Tennis

[MuggsyB]

How can you comment specifically about a match you didn’t see?

Maybe watch the match first.

Swiatek had to play her best tennis to win. And, she did, hitting line after line and playing good defense.

Gauff created opportunities for herself in the 1st. She had 1 subpar game in the 9th game of a set that easily could have gone the other way.

She had 4 break point chances in the middle of the 2nd and didn’t convert. She also had lots of opportunity on her 2nd shot after a good service return. That will be a point or emphasis and development.

As previously mentioned, 3 players are a notch above the others right now. (Sabalenka, Rybakina; Sabalenka). Also as previously mentioned, CG has made some recent changes to her game physically and tactically, that will benefit her long term, but those things will need some reps and time.

If anything it was an encouraging performance from the 19 year old in her
3rd straight French Open quarterfinal. The willingness to try some of the new things that will help her go from an annual World top 8 player to beyond that.

I can't recall a match where someone lost 6-4, 6-2 and I thought they were close to winning.  Now I'll take your word about how well Swiatek played but having break point chances doesn't mean the match was ever in doubt. 

[shoothoops]

I can't recall a match where someone lost 6-4, 6-2 and I thought they were close to winning.  Now I'll take your word about how well Swiatek played but having break point chances doesn't mean the match was ever in doubt.

You are moving the goalposts. Your initial post said, "Swiatek destroyed Gauff." Now you are changing that to "close to winning," as if those were the only two options and not a large middle in between.

Having actually watched the match, something you didn't do, I am comfortable saying that the 1st could have easily gone the other way. And CG had lots of opportunities that she created for herself to make that a differenr set.

The score by itself doesn't tell the story in any match or even any sport, without at minimum watching the game or match to find kut wat and how things transpired.

It's pretty remarkable the strength of your opinion about something you didn't see. This happens frequently in tennis and in other sports. Maybe slow down and the time to watch something before having a strong opinion. You could also take a pass on something if you are unsure or unfamilar with it.

[MuggsyB]

You are moving the goalposts. Your initial post said, "Swiatek destroyed Gauff." Now you are changing that to "close to winning," as if those were the only two options and not a large middle in between.

Having actually watched the match, something you didn't do, I am comfortable saying that the 1st could have easily gone the other way. And CG had lots of opportunities that she created for herself to make that a differenr set.

The score by itself doesn't tell the story in any match or even any sport, without at minimum watching the game or match to find kut wat and how things transpired.

It's pretty remarkable the strength of your opinion about something you didn't see. This happens frequently in tennis and in other sports. Maybe slow down and the time to watch something before having a strong opinion. You could also take a pass on something if you are unsure or unfamilar with it.

Destroyed may be hyperbole but I think you get my point. 

[shoothoops]

Destroyed may be hyperbole but I think you get my point.

No I don't get your point. Maybe say what you meam and mean what you say. I can only go by what you type.

It's why I replied. It waa clear to me that you could not have possibly watched the match and have that be your summary of it. And as it turns out you have since said you didn't watch it.

[MuggsyB]

No I don't get your point. Maybe say what you meam and mean what you say. I can only go by what you type.

It's why I replied. It waa clear to me that you could not have possibly watched the match and have that be your summary of it. And as it turns out you have since said you didn't watch it.

Okay.  Maybe you're overreacting to my terminology and 6-4, 6-2 means you have work to do I'm my book. 

[lawdog77]

Sounds like Muggsy and shoothoops both work for ESPN:

The headline:
Swiatek romps past Gauff for French semis spot

In the article:
"It was not easy," said Swiatek, the first player since Conchita Martinez in 1995 to drop 15 or fewer games en route to the semifinals in Paris. "Especially the first set. It was tight and Coco was using the conditions well, so I was happy that I was able to win. The quarterfinals are sometimes the toughest matches.

"Today was a tighter match. I'll be ready for the next one."

[shoothoops]

Okay.  Maybe you're overreacting to my terminology but 6-4, 6-2 means you have work to do I'm my book.

Or maybe you overreacted to the score of something you didn't see or learn more about first.

And this is the 2nd time you are moviing the goalposts.

Destroyed.
Not close to winning.
More work to do.

Those are 3 different things.

Perhaps a more effective approach would be to watch the match first and then discuss the specifics of it. Or just take a pass.

[MuggsyB]

Or maybe you overreacted to the score of something you didn't see or learn more about first.

And this is the 2nd time you are moviing the goalposts.

Destroyed.


Not close to winning.
More work to do.

Those are 3 different things.

Perhaps a more effective approach would be to watch the match first and then discuss the specifics of it. Or just take a pass.

