WIMBLEDON 2012

Draw will be out in an hour or so!

The Pliskova sisters both qualified - is this is the first time a pair of twins have both graced a Slam main draw?

I went to qualies the other day btw, had an amazing time - unsure why I have not done this before. Report at http://alexmacpherson.tumblr.com/post/25536657178/wimbledon-qualifying-report-20-6-12

Bob and Mike Bryan

Enjoyed your write-up! Slam qualies seem like such a nice event to watch, mini-dramas in many different corners before the big storylines have begun. Still haven't made it to Wimbledon ;\

Kim and Venus should make for some interesting early rounds.

I dare not even think about the amazing 1R possibilities b/c they probably won't happen. We could get 1st rounds between:

V.Williams-S.Williams (winner plays Pironkova)
A.Radwanska-U.Radwanska (after this happened AGAIN in Sydney they said they'd w/d in protest if they were drawn against each other in the 1R again)
K.Pliskova-K.Pliskova

And let's have K.Clijsters-M.Sharapova for the lulz.

And put all of them in the same quarter.

xp I meant in the singles draw...don't think the Bryan bros ever made it to a singles MD in a Slam

FED DJOKO
NADA MURRAY

Lex I enjoyed your qualifier report more than I have any tennis report from a national newspaper in the last 5 years!

Especially
Kristyna Pliskova d. Stefanie Voegele 46 64 63
Caught the last few games. KrisPlis is lethal from a static position; who knows what she’s like on the run because she doesn’t even try. Pretty poker-faced though, in contrast to an increasingly furious Voegele, who flung her racquet across the court after losing match point. KrisPlis is as slothful walking as she is playing tennis, when she left the court she slouched across it at a slug’s pace. I never want to end up walking behind her on a busy pavement.

I now CANNOT wait to see her play!

POTENTIAL ISNER-MAHUT 2R LOOOOOOOOOOOL

xp thanks! the Pliskova twins are ridiculously lazy

Hang on did Odesnik make the draw as a LL? And plays useless Phau? UGH

the Pliskovas also have some fairly horrible tattoos btw

http://img.blesk.cz/img/2/full/1200123-img-sport-tenis-pliskova-kristyna-karolina.jpg

CLIJSTERS VS JANKOVIC 1R LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

No new lows for you at this tournament Jelena ;_;

Jesus, these draws are TROLLING HARD. The Radwanska/Stosur quarter! This exists!

Pironkova/Sharapova 2R!
Venus/A-Rad 2R AGAIN!

Murray's first week draw: Davydenko, Karlovic, Anderson or Baghdatis or Dimitrov, Raonic or Cilic!

Tsonga/Hewitt 1R! Tomic/Goffin 1R!

Oh LOL Roddick can make himself useful for once - he gets Odesnik in the 2R and you KNOW he'll say something about that drugs cheat.

Kvitova/Silliams QF...I like that. My expectations for Petra are low anyway, but if Quarterena or her latter-day Serena Zvonareva re-emerges, a big win could revive her...

Murray is screwed.

I thought that at first and now I'm thinking hmmmmmmm it's one of those draws that makes you go OMG right off but I could see him getting through it, actually...

Elsewhere I note that the traditional St Kim deathbed injury on the eve of a Slam has occurred. I won't miss this come 2013.

Ha, Odesnik truly is a lucky loser*. (Not only the HGH importing thing, but there was that dodgy betting pattern surrounding his 1st-round loss at Wimbledon a couple of years ago too, right?)

(asterisk was there cos I was going to ask for clarification on how they choose the LLs - but it's just a draw of the 16 Roehampton-R3 losers, right? I thought there might be rankings or closeness of final contest in play (Odesnik got thumped in three in Roehampton R3, so not that).

there are - helpfully - different rules for picking LLs between the ATP/WTA/ITF.

WTA = highest-ranked Q3 loser
ATP = actually not sure
ITF (inc Slams) = used to be the same but you'd often find those players tanking their Q3 matches if they knew there was a LL spot, so now it's a draw of the four highest-ranked Q3 losers (I assume it's the same for men as women)

Misaki Doi got the women's LL, which I'm happy with. Defend those 3R points girl.

I think it should be the player who lost the tightest match! Though there were three matches in Q3 in the men's that went to 6-4 in the 5th, so maybe not...

Ah, just read about the Gimelstob-Bastl thing, Wimb Q3, 2005 (Gimelstob was carrying a back injury, was going to withdraw from his match vs Bastl; it was suggested that he played at least a game and then retire, still making him eligible - as the highest ranked played in the qualies - for a LL berth. Which is what happened, I think).

Yeah, it's stuff like that that triggered the rule change.

Tightest match is tempting but there are too many subjective variables (quality of opponent, fact that 6-3 and 6-4 can both just be one break etc). I'm fine with whatever, LLs aren't "meant" to be in the draw anyway so it's not as if anyone can "deserve" to be one.

erm. predix. erm. I have no ideaaaaaaaaa (for the women anyway)

Pironkova d. Martic
Clijsters d. Kerber
A.Radwanska d. Oudin
Li d. Doi
S.Williams d. Shvedova
Kvitova d. Zakopalova
Bartoli d. Kuznetsova
Azarenka d. Bondarenko

Clijsters d. Pironkova
Li d. A.Radwanska
S.Williams d. Kvitova
Bartoli d. Azarenka

Li d. Clijsters
S.Williams d. Bartoli

S.Williams d. Li

Djokovic d. Troicki
Berdych d. Gasquet
Federer d. Matosevic
Isner d. Nalbandian
Del Potro d. De Schepper
Murray d. Raonic
Wawrinka d. K.Beck
Nadal d. Paire

Djokovic d. Berdych
Federer d. Isner
Del Potro d. Murray
Nadal d. Wawrinka

Djokovic d. Federer
Nadal d. Del Potro

Djokovic d. Nadal

court 1 tickets for monday

praying praying praying that the tennis gods are kind to me and i don't get radwanska

i think i could potentially get nalbandian/tipsarevic, berdych/gulbis and either venus/vesnina or clijsters/jankovic, and any of these matches would be an absolute dream.

JUST NO FUCKING RADWANSKA

omfggggg nalbandian/tipsarevic, clijsters/jankovic and FEDERER! yes please! court 1 matches > centre court matches :D never seen federer play live. this is awesome.

hooray!

i forgot to apply for the ticket ballot but i'm checking ticketmaster's last minute tickets thing every now and then - http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/packages/wimbledon_2012.html - seems unlikely that i'll have any success, but ey i don't have anything better to do. is anyone else going? how is it if you turn up without a ticket?

i've never gone the tktmaster route - i queue up from 8.15am or so on the day, which is enough to get you grounds passes (not the main show courts obv, those are overnight jobs)

i intend to do that again this year, almost certainly friday weather pending, maybe tuesday too

4R

Hsieh d. Martic
Clijsters d. Makarova
V. Williams d. Oudin
Stosur d. Li
S. Williams d. Shvedova
Kvitova d. Zakopalova
Vinci d. Wozniacki
Azarenka d. Martinez Sanchez

QF

Hsieh d. Clijsters
V. Williams d. Stosur
Kvitova d. S. Williams
Vinci d. Azarenka

SF

V. Williams d. Hsieh
Kvitova d. Vinci

F

V. Williams d. Kvitova

4R

Djokovic d. Troicki
Gasquet d. Berdych
Federer d. Mathieu
Tipsarevic d. Seppi
Del Potro d. Roddick
Murray d. Cilic
Wawrinka d. Beck
Nadal d. Paire

QF

Djokovic d. Gasquet
Federer d. Tipsarevic
Murray d. Del Potro
Nadal d. Wawrinka

SF

Federer d. Djokovic
Nadal d. Murray

F

Federer d. Nadal

taking it back to '07 teehee

dude you are totally high if you think Venus is getting out of the third round if she's lucky

dude i picked hsieh and vinci as wimbledon SFists, so duh

Heh. Also Stosur will probably lose way earlier than the quarters. Murray might go out early and I'd say Tipsarevic is a dead man.

If Kvitova doesn't win then really only Li or Venus would make me happy as champs.

idk how Nalbandian will react tennis-wise to the controversy, could easily imagine him just wanting to get out swiftly, and Tipsarevic has been surprisingly consistent ever since his ascension into the top 10

Hsieh would make me happy as a champ

Gonna document my day here as I go along probz. Just saw nadal practicing. He sucks obvs. Thought he'd be hitting the ball harder. I guess the spin was pretty cool but I'd def beat him. Nicolas Mahut also just said sorry to me because he was trying to get past, so he's my new fave. He also almost definitely overheard me telling my brother I wasn't v impressed with nadal. Hopefully he relays the message. Can't be dealing with capital letters on my phone so excuse me for that.

