Unless Gauff finds an entirely new level from that meh semi final she won, she will be lucky to win more than 2 games.
Expect it to be over in about an hour.
Expect it to be over in about an hour.
Tennis 2022
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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probablyFirst double bagel final? 6-0 6-0
The first set is even a 6-1...
Gauff hasn't lost a set before this. Lets see if she can play more freely in the second set now.
Much better from her. I was starting to think it was going to be over before it started.
Swiatek wins 6-1 6-3, she's so good right now and seems to produce her best in the biggest matches. Her results in finals at 500 level and above are: 6-4 6-1, 6-2 6-2, 6-0 6-0, 6-2 6-0, 6-4 6-1, 6-4 6-0, 6-2 6-2, 6-2 6-2 and now 6-1 6-3.
She got a game for other surfaces or is she a clay court player?
Clay probably the best, but won two titles and semi-final at Australian Open on hardcourt too this season. She won Wimbledon as Junior too, so probably isn't bad there too.
But would say. Clay, Hardcourt, Grass.
Seems like nobody is close to stop her. Equaled the 35wins from Venus now.
She won junior Wimbledon in 2018 and she's won the 3 biggest non-slam events on the hard courts this year, plus she reached the semis in Australia, so I think the clay will be her best surface but she will be a major contender everywhere.
Probably about to be two of the most unsurprising Championship wins for both men and women.
Swiatek already for the women, and Nadal for the men.
Even indoors, there isn't a way Ruud can hurt Nadal. He's not tall enough or has enough power, so can't deal with the high balls that Rafa will throw at him, nor the range and ability of Zverev to hit powerful shots on the stretch.
It's Nadal vs. Ferrer type thing, and Ferrer is many, many levels above Ruud.
Edit: Throwing Djokovic, Nadal, Alcaraz, Zverev and even FAA into the same half of the draw was a real masterclass by the organizers.
Swiatek already for the women, and Nadal for the men.
Even indoors, there isn't a way Ruud can hurt Nadal. He's not tall enough or has enough power, so can't deal with the high balls that Rafa will throw at him, nor the range and ability of Zverev to hit powerful shots on the stretch.
It's Nadal vs. Ferrer type thing, and Ferrer is many, many levels above Ruud.
Edit: Throwing Djokovic, Nadal, Alcaraz, Zverev and even FAA into the same half of the draw was a real masterclass by the organizers.
Interestingly, pre-tournament (and before the QFs) Nadal was third favorite in the odds, partly due to his form but mainly due to the question marks over his foot though.
Women's tennis is a bit of a mess at the moment. I don't even recognize half the players in the top 10.
I was thinking the same. Women's tennis is missing a huge rivalry or a standout player/personality.
Lot of players around 25 that I haven't heard of, in that last. Swiatek is at least 3 years younger than anyone else. Hopefully at least a couple of Radacanu, Fernandez and Gauff manage to find some consistency.
The pandemic hasn’t helped either. Pre- COVID, it appeared like Osaka may be the one to be the next dominant player, until she crumbled under the pressures and expectations of fame. A good two player rivalry would do the women’s game well if one were to develop
I think this is it rather than it being a mess. Barty retiring hasn't helped nor has Osaka's break from tennis. Even then, it's the stand out rivalries they are lacking as of now. I think there are enough good young players that it will come with time but right now we're not seeing repeat Grand Slam semi final or final matches.
Completely forgot about Barty doing a Borg. Hope she comes back after a good rest.
Don't think there is a chance for this.
She has put herself off the WTA points to make pretty clear, that she won't come back.
With Swiatek, Raducanu, Fernandez, Osaka, Gauff or Andreescu there are some pretty talented players. 4 of them already have at least one Grand Slam (Swiatek, Raducanu, Osaka, Andreescu) and the other two were already in a final.
Injuries and mental pressure haven't helped for the other so far, Swiatek looks very good in these aspects. Swiatek is literally Mini-Nadal with her spin on clay, will be much more competitive in the next months.
Osaka and Andreescu are washed at this point, not even sure they enjoy playing. Raducanu isn't good enough yet despite her Us Open heroics.
On the grass Sabalenka, Kontaviet, Jabeur and Sakkari should all have a better chance of beating Swiatek. Will be interesting to see how Swiatek does on the grass.
