Wimbledon Championships 2022

[glacierguy]

Nick getting away with murder here...effing and blinding. The umpire has just let it go.

Definitely - BBC apologising to audience again, nothing from umpire....

Djokovic is doing a great job reading Kyrgios's serve, often taking half-step in right direction during toss.

[stotty]

Kyrgios is still serving well. He will be still in the match if he keeps doing that. Amazing how many Novak gets back, though. Novak is looking a little wobbly on his second serve but the rest of his game is real solid at this point.

[stotty]

Well done, Novak. Thank God for that!

[jimlosaltos]

About Jannik Sinner's play at Wimbledon from Cahill, who has now officially joined his team.
This is machine translated from Italian.

What is the most valuable lesson Sinner has learned from the challenge with Djokovic?
?I only see positive points: on Tuesday Jannik realized he could play on a par with the former n.1 in the world. This is no small piece of information. He understood that a match with the top players is made up of phases and that he will have to raise the intensity of his tennis along with the level, as Novak did from the third set onwards. Jannik, on the other hand, remained on the same level as the first two. I saw him tired, in the end: five sets on the grass are brutal. He should have measured out his energies better in order not to end up in reserve. He will learn quickly ?

Also:
Its best quality?
"Confidence. The conviction of being able to reach the top of this sport. It is not something you learn: you are born in it. Perhaps it also derives from his past as a skier. I heard about this Italian boy for the first time right here in Wimbledon, from Riccardo Piatti who was coaching him at the time, about three years ago. The following season he was already a top player. Since then I have been following Jannik's progress constantly ?.

Its best surface?
"The one on which he's most dangerous at the moment?" Certainly the fast. At the Open Usa the ball flies, the fields are fast: we will try to get there prepared ?.

Who will win Wimbledon on Sunday, in your opinion, Darren?
"Djokovic".

What about Wimbledon 2023?
"I know what you would like to hear: we're working hard on it, trust us."

[stroke]

About Jannik Sinner's play at Wimbledon from Cahill, who has now officially joined his team.
This is machine translated from Italian.

What is the most valuable lesson Sinner has learned from the challenge with Djokovic?
?I only see positive points: on Tuesday Jannik realized he could play on a par with the former n.1 in the world. This is no small piece of information. He understood that a match with the top players is made up of phases and that he will have to raise the intensity of his tennis along with the level, as Novak did from the third set onwards. Jannik, on the other hand, remained on the same level as the first two. I saw him tired, in the end: five sets on the grass are brutal. He should have measured out his energies better in order not to end up in reserve. He will learn quickly ?

Also:
Its best quality?
"Confidence. The conviction of being able to reach the top of this sport. It is not something you learn: you are born in it. Perhaps it also derives from his past as a skier. I heard about this Italian boy for the first time right here in Wimbledon, from Riccardo Piatti who was coaching him at the time, about three years ago. The following season he was already a top player. Since then I have been following Jannik's progress constantly ?.

Its best surface?
"The one on which he's most dangerous at the moment?" Certainly the fast. At the Open Usa the ball flies, the fields are fast: we will try to get there prepared ?.

Who will win Wimbledon on Sunday, in your opinion, Darren?
"Djokovic".

What about Wimbledon 2023?
"I know what you would like to hear: we're working hard on it, trust us."

That is really good stuff. Cahill on the opposite end of the coaching ladder from say PM. No one has ever been able to manage a match like Novak. He certainly subtlety picks his spots and slowly squeezes as he did today vs Nick. It is truly hard to say who is the GOAT, he or Nadal. Nadal keeps it much simpler, he just wants to win every point, the next point is all he thinks about. Novak, he plays chess, the long game. Of course. talking about, or being aware of the long game, is way different than executing it. Novak stands alone, and we will probably not see another, or another Nadal.. Both he and Rafa are brutally effective. That is what the 2 best ever look like. Sinner is going to be a great one, but not Novak or Rafa. That being said, like most, in my dreams, I play like Fed.

[stotty]

I like the way Novak gradually works opponents out during the course of a match. He looks to read opponents and does so very quickly. By set 2 he was latching on Nick's serve having not played him for two years. I don't think anyone has served as well as Nick in a Wimbledon final...73% first serves in...and second serves harder than many players' first serves. Nadal is a bludgeon...not pretty to watch but amazingly ruthless. But you cannot beat the way Roger pulls opponents around and dismantles even their best assets.

Not a great Wimbledon. Too many injured, missing with Covid, or banned. But the final was decent. Novak was immaculate off the ground...as usual. I thought Nick served incredibly well.

[stroke]

Nick did serve amazingly well. McEnroe stated in the telecsast that he puts Nick, as I do, right there with the best servers of all time, Karovic, Isner, Raonic, and Goran. I would personally include Opelka in with that group, but suffice it to say, I agree with McEnroe. Novak no doubt the best returner of all time and the best no doubt lockdown player ever.

[stotty]

jimlosaltos,

How is it looking for Novak in terms of being eligible for the US Open?

[jimlosaltos]

jimlosaltos,

How is it looking for Novak in terms of being eligible for the US Open?

Good question. I have nothing concrete to share.

The federal government simply has to do away with its requirement that foreign flyers have to be vaccinated. While the mask-mandate for flying has been lifted, there is zero public discussion by the government on the vax mandate.

For perspective, the BA 5 wave is just now hitting America, after going through most of the Western world earlier. That uptick in hospitalizations due to covid, could argue against lifting it. But given the fear of recession, economics might over-rule health.

Since it is ~ 6 weeks to the US Open, I'd say the odds are less than 50:50.

As for the other option, giving special exemptions to athletes. The Trump admin did that, the Biden admin is far less likely to grant special privileges to the elite.

