Tennis
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I know everyone kinda wants the retro final of Rog v Rafa, but there's no way that can happen can it? Surely they are too old to get past Raonic, and especially Wawrinka.
Rocky there is a chance that the two womens finalists will be bigger than the two mens finalists, with the Williams sisters raping and pillaging their way through the draw. Surprisingly, despite having 90% of the field, there isn't an -ova left. Wait, no, there is one. My mistake.
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@mariner4life said in Tennis match fixing?:
there isn't an -ova left.
If that was an abbreviation for ovaries then I think that is Rocky's point.
Or her - Plíšková. Didn't know who she was so googled and this is what I found...
Don't open that @Virgil your wife may be looking in the window again.
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Serena and Wozniacki at the beach.
M4L - Theoretically, there's a 1/8 chance of a Roger/Rafa final - though my bet would be Stan vs Raonic.
Surprisingly, though, Roger's got a massive win/loss advantage over Stan and even in their more recent matches it is 5-2 to Roger - and Stan has only ever beaten him on clay. So Roger certainly can't be discounted.
Tougher to see Rafa making it - he had all he could handle with Zverev the Younger and Raonic has even more power.
Rog vs Rafa though - I'd bet on Rafa. He's done much damage to Rog over the years.
p.s. The Pliskovas are twins.
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@Chris-B. said in Tennis match fixing?:
Rog vs Rafa though - I'd bet on Rafa. He's done much damage to Rog over the years
I know that's the accepted narrative, but is it more about being 5 years younger than anything? While Rafa is undoubtedly the best clay court player (shit he won the French Open 9 of the 10 years between '05 and '14, of course Roger won the other one) he didn't win on the other surfaces until 2008. By that time Roger had won 12 Opens (and 4 tour Finals) and his Open runs were coming to an end. Federer won 2 in 09, and one each in '10 and '12, and none since (once he crossed 30 really).
I just get the impression that the Rafa over Federer thing gets over done because of the age difference, and short-term memories. Both their peaks appear to be in 22-26 age bracket.
Novak seems to have peaked a bit later in life.
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Federer's problem in recent slams has been facing Djokovic so if he gets past Wawrinka I think he's a really good chance to win it all.
Raonic is playing well and has a huge serve so I wouldn't be surprised if he beats Rafa. And Dimitrov could be the dark horse on that side of the draw.
I'm really hoping Fed gets his 18th title.
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@mariner4life said in Tennis match fixing?:
@Chris-B. said in Tennis match fixing?:
Rog vs Rafa though - I'd bet on Rafa. He's done much damage to Rog over the years
I know that's the accepted narrative, but is it more about being 5 years younger than anything? While Rafa is undoubtedly the best clay court player (shit he won the French Open 9 of the 10 years between '05 and '14, of course Roger won the other one) he didn't win on the other surfaces until 2008. By that time Roger had won 12 Opens (and 4 tour Finals) and his Open runs were coming to an end. Federer won 2 in 09, and one each in '10 and '12, and none since (once he crossed 30 really).
I just get the impression that the Rafa over Federer thing gets over done because of the age difference, and short-term memories. Both their peaks appear to be in 22-26 age bracket.
Novak seems to have peaked a bit later in life.
Don't think the age difference was too much of a factor. It's more that Rafa worked out that he could beat Roger by just pounding his backhand at every opportunity. Everyone else with sufficient weaponry has followed suit.
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Well, the mens semifinalists are in and it's going to be Roger vs Stan and Rafa vs Dimitrov.
Career Head to Head records are:
Rafa 23 Roger 11
Rafa 15 Stan 3
Rafa 7 Dimitrov 1Roger 18 Stan 3
Roger 5 Dimitrov 0Stan 2 Dimitrov 4
Based on that, you'd have to say that a Roger-Rafa final is quite on the cards (and that Rafa will kick Roger's butt again).
I thought Raonic might overpower Rafa, but the first set that I watched Rafa had it well in hand. I'd say his dogged determination will be pretty hard to overcome from here.
TAB now have Rafa as favourite and it's hard to disagree.
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@Bovidae said in Tennis match fixing?:
I'm really hoping Fed gets his 18th title.
If he wants to stay ahead of Rafa, he might have to.
If my prediction above comes true, Rafa would move to 15 and it would be a bold move to bet against him at the French.
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@Chris-B. Rafa's body could break down again at any time so I wouldn't be that confident in him getting to 17 slams, much less 18. And his injury problems started before he was 30.
I'm expecting Djokovic to be back with plenty of motivation.
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@Bovidae Yeah - although I guess my point is that this one is potentially a very big swing.
18-14 to Roger and you could just about shut the gate behind him.
17-15 and a fit Rafa with a Grand Slam already in the bag and heading toward the French.
Reality for Roger is that he's heading for 36 years old and only a small handful of chances to add to his tally. Rafa's still in the age bracket where quite a few have won Grand Slams.
Still - a way to go before either bag this one and then a long way before Rafa gets two more!
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just watched the finish of Venus Williams' semifinal match. What a lovely lady. Her acceptance speech was modest, fulsome in her appreciation and compliments toward her vanquished opponent, and her sister. Glad to see her in the final after 14 years away.
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@Bovidae said in Tennis match fixing?:
@Wairau So she's everything Serena isn't.
It's likely to be a repeat of her last Aust Open final too.
ha, yes you could say that if you wanted. I missed her visit to NZ recently.
I suppose you might be right about the result of the second semi...but Lucic Baroni is ripping it up at the start. Great game....if you have a chance, anyone, turn it on.
edit: and it has quickly turned into a Serena procession. -
@Chris-B. said in Tennis match fixing?:
Other slightly interesting news is that NZ Junior Finn Reynolds has made it to the Junior Boys doubles semis. Playing the top seeds there.
A NZer doing well at tennis. Clear evidence confirming the thread title.
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@booboo said in Tennis match fixing?:
@Chris-B. said in Tennis match fixing?:
Other slightly interesting news is that NZ Junior Finn Reynolds has made it to the Junior Boys doubles semis. Playing the top seeds there.
A NZer doing well at tennis. Clear evidence confirming the thread title.
Not only made the semi against the no.1 seeds but has tipped them over in two tie-break sets and is in the final.
Surely being carried by his (Portugese!) partner.
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The Venus-Coco match was a pretty entertaining one. I'm surprised Coco hasn't made more of an impression on the womens' ranks, because she can play and is not short on power.
I missed Serena's match, but thought it would be a foregone conclusion.
Looking forward to Roger-Stan!
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Pissed off these two won't meet in the final. Big fan of both of them.
