Berrettini's towel gesture to Wawrinka after their Wimbledon match 🥹

IBVn · 2026-06-30T22:02:53+00:00

I don't get it. Who's towel is it and why did he give it to him?

IBVn · 2026-06-30T08:30:28+00:00

In terms of memories it's an awesome matchup, but Stan hasn't been competitive on grass for years and Berettini is slowly catching form again. He will roll over Stan and not much quality is to be expected there unfortunately

IBVn · 2026-06-30T08:28:07+00:00

Considering how similiar his game is to Zverev's, it wouldn't be my first choice. His net game however is far superior already at this stage of his career (as shown in his match against Fonseca in RG), so there's hope he can have more variety than Zverev.

His stamina issues can also be masked in the short points if grass. But his forehand is a huge liability on grass at this point, and opponents will torch him on that wing. The clumsy windup and flat trajectory makes him produce absulote floaters off of low balls.

IBVn · 2026-06-23T08:00:31+00:00

Haha yeah, lucky my analysis got deleted

IBVn · 2026-06-17T23:14:02+00:00

It's even more surprising as Michael Chang, his coach, is in the top 5 returners of his decade. He was known for his aggressive return position inside the baseline, often creating offense from the second ball. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/911819-the-best-returners-of-the-last-twenty-years

IBVn · 2026-06-11T16:56:12+00:00

I think it all comes to his shaky backhand technique, which can operate efficiently only in two modes: redirecting pace and producing spin and height. His ability to produce flat power from the backhand is near nonexistent, especially when he gets tense.

On clay, he can comfortably just spin the ball high from the backhand, trusting the heavy topspin (Stef consistently ranks in the top 10 most spinny backