Tennis League All Thread

[aoluain]

...
What were the odds on Rafa today?
...

Rafa Nadal odds against De minaur was @2.50 but lowered up to @2.20 during pre-market.
I wasn't able to follow the match but the result surprised me a bit.
It is obvious that in his home tournament he wants to achieve maximum results and visibility, but I don't know up to what match his physical condition can be satisfactory.

Rafa announced he is going to play doubles together with Carlos Alcaraz at the Olympics in Paris this summer. Very interesting decision, I wonder who initiated this: Rafa or the Spanish tennis federation? Rafa is known to be an average doubles player with rather poor performance at the net. Spain, on the other hand, have one of the longest rosters in sport and can choose from at least a dozen of top level players. What do you think? Is Rafa the right candidate?  

I dont think I have ever seen Rafa play doubles so I'm not sure if he is the right candidate
to pair up with Alcaraz. They better start getting a few tournaments under their belts!

A lot of big matches tomorrow, Sinner, Nadal, Medvedev, Ruud, also interesting to see
both Bublik and Felix AA put in decent performances to reach the round of 32! but
they are in a very tough side of the draw with Ruud, Medvedev and Sinner.

On the Womens side I'm surprised to see names come up that have been absent for a
while especially in the round of 16 stage,  Haddad Maia, Soribes Tormo and Jabeur.

[cryptofrka]

Rafa announced he is going to play doubles together with Carlos Alcaraz at the Olympics in Paris this summer. Very interesting decision, I wonder who initiated this: Rafa or the Spanish tennis federation? Rafa is known to be an average doubles player with rather poor performance at the net. Spain, on the other hand, have one of the longest rosters in sport and can choose from at least a dozen of top level players. What do you think? Is Rafa the right candidate? 

To be honest, I would not pick him or let him play if it was anywhere else. He's out of form, is always an injury risk and there are better options available.
He's won gold in both singles and doubles category and I'd give the chance to somebody else.

However, considering that it's being held in Paris he deserves the chance. I hope they win it.

[Strongkored]

Nadal will take part in this year's Laver Cup, perhaps this will be his last tournament before finally retiring from tennis completely.

What about Roland Garros? I guess RG is the ultimate goal for Rafa this season. If not for RG, Rafa would have retired from tennis already. He just wants to play in Paris so bad for one final time...

Not so sure about RG, because if I read his statement he hasn't fully recovered, especially since GS is a more tiring match with 3 sets, but he said he wanted to play longer for his son, it seems his son gave him the motivation to play more.

Rafael Nadal will continue his hopes here, facing Pedro Cachin, it looks like this will be an easy match for Nadal as long as he doesn't have to go through three sets.

On the Womens side I'm surprised to see names come up that have been absent for a
while especially in the round of 16 stage,  Haddad Maia, Soribes Tormo and Jabeur.

Ons Jabeur being able to beat Leylah Fernadez is an encouraging thing for her career so far it was not an impressive performance and today facing Jelena Ostapenko will be the next tough match for her.
Soribes Tormo was the most surprising, but facing Swiatek I'm not sure she will put up a tough fight, the three previous meetings she lost in straight sets to Swiatek, but the crowd will be on her side.

[aoluain]

On the Womens side I'm surprised to see names come up that have been absent for a
while especially in the round of 16 stage,  Haddad Maia, Soribes Tormo and Jabeur.

Ons Jabeur being able to beat Leylah Fernadez is an encouraging thing for her career so far it was not an impressive performance and today facing Jelena Ostapenko will be the next tough match for her.
Soribes Tormo was the most surprising, but facing Swiatek I'm not sure she will put up a tough fight, the three previous meetings she lost in straight sets to Swiatek, but the crowd will be on her side.

Well it was easy enough for Ons beating Ostapenko, 0-6 and 4-6. Same for Swiatek,
easy day out even when broken in her first game....and immediately broken back,
6-1 and 6-0. Haddad Maia also got the better of Sakkari.

Quarter final time tomorrow with Swiatek v Haddad Maia, I cant see Swiatek losing this though.

Ons has a tricky match up against Keys, I dont see odds on this one yet, hard to pick
a winner.


Just watching Sinner v Kotov and its in the second set with Sinner not having an easy
one. He looks to have a problem with his hip for the last few games which is a bit worrying
but he is looking good now to win the match after breaking back Kotov.

[aoluain]

Big day yesterday for Nadal!