Well, when I watched their French Open match last year, and I essentially said the same thing, your retort was that it was close.  The fact remains that it wasn't remotely competitive.   Perhaps that's why I'm taking a skeptical view of your observations this year even though I didn't see the match.  I think we can agree that Gauff is not close to Iga's level on the clay. 

[shoothoops]

Well, when I watched their French Open match last year, and I essentially said the same thing, your retort was that it was close.  The fact remains that it wasn't remotely competitive.   Perhaps that's why I'm taking a skeptical view of your observations this year even though I didn't see the match.  I think we can agree that Gauff is not close to Iga's level on the clay.

This is the 3rd time you are moving the goalposts from your original or 4th total comment about it.

This time you are referencing a match from last year to form your opinion about a different match a year later. And no I don't agree with your last sentence which is the 4th time you are moving the goalposts from your total of 5 comments about this match.

[MuggsyB]

This is the 3rd time you are moving the goalposts from your original or 4th total comment about it.

This time you are referencing a match from last year to form your opinion about a different match a year later. And no I don't agree with your last sentence which is the 4th time you are moving the goalposts from your total of 5 comments about this match.

Okay.  So in your expert opinion were "nerves" part of the reason Coco lost convincingly today or is Iga just considerably better?

[shoothoops]

Okay.  So in your expert opinion were "nerves" part of the reason Coco lost convincingly today or is Iga just considerably better?

I don’t believe she lost “convincingly” today. Convincingly from dictionary dot com says in a way that leaves no doubt. The entire first set was in doubt and parts of the 2nd. What part of the score doesn’t always tell the entire story are you not understanding? That is something that is said every day in sports, and her own opponent said it after the match.

If you would again, -s-l-o-w-  -d-o-w-n-

Go back and read what I said about Gauff. To refresh your memory, I said she changed one of her coaches from Diego Moyano (good dude and coach, not the best fit right now) to Patrick Mouratoglou since April or several weeks.

More specifically she changed her forehand grip, improved her footwork and positioning between shots, changed her weight balance on the forehand side staying down and taking the ball more early with a neutral to slightly forward follow through, among other things both physical and tactical.

An example of an area of development would be her 2nd shot on service return after hitting a very good return. She had a plan to hit a high percentage of forehands down the line and at the feet of Swiatek. This was effective and improved. To her credit Swiatek played good defense and making Gauff hit short balls while moving forward to the net. This is where she missed some shots she would normally make, trying drop shots, deep slice approaches etc…decision making and execution there could have been better. CG had good opportunities to close out games 1 and 6 in the 2nd. some of those were great saves by Iga who hit a ton of lines in the match. And some were close misses by CG. It was encouraging to see the misses being aggressive misses some of the time, especially on 2nd serve return. And she used the heavy topspin on the wind side. She didn’t lose because she had nerves. Although every player every match will lose a point here or there because of it.

I also mentioned that it would take time, reps, commitment to implement some of the changes. And success would come over time and in uneven fashion. Even a. novice tennis observer would have noticed some of the differences.

I also mentioned the 3 players who are playing the best right now multiple times.

Do I think CG could have won today? Yes. She didn’t. I’m not surprised as she wasn’t expected to win but as long as she continues on the current path, that will only be a matter of time before she gets wins over Iga and wins a slam.

[MU82]

Coco obviously lost because she tried to take it two matches at a time.

[lawdog77]

Coco obviously lost because she tried to take it two matches at a time.

She needs to move to St Louis

[Jockey]

This is the 3rd time you are moving the goalposts from your original or 4th total comment about it.

This time you are referencing a match from last year to form your opinion about a different match a year later. And no I don't agree with your last sentence which is the 4th time you are moving the goalposts from your total of 5 comments about this match.

You don’t need to argue with Muggsy. We all know what he does.

[MuggsyB]

I don’t believe she lost “convincingly” today. Convincingly fro dot com says in a way that leaves no doubt. The entire first set was in doubt and parts of the 2nd. What part of the score doesn’t always tell the entire story are you not understanding? That is something that is said every day in sports, and her own opponent said it after the match.

If you would again, -s-l-o-w-  -d-o-w-n-

Go back and read what I said about Gauff. To refresh your memory, I said she changed one of her coaches from Diego Moyano (good dude and coach, not the best fit right now) to Patrick Mouratoglou since April or several weeks.

More specifically she changed her forehand grip, improved her footwork and positioning between shots, changed her weight balance on the forehand side staying down and taking the ball more early with a neutral to slightly forward follow through, among other things both physical and tactical.

