So 5th-seeded Nadal leads to Nadal and Federer in the same quarter, and in the same half as Murray, leaving Djokovic alone in his half.

http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/wimbledon-draw-nadal-and-federer-land-in-same-quarter/

If Isner & Mahut could play each other in the opening round two years in a row (a convenient rematch of their marathon), they couldn't have 'drawn' Nadal in Ferrer's quarter? Djokovic is laughing all the way to the final.

I almost think on grass, in 2013 at least, he'd rather see Nadal than Murray.

worst. Hate to see an athlete go down. Even if I am not rooting for them.

Who else is able to pull off stuff like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLNYu4nDMtk

* not that Serena didn't deserve it *

Nadal is down two sets right now.

haha

Grand opening, grand closing...® Mr. Carter

I mean Darcis played good but it was hard to recognize Rafa at times. Maybe he should just skip Wimbo from now on?

C'mon man

I don't know if his body can handle the RG to Wimbledon turnaround anymore.

Ok, or at least well enough to beat Darcis. Probably had more to do with being rusty on the surface.

He made some rusty errors but the bigger issue was his knees, I think. He was pulling up short on normally gettable balls, having trouble decelerating, and unable to lower his body on his backhand pretty much the whole time.

Now maybe that's partly psychological and not just physical knee damage. But he looked really hindered.

wet grass and shaky knees is not a good mix. tougher to find your footing/change directions + you got to dip lower on slices (which Darcis was using really well). not to mention his top spin got no bite whatsoever on a surface like that.

I think Australia and the French is the only slams he got a chance from this point on. 'roids catching up.

Logic for Aussie but not U.S. Genuinely curious.

Different points in the calendar, surface differences, the balls?

US open is the fastest slam surface at this point, so again, his top spin doesn't have the same bite there than it does at the French or the Aussie (maybe the balls play a part in that too, I don't know).

Also, Flushing comes at the tail end of a tough hard court season, not too long after the euro season...of course, Rafa can pick his spots in the US summer tour to avoid putting too much stress on his knees, but then he's going to be less prepared than the competition. The Aussie is different because it comes right after the longer winter break, everybody has three weeks or so to prepare at most, so it's a more level playing field.

a liability. Can you name another time when it was smart to hit into Rafa's forehand? He'd tear those fuckers down the line so fast it was amazing. Now his shots from the same position are kind of tepid. Djok played him that way at the French, and Darcis played him that way this past match. I don't know what he needs to do, but I'm thinking he's not being honest about how bad his knee really is.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

showing you how to do this, folks

He didn't look confident at all out there, hopefully it was just a case of not being able to adapt to the new surface as opposed to knee problems...

wondering why every five seconds I would shout and pump my fist.

You gotta give it up to Darcis. Nadal didn't look like himself at all, but Darcis looked like it would have taken all the forces of heaven and hell to let Nadal back in that match. Dude saw his shot and played it just about as good as someone of his rank could.

Isner, Stepanek, Darcis, Azarenka all retired or withdrew due to injuries. Benneteau just had a nasty fall as well.

cilic too

Jo was talking about his knee issues before the tournament so it's not like I expected a great run out of him but still this is becoming jarring. Guess I'm rooting for Murray/Fed now!

There is zero way you can convince me otherwise.

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

???

.

I wondered why he was muttering and sprinkling those Mallorcan spices on the court after he lost.

Jo and Fed on the same day? fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.
this cat is probably losing in the next round, too.

all open for Djok and Murray. can't stand either of them.

and it's not even the 3rd round :/

I'll root for him to make the semis

Incredible record. But still amazing to see it broken by a dude ranked 116.

Kubot/Paire/Mannarino/Brown/Almagro/Janowicz/Melzer/Stakhovsky

wow.

ps. proud to say there are two polish players there.

It's not about who's out now, it's more about who's still in.

I was hoping I wouldn't be right about Fed's quarter final streak ending this year, especially not at Wimbledon in the 2nd round against a guy I've never heard of. Then there are all these withdraws, retirements and other upsets, just a crazy fucking day. Normally you can pencil Djokovic and Murray in the final with Fed and Nadal gone, but who knows WTF is gonna happen now, I'm shocked lol.

cant believe he went out..

Like Rosol.

Just a solid, smart, well-executed serve and volley gameplan against an error-prone Federer.

Every dude ranked over 50 just got a boost of confidence.

Third year in a row she's defeated the French Open champ at Wimbledon, love that chick.

and then playing home girl on grass is a fucking death sentence.

got roasted way too soon?

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

Though these upsets on the women's side are way more commonplace.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

It's a crazy tournament this year.

in the draw will step up or at the very least someone who's been hovering around the top tier for a little bit, but it seemed like everyone got dropped scrubs or people they should have beaten handily.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

up 3-0 3rd set and lose?

at this tournament, and when the draw opened up everyone went from expecting Serena to win to damn near guaranteeing she would win. She looked nervous that entire third set.



"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

We all just said they had bad days and have earned
the right to have them.

Guess what?

Serena had a bad day and deserved the right to have one.

Difference is Serena lost to someone who is actually GOOD.

Those three lost to nobodies

----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

And Serena was mad gracious in defeat, bigging her
up, giving her alll the credit

I remember you made that thread about a Roger Federer article, but I didn't know you actually paid attention. Good shit.

Ok I'm struggling to think of a better way to put this because Stephens is just looking outclassed.

Bartoli's two-handed forehand, wild energy, and daddy issues are all hot.

"All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts..." -The Bard

They didn't even finish the first game yet, hope he's ok.

What a way to win the match too.

big game coming up vs djoker though!

Your hot ass is too awesome to lose to Bartoli.

Even if the match itself isn't amazing, it'll be refreshing as hell to see TWO chicks who haven't won a GS before competing for their career highlight. Plus both girls have great personalities.

This some good stuff.

This shit was lookin like a straight setter then all of sudden he won 10 points in a row.

Looking like Sampras out there.

Holy shit this is good

Djoko's gotta be STUNNED, he's usually the one saving match points.

Delpo was dead twice and came back, very entertaining.

Between this match and Lisicki-Radwanska the semifinals have been really great so far. If the second men's semi and the two finals over the weekend come close to the same level of play, that'd be nuts.

Murray and Nole have played 3 of the last 4 GS finals.

"This could be the greatest match of all time on grass."

That's a tall, tall order considering maybe the best match ever on ANY surface happened to be on grass.

Sabine needs to loosen up and hit the freaking ball already, no more dumb ass dropshots.

She has put in her time and had a very strong tournament (with some luck, of course).

Now thousands of youth tennis instructors get to face little girls insisting they can two-hand their forehands.

soooo, I don't think it's going to happen on the strength of crazy Marion winning one wacky wimbledon

I don't actually expect a revolution in women's tennis.

Didn't even drop a set this tournament, well deserved. It would've been REAL interesting had Lisicki tied it at 5-5 in the 2nd, since she finally started to swing freely when she was down match points, but kudos to Bartoli for serving it out. Hopefully Lisicki will have another chance to play for the title.

playing Serena or Radwanska in tight 3 setters? I guess people just start to think about the trophy n shit and they go AWOL. I was hoping Lisicki's nerves would get worked out after a couple of games, it shouldn't take much longer than that if you're a pro but of course it's a teenage girl we're talking about, so I can't say I'm that surprised.

she was the clear underdog in those two matches and when you're down 3 zip facing elimination is exactly when you can be as loose as can be

playing a final for the 1st time vs another underdog, when the general feeling is that you're supposed to win...that's gonna make you tight. And Bartoli's game doesn't have that much pace, so it makes it difficult to get into a good hitting rhythm.

If you fall behind from the beginning against a top player then it's different.

Not to take anything away from Murray--beating the best player in the world in straights is never easy.

But Djokovic was missing a gear (until that final game).

He's mostly been unlucky his whole career, even at the Aussie Open this year he had to play 5 sets to beat Fed in the semi, whereas Djokovic demolished Ferrer in straight sets, then went on to win the final against a beat-up Murray. You do need some stars to be aligned in order to win the big ones.

Djokovic is ridiculous on match points.

Heart attacks for all. Congrats to Murray, unbelievable effort to beat Djokovic in straight sets.

dude's drop shot game is on point.

http://card.mygamercard.net/lastgame/rjcc.png

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

And endorse Scottish independence for next year's referendum.

he did his thing. props to Djokvic, however the better player won today.cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!

His mental approach has been the major factor in his recent surge...and it was showcased in both the semi's and finals. Respect.

Djoko...dude dug his heels in on that final game, wow. You could tell that dp semi took a lot out of him bc he was really trying to conserve energy by shortening rallies with more aggressive/risky play.

why keep goin back to that failing well??

drop shots is what you do when you're tired