Halep, Petkovic Win; Women’s Semis Thursday

The ugliness of Sharapova’s game is only equaled by her sneaky rat face and repulsive grunting. Ballbashing in its purest form, no slice, no variety, no tennis intelligence, no plan B, just bash bash bash.Hope Halep or Genie will beat this banshee.

June 5th, 2014 at 3:16 am

Ash, do I detect a subtle hint that you’re not a Sharapova fan?

As I have often said, her looks are overpraised, though I think “sneaky rat face” is pitching it a bit strong.

Most of what you say about her game is true, but you have ignored one thing: her incredible will to win. This often carries her to victory over players with better technique. I’d love to see Halep win the title, but I’m not sure she or Bouchard are quite ready for Madam Decibel.

A thought: does Maria’s candy range include
noise-ettes?

June 5th, 2014 at 4:49 am

I dont think Sharapovas shrieks are any more annoying than the noise that was coming from the Errani/Petkovic match yesterday….

June 5th, 2014 at 6:10 am

Colin

You can feel how much of joke is WTA when a talentless ballbashing grunting mug has Career Slam and going to win her 5th.Maria and Nadal just takes ADV of a mug clay field… Both waste time when serving and wait for chokes that’s all.. Abuse the rules of tennis more than any other players and think they can because of player power, absolutely disgusting attitudes

June 5th, 2014 at 6:17 am

I agree on the time issue,in that both need to speed up,and i also agree in that both play an attritous type of game,and there are more talented players than both on the mens and womens tour,but IMO Rafa is way more talented than Sharapova,hes a better mover,has a better return game and actually topped the list last year on return games,and changed his game on HCs to become more aggressive,Sharapova is the same whatever the surface….

June 5th, 2014 at 6:52 am

I, too, dislike Sharapova as much as anybody else but it is not her fault that she beats almost anybody in spite of having limited talent aside from relentless ball bashing. But the girl is mentally tougher than anybody in WTA. That is how she wins. All of them (except Serena) especiall the other Russians simply fall apart when they see her standing across the net. You should hate the other girls for being mental weaklings, not Sharapova. She has overachieved because the others give her a free pass.

Sharapova is the mental equal of Nadal but that is where it ends. Nadal is unquestionably more talented in many many ways.

June 5th, 2014 at 7:22 am

Thankyou Polo well said,its a no brainer really….

June 5th, 2014 at 7:26 am

Hippy Chic, I used to hate Nadal also for always beating Federer but then I came to the realization that I was blaming the wrong guy. It was never Rafa’s fault. It was Roger’s because he could not find a way to turn it around against Rafa. But of course, I could not hate my man. So, I just take his losses to Rafa with resignation. No more hate. I still root against Rafa when playing anybody when Roger is in the same tournament because that increases Roger’s chance to win the whole thing. But I could never disregard or disrespect Nadal anymore because he is undeniably talented, disciplined and hardworking.

June 5th, 2014 at 7:37 am

Polo lol yeah i felt exactly the same way about Novak,no denying it does hurt when ones favorites is been schooled at times by a rival,i imagine the same would apply to Novaks fans should Andy get the better of Novak on a regular basis,then Andys fans etc etc and on it goes,human nature i suppose lol….

June 5th, 2014 at 7:46 am

Hate fest! Charming! Not!

June 5th, 2014 at 7:54 am

http://tennisabides.com/2014/06/04/roland-garros-2014-womens-semifinal-predictions/ My picks for today’s matches. I did think Sharapova’s grunting late in the 1st set vs. Stosur was at Final saturday levels. Her height is something she takes advantage of, but if she is forced to play defensive tennis she drops like a rock in water, The thing her last two opponents failed to do was keep her playing defensive tennis for 2 full sets.

June 5th, 2014 at 9:09 am

Genie won the 1st set against Maria,given what Sharapovas capable of and how she came back from a set down in the last two rounds,i still cannot take this too seriously,hope Genie gets the job done….

June 5th, 2014 at 10:00 am

Here she goes again! Will Bouchard wilt just like Stosur and Muguruza? I will not be surprised if this happens again. I think these girls become complacent after winning the first set against Maria and then lose focus…and before you know it, Maria is back and taking everything away. This will probably be the same.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:04 am

Polo unfortunatly you will probably be right….

June 5th, 2014 at 10:07 am

Hahaha! Typical women’s game, serving is a disadvantage.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:11 am

typical gameship from maria.

was moving on the toss of the ball! dumb as a nut. full of herself

June 5th, 2014 at 10:18 am

I have to rest and prepare because I am facing difficult opponent ahead. Hard work, perseverance and Humbleness are absolutely required.

