San Jose WTA aka MSVC

[jimlosaltos]

And they're off! After skipping a year, the longest-running women's tennis tournament in the world, founded by Billie Jean King, returns to San Jose. Nice to have it back.

Draw is light at the top {Tough, sandwiched between Olympics and Rogers Cup} but has a lot of interesting newbies or players that otherwise haven't been here before. I've never seen Sloane or Rybakina in person.

Nice to see SJ and tennis back down here. Site: https://www.mubadalasvc.com/

Fairly good crowd at the opening. More spacing. Majority, particularly kids, wearing masks.

Here's a quick photo I took of 20 yo Anastasia Potapova, former number 1 ranked junior, in action in San Jose yesterday afternoon. I'll never understand how players can hit with that severe,Western grip <g>.

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[stotty]

It's unreal how players can hit forehands with a grip that extreme...and she is not even looking a the ball either. So many players are using full westerns these days.

[jimlosaltos]

Good day at the office for Putintseva

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[jimlosaltos]

Flying Dasha mounts a great comeback ...

Man can she move. My pic from yesterday in San Jose.

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[jimlosaltos]

On to tonight's quarterfinals.
How good is this woman going to get? Elena Rybakina, 22 yo 6 ft tall, ranked 20.
Made Olympic semifinals, losing to eventual gold medalist Bencic, but not until she'd beaten Muguruza, Vekic, Peterson and Stosur.
Has prior wins over Svitolina, Serena (at Roland Garros), Kasatkina.
Long limbs and reach. Huge groundies, not so much yet on the serve, surprisingly. {Update: Big serving in a later match, posted below}

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[jimlosaltos]

I Put a Hex on You!

Kiki is concentrating hard on her volley. But her off hand makes it look like she's casting a spell on the ball. Is that even legal? <g>.

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[jimlosaltos]

This Sport is Too Easy Using the Strings. I'll Try Hitting with the Racket Edge

Yastremska's racket presumably got twisted by a mishit -- or maybe she's going for the ultimate low-percentage shot. My pic from MSVC San Jose.

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[jimlosaltos]

Look who's back in the finals: Danielle Rose Collins!

I admit I did not see that coming. Collins was back to her old, fiery self. Blasting any speed fed her back with more, flat pace. Serving great.

Reminds me a bit of that great run she had at, was it the Australian Open years ago?

And that good 'ol "tude". Shushing a baby that dared cry between points. Yelling at a fan that dared cheer for her opponent (The audacity!). You love it or you hate it.

But she's one, clean ball striker.

My pic of Collins' swinging volley from tonight's semifinal.

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[jimlosaltos]

Correction: Elena Rybakina can serve HUGE !

I posted here after watching her in one match that I was surprised a player with such power did so little with her serve - barely cracking 100 mph all match.

Next night she was throwing down bombs -- with an event high of 119 MPH.

Why, I don't know. But i wanted to correct the false impression I shared.

P.S. She won the match with the tepid serve, lost the one with the bombs. No correlation implied.

[doctorhl]

Jim: Where are things going with sports photographs as NFT’s? Joe Bonamassa recently was selling lyrics to a song he created just to sell as a NFT ( for charity I think).

[jimlosaltos]

Jim: Where are things going with sports photographs as NFT’s? Joe Bonamassa recently was selling lyrics to a song he created just to sell as a NFT ( for charity I think).

Wish I knew. I've seen NFTs both of old player cards, and new player card sets designed from scratch as "packs" of NFTs. But I haven't heard of any sports photos as NFTs. One would think there is some potential for photos / aniGIFs of classic moments -- say, Borg-McEnroe TB, Sampras.

Then again, sports community in general is not -- overall -- in the early-adopter tech group (ducking ! ).

Buyers need to be big believers, not just the creators, I'm guessing.

[jimlosaltos]

Daniel Collins took the title in San Jose -- as well as the title Drama Queen. Sample in this ani-GIF.
https://twitter.com/tennis_gifs/stat...66978816884743

At 1st her behavior was annoying but after a while I began 2 feel sorry 4 her. She apparently has no self control. Zero. Screaming at the chair about Dasha - who is quiet as a mouse on court - screaming during points is pathetic. Subjects of Dan-Yell's opprobrium: a Baby, a phone, her ownfans, fans of opponents, her racket's strings. Her rabbit ears make Nick Kyrgios's' pair look positively tiny

Update: A friend says Collins was railing at the crowd not her opponent. I'd say both, but he might be right.

Dramatic, fun match, though. Difference was Collins' ability to brutalize Kasatkina's second serve - a slow kicker. Second set tiebreak was as intense competition as you'll see. Collins lost five (5) match points. Still won in 3 as Kasatkina, who put in more hours on court, ran out of gas in the third.

[jimlosaltos]

Brutally bad first serves. Sun was bad and intermittent wind didn't help, still both players under 50% in. Difference, Collins ability to attack Kasatkina kicker.

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[jimlosaltos]

And one final photo. Dan-Yell's ability to attack high balls, often taking them down the line, was impressive. And the difference.

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