Racquets and Balls: The Tennis (the sport, not the band) Discussion Thread

GingerLaw92

GingerLaw92

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Welcome to the Tennis discussion thread! Again, to be 100% clear, I am talking about the sport with the racquets and the balls.

I want to welcome all those interested in tennis, whether it be something you have been interested in for a long time or a sport you would like to know more about. This should be an all things tennis thread whether that be posting highlight videos, talking about your favorite players, discussing tournaments, or even just asking general questions about equipment or playing styles, etc...

As for myself, I have been playing tennis and watching tennis for virtually my entire life.

To kick things off, I think a good way to start discussion is to talk about a match that you have watched or heard about that you find particularly memorable.

I'll start. There are several I could pick from but I'm going to pick a semi-recent one and go with the 2019 US Open Men's Final between Rafa Nadal and Daniil Medvedev. I have been a *rabid* Rafa fan for as long as I can remember. I vividly recall watching him win his first French Open and have been following his career ever since. Part of it has to do with the fact that I am left-handed so I have always had a particular fondness for left-handed players (even though he isn't naturally left-handed). As for Daniil Medvedev, the 2019 US Open was my first heavy exposure to Medvedev (partially because he hadn't made too big of a splash at that point and partially because I quit tracking tennis as much during law school). Anyway, he started the tournament as an unlikely contender, made his way through the tournament as the unlikely villain which made it easy to root against him. He fashioned himself as a sort of modern day McEnroe during the US Open. Suffice it to say, I was going to root for Nadal against anyone but my support was even more fervent because of Medvedev's behavior. That takes us to the final...

The final started as we would have all expected, Nadal won the first two sets and was going in for the kill. And then the tides turned as the fans (who Medvedev had taunted the entire tournament) started rooting for Medvedev because they didn't want the final to end. Medvedev took the support of the fans and did the unexpected, he fought back against one of the most tenacious tennis players of all time. He gradually clawed his way back and I found myself rooting for Medvedev to keep fighting because it was an astonishing level of tennis that was being played. He fought back from being down two sets to none and took the match the distance by forcing a fifth set.

Ultimately, Nadal pulled out the win but Medvedev made a fan out of me. The highlight video from that match is below.



All that being said, welcome to the tennis discussion thread!

-- Graham
 
I gained my love of tennis from my grandma, who played up into her 80s, when her docs advised her to stop. She didn’t, lol. I’ve never been to a major, but did go to Indian Wells once, and La Costa (a small warm up) a couple times. Indian Wells, we had corner seats on the baseline. One of the evening matches was Pete Sampras, whom my wife LOVED, so she was super excited. Anyways, for me, the men’s game hasn’t been nearly as exciting as the women’s for a while. I haven’t watched nearly enough to name my favorites at the moment (though I do love Osaka), I’m hoping to rectify that with the Wimbledon and US Open though.
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
I gained my love of tennis from my grandma, who played up into her 80s, when her docs advised her to stop. She didn’t, lol. I’ve never been to a major, but did go to Indian Wells once, and La Costa (a small warm up) a couple times. Indian Wells, we had corner seats on the baseline. One of the evening matches was Pete Sampras, whom my wife LOVED, so she was super excited. Anyways, for me, the men’s game hasn’t been nearly as exciting as the women’s for a while. I haven’t watched nearly enough to name my favorites at the moment (though I do love Osaka), I’m hoping to rectify that with the Wimbledon and US Open though.
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Your grandma sounds like she was awesome.

I agree that the women's side of the tournaments has generally been way more exciting. I love to see the degree of competition on that side. Until recently, the men's side has obviously been dominated by the top three along with Murray and Wawrinka. Its nice to see guys like Medvedev and Tsitsipas start to make runs on that side. However, the women's side has so many amazing players that are always capable of pulling an upset.

Talking women's tennis, the final between Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu at the 2019 US Open was a very fun one to watch as well. I'd love to see Andreescu stay healthy because she can be very dangerous. Recently, Rybakina, Swiatek, and Pavlyuchenkova have been fun to watch.

I am very jealous. I've never been to any of the big tournaments. Indian Wells would be awesome. One dream is to go to the US Open and Wimbledon.
 
GingerLaw92 said:
Your grandma sounds like she was awesome.

I agree that the women's side of the tournaments has generally been way more exciting. I love to see the degree of competition on that side. Until recently, the men's side has obviously been dominated by the top three along with Murray and Wawrinka. Its nice to see guys like Medvedev and Tsitsipas start to make runs on that side. However, the women's side has so many amazing players that are always capable of pulling an upset.

