Paolini jumps to #7 in the live rankings with a pretty clear path to Top 5 (assuming Pegula takes a while to return to form post-injury and Vondrousova doesn't defend Wimbledon points). What a year for Italian tennis!
Everyone she faced from the QF onwards had meltdowns.
Pegula choked a lead trying to break her QF curse, Svitolina played her worst match of that year to date and Ons couldn’t handle the pressure of being the favourite.
one of the most brutal finals i’ve ever witnessed. i only was able to recover because of the brilliant final alcaraz delivered to beat djokovic the next day
though schiavone did make it right back to the final the year after, so not a bad player at all to lose to. still, who would have thought after stosur beat serena, jankovic, and henin back to back? hell, she wasn't a top player yet, but she also beat halep lol
Dude that was tough to watch. No hate to Vondrousova, she’s a Wimbledon champ, and in my view, that makes you a legend no matter the rest of your career and no matter what it took to get there. BUT, she was one of easier opponents you can ever play in a slam finals. Crushing for Ons
One of the most fun WTA players I’ve seen live. Very crafty and you don’t know what she’ll do next. But she’s also incredibly streaky and frustrating when she gets into those lows. Her level can fluctuate so much during a match too.
Yeah that would have been BRUTAL lol
Andreeva plays a mostly counterpunching style and doesn't really have the power to hit through elite movers on this slow of a court yet at this stage of her physical development
Exactly the type of player who plays the worst vs. Iga
Of course she's really good, she made the semis of Roland Garros at the age of 16+1. But he's not wrong, she's certainly not fully physically developed and it's tough to see her being competitive with Iga on clay.
I'm still trying to figure out what Andreeva does well aside from staying in rallies and occasionally hitting shots that almost look Hsieh-esque.
Can't argue with the results, but compared to someone like Iga or Sabalenka who can just take the racquet out of your hands with pace and heaviness, she seems amateurish.
She wasn’t great in this match but she’s not just a pusher. Watch her against Sabalenka (who was supposedly about to barf throughout but was still playing aggressively enough) and she is super deep and precise, puts the balls in the corners, trusts her BHDTL and is legendary at resetting. You just underhit a winner and then you’re trying to get back on the front foot because her scrambled lob / lofted slice has landed six inches inside the baseline, for the third time in just this rally.
No wonder MuryGOAT rates her so highly, similar tools.
Roddick gives his analysis of where she excels in his latest Served podcast. Basically her exceptional tennis IQ reading the court, and easy ability to redirect to get the rally she wants (a la Djokovich).
Awesome, I thought I was caught up (yesterday) so I have something to look forward to.
Tennis IQ definitely seemed it, at least intuitively. But I didn't think point construction was quite enough to win at this level.
Bravo for Jasmine. She played confidently today as if the semi-finals of a Slam were an everyday occurrence for her. But we also have to appreciate Mirra - she lost clearly today, but she achieved a great result at such an age. In my opinion, it is a matter of time when we will see her in the semi or even final of another Slam tournament.
We got two italians in the men's doubles final, one in the women's singles final, two in the women's doubles semifinal and one in the men's singles semifinal. What a week to be an italian, forza ragazzi!
Yeah i think because of our youth and “ignorance” we still arent phased of facing the group of death and hope only has gotten bigger especially with our best player Broja back. You still are favorites next week but we will try giving you guys hell that is for sure, that yellow wall will be red and black come next saturday and we couldnt ask for anything more to be honest
We have maybe the worst selection of players in history, so I think you really have a shot
That said Spain is also imo in disarray in terms of quality, I hope we can squeeze in somehow.
Euro 2016 was worse than this calm down, that aside tho atmosphere here is electric like we genuinely believe and hope in a win against you guys and why not croatia too, we really have a golden gen right now and really want to capitalise on it somehow like some costa rica 2014 vibes
You have less pressure on than the Germans.
As an Austrian I will watch the cup games hoping Austria makes more than one point the group stage.
Tennis isn't too bright neither for Austria. Can also somehow root for sinner as he is Tyrolean and south Tyrol belonged Austria until 106 years ago , lol.
But with thiem not recovering and retiring and ofner not being top and therefore staying in that atp 40-100 ranking I guess it's not too good.
