***My annual Sabine Lisicki wins Wimbledon thread***

Nice pic journeyman

Oh and by the way great thread, far from trouble, good to see there are some other good judges on here.

Trouble this is what I think of Sabine I said to Shiraz on the Australian forum a couple of nights back during the stosur v lisicki match.

By: Lets Elope Date Joined: 05 May 06

When: 29 Jun 13 17:25 Joined: Date Joined: 05 May 06 |
Lisicki's power of her shots shiraz and the power of her serve is like a siren song for me, I keep getting seduced by it, I would to see her coached and taught how to slice properly and play at the net, think she would a freak on the grass if someone could harness her talent properly.


Hopefully now after defeating Serina, she has the necessary self belief to go on with it and take out the final, it's her for the taking now if she can hold her game together and make a few less unforced errors.

not seen the result

what score was it?

I presume Serena won like everyone said she would?

Very funny trouble, apparently she still hasn't got the required mental strength to win it though.

Must admit even I have my doubts

In a great position now with 80/1 though, will be greening up from here on in

Greensville imo

Absolutely Sir Fishwick

Nice post last night btw

Well done to all who have backed Lisicki in this tournament.

I don't follow tennis too much but when I saw her being interviewed today after her win I thought I remembered her pretty smile from last year after beating Sharapova. She seems really lovely and I hope she wins it for herself and you lot that have put her up at tasty odds.

2.66 outright... Truly insane
Time to get out and enjoy from the sidelines.

Choo choo though.
Steffi Graf will no doubt be glued to the semis for the first time in years

choo choi indeed go Sabine

Jul 2, 2013 -- 4:44PM, Journeyman wrote:

2.66 outright... Truly insane Time to get out and enjoy from the sidelines. Choo choo though. Steffi Graf will no doubt be glued to the semis for the first time in years

seconded it's been a great run guys but green out before she loses to Aga and enjoy

Price is a bit daft no doubt, but no worries I am greening

Still, would be delighted if she won it, think she'll probably slip up somewhere Or her day can easily despatch the field here, just that niggling doubt remains in my mind

Kvitova going out is great news

Bartoli is a mug and Flipkens is well into new territory so would imagine the winner is coming from Sabine or Radwanska

Tempted to green out by merely backing Radwanska for the outright and maybe save on the day with the winner of the other semi (maybe not though )

Knowing my luck i'll back Radwanska, she'll beat Sabine in the semi then not play on Saturday through injury

aww she's so nice and huggable

I don't follow tennis that closely and consequently have only had a small bet. Loved the reaction to beating Williams. As far as the experts go how is Radwanska going to win? I wouldn't have thought boring her opponent to death would be good enough and surely she can't pull off the injury stroke again?

considering Radwanska beat a far superior player in the last round I'm sure she'll be ok

Prices don't make sense based on rankings, and the fact Radwanska was runner up last year

Sabine price obvious overreaction to a win against Serena, which was magnificent, but she still lost 9 games in a row in that match which has to raise some concern

Apart from that she's played pretty magnificent tennis beforehand, and either side of the aforementioned blip

Still think she might be prone to a choke, but the comeback against Serena has to have done her a world of good.

Whoever wins this semi will win the whole thing surely.

Flipkens entring totally new territory and Bartoli is a fat mug

Writing Bartoli off is daft. She's playing superb tennis right now. 2.3 for Sabine to beat A Rad and most likely Marion is barmy.

Li hit sub 1.5 at end of second set today and market was rightfully punished. i can see the same happening with the Lisicki price, good chance of Lisicki going v low and losing it too. Bartoli had a worrying 2nd set today but i reckon she will raise her game if she has to. I would still have flipper slight favourite tho, think her game will frustrate bartoli

2.66 barmy. Now 2.32. Why on earth is Lisicki that short to win?

as Aaron will tell you, most naturally talented player in the tournament (even when Williams was still in it)

Personally think lisicki is a banker to beat radwinka and will bet accordingly, lets hope I'm right

Personally think lisicki is a banker to beat radwinka and will bet accordingly, lets hope I'm right

Jul 3, 2013 -- 12:47AM, pedrobob wrote:

as Aaron will tell you, most naturally talented player in the tournament (even when Williams was still in it)

so you are actually serious about that comment

there you are....

Market thinks the lowest ranked player has a 43% chance of winning tournament
Market thinks the highest ranked player and last year's runner-up has a 26.7% chance of winning tournament

I like Sabine alot, perfect women, and she wore a union jack t-shirt at her press conference, she;s a clever girl

wd FFT

Market thinks the lowest ranked player has a 43% chance of winning tournament
Market thinks the highest ranked player and last year's runner-up has a 26.7% chance of winning tournament

lurka, how often does the "highest ranked player" win a tennis tournament?
And are rankings permanently set in stone?
All I know is what I see what's going on the tennis court, don't see how "rankings" have much to do with a betting market.
As Radwanska has proven, it's possible to get into the top three in the ladies rankings just by regularly returning the ball back over the net....

