2019 Wimbledon

[Shadowlight]

Thanks to Quiet Speed for keeping the tennis flame alive although given the scarce number of posts here at CF that flame has been flickering in the wind.

Early news, Venus Williams was ousted by 15 year old Coco Gauff. She is a black American. Of course. It almost seems these things happen on cue. Have to think Venus will shut it down permanently in the not too distant future. Hopefully her bulky sister follows suit.

Number two seed Osaka has been bounced already but Halep won her first round match.

Is this where a sea change starts to occur especially on the men's side or will things pretty much stay the course? I have given up guessing. So have most other tennis observers.

 

[Don Wassall]

Thanks to Quiet Speed for keeping the tennis flame alive although given the scarce number of posts here at CF that flame has been flickering in the wind.

Early news, Venus Williams was ousted by 15 year old Cori Gauff. She is a black American. Of course. It almost seems these things happen on cue. Have to think Venus will shut it down permanently in the not too distant future. Hopefully her bulky sister follows suit.

Number two seed Osaka has been bounced already but Halep won her first round match.

Is this where a sea change starts to occur especially on the men's side or will things pretty much stay the course? I have given up guessing. So have most other tennis observers.

Some absolutely amazing stats I ran across today: Djokovic, Nadal and Federer have won 53 of the past 64 Grand Slam titles, including 10 in a row. And they've won 14 of the past 16 Wimbledons, with Andy Murray winning the other two. It's been a Golden Era unlike any other and I hope these three all-time greats continue to stave off Father Time for a while longer.

 

[Shadowlight]

Below is an article that touches on some of the main players here at Wimbledon. Because of the unprecedented nature of the Nadal/Djokovic/Federer long time dominance tennis writers have had trouble gauging the youngsters. Indeed the Big 3 have staved off father time far longer than anyone could have come close to predicting. Just the same it is still hard to imagine a youngster emerging but given the nature of life it is bound to happen. When is the elusive answer?

And for the women everything still seems up for grabs.

Tennis.com is the website for Tennis magazine. Highly recommended if you like tennis.

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2019/06/wimbledon-naomi-oskaa/82959/

[ To cap off a wild day rising star Stefanos Ttsitsipas lost today as well. Many saw him, including myself, as having the best chance to breakthrough. But grass is his worst surface. Still another what the hell is happening moment when it comes to a young male upstart.]

 

[Don Wassall]

I just watched a fair amount of the Osaka match and she was terrible, one unforced error after another. All Putintseva had to do was keep the ball in play to win points.

Not hard to root for a player with the word "Putin" in her name.

 

[Shadowlight]

Get ready for the onslaught. Much like when the Williams sisters entered the fray back when have we seen the media bounce up and down for a young American tennis star. Meet Coco Gauff the 15 year old who has moved on into the second week of Wimbledon to face Simona Halep. Since Halep is capable of losing to anybody on a given day it isn't beyond reason to think the youngster could win. She won her match today at Centre Court. Yes they put her on Centre Court.

Having caught her for the first time she is extremely poised for a such a young player. The media is lapping up her movement and tennis savvy. Like a young Serena she has a commanding serve.

What is going on in tennis? Is Gauff's "arrival" a symptom of the general antipathy that has enveloped the women's side? Why is it that no white American female of note has surfaced since the dawn of the Williams sisters? Sloane Stevens ( one grand slam) and top 10-15 player Madison Keys are the only two Americans I can think of that have emerged and they are black. Now there is Coco who is stunningly young. Even Naomi Osaka who is half black grew up in the USA so she sort of is American even though she represents Japan.

Young USA white female stars? None in the top 25. Beyond that where are the very attractive female tennis stars? Over the past several years I have seen some cuties but they get distracted and fall off in short order.

There is an old saying. You got to want it. The Williams sisters have inspired young black female players but seemingly crushed the desire of white female players from the USA. Which tells me psychology plays an important role in the decline of white athletes over the past half century.

The young rising male stars? It is a given we are witnessing an extraordinary time when the big three continue to dominate well past their due date. No one denies Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are among the greatest of all time. Many point to their dominance as the reason why rising young stars haven't been able to break through. That is part of the reason. But the whole reason?

Not completely buying it. How does one explain Stefanos Tsitsipas getting bounced not by one of the big three but in the first round by a nameless bum? While you see the desire from young black female players on the women's side but not much else in terms of youngsters under 18, for young male players you see a complete and utter melt down. Why? I sense it is they are too coddled and at the end of the day unlike their predecessors they don't have that you got to want it attitude that was so prevalent throughout the history of tennis.