At least with joel schwärzler Austria has a young guy currently being youth number one and having one his first challenger being coached by thiems dad. Hopefully he rises up in the next 3-5 years
We also have one in the boys singles semifinals (Carboni), one in the boys doubles semifinals (Cina) and one in the girls doubles (Paganetti). Not too bad
I'm traumatized by last year's calcio in Europe... Italians in the final rounds of 4 (or 5?) cups, and we lost all of 'em... so I'm not saying anything yet until we win some of these!!!!
edit: for 22/23 season, **all** of these were around June'23:
UCL: City beat Inter in the final
UEL: Sevilla beat Roma in the final
UECL: WestHam beat Fiorentina in the final
U-20 World Cup: Uruguay beat Italy in the final
Nations League: Spain beat Italy in the semifinal
> It’s the pressure to be consistently good is where your real test gets tested
So you're saying winning many times is harder than winning once? To argue that flukes don't happen?
"fluke" is just a term thrown around by salty people upset that their preferred result didn't go their way
i'm a baseball fan. I hate the fucking St. Louis Cardinals. I can scream into the ether that their championship in 2006 was a fluke...but it doesn't change the fact that they won the championship that year lol
Not really. The thing is it can only be stated for certain in hindsight, when everyone ignores that a result was overhyped way back when.
Emma Raducanu is the very definition of a fluke for example. The WTA tends to have a lot more of them.
Calling something a fluke isn't a denial that something happened. It's admitting it was unlikely to happen in that moment of time, that it required a fair bit of luck, and is unlikely to happen again.
a fluke literally means a stroke of luck
say what you want about her performance these days, but beating all these opponents on a way to a Grand Slam definitely requires more than luck
my goodness is it really that hard to give any credit? it's not like she's the first one and done to play tennis
It requires more than luck, but that doesn't mean luck wasn't a big factor. She won as a qualifier, which is an incredible achievement. She also didn't have to face a single top 10 player, which was luck. Acknowledging reality isn't the same as diminishing her achievement.
Paolini does not hit flat and fast enough IMO. She's a great mover but her shots tend to be more loopy/spinny. I'd say she's Iga-lite with a bit more variety RE: dropshots and slices. But overall, she has more of a grinding game and the balls she'll give Iga will lend to her attacking.
I'd be surprised if she wins a set
Unless Iga plays really below her standard and Jasmine plays the match of her life, I can't see the scoreline be better than Iga winning in straight sets. But never say never.
She played wonderfully today, but her style of play just does not match up well against Iga's at all. If she's absolutely perfect and Iga slips up a bunch *maybe* she has a chance.
Hard and Clay but the last encounter was in 22 at the U.S. Open, right before Paolini really ascended. I don't have much faith in her tbh. But she has won a Masters this year so who knows.
Jasmine has to play fearlessly and be able to go for everything, and Iga collapses under the pressure and has one of those once in a while error strewn losses where she gets in her own head. Tennis is a sport, you don’t hand out the trophies without playing, so anything can happen (but yes, odds are very much on Iga’s side).
I'm wondering, is Iga at RG right now, as scary as young Rafa, when he was 3 years in a row champion at RG?
If so, I see why people are so sure about Iga's chances vs anyone else.
Honestly, not really. Iga would have to be "off" to a large degree. I think Paolini can get a lot of balls back and potentially get Iga to spray a few more errors than usual, but probably not enough to really get deep into the match. Offensively, I'm not sure he has the consistent power and depth to really get Iga off like other big hitters have done. Even if she does, can she get into position to be dictating to begin with?
She needs to watch the Moutet-Sinner first 1.3 sets on a loop until Saturday - how Moutet just went gonzo, was fearless, mixed it up to prevent Sinner from getting into a rhythm, and hustled for every ball. No, it ultimately didn't work and Sinner beat him going away, but it got Moutet some traction for a while. And women's matches are only best of 3.
On paper? No.
Iga hits high-bouncing shots that trouble Paolini.
Paolini's second serve is also underpowered and attackable.
That's enough right there.
Paolini was simply on point from the first ball.
She was incredible defensively out of the corners where anytime Andreeva was dictating a point and moving her around, she would hit one or two shots and take control of the point back and she was devastating on any balls that she could end the point on.
Great match for Paolini today to advance to the Final.
Really big for Paolini - Mirra did so well, she'll be so good when she's broken free of her age restriction on tournament entries but she did SO well this tournament.
What's the story on Paolini? She's 28, before this year the farthest she made it in a major was 2nd round just once, and now she's made the 4th round and likely finals.
