#going to a 5th set against djokovic? mistake

[wimbledon2008]

im no longer feeling good

[domiandsascha]

Roland Garros diary - Day 3 - Wednesday the 30th of May 2018

This is a long one, bear with me and blame Domi (and my English is still on court with him so please please please forgive all the mistakes, I’ll proofread myself on the morning).

Once again, we arrived there early enough to be at the front of the queue, therefore on the inside thirty seconds after the opening of the gates. Why this desire to go in at 9:30 when matches start only at 11 ? Well, early practices are obviously our main motivation, but also, there's something magical about Roland-Garros in the morning, when there's no one in the alleys except for the ball kids warming up. It looks so pretty and peaceful. And also, players are still free to wander around with no security and that's another plus. Talking about that… We had been in for like maybe five minutes, and the day turned epic already. We were heading towards the Lenglen, when out of the sudden and out of nowhere, Novak appeared, walking down the stairs on the main alley, smiling, unguarded and completely unnoticed. The way I gasped "Jue ! Look up !" was pretty epic too. We rushed, but by the time we got to him, he had already entered an area we couldn't follow him in. It didn't prevent Jue from freaking out and getting very very emotional. Then she became even more emotional when she found out he would be practicing on the Lenglen, which we had tickets for. There wasn't any other practice we wished to attend and Jue had a bit of time to get ready for her upcoming death, so we made our way to Court 18. Okay so, I need to explain before carrying on. We had reserved seats on the Lenglen where the order of play was Svitolina, then Djokovic, then Goffin VS Baby Corentin Moutet, then Frenchie Alizée VS Frenchie Pauline. Pretty good, right ? Right. But. On Court 18, the order of play was Naomi Osaka, then the end of Pierre-Hugues match, then Grigor, then Dominic. I mean, you know me by now. I'm not gonna pretend I hesitated for a single second… Now the thing with Court 18 is that, despite its size, it remains a side court which works on a "first in first served basis", where absolutely EVERYBODY can go to and where the program was highly appealing. Also, it was Wednesday and on Wednesdays, Roland-Garros is full of kids and teenagers who can only access the side courts and it's a bit of a nightmare. So I went there at 10am to secure a spot, ready to go through the day without moving, peeing, smoking, standing, drinking (so I wouldn't need to pee) if needed. But I didn't need to. The great thing was, we had reinforcement : my mum and my step-dad were here for the day. So we grabbed four great seats on 18 (sixth row, a tiny bit on the side, facing the players benches so the umpire chair wouldn't obstruct the view), leaving at least two of us there at all time while the others were going to the Lenglen (or to the toilets in my case). Although, after 4pm it became more and more complicated to make our way back into 18 and after 7pm, it was just impossible so that was good the four of us were back. Before telling you about MY day on 18, let's talk about Jue attending Novak's practice, front row, and getting a picture with him !!!!! She's dead, but she's okay, and I'm so freaking happy for her. Let's talk about Jue metting Pierre-Hugues in an alley and getting a picture with him !!! Let's talk about my mum spotting Lucas in practice (when he wasn't supposed to be practicing here) ! Let's talk about Sascha's freaking stressful match that we followed on the app ! And also Goffin won ! And Karen won ! Now… Hélène's day on Court 18… It started with the practice of Tsitsipas that I spent on my phone, because (probably an unpopular opinion here) I can't stand the guy, sorry not sorry. Then Naomi's match ! She played so well, she was amazing ! And she's so cute ! Next was Pierre-Hugues, resuming his match at one set all, and he played epic tennis in a freaking awesome atmosphere (French people love their Frenchies), it was so cool. Then Grigor's match… Oh my. Grigor. I mean, first of all, GRIGOR. He's one of my ultimate fav and I had already seen him in London last November, but from afar and during a match he had won super easily. So watching him up close, fighting a proper battle against Donaldson (who was playing great tennis, but he's an absolute dick, just so you know) was the best thing. At first… Grigor, were you kidding me ??? Four hours and twenty-two minutes ???? When 50% of me was just waiting for Domi and stressing my life out ??? Then it went to 70% of me, then 90%, then 100%. I couldn't stand it anymore. I was absolutely terrified. Grigor's match was so tight, and the "no tie break in the 5th set" thing got me completely distressed and paranoid, that they would carry on for two more hours. That Domi's match would never start and would be postponed to the next day and moved to Court 1 (where you need a special ticket to go). It was completely irrational, but the sun was going down already and I was starving, dehydrated, sleep deprived and I had spent nine hours on that stupid seat. And freaking Grigor was breaking just to get broken right after. The atmosphere in the crowd was mental, like football stadium mental, and in other circumstances, the end of that match would have been the best thing ever, really. But I was way too scared to enjoy it. Thankfully, Grigor finally won !! But let me tell you : if he had lost after all this, after giving me a nervous breakdown, he would have stopped being one of my favs for a little while. But he won, just in time for Domi to not be taken away from me ! So all good, I still adore him. But, oh Grigor… Domi's match started super quickly after that and the court remained absolutely packed. Now, there's something you need to know about me : watching Domi's matches always turn me into a person you don't really want to meet. Every single point stresses the hell out of me, his inconstancy drives me crazy and things that come out of my mouth aren't always pretty. So I had been worrying a bit at the thought of watching him for real, without the possibility of turning off the stream for 5 minutes or going for a cigarette every two games. But… I believe my anxiety crisis during Grigor's fifth set had just drained me from anything remotely negative and I became a ball of happiness and excitement and OHMYGOD DOMINIC. He was so close, he was perfect. Guys. I can't find the words. And his first set was such a walk in the park (because Tsitsipas wasn't really there yet…). The second set was a joke, Domi went brainless, like he does way too often. In a 3 sets match, I would probably have turned into Dark Hélène a tiny bit. But it was a 5 sets match. And I truly trusted him. And I was just too happy and grateful to have him in front of me. And also, we were having so much fun. You need to understand that, after four hours and a half of Grigor under the burning sun, the crowd was literally cooked. So during the first set, it was dead. Silent and non-reactive. There were only three people screaming their lungs out : Jue, my mum and I (and my tiny Austrian flag haha). And I know, for an absolute fact, that Domi had spotted us from the very beginning (so had his box). I'm not saying he was looking at us at every change over, but he was facing our direction super often. Between the first and the second set, three guys managed to get in and sat behind us. One of them said straight away "Okay, let's make some noise, this crowd is dead !" so we said "Yes please, help us !". They hadn't really picked a player to support, but because we were rooting for Domi, they decided to root for him too and let me assure you that the six of us woke up the entire Court 18 ! And despite Domi playing dreadful tennis during that set, I laughed so hard and enjoyed it so freaking much ! Like there was no place on Earth I would have rather been. Then came the third set. The crowd was finally on fire, both were playing epic tennis and Domi was better. Masterful. Perfection. Everything I had dreamed of. Guys. I love him so much it's unreal. It was obvious they would interrupt the match after this one as it was super late and getting really dark. And I was now so happy about it. I was grateful to Grigor for his never ending battle and to Domi for losing a set. Because a match always resumes on the court it has started on. So it would resume on 18, where I could go. That meant an extra day of Domi. I'm the luckiest person alive. When Domi left the court, the entire crowd was cheering, but he was walking his face down at first. Until he looked up and aside, towards us. The six of us, who had been cheering for him all along. He gave us a smile and a little wave before leaving the court and excuse me while I go cry on my bathroom floor. Well no, actually, I'm gonna go get four hours of sleep and think about my review of day 4. Coming up tomorrow !

[mytennisdiary]

Australian Open 2021 - Day 3

Pre-broadcast women’s matches. Potapova beat Riske in the first round and Babos in straight set. Vondrousova beat the Canadian Marino. The big upset of the early day was Hsieh beating Andrescu in straight sets 6-3 6-2. Sabalenka beat the Russian, Katsakina in straight sets as well.

It’s continued to get warmer. Temperatures in the low 80s. Some of the top players are saying these courts are playing faster than wimbledon!

S. Williams vs Stojanovic Stojanovic is the topped ranked Serbian woman, but she’s only ranked 99 in the world. Chrissy notes that Serena, in the 4 matches she's played so far is hitting more winners than errors. She credits this to the improved movement. Stojanovic weapon appears to be her down-the-line shots. According to the commentators, this is Serena’s 11th major since becoming a mother. In the previous 10, she’s made 6 quarterfinals, 5 semifinals, and 4 finals. During that span, that’s a better record in major than any other player. Serena’s outfit is actually a tribute to Flo Jo (Florence Joyner) and her outfits in the 1988 olympics. Stojanovic has played well winning a lot of points on her first serve, hitting some nice passing shots, and drawing Serena in where she’s more uncomfortable, on occasion. However, Serena, despite serving a lower percentage on first serves than she would like, is coming up with big serves in big moments and slamming the door shut on Stojanovic each time she has an opportunity. Except for one big “come on” late in the first set, Serena has looked steady, and occasionally spectacular. Commentators are also talking about how Serena doesn’t really hit the body serve, but it might benefit to do so. She’re really hitting the corners well with her serves this match. 6-3 6-0

Schwartzman beat Muller in straight sets. Auger-Aliassime did the same to the Aussie Duckworth.

Wawrinka vs Fucsovics Stan was on the ropes, but seems to have turned things around. The question will be Stan’s fitness. Stan is 35 and Focsovics in 29. Fucsovics is Hungarian. Fucsovics played a 4-hour match in the first set and was running a bit on fumes in this one despite being very fit. Fucsovics served for the match in the 5th set, only to be broken by Stan. In the tiebreak, Stan was way up, but failed to convert any of 3 match points. Fucsovics played good defense and Stan made some crucial errors. 7-5 6-1 4-6 2-6 7-6 (11-9) (Fucsovics lying on the court after his victory).

Djokovic vs Tiafoe Djokovic’s serve looks strong. Slow start for Tiafoe. Wayne Ferrerro, Tiafoe’s coach, has been trying to get him off his cellphone. Something is up with Djokovic’s neck/shoulder. Tiafoe started getting into the match with his slice. Djokovic responded with his own slice. Points got longer, Tiafoe tried to be the aggressor, but Djokovic’s defense has been too good and Tiafoe has had to be the aggressor, and he’s made mistakes. Didn’t come back until the end of the 2nd set, but Djokovic is a bit out of sorts dealing with the hot conditions. Tiafoe is overflowing with energy and enthusiasm. He’s doing a nice job of taking the ball early, being aggressive, and shrinking the court for Djokovic, who’s just unable to make the difficult shots he otherwise would. A set apiece after the tiebreak. Tiafoe really cranks his forehand. He’s very aggressive with it. Tiafoe looked like he lost a bit of his energy in the second. Djokovic showed patience and cut down on the errors (Which he’d been making quite a few of), but then part way through the set Tiafoe found his form again and Djokovic looked a bit listless. Tiafoe’s story is that his dad was a janitor at the local tennis center. Tiafoe would be there a lot and he took up the game, just doing a lot of hitting against the wall. Tiafoe kept hanging in the 3rd set and frustrating Djokovic. Even late in the set when Djokovic had chances to steal the set, Tiafoe stopped him, but then in the tiebreak Djokovic served well and Tiafoe made a few costly errors. Funny moment where Tiafoe lost his shock absorber and him and Djokovic had some friendly banter. Djokovic looks exhausted. Late in the 4th set Tiafoe had a time violation called against him (justifiably) and he was really effected by it. Djokovic sensed the moment and pounced, closing out what had been a grinding, dramatic match.

Kvitova vs Cirstea 6-4 1-6 6-1 Cirstea, who was in the hard lockdown, beat Kvitova. Only saw the matchpoint.

V. Williams vs Errani Down 5-1 in the first set, Venus badly sprained her ankle. May have to retire. Would be only her second retirement in majors. Venus played on, clearly hobbled. 6-1 6-0

Opelka vs Fritz The two are close friends. Opelka was actually the best man at Fritz’s wedding. They’re both 23 years old. They split the first 2 sets and then Opelka took the 3rd in a breaker. Blake and Drysdale on the call; a lot of talk about the similarities and differences between Isner and Opelka. The big thing with Opelka seems to be that, not only is he taller than Isner, he also goes for more with his groundstrokes. Fritz, who’s also an offensive player, is having some frustrations with having to play so much defense. He’s finding success getting Opelka on the run though. Dramatic 4th set. Fritz served for the set and double faulted twice. Opelka got up big in the tiebreaker. Fritz came all the way back. Incredible return to get the lead and then evened the match. Opelka fell apart in the fifth. Opelka just broke his strings on two consecutive points. 4-6 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-2

Thiem vs Koepfer 6-4 6-0 6-2

Swiatek vs Giorgi 6-2 6-4

Halep vs Tomljanovic Breaks back and forth. Tomljanovic is from croatia, lives in the US, plays for Australia. She’s usually a power player, ends up overplaying. Commentators say that she’s pulled back in this match so far. Halep looks frustrated, like she’s trying to force it. “That court is besieged by bugs”. (”Jalapeño” is the nickname) Halep down 2-5 in third. Halep is fiery! Gilbert thinks Halep is better with the forehand when she hits it inside out. Halep, moving well, forced Tomljanovic to beat her and she couldn’t do it. Thrilling comeback. 4-6 6-4 7-5

Osaka vs Garcia This is the first time they’ve ever played. Gilbert praises Osaka’s movement and her defense, the biggest improvement she’s made to her game. Osaka’s serve is big. A lot of aces. Gilbert complains about women players not changing their returning positions. Garcia is too close. Garcia is an inferior defender and just can’t handle Osaka’s power. Garcia does have a big serve of her own. Osaka has won 15 matches in a row and just looks very comfortable. 6-2 6-3 in an hour.

Kyrgios vs Humbert Humbert is a French lefty with a good serve and a quick two-haded backhand. He takes the backhand very early and has a very short backswing. Kyrgios is doing a lot of talking to himself. Kyrgios hitting bad dropshots to lose the first set and slams his racket. Humbert is expected to rise up the ranks and be the French #1. Kyrgios is stretching out his legs. Injury seems to have focused him. Kyrgios playing better defense to get a break in the 2nd. He has the super quick backhand too. Kyrgios is mad about the let machine going off when he’s serving for the match. The crowd is going crazy. Humbert has this tough wide serve. He stands pretty far out, like a doubles serve, but then he’ll go up the tee from there. Kyrgios will just be in no mans land sometime. Kyrgios’ ball toss is so low and he plays so fast. Really controls the tempo when he’s serving. Kyrgios goes to the drop shot when he gets nervous and he gets himself broken in the third right at the end, then a point penalty for obscenity, which sees him quickly lose the third set. Humbert has gotten more aggressive since the 3rd. Gilbert compares his disposition to Sinner’s. Both guys take the ball so early. (Nickname “Rattle and Humbert”). Kyrgios much better on the backhand return, takes it so early. Humbert just digs himself out of trouble with his serve deep in the 4th set. Unbelievable atmosphere, crowd is erupting every time Humbert faults. Kyrgios plays awesome defense, fights off match points and breaks to get back on serve. Kyrgios get mad about the let machine again and actually knocks it off with his net serve. He goes from anger to huge serves and gets out of a game down 30-40. Kyrgios’s defense and shot making were just outrageous down the stretch. Humbert was still good, but just seemed to lose his edge. 5-7 6-4 3-6 7-6 6-4 in  3 and a half hours.

Zverev vs Cressy Both guys are 6′6′. Cressy doesn’t hit a second serve and always serves and volleys. Straight sets for Zverev; never dropped his serve.

[boloorsportsmania]

#840 Boult nailed it for MI and Rohit gave the hammer blow against DC in finals to hand MI their 5th IPL ; A class team, a fine captain and flawless bowling attack was key aspects in MI dominating IPL this season; Dustin Johnson all set to win his 2nd major after gaining 4 shot lead after 3 rounds in Augusta Masters; ATP finale kick starts; Man City show some form in drawing against Liverpool; Aston Villa shock Arsenal and more..:-)

IPL finals usually is a closely contested match if one observes history. Baring 2011 and 2015, all have almost gone to the wire. DC won the toss and hose to bat as expected. Post that it was all MI. Boult who was traded from DC prior to this season dismissed Stoinis first ball with a ripper. Inside 21 balls, DC were reduced to 22-3. Boult grabbed 2 of the wickets. Jayant dismissed Dhawan with a bit of genuine off spin. That was a telling blow for DC. Shreyas and Pant brought DC back with a good partnership. They took DC past 100. Pant scored his first fifty of this year’s IPL. Just when it looked like Pant would take MI to cleaners, Coulter dismissed him with a short ball. DC 118-4 in 15 overs. Even though Shreyas played till the end, DC never got going. They just scored 38 runs from last 5 overs. Boult ended with 3-30. MI’s team is a well oiled engine. There is hardly any weakness. They have only been tested when team scores in excess of 190 against them. Only RCB managed that this year. Once Quinton and Rohit had 45 run opening stand in 4 overs, writing as on the wall for DC. Rohit showed some form with 51 ball 68. MI won their 5th IPL title by 5 wickets with 8 balls to spare. It was not even a contest. Boult never allowed MI to feel the absence of Malinga. Bumrah, Rahul Chahar, MI engine trio of Pollard-Krunal-Hardik , Quinton and Ishan’s form and Surya’s calming influence ensure MI were never under pressure throughout the tournament.  Their team is so good that captaincy doesn’t really matter. Each player knows their role very well. You can make in roads in IPL with good top order but solid middle order and death bowling decides who wins it. MI have that in plenty in last 2 seasons. CSK had Bravo-Jadeja-Dhoni when they were at peak. SRH had Rashid, Mustafizur and Bhuvi when they had to defend scores in 2016. Teams like RCB and KKR need to invest in this else they would find winning IPL very tough in coming years.  MI are very active during trading window and auction. That’s needed. Other than they ensure their youngsters get enough exposure. Ishan Kishan has been a classic example in last 2 seasons . He has been a revelation. Pandya was impactful as well. Rohit and Krunal have had poor seasons but they had so many match winners that it was never felt. Player like Lynn never got a match which tells a lot. RCB did a mistake of releasing Rahul and Manish when they were good. All IPL seasons have been won by teams who have best local Indian talent rather than best overseas bunch. With next IPL just 6 months away, all team’s thinking tank would go back to drawing board to see whom they need to pick if an auction happens before that.  Focus now shifts to India-Aus tours. India have Australia tour and England tour of India between them and World test championships finals. NZ are favourites mto be in top 2 as they have home tour of WI and Pak and they can grab as many as 240 points from that. India, Australia and England would fight for other spot as far as I am concerned. India need to ensure that they don’t allow Australia to win more than 2 tests and expect them to whitewash England. Fitness of players is key due to this aspect. Considering this, was it worth playing Rohit in last 3 games ??  He has already been termed as unfit for ODI and T20. It has given a wrong signal that playing for IPL has been given more priority than playing for India. This is not a good trend. Mi would still have won IPL without Rohit. Risk was not worthy. Hope he gets to form in test as its very much needed since Virat is ruled out for 3 tests. He would play his first innings in pink ball test in Adelaide. That’s a tough ask. Hope he shows his class as it would hurt India otherwise !!

ATP finale group has been finalized. Djokovic, Zverev, Medvedev and Schwartzman are in one group. Nadal, Tsitsipas, Thiem and Rublev are in other group.  Nadal has never won this title. His game has never suited indoor carpet.  Djokovic has won it 5 times and would equal record set by Federer who has won this a historic 6 times. Last 4 years had new champions which was refreshing (Murray, Dimitrov, Zverev and Tsitsipas).

Augusta masters was held in Autumn season for the first time in history. Casey and Johnson started off with a bang. They had 7 under score of 65. It was a dream start for the 2 of them. Casey’s game fell apart in 2nd and 3rd round.. He was tied for 26th after Saturday due to score of just 74 and 71 in 2nd and 3rd round.  Johnson had a steady round of 70 in 2nd round but he became ruthless in 3rd round where he had another round of 65. In 54 holes, he had scored just 2 bogeys. His 16 under par score was 4 strokes ahead of Ancer, Smith and Im. That’s staggering. He is favorite to win his 2nd major. He finished 2nd last year. Crazier things have happened in Masters. Ask Greg Norman who let 6 shot lead go in 1996 but he choked in back nine. Faldo in the end won by 5 strokes. It was last major won by the English legend as well. Frittelli is tied for 3rd at 11 under par. Thomas is at 10 under par. 4 players including Fleetwood are at 9 under par. Woods started off well with a 68 but had poor last 2 round. Defending champion followed up with 71 and 72 scores.

In EPL, Man City found their game to draw against defending champions Liverpool 1-1. Had Man City not missed a penalty they could have won. They probably deserved that win. Jesus is slowly becoming Man City’s goto player. Liverpool had a further bad news later in the week when their star player Salah was tested positive for Corona. Aston Villa thrashed Arsenal 3-0. Watkins scored 2 goals.