WIMBLEDON 2010

I'm at sónar but the draws have been out a day and no one started this? fuck the fucking world cup for making no one care about tennis.

Men's draw - http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/scores/draws/ms/
Women's draw - http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/scores/draws/ws/

Rafa has such a bitch of a draw. It seriously couldn't be any harder. Nishikori, Blake, Gulbis, Isner/Youzhny, Soderling just to reach the SF.

Silliams/De Screamo and Jankovic/Robson in the 1R will be more interesting as talking points than matches, I feel. It's so weird that De Screamo was able to take Serena and Sweta to three sets as a 14-year-old but can barely win matches two years on - I really don't know how her career's going to pan out.

Mirjana Lucic back in a Wimbledon main draw for the first time in, like, a DECADE. Azarenka is a tough draw but she plays the Eastbourne final today, and playing well the week before a Slam is often a double-edged sword, and apparently Lucic was very impressive in qualies...hmm.

Peer vs. Ivanovic. Funny how Ivanovic is the unseeded underdog now. Peer has been excellent all year but isn't a fan of grass; Ivanovic likes the surface better but sucks everywhere anyway. Peer to win.

KING KOLYA back on tour! I've missed him.

Biggest 1R upset in waiting = Dushevina over still-in-party-mode-and-quite-right-too Fran Schiavone.

also, I'll take Voegele to beat Kirilenko and Riske over Wickmayer for the second time in a fortnight. Tempted by serve-and-volleying Dustin Brown (the first Jamaican in a Slam MD?) over Melzer and last year's junior champ Andrey Kuznetsov over Hanescu, but those are probably more "interesting matches to catch" than "realistic upsets in waiting".

predixxx:

women, 4R:

S.Williams d. Sharapova
Li d. Radwanska
Wozniacki d. Lucic
Rezai d. Date-Krumm
Clijsters d. Henin
Jankovic d. Zvonareva
Bartoli d. Kulikova
V.Williams d. Groth

QF:

S.Williams d. Li
Rezai d. Wozniacki
Jankovic d. Clijsters
V.Williams d. Bartoli

SF:

S.Williams d. Rezai
V.Williams d. Jankovic (1 and 1, probably)

champ: Silliams

men, 4R:

Federer d. Berankis
Berdych d. Ilhan
Hewitt d. Djokovic
Roddick d. Fish
Tsonga d. Verdasco
Murray d. Malisse
Soderling d. Baghdatis
Gulbis d. Mahut

QF:

Federer d. Berdych
Roddick d. Hewitt
Tsonga d. Murray
Soderling d. Gulbis

SF:

Federer d. Roddick
Soderling d. Tsonga

champ: Federer

so psyched for this, i'm there all day tues and weds of both weeks. we are interviewing hingis/kournikova on tues and hopefully a male star at some point too, don't know who yet. possibly ana ivanovic also, if she wins, not looking so likely tho based on the draw.

also took your advice lex for our umpires piece, after about 10 zillion emails and crazy assurances etc we are doing "a day in the life of a wimbledon umpire" (for 7-12 year old audience) with eva asderaki next week.

been loads of work and will be a mental time there but hopefully will get to stay on in the evenings if we're done and enjoy some of the thing.

I've warmed up to Vika ever since the Serena Aussie match, but I would really like to see Lucic do well. Always loved watching her play back in the day.

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet times.

You think Nadal won't make it to the 4th round? Sure he's got tough opponents, but you feel like at least he's gonna will himself that far. No man has seemed particularly strong in the warm-up tournaments, but that might not matter. Hewitt, I guess, but I can't see him as a real threat in a Slam. Roddick might be dangerous.

Also Safina withdrawn, Dementieva withdrawn. Don't think Safina would've done much anyway, I'm happy enough about not seeing her curse herself on court for this slam.

Doubt Fed will win this. I mean he lost to Hewitt at Halle.

Possibly the most open championship for quite a while on the men's side: no to Fed, or Murray on his form, and then Nadal looks strong and would dismantle Fed should they meet in the final, but its whether he'd get there. Roddick's run last year looked like a last hurrah but if he can replicate the form that got him there then I'm fearing the worst..

Back to WC: Cameroon - Denmark -- its loads of fun :-)

I was going to start this thread, if only to point that there are NO ENGLISH PLAYERS in the men's singles draw. First time in the history of the event. No wildcards for county-standard hacks this year, you've got to be in the top 250 or, if you're eight-time R1-loser Alex Bogdanovic (#160-odd), tough luck - out in a 24-22 final set in the qualies. So, two Scots is the sum-total of your Brit interest, and only one of them is likely to be around on Wednesday.

Roddick didn't get very far at Queen's, which is encouraging.

(And Lex, it's perfectly possible to care very much about both events (four years ago I had two tellies set up for Roddick-Murray and POR-ENG) but I won't be mentioning the 32-nation Afro-kickabout in here).

(four years ago I had two tellies set up for Roddick-Murray and POR-ENG)

Did they play at the same time of day? Well done on the effort of the set-up. Must have been switching manically back and forth but I can't remember.

Yes, it was basically simultaneous. Murray won at around 7:30pm, I think; ENG-POR k/o was 4pm, so over a little earlier.

so jealz ronan - I'm thinking of going either Wed or Thu (depending on Sónar recovery time) (oh god), if the former I'll bell you.

Doubt Fed will win this. I mean he lost to Hewitt at Halle.

That was a terrible loss, but he's had much worse in Tour events over the past year and yet he currently still holds two Slams. I don't think he's able to turn off in regular events and then turn ON in Slams the way Silliams can, but he's not going to be losing to the likes Hewitt or Montanes here.

here are NO ENGLISH PLAYERS in the men's singles draw.

Good! It's a marker of how bad they are that BOGDANOVIC of all people is still leagues ahead of them. I can't believe Bogdanovic had the gall to whine about not getting a wild card. Talk about self-entitlement. No player that gets a nationalistic wild card "deserves" it. If I was in charge of player development I'd hand him a lifetime ban on wild cards into any event and ban him from using LTA facilities for the rest of his career just for that. And the rest of them are WORSE than him!

Martinez Sanchez also out :(

Azarenka apparently played (and lost) the Eastbourne final with a leg injury. Lucic in with a real chance now so cue a 7-5 in the third loss. From 5-2 up obvvv.

it's perfectly possible to care very much about both events

would that anyone did! the inevitable glazed-over expression whenever I talk about tennis is so saddening, and then the same people's eyes light up when the conversation turns to the World Cunting Cup. I hope the stadium gets bombed and every football team gets wiped out, and then I hope that the game gets banned worldwide. I'm not even joking.

oh apparently Gulbis is out as well so rip up all predictions. too drunk (")drunk") to remake them. Illya Marchenko to win or something.

Fed won't lose to Hewitt over five sets but I reckon he will unexpectedly lose along the way. That loss of Soderling at the French had a 'this is over' feel...

Really looking forward to watching both tournaments. Shame I am unable to do two telly sets in one room. Would be really useful given the night matches under floodlights.

I hope the stadium gets bombed and every football team gets wiped out, and then I hope that the game gets banned worldwide. I'm not even joking.

I posted a response to this and then my kids came in with Father's Day gifts and the moment went. Let's drop it.

I wouldn't have dropped it, but saw that Lex was drunk - no excuse, but I'd like to think he wouldn't say this garbage if he was so sober.

Best dropped...

yep lex defo give me a call if you're there on weds. lol i got a dress code email from wimbledon last week, it's so fucking cool the crazy levels they go to to protect the integrity of the brand. you can't take a fucking photo there without full permission from the head dude. my lucicrous preppy dressing will finally pay dividends...

The way Murray's been playing I'd be amazed if he made it to the QFs.

I'm planning to queue up on the 2nd Tuesday! Should hopefully get some good doubles/juniors action if it's not pissing down.

of course it was hyperbole and of course i meant it. i don't think football fans ever really realise just how wearyingly, disproportionately inescapable it is anyway, let alone ramped up to current levels, while as a tennis fan i have to kill my eyes/sanity on shitty, pirated internet streams just to WATCH matches, let alone enjoy anything like the same amount of commentary etc, and all the while 99% of the media mocks it like in [Removed Illegal Link] - whoever wrote that needs beheading (NOT hyperbole, would wield axe myself).

i was gonna go on thu because a) recovery time from sónar needed b) will be more interested in the projected 2R matches on that day. BUT apparently that's the day the queen is attending and i refuse to be inconvenienced by royalty bullshit. so i'm gonna try for wed, maybe? aargh. one year i swear i'll actually do something about pitching a wimbledon piece.

"illegal link"??? this - http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/18/wimbledon-andymurray

You may complain about the World Cup overshadowing tennis, but I think this one beats it: Our national broadcaster NRK had to sell their rights to Wimbledon because of the costs of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest!

So I've bought the live streaming subscribtion on the Wimbledon site, which looks solid. 6 courts to choose from and so on. Would prefer actual HD broadcasts on an actual TV, though.

