Topic: Tennis League All Thread - page 598. (Read 201050 times)

Cibulkova on losing early to Stosur in Sydney: "I took this tournament as a good start for the Australian acclimatization. The Australian Open is the priority. In the past, I have battled all the way to the final in Sydney and then lost in just the second round in Melbourne, while I have also lost early in Sydney and then played great in Melbourne. I have achieved my best Grand Slam result at the Australian Open (SF 2014) and and I always look forward to it. Last year I lost 2 & 2 to Kanepi, but I was sick that day and wanted to respect my opponent. I believe it will be different this year. I want to go to the court and show my best tennis." Cibulkova is 5-0 vs. R1 opponent Shuai Zhang.

De Minaur was unimpressed at his schedule - having played two matches on Saturday, he will be on court on Monday also: "What is more annoying is me having to play Monday at the Australian Open and not getting helped out as a fellow Aussie at your home slam. I think they are punishing Aussies for playing deep in their home tournaments and I think that's not what they should be doing ... They came out with the schedule before they even saw the halves or saw who was in the final in the weeks prior. I think that is pretty poor."

Nadal discussed his physical condition in his pre-tournament press conference: "Good. I feel good. If I did not feel good I would not be here, so I have good feelings in terms of the surgery that I had in the foot, I can say is almost done. And then, of course, after surgery and after months without competing and having troubles to practice, of course there is always issues when you come back, but there is nothing new for me. I had a couple of ones of this and just accept the challenges that the body presents and the tennis presents. Because it is another season coming back from a tough period of time, but with highest motivation to start another season and I'm very excited to be back in Melbourne."

This is what Tennis needs right now , with Murray leaving and Fed , Nadal struggling we need to see new names and young talents winning tour level championships . More power to Alex He deserved it , the fact that he played two matches ( semis and finals) and won in straight sets is remarkable.

This was great to see this young talent win his first career title against a pretty good opponent in Seppi, it was never going to be an easy task for De Minaur but he outplayed Seppi on the day and deserved the win. I just hope that this hasn't taken a lot out of De Minaur just a couple of days before the Australian Open and that he had to play two matches on the same day. The organisers of the Sydney International got the scheduling wrong and something needs to be done next year.   

De Minaur took a first career title, beating Andreas Seppi in the Sydney final. The Italian veteran was actually up a break in both sets, but those were somewhat of an aberration – they were his only breakpoints in the match. Ultimately this was De Minaur's to lose, with his hefty superiority on serve: 73% first serve vs 52%, and more potent with those he landed. From the baseline his movement and effort allowed him to to outlast Seppi, with the home crowd providing an extra edge when needed. "It's crazy that this actually happened," he said in the on-court interview. "I thought it wouldn't happen. Third time lucky, and you guys don't know how much it means to do it in front of all you guys, in front of my home." De Minaur 21w 33ue; Seppi 27w 41ue. De Minaur 7/5 7/6.

A. Zverev is confident his ankle will hold up during the Australian Open after hurting himself during a practice session. "The ankle is fine. It's just a little bit swollen. I didn't actually twist it, I just kind of went over it a little bit. Actually what happened was a bone pushed against another bone. There was inflammation between those two bones. I'm fine. I'm going to play with the tape. It's just a little bit uncomfortable but it's nothing that can get worse or anything like that. I'm actually quite relaxed about it."

It would be a perfect cinderella finish for Andy Murray if that happen but I don't see it in reality though. I think his done and just wanted to have some fun in Australian Open and that's it.

I'm sure he will be the crowd favorite as well, tennis fans are very sentimental so I wouldn't be surprise the outpouring of messages or the standing ovations he will got, once he is the court.

Very sad to hear about Andy Murray retiring possibly in the next two main event tournaments he is participating in.
If he could win Australian open and Wimbledon before doing so it would be the greatest achievement he could possibly do in ending his tennis career.

De Minaur didn’t have too much trouble with his rain-delayed semi-final against G. Simon, who looked quite exhausted by the end – a combination of switch to the midday heat, and a very draining last round. De Minaur had set out his stall to be aggressive when possible, hitting that flat backhand with intent and getting to the net, but it wasn’t to matter much as Simon didn’t have the legs to really compete. The youngster looked a bit puzzled tactically at times, not entirely unsure how to play an opponent in such shape, but it wasn't to hurt him in the end. “It’s an incredible feeling, no better feeling that doing it at home, in front of my family and friends,” said De Minaur. On his post-match: “I might hop in the ice bath, and then have a nap! Got to try recover for the final later on. I’ll do everything in my power to be ready.” De Minaur 29w 21ue; G. Simon 9w 17ue. De Minaur 6/3 6/2.

Kenin stormed to her first career title with a comprehensive straight set win over Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. The first half an hour of the match was extremely tight with both players trading service breaks. Though it was Schmiedlova who generally made the stronger start she unable to put enough score board pressure on her young American opponent and was made to pay. From 3-3 in the first set it was Kenin who went on to win 9 straight games, Kenin’s power was too much for Schmiedlova to handle and the Slovakian became increasingly despondent as the match went on. Kenin maintained an extremely high first serve percentage of 86% and saved 8 of 9 break point chances, another very composed performance by the American, very impressive in her first WTA tour level singles title. Conversely Schmiedlova was broken on 6 occasions and only saved 3 of the 8 break points she faced. Kenin 6/3 6/0.