Why young players are generally lacking these days is still baffling. The onslaught of social media and the softness intrudes but I can't put a finger on it other than lack of guts, willpower and endurance.

And tennis is a mind game too so if your head is somewhere else you won't succeed.

 

[Quiet Speed]

Well, it will be a tidal wave of coverage no doubt. I was expecting much of the same if Felix Auger-Aliassime (youngest player on men's side) had won.
However, he was beaten by another young player, Ugo Humbert.

 

[Shadowlight]

In a very bleak state of mind this morning. I tend to get over dramatic and pessimistic but I am already astounded on the amount of media coverage (hint it is wall to wall) of Coco.

Has a white woman won a grand slam this year? Probably not. Turns out Ash Barty is part Aborigine from her father's side. Not being an expert on minute racial breakdowns, (I have a rudimentary knowledge on the subject) it seems to me after hearing this news that Barty is not all white.

It should be noted her "aboriginal" roots weren't emphasized or even mentioned as far as I know until right after she won the French Open. A quick glance at her and she seems white. But with this news I tend to think she isn't 100 per cent white although I would be hard pressed to figure out what her aboriginal make up is in terms of race? Anybody here feel free to have a go at it. Her roots might be mountain people and they are often not black. Who the hell knows? Bring me back to the days when you knew who was pure Honky for crying out loud.

As noted above black Felix Auger-Aliassime is only 18 and many are predicting big things for him. Is tennis slowly going more caste? Johnny Mac has intimated for years now that the urban dudes will someday take over. On the men's side though they have been drawing big blanks. The few hyped up players over the years like Donald Young and Gael Monfils have not lived up to their billings. But like the rest of the media Johnny Mac is drooling over young Coco. This morning he said Coco could open the floodgates to a new generation of players who don't always have the means to succeed in tennis. To paraphrase he is saying a new wave of "athletic" black players will hit the scene.

On the women's side we are witnessing the Williams effect. No doubt about it. And the white withdrawal. And white apathy. Often here we correctly complain about the caste system and how it hurts white athletes.

I will also though scold white athletes and especially this white generation of young tennis players, male and female, because to me I don't see the necessary fire or belief to succeed at the highest levels. They all seem so damn mentally feeble. Meanwhile this just out of diapers black girl is showing poise, belief and calm amidst the pressure. Pisses me off to no end. But not entirely surprising since black kids are more wired for sports than the whites who get distracted over trivial crap.

That said if Coco knocks off the fragile Simona Halep ( which will send me into a year long depression) she has a clear road to the final. The media is already getting over heated at that possibility.

If she does make the finals you can pretty much shut off the world of sports for the year. She will take over the sports media. Much like when the Williams sisters arrived but it will likely be worse. She is younger than they were when they first started making big noise.

Where are the young white prodigies in sports today? Matthew Boling? Maybe but realistically I am not completely certain regarding his future. Basketball hell no. Football hell no. Baseball probably some Latina player. I want to see a streak of lightening, a very young white athlete arrive on the scene in whatever sport. Something to give me hope in the future rather than a dire slide down a hell hole of a dark caste landscape with little hope down the road. Today it is Zion and the munchkin QB for Arizona that are the media heroes. We desperately need some white breakthroughs.

I keep looking and searching though like some fool on the side of the road searching for an epiphany that probably does not exist.

Sorry for the rant. Very bad mood. Why wouldn't I be?

 

[Don Wassall]

You weren't exaggerating about the media hype for Coco. I turned on ABC's Wimbledon coverage at 3 Eastern time and it began with a long, loving look at Coco and her saintly parents, heart-tugging music playing in the background to amplify the message. Then it was a repeat of her first round upset of Venus Williams, followed by the promise of a repeat showing of her third round win. Nothing personal against the young girl, but this wall to wall hype makes me hope she'll flop like so many Williams sisters wannabes have, or at best have shown talent but not the ability to dominate, thankfully.

For a while, women's tennis looked like it might be taken over by teenage prodigies like Andrea Yaeger and Tracy Austin, but that era fizzled out and there haven't been many teenage stars since. Maria Sharapova winning Wimbledon in '04 at the age of 17 comes to mind, but not many more.

 

[Shadowlight]

You are right Don about the recent lack of teenage prodigies. As you are probably aware they changed the rules a while back limiting the number of tournaments youngsters could enter essentially killing off their chances of emerging into the higher ranks. That is the main reason they have disappeared.

