MiamiScreamingEagles
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- Jan 17, 2004
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The only other event thread that eclipsed 1k was the 2019 Masters one which required Tiger Woods winning it to garner that many, so yeah special things need to continue happening for these threads to keep blossomingWe did it!!! 1000+ posts for a tennis tournament on a hockey forum. I guess that's what happens when we witness the birth of a superstar who in the process make Canadian history!
We did it!!! 1000+ posts for a tennis tournament on a hockey forum. I guess that's what happens when we witness the birth of a superstar who in the process make Canadian history!
I would hold off on saying we're witnessing the birth of a superstar tennis player in Andreescu just yet. I mean she's played awesome this year and looked dominate in the US Open, but we've seen plenty of female players who've won a grandslam or two and then have dropped off severely since. I mean look at Halep and Muguruza. Both have won a couple of slams, but both have also had long stretches of being not so good and losing early in slams as well.
So while she's off to a great career start, lets wait and see how she does for the next year or two before declaring her a star player let alone a superstar. If Bianca can be even half as consistent as Serena has been over the course of her career and with how much she's won, then Andreescu will be a great player, but lets just wait and see and hope she can be that consistent.
I would hold off on saying we're witnessing the birth of a superstar tennis player in Andreescu just yet. I mean she's played awesome this year and looked dominate in the US Open, but we've seen plenty of female players who've won a grandslam or two and then have dropped off severely since. I mean look at Halep and Muguruza. Both have won a couple of slams, but both have also had long stretches of being not so good and losing early in slams as well.
So while she's off to a great career start, lets wait and see how she does for the next year or two before declaring her a star player let alone a superstar. If Bianca can be even half as consistent as Serena has been over the course of her career and with how much she's won, then Andreescu will be a great player, but lets just wait and see and hope she can be that consistent.
Agreed on this. While Muguruza and Halep weren't quite as young, Kuznetsova is a worthwhile cautionary tale, as she was almost exactly the same age as Andreescu when she won her first major, also at the US Open. She had a very well rounded game and actually largely avoided injuries but certainly didn't have a superstar career, although she's been very successful. That consistency is key.
The way I see the match between Andreescu and Williams is that Andreescu was making Williams fight for EVERY point. Even when Williams would serve wide or too deep on the first ball, Andreescu was returning those at her feet which must have been intimidating and likely what caused Williams to go for broke on the 2nd serve and made her double fault more than usual. She knew that putting the ball in play on the 2nd serve would not be enough against an amazing returner like Andreescu. Any long exchanges would almost invariably play in Andreescu's favor. I guess that's where being young pays off. Williams is at her best when she can pull off a point with as few racquet swings as possible. And Andreescu made her play a lot. Even when she retained her service, she had to fight for it. One time it took her 10 minutes to win her service game. Even if she won that point, that's just a loss for Williams because that can't be the way it all unfolds if she hoped to have a chance to win. I was expecting Andreescu to be craftier with drop shots, and lobs, and what not but instead she just matched Williams power for power. Andreescu's depth placement was top notch, few balls were short and possible to attack for Serena the way she likes it. As crazy as it sounds, Andreescu intimidated Williams with how she relentlessly kept coming at her. Which is usually what Williams does to her opponents.
For Williams to hope to win, she had to play air tight offensively with her service with 1-2 swings wins. And she had to be able to attack Andreescu's serve. But Andreescu served better than I've seen her serve in a while with timely aces and first balls.
Andreescu upped her game in that GS final. She had a small dip at 1-5, but I honestly wasn't too worried even when it got to 5-5. Still felt like she was not melting down. Still felt like she was in it. But yeah, throughout the US open it didn't feel like Andreescu was at her peak level. She played well, but not as good as she was playing in Indian Wells IMO. But in that final.... she was unassailable, a rock.
I know we all want to hold off on anointing the next one with what happened with Osaka, Ostapenko, Muguruza, etc. But none of these girls are the full package like Andreescu. One can say Osaka was, but the thing with Osaka is that she does not seem to have the mental edge nor the variety that Andreescu has. She has a better serve, and more power but that will only work when she peaks in all aspects of her play whereas Andreescu has so many weapons along with a willingness to switch things up, that she can adapt to any situation. She's the real deal folks.
A star is born.
I can't wait to see how she does on the asian swing and in the end of year tournament. What a dream year, winning what most people see as the 5th slam in IW, her hometown tournament in Toronto, then her first GS. I can't wait to see how she does with clay and grass. Doesn't feel like there's any reason for her not to excel on any surface either.
Hoping Medvedev can pull it off tonight.
She tried a drop shot early, Serena crushed it and showed she had the speed to get to it, and Bianca realized it wouldn't work and went power for power instead.
not to put a damper on yesterday's impressive victory, but Serena has just been frankly awful in her last two finals-Halep dismantled her in barely an hour and Serena's serve yesterday cost her the match.
anyway
I think Medvedev is going to give Rafa some trouble
of the big 3, I think Rafa is the best of them at in-match adjustments, and he'll need to be today
if Medvedev's serve is on, he'll have a chance. I'm a gambler and am taking him +7 games.
some but not that much, reallyBut doesn't Andreescu deserve some credit for Serena's service game not being as good as usual ?
some but not that much, really
serena had 8 doubles and a 44% first serve percentage
Bianca's 3 previous opponents in this tourny all had 4 or less doubles and over a 60% first serve percentage so it's not like she's doing something drastically different that's causing everyone to have serve troubles against her. Serena was just uncharacteristically bad with her serves yesterday.
some but not that much, really
serena had 8 doubles and a 44% first serve percentage
Bianca's 3 previous opponents in this tourny all had 4 or less doubles and over a 60% first serve percentage so it's not like she's doing something drastically different that's causing everyone to have serve troubles against her. Serena was just uncharacteristically bad with her serves yesterday.
Serena's game is much more built around her serve than any of Andreescu's prior opponent though. And at this point in her career, she absolutely needs her serve to give her an edge.
I just realized that women's tennis now has a GS champion born in the 2000s, before men's tennis has one born in the 90s.
respectfully disagreeThe comparison with other players does not mean much because 1) Andreescu's level was so much better in the finals than any other match in the tournament 2) Her other opponents weren't as hopeless as Williams in long rallies because they could move whereas Williams is basically a cruise liner at this point in her career and can't move to save her life.
some but not that much, really
serena had 8 doubles and a 44% first serve percentage
Bianca's 3 previous opponents in this tourny all had 4 or less doubles and over a 60% first serve percentage so it's not like she's doing something drastically different that's causing everyone to have serve troubles against her. Serena was just uncharacteristically bad with her serves yesterday.