:D

also, jelz

also, I am CHOOSING to watch the Radwanska match you were so eager to avoid

Pironkova and niculescu were practicing next to nadal but no1currd.

Kveta peschke is in lisicki's support box.

Also saw practising: raonic, ferrer, and llodra vs simon. Also fought the urge to yell at everyone around me trying to figure out who nadal was hitting with that hitting partners do exist

BOMBSHELL, Lisicki and Young have both managed to win sets

This match is sad, you can tell Rybarikova is in the middle of a protracted slump.

Haha Youzhny beats himself up - literally bashing himself on the chest with his racquet - and suddenly the comeback is on. 15 points in a row to take the second set.

Hey, look, Djokovic is already playing an error-strewn shit-fest. Down a break. STill, it's to Ferrero, who is 90 years old.

By the time I realised Nole was down a break, he wasn't any more.

JCF's facial hair is just NO.

Still looks like something off a Catholic frieze.

Venus down 0-4 to Vesnina...

LOLOLOLOLOL at what ensued from 5-0, 40-15. Obvious really.

Vesnina is definitely going to try to choke in the next game. But Venus just looks completely done physically.

Aw Venus :( Sad to think she might be done, especially since her fighting Sjogren's has surely won all but the most hard-hearted around to appreciating her. Didn't see any of it because TV was showing Hobak/Juanqui, and inexplicably flicking to just about every other American playing (Blake? WTF? Who cares?), except Venus. BAD TV.

Well, anyway, the day can be salvaged by Granollers losing, and Bemelmans winning, because his resemblance to Justine Henin is always good for a lol and if he makes the second round I might get to watch it.

Hsieh won :D

Not news, but Donald Young still really needs to grow up judging from his whining during the match and quotes after it. He also needs to stop with the facial hair and baggy clothes that make him look like an adolescent. You'd never guess he's 22.

Really good stuff from Tipsy btw. Fat Dave looked subdued but that was a reminder of why, in a tough section, Tipsy's the top 10 seed.

Llodracist out :)

Finally settling in a bit here. Suggest me a match to watch.

haha I popped out because there seemed to be a lull in popcorn matches when you posted that. Gulbis vs Berdych now, maybe?

Babos BELIEVE

Indebted to Babos there :D

Gulbis is a set and a break up on Berdman!

Golding/Andreev is one of the worst pro matches I've ever watched. Golding is a set up and his body language is so negative.

So I finally sorted a whole bunch of shit out and now tuning in for the first time, I find Ernie Gulbis on Centre Court and up a set. What is this alternate universe?!

What a ludicrous challenge from Ernie.

Two sets up though. I'm not that surprised, this is just the sort of match he randomly wins before a loss to like Janowicz in the next round.

Kind of a terrible match actually - Tomas' footwork seems particularly leaden today.

Golding's dramatics on losing the third set TB were funny. You can tell he was a child actor.

oh Isnerpaws

Berdytch! Fuckin' 'ell the billionaire's kid.

congratulations Ernie, for not women's tennis-ing that away. Wish you played like this all the time and not just once every three years.

loool Gulbis: "Interesting that I didn't choke in that *beat* as usual."

"I'm really known for my mental strength. Just watch my previous matches."

lol Ernie, he's so losing in the next round...(beat)...as usual. Great tennis in the third TB though, especially after the MPs fiasco earlier.

Fuck yeah Isner losing

Isner still hasn't gotten past the second round here lol

I look at American men's tennis these days and it's like... the most consistent, predictable performer we have is Michael Russell

also, lol: http://espn.go.com/tennis/blog/_/name/espntennis/id/8094132/wimbledon-why-do-pay-attention-donald-young

This really is the perfect match-up for Watson to showcase her skillz to Centre Court. A sulky grass-hater who has never been known for her fighting spirit.

After Youzhny hit behind him for a winner, Young yelled out, "Every time I get here, I play like a punk!"

I remember this moment, it was pretty special. But the US media has always seemed very confused when it comes to assessing their players' talent compared to that of foreign players. Even in this article:

For me, Youzhny was the perfect player for the one-time prodigy

...whut. Youzhny isn't Federer but he's no 50-100 scrub, he's been ranked top 30 for most of his career, he was once the hot young thing, he is WAY WAY WAY WAY more talented than Young. He's won a title this year and is coming off a SF showing in Halle. Young's highest ranking is 38, which is about where Youzhny's been ranked in his worst career periods. There's just no reason why you'd expect even a non-slumping Young to beat Youzhny at any point and that is where the inflated expectations can do so much damage.

It's a crutch you see often, people making out that when it comes to Player X or Underachiever Y, it's all in their head. Gasquet is similar too. No, it's just not the case that if you sorted your head out you'd suddenly win Slams. You're just not as good as you think you are.

iveta benesova ‏@IvetaBenesova
F WORD GRASS!!!!!!!!

lololololol Iveta

she is actually a Wimbledon mixed doubles champ

worst thing about Gulbis never living up to even middling expectations is the years of excellent quotage lost:

Q. Is there anything you enjoy more than playing tennis?

ERNESTS GULBIS: “Yeah, a lot of stuff.”

Q. Like what? Give me some examples.

ERNESTS GULBIS: “What do you mean, enjoy most in life?”

Q. Without being really, really like polite, what is the biggest thing which you enjoy in life? Music? Verdasco says it’s food.

ERNESTS GULBIS: “Okay, Verdasco, it’s his hairstyle it looks like he enjoys the most. Put gel in his hair. Me, I will keep it a secret what I enjoy. Think about it. I think you all know.”

haha i think we do indeed

I've seen this bit happen in so many Schiavone matches where she's outgunned at first, then the more powerful opponent wavers just slightly and bang, Fran suddenly gets inspired and fights her way back into it.

Petra, Petra, Petra, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU EVEN DOING.

Amanmuradova leads Kvitova 3-1 and it was very nearly 4-0. Petra looks a touch frozen :/

That was a pretty damn sweet drop-shot.

Hit to her backhand, Petra, you ninny!

Great stuff at the end of the Fran/Robson match. Dunno why people were talking up Laura's chances, that was entirely the wrong sort of match-up for her...

Robson is still so so over-predicted.

In anticipation of this year's Wimby, I borrowed Top Spin 4, and was amused that Robson was on the roster. Along with Villiams ("huge serve"), Ivanovic ("huge forehand") and a few others, and her skill is apparently "tactical play", i.e. "doesn't have any particularly good skills and moves like a fucking slug, but we have to have an English player somewhere". What's her career high ranking?

She's at her career high ranking now - 97. In her defence that's way way way way ahead of anyone else her age or younger.

Robson actually does have huge groundstrokes and a huge serve, she's just horrible at moving and doesn't have the fighting spirit of, say, Watson.

Goffin vs Tomic is my kind of match, especially given that Goffin is winning :)

Goffin a) is cute, and b) has a name that is fun to say.

A boon for headline writers everywhere

Godfin

That point!

Goffin and Baker both made the French Open more exciting, glad they're keeping this up at Wimbledon

Goffin wins! I heard boos, I presume Tomic did something dickish out of shot.

Yep smashed his racket. Love the way Goffin plays!

Oh, British weather.

Nadal''s lost the first four games to Thomaz Bellucci.

Uhhhh you guys Bellucci is kind of in the zone against Rafa. 4-0 and the last return of the last game was a holy shit moment

OK those two missed volleys...are the kind of thing a match like this turns on :/

What a stupid game to give one of the breaks back.

And when did McHale turn into a female Hewitt screaming COMAWWWWNNNNN after literally every point she wins. STFU, you've been taken to 10-8 in the final set against someone ranked 212.

God. Thomaz still leads 4-2 but you already know the scare is over and the set is going Nadal's way. Well, you knew that the minute he missed those volleys. WOMEN'S TENNIS

Man I just knew brainless Bellucci was going to fuck that up somehow.

I've never seen someone go from ZONING to USELESS so rapidly.

Lol that's kinda what Bellz does all the time though. So annoying to watch... And I usually like the male headcases.

That smash. Oh Bellz

Holy lol

That FH oh god

That dropshot oh god!

I think this might be the worst TB I've ever seen from an ATP player

this is the most entertaining text description of a tennis match

7-0. Of course.

lmao. seriously Bellucci does this all the time, but that TB really was a nightmare.

people I know the tennis is like really important and all but what I really want to know is who is the cutest female player this year

F.Lopez, like every year

sorry lex but I specified female

Lopez is womanly enough for me not to be attracted to him

Dimitrov takes the second set over Anderson with a dramatic dive volley :)

andrea hlavackova

Czink came pretty close to a golden set against Larsson! 14 minutes and she only lost three points.

ugh why is Pony down a set?

I had a feeling Haase could be trouble. Big hitting big server :/

really not remotely surprised kvitova was struggling so much. she was literally hitting with that old and overweight coach of hers yesterday, and his technique was... flawed. not the best preparation ever i don't think

are we all downloading LoveCalc, too?

like Venus' loss yesterday, it really makes me sad that Kolya can't even put up much of a resistance anymore. :(

wtf this was totally the wrong thread for that post

lol yea figured

yeah watching KING KOLYA is just sad now. going for too much because he can't rely on his footspeed any more :(

Pony took the third set TB, looked good while doing so. I actually did mean in terms of his tennis but you know, in all senses too.

:D

Q. Sharapova is one of your sharpest opponents here. Can you comment on her development back to this position from her problems.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah. She had a lot of issues. It took her about five years to get back. Like I said a couple weeks ago, I was really happy and proud for her. I looked up to that because I’ve had some issues myself. I’m a year back and I’m already in the top 10. I’m trying to do like she does and just keep going.

ahahahahahaha
ahahahahahahahahahahaha

:D

meanwhile, I <3 Sania Mirza (yet again): http://ibnlive.in.com/news/sania-mirza-lashes-out-at-paes-father/268072-5-22.html

In other news, the tournament that brings us Stupid Sunday every year has refused to use the roof they spent £80m this evening even though they have a backlog of like a hundred matches. Morons.

Mrs Krumm up two breaks already! Gorgeous grass-court skillz, esp on the backhand, good slices, lobs, joyous! Bondarenko is a moron, of course.

This is the first time I've seen Jamie Hampton play and um...it's like she's never played tennis before. Absolutely dreadful.

I feel sad for Mrs Krumm missing out on the Olympics, that was a goal of hers :(

Watching Hampton, just how bad must Hantuchoka have been in R1?

Wasn't Hanturexia injured or some shit (how would you tell?) Mrs Krumm gave one break back after having a SP, which was an amazing point from both. Her serve deserted her. She won't fuck up twice thouth.

She fucked up twice. From 5-1 to 5-5 two years running here. Why can't she just WIN SET POINTS.

Oh my god she's going to fuck up a third time. ARAJHDKJHDKDSK;IEIOOI;E;DIVNJ

She finally closed.

Bloody hell. Krumm finally takes the set 7-5. It should have been 5-1. Why did she need to put us all through that.

Fucking hate my computer. Every time I try watch streams it overheats and shuts down.

So she's going to lose in fucking three now, right.

On the plus side, hopefully Ivanovic will also be losing in three today. Please!

Watson is the first into the 3rd round. Aw she's so sweet.

Boo @ BAG winning and Mrs Krumm losing their three-setters.

LOL @ how BoJo is standing halfway up the court to return, she doesn't give a shit about Lisicki's serve.

Stosur on grass is kind of hilarious. Her serve does nothing, and she'll hit her forehand all over the place and then... uh.. what? Hit a backhand winner!

lol umpire called game at 15/40. Pathetic!

God so much simultaneous drama there for a minute.

BoJo saved three MPs from 0-40 down in one service game. In her next...she lost the match from 40-0 up. Women's tennis.

Sweeting has the first set over Tipsy, which doesn't surprise me after seeing him in qualies.

Errani didn't even have to hit a ball to progress today - her match with Vandeweghe resumed with Bratdeweghe serving MP down...DF :D

I'm sitting here staring at BAG thinking "... Brian Austin Green? That can't be right..."

So many hot boys in the crowd. There was like an entire line of them at one end on the court with Mrs Krumm on it.

BAG = Ivanovic. Derived from the ~~*Baby Anci Girl*~~ nonsense her fans come up with.

It would be very Stosur-like to still lose this match after bagelling Rus in the second set, right?

I <3 RUS

Stosur losing is just such a beautiful thing always.

The smug look on the ump's face when she overruled, Rus challenged and the ball was out by a millimetre! Amazing.

Duelling metdowns in Manislas vs Melzer - resumed with Melzer serving for the match at deuce, having missed 3 MPs yesterday. He started with a BH shank and DF, lol. But won in the end after Stan forgot to find the court.

Nothing about this match is actually beautiful, though Rus is quite attractive. Which always is a surprise given that her namesake was never renowned for her beauty.

LOL, Rus just aired a ball on BP.

Melzer's facial hair = um, actually quite attractive? Something wrong with me here?

YASSSSS that drugs cheat Odesnik is out, well done POW

xp Melzer is an attractive man, you see what Benesova sees in him (and half the WTA before her). But not the facial hair, no

Aaaaand Stosur shanks a BH on BP. Clank.

Clank, clank, clank!

Oooh and after Stosur loses I can watch Wozniacki lose :D loving life

Enough of this! Time to watch Paszek beat the Woz. I hope.

x-post!

Oh shit @ that MP save tho.

Ruh-roh Rus.

Choking R US

Hehe that was a good one! Just came up w/ that!

Paszek up a break and didn't give it away!

Shanksur outdoing Choking R Us now

Hahahahahahahaha

FWIW I put money on that the minute I saw it was on No 1 Court

3rd MP! :D never in doubt. Only Stosur can fail this badly after saving 2 MPs and then having 2 game points for 5-5 :D

And she's done it! Lollllll! Love it! And Rus' attitude! :D

That horrible low-quality match got the scoreline it deserved! Now, COME ON TAMIRA!

And Lindsay Davenport commentating! Yes! Oh the thought that Woz could fail to improve on last year's dismal RG/W showings is giving me life. Out of the top 10 with you after the US Open! Maybe you can win Bali this year.

Come on Caroline!

She can't win Bali unless she actually wins a tournament, lol. Unless they give her Ivanovic's WC.

OH TAMIRAAAAAAAAA

Squandered 4 SPs when serving for the set. 5-5.

-_-

Well that went as well as you'd expect.

You guys this match is really good now. Paszek just saved two MPs and forced the TB with some AMAZING shots.

Yeah this is outstanding, really glad I'm on vacation and able to watch this!

I swear on the first MP every one of Paszek's shots landed centimetres from a line.

How many MPs did she save on her way to the Eastbourne title last week, five?

Also this feels weird saying this, but I am not detesting watching Woz play...? Feel like I'm in the twilight zone or something

5 against Care Bear, and I think a few against CAKE too

I was just saying on Twitter that the slickness of indoor grass has made this a pretty fun match, even from Woz's side - it gives her shots the oomph that she can't muster on her own

Tamira FH! Kaman!

I am in love with Paszek's forehand

Paszek's shitty second serve not even a weakness cuz she just serves it to the Woz FH every time

YESSSSSSSSSSS

Tamira! That was fire.

This is like a 4th round match

Feels like every time the roof is closed we get a terrific match. Venus/Kimiko last year, Murray/Wawrinka before that, now this...

Oh DEAR that DF though :/

Last couple of games and TB were great but ugh can't get over how slow the pace of play is - Paszek, in particular, takes forever to set up before serving. and it's made worse by so many of her service games going to multiple deuces.

Great return game Tamira

FUUUUCK I FORGOT ALL ABOUT THIS

7-6 TO PASZEK SAVING MATCH POINTS? WHY DO I MISS EVERYTHIIIIIING

AMAZING FH DTL to break!

get it girl

Aaaahaha and an amazing lob there

Fucking hell

This match is bonkers

Woz's desperation aggressive mode out in full force, sigh.

Whoever is behind goes into beast mode

goddamnit

Break for the match plz :D

It's like watching alternating tennis she-hulks

Paszek basically is destined to be a top 10 player after this, win or lose IMO

At least top 10 grass

Grasszek

Ooh bad challenge Woz

YEEEEEEEEEEEEES

KAMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111

excellent way to take match point

Amazing way to finish the match. What a way to turn around her year too, before Eastbourne Tamira had won TWO matches all year.

I loved the bits of Eastbourne I saw and now it's confirmed; I love Tamira Paszek

Oh look, as predicted, Gulbis has just lost the second set to Janowicz RMDE

I feel like Paszek could have taken that in straight sets had they closed the roof last night

She nearly did today.

Right, off to see Erykah Badu, no one do anything interesting at Wimbledon apart from Pironkova if she gets on tonight

Pironkova is the Wimbledon-GOAT and Maria plays pretty similarly to Venus. Never in doubt that she would win this. 3-0 easily lol. I am terrified of a Clijsters cakewalk :'(

Pironkova's ability to dismantle ppl at Wimbledon is endlessly entertaining

A sadistic part of me rooting for a 6-2 6-3 scoreline

Saw Pironkova practicing w/ Niculescu on Monday. Painfully gorgeous in person. She was hitting next to nadal though so I was like the only one concentrating on her.

Her BH is orgasmic and her confidence is hilarious and awesome

oh well

terrible day actually, apart from paszek obv

li and gulbis lost as well, li to cirstea o_O

I fell asleep watching Paszek in bed (hmm, that large TV in my bedroom was a good investment after all) and was very satisfied.

Waking up to find Li has lost is making me want to cry though. SMH at Gulbis. Gross results after I went to bed.

Lol Gulbis. Not even surprised really - even he didn't think he could do it. After the Berdych match:

"Told that he should be happy that he’s going to play the winner of two qualifiers next, Gulbis said, “That’s OK, I’ve already lost to both of them.”"

Fell asleep halfway through first set of Masha-Pironkova and am very annoyed with how the scoreline turned out. Hopefully the break will make Pironkova remember her grassGOAT status.

Oh FFS Na. Cirstea is one of those players she's beaten even in poor form before. That section was so wide open too.

Ugh @ Ma$ha's Fighting Spirit. Hopefully Tsveti can make a comeback today but I don't have faith.

Aga cakewalk to the SF then. She must be a rare case of a player I love reaching a level I never dreamed she could...and the result is that I like her a lot less.

Gulbis, yes, not even a surprise there.

Troicki's last seven Slam matches, dating back to last year's USO, have been five-setters. That's insane.

Care Bear, right. Her transformation into a top player over the past 12 months is just remarkable. She's so damn resilient - today's win over Makarova was another example after being blown away at first. And it's not just about being consistent, she's got the shots too. She's literally unrecognisable from the woman who lost 1R to Robson here last year.

Hurrah Ma$ha starts the day by DFing to give Tsveti the break back. C'mon Pironkova!

AMAZING point by Tsveti!! GRASS GOAT

One DF each to open the TB, lulz.

Wow another DF from Ma$ha.

And another!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Shit I come home and the wheels fall off :(

Oh well, that was nice while it lasted :(

Tsveti failed to squeak out the tight first game when Sharapova was still nervy, and since then Maria has rolled.

Hey, kudos to Ale-Alejandro Falla for taking out both Isner AND Mahut in five-set epics :D

aarghshdkdkjdufgfkjdfkd it's the Mardy Fish Used To Be Fat story for the millionth time

please be quiet commentators

At this point I'd be much more impressed if Fish put on 60 lbs but kept up his level of play

Sucks that TV here is only showing Karlovic-Murray right now but all these lobs (one of Murray's more underrated shots) over big Ivo are pretty amusing. You'd think at 6"10 he'd have learnt how to deal with them by now.

I've been wanting to see a Pair vs Dolgopolov match-up for ages and now that one's finally here...it's only on a shitty stream where I can't see the ball AARGH.

And yet I have James fucking Ward on my TV just because he's fucking British. Fuck jingoistic sports coverage.

*Paire

exactly! the one I'm watching keeps skipping too, which is doubly annoying.

even the bbc streams are being terrible for me, so blocky i can hardly even read the scoreline.

(btw, super username lex, i'll be using it as often as possible.)

i thought that was just me and my shitty laptop re: the bbc streams! goddddd.

anyway, whoa @ Lucic - a game away from beating CAKE...

And that she did.

Amazing scream of delight from Lucic as she seals the win. So nice to see her with her game under control - when I saw her in qualies she definitely looked like she was on a mission, and she's blown this section wide open. A second SF run 13 years after her first is not out of the question...

Seriously, Petrova and Babos are at 7-7 in the third and it's not on a TV court? AND JAMES FUCKING WARD IS?

Lol, a Brit vs a top ten player or Petrova vs Babos! Must have been a tough dilemma for the organisers.

Mardy Fish Used To Be Fat fails to serve out the match which means it remains on my TV screen, ugh.

Babos was a top junior! Though Petrova won that.

RT @TennisReporters: Sharapova on Simon & equal prize $: "I think more people watch my matches than his."

Excellent sing, Maria. Even though I, personally, would rather watch a Simon match than a Sharapova one.

*zing

Wow, much as I'd rather another match was on my TV, that was a dramatic end to that set. Fish had a MP on Ward's serve at 5-3, didn't take it, failed to serve out, looked completely flat and fatigued in the TB and DFed on SP.

Yay for the possibility of Mardy losing. Ward is pretty cool.

Lollllllll @ Maria! Yesssssssss.

Ward seems pretty likeable. Whenever I've seen him he's looked pretty good too, though really that only just shows the kind of total package required to be a top tennis player, and he'll remain a mid-100s chump forever.

Dimitrov pulls up lame at a Slam again - ab muscle at AO, cramps at RG, now retires looking sickly. Boring. Get fit, kid.

RT @TennisReporters: Serena on Maria's comment that more fans watch her matches than Simon's: 'Obviously because she's way hotter than him.'

is...Serena shading BOTH of them there?

raising her game for the big occasion with the rarely seen doublezing.

hahahaha xp

Fish just hit one of the worst FH volleys I have EVER seen followed by a BH which was only just in...the doubles court.

is...Serena shading BOTH of them there?

Nah? Obviously just trying to keep the mood light.

I'd've thought she would've complimented Maria on her tennis rather than looks? Given that the whole "the girls are just decorative totty" attitude is kind of at the root of the whole anti-equal pay thing.

If she wasn't making a joke, yes.

i thought the anti-equal pay thing stemmed from men having to play best-of-five matches, while women played best-of-three.

pretty sure it was an unintentional double-zing, but it's still funny.

how can the official bbc live streams be so abhorrent

I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING. TRYING TO WATCH THE FIRST SERENA/VENUS DOUBLES MATCH SINCE I DON'T KNOW WHEN. WIMBLEDON 2010?

cmon rosol at least get 1 set!!!! plzzz

wtf

fucking idiot

nadal so lucky always ugh

double bagels for serena/venus and kvitova please <3 baltacha is such a pointless irritance

anyone see what baltacha got a hinderance for? i missed it :(

where did you all go??? this is pretty excited

1 set all and rosol up a break in the 3rd! time for me to get irrationally overexcited followed by massive disappointment!

*pretty exciting

FUCKING YES! TWO SETS TO ONE :D

yowee, good going, guy i've never heard of.

UGH @ this fourth set

i've decided to watch a TB between medina garrigues and cepelova instead lolz

nadal goes right down the middle on a short ball thinking he's clever, rosol was right there waiting, hits an awesome forehand CC pass. immediate 5th set break.

wait what, i was watching in silence and thought they had gone in for the night (and was wondering why they didn't use the roof lighting).

nopeee! :D

HOLY SHIT at these two forehands to start his 2-1 service game. ridiculous. rosol is my new fave player. unless he chokes and loses.

thank FUCK. 40-15 rosol hits an ace but nadal wasn't ready. UM PLAY TO THE PACE OF THE SERVER K THANKS?

thought rosol might unravel, but a huge smash to hold :D

c'mon some guy, you can do it!

rosol's playing like someone with a handful of grand slam titles behind him.

LUKAS BREAKS RAFA'S ROSOLVE

sports blogs, you can have that headline for free

i would give my mother's life to hit one backhand like that.

FUCK MY LIFE THAT FOREHAND RETURN NO FUCKING WAY HELP ME

ugh double break was too much to hope for i guess :(

i was just saying that he's prime federer in disguise and then he shanks a forehand, just like prime federer!

that service game

oh my god

unreal

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

that forehand return

is this real life? how can you hit this hard, this sustained? no actual way

*5-4

can he really do it??

BOOM x1

starts with a huge ace up the T of course

oof

followed by a ludicrous forehand winner of course

2 more points for nadal to lose 2nd round to 26 year old lukas rosol

ace

3 MPs

BOOM x2

3 match pts

fucking hell

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BLOWN OFF COURT!

wow.

and one last ace

unbelievable. just unbelievable.

Holy shit

Wow.

nadal signing autographs

ok wow

maybe i don't completely hate this guy

christ!

I know Nadal's lost before but that was sorta like when Buster Douglas smacked Tyson up, and I was thinking "you can do that? that's allowed?"

pressure on murray increases exponentially now

YES!!! More giant killers plz!

nadal is so classy

SOMETIMES

xp

Did he pick up and hand Rosol's racket to him?

Damn, I had to miss this.

Peter Doohan 1987! Sometimes journey(wo)men players turn up and Everything. Just. Works. It was glorious to watch.

the guy who just beat nadal at wimbledon lol

http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/4fecc4c36bb3f7fd3b000000/rosol-google-image-search.jpg

worldwide trends

#Wimbledon
Rosol
#Nadal
#ICantDateYou
Rafael Nadal
Murray
Federer
Mario Balotelli
Holder
Djokovic

yay for tennis!

xpost -- I dunno, that looks delicious.

the betfair figures for this are something to see

2001: the day after a teenage Federer put out Sampras the headlines were effectively "if you don't win this now, Tim, you are worse than Hitler". The headlines tomorrow will be fun.