FFS Radwanksa does a lot more than just return the ball over the net, would much rather watch Aga than this German ball basher

yesterday afternoon, Martina Navratilova called Lisicki "the complete player...... "

If you can only see a "ballbasher".... and have something against "german" people.....

Now stop been a t wat pedro.... I have nothing against Germans or any other Nationality.  My fav WTA current player is Kerber ( and Sloane ) which I have said numerous times on this forum. 

If you think Radwanksa just returns balls over the net it's quite clear you have something against polish people

Pedro I was pointing out that the prices are very wrong. You have said that Sabine is most naturally talented player in the draw, more than Serena. That is laughable. Anyone can see that Aga has more natural talent. Lisicki's game on grass is based more on hitting the ball hard than natural talent.  If Aga had Lisicki's power it would be no contest. She is a player with v little power who is ranked 4 in the world FFS. that says a lot.

The semis have 2 patient players who make few errors against 2 ball bashers who can spray a lot of UEs. Aga to beat Flipper in final.

Of course she doesn't just return balls - she does hit the occasional winner - but her game plan is clearly based around returning as many balls as possible and frustrating an opponent. Bottom line is she doesn't have the armoury to take the game to her opponents but she does make the best of her ability. Her ranking is a reflection of how often her strategy works. Personally, I would much rather watch someone trying to hit winners on a regular basis than someone waiting for mistakes from an opponent. It is not as if Lisicki is not going to be aware of what she is facing. She will be expecting to have to hit one or two more shots against such a defensive opponent. Hopefully, she will first and foremast remain solid on serve as the opportunities will surely come on the Radwanska delivery. I think it is important that she doesn't over press for the breaks - they should come.

agree that Radwanska a dangerous player for Lisicki, as she hits so few unforced errors.
But Lisicki made Williams look very ordinary (and slow) when she varied her direction either side of the centre line, and varied her pace a lot more against Kenepi (plenty of drop shots and sliced returns).
If Lisicki plays a net game against Radwanska, plenty of easy volley winners to be had and short rallies which will suit Lisicki.
If she stays at the base line and long rallies, Radwanska can chase everything down and wait for the Lisicki errors

Havent posted for a while but here goes:

Dissapointing night for me last night, had Kvitova, Sloane and Kanepi big in Outright betting and was hopeful of 2 semi finalist (at least), also had Sloane very big to win her quarter, so anyway! I dont want to understate Lisicki's victory over Serena, as it was stunning play, and the big surprise for me was her ability to back up so quickly the next day and back it up yesterday.

However, I feel both her semi price and therefore he outright price is totally underpriced. After watching most of all 4 quarters last night it is pretty easy to work out which was the highest quality match and contest. The Raddy Na Li match was in a different league totally to the other 3 games. Kanepi has some game, but moves terribly and makes so many ue's. Kvitova threw her match away, not withstanding Flipkens playing with plenty of ticker. And dont even get me started on Bartoli! Sloane held once in the second set and was broken to love in every other game in the set and Marion still took till 7-5 in the set to win it, the quality of match was very poor!

So what I am getting at is the Winner of Wimbledon 2013 will be Radwanska, imho! Lisicki is not going to be able to get away with the drop shot winners from the quarters, Aggy will run down so many extra balls to wait for an error, and she fights as hard as anyone on the tour. Also she can sense its her time, she has been playing at such a high level for the past two seasons only to fall to the cream of the crop Serena, Azarenka or Sharapova... This is her time.

Conservatively I think the price in the Semi should be $1.90 your pick, and conservatively I think she would be $1.50 in final against Bartoli or Flipper, ( And I think she will meet Flipper) which would make ture price $2.85, so I am happy with the $3.75 I have just taken.

Thats my 2 cents....

Great pick.

Looks very good over the last couple of rounds and easily the most impressive player out there. Got no idea about her mental state but she gagged up yesterday and didnt look like she had a nerve.

WD, hope she cops for you

I had a big four figure green Lisicki to win tourno but been chipping away at it as have a lot of respect for Randwanska & reckon she will push Sabine very hard.

In the other semi, I favour Bartoli. As RMB points out, she is playing superbly - hitting the ball so cleanly & with such accuracy & power. She reminds me of an on-song Mary Pearce the way she is hitting the ball at Wimbledon this year.

Flipkens showed a lot of quality coming back against Kvitova. In fortunate position of all green book. If pushed for this year's most likely winner, would still say Lisicki but she is definitely too short in the market.

and she wore a union jack t-shirt at her press conference

pic please?

Sabine you German / Polish Goddess!!!