I rest my back, knee and rest of the body simultaneously.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:19 am

That’s not dumb because it worked. SA, you are making me like Sharapova.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:19 am

What’s dumb is when you’re up 40-0 on your serve and lose it. Then have a break point in the next game and lose it. Now, that’s dumb. And I am not talking about Sharapova.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:24 am

genie shadow practicing like bartoli lol

June 5th, 2014 at 10:36 am

hahahha maria is a clown

June 5th, 2014 at 10:39 am

fluke ace on 2nd serve

June 5th, 2014 at 10:42 am

hahahhahahahahahaha

June 5th, 2014 at 10:44 am

Well, that’s dumb losing those set points!

June 5th, 2014 at 10:44 am

Sharapova just whallops the stuffing out of that ball. But Bouchard’s variety and side to side action has her really off balance.
Sloppy tennis, but some very exciting shot making. Bouchard is Slam Ready.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:45 am

Genie two games from a final!

June 5th, 2014 at 10:48 am

Genie two games from a final!

June 5th, 2014 at 10:48 am

Not that anyone in Canada will notice.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:49 am

marias serve is a joke

after corias this is the worst one on tour

June 5th, 2014 at 10:50 am

Come on Genie….

June 5th, 2014 at 10:50 am

C’mon Bouchard!

June 5th, 2014 at 10:51 am

The worst serve in the history of tennis is Dementieva’s. If it were allowed for her opponents to serve the entire match, she would have had a couple of majors.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:53 am

Lose this set and Sharapova will take this whole thing.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:55 am

shit

should have lost the set when maria served for it

now genie will play catch up in the third. serving first in the decider is an advantage

June 5th, 2014 at 10:56 am

elena played the match of her life against serena at wimbledon in the semis and had MP and still lost. at least she has a gold medal

June 5th, 2014 at 10:58 am

Bouchard is making me look like a prophet. Terrible. How can she lose that set with Msria’s joke of a serve? She must be dumber than a dumb nut.

June 5th, 2014 at 10:58 am

u r right polo. DFs en masse and still wins the set

June 5th, 2014 at 10:59 am

My conclusion: All women players are dumb.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:01 am

marias game is all about crying and grunting

June 5th, 2014 at 11:05 am

hopefully azarenka (though she grunts too but is more pleausure to watch) recovers from her injury

June 5th, 2014 at 11:09 am

I hate all grunters starting from the mother of all grunters, the one who started this most annoying habit: Monica Seles (although she is a lot more pleasant than Sharapova, Azarenka and all these crop of grunters).

June 5th, 2014 at 11:13 am

oh genie again after being 40-0 up

we see why fed is ur hero

June 5th, 2014 at 11:16 am

All these chances to win this match that Bouchard wasted tells me that if she fails to win this match, she will devolve into being just one of the girls who play tennis, mediocre.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:18 am

halep has to win today

she has a very good chance to beat sharapova but the unknow terrority could be her undoing

June 5th, 2014 at 11:19 am

boah

that fist pumpming on every point (even useless points) is such annoying.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:20 am

I’m losing hope. Sharapova is going to win this tournament.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:21 am

Does Sharapova `grunt`?
I thinking shreiking, screaming and so on.
Its kinda like `cheating` too.
Cmon Genie

June 5th, 2014 at 11:24 am

Genie is playing like a piece of crap. She will soon join the list of hyped players. I don’t see any future great player miss so many opportunities to put away an opponent regardless of how tough they are. Oh, I miss Steffi so much.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:33 am

@Polo – don’t count Halep or Petkovic out yet! I’m hoping that whichever one wins the semi wins the final.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:34 am

RZ me too….
Polo me too….

June 5th, 2014 at 11:36 am

@calmdownplease – I agree that she shrieks, doesn’t grunt (which is why I call her Shriekapova). Frankly I think it’s cheating because she gets louder as a match gets tougher and doesn’t do it in practice. I’m also amazed that the chair umps never do anything about it. At the World Finals a few years ago, she hit a shot against Radwanska and yelled “Run! Run!” and didn’t get a warning. How is that not a hindrance against the opponent?

June 5th, 2014 at 11:37 am

Go Genie make her serve it out at least….

