Sampras retired? He was 31. Borg retired at age 26. When Borg retired, he had 11 majors already. Could he have gotten to 20? Hard to say. Probably not, but still. Now Federer and Serena are still going strong as they approach 40. Unreal.
 

InstaFace

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I'm frankly more amazed that Nadal is still running out there from time to time, and playing at a high level when healthy. A guy with his injury history just ages in dog years, especially given his style of play. You'd have expected him to retire a few years ago. Remember, that's what made Pedro Martinez finally hang 'em up - he couldn't bear the thought of another long rehab.
 

InstaFace

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On the other court, Pironkova may be about to take out Alize Cornet, which would be huge for Serena because to the extent that Serena has a nemesis on tour, it is, somewhat inexplicably, Alize Cornet. Cornet has a 4-3 record against her, and her wins include knocking Serena out of Wimbledon and two Premier-5 level events.
 

jon abbey

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On the other court, Pironkova may be about to take out Alize Cornet, which would be huge for Serena because to the extent that Serena has a nemesis on tour, it is, somewhat inexplicably, Alize Cornet. Cornet has a 4-3 record against her, and her wins include knocking Serena out of Wimbledon and two Premier-5 level events.
All three of those wins were in 2014, though. I would say Osaka, who kicked her ass easily in 2 of 3 meetings, is a far bigger nemesis at this point.
 

wonderland

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Serena and Federer are unbelievable. Serena is 38 years old. Roger is 39. Both still at or near the top of their sport. Remember when Sampras retired? He was 31. Borg retired at age 26. When Borg retired, he had 11 majors already. Could he have gotten to 20? Hard to say. Probably not, but still. Now Federer and Serena are still going strong as they approach 40. Unreal.
Serena turns 39 in a couple weeks. Her and Federer were born a month and a half apart.

Will be interesting to see how Federer comes back from his time off.
 

InstaFace

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Good news for Serena: Kenin was upset by Elise Mertens, so there are no formidable opponents left in her half of the draw, unless Azarenka truly turns back the clock.

Bad news for Serena: Naomi Osaka looked unbelievable tonight. Just made some shots you expect to see from Federer and basically no one else.

WTF news for Serena: The USTA has a legend competing for history, playing deep into the tournament in the QFs, and so they choose to feature her by having her play at... 12:00pm, first on the docket tomorrow. The prime-time matchup will be the ratings-bonanza battle royale of *checks notes* an unseeded Azarenka vs Elise Mertens.
 

jezza1918

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Good news for Serena: Kenin was upset by Elise Mertens, so there are no formidable opponents left in her half of the draw, unless Azarenka truly turns back the clock.

Bad news for Serena: Naomi Osaka looked unbelievable tonight. Just made some shots you expect to see from Federer and basically no one else.

WTF news for Serena: The USTA has a legend competing for history, playing deep into the tournament in the QFs, and so they choose to feature her by having her play at... 12:00pm, first on the docket tomorrow. The prime-time matchup will be the ratings-bonanza battle royale of *checks notes* an unseeded Azarenka vs Elise Mertens.
If I had to guess I bet Serena prefers the noon start today, if only because it provides her that much more rest if she were to win with the semis being tomorrow eve. If there were an actual night crowd that would probably change the equation but without it I’m sure she’s fine having the additional half day off.
 
WTF news for Serena: The USTA has a legend competing for history, playing deep into the tournament in the QFs, and so they choose to feature her by having her play at... 12:00pm, first on the docket tomorrow. The prime-time matchup will be the ratings-bonanza battle royale of *checks notes* an unseeded Azarenka vs Elise Mertens.
Yeah, what @jezza1918 said. Serena was also requesting day matches throughout Lexington and "Cincinnati", FWIW - and here, getting seven extra hours of rest (or thereabouts) than her potential SF opponent is massive.
 

wonderland

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Good news for Serena: Kenin was upset by Elise Mertens, so there are no formidable opponents left in her half of the draw, unless Azarenka truly turns back the clock.

Bad news for Serena: Naomi Osaka looked unbelievable tonight. Just made some shots you expect to see from Federer and basically no one else.

WTF news for Serena: The USTA has a legend competing for history, playing deep into the tournament in the QFs, and so they choose to feature her by having her play at... 12:00pm, first on the docket tomorrow. The prime-time matchup will be the ratings-bonanza battle royale of *checks notes* an unseeded Azarenka vs Elise Mertens.
It’s not like there’s a crowd there so there’s no energy difference. I wouldn’t be surprised if her match got better ratings at the earlier slot. People throw on it during work with nothing to compete against compared to tonight with playoff games.
 

InstaFace

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Well, whatever it was for, she's through to the semis, but with a serious scare from a very hard-hitting opponent whose game plan was "move Serena all over the court and run her to death". Serena eventually countered by doing much the same - going for more lines, playing back a little more - and on the game's crucial points, including at least two epic 20+ shot rallies, she outmaneuvered Pironkova and turned defense into offense. There were also two occasions where she was surprised by a shot and hit it back LEFTY, as a floater/push, which surprised Pironkova so much that she actually got an error from her on the first one.

