The Tennis Thread

Your English is really coming on in leaps and bounds.

Sascha Zverev beats Thiem 6-4 6-4 to win in Madrid. Third Masters title for Zverev to go with 2017 wins in Rome and Montreal. Won in Munich last week as well. Good going as he’s just turned 21.

Thiem continues to under achieve and flatters to deceive.

Zverev leading Nadal 3-1 in the deciding 3rd set in the final of the Rome Masters.

Just getting underway again after a rain delay of about an hour. Zverev serving at 3-2. He was on fire before the rain, winning 10 of previous 12 games. Be interesting to see if the rain will have granted Nadal a reprieve.

Rain delay came at a very opportune time for Nadal, just like the 2014 French Open Final. Wins four straight games after the rain for a 6-1 1-6 6-3 win. Probably not a bad thing for Zverev prospects at Roland Garros to lose here. He outplayed Nadal for long stretches of that match. Despite 3 Masters Series wins at 21, he’s only made the last 16 in 1 of his 10 Grand Slams. If he’d won Rome today on the back of Madrid last week, he’d have been seriously built up for the French Open.

Good draw for Nadal in Paris.

He has avoided the most dangerous clay opponents on his side.

Dimitrov, Djokovic, Zverev, Wawrinka, Nishikori and Thiem are all on the other side of the draw.

It really is a damning indictment of the awful current state of tennis that a 32 year old journeyman like Kevin Andersen, who’s only made it past the last 16 in 2 of his 35 Grand Slams suddenly finds himself as Number 6 seed.

He’s there on merit.

There’s been players every bit as limited in the top 10 over the past 10-15 years. John Isner was in and around the top for 10+ years and only made it past the last 16 stage once in his career.

You are unbelievable at making contradictory points.

Cant believe i am going to agree with @Cicero_Dandi here. There have always been journeymen and there will always be journey men in the top 10. Some may win a slam snd some wont especially when you get 2 players like Federer and Nadal dominating the sport and to a lesser extent Djokovic.

Dominic Thiem has just beaten an injured Alex Zverev 6-4 6-2 6-1. Credit to Zverev for battling through to the finish and not quitting on this chair and denying Thiem his moment of glory.

Thiem shows Zverev who is boss.

Commendable attitude from the young man. Showing the sport and his opponent proper respect, not quitting on his chair and battling to the end. A true warrior.


The 21-year-old, who had played five sets in each of his three previous rounds, appeared to tweak a muscle in the first set against his Austrian rival and was unable to fully recover.

Thiem, 24, finished a 6-4 6-2 6-1 winner, booking his place in the semi-finals against the winner of Novak Djokovic’s last eight tie against unseeded Italian Marco Cecchinato.

Speaking to reporters after a disappointing loss today, German youngster Zverev said he would have his hamstring injury checked out before deciding on his immediate future.

“It’s all very fresh. I’m going to take an MRI now after I’m done here,” he said.

“Most of the time, with muscle injuries or muscle pulls, you can only see something on an MRI if you take it two or three days after.

Middle of the second set, the pain was too much

Alexander Zverev

“I’m going to go back home and definitely not do anything and see what it is.

“[The] first time I felt a pull was in the fourth game of the first set when we had, you know, a few great points, a lot of physical points.

“I remember I slid one time, and then I felt a muscle pull. I thought, ‘Well, okay. I played a lot’.

“I thought maybe it’s just, like, soreness or something that would just go away. I didn’t think about it too much.

“And then each game and each slide, I was getting worse and worse. Middle of the second set, the pain was too much.”

Despite picking up the injury early on in the match, the world No 3 said he refused to withdraw from the match out of respect for the occasion – and his opponent.

“I thought about it. I definitely thought about it, but, you know, I didn’t want to pull out for the first time of my career in a Grand Slam quarterfinal,” Zverev continued.

“So, you know, I knew I’m not going to win the match. There was no way for me. I mean, I could barely move. I couldn’t serve. I couldn’t really do anything.

“But I still wanted to finish the match and, you know, kind of give the credit to Dominic. He deserves to be in the semi-finals.”

Commendable attitude from the young man. Showing the sport and his opponent proper respect, not quitting on his chair and battling to the end. A true warrior.


The 21-year-old, who had played five sets in each of his three previous rounds, appeared to tweak a muscle in the first set against his Austrian rival and was unable to fully recover.

Thiem, 24, finished a 6-4 6-2 6-1 winner, booking his place in the semi-finals against the winner of Novak Djokovic’s last eight tie against unseeded Italian Marco Cecchinato.

Speaking to reporters after a disappointing loss today, German youngster Zverev said he would have his hamstring injury checked out before deciding on his immediate future.

“It’s all very fresh. I’m going to take an MRI now after I’m done here,” he said.

“Most of the time, with muscle injuries or muscle pulls, you can only see something on an MRI if you take it two or three days after.

“I’m going to go back home and definitely not do anything and see what it is.

“[The] first time I felt a pull was in the fourth game of the first set when we had, you know, a few great points, a lot of physical points.

“I remember I slid one time, and then I felt a muscle pull. I thought, ‘Well, okay. I played a lot’.

“I thought maybe it’s just, like, soreness or something that would just go away. I didn’t think about it too much.

“And then each game and each slide, I was getting worse and worse. Middle of the second set, the pain was too much.”

Despite picking up the injury early on in the match, the world No 3 said he refused to withdraw from the match out of respect for the occasion – and his opponent.

“I thought about it. I definitely thought about it, but, you know, I didn’t want to pull out for the first time of my career in a Grand Slam quarterfinal,” Zverev continued.

“So, you know, I knew I’m not going to win the match. There was no way for me. I mean, I could barely move. I couldn’t serve. I couldn’t really do anything.

“But I still wanted to finish the match and, you know, kind of give the credit to Dominic. He deserves to be in the semi-finals.”

You’ve already said that.

Stop spamming.

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Not easy lad!

C’mon Muguruza. 3-0 love over sharapova. Best watch this with the volume turned down. The grunting and shrieking will give ya a migraine

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Diego Schartzman takes the opening set 6-4. Nadal’s run of consecutive sets at Roland Garros ends at 37, 4 short of the Bjorn Borg record of 41.

Schwartzman breaks for a 2-1 lead in the 2nd set.

Cilic leading del Potro 5-4 in the 1st set. Going with serve.

looks like the rain will save needle again

You told us he was out yesterday.

Stick to cricket, slaphead.

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