Talking women's tennis, the final between Serena Williams and Bianca Andreescu at the 2019 US Open was a very fun one to watch as well. I'd love to see Andreescu stay healthy because she can be very dangerous. Recently, Rybakina, Swiatek, and Pavlyuchenkova have been fun to watch.

I am very jealous. I've never been to any of the big tournaments. Indian Wells would be awesome. One dream is to go to the US Open and Wimbledon.
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My grandparents went to the US Open and Wimbledon several times, the French and Australian each once. I grew up in San Diego, so they went to Indian Wells every year. I would LOVE to go to the US Open, it’s by far my favorite of the majors.

I did see that Tsitsipas has been climbing in the standings, and Stan is always around the top five, I do like him a lot. Rafa has become my favorite of the top, I’ve had enough of Djokovich and his antics, lol. I really like that so many American women are competing at the so well, makes it such a more evenly matched playing field. I never was a huge Serena fan (though I respect her tremendously, and love what she stands for off the court), so it’s nice to see her get taken down a notch from time to time.
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
My grandparents went to the US Open and Wimbledon several times, the French and Australian each once. I grew up in San Diego, so they went to Indian Wells every year. I would LOVE to go to the US Open, it’s by far my favorite of the majors.

I did see that Tsitsipas has been climbing in the standings, and Stan is always around the top five, I do like him a lot. Rafa has become my favorite of the top, I’ve had enough of Djokovich and his antics, lol. I really like that so many American women are competing at the so well, makes it such a more evenly matched playing field. I never was a huge Serena fan (though I respect her tremendously, and love what she stands for off the court), so it’s nice to see her get taken down a notch from time to time.
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Agree 100%. I can't stand Djokovic. I respect what Serena has done on/off the court but don't particularly like her and I love seeing fresh blood at least make it difficult for her to keep dominating.

And yeah, it has been really cool to see young American female players like Anisimova, Gauff, Jennifer Brady, Mchale, etc... make deep runs.
 
My favorite matches of all time for me are:
1) Safin vs. Federer (2005 Australian Open semi-final)
2) Nadal vs. Federer (2008 Wimbledon Final)
3) Soderling vs Nadal (2009 French Open 4th Round)

I think you both are a little wild thinking the women's draws have been more fun in recent years. The champion has been kind of boring, but the rest of the draws have been absolutely incredible! Look at some of the matches in Wimbledon's first round on Monday!

Struff vs. Medvedev
Verdasco vs Dimitrov
Shapovalov vs Kohlschreiber
Tsitsipas vs Tiafoe
Isner vs Nishioka
Kyrgios vs Humbert
Federer vs Mannarino

I'm so stoked for all of those!!
 
Ponman2003 said:
My favorite matches of all time for me are:
1) Safin vs. Federer (2005 Australian Open semi-final)
2) Nadal vs. Federer (2008 Wimbledon Final)
3) Soderling vs Nadal (2009 French Open 4th Round)

I think you both are a little wild thinking the women's draws have been more fun in recent years. The champion has been kind of boring, but the rest of the draws have been absolutely incredible! Look at some of the matches in Wimbledon's first round on Monday!

Struff vs. Medvedev
Verdasco vs Dimitrov
Shapovalov vs Kohlschreiber
Tsitsipas vs Tiafoe
Isner vs Nishioka
Kyrgios vs Humbert
Federer vs Mannarino

I'm so stoked for all of those!!
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There’s no denying they have exciting matches, that’s for sure! I just prefer more varied shots, not just baseline players hitting as hard as they can. I do enjoy watching mens matches, I just typically find myself more drawn to women’s matches. 🤷🏼‍♂️
 
Ponman2003 said:
My favorite matches of all time for me are:
1) Safin vs. Federer (2005 Australian Open semi-final)
2) Nadal vs. Federer (2008 Wimbledon Final)
3) Soderling vs Nadal (2009 French Open 4th Round)

I think you both are a little wild thinking the women's draws have been more fun in recent years. The champion has been kind of boring, but the rest of the draws have been absolutely incredible! Look at some of the matches in Wimbledon's first round on Monday!

