2016 Wimbledon Championships...ATP 2000...London, England

[don_budge]

The Serena Thing...

Is McEnroe in his commentaries contracted to love Serena? He is so one-sided toward her compared to all the other matches he commentates on.

He says Serena is the best athlete to have ever played tennis. I give that one to Steffi Graf, hands down. Has anyone women ever moved better than Steffi, or been more athletic?

Serena doesn't have an opponent out there? She needs a rivalry. She is a great player in terms of ball striking but she certainly isn't a great match player by any stretch.

3-3 and deuce in the second set as I write....

Here's a good case of McEnroe hamming it up. Chris Evert makes some rather strange comments about Serena all of the time. It almost seems that if you read between her lines she has been reading some of the "truth" theories.

Chris has taken a rather dismal look in the past regarding players using PED's. She maintains that there was a rival of hers in the past that was using...but being the lady that she is, she doesn't name names.

[stroke]

Is McEnroe in his commentaries contracted to love Serena? He is so one-sided toward her compared to all the other matches he commentates on.

He says Serena is the best athlete to have ever played tennis. I give that one to Steffi Graf, hands down. Has anyone women ever moved better than Steffi, or been more athletic?

Serena doesn't have an opponent out there? She needs a rivalry. She is a great player in terms of ball striking but she certainly isn't a great match player by any stretch.

3-3 and deuce in the second set as I write....

I like McEnroe as a commetator and am surprised he made that proclamation regarding Serena. Steffi to me is womens tennis best athlete ever also, fastest, with the best footwork.

[stotty]

My money is on Murray in the final. He ought to be able to pick enough serves back to make inroads into rallies. I lot will of course will depend on how Andy serves. I imagine Raonic will be looking to take on Murray's second serves which can be weak at times.

I am more impressed than most with the way Raonic volleys. Sure, he's not up there with those of yesteryear, not by a long way, but he is the player most comfortable at the net on the tour. He at least looks like he is going to make most volleys he takes on, unlike Djokovic and co. where even the simplest volleys can be fluffed.

Serena rolled out the winner in the end, equalling Graf's 22 titles. Shame Steffi retired at 30 and when still at her best. She would likely have won another five or six had she played until she was 34.

[don_budge]

The Great John McEnroe...Feet made of clay

I like McEnroe as a commetator and am surprised he made that proclamation regarding Serena. Steffi to me is womens tennis best athlete ever also, fastest, with the best footwork.

John McEnroe is merely a shill...just like the rest. He has a job in mainstream media and he has children. Their existence depends upon his performance in the financial sector. He may be a lot of things but first and foremost he is human.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/06/29/tennis/john-mcenroe-coach-milos-raonic-wimbledon-boris-becker-pat-cash/index.html

His commentary on matches that Milos Raonic plays in is inappropriate. About as inappropriate as Hillary Clinton being President of the United States of America. An announcer must be purely impartial to do a good job.

McEnroe's performance during the Federer/Raonic match was abysmal. He could not serve three masters. Federer...Raonic...and the puppet master. The marionette.

[hockeyscout]

... she certainly isn't a great match player by any stretch ...

Maybe she doesn't keep her head still enough?

22 Grand Slams and you think she is not a great match player?

Really?

[stotty]

A pre men's finals aperitif....

A moving story...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36702917

Time, like an ever-rolling stream...bears all its sons away;.

[lobndropshot]

Wish I could mute the commentary and only have crowd noise.

[stotty]

Murray is playing well and getting plenty of Raonic's serves back. Once in the rally Murray looks heavy favourite to win the point.

Let's hope Raonic can play better...at the moment it's mismatch.

6-4 Murray...

[stotty]

Raonic is relying on his serve to nick this second set against the run of play. A big server can sometimes do that, In every other department Raonic is being completely outplayed.

5-4 Raonic...on serve.

[stotty]

Murray two sets up...shame the King didn't win his semi against this lumberjack. It would have been a great final with Murray playing like this.

It's a mismatch final...time to walk Pancho...a long walk.

[don_budge]

Andy Murray vs. Milos Raonic...2016 Wimbledon Finals, London, England

Murray is playing well and getting plenty of Raonic's serves back. Once in the rally Murray looks heavy favourite to win the point.

Let's hope Raonic can play better...at the moment it's mismatch.

6-4 Murray...

Raonic is relying on his serve to nick this second set against the run of play. A big server can sometimes do that, In every other department Raonic is being completely outplayed.

5-4 Raonic...on serve.

Murray two sets up...shame the King didn't win his semi against this lumberjack. It would have been a great final with Murray playing like this.

It's a mismatch final...time to walk Pancho...a long walk.

