The tennis...

[hatler]

I have gradually warmed to him over the years, though that did take a bit of a knock when he revealed his No 7 jacket when winning Wimbledon last time.

He wins out on the sheer elegance and apparent effortlessness with which he plays the game. We will never see another like him. One of the supreme sportsmen of all time.

[Peter]

Exactly.

[Legs]

This (Rybarikova-Muguruza) is sad to watch follow online. 

[rafletcher]

Oh dear Jo, I fear that may be it for this year.

[simonp]

Up to world no.4. 

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

I have gradually warmed to him over the years, though that did take a bit of a knock when he revealed his No 7 jacket when winning Wimbledon last time.

He wins out on the sheer elegance and apparent effortlessness with which he plays the game. We will never see another like him. One of the supreme sportsmen of all time.

When I was watching the French open I saw that Nadal wore shoes with the number 9 on.  Apparently not his UK foot size!

[mattc]

For some reason, the meeja (social and corporate) have got a lot better with sports spoilers this last year-or-so. But Radio 4 excelled themselves today;
without any introduction - not even "Here are the headlines", let alone " here is the sport" - the main presenter blurted:

"Brexit at Wimbledon !!! "




Bad luck Jo. No4 in the world makes you a Quite Good Sportsperson 

[Bledlow]

So, it's 5-0 to Ms Muguruza in the second set. She needs her service game to win*.

And the male American member of the commentary team has only just stopped going on about how great Ms Williams is. When she lost the first set, he said that set had been hers to win, & she looked as if she'd come back.

She looks worn out. Can't keep up.

PS. Won it, so second set 6-0.

PPS. I wonder if Garbiñe Muguruza pronounces that z as if she's Venezuelan, Castilian or Basque. S, the, or funny s?

[Wowbagger]

That's reminiscent of Graf's first Winbledon win in 1988. Graf was 7 - 5 and 2 - 0 down to Navratilova before suddenly deciding to play tennis. She then blew Navratilova away, winning 12 out of the next 13 games.

[mattc]

So, it's 5-0 to Ms Muguruza in the second set. She needs her service game to win*.

And the male American member of the commentary team has only just stopped going on about how great Ms Williams is. When she lost the first set, he said that set had been hers to win,

I think Venus had 2 set points (before SM had any), and was never really behind in the set - until the last 2 games. So it was a reasonable bit of punditry. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

(And can you really not remember his name? he's quite a well-known ex-player!)

[Legs]

At least the Gentlemen's Doubles final was quite exciting.  The only other real tension this weekend was finding out whether the Russians were indeed going to win the Ladies' Doubles with a double bagel (which, remarkably, they did).

[Ham]

I put this in "All time great video" rather than here.

[αdαmsκι]

Novak out for the rest of 2017: http://novakdjokovic.com/en/news/media/novak-ends-2017-season-due-to-elbow-injury/ which surely just makes it easier for Federer to win another US Open. Although considering how Novak has played for the past 12+ months he probably wouldn't have put it much resistance had the pair faced each other in New York.

[rafletcher]

And Andy Murray's reign at number one comes to an end 

[TigaSefi]

He didn't defend it well at all. Must try harder

[simonp]

Yeah like not turning up to the last two tournaments injured, WTF.

[Jaded]

He didn't defend it well at all. Must try harder

Yeah, useless Scotch loser. <repeat ad infinitum in various guises>

[simonp]

And he's now pulled out of the US Open.

[αdαmsκι]

Top half of the men's draw seems set up for a Rafa vs. Federer semi final, while Čilić must be chuffed to bits to be in the bottom half of the draw with, erm, Tsonga and the Zverev brothers. Perhaps this is the time for Alex Zverev to shine, he's now won two Masters 1000 titles (beating Novak & Federer in the finals), although he has yet to make the quarter finals of a Slam.


I have no clue for the women's draw. Serena is absent, Halep, Kerber and Konta haven't made it past the first round. Sharapova, having beaten Halep, cannot face a seeded player until the 4th round, but is lacking time on court after only recently making her comeback from her ban. Muguruza hasn't gotten past the 2nd round of the US Open, but did win at Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Masters a few weeks ago. Venus Williams has already reached two Grand Slam finals this year, will she win this for the third time, the other victories coming in 2000 and 2001 ?

[αdαmsκι]

Perhaps this is the time for Alex Zverev to shine

Clearly not.

[Legs]

Maybe I'm not on-trend or American enough to understand this, but isn't it a bit weird to give your daughter the same name as her father?

Congratulations to the happy family, nonetheless! 

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Andy Murray. 

[Jaded]

Indeed.

I see it as making it all the more remarkable, what he has achieved so far. If he has to retire through chronic injury then he does so as one of the best tennis players ever.

[TigaSefi]

We’re lucky to have had him. Though he could have won many more majors 3 is more than enough along with two golds and a Davis cup he basically won on his own.

[rafletcher]

Bugger. Not unexpected but even so. Surgery and a year out likely?

And Konta's picked up a hip injury too.