Good final, enjoyed that. #23 singles titles, Serena a quite remarkable athlete.
Tennis Thread
I wouldn't have minded Venus winning, Serena was far too good.
Getting a bit sick of the Federer gushing. "Magical story," "like a movie" etc etc. Being made to sound like some journeyman who has never won anything, suddenly making the final from nowhere at the end of his career after all the years of trying. Bit like the Hollywood Wimbledon movie I suppose. In fact, it almost sounds as if it was Zverev or Istomin who had made the final. Has he genuinely played a match in this tournament that noone thought he would win? I didn't see anyone in his draw challenging him apart from Wawrinka making it tough but still would have been shocked if he'd lost. Was surprised Nishikori got a couple of sets off him too. Hope Nadal stuffs him.
I'm in the Fed camp. But not too bothered if Nadal wins. I hope it is a classic
Fed takes the 1st set 6-4
He did it, take a bow Roger. 18th grand slam win for the Fed Express.
The best win of Fed's insane career in the craziest of circumstances. Rafa is an anomaly which is what makes this all the better. Can't think of two better ambassadors for sport.
The GOAT. So glad blood bags got his arse handed to him. On ya Fed!
I searching for an analogy with boxing...
Feels like Rafa is like Joe Frazier (his own nuggety effective style), Djokovic is like George Foreman (truly better in most aspects, strong, a misfiring genius in others) and Federer is Ali (in the technical sense - a smooth, classy technician, with wily street smarts). All of them 'greats' in a period of unbelievable competition.
PS: Andy Murray is definitely Harry Cooper in to continue the analogy.
Erakovic goes out 1st round of Wimbledon to 2nd seed Halep. 35,000 squids should stop her crying into her strawberries.
Hasta luego Rafa
Interesting results overnight....... c'mon Fed!!!
Murray could be in dire straights with his hip stuffed, not an easy one to fix.
Murray out! Please Fed, make some history.
Fed wins Wimbledon! Victory for OAPs worldwide!
Fed Express coming through. And what a pleasant attitude he has. The consumate professional. A good winner and a good loser. Unlike Andy Muraay.
Bit of a long shot asking here, but are there any tennis players on here looking to play interclub in Wellington in the coming summer season? My team in Men's 4th grade is in need of players due to some departures from last season's team so could suit someone who maybe doesn't get to play every week at their current club and would like a more regular game, or maybe doesn't have the option of playing at this level. Let me know if you or anyone you know could be interested.
All aboard the Lulu Sun band wagon!
Her win over Raducanu was even featured quite heavily here tonight on SBS Australia's sports news.
Smart lass. Speaks English, Mandarin & French I understand. Learning Spanish. BA in Political Science.
Hits the ball hard. Oozing confidence, when she could have froze on Centre Court against the UK's favourite tennis darling. Seems Sun's Slovak coach is a master at turning unheard of players into top-20 material.
Dare to believe! I think she can go further yet.
Smart lass. Speaks English, Mandarin & French I understand. Learning Spanish. BA in Political Science.
Hits the ball hard. Oozing confidence, when she could have froze on Centre Court against the UK's favourite tennis darling. Seems Sun's Slovak coach is a master at turning unheard of players into top-20 material.
Dare to believe! I think she can go further yet.
Watched her marches screened on TVNZ plus thus far.
Really nice player. Strong lefty first serve, fast whiplash ground strokes and good at the net as well.
Second serve is a tad suspicious and obviously going for so many winners with her ground strokes can lead to a truck load of unforced errors.
Interestingly last two matches on both occasions first serve percentage has been around 55 per cent.
If she can up that to 65, she has a really good chance with the draw to make the final which would be madness.
Good to see nz tennis managed to get her after letting a couple of goodies slip through their fingers in recent years
Really nice player. Strong lefty first serve, fast whiplash ground strokes and good at the net as well.
Second serve is a tad suspicious and obviously going for so many winners with her ground strokes can lead to a truck load of unforced errors.
Interestingly last two matches on both occasions first serve percentage has been around 55 per cent.
If she can up that to 65, she has a really good chance with the draw to make the final which would be madness.
Good to see nz tennis managed to get her after letting a couple of goodies slip through their fingers in recent years
She has a lot of power in her shots, and her ability to place shots out wide and on the baseline is quite impressive.
But yeah a lot of it does seem to depend on her getting her first serve in, when she has to go to a 2nd serve that's when her opponents can damage her
But yeah a lot of it does seem to depend on her getting her first serve in, when she has to go to a 2nd serve that's when her opponents can damage her
Next time Lulu, next time.
The radio last night suggested that she only realigned herself with NZ a couple of months back to get an Olympic junket trip. Yes born in Te Anau but now after all these years wants to be a New Zealander.
Probably quite cynical but not without merit.
Probably quite cynical but not without merit.
The radio last night suggested that she only realigned herself with NZ a couple of months back to get an Olympic junket trip. Yes born in Te Anau but now after all these years wants to be a New Zealander.
Probably quite cynical but not without merit.
Probably quite cynical but not without merit.
Yeah, she made the decision in April, could have represented any number of Countries I guess with a Croation dad, Korean mum and living in Switzerland since she was 5.
Yeah as a junior she represented Switzerland. She switched to NZ in April and was part of the NZ team in the Billie Jean King Cup that same month - likely with a view to the Olympics
Edit: Just a note, she qualified for the 1st round of the Aussie Open in January so I checked and she was representing Switzerland there too - so not just juniors then
Edit: Just a note, she qualified for the 1st round of the Aussie Open in January so I checked and she was representing Switzerland there too - so not just juniors then
Give her some slack.
Don’t have any issue on someone born in our country and who lived here until the age of 5, with parents of different citizenship’s, who then decided to head overseas to two different countries and as a young adult then spent 4 years in another country attending university, deciding NZ is her true home.
She is now the top ranked female player in both Switzerland or NZ.
It doesn’t take much imagination on which country could support her the best financially
Plus her going the Olympics actually allows the number 3 doubles player in the world to play - who also has an interesting background, being the citizen of two countries.
Don’t have any issue on someone born in our country and who lived here until the age of 5, with parents of different citizenship’s, who then decided to head overseas to two different countries and as a young adult then spent 4 years in another country attending university, deciding NZ is her true home.
She is now the top ranked female player in both Switzerland or NZ.
It doesn’t take much imagination on which country could support her the best financially
Plus her going the Olympics actually allows the number 3 doubles player in the world to play - who also has an interesting background, being the citizen of two countries.
The radio last night suggested that she only realigned herself with NZ a couple of months back to get an Olympic junket trip. Yes born in Te Anau but now after all these years wants to be a New Zealander.
Probably quite cynical but not without merit.
Probably quite cynical but not without merit.
Yeah, she made the decision in April, could have represented any number of Countries I guess with a Croation dad, Korean mum and living in Switzerland since she was 5.
Her mum is Chinese and they lived in Shanghai for few years, after leaving NZ. Speaks English, Mandarin & French. Has a step dad, which is maybe how she and her mum ended up in Switzerland?? That's Winnie Reid's story with getting to Denmark, the step dad. Sun also went to University in Texas
I thought the story was she felt like she wasn't getting much support from Swiss Tennis, and NZ Tennis chased, she felt the love and changed allegiances. Has some family in NZ (maybe her natural father?)
But she's said herself, she feels a bit of citizen of the world, emotional ties to many different places. Sounds like her Slovak coach is a bit of a guru with the whole self belief stuff, so important with tough lonely individual grind sports like tennis. Questioning daily am I good enough when slogging it out at low paying Challenger events etc
Another great thing to note is that thanks to this run at Wimbledon it will give her enough ranking points to most likely stay in the top 104 for the next year which means automatic entry to all the Grand Slams until Wimbledon next year!
When the next rankings come out she will be ranked 53 in the world.
I'm looking forward to having an NZ player to support in the singles at the Grand Slams - it's something we hardly ever get to see.
Also excited to see how her and Routliffe go together in the Doubles at the Olympics (Also Routliffe and Venus in the Mixed) - some decent opportunities for us in the tennis at the Olympics this year
When the next rankings come out she will be ranked 53 in the world.
I'm looking forward to having an NZ player to support in the singles at the Grand Slams - it's something we hardly ever get to see.
Also excited to see how her and Routliffe go together in the Doubles at the Olympics (Also Routliffe and Venus in the Mixed) - some decent opportunities for us in the tennis at the Olympics this year
I don’t think Venus will be there. He missed out on qualifying for the men’s doubles and due to this he can’t rock on up to the mixed.
I don’t think Venus will be there. He missed out on qualifying for the men’s doubles and due to this he can’t rock on up to the mixed.
Unfortunately Erin Routliffe lost the Wimbledon Womens Doubles final overnight.
But despite the loss she still becomes the new World Number 1 for Womens Doubles!
But despite the loss she still becomes the new World Number 1 for Womens Doubles!