Sandgren continued to perform at a high level as he defeated a nervous Norrie to win the Auckland title. The American once again grew into the match, starting off with some nervous baseline play in the midway stage of the 1st set, where he lost a break lead, but he really did start to express himself, dominated with his usual serve and forehand combinations and left Norrie behind in the baseline battle. Norrie looked incredibly shaken on the court as he failed to cover the court with the same sort of liveliness, and coughed up way too many backhand errors, which was occurring on a regular basis all match. Norrie did open up his shoulders and play a bit more relaxed momentarily when he fell a set and a break down, but it simply wasn't his day, and he couldn't sustain any of his points. This was Norrie's worst performance of the week, while Sandgren's strengths came to the fore. Sandgren 6/4 6/2

Well we did talk about this back then and we both was thinking if it was the right decision for him to come back. Just like Nadal at the time, as these great players start to get older they really need to make the tough decisions on whether to come back early from injury or take that extra time off and in both cases here both Men should of maybe taking the extra time off ready for a fresh start in 2019. I really think that they would however I'm also thinking that the top players are also under pressure from tournament/s organisers to have them playing to attract the crowds. We have seen this a number of times where the top players might sustain an injury in a match but continue on to keep the crowds happy, I've lost count on the number of occasions Nadal has done this and continue to fight on with his injuries. The sad thing is that it all comes back to the money, tournaments want to bring in the crowds to make the money and players are under pressure to play at the tournaments to attract the crowds. Its sad to see but that is where sports now days is at, its all about the money. I'm just hoping that Murray can make it through okay in his first match and then maybe have his farewell at Wimbledon. 

Loved his game when he was on top form. Pitty he is leaving.

Yeah, better to avoid. Especially when considering that Bautista-Agut beat Djoker very recently. Murray will put up a fight like he usually does, but its going to be trouble for him. I'm sad that he has to retire so soon but he'll definitely go down in history books for being one of the greatest English athletes. Cant wait for Aussie Open to start.

Exactly , not worth to take the risk .
And what do you think? This is the end of Murray? He stated that Australian Open might be his last event.

Murray is a big market drifter after his comments on retirement (5.04 from 2.50 vs. Bautista-Agut). Guys just avoid this match.

I am following Hobart single between Kenin and Cornet. Who is with me? Kenin broke the service of Cornet. Possibly going to break the 7th game too. Cornet is not doing good at all.

update
Just did. score 5-2. Kenin is serving and may be this will end the first set for Kenin.

Sandgren prevailed in straight sets as he bested Kohlschreiber in straight sets. The match really started very finely poised as both players enjoyed some decent success in the baseline battle, but things really started to ignite for the American from 4/4 in the 1st set, where the intent of his groundstrokes heightened, the confidence behind the forehand grew after starting a bit inconsistently in the first couple of games, and Sandgren did not look back from that moment. Kohlschreiber was content in playing the patient game, staying behind the baseline and trying to work his way into the points, but Sandgren really did not give him the option to navigate his way into the point, and continued to be ever so effective behind the first serve delivery in this encounter. Sandgren made nine unforced errors in the first three games, but would then go on to commit four for the remainder of the match. Remaining solid while going after his groundstrokes. Sandgren 6/4 6/2

Sandgren after beating Kohlschreiber: "Basically I just closed my eyes and swung, and a lot of the balls went in, so that was good. It is nice to see the hard work that I've put in in the last month and half come into fruition right now. That is really gratifying for me. Philipp is a great player. He kind of tuned me up the last time we played, so to feel like I'm improving and getting better is a good feeling."

Norrie managed to wear down a tired-looking Struff to advance to a first tour-level final. Norrie once again really excelled from the service line in the two sets that he claimed, mixing up his points of attack with regularity and the effectiveness of his placement really prevented Struff from returning from a dominant position. Norrie not only edged it in the serving department, but he was able to turn the match into more of a physical battle, and with Struff playing a long three hour match in the day prior, it proved to take its toll in the final stages of the 3rd set. Struff had mixed success on serve, not looking as faultless as he can do with that single shot, and he really lacked energy or drive in his groundstrokes. Certainly not the same weight of shot that he has displayed all week.(Commentary) "Struff ran out of gas." Norrie 7/5 4/6 6/3


Norrie after beating Struff: "I mean, it feels incredible. I can't really describe it. I was really nervous in that last game...a couple of double faults and got slightly tight. Big thanks to the crowd for getting me through that. It is so special to get through to my first final and do it at home too. It means so much to me. I'm just playing on adrenaline. Today I was a little bit zapped in that second set, and I thought it was such an honour to play on the court where I grew up, and I was just going to fight for every point and hopefully give my everything and I ended up getting out on top."