Lehecka won in 2 sets. The match was high level with fantastic tennis from both.

After the match there was a tribute to Nadal as it was his last Madrid tournament.

The surprise of the day for me was Felix AA getting past Ruud, the canadian is playing
fantastic tennis ATM, its kind of out of the blue though and is rewarded with a match
against Sinner!

[mv1986]

Big day yesterday for Nadal!

Lehecka won in 2 sets. The match was high level with fantastic tennis from both.

After the match there was a tribute to Nadal as it was his last Madrid tournament.

The surprise of the day for me was Felix AA getting past Ruud, the canadian is playing
fantastic tennis ATM, its kind of out of the blue though and is rewarded with a match
against Sinner!

Yes it is hard to predict who might come out on top of this tournament. I thought that Alcaraz would never have such a thriller against Struff and I thought Ruud would be playing better than that. It's weird, it is back and forth for Ruud. Gets destroyed in the Monte Carlo Masters final against Tsitsipas on clay, then destroys Tsitsipas in the Barcelona final on clay. Now as the Barcelona winner loses the game against Felix AA. Tennis became much more unpredictable ever since the three GOATS have either retired or reduced the number of tournaments they play.

We will have to be patient to find out whether there is another GOAT in the making, but even Alcaraz had his bad moments already. As of now, the 24 GS titles of Djokovic seem to be impossible to reach for everyone who is around at the moment.

[tsaroz]

The first quaterfinals of the Madrid open is being played at the moment between Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev. Seeded number 2 for this tournament, Alcaraz is one of the favorite for this tournament as Djokovic is not playing. But the Andrey Rublev is giving a hard time for Alcaraz. Alcaraz winning the first set 6-4 while losing the 2nd one 4-6. Both of them are young players, Alcaraz at 20 and Rublev at 26 but only one of them would progress to the semis. I believe it would be Rublev as he seems to be the better athlete on the court.

[bitbollo]

Many surprises during this tournament, since all favourites (top players) are out now...
Only Medvedev (3) is still on route for the title...

Sinner is out due hip injury/pain will not play against FAA.
Personally I think this was a very easy match for him... nice chance for FAA to try to reach the final of this ATP 1000.
I hope I will have the chance to see him play in Roma during Internazionali...

[aoluain]

Many surprises during this tournament, since all favourites (top players) are out now...
Only Medvedev (3) is still on route for the title...

Sinner is out due hip injury/pain will not play against FAA.
Personally I think this was a very easy match for him... nice chance for FAA to try to reach the final of this ATP 1000.
I hope I will have the chance to see him play in Roma during Internazionali...

Is there a chance Sinner is taking a precautionary measure to withdraw here to minimise the
risk of getting injured before Rome?
I heard him being interviewed during the week and he said that the Hip thing is something he
has had for a while, sometimes its worse than other days.

Nice parachute into the semi final against either Medvedev or Lehecka, TBH I dont know who
to pick for a win of this match, maybe n over 22.5 bet here.

Big day yesterday for Nadal!

Lehecka won in 2 sets. The match was high level with fantastic tennis from both.

After the match there was a tribute to Nadal as it was his last Madrid tournament.

The surprise of the day for me was Felix AA getting past Ruud, the canadian is playing
fantastic tennis ATM, its kind of out of the blue though and is rewarded with a match
against Sinner!

Yes it is hard to predict who might come out on top of this tournament. I thought that Alcaraz would never have such a thriller against Struff and I thought Ruud would be playing better than that. It's weird, it is back and forth for Ruud. Gets destroyed in the Monte Carlo Masters final against Tsitsipas on clay, then destroys Tsitsipas in the Barcelona final on clay. Now as the Barcelona winner loses the game against Felix AA. Tennis became much more unpredictable ever since the three GOATS have either retired or reduced the number of tournaments they play.

We will have to be patient to find out whether there is another GOAT in the making, but even Alcaraz had his bad moments already. As of now, the 24 GS titles of Djokovic seem to be impossible to reach for everyone who is around at the moment.

On Ruud, TBH I dont think he is at the same level as Sinner or Alcaraz even on clay.

It also does look like things are becoming a little more unpredictable compared to
even 2 or 3 years ago.

[serveria.com]

Nice parachute into the semi final against either Medvedev or Lehecka, TBH I dont know who
to pick for a win of this match, maybe n over 22.5 bet here.

