Wimbledon Championships 2022

[jimlosaltos]

Now do you guys believe that Cressy is a sleeper. He just took FAA out by serving and volleying and breaking him once. All of the other sets went to a tiebreak. Cressy won two and FAA won one.

One break and two tiebreaks makes the match. Next up is Jack Sock. I have a feeling that Cressy will be serving and volleying to his backhand all day long. Even if Sock gets a forehand, he won't have much time to do anything with it.

S&V lives on! Vive Le Cressy!

Cressy: "I've had to prove a lot of people wrong that serve and volley is not extinct."

[jimlosaltos]

Meanwhile, some women are playing.

Harmony Tan, a French woman ranked 113, won the first set vs Serena Williams, ranked 1,024, score 7-5. The last game went to deuce 13 times and that game lasted longer than an entire set from Kerber's win yesterday.

Then, the second game in the next set went 19 minutes, comprising 30 points, before Serena broke on her 7th BP after 12 deuces.

[stotty]

Meanwhile, some women are playing.

Harmony Tan, a French woman ranked 113, won the first set vs Serena Williams, ranked 1,024, score 7-5. The last game went to deuce 13 times and that game lasted longer than an entire set from Kerber's win yesterday.

Then, the second game in the next set went 19 minutes, comprising 30 points, before Serena broke on her 7th BP after 12 deuces.

Serena looks ponderous and heavy. Looks well past her best. Still has incredibly weight of shot, however.

[stotty]

Serena's is out. It'll be embarrassing if she continues to play...rather like a boxer who fights one fight too many yet continues to fight because he thinks he can still do it.

[stroke]

To me she is just more embarrassing, Nick too.

[arturohernandez]

Serena's is out. It'll be embarrassing if she continues to play...rather like a boxer who fights one fight too many yet continues to fight because he thinks he can still do it.

She can still play doubles though. Might be a way for her to go out on top. Maybe Rafa and Roger should take note for when their time comes. It would be fitting for both of them to retire at center court Wimbledon after having played a doubles match together.

[arturohernandez]

Cressy: "I've had to prove a lot of people wrong that serve and volley is not extinct."

He is helped by a group of players who think that camping out near the lines people is a viable return strategy. He basically has to win one or two points at the net when he is serving.

The returners are so worried that they end up missing returns or are just unable to get it back in play.

It will be interesting to see how far a dinosaur can run or fly when brought back to life...

[stroke]

I see Cressy as a very good athlete at 6'5", that has very good technique on his volleys and a very good 1st serve. His 2nd serve to me can be a bit dicey under pressure. His groundstrokes clearly are not top 100 type level, so to me, he is simply maximizing his game to get as high in the rankings as he can. I like it. Very impressive win over FAA, and he gave a red hot Fritz all he could handle in the Final of Eastbourne last week. Watching that match, I never got the feeling that Cressy was going to come out on top, but he certainly made Fritz prove he wS the better player. He is never going to volley like McEnroe, or even Pat Cash or Stepanek.

[stroke]

Novak looked back to his unique clinical best in round 2 win over Kokkinakis, looking every bit the prohibitive favorite he is to win the tournament.

[jimlosaltos]

He is helped by a group of players who think that camping out near the lines people is a viable return strategy. He basically has to win one or two points at the net when he is serving.

The returners are so worried that they end up missing returns or are just unable to get it back in play.

It will be interesting to see how far a dinosaur can run or fly when brought back to life...

I recall Lucas Pouille, who normally returns from not too far behind the baseline, why he moved way back in his 5 set upset of Rafa at the US Open.

Pouille practiced with Rafa and said, roughly "Anything that lands short he pounces on and puts away with his forehand." He moved back so he could get a full swing and get his returns deep.

My views on the back-wall returners vary. Often, I'm annoyed blaming them for ruining the game.

Other times I think, "It's up to their opponents to make they pay." It's sort of like drop-shot serves. If you don't like it -- cover it. They'll stop.

If big servers either can't volley, or can't hit wide-slice, it's not the returners' fault for exploiting that.

[stroke]

I recall Lucas Pouille, who normally returns from not too far behind the baseline, why he moved way back in his 5 set upset of Rafa at the US Open.

Pouille practiced with Rafa and said, roughly "Anything that lands short he pounces on and puts away with his forehand." He moved back so he could get a full swing and get his returns deep.

My views on the back-wall returners vary. Often, I'm annoyed blaming them for ruining the game.

Other times I think, "It's up to their opponents to make they pay." It's sort of like drop-shot serves. If you don't like it -- cover it. They'll stop.

If big servers either can't volley, or can't hit wide-slice, it's not the returners' fault for exploiting that.

Certainly concur with your take here. It is all about working ones way through a match and getting the win. All juniors need to be studying the big 3 in that department, not Kyrgios ha.

[jimlosaltos]

Hidden Impacts of Covid on Wimbledon

With the withdrawal of Berrettini and Cilic, as well as the early exit of the women's number 2 seed Kontaveit all from Covid, there is concern the event could lose top players at the last minute, as more get ill. Wimbledon is reportedly "considering" 'more measures, but that sounds like closing the barn door after the horses are out.

Some players admit they are avoiding covid tests so they won't get "bad news" -- with zero regard for passing the virus to other players, or others period. Lingering fatigue is one effect of Covid-19. Anett Kontaveit, the No. 2 seed at Wimbledon lost in her first match as she became exhausted in the second set. She had pulled out of 2 grass tune-ups citing lingering covid fatigue.

Berrettini and Marin Cilic both acted responsibly by pulling out of Wimbledon with covid. But if other players have covid and are either knowingly or unknowingly continuing to play, they put the event at risk of an outbreak that could cancel matches or gut the already-diluted player field -- let alone continue the spread of the disease.

The Telegraph reports that Wimbledon is in "active consideration of new measures in an attempt to mitigate the risk of a wider outbreak." But that would start with mandatory, daily testing -- at this very late stage.

NYT: “There always have been injuries and illnesses,” she {Aliz? Cornet} told French reporters on Tuesday, claiming that there had been numerous undeclared coronavirus cases among players at the recent French Open. “In the locker room, everyone had it, and we didn't say anything,” she said, suggesting that some players had symptoms but did not test themselves.

“We’re not going to test ourselves and put ourselves in trouble,” she said. “I saw some women wearing masks because they did not want to spread it.”

Gauff said she was comfortable with testing not being mandatory for players and said she was happy that the testing was no longer “every day or every other day.”

“I don’t want to go back to that,” she said. “Not being scared to be tested, but it’s also, like, a hassle. I think with the vaccines and everything, we kind of know that the viral load is low and it’s very hard to transfer if you’re a vaccinated individual.”


https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/28/s...smid=url-share

The Telegraph via Yahoo Sports
https://sports.yahoo.com/fears-wimbl...l&uh_test=1_04

[stroke]

A fitting end to this Laver Cup Covid protocol Wimbledon would be for an asymptomatic Novak to make the finals, at that point mandatory tested positive after his semi win, and then be told he was out of the tournament as a result of his positive test.

[stroke]

Murray really looks sluggish out there vs Isner. Definitely the 2nd best player on the court.

[jimlosaltos]

Can't resist sharing this. Apparently the BBC Live blogger during the coverage of Isner-Mahut's marathon in 2010, was losing it.

I mean losing it. Hard to blame him.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...10-tennis-live

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