Tennis
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Due to the Lions tour etc, I haven't really been following the French Open this year, but this is a good achievement from Michael Venus, reaching the doubles final!
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That's a superb effort by Venus. The seeded pairings have all fallen by the wayside - Venus and Harrison beat the 4th, 7th and 16th seeds - but their opponents Young and Gonzalez only had to beat the 5th seeds. They beat a lot of pairs that beat seeds, though. Two unseeded combinations in the final - definitely winnable!
Meanwhile Rafa has got to the final against Stan and according to my count has lost just 29 games in 6 matches (16.5 sets of tennis) in getting there.
That's averaging better than 6-2 per set.
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That's yuuuge!
Was wondering who would hVe been our last Grand Slam winner ... good idea to actually read the article huh?
Onny Parun is New Zealand's only modern-era grand slam winner, teaming with Australian Dick Crealy to win the 1974 French Open men's doubles in five sets. Parun also reached the Australian Open singles final in 1973, beaten by Australian John Newcombe in four sets, while Chris Lewis reached the men's singles final at Wimbledon in 1983, beaten by John McEnroe in straight sets. Christchurch-born Anthony Wilding won six singles and five doubles grand slam titles between 1906 and 1914.Onny Parun's effort was just a little before my ability to recall. Although I do recall him and Brian Fairleigh in some epic Davis Cup ties, and the string button hole thingy in his mouth when he served.
I recall Lewis of course.
And of course we've all heard of Anthony Wilding but ut got me googling.
Bit of an underachiever by the looks. Still holds records for most career outdoor titles, most career clay court titles and most titles in a single season. Was also a first class cricketer
But I digress.
Good luck Michael Venus.
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Venus and Harrison won!
Great effort. And that will look very nice on the CV, grand slam winner. Decent payday and ranking points, too. -
@Mokey said in French open (tennis):
Venus and Harrison won!
Great effort. And that will look very nice on the CV, grand slam winner. Decent payday and ranking points, too.What a great result. I was just reading this story about them.
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Halberg!
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That's pretty awesome by Venus!
Not to pour cold water on Onny's achievement, either, but the fields at the French Open in 1974 were somewhat weakened because Philippe Chatrier banned people who had signed for the World Team Tennis league in the US.
Google doesn't readily tell me who else was banned, but the most notable "banee" was Jimmy Connors - who ended up winning the other three Grand Slam tournaments that year - so potentially missed a Grand Slam year!!!
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Venus up 24 places in rankings to #15
His partner though.... Harrison jumps 109 places to 30
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And Rafa wins his 10th French Open - and drops just 35 games along the way.
Stan does slightly better than the average 6 - 1.75 set scoreline against Rafa and averages 6-2 in the final.
Totally dominant. Roger will be very pleased he won that Australian Open final - otherwise Rafa would be breathing right down his neck!
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It's clay. Isn't it a foregone conclusion if Rafa's fit?
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Yeah. I'll call it now, Rafa won't win at Wimbledon.
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Michael Venus is through to the mixed doubles final of the USA open.
http://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/sport/tennis/kiwi-michael-venus-through-mixed-doubles-final-us-open
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@canefan said in French open; USA open (tennis):
Interesting insight into the "rivalry". I think it would be very hard to friends in an individual sport where you are both fighting for the same thing.
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@stargazer Pretty impressive. Venus at least 50-50 to make two Wimbledon finals! He and Srebotnik are the highest seeded combo remaining in the Mixed - not that that means a great deal.
Artem Sitak also made the Men's QFs and was knocked out by Venus' Men's Final opponents, in four sets.
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Anderson wins a 6 hour marathon semi-final, 26-24 in the final set
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Not a second final for Venus at Wimbledon. He and his mixed doubles partner, Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia), lost their semi-finals to Alexander Peya from Austria and his American partner Nicole Melichar 6-4 6-4.
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@canefan my girlfriend was going to stay up last night to watch the rafa vs joker game. I looked at the Anderson score (was only in the second set) I said na just record it watch it tomorrow.
I kind of wish she stayed up now.
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And Kerber beats Williams for the woman’s. So happy about that, felt sorry for her as the whole lead in was all about Williams, Williams and Williams.
She really was second fiddle and she absolutely destroyed her.
Exhibit A .
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A bummer that Michael Venus and his doubles partner lost the final in 5 sets.
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Reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated as the Djoker wins the Wimbledon men's final, taking out Rafa at SF time in the process
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@canefan Indeed. He's been staying opposite me. Spends quite a lot of time with his kids.
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@pakman said in French open; Wimbledon; USA open (tennis):
@canefan Indeed. He's been staying opposite me. Spends quite a lot of time with his kids.
He's been in a dark place tennis wise for a long time now. I wondered if he would ever pull out of it
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Watching Andy Murray playing in his final AO right now. It is sad that he is to retire from the game due to injuries, he is trying to make one last run coming back from 2 sets down to force the match to a 5th set. His 22nd seed Spanish opponent drew the wrong guy to play, the crowd are absolutely fizzing trying to drive Andy home one last time
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Got to love Bernie Tomic. Just when you forget he exists he makes a complete arse of himself just so you're reminded he is Haddinesque in his hateability.
Even Kyrgios is kind of likeable.
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@booboo I was at his match vs Cilic last night. It was very interesting watching a top 10 player and Grand Slam winner vs a talented but underachieving player. Whilst Cilic is bigger physically, they are somewhat similar builds, both players are about the same height (insert Ardie joke here). Cilic was all business and constantly working hard and moving his feet to get to the ball whereas Tomic looked so lazy - he wins points due to his talent but even to a casual tennis fan you can see he isn't anywhere close to his potential - his lack of movement means he gets himself in bad body positions/off balance and constantly tries to bail out of rallies to hit a low percentage winner.
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The Federer Express got derailed last night by some Greek kid named Tsitsipas. Quality match, the kid has skills and was very fast over the ground. The Aussie commentators, who apparently don't like to get ahead of themselves, were quick to annoint him as an emerging superstar. Maybe he will, maybe not, but he played a great match. The other main source of interest in the men's draw is the advancement of Francis Tiafoe, an unorthodox raw young black american kid who is capturing the imagination of the fans. He dispatched Dimitrov in 4 sets, but he is set for a rude awakening in the next round where Rafa waits
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@canefan I watched most of that.
Fed had numerous break points in the second set and was holding his own serve easily - but, Tsitsipas saved all the break points and then stormed through the tiebreaker to level 1-1.
Then he got the bit between his teeth and Roger looked like he was just holding on for the rest of the match.
Meteoric rise for Sissy Pants! He only won his first match at a Grand Slam tournament at last year's French Open - now he's a 14 seed and toppling the mighty Fed.
Long way to go before he's a fixture at the top, but he's probably the most impressive young guy I've seen in recent times!
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Just got back from Melbourne and the Open. Awesome event. Saw Osaka and Raonic vs Zverev. Osaka far from the complete package but has the weapons. Will be unstoppable if she can mix her shots up a bit.
Raonic was awesome, but was helped by the Zverev meltdown. Don't know wtf happened there. He looked pissed off from the start and had a tanty after the 3rd game. Thought I was seeing a future GS winner before the game but now I'm not so sure. 10 double faults is ridiculous.
Nadal vs Titsypants should be good.
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Late in the second set of the mens final. Joker so far is surgically eviscerating Rafa. I'm not sure I've ever seen Rafa look so unsure. Breathtaking play by Novak so far
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It's been an amazing performance. Up a break now in last set. Don't think even Raffa can come back from here.
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Holy shit. The joker delivers a tennis version of a double tap execution style sending off for Rafa. That might be the most ridiculous matches I've ever seen. Joker made Rafa look ordinary, such was the pressure he put him under
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Smashed him. Incredible performance.
Some fool was talking about a "changing of the guard" when Titty Pants beat Fed. Well the guy in his 30s who arse farked him just got arse farked in turn by another guy in his 30s. Changing of the guard - hardly.
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Brutal!
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Amazing thing is that Rafa was as dominant as I've seen him until the final. He's only just come back from injury. Joker will feel he can match him in a rally. The French could be a doozy
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Rafa might have got his clock cleaned in Melbourne, but back to Roland Garros and it's business as usual. Eighteenth Grand Slam.
Going back to that 2017 Australian Open final, where I thought Rafa would walk home against Fed, but lost in five - all else being equal, if Rafa wins that one those two would be nineteen apiece.
Novak has fifteen - if he'd won that one he'd have held all four at once for the second time. Given the edge he seems to have at present on all other surfaces, this time next year he'll likely be pretty close to Rafa and breathing down Roger's neck as well.
Ash Barty wins the ladies' singles with all the biggest names getting tipped out early.
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Rafa might have got his clock cleaned in Melbourne, but back to Roland Garros and it's business as usual. Eighteenth Grand Slam.
Going back to that 2017 Australian Open final, where I thought Rafa would walk home against Fed, but lost in five - all else being equal, if Rafa wins that one those two would be nineteen apiece.
Novak has fifteen - if he'd won that one he'd have held all four at once for the second time. Given the edge he seems to have at present on all other surfaces, this time next year he'll likely be pretty close to Rafa and breathing down Roger's neck as well.
Ash Barty wins the ladies' singles with all the biggest names getting tipped out early.
Great win for Ash Barty, some of the Oz men could learn from her success about commitment, hardwork and being a humble winner and general all round good sportsperson. Likewise for Rafa, fantastic sprortsperson who works his guts out for the sport. Two well deserved winners for tennis this weekend