Andreescu is 21, if she can stay fit for a prolonged period then she will be back, and Osaka is 24 and won a slam last year so it's a bit early to be writing her off. I've been impressed with how Leylah Fernandez has continued to progress, a quarter final was another solid performance.
WTA is a bit meh at the moment: the more consistent girls in the top 20 have generally lower peaks than the most recent, almost meteoritic Slam winners. Many names mentioned or not over here (Kenin, Andreescu, Ostapenko, Kreijcikova, Raducanu) would probably never win a Slam anymore. Among the youngest, Fernandez and Gauff are putting in a lot of effort and climbing the ladder step by step. Raducanu, I am afraid, is not a top 50 player for now (listed at 57 in the WTA 2022 live race indeed).
Same. Remember Venus, Serena, Clijsters, Henin, Seles, Capriati, Mauresmo and Hingis all being in the top 10 at the same time?
That was something else.
When was the last great women's rivalry? Venus and Serena? Arguably their respective peaks came at different stages of their career. Sharapova/ Serena was too one sided to be considered one. If Henin stuck around she would have taken slams of Serena, without a doubt, but her early retirement meant their rivalry didn't have much longevity. I'm struggling here...
Tbf not only the Women's tennis is weaker rn, but the men's too, Nadal might retire soon, Federer probably won't ever go beyond the QFs, and Djokovic won't have a rival for probably the next two years and he is old too, I know everyone is excited about Alcaraz but he won't reach those players imo.
I've been impressed with Fernandez too. Read she has a fracture in her foot though, pretty crazy the she played through it in her last match though.
I think Thiem was the one that created a good rivalry with Novak and Nadal in particular but if you remove them from the equation, not sure the Zverev / Medvedev / Tsitsipas rivalries really feel like anything special. They've all played a number of times but maybe they just not some grand slam final matches or some top quality classic matches to occur.
If you absolutely have to pick one player besides her sister, it has to be Henin.
Their peaks were around the same time, they're practically the same age, Henin leads the H2H 4-3 in matches at slams and Henin is still to this day the one who racked up the most slams besides the Williams sisters themselves after they came on tour. Plus they didn't like each other.
Excactly, a fully fit Andreescu is surely a Top 5 Player. Think Naomi got herself help with a mental coach, so hopefully it will look better for her too.
WTA is already in this post Serena/Venus/Sharapova-Era, while ATP will be there in 2-3 years (Murray, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic). Maybe only Novak can play for some more years, but still as clear Nr.1? I doubt it.
It will take some years now, until a clear Top 10 will develop and which of the youngsters can show the consistency over years. It's not even sure, that Swiatek will be there for years. Sometimes one injury can change everything.
Thiem is supposed to be good on clay and lost in the first round of RG this year, Medvedev is promising, but I think the Australian Open final this year really fecked him up mentally, he hasn't recovered since imo, I think Zverev played really well yday, he has a nice game, I just don't see the same kind of quality of peak top 3 at the moment, or anything close to it, maybe becoming a fan of tennis around 2005-2006 really spoiled me since I got to see the rise of Nadal and Djokovic, with Murray around at the time too.
That’s a bit unfair since he’s coming back from a bad injury which really impacted his game.
Very harsh on Thiem who is only just recovering from a serious wrist injury where he may never be able to recover the form he had prior.to winning the US Open. He was also a very good hard court player too.
I think Medvedev will be okay though, he's not good on clay anyway and only recently recovered from an operation so I'd expect him to pick form back up over the summer on hard courts.
You're probably right about none of the having big 3 quality but those levels are ridiculously high that we can't expect one, let alone three guys to come through of such quality so soon
My scandinavian heritage can go feck itself today, let's go Rafa.
Win-win today. Want Ruud to win but if he doesn't then the GOAT will increase the gap down to Novax.
Last two breaks were given away. Scrappy start.
Can tell Nadal is going to walk away with 1st set.
This has been a Ruud awakening
Could be an easy win for Nadal unless he drops off
Same for me too! Love Nadal and deserves to take it but if he doesn’t would be happy with Rudd taking it. He seems a really good guy and is a great ambassador for your country!
Nadal quite lethargic. By his standards?
I don't know how to describe it.
Still enough to take the set, probably the match.
I don't know how to describe it.
Still enough to take the set, probably the match.
Good first set for Nadal, despite the fact his service hasn't really got going yet. Interesting to see how this develops now.
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