Tennis

[crawjo]

I don't say this to be an asshole, but is there any chance at all that Serena Williams isn't on massive levels of steroids?

[jon abbey]

FWIW (possibly nothing), she was tested 8 times in 2014:

http://www.usada.org/testing/results/at ... t-history/

[jon abbey]

so the Djokovic/Murray final was like two separate matches:

first they split two tiebreaker sets with tons of service breaks along the way and Murray went up 2-0 in the 3rd, fantastically high-level tennis both ways, each player having to hit so many seeming winners to beat the other guy...

and then Djokovic won some close games, found another gear (saw the finish line), plus Murray gradually really lost it mentally, culminating in the next to last game in challenging a ball right at his feet that he was able to return easily anyway, which was fully on the baseline, not even close. so from 2-0 down in the 3rd it was 6-1, 6-0 Djokovic, he closed the semi against Wawrinka with a 6-0 5th set also. he is just so fucking relentless, I am a big fan.

[crawjo]

I've liked him ever since watching him as a teenager. Early in his career he seemed to wilt in long matches. Now he's got incredible fitness. Eight Grand Slams now, he's really one of the greatest tennis players of all time. I'd like to see him get a French Open.

[The G Man]

I would guess that Serena is a doper but the tennis star most frequently accused by a large margin is Nadal.

This, from a 2014 Jon Wertheim column, could it have been about Serena or Venus?

"We’ll start this week with a story. A few years ago, I was at an event when a player grabbed me by the wrist. “I want to show you something,” she said. She took me to a wall displaying photos of the event’s previous winners. One player had won the event multiple times. Her photos revealed a remarkably -- how to put this? -- evolved physique over the years, the equivalent of before-and-after images of a toning program.

“There,” the player said. “Now go write about it.”

The implication, of course, was that the past champion had been doping, and these complementary images were unimpeachable proof."
http://www.si.com/tennis/2014/11/19/wer ... itf-tennis

Lots of links here.
http://tennishasasteroidproblem.blogspot.com/

[crawjo]

Yeah, Nadal seems obvious to me, based on his physique and all the strange injuries that seem to almost randomly eliminate him from tournaments, and then he comes back and is immediately great again.

Over the years I've felt there were a number of clear dopers in the women's side. Certainly Serena, Amelie Mauresmo, the reincarnated Jennifer Capriati, among others.

[crawjo]

I mean, hello:

[Enforcer]

Roger. Wow.

[jon abbey]

Novak too, taking out the defending champion with the most lopsided semi ever, should be an awesome final.

I love Serena and always have, but Navratilova or Graf never would have lost a match as big as today to a player as bad as Vinci. massive choke, and why she's a top 3 or 5 player of all time, but definitely not #1.

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

Key point, and a helluva rally.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... _s_so.html

I don't know, Jon. Serena's durability has been amazing and has to factor into it.

[jon abbey]

I'm not clicking on that, but if that is the amazing point where Vinci motions to the crowd at the end, it was like the one good point in the match.

durability? Martina was in the top 5 19 STRAIGHT YEARS. she won the last of her almost inconceivable 61 Grand Slam doubles titles with one of the Bryan brothers at the US Open a month short of her 50th birthday.

meanwhile, Serena had a lot of empty years mid-career. she is very lucky that Henin and Clijsters didn't last long because both of them kicked her ass a lot. Serena's competition is horrendous, the women's game hasn't been this bad since I've been following it.

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

OTOH, Graf retired at 30.

I'll grant you, though, that Serena hasn't been tested by great competition for much of her career.

[SqDanceCallingSteve]

Bud Collins, R.I.P.http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/05/sport ... at-86.html

[Captain Hate]

I hated Bud Collins and I don't give a flying fuck what anybody thinks about it. Fawning and cloying bullshit about what is proper in Wimbledon while sucking lowlife Jimmy Connor's cock. Fuck him.

[The G Man]

Federer out of French Open.

Jon Wertheim Verified account ‏@jon_wertheim 1m1 minute ago

"Heard a great story that last year at a Paris hotel spa, Phil Simms was bumped for Roger Federer. Simms, the massage is yours in 2016."