That was all heart and courage, what a lob to win her initial service point from a near impossible position, I think it was 6-7 in the final set. That lob was just outrageously good, power and touch and all heart , what more can you ask for.

This is your year girl.

How's the massive unders at 40's for the final now looking, Lisicki knockers!!!

well done guys, gl in final

I never lost faith either I backed I her in the first game of the first set at 1.98 for a nice result and then had another nibble at 4.3 when she was down a break in the 3rd.

But she hit at least 6.4. True believers had a nibble of that

Stupid Australian government in the run betting laws mean you have to phone up, checking, it places us at a massive disadvantage, we live in a farking nanny state when it comes to in the run beting.

The stupidity of it is that in the run betting on races is allowed over the internet but not on sports, kills us on tennis and afl footy.

Sorry Lets Elope didn't know that. Yes OZ comes across as a ridiculous nanny state. Mandatory cycle helmets, are you KIDDING me?!
Do you expect it'll be better if Labour get kicked out? Don't want to get political but that Gillard came across as a horrible nanny state leftie (and that's not "sexism" which she seems to be using as her defence for being hated and booted).

QUEEN SABINE I LOVE YOU

Abbot's a  religious zealot and very ordinary person , Rudd should never have been sacked in the first place it was a terrible corruption of the political process, Paul Keating was right we've now fulfilled all the criteria of becoming a banana republic ,they change PM's as often as they have hot dinners and it seems we now do that as well.
I hope Rudd can turn Labor around and at least make the libs earn it. Abbot's not a leader's bootlace, at least Rudd for all his faults is a leader.

The changes in regional gambling rules in Europe seem to be a bit of market protectionism and trying to increase their own tax intake from gambling.
In Oz I believe it was good (bad!) old fashioned "thou shalt not do it if I don't agree with it and I'm your moral superior" finger wagging? :(

Designed supposedly to protect problem gamblers, they haven't banned poker machine and any idiot can play online casino's overseas on the net and poker, so it all it does is hurt real punters, as it actually makes it more difficult to win.
There are strong moves afoot to overturn the legislation which was put in place by Howard's government back in 2001 I think, it's costing the Australian government a fortune too in lost revenue , if it gets approved in the run net betting on sports in Australia will explode.

Anyway I'm still waiting for all the geniuses who were saying Lisicki was no value and can't win the final to reappear, can't get past Williams and is massive unders, they seem to have gone MIA.

Funny how Cheltenham's gone MIA as well.

I wonder why???

By: CheltenhamRoar Date Joined: 26 Jul 12
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Hasn't got the mentality of a Champion i'm afraid.

By: CheltenhamRoar Date Joined: 26 Jul 12
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We'll see who's proven right very soon Elope.Why celebrate a 4th round win like you've just won a slam??Blubbering like a baby in the post match interview.
That's the sign of a weak mentality.

I need a....erm, cold shower...:p

Great stuff FFT I hope you've made a packet.

Graf is such a class act.
Rather than being irked or even threatened by Lisicki being branded the 'new Graf', the greatest player ever sends Sabine a good luck text before her match.

Meanwhile, this thread is in 'Far From trouble' on track to WINNERSVILLE..

Balls to Novak and Murray, all about tomorrow, so I wrote a song


To the tune of Killer Queen by, er Queen



She keeps winning at Wimbledon
Her name is Miss Lisicki
"Let her eat cake" she says
Like fat Marion Bartoli
A built-in remedy
For Sam Stosur and Kanepi
At anytime an invitation
She can play fine

Bratwurst (no cigarettes)
Well versed in etiquette
Extraordinarily nice

She's a killer, Sabine
Knocked out Vesnina
Made a mess of Serena
Guaranteed to blow your mind

Recommend at a big price
Insatiable an appetite
Wanna try?



She can't avoid complications
She rarely wins in straight sets
In conversation
She spoke just like a princess
Li Na from China
Went out to A Radwanska
But in the semi-final
Sabine hit the lines

She was so rubbish in Paris
For clay she couldn't care less
But on grass she's precise

She's a killer, Sabine
Knocked out Vesnina
Made a mess of Serena
Guaranteed to blow your mind










Come on Sabine

you sound like you already have

That's not bad, trouble.

Nice lyrics - send to the beeb, they might knock it out for a video clip

ffs

Game over, we had a good run, but this is painful

I'm dreading the runner-up speech But all in all, it's been an excellent fortnight for her.

tears

Mentally Weak

i did warn you guys

Funny how Cheltenham's gone MIA as well.

I wonder why???

By: CheltenhamRoar Date Joined: 26 Jul 12
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Hasn't got the mentality of a Champion i'm afraid.