That's all I've got

[jimlosaltos]

Since several players, including Alcaraz, noted that Wimbledon was extremely slow this year, I tried to check that.

This is half-a-loaf but perhaps some will find it better than none. If anyone has something more concrete, please share!

Lacking full access to HawkEye's speed data on how fast balls travel both before and after bounce, the best measure of playing conditions is the number of aces. The Court Pace Index, gives one an idea of speed after bounce, and thus the speed of the surface, but ignores the balls, temperature, and more. Aces are down only a smidge vs the year prior to the covid shutdown. Ditto first serve points won and points on errors (forced and unforced added together} rather than on winners.

The year's chosen are simply those where I copied down some of AELTC's paltry stats.

Here's what I dug up:
.

Aces per Set in Men's Matches at Wimbledon
W22 - 5.16 aces
W19 - 5.42 aces

W16 - 6.02 aces
.

First serve points won Men's Matches at Wimbledon

W22- 73%

W19 - 74%

W16 - 76%
.

Points won on Errors Men's Matches at Wimbledon
W22 - 67.5%
W19 - 66.3%

W16 - 65.4%

Still, a decline of roughly 1 ace per set is substantial, given how few points it takes to swing a match. The Djokovic-Kyrgios final comprised 36 sets, so (consulting my abacus) that's a reduction of 36 aces in a match where only 20 total points separated the players. Since Nick hit twice as many aces as Novak, thoset stats say he would have picked up 24 points on his own serve, vs 12 for Novak.

#

[jimlosaltos]

[QUOTE=stotty;n98021
Not a great Wimbledon. Too many injured, missing with Covid, or banned. But the final was decent. Novak was immaculate off the ground...as usual. I thought Nick served incredibly well.[/QUOTE]

Yup. This is the only men's final at a "Major" I can think of where both finalists got there without having to beat a single Top 10 ranked player. Not one. There must have been others, Jan Kodes during strike? I don't know. The average rank of Novak's opponents was only 51.

At 40th in the world, Kyrgios was the lowest ranked Wimbledon men's singles finalist since Mark Philippoussis (48) in 2003. Coincidence that both are servebots?

Should this title come with an asterisk, or be termed a "minor"

As for the WTA side, ESPN: Since the WTA computer rankings began in 1975, just one woman ranked lower than the No. 23 Rybakina has won Wimbledon -- Venus Williams in 2007 at No. 31, although she had been No. 1 and had already won three of her five career Wimbledon trophies..

And poor Ons and her nerves, here's an odd stat: Prior to Saturday, the winner of the first set had won the last 56 women's major finals dating to the 2006 US Open, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Jabeur was 30-1 this season after winning the first set. "Happy that it finished, to be honest," Ons said, "because really, I never felt something like this."
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/...ship-wimbledon

[stroke]

It was a good final. Nick played very well, not surprisingly to me. Even though his serve is servebot quality, if one considers him a servebot, he has the best game excluding the serve that any servebot has ever had. Such a wasted talent. Novak beat him for 2 reasons, obviously mentally they are night and day. Not quite as obvious, but still pretty damn obvious, Novak is just in physically superb shape, the best he can be. Nick not even close to that standard. Novak knew that and so did Nick. Nick had the game to beat him on this stage, he was simply not in good enough shape physically to do it.

[stotty]

Since several players, including Alcaraz, noted that Wimbledon was extremely slow this year, I tried to check that.

This is half-a-loaf but perhaps some will find it better than none. If anyone has something more concrete, please share!

Lacking full access to HawkEye's speed data on how fast balls travel both before and after bounce, the best measure of playing conditions is the number of aces. The Court Pace Index, gives one an idea of speed after bounce, and thus the speed of the surface, but ignores the balls, temperature, and more. Aces are down only a smidge vs the year prior to the covid shutdown. Ditto first serve points won and points on errors (forced and unforced added together} rather than on winners.

The year's chosen are simply those where I copied down some of AELTC's paltry stats.

Here's what I dug up:
.

Aces per Set in Men's Matches at Wimbledon
W22 - 5.16 aces
W19 - 5.42 aces

W16 - 6.02 aces
.

First serve points won Men's Matches at Wimbledon

W22- 73%

W19 - 74%

W16 - 76%
.

Points won on Errors Men's Matches at Wimbledon
W22 - 67.5%
W19 - 66.3%

W16 - 65.4%

Still, a decline of roughly 1 ace per set is substantial, given how few points it takes to swing a match. The Djokovic-Kyrgios final comprised 36 sets, so (consulting my abacus) that's a reduction of 36 aces in a match where only 20 total points separated the players. Since Nick hit twice as many aces as Novak, thoset stats say he would have picked up 24 points on his own serve, vs 12 for Novak.

#

No Meddy, no Cilic, no Zverez...that must bring the ace count down a bit

[stotty]

It was a good final. Nick played very well, not surprisingly to me. Even though his serve is servebot quality, if one considers him a servebot, he has the best game excluding the serve that any servebot has ever had. Such a wasted talent. Novak beat him for 2 reasons, obviously mentally they are night and day. Not quite as obvious, but still pretty damn obvious, Novak is just in physically superb shape, the best he can be. Nick not even close to that standard. Novak knew that and so did Nick. Nick had the game to beat him on this stage, he was simply not in good enough shape physically to do it.

Yes Novak really takes care of himself and it really does show. Same with Roger and Rafa. I think each has an incredible team behind them that include trainers and physios that really know their stuff. It works...as is plain to see.

[stotty]

TV viewing figures and online streaming figures over here in the UK were extremely high for the men's final. Just shows if you get a spoilt child in the final people will flock to watch the tantrums. Not sure what that says about tennis....or does it say more about the people that watch it.