Don't think anyone would fancy Murray to beat Djoko or Fed in the final, but certainly huge pressure to reach it now :-D

Is Tsonga in that half?

yes

WHAT

HAPPENED

WHILE I WAS OUT

NO REALLY WHAT

I actually looked at the remaining schedule before I left and unlike y'day actually thought, cool! won't miss anything interesting!

WHATTTTTTTTT

OMG pressure on Murray is right. This is his window right here. I doubt he'll take it.

BTW am probz not going tomorrow due to accidental drunkenness now/work undone/flaky partner/lack of must-see outside court matches &c

Moral of the story, never have plans for the evening during the Wimbledon fortnight. I once had to drag myself away from the TV during that Isner/Mahut marathon, at least they dragged that one on for one more day.

It always happens when you least expect it too. Like...in the matches you don't even half-suspect there could be an upset.

Lex I'm comforted to know I wasn't the only one who misses this.

Missed, rather.

I haven't even been able to look at any news stories because MY JAW IS STILL ON THE GROUND

Also drunk

(Ned will understand if I just say "the Heawood bday")

Hahahah I understand perfectly!

Finally watching the clip of match point. Damn, if only I wasn't busy there for that stretch!

Right, just watched the last game. PEAK KVITOVA. Inspired by his countrywoman? Just...wow.

Gonna document my day here as I go along probz. Just saw nadal practicing. He sucks obvs. Thought he'd be hitting the ball harder. I guess the spin was pretty cool but I'd def beat him

PRESCIENT.

bbc iplayer the entire match. Rosol was just SO UNBELIEVABLY GOOD. PEAK BALLBASHING. Gorgeous to watch.

PRESCIENT.

:D

WHAT THE FUCK. Man why do amazing things always happen while I'm asleep????!

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Ivo Karlovic accused the line judges at Wimbledon of favoring Andy Murray after they called a number of foot-faults against the hard-serving Croat on Centre Court.

Karlovic, who lost, said some of the calls were "outrageous" and that "after this match, the whole credibility of this tournament went down for me."

Murray edged Karlovic 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-6 (4) Thursday to reach the third round.

Karlovic said "it was always when it was 30-all or in a tiebreak. I mean, what is this? Is it Davis Cup or is it Wimbledon?"

Murray said he wasn't sure whether the calls were correct but that "if he wasn't foot-faulting then he has a right to be upset, because there was a lot of them."

was def something fishy bout those foot faults

was shino in the house?

I think I just realised I've been conflating Lukas Rosol and Lukas Lacko for some time now, and only recently managed to separate Lukasz Kubot from them as a big-bashing serve-and-volleyer who would be a threat on grass, lol.

Stephens to beat Lisucki today, yes? And probz Giorgi over Nadezhda as well. I have loved Su-Wei Hsieh and her eccentric shots fruitlessly for over a decade so I'm just hyped she's gonna be on a show court, hope she can do something surprising against Ma$ha.

Remember the '90s days when there'd always be a wacky men's QFist or several after a clay seed lost early? Opportunity for that again - it'll be Baker, Paire, Kohlschreiber or Rosol. Actually that's a GREAT selection there - Kohli has the best record but the other three are flashy winner machines who are fantastic to watch. Would probably watch each of those matches.

Meanwhile one of Cirstea, Kirilenko, Peng and Rus will be a QFist, lol. PLEASE NOT EITHER OF THE FIRST TWO.

Lex: he was hitting 99mph backhand winners down the line. Seriously astonishing stuff. Nadal did seem to have finally got the measure of him before the enforced 35min break for the closing of the roof though.

lol tbf Lukas Lacko is a lot like Lukas Rosol - flat-hitting big server who will probably never hit top 50 lifetime (though that might change for Rosol this year). Lacko took a 6-0 set off Nadal too last year iirc?

Stephens, yes. And Rus, hopefully. Also rooting for Goffin!

Wait, Clijsters is playing Bepa? Missed that. This could've been a big, messy epic back in the day. Probably just messy and one-sided today.

Lacko took a 6-0 set off Nadal too last year iirc?

Yes! 7-6 0-6 6-3, Doha 2011. I remembered this because, ironically enough, I was checking to see whether Rosol could be a threat to Nadal, and I had a dim recollection of this. So I looked it up and thought, oh, it wasn't Rosol it was LACKO, Rosol won't be a threat. I am an idiot.

Fairly sure Goffin will beat Mardy Fish Has A Heart Problem. Ward should've done it yesterday, Fish was so bad at times (understandable I guess).

Ivanovic vs Goerges is easily the least attractive 3R match for me. I wonder if either of them will achieve a single tactical thought during it.

Poor Bepa. I find it best to pretend she doesn't exist these days. She makes this quite easy for me by always losing early ;_;

Before this years Wimbledon Lukas Rosol had only hit 13 aces (in 11 matches) in his entire grass court career. He hit 22 last night against Nadal.

Blimey, is this right (was just from some random dude on Twitter)? Maybe having the roof on helped his serve in the final set?

That's insane

yessss they're replaying Nadal/Rosol, first time I've been grateful for the rain

Must say it's rather satisfying seeing Rafa have to hurry himself to play at Rosol's pace.

That 99mph BH winner was quite something btw.

Was crosscourt, not DTL, wasn't it? Oh well, memory jumbled.

Read somewhere that Rosol was taking just 10 seconds btw serves towards the end - god that must have driven Rafa nuts. Always wondered why Fed never did that, like just take time away from him.

Djokovic should have broken in like every Sexxxpanek service game so far.

Stephens led 5-3 in the TB than just ballooned balls over the baseline on four straight points.

Wow, Stepanek had won 20% of return points in the first four Nole service games. Now... 00-40?

Tennis, eh? Still, Djokovic can't lose this, but I bet Fed's glad his next opponent's a Frenchie.

wow what is up with Centre Court this week? Upset central.

Djokovic should have broken in like every Sexxxpanek service game so far.

And then drops his own serve to love to give the set away. WTF.

Ok so I don't think Steps will actually pull off an upset but you know... (but you never know... O_o)

And Wownic lost to Queer Eye o_0

SU-WEI ON MY TV <3 <3 <3

The other one can fuck off.

:(

Not that I expected this match to go any different.

Su-Wei breaks. No bagels :)

Su-Wei just shaped up for a smash but at the last minute hit a delicate sliced, angled dink instead <3 <3 <3

(I am taking what I can from this match.)

Hahaha two consecutive DFs from Sharapova. The last second serve bounced in both service boxes on either side of the net :o

Hsieh + the wind can't be a fun combination to play against

Pretty impressive showing from Heather Watson here.

Vera lost the first set 3-6 against Kim last time they played at Wimbledon. She has Kim right where she wants her :D Davai.

Also, if you can't win a game against Agnieszka Radwanska, find a new career. You have to be wholly useless for that to happen, I'm afraid.

Any idea what is going on with Bepa? Shoulder, right?

"respiratory illness"?

Benneteau about to win the first set over Fed :o

No, I'm out now. Nothing interesting is allowed to happen.

my god that Fed miss

Fed only just clawing his way through his service games in this set...

WOW

Benneteau struggled through a service game at 5-6 that was half nervy and half incrdibly gutsy - the drop volley to save SP! - and then BEAST MODE for the TB. Two sets up. Rosol inspiring everyone

Oh dear. Benneteau suddenly looking very French in this set.

Meanwhile:

Oracene ‏@Oracene

Yes, hello. They should glue tongue to be a pallet and let it stay there.

...????

Why has Adidas given Kirilenko and Cirstea maternity dresses to wear?

So I wake up suddenly at 3 am, decide to check the scores that I missed and I find Roger's down two sets to UCB? How the fuck am I going to go back to sleep now? :(

Adidas outfits are always so awful and I can't understand why.

lol Benneteau nearly took the umpire's head off with that return

Camila Giorgi is kind of amazing

Also the answer to whoever asked "who's the hottest female player this year"

Seriously the tennis Giorgi is playing in this TB...taking everything on and nailing it

GSM Giorgi. I don't know how the hell she's avoided breaking through til now (money issues, I think?) but if she can sustain this we're looking at Star Quality &c

There's no reason, if she sustains this level, why Giorgi couldn't be our SFist. She can blast through Aga and she'll definitely try.

Great FH! Two points away...

this TB omg

ikr

Benneteau is def not looking very French right now

Wow. Fifth set. Surely that's it for Benneteau...

He went for those shots in the TB...just didn't make them.

I don't know, not if Benneteau keeps returning as he has... and Roger isn't getting as many first serves in as he'd like.

