ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

How about doing something more with a short ball than tapping it harmlessly at the Federer FH next time, Nole

That was very nearly 4-0 to Fed but Nole's clawed it back to 3-3 through sheer tenacity.

OMG THAT SHOT

Followed up by a shanked BH, lol

And Fed breaks in an 11-min game at the start of the 2nd. What time are the last trains from North Greenwich?

http://www.changeovertennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/FedDjokovicInsanity3.gif

what a point to end on!

Very appropriate

Not a bad final!

And Djokovic takes player of the year then, too

Gisela Dulko is RETIRING. Lovely farewell letter: http://www.dulkotenis.com/en/n/20121118_happy_end

I saw her final match vs. Lucic in Wimbledon qualies, I guess. She hasn't played singles since then so I'd assumed she was retired from that discipline, but I'm surprised she didn't become a doubles specialist with Pennetta for a while yet.

The climax of her finest win. God this match was a MESS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmw52WIQI9c

aw that's a bummer. Always liked seeing her in a Slam draw - she was such a wildcard. so choke-tastic and yet so many memorable wins... Henin, Sharapova, Azarenka etc.

plus, she and Flavia made the hottest doubles team.

some nice shots of the year:

http://tennis.si.com/2012/11/28/shots-of-the-year-awards/

Nadal now out of Doha and AO.

He isn't ever coming back, is he? :/

Oh Brisbane.

Pervak d. Wozniacki.

Why did I not turn the TV on for that.

Wow, Karolina even losing to D versions of herself now.

Sweta kicked off her comeback with, er, a 1R loss to Bertens in Auckland. Retire. McHale only winning five games off Parmentier confuses me. Vandeweghe choking match points to Daniilidou amuses me.

Watching my first tennis of 2013 - Ying-Ying Duan vs. Mrs. Krumm in Shenzhen. Duan is unusual for a CHN player - she looks at least six foot tall and has a game to match. Huge serve, bashy groundstrokes, not exactly consistent. Krumm's defence and angles caused her problems in the first set but she's pulling away now.

Stosur extends her Australian losing streak to 4 with a straight-sets loss to Arvidsson.

It's weird, early in her career Stosur actually did better at home than elsewhere.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxVcF__TIa0&feature=player_embedded

Everything is embarrassing

I am totally amused by Stosur flopping to general non-entities like Arvidsson (who I have seen play solidly) and Hantuchova d. Errani is.. not exactly funny, but.. it's something. What I am not amused by is Kvitova losing to Pavlynchenkova. In eight years time I am going to be mourning the loss of what could have been a brilliant career as Kvitova is but a memory and Azarenka has ten slams, aren't I :(

Piotr Wozniacki would be insufferable at charades.

This match literally made me get out of bed on two hours' sleep, I was hazily checking the scores and went WTF out loud when I saw Johansson leading. Immediately had to swing into action to put some money on the choke. Which was inevitable and hilarious.

Venus has always made wild UEs and that's nothing new but what's sad is seeing how harmless she's become more generally.

In eight years time I am going to be mourning the loss of what could have been a brilliant career as Kvitova is but a memory and Azarenka has ten slams, aren't I

Sad. Prescient :(

IRL LOL @ Johansson for those two FH misses at 3-3, 30-30. She must have had to hit the second one vertically downwards to fail to get it over the net.

I am watching Lisicki/Azarenka. It is infuriating. Lisicki has ALL THE TOOLS to demolish Azarenka but she can't finish the points off.

SABINE STOP HITTING YOUR BH INTO THE NET. THE HIGH PART OF THE NET IS HIGH FFS

Not on hard courts she doesn't. Lisicki's strokes are too unstable and she's never in her career had a great result off grass/clay.

Li Na is a break down against COHEN. WTF.

Tomic is actually playing somewhat well against Nole right now!

She's actually constructing points fairly well and getting good, consistent depth... only to bludgeon the put-away into the net. Azarenka's serve is so woeful, so woeful... kill her Serena!

Apparently this Monica Puig who took Kerber to a 9-7 final set TB is good, then?

Didn't see it, sadly.

Dolgopolov is wearing a hideous, hideous outfit that looks like something a 12-year-old might wear to the beach.

I have always found Nieminen kind of attractive.

Some of the points Tomic has played have been astonishing. The variety of shots he can employ is great to watch. About to serve for the match.

Tomic: "Full credit to myself"

Oh is Serena not your "best friend" any more, Sloane? LOL @ this

http://www.changeovertennis.com/video-sloane-stephens-calls-serena-williams-come-ons-disrespectful/

(Serena wasn't even doing it that much by her standards, and only when she hit great shots! Hardly hysterical fighting mode. Also, LOL @ how invested the US tennis media is in Stephens' hype. Some embarrassing tweets this morning, you'd have thought Sloane took Serena to a third set TB rather than a straight-sets loss)

I think it's time to get my hopes up (and then inevitably crushed) for a Davydenko comeback. I almost forgot how great he is to watch when he's playing well. Looking forward to his match against Ferrer tomorrow.

Did Azarenka really just w/d from her match against Serena because she had a BAD PEDICURE?????????????

I...what...I have heard everything now.

Oh god it gets even better. A bad pedicure TEN DAYS AGO. How convenient that it only became impossible to play on after she'd trashed Lisicki and Pervak, but before she had to play Serena.

KING KOLYA on fire :)

absolutely amazing performance

that was a TREAT. incredible

Cibulkova d. Kvitova 6-1 6-1

I hate this result even though I love Slovakia's finest midget.

I love and adore that result! omg

lol how did I miss the news that Dimitrov and Sharapova are allegedly dating? well done both of them, if true.

I won't get cynical and say it's a publicity stunt, or because Grisha can't have the one he really wants (no, I don't mean Serena, I mean Monfils lol).

I am THIS CLOSE to booking tickets to middle weekend of the open this year. Getting flights is the bitch, I might take either a Friday or Monday off so I can take in an extra day as well. THIS WILL BE QUITE GOOD EXCEPT IF IT IS 5000 DEGREES LIKE MELBOURNE APPARENTLY IS.

ha no lie, my first thought was this was just Grigor's way of acting out against Mouratoglou.

DO IT. Wish I could again this year - the sunburn was worth it tbh.

smh Petra

This is the point where we have to abandon any hope that she'll be a dominating champion like she could be, and instead be a sporadic Sweta/Pierce type. She'll win Wimbledon again in like six years and in between there'll just be a whole lotta stupidity and laziness. Azarenka of course will be racking up the Slams.

Talking of Sweta, she won her first matches since beating Radwanska at RG last year in Sydney QUALIES. Took three sets to get past Foretz-Gacon and Cepelova.

oh and the Doha final was disappointing yesterday - Kolya played like he had all tournament for one-and-a-half sets, but couldn't serve it out. Gasquet showed very uncharacteristic fighting spirit but his strategy of standing a million miles behind the baseline is not one that's a harbinger of his career going up a level. And Kolya sadly demonstrated that his peak level is too fragile and easily ended these days :(

SO FUCKING PISSED at line judges. Tie-break second set between Stosur and Zheng, gorge BH winner from Zheng gets called wide. Fortunately, it's overruled. Then Stosur double faults, and it's missed. She wins the tie-breaker.

GAARRGHHHH HOW CAN PEOPLE DO SUCH THINGS TO ZHENG!

Despite being maybe the fittest woman on tour, Stosur's movement is, like her hands, made of stone. And she has literally no anticipation at all. That easy missed volley from Zheng, aaargh....

Meanwhile in Hobart, Peng has blown a double break third set lead to (top seed!) Hsieh, and they're in a final set TB.

Keys won her Sydney opener. She's fucked around losing in challengers for longer than I thought she would but I expect her in the top 100 in a few weeks, and thence to have a much better career than Stephens, McHale et al.

Nice to see Mrs Krumm win a rare WTA match. LOL @ Hantuchova adding yet another match to her list of losses after winning a bagel/breadstick first set.

Huh, last I checked the scoreboard Brian Baker had a 5-1, 40-0 lead. And now it's 5-3.

5-4 :/

Had a 5-4, 40-0 lead on his own serve. Now deuce. Ludicrous Janowicz volley to save the second MP in that game.