Weeks 26-27 - Wimbledon 2016 - London, UK - Grass

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Weeks 26-27 - Wimbledon 2016 - London, UK - Grass

Strongbow · All-time great

Jaggy1876 wrote:
indiana wrote:
So it's Serena ( 6-2 6-0 winner ) vs Kerber ( 6-4 6-4 winner ).

Total match durations 1 hour 59 minutes. Total Centre Ccourt QF match durations yesterday 7 hours 10 minutes. You win some, you lose some. Though for doubles lovers ...

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 7th of July 2016 03:34:46 PM
The women's game has a big problem in that with Sharapova gone and Azarenka missing, there is a lack of world class players there to match Serena. The fact that Venus nearly made the final and is heading back to top 5 in the rankings says it all. At 36 she's a shadow of the player of 10years ago but well done to her for how she has managed with her illness.
Further to that the doubles made me turn over and watch the Chase such was the lack of quality there. Doubles is a paycheque for me for veterans in the main.

I think the mens game has had similar patches - if you watch long enough it will happen. Admitedly it's not good for the game. I'm a big supporter of Andy and it's interesting to hear people talk about how many slam events he would have won if he'd been in a different age. Basicaly, there's nothing anybody can do about it.

indiana · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:
indiana wrote:
So it's Serena ( 6-2 6-0 winner ) vs Kerber ( 6-4 6-4 winner ).

Total match durations 1 hour 59 minutes. Total Centre Ccourt QF match durations yesterday 7 hours 10 minutes. You win some, you lose some. Though for doubles lovers ...

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 7th of July 2016 03:34:46 PM
The problem with the Ladies event this year was the draw, we didn't get the 4 best players in the semis, but at least the final should be competitive, although if Serena plays like she did today, I can't see anything other than straight sets.

One might argue come the later stages it maybe looked unfortunate this Wimbledon that Kerber and Halep were in the same quarter. The draw though was fine, some of the players weren't. You rarely know what is a good draw until the women players start playing. Who are the best players is a very moveable feast.

The real issue is the lack of quality depth and even moreso the lack of consistency. Just look at the performers from one Slam to the next. Apart from Serena it's generally all over the place. As Jaggy says things aren't helped by the absence of Sharapova and Azarenka two of the more consistently good performers.

Venus came through from Muguruza's quarter - that's Muguruza the #2 seed, WR 2, French Open champion from a few weeks ago and Wimbledon finalist last year.

Vesnina came through from the quarter containing Aga and onform Cibulkova ( much early mutterings when Jo was bracketed for a L32 meeting with Cibulkova and her supposedly generally terrible draw )

So it really is not a lot to do with the draw, which tries to be fair, seeding on rankings. The draw at the beginning looked fine, the problem is you just don't know which players are going to really perform in any week and you can end with a seemingly weaker player in say the semis from a quarter that looked quite strong.

Muguruza looked strong going into Wimbledon as a perfectly correct #2 seed in that bottom quarter and didn't perform. And there is some truth that the Jo quarter was very strong with the Aga vs Cibulkova match being great, but Dominika was evidently still spent when she played Vesnina.

With the terrible inconsistency comes unexpected players progressing and the chance of a big SF mismatch.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 7th of July 2016 11:16:07 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:
philwrig wrote:
indiana wrote:
So it's Serena ( 6-2 6-0 winner ) vs Kerber ( 6-4 6-4 winner ).

Total match durations 1 hour 59 minutes. Total Centre Ccourt QF match durations yesterday 7 hours 10 minutes. You win some, you lose some. Though for doubles lovers ...

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 7th of July 2016 03:34:46 PM
The problem with the Ladies event this year was the draw, we didn't get the 4 best players in the semis, but at least the final should be competitive, although if Serena plays like she did today, I can't see anything other than straight sets.
One might argue come the later stages it maybe looked unfortunate this Wimbledon that Kerber and Halep were in the same quarter. The draw though was fine, some of the players weren't. You rarely know what is a good draw until the women players start playing. Who are the best players is a very moveable feast.
The real issue is the lack of quality depth and even moreso the lack of consistency. Just look at the performers from one Slam to the next. Apart from Serena it's generally all over the place. As Jaggy says things aren't helped by the absence of Sharapova and Azarenka two of the more consistently good performers.
Venus came through from Muguruza's quarter - that's Muguruza the #2 seed, WR 2, French Open champion from a few weeks ago and Wimbledon finalist last year.
Vesnina came through from the quarter containing Aga and onform Cibulkova ( much early mutterings when Jo was bracketed for a L32 meeting with Cibulkova and her supposedly generally terrible draw )
So it really is not a lot to do with the draw, which tries to be fair, seeding on rankings. The draw at the beginning looked fine, the problem is you just don't know which players are going to really perform in any week and you can end with a seemingly weaker player in say the semis from a quarter that looked quite strong.
Muguruza looked strong going into Wimbledon as a perfectly correct #2 seed in that bottom quarter and didn't perform. And there is some truth that the Jo quarter was very strong with the Aga vs Cibulkova match being great, but Dominika was evidently still spent when she played Vesnina.
With the terrible inconsistency comes unexpected players progressing and the chance of a big SF mismatch.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 7th of July 2016 11:16:07 PM

I think the rain complicated the issue as well, but 100% Venus was lucky with her draw, she played a few kids to start off with, then got CSN who has a very poor record on grass in R16, followed by a very inexperienced player in the QF. The section that had Jo/Genie/Aga/Cibulkova/Kvitova/Makarova probably was the toughest, and I firmly believe Venus would have been beaten by all those players, given that Venus looked flat the whole tournament. And then of course Vesnina took advantage of a completely spent Cibulkova who was arguably playing the best tennis of all except Serena after her run at Eastbourne as well. Most commentators have said that Aga/Cibulkova was the highest quality match of the whole tournament.

-- Edited by philwrig on Thursday 7th of July 2016 11:44:53 PM

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

The Radwanska v Cibulkova match was the best match I have seen in a long time, combining high quality of play with entertaining points and constant shifts in momentum. Unfortunately, being in the round of 16 it mean Cibulkova had to play again the next day and was understandably below par against Vesnina. Whilst Serena is playing great and would have probably beaten anyone so far, a match against Cibulkova in that sort of form would have been much more entertaining. Vesnina had a career best grand slam run, but it mainly involved beating the players who had beaten the top players, rather than doing it herself.

I think the sentimental feeling around Venus has meant the press getting a bit carried away, Venus had a really good draw and was expected to win all her matches even when not playing amazing tennis. In fact I thought Venus played much better at Wimbledon last year, but that time round she was really unlucky with the draw as she ran into Serena quite early on. Not taking anything away from how impressive it is that Venus is competing at such a high level at the age of 36 and will an illness to deal with, just she hasn't done anything particularly surprising over the two weeks.

The good news is the best two players across the tournament are in the final, so the draw has worked itself out in the end.

rebel_rebel · Lower Club Player

The Kerber vs Venus match was terrible. I'm sure Serena will just annihilate Kerber in the final.

indiana · Tennis legend

rebel_rebel wrote:
The Kerber vs Venus match was terrible. I'm sure Serena will just annihilate Kerber in the final.

Another day ...

WD40 · Club Coach

indiana wrote:
rebel_rebel wrote:
The Kerber vs Venus match was terrible. I'm sure Serena will just annihilate Kerber in the final.
Another day ...

Far too subtle for someone that is "sure"...

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

img.mediacentrum.sk/images/gallery/670/2740149.jpg

img.mediacentrum.sk/gallery/nwo/maxwidth/990/2740135.jpg

Because everyone likes a nice wedding photo

Great couple of weeks of tennis, Dominika, and all the best for the future !

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 10th of July 2016 07:44:29 AM

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Hardly counts as 'news' any more, but top seeded Jordanne Whiley & Yui Kamuji wrapped up a third consecutive Wheelchair Doubles Wimbledon title, cantering to an easy win against the #2 seeds, 6-2 6-2

Jordanne's eighth doubles GS title, all in partnership with Yui