Someone tweeted that it seems like Rosol has been inspiring all the underdogs. I think that's true, Benneteau has rosoled a fair few massive winners, but you can tell he just doesn't have the firepower to do that to the extent that Rosol did. Hence the last two errors in the TB.

Federer cleaned up his game in the TB apart from the volleys. Benneteau's only hope is to serve like he did in the first two sets.

Wait, Funky Flo and Malisse into the second week? Lucic causing upsets? The ghosts of Wimbledon past are BACK.

yep - and how he played down 0-40 in the fourth. Ridiculously gutsy... was sure Fed was going to break then but nope. xp

oh dear

oh shit, is Benneteau okay?

:/

Trainer out...

that is a vigorous massage

the hell? is that allowed?

Boris says not

well now

Imminent breadstick :(

Is this gonna be like RG09 where Nadal goes out early, Fed goes down two sets the next day but wins the whole thing anyway?

I blinked and the breadstick HAPPENED

When does Murray choke under the inevitable "now is HIS CHANCE!!!1111" press headlines btw? QF to Pony or SF to Tsonga?

I'm hoping against Pony but most prob in the semis

lol Roger still looks stunned

Now is his chance for what, is the question...don't think anybody believes he'll beat Djoko (assumng he'll reach; Fed was terrible till he woke up) so that still should take the pressure off reaching a final. And he has reached 3x of them so..

oh god fuck the BBC so much

fluff interviews and nonsense empty commentators rabbiting on about Brian Baker instead of HIS ACTUAL MATCH THAT'S HAPPENING NOW

and then they move on to fucking fluff hype about Baghdatis/Murray!!!! SHOW THE ACTUAL FUCKING TENNIS YOU MORONS I HATE YOU SO MUCH

Why the fuck do I have to watch a dodgy Italian stream for LIVE WIMBLEDON TENNIS? For fuck's sake. This is what I do for, like, mickey mouse tournaments in Morocco.

Paire broken from 40-0 up rmde

Paire unexpectedly recovering from the brink of racquet-smashing meltdown from a break down in the second with a HUGE BH, and it transpires that Baker has a temper too...

PAIRE STEPPIN' UP! Breaks for the second set with some really special stuff - a WOW volley at 0-15 and a BH winner that just clips the line on SP.

He's really rather fine looking, too.

I am watching the Ivanovic match like some sort of masochist. DF on set point, why of course...

Though lol @ commentators talking about ANYTHING other than Ana and Gorgeous or the match itself - the weather, the view to the Shard, plastic racket strings, the Olympics...

Hoping Goerges wins because duh, Ana is getting close to the top 10 and we really cannot be having that, whereas Goerges will just shit up everything for months if she gets a decent result - now that I can live with.

LOL. Paire changed his racquet, and within two points smashed the new one. So just picked the old one up again.

Anyway fuck all these scrubs, PETRA is on.

(I like Paire, though)

The point of tanking the end of a set is to come oput with renewed vigour, Benoit.

Nice opening service game from Jay-Z. Add oil!

Jay-Z is the sort of player who could beat Silliams if she had a good day. Such an amazing returner who thrives on pace. Also SUPER AWESOME game for fast surfaces, <3 her.

yay Ivanovic!

WOW at that running FH DTL wrong-footer

Really like seeing her strutting around the court :-)

wtf why is my TV showing that pointless fucking bit where they introduce all the cunts in the royal box when there is TENNIS GOING ON, INCLUDING LIVE ON THAT COURT. FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU.

Lol

Would pay cash money to have lex and edwardo doing the BBC's min-by-min text commentary.

Damn Serena's big serve :(

I reckon there's a market for someone to stream alternative, witty, knowledgeable commentary for the slams. Someone should do this. I'd say Lex, but his laptop is not up to it.

AMAZING point Jay-Z! TB! Take it!

Jay-Z's speed <3

Jia you!

Silliams' ensemble, with the hair and the pink pants, is roundly terrible in a way that I can't help but find enjoyable.

ALSO FURTHER FUCK YOU TO MY TV FOR SHOWING VUVURENKA and forcing me to watch basic streams for Jay-Z.

No Jie, no, no.

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The look on her face said she wasn't afraid to win there - would not be intimidated. Now take it all!

Go on Zheng.. no chokadelics.

Paszek beats Wickmayer :D :D :D

who needs a 5th wimbledon anyway

Um hang on Shvedova just won a GOLDEN SET over Errani

I saw the score was 6-0 and wasn't surprised. But good on Shredder!

That has not happened in ALL MY YEARS of watching this sport, that's insane - though weirdly Shvedova has come the closest. Memphis 06 vs Frazier, she led 5-0 40-0 without having lost a point. Ended up losing that match 6-1 0-6 0-6, lol.

are you fucking kidding me? 24-0 to shvedova, lex? are you serious? that is omfg. i'd be even more excited but my life is slowly crashing and burning around me right now

can zheng please just hit 4 DFs or something? would really appreciate it

Yes, 24-0! And lol if the Frazier match repeats itself - Errani breaks to open the second set.

yay 1 DF down! 3 more! 3 more!

Zheng won basically every rally in the first set.

SERENA YOU IDIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!1111 FUCKING CHALLENGE THAT! UGHHHH

oh wait, serena just won the game. meltdown over. COME THE FUCK ON! FIGHT BITCH!

This Cepelova's got game. Better on serve and she'd be a huge threat to beat Azarenka here. As it is she might sneak this second set.

ughhhhhhh why can't zheng just go away :(

because Zheng is amazing :)

I am watching the Ivanovic match like some sort of masochist.

I think there were more onanists than masochists watching that match. I want the Beeb to employ the Lex as some sort of raving/ranting reporter for next year's Wimbers.

... I actually meant to say "roving" there, but "raving" will do

YES at that forehand return.

please break, my nerves can't take much more

NO at that forehand return.

yes serena hit every ball down the middle with pace, great tactic!!!

0-40! Return right at Silliams' feet :D

AGH Serena's shots just clipping lines >:(

oh FUCK OFF Serena I have seen that game too many times

Todd Woodbridge: "We're unable to show you the Williams/Zheng game due to contractual obligations," (which is why I'm on a fucking stream) "but we will be going straight to the match between Andy Roddick and David Ferrer".

FOR. FUCK'S. SAKE. WHO. CARES.

Ha, Serena second serve that actually literally bounces over Jie's head.

Couple of GREAT winners by Jie in that game - superb BH wrong-footer and the most incredible angled BH.

Serena's returning is just disgraceful.

Just tuned into this, gonna be shocked if Serena wins

Serena is serving impeccably though, and not choking/crying like at RG

lol I said that before that ludicrously great service game from her

Nooo come on Jie!

Aargh fuck this is it isn't it :(

No, no not like this.

OR NOT!!!!

:((((((((((((((

Arghhhhhhhhhh!

and it begins

Hah wow

Fucking linesmen keep fucking Jie over

Nooooooooo

That was not cool.

Hah wow again

Omg! Come on!

UGHHHHHHHHHHHH

Why do I have to see this fucking match AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN

^THIS ;_;

Fish and Querrey winning = this is just the tip of the iceberg of grrr, why?

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU I FUCKING NEEDED THAT. SERENA NEEDED IT TOO. UGHHHHH SO MUCH RELIEF YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

bbc showing the shvedova/errani set (well, the last shot of each rally) :O

SO INCREDIBLE! Absolutely incredible to win a GOLDEN SET against the french open finalist. So happy for her.

It's so weird that Shvedova is the only player I've ever known to have come within a point of it before. This amazing feat that no other woman has accomplished in the Open Era, Shvedova has nearly done twice. And against higher-ranked opponents who have been ranked in the top 20 both times! Not against local WC bumpkins!

Deep breathing to get over the Jie loss. If Serena's going to piss me off like that the least she can do is make up for it with a Ma$ha thrashing.

camera cutting away from shirtless Delpo why?!

yuckkkkkk why is fish up a set against goffin? :/

& who invited roddick to play well? wtf

also YES for tamira battling past witchmayer :D

why did so many interesting things happen whilst i had to give serena my undivided attention!!!

Suddenly the women's last 16 appears to be set.

(1) Maria Sharapova vs. (15) Sabine Lisicki
Kim Clijsters vs. (8) Angelique Kerber
(3) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. (Q) Camila Giorgi
(17) Maria Kirilenko vs. (30) Shuai Peng
(6) Serena Williams vs. (WC) Yaroslava Shvedova
(24) Francesca Schiavone vs. (4) Petra Kvitova
Tamira Paszek vs. (21) Roberta Vinci
(14) Ana Ivanovic vs. (2) Victoria Azarenka

Predix - Ma$habot, St Kim, A-Rad, Kirilenko (ew ew ew), Silliams, Kvitty, Paszek, Vuvurenka.

