Tennis

[osarusan]

Which Niland lost 7-9.

[Real ale Madrid]

Maith an fear!

2 sets all!

Can't slag him for lack of effort anyway!

[Mr A]

2 sets all now, come on Niland!

[cornflakes]

Not too into tennis but every sport is great when you have something to cheer for. Come on Conor

[BonnieShels]

So close. Well played.

[Real ale Madrid]

Bitterly disapointing for him id imagine - two breaks up in the last set - looked tired at the end.

[culloty82]

Really gutted - thought he had it in the bag at 4-1, but them's the breaks (literally). The level of Irish support was amazing, at times it sounded like half of Limerick was in Court 17.

[sixesandsevens]

It's a Heartbreaker, I think when the crowd started to sing fields of athenry when he was two breaks up in the fifth might have gotten him a little bit nervous when closing out the match - he never recovered from that
But this will go a long way to him making the US open in a few months. SO close to centre court though

[BonnieShels]

Great match now between nadal and Murray.

[Dodge]

Shouldn't have replaced Britain's Andy Murray with Scotland's Andy Murray IMO

[Stuttgart88]

Only just saw this thread. I read in the Guardian last week that the watching Brits adopted Conor Niland as one of their own, so he duly obliged and choked in a winning position!

After a set and two games Murray was a mile better than Nadal today. Then he double-faulted and missed a simple overhead. Nadal got his first break and it was game over from that point. The irony is that at the time I was defending Murray against my viewing companion's remark that he wasn't a closer. I was saying that not being as good as Nadal / Federer isn't a crime. However, today Murray had Nadal rattled in the first hour or so, and let him off the hook completely - mainly through sheer carelessness.

[BonnieShels]

I have to say I enjoyed it. I loved how he collapses. No point going out pluckily and be a glorious failure but rather, he just collapses.
The final is going to be a whopper.

Nadal showed his class though and I think that he would have eventually ground Andy out in the second set at any point.
Even at the end of the first set you could see Murray starting to get salmon fever.

[DaveyCakes]

Two good finals and 2 well deserved champions. Did anyone else take as much enjoyment from watching the Sky Sports News presenters tying themselves up in knots trying to pronounce Kvitova?...Kivitova..Kitvitova...

[BonnieShels]

I loved how everytime they got near Rafa they asked him about Andy Murray. FFS!

[Spudulika]

Biggie coming up this weekend, Ireland vs Tunisia. Ireland should win, despite the "fans", but it won't be easy. Could be a chance of Sam Barry making his debut.

[sixesandsevens]

Heard it's a sell out, which is great seeing as we were expecting Britain. Ireland should have no problems but their top guy is fairly decent - top 300 player. Would be a major shock.
Sam hasn't been named in the official line up. May be down as the fifth man but barring injury I think he'll have to wait till next year

[Spudulika]

Spot on about Sam, I thought they'd throw him in the mix but the pressure is on. Tunisia are no mugs, but they're no Luxembourg either. It will hinge on the doubles. I can't see Ireland losing, then again.....

The biggest problem will be atmosphere. The oiks who follow tennis prefer to sit on their hands than raise them - need a bit of GAA into them, or some Ultras!

[Spudulika]

Ireland 2-1 down against Tunisia. I think we've got one of the best tennis coaches in Europe as our DC captain, though I am going to ask him why he put Conor Niland in for James McGee. Still, if Conor does the business tomorrow (albeit against an in form opponent), Barry King should be able to bring home the win.

[Spudulika]

Just in case anyone's interested, Irish tennis is still alive (despite Wimbledon being over) and the National Academy out in DCU have been having quite a bit of success at all levels. Marta Sirotkina, a Russian who lives out in Tallaght and is coached by Garry Cahill at DCU, is representing Russia at the Universiade out in China. She and her partner are in the doubles semi-final and, don't hate her for this, the girl is a big Shamrock Rovers fan and apart from a Rovers pin she wears on her tracksuit, she an Irish flag sowed onto her tennis kit bag. She's due back in Ireland the end of next month.

[Spudulika]

SIrotkina came home with a bronze in doubles and is heading to Ireland after a tourney in Tashkent.

Conor Niland currently about to win the first set 6-1 in qualies for the US Open, decent draw but he can do it. Oddly the recently retired Louk Sorenson has unretired to play in the qualifiers.

[BonnieShels]

Sorenson retired?

Best have a word with a member of this parish about that.

[Spudulika]

Sorenson retired?

Best have a word with a member of this parish about that.

Yeah, there in May, before the French, he wasn't improving from his hip injury and said he was retiring - hence he wasn't in the DC team against Tunisia.

[BonnieShels]

Had no idea. Jaysus.

[Spudulika]

He was born with displaced hips or one leg shorter than the other, then with the hip injury it just got worse and worse. His brother was the same.

On a positive side, Conor won well last night. He could be set for a decent run in NY.

