Footage of Eugenie in a bikini surfing was not half bad.
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Footage of Eugenie in a bikini surfing was not half bad.
Ok then - back to the tennis!
Quick prediction - Bouchard to beat Sharapova! Off to sleep :(
Well the Canuck bombed, along with the Romanian. A little surprised.
I'm still looking at a Masha-Serena final with the US to prevail.
I'm impressed by Katya Makarova's run, she's come a long way and can be a real danger on the tour, but it's a few months too early.
Wow - disappointing night - apart from Nadal going out that is. Listening to Murray / Kyrgios on the radio ( yeah ) . Murray seems on top.
I must admit I smiled when I heard the Nadal result......my dislike of him stems from a certain Doctor he used and his blood samples being destroyed. I believe he is a massive talent, but...Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Halep was awful. Sharapova says she turned it around after the first round when her dad called to yell at her.
If both Williams win will Serena throw it to Venus?
The Williams thing is interesting, pound for pound Serena will batter Venus, but......they did it before, they could do it again!Quote:
Originally Posted by Crosby87
Why would Serena throw the semi to Venus - knowing that in all probability Venus would lose the final ?
James McGee goes into action in Maui mid afternoon today in Hawaii - late tonight Irish time.
James Cluskey and James Serretani (USA) are also in action in rd1 of the doubles - they take on the US pair of Jared Donaldson and Stefan Kozlov.
To do her a favor at the end of her career.
Spuds I noticed Hingis is playing doubles and mixed dbls, could she make a comeback in singles? Too old?
Real Ale, as Crosby says, to throw her a bone. They've done it before. It's a stretch, but it happens very regularly. Example, a good solid tour player who was playing in the 1st round of a $10k, meets a young qualifier who desperately needs the points. Her mother offers the prize money plus to pay for the hotel (2 nights worth), plus a bit of coaching/hitting. Solid tour player drops the match in 2 sets, plays doubles with the kid and covers her costs with a profit. That's an easy one.
Crosby, she came back to coach a number of players, but then got the fever and played doubles (ostensibly to coach/mentor). Hard to say if she's fit enough for singles, she is still one of the most brilliant players in history (and I believe she did it largely without any doping) and if it wasn't for her mad mother and her "beliefs"/methods, Martina would be a veyr healthy and happy woman. As it is, she's a wee bit messed up.
Venus just seemed to freeze when the match was in her hands. Pretty shocking finish to the match from her POV. Serena was amazing, Cibulkova played her best and just couldn't get through her. Way too much of a power disparity.
Stan showed just why he won last year, looking very good, didn't watch the Djokovic match, but unsurprising result.
In other news I watched McGee and Cluskey, McGee won out easily against a young lad and plays Odesnik next. It's a pretty average challenger draw this week, so he has the possibility of going deep. Will probably lose now that I've said it :D
Cluskey was useless, looked like he's never played tennis before in his life, serving was awful, vollying was awful, he was passed or made an error almost every time he went to the net.
Glancy lost 7-6,7-6.
Cibulkova's only a small girl. She has most of her power in her lower body (I am being polite), but Serena is a tank. Veus, I didn't see the match, but looking at the stats breakdown, she just wilted, shocking!Quote:
Originally Posted by Acornvilla
Odesnik.......interesting player. Quite a story and quite a character. Was scapegoated by the tennis authorities and when he blew the whistle was smeared by most players, regardless, will be a test.
Cluskey is a strange one, I think it's all confidence with him. Daniel Glancy, has the looks, skills and strength, just needs a break!
More Irish updates:
Glancy beaten as per above in Sunderland F2 Event, partners Pirmin Henale of Germany in the QF of the Doubles after a L16 bye.
Peter Bothwell and his doubles partner Ewan Moore (GBR) are straight into the semi-finals of that tournament after a L16 Bye and a W/O in the QF.
