WIMBLEDON

[noodles_]

Nadal really is a beast. He's probably the tennis equivalent of fighting Roberto Duran in his lightweight heyday. Whatever you throw at him is coming back at you twice as hard.

[Yossarian]

Better luck next year Tim.

[ozzjim]

Interestingly Sharapova can practice in serene silence hitting the ball just as hard. I reckon there should be decibel meters and if they are exceeded consistently over 3-4 games then points get docked. Hate the grunting.

[scotty_do30]

 

Interestingly Sharapova can practice in serene silence hitting the ball just as hard. I reckon there should be decibel meters and if they are exceeded consistently over 3-4 games then points get docked. Hate the grunting.

Unless she is in bed with you 

[TopDeck113]

I can't help feeling that the wait for a British singles winner at Wimbledon is not going to end any time soon.

Tennis has become a sport when the "eras", i.e. the span of time when one, or at best two, players dominate have become longer and the dominance of said players on all surfaces are far more firmly entrenched.

Henman best years coincided with the dominance of Sampras; Murray is world class, but has had first Federer and now Nadal to content with.  I reckon he has at most a couple more seasons trying to crack winning any Slam, let alone Wimbledon.

[ozzjim]

I think a female winner is much more likely than a mens at some point. Nadal, Federer, Sampras, Agassi etc are 4 of the greatest ever, and have followed each other. Murray and Henman simply don't stand a chance

[Proposition Joe]

1.  You guys in the UK should stop with the British winner at Wimbledon thing.  It hinders any British players rather than helps.  Try to consider Wimbledon as one of four slams, and just hope for a British winner in one of them.

2.  Murray can be proud of himself, excepting the slump that cost him the second set - you don't let Nadal get ahead and win, it doesn't happen.  But anyway, he's a hardcourt player is Murray, as seen by the slams where he's got to the final, and he a has a decent chance of winning one of them if he plays as intense as he did today, especially in the first and last sets - and if he wins one or more US or Aus open he's a great player, whether he ever gets past the first round of Wimbledon again.

3.  I can't stand Nadal's style of tennis, based on getting everything back an in, and letting your opponents win your points for you with their mistakes.  He's basically Michael Chang after a good course of HGH and Steroids!  I like to see clean winners :-)  Hence my preference for Fed and Sampras, and Henin on the women's side.  Plus they had a single-handed, aka 'proper' backhand - when I were a lad, the two-handed was only if you found the single-handed too hard to do.

4.  Change the grass back and make it faster please.  Wimbledon used to be the fastest surface, at this rate it'll be as slow as Roland Garros soon.

[Louzie0]

Interestingly Sharapova can practice in serene silence hitting the ball just as hard. I reckon there should be decibel meters and if they are exceeded consistently over 3-4 games then points get docked. Hate the grunting.

And I'm with you on that. 

Actually, I think John Mc has a lot to answer for.  ' You cannot be serious!'  and, 'I saw chalk dust!' are wails to the umpire that were unprecedented in frequency.  Like, during every tournament.

Before him, tennis players were taciturn, self-contained individuals.  See..Borg.

Now we have to put up with tennis players emoting on every shot.  OOOh!  AAAaargh!  UUgh!  That's the warm-up.
And the bits when the killer shot doesn't achieve what they wanted.  Twang!  Oooh. Frown, pick at the strings on the racquet, big breath in and bounce the ball up and down..7 times...serve...Uuurgh!

[dave.woodhall]

Interestingly Sharapova can practice in serene silence hitting the ball just as hard. I reckon there should be decibel meters and if they are exceeded consistently over 3-4 games then points get docked. Hate the grunting.

And I'm with you on that. 

Actually, I think John Mc has a lot to answer for.  ' You cannot be serious!'  and, 'I saw chalk dust!' are wails to the umpire that were unprecedented in frequency.  Like, during every tournament.

Before him, tennis players were taciturn, self-contained individuals.  See..Borg.

Now we have to put up with tennis players emoting on every shot.  OOOh!  AAAaargh!  UUgh!  That's the warm-up.
And the bits when the killer shot doesn't achieve what they wanted.  Twang!  Oooh. Frown, pick at the strings on the racquet, big breath in and bounce the ball up and down..7 times...serve...Uuurgh!

Ilie Nastase? Jimmy Connors?

[curiousorange]

I can't help feeling that the wait for a British singles winner at Wimbledon is not going to end any time soon.

Tennis has become a sport when the "eras", i.e. the span of time when one, or at best two, players dominate have become longer and the dominance of said players on all surfaces are far more firmly entrenched.

Henman best years coincided with the dominance of Sampras; Murray is world class, but has had first Federer and now Nadal to content with.  I reckon he has at most a couple more seasons trying to crack winning any Slam, let alone Wimbledon.

I do kind of agree with that to an extent - there was a period around the Millennium where if Murray had been playing, I think he'd have won more than one slam. But then again, if you want to be the best you have to win during a period when others look unbeatable. No point being a fake champ. That's what winds me up when teams like Villa and Forest get forgotten about in programmes like Match of the 70's/80's - both teams achieved glory in an era when one team was utterly dominant and it seems to be brushed away.

I think Murray will win one, but I can only see it if he has some extremely favourable circumstances e.g. shock defeat to Djokovic by some no-hoper, repetitive injury to Nadal forcing his retirement and an unexpected win over a fading Fed.

[Louzie0]

Interestingly Sharapova can practice in serene silence hitting the ball just as hard. I reckon there should be decibel meters and if they are exceeded consistently over 3-4 games then points get docked. Hate the grunting.

And I'm with you on that. 

Actually, I think John Mc has a lot to answer for.  ' You cannot be serious!'  and, 'I saw chalk dust!' are wails to the umpire that were unprecedented in frequency.  Like, during every tournament.

Before him, tennis players were taciturn, self-contained individuals.  See..Borg.

Now we have to put up with tennis players emoting on every shot.  OOOh!  AAAaargh!  UUgh!  That's the warm-up.
And the bits when the killer shot doesn't achieve what they wanted.  Twang!  Oooh. Frown, pick at the strings on the racquet, big breath in and bounce the ball up and down..7 times...serve...Uuurgh!

Ilie Nastase? Jimmy Connors?

The occasional, 'ooof!'

I'll give you that, but not a sub orgasmic scream on every bloody contact of the ball.

(i really, really hate the grunting!)

[eric woolban woolban]

Henman best years coincided with the dominance of Sampras; Murray is world class, but has had first Federer and now Nadal to content with.  I reckon he has at most a couple more seasons trying to crack winning any Slam, let alone Wimbledon.

You need to put Djokovic in the bracket too.

[eric woolban woolban]

Our Laura will win it one day.

Sadly not as fit as I thought she was:



Anyway here's another nice tennis girl:

[Louzie0]

Gather Andy's gone.

[Dave Cooper please]

Is it over yet?

Tour de France starts tomorrow.