Medvedev gone now. Djokovic must genuinely now be beginning to think he’ll win this thing on one leg.
Tennis 2023
- Thread starter GuybrushThreepwood
- Start date
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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?
Korda ain't no joke. Hope him or Sinner wins the whole thing.
Djokovic would have to lose his two legs in order for him not to win this tournament now
I get most of my sporting predictions wrong, but I never thought that Medvedev was winning this.
Since his defeat to Nadal last year, he has never recovered and is just not the same player. The nature of that defeat broke him. He went into that tournament full of swagger and confidence winning the 2021 US Open title comfortably, leading Russia to the Davis Cup title at the end of that year winning all his matches in straight sets, wining the ATP Cup with Russia at the start of 2022, and then coming through a tough draw to set-up that final against Nadal. But he has never been the same player since then. I prefer him to Zverev and Tsitsipas (the prospect of a 'new big 3' of Medvedev, Zverev and Tsitsipas which seemed possible at one stage never excited me), and I hope he can return to his previous level.
Since his defeat to Nadal last year, he has never recovered and is just not the same player. The nature of that defeat broke him. He went into that tournament full of swagger and confidence winning the 2021 US Open title comfortably, leading Russia to the Davis Cup title at the end of that year winning all his matches in straight sets, wining the ATP Cup with Russia at the start of 2022, and then coming through a tough draw to set-up that final against Nadal. But he has never been the same player since then. I prefer him to Zverev and Tsitsipas (the prospect of a 'new big 3' of Medvedev, Zverev and Tsitsipas which seemed possible at one stage never excited me), and I hope he can return to his previous level.
Predictions are only good until… they stand. 
If you get most predictions right, better you bet on them.
If you get most predictions right, better you bet on them.Sakkari was eliminated by Zhu? How did this happened?
I went with Swiatek and Djoko originally, but I think he'll lose tomorrow.
For shits and giggles, now that Medvedev is out if Murray beats Bautista Agut, he wins the whole thing. But the 'if Murray beats' is a fecking huge if...
For shits and giggles, now that Medvedev is out if Murray beats Bautista Agut, he wins the whole thing. But the 'if Murray beats' is a fecking huge if...
Giorgi as an anti vaxxer is a bit shit. She was one of my favourite players WTA, but I can't be arsed with that. Bencic should beat her anyway, but still.
So Felix is the only 1 of the 10 players covered in those 5 first Netflix episodes, that's still around at this tournament.
On the subject of Medvedev, I was thinking that he is probably the only ATP world no. 1 in history that has been strong on just 1 surface. Kuerten, Muster and Moya were all better on hard courts (Kuerten and Muster also won big indoor titles beating the likes of Agassi and Sampras) than he has been on clay or grass. Admittedly modern day tennis is incredibly hard-court centric (overly so IMO), so if you can only be strong on one surface, it's better than to be strong on hard courts than clay and especially grass.
I still find the shift that we've seen in women's tennis to be interesting. In previous eras women's tennis was so top heavy, much more so than men's tennis, with the top players putting up insane numbers and there being basically no depth outside the top 10 (or top 20 until we were into the 21st century). I gather that in the 80s, many tennis followers were simultaneously praising the wonderful Navratilova-Evert rivalry (one of the greatest rivalries in the history of any sport surely), while also mentioning the absence of any depth in women's tennis at the time and the fact that the standard of players outside the top 10 and of early round grand slam matches was atrocious. For a long-time, women's grand slam tournaments only really started from the quarter-final or even semi-final stage. Nowadays the standard of the WTA top 10 is definitely weaker compared to many / most previous eras, but the standard of the WTA top 100 is astronomically better. The quality of early round women's grand slam matches, standard WTA tournaments which do not have top 10 or top 20 players in them etc., is vastly superior compared to previous eras.
On the subject of Medvedev, I was thinking that he is probably the only ATP world no. 1 in history that has been strong on just 1 surface. Kuerten, Muster and Moya were all better on hard courts (Kuerten and Muster also won big indoor titles beating the likes of Agassi and Sampras) than he has been on clay or grass. Admittedly modern day tennis is incredibly hard-court centric (overly so IMO), so if you can only be strong on one surface, it's better than to be strong on hard courts than clay and especially grass.
I still find the shift that we've seen in women's tennis to be interesting. In previous eras women's tennis was so top heavy, much more so than men's tennis, with the top players putting up insane numbers and there being basically no depth outside the top 10 (or top 20 until we were into the 21st century). I gather that in the 80s, many tennis followers were simultaneously praising the wonderful Navratilova-Evert rivalry (one of the greatest rivalries in the history of any sport surely), while also mentioning the absence of any depth in women's tennis at the time and the fact that the standard of players outside the top 10 and of early round grand slam matches was atrocious. For a long-time, women's grand slam tournaments only really started from the quarter-final or even semi-final stage. Nowadays the standard of the WTA top 10 is definitely weaker compared to many / most previous eras, but the standard of the WTA top 100 is astronomically better. The quality of early round women's grand slam matches, standard WTA tournaments which do not have top 10 or top 20 players in them etc., is vastly superior compared to previous eras.