F3 Event in Fucherolles France - Sam Barry has already won 2 rounds of doubles with his Spanish Doubles partner - Artenundo Martinavarr. They play the Dutch top seeds in the semi finals. Barry plays his first round singles game today.
Another addition to Sunderland, Amy Bowtell is on court, a set up and 3-3 in the 2nd. Poor field apart from Amy, one Polish player, a Brit Tara Moore and a Belarussian. Though top seed is a face familiar to us all, my old mucker Marta Sirotkina! She's looking to pick up some easy points after a busy 12 months, she came back from a silent doping ban, got engaged and nobody wants to sponsor her. A pity as she had massive potential after we got her training in DCU.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Never even checked the Women's events - are they any others apart from Amy we should know of ?
I am setting up a Twitter account to post these types of updates over the next few days. I put up details when I do it - will call it IrishTennisUpdates or something radical like that.
In GB most futures events are run side by side, it makes good sense and business - something the Europeans don't seem to get usually. Apart from Amy, at pro level we have nobody doing anything, though I hope things will change. And the Fed Cup is on in a couple of weeks, I'm caught between going to Talinn and Budapest that weekend, Ireland are in Estonia but the Group 1 teams are pretty useful.
Real Ale, if you put up a twitter account I am sure all the Irish mob will jump on board. Tennis Ireland is decent, but they have little clue on how to commercialise or grow with SM.
Set up the twitter handle tonight - @TennisUpdateIRE .
On the court Sam Barry had double disapointment in France today losing in 3 tight sets in the singles and losing in the Doubles Semis also.
Amy Bowtell completed her win the 10k event in Sunderland.
So the Venus / Serena scenario has not materialised - womens semi finals overnight and Stanley v Novak in the morning on the wireless while at work. Looking forward to sitting down with some strong coffee at the weekend mornings to watch the finals. I hope it's Serena / Maria in the womens - don't care who wins the Men's semis.
Great stuff - just followed you from my old places twitter - didn't know I'd still access to it but it's still on my phone - must tell the guys about it!Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Amy has a great chance to win this tournament, and I'd rate her against Marta.
Serena-Maria, great final!
You've been twittering like a mad yolke already :D
Amy's in a QF today at 11.00 against a decent Czech, but she has the weapons to reach the semi's.
That semi wasn't all that great, Djoko was marginally better throughout and Stan just had no answer towards the end. Murray has a decent shot at this, would imagine Novak will up his game a bit yet, but will be interesting.
And she did - 62 63!Quote:
Originally Posted by Spudulika
Something I meant to link here before but forgot to.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
http://robcherrytennis.com/
Looks like the best online resource for info on what the Irish are up to.
What ? Better than @TennisUpdateIRE ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by Acornvilla
Yeah - that's a great website - something to keep a track of for sure. Rob actually got in touch with the new twitter feed - nice fella. (See Spud - I know people too!)
Shoot the women's final is on at 3am here. Read today maria hasn't beaten her in 10 years? Had no idea it was that long.
Andy Murray is such a little whiner. I hope he loses and Mauresmo body slams him.
Yip, 15 straight losses, I think that also includes the Olympics, 15 times in 10 years in very little to play each other though. Apparently Serena is suffering from a cold of some sort, don't know if that will make much of a difference. Apart from the juice, she's a better match player than Maria, but it will be an interesting game. Despite all she detracts from the game and that (unlike Rio Ferdinand) she can get away with deliberately missing drug tests, she is a very clean hitter of the ball.
I'm kind of rooting for Andy, he's a nice guy, very down to earth and takes the p out of himself. Also he's a big lover of things Irish, has helped out Irish players (still does) and after everything he went through as a kid I kind of like his togetherness.
James McGee just one match away from his first challenger final in Maui after a 76 (8-6) 62 win over 16 year old American Stefan Kozlov overnight. James came from 5-1 down in the first set breaker.
