JTContinental wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:21 pm Veronica Cepede Royg inexplicably has been given a wild card for the third Olympics in a row.

JTContinental wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:21 pm Veronica Cepede Royg inexplicably has been given a wild card for the third Olympics in a row.

dmforever wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:28 pm I was going to ask how the selections were made. I know that a country can't have more than a certain number of singles players and doubles teams, and that rankings are involved as well, but after that, is is just up to someone to choose fairly randomly? Mohamed Safwat got in for Egypt too and his ranking is 171. Cool for Royg and Safwat, but I'm curious how that happens.

Kevin

JazzNU wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 7:45 pm

dmforever wrote: ↑Thu Jul 22, 2021 6:28 pm I was going to ask how the selections were made. I know that a country can't have more than a certain number of singles players and doubles teams, and that rankings are involved as well, but after that, is is just up to someone to choose fairly randomly? Mohamed Safwat got in for Egypt too and his ranking is 171. Cool for Royg and Safwat, but I'm curious how that happens.

Kevin

From the ever helpful Wikipedia:

Verónica Cepede Royg secured the outright berth in the women's singles by winning the bronze medal at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru, replacing the slot from the U.S. tennis player Caroline Dolehide.

Mohamed Safwat and Mayar Sherif secured an outright berth each in the men's and women's singles, respectively, by winning the gold medal at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco.

Full qualifying criteria up on Wiki. But again, no idea on how Stosur is in the field.

Deuce wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 2:41 am ** Must remember not to open a topic without words typed in the 1st post **

JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Jul 23, 2021 8:12 pm I think Olympic Tennis the when I watch the least amount of tennis with all the other sports going on, most of which I only watch every 4 years.

Suliso wrote: ↑Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:20 am Nothing special in singles so far, but a couple of big upsets in doubles. Chan sisters lost and Murray/Salisbury beat Mahut/Herbert.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:28 pm As an Indian, I was delighted when Leander won the bronze but I still cannot believe how he did it.. what were all the other great players doing?!

If the U.S. Tennis Assn. were to nominate another singles player, it might be faced with slim pickings. Going down the rankings: No. 5 Michael Chang does not want to play, No. 9 Jim Courier was angry at being passed over the first time and may not be available, and the same is true of No. 16 Todd Martin. Martin, a Davis Cup loyalist, was offered a place on the Olympic team as a doubles player but refused.

Suliso wrote: ↑Sun Jul 25, 2021 11:07 am As far as women's tennis is concerned both Spain and Czech Republic went 6/6 in the first round.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Mon Jul 26, 2021 6:39 pm Paula Badosa defeated Iga Swiatek in straight sets. Iga sat on her bench crying for a good ten minutes or more. I wonder if she was allowed to bring her therapist. It was disturbing to watch. Not too much about it on TT though. Maybe people haven't seen the match yet. They literally had to send someone to tell her she had to leave the court so that they could set up for the next match.

Donna Vekic has won two Women’s Tennis Association singles titles and now is headed to Tokyo to represent Croatia at her first Olympics.

The 25-year-old grew up in Croatia in a family of professional athletes: Her father was a soccer player and her mother, a sprinter — even Grandma taught physical education.

At age 6, “I fell in love with tennis from the first practice,” Ms. Vekic said.

She now plays wearing a F.P. Journe Elegante Titanium Two Rows of Diamonds watch, a timepiece made by the Swiss independent François-Paul Journe (one of Ms. Vekic’s sponsors).

