WIMBLEDON 2015

Coric actually won multiple extended baseline rallies to hold despite being unable to run

Bouchard had nine opening round losses last year so it's not like she was ever a player who went deep into tournaments every time. Obviously the pressure is affecting her, but there's also 1) she massively revamped her game to become ultra-aggressive in the 2013-14 off-season; it always takes the Tour a while to collectively figure out a new way to beat you (Petra helpfully wrote the set text on this in last year's final); 2) that revamp happened despite her fugly technique which may have worked while she was confident and her opponents hadn't figured it out, but now that neither is the case...

Beautiful volley by Cepelova to get to MP on Halep...

lol halep

HALEP OUT TOO

Cepelova has struggled so much with illness and injury of late, great to see her playing well again!

aw, I can't really indulge in schadenfreude with Halep

okay maybe a little

Coincidentally I was reading this piece on stalkers and women's tennis earlier - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/sports/tennis/womens-tennis-still-has-safety-concerns-22-years-after-the-monica-seles-attack.html - and Halep's poor form seems to date from the Stüttgart incident

Wow, Coric wins 9-7 in the fifth. Of all the young guns I think he has the greatest need to win

outlasting Robredo at RG and Stakhovsky here is pretty impressive. nb i didn't watch much of either match

jesus, that stalking article is depressing

er, Zheng Saisai is owning Woz right now :o

Two breaks up with some pretty zany, creative tennis - have a slice! have a moonball! here I am at net knocking off your shitty FH! - but as per the playbook, Saisai crumbled :(

Three mothers in R2: Tatjana Maria, Evgeniya Rodina and Casey Dellacqua

Must be heartening for Keys to look at her coach for support and see Davenport fiddling around on her phone

ha she looks so nervous

Voegele has great eyebrows

I've heard a lot of comms mangle players' names but I don't know how this guy is getting "Vergulla" from Voegele

Rybarikova FINALLY wins a match at Wimbledon on her 8th try...via retirement over Knapp

I can totally see how you might get Vergulla from Voegele. I mean, it'd be more Furgələ but if your German was even worse than mine you could get that. Or does Stefanie pronounce it Italian-style? Is that a thing.

Looked at some highlights from Bouchard/YYD and nearly laughed. Bouchard may as well have played on one leg like she said she would if she had to. If Serena wins this tournament it's going to be the biggest gap between 1 and 2 ever isn't it.

Coric and Rublev look like the best young guns to me, since Kyrgios is a flake and Zverev seemingly a clay specialist in style

Tomic played his first round match with a popped collar

Berdych-Chardy was enjoyable last night, esp as they were suggesting coming off at 4-4 in the 4th and ended up playing the set to a t/b conclusion, beyond the point at which Hawkeye had stopped working due to lack of available light. 9:28pm finish (and Wimb a week further away from solstice this year).

the FH halfway up the net at 5-5 in that TB encapsulated Chardy's career somewhat

Grass-court tennis looks great near-dusk and I'm sure that's just nostalgia at play. They need to get the old illuminated scoreboard back in.

Seeing a lot of Bouchard/Kournikova comparisons which just seem lazy and inaccurate...it's just not the same situation at all, let alone the same career arc. Kournikova was ultra-talented but chased the money and off-court stuff before her game was wrecked by injury. Bouchard, despite how she's written about, actually does minimal off-court glam stuff and seems more motivated by the tennis than the fame, and last year did the absolute best she could with her limited game.

I see Hantuchova as a better parallel - big breakthrough year sees a few very flashy results and very consistent Slam showings take her to the top 5, gets hyped up beyond belief, various factors including the over-hype lead to a death slump the following year, she'll eventually stabilise and have the #10-#30 career that befits her talent.

Christina Macfarlane ‏@chrissymacCNN 10m10 minutes ago
BREAKING: Gates have been temporarily closed at @Wimbledon...officials say there has been a fire on Court 1. More details to follow

!!!

Urszula Radwanska is now 0-9 in Slam R2s with this loss to Stosur. Quite surprising that a former top 30 player and top junior hasn't made even one R3 but I guess if you can't beat Stosur on grass...

kei withdraws :(

:(

The AUS fans are somehow even worse this year than usual

Keys trying her utmost to choke at the end there but Voegele couldn't do anything

my annual hatewatch is in progress, cmon hoegenkamp

*hogenkamp, even

my annual hatewatch is going to have to wait until she's playing someone who's any good

Kyrgios outright bullying umpires on the regular now

scrrratch that, 2DFs into 3BPs

and a third DF! :D

Last year's AO girls' champ Elizaveta Kulichkova, making her Slam debut, is at 8-8 in the third vs Wickmayer...

The AUS fans are somehow even worse this year than usual

Pretty much unbearable during Hewitt's match yesterday.

were they there wearing those stupid fucking green and gold hats I saw in Paris? HATE FOREVER.

Awful awful awful.

Tumaini Carayol ‏@tumcarayol 35m35 minutes ago
"Is that a threat? Does it feel good to be up there in the chair? Do you feel strong up there in the chair?" - Kyrgios to the umpire.

Howard Bryant ‏@hbryant42 31m31 minutes ago
Linesman tells chair ump of Kyrgios language. Kyrgios looks at him and says, "You're a real champion. Did you get your point across?"

Imagine being sat next to the AUS fans in 35 degree heat watching Kyrgios act like a petulant brat while winning easily

cypriot fire

tommy haas pushing raonic to a second straight TB in the 4th after getting smoked 0&2 the first two sets

Thiem's looking more comfortable on grass than I've ever seen him before. Learning fast. Really nice touch at net that I didn't know he had. 2 sets to 1 up on Verdasco, who started the third set in control and obviously threw in a massive braincramp service game towards the end of the set

man berankis with that backhand DTL twice in 3 high-leverage service points, good stuff

(in 3rd set TB)

Baghdatis is like the proto-Monfils, still trolling everyone by going two sets and a break down just for fun before the NID comeback

Oh Verdasco. Down BP in the 5th, idiot FH out then idiot challenge wasted despite the umpire TRYING to tell him not to bother

Thiem didn't press the advantage home...

Probably the best match yet, that was

Vika looking pretty good so far, got Mladenovic next

Amazing set from Krunic - was a double break down vs Errani but won 6 games in a row with some brilliant shotmaking