Wimbledon 2019

[pfrduke]

Already drama on the opening day with Naomi Osaka going out in straight sets on the women's side and Zverev getting dropped in 4 on the men's. Tsitsipas currently down a break in the 5th to Fabbiano. No drama in Djokovic's opening match (and I'm sure he's pleased to see two of the top 3 seeds on his side of the draw potentially out of play after day 1).

[Troublemaker]

This is going to turn out to be such a jinx, but I'm excited to see how far American Taylor Fritz will go. He recently won a grass leadup event to Wimbledon, beating former Wimbledon semifinalist Querrey in the final.

I've always favored Fritz to be the most talented "nextgen" American (or at least tied with Tiafoe), so hopefully this will be a breakout event for him.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

No mention of Venus's first round loss 6-4, 6-4 to a 15 year old prodigy?

[Troublemaker]

No mention of Venus's first round loss 6-4, 6-4 to a 15 year old prodigy?

I'll be excited to see Cori Gauff play her next match. Tennis just doesn't get the mainstream coverage, so even someone like me who follows it closer than the vast majority had not heard of Gauff until two days ago. And Venus losing early in a tourney is unfortunately no longer big news. Father Time is undefeated, as they say.

[Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15]

I'll be excited to see Cori Gauff play her next match. Tennis just doesn't get the mainstream coverage, so even someone like me who follows it closer than the vast majority had not heard of Gauff until two days ago. And Venus losing early in a tourney is unfortunately no longer big news. Father Time is undefeated, as they say.

Sure, I heard about her early yesterday before her match. Just think it's a pretty interesting story. She seems like a pretty level headed young woman. Youngest ever to qualify for Wimbledon, and she knocks off Venus in her first match - storybook.

[pfrduke]

Don't look now, but Sam Querrey is up 2 sets to 1 and has a two break lead serving in the 4th set over Dominic Thiem. As well as Thiem has played on clay in his career, he hasn't really put it together at Wimbeldon, losing twice in the 1st and twice in the 2nd in five tries.

[pfrduke]

Querrey closes it out with a 6-0 4th set!

[Green Wave Dukie]

Shout out to Dominik Koepfer for his first round upset win!!!

Who is that, you say? He played at Tulane for 4 years and graduated in '16. Fun fact - I dressed myself and the family in green and went over to Chapel Hill when the cheats played the Green Wave in the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney 3 years ago and did my best to root them on to victory.

He had to win his first ever challenger event just to into Wimbledon. And he did that as unseeded in THAT tournament, winning 7-6 in the third in the final. That got him up to 132 in the world. Quite a ride for Dom.

[pfrduke]

Another day, another significant upset for an American male. This time it's Reilly Opelka getting the win over Wawrinka and reaching the 3rd round in a major for the first time in his career.

[Green Wave Dukie]

Another day, another significant upset for an American male. This time it's Reilly Opelka getting the win over Wawrinka and reaching the 3rd round in a major for the first time in his career.

Ha. Makes me glad I didn't put into words what I was thinking yesterday. Recall thinking Stan won his first round match rather easily and was expecting big things from him at Wimbledon this year - like semis or perhaps better. I'll go climb back underground now for a while.

[Troublemaker]

Most of the upsets haven't really been that big if you account for recent form and/or history of grass success. Take 2-seed Osaka losing in the women's draw. She's been struggling mightily since parting ways with her coach, and she hasn't made a dent on grass yet in her career (i.e. not talking just about Wimbledon). Likewise, Stan has always struggled on faster surfaces, with his return being a reason why, so I'm not surprised that big-serving Opelka was able to get him here.

[Troublemaker]

Gauff won again, this time overpowering grass-court specialist Rybarikova in a minor upset (per oddsmakers).

Impressive. She and Anisimova will have a nice rivalry in the future perhaps.

[Troublemaker]

What a fun match between Nadal and Kyrgios in the second round. Love me some 4th of July tennis.

Fritz unfortunately bowed out today. (Never get one's hopes up about an American man until he proves it).

[BD80]

What a fun match between Nadal and Kyrgios in the second round. Love me some 4th of July tennis.

...

Kyrgios started off like the spoiled jerk we expect, but actually got into a rhythm and played championship level tennis for the last 3 sets, with rare displays of childishness in the last 2 sets.

Could this be the dawn of a maturing Kyrgios? He would be fun to watch if he weren't a jerk!

He would also be an awesome pickleball player! He has incredibly fast hands and remarkable touch.

[camion]

Kyrgios started off like the spoiled jerk we expect, but actually got into a rhythm and played championship level tennis for the last 3 sets, with rare displays of childishness in the last 2 sets.

Could this be the dawn of a maturing Kyrgios? He would be fun to watch if he weren't a jerk!

He would also be an awesome pickleball player! He has incredibly fast hands and remarkable touch.

It really looks like the commentator (McEnroe) said at the beginning. Kyrgios has as much talent as anyone, but his tantrums/antics hold him back from reaching his potential.

Perhaps he needs a team like Crash Davis and Annie Savoy to, you know, mature him.

[curtis325]

It really looks like the commentator (McEnroe) said at the beginning. Kyrgios has as much talent as anyone, but his tantrums/antics hold him back from reaching his potential.

Perhaps he needs a team like Crash Davis and Annie Savoy to, you know, mature him.

Interesting coming from Johnny Mac. Tantrums/antics didn't seem to hold HIM back!

[Bluedog]

Tomic was fined for lack of effort in his defeat today. I wonder what would happen if they did that for NBA teams towards the end of a season... hahahaha. I mean, he lost something like 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, which isn't great but doesn't sound that terribly pathetic. I didn't see the match though.

[Blue in the Face]

Tomic was fined for lack of effort in his defeat today. I wonder what would happen if they did that for NBA teams towards the end of a season... hahahaha. I mean, he lost something like 6-1, 6-2, 6-4, which isn't great but doesn't sound that terribly pathetic. I didn't see the match though.

After losing a first set tie-break, Opelka was completely run over by Raonic, 6-2, 6-1 this morning, and McEnroe was really laying into him for his effort, or lack thereof, and the studio crew agreed with him after the match. I only saw the very end (and didn't see any of the Tomic match), but he was barely moving on some points, as if he was hurt, though it didn't appear there was an actual injury. I can't compare the two matches, and maybe it will turn out he was nursing something, but if not, given the Tomic precedent, I''d expect a fine here too.

[Troublemaker]

Kyrgios started off like the spoiled jerk we expect, but actually got into a rhythm and played championship level tennis for the last 3 sets, with rare displays of childishness in the last 2 sets.

Could this be the dawn of a maturing Kyrgios? He would be fun to watch if he weren't a jerk!

He would also be an awesome pickleball player! He has incredibly fast hands and remarkable touch.

Probably not, if his entertaining post-match presser was any indication.

From a pure "I watch tennis for entertainment" standpoint, I like Kyrgios and his underarm serves, tweeners, and other antics. Unfortunately, he just doesn't go deep enough into tournaments often enough. If he had his head on straight, he'd have a higher ranking and maybe we'd see 4 or 5 matches from him at Wimbledon instead of just the 2 he played.

[Troublemaker]

A big story for this year's Wimbledon is that the grass seems to be playing slower than previous years (tennis.com). Lots of quotes from players in that article, although some are exaggerated beyond belief; there's no way Wimbledon is the slowest Slam, as Kudla says. Still, if the players are overall correct, this will have an effect on which players can go far. It's mostly not good for Americans, for example. I think Serena needs her serve to be a big weapon, as does Querrey on the men's side.