“I wear it a lot,” she said. “It’s light, it’s functional, and it’s very convenient. We have 25 seconds between points, so it’s good to keep an eye on the time.”

ti-amie wrote:Paula Badosa defeated Iga Swiatek in straight sets. Iga sat on her bench crying for a good ten minutes or more. I wonder if she was allowed to bring her therapist. It was disturbing to watch. Not too much about it on TT though. Maybe people haven't seen the match yet. They literally had to send someone to tell her she had to leave the court so that they could set up for the next match.

jazzyg wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:06 am Osaka had nothing in her match against Vondrousova. Nothing.

it's understandable in her case since the tournament is in Japan, but any other player (besides Djokovic) who treats these Olympics as a huge event while playing in an empty stadium in a sport where the slams are far more significant than the Olympics is being self-delusional. I have zero sympathy for Swiatek if she felt this was a huge deal. It just isn't.

jazzyg wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:32 am And while I''m on the negative kick, Rennae Stubbs, who has diarrhea of the mouth, just proved why she is my least favorite tennis announcer. She proclaimed confidently that Sakkari definitely will win a slam in the next year or two.

I like Sakkari's potential, and she certainly is capable of winning a slam, but that's simply an absurd statement on the current WTA. She'd never gone deep in any slam until Roland Garros, and with about 40 players capable of winning, the idea she's a sure thing in the next year or so is preposterous.

EDIT: and she just said she's never seen a player hit the ball as hard as Badosa. I don't even know where to go with that one.

Fastbackss wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:28 am The empath in me hopes she gets the support she needs.

The realist in me wonders if this changes their considerations for Mixed Doubles (I presume they were qualified).

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:28 pm As an Indian, I was delighted when Leander won the bronze but I still cannot believe how he did it.. what were all the other great players doing?!

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 6:52 am Now Muguruza the only GS champion left in women's singles draw. I still wouldn't call her a strong favorite.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 2:03 pm Muguruza is the best player left, Bencic is the best on hard courts. neither of which means much! i would love to see Giorgi win, but she has broken my heart (and others, too, I am sure) so many times, I dont dare to hope..my gut says Badosa will win. Let us see how that goes!

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:47 am On paper Sakkari/Tsitsipas is the strongest team.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:57 pm Mugu has one slam final on hards, has won Cincy.
The differences between the players left will be based on the quality of the breakfast they have the day they play.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 4:01 pm
I agree they appear to be a strong team and I'm not saying they don't have a good shot at a medal here, I can see it happening. But I think you're looking at this in terms of being a strong duo of singles players, right? But this is Mixed Doubles. I can't see the argument for any other team being stronger than France's Mladenovic/Mahut pairing, on paper or otherwise.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 3:52 pm

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 2:03 pm Muguruza is the best player left, Bencic is the best on hard courts. neither of which means much! i would love to see Giorgi win, but she has broken my heart (and others, too, I am sure) so many times, I dont dare to hope..my gut says Badosa will win. Let us see how that goes!

Very subjective to call Bencic left on hard courts. Svitolina is the most accomplished hard court player remaining in the draw.

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:01 pm
I wouldn't single out Bencic either, but to me Svitolina is always suspect. She doesn't have A+ level at all and someone might bring that to the final rounds. No idea who...

Fastbackss wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 11:14 am Guess I just had to wait until this morning. She is paired with Kubot.

admit I am surprised to see Djokovic playing - but at most it's 4 matches, so...?

JazzNU wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:10 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Tue Jul 27, 2021 5:01 pm
I wouldn't single out Bencic either, but to me Svitolina is always suspect. She doesn't have A+ level at all and someone might bring that to the final rounds. No idea who...

Yeah, I thought she'd lose to Sakkari. And that's fine, I'm not talking about that. But for whatever reason, people on this forum like to pretend Svitolina is like a 30th ranked player hanging around for reasons unknown the way she is constantly dismissed from every conversation about winning something. Outside of maybe Kenin, it feels like y'all are willing to choose anyone else to win something over Elina. I'm not the biggest believer of Elina either, but I'm not pretending like she hasn't done a lot of winning in recent years, including some very big titles.

the Moz wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:12 pm With a lot of decision making at these Games, the IOC and various sporting bodies are looking pretty tone deaf and stubbornly on the wrong side of common sense or what is right.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 5:03 pm Time to make the Olympics the "Fall Games"? Paris in summer is pretty hot too. No need to run that show in a burning hell. The purpose of the games is not to see who can withstand the heat better.

