OT: French Open

[DaddyChoc]

Errani is loud... Serena up a set tied at 3 in the second

 

[DaddyChoc]

it's over... on to the next #Serena

 

[EricLA]

Errani does not have a game that matches up well with Serena. Players like her, Suarez Navarro, Pennata, etc who have a lot of spin, angles, lobs, etc but not a lot of power are not a good matchup at all vs. Serena.

 

[PhillyCoach]

Errani does not have a game that matches up well with Serena. Players like her, Suarez Navarro, Pennata, etc who have a lot of spin, angles, lobs, etc but not a lot of power are not a good matchup at all vs. Serena.

Serena, of course, is the heavy favorite, but my dark horse is Lucy Safarova. She is a very quick defender and her footwork is wonderful. Many points I just watch her 100% of the point. She is ballerina like. She also has sneaky power (unlike defenders-Errani, Pennata, Wozniaki, etc.) and has the deception of a lefty. Another advantage is she has played BIG hitters --Sharapova, Mugaruza, and now Ivanavic (she has to beat her yet), so she will be used to the power of Serena. Let's see what happens.

 

[EricLA]

Serena, of course, is the heavy favorite, but my dark horse is Lucy Safarova. She is a very quick defender and her footwork is wonderful. Many points I just watch her 100% of the point. She is ballerina like. She also has sneaky power (unlike defenders-Errani, Pennata, Wozniaki, etc.) and has the deception of a lefty. Another advantage is she has played BIG hitters --Sharapova, Mugaruza, and now Ivanavic (she has to beat her yet), so she will be used to the power of Serena. Let's see what happens.

Also Safarova is in the finals with Bethany Mattek-Sands for the doubles (or maybe it's the semi's). They just beat the top seed Hingas/Mirza to advance. My point is Safarova must be comfortable at the net too. Not that clay court tennis lends itself to playing at the net, and not like Serena hits a lot of short balls, but she's a really solid player with an all court game. Would be an interesting matchup (do they face each other in the semis?)...

 

[EricLA]

Errani is loud... Serena up a set tied at 3 in the second

Plus I meant to say Errani has a weird serve. The way she holes her racket when the ball is tossed up - she didn't used to serve that way did she? What changed? usually when a player changes their motion like she did it's because they have trouble with double faults, but her serve is so soft I can't imagine she'd have trouble with that...

 

[EricLA]

BTW Nadal went out pretty easily. Unranked Kokinakis gave Novak a better match in the 3rd round. Nadal had a good draw for him until he ran into Novak, but I have a feeling there are about 8-10 guys who could beat him on any given day these days. Federer's decline has been slow - he's still a top 3-4 guy, but Rafa may drop out of the top 10 if Tsonga beats Wawrinka...

 

[AnotherVolFan]

I have the BIGGEST crush on Nadal....I hope he doesn't fade....he was my shining light at the French Open all those years Serena wasn't winning it!

 

[EricLA]

I have the BIGGEST crush on Nadal....I hope he doesn't fade....he was my shining light at the French Open all those years Serena wasn't winning it!

I actually think Novak is much more sexy. But of course, Verdasco and Tipsarevic are even better...

 

[RockyMTblue2]

Oh you silly tennis kids, really....

 

[DaddyChoc]

Do you guys wanna know about my crush on Serena... OMG, my lawd!

 

[DaddyChoc]

geesh Serena... lost first set again!

 

[lanieer]

Lets be honest. Women's tennis right now is Serena and nobody. Men's tennis is great with lots of great talent and enjoying to watch but women's tennis is as boring as Martina against no one after Chris left and until Steffi. At least UConn women have some competition with ND. I just can't watch it right now. I love the men's game now but find nothing interesting on the women's side. Sharapova is OK for a few rounds until she chokes and players like Bouchard and Stephens are soooooo inconsistent. Wozniacki and Kvitova are never going to win anything but the New Have Open with no competitors. Sorry state for women's tennis now.

 

[DaddyChoc]

so it's Serena's fault, sort of like UConn on the women's side of basketball? I like Serena so I'm loving it... but of course she can lose at any time unlike the Huskies

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Lets be honest. Women's tennis right now is Serena and nobody. Men's tennis is great with lots of great talent and enjoying to watch but women's tennis is as boring as Martina against no one after Chris left and until Steffi. At least UConn women have some competition with ND. I just can't watch it right now. I love the men's game now but find nothing interesting on the women's side. Sharapova is OK for a few rounds until she chokes and players like Bouchard and Stephens are soooooo inconsistent. Wozniacki and Kvitova are never going to win anything but the New Have Open with no competitors. Sorry state for women's tennis now.

Chris won her last major in 1986 and retired in 1989.
Steffi won her first major in 1987 and won the Golden Slam in 1988.
Martina's last major was 1990 (Wimbledon).

Not to sound rude or disrespectful, but when was women's tennis "Martina against no one" after Evert retired and "until Steffi?"

 

[lanieer]

Ok sorry Serena fans I just find there is no competition for ME. I love and think that Serena is the best women's player of all time but give me the men's game for entertainment.