If not Djokovic I reckon Rune will pick up his first grand slam here.
Andy Murray struggling to avoid going 4-0 down in the first set.
Good thinking by Murray to get the first two pointless sets out of the way quickly.
He is shot, of course, hopefully his body is ok and a good, looong rest will make him (and us) enjoy the grass season.
He is limping around the place 
shouldn't even be out there by looks of it.
Come on Muzza!
shouldn't even be out there by looks of it.Come on Muzza!
Yeah, it’s such a shame he couldn’t put Berrettini away in three in R1 (I suspect that was the reason for the slow start in R2). The draw RBA will now have to the final is:
Tommy Paul
JJ Wolff, Popyrin or Shelton
Injured Djokovic
So you’re telling me there’s a chance?
Djoko is definitely struggling here. Wouldn't fancy him against a flying Rune if the injury doesn't improve.
Yeah no chance he wins the tournament. Still his tennis brain is truly unmatched. Wins the first set after a brutal tie break.
Yeah, he’s clearly restricting his movement to avoid aggravating hamstring injury any further, but it limits his game a lot.
I respect the hustle that RBA has, but you feel like the court could be a foot narrower on each side and he’d still never hit it wide.
At one point Murray had only won 2 games compared to 8 and the winners were something like 10-13.
At one point Murray had only won 2 games compared to 8 and the winners were something like 10-13.
Just words. The guy's a machine.
Hard to believe Murray could come back and win that set… but what a fighter he is.
In the tie break it felt like he barely got a first serve in, but the shot making from him was superb. Let’s go!
In the tie break it felt like he barely got a first serve in, but the shot making from him was superb. Let’s go!
Wow Murray! Also Dimitrov showing fantastic level there too.
Come on man, this is ridiculous.
Just hope he’s not damaging himself for the rest of the season - he looks like a 70 year old man between points - but this fight from Murray is ridiculous. Some of the shots he is making are just on another planet to someone like RBA.
Watching the Djoko & Muzza ex-terminators in parallel with the softies in their early and mid 20s now at the top is an embarassment to the new generation (and I’m 30, so with an eye for the ones and the other for the latter).
Looks unlikely he’ll make the end of the match. Seems to have lost all movement this game.
Dimitrov losing this 3rd set all by himself.
You could put a practice dummy on the other end and he'd still lose it.
Mental headcase.
You could put a practice dummy on the other end and he'd still lose it.
Mental headcase.
I feel it, he sets up the point every time then just throws it.
It’s a Murray match. Probably another 2 hours to go yet.
Ahem.
He will lose this set but I doubt he will go quietly.Ahem.
How you watching Murray? Only Djokovic match on TV here.
Eurosport 2 here.
A river
Discovery plus has all the coverage.
I said this before, but watching Dmitrov's lousy display against Djokovic today further compounded the fact that overall the group of players born in the early 90s (nicknamed in the past as the 'lost gen') were weak (the weakest crop of players I can remember since I started following the sport), and unfortunately pretty much a black-hole at the top of the sport.
While each member of the big 3 has of course been incredible, clearly the collective weakness over those players was beneficial to all of them in terms of continuing to pile on grand slam title wins. It took those players seemingly an eternity to overtake the likes of Ferrer and Berdych. Federer openly admitted that him, Nadal and Djokovic all benefited from that plus the homogenised conditions.
Thiem was clearly by far the best player from the that crop, but of course was plagued by injuries since winning his US Open title in 2020 (the first of still only 2 men's grand slam titles to date won by players born in the 90s) and unfortunately couldn't return to his previous level.
While each member of the big 3 has of course been incredible, clearly the collective weakness over those players was beneficial to all of them in terms of continuing to pile on grand slam title wins. It took those players seemingly an eternity to overtake the likes of Ferrer and Berdych. Federer openly admitted that him, Nadal and Djokovic all benefited from that plus the homogenised conditions.
Thiem was clearly by far the best player from the that crop, but of course was plagued by injuries since winning his US Open title in 2020 (the first of still only 2 men's grand slam titles to date won by players born in the 90s) and unfortunately couldn't return to his previous level.
Hopefully the about 00s will be more apt, we are seeing a number of such players already (Alcaraz of course, Ruud as well, then Rune, Sinner, Musetti) and a spicy Tsitsipas vs Sinner is being sold in Italy as the revenge from last year’s thrashing of our young gun at QF level. We will see. EDIT: Ruud is Dec ‘98, my bad.. FAA 00 as well .
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Swiatek out. Rybakina hasn't played particularly well, but Swiatek has been below her best with a few ropey service games as well.