No sympathy whatsoever, could argue how tennis fans don't understand etc etc but as you say its just empty, spineless hyperbole so lets move on to the tournament tomorrow. xp

The internet hardman route leads straight to hell, Lex, I wouldn't recommend it. Also, the drinking. Ymmv.

Nothing to add other than happy expectation and excitement and the weather is LOVELY.

are you fucking serious, bbc???? i get less of a choice of courts to watch because of the fucking football? I AM GOING TO KILL SOMEONE. KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL

also, Petra Martic really sucks for someone being hyped up as "the future of tennis". Being overpowered by Baltacha - Baltacha! - with EASE.

Lex, or anyone, in the 15 min h-time interval upcoming in the football which court should I be watching on the red button?

Prob Baltacha/Martic, it's getting towards the exciting end of the second set (she's possibly about to win)

though ideally just stop watching the football

Done. and heh. Ohh just in time for a lovely lob

And I notice that Davydenko is on court. I <3 Davydenko.

(she's possibly about to win)

or, as it transpired, choke!

I seem to have jinxed Baltacha

(it was a weird game - Baltacha alternated between great, non-chokey points, and utter howlers. Then Martic played a great point to finish it.)

soooo glad to see Davydenko back on tour.

Yeah the first break point she saved wonderfully

set point!

God this a replica of her last service game

Checking in. Gday Lex and Michael - where the hell is Ed?

Currently watching Carsten Ball hanging on for dear life against somebody called Derankis. Dangerous is two sets to one up and looking more solid on serve....(he says as Ball scrables to deuce)

I'm BEHIN YOU.

Federer match is really boring at 5-5 which means he's about to break out of nowhere innit.

Or be broken.

Which he just was. Ale-Alejandro to serve for the first. Federer looks shite. This does happen, of course, and he usually does improve a bit.

Falla has broken Rodge and will serve for the set - can't possibly be more boring than the game I'm watching.

ooohhhhh @ that Falla volley at 30-30

I'm sure he'll wake up soon. Otherwise <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jun/20/wimbledon-federer-oxfam-bet";>Oxfam will have to wait another year for their 100 grand</a>...

Top set point there, shame for Roger he didn't win it.

ARGH html fail :(

O_O

I'm guessing the last time Fed lost his first Wimbledon set was...2002?!

Kat - see the 'show formatting help' link below the 'add a post' box for html help. xp

oh the link is no good as well - here it is

Thanks Julio!

Mardy Fish has lost some weight. Looking very skinny. Bad hair too. But he's beating Tomic so YES!

Fed a set and a break down now O_O

Fed couldn't possibly do a Hewitt 03 could he?

What the fuck was that shot?

AMAZING, that's what.

meanwhile, Carsten loses in four and we are now looking at the aforementioned Hewitt spouting cliches in the general direction of Josh Eagle....

The Grim Reaper also in early trouble, a set and break down to Kevin Enderson from Sith Efrica

OMG at that Falla miss at *5-4, 30-30.

jeez, Fed, when your opponent is choking why gift them a BH dumped woefully into the net like that?

saves a second set point w/a great BH pass...

Okay, this is high drama but very low tennis.

that Fed volley to give Falla SP #3 might well be the worst shot we see this tournament

oh hey, Falla can miss volleys too! this match is so women's tennis.

Anderson also serving for two-set lead and also cocking it up to hell, and GR has broken to level at 5-5

And Fed now TWO sets up the Thames....

UHHHHHH

their h2h:

2004 Wimbledon 64 Grass (O) R.FEDERER 6-1 6-2 6-0
2006 French Open 64 Clay (O) R.FEDERER 6-1 6-4 6-3
2010 French Open 64 Clay (O) R.FEDERER 7-6(4) 6-2 6-4
2010 Halle 16 Grass (O) R.FEDERER 6-1 6-2

you know, you could well say, Fed's played Falla twice in the past month and won easily, how could this happen...but maybe Falla's just had so many looks at Fed's game that he's learned something from those losses.

Anderson wins second in tiebreaker

hey I just got here and uh wtf. Is Falla being brilliant or Federer rubbish or something otherwise inexplicable? (Federer hadn't dropped a single first round set at Wimbledon since 2002, I see.)

Federer is being pretty rubbish.

haha that was p tidy tho

Well, this is fairly unbelievable. Falla is so far away from the sort of player I'd expect to trouble Federer anywhere, much less here. As Lex's h2h posting shows, they've played on grass as recently as two weeks ago and it was totally routine. Falla is struggling with an injury too.

I am honestly expecting a snap break here and for it all to be over.

Federer is being pretty rubbish.

and not even the usual "a bit off but scrapes through the important points" either - just pure Fed-error.

3 BPs for Falla off a shanked Fed FH...

I don't really know. FEderer seems to be perennially standing in the wrong part of the court, aiming it exactly where it shouldn't be and... looking awfully surprised.

all three saved: two Falla misses (second was tough to make though), one Fed pass

that mfing point!!!

that was insane

if anything was a turning point, that was - lol was just gonna mention the Haas match at RG last year, then the commentators did

If Fed wins this next point I'm gonna say 4, 1 and 2 to Roger within about an hour.

Now, does Roger play as well on his own set points as his opp's.

He didn't do much wrong there, incredible FH from Falla.

if anything was a turning point, that was

Just as the Swiss national anthem played in the World Cup :)

lol we are all Women's Tennis in the end, and none more so than Falla right now

Also Tomic is one game from going out! HAPPY! WIN!

Not sure if it's just that fucking headband, but Rog is looking really old, haggard and ugly today.

Two double faults! WOMEN'S TENNIS, FEDERER.

And Falla breaks. Blimey.

o shi.

I...did not expect this turn of events in the fourth set.

I literally can't watch this anymore.

Well, at least Federer is hitting twice as many aces as double faults. Just about.

Meanwhile, Kolya is on the brink - into a 3rd-set tb, down two sets.

I like Federer but OMG I WISH I WAS WATCHING THIS

meltdowns = reliable entertainment, at least for 10 min

This is a Safin-like performance from Fed - every time he plays two good points in a row he buggers the next one up miserably and he's back to square 1.

fred otm - an analysis illustrated to perfection in the last two points

Awful points from Federer there when he had a chance to break.

Fed really had a chance to break back there. Not taken, and he's a game away from exiting...

OK! Coming up, either an EPIC WIN or an EPIC CHOKE.

Ok, odds on Falla crumbling here? He's been so solid.

And if Fed loses, who the hell do I support?! Sod? Murray?

I think he'll choke (0-15 on my feed atm)

Crikey

your feed is a game late

looooooooooool

!

I thought Tom's "crikey" meant Fed was out.

Why can't BBC stream to the Internet at the same time as the TV?

And yet Federer STILL buggering up his service game o_0

It's hilarious how Fed's go-to shot is the dropshot these days

Good luck Switzerland!

It's hilarious how Fed's go-to shot is the dropshot these days

Yes, was it last year or the year before he was calling it a joke shot?

I always thought it was the offensive lob that Federer resisting adding to his arsenal - like it wasn't a "real" way to pass a player at the net.

Way too telegraphed that off-forehand from Fed, allowing Falla to chase it down. Shoulda been set point. Instead - THE BREAKER.

Falla finally getting a bit ragged and desperate from the backcourt. 5-1 in the tb to the def champ.

I remember him saying the forehand drop shot was a "messing around" shot that you played as a joke in practice.

xp

Oh well, but can sub-editors can still use FED FALLABLE pun

what an utterly woeful TB from Falla.

I really need to get back to work - I had no idea I'd be so gripped by proceedings on day 1...

haha yeah, day 1 has never had so much excitement in recent years has it? Did someone say a World Cup is on?

OK I said Fed wasn't going to get to the final but not that he was dicing with a 1st round exit!!

Won the tie-break, should get through now.

And if Fed loses, who the hell do I support?! Sod? Murray?

Murray! Do you need to even ask..

No bright spark produced ABM t-shirts yet?

Can I just thank Michael J for showing up to thread and hopefully seeing Fed thru'

.... Did Falla step odd the court or something?

I do have this effect on Fed! I've tuned into matches on the web at work in the past where he's in trouble (Haas, FO) or it's tight (Roddick AO '07, 4-4) and he just blazes away. If I can't follow it (Soderling, FO), he loses...

how come Wimbledon site says Fed is ranked #1? I thought that after the French Open Nadal took the 1 spot

Maybe they mean seeded #1. W'don don't follow rankings for tournament seedings

seeding != rank

ok tanks

seeding usually = rank, but there's a grass court formula that Wimbledon applies to its seedings (not sure if they've done that here or whether it's more arbitrary - if the latter it's total BS). Anyway, Nadal is No 1, will be No 1 after Wimbledon and should have been seeded No 1.

I don't know who I'm supporting on the men's side. I like Murray but seriously he must never win Wimbledon, it'd be unbearable. I guess Rafa or Nole.

LOL @ 6-0. Women's tennis in the end.