Amy Bowtell in action in the semi finals in Sunderland at 12.00 noon playing unseeded Czech Jesika Maleckova.
Women final bitterly predictable so far.
I hope Murray wins as well, I thought his after match comments were on point. And Kim Sears swearing was hilarious!
Maleckova was a good little junior, but she's not translated it into the senior ranks. She's a good clay courter with some good wins, but Amy must be aiming to get through this in straight sets and meet Sirotkina in the final. If she can beat Marta, she is moving in the right direction. She matched and beat her in training many times, so she could do it.
Great for James, just for reaching the semi's he must be back up close to the top-200. Winning the title must push him close to an all-time high.
Maria never stood a chance. Serena is just too strong, too healthy and too consistent.
The lad McGee beat looks like a player, only a child really and is still very slight but as far as I'm aware he's the big American hope for the future. I remember him nearly toppeling big ol' Sam Groth last year, he's in the team that beat Clusky in the doubles, they're into the semi now.
Just checked his results last year, I had forgotten he got to a USTA final late in the season, also got a set or Corcic. in that challenger he lost to Queerey, but beat JP Smith, Tim Smyczek, Rhyne Williams and Ryan Harrison, all in the one week, that's something our James is very unlikely to be able to achieve unless he can start being more consistent. The semi is about as winnable a semi as you can ever hope for at this level. He has to take the chance, and will likely face Bradley Klahn who he lost 2-0 to earlier this year in the final.
If things go to form, James would jump to about 180 in the rankings, if he were to lose the final. A win would jump him to low 170's. I've not taken into account how other players points will fluctuate, but it's a decent approximation.
Doubles final is AUS is just starting, hope the French lads win, Fognini is an arsehole.
Sam Barry plays Taro Daniel later on in France, I'd be very surprised if he wins, Daniel is very good, bit can occasionally be an inconsistent hothead, but young and will probably eventually be a top 100 player at least.
Amy through to face Marta tomorrow at 11. I can see it being tight, but if Amy can get a head start, Sirotkina will crumble. Won't be easy, but it'll be quite the scalp fr her if she can do it. Come on Amy!
McGee lost semi 7-6, 6-2 so he gets 29 rankings point as a semi finalist - a missed opportunity to make it to the final!
Jesus Christ...
He looked knackered to me.
Amy won 6-4 6-3 to win the final ..... Bravo!
What a win! Brilliant! It is not going to make a huge difference in rankings, but it means a lot for the player and reputation. Tennis is like boxing. It's all about who you beat and how you beat them.
She's now beaten a player who a year ago was in Grand Slam qualifiers and a potential top 100 player (maybe top-75). And this player had beaten top-100 players and won a $75k, and even beat Nastia Rodionova last year (which is no mean feat).
So now it's up to Amy to routinely beat top-300 players and start making the quarters of $25ks and break 300. She's going to reach an all time high now, close to 350, so fingers crossed. Note: She pulled out of the $25k in Glasgow next week. She'd have been pushing it as she'd have had to play qualies, but it's a missed opportunity. - She's on the way to Estonia to play Fed Cup. Will be an impossible task for Ireland to stay up!
James is at 193 in rankings while Amy is at 409
Don't think the girls/ITF events rankings get updated until the following week, so I'd wager Amy is really closer to 350 in reality.
Spot on, once a fortnight for ITF tournaments. All eyes on whether Ireland can finish 3rd and play off against 4th in the opposite group, it's happy days. As it stands Estonia, South Africa, Slovenia and Bosnia will be the big guns. Finland are strong with a very experienced captain (who is still winning club matches), Luxembourg are weak and Egypt are making up the numbers. Some very good players on show.
McGee just missed 3 match points v Smyczek. Netted an easy forehand with the whole court to aim at..
Edit: Broken to love next game. Two double faults. Moronic.
That was disappointing. 2 hours on court and nothing to show. But at least he made main draw, a decent start (without having to qualify).