By: CheltenhamRoar Date Joined: 26 Jul 12
Add contact | Send message When: 01 Jul 13 15:49 Joined: Date Joined: 26 Jul 12 | Topic/replies: 1,905 | Blogger: CheltenhamRoar's blog
We'll see who's proven right very soon Elope.Why celebrate a 4th round win like you've just won a slam??Blubbering like a baby in the post match interview.
That's the sign of a weak mentality

How u feeling now lets,You must be feeling rather stupid

Made money through greening, but this is devastating

She's not mentally weak, if so she wouldn't have made those comebacks against Serena and Aga. She's extremely emotional though, hence the tears today when she's playing crap tennis in the most important match of her life. But she's not the first, and won't be the last, who's let the occasion of playing your first Slam final get to her. Hopefully she'll bounce back and get another chance.

i can only imagine lets is pulling his hair out this morning,Lions thrash the Aussie mugs and now this

Always a chance of that happening, but we've seen enough of her this week that she has the game to win this

Marion played well in the final, kept the ball in play. Fair play to her

She has the game alright,Just hasn't got the mentality.

Sports psychlogist awaits, plenty to work with

well done bartoli, played very well she's was the one in the final 4 I was worried about, still a handy result but not as big as sabine would have been. Glad to see she salvaged some dignity late in the match, that meltdown was worse than Novotona's.

Becker was saying yesterday his legs were shakng in his first grand slam final.

Plenty of time for Sabine to win one yet. After our honeymoon maybe.

I saw her first

I still ove you Sabine

She still won me a packet this Wimbledon and it's been a very good week so am not about to complain.

Mental note though for the future, Sabine, do not under circumstances play so many bloody drop shots again in any possible future Wimbledon final.

Hope she bounces back from that, she's too much of a talent to let a loss like that destroy her.

No space after the dot!

Think she remembered her game two years ago against Marion, iirc she played a lot of drop shots with a good deal of success

Maybe she needs to have a word with Alex Ferguson about the winning mindset?

I'd pay to be a fly on the wall for THAT conversation

Nice work Cheltenham, funny how you've been MIA since she came back against Radwanska.

There's a big difference between being emotional and not mentally strong, not mentally strong players don't come back from 3 zip against Williams and Radwanska and save a number  of championship points against you when you've played your worst tennis all tournament.

Anyway genius never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Lets Seething

pleasing scenes all round.

She was not mentally strong enough to deal with the occasion of her first GS Final. But she showed great resilience to come back from the dead v SW and Rad, so that is an improvement and hopefully she will make the final again and not be so nervy, would be even sweeter for her

she's got time to recover. plenty of better players than her embarrassed themselves in their first slam final. perhaps the worst juan carlos ferrero when strong favourite against journeyman albert costa. somehow lost the first 2 sets something like 6-0 6-1. came back to win the next year

I wonder if it will help her at all that she bounced back a little at the end, compared to if she had lost 1-6, 1-6.

great run from a great player, had some tough matches where showed immense resilience even when should have gone down 6-1 6-1 today, comeback started all too late.
Thanks for the memories Sabine, see you next year

Bartoli now 7th in the world.

Joined: 05 May 06 | Topic/replies: 7,088 | Blogger: Lets Elope's blog
There's a big difference between being emotional and not mentally strong, not mentally strong players don't come back from 3 zip against Williams and Radwanska and save a number  of championship points against you when you've played your worst tennis all tournament.

Anyway genius never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

It can be far easier to be strong in these positions as you are at the stage were you have nothing to lose.  Becker's legs may have been shaking as a lot of players would be , but he was strong enough to overcome it like others.

It's all about opinions but for me there is definitely not much mental strength in Sabine's case and you can dress it up as been too emotional but not mentally strong at all for me

A truly wretched day for Sabine.

Inexplicable when one considers her stellar performances this last week, and her amazing comeback from serious injury a few years back. I cannot understand how a professional sportswoman can perform so ineptly on the day she has presumably longed for, after overcoming so many battles along the way.

The WTA must be privately hugely embarrassed at this exhibition today. It's a shame the supine media don't go to town pointing out these quite obvious humiliations.

One can only hope that Sabine is so embarrassed about her effort today that it will focus her mind as never before, and  be a huge motivation for the future.

Ever Tried?

Ever Failed?

No matter

Try again

Fail again

Fail better

(Samuel Beckett)

Dinara Safina all over again

This girl needs to have a serious, long talk with a top German sports psychologist (or Sir Fergie )...absolutely baffling talent...she looks to have the physique and talent to be at least number two player in the world, but, given that, her record is appalling.

Needs to get off Twitter for a start, and could do with a new coach. Leave the folks at home, too. Feckin' nervous breakdown live on centre-court.

Well there's one obvious answer.

Get Steffi to do a Lendl and come out of obscurity to take Sabine under her wing and coach her to greatness

It has to be a possibility now. Even though some dispute whether she was the best ever player, nobody can dispute Graf had the best temperament of all time.

And that's the only area Sabine really needs help.