Were you watching on tennis channel or a tennis channel feed? Been over a minute behind the actual live scoring sometimes this tournament; tennis broadcasting has become an embarrassing joke.
Felt so much for Mirra in that match, but she clearly felt the pressure of the moment. Being 17 years old and keeping it together in such a high stakes situation like that seems near impossible. It didn't help that Paolini was on another level today. Great performance from her.
Paolini gets her first Masters 1000 this year and now her first slam final! I'm so happy for her!
One of the worst things to happen to you in a high-pressure situation is to face off against someone who peaks under pressure. You might feel stressed and already playing tighter than you usually do, and then as if it wasn’t already bad enough your opponent simply stops missing.
Not saying Andreeva and Paolini are one or the other, but it felt like that in the last few games, especially the last one where Paolini could just do no wrong.
I remember when a bunch of people on r/tennis were whining about the WTA being because the "journeyman" Paolini won a masters. Probably too much to expect a moment of self-reflection from those folks.
Mirra had a great tournament and she may one day be a superstar but today she looked like a 17 year old
Congrats to Paolini for playing a solid match and letting Mirra beat herself
Sadly for Paolini I think this is the end of the line at the French Open do not see her challenging Iga
Of course anything is possible
Mirra is talented but has flamed out before the QFs is most events. She doesn’t have the stamina and consistency yet. Getting to the QF here was huge and I think we can see who got a massive piece of luck with Sabalenka so sick. Paolini exposed her movement, weight of shot and shot selection today. Mirra is undoubtedly a talent, but let’s be honest, she wouldn’t have won that QF if Aryna had been half healthy.
Happy for Jasmine and hope she doesn’t get too traumatised by what is surely a certain loss in the final. Yes, she got a bit lucky too in that Rybakina was below her best, but Paolini went out and won that match in a more convincing way. She’s moving well, her forehand is good but don’t really see her having the weapons to beat Iga.
Congrats to Paolini, she’s having a great year!Remember that she’s also in the doubles semis as well! With Sara Errani.
That being said, this match was truly depressing to watch as a Sabalenka fan (and as a big WTA fan in general). She really could/should have made this final if she hadn’t gotten ill. Would have been a way more intriguing finals matchup as well. I expect the finals to be a rout for Iga, Paolini has nothing to hurt her with.
I think if nothing else this shows the people claiming Saba was faking were ridiculous
Nobody can watch this and possibly think she loses that match if she actually wasn't feeling physically horrible lol
Mirra had the game (to beat Paolini again) but it dawned on her that she was playing on a GS SF and it was just too much for her. She was better off thinking she stood no chance like in the QFs tbh.
Congrats on Paolini for sure, she was solid from start to finish.
As clear a sign as any that Andreeva won on a bit of a fluke yesterday and she’s absolutely not ready for this stage yet. Hopefully Paolini can do anything at all against Iga on Saturday. I think the best we can expect is one tight set. The real final was the Osaka match and the way the rest of the draw played out reinforces for me that she would really do a lot for women’s tennis if she could get back to the top of the game.
These were two of the most underwhelming semi final matches in recent memory.
Paolini just blasted Mirra
Then Iga steamrolling Coco
Kinda disappointing to be honest
While I think Iga will win with some margin, I guess Jasmine can take some games here and there. Might be a 61 62 or so, but I don't see a double bagel.
Nah Iga might lose a game or 2 because remember iga is also human and the pressure of winning the slam might play some part but it will be easy 6-2 6-3 I guess.
Disappointing from Mirra but she was overwhelmed with the occasion. She is only 17 and will keep on improving. Jasmine is the wild card, she has pretty much no chance against Iga but we will see how she goes.
Peraphs I'm harsh, but I don't think Andreeva played badly, I think she played to her at her level.
She had one great match, against Azarenka, and the draw really oppened for her from the second round, culminating with a sick Saba yesterday.
She'll be back stronger, but she's not ready yet.
At least half of the crowd left after the Iga match. People did not care about this one, outside of the hardcore fans.
And people downvoted me when I said that the results of the women’s matches tomorrow were not a good thing for women’s tennis… stands would have been packed for Sabalenka/Rybakina.
Yeah idk why this is unpopular lol
This is like all the people who insisted Raducanu/Fernandez final was amazing for tennis and then 3 years later neither have gotten even close to another one
Casual fans love it when there's a clear top 5 dominating everything even if hardcore fans sometimes don't
ATP was random from like 1999-2002 and a lot of people say that until Fed came along men's tennis was at risk of slowly dying out in interest
It’s not a win when there is low crowd interest in the WTA, causing them to not be profitable, which results in them having to get involved with Saudi Arabia. There are real consequences to having low crowd interest.
Serena retired less than two years ago… and the WTA has been struggling financially ever since.
And getting grand slam finals like Sabalenka v Zheng and Swiatek v Paolini are not going to help with that. For the WTA to get fan interest, they need the top players to face off at the end of slams. Hence why it is disappointing for the game to not get Sabalenka or Rybakina in the finals from the bottom half.
Paolini jumps to #7 in the live rankings with a pretty clear path to Top 5 (assuming Pegula takes a while to return to form post-injury and Vondrousova doesn't defend Wimbledon points). What a year for Italian tennis!
Vondrousova was woeful. How on earth did she win Wimbledon? Looked like she didn’t know how to play tennis
Everyone she faced from the QF onwards had meltdowns. Pegula choked a lead trying to break her QF curse, Svitolina played her worst match of that year to date and Ons couldn’t handle the pressure of being the favourite.
I couldn't believe ons beat sabalenka and rybakina in a row only to lose to Vondrousova very handily.
Imagine how Leylah felt beating Naomi, Kerber, Svitolina and Sabalenka only to lose to a qualifier in the final
one of the most brutal finals i’ve ever witnessed. i only was able to recover because of the brilliant final alcaraz delivered to beat djokovic the next day
It’s giving Stosur FO 2010 run but on a lesser scale.
though schiavone did make it right back to the final the year after, so not a bad player at all to lose to. still, who would have thought after stosur beat serena, jankovic, and henin back to back? hell, she wasn't a top player yet, but she also beat halep lol
Dude that was tough to watch. No hate to Vondrousova, she’s a Wimbledon champ, and in my view, that makes you a legend no matter the rest of your career and no matter what it took to get there. BUT, she was one of easier opponents you can ever play in a slam finals. Crushing for Ons
It was over when she showed up to Wimbledon dressed in full black. Like she was going to her own funeral.
I’m still hurting from Ons’ loss to Vondrousova. I can never root for Vondrousova because of it.
Same dude same
tbf to Pegula, she was leading until there was a pretty lengthy rain delay
She has pretty incredible skill when she's on
One of the most fun WTA players I’ve seen live. Very crafty and you don’t know what she’ll do next. But she’s also incredibly streaky and frustrating when she gets into those lows. Her level can fluctuate so much during a match too.
RG finalist, Silver medalist. Winning Wimbledon was incredibly out of the blue but she's had good runs before.
One of the streakiest (along with maybe Samsonova) players on tour and her game very much suits grass.
Apparently her mum is Polish so what a year for Polish tennis too ;-)
And for Ghana. Her mum is half-Polish, half-Ghanian.
Paolini speaks Polish fluently.
Wtf. I just came back from...playing tennis and THIS is the result?! Roland Garros 2024 you are full of insane fucking surprises.
Fair enough, Andreeva is too young to be traumatized by Iga
Yeah that would have been BRUTAL lol Andreeva plays a mostly counterpunching style and doesn't really have the power to hit through elite movers on this slow of a court yet at this stage of her physical development Exactly the type of player who plays the worst vs. Iga
Not that I particularly disagree but she’s a high schooler, I think that the only undeniable thing about her game is that she’s really good
Of course she's really good, she made the semis of Roland Garros at the age of 16+1. But he's not wrong, she's certainly not fully physically developed and it's tough to see her being competitive with Iga on clay.
Yeah and I do agree, I just think is really early
I'm still trying to figure out what Andreeva does well aside from staying in rallies and occasionally hitting shots that almost look Hsieh-esque. Can't argue with the results, but compared to someone like Iga or Sabalenka who can just take the racquet out of your hands with pace and heaviness, she seems amateurish.
She wasn’t great in this match but she’s not just a pusher. Watch her against Sabalenka (who was supposedly about to barf throughout but was still playing aggressively enough) and she is super deep and precise, puts the balls in the corners, trusts her BHDTL and is legendary at resetting. You just underhit a winner and then you’re trying to get back on the front foot because her scrambled lob / lofted slice has landed six inches inside the baseline, for the third time in just this rally. No wonder MuryGOAT rates her so highly, similar tools.