By the way I do not agree with those rules. Just like I don't agree with the rules that don't allow high school players to be eligible for the NBA draft,

The reasons tennis has given for the rule change is to prevent teen burnout. But I don't buy that logic and besides it seems provincial and protective of the lame players that fill up tournaments. Dead weight marginal players who trudge along in mediocrity. If it was up to me I would open it up like the wild west and let the floodgates open with no restrictions. If a teen girl is good enough to win big why limit her I say.

 

[TomIron361]

You are right Don about the recent lack of teenage prodigies. As you are probably aware they changed the rules a while back limiting the number of tournaments youngsters could enter essentially killing off their chances of emerging into the higher ranks. That is the main reason they have disappeared.

By the way I do not agree with those rules. Just like I don't agree with the rules that don't allow high school players to be eligible for the NBA draft,

The reasons tennis has given for the rule change is to prevent teen burnout. But I don't buy that logic and besides it seems provincial and protective of the lame players that fill up tournaments. Dead weight marginal players who trudge along in mediocrity. If it was up to me I would open it up like the wild west and let the floodgates open with no restrictions. If a teen girl is good enough to win big why limit her I say.

I would like to bring this up. About blacks, of course they're being promoted - we all know that. But there is a key here most people don't see or understand. That is that anything blacks do well has no useful purpose. For example, that guy who just pulled a sled across the South Pole, there's not a black person alive I think who could've done that. Same with skiing. There are uses of skiing (transportation). Same with swimming (some black football player just drowned - blacks are like rocks in the water) Strong man competitions - they never win. Obviously being strong has its uses. Some White guy just climbed K2 in the Himalayas and skied down the thing. So that's the difference pretty much between Whites and blacks. Anything that is non-useful is blacks domain (only because of an ongoing massive propaganda campaign) and anything that might have a useful application is the domain of White people.

 

[Claimjumper]

There is a rematch of the Coco / Hercog match on at the airport lounge I’m at and the bartender asked the guy that just sat down who was watching intently if he’d seen the match yet.

‘His’ reply, “oh yeah! I’m a HUGE Coco fan” WTF

#ClownWorld

 

[Quiet Speed]

Karolina Pliskova should win this thing... tall and rangy with a nice serve. Her composure is critical here, especially since all the media is cuckoo for CoCo.

 

[Westside]

Looks like Coco is using the Brutus line when she loses. "I am sick or have stomach cramps." An excuse for losing. If she had cramps just keep it to herself. She doesn't if it rains on her opponent's parade.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Thank goodness Halep easily beat Gauff. Reading the Wimbledon article about the crowd overwhelmingly cheering for Gauff was sickening. She was basically unknown before this tournament. Halep is a multiple Majors Champion and her only problem to Wimbledon fans is, well, she's White.

And notice I wrote Gauff. I didn't use the first name/nickname/pet name term of endearment handed to them that Blacks are given almost without fail. It's a mind game of favoritism.

The only one I can ever recall not getting it was Ali. Interesting...

 

[Shadowlight]

I too am pleased diaper wonder Gauff was bounced with some ease. The coverage was already insufferable. Imagine what it would have been like if Gauff kept advancing?

The semifinals are all set.

Halep-Svitolina---I know Simona bagged a major but both of these players are notorious grand slam chokers. Svitlonina disappeared this season until now. She is only 24 years old. Simona is 27.

Halep is my favorite current female player but I like Svitolina too. Both are excellent movers with foot speed. I always treasure that in white athletes. Bloody shame this isn't the final.

Serena against 33 year old Barbora Strycova in the other semi. Less appealing match up but all I care about is Serena getting beat. In the final I will be rooting for either Halep or Svitolina no matter who wins this match.

The men? There are no words to describe it anymore. The Big 3 continue to swallow up their younger opponents swatting them away like flies.

Djokovic against a no name Bautista Agut from Spain in one semifinal.

And the seminal semifinal matchup of Federer and Nadal. For the past seven years I have figured for Roger to lose these head to head matchups with his nemesis Nadal. And most of the time he has apart from that magical Australian Open a few years ago. Of course Roger recently got wiped out by Nadal at the French. Was not even a contest. I know this is a better surface for Fed but still this will be an uphill climb.

I would love to see Fed bag another title here but he has to swim through shark infested waters to achieve that. He will turn 38 soon I believe. That is a grandpa in tennis years. Or it used to be.

Federer's timeless athletic grace was built for the long haul.

