Roger Federer retires

Novak retired hurt in the fourth round after being down 4-6 5-7 1-2 against Stan Wawrinka. Apparently a shoulder injury flared up.

Then Roger lost his quarterfinal match 6-3 4-6 6-3 4-6 2-6 against Grigor Dimitrov.

Rafa just survived a testing quarterfinal match, yet won it in straight sets. He let a 4-0 lead in set 1 become 4-4, and a 5-1 lead in set 2 become 5-5. He lifted when he needed to though.

Serena is looking good (surprise surprise), yet I still fancy her to lose in the final if she makes it.

Medvedev (5) v Dimitrov
Berrettini (24) v Nadal (2)

Svitolina (5) v Williams (8)
Bencic (13) v Andreescu (15)

« Last edited by Matt77 on Sep 5th 2019 »

SOOOOOOOOO GLAD Serena lost. Her on the court drama is horrible to watch.

The US looked horrible by barely cheering the girl who beat her. Poor sports.

I'm not surprised at all. I said after Wimbledon that I thought Serena will never win another GS, and it seems like a fair prediction now. There is no fear factor anymore. 0-4 in GS finals since giving birth (winning 0 sets), and 2-6 since 2016.

The crowd have been terrible this GS, and that's not me being biased against yanks. I saw several matches where the crows were booing, cheering faults and double faults, and intimidating the opposition. Funnily enough, they intimidated Andreescu against Townsend, then intimidated Bencic against Andreescu, then intimidated Andreescu again against Serena.

I wonder whether Andreescu will fall flat like every other GS Champion. She's 8-0 against top 10 opponents this year and has lost 4 matches only, and hasn't lost since March (injury included). But Kerber is pathetic now, Muguruza choked to a 1st round defeat, Osaka has lost form, Halep choked to a 2nd round defeat to a qualifier, and lets not even mention Ostapenko please...

« Last edited by Matt77 on Sep 8th 2019 »

Nadal won. #19. If he can win the Australian, he could, fittingly, eclipse Federer at the French.

That was not convincing at all by Rafa. I was shocked to see him let a 2-set and a break lead slip. In the 5th set he was down 0-1 15-40, and could've easily been broken there. Then he couldn't serve for the championship, and nearly couldn't do it again.

That said, Medvedev caused most of that drop off from Rafa. The US Open was his 4th consecutive final at a tournament, and he kept that good form going into the final. What a great effort from him. I think he will be a Grand Slam winner one day, and perhaps sooner than we all think.

And in case you're reading Dennis, Rafa won 7-5 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-4.

The big three is getting older. Someone has to break through at some point.

it is , indeed !!

Shapapova lost in the 1st round 6-3 6-4, after leading 4-1 in the 2nd set. Her ranking drops to 369th in the world.

Serena lost in the 3rd round 6-4 6-7 7-5, after coming back from 3-5 down in the 2nd set and leveling the match at 5-5 in the 3rd. She is still 2 GS wins away from overtaking Margaret Court's record.

Federer won his 3rd round match 4-6 7-6 6-4 4-6 7-6, after coming back from 4-8 down in the 5th set match tiebreak (first to 10 by two).

And today, Federer won his Quarterfinal match 6-3 2-6 2-6 7-6 6-3, suffering a groin/back injury in the 3rd set, and SAVING SEVEN MATCH POINTS.

Mens Semi Finals:

Federer [3] vs Djokovic [2]
Nadal [1] / Thiem [5] vs Zverev [7]

Women's Semi Finals:

Barty [1] vs Kenin [14]
Halep [4] vs Muguruza

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 29th 2020 »

Sad for Maria.

Hoping for Rafa to absolutely dominate this year.

Warrior13 said:

Sad for Maria.

Hoping for Rafa to absolutely dominate this year.

Same wish here, Nadal has always been my favorite player.

I remember THE MATCH with him and Federer at Wimbledon like a decade (or more) ago.

I'm sick of the domination of the 'Big 2' (Federer isn't up to their standard) in men's tennis. Women's is so much more interesting and unpredictable. C'mon Ash!

Unfortunately Novak is waltzing through to the podium to collect his trophy. He faces an injured Federer tomorrow (if fit, I think Fed could've made it a match), so he will advance to the final. And Rafa has to get past Thiem and Zverev/Wawrinka to get there. If he gets there, Novak will thrash him in straight sets just like he did 12 months ago, and 2 weeks ago at the ATP Cup. A bad matchup for Rafa.

Rafa will win the French though, probably beating Thiem in yet another final (lol). The king of clay vs the prince of clay.