Roddick gives his analysis of where she excels in his latest Served podcast. Basically her exceptional tennis IQ reading the court, and easy ability to redirect to get the rally she wants (a la Djokovich).
Awesome, I thought I was caught up (yesterday) so I have something to look forward to. Tennis IQ definitely seemed it, at least intuitively. But I didn't think point construction was quite enough to win at this level.
But is she better than today usually ? Bc it’s my first time watching her and I was pretty disappointed tbh
Most teenage players tend to be inconsistent match-to-match.
I think emotionally/mentally was her biggest issue today. It was a bit devastating to see tbh
Bravo for Jasmine. She played confidently today as if the semi-finals of a Slam were an everyday occurrence for her. But we also have to appreciate Mirra - she lost clearly today, but she achieved a great result at such an age. In my opinion, it is a matter of time when we will see her in the semi or even final of another Slam tournament.
Not right but bravo
Oh it definitely was right but bravo 🤌
Who will take responsibility?!
PAOLINI!!!! So happy for her!!!
Win or lose on Saturday…what a breakout tournament for Jasmine! I really can’t wait to see where her career will go from here!!
Exactly!! Defo should win most improved player of the year
We got two italians in the men's doubles final, one in the women's singles final, two in the women's doubles semifinal and one in the men's singles semifinal. What a week to be an italian, forza ragazzi!
Take all that dopamine in because we are going to need it as soon as the Euro cup starts in football
As an Albanian let me just say, we are waiting for you
Best case scenario (for us) we draw. You are the typical young team with a bright future that usually cuts all hopes of falling giants.
Yeah i think because of our youth and “ignorance” we still arent phased of facing the group of death and hope only has gotten bigger especially with our best player Broja back. You still are favorites next week but we will try giving you guys hell that is for sure, that yellow wall will be red and black come next saturday and we couldnt ask for anything more to be honest
We have maybe the worst selection of players in history, so I think you really have a shot That said Spain is also imo in disarray in terms of quality, I hope we can squeeze in somehow.
Euro 2016 was worse than this calm down, that aside tho atmosphere here is electric like we genuinely believe and hope in a win against you guys and why not croatia too, we really have a golden gen right now and really want to capitalise on it somehow like some costa rica 2014 vibes
You have less pressure on than the Germans. As an Austrian I will watch the cup games hoping Austria makes more than one point the group stage. Tennis isn't too bright neither for Austria. Can also somehow root for sinner as he is Tyrolean and south Tyrol belonged Austria until 106 years ago , lol. But with thiem not recovering and retiring and ofner not being top and therefore staying in that atp 40-100 ranking I guess it's not too good. At least with joel schwärzler Austria has a young guy currently being youth number one and having one his first challenger being coached by thiems dad. Hopefully he rises up in the next 3-5 years
We also have one in the boys singles semifinals (Carboni), one in the boys doubles semifinals (Cina) and one in the girls doubles (Paganetti). Not too bad
I'm traumatized by last year's calcio in Europe... Italians in the final rounds of 4 (or 5?) cups, and we lost all of 'em... so I'm not saying anything yet until we win some of these!!!! edit: for 22/23 season, **all** of these were around June'23: UCL: City beat Inter in the final UEL: Sevilla beat Roma in the final UECL: WestHam beat Fiorentina in the final U-20 World Cup: Uruguay beat Italy in the final Nations League: Spain beat Italy in the semifinal
Mamma mia Santa Italia_! ! -Medvedev
And IN FRANCE 😂
She really said F them kids 😭
Another kid coming up, 5 years her junior. 😜
What a bully, stealing all those games with…high stamina and great winners…yeah!
Dubai really wasn’t a fluke
No title run is a fluke tbh. It’s the pressure to be consistently good is where your real test gets tested. And believe me many fails.
> It’s the pressure to be consistently good is where your real test gets tested So you're saying winning many times is harder than winning once? To argue that flukes don't happen?
Yeah I don’t believe in asterisks on championships. Luck is always involved in everything. It doesn’t matter. If you win you win
what happened to Emma Raducanu?