Cilic was DREADFUL against Florian Mayer. Thought this would be the season he broke through to the elite after the AO but he's regressed in a big way.

why is it that the #3 seed is set to play #1, and #4 play #2? Wouldn't it make more sense the other way around?

Murray winning Wimbledon would be acceptable if his champion's speech was an anti-English rant.

(last year, Wimbledon's BS seeding move was to raise Sharapova to 24th when she was ranked 59th, which even broke their rule whereby they can only move the top 32 players around in the seedings. And then she lost in the second round, LOL.)

also, from a US tennis journalist: http://twitter.com/Kamakshi_Tandon/status/16700833843

Marion Bartoli English press conference -- French World Cup team questions: 3. Tennis questions 0.
28 minutes ago via web

I AM SO FUCKING EMBARRASSED BY THIS COUNTRY AND ITS SPORTS MEDIA. what the fuck is people's deal? that's just ignorant bullshit. if I was CAKE I'd have punched those hacks in the face.

why is it that the #3 seed is set to play #1, and #4 play #2? Wouldn't it make more sense the other way around?

#3 and #4 drawn to face #1 and #2 at random. #5-#8 drawn to face #1-#4 in the QFs, again at random. #9-#12 face #5-#8 in the 4th round, #13-#16 face #1-#4. #17-#24 face #9-#16 in the third round, #25-#32 face #1-#8.

Yeah Murray is a Scot, won't be surprised if he laughs after Eng drop out of it this week.

Rafa will get a ton of questions about Spain's WC if they stay in it throughout the championships, btw - just pray they lose to Honduras tonight.

Sorry let me correct that. Eng should drop out next week.

seriously making me livid. if you actually want to be watching the football and can't even ask a former Wimbledon finalist about tennis, get the fuck out of Wimbledon. it's a privilege to cover this tournament.

Bet Bartoli doesn't mind tho', probably makes a change from the usual questions.

otoh, can see Murray getting really annoyed if he gets Eng questions sent his way.

she may have lost but that was a pretty gutsy match from young Robson - fought back from a break down then staved off four match pts before JJ finally ended it.

her serve is fantastic for her age - 13 aces in all - though her second serve is woeful. she'll get better though.

Q. What are your thoughts on what's taken place with the French team in the World Cup? If you've already addressed this in French, I apologize.

MARION BARTOLI: I think here it's Wimbledon, it's the tennis, and I don't really want to speak about soccer.

Cue...even more questions about fucking football.

Robson played really well against Jankovic! The same glaring weaknesses we know about already (she is so, so slow) but I think she's improving on them. Jankovic obv didn't really want to work as hard as she eventually realised she'd have to, and Robson's fight towards the end was pretty good to see.

A comeback win for KING KOLYA, 9-7 in the fifth! Like Fed, but even more impressive. I thought Kolya would lose to Anderson, tbh.

So glad Djoker is on the red button so I don't have to watch awful Roddick. Rochus just about hanging in on his serve, Djokovic looks extremely comfortable on his.

Argh ffs why do I bother posting anything at all? Djoko just got broken (3 break points) after losing like 1 point on serve up until that point :(

i can't work out how to get more than two courts on the new TV - am sure i've been able to get the outside courts (all available on the BBC website) on a TV before but can't make it happen today!

Henin vs. Sevastova online it is...she's on court 12, lol. She's gonna have to earn Centre Court status back, evidently.

Even I think that asking tennis players about the football is nonsense, and I'm probably not going to see a second of Wimbledon until the final.

Oh, and RG champ Fran Schiavone is out, as expected. Not that Dushevina's any more than "solid at best" but Fran's obviously still partying.

aaaand Rochus gets the first set. Djoko making some really weird shot choices - on the set point just now he did a great shot down the line to send Rochus off the edge of the court, then utterly failed to capitalise on it by putting the next shot EXACTLY where Rochus was standing. The court was WIDE OPEN right infront of you, gah.

I assumed that Davydenko had lost Lex's news upthread has delighted me.

Ooo-er. Djoko steams through the 2nd set 5-0, then Rochus holds to avoid the bagel and then BREAKS.

And then gives away the set 0-40. No idea what the hell is going on.

Had to ~focus on work~ for a bit there - looked up just in time to find Nole double faulting to give away the third set. And now I think they're closing the roof!!!! Second ever night match coming up I believe...

Oh yeah, watched Henin/Sevastova. Sevastova is really talented - great serve, lovely smooth motion, able to both hit powerful winners and finesse shots, lovely all-court game, but she didn't seem to have...match intensity, if that makes sense. The desperation to win every point and keep up a certain level. Even when Henin is misfiring, that's what gets her through. Suspect Sevastova is one of those players who are so naturally talented that they've never really developed a work ethic. As for Justine, she wasn't that good at the start but raised her game when she realised how good Sevastova was, and in the end it was fairly easy. Except for...you guessed it...her serving. Let us not speak of that.

hang on what, Fran Schiavone is friends with GRACE JONES?! http://twitter.com/MiguelSeabra/status/16713566979

no bloody wonder she's still partying. GO GIRL, is all I can say. Also, I can totally imagine them together and it is a) terrifying b) amazing.

What time did Murray-Warwrinka finish last year? 10:03pm and it's looking like another set to come...

Was well after 10, I was out for a meal with work, and came home and watched loads of it.

apparently there's an 11pm curfew so it's not going to go on beyond that.

but if Rochus takes either of these BPs they might not need to...

This is great stuff, btw. Always had some empathy with the Rochus brothers, seeing as they have that whole modest stature thing going on. Not a hindrance back in the Laver and Rosewall days, bit of a handicap in these elongated times.

I still find it incredibly weird that there's a pro tennis player comfortably shorter than me. And yeah, this is mostly great, and when not great it's dramatic. Rochus is such a fighter.

wow @ that get!

nole serving for the match now. am anticipating shirt-ripping when he wins.

they'll let them finish the game if it goes past 11, right? I'd expect some annoyance if they get told to fack orf at match point.

crossing yourself but not stripping, nole? religion but no sex? i am never supporting you again.

I can't remember an opening day w/this much drama. I feel exhausted and only half the field has even set foot on court.

That was excellent stuff. V exciting on the men's side: Fed and Djokovic could be out by the end of the week, this could be really open.

Momentarily getting back to Fed v that other falla: In didn't post during set 4 but saw every shot (poss more attentively, precisely BECOZ didn't post) but then packed it in (round midnight Oz time) with a fair idea what was about to happen. Still haven't seen a frame of set 5 but suggest it may not have been a matter of Falla choking, or going into a blue funk at the opportunity he'd blown, or even running out of energy.

Maybe Rodge had had the shit scared out of him so badly at the prospect of going out on day 1 that when he belatedly hit something like top gear he made good and sure he stayed there - look what happened the last time he tried to play this guy on cruise control!

Luczak beat 30=something seed Robredo. Nice effort. Molik won. Yay! Hewitt won. Yay I suppose....

I think Falla was struggling for fitness for most of the match - didn't he have injury treatment after the second set?

he had a doctor come on after the second and the third iirc

Q. We saw that you got treatment for your leg. Can that have explained why Federer got back into the game again?

ALEJANDRO FALLA: Well, I had a contracture on my leg, but nothing happened. I took a treatment in the two breaks. Well, nothing happen. I felt okay after that.

it didn't seem to hamper him in the 3rd/4th sets - can't really say anything about the 5th as i switched over after that, as it was pretty obvious how it would go (see: women's tennis playbook passim).

first Anastasia Rodionova tantrum of the tournament on my TV right now! :D

de Brito is hopeless.

I don't get what happened to de Brito. She was able to take sets off Serena and Sweta when she was 14, but ever since Wimbledon last year - just after she'd broken into the top 100 - she's been utterly hopeless against any top 200 opponent. I know she has no serve, but the groundies she has/used to have were pretty great. This sort of career regression is just inexplicable.

(I'm not actually watching because I value my eardrums, and Rodionova tantrums are more entertaining than dying poodle shrieks - hey hey, here comes another one!)

Also, it's great to see Keothavong do well. Easily my favourite GBR player.

I really want to watch the Chak Attack/Petkorazzi, currently locked at 4-4 in the third, but Chak has fallen so low that she doesn't even merit a TV court any more :(

Meanwhile Keothavong just keeps putting the all back into play and goes 4-0 up as Rodio falls arse over elbow, bitches as a ball that came down in Hammaersmith was called out, swears in at least two languages and eveb bleats 'It's not fair!' at one point.

And now Keothavong starts shanking every ball. 4-0 to 4-2.

The Vong now 4-3 as Ronniejamesdionova starts to find her range, but still has one break.

Ridio's forehands nearly as overcooked as her brain but gets another break point....

which she loses to yet another loopy over-hit forehand

Serious gagging from Anne K going on. This match is horrible. I can't work out who should be more ashamed of their performance.

Wow, an actual proactive, positive point from Anne.

Ah, I'm remembering why for about six years Stosur was a laughingstock. She's lost her first service game against the not-as-fat-as-used-to-be Kaia Kanepi. Seriously, she's such a slow starter, no wonder she lost so often before she was able to deploy weapons to keep in the game.

