I do wish people wouldn’t use the patronising term “ping-pong”.
It’s table tennis, and when it’s played well it’s one of the fastest sports there is.

August 24th, 2012 at 5:37 am

Colin: “Ping-pong” is not patronizing; it’s Chinese for table tennis.

The dimples actually reverse the direction of the spin, showing how little the Bryans know about the sport.

August 24th, 2012 at 7:37 am

Interesting semis today in Winston Salem: Tsonga vs Isner (1-2) and Berdych vs Querrey (1-1).

August 24th, 2012 at 10:01 am

Tsonga/Isner in a third set tiebreak to decide who goes to the final.

August 24th, 2012 at 5:14 pm

Isner wins, based mainly on the serve. Tsonga did not have a good serving day – only 57% firsts or something. Meanwhile, Isner was hitting ace after ace: 24 aces in 3 sets.

August 24th, 2012 at 5:21 pm

Jane i would love to watch unfortunatly i dont get those matches where i am,sorry for been nosey,but how do you feel about Noles chances at the USO this year?ive gone for Murray to win his 1st slam,picked him in my bracket,how about you?

August 24th, 2012 at 5:22 pm

alison – did you try sport lemon? There was a pretty good stream there of the Tsonga/Isner match. I still have to do my brackets, but I plan to do one with Murray and one with Nole winning. If they meet in the final (which is my hope) then I think it’s 50-50 as their matches are always tight. Murray has a tougher draw right now but we’ll see how it plays out – it’s possible Raonic won’t reach him, and Andy’s record is great versus Jo. It all depends on the semi. I think it might be good that he’s playing Fed in a semi versus a final as less pressure, but it’s very tough to get by Fed at the USO. He plays exceptionally well at this slam. Nole managed to twice now, but obviously those matches were down to the wire. And Nole met Fed three times at the USO before he won those matches; in fact they’ve met tons at slams so there is a lot of history there. With Andy, he just has to build on the Olympic win. Fed should reach the semis imo, and I doubt Berdych will even reach the semis as he generally does poorly at the slams, and esp the USO. Never know though. I suppose the biggest roadblock for him reaching the semis is maybe Simon? Murray has Tsonga, but he can win that I believe (6-1 H2H). For Nole his toughest match could be Delpo in the QFs, but I do think Ferrer or Isner can be tough semis too. So we’ll see. I have to look at the brackets later today and get them done. Did you do a ladies bracket again since you were so successful last time?

August 24th, 2012 at 6:00 pm

Jane forgot about sport lemon TBH,never crossed my mind i will do next time,i do get most tourneys here so most of the time theres no need,i filled out both brackets i went for Andy on the mens to meet Nole in the final, hes my second fav after Rafa,and im really hoping he bags his 1st slam,ive gone for a surprise finalist on the ladies side,with Lisicki making her 1st final eek just for a change,meeting Serena in the final,however i dont think she would pull of the shock that Stosur did last year,so i think Serena will bag the title on the ladies side,she seems to be playing really well.

August 24th, 2012 at 6:19 pm

Berdych beat Querrey in the other semi so he’ll take on Isner in the final. Could Berdych be coming into some form?? He lost to Raonic in Cincy so it’ll be interesting to see how he handles Isner. He’s got a 2-1 lead in the H2H but they haven’t played since 2010.

August 24th, 2012 at 9:40 pm

Bomanity, I hope you are joking.
“Ping Pong” may SOUND Chinese, but it is an English trade name imitative of the sound made by the ball bouncing off the bat. The Chinese took the term from us, not the other way round.
And listen you other guys, what’s all this stuff about “tennis”? There’s a serious etymological discussion going on here!

August 25th, 2012 at 6:33 am