It great that you have the energy to walk Pancho when you are working the long hours that you do. I am going out with Puntzie as often as I can now that I am back from the States and on vacation. I will use the remaining four weeks of my vacation to condition myself for another year long season at the club. Preparation...preparation...preparation.

It's a snoozer alright. What did you expect from two of the dullest sports personalities on the planet? These guys make Djokovic out to be a riot...a real comedian. What is it about the lack of charisma these days? For one thing the game is so dull it's hard to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear. The poor crowd...they just showed two women and I swear they looked as if they were nearly asleep. Get 'em a cappuccino! Raonic took a bathroom break after two sets and he probably went for a quick nap. Talk about lifeless. He's in the finals of the greatest sporting event on earth and he cannot get himself to even look halfway excited about it. Passionless. I feel sorry for their girlfriends.

Speaking of the crowd...this is Great Britain isn't it? Doesn't Andy Murray hail from there whereabouts? This crowd doesn't really seem to care one way or another. There is so much lacking from the audience in terms of genuine interest or real rabid support of the home town guy. It's a reflection on the character and general all demeanor of Andy Murray. If the sport of tennis ends up having its leading player in the form of a guy like Murray...it's lights out. He is a real bore.

Here is the nugget to take away from this match though. Federer might be making a huge mistake on his return game against the big oaf. Federer makes such a federal case about trying to return the ball on the Raonic backhand that he plays right into Milos' hands. Milos is so much better playing his forehand reverse cross-court it isn't even funny. Murray on the other hand plays enough balls to the forehand side of the Raonic court that he opens up the backhand side for some serious exploitation whereas Federer is playing so defensively into the Raonic backhand side that he give Milos exactly what he wants.

Raonic has developed a rather deadly reverse cross-court forehand that puts Roger on the defensive. At the same time he has a very aggressive approach on his reverse down the line from that side as well where he again puts Roger on the defensive or Roger is hitting into the Raonic forehand with his backhand side opened up. Murray has a much better tactical approach to playing Raonic.

I am not very convinced about the volleying skills of Raonic. He has actually played this part of the game very poorly as far as I am concerned. He has had numerous opportunities to be aggressive but his volleying is rather tentative on shots that make him uncomfortable. Of course he handles the shoulder high sitters rather routinely but he has missed a few of these as well.

I think next year they should play Wimbledon with wooden racquets. That should make things interesting. As it stands now...I hear a sound like the air going out of a giant balloon. It's the sound of Roger leaving the stadium. Good night Wimbledon.

[bottle]

Approach down the middle more rather than to Murray's backhand.

[stotty]

It great that you have the energy to walk Pancho when you are working the long hours that you do. I am going out with Puntzie as often as I can now that I am back from the States and on vacation. I will use the remaining four weeks of my vacation to condition myself for another year long season at the club. Preparation...preparation...preparation.

It's a snoozer alright. What did you expect from two of the dullest sports personalities on the planet? These guys make Djokovic out to be a riot...a real comedian. What is it about the lack of charisma these days? For one thing the game is so dull it's hard to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear. The poor crowd...they just showed two women and I swear they looked as if they were nearly asleep. Get 'em a cappuccino! Raonic took a bathroom break after two sets and he probably went for a quick nap. Talk about lifeless. He's in the finals of the greatest sporting event on earth and he cannot get himself to even look halfway excited about it. Passionless. I feel sorry for their girlfriends.

Speaking of the crowd...this is Great Britain isn't it? Doesn't Andy Murray hail from there whereabouts? This crowd doesn't really seem to care one way or another. There is so much lacking from the audience in terms of genuine interest or real rabid support of the home town guy. It's a reflection on the character and general all demeanor of Andy Murray. If the sport of tennis ends up having its leading player in the form of a guy like Murray...it's lights out. He is a real bore.

Here is the nugget to take away from this match though. Federer might be making a huge mistake on his return game against the big oaf. Federer makes such a federal case about trying to return the ball on the Raonic backhand that he plays right into Milos' hands. Milos is so much better playing his forehand reverse cross-court it isn't even funny. Murray on the other hand plays enough balls to the forehand side of the Raonic court that he opens up the backhand side for some serious exploitation whereas Federer is playing so defensively into the Raonic backhand side that he give Milos exactly what he wants.

Raonic has developed a rather deadly reverse cross-court forehand that puts Roger on the defensive. At the same time he has a very aggressive approach on his reverse down the line from that side as well where he again puts Roger on the defensive or Roger is hitting into the Raonic forehand with his backhand side opened up. Murray has a much better tactical approach to playing Raonic.

I am not very convinced about the volleying skills of Raonic. He has actually played this part of the game very poorly as far as I am concerned. He has had numerous opportunities to be aggressive but his volleying is rather tentative on shots that make him uncomfortable. Of course he handles the shoulder high sitters rather routinely but he has missed a few of these as well.

