Karolina Pliskova comes back from 1-5 down and saves 4 match points against Serena Williams

I know at least some of you follow the tennis, so this will be somewhat relevant.

Just a few hours ago I started watching the quarterfinal of Serena Williams vs Karolina Pliskova. Pliskova started well and actually won the 1st set 6-4 and got a break for 3-2 in the 2nd set. She then crumbled and lost the 2nd set 4-6. Then the 3rd set was one-way traffic. Serena was a double break up 5-1 and serving. She got to 40-30 (match point). She then served an ace, but it was a foot fault (the correct call), and slightly injured her ankle before getting broken for 5-2. Pliskova then managed to hold serve for 3-5, and broke Serena to love for 4-5! Then in her attempt to tie the match, she was down 15-40 (match points 2 & 3), but survived. Then down 40-AD, she survived a 4th match point and held for 5-5, before holding firm and managing to break and hold again to win 7-5!

It's frustrating reading Serena's fans making excuses like her injury and the foot fault. Ultimately if she had a serious injury she would've called the trainer while 5-2 up.And the foot fault call was correct; people that say they are never called are wrong because I've seen several this summer. This is simply a combination of an ultimate choke from the GOAT, and serious courage from Pliskova.

But that isn't the only drama at the Open. Federer embarrassingly lost in 4 sets to a 20-year old in the 4th round, after leading 1 set to love and going 0/6 on break points and 0/4 on set points in the 2nd set. Tsitsipas is a good young player, but that was horrible from Federer.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 23rd 2019 »

I can't believe Federer is still playing, I bet you were still in nappies Matt when Federer won his first Wimbledon in 2001, he's had an amazing career. Federer is the Tennis Tom Brady.

How is Sharapova doing since her comeback from a ban? I stopped following Tennis back in 2007.

Yes, I was 1 when he did it...

Federer's resurgence is over though. It was nice while it lasted, but his performance in the loss was really out of character.

Sharapova had been quite up and down, but from what I saw this tournament she was going well. She won her 1st round match 6-0 6-0 and then also cruised through the 2nd. In the 3rd round she played amazing and defeated the defending champion Wozniacki 6-4 4-6 6-4. But she ultimately lost 6-4 1-6 4-6 to Australia's Ash Barty in round 4.

She did cause controversy once again for going on her usual end of 2nd set bathroom breaks. She does it whenever she loses the 2nd set. It's within the rules, but clearly a tactic to stop momentum.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 23rd 2019 »

If it's within the rules its not cheating and like you say it stops momentum if she lost the second set. Annoying for the other player I know but with the prize money at stake and the endorsements that come with it the number one priority is winning any way you can. I used to like the Oakland Raiders mantra of the 70's 'If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough'.

Lol. That mantra is a horrible one. I'm not sure if you've been reading about the Australian cricket team in the past 12 months, but...lol.

I suppose karma got her in the end. After taking that break, she went 0-4 down in the 3rd set. But I like to look at it as "They've left the court to have a break. Why don't you do the same?" It's slightly unsportsmanlike, but fair enough.

Since you obviously once followed tennis, it's worth trying to get back into it. The current lot of players may just be unappealing to you, but I think they're not too bad after all. A while back you asked me who were the current players, and I said they were pretty bland, but now they have some personality.

Tennis had loads of personalities back in the 70's and 80's, the current crop seem a bit dull by comparison. McEnroe, Borg, Connors, and Agassi were great to watch when I was growing up, the blow ups and matches are now legendary.

The sport I follow closely at the moment is UFC, even more so than NFL. The only other sport I follow is Boxing but that has died since it's heydey in the 80's when legends like Hagler, Leonard, Hearns, Duran and Tyson dominated the sport.

Maybe in 15 years time I'll be telling an 18-year old on this forum about Kyrgios's blow ups

Lol, the strange thing is in 18 years time you will still remember them. Nostalgia has a way of making things you remember when you were younger seem better when perhaps in reality they are not.

Back in the day I was in awe of Bjorn Borg, he was the Roger Federer of his day. Looking at old footage now he wouldn't be in the top 1000 players of the world today. The racket for starters is worlds apart, Borg used a wooden one that looks primitive by today's standards.

Yeah. The fact that people like Margaret Court (won 24 grand slam singles titles) played with wooden racquets and did what they did amazes me. Racquets these days allow for so much more variety in shot-making.

Absolutely, I remember playing with those racquets in the 70's and it literally felt like you where playing with a wooden stick.

I loved seeing Serena crumble. Hated seeing Nadal get murdered.

I still have no idea how a mentally-weakened Djokovic has just won 3 consecutive grand slams... You should've seen him in the 4th round... Deserved to lose.

I'm not a fan of Djokovic, Murray, or Serena Williams. All three of those players although talented have to be the most boring champions ever. None of them has personality, mind you Federer lacks a bit of charisma also. When will see John McEnroe's, Jimmy Conners, and Andre Aggassi's again, players that brought a bit of colour to the game and made it fun to watch.

