Not been able to watch many matches (is it me or is it getting increasingly hard to find decent streams"?), but I think we can all conclude Sabalenka is, at the very least, going through a sophomore slump. Even though her results appear to be marginally better during the American hardcourt swing, she's not producing the same consistency she showed last year. I still want to see how she fares at the USO, but I'm not hoping for much. On the other hand, Kenin seems to be filling her shoes this year, even if her rising started at the FO (maybe even before that, considering the titles she won in January and her shot at one more title in February).
Damn, that is a strange one to dislike.
It's easy to find reasons to dislike someone, but with Kenin I can actually see why some people might dislike her. She has spunk and an appealing game, but her feistiness can border on unsportsmanlike behaviour at times. I remember her vigorously pointing out marks in her match against Serena to the point of making some people boo at her (I know french boo at everything, but still). But she's an interesting prospect, that's for sure.
I know he can be tiresome with all that Serena talk and I also know he's a grown man who doesn't need defending, but I was also puzzled with the whole Halep and retirements affair. Firstly, Halep has never been the type of player who's retiring left and right and running like a rabbit the next day up to this point. She plays a gruelling type of game and, as a result, she actually went straight to hospital after a final for exhaustion - not a thing you see everyday. Secondly, even if she pulled that trick, she wouldn't be the first one to do it. It's not pretty, sure, but it's not unheard of. Hell, Serena pulled it way before this postpartum period, not even showing up at all. So, I don't see why Halep should be more maligned for it than others. Thirdly, just because she played Cincinnati that doesn't mean she was feigning it. These past month, I've seen people with 60+ years losing half their colon and defecating after 2-3 days. It's not that hard to believe she stopped for fearing of making what it might have seemed a "light" thing much worse and ended up recovering within few days, especially being a young athletic woman.