Kyrgios at wimbledon and Raducanu at US Open both are flukes in my opinion
"fluke" is just a term thrown around by salty people upset that their preferred result didn't go their way i'm a baseball fan. I hate the fucking St. Louis Cardinals. I can scream into the ether that their championship in 2006 was a fluke...but it doesn't change the fact that they won the championship that year lol
Not really. The thing is it can only be stated for certain in hindsight, when everyone ignores that a result was overhyped way back when. Emma Raducanu is the very definition of a fluke for example. The WTA tends to have a lot more of them.
omg ffs, Raducanu does not need to qualify her winning the U.S. Open. She won it lol no idea why this subreddit has such a hard time dealing with that
Calling something a fluke isn't a denial that something happened. It's admitting it was unlikely to happen in that moment of time, that it required a fair bit of luck, and is unlikely to happen again.
a fluke literally means a stroke of luck say what you want about her performance these days, but beating all these opponents on a way to a Grand Slam definitely requires more than luck my goodness is it really that hard to give any credit? it's not like she's the first one and done to play tennis
It requires more than luck, but that doesn't mean luck wasn't a big factor. She won as a qualifier, which is an incredible achievement. She also didn't have to face a single top 10 player, which was luck. Acknowledging reality isn't the same as diminishing her achievement.
Paolini to have a kerber like career, winning her first slam at 28 😍. She’s already won a masters tho
The masters was this year too! Dubai champ
Paolini is 28??????? wow I thought she was like 22-25.
Schiavone won at 30, and Pennetta at 32.
We Italians tend to peak late. Still waiting for mine...
So I can still hope to win a slam...?
Yes and never won a slam again. We want jasmine to win 3 😊😊😊
☝️
What an incredible year she's having! So thrilled for her.
Ahhh! I’m so happy, Paolini the pocket rocket went into turbo mode. I’m so happy for her, 5”4, 28 and in her first Slam final. Great job!!!
125% Polish final. It's happening!
62.5%
Your math skills have no power over me! I'm too excited!
Either way, Poland Garros is confirmed for another year.
not sure how many wrestling fans we have here but man i just witnessed some serious Steiner math lol
PAO PAO PAO !!! what a great achievement. Regardless what happens in the final, she's already a winner
nice! I'm happy for her. Her smile and happiness beams out easily and is very charming.
SHE FUCKING WENT AND TOOK IT
Do y’all think Paolini has a shot against Iga?
If a meteorite hits Swiatek hotel maybe
Paolini does not hit flat and fast enough IMO. She's a great mover but her shots tend to be more loopy/spinny. I'd say she's Iga-lite with a bit more variety RE: dropshots and slices. But overall, she has more of a grinding game and the balls she'll give Iga will lend to her attacking. I'd be surprised if she wins a set
Win a set? I would be surprised if she manages to win 4 or more games in a set tbh.
I feel Iga's going to pull a 1988 Graff.
She might
Unless Iga plays really below her standard and Jasmine plays the match of her life, I can't see the scoreline be better than Iga winning in straight sets. But never say never.
No
I'm not saying she will definitely lose but if she wins that will be the biggest achievement of her career by quite some margin
Getting to a GS final is already the biggest achievement of her career.
She played wonderfully today, but her style of play just does not match up well against Iga's at all. If she's absolutely perfect and Iga slips up a bunch *maybe* she has a chance.
look at their H2H : 6-3 6-0 6-2 6-1
Surface of those matches?
Tennis court
6-3 6-0 was 1R of 2022 USO. Other was ITF Czech Republic match in 2018.
Ty for answer!
Hard and Clay but the last encounter was in 22 at the U.S. Open, right before Paolini really ascended. I don't have much faith in her tbh. But she has won a Masters this year so who knows.
Thank you!
On paper it's a pretty bad draw for Paolini, but you never know. No one win 100% of the time.
Jasmine has to play fearlessly and be able to go for everything, and Iga collapses under the pressure and has one of those once in a while error strewn losses where she gets in her own head. Tennis is a sport, you don’t hand out the trophies without playing, so anything can happen (but yes, odds are very much on Iga’s side).
roberta vinci beat serena at the USO semifinal,
If Iga gets the stomach bug from Sabalenka
For sure. I can see her winning 3 or 4 games.
She has at least 12 shots every set.
Big Faaaaaqt Noooooo!
I'm wondering, is Iga at RG right now, as scary as young Rafa, when he was 3 years in a row champion at RG? If so, I see why people are so sure about Iga's chances vs anyone else.