Which is the more feeble - Vong's second serve or Rodio's temperament?

This game has contained about 8570484 deuces and maybe one winner.

This game is so bloody awful it needs to go up a few notches to find the bottom of the barrel.

lolololololol Rodionova wins it FINALLY on a dead net cord.

That game couldn't have ended any other way

My money was on a double - first serve long, second a triple.

Christ! That last forehand!

No worsed than any of the previous 23867, surely?

And it ends with a FH halfway up the net from Anne. 4-0 to 4-6. SMH.

And she's through. TFFT.

Maybe, in addition to restricting wildcards to the top 250 men, the AELTC/LTA should've just barred all the British women as a matter of principle, even if they had direct entry. Talk about pissing it away.

On top of Baltacha losing from 6-2, 5-3 up yesterday (in some ways that was even worse, because Baltacha actually looked completely dominant right up until she served for it, and then collapsed, whereas this was just a scrappy affair from both players).

lol stosur down a set and a break. I know she's not very good on grass but seriously...

Oh look, Sam's worked out that when your opponent is fat, that's when it is a GOOD idea to try drop-shots.

Dear Sam: When your opponent is winning 90% of points on their first serve, why didn't you, you know, stand BACK A LITTLE BIT. Who do you think you are, Mirjana Lucic?

Nishikori's quite good. Wish I'd seen more of him in my tennis-spectating career.

Nishikori is great, and I'm sure you'll see a lot more of him. There are some terrific Youtube clips of his epic five-set win over Ferrer at the USO a couple of years ago, and his win over Blake to get his first title in Delray Beach (particularly entertaining is when he fakes Blake out by pretending he's going to hit a drop shot, only to poke a forehand slice pass past him). I LOVE his jumping forehand. Such a pity he got that elbow injury that kept him out so long - definitely hope it hasn't stalled his development too much.

Oprandi/Watson is a very watchable match - Oprandi has such a unique style, her feel for the ball is so intuitive and natural. She was a standout junior, reached the top 50 in 2006 (iirc), but then took a few years off to, by all accounts, be a bit of a party girl. And now she's back. Her creativity and touch remind me a lot of Schnyder, and she seems so lackadaisical when she ambles around the court between points.

Watson is pretty good as well! First time I've seen her and she's actually impressing me quite a bit with her court instincts.

Yeah never seen her play before either and she seems pretty good. I like her already for that interview after she won junior USO where she talked about her love for Delpo. My kind of girl. :)

Watson: I think playing someone like Oprandi, who's not going to overpower you, maybe flatters her and masks her own lack of power, but I absolutely love the way she's gotten herself into this match: you can almost see her thinking her way into it, working out Oprandi's vulnerabilities and playing accordingly, and she's really run away with this second set. (LOL at Oprandi tanking the last game though - three aces for Watson!) Watson also has a terrific mentality - hasn't got down herself once, no whining or yelling or shrieking or crying, and she's patiently dug herself out of several potential holes. Very mature play. And I don't think I've seen her blow a single putaway, even though her lack of overwhelming firepower means she has to hit several more shots to win a point. She does get caught between being passive and aggressive sometimes though.

Anyway, she's basically been in Robson's shadow for her entire junior career (and you can see why: Robson's younger, had better results, has a more obviously impressive game with her must-hit-winner-now cavewoman mentality as opposed to Watson's patient point construction). And is probably destined to do so in the seniors. I've felt bad for Watson because of this, but watching her I think it's probably more of a benefit - far less attention and pressure on her.

Maria's first match was ok. Only 51% first serves in is not gonna do it against favourites, but 94% first serves won is about where she needs to be against a player like Pivovarova.

Just caught the last game of Watson/Oprandi - lovely gutsy shot from Watson to save one of the match points, shame about the other one.

Ugh telly showing Tim Henman in the commentary box, I think he's wearing a Global Hypercolour shirt.

yeah from 0-2 in the third Oprandi was basically on fire for four games, and that was close enough to the finishing line for her to close it out. (Unlike Keothavong, aargh.)

Soderling is apparently worried about treading on a butterfly.

Verdasco a set and 2 breaks down against Fognini, unforced errors all over the shop. Fognini reminds me of someone off Hollyoaks but I can't remember who.

Watching Lucic play for the first time in a decade. Really glad her match ended up on Centre after its scheduled matches finished early - must be pretty emotional for her after everything she's been through.

I just shouted "COME ON!" in tandem with her!

Also? This match is on Centre Court. One of the biggest stories of R1 regardless of how Lucic performs. And yet it isn't being televised (who the FUCK wants to watch Mahut and Isner serve at each other for five sets) or even streaming on the BBC site. I'm having to find a pirate stream - which is obviously a BBC stream as it's got the BBC commentators, but which the BBC isn't actually transmitting! Why why why why why is this the case.

today was so amazing, had never been before, saw a lot of tennis and worked pretty hard. interviewed kournikova/hingis early on and then one of our pieces fell through so lots of waiting and stuff. also got to help produce a live on the roof of the broadcast centre, so crazy. such an amazing buzz and sense of occasion around...

glad you enjoyed!! i guess it was the ivanovic piece that fell through with her 1R loss?

btw, everyone needs to watch this shot - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8754532.stm - O_O

(also i'm going tomorrow now, not today - decided that outside court moseying prob wouldn't be affected by the queen, tho if it is expect a few more waves of hatred emanating from this direction)

Is getting in to outside courts generally easy peasy?

yeah - I always start queueing from 8/8/30ish, get into the grounds around 10.30/11ish and then just spend the rest of the day moseying around the outside courts depending on who I want to see/where there are seats. Towards the end of the day it's worth seeing if you can get into CC or No 1, the stewards are usually really nice and early departers often leave free seats available.

(you might have to queue/get your seat early for the outside show courts like 12 and...whatever the other one is these days, they always used to be 13 and 18. tbh if the queue's long I usually don't bother, even if it's a match I want to see - there's plenty of tennis elsewhere and the day (and LIFE) is too short to spend in queues.)

My experiences with queueing over the years has been variable. The first time I went in 1987, I joined the queue around 9:30am but didn't get in until mid-afternoon. Two years later I took the sleeper train down from Liverpool, joining the queue at 7am and got in for start-of-play no problem (in fact, I bought tickets for court 2, watching an hour of Chang-Agenor, before giving it away and wandering around the grounds).

In later years, when work commitments usually meant going in the evening, I sometimes got in (1998 and 2000, saw loads 6-9:30pm), sometimes gave up (2003-04 - insane queues snaking all the way round the car park).

I've been on Centre Court once - £3 resale tickets and the last four games of Enqvist-Cink in 2000!

Is it worth trying to go after work in week 2? I thought it might be fun to see those senior matches, but would they be on during the afternoon.

maybe I should just remember to take a day off for week one next year.

Alicia, you know I love you to bits but these days you are as slow as a wet week.

And you've developed an annoying habit of dropping sets to utter nobodies like Greta Arn of Hungary.

Am I reading this right? Roddick has dropped a set to Llodra?

Am I reading this right? Llodra is being coached by Amelie Mauresmo?

Ivan Ljubicic on finding a naked Llodra in his locker: "He was looking at me, I was looking at him. I said, 'What the hell are you doing here?'. He (Llodra) said to me, 'I'm trying to get positive energy from you. You're winning a lot of matches this year'. The locker, it's not a big locker, it's a small locker. It's not easy to get in that locker, I'm telling you. He is not a small guy but very flexible. Very, very flexible."

Bloody Slam Tracker has been frozen on match point for Molik-Arn for the last 40 minutes. Had to go to Foxtel 513 to get the result, which was as I suspected - Arn in straight sets, failing to serve to stay in both times.

Now watching Clijsters v Every Sprem Is Sacred - Clij well on top.

Jebus, Isner and Mahut are 14-14 in the 5th.

have banned self from watching this today as have TOO MUCH WORK. happily Isner/Mahut is the kind of epic I can live without. Serve, serve, serve, zzz.

Bah, no Roddick upset :( Apparently when Llodra won Eastbourne last week and thanked Mauresmo in his speech, the mention of her name drew rapturous applause from the crowd.

They're STILL going. 17-18 now, don't even think they're bothering to return each others serve.

104 aces in that Isner-Mahut match now. I wonder if that's the aggregate world record? I know Karlovic hit 78 in a Davis Cup tie recently.

eesh, how long has this match been going?

Millennia.

I am sure. Last year's final was Sisyphean to watch, I can't imagine how anyone stupid enough to have watched all of this must feel.

They're about to edge past the record for the longest men's singles (Witsken-Holmes, 1989 - 5hr28min). This may well be the longest final set ever too.

Longest men's singles at Wimb, that is. There have been 6hr+ matches at Roland Garros and in Davis Cup.

Mahut/Isner is currently at 25/25

lol

jeez. i went out for a run when it was 12-12 and it's still going on.

de bakker/giraldo at 11-11 as well, again suspended from yesterday :o

haha I have this on SlamTracker and it seems that they keep winning each service game at love...?

also: Mahut won his second qualy match 24-22 in the third (over Bogdanovic, lulz) and his third qualy match 6-4 in the fifth. what an insane tournament for him.

