Running tennis thread 2024

I miss Cliff Drysdale.

 

Carlito drew Daisy-Head Maisie in the first round.

 

Ditto.
Cliff was the tennis version of Peter Alliss.
You never knew what he was going to say.
May make some people mad. Ok.

 

He was stuck with a Sabatini-Novotna match in the 1990s, something like 105 unforced errors between them.

At one point, after another forehand into the net, he just utters, in his always-dignified tone, "This . . . this is just dreadful."

 

Wow, just saw Sabalenka has withdrawn with a shoulder injury. As Mary Carillo might say, that's a big-babe loss.

 

Early stunner: defending champion Vondrousova out in Round 1, thoroughly outplayed by 21-year-old Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain, 6-4, 6-2. She's the first ladies defending champion to exit in the first round since Steffi Graf was ousted by Lori McNeil in 1994.

Bouzas Maneiro is ranked 83rd and had never before won a match in the main draw of a major. She has very little experience at the WTA level, but apparently has had a lot of success at lower-level ITF events -- she has three wins and two runner-up finishes this year.

 

Wow, Osaka is such a head case.

Down a set, and a break and at break point, she stops a point to challenge a call on the baseline. You ever see a computer call be overturned?
The point was still being played, and she just gave up on the point to challenge.

On her way to second round loss.

 

Wimbledon is still using line judges, not Hawk-Eye, to make the initial calls. Players can challenge those line calls, with the Hawk-Eye deciding the challenges.

I've seen several players challenging calls over the past couple of days.

 

Also, the woman who beat Osaka -- Emma Navarro -- is not some nobody. She's a top 20 player who's been rising very quickly up the charts this year.

 

Very intriguing match under way right now -- No. 1 Sinner vs. former No. 6 Matteo Berrettini. I know it looks like a mismatch, since Berrettini has been beaten down with injuries over the past few years and is currently ranked 59, but don't forget he was a finalist at Wimbledon just three years ago (before all the injuries), and he made a fourth-round run just last year.

If nothing else, this will be a good test of where he is in his comeback attempt.

 

First set in a tiebreaker. Berrettini serving big.

 

FYI, Sinner just won a challenge.