Wimbledon will probably be Novak's once again, unless Federer finds the form he showed last time.

And the US Open will come down to whether Novak gets injured. If he doesn't, he'll win yet another GS.

End of year GS standings will be:
Rafa 20
Roger 20
Novak 19

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 28th 2020 »

I see Serena Williams is taking boxing lessons from Mike Tyson.

What's the story with Sharapova since she came back from her ban for using PEDs. Is she still the dominant player or is she not the same.

Federer is my favourite player on the mens circuit as well, never been a Dokovich, Federer, or Murray fan. Have you noticed that in sports competitors careers are lasting longer with the advancement of nutrition and PEDS lol.

Nadal lost to Thiem. Clearly had the tougher road. No way he would've defeated the Joker in the Finals after his path. Onto the French.

Sharapova ranked 369th in the world, that is a shame. It casts a serious shadow on her five grand slam titles. I was hoping she'd still be in the top 20, ranked 369th is embarrassing for her, mind you she is getting on a bit now for a women's professional tennis player.

She'll retire soon enough. She'll be remember for her younger years anyways, when she was a great tennis player and oh so smokin'.

Yes, who can forget that 6 foot 1 blonde goddess running around the court like a giraffe with those long legss making grunting noises every time she hit the ball. Plenty of power but not the most athletically gifted tennis player I have ever seen. If not for Serena Williams she would have had more than five grand slams during her peak.

From watching her occasionally, Sharapova's movement around the court isn't up to standard. Whether she's slowing down because of her age, or whether it's bad fitness, she is in a bad spot. She's often losing in the 1st round of tournaments because she gets a wildcard and doesn't have to play qualifying. I actually think she needs to decline a wildcard and play some matches against lower ranked players.

In 2018 and a bit of 2019 Sharapova looked really good though. She made the Quarterfinals of the French Open and the US Open, and the 4th round of the Australian Open. She still has the game to compete with the best, but she needs to try and find it. Maybe she should play some doubles to get some confidence back.

Thiem beat Rafa 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-6 in an amazing match. Rafa served for the 1st set at 5-3 and had set point, but crumbled due to Thiem's high level. Then Thiem served for the MATCH at 5-4 and got broken.

Novak just beat Roger easily, 7-6 6-4 6-3. Roger lead 4-1 and had 0-40 on Novak's serve in the 1st set, but fell apart and was broken to love while serving for it. From my time watching Federer, he is woeful when attempting to break his opponent's serve. It's why imo he isn't, and will not end up being the GOAT.

Kenin beat Barty 7-6 7-5. Barty had 2 set points at 6-4 in the tiebreak and crumbled, and the served for the 2nd set and lead 5-4 40-15, but fell apart again. Sofia Kenin, from the US, is a name to look out for. Champions play their best on the big points, and she has all tournament. And she beat Serena in straight sets at the French last year.

Muguruza beat Halep 7-6 7-5 (same scoreline as the other semi). Halep had 3 set points in total but couldn't do it, and then served for the 2nd at 5-4, just as Barty did. And just as Barty did, she crumbled and didn't win another game. Dennis, you should take notice of Muguruza given that she's from Spain and has already won 2 Grand Slams (beating Serena and Venus Williams in straight sets).

Amazingly, Muguruza lost the 1st set of her First Round match 0-6, and now she's the favourite and in the final.

Thiem and Zverev play tomorrow in the other men's semi. If Thiem wins he may be able to push Novak, but it'll be hard. Novak has a 7-0 record in Australian Open finals.

« Last edited by Matt77 on Jan 30th 2020 »

Dennis: My mouth is watering. XD

Matt: Sharapova's decline primarily has to do with her past injuries catching up to her. As Dennis shared, she's older now. Those injuries have just piled up. Novak will win the Australian, Rafa the French (as you already mentioned). Hoping Rafa can get hot after that and win at least one of the final two.

Ahhhh, so Sharapova isn't your favourite player because of her tennis ability, it's because of... xD

I'm a bit worried about Rafa (excluding the French Open). At the ATP Finals (decent sized end-of-year event for the best 8) Rafa got thrashed by Zverev in straight sets and failed to advance past the round robin stage due to that heavy defeat. At the ATP Cup Rafa almost lost to de Minaur (was trailing 4-6 5-5), but did lose to Goffin in straight sets. Then in the AO he squeezed past Kyrgios, and now has lost to Thiem.

My question to you, if you know enough about the other players. Which of the non-big 3 will be the first to break through and win a GS?