Volleying U.S. Open (Tennis!) Thread...

Anyone else getting tired of Serena's act every time she loses?

In nearly 10 years of playing professional tennis, Serena has never once been outplayed. The person on the other side of the net just got lucky.

 

DD that's not fair. Sometimes she loses because she's hurt. And the other player got lucky.

For someone who is so gracious on the court and in interviews, she is one sore loser.

 

7-6(7-3) + 6-1 = 2nd Set Tank Job by Serena.

She's either the worst conditioned athlete in history, the most fragile athlete in history or the worst sportsman in history.

She never gets beat :

 

Well-said, h.a.

Somewhere, another photographer working for a magazine about to fold waits to take pictures of Serena.

 

The only time Serena or Venus gives an opponent any credit is when they play each other.

I hope Jankovic kicks Venus's butt tonight.. but that probably won't happen.

 

I love that, spnited. I wish I had thought of that. Great work.

I'm kind of torn for tonight, for two reasons:

1. Venus doesn't bug me nearly as much as Serena

2. I would love to see Henin have the chance to be the first woman since
Martina Hingis in 2001 to beat the Williams' in back-to-back matches
in a tournament.

I think you're correct, though. Venus should win and then she will look to play Vitali Klitschko's role for his brother Wlad: Vanquisher of foes his sibling has difficulty beating by himself (or herself, in Serena's case, recently, as regards Henin).

 

Frankly, I find Venus to be a pretty good sport most of the time. Especially compared to Serena.

Venus even handled the Wimbledon-chair-umpire-scoring-fiasco with class a few years ago.

Of course, just as grating as Serena's post-match attitude is her habit of fist-pumping . . . when an opponent makes an unforced error.

You fist-pump when you hit a winner or force an error. Period.

Did anyone in the media ask Serena what Jehovah thought of her appearance in "Jane"?

 

Just read of Serena's wonderful post-match comments. Hopefully, this one sticks to her a little more than some of the others.

She should have paid the fine and just ditched.

 

"We are all ... (cue LeBron James commercial). Well, all 4 who bought the magazine, anyway."

 

From Liz Clarke, Wash Post:

But her third loss in four meetings with Henin this year apparently will change nothing about Williams's approach to the sport, which differs from that of most top players.

She believes that she doesn't need to play many tuneup matches, if any, to prepare for Grand Slam tournaments. This year, she didn't play any tournaments between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, sitting out more than six weeks with a badly sprained left thumb.

And once Williams gets to a major, she believes in not peaking too soon -- withholding her "A-game," as she refers to it, until she reaches the final.

Asked what made the difference in Tuesday's match, Williams said: "I just think she played better. I just think she made a lot of lucky shots, and I made a lot of errors. I don't think my level dropped."

Williams battled back from an early break in the first set, which was settled by a tiebreak. The first point might have been the best of the match -- a long rally that Williams won with remarkable defense, running down balls that looked like winners. But the point seemed to wear her out, though she denied that her level of fitness played a role in the outcome.

"I'm very fit," she said. "I can run for hours."

...
Henin, who is among the smallest women on tour at 5 feet 5, 126 pounds, played the aggressor in the second set. She attacked Williams's second serve, handled her opponent's vaunted power with aplomb, dictated the tempo and placed her shots smartly.

"She just played a little bit more aggressive and started hitting really, really hard balls," said Williams, whose 17 winners were dwarfed by 28 unforced errors.

 

I used to abhor Henin because of her icy demeanor and her walkout on Mauresmo, but she's got some game.

Serena's comments were very disappointing. How hard is it to be a gracious loser? Per Rome, "scoreboard", you lost, own up to it.

As for the Rafa match, what a treat for a west coaster. I wanted to applaud for Rafa when the match was over simply for his tenacity to the end. Ferrer was unbelievable, scorching every shot, every line while Rafa simply did not hold up. Too bad no Federer-Rafa meeting. Go Roddick? Simply no. Federer against Lopez was amazing. Federer hit unbelievable sweet shots from the 2nd to 3rd sets, they are not crazy wild shots, the beauty is in how from a slightly defensive position he just rips clean winners.

 

The match between the two best players nobody cares about is on right now, Davydenko (he of the gambling scandal) and Haas.