Tennis!

[Bobfoc]

Laura Robson has finally retired after years of trying to overcome wrist and hip injuries. It's a massive shame that her career turned out the way it did because she was surely capable of challenging for Grand Slams. 

[Bobfoc]

That was a hard-fought win for Raducanu. Noskova played really well for the first two sets, especially for a 17-year-old. Barring injury, she ought to be a name to watch.

[Szumi]

Raducanu crashed out already. Took the first set, then lost the next two 6-1 each.

[Adam]

1 hour ago, Szumi - A Polack said:

Raducanu crashed out already. Took the first set, then lost the next two 6-1 each.

"Already". It was her debut at the French and while she has done well on clay this year, it isn't her favoured surface.

She won her debut match at every Grand Slam which is a hell of an achievement to be honest.

Oh, and Andy Murray has had his say on the Wimbledon ranking points debacle:

 

[Chris2K]

He's right, but at the same time I can completely understand a player not wanting to play a tournament that doesn't give them any of the points they need to qualify for other tournaments. The schedule is tough enough as it is without playing unnecessarily.

[Bobfoc]

The lack of ranking points is unfortunate, but it's still a tournament with a lot of prize money. Just being in the first round was worth £48,000 last year.

[Szumi]

Yes, already. She's still a seeded player going out in the second round. It's still an upset, despite her age/inexperience.

[METALMAN]

Hmm. I like Emma Raducanu because she had a much more down to earth upbringing the many other tennis players. You know: played at local club, went to local school and so on rather than being trained in some obsessive regime in Florida or something like that. That's nice, and she seems more likeable than your typical tennis player as a result.

That being said, I understand she's inexperienced 19 isn't super young when you look at the ages female tennis players often hit the scene. I think it's reasonable to expect a bit more from her and quite patronising not to.

[Adam]

1 hour ago, METALMAN said:

That being said, I understand she's inexperienced 19 isn't super young when you look at the ages female tennis players often hit the scene. I think it's reasonable to expect a bit more from her and quite patronising not to.

I just think it is far too easy to pull down a teenager for not matching her US Open performance every week - not that that is what Szumi is doing - and it has become an unfortunate narrative among media and observers already.

Raducanu far surpassed expectation by winning that Grand Slam last year, and indeed the strength of that tournament alone is largely responsible for her current world ranking being so high. Sasnovich is a good player, not a world-beater by any means but an experienced, solid competitor.

Winning the US Open has brought massive expectations and rightly so, but people can't be expecting her to blow everyone away like a Serena or Sharapova right out the gate. Seeing how Raducanu has been maligned in the last few months for not doing so has really wound me up.

[Bobfoc]

While winning the US Open was a great achievement, I think she benefited a bit from the fact that it's a tournament near the end of the year, when the established players are typically more tired. There had been four women who won their only Grand Slam at the US Open in the ten years before Raducanu's victory, so it's a tournament that's more likely to throw out surprises than the other Slams.

The draw also opened up quite nicely for her. She didn't face any of the top ten seeds. She's yet to beat a top ten player in any tournament.

That's certainly not to say that she didn't deserve to win the tournament, because she did. However, I would say that she's still a level behind the very best players on the tour right now.

1 minute ago, Adam said:

Seeing how Raducanu has been maligned in the last few months for not doing so has really wound me up.

I agree with this. I think the criticism has mostly come from people who don't really follow tennis and just like to bring people down. There's also John McEnroe, who seems to have a scathing opinion of everyone.

[Adam]

Also worth noting that Maria Sakkari, the 4th seed, went out today, as did Petra Kvitova.

Three more higher seeds than Raducanu didn't even get to the 2nd Round, Krejcikova being one of them as the 2nd seed and defending champion. The French Open is always a tough tournament.

[The Lusophone]

There are high level peace talks with less tension than this Djok-Nadal match.

[gunnar hendershow]

I can remember when Sampras winning 14 Grand Slams was an incredible accomplishment. Now Nadal is in the driver's seat to win his 14th French Open.

 

[Bobfoc]

Now he's done it. Incredible.

[Baddar]

Admittedly I've been out of the loop with tennis for a while, but with Djokovic expected to run away with the most Slam wins only a year or two ago, seeing Nadal pull a couple ahead is nice. 

[gunnar hendershow]

Yeah we all assume it's when, not if, Djokovic outlasts Nadal and wins the most Slams on the men's or women's side. But Nadal is doing enough now to make it very close at the end of their careers.

[Bobfoc]

Something I've liked is Coco Gauff reaching the finals of both the singles and doubles. I wish more top male singles players would take part in doubles competitions at Grand Slams, but it's considered too draining and not financially rewarding enough for them.

[JasonM]

This is the first slam I have ever seen, and after years of hearing and knowing how great Nadal is, this final really hammered home to me how effortless he makes it look.

Utterly astonishing to watch someone dismantle his opponent in such a clinical fashion.

[Adam]

Nadal doing this whilst battling a foot injury that might well end his career is incredible.

He's been written off for years as coming to the end, yet here he is winning two Slams in 2022. Amazing effort.

They should rename the French Open to the Rafa Nadal Open.

[gunnar hendershow]

46 minutes ago, Adam said:

Nadal doing this whilst battling a foot injury that might well end his career is incredible.

He's been written off for years as coming to the end, yet here he is winning two Slams in 2022. Amazing effort.

They should rename the French Open to the Rafa Nadal Open.

He should have a towering statue at the entrance to Roland-Garros at the very least.