June 5th, 2014 at 11:37 am

@Polo – I have no love for grunting either, but at least in Seles’ and Azarenka’s cases, they make the same noise regardless of what shot they hit, how hard they hit, and whether they are practicing or playing a match. Shriekapova gets louder as the match gets more intense, which to me is gamesmanship.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:39 am

And Seles is a very pleasant person so I don’t resent her as much as Sharapova. Azarenka has a long sustained ear-piercing shriek that extends to the time that her opponent hits the ball.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:44 am

hahah the handshake was so cold

genie must pissed off right now

June 5th, 2014 at 11:44 am

it was an entertaining match. good experience for genie….she’ll have to dig in dpper next time and not let those UE’s creep in…which is what cost her in the 3rd set

not to take credit away from sharapova, who always competes like a maniac. she hung in there and served well at the end. shame that match point had to be a skidder off the line…..

June 5th, 2014 at 11:47 am

The handshake was cold so much for them been the best of friends….

June 5th, 2014 at 11:47 am

I don’t think Bouchard is going to be the next big thing in women’s tennis. We’ll just have to keep looking. She played extremely poorly when it mattered. That’s not the sign of a champion. Don’t blame it on age. When Steffi was even younger, she fought relentlessly against the likes of legends like Navratilova and Evert and never squandered opportunities. And Martina and Chris never played as poorly as Sharapova did today.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:52 am

@RZ
Definitely, also if you shriek just as you hit a ball it affects the other player because it is more difficult to judge how hard the ball has been struck, a significant disadvantage in a match.
I remember reading Navratilova saying the the same about Seles back in the day.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:01 pm

@ Polo…..it’s too soon to say that Genie isn’t the real deal. Unlike the field of past and current players who have made it to semis and finals – safina, dementieva, radwanska, zvonareva, petrova, wozniacki etc – genie has way more game potential and the mental fortitude.

it’s true that she gave away the third set with errors, but let’s see what the rest of the year brings.

and remember jana novotna? she lost in wimbledon and sobbed on court and came back next year and won it. i wouldn’t put her at the same level as genie, but just cos you don’t make it to the finish line in a tournament, doesn’t mean you never will.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:01 pm

WTF where is the crowd

empty stadium for a SF lol

June 5th, 2014 at 12:04 pm

Im happy with either Halep or Petkovic making the final from the other side of the draw,although i think either are playing for the RU spot against Maria sadly….

June 5th, 2014 at 12:05 pm

Based on what I saw today, Bouchard is not it. Bouchard belongs to the category of players you mentioned, good but not great. Jana Novotna, in that match after which she sobbed on the shoulder of the Duchess, she lost to somebody named Steffi Graf. Bouchard today lost to Maria who played like crap, serving poorly and not moving anywhere as near or athletic as Steffi. All the signs that Bouchard is not going to join the list of greats is there. She will be OK, but not great.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:16 pm

Salleh Ahmed, the crowd probably decided that watching women’s tennis is a waste of time.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:23 pm

Genie will win Slams. She’s got a very good chance to be #1. Whether that makes her a great is a matter of definitions.
She and Halep are the future.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:27 pm

if you’re comparing current up and coming female players to the career of a legend like steffi (who stands alone in terms of accomplishments) then no one will ever be talented enough. it’s like comparing the current up and coming male players with roger or rafa. not very realistic.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:36 pm

Colin Says:
Ash, do I detect a subtle hint that you’re not a Sharapova fan?

——-

LOL! Definitely some visceral rage coming from Ash. I would probably avoid watching sports or events that made me this upset.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:39 pm

Its one thing not to like someone,its quite another when one starts to insult them personally….

June 5th, 2014 at 12:47 pm

Bouchard today lost to Maria who played like crap, serving poorly and not moving anywhere as near or athletic as Steffi.

————————–

There will never be another Steffi Graf. Navratilova and Graf are the two best players from the woman’s side that I’ve ever seen. Maria can’t be compared to Graf. Graf would have destroyed her. Big weapons (serve, forehand) and world class sprinter speed would have been too much for Sharapova to handle.

June 5th, 2014 at 12:47 pm

I miss Henin and Clijsters,and also the Venus of old….

June 5th, 2014 at 12:49 pm

There is nothing wrong with wanting to see the next great player, somebody to join the likes of Graf, Navratilova, Evert, Federer, Nadal, Borg, Sampras, Laver, etc. They do come around, don’t they? Why would it be unrealistic to expect a new young player to come around to join the list? What is unrealistic is to shut the door and not expect anybody else to reach that level of greatness. In sports, it often happens that somebody even greater comes around, wouldn’t you agree?

