World Cup 2024

[John Birkin]

Best match I've seen between SYS and WMY. WMY has developed her agility and athleticism immensely - her FH now has more power and spin than that of SYS, who looks to be the more natural athlete. They both rally superbly BH-BH. No doubt in my mind that WMY has the beating of SYS - perhaps she just needs a few more spectators rooting for her! And, of course, CM is not far away from these two.

 

[zeio]

The venue looked very impressive. I liked the men's and women's tables next to each other.

A win for REAL gender equality! And WTT wanted to spin off the women's competition while saying fempowerment. Look what happens in tennis.

ATP, WTA to consider merger proposal next month in Madrid
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.c...udi-arabia-merger-talks-pif-investment-tennis

The promise of a huge sum from Saudi Arabia’s PIF could “well smooth over any concerns over the inequality of the two tours’ respective incomes,” which stood at $114.6M for the WTA and $303.1M for the ATP in 2022. For the moment, the tours would both “retain their own management structure for day-to-day decisions,” but once financial unity has been achieved, it "seems likely that their operational departments would start to move closer together.” The tours have “moved quickly towards a more integrated model” since the first meeting in London to this effect in September. Briggs wrote the tours’ “newfound unity will strengthen their bargaining position” as the four grand slams try to reform the annual calendar via the introduction of a so-called “Premium Tour” (London TELEGRAPH, 3/15).

Reports: ATP, WTA advance talks to merge commercial rights
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_...atp-wta-advance-talks-merge-commercial-rights

The ATP and WTA said in a statement that they are "exploring discussions that would enable us to leverage assets across both Tours via the creation of a new joint commercial entity, delivering more value to players, tournaments, and fans, while remaining as separate Tours".

...

A deal would allow the two groups to reduce duplication in their organizations and to more effectively market themselves to broadcasters and sponsors, the person added.

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The WTA said it is "engaging actively with the other governing bodies of professional tennis, (and) existing and potential commercial partners, to explore whether we can bring greater alignment across the sport, while reducing the fragmentation that exists at present".

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WTA chief Steve Simon told The New York Times in 2020 that they compete against themselves and other leagues for fans, sponsorships and broadcasts.

Tennis fans need different pay-TV platforms to watch matches, and a merger could simplify television contracts and sponsorship deals.

Report: ATP and WTA tennis tours to discuss merger
https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/atp-wta-merger-talks-gaudenzi-simon-tennis/

SportsPro says…

A unified tour would be huge for global tennis. The sport has been hampered by fractured governance and the presence of Saudi Arabia looks to have prompted the ATP and WTA to act. The emergence of Novak Djokovic’s Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA), which wants to maximise and protect player rights, has also added to the urgency.

There are a number of hurdles for the ATP and WTA to clear before the merger becomes a reality. Notably, each organisation has its own sponsorship, broadcast and data partners, and it may be unfeasible to run some tournaments as combined events. There will be the usual politics to contend with too.

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Tennis has a lot of moving parts to contend with at the moment. A combined ATP-WTA circuit would look to prevent a Saudi takeover of the sport and maybe even prevent a LIV Golf scenario. More broadly, pooling their assets would look to give stability and extra resources to both tours.

 

[zeio]

This turned out to be a great world cup. Better with more drama than previous ones.

Things to improve: better group stage rules, other commentators...

Me: In Macau during the group stage but couldn't visit the venue...(I don't regret it...I don't regret it...I don't regret it...)

 

[NextLevel]

Best match I've seen between SYS and WMY. WMY has developed her agility and athleticism immensely - her FH now has more power and spin than that of SYS, who looks to be the more natural athlete. They both rally superbly BH-BH. No doubt in my mind that WMY has the beating of SYS - perhaps she just needs a few more spectators rooting for her! And, of course, CM is not far away from these two.

The best match I have seen between them remains the ancient wjttc final lol. Their destinies still remain entangled IMHO and I wouldn't be surprised if Wang won the Olympic gold.

 

[zeio]

Tbh I always felt that WCQ always relied on his hidden serves and once someone really deciphers them, he is nowhere as strong as Ma Long, Zhang Jike or Fan Zhendong in terms of technical ability. He also tends to hit very flat trajectories which are always a liability in big matches. All the past great champions have huge amounts of arc in their shot to ensure max safety during crucial moments.

But it's an interesting period for sure because Fan Zhendong seems to be a bit lost even when he is having the most advanced topspin technique in the world, and Ma Long's body condition is always a question mark.

Yes, those BH serves were a trap. They look so simple - even I was reading the spin on them easily. But they are all placed in hard to attack trajectories and placements. LGY tried to directly chiquita kill those "disrespectful simple serves" and ended up making 1001 mistakes on them because he was chiquitaing way too flat with no safety (obviously because there are always subtle differences and the trajectory is a bit too low). Somehow for a pro player he doesn't know how to slow down, adjust and play with more spin and consistency until he gets his rhythm back. He's like the amateur guy who pisses away all points trying to attack low percentage balls wtf...

When faced with weird shit you can always do a slow spinny chiquita to enter the topspin rally. No need to take unnecessary risks at all!

That reminds me of what I wanted to write that would serve as an addendum to what WCT said.