To me it's a no-brainer: my bet will be on Medvedev. He's got much more experience playing at later stages of Masters series tournaments. And despite clay is not his preferred surface he's still quite dangerous opponent literally for any player on tour. Lehecka is in top form that's right and he's got plenty of confidence after winning Rafa on clay, but... Medvedev is my pick this time.

[cryptofrka]

Medvedev withdrew after losing the 1st set, he told the physio that he couldn't move properly and it was visible in late games of the 1st set.
A weird tournament overall, the best we can hope for in the final is 7th seed Rublev, basically against an unseeded player considering that Lehecka was no. 30.

It seems it will be an 'anybody can win this' Roland Garros. Top seeds injured or out of form, a lot of players between 20-50th spot with really good momentum behind them. One to watch for sure.

[tsaroz]

Medvedev withdrew after losing the 1st set, he told the physio that he couldn't move properly and it was visible in late games of the 1st set.
A weird tournament overall, the best we can hope for in the final is 7th seed Rublev, basically against an unseeded player considering that Lehecka was no. 30.

It seems it will be an 'anybody can win this' Roland Garros. Top seeds injured or out of form, a lot of players between 20-50th spot with really good momentum behind them. One to watch for sure.

The Madrid Open is not considered as important as grand slams that's why the top players prefer their health and fitness over winning the game.
Andrey Rulev is in great form and is now the top seeded player in the semifinals defeating Alcaraz in quaterfinals. He'll be fighting Taylor Fritz which could be a tense match but I believe he'll come victorious to get another title to his name. On another semifinals, Lehecka would play against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the later one had an walkover without playing while Lehecka got a straight win so he would most probably prevail.

[bitbollo]

Is there a chance Sinner is taking a precautionary measure to withdraw here to minimise the
risk of getting injured before Rome?
...

Definitely yes.
However this Is not the favorite surface for him so I see the chance for the win really hard.
In Italy there Is a "Sinner mania" probably linked to the fact that Is a new kind of "sport influencer" ... Far away from what we have seen in the past (One of the top players here was Fognini... Called also "fogna" - sewer).
There Is a lot of pression to see here live (there Is a big hype for the tournament tickets for the final are already soldi out...)

By the way It seems Sinner Is already suffering for hip injury like Murray... Here the difference Is the young age ...

[serveria.com]

Is there a chance Sinner is taking a precautionary measure to withdraw here to minimise the
risk of getting injured before Rome?
...

Definitely yes.
However this Is not the favorite surface for him so I see the chance for the win really hard.
In Italy there Is a "Sinner mania" probably linked to the fact that Is a new kind of "sport influencer" ... Far away from what we have seen in the past (One of the top players here was Fognini... Called also "fogna" - sewer).
There Is a lot of pression to see here live (there Is a big hype for the tournament tickets for the final are already soldi out...)

By the way It seems Sinner Is already suffering for hip injury like Murray... Here the difference Is the young age ...

Yeah, so true, Sinner is a real nice guy and a role model for young tennis players not only in Italy but all around the world. There's some Federer-esque aristocratic touch to his image. And yeah, huge difference with arrogant and pompous Italian tennis bad boy Fognini... 

[aoluain]

Medvedev withdrew after losing the 1st set, he told the physio that he couldn't move properly and it was visible in late games of the 1st set.
A weird tournament overall, the best we can hope for in the final is 7th seed Rublev, basically against an unseeded player considering that Lehecka was no. 30.

It seems it will be an 'anybody can win this' Roland Garros. Top seeds injured or out of form, a lot of players between 20-50th spot with really good momentum behind them. One to watch for sure.

Maybe this is another player saving himself for Rome?
Felix AA gets another parachute into a semi final against Lehecka, thats good fortune.

Its a strange semi final really to have all the other top seeds out and two players nobody
would have bet on to reach this far into the tournament.

Medvedev withdrew after losing the 1st set, he told the physio that he couldn't move properly and it was visible in late games of the 1st set.
A weird tournament overall, the best we can hope for in the final is 7th seed Rublev, basically against an unseeded player considering that Lehecka was no. 30.

It seems it will be an 'anybody can win this' Roland Garros. Top seeds injured or out of form, a lot of players between 20-50th spot with really good momentum behind them. One to watch for sure.