 

[Quiet Speed]

I didn't find out until a few days ago that Svitolina and Gael Monfils are an item. Too bad. Halep downed Svitolina and Williams wiped out Strycova. I am still aggravated Pliskova blew it. Federer vs Nadal is a must see.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

It's sickening that The Linebacker is playing in the Final. Halep won't be much of a challenge I'm afraid. I will be sick that this disgustingly overweight, snotty, beastly person is probably getting another Major. Good grief. I see Halep folding and the 98% percent White crowd cheering wildly as Ray Lewis Jr. goes about shouting, growling, snarling, fist clinching, chest-pounding in manly Black mannerisms all over the court in what was a once sport of courtesy, elegance and sportsmanship, especially Wimbledon. This is sickening to no end if it happens...

 

[Shadowlight]

If Halep plays with the laser beam focus she has shown in her last three matches she will beat Serena into the ground. But this is a GS final and Halep has been prone to getting tight. She also has had difficulty in the past dealing with adversity in finals. And as we know there are going to be bumps in the road in most finals. She must remain confident.

How Halep handles these things will determine whether she wins or not. She also can't let Serena breeze through her service games. If Serena gets her serve groove thing going she will become more relaxed and confident. Halep must press and pressure Serena and not give an inch.

A win here will separate Halep from the one hit wonder category. I know she was the number one player for 2017 and 2018 but everyone knows that the majors are the defining goal posts. She is now better than Serena at this point in time. But she has to get over the tremendous mental pressure to beat her. It won't be easy. The mental aspect in tennis is brutal much like golf.

As for the Federer Nadal matchup I think the Big 3 talk has been inflated. Big 3 against the rest of the field. OK. But in reality it is a Big 2, Nadal and Djokovic.

Nadal has owned Federer in majors with a 10-3 record. And two of those Fed wins were way back in 2006 and 2007 here at Wimbledon. Nadal avenged those losses in 2008 in what many feel was the greatest match of all time. I rank it up there but not at number one. If you take a away the mini miracle of the 2017 Aussie final where Roger turned the tables and came back on Nadal in the final set, Nadal has pretty much owned Roger. On grass Fed ups his chances. But as much as I am rooting for him I will be surprised if he defeats Nadal. Even on grass at this point in time.

And Nadal has essentially rained on the Fed being the greatest of all time talk. Nadal is 24-15 against Roger which makes that argument a tough sell for me. But I have been a huge Federer fan so it smarts me to acknowledge these facts. I know the age difference plays in Nadal's favor but still it is hard to shake their head to head records. Especially when it matters most in the majors.

But the "big 3" are among the greatest of all time. That is an easy call. And Federer's elegant style of play is what has really set him apart and why he is so beloved by serious tennis fans.

 

[Shadowlight]

I can be found in a church praying to God that Federer somehow finds a way to beat Djokovic in the final on Sunday. Is it too much to ask for two miracles? Beating his longtime nemesis Nadal in a grand slam is big news in itself. Especially at this point in Roger's career. One more giant leap to go.

What a tough chore but if Fed does pull it out it think Christmas come early for most all tennis fans. But damn Djokovic is one tough customer. Like climbing Mt Everest. I am laced with concern and doubt.

But if Fed pulls out another miracle it would be the greatest cherry on top of all time for a brilliant milestone laden career.

[ I wish I had seen the match. Hope to somehow watch it down the road.]

 

[icsept]

Agreed, really want to see Roger win. Wimbledon is clearly his best major opportunity. If he can get to 21 slams, I figure Nadal has 2 more French Opens in him, which would get him to 20. Djokovic is at 15, and could win 4-5 more slams. Roger needs this one, because it might be his last, and could put him just out of reach as the GOAT.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

Shadowlight, I didn't get to see it but just watched highlights. I can tell you from what the commentators are saying, Nadal played incredible and was all-round fantastic. For Fed to beat a rejuvenated Nadal here today was amazing. Nadal in recent years has developed his grass game, with a greater all-around game than in previous years on grass and for Roger to beat the Spaniard today was an incredible feat. Does Fed have enough gas in the tank for Djokovik? Fed is 37 and these matches are draining. We shall see...

 

[Don Wassall]

The Nadal-Federer match was tennis at its finest. So much brilliant shot making and back and forth sparring, just a supreme pleasure to watch. I'll be rooting for Federer to win on Sunday but won't mind a bit if the great Djokovic wins another Wimbledon and Slam event.

 

[white lightning]

I'm rooting for Federer simply because he is a living legend and the best tennis play that I've ever seen. He can play exceptionally well on almost ever surface. He has won the most grand slams of any male tennis player ever and I'm hoping he can add to that grand slams record! He is also the definition of class on and off the court! Let's go Roger!

 

[icsept]

Halep embarrassing the lumbering linebacker. Up 6-2, 5-2...can’t wait for the excuses.

 

[icsept]

Halep wins. I can certainly do without all the pandering to the “royals” in attendance.