To be fair, after coming back from his injury and having his son Djokovic has a much different personality.

But I've always disliked Murray. I hope his retirement statement he brought up at the Aus Open wasn't a sham, cause there was an outcry in this country and everyone felt sorry for him. There was even a goodbye video they played for him after his loss lol, and he isn't even 100% going to retire this year.

I want to like Serena, but just can't. At least she gives her opponents credit these days, but in the 2011 US Open Final after she was thrashed by Australia's Sam Stosur in a massive upset, she gave Stosur absolutely no credit. That is something I won't forget. And lets not forget her disgraceful behaviour at the 2018 US Open either, when she was easily beaten by Naomi Osaka in a huge upset also. If you're not familiar, get googling ASAP.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Feb 1st 2019 »

Okay, i'll bite. Yea she was upset but disgraceful? Nawwwwww

There was no need to make it such a scene as she did. Yes it was unfair to get a code violation straight away, but in the end her coach admitted he was trying to coach her. If you're Serena; a 23-time grand slam champion and veteran of the sport, you have to just accept that the chair umpire made a mistake and move on. At that stage there were still 2 sets to go, and she was playing in front of her home crowd who could've helped her get back into the match. I mean, you'd back Serena to come back from a set down any day.

But she went on, and on, and on. The chair umpire was not a thief and was not sexist; he was just trying to do his job. And that carrying on from her cost her a game. Just last week we saw Osaka choke when serving for the championship in set 2, so Serena having that dummy spit and essentially throw her chances of winning away is her own fault. She should've just knuckled down and believed that she could break Osaka's serve and get the set back on serve.

Also, when she said to him that he'll never umpire on "her court" again was crossing the line. That's unbelievably arrogant.

The disgraceful part though was the fact she ruined Naomi Osaka's moment. That was her first grand slam, and instead of celebrating, she was crying and could barely show a smile without feeling guilty. Thank god she won one on proper terms last week.

I agree with you Matt, I'm not a Serena Williams fan. It used to make laugh when she played Sharapova and kept on calling her a ***** over the net. Probably because Sharapova was dating her ex, those two definately don't like each other. I think Williams was also a bit jealous of the advertising contracts Sharapova had before her ban. If I remember correctly two of her biggest were Porsche and Tag Heuer where she was the face of the brand for several years.

Yeah, that Williams Sharapova conflict has always been a lot of fun. For us spectators I mean. There's no doubt a lot of respect between the two, but yes they don't like each other. Sharapova even wrote in her book that after she beat Serena in that grand slam final when she was just 17, she saw her crying in the locker room lol. No need for that bitchiness. I did find it interesting that in last year's French Open (Serena's 1st grand slam since giving birth) she pulled out injured before her upcoming 4th round clash with Sharapova. Maybe she doesn't want her unbeaten streak versus Sharapova to ever end, because she recovered from that particular injury VERY quickly, and made the Wimbledon final less than 2 months later...

« Last edited by Matt77 on Feb 5th 2019 »

I bet losing that Wimbledon in 2004 to the unknown 17 year old Sharapova still rankles Williams to this day. Nobody gave Sharapova a hope in hell that day, even the commentators were saying that they hope Williams doesn't beat her too badly as she may never recover.

There was an incident before the game I vividly remember that nobody talks about which I think may have upset Williams preparation. Just before the match started a young handicapped girl in a wheelchair was introduced to the players. Serena basically brushed her off, ignored the girl as if she was not even there. Sharapova then bent down to the girls level and had a few words with her. When she stood up again the crowd applauded and Williams looked unsettled. Guess who was the crowd favourite that day.

That's really interesting. Clearly when Serena is mentally off, things don't go her way. It reminds me of how Serena has started losing a lot of grand slam finals instead of winning them. Ever since losing to the huge underdog Angie Kerber in Australia, she's gone 2 wins 4 losses*** in GS finals. Mentally she was just horrible that day; she missed practically every overhead shot and was all over the place because Kerber kept getting every ball back. She even broke back when Kerber was serving for the Championship, but then got broken instantly to lose. The key there was that Australia love an underdog, and were heavily in support of Kerber.

It will be interesting to see what happens next time Serena plays Pliskova. It could be a repeat of how she has dominated Sharapova, or it could unsettle her even more. When Serena lost to Kerber once again, this time at Wimbledon, that was a huge shock and says maybe Serena isn't as mentally strong as she once was.

***
Lost to Kerber (1st GS Final appearance) in 3 sets
Lost to Muguruza (1st GS Final appearance) in straight sets
Beat Keber in straight sets
Beat Venus in straight sets
Lost to Kerber in straight sets
Lost to Osaka (1st GS Final appearance) in straight sets after throwing a temper tantrum

« Last edited by Matt77 on Feb 6th 2019 »