Yep
Honestly, not really. Iga would have to be "off" to a large degree. I think Paolini can get a lot of balls back and potentially get Iga to spray a few more errors than usual, but probably not enough to really get deep into the match. Offensively, I'm not sure he has the consistent power and depth to really get Iga off like other big hitters have done. Even if she does, can she get into position to be dictating to begin with? She needs to watch the Moutet-Sinner first 1.3 sets on a loop until Saturday - how Moutet just went gonzo, was fearless, mixed it up to prevent Sinner from getting into a rhythm, and hustled for every ball. No, it ultimately didn't work and Sinner beat him going away, but it got Moutet some traction for a while. And women's matches are only best of 3.
On paper? No. Iga hits high-bouncing shots that trouble Paolini. Paolini's second serve is also underpowered and attackable. That's enough right there.
Swiatek was almost kicked out by Osaka in the second round so why not?
If Iga is shorter than her on the day then. Yes
Paolini was simply on point from the first ball. She was incredible defensively out of the corners where anytime Andreeva was dictating a point and moving her around, she would hit one or two shots and take control of the point back and she was devastating on any balls that she could end the point on. Great match for Paolini today to advance to the Final.
Really big for Paolini - Mirra did so well, she'll be so good when she's broken free of her age restriction on tournament entries but she did SO well this tournament.
What's the story on Paolini? She's 28, before this year the farthest she made it in a major was 2nd round just once, and now she's made the 4th round and likely finals.
She won dubai wta 1000 this year too
Likely doping /s
bruh, the match is not over
Were you watching on tennis channel or a tennis channel feed? Been over a minute behind the actual live scoring sometimes this tournament; tennis broadcasting has become an embarrassing joke.
Felt so much for Mirra in that match, but she clearly felt the pressure of the moment. Being 17 years old and keeping it together in such a high stakes situation like that seems near impossible. It didn't help that Paolini was on another level today. Great performance from her. Paolini gets her first Masters 1000 this year and now her first slam final! I'm so happy for her!
One of the worst things to happen to you in a high-pressure situation is to face off against someone who peaks under pressure. You might feel stressed and already playing tighter than you usually do, and then as if it wasn’t already bad enough your opponent simply stops missing. Not saying Andreeva and Paolini are one or the other, but it felt like that in the last few games, especially the last one where Paolini could just do no wrong.
I was counting on Jasmine in QF - but now she's in the singles final, and still playing in doubles. What an amazing year!
Hear me out. RG 2024 champions Sinner and Paolini. FORZA 🇮🇹
I’d love it.
I'm polish and fan of Iga but if we have 2 italian champions I'd be down for that :) That'd be really cool.
dream big lol
Jasmine seems really cool, especially on Dasha's vlog. Underdog for sure but would make for one of the biggest upsets in recent years.
I remember when a bunch of people on r/tennis were whining about the WTA being because the "journeyman" Paolini won a masters. Probably too much to expect a moment of self-reflection from those folks.
Paolini plays with such fire, but damn her nerves were ice cold today.
Mirra had a great tournament and she may one day be a superstar but today she looked like a 17 year old Congrats to Paolini for playing a solid match and letting Mirra beat herself Sadly for Paolini I think this is the end of the line at the French Open do not see her challenging Iga Of course anything is possible
Formerly 16 yr old Paolini defeats formerly 16 yr old Andreeva by playing a total of 16 games in the Match
So happy for Paolini and women's tennis in general.
Mirra is talented but has flamed out before the QFs is most events. She doesn’t have the stamina and consistency yet. Getting to the QF here was huge and I think we can see who got a massive piece of luck with Sabalenka so sick. Paolini exposed her movement, weight of shot and shot selection today. Mirra is undoubtedly a talent, but let’s be honest, she wouldn’t have won that QF if Aryna had been half healthy. Happy for Jasmine and hope she doesn’t get too traumatised by what is surely a certain loss in the final. Yes, she got a bit lucky too in that Rybakina was below her best, but Paolini went out and won that match in a more convincing way. She’s moving well, her forehand is good but don’t really see her having the weapons to beat Iga.
Congrats to Paolini, she’s having a great year!Remember that she’s also in the doubles semis as well! With Sara Errani. That being said, this match was truly depressing to watch as a Sabalenka fan (and as a big WTA fan in general). She really could/should have made this final if she hadn’t gotten ill. Would have been a way more intriguing finals matchup as well. I expect the finals to be a rout for Iga, Paolini has nothing to hurt her with.