I find John Isner weirdly sexual.

both playing on the assumption that the other's eventually gonna tear a shoulder serving, I think.

in Mahut's favour, he's fitter; in Isner's favour, he's serving first. in ordinary circumstances I don't think I'd pay this match the slightest bit of attention but...

Isner has a doubles match later, lol

and has to play tomorrow (if he wins) :o

I suspect his partner won't hold it against him if he withdraws from the doubles (and if it's Querrey, he owes Isner one after he wimped out of RG)

We're past the magic six-hour mark. Need to get McEnroe in the commentary box to offer some insight here - he's played two six-hour matches (vs Wilander Davis Cup '82, vs Becker Davis Cup '87). And he didn't get to have a sleep break in the middle.

Looking at the slamtracker stats - both at >83% 1st serve points won, only one break point converted each (Mahut's only had one break point!) - looks like a match without end

lol men's tennis

May as well crib these from Wiki so we can refer to them later...

* Longest match: At the 2004 French Open, Fabrice Santoro took 6 hours, 33 minutes to defeat Arnaud Clément 6–4, 6–3, 6–7(5), 3–6, 16–14.[1]
* Longest women's match: In 1984, Vicki Nelson took 6 hours, 31 minutes to defeat Jean Hepner 6–4, 7–6(11). The match featured a 29-minute, 643-shot rally, the longest in professional tennis history.[2]
* Longest match completed in a single day: The Nelson–Hepner match above remains the longest to be completed within a single day. The 2004 Santoro–Clément match was suspended by darkness in the fifth set with 4:38 elapsed, and completed the following day.[2]
* Longest doubles match: In a 2002 Davis Cup semifinal tie, Lucas Arnold/David Nalbandian defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov/Marat Safin in 6 hours, 20 minutes 6–4, 6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 19–17.[3][4]
* Longest unofficial professional match: On 25 February 2009, Chris Eaton defeated James Ward in a play off match to represent the United Kingdom in Davis Cup. Eaton won the match 6–3, 6–2, 6–7(3), 2–6, 21–19 in 6 hours and 40 minutes. If the match had been recognized by the ATP it would have officially been the longest match played by seven minutes.[5]

The match featured a 29-minute, 643-shot rally, the longest in professional tennis history

ridic

ah, De Bakker's just won the other epic 16-14. weird to think that will actually be a benefit to him considering his opponent will be one of these two.

Ha ha - hadn't even looked at the draw!

that Nelson - Hepner, match, I can't even imagine.

when you see

2 30
2 30

on a scoreboard you tend to think it's the 5th game of the 1st set :)

Gotta leave now. If it's still going when I get home we should organise some kind of sniper.

Do you get more challenges in the 5th once it gets past 6-6?

You get one more each. I guess you get another one at 12-12, 18-18, 24-24, 30-30, jeeeezus....

vaguely wondered whether it'd finish while i was in the shower. of course not.

we're at the longest match ever point by now, surely?

O_o 400 minutes!

ooooooooh.

ok match points Isner

lol, both saved

they were just fooling, we're here for another hundred games.

that was the 111th game of the match

33-33!!!!

ARGH

I am confident that that was the first time I've ever seen 40 40 and for a second thought it was the number of games.

there's no way Isner is making his doubles match today, right

the ump had better enjoy this moment, where he gets to say things like "33 games all"

UHHHH Fed has lost the second set against BOZOLJAC?!?!

I now can't stop watching this. It's horrifying. It feels like this is it, this is my life now.

he should say deuce when it's 40 all

and ok, Isner pegged back to deuce after being up 40-0 on his serve...

lolllll

Mahut missed a huge chance on that deuce point

ppl just laughing @ "35 games all"

I'm hungry, I have work to do, I hate this match, and yet cannot turn away.

Settling in to watch the end (?) of this over lunch.

Commentator just said 'this is tennis of the highest quality'. WHAT

this is probably the middle of the match, ned

the commentators were bigging up the final last year when we all wanted to kill ourselves by 10-10, too

this is ludicrous, I wish I was actually watching it and not just following scores

Does anyone know whether the umpire's been for a piss yet?

xp haha lex you are almost certainly right.

Dan, watching this is the live sports version of _Waiting for Godot_ in terms of plot, if not wit.

Does anyone know whether the umpire's been for a piss yet?

i was just thinking that! he is a CAMEL.

also, if you're in the audience, going for a piss => losing your seat. though tbh that might count as merciful relief.

80 aces rofl!!

I give up. I am going to the pub.

I cannot believe this is 38-39

Fair play to Mahut keep holding his serve to stay in the match. I'd have said fuck it a long long time ago.

And I'm generally speaking a pretty competitive person

yeah, one of the the many, many differences between me and professional athletes is that I could not be fucking bothered with this.

Updated

Time

Longest match ever: The Wimbledon 2010 first round match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner on the 23rd of June, 2010 (in progress): 38-39 in the fifth set after 7hrs 14mins and still playing.
Longest women's match: In 1984, Vicki Nelson took 6 hours, 31 minutes to defeat Jean Hepner 6–4, 7–6(11). The match featured a 29-minute, 643-shot rally, the longest in professional tennis history.[1]
Longest match completed in a single day: The Nelson–Hepner match above remains the longest to be completed within a single day. The 2010 Mahut-Isner match was suspended by darkness after the fourth set (2hrs 54mins played) and continued the following day.
Longest doubles match: In a 2002 Davis Cup semifinal tie, Lucas Arnold/David Nalbandian defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov/Marat Safin in 6 hours, 20 minutes 6–4, 6–4, 5–7, 3–6, 19–17.[2][3]

Games

Most games in match ever: The Wimbledon 2010 first-round match between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner (123 or more games) (In Progress).
Most games in a doubles match before the introduction of the tiebreaker: In the American Zone Final of the 1973 Davis Cup, the United States team of Stan Smith and Erik Van Dillen took 122 games to defeat the Chile team of Patricio Cornejo and Jaime Fillol 7–9, 37–39, 8–6, 6–1, 6–3.[citation needed]
Most games in a doubles match after the introduction of the tiebreaker: In 2007 at Wimbledon, the team of Marcelo Melo and André Sá took 102 games to defeat the team of Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett 5–7, 7–6(4), 4–6, 7–6(7), 28–26.[citation needed]

this is making my head hurt.

How much daylight is left?

At least another 75 minutes.

It's never gonna end, is it? Actually Isner looks like he doesn't even try in Mahut's serve games.. some time soon (?) his own serve is gonna go as well.

http://espn.go.com/espn3/player?id=6367&league=Wimbledon

If you aren't watching already.

thing is, I thought Isner looked fatigued...at like 25-25. they're both still holding really comfortably. I'm really not sure how!

at some point someone's arm will fall off, right

someone's tennis whites will become too dingy over time and he will be disqualified making the cleaner of the two the victor, who will then lose in second round to someone who can return serve

I wonder if this will be the end of go-the-distance final sets at Wimbledon. I mean, it's special and historic and insane and all that, but ultimately it's not fair on either player.

and tbh its pretty boring tennis.

ugh isner is so hot

with these 6'10" types, my mind always turns to wondering about the size of his cock

announcer re isner: "he's got a weapon any player would be proud of"

heh heh

hilarious that she said that just as you two were posting re the hotness

mmhmmmm

with these 6'10" types, my mind always turns to wondering about the size of his cock

Strangely enough the same topic came up in conversation at work during the England game about Peter Crouch.

do taller folks have bigger willies?

― lolvezula (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 23 June 2010 19:21 (14 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol meant to be in wimbledon thread

― lolvezula (a hoy hoy), Wednesday, 23 June 2010 19:21 (0 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i've always thought this to be somewhat true

I finished work when it was 31-30, got a train home, went shopping and cooked dinner and they're still at it!

Mahut has served to stay in the match about 40 times lol

jesus fuckin christ i went out 2 hrs ago when it was 30-30

lol a hoy hoy what thread did you accidentally post that in

This is ridiculous, it's like one of those dance marathons in the 1930s.

for a big man he's got very soft hands, *swoon*.

It has to be an injury that ends this. Or loss of condition so bad that one of them can no longer toss the ball up without cramping. Nice Isner drop-shot just now...but it's 40/15 and probably about to be 47-47 all.

I'm sure there's a 49-47 in the record books somewhere, possibly involving a Brit in the late days of the pre-Open pro tour, on polished wooden indoor surfaces where it was impossible to return. But I can't look it up because I have to put the kids to bed.

91 aces.

isener's piiiiissed

48-48

Sweta is live-tweeting this, completely unintelligibly! The cherry on the cake http://twitter.com/SvetlanaK27

ahhhahahahahahahahahahaha

is "deam" supposed to mean "damn"

Is this tantric tennis?

yes and yes

I don't know where Sweta gets any of her spellings from. They're not even phonetic.

