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[Gary Lee Moser]

So:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/murray-haunted-2016-roland-garros-final-loss-djokovic-193212048--ten.html

So, again:

Rea-hilllll-lyyyyy? [ admittedly a very weak text replication of Jim Carrey as Ace Ventura.....but I'm not a comedic genius ]

I can only speak for myself but, no matter who's weighing in, shouldn't a "if I could change one result" regret be a combination of
a hugely important tournament and --- AND --- a performance where you were ON THE CUSP OF WINNING --- but disappointingly didn't?

Murray won the first set...then got WAXED in sets 2 & 3 [ 1-6, 2-6 ]...before succumbing 4-6 in a solid-but-unspectacular set 4.

Compare this scenario, if you will, to any of the following:

Roger being 2 points away from a 6th consecutive Wimby title...

Roger being 2 points away from a 6th consecutive USO title...

Roger being 2 points away from a 3rd consecutive WTF title on the way to what might well have played out to 5 consecutive & 7 overall...

Roger being 1 point away [ in the form of 2 consecutive match point opportunities on his own serve ] from an 8th Wimby title...

P.S. --- a key factor in Murray picking this loss was "because clay was such a tough surface for me throughout my career."
My BULLSHIT DETECTOR [ i.e. --- merely looking at his Wikipedia page ] says that BEFORE 2016,
he had made it to THREE French Open Semi-Finals and TWO other French Open Quarter-Finals.
Pete Sampras and Stefan Edberg should've had it so freakin' good!!!

[stella]

Djokovics Adria Tour events cancelledafter Dimitrov, Coric, a coach and a trainer test positive for Covid 19 ---- after partying, nightclubbing, basketball playing and basically showing no common sense with a virus around.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-8446609/Novak-Djokovic-faces-questions-Adria-Tour-event-Borna-Coric-tests-positive-coronavirus.html

[Gary Lee Moser]

Interesting article on the great modern-era rivalries:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/evert-recalls-ups-downs-long-082233821.html

Was particularly taken by this stat:

"The most intriguing matchups — Martina vs. Chrissie, Roger vs. Rafa and both vs. Novak, Pete vs. Andre,
Serena vs. Venus, John vs. Jimmy and both vs. Bjorn, no last names necessary — all include at least one Wimbledon final."

9 out of 9.

Whereas:

Only 4 out of 9 at the FO...5 out of 9 at the AO...7 out of 9 at the USO.

[ Totals per tournament: 23 at Wimb...11 at the FO...10 at the AO...15 at the USO ]

[stella]

Hi all. Not sure if this will be seen -- TP, can you make it obvious please ? To those of you who know Olga ( aka Murph ) I've just heard that she had a stroke last weekend. At present she is in the ICU in a hospital in Stanford. Her neighbour is her health contact,and sees her each morning. She says her brain is fully functioning and she is improving. If you want to send her a message you can write it on this thread and I will copy and paste it to send to her or you may send it directly to my e mail [email protected]

[nick]

Wishing Murph speedy and full recovery. Lots of prayers and wishes and love. Get back to normal.

[stella]

Just to let you all know Murph (Olga ) got back home yesterday

[Bettyjane]

Two nights ago I thought "I have to write Stella about Olga and then I forgot. I'm very glad that she's home and thanks for this update Stella.

[Gary Lee Moser]

Very good to hear, indeed. Thanks for sharing the update, Stella.

[Gary Lee Moser]

So, if you want a cram-course on why current-era TENNIS fans are far luckier than their GOLF-fan counterparts:

Consider the rivalries of Roger/Rafa...and Roger/Novak...and Rafa/Novak ----- versus Tiger/Phil.

SOURCE:
https://www.yahoo.com/sports/zozos-dreary-finish-might-last-224821607.html

If I'm interpreting correctly here, over a 25 [ TWENTY-FIVE! ] year period of H2H competition,
Tiger/Phil have been in a Sunday-final pairing a mere 10 times.

And...only ONE of those "mere TEN times" was in a Major [ 2001 Masters ].

And...

Going into the final round of that one Major Final, Tiger had already won FIVE of the suckers,
whereas the 5-years-older Phil had won NONE of the 5 Majors that he currently holds.

So, not exactly a cataclysmic-upset-of-expectations for
The Big Cat to stretch his lead from 1-stroke to 3-strokes over the last 18 holes...right?

[Gary Lee Moser]

Golf.

GOLF, even!!!!

Which means I'm --- trust me, only very temporarily --- diverting from our beloved tennis to...(ahem)...golf.

But, to quote the immortal Gale Snoats in RAISING ARIZONA,
"I know you're partial to convenient stores, but dammit, H.I., the sun doesn't rise and set on the corner grocery."

To the point: The 84th edition of The Masters Tournament (postponed from April) is starting in 3 days.

Tiger Woods is a 5-time winner.

Tiger Woods is the defending champion.

And this same Tiger Woods.......................................is a 33-to-1 underdog.

I mean, c'mon...can anybody be totally confident in their understanding of ANY-FREAKING-THING anymore?

[ I..........................think.....................not. ]

[stella]

In memory of year past

T'was the night before Christmas and through our Tennis Planet house,
Not a creature was posting,
No-one using their mouse.
Tourney dates were marked on our calendars with care,
In hopes that the new season soon would be there.
The Planeteers were all tucked up in their beds,
while visions of Grand Slams danced in their heads.
And TP in his basement and me safe in mine,
I had just settled down to a glass of red wine,
When from the laptop arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my chair to see what was the matter.
Away to the computer I flew in a flash,
Hit the space bar and enter then comma, dash, dash.
When on my flickering screen should appear,
a miniature sleigh and 8 tiny reindeer.
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Saint Nick.
More rapid than eagles his greetings they came
he whistled and shouted and called us by name:

To Chieko San and also to Jenny

We miss you both, your friends here are many.