Suliso wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:39 pm Not just football, every other major professional league as well.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 5:10 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 8:39 pm Not just football, every other major professional league as well.

But football is the one that would affect NBC the most.

Suliso wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 4:22 pm It seems unlikely he'll manage it here, but he has beaten Djokovic twice. Last time being 2018 WTF finals on indoor hard.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 4:07 pm Djokovic's 2 & 0 over Kei is pretty impressive. I know Kei is not the same player as before, bit that score is extreme.
I remember a few years ago, in TAT1.0, with Drop and I talking about Novak and his performance. We were saying "how do you stop this?". A fellow member interrupted us and said that we were suffering from "what I am seeing now is the greatest" syndrome. Drop and I agreed that we were perhaps under that spell.
A few years later, I wonder if we were not. How do you really stop this guy? Zverev is going to have to serve at 90% to have a chance.

Suliso wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 8:35 pm Not like she's doing so amazing in Slams either. See my comment few days ago about her not having A+ game at all. I still stand by that assessment.

JazzNU wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 6:43 pm ...

I think the other member is right. If Andy's body wasn't failing him for the last few years, I don't think you would be asking that question as much. You would at times, but not so long ago, Novak wasn't just winning everything. But his toughest competition is aging or injured. Kei can be included in that since we can probably all remember what a healthy Kei looked like against Novak. And remember, both Kei and Del Potro are younger than Novak too. Even Dominic Thiem, who seems to be getting forgotten by people on this forum for reasons unknown, is a tough out for Novak on hard courts not just on clay. Novak is playing great, but his greatness is somewhat amplified right now because of who is missing.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 9:46 pm The man has won three slams this year, and the reason is because who is missing?

Thiem. The man has not played in months. Hard to keep him in mind.
And as the person that posted his LEFT HANDED video, I have not forgotten him. But not much to talk about him lately, other than in the injury topic.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 3:16 am I say the opposite. Belinda and Zverev. He played a gorgeous third set against Novak.

Deuce wrote: ↑Fri Jul 30, 2021 9:57 am Well... No 'Golden Slam' this year. 6-1 Zverev in the 3rd.

Zverev played really well from about the midway point of the 2nd set to the end. But he was helped greatly by Djokovic, who very simply - and very uncharacteristically - vanished.

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 28, 2021 11:29 am i am very interested to see what happens in the mixed doubles.. one school of thought has it that the team with the stronger player (read male) will win, theory of constraints says the team with the better weak link (read female) will win..! very few opportunities to test these theories of course because mixed is so rare - it is tactically so different from doubles, too - male or female.. very sorry to see Hopman cup die out..

dmforever wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:44 pm I'm the biggest Nole fan here I think, but honestly, the racket throwing and net bashing is pathetic. And did he really get injured? If not, he's just amazingly selfish. Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm not a huge sports fan in general and haven't been watching any of the other Olympic events, but I can't remember athletes in other disciplines throwing equipment or fits when they lose. It seems like the Olympic spirit is lost on Djokovic (and Bencic as well, given her MTO).

Kevin

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 6:27 pm I don't know... I think you use the tools available to you... as long as that MTO option is available to both players and the injury is not entirely made up (she had a blister), the strategic timing of the timeout is fair game, even if not great sportsmanship. This should be regulated better, but I don't blame Bencic.

I feel stronger about the coaching. I didn't think it was THAT egregious from Belinda in this particular match, at least from what I saw, but it's still problematic.

ti-amie wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 6:37 pm

mmmm8 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 6:27 pm I don't know... I think you use the tools available to you... as long as that MTO option is available to both players and the injury is not entirely made up (she had a blister), the strategic timing of the timeout is fair game, even if not great sportsmanship. This should be regulated better, but I don't blame Bencic.