The scoreboard has expired!

I mean really.

50-50

Mahut leads 401 points to 381

break points!

he's 100% in his 1 break point so far

bah 1/2

SAVEd

lol deuce

pfft

please let this continue into tomorrow

khryst

commentators (ESPN) are slowly but steadily going insane

SvetlanaK27

can u imagine thay play this match untill the end of wimbledone???lolo never will finish
6 minutes ago via web

lolo

This set is two minutes away from its sixth hour.

what i would GIVE to be able to listen to the commentators right now

That game will hurt Mahut, Isner to break and win. Or not.

IBM SlamTracker has rolled over. Has Isner up 1-0.

isner's got 2 win this, just not sure when

sometime in week 2

That game will hurt Mahut, Isner to break and win. Or not.

― this is gonna get messi (onimo), Wednesday, June 23, 2010 7:03 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

...not :/

A six hour set!

that shot looked in

I think they should just toss a coin.

lol Mahut lob there didn't reach the net.

love to see isner eating that banana

sorry that was out of line

I don't suppose there's a contingency plan if this NEVER ENDS (or something roughly equating to that), is there? Just let them both go through as a tag team?

this is kind of

http://www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/bild.jpg

u would ask isner how many aces did u do max in the match.... and he would say over 100 isnt it funny?! how many bananas did u eat??over 20)

lolo

i don't know about that necklace on mahut

lol at that fall!

lolo Slamtracker now says this match has gone on for 174 minutes

yes they may be agree for a tie-breaker when its 50-50 but maybe one of them dont want to play it and wants to make it long!!!lol
8 minutes ago via web

sweta...i think they would both want to play it.

This set longer than any match ever played at Wimbledon. I'm supporting Mahut - you can keep your sordid lank-Yank fantasies to yrself.

54-53.

u guys, ppl are like putting on sweaters

both of these guys are going to end up with one swollen, enormous arm a la Hellboy

Another 12min and this set exceeds the old match duration record. Loose groundies from Mahut there...Isner is two points away.

TWO POINTS

THE RIGHT HAND OF 'DON

if this hits 60-60 do you think they'll start crying

Isner has looked knackered for about 20 games, keep expecting him to fold then he hits another 140mph ace.

Did Svetlana give up? Come on!

lolo this match has now lasted longer than Serena was on court for her entire 2009 tournament

I can't get over the number of times Mahut has had to face the pressure of serving to stay in the match - like every 5 minutes for the last 5 hours lolo

yah isner looks like he's about to die

. . . in your arms tonight

woijpoasdkjfal;sjfasdlfkj

omg great shot from isner

55-55

draw written all over it

Another 12min and this set exceeds the old match duration record.

Michael, which match are you referring to as wiki and google suggest it was 6hrs 33?

Yes, that's the one I meant. This set is now longer than that Clement-Santoro match.

Ah right, I'm with you now.

i remember when the commentators mooted that possibility, and it was still quite a distant one!

looking forward to back-to-back breaks

Lot of laughter in the crowd.

omg he's crying

It's ridiculous how fresher and more mobile Mahut is. But it doesn't matter when the Isner machine keeps popping out the service winners. There's no way Isner can play tomorrow if he wins.

It's not just tiredness, their feet must be killing them.

They both probably know and accept their tournament is over and now it's all about being the guy who doesn't lose the longest match in the world.

They both probably know and accept their tournament is over and now it's all about being the guy who doesn't lose the longest match in the world.

looooooooooool

Woman in crowd: "Eye of the Tiger, John!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4

dude needs to pummel this return

...nope.

service hold shocker

what the fuuuuck

lol 10 hours

two hours ago i was like, this is boring

kind of in the groove now

"comfort break"

i'd prefer a service break AMIRITE?!

that dive wasnt actually v close tbh

lol ace again as he looks dead

Loved the little kid setting the racket in front of Mahut as he laid face down on the grass.

One thing this match could really use is vuvuzelas.

lol I said that on twitter when it was 34-34.

another darkness delay?

match point!

!!!!

match point isner!

lolo

ACE!

haha

! what a serve

hahaha

this fucking match

Continue to be impressed with this audience for still being so loud, so present.

think everyone's delirious at this point, including the umpire

59 all.

dude i'm telling you darkness

"Infinite Jest"

Can't believe the crowd are booing.

" we want more"

i want to play but ive chosen darkness

back tomorrow!

hahaha come back tomorrow for another 9 hours!

(Isner to win in 5 minutes)

Which one isn't going to make it to the court tomorrow?

looooooooooool

The French, always with the quitting.

wimbledon crowd chanting "we want more". great bunch of lads.

lol i love how totally fed up john is

ridiculous

isner looks like a broken man, probably doesn't even like tennis any more

i'm surprised mahut was the one who wanted to quit when isner looked like he was on the verge of collapse!

can't believe they had to be interviewed after that :/

Mahut was saying he wanted to play on, right?

no isner was

Continue to be impressed with this audience for still being so loud, so present.

i just found out about this and what

the

fuck

lol there's still another match going on, istomin is 5-1 up in the 5th over schuettler. such small numbers!

This has redefined the marathon five-setter to such a degree I'm not even going to pay attention until, like, 18-18 in future. Remember the banter on the 2003 Aussie Open thread during the Roddick-El Aynaoui QF? We wouldn't even bother now.

Jocular comment on betfair tennis forum about 2:30 pm today:

"i'll watch the end of this on friday "

Incredible. Massive respect for both Isner & Mahut.

ridiculous

isner looks like a broken man, probably doesn't even like tennis any more

― hi bianca :x (cozen), Wednesday, June 23, 2010 8:15 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark

OTM and lol

I plead guilty to never having heard of either of these guys before, btw.

I'm sure Isner has bored me to death at some point in the past before, but I know Mahut's name well and feel I've seen him a lot, looking at his record I'm really not sure when this could've been.

The Guardian's live blogger had some good fun with the mental breakdown this match induced: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/23/wimbledon-2010-tennis-live

I saw this on twitter and thought it was a joke. I'm pooped when I play just 2 sets. Can't imagine how they are going to feel.

I mean, holy shit that's crazy. Fuck a world cup.

Just caught McEnroe ranting about how rules might change because of this, but its such a one-off.

Must've been bored out of his skull.

man that was so amazing and weird...that court is right below the broadcast centre so i got to see a lot of that game. it was so weird watching it, going to do one of our stories/interviews, then coming back and the score being another 10 games each. had to leave out of sheer exhaustion (as lame as that sounds compared to the two players) about 8 and got home around 9ish to see it was still going. the atmosphere was amazing around that court...also was standing right beside stan smith. back in my office now till next tues and weds but man...easily best two days of my working life, so cool to be part of something like wimbledon.

brad gilbert's twitter: And I cant believe the winner of this match is going to have to play De Bakker, who only finished 16-14 in the 5th

really enjoyed that Guardian live blog :)

"9.25pm: Last thoughts before I ring me a hearse."

when does this mess start up again?

Third game on court 18 this afternoon. Probably about the back of 3?

Mahut-Isner is third on court #18 (two WS first), but not before 3:30pm.

xp

two would smash first?

oh womens singles. interchanagable at times tho.

Murray saves a bunch of break points in the first game, then breaks Nieminen in the second. Looks like this match could turn out pretty alright.

http://twitter.com/JohnIsnerTennis

feels like a million bucks!!!
about 3 hours ago via web

..... in quarters :)
about 2 hours ago via web

haha. Anything better than dead and we can still trust him to bang in ace after ace, though.

not a great tip on Murray - Nieminen from me, Murray playing v. well and killing it on the serve, pretty much strolling through.

ahahahahahahahahahaha @ that twitter

saw much of this yesterday. transcended tennis, approached Hemingway

In terms of breaking records it was Beaman like

you mean Beamon hasn't landed yet?

did John McEnroe just say he's friends with Kid Rock?

Amazed that Sharapova hasn't bottled it so far given her awful recent slam record.

actually yeah it pretty much was the sporting equivalent of Clarissa by Samuel Richardson, a 1500-page novel made entirely out of sent missives

ooh, somebody went to college

An EPISTOLARY novel then - no college, just wiki

Grauniad "sportswriter" ahoy

I 'accidentally' taped over my mum's video of the BBC adaption of Clarissa with an episode of Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer.

The Match That Will Not End is starting soon! They're warming up now.

Over in 15 I bet.

Hours. Not minutes.

I guess they'll go up to 65 and then retire (bdm-tsch)

Grauniad "sportswriter" ahoy

― I am utterly and abjectly pissed off with this little lot (Tom D.), Thursday, 24 June 2010 14:59 (39 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I wish. That fella off Mock The Week gets paid to talk shit about Arsenal and nothing else!

kat it's 66 now :(

who will win?

I say Isner

100th Ace lol

mahut is packing some srs abs

At 60-60, Mahut had won 16 more points in the 5th set than Isner - so he's certainly threatened a bit more (though Isner's had more break points). But maybe 16pts is neither here nor there after 7 hours.

