Baseline_Bungle
Hall of Fame
A thread for Der Boss but no thread for Den Bosch? Shame! Having just witnessed the wizard Mannarino cooly dismiss top seed Medvedev, I figured it was time to make one...
Disgust
Disgust
ATP 250 Hertogenbosch 2023
- Thread starter Baseline_Bungle
- Start date
Baseline_Bungle
Hall of Fame
RINKY DINKY! GO HEELS!
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Aussie lucky loser Rinky Hijikata is into the SF!
We could have 3 of the 4 SFists in Hertogenbosch from Australia.
De Minaur is currently in the third set in his QF against Griekspoor while Thompson is also in a third set in the QF against Mannarino!
We could have 3 of the 4 SFists in Hertogenbosch from Australia.
De Minaur is currently in the third set in his QF against Griekspoor while Thompson is also in a third set in the QF against Mannarino!
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
I would have to think it would be several years since we've had 3 Aussies in a SF of a tournament.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Aussie number 2 into the SF's in Hertogenosch!
Jordan Thompson defeats Mannarino in 3 sets to face fellow Aussie Hijikata in the SF.
We are guaranteed an Aussie in the final.
Jordan Thompson defeats Mannarino in 3 sets to face fellow Aussie Hijikata in the SF.
We are guaranteed an Aussie in the final.
Baseline_Bungle
Hall of Fame
It'll be at least one more week!
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
The one who was tipped to win his QF match considering he's our top ranked male and was seeded is the one that loses.... anyway, 2 Aussie men into the SF's. Fantastic result. Griekspoor looked fantastic in that match, his serving is fantastic, really one to watch for this grass season and is having a stellar season!
flyingboris
Legend
Sinner down a set and a break to Ruusuvuori. Will win Wimbledon.
chuckersthenut
Hall of Fame
Sinner out.
Baseline_Bungle
Hall of Fame
Only saw a few games on my phone at the beach, but Sinner looked like absolute garbage. Timing and footwork WAY off... looong way to go.
S
Slicehand
Guest
This is a dope thread
Jack the Hack
Hall of Fame
How can Sinner lose to a guy that's Finnish?
Actually, Ruusuvuori beat Sinner the first time they played back in 2020 in a Challenger event. He also had a bunch of match points before Sinner prevailed in Miami last year. Therefore, I knew "Sinner-lite" would be capable of winning despite Jannik's 5-0 record against him at the main tour level.
Actually, Ruusuvuori beat Sinner the first time they played back in 2020 in a Challenger event. He also had a bunch of match points before Sinner prevailed in Miami last year. Therefore, I knew "Sinner-lite" would be capable of winning despite Jannik's 5-0 record against him at the main tour level.
bluetrain4
G.O.A.T.
Sinner-lite is a good way to describe him. Not totally surprised he pulled out a win vs. Sinner.How can Sinner lose to a guy that's Finnish?
Actually, Ruusuvuori beat Sinner the first time they played back in 2020 in a Challenger event. He also had a bunch of match points before Sinner prevailed in Miami last year. Therefore, I knew "Sinner-lite" would be capable of winning despite Jannik's 5-0 record against him at the main tour level.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
Pretty sure that whatever company now owns the Budweiser brand sells a lot more Bud-Lite than Budweiser proper, so sometimes lite wins.
chuckersthenut
Hall of Fame
Van rijthoven would clean all these babies out. Shame he couldn't play.
S
Slicehand
Guest
hes probably in a charging period
Bill Lobsalot
Hall of Fame
These tourneys are just practice for the top players.
S
Slicehand
Guest
they are not practicing very well then
Loool! Practicing how not to play, perhaps?
It's good to watch tennis on grass again - here and Stuttgart. And somehow satisfying that the underdogs have prevailed.
S
Slicehand
Guest
Hahaha yeah its my favourite part of the season, pity that nowadays nobody has a clue how to play on grass, murray is being great to watch on the challengers he is playing, and i have hopes for alcaraz to really play his best on grass at some point
80s New Wave
Semi-Pro
Sinner won 0 points against the first serve. I've never really seen a full Ruusuovori match, is his serve that big?
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
Well, some of them haven't even entered a tournament yet, preferring to practice behind closed doors. At least these guys are giving us something to watch.
sortof
Semi-Pro
Not totally surprising to win against an off form Sinner. Since the Miami final demolition by Medvedev Sinner has delved into a pretty deep crisis. He underperformed during more or less the entire clay court season and is still struggling to gain back his confidence. His loss against Altmaier was in fact more catastrophic than some realize.
Baseline_Bungle
Hall of Fame
I think the real turning point was the MC semi vs Rune. He had actually looked good in that tournament, proceeded to demolish the bratty Dane in the first set, and at that point was looking like the clear favorite to win his first M1000. Then the rain came, maybe the pressure of the moment got to him, and upon resumption he went on to lose that match in a tight third set. Many were quick to blame the much heavier conditions in sets 2 and 3, where Sinner's groundstrokes just weren't hurting Holger as much. But the reality is that ever since then, he has been just awful - technically, physically and even mentally: he was zombie-like in his Barcelona win vs Nishioka, where he literally looked like he was about to die, and promptly retired before the following match (pulling out of Madrid as well); he was disappointing in Rome, where he somehow managed to beat Shevchenko (but didn't realize he had won, which I found to be concerning...) before coming out totally flat vs Cerundolo; he was disastrous in Paris and even worse, if possible, yesterday vs 4U. The common denominator is that ever since the first set of that Rune match, his ball just doesn't seem to be doing any damage, and his famous "easy power" isn't troubling opponents in the slightest. Yesterday's match was especially telling: he and Emil play a rather similar brand of tennis, and their previous encounters always kinda looked like mirror-matches between two versions of the same player, with Sinner just doing everything a little bit better, with more power and more consistency. But yesterday, the perception was completely reversed, as Ruusuvuori looked much more solid, powerful and penetrating from start to fin
ish. What is going on, I do not know (some in Italy keep blaming "allergies", although I don't know if I buy that...). But something is clearly off.
