Tennis Talk 2023: Vol 31 (Guangzhou, Guadalajara, Chengdu, Zhuhai, Laver Cup)

no boy today Mr. edy

shame I'm gonna miss Sakkari v Arango

Dolehide is nuts

crappy handshake there

Dolehide has really profited this season from slimming down considerably.

Trevisan wasn't interested

Sep 21, 2023 -- 10:03PM, edy wrote:

Dolehide has really profited this season from slimming down considerably.

she's been trying to do that for about 4 years

how low did Ons trade last night?

Kenin makes zero sense.

Sonya Sakkari final pending

edy's very rude!

Agreed.

However he gets flowers for staying up for the muggy Ons match

wisewords is very rude!

Sep 21, 2023 -- 10:03PM, wisewords wrote:

Sep 22, 2023 --  4:03AM, edy wrote:Dolehide has really profited this season from slimming down considerably.she's been trying to do that for about 4 years

But now she is actually at a reasonable weight for a tennis player.

I'm not!

you called me rude. apologise!

Or else...?

otherwise Werder will lose 0-4 to FC Koln because of... karma!!!

That sounds like an improvement for Werder's defence instead of supposedly bad karma making it worse.

nope. that's a fake news viewpoint^

Bring it on either way if it advances Werner's sacking.

Werder will win 2-1 with some good karma

Sep 22, 2023 -- 2:11PM, edy wrote:

Bring it on either way if it advances Werner's sacking.

who's the manager?

Ole Werner

edy Werder not a fan of Ole Werner. who did he manage before SV Werder?

Kiel

He's a nice lad and I wish him all the best for this career, but I simply think Werder could use someone new on the post.

can Werder somehow get the Leverkusen manager? he's pretty good imo

Very rude mocking of Werder that. You know full well that someone like that would never sign with current Werder.

I know. now you know what it feels like when someone is rude to you!

Bayern will be trying to get Alonso before long when Tuchel has a meltdown

why did Werder appoint a Bundesliga 2 manager?

wait, was it Ole Werner who got Werder back up?

I think it was. edy you should show some respect to Ole Werner! he did really well for SV Werder Bremen. you're so ungrateful!!!!

He's also won 5 of the past 23 games.

not bad. how many draws?

15 losses, 5 victories, 3 draws

It's a few days old, but former top20 player Guido Pella announced his retirement from the sport last week.

Speaking of a few days old, did you guys all get to read the explosive match fixing story about The Maestro that shook the world of tennis a few weeks ago? Was reminded of it a moment ago because I saw news about a french low level player having had been provisionally suspended

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/tennis-match-fixing-itf-grigor-sargsyan/

That's part one of the story. Part two is linked on that site or....I guess I can also link it here

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/tennis-match-fixing-gambling-investigation-belgium

.

Maestro in that case is not referring to Federer....or is it?

Sep 22, 2023 -- 2:09PM, wisewords wrote:

otherwise Werder will lose 0-4 to FC Koln because of... karma!!!

Will insult you ahead of every Werder game from now on.

you stink of fisch edy... edy spagheddy!

It's a distinctive and fine scent, not a stink.

stinky!

You wish you were as stinkalicious.

no, I definitely do not!

Mesmeric shift in SP on Ruud. 1.8 start, 1.2 early, 2.5 going into TV, 1.53 after taking the 1st set

Market got an absolute beatdown like Joe Joyce !

Apparently there was a bit of confusion last night between Monfils and FAA at the Laver Cup.

Monfils thought he was there to have fun and clown around, but his opponent FAA wanted none of it and wanted to be all business and competitive.

Someone didn't get the memo about what kind of tournament Laver Cup is.

Rybakina calling WTA clowns
https://twitter.com/mrenzaero/status/1705713854536204636/photo/1

Performance byes are a good thing in general, and I think the WTA used to have them under a different name, but if indeed it had not been announced before the draw that's bad. Can understand Rybakina being a bit mad at it as she missed out on a bye due to it.

I did read return of the Performance bye somewhere, so yeah.
I'm not sure it's a good thing. Sure it's good for WTA in a way, because it could encourage players to play more tournaments, but then that could lead to more injuries.

It's also such a joke that Tokyo is 500 and Guadalajara 1000.

Performance byes themselves do get a mention in the WTA rulebook from months back, though without specifying which tournaments. Not sure why they call it a trial really as Tokyo itself has had performance byes in the past.