I actually totally think Care Bear can beat the lacklustre Saint atm but after today I'm just going with "the worst possible scenario" as a basis for predictions

Serena you may as well lose to Shvedova because you're not getting past the quarters anyway.

Such positive thinking :D

Kvitova d. Clijsters final or something

I guess I could live with that. Clijsters choking away championship points in her last ever Wimbledon maybe? Ahhhh I can dream.

Lol @ Querry btw

Have you seen Kvitova recently. We are not who we were last year ;_;

Well done Serena, that serve was iron solid today.

Final will be Serena d. Maria or Aga (6-1 6-2 in both cases)

also I just noticed Baker made the final 16!

Have you seen Serena in slams recently lol

xps

Yes, just now!

Today's match wasn't an indication that Silliams is playing badly, it was an expected tough match against an opponent who always gives her hell. And her serve was at 2009 levels.

Golden Shvedova might give her a scare but if she gets past that all the "top" players should be a doddle for her tbh.

woahhhh YES at that dropshot from goffin in the TB! phew

yeah but lex, serena's groundstrokes... either completely passive or spraying errors. just can't see kvitova not taking advantage of that, but yknow i hope you are right!! serena is still tense and nervy tho :(

Have YOU not seen Kvitova play this year?

beautiful netted smash from fish at 3-3 in the TB :D mini break! allez

this is grass, DJP

what i saw against baltacha was fantastic and she lost 1 game today. and she did make the semis of the last 2 slams. she's not doing that badly.

woahhhh YES at that dropshot from goffin in the TB! phew

first thing I saw in this match. bliss. GODFIN

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ugh why is Goffin losing this though? I DID NOT EXPECT OR WISH FOR THIS >:(

gross

otoh well done Marin for apparently not being a bonehead in his TB against Queereye.

this is grass, DJP

it was grass last week vs Makarova too :/

Petra is unfit and sloppy and won't be able to turn her God mode on just like that. Baltacha and Lepchenko don't expose any of that.

And Serena is sloppy and nervy. So the QF if it happens should be wonderful fun!

Sad for Lucic.

Errani made one unforced error in the first set vs Shvedova. I need to see that set in full.

I wonder if Davenport, Mauresmo or Pierce ever look at the current top players and think "... I could totally beat most of these women, I should unretire"

Pretty sure, like, Testud and Tauziat and Rubin think that

Pretty sure, like, Anna Smashnova thinks that.

7 Slam winners in the women's fourth round. That's actually kind of awesome.

Kvitova was pretty brutal today.

did david mercer just call roddick a "lucky bastard"...?

And Cilic/Querrey approaching five hours...

murray trying to make a shot while flat on his arse is taking his reach-every-shot thing to a new level.

xpost not watching, but it seems Cilic has broken and will serve for the match. Good boy! Just hold one last time now.

hooray, congrats marin!

Yay

17-15!

lol i guess no one cares about these anymore unless they go past 70-68.

ha, i wrote it and it looked a bit pathetic but then i sadly hit 'submit post' anyway. :'(

2nd longest wimbledon match ever tho! at least the right person won the epic this time

i used to think that seeing athletes who were younger than me being at the peak of their sports was a rough reflection on my own ageing process, but now i see in baghdatis a player seemingly in the decline who is younger than i am, well

omg

what on earth

was that

baghdatis

drop shot

attempt

on break point down

literally hahahaa

jeez murray, he's been down so much you'd think he's playing on ice.

the amount of elementary mistakes the world #4 makes is really worrying. so unprofessional sometimes. the slipping, the ball dropping out of his pocket constantly, the losses of focus. you're not gonna win a slam like this.

then he wins the set anyway. he's determined to be the living disproof of the notion that mentality is the distinction between guys who are top players and guys who are on the outskirts of the top 100.

got back in time for the end of the 3rd, wtf did Baghdatis think he was doing in the last set? any non-brainless opponent in that position would know to slow the game down, take maximum time b/w points, keep the ball in court and extend the rallies, and yet Baghdatis was just playing the fall guy and hitting basic errors to help Murray on his way? idiot.

as for Murray he should maybe play all his matches with curfew pressure.

I'm pretty sure Baghdatis just gave up

Yeah which was so weird. Like just stay out there long enough to get the match suspended and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

a day off?

oh god i forgot stupid sunday

Don't worry you can watch the Euro 2012 fiohwait

i say we pull together and give lex enough money to persuade him to watch the euro 2012 final and join in on the thread.

While cooking.

i believe i live pretty close to lex, i would not want to be part of the explosion that resulted. (disclaimer: i think i'm equally bad at cooking.)

Mad piece of scheduling - couldn't they finish the match for the day at the end of the 3rd set?

Sports administrators are such an imcompetent lot! Felt a bit sorry for Baghdatis. Must have been mentally shot.

I have a feeling it might have ended earlier if Murray wasn't involved

xxpost -- "Flaming football souffle. Served with inadvertantly roasted beast."

fucking hell i happened to be momentarily watching sky news at about 1040pm and that grotty looking fuck was ranting at the london borough of merton for not letting andy murray finish off baghdatis, since that could be the only outcome and after all why else would anybody care about wimbledon if it wasn't for the british players bravely battling perfidious foreigns and stifling bureaucrats

isn't the f***ball over yet? i was wondering why this thread seemed emptier than usual. no f***ball fan is permitted to say a word against tennis or anything connected to it EVEN the shitty bits that tennis fans slag off all the time.

the fuckball championship actually starts next week

YOUR IMPORTANT LAST 16S.

(1) Maria Sharapova vs. (15) Sabine Lisicki
Kim Clijsters vs. (8) Angelique Kerber
(3) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. (Q) Camila Giorgi
(17) Maria Kirilenko vs. (30) Shuai Peng
(6) Serena Williams vs. (WC) Yaroslava Shvedova
(24) Francesca Schiavone vs. (4) Petra Kvitova
Tamira Paszek vs. (21) Roberta Vinci
(14) Ana Ivanovic vs. (2) Victoria Azarenka

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Viktor Troicki
(18) Richard Gasquet vs. (31) Florian Mayer
(3) Roger Federer vs. Xavier Malisse
Denis Istomin vs. (26) Mikhail Youzhny
(7) David Ferrer vs. (9) Juan Martin Del Potro
(16) Marin Cilic vs. (4) Andy Murray
(5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (10) Mardy Fish
(Q) Brian Baker vs. (27) Philipp Kohlschreiber

No surprise to see Istomin doing well in hayfever season, of course. First Uzbek player to reach a Slam second week? Iroda Tulyaganova reached the top 20 but never went beyond a Slam third round.

Clijsters on Court 3. I would be overjoyed if her last ever Wimbledon match was played there :D K I know we have the Olympics but w/e

DU SCHAFFTS ES, ANGIE!

xp yes first uzbek player in the R16. he beat falla, who would have been the first colombian player in the R16

I reckon Care Bear will beat St Kim, who needs a bit more match practice to get the rhythm on that forehand, which she's able to use to boss around lyudi invalidy like Bepa and scrubs, but will break down against steady Angie. Hope against hope that Peng won't be a moron and will send Discount Ma¢ha packing.

For the fellas: Hobak, Flo Miya, Fed, Histamine, Pony, Palindrome, Jo-Jo and Ma Baker.

he beat falla, who would have been the first colombian player in the R16

first Colombian man I presume. Fabiola Zuluaga reached a couple of 4Rs, inc that infamous AO SF when Amélie pulled out.

Not really the most enthralling 4R line-up...only a handful of matches that don't have an obvious winner.

good point-by-point rundown of Shvedova's golden set yesterday: http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2012/06/30/shvedovas-golden-day-at-wimbledon/

And you can watch all 14 mins of it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live-video/p00vjh6l?tc=13:06:30

Commentator is hilariously bad - not only does his entire commentary consist of repeating basic facts about Shvedova and Errani's results this year but he has NO IDEA what's going on until the stats flash up after the set is over. Face actual palm. How do these people get jobs.

i'd be such a good commentator :(

possibly the most surprising thing about the championships so far is how much i'm enjoying andrew castle's commentary! he's funny! him and lindsay davenport together are really good

thx for the shvedova/errani link. gonna watch that now :D

I'm going to have to miss the first few hours today so no one do anything crazy now (looking at you, Petra/Franny).

Wow, missed the Golden Set. I guess there was no opportunity for the BBC to dwell on it in the highlights show, seeing as there probably wasn't one due to 11:02pm Drama. If they had, hopefully someone would've pointed out to McEnroe that he once lost 23 points in a row vs Wilander in a Roland Garros QF (from 6-1 2-6 *4-2 40/15 to 6-1 2-6 4-6 0-1* 0/40). He lost that last set to love.

it's a shame the Golden Set got lost in the shuffle, even the Serena/Jay-Z epic did. tbh both of those are way bigger stories than the Murray match though!