Struff vs. Medvedev
Verdasco vs Dimitrov
Shapovalov vs Kohlschreiber
Tsitsipas vs Tiafoe
Isner vs Nishioka
Kyrgios vs Humbert
Federer vs Mannarino

I'm so stoked for all of those!!
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LOVE MARAT SAFIN MATCHES. And that 2008 Wimbledon final is easily one of the greatest matches of all time. The level of play from those guys in 2008 was beyond incredible. The Soderling match (as a Nadal fan) is a tougher one for me, but nobody can deny Soderling's level of play on clay during his prime.

I enjoy the unpredictability of the women's draws, but there's no denying the men's side is on fire these days. Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Rublev, Shapovalov, Augier-Aliassime, etc.. are all really fun to watch.

Oh dang, that Kyrgios v. Humbert should be really fun. Also, Mannarino won't be an easy first round for Federer. He's been playing well recently so Federer better shake off any rust pretty quick.

I hadn't looked at the first round draw yet... Now I can't wait for Monday (which is a very strange thing to say).
 
I'm just excited to have the feeling back. Like you said, work on one monitor, Wimbledon on the other at 9 in the morning, hot coffee, the bright grass, everyone in white, the rain delays, the winning streak of an unknown, the comically awful American commentary, the charmingly excellent British commentary, Andy Murray potentially saying goodbye, Federer potentially saying goodbye.

Ah!!
 
I tried to explain to my non-tennis enthusiast co-worker how magical the British tennis commentary is, especially first thing in the morning. She didn't get it.
 
Love Wimbledon. The excitement, the fact it’s on grass and the way it unites Britain into sitting and watching a fortnight of a tournament in a sport that’s rarely considered outside it. It has a sort of history and gravitas to it does Wimbledon. It’s similar in a way to the Open Championship in golf in all those respects lol!

Gotta say that Agassi is still my favourite all time tennis player, something about his winning year at Wimbledon in 1992 really captured my imagination as a 9 year old.

My favourite matches are:

Nadal v Federer (Wimbledon final 2008)
Agassi v Rafter (Wimbledon semi finals 1999/2000/2001)
Murray v Federer (2012 Olympic final at Wimbledon)
Murray v Djokovic (2013 Wimbledon final)
Ivanisovic v Rafter (2001 Wimbledon final)

The top 2 we’re just impeccable matches played almost without mistakes by players of opposite styles, the next two were more emotional picks, especially 2013, watching that felt like watching history and the last one was just such a story, especially with all the rain delays adding into all the momentum swings.
 
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@Joe Mac

Yeah, it is extremely difficult to oversell just how good that 2008 Wimbledon Final really was. And I remember in 2013 just how excited the spectators at Wimbledon were when Murray made the final. I already didn't like Djokovic so I was more than happy to get behind Murray and root for a homegrown winner. That 2013 Wimbledon tournament was also crazy since, if I recall correctly, Nadal and Federer both got knocked out in the early rounds.

I know I probably watched plenty of Agassi growing up but most of what I know about him, Sampras, Rafter, etc... has all come from watching whatever matches are on YouTube. I was pretty young when all those guys retired.
 
Well, I'm now very interested to see how Medvedev does at Wimbledon this year since he just won his first grass court title. He should have a confidence boost going in. His career trajectory is reminding me a little of early Nadal when Nadal was finding his footing on non-clay courts whereas Medvedev is starting to find some success on non-hard courts.
 
I got stuck in a consultation this morning and missed the action! Excited for Tiafoe! From all accounts, Tsitsipas looked completely gassed which sucks.
 
Ponman2003 said:
I got stuck in a consultation this morning and missed the action! Excited for Tiafoe! From all accounts, Tsitsipas looked completely gassed which sucks.
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Yeah, I don't think he was fully recovered from the French Open. He looked worn out. It does suck because if he is 100%, he is a definite contender for essentially any title and, unfortunately, Tiafoe is likely not a contender when it really comes down to it. I hope he does well, but I don't see him going that deep.
 
Well Day 1 of Wimbledon 2021 in the books, except for the suspended matches that is.

Biggest upset so far is probably the Tiafoe -- Tsitsipas match.

On the women's side, it was nice to see Swiatek, Kenin, and Rybakina roll along rather easily. Always good to see a fair number of the American ladies advance as well.

Anybody have any thoughts on Day 1 or the tournament so far?
 
Ponman2003 said:
Well I had almost forgotten about Wimby's constant rain delays. This tournament could go for a month :p
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Ha! Yep. I forgot about that as well. Day 1 and Day 2 (so far) have both been heavily effected by the weather. Hopefully they can get a streak of two or three nice weather days to catch up.
 
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