Running tennis thread for 2023

A bit of a bomber?

The fastest officially recorded serve was hit by the American professional John Isner in the 2016 Davis Cup first round. He hit a serve 253 km/h (157.2 mph).

Yeah, you might say that. And that Ruth fella could hit with decent power, too.

 

I found Isner matches to be the most boring on tour. Scores looked exciting, but they were usually 12 (easy) holds of serve followed by a tiebreak.

Just get his serve back, and you have a better than 50% chance of winning the point.

 

My point was that he didn't serve super hard all the time (by his standards), because he didn't need to.

 

My problem with Isner was seeing him hit bombs then stand in backcourt and hit a two hander….Come in!! Slice it and come in.

 

A two-hander wide. A two-hander long. A two-hander into the net . . .

 

Well, Djoker did his thing last night. He looked listless and sloppy in dropping the first two sets while his opponent, in this case his countryman (not fellow countryman, which is redundant) Laslo Djere, played over his head. Then Djoker went to the locker room to change clothes and find his “wolf energy”, came back and rolled to victory.

 

Checking the schedule of play today at the Open, I see something strange.

Jessica Pegula is scheduled to play Svitolina right after Alcaraz polishes off Daniel Evans (which is about to happen). But she's also scheduled to play today in doubles with Coco Gauff in the third match on the Grandstand court, following the Draper-Mmoh match (which is about to end also) and Rublev-Rinderknech. That's a really quick turnaround.

 

The Gauff-Pegula match vs. Bucsa-Panova is one of several women's doubles matches I'm following today. Another is Siegemund-Zvonareva vs. Minnen and Wickmayer. The Siegemund team is seeded 12th, and I'm hoping they keep winning, because if they make it to the semifinals, there's a potential matchup with No. 3 Gauff-Pegula. That would be a very interesting match given the Gauff-Siegemund singles dustup.

Another is No. 6 Taylor Townsend and Leylah Fernandez vs. Bolsova-Masarova. I've been a big Townsend fan for awhile now, for a number of reasons (lefthander, a very different type of player than most, her serve-and-volley tactics in her fourth-round run at the 2019 Open, etc.). It was nice to see her beat a seed (No. 19 Beatriz Haddad-Maia) and put up a fight against No. 10 Muchova this year. Hoping she puts together a nice doubles run.

 

All three won yesterday and Townsend-Fernandez won again this morning to advance to the quarters.

But I read the draws wrong yesterday. The Gauff-Siegemund rematch wouldn't happen until the final. I would still love to see it, though.

 

I'm a big fan of Shelton. Never really watched him before this tournament.

 

Son of the great Bryan Shelton, a former Georgia Tech All-America who coached Tech's women's team to a national championship.

Oh, yeah, he also won a national title as coach of Florida's men's team.

 

Chris Evert has really stepped up her game. More technical analysis, less cliches. I like this late-career resurgence.