Slamtracker doesn't seem to be updating very well.

100 aces each now.

UGH are they not live streaming anywhere????!!!! someone give me a link please

its on espn3.com but only if your isp supports it.

here surm

ok couldn't find it on espn at first but i got it PHEW

im sure you have another few hours to find it as it will still be going

lol

Its cloudy in London today so they only have a couple of hours to play before they get offered the light again.

you guys honestly tho?

Mahut seems stronger off of the groundstrokes. But Isner seems to pull out an ace whenever he needs one (i.e. down 15-30).

This is incredible/fascinating/excruciating.

you guys honestly tho?

― so sick of the fucking V8 commercials (surm), Thursday, 24 June 2010 16:23 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

you still need help finding a stream? i can search if you r lacking ramz

no no i'm just in shock

thx tho =)

Good time to break here - 67-69 has a nice best-of-Scott-Walker ring to it. Well, we don't want to go into Climate/Tilt era.

Ok, 68-70 is a sort of golden Ball-Kendall-Harvey era. I'll go for that.

oh shit

isner's service face is hilar

Gah, the BBC stream appears to be looping - about 3min behind live now!

Dudes in the crowd, stop farting around on your phone at 68-69, 30-30. People want to watch this and you don't?

adsfl;jkaw;ljkas;lfjkas;lfjkasd;flkasjl; kjasdl;fj a;slkfj it's over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn, just when I was getting into it :(

It's Mahut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ISNER WOW

he better take off his shirt

who wants rafa vs fed 70-70 in the 5th set in the final?

I feel like there is a void in my life now :-(

How did he win it?

What's going on, guy in my office just told me Mahut won

best day for sport ever.

Ah, it was Isner. Och, I always knew he'd win it, piece o' piss.

How did he win it?

― "holiday season u shrimps!" (HI DERE), Thursday, June 24, 2010 4:50 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

beautiful backhind winner down the line

mahut was at net

ah I knew I should have stayed home until the match ended

This presentation lol poor Mahut just wants to crawl into a corner.

Haha, John Isner looks like he would cheerfully punch John Inverdale in the face.

I think that goes for most of us

Haha, John Isner looks like he would cheerfully punch John Inverdale in the face.

― ailsa, Thursday, June 24, 2010 4:57 PM (43 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

LOL otm. Isner's cheerful no-bullshit attitude is awes

Does he have to go and play his doubles match now?

Inverdale doesn't even know what round that was.

Wrong shaped balls innit

Well, they played four/five rounds' worth of tennis.

he should not have to play doubles right now, are u kidding

;_; so wanted 100-all

lol nah this was about right maybe

He should have wrapped it up a bit sooner then, eh?

xpost

68-70 "Van de Graaf Geneator, The Early Years"

The Least We Can Do Is Serve To Each Other

Aerosol Tennis Ball Serving Machine

I just realised I'm going to go into serious cold-turkey now and not be able to watch Wimbledon again for a while - MORE REMARKABLE EVENTS PLZ

Like maybe an entertaining Women's Singles final?

don't be fucking ridiculous

yeah women cant play sports, are u kidding

It's kinda weird that there are other tennis matches going on. It feels wrong somehow.

exactly billy - it's just not the same. or it doesn't feel the same.

st3ph3n that is exactly what I said yeah well done truly excellent zing-work

WAU you are the first person to ever Google-proof my first name!

Good job too, there are no other 5t3ph3n5 on the internet.

it's a mere courtesy

A courtesy you do not extend to poor M4rk R0n50n :)

^ there speaks a man aware of the need to googleproof

xpost

I mean, Rafa loses the first set and I'm like, "Meh." Let me know when it's 22-all in the fifth, Rafa.

I'd offer Mark Ronson such courtesy if he wasn't a dude whose face I'd happily use as a bidet

Today was going so well, and now I have a really horrible image in my head. Thanks, dude :-(

I am not sure you understand how bidets work

unless you do actually mean you want Mark Ronson to spit water up your asscrack and taint

his TEARS, dude

his tears

...

so you want Mark Ronson to cry into your ass...?

I am not sure you've thought this through

although to be fair the bidet at home has been used for nothing but toilet-literature shelving for as long as I can remember, so I'd probably just perch a book of facts on his head or accidentally spray him while going for the morning whizz

irl lolz aplenty, omg

Well, my world view is changed anew.

@DamonLindelof I found the ending of Isner/Mahut satisfying, but wish they had answered more questions.

my band is gonna be called Isner/Mahut btw

I decided that earlier while on the train, btw, not just now

how can you not use a bidet if you have one?? they are the greatest things ever

isner press conference. this guy

his hand is bigger than this head

ok I just saw a point from Haase that has gotten me over Isner/Mahut :)

(sort of)

Awwwww Rafa....those last two games :0

I don't like Rafa very much, so this is continuing the day of awesome.

Beautiful winner at the net from Robin there.

That's more like it. Rafa 3-0 up in the fourth.

I think Rafa is moving into top gear now - am sorry that I have to tear myself away from this and go and buy a pizza from Sainsburys :(

Yeah, was nice while it lasted. Makes for exciting game though, would love this to go 69-71 and steal Isner's thunder.

Worth a RT from the BBC live blog:
@mizwatson92 "Met the Queen... Met Common! Life jus can't get any better :D

After all that Isnhut serving it's so lovely to see a RALLY at last. Though poor old Haase is apparently injured and has just DFed to give Rafa 3 match points.

Hang on I was looking at the wrong column.

*now* Rafa has three match points.

How many 5-setters have we had so far this tournament now? Every other match seems to be ending in a double figure set.

Chakvetadze looks like she's about to cry.

How long did that take Serena? 45 minutes?

Basically. Really scary amazing form so far from her.

Court 18 haha:

A Clement FRA / N Mahut FRA 00 4
C Fleming GBR /K Skupski GBR 00 5

obv hero imo

Has he got squatters' rights on court 18 yet?

man I love that Isner stuff. UGA grads unite! woof woof woof woof woof woof

I can't believe Mahut went back out for doubles.

had such a great day, report to come if I ever recover. Saw the last few games of That Match on the hill; at 2.30, we'd been on court 19, where you can see court 18, and we heard the Pennetta/Niculescu match on 18 finish. Isner/Mahut weren't starting til 3.30 so there would be an empty court for an hour, but not one person on 18 moved.

this Wimbledon has a real dream-like, delirious quality to it. or maybe that's just the Pimms talking.

Amazed Nadal's match went to five sets.

And Murray is strolling at the mo.

so if Isner continues like this he might manage to set two records at the opposite ends of the spectrum from each other - from 70-68 in the 5th to 0-6 0-6 0-6 :/

God Isner is getting smacked. Just has absolutely nothing, physically. Tough to watch.

Also being smacked: Nadia Petrova. But it's to Henin, so who's surprised? Justine has played one loose game so far with some dodgy forehands, but a couple of really artful ones, gorgeous winners of both wings, cleverly angled returns of serve... Petrova isn't playing badly but Henin has ESP as to where she's going to serve or bash the ball.

Can't get the BBC streams to work at all today - I mean, they're just not where I'd expect them to be (where the live text commentary is). I can watch BBC2 live via an iPlayer link, but that's not what I'm after. Anyone else experiencing this?

Oh well, back to work.

Guess what Nadezhda did serving at 1-6, 4-5, 15-30 down! :D

Overall Henin/Petrova was a decent match. Henin started so quickly - up 4-1 after 15 minutes, and Petrova put up a better fight in the second set, only to then hit double-faults in her last service game. Too slow to start and serve didn't hit stride in time. Justine could win this.

x-post lol, there is women's tennis, and then there is Nadia Petrova

either two doubles faults or went on to win 1-6, 7-5, 6-0

xp

Lovely stuff, Bepa! Can you keep it up? Sorry, that was a jinx wasn't it.

Of course a double fault.

Only saw the last few games but Justine was terrific. Not getting my hopes up though. By now I know what happens when one has hopes or expectations concerning women's tennis.

Gooooooo Bepa.

Hewitt vs Monfils! Epic match to see who Roger Rasheed has done the worst job on.

3 double faults in a row.. man alive.

and then 5 great serves to take the game anyway. Nutter

awww poor isner, you have to feel for the guy having to play so soon after.

Monfils = the only player who becomes more endearing when he's yelling at himself.

Oh god he is the most frustrating player to watch.

Good stuff from Bepa in the second set.

Zomg. The point at 2-2 00-30 in Hewitt/Monfils was sublime. Hewitt is actually playing really well. Serving nicely, using backhand slice intelligently. Not that he can win, and surely Federer wasn't at his best at Halle, but you can see why that upset happened.

x-post yay Bepa!

Kleybanova was up 3-1, 30-0 and then Venus won 8 straight points with stellar play. This could be a barnburner. I like Kleybanova's ridiculous ball-bashing and how she doesn't seem to be afraid of the moment. If she could only get fitter...

nevermind about the barnburner. It's amazing how brilliant Venus becomes at Wimbledon.

the end of that TB was so, so stupid from Monfils.

whoa, thought monfils was down and out at 1-4 down in the third, but he's clawed his way back to 4-4, and just won an AMAZING 30-30 point...

and now i am rolling my eyes so damn hard at him. DF on MP.