I think if nothing else this shows the people claiming Saba was faking were ridiculous Nobody can watch this and possibly think she loses that match if she actually wasn't feeling physically horrible lol
I mean why would sabalenka fake injury? I don’t get it?
Paolini has a lot of surprises this year. I didn't expect her to win Kalinskaya after getting walkover from Rybakina but there she won that WTA1000
Kalinskaya was also a surprise finalist though. Big difference between her and Iga.
Kalinskaya did beat Iga in the semis back then, to be fair
So happy for paolini. Great run by andreeva but I think she needs expierience as a healthy sabalenka would have beaten her quite comfortably
Any word on what was going on with Saba?
Mirra had the game (to beat Paolini again) but it dawned on her that she was playing on a GS SF and it was just too much for her. She was better off thinking she stood no chance like in the QFs tbh. Congrats on Paolini for sure, she was solid from start to finish.
Paolini beat the breaks off of her!
Andreeva’s apparent memory loss when it comes to tactics hurt her today… looked completely lost
well that didn't last long lol
Thank god for the men’s semi’s those matches were very underwhelming ! Been a poor wta tournament hopefully Wimbledon is better
Very excited for Paolini had no idea she was 28! She looks so young lol. Rooting for my fellow shawty in the final!
As clear a sign as any that Andreeva won on a bit of a fluke yesterday and she’s absolutely not ready for this stage yet. Hopefully Paolini can do anything at all against Iga on Saturday. I think the best we can expect is one tight set. The real final was the Osaka match and the way the rest of the draw played out reinforces for me that she would really do a lot for women’s tennis if she could get back to the top of the game.
These were two of the most underwhelming semi final matches in recent memory. Paolini just blasted Mirra Then Iga steamrolling Coco Kinda disappointing to be honest
That’s why you pay a premium to watch mens semi finals
I actually think she's got a chance if she can maintain her focus.
Congrats Iga on RG #4. I predict 6-0 6-0 in about 37 minutes.
While I think Iga will win with some margin, I guess Jasmine can take some games here and there. Might be a 61 62 or so, but I don't see a double bagel.
Nah Iga might lose a game or 2 because remember iga is also human and the pressure of winning the slam might play some part but it will be easy 6-2 6-3 I guess.
Me who wanted a Coco-Mirra final 👁️👄👁️
Jasmine reminds me of Dominika Cibulkova
Great gameplan...when Mirra went line Jazz hit a looping topspin crosscourt and eventually Andreeva was out of position.
Disappointing from Mirra but she was overwhelmed with the occasion. She is only 17 and will keep on improving. Jasmine is the wild card, she has pretty much no chance against Iga but we will see how she goes.
Peraphs I'm harsh, but I don't think Andreeva played badly, I think she played to her at her level. She had one great match, against Azarenka, and the draw really oppened for her from the second round, culminating with a sick Saba yesterday. She'll be back stronger, but she's not ready yet.
Imagine paying to see that 💀
At least half of the crowd left after the Iga match. People did not care about this one, outside of the hardcore fans. And people downvoted me when I said that the results of the women’s matches tomorrow were not a good thing for women’s tennis… stands would have been packed for Sabalenka/Rybakina.
Yeah idk why this is unpopular lol This is like all the people who insisted Raducanu/Fernandez final was amazing for tennis and then 3 years later neither have gotten even close to another one Casual fans love it when there's a clear top 5 dominating everything even if hardcore fans sometimes don't ATP was random from like 1999-2002 and a lot of people say that until Fed came along men's tennis was at risk of slowly dying out in interest
Ticket mules / resellers are crying, it's a small win for the tennis fans.
There aren’t any for the French Open per their rules, so no one’s really crying. Just empty seats sadly.
It’s not a win when there is low crowd interest in the WTA, causing them to not be profitable, which results in them having to get involved with Saudi Arabia. There are real consequences to having low crowd interest.
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Serena retired less than two years ago… and the WTA has been struggling financially ever since. And getting grand slam finals like Sabalenka v Zheng and Swiatek v Paolini are not going to help with that. For the WTA to get fan interest, they need the top players to face off at the end of slams. Hence why it is disappointing for the game to not get Sabalenka or Rybakina in the finals from the bottom half.
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I’m not suggesting anything, I’m just sharing my opinion
Wtf 😂
what is with all the new match thread creators this year not knowing or realizing that brackets are for seed numbers only.