An example of an area of development would be her 2nd shot on service return after hitting a very good return. She had a plan to hit a high percentage of forehands down the line and at the feet of Swiatek. This was effective and improved. To her credit Swiatek played good defense and making Gauff hit short balls while moving forward to the net. This is where she missed some shots she would normally make, trying drop shots, deep slice approaches etc…decision making and execution there could have been better. CG had good opportunities to close out games 1 and 6 in the 2nd. some of those were great saves by Iga who hit a ton of lines in the match. And some were close misses by CG. It was encouraging to see the misses being aggressive misses some of the time, especially on 2nd serve return. And she used the heavy topspin on the wind side. She didn’t lose because she had nerves. Although every player every match will lose a point here or there because of it.

I also mentioned that it would take time, reps, commitment to implement some of the changes. And success would come over time and in uneven fashion. Even a. novice tennis observer would have noticed some of the differences.

I also mentioned the 3 players who are playing the best right now multiple times.

Do I think CG could have won today? Yes. She didn’t. I’m not surprised as she wasn’t expected to win but as long as she continues on the current path, that will only be a matter of time before she gets wins over Iga and wins a slam.

I appreciate the analysis but when you state or imply that she "could have won today" that's where I'm having some trouble. What I do know is she's played Iga 7 times, stands 0-7, and is 0-14 in sets played.  I certainly agree that when you make changes in your grip or serve it takes some time, patience is admittedly not one of my strong points, but I don't think you can simply gloss over iga's overall dominance in this match-up. 

Coco is a tremendous athlete and has the potential to take over the women's game imo.  The question is whether she's on schedule and closing the gap or whether I or someone else should be coaching her?  I am hoping for a breakthrough at Wiimby or the USOpen. 

[shoothoops]

I appreciate the analysis but when you state or imply that she "could have won today" that's where I'm having some trouble. What I do know is she's played Iga 7 times, stands 0-7, and is 0-14 in sets played.  I certainly agree that when you make changes in your grip or serve it takes some time, patience is admittedly not one of my strong points, but I don't think you can simply gloss over iga's overall dominance in this match-up. 

Coco is a tremendous athlete and has the potential to take over the women's game imo.  The question is whether she's on schedule and closing the gap or whether I or someone else should be coaching her?  I am hoping for a breakthrough at Wiimby or the USOpen.

You have now posted 8 times about a match you admittedly didn't see. That's a lot.

Instead of actually watching it by now, discussing specifics of it, you just keep replying moving goalposts, and/or discussing things that aren't relevant to today's match while also inserting incorrect assumptions and conclusions.

You ask questions about it, but you don't seem to like the answers to those questions so you create more false narratives based on irrelevant things, so that it better fits your wishes. That sounds exhausting.

It's one thing to be impatient. It's another thing entirely to form definitive opinions about something you didn't see.

Hoping for a breakthrough? She's setting records as a teenager. For perspective, CG has made the 2nd week of a slam twice as many times as Swiatek at the same age. Sabalenka and Rybakina, the 2 other best players this year, made zero at the same age.

...............
In actual tennis, Townsend and Fernandez advanced to the French Opem doubles semifinals where they will face Gauff/Pegula, the same team to whom they lost in the recent Miami Final.

[MuggsyB]

Great match-ups in the men's semis.  Hopefully Alcaraz comes through. 

[MuggsyB]

Sounds like there were two great women's Semi matches.  I assume Swiatek will drop the hammer Saturday. 

[shoothoops]

Great emotional moment for Miyu Kato as she wins the Mixed Doubles French Open Title with Tim Puetz. Kato was unfairly defaulted from her 3rd round doubles match for accidentally hitting the ball girl with the ball in gentle fashion. (She is appealing) What an effort.


 

[MU82]

Sucks that Alcaraz wasn't fit enough to compete with Djokovic the last two sets. Alcaraz played brilliantly in winning the second set to pull even but then suffered debilitating cramps early in #3, and it was all but over.

[lawdog77]

Sucks that Alcaraz wasn't fit enough to compete with Djokovic the last two sets. Alcaraz played brilliantly in winning the second set to pull even but then suffered debilitating cramps early in #3, and it was all but over.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cramps+back+to+school&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS994US994&oq=cramps+back+to+school&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30j0i390i650l5.6146j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:cbb9aac2,vid:QSWNdxepPJE

[MuggsyB]

Sucks that Alcaraz wasn't fit enough to compete with Djokovic the last two sets. Alcaraz played brilliantly in winning the second set to pull even but then suffered debilitating cramps early in #3, and it was all but over.

Sweet Jesus.  Absolutely terrible. 

[shoothoops]

Sweet Jesus.  Absolutely terrible.

You mean you have to watch more than the scoreline to know what transpired during a match?

[MuggsyB]

You mean you have to watch more than the scoreline to know what transpired during a match?

I heard he cramped up. 

[MuggsyB]

Muchova is spraying unforced errors.  Hopefully she can calm down.