~Drama~ in the unlikeliest places, specifically Hanescu/Brands. Hanescu serves for it at two sets and *5-3 up, misses four match points over that game and the eventual TB, didn't see the first half of the fourth but from *3-4 down basically melts down. "Injuries", complaints to the umpire about the crowd (he accused someone of saying something about the injuries?), a code violation for swearing at the crowd, tanking the *0-2 in the 5th game by deliberately foot faulting (standing on the baseline!), quits at 0-3.

Bepa was again the star of her mixed doubles match :)

Says he spat at a fan on radio

It really doesn't seem like something Hanescu would do, so maybe he felt provoked (though no excuse, still). Apparently four fans were arrested at the same court for disorderly contact.

yeah, it was spitting not swearing - didn't catch what happened and didn't assume it'd be something so gross. wonder what they were saying to him.

They showed it twice on the highlights show, just so Tracy Austin could be grossed out all over again, and, yes, he spat into, or in the general direction of, the crowd. It's not exactly Jeff Tarango but I somehow doubt Hanescu will be playing Wimb 2011.

Just seen it for the first time. He did spit in the direction of the crowd but there was no way it was gonna actually reach the crowd. I think it was a gesture of obvious contempt but he knew it wouldn't like *land* on someone.

Look! It's the Rad Wanksta vs Unforced Errani. Already three exquisite drop-shots from Aggie. I was going to say, why don't more players do them, then I remembered that they DO and never at the right time and never in the right way. Radwanska, though, has the best drop-shot since Hingis.

Unforced Errani

Uvavu!
http://i3.ytimg.com/vi/N64wtSv0hXk/default.jpg

Did Errani always make a sound like a goose in the process of being beaten with a lump of wood?

Still not as bad as Azarenka, who should get pwned by Kvitova.

lol shot of Serena and Cibulkova talking and laughing while waiting to get on court, and Serena is like three heads taller

ooh and Davenport is commentating, which is nice.

Radwanska's dropshots are overrated... what a convoluted motion.

Okay, I see your point. A smart opponent can see them coming. But they are at least done at opportune times which makes this less of a problem. And how many other players who aren't Henin can even hit them properly?

Lol at Azarenka. From 5-5, she loses 8 games in a row to lose 5-7 0-6.

Azarenka was serving for the first set too, so I think she lost 9 in a row.

MariaJo can!

Yeah I glimpsed Vika being dominant and then checked back at the scoreboard later to see her suddenly having lost. What IS she doing at the moment.

Kvitova was really impressive when I saw her on Thu. Looked really comfortable on grass, looked like she'd got fitter, is able to actually play a degree of defence these days.

Ferrer/Chardy has been quite a match.

Wow. What a collapse from Chardy at the end. Failed to serve it out at 5-4, then at 5-6...two DFs, including on MP.

lol, Sharapova opens by getting broken by Zahlavova-Strycova. I don't think this is an upset in the making but it would obv be hilarious.

Sharapova at the net is one the funniest things in tennis. She's missed about four makeable volleys in the past few games. And Zahlavova-Strycova looks really agitated out there. You can tell they hate each other.

BZS always looks agitated. A reliable one for tantrums and emotional meltdowns <3

Another one to add to my "must always watch" list, then.

Much as I'd like to see an upset I'd also like to see a Serena-Sharapova matchup, because the way they've been playing it seems like it'd be another bloodbath.

I'm only watching this for BZS. I don't know how anyone can abide Sharapova and her intolerable noises.

I don't know how anyone can care that much about a grunt.

Love Sharapova. She's INTENSE.

Get your eyes tested BZS. On second thoughts don't cos you're providing some lols here.

Did she just smack herself in the head?

Reading the book on how to beat Sharapova in the breaks? Is that the new way around coaching? Can't say I've picked up anyone doing that before.

Though playing a good match v Nadal, Petzschner is hilarious to watch at the net. His actual shots are more than competent, but he seems to place himself in an ungainly fashion right in the centre making him a sitting duck to pass. He's returning Nadal's serve extremely well but not doing much in the rallies once he gets the advantage, and really, he's one or two flubbed cross-courts from being two sets to one up. As it is, still one each.

C'mon Masha.

Petzschner playing really well...huge FHs. I think Rafa is going to lose this :/

Must confess when I read Lex's predictions up thread about Rafa not making the 4th round I scoffed. Which only really goes to show that I don't know nearly enough about tennis, particularly outside the grand slams.

I would've taken that back if I'd redone my predictions after Gulbis withdrew :/

Petzschner was looking tired before Rafa's injury timeout, but since it he's just fallen off a cliff.

Yeah - his lovely BH slices have all but dried up :(

Women's round of 16 set:

(1) Serena Williams vs. (16) Maria Sharapova
(9) Na Li vs. (7) Agnieszka Radwanska
(3) Caroline Wozniacki vs. Petra Kvitova
Klara Zakopalova vs. (Q) Kaia Kanepi
(8) Kim Clijsters vs. (17) Justine Henin
(21) Vera Zvonareva vs. (4) Jelena Jankovic
Tsvetana Pironkova vs. (11) Marion Bartoli
Jarmila Groth vs. (2) Venus Williams

actually think the pick of those in terms of quality will be Bepa/Lady JaJa - they played some amazing matches at the end of 2008, their games seem to bring out the best in each other. Silliams will rout Shaz, maybe with another bagel set, and Justine/St Kim will just drive me insane.

PETZSCHNER SHIRT CHANGE :D

Oh shit that miss by Petzschner...there are no words.

I know you don't like football, Lex, but the only word for it is...Yakubu.

Yeah V-Zone vs Jankovic could be epic and probaby not healthy for Vera. Hope she wins it. Does she play both regular doubles and mixed doubles? Isn't her fragile health reason for restraint?

Beyond THE RED BUTTON, Barry Davies is commentating on Xavier Malisse.

Shot of the London Eye: BD starts to wonder - we can see them - can they see Wimbledon?

co-commentator: only if they have our telephoto lenses.

BD: embarrassed hilarity.

Mixed doubles is great fun.

Men's R16:

(1) Roger Federer vs. (16) Jurgen Melzer
(12) Tomas Berdych vs. Daniel Brands
(3) Novak Djokovic vs. (15) Lleyton Hewitt
Yen-Hsun Lu vs. (5) Andy Roddick
(32) Julien Benneteau vs. (10) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
(18) Sam Querrey vs. (4) Andy Murray
(6) Robin Soderling vs. (9) David Ferrer
Paul-Henri Mathieu vs. (2) Rafael Nadal

also, ugh @ Middle Sunday.

How the holy hell can Kaia Kanepi still be in the tournament?

And who is this Daniel Brands (and where did he hatch from)?

Yakubu, huh? Must have bee really awful.

How has Berdych been playing so far? Thinking its him and Djoko from the top half, and Murray-Sod from the bottom half to compete for a third time lucky slam final.

Wish I could see Clijsters - Henin.

haha Murray *takes big breath* 'I suppose I'd like to see Eng win'. Not sure I'm down with all aspects of this grown-up, professional Murray.

Daniel Brands is tall and hits big off both sides and has a big serve. Nearly knocked off Tsonga at RG a few weeks back. He is also hottt.

middle sunday sucks so much, esp when i work all damn day during the week and can only see the last half hour of each day >:(

How the holy hell can Kaia Kanepi still be in the tournament?

since she beat Justine in Fed Cup in April (albeit the day after Justine broke her little finger), Kaia's won 25 of 27 matches! (albeit many in qualifying/challengers, but still impressive after her extended slump last year)

Australian Open winner Jennifer Capriati has been rushed to hospital after a possible drug overdose according to entertainment website TMZ.

The American teen tennis-star suffered the alleged overdose at a Riviera Beach hotel this morning.

TMZ spoke to her father, who was quoted saying she was recovering well.

:(

:(

there was a story a couple of years ago where she seemed depressed, like really depressed, like sitting alone in a darkened room watching DVDs of her old matches all day depressed, about life post-tennis, so this sadly isn't much of a surprise.

omg!

Bepa off to a nice* start against JaJa! Love them both but it's crazypants Bepa I'm supporting.

*apart from the two consecutive DFs at 2-0, 40-0 up, but she closed the game out with an ace so it's ALL OKAY.

Has Venus got the shits?

GREAT first set from Bepa! Closed it out with an amazing running FH (she was virtually in the audience) and then an ace.

JaJa not even playing that badly, though double faulting on two separate break points was a bit rubbish.

Wow, Groth holding her own on the scoreboard, just tuned in.

Another DF on another BP from Jankovic :o

Venus is being very very lucky with the net cord here.

I'm seeing a tick against Zvonareva's name at 6-1 3-0...has Jankovic withdrawn?

(Sorry - too manic at work to have a stream on today...well, maybe later)