Wimbledon 2018

Everyone seems to say German Alexander Zverev is the next big thing, but he's inconsistent at grand slam level. Dominic Thiem will also be good, and already is since he lost to Nadal in the Roland Garros final. Grigor Dimitrov was making great headway before this year he's been really poor. Hyung Chung seems like a younger Djokovic with his amazing defending, and he made the Aus Open semi final before retiring injured to Federer. Kyle Edmund is also starting to play his best tennis recently (semis at Aus Open). There's also a Canadian Denis Shapovalov who's similar to Zverev in that he's inconsistent at grand slams. Then there's a Greek in Stefanos Tsitsipas, and two Russians in Karen Khachanov & Andrey Rublev. There's quite a lot of young talent but I'll be here forever.

I am excited by a young gun Alex de Minaur (19yrs old) though. He's finally a humble Australian talent in the mens draw. He's had wins against some quality players and made it to the 3rd round of Wimbledon before hitting a roadblock called Rafa Nadal.

Well. Anderson just defeated Isner 7-6 6-7 6-7 6-4 26-24 in the second longest tennis match in history! It forced Djokovic & Nadal to wait hours & their match has actually been suspended! They have to resume tomorrow, with Djokovic up two sets to one 6-4 3-6 7-6!

I do like playing advantage at 6-6, but it should only be to a certain extent. They really should stop at something like 10-10 or 12-12 and then do a tiebreak. Poor Anderson had to battle from 2 sets down against the grass GOAT & win 13-11 in the 5th, and now from down two sets to one to win 26-24 in the 5th. If you get the chance, you must watch his left handed forehand after a slip.

Djokovic survived in a thriller, 6-4 3-6 7-6 3-6 10-8 against Nadal. I was honestly surprised he held his own and eventually beat him. He saved 4 break points in the 5th while Nadal survived a match point. Together the two semis were 36-32 in the 5th and 11hrs & 40mins in total match time.

Kerber dominated Serena 6-3 6-3 in the women's final!

And Djokovic easily accounted for Anderson before a tough 3rd set where he saved 5 set points, 6-2 6-2 7-6.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jul 15th 2018 »

Kerber beat Serena Williams? Who is this Kerber, I'm going to have to check her out.

I hear there's a left handed wonder kid quickly rising through the ranks who is expected to dominate the pro scene in a few years time. I think the kid won the Junior Championship at Wimbledon this year. Reminds me of McEnroe, even has that cocky, arrogant attitude. Hope the kid does well, the game could do with some charasmatic players to replace the likes of Djorkovic and Murray.

Oh no. No, no, no. You do NOT want 'charismatic' male players. Look at what happened to two young charismatic Australians. Tomic & Kyrgios were born.

I do know who you're talking about though. I can't remember his name, but they a snippet of him winning in straight sets. He must come from Korea or some other Asian country. Still, being a junior champion doesn't guarantee ultimate success. Once you hit professional level, you face men so much more powerful than you and can get blown off the court.

About Djokovic, he used to be pretty unlikable but slowly changed his attitude and now after his injury break he's different again. In a good way.

You haven't heard of Angelique Kerber?! She's a 3-time Grand Slam champion now. She won her first in 2016 at the Aus Open at age 28 where she saved a match point in the 1st round before defeating Serena in a huge upset in an epic 3-set final. Then she made the final at Wimbledon, losing to Serena this time, but in the US Open she triumphed over Karolina Pliskova in 3. In 2017 he had a miserable year though, making the 4th round at the Aus Open, 1st round at Roland Garros, 4th at Wimbledon, & 1st at the US. Now she's back though cause she won a title at the start of the year by saving a match point in R1 and has made the semis at the AO (lost 7-9 in the 3rd to Halep), quarters at RG (losing to the eventual champion Halep in 3), and now has won Wimbledon.
tl;dr - Kerber is a three-time Grand-Slam champion with a 2-1 record against Serena in GS finals.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jul 16th 2018 »

Kerber sounds like the next Steffi Graff. I haven't been following Tennis closely for a number of years, there's nobody on the circuit that wants me to go out of my way to watch them. I used to like following Sharapova before she got banned but after hearing she basically cheated by taking that astma drug that improves your breathing so you can recuperate quicker I lost interest. Now I know why she would do that little walk after each point and she has the audacity to say she didn't read her email to see that the drug was now banned.

Yeah, the women's top 10 is a bit bland. Halep was pretty bland before I started liking her after she saved multiple match points in multiple matches at the AO this year before losing in the final. Wozniacki is meh, Sloane Stephens I haven't seen much of, Pliskova is very bland and disinteresting, & there's some others. I liked Konta though before she slid down the rankings. Basically for players ranked highly I like Halep & Kerber and also a young Aussie Ash Barty ranked 17th in the world. There's not a lot of marketable women I'm afraid.

Then in the men's it's a bit better since you have some champions but there are a few bland ones. I've certainly began liking Kevin Anderson though after how much he fought in recent matches. Eventually tennis will see some more colourful personalities; it'll just take time.

I'm not sure about Sharapova. I mean, chances are she's a cheat, but you never know. I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt, but then again Russians are known for their cheating.

I've got Federer versus Novak in the final grand slam for the year. ;)

Nadal v del Potro for me.

Nadal would sweep him. jk XD

No, you're right. But I think del Potro's good enough to make the final, as long as he doesn't end up on Rafa's side of the draw. After all his only GS title was the 2009 US Open. Federer's 2 set to love & match point choke against Anderson is worrying for me, and I can't see him lasting physically to go deep. Novak is back to his best, but on a hard court Rafa has the edge.

Not sure how closely you follow the women's side, but I have Serena v Kerber again.

So annoyed we don't get broadcast of the US Open :(