ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

item one: JUSTINE HENIN IS PREGNANT
item two: SERENA WILLIAMS IS DATING PATRICK MOURATOGLOU

tennis is not done with its bombshells this year

http://www2.pictures.zimbio.com/pc/Serena+Williams+coach+Patrick+Mouratoglou+AF7Yb07Z6cel.jpg

Sleazy I mean how nice for them.

idk given that Serena's past bfs include Brett Ratner and Drake I think this is a huge step up

Predictably, the guy Venus is supposedly dating is hotter.

who is Vee dating? I read something the other day where she told an Italian magazine that she was getting a lot of action from this new dude, and I was all like you go, girl.

sat a few rows from Mouratoglou during a match once and he def gives off skeezy vibes.

Elio Pis, a model she met on a photo shoot for her clothing line. Only photos on the net seem to be rubbish. I saw a Youtube that looked much better but I can't find it anymore (taken down prob).

lol I had to read tennisforum and someone made the crack about "Will Justine attempt to breastfeed" and I laughed because I'm a bad person even though I <3 Justine forever.

Having been on her bandwagon all year, am finally watching 16-yr-old Donna Vekic in the Tashkent final (against Irina-Camelia Begu). Youngest player in a WTA final for six years! She's not playing that well - it's her eighth match this week as she came through qualies, fatigue might be a factor - but I like the basics: good serve, good movement, good strokes on both wings.

Soooo Begu won, 6-4 6-4.

It was a fairly even match, and mostly decided by their serving - Vekic really only played one loose service game in the first set, and otherwise each dominated their service games. Vekic did miss several putaways by narrow margins, but her inexperience really showed at two points - when Begu served for the first set and was clearly a bit nervous, Vekic just played a horrendous return game and didn't get any into play.

In the second set , I thought Vekic had turned the match around when she came back from *2-4 and played a brilliant game, including two really long, well-constructed, consistently aggressive points (the best of the match), to break back for 4-4. Then she just played a silly, loose service game again to be broken.

Anyway, in short I'm still impressed. Her serve is the most obvious weapon - she gets many free points off it, and it sets up tons of one-two punches. Strokes on both sides are strong, and she's no slowpoke around the court either. She seems to be aiming to develop an all-around game - some points she was content to rally and move Begu around, which worked sometimes; when she was out-and-out aggressive, she sometimes hit flashy winners but also missed more. So still a work in progress, but I'm still on the bandwagon.

Oh, and I like her attitude and demeanour. Some fistpumps and "c'mons" to pump herself up as she was attempting the comeback, but not OTT; and NO SHRIEKING :)

it's funny, so many tennis people I know complain that Robson is overhyped, but she's playing her first WTA final now - first British woman in a final for 22 years - and I swear not a single British person who doesn't already follow tennis either knows or cares. When I tweeted about this yesterday I got multiple responses asking who Robson was ;_;

Anyway she's not dealing with Hsieh's awesome array of clever shots at all well right now and tbh it's Hsieh I'm supporting.

DROPSHOT RETURN OF SERVE <3

Can't find a decent stream of this. Would enjoy either player winning.

Ok I guess the match is suspended.

Erm. So Hsieh loses a 6-3, 5-3 lead and 5 MPs and gives up the set without a fight. Cut to her sitting with her coach at the changeover, laughing and joking as though she's leading 6-0 5-0. She really is an odd one.

Robson is playing really well now.

I don't think it's suspended? I'm watching the bet365 stream. I didn't pay attention for a second there but I'm guessing Robson's gone for a toilet break.

That's what the WTA scoreboard is telling me (bc of "heat), but they've been wrong before.

Oh it's the Hsieh comeback that's on now!

From 6-3, 5-3, Hsieh lost seven straight games, and has now won four straight games.

Hsieh wins 6-3 5-7 6-4. Second title of the year. Thrilled for her! At points in that match you could see why she was touted as the Next Hingis back in 2001...

Aw well done! Tough break for Robson, but she'll get there soon I think.

Aaaaaand we have the second British/Taiwanese final in 3 weeks in Osaka. Kai-Chen Chang showed up Stosur as the Worst Slam Champion Ever again (in over a decade Stosur has only won three titles, and none since the USO), having already ended the Robson hype in the QF - both in third set TBs. (She also beat McHale in R1, though I believe McHale is still recovering from mono.) Watson, OTOH, has cruised through a cushy draw without needing to beat anyone of particular note. Watson is much more the favourite than Robson was three weeks ago and won't give Chang as much pace to feed off. If Watson wins, she leapfrogs Robson to retake the GBR #1 spot, and also becomes the first British woman in the top 50 for probably like 93489392 years.