I think next year they should play Wimbledon with wooden racquets. That should make things interesting. As it stands now...I hear a sound like the air going out of a giant balloon. It's the sound of Roger leaving the stadium. Good night Wimbledon.

Yes Raonic was having a shocker when I left at 2 sets down. His forehand was unreliable and his volleys let him down badly. Even his serve, overall, was poorly placed comparative to his match with Federer. He could make no inroads into the Murray game whatsoever and it didn't even look like that would change for a moment. So I left. Pancho was pleased. He lies in front of me prostrate, exhausted from chasing around with his mates in the park. The final worked out great for Pancho at least.

This was the worst final since Roger massacred Phillouposis in 2003.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PejBkU4-1fk

[don_budge]

It's All in the Game...Pancho and Puntzie walking the doggie

Even his serve, overall, was poorly placed comparative to his match with Federer.

Besides all of the questions about the idiosyncratic nature of his service motion, I have just one more question...is the motion conducive to him following it into the net? As it looks now the answer to that question is...no. I suggest sending him to the Stan Smith school of serving for some seasoning.

140 mph is impressive...but spin, placement and tactics are equally important elements of the service game. His motion may not be appropriate for those more subtler elements of service technique and tactics. That little idiosyncratic move that he makes at the top of his backswing to compensate for the rather unorthodox starting position of his racquet head and wrist is worrisome to me. Those little moves and compensations in a players swing sometimes are the reason things tend to break down under pressure...when things get a little dicey. It also looks like he tosses the ball very high which can be problematic in the wind.

It would be a shame to waste this young man's obvious strength and not develop the rest of his game around it, while at the same time continuing to develop the serve. If I were his coach I would not be satisfied with this as the final product. Hopefully he has a thoughtful coach, that is mindful of the potential this young man has, that will point him in the right direction.

This player should be developed to serve and volley, to attack the net and to play all court tennis...he is a perfect candidate, designed to offset the advantages of the prototypical modern backcourt player of today.

As it stands now, though, this is the perfect modern day serve. Generally the philosophy is...you cannot argue with velocity. Hit as hard as possible with minimal thought devoted to tactics...then retreat behind the baseline.

His serve certainly did let him down and this eliminates him from being a candidate for the "greatest serve of all time". It doesn't surprise me that McEnroe says some hyperlative stuff. He isn't immune from the dilemma facing announcers these days.

The greatest serves of all time just get better when the pressure starts to cook. I think that there are some things in Milos' serve that leave something to be desired and first of all is that strange set-up position. He's holding that thing like a frying pan. But it can come down to little things in important moments. It may have been windy to and that can effect a high toss. I was watching a slow motion of his motion and it really looks as if his ball is coming a long ways to earth in its descent. Murray didn't seem to be so intimidated by that serve and he wasn't so intimidated by the forehand either. He played it smart and hit enough to the forehand side so that he could exploit the backhand side. So many times on pretty routine situations he had Milos playing one-handed just by moving him over to the forehand side of the court then back over to the backhand. Milos is pretty sluggish when it comes to changing direction.

tennis_chiro always makes a remark about how many repetitions it would take for someone to change into a serve and volley player or an all-court player as I emphasize. Whatever that number is Raonic has not come close to it as he looks awkward in his approach and particularly on balls below the net.

It wasn't a very inspiring final...for a Wimbledon final. But it surely is a sign of things to come. Let's look towards the U. S. Open now and speculate what kind of impact Roger Federer my have there. His stock goes south I think as the hard courts demand a lot more out of the body. Plus I think that he may have reinjured that knee in the final set or possibly in the fourth set. He had the physio out there on the court and I am not certain if that was the first time that I had ever seen him do that. He even took a potty break which may have been a first also. That dive he took on the court was another first and it didn't look so nasty except for the fact that he went down in the first place. That may have been the knee giving out.

Next year they should play Wimbledon with wooden racquets just for grins. Just for the hell of it. As it is now they may be looking for something to jump start the interest in the game and as it stands now it doesn't look all that interesting. Afterall...here we have a fine tennis coach who would rather walk Pancho than see his countryman take the biggest prize in tennis. Not that walking the dog isn't the greatest thing in the world...because it is. Swedish television was carrying the final and they cut to the news on Murray's match point. That was as fitting an ending to that match that I could dream of. It's irony wasn't lost on me. I went out with the dog and had a great time. Never saw a soul. Not one in one hour.

[don_budge]

Thanks for this...

A moving story...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36702917

Time, like an ever-rolling stream...bears all its sons away;.

Great story. God bless him. What a fool to join the service...what a shame. To die for the whims of politicians...the ultimate fool's game. What a loss.