WIMBLEDON 2016

... as is his face.

... sorry, that's a bit much!

I have no idea how ppl in ilx tennis threads arrive at their impassioned judgments but it's fun, seems it's always GOOD VS EVIL

He looks like one of the guys in red shirts in the original Star Trek series who would go down to some planet with Captain Kirk and get killed as soon as he got there.

Murray should clean up Berdych pretty quick and be nice and rested. Right? Please?

If Fed had lost six, four and four, never getting a break point, that would have been one thing. But he had that match in his grasp. Perhaps his thigh/knee wouldn't have held up for Sunday anyway.

Pretty sure if you played all the points that involved exciting tennis b2b from that five-setter you'd barely get to 10 minutes

Raonic has actually ruined Canada for me too.

like this should feel ~momentous, first Slam final for a young player, end of an era (well this obv happened years ago but) but I just feel comatose right now

Fair enough, well done to the guy, great achievement, just lose in the final please.

Mr Roz, who doesn't regularly watch tennis, halfway through the second set: "why is this match so boring?"

Raonic is a perfectly genial sort, but he's basically a robot on court.

yeah he seems fine as a person but he's one of the only players that make me feel touch and go about even watching the final

ilx tennis threads are great and have had a real impact in who i root for irl. there are the players i would have cheered on regardless of ilx like/dislike - radwanska, federer. then there are the players i root for precisely because they are so loathed on ilx - wozniaki, ivanovic. guess i'll have to root for raonic now, anyone but murray really. tomic still a bridge too far though.

Tomic is the opposite, total douche but his game is very interesting, unique and watchable, and a good foil to a lot of other players

ILX tennis threads barely mention Wozniacki these days. Well not the slam ones lolololol

Agreed. I feel that way about Kyrgios too. Gorgeous stylist (more of a wild slapper than Tomic), bit of a dick, quite like to see him lose. But at least I like to see him.

Xp

just adds to my love, like safina
xp

kind of weird hearing people in the office here cheer after Roanic's win and then coming to this thread to see what ilx tennis people think and basically everybody hates him. (I am Canadian and know pretty much nothing about tennis)

Ditto. I'm happy.

I don't know that much either but I know enough to know that, when I actually sit down to watch tennis, which isn't often, I don't want to be sitting down to watch someone like Raonic.

^ xxp

He's no Glenn Michibata. He's no Carling Bassett either.

xp

HOPE: maybe his career will follow the post-Wimbledon final trajectory of Bouchard's!

Comparing generational peers, I feel it is extremely necessary for my tennis fandom that Nishikori ends up with a better career than Raonic.

can't speak for anyone else but i don't HATE any players, just don't want the boring ones (e.g. Raonic) to succeed at the expense of less boring ones

Raonic = Portugal at Euro 2016

having said that i reaally didn't want to watch Murray lose another slam final to old man Fed so i'm glad that's no longer a possibility

let's be fair, he played some amazing shots

you don't have to be a big tennis head to watch raonic and federer play each other and decide which is more pleasing to watch

pandemic what do you have against murray? just some euro beef?

dour, habit of having bum-fluffy facial hair, a bottler

Yeah, that's him.

i don't mind AM but he's definitely got things that you could dislike about him

I like him, the fact that he's unlikeable makes him more likeable.

gripping match here

Berdych's FH needs its own laugh track

it always kind of amazes me that you could be a tennis player who could probably beat 99.99% of the world at a game of tennis and someone like Murray can make you look like an amateur.

and he's even beaten murray before.

they had never played each other on grass before today. fun fact.

not a lot of grass court tournaments

gonna be watching the finals in ~social situations so will unfortunately be absent but I'll take Serena in three and Murray in four

(Murray's first Slam final not against Djokovic or Federer, whoa. The "he's too miserable" complaint about him pales next to the fact that he's one of the few ATP players with progressive opinions tbh)

yeah i have encountered way too many IRL murray haters who think he's awfully sour and grumpy, tbh whenever he's interviewed i'm always impressed by how articulate and sensible he sounds

saw in passing the stat of murray making at least the qtrs in 21 of the last 22 majors i think? thats p killer

some outstanding rallies here

kerb looks good

@ work, missing this, bah!

That was a solid set, so many amazing rallies. Hoping Kerber keeps it up.

The highlight reel from this match will be unreal - it's just been winner after winner from both players.

so many points making me gasp

Jesus this match