 

[lanieer]

Chris won her last major in 1986 and retired in 1989.
Steffi won her first major in 1987 and won the Golden Slam in 1988.
Martina's last major was 1990 (Wimbledon).

Not to sound rude or disrespectful, but when was women's tennis "Martina against no one" after Evert retired and "until Steffi?"

Kind of talking more of when Chris was pregnant and not when she retired. Martina was huge during that time.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Lets be honest. Women's tennis right now is Serena and nobody. Men's tennis is great with lots of great talent and enjoying to watch but women's tennis is as boring as Martina against no one after Chris left and until Steffi. At least UConn women have some competition with ND. I just can't watch it right now. I love the men's game now but find nothing interesting on the women's side. Sharapova is OK for a few rounds until she chokes and players like Bouchard and Stephens are soooooo inconsistent. Wozniacki and Kvitova are never going to win anything but the New Have Open with no competitors. Sorry state for women's tennis now.

I respectfully disagree.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Ok sorry Serena fans I just find there is no competition for ME. I love and think that Serena is the best women's player of all time but give me the men's game for entertainment.

On that point, I wholeheartedly concur.

 

[lanieer]

On that point, I wholeheartedly concur.

Ok just a question but who in the women's game do you find entertaining like a Murray, Federer, Nadal and of course Djokovic. I get Serena but who else. I think Serena is even bored. She loses the first set and then blows out the competition in two. I'm sorry I loved women's tennis. I go every year to New Haven. Every year I go to the U.S. open. The women need another young upcoming star soon. I thought maybe Bouchard would be a newbie but she has tanked all year. I yearn for the Evert/ Navratalova matches. At the very least maybe a Murray/ Djokovic match. I just think the women's game is at a lull right now and basically just watching records broken.

 

[MilliniumPrince]

Ok sorry Serena fans I just find there is no competition for ME. I love and think that Serena is the best women's player of all time but give me the men's game for entertainment.

Because the men's slams are so unpredictable. Look at all the variation over the past 5 years! Fed, Nadal, Joker, Murray....rinse repeat...

 

[VAUConnFan]

Ok just a question but who in the women's game do you find entertaining like a Murray, Federer, Nadal and of course Djokovic. I get Serena but who else. I think Serena is even bored. She loses the first set and then blows out the competition in two. I'm sorry I loved women's tennis. I go every year to New Haven. Every year I go to the U.S. open. The women need another young upcoming star soon. I thought maybe Bouchard would be a newbie but she has tanked all year. I yearn for the Evert/ Navratalova matches. At the very least maybe a Murray/ Djokovic match. I just think the women's game is at a lull right now and basically just watching records broken.

As far as generating personal interest, right now it is mostly Serena while awaiting up and comers like Taylor Townsend, Madison Keys, and Sloane Stephens. I love what Mary Cirillo calls " Big Babe Tennis"; Tennis with power and more power. the kind of tennis exemplified by Serena Williams, who by virtue of the greatest serve the game has ever seen, awesome power with which to execute incredible shots, and an ability to hit great shots under pressure, is, far and away the best woman to ever play the game. It would be impossible to imagine the prior era soft hitters beating her head to head.
After Justine Henin got away with the hand up/wait and did not own up to it, I always looked forward to the Williams?henin matches. The same as for Williams/Capriati after the latter benefitted from three blatantly bad calls and the double fault no call in the 2004 US Open.
When Serena is on her game, no one beats her. She is that good; That much better than the very talented field.

 

[VAUConnFan]

Do you guys wanna know about my crush on Serena... OMG, my lawd!

OK, I'm interested. Tell us about your crush on Serena.

 

[DaddyChoc]

OK, I'm interested. Tell us about your crush on Serena.

this is a family friendly board lol

 

[lanieer]

As far as generating personal interest, right now it is mostly Serena while awaiting up and comers like Taylor Townsend, Madison Keys, and Sloane Stephens. I love what Mary Cirillo calls " Big Babe Tennis"; Tennis with power and more power. the kind of tennis exemplified by Serena Williams, who by virtue of the greatest serve the game has ever seen, awesome power with which to execute incredible shots, and an ability to hit great shots under pressure, is, far and away the best woman to ever play the game. It would be impossible to imagine the prior era soft hitters beating her head to head.
After Justine Henin got away with the hand up/wait and did not own up to it, I always looked forward to the Williams?henin matches. The same as for Williams/Capriati after the latter benefitted from three blatantly bad calls and the double fault no call in the 2004 US Open.
When Serena is on her game, no one beats her. She is that good; That much better than the very talented field.

Totally agree with you. I think when Justine Henin left and Clisters left there was a bit of a void but Serena is going to go down in history as the best female tennis player. I think that was the best time for women's tennis including Capriati. I remember when Graf played Venus for the first time after the match she said that as good as Venus is her younger sister is better. Well her sister Serena is going to beat an early retirement Graf and probably Margaret Court. It's too bad that Venus had that fatigue disease because she would have maybe won a few from her little sis.
I'm not sure yet about Stephens, Townsend and Keys. Not sure there is consistency there yet. We see a lot of talented people that don't make the complete commitment. Chris Evert said the difference is in commitment in their game other than grand slams. Haven't seen those people win tournaments. I think Stephens is the closest but not yet there.