Tokyo 1000 licence -> Wuhan -> Guadalajara instead of back to Japan.

Knowing the WTA, they most likely didn't even ask Tokyo if they wanted it back after taking the licence away against their will initially.

Sakkari won a WTA 1000

Finally!

oh wait I promised to be nice to Sakkari. I don't remember what the end date for that was.

there was no end date. Just said I wasn't gonna bully her like most of tennis internet does.

Looks like you will have to be nice to her for at least another three months if you cancel the promise now. It's the law.

I don't want to cancel the promise. I'll try to be better.

Betfair doesn't even have tie winner up for Team Europe vs Team World. Tells you all you need to know about how prestigeful this tournament is.

Sep 23, 2023 -- 8:57PM, SamuelMertensBertens wrote:

Sakkari won a WTA 1000

Back in 1935 people probably also thought Ryder Cup was a big ol' joke of a tournament.

Give Laver Cup a few decades. I think next year will be interesting in terms of attendance when it comes to Berlin. Organisers better hope Federer announces a Laver Cup doubles comeback to send Rafa into retirement.

Am surprised prestigeful is an actual word btw.

Sep 23, 2023 -- 11:05PM, edy wrote:

Back in 1935 people probably also thought Ryder Cup was a big ol' joke of a tournament.Give Laver Cup a few decades. I think next year will be interesting in terms of attendance when it comes to Berlin. Organisers better hope Federer announces a Laver Cup doubles comeback to send Rafa into retirement.

agreed on the latter. This one was sold out before it was announced Europe was sending its B-team. In the past this tourney has at least always managed to get the big stars. People might be more aware and think twice before buying tickets next year due to who played this year. Then again having Federer just associated with the tournament might be enough.

edy • September 24, 2023 5:05 AM BST
Back in 1935 people probably also thought Ryder Cup was a big ol' joke of a tournament.

Probably
pretending you don't know ...

Europe needs to win everything tomorrow. Would be funny if World wins the 1st match and the fans only get one match.

edy did you see the doubles trophy ceremony last night? Dabrowski was taking the loss very badly and at the end of the ceremony they made them all pose in Mexican sombrero hats and she looked like she was dying on the inside. has Gaby always been such a sore loser? wasn't there some drama earlier in the year about a partnership she was meant to be a part of not happening?

she was also clearly in a terrible mood during the runners up interview etc

Dabrowski looked like she'd been eating salt directly after losing the final

Linda N versus Rybakina will be interesting if Noskova can reach the level she showed in her enthralling match with Ons in New York. Rybakina coming from an early bath at the hands of Cirstea at the US Open and you guys have already posted about the performance byes. Surprisingly angry post by her on instagram.

Is inviting the B Team Federer's masterplan to try and make LC look competitive? Looks like we'll have Team World wins to years in a row now.

Team World champions !!! A nail biting Laver Cup !!

was it any good? didn't consume a second of it

2017     Team Europe    15–9     Team World     Prague, Czech Republic    O2 Arena    Nick Kyrgios on Team World
2018     Team Europe    13–8     Team World     Chicago, United States    United Center   Nick Kyrgios on Team World
2019     Team Europe    13–11     Team World     Geneva, Switzerland    Palexpo     Nick Kyrgios on Team World
2021     Team Europe    14–1     Team World     Boston, United States    TD Garden     Nick Kyrgios on Team World
2022     Team World    13–8     Team Europe     London, United Kingdom    The O2 Arena    Nick Kyrgios not on Team World
2023     Team World    13–2     Team Europe     Vancouver, Canada    Rogers Arena    Nick Kyrgios not on Team World

hmm.....

Sep 24, 2023 -- 11:51AM, wisewords wrote:

edy did you see the doubles trophy ceremony last night? Dabrowski was taking the loss very badly and at the end of the ceremony they made them all pose in Mexican sombrero hats and she looked like she was dying on the inside. has Gaby always been such a sore loser? wasn't there some drama earlier in the year about a partnership she was meant to be a part of not happening?

I never get to watch ceremonies anymore...

Dabrowski used to be with Olmos (Mexican), but they split after the AO this year. Maybe the sombreros reminded her of her previous doubles partner. In general though, looking from the outside, she has not real reason to be too sour about that partnership having ended as she already won more doubles majors with Routliffe than she did with Olmos.