Fun match, very worth watching if you can.
 
While your attention is focused on the US Open, I commentated on what was actually a great match today from Istanbul which Eugenie Bouchard won over Svetlana Kuznetsova. Bouchard played really sparkling tennis - and, perhaps more importantly, despite wasting three match points in the second set and losing the set in a tiebreaker, instead of wallowing in despair or getting tight she came right out and nailed the ball all over the place to win the final set 6-2. Kuznetsova played pretty well, actually - especially in what was her first match of any kind since reaching the Doha semifinals in February - but Bouchard was nails. Really nice to see her playing well...and I've got her quarterfinal tomorrow as well (against Danka Kovinic of Montenegro).

I won't be staying up for the two women's semifinals tonight...but who ya got? (I'm thinking Azarenka and Osaka, with Osaka-Brady the closer of the two matches.)
 

jezza1918

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Yes...I think Brady's terrific run likely ends tonight, Osaka just seems far too solid right now and I think will break Brady down. I wish I had a feel for what's going to happen in the Williams/Azarenka match. My gut certainly says Azarenka based on performance to date, but every time I count Serena out (which has been like 3 times this tournament alone), she proves me wrong.
 

jon abbey

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Really hate these alternate angles, show the fucking match.

Good job Naomi.
 

Matty005

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Two amazing women’s semis tonight. Vika is such a fighter. I am a huge Serena fan, but love Vika as well. I had a weird feeling Serena was playing too well too early and couldn’t keep up that level.

I think the final will be amazing. The women’s side has been 100x better than the men’s side (I know I know without Roger or Rafa and Novak only for a few). But man, women’s game is just more compelling and deep right now.
 

InstaFace

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Serena's ball placement went to hell after that Vika hold to start the 2nd set, just a flood of errors, and then she hurt her foot (we'll never know if they're related). And her serve didn't bail her out of nearly as many places as it usually does.

Azarenka is an awesome personality and has a tremendous arsenal, but I think Osaka takes it on Saturday. Looking forward to that one.
 

jon abbey

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I think the final will be amazing. The women’s side has been 100x better than the men’s side (I know I know without Roger or Rafa and Novak only for a few). But man, women’s game is just more compelling and deep right now.
I don’t disagree although Tsitsipas/Coric sounded like a classic, also I think Thiem/Medvedev tomorrow could be great.
 

jon abbey

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Thiem and Medvedev would be the #3 and #5 seeds if Nadal (2) and Federer (4) were here, exciting matchup.
 

mauidano

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Two amazing women’s semis tonight. Vika is such a fighter. I am a huge Serena fan, but love Vika as well. I had a weird feeling Serena was playing too well too early and couldn’t keep up that level.

I think the final will be amazing. The women’s side has been 100x better than the men’s side (I know I know without Roger or Rafa and Novak only for a few). But man, women’s game is just more compelling and deep right now.
I was thinking the same thing this week. The women’s draw has been incredibly fun and exciting to watch this year! I find myself a bit apathetic about the men’s side.
 

jezza1918

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I'm hoping both men's semis make up for what has been a lackluster draw for them so far. Both matchups are super compelling and have the potential to go the distance. I think I'm mainly hoping they do so I have an excuse to avoid the celtics...as for predictions I think both are pretty close to 50-50 but I'll go with PCB & Thiem.
 

InstaFace

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Thiem's the only one I would bet on.

I don't feel like I have any idea how well Zverev is really playing, but my impression of him is that he's not as mentally strong as the others. Some great tennis coach once spoke of the game (in praising Nadal) as being really about "how much, how long, are you willing to suffer?", because the willingness to suffer to get to that next ball, to play that 4th and 5th set, is a big test of mental will that few could match Nadal in. Zverev's just always looked to me like someone who wants his talent to make it all easy for him, that he wants to end points quickly, win or lose, and if winning is really going to involve suffering, he's probably not up for it. And I know that's probably not fair, and he's won 5-setters before (though a quick scan suggests they're mostly earlier in the tournaments). But I just don't have much belief in his mental toughness and while he's probably more talented and faster than PCB, he doesn't have that killer instinct that made the Big 4 what they were (and mostly, and incredibly, still are). Thiem is much more of the complete package, in my mind.
 

CFB_Rules

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As an official for a different sport, I must say I am fascinated by the chair umpire overruling linespeople in tennis. Why on Earth would any chair think they have a better look at the ball relative to the line than someone who is sitting right on the line straddling it. The one exception would of course be if line of sight is compromised by the players.

I'm trying to imagine a world where the referee in football ruled on the ball breaking the plane of the goal line. I'd probably tell him to shove it.
 

Mr. Wednesday

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It'll take more than a few minutes for it to look silly, as Thiem won the third set and they're on serve in the fourth.
 

jon abbey

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This may make me look very silly in just a few minutes, but I would probably bet on Thiem to win the match from here (at 4-4 in the third).
Someone bet like this on Twitter for Zverev in the semis when he was down two sets. It will be pretty odd if this happens in both finals (Azarenka was down a set in the semis before winning the next two, then up in the final before losing).