I feel stronger about the coaching. I didn't think it was THAT egregious from Belinda in this particular match, at least from what I saw, but it's still problematic.

What Carlos Rodriguez was to Henin Bencic's father was to her. I guess she's found someone to take his place?

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 5:38 pm

dmforever wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 4:44 pm I'm the biggest Nole fan here I think, but honestly, the racket throwing and net bashing is pathetic. And did he really get injured? If not, he's just amazingly selfish. Please correct me if I'm wrong, because I'm not a huge sports fan in general and haven't been watching any of the other Olympic events, but I can't remember athletes in other disciplines throwing equipment or fits when they lose. It seems like the Olympic spirit is lost on Djokovic (and Bencic as well, given her MTO).

Kevin

Tears and crying I have seen a lot, at the Olympics. Both joy and sadness, so your point about the racquet bashing may be right. Then again, ours is one of the few sports in which you keep the equipment after the point, so other athletes may express their frustration in other ways.
The injury, as reported, is to the shoulder. I did not see any diminished power on his serve, and he actually saved a MP in the second set with a wickedly angled serve out wide, and a solid volley. I actually think he served and volleyed way more than usual.
For Nole, this is menial. He will be back on court soon, winning a lot more. But for his partner, an Olympic Bronze would have been a career pinnacle. So not taking the court must have been a bummer for her, to say the least.

the Moz wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:03 pm Tennis shouldn't be in the Olympics, or if it is the athletes should be amateurs, not entitled and overpaid professionals

Suliso wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:27 pm

the Moz wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:03 pm Tennis shouldn't be in the Olympics, or if it is the athletes should be amateurs, not entitled and overpaid professionals

You've got to be kidding. 70-80% of all Olympic athletes are full time professionals. From countries like mine closer to 90%. Whether they earn 25k or 25 million is a secondary question.

JTContinental wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 7:58 pm Reading today Novak used the non-excuse of “I wish I could help myself, but that’s just who I am.”

the Moz wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:59 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:27 pm

the Moz wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 5:03 pm Tennis shouldn't be in the Olympics, or if it is the athletes should be amateurs, not entitled and overpaid professionals

You've got to be kidding. 70-80% of all Olympic athletes are full time professionals. From countries like mine closer to 90%. Whether they earn 25k or 25 million is a secondary question.

Nope. Just my opinion.

In a perfect world the Olympics should feature amateur athletes only. Alas, we do not live in a perfect world.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sun Aug 01, 2021 9:08 pm And I liked this part too:
"I'm sorry to Nina for not being able to play, but my body just gave up,'' Djokovic said, adding that he has "several'' injuries. "I played under medicines, unbelievable pain and exhaustion.''

So, he won the Aussie after he was nearly forced to retire due to is chest/abdominal injury, and here he was also in deep pain, after cruising in his first four matches and winning Wimbledon, his most recent tournament, with ease.

I want a proper definition of "unbelievable pain".

ashkor87 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 2:15 pm apropos nothing, i wonder if the bronze medal should be called the brass medal.. it is closer to brass than bronze - bronze has tin.. the medal contains zinc, which is what brass is made of (along with copper)..'brass medal' doesnt sound as good, though, sounds a bit brassy..

Suliso wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:52 pm You'd be better off with Nobel prize medal. I believe that one still pure gold.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 02, 2021 4:56 pm I remembered something else last night, regarding Amateurs in the Olympics.
Athletes like Yulimar Rojas or Catherine Ibarguen could not be Olympians if they were amateurs. Venezuela and Colombia simply cannot afford to help them, if they were simply amateurs. Rojas trains in Guadalajara, Spain, and as talented as she is, in Venezuela there are no facilities nor support personnel that could have made that medal possible.
Poor countries would be relegated to boxing, long distance running and a few other sports. Everything else today needs way too much dedication to have a 9 to 5 to deal with too.