The Madrid Open is not considered as important as grand slams that's why the top players prefer their health and fitness over winning the game.
Andrey Rulev is in great form and is now the top seeded player in the semifinals defeating Alcaraz in quaterfinals. He'll be fighting Taylor Fritz which could be a tense match but I believe he'll come victorious to get another title to his name. On another semifinals, Lehecka would play against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the later one had an walkover without playing while Lehecka got a straight win so he would most probably prevail.

You were right! he beat Fritz and continues his great run of form, he deserves his final
position TBH and hopefully he has found a winning approach to his play.

The same goes for Felix AA if he makes to the final, hopefully he has found a
more effective type of style to his play.

[tsaroz]

Maybe this is another player saving himself for Rome?
Felix AA gets another parachute into a semi final against Lehecka, thats good fortune.

Its a strange semi final really to have all the other top seeds out and two players nobody
would have bet on to reach this far into the tournament.

Medvedev withdrew after losing the 1st set, he told the physio that he couldn't move properly and it was visible in late games of the 1st set.
A weird tournament overall, the best we can hope for in the final is 7th seed Rublev, basically against an unseeded player considering that Lehecka was no. 30.

It seems it will be an 'anybody can win this' Roland Garros. Top seeds injured or out of form, a lot of players between 20-50th spot with really good momentum behind them. One to watch for sure.

The Madrid Open is not considered as important as grand slams that's why the top players prefer their health and fitness over winning the game.
Andrey Rulev is in great form and is now the top seeded player in the semifinals defeating Alcaraz in quaterfinals. He'll be fighting Taylor Fritz which could be a tense match but I believe he'll come victorious to get another title to his name. On another semifinals, Lehecka would play against Felix Auger-Aliassime, the later one had an walkover without playing while Lehecka got a straight win so he would most probably prevail.

You were right! he beat Fritz and continues his great run of form, he deserves his final
position TBH and hopefully he has found a winning approach to his play.

The same goes for Felix AA if he makes to the final, hopefully he has found a
more effective type of style to his play.

As expected, Andrey Rulev's final push was much easier than defeating Alcaraz. Lehecka got a walk-through on another semi and he won't be winning against Andrey Rulev unless he gets a walk-through to title.
There's much more competition on the womens side where the number 1 ranked Iga Swiatek is having the final battle with number 2 ranked Aryna Sebalenka. They are the top 2 female tennis players in the world giving their best. It's hard to predict a winner cause Sebalenka won over Rybakina 2-1 in the semis who itself is in a good form and Swiatek had a straight win against Madison Keys.

[aoluain]

Thats a dream final for the tournament organisers for the womens side, the two top seeded
womens players. I think I'd fancy Swiatek to win this, she has won all her previous matches
much easier than Sabalenka has.


The mens final however is a strange one, unbelievably Felix AA has another walkover into
the final after Lehecka damaged his back last night. In the post match interview Felix had mixed
emotions, he is happy to be in the final but has only played 1 full match to get here, Rublev has
to be favourite purely by being "match fit"

[bitbollo]

Just confirmed Sinner will not play IBI (Internazionali Roma) due hip injury.
Here the full news published on tournament website but of course has been posted already everywhere. https://www.internazionalibnlditalia.com/news/Hanno-detto/sinner-messaggio-social-rinuncia-ibi/
tomorrow there is a meeting with press where he will provide more details.
Very sad for Italians supporter there is a strong hype behind him.

[serveria.com]

Aaand the new Madrid Open WTA champ is Iga Swiatek! She defeated last year's Madrid champion Aryna Sabalenka 7:5, 4:6, 7:6! That was one hell of a match and Aryna had 3 championship points during the match!

Madrid ATP tournament is one of the weirdest of all time: a lot of players have withdrawn including the semi-finalist Jiri Lehecka.

[aoluain]

Aaand the new Madrid Open WTA champ is Iga Swiatek! She defeated last year's Madrid champion Aryna Sabalenka 7:5, 4:6, 7:6! That was one hell of a match and Aryna had 3 championship points during the match!

Madrid ATP tournament is one of the weirdest of all time: a lot of players have withdrawn including the semi-finalist Jiri Lehecka.

Just saw the highlights of the womens final, that was a great tennis match, very
close which is what we want to see from the two top seeds and what the organisers
want for the tournament.


On the mens side the tournament has been a very weird one. The commentators at
one stage after Lehecka retired said that this scenario happened before, a finalist
getting 3 walkovers to reach the final.

Rublev is favourite at 1.35 which I think is right.