During the interval after G4 (with WCT trailing 1-3) of the SF match between WCT and WCQ at Asian Games 2022, the advice given by Liu Guodong (Liu Guoliang's older brother) to WCT was to spin it up and that it wouldn't hurt to hit with a higher trajectory, as he kept missing whenever he tried to increase the shot quality. Afterward, former HKG player Tang Kwok Kei added that the younger generation is so used to playing with speed that they aren't as comfortable handling spinny shots. WCT carried it out, took G5 and had the lead in G6 because losing 9:11.

 

[SFF_lib]

How many noticed the change of ML's attitude in the last two matches?

To me ML seemed more relaxed, playing wiser and deployed more tactics rather than power. At times he was a even a bit playful. It had worked out really really well though!!

4:0 against WCQ

0:3 then caught 4 games to beat LGY!!

That tells me ML's game intelligence is at an insane level

 

[TensorBackhand]

How many noticed the change of ML's attitude in the last two matches?

To me ML seemed more relaxed, playing wiser and deployed more tactics rather than power. At times he was a even a bit playful. It had worked out really really well though!!

4:0 against WCQ

0:3 then caught 4 games to beat LGY!!

That tells me ML's game intelligence is at an insane level

Is the CNT going to regret not sending ML to the Olympics?

 

[John Birkin]

Surely ML will be a team member at the Olympics, even if he isn't selected for the singles? Anyway, I don't think that LGY "choked"- he was just on the receiving end of some old-time brilliance from ML! I do have to agree that the commentators made some banal comments. Am I right in thinking that the whole match started to shift when ML switched to employing BH serves? He was angling them in (mostly) towards LGYs FH corner, causing him to stretch over for a less effective BH return, at more or less his BH-favouring exaggerated crossover point. ML sometimes resorts to BH serves when all else has failed! The commentators failed abysmally to notice this, too wrapped up in their own generalities.

 

[NextLevel]

Surely ML will be a team member at the Olympics, even if he isn't selected for the singles? Anyway, I don't think that LGY "choked"- he was just on the receiving end of some old-time brilliance from ML! I do have to agree that the commentators made some banal comments. Am I right in thinking that the whole match started to shift when ML switched to employing BH serves? He was angling them in (mostly) towards LGYs FH corner, causing him to stretching over for a less effective BH return, at more or less his BH-favouring exaggerated crossover point. ML sometimes resorts to BH serves when all else has failed! The commentators failed abysmally to notice this, too wrapped up in their own generalities.

Yeah but this backhand serve was a backhand sidespin serve into the lefty short forehand. Which was doing exactly what his reverse serve did but with more control and faster backhand recovery.

You don't lose 3‐1, 6-2 up with a history of choking and escape the label because it happened against Ma Long. Ma Long made some great shots but Lin also got nervous at key moments especially in game 5.

 

[quanghuysk]

Life lesson: never bet on LGY even he leads 3-0, someones lost their money today

 

[Tempest/Comet]

腍鳩軟 LGY should get viagra to sponsor him. 😝

 

[NextLevel]

How many noticed the change of ML's attitude in the last two matches?

To me ML seemed more relaxed, playing wiser and deployed more tactics rather than power. At times he was a even a bit playful. It had worked out really really well though!!

4:0 against WCQ

0:3 then caught 4 games to beat LGY!!

That tells me ML's game intelligence is at an insane level

He flipped his paddle to play Liang as well. It is good to bet with house money.

 

[kindof99]

The best match I have seen between them remains the ancient wjttc final lol. Their destinies still remain entangled IMHO and I wouldn't be surprised if Wang won the Olympic gold.

Only if Xiao Zhan becomes WMY's coach again. From the match between WMY and Miwa, I feel WMY's game was still missing something. I did not see much weakness from SYS's.

 

[kindof99]

Life lesson: never bet on LGY even he leads 3-0, someones lost their money today

Better to bet against him when he is 3:0 ahead. If one counts his international matches, he probably lost as much as he won when he was 3:0 or 3:1 ahead in a bo7 match.

 

[kindof99]

Is the CNT going to regret not sending ML to the Olympics?

Both FZD and WCQ lost to teammates. I don't think CNT cares about who wins the gold as long as China wins it.

 

[NextLevel]

Only if Xiao Zhan becomes WMY's coach again. From the match between WMY and Miwa, I feel WMY's game was still missing something. I did not see much weakness from SYS's.

Xiao Zhan virtually injured her with his overworking training regiment. She is doing well with Ma Lin and should stay with him

 

[blahness]

A great game by Ma Long, did Lin choke?? Personally I don’t think so, when you see Ma Long start to serve BH you know he is struggling, he had to change something. ML’s BH serve changed the dynamics of the points and his confidence rose.
Lin could have changed his serve or another part of the point strategy but didn’t, he just kept plugging away, in the end it was his inability to adapt that lost him the match, this isn’t choking, it’s match awareness.

2 great finals to watch, very enjoyable!!

No, it was a tactical error. Lin was just doing all unforced errors on trying too fast flat loopkill type shots and not putting enough spin in his shots and Ma Long was just goading him into making more of those. And finally LGY started doubting his strokes, started thin brushing and didn't even have enough arc to make it to the net.

return with more spin less speed will likely get a kill from Ml

not really, those are not easy to counter attack at all, and LGY can always counter Ma Long's counter to win the point. It's all about playing the percentages and all the great players (ZJK, Ma Long, Wang Hao) knew that.

 

[FIXPOINT]

 

[FIXPOINT]

 

[pongfugrasshopper]

Obligatory tournament selfie: