Year Round The Tennis Thread

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread- US Open (26/08-08/09)

That's pretty.....@_@ seeing as Cilic is quiet....figuratively/literally. He rarely makes any waves, and his results are okay. It's pretty surprising.

 

[FrostyMouse]

Re: The Tennis Thread- US Open (26/08-08/09)

That's what I thought. A lot of these cases with tennis players, the thing that they're banned over is innocuous. So, I'm not really sure what to think. He's not someone that you'd think would be talking about in terms of a "banned substance," but a banned substance doesn't have to help you, it just has to be illegal.

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread- US Open (26/08-08/09)

This reminds me of the conspiracy theorists who think Soderling was silently banned and that's why he's not making his return...

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread- US Open (26/08-08/09)

This reminds me of the conspiracy theorists who think Soderling was silently banned and that's why he's not making his return...

First time hearing this conspiracy, though I think I mentioned that Soderling had just seemingly fallen off the map, either here or speaking to Sai. I dunno what happened to him but I find it a bit difficult to believe that he was silently banned. You never know.

Speaking of which, Cilic will be appealing his ban. And to add to you guys' comments, I too was taken by surprise when checking Eurosport this morning and seeing the article. Usually someone who is doped up would be near the top of his sport. Usually. And Cilic is not a player I've ever considered near the top of the men's tennis game.

 

[FrostyMouse]

Re: The Tennis Thread- US Open (26/08-08/09)

First time hearing this conspiracy, though I think I mentioned that Soderling had just seemingly fallen off the map, either here or speaking to Sai. I dunno what happened to him but I find it a bit difficult to believe that he was silently banned. You never know.

Speaking of which, Cilic will be appealing his ban. And to add to you guys' comments, I too was taken by surprise when checking Eurosport this morning and seeing the article. Usually someone who is doped up would be near the top of his sport. Usually. And Cilic is not a player I've ever considered near the top of the men's tennis game.

Soderling supposedly has mono, Bob, and it can take you a while (two or three years) to get over it, it has to be said, but that's for average people, not athletes. Top athletes usually get over mono more quickly than normal people (they're fitter, plus they might get special drugs). Fed had mono one season, but kept playing and was perfectly fine. Admittedly, Fed has superhuman health, but that's a different story.

While it is just a conspiracy theory, I've been wondering about it myself. Soderling should've been back by now, but he's not.

Actually, most of the players who get banned for "banned substances" are lower tier players. There are a good number of guys in the 80s-100s, and below, who get banned for drug use.

There was that time that Gasquet was banned for cocaine use, but the level of cocaine in his system was lower than if you'd actually ever used cocaine once. He claimed that he got the trace amount in his system by kissing a girl in a club. They repealed his ban, actually.

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread- US Open (26/08-08/09)

I remember the Gasquet affair....that was when i realized i liked watching him because he was definitely missed by me during the ban. And yea,frosty is right..the ones caught using illegal substances tend to be lower tier players. Still Cilic is like...just there. Solid 4th round player etc, you never hear news about this guy so it definitely got me off guard.

I'm hoping the theories about Soderling are just theories...i really miss that guy

 

[Hardy]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Nalbandian just definetly retired

He said he'll play 2 or 3 more local tournaments and that's it for him.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread

What had happened to him? not heard of him in a while. I know he had a series of injuries a while back but nothing since....

 

[Hardy]

Re: The Tennis Thread

Well, I posted this a long time ago already I think. He had constant injuries, mostly in the abs area... and he liked to party a lot lol. He didn't miss a single Summer Carnival

He prolly didn't have any motivation in the last years, and now he just decided to end his carreer for good.

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

He was a fun/talented player to watch. One of the best backhands I'd ever seen.

 

[FrostyMouse]

Re: The Tennis Thread

He was a fun/talented player to watch. One of the best backhands I'd ever seen.

Roddick beat him in that epic 2003 US Open SF.

 

[Atobe the king]

Re: The Tennis Thread

I remember, i think that was the one time he made the USO semis? He also made a wimbledon final losing to Hewitt.

He cited shoulder injury for the primary reason he retired. Most of feds generation has retired (roddick,blake,Nalby) or are just lingering for now.

 

[Hardy]

Re: The Tennis Thread

He's the only Argentinian player ever to play semis in every Grand Slam (he didn't win any though). Delpo might achieve that if he gets into Australia's Semis... some day, lol

I remember watching his final against Federer in Shanghai's masters when I was a kid. It was really epic because because Federer had destroyed Gaudio 6-0 6-0 and because he qualified into the tournament thanks to Roddick (he wasn't in the Top 8).

He used to carry us hard in the Davis (even in Doubles), where we always managed to get into Semis / Finals and... lose there, like always lol.

And in 2007 he won Madrid and Paris in 2 weeks, beating Nadal and Federer in both and Djoko in the first one.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread- Australian Open (13/01-26/01)

With the Calendar year beginning, I've edited the thread title to welcome in the upcoming Australian Open and discuss the tournaments leading to it. Already we've had a few events going on, with some highlights including:

• Hewitt defeating Federer to win in the Brisbane International
• Serena defeating Azarenka in the Women's final of the same event
• Ivanovic winning her first tour title in more than 2 years, by beating Venus Williams for the Auckland title
• Nadal also got his season underway by downing Monfils in Qatar to claim the Doha title

I think there's the Heineken event for the Men's just before the Ausie Open and I'm not sure about the Women's; so all in all, not terribly much to look forward to before that. At least it gives the top players a week or so to rest up going into the first Grand Slam of the year.

 

[FrostyMouse]

Re: The Tennis Thread- Australian Open (13/01-26/01)

Is the Aussie Open early this season? I always thought it started closer to the end of the month.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread- Australian Open (13/01-26/01)

Is the Aussie Open early this season? I always thought it started closer to the end of the month.

Give or take a few days, but besides that, it's always been the same period I think( 3rd week of Jan).

 

[FrostyMouse]

Re: The Tennis Thread- Australian Open (13/01-26/01)

Give or take a few days, but besides that, it's always been the same period I think( 3rd week of Jan).

January 13th is technically in the third week of January, but it's still a little early, in my opinion.

---------- Post added January 18, 2014 at 11:34 PM ---------- Previous post was January 06, 2014 at 12:11 AM ----------

A somewhat injured/lethargic looking Serena loses to Ivanovic in three sets. Ivanovic played well and I hope she does well the rest of the way.

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread- Australian Open (13/01-26/01)

Knowing Ivanovic's past form, I wouldnt be surprised if she lost in the next round. Serena was all over the place; the last few points I saw, she was slow in reacting and just not guiding the ball, instead trying to go for power. It's a shame, I was really counting on her to do a clean sweep. But it seems there is still a challenge in the Women's game.

 

[Josef]

Re: The Tennis Thread- Australian Open (13/01-26/01)

Well damn, Djokovic loses to Wawrinka ... don't know what it is by Wawrinka is always top form against strong players when he wants to ...

 

[goldb]

Re: The Tennis Thread- Australian Open (13/01-26/01)

Well damn, Djokovic loses to Wawrinka ... don't know what it is by Wawrinka is always top form against strong players when he wants to ...

Well this is some good revenge for losing his last 2 five-setters against Djoko.

It's nice to see Wawrinka getting to these latter rounds of Grand Slams; hopefully he can win one someday soon. Next match I'm looking forward to is Murray vs Federer. I think it's possible that the winner of this match could win the tournament itself. We'll see