Monzanator

Aryna Sabalenka is one win away from becoming the new WTA #1 (by reaching the final she will have 50 pts more than Świątek - 9365 to 9315). However Świątek plays Warsaw next week so she could reclaim the lead unless Sabalenka wins Wimbledon which would make her lead safe until Montreal.

Daniel Ricciardo has replaced Nyck De Vries in AlphaTauri for remainder of the season. Not exactly shocking news since rumours about De Vries living in borrowed time were floating for a while.

Elina Svitolina vs Marketa Vondrousova is the first women SF. Whomever comes out of the bottom half will be a favorite in the final.

Moreover Aryna Sabalenka can become the new #1 if she wins the whole tournament.

3 hours ago, Belle said:

But what have EU with NATO to do? Can Stoltenberg and Sweden fix EU membership for Turkey? Can anyone explain to me? 

It's the same bunch of politicians anyway. Erdogan just won the elections and he controls the immigrant routes. Last thing EU needs is another immigrant problem in the middle of the war of Ukraine. If Republicans win the next Presidental elections they could pull off the NATO support from Ukraine as "too expensive" for domestic economy. Guess what happens if that proves to be the case?

Yeah, so the question is what Erdogan & Turkey got in return for this approval?

Women's QF:

Iga Świątek vs Elina Svitolina

Jessica Pegula vs Marketa Vondrousova

Elena Rybakina vs Ons Jabeur

Madison Keys vs Aryna Sabalenka

2 hours ago, thepharoah said:

 

i watched the end of the match and i don't find any reason for this booing , Azarenka for me is even an American more than Belarusian as she's living there since many years , she married an American and fought with him on American courts , so that some bullshit from fans , for Azarenka she did the right thing she knows very well that she won't shake hands so there is no point of going toward her and not shaking hands 

Well, Azarenka has made so many millions by now that she can afford to live whenever she wants to. But she started out as Lukashenka's protegee and received significant loans from one of Belarussian businessmen (Peftiev) who has long sponsored various tennis players. There are more layers to this story but under no condition Azarenka should be considered an American (though her son has citizenship since he was born in USA)

@hckošice@heywooduYeah, that makes sense. Told you a few days of delay is no big deal (for the owner anyway ). Now you'll have a special reserve food when another pigeon stumbles upon Slovakian landscape

7 minutes ago, thepharoah said:

 

i didn't watch the end of match what happened , Svitolina as always refused to shake hands or it was Azarenka 

Obviously Svitolina didn't, Azarenka went straight to the chair since obviously she knew there will be no handshake and there was only a hand wave between them. Anyway, Azarenka led 7-4 in STB and lost the next four points, Svitolina finished it with an ace on MP #2.

Martina Navratilova was in the BBC booth and didn't understand why the crowd boo'ed Azarenka. Geez, for someone who escaped a communist country she should know exactly what's going on. Unless that was so long ago maybe she forgot why she escaped Czechoslovakia to begin with?

Elina Svitolina takes out Victoria Azarenka 2-6 6-4 7-6(9) and she got some applause for that. Azarenka got loud boos

Iga Świątek saves 2 MP and takes out Belinda Bencic 6-7(4) 7-6(2) 6-3 to advance to the quarterfinals.

Well, IMG bet their money on Mirra Andreeva so you're gonna see a lot more of her soon. And it's a matter of time before Alina Korneeva switches to WTA tour so get ready for some Russian heroics in the next decade IMO.

I think it's really time to give up on Zverev winning a GS at this stage.

Meanwhile some curious R4 match-ups set up for the women: Rybakina vs Haddad Maia and Sabalenka vs Alexandrova (rematch of the 2022 Den Bosch final). I presume Alexandrova will buckle under pressure now that she's finally made it past GS Round 3. She still needed three tie-breaks to beat Madison Brengle in Round 2.

7 hours ago, Grassmarket said:

Dozens of personalities coming forward to deny that it’s them.  

Well, I don't know what qualifies as "star" presenter these days and I won't be surprised if I never heard of that name when it eventually comes out

Germany has the easiest group of all the UEFA teams by miles but they will have to play either Brazil or France in R16 already and most likely England in QF so the easy group comes with a price anyway.

Well, Broady managed to lose to Shapovalov in the next round. Murray and Norrie are also out. The only UK female hope left is Katie Boulter but she plays Elena Rybakina next so that doesn't inspire confidence

Looks like another BBC presenter will be in the sin bin soon?  @Grassmarket

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66140356

Wimbledon is clueless as usual. Annabel Croft said to Aryna Sabalenka she hopes she does better than last year (when Sabalenka didn't play due to the ban). You can't measure this level of ignorance

Sabalenka beat new Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva 2-6 7-5 6-2. Judging by the crowd reaction, she's gained a lot of fans and the Wimbledon audience doesn't give much hoot about the war or Belarussians playing. Guess Kate Middleton's well-being won't be a hot topic in 2023 anymore

Donna Vekic comes from 4-6 2-5 down to beat Sloane Stephens 4-6 7-5 6-4. Probably WTA match of the week so far.

Four R1 matches (2x women, 2x men) officially postponed to Thursday. Winners of these matches are scheduled to meet in R2 (including the potential Muchova vs Noskova Czech derby) alas that means the winners of these matches will basically have to play four days in a row (Thursday-Sunday) now.

On 7/3/2023 at 10:20 AM, thepharoah said:

 Qatar surprisingly defeated Mexico 1-0 and both teams qualified to quarters , honestly they deserved this qualification as they were the better side in 1st 2 games

It really show how badly Mexico sucks these days and how lucky Poland got at the World Cup

Meanwhile Canada doesn't win their group as they finished 2nd to Guatemala. As a result we have a blockbuster vs quarterfinal

Marta Kostyuk beats Maria Sakkari 0-6 7-5 6-2. Another epic GS failure from Sakkari

Play has resumed. Looks like those Wimbledon morons finally came to their senses and cancelled all R2 matches on outside courts today so R1 could be completed first.

Meanwhile Darya Kasatkina is into R3 already, losing only two games vs Jodie Burrage.

More rain. At this rate some R1 matches won't start until Thursday

Wimbledon didn't close the roof on the show courts because they somehow hoped it will only be a mere shower so there's a delay on the roof courts as well. What a shambles. Just fuck with the tradition and put as many matches as you can but I presume those morons living in 19th century will claim the audience paid to see only the best known names so who cares about the rest?

Jake Wightmann will not compete in World Championships due to foot injury (has he even started once this season?).