Tennis!

[Damian WayLNKe]

Nadal and Robin Haase are having the match of the tournament on centre right now. Both guys playing great...and Haase has a 2 sets to 1 lead over Nadal. He's the world number 151 or something around that mark.

You jinxed it.

[Adam]

I have a habit of doing that

Nadal breaks in the 5th, looks like he'll go on to win now. Both guys have played really well.

[EddieG]

I have a habit of doing that

Nadal breaks in the 5th, looks like he'll go on to win now. Both guys have played really well.

Where in Donny did you say you were again?

[IAceI]

To be fair; you should be focussing on De Bakker more than Haase anyways. He's your future star, and could do wonders for Dutch tennis. I want Sjeng Schalken back! I had his autograph and everything, he was so awesome on the grass courts with his disgustingly flat forehands and backhands and ridiculous grips.

Monfils wants to start actually hitting deep rather than putting everything on the service line with no real pace. It may have changed as I went to 5 Live commentary just before he turned it around in the third set, but from what I saw he wasn't looking particularly threatening and was just relying on his athleticism to get him the ball back. Sounds like he's been a bit more aggressive lately and it seems like it might be paying off a bit more.

[IAceI]

As much as I despise spitting, and find doing it towards someone/people pretty much the lowest thing anyone can do, I'm quite annoyed with the way the commentators handled the whole Hanescu incident.

I've seen him at Wimbledon before, albeit briefly, and on tennis numerous times and he's a pretty calm and mellow player for the most part. Yet the commentators almost acted like he just decided to be a total twat on his own accord, for him to do what he did and then purposely throw the match he's obviously had something said to him that he's took exception to.

This isn't like trying to rile up an Andy Murray or anything, a player with quite an explosive temprament already - this is more akin to trying to get a rise out of Rafael Nadal and him responding in that manner.

From what I've read, apparently he was taunted frequently and called a gypsy. Perhaps nothing to me or you, but given he's Romanian, it has a bit more weight behind it then. He's going to get a hefty fine, but hopefully he just puts it behind him and carries on. Always quite enjoyed watching him play when the chance is there to do so and would like that to continue.

Just wish the commentators had approached it with a bit more caution, actions speak louder than words - and are obviously more visible in this situation - but they should have realised there had been problems from the crowd previously, that Hanescu had complained to the umpire (who had done the sum total of absolutely nothing about the constant taunts) and that Hanescu isn't known for acting in that way.

Will wait and see what happens, but it's going to be a pretty impressive fine by their standards I can imagine.

[Farmer Reil]

I love the fact that one day after England crash out of the World Cup, the entirity of the media attention has turned 180 and now worships Andy Murray as the "antidote to World Cup pain".

Last week, the media barely acknowledged Wimbledon was happening.

[Powerhart]

I haven't been watching this as I'm not a big fan of Tennis plus the World Cup, so I have a question. Who did Sharapova lose to?

[therockbox]

Pele.

[EddieG]

One of the Williams sisters, Serena I think ?

[sahyder1]

I haven't been watching this as I'm not a big fan of Tennis plus the World Cup, so I have a question. Who did Sharapova lose to?

She lost to Serena 7-6, 6-4

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Roddick is out

That said, Lu was awesome.

[naiwf]

Fuck off Roddick

[Damian WayLNKe]

Nooooooo!!!! Roddick deserves a Wimbledon title.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Only caught highlights of yesterday, but Venus is out

At least Serena is still there.

[Adam]

Looks like the Williams sisters couldhead out in the double now too, a break downin the third against Vesnina and Zvonareva.

Berdych a set up but break down on Federer, shaping up to be a really good match.

[maninblack]

Geez, Federer's just 2 games from being out.

EDIT:

Edited June 30, 2010 by maninblack

[EddieG]

Let's go Berdych *clap clap clap-clap-clap*

[maninblack]

Federer

Go Murray!

[Adam]

Amazing, truly amazing. Berdych was monstrous today, he's playing better than he ever has and had to be damn good to defeat Roger Federer. Brilliant.

[IAceI]

I want to see a Berdych v Soderling final. That would be amazing but unfortunately Nadal seems to have other ideas. Although I could see Murray doing it. Would be a fairytale if he won his first grandslam at Wimbledon.

I love how Nadal and Federer are scripting it so they don't meet in a final for ages, then they will and will put on a better spectacle than the 08 Wimbledon final >_<

In other news, we have a boy in Oliver Golding in the QFs of his draw and we are guarantee'd a girl in the semi finals with Robson v Moore as one of the QF matches. On the whole it's been a good showing from the juniors and the future is looking bright for our tennis to a degree. Assuming they can make the transition over to the senior side. I have a lot more faith in these youngsters than I ever had in "racing round a La Manga supermarket in a trolley" David Rice or "straddling a condom machine" Naomi Broady.

Unfortunately when we have a bad year at Wimbledon, everyone demands an improved performance the next year - as soon as possible. Whereas that's not possible, tennis is such a specialist sport they need to be on the right track by the ages of 6, 8, 10, 12 etc. So to do that we need to identify them early (at the minute they are talent id'ing 2006 birthdays - four year olds) because they need to be spotted and nurtured at a very early age. It's not surprising that a lot of the best players come from families where tennis is already a big part of the life, many of these players were coached early on by their parents and that's why they become so good early on. I firmly believe Britain is on the right path to improving as a whole.

Baker, Goddall, Baltacha, Keothovang - other than the odd run now and again, their time is up. They aren't ever going to make waves, but the youngsters we have at the minute, at u18 level is much strong.

Take Eleanor Dean for example, she got hammered 0 and 2 today, but off a much bigger and stronger opponent, and she's only 14. They're saying that she's better at that age than Robson was (even though Robson won the title at 14) so that's bright. Not only for Dean, but also for the fact Robson is going to have a good career you would expect. And if Eleanor Dean is apparently better, then fingers crossed for the future.