IIRC Rusedski once won 25 points in a row, over two sets, against Massu.

Yet again a refusal to play on Stupid Sunday and now an imminent washout. Well done Wimbledon *slow handclap*

Although I'd hope that the washout will allow Shvedova to have Her Turn In The Spotlight, at least!

just checked Rusedski. yup, Miami 2001: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/23/sports/plus-tennis-rusedski-dominates-in-two-set-victory.html

Last 5 of the first set, first 20 of the second, final score 6-4 6-1. Astonishing given Rusedski's game.

Well, Lex, it's going to rain for three days (Thursday and the early part of Friday look OK), so we're screwed anyway. I do wonder what they're going to schedule for Tue/Wed on Centre if there really hasn't been *any* progress outside of the three matches under the roof today.

I like Manic Monday. You've got to unstagger the draw at some point and earlier is better IMO. Playing the semis on different days as happens in other Slams (maybe just the AO now?) is daft. It generally works just fine.

Q. Did we just overhear you say that you were in such a zone you didn't even realize you hadn't lost a point in the first set?

YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: Yeah, I had no idea. I was just playing every point and every game. Like I didn't feel like it was every game was 40‑Love, only in the second set.

Like I remember like first or second ball of the second set she won. All the people start to like clap and scream. I was like, What's going on? I even smiled. I was, like, Okay, they want to see a good match. I was like, Okay.

And then in the gym after the match, when I was cooling down, my coach came, and he's like, Did you know like someone told me like the stats about you and not losing a point. I was like, Really? Like not making unforced errors or not losing points? Not losing a point. So it was incredible.

Q. Are we under the impression you did it once before or came very close once before to doing this and double faulting?

YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: No.

Q. Memphis? You won 23 straight points in a row once before. 2007 don't remember that? Don't remember that at all?

YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: I have no idea. Don't remember Memphis, even.

Q. Since you found out, have you and Errani spoken about this at all?

YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: No. Like I still cannot believe, and I was like probably maybe they made the mistake or something until like I went to have a bit of food before the mixed. My manager came, and she's said like, They checked the stats. They said it's really true. You won 24 points in a row.

Q. But still you played a perfect set in the end, and it's almost never happened before. It's happened once with a man. So did it feel in any way different? Did you feel like you were playing in a zone or anything? Or not really? It just felt like normal tennis to you?

YAROSLAVA SHVEDOVA: Yeah, I was just playing. Like I said, like I had no idea every game was 40‑Love. I was just playing one, one, one. I was so focused in such a zone. It was just like one by one, like this.

Serena avoids the golden set <3 yessss

Fran/Petra is A MESS

Serena/Yari isn't <3

TWO RETURN WINNERS IN A ROW!

having to watch a 4-time wimbledon champion on a stream is really not something i'm particularly pleased with

The quality of tennis between Fran and Petra is absolutely horrendous.

Petra is 0/10 on BPs fyi.

Netted FH putaway concludes a woeful set of tennis.

schiavone/shvedova QF yay

Amazing scrambling from Golden Shvedova there! SP!

WOW, Shvedova killing it right now. Second set!

fucking disgusting

Returning Serena's first serve so well

Code violation for Serena

Petra finally manages to take a BP as Fran DFs. Face actual palm.

Lisucki up a break. I'm quite sure she'll hold onto _that_.

Great hold Shvedova.

I just want Lisicki to do what she did two rounds ago and complain about her opponent's grunting to the umpire. Of course, she's a wimp so she won't.

I like Sabine, I really do, but I'm a bit miffed she beat Stephens, whom I like more.

Now, Petra, this should have been a 6-2 6-2 demolition. Just forget that first set, hmm?

ALL OF THESE STREAMS ARE BEING SHIT HOUSE.

K Shvedova I like you but I would REALLY appreciate some errors now. Just completely implode. PLEASE.

I reckon Federer might well lose to Malisse.

Oh FFS not a netcord.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Amazing net cord to save BP :D

-_-

any particular reason serena's hitting her shots to shvedova's backhand? just ugh get a brain

Serena's serving way too well not to win though, like on Sat

maybe NOW time to implode, Yari?? :D please girl

I mean she can't win rallies and Yaroslava's playing well but Serena's serve is just not. going. away.

yes yes yes more forehands like that pleeeeeease

YEEEEEEEES AT THAT NETCORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh for god's sake. Obviously Serena and Maria will ~fight~ and win and Petra will lose.

Lol, since I mentioned Fed might lose, he dropped his serve meekly, broke easily and is now playing well in the TB. Hilarious.

Bine breaks to win the first set :D :D :D

Of course I expect Sharapova to now win 4-6 6-3 6-0.

i am gonna fucking scream

HITTING TO HER BACKHAND I MEAN JESUS

YESSSSSSS saving three BPs Yari!

Thank god she held before the rain

so many 0-30 or 30-30 or deuce games on yari's serve and serena just wanting shvedova to crumble WHICH HASN'T HAPPENED. then a fucking 0-40 and the same fucking thing UGH

UGH Yaroslava DFs, her first serve is gone...why can't this ever happen to Serena

Obviously she cracks at 5-5. THIS HAPPENS ALL THE FUCKING TIME AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN

Peng :(

UGHHHHHHHHHHHH

OMFG THOSE LAST 3 POINTS! THE FOREHAND WINNER! THE BACKHAND LOB WINNER! THE BACKHAND DOWN THE LINE WINNER! FUCKING YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS. COME THE FUCK ONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hate the world for Serena, Sharapova and Kvitova being on at the same fucking time. Maria doesn't need my help as the end result is NID, so come on Petra.

As I said post-Zheng, Silliams has this title wrapped up. Her serve is not.going.away. It's impeccable. And she's actually gone past the only players in her draw I could have seen beating her.

Petra wins the set just as play starts again while I'm in the kitchen... POJD.

Oh, BBC are already showing replays...but the scoreboard just flashed up with Petra taking the set?

Oh, Paszek won! That was surprisingly easy. Who would have thought, two weeks ago, that she'd defend her Wim QF points?

so I come home to another close Serena win, rain delays and Petra apparently being a moron again? -_-

Why on Earth was Peng breadsticked by frigging Kirilenko? How does that happen? Ugh.

Rain of errors from Peng, that's how.

Also, really ESPN asia? The middle set of Istomin-Youzhny instead of the Schiavone-Kvitova decider? TV broadcasters are morons.

oh wait, nvm, did they stop play again?

Some courts are going and some courts are not. Very localised showers obv. Petra and Fran seems to be...half-suspended? They were both sitting down mid-game but didn't go off court. Now Petra's back on court but Fran is refusing

ah okay. I can't seem to find a working stream for anything anyway. And is it true the roof still hasn't been closed yet?

Fran back out.

Roof still closed.

*still not closed

wtf. So they close it on a bright sunny day and leave it open on a day like today?

At least Petra seems to be doing well dealing with the conditions.

ugh I say that and she goes down 3 BPs. -_-

Saves all three though I had zero faith she would put away that last drive volley

Kvitova in control now. God. So lucky, though - only Fran's DFs kept in her that second set.

well then.

Petra :)

OK now to turn my attention to Maria... first point I see is a DF to go down 0-30. Lovely...

and another to go down 15-40. bloody hell. clijsters cakewalk to the final ughhhhhhh

holy SHIT at that lisicki forehand return to break

Kerber could beat St Kim!

FINALLY we get Petra vs Serena.

I feel like Serena will win so easily it will be painful. Except for uberweiss.

Wow is Lisicki actually going to win?

She was in SUCH bad form coming in...

xpost ya kinda terrified for Kvitova now that Serena's got her confidence-boosting, closely-fought wins.

Yeah I'm fairly sure Serena will win like 3 and 4.

wait why has lisicki still not choked? this is getting worrying

gonna lol pretty hard if Lisicki wins, not gonna lie

Can I just point out that coming into Wimbledon, Lisicki was on a five-match losing streak and hadn't won a match since Charleston? I was SURE she was gonna lose her opener to Martic.

It's only one break, guys.

i was at the lisicki/martic match and left when martic was up like *4-3. lisicki was playing very very average tennis. i'm highly surprised at this. then again maria - whilst the talk has been about how average serena is playing - has been quietly unimpressive all tournament.

all these DFs. so this is basically over now? very odd

of course this is maria and this is sabine so it's not basically over, but yeah... not looking good

Lisicki's groundstrokes are so unreliable

1-4 0-30 to 2-4. k NOW is surely when sabine chokes?

best challenge ever

Not if she just bangs down unreturnables like she's doing.