[BonnieShels]

Great stuff.

[Real ale Madrid]

Sorensen in action at the moment in flushing meadows - and he's a set up, 7-6 against his Spanish opponent.

[Grey Boy]

Great result for Louk 7-6, 6-4 against opponent ranked 152 currently. What odds on himself and Niland making main draw? Looking at Conors side of the draw he's best ranked, while Sorenson has eliminated his highest ranked opponent already. Great days for Irish Tennis.

[Spudulika]

Good chance for both men to come through. Conor's at an age where he knows he has to let it happen, Louk has nothing to lose. Great days indeed!

[Real ale Madrid]

Nilander through 6-2 6-3 this evening, will play Matwe Middlekoop from Holland for a place in the main draw.

[Spudulika]

This is another major win for Conor, according to GC he's never going to have a better chance to progress. Meanwhile Louk will have to be at his best. He's on the Grandstand court this morning, 10am, and will have to play later in the day to progress.

[Real ale Madrid]

Niland through after coming from a set down to win! Congratulations to him. Sorensen also won earlier and takes on Martin Fisher of Austria for his place in the main draw.

[Spudulika]

This could be a great week ahead for Irish tennis!

[BonnieShels]

Any updates on Louk?

Fair dues to Niland.

[culloty82]

Sorensen also won through 7-6, 6-1 (surprised he was competing, last I heard he'd retired). Both have plum draws in the first round, even if neither can win - Niland plays Djovokic, while Sorensen will take on Soderling.

[culloty82]

Seems Sergei Bubka's son has also qualified for the first round - no details of who he'll play.

[Real ale Madrid]

Niland up 3rd on Arthur Ashe today - I'd imagine about 8 o clock in the evening Irish time. Best of luck to him.

[culloty82]

Supposed to be playing now, but Eurosport showing Nieminen-Verdasco, suspect Sky are showing our match. On the US Open website (http://www.usopen.org/en_US/scores/index.html), currently 6-0, 4-1 to the Serb. EDIT: Djovokic went 5-1 up, then Niland had to withdraw, presumably due to injury.

[Real ale Madrid]

Niland got a bout of food poisoning before the game. Threw up on court apparently before the start. Really shocking luck - hope he gets another chance.

Louk Sorensen first up tomorrow on Grandstand against Soderling - 4.00pm Irish time.

[freewheel30]

You'd have to feel for the lad - hopefully he'll take the positives from this year and build on it next season.

[BonnieShels]

Niland got a bout of food poisoning before the game. Threw up on court apparently before the start. Really shocking luck - hope he gets another chance.

Louk Sorensen first up tomorrow on Grandstand against Soderling - 4.00pm Irish time.

South Africa v NZ, 1995 all over again. Gutted for Conor. But a great year for him in fairness. Roll on Melbourne and best of luck to Louk tomorrow.

[Real ale Madrid]

Rumours on twitter that Djokovic gave Niland some dodgy sushi in the days before the game are probably untrue!

I remember Andy Murray vomiting on court at the US Open a few years back as well.

[Spudulika]

Conor, Garry and a couple of others were out on Sunday evening for dinner. 2 of the group got sick overnight, he spent Monday with his head in toilets and barely got court time for practice. The whole group was really down yesterday before he went on court as the debate was to just pull out - he refused and wanted to step out. He'd been advised not to as a number of players were suffering from heat exhaustion and his condition was such that he was advised to sit it out. He did great to get on court and I just hope that this rankings boost will give him strength to push on, play some ATP events (bigger ones) and qualify for the Aussie Open.

A nice bet today woudl be for Louk to lose in 4 sets. Not being negative, but Soderling is in good shape.

[Real ale Madrid]

Soderling has withdrawn due to a wrist injury. Sorensen is now instead taking on Lucky Loser Rogerio Dutra da Silva currently ranked 111. Sorensen is down a break in the first.

Its been an eventful few days to say the least!

[BonnieShels]

I thought RTÉ had lost the plot there when I was looking for the scores.

[pineapple stu]

I mis-read it and thought both our players had retired injured. Now there'd be bad luck...

As it is, might have been better for Sorensen if he was injured. 5-0 down in the first set now.

Edit - first set gone 6-0.

[BonnieShels]

Great come back on the cards?

Sorensen 5-2 up in the second.

Edit: He won set 6-3.

[Real ale Madrid]

Sorensen in trouble with his thumb now it seems. 3 set points against now

Edit - 2-1 now to Da Silva.

Sorensen in obvious trouble physically. Went serve and volley at the end of that game, trying to end points quickly.

[Real ale Madrid]

Sorensen retires, at 1-0 in the fourth. Bad luck really doesn't cover it.

[pineapple stu]

I mis-read it and thought both our players had retired injured. Now there'd be bad luck...
Ho hum...

[BonnieShels]

What are the chances!

Very high if you're Irish it seems, we are destined always to be plucky failures.
Ffs!