Also, I watched the end of Flipkens beating Ivanovic 6-4 6-0 in Linz yesterday. As hilarious as you'd expect. Ana literally couldn't even sustain a simple rally - against Flipkens! - let alone come close to winning games.

Any day Ivanovic loses is a good day!

Though Majoli was the far more likeable and interesting player (even if I hate her for beating Hingis), she trails Stosur in achievements imo (5 extra titles and her F wins were over some good players) - I'd take Stosur's three extra slam SFs.

Peak Errorer has come out v Murray. Quality shanking!

pretty amazing match already

The Fed/Murray match yesterday was pretty much decided by two games - the terrible one where Fed DFed three times, and the AMAZING one where Murray came back from 40/0 with five scorching returns.

That game just there at 3-3 is the same thing, though more slice than accustomed to seeing maybe?

Oh, so much for my guess that this would lead to an easy hold.

So much crazy crazy forehand errors, and Djoko going ham on a racquet!

Djoko saves match point and now its momentum shift in the 2nd!

Few unforced errors from Djoko: tie break now

This is an epic!

Incredible: 13-11 Djoko

unbelievable

The FH from Djoko when facing his first match point during the breaker was really godlike.

Djoko wins in the end...can't wait till the Aus Open, these guys will have some titanic battles in the coming year.

From what I watched (and had to switch off after the 2nd set) I felt there was more outpouring of emotion from Andy almost everytime he hit the net. Needs to perhaps re-assert a bit more control in future but I didn't see Lendl about (?)

Saw the end of the second set. Murray served for it at 5-4 and was 30-0 up when Nole played a completely ridiculously great point including a mid-rally tweener and finishing with a dropshot winner, and that inspired him to take it into a TB. The TB itself was kinda chokey, Andy was stupidly passive and Nole should have finished it off much sooner but kept letting Andy back in. Left for brunch after that. Oh well, makes a change to see Andy choke the Masters finals and win the big ones lately.

Watson won her final though! Saving four MPs! The true British talent this week.

I'm quite glad she's keeping her nose in front of Robson and grabbing all the milestones first - Laura's hype outweighs Heather's by so much, it can't be easy being permanently in someone else's shadow.

Though Majoli was the far more likeable and interesting player (even if I hate her for beating Hingis), she trails Stosur in achievements imo (5 extra titles and her F wins were over some good players) - I'd take Stosur's three extra slam SFs.

I didn't mean accomplishment-wise re: Stosur (I think Myskina and Schiavone probably battle for least accomplished Slam champ). I meant in terms of game.

congrats Heather Watson!

(btw lex, now I know why I thought you hated Robson; you like Watson more and I misread your posts comparing them)

yeah, Robson's got the strokes but I'm just less drawn to players who can't run. I like them both though, they've got got v appealing personalities (which is a relief tbh, given how much the British media will go on about them).

Just watched 18-yr-old Margarita Gasparyan give Safarova hell in the Moscow 1R - she's def a name to look out for. 1) Single-handed BH klaxon, 2) a Russian who can somewhat serve shock, 3) SHE HAS BEPA'S HOTT EX-MODEL COACH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Gtq-TaX1Y

how she actually won this tournament is beyond me, given that her semifinal against arvidsson (!) was probably the worst match i've ever seen.

hideous outfit, too:

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/dam/assets/121019022329-caroline-wozniacki-epa298-story-body.jpg

She looks like an upside-down cupcake.

Stosur is now 3-12 in career finals.

I can't even imagine what it must be like to be a Stosur fanatic given how many winnable matches she chucks away. I mean, it almost makes me glad that I choose to split my affections between Kvitova and Li who are only morons sometimes.

Also the skirt = Neapolitan ice-cream. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Yay Venus

Now is a good time to retire btw

kmt Tsonga

serving at *4-5 in the third, you've just saved two MPs like a boss with big serves, and then what do you do? why a FH of stupidity into the tramlines and then a DF on MP, of course

Petra's gonna go 0-3 y'all

I think her fists might actually be made of ham