Tennis 2013

[Acornvilla]

Very promising start, soon to be serving for the 1st set.

[Real ale Madrid]

1 Set all now. Competing very well, his first serve % poor I would think. Getting dragged into too many long games on his own serve. Next few games key.

[Real ale Madrid]

Beaten in 4 sets - 4th set breaker. Left it all out on the court in fairness to him. Was a very entertaining 4th set.

[Acornvilla]

Beaten in 4 sets - 4th set breaker. Left it all out on the court in fairness to him. Was a very entertaining 4th set.
Yeah he had nothing else to give. Shows the gulph in class he still needs to cross thou, but this was a very big step in the right direction for him in so many ways.

[Acornvilla]

Cluskey and Sorensen both won 1st round in their respective challengers this week.

[swinfordfc]

Louk Sorensen in the final in Italy today - think he be Irish No. 1 tomorrow!

[Acornvilla]

Louk Sorensen in the final in Italy today - think he be Irish No. 1 tomorrow!
Watched the match, was never beating Toricki, had he won he'd certainly be #1 but he'll get about 45 ranking points for coming 2nd, it'll be fairly tight between him and James for #1 now alright. Both seem to be taking this week off. Cluskey is down in Asia playing with Kyle Edmund for the 2nd week running. Edmund will be at least a top 100 singles player methinks, seems very good for his age.

New rankings havn't updated yet, but I think Sam Barry is also into the top 300 now, won an ITF event apparently, but not sure where :P

Edit: I think James will get about 35 points for his us open showing, so will be around the 185 mark, Louk will be 190 or so I think! 1st time we'll ever have two lads in the top 200 (3) if you count Cluskey, and then Sam Barry is looking very promising.

[Real ale Madrid]

Troicki only back a few weeks after serving a 1 year ban for failing to provide a drug sample - hard luck to run into a guy like that who is obviously headed back to the top 50 ish.

[Acornvilla]

Hon the Nishikori!!

[Real ale Madrid]

Nishikori v Cilic in the Finals. As expected!

Must admit I have a soft spot for Wozza! I hope she fulfills her potential today and beats Serena. Although I gather they have become great friends in the last few months.

Weird to see Martina Hingis on the winners rostrum last night - won the women's doubles with Flavia Panetta.

[Acornvilla]

Woz and Serena bonded after the McIlroy craic apparently. Dimitrov was caught in a love triangle between Serena and Sharapova a while back. So they became friends among all that mess. That's a big part of the reason why Williams hates Sharapova, and loves playing/beating her. Must be like a hoor house at grand slams :P There's all the tennis gossip you could ever need.

Their last two matches this year resulted in very close 2-1 wins for Williams, but Serenas getting her act together and should really edge it, although she has been known to totally implode, so you never know. I'd love to see Woz win as well tbh.

Cilic was absolutely immense yesterday, I expected him to go 2-0 up and then crack mentally, really impressed with how he finished the match off. Cilic is fav if he plays like that again, but if the pressure gets to him, I think Nishi will win the long rallies and is more steady mentally. Getting the Djokovic match done in 4 sets will have helped thou, he'll have a bit of time to help his weary body recover.

[pineapple stu]

When was the last Grand Slam final without Federer/Nadal/Murray/Djokovic in it?

Edit - the 2005 French Open final between Safin and Hewitt. Bloody hell. Only del Potro and Wawrinka have even won a Grand Slam since then (and Murray only has 2)

[swinfordfc]

Louk highest ever ranking at 185 and ireland no 1 ...... James at 195

[Acornvilla]

Louk highest ever ranking at 185 and ireland no 1 ...... James at 195
Sam Barry at 286. Our best crop ever I would say. Louk has a lot of points to defend this week. He made the final in this competition last year.

From what I can see, Sam has won 5 ITF doubles titles this year, and about 3 singles titles, as well as losing a final or two. He's far ahead of anyone we've ever had before, at his age, I think.

It has to be said, that Cilic was pretty awesome from the 1/4 finals onwards, if he keeps his composure like this in future, he will be very dangerous going forward. Nishi was tired, but Cilic gave him nothing.

[Acornvilla]

Cluskey into the final of Sevilla! Sorensen into the quarters of Istanbul.

Not sure anyone is doing anything else, unless it's an ITF event in god knows where.

[swinfordfc]

Cluskey into the final of Sevilla! Sorensen into the quarters of Istanbul.

Not sure anyone is doing anything else, unless it's an ITF event in god knows where.

Sorensen out in q final - 7-5, 6-3

[Acornvilla]

Sorensen out in q final - 7-5, 6-3
Watched the match, not a whole lot between them to be honest, but Louk would go 0-30 down on his own serve way too often for comfort which cost him. He got to the final here last year, so this will likely mean McGee jumps back to the #1 spot.

James lost the final as well, it was tight enough but the Dutch boys won all the big points. He was defending a loss in a final from this time last year, so no damage done thankfully.

I think he's been in two finals and made 3 semi's now in the last 6 weeks or so which is pretty good by most standards. If he has a decent end to the year he'll have every chance of being back in the top 150, and given how horrific his 1st few month of the year were this time out, he'll have a good shot at being around 120 or so in time for Wimbledon.

That is if he decides not to pack it in..

[Acornvilla]

Sam Barry and Daniel Glancy(!) are competing in quali rounds for the 250 event in Mets, Had a look at the draws, I see Barry losing out in the 3rd round, and Glancy in the 2nd. But sure who knows. I assume McGee will be heading back to america to play USTA.

[Acornvilla]

Shows what I know, Barry lost 6-1,6-1 to someone I've never heard of!!

Glancy won easily at least, plays Bossell tomorrow, who is an ok player on the ITF circuit, it's winnable for Dan, but I wouldn't get my hopes up!

[swinfordfc]

Something wrong somewhere cause Louk Sorensen is up to 175 in the world ..... his highest ever! ..... Bravo

[Acornvilla]

Something wrong somewhere cause Louk Sorensen is up to 175 in the world ..... his highest ever! ..... Bravo
Lots of people above him must have skipped a week and lost points I would assume. Great news for Louk thou, he'll be seeded at most challengers now at this stage, one or two good results between now and end of season could even see him seeded in the Aussie open Qualification.


McGee still hasn't competed since the USOpen the hoor, I know he has very little points to defend, but sure he'd already be in the top 150 had he played a few comps!

Think Cluskey has taken the week off, has dropped down to 201 now even thou he's had a great last month. Very little points for him to defend for the next 6 months however so I'd expect him to be bombing back up around 150 sharpish.

Glancy lost in the 2nd round of qualies in Metz afterwards in a 3rd set tiebreak. Would have been one hell of an achievement for him to make Q3.

[Acornvilla]

I see on twitter that McGee and Cluskey are going to be playing doubles together over in the USTA circuit for the next three weeks or so. California up first!

[swinfordfc]

Irish top two won their first games in America this week - on the same side of draw as well!

[Acornvilla]

Irish top two won their first games in America this week - on the same side of draw as well!
Cluskey is over there too, playing with Freddy Nielsen of all men! So if he can't win a few rounds playing alongside a former grand slam champion he may give up! They're playing a decent pairing today thou, I'm going to try and give the match a watch, should be a good one.

Louk should win tonight, I'd say McGee will lose in a tight 3 set match, it'll be interesting, the lad he's playing is Jordan Thompson, the 3rd best young Aussie behind Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, they've been taking very good care of these lads, there's a lot expected of Jordan, he won two sets off Janowicz at the Aussie open this year!

[swinfordfc]

Cluskey is over there too, playing with Freddy Nielsen of all men! So if he can't win a few rounds playing alongside a former grand slam champion he may give up! They're playing a decent pairing today thou, I'm going to try and give the match a watch, should be a good one.

Louk should win tonight, I'd say McGee will lose in a tight 3 set match, it'll be interesting, the lad he's playing is Jordan Thompson, the 3rd best young Aussie behind Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, they've been taking very good care of these lads, there's a lot expected of Jordan, he won two sets off Janowicz at the Aussie open this year!

Louk lost last night and McGee won and is in the quarter final - but he won this match :)