June 5th, 2014 at 12:50 pm

I think after williams retirment it will be hard to even equal her success. Murguzua genie and halep will come through but no one will dominate. In mens tennis i cant see any1 dominating the tour like fed did. The game is more pbysical now and to keep it up for at least 5 years by winnen 2 GS a year will be tough. Most of the GS will be splitted.

June 5th, 2014 at 1:13 pm

Re: Bouchard – a lot of the tennis commentators seem genuinely surprised at how well she’s done so far. I haven’t gotten a chance to see her play yet, but it from what I’ve read about her, it sounds as if she has some big technical issues with her game and no major strengths. Yet she’s winning based on willingness to scrap and mental fortitude. I don’t know if that will win her a slam, but it will take her a long way.

June 5th, 2014 at 1:19 pm

Winning GS isnt easy,plenty of very talented players have never won a GS and probably never will,winning multiple GS in a year is asking the nearly impossible,winning multiple GS multiple years is asking for a miracle,thats what make Rafa who did it 3 times, but especially Roger who did it countless times head and shoulders above the rest IMO….

June 5th, 2014 at 1:23 pm

Bouchard’s mental fortitude was just put to a test and it did not pass.

June 5th, 2014 at 1:24 pm

Graf and Seles could have been the WTA’s equivalent of Federer and Nadal if not for the horrible stabbing incident.

June 5th, 2014 at 1:28 pm

@Polo – true, but it’s still early. Let’s see how Bouchard does in the next year or two.

As for Graf and Seles, I agree. I really think that Seles could have gone down as the GOAT if not for that stabbing. She owned Graf (except for Wimbledon) at the time.

June 5th, 2014 at 1:33 pm

@And their matches are at a much higher level than the women of Today, if you see them on YT.
I do believe that in the Evert, Navratilova Graff and Seles era womens tennis was unmissable.
Although i didnt watch tennis when i was a kid.

June 5th, 2014 at 1:35 pm

Seles was supposed to have been to Steffi as Nadal is to Federer now. Unfortunately, it was disrupted by than incident.

June 5th, 2014 at 1:40 pm

lol so Sharapova bullshitted her way to the final.come on female Nadal right?

June 5th, 2014 at 1:58 pm

Polo Says:
My conclusion: All women players are dumb.
—
Big Lady’s right thigh would like to have a friendly conversation with you. Wear your helmet.

June 5th, 2014 at 2:26 pm

Ash Says:
lol so Sharapova bullshitted her way to the final.come on female Nadal right?
—
Dear neutral gender commenter,

When you stand on a slope, everything looks slanted. And, it is not the world’s fault.

June 5th, 2014 at 2:27 pm

it’s realistic that someone can reach new heights in the women’s game. what’s unrealistic is to say someone won’t be that person due to a single loss and/or to say a past legend would have played better in the circumstance. every player finds their potential in different ways and at different times. roger didn’t start to shine until he was 24/25.

and even winning a GS doesn’t guarantee that you will become a great. look at kvitova. she’s actually won wimbledon and has been a hot, unpredictable mess ever since. she does not have the mental fortitude.

halep is an interesting study. last year she wasn’t even on anyone’s radar and now she’s broken through as well. you never know who the next great will be.

June 5th, 2014 at 3:52 pm

Andrea, I agree.
Its ridiculous to slag Bouchard over one loss. She was seeded 18th! She’s come from nowhere and made two Slam semis in a row, basically 1 year into the tour.
Every player has had matches marred by nerves, including Sharapova, 4 time Slam winner, in this match, DFing twice while serving for set.

Bouchard will win her slams.

To RZ: Bouchard has a great game, very aggressive, lots of variety, she really goes for angles and kill shots, moves well, but she has nowhere near the power of Sharapova. Also, as Chrissie pointed out today, she has trouble hitting defensive high-clearing topspin groundtsokes so she goes into the net often when she’s hitting from outside the court. That, at least, will be fixed, I’m sure. And despite the red herring red flags from some here, she’s shown herself tough mentally by beating a LOT of players ranked far higher than her in new-glaring-spotlight matches.

But I think Halep will be first to get a Slam!

June 5th, 2014 at 5:06 pm

Everybody’s talking about Bouchard and Sharapova, and not Halep. Maybe because she isn’t blonde with long legs. Halep is the most improved player of the last 12 months, with six or so titles last year. Take that title, you Romanian Dynamo, you fully deserve it.

June 5th, 2014 at 7:36 pm

^^ I so agree with you again, Bad Knee Rules.

Halep has a lovely tennis game. She is smart too. And no screaming/grunting/howling! Love watching her play.

June 5th, 2014 at 11:40 pm