WIMBLEDON 2016

that last shot...

HA!

this keeps getting better...

Murray indominable

and then all of a sudden. idk how Murray has raced to 3-0, feels like a blur already xp

Level has def droped now and mistakes are coming.

dbl break

Just outlasted Tsonga - basically the level dropped a touch and then there is no plan B. Blowing cold..

never underestimate the importance of following the winning patterns. is what i have learned from Wimbledon.

VAMOS MURRAY!

And I am away for the final so I won't be having a nervous breakdown in here

murray -vs- federer will be fun.

lmao I had a tennis court booked at 7 and left after the second set thinking surely I'd seen the best bits.

deeply unthrilled by Raonic and Berdych in the SF, deeply unthrilled at the very real possibility of Raonic in the final, if it's a Federer/Murray final though I'll be perched (also pissed off) to see how heavily the crowd will favour Federer.

Serena/Kerber or Serena/Venus should be pretty fascinating finals either way - the latter might actually be the psychologically toughest match the sisters have ever had! (well no, the competing narratives make it seem so, but ultimately I think Serena is hungrier for her history.)

Fed record in Wimb semis is ridiculous: 10-0 and 30-1 in sets. Only Novak stretched him to four in 2012. First time he's faced a repeat opponent* though, and if he's as flat as he was for the first 90min vs Cilic, Raonic could upset him. Murray-Berdych could be a decent contest.

(*: Roddick, Grosjean, Hewitt, Bjorkman, Gasquet, Safin, Haas, Djokovic, Raonic, Murray; I think only Hewitt, Djokovic and Murray were his expected SF opponents by seeding, so he's had it a little easy).

Fed actually a month older than Connors was at the time of *that* Pernfors match and Jimbo's last run to the semis (the USO run was a further four years on, mind).

And Venus a little younger than BJK when she had her autumnal fighting years in SW19, 1980-83. I can remember getting updates on the QF vs Navratilova in '80 from my English teacher who kept disappearing into the staff room for "supplies".

13th Slam in a row on the women's side with a first-time SFist, remarkably. In the previous 70 Slams going back to 1995 the longest streak of SF debutantes was six (2004-05 and 2007-08).

That is an extraordinary stat! I wonder what the recent record is for the men? Two?

I'll go back and look at it later but I have a feeling the late 90s/early 00s may have seen the men get up to 13 or thereabouts...

how is vesnina in the sf, she is rubbish

cibulkova was amazing against radwanska but she lost 6-2 6-2 to *this* wtf was she just tired

or is serena just that far ahead? she can't be THAT far ahead, the quality in cibulkova/radwanska was some of the best i've seen

this is going to be the third time this tournament that serena has closed out the second set 6-0 to win

It's several things:

1) This is Vesnina's first time at this level and she's probably showing nerves.
2) Vesnina is still in both women's doubles AND mixed doubles and is playing more tennis than any of the other semifinalists.
3) When Serena is dialed in and focused, she really IS that far ahead of everyone else.

that's fair

kerber might be close. but we'll see how close now

Mind you I'm not watching because I'm at work; I don't know how badly Vesnina is doing aside from following the scoreline.

Kerber has the ability to hang with Serena (as evidenced by her Australian Open win). Really, everyone* in the top 10 has the ability to hang with Serena; the problem is getting that ability to hang to line up with and sustain long enough to take advantage of Serena's lapses.

* well mmmmmmaybe not Vinci

serena was good but vesnina was utterly and absolutely woeful, like beyond what you'd typically expect of a 'shit i'm playing serena' typical choke

I watched it. Fundamentally the reason that happened is because Vesnina is not an elite player and never has been; she's in the SF because that quarter of the draw collapsed a bit with Bencic's injury and Radwanska/Kvitova losing before Vesnina had to play them. It's a career best week for a veteran whose career high is 21, not a player you'd expect to be in a GS SF at all let alone regularly. So it's not disappointing because this is exactly what was expected.

And the reason it was 6-2 6-0 rather than 6-4 6-3 was because Serena played a pretty flawless match herself. Against a player with nothing to stop her doing that, but she gave Vesnina no openings (like she did to McHale last week).

Between the schedule and their epic matches, Cibulkova and Vesnina were definitely not helped by circumstances to stay fresh, too.

I don't think it's even that deep that it was a wipe-out. Sometimes players are just overmatched. It happens all the time, on the men's side as well as the women's, sometimes even in SFs and Fs! Why are you devoting multiple posts to it imago?

Doesn't watch much of it..

that, and i can't process how vesnina beat cibulkova 6-2 6-2, which i didn't see

Cibulkova was exhausted. And Vesnina is a decent player if she's allowed to play her game, which she was against Domi but not against Serena. Match-ups!

meanwhile this is a good match, except for the serving

Kerber eventually finding her range and about to serve for the set.

Kerber's ground game is soooooo good to watch

this is getting less good, but the final should be good, or something

oh there's life in it now, but life of the inept variety

hmm, every time i criticise it, the quality improves slightly. but it hasn't sustained really. kerber will give serena a game though, based on this (yes i know it isn't over)

hahaha the best point of the whole match to win it

Great final point for Kerber. She outlasted Venus in all the key points and the serve was solid the longer the match went on.

Brill FH pass to end it.

The last time we had the same two players in multiple Slam finals in one year was Henin/Mauresmo 2006!

The last time we had the same two players in multiple Slam finals in one year was Henin/Mauresmo 2006!

Didn't realise this also happened on the ATP between 1995 (Agassi/Sampras) and 2006 (Federer/Nadal).

As for the debut SFists streak on the ATP there was a streak of 10 Slams with at least one between AO 1997 and RG 1999 (going back to AO 2006 it was 13 out of 14).

From Nadal's debut SF (RG 2005) we got 14 out of 17 Slams with a debut SFist until RG 2009; since then we've had seven of 29 Slams with one :///

SESIL KARATANTCHEVA ON THE 20-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE SPICE GIRLS' DEBUT, EVERYONE

http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/5712080/title/sesil-spice-karatantcheva-on-wannabe

for my own very selfish reasons I hate that they put the fed match first and murray second

in that you'll have to miss Fed? think of it as the Raonic match and missing it becomes much easier to take

Tsitsipas gigantically choked the boys' SF against Shapovalov, though I think Shapovalov is the better player anyway - a lefty with a lovely one-handed BH (they both have 1HBHs, the Fed impact!)

why are they letting McEnroe commentate Raonic's match?????

xxp right well I don't hate raonic its just the match of the two id rather see

(xp) I was wondering that myself.

xxp I recall gimmlestob still commentating an isner match while coaching him idk

Department of mental strength: Potapova, down a (very hard-fought) set to Day, comes through 14 total deuces across the first three games of the second set to lead 3-0.