To Serran,To Banti ,to Murph and to Sperry

To Clifford, to Dee to Gracie and Jill

To Mordecai, DSG, M, O, and Ricke,

To Rafafan,Chipnputt,to Bonnee and Claire,

To Librio,Bluechyll,to Leon and Sir V,

To Someoneelse,Avidtennisfan, Bonnie and Rick,

To Bjornino,Bettyjane,Leon and Humble,

To Adrian, Growltiger,Barbara, and Raj.

To Imaginaryband, To Serene and to Carolee

To Dominic Anderson who gets a line to himself

To Nelson, to Anna, to Bunnee and Manal

To Andrew ,Growltiger, Barbara and Raj

To Veglia, MHM , DK Vr, Alex and Alpha

To Manon and Xeres and Sargeant Alex

To Nick ,Garry Moser , and also to Bella

Oh, he certainly was a talkative fella.

Then he sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
and away they all flew like the down on a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight.
Happy Christmas to you all.
And to all a good night

[Bettyjane]

Oh Stella, thanks so much for this. Happy Christmas to you as well. It's a lovely tradition but it makes me sad as well.

[stella]

thanks Bettyjane. Yes, sad. It was good times. Hope you stay healthy and happy. e mail me any time

[Clifford]

Thanks, Stella!
Happy New Year to TP and all the TennisPlanet friends!

[Gary Lee Moser]

https://sports.yahoo.com/laura-robson-hints-her-career-192424931.html

Wow.....a not-so-Happy Birthday here, huh?

Even with the advantage of "modern-medicine" in the form of 2 previous hip surgeries
before this third one --- and having just clocked 27 years on her odometer ---
she hasn't made it past R1 of a Slam in the past SEVEN...FREAKING...YEARS!

Why would even the staunchest of her supporters encourage her to continue?

[stella]

Hello Planeteers.

This is a hard one --- and to let those who knew her know --- our good friend, (and rabid Federer fan) Murph/Olga is now in hospice care and slipping away. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers

[Gary Lee Moser]

usa?.....usa?.....usa?.....

https://www.yahoo.com/news/no-us-men-top-30-144900308.html

[Gary Lee Moser]

Even if you're in the same boat with NO on this --- and I am decidedly NOT ---
is this helping her cause at all?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tennis-authorities-violated-law-human-071511519.html

[Gary Lee Moser]

Good comprehensive article on The Money:

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/roger-federer-became-tennis-first-140023231.html

[Veglia]

Numbers don't matter

https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/oivon9/rolex_launched_new_series_of_watches_after_rogers/

[Bettyjane]

Roger withdraws from the Tokyo Olympics. Is ANYONE going to be there? They're dropping like flies

https://i.redd.it/owlm2pml90b71.jpg

[Gary Lee Moser]

Federer out. Thiem out. Nadal out.

And none of the other 6 filling out the current Top 10 behind #1 Djokovic has ever won a Slam.

Stirring!

[Gary Moser]

Naomi Osaka withdrew from the "Melbourne Summer Set" tournament, claiming an abdominal injury.

Osaka said in a tweet that her body "got a shock from playing back to back intense matches."

Unless I'm mistaken, she played only the following ---

Tue: won 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 over Alize Cornet

Wed: off-day

Thu: won 6-1, 6-1 over Maryna Zanevska

Fri: won 6-1, 7-5 over Andrea Petkovic

Certainly nowhere close to "intense" per the SCORELINES. Hmmm...

[Gary Lee]

So...

Serena Williams will apparently end her career with 23 titles in Slam Singles --- one short of Margaret Court.

After a little research, I discovered that 1 of Court's 24 --- the 1966 AO ---
was due to a WALKOVER when winning Semi-Finalist Nancy Richey couldn't play the Final because of a knee injury.

So...

If the same thing had happened to one of the 10 Final opponents that Serena ended up losing to...24-24, no?

[Gary Lee]

On September 13 2022, Michelle Kaufman wrote:

"Serena Williams' 3 matches drew 80,000 spectators..."

A quick Wikipedia check shows that Arthur Ashe Stadium has a seating capacity of 23,771 ---
which translates into no more than 71,313 for three total sellouts.

So...

If there really were "80,000"......shouldn't the Fire Marshal lose his job?

[Adrian]

Dear TP and all:

I haven’t posted in a long time but thought I should do so now that we learned that Roger is retiring. Back in the day, around 2005, I believe, I remember I frantically looked on the internet for a forum where I could meet fellow tennis fans and discuss tennis, and I found this wonderful site. Since then, many of you became close virtual friends with whom I could discuss tennis matches, random tennis stats, and my obsessions with Roger’s magic on court. We would spend so much time discussing the Fedal rivalry, Roddick’s frustrations, the ascent of Djokovic to stardom, the dominance of the Williams sisters, the comeback of Hingis, and answering TP’s trivia. So much fun. Few others could understand and I was grateful for TP’s dedication to this site and for all of you who contributed to it.

As I have aged and taken more responsibilities at work, I have unfortunately been unable to both watch as much tennis as I used to and read as many pieces and websites on tennis as I used to… but this site has always remained close to my heart. I am a little bit sad about the Federer retirement news and I’m pretty sure that’s been the case for several of you, so I just wanted to send a virtual hug in the shape of these lines, just to say I remember you all fondly.

I am in London for work this week and it just so happened that the Laver Cup was taking place right after my work trip, so I bought tickets on a whim a few months ago. Now that I know this will be Roger’s last tournament before his retirement, I can’t help but to feel super lucky. Will try and send some pics.

Thanks again to all and especially to TP for keeping this website alive for so long!

All the best,
Adrian

[Gary Lee]

Great post, Adrian. Thanks!