He is playing qualies right now for Queens, so seems like it.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Nah, he just refuses to retire. He is or was a tournament director but still gets given constant wildcards to multiple tournaments a year.
Let's take a look at his recent events and whether he got in with WC's or direct entry:
WC in Barcelona this year losing to Goffin 1R in 3 sets.
2 weeks before that he got a WC into a Challenger losing 1R to Arnaldi in straight sets.
In February he got a WC into Acapulco and actually won a match against Eubanks before losing 2R to Tiafoe 2-6 7-6.
In October last year he got a WC into a 250 in Spain losing 1R to Ivashka.
In August last year he got a WC into 250 Los Cabos losing 1R to Albot.
In July he got a WC into 250 Newport losing 1R to Vesely.
Got direct entry into Wimbledon last year losing 1R to Botic.
In June he got a WC into 250 Mallorca losing 1R to Griekspoor.
The week before that in June he got a WC into 250 Stuttgart losing 1R to Bonzi.
In April, he got a WC into 500 Barcelona losing 1R Ruusuvuori.
2 weeks earlier, he had direct entry to 250 Houston losing 1R to qualifier Brouwer.
In February he got a WC into 500 Acapulco losing 1R to Nishioka.
That's... really something.
9 main draw wildcards (+1 Challenger WC) in the last 16 months with him going 1-9. Pretty awful i'd say that he's being given them.
Aussie Darcy
Bionic Poster
Jordan Thompson wins the all Aussie battle against Hijikata and he's into his second career final.
He'll face the winner of Griekspoor/Ruusuvuori for the title!
He'll face the winner of Griekspoor/Ruusuvuori for the title!
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
Totally - at least someone like Murray has won loads of matches to go alongside his WCs.
You and me, both. I'm looking forward to Andy playing at Queens / Wimbly. As for Alcaraz, I like the boy / his game, and hope he does well too.
Pity Ruusiuvori could not consolidate his run, but wish the 2 finalists well for the title.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
Jim Courier actually discussed this at some length on American TV during Rune's RG match against Ruud. He thinks Rune's mind games "destroyed" Sinner's confidence and said the cold handshake between them was very uncharacteristic for the normally laid-back Sinner. They even showed the two times Holger "deliberately" hit Sinner in the back with balls he was intending to hit towards the ball kids.
"Rune got into Sinner's head in that match," said Courier, "and he's not been the same player since. Coincidence? Could be, but I might suggest the Rune match is linked to Sinner's drop in form. Trash talking and mind games can play havoc in the minds of young players."
Sinner was clearly ticked off during the handshake and Holger was mocking the index finger to the head since Sinner had used that gesture at the end of his first set breadstick:
Thanks to Baseline_Bungle, Sortof & Beatlesfan for your insights into Sinner's current form / the Rune connection. What a pity - I hope JS gets his form and confidence back very soon. These players are set to compete for years on the tour, all being well, and it will be interesting to see how they manoeuvre the path ahead and how their rivalry pans out.
BeatlesFan
Bionic Poster
I found Courier's exact remark about the Rune-Sinner match in Monte Carlo. I can't post the link because it's on Tennis TV replay, which is a paid platform.
But here's what Jim said verbatim during the Rune-Ruud QF last week at RG:
"You know, Jannick Sinner was a guy who had a lot of buzz about him coming into the event.... he lost a close match to a player he probably shouldn't be losing to in slams, the German Altmaier. That was kind of a stunner for me, tbh.... (they show clip of Rune hitting Sinner in the back with two balls at Monte Carlo during two changeovers).... and I feel Holger Rune got into Sinner's head a little bit in that match."
"Just watch this unfold here, Rune to me looks like he's clearly baiting Sinner. He knows where those balls are going, there's no way he wasn't aware he was actually hitting Sinner in the back here. And he did it twice, so he can't sort of say later, 'oh, it was just an accident.' The kid has a reputation of sort of embracing the confrontations in tennis, which can be a little risky for a young player."
"But sometimes plays like this work. The margins in pro tennis are very small, head games go on all the time, spectators just don't realize it. Sinner hasn't been the same player since Rune did all that. Is there a connection? Or just a coincidence? We can debate it.... I say there's a clear link between Rune acting up a bit in Monte Carlo, beating Sinner and then getting into his head with all the little antics he pulls. I think Sinner's dip in form is due to a lack of confidence now, he probably thinks he should've handled Rune, being 2 years older and Rune's fitness is not at Sinner's level."
"Rune's shown he can trash talk and act like a bit of a bad guy on court, but honestly, I believe it's wrecked havoc in the mind of Sinner. And that's sometimes tough to shake off. If he loses early in the grass warm ups or crashes out early at Wimbledon, then we can possibly point out to a semi on the French riviera for the reasons why."
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yokied
Hall of Fame
I have seen enough of Sinner to know that he plays a few mindgames himself and doesn’t mind rubbing other players the wrong way with his wannabe alpha schtick, despite not having won a damn thing of note.
Sure, it’s weaksauce and he’d never have the balls to hit an opponent in a million years, but that’s kinda the point Rune was making. And if he can’t handle being fed his own s**t and lets it affect his whole season then Rune was absolutely right.
Dude is turning into Zod-lite.
Sure, it’s weaksauce and he’d never have the balls to hit an opponent in a million years, but that’s kinda the point Rune was making. And if he can’t handle being fed his own s**t and lets it affect his whole season then Rune was absolutely right.
Dude is turning into Zod-lite.
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