Not even sure the split from Olmos was even unexpected as Olmos was really only a Stefani replacement (who had injured herself during that 2021 US Open doubles semifinal) and Dabrowski and Stefani immediately linked up again for a few tournaments (without much success) after Dabrowski/Olmos was over.

The tennis event at the currently held Asian Games seem like a bit of a non-event. There are some good players (Qinwen) and some countries have sent their best or close to their best, but there are also notable names missing.

Kind of like when the olympics were robbed of being cool when Kohlschreiber played Kitzbühel instead.

Sep 24, 2023 -- 5:28PM, edy wrote:

Not even sure the split from Olmos was even unexpected as Olmos was really only a Stefani replacement (who had injured herself during that 2021 US Open doubles semifinal) and Dabrowski and Stefani immediately linked up again for a few tournaments (without much success) after Dabrowski/Olmos was over.

I can't remember the story I read a while back. It was hinting at Dabrowski having been let down this year on a doubles partnership. Thinking about it, it might have been included in Kasatkina's vlog episode from Eastbourne when they were talking with Daria Saville. Daria Saville played dubs with Dabrowski at Eastbourne, but I don't think that was the original plan for Dabrowski.

also is Dabrowski dating Emily Webley-Smith or are they just besties?

Sep 24, 2023 -- 5:46PM, edy wrote:

Kind of like when the olympics were robbed of being cool when Kohlschreiber played Kitzbühel instead.

edy saying nice things about a Bavarian!

here's how it went... Dabrowski played doubles with Saville in Eastbourne. Kasatkina says Gaby came to Berlin but didn't get in. Saville replies that there is a chance that Saville/Gaby won't get into the doubles draw in Eastbourne either, but Saville "hopes she signs again" whatever that means. Signs into the draw? Kasatkina replies "F**k, but how? She didn't agree with anyone?". Saville replies "Do an interview with her". Kasatkina jokingly does an impression of herself interviewing Dabrowski and asking her "Why didn't you agree (to partner) with someone here?". Saville laughs and says "There is...ok", Kasatkina says "what?" and then Saville looks into the camera and says "off camera" while laughing and Kasatkina laughs too. Then the conversation moves on to something else!

So from this, I gather Dabrowski had agreed to partner with someone for Berlin, Eastbourne and probably Wimbledon too (she played SW19 with Krunic). But this person let her down! Then Gaby played Washington with Aoyama and then the Dabrowski/Routliffe super team was born in Montreal!

also none of this explains why Dabrowski was such a very sore loser yesterday and definitely didn't enjoy the ceremony at all. Routliffe was normal

I know you love the blog (I haven't seen enough to comment), but that's pretty unprofessional to not edit out. That's Gaby's business and shouldn't be aired on camera even if they only hinted something and didn't specify what it was.

From what I understand it is great content and gives an excellent insight into life as a tennis player, but neither DashaK or her partner has journalistic background (as far as I know), so they will occasionally air things they shouldn't. Similar to how Colt Cabana, whose podcast I enjoyed, ended up getting sued because he had Punk come on the show and badmouth WWE and their doctors and they didn't take kindly to that. A program where the hosts have a background in journalism would be more aware of what's ok to publish and what's not.

If you followed hockey like edy and I do you would know Canadians are super sore losers! (which also is what makes them very successful).

The vlog is very entertaining, especially the interactions/conversations between Daria and other players on the tour. The vlog has made me like Osty! She's quite misunderstood. Also it makes you realise that on tour you may be friends with certain players and then there's other players that you don't even talk to. It's full of cliques

Andreescu was the one signed up to play doubles with Dabrowski in Berlin, but doubt that would have been the Wimbledon partnership.

Maybe Dabrowski wanted to play Wimbledon with Stefani still, for lack of time to fine a replacement, even though Stefani and the partnership had been a bit of a mess, but they fell out and Stefani wasn't interested.

And Andreescu didn't renege on Dabrowski in Berlin btw. They simply weren't ranked high enough to gain entry.

Thanks. Yeah, Kasa said she "didn't get in" so took that to mean not ranked highly enough. But who was Dabrowski meant to play Eastbourne with I wonder? and I doubt Andreescu was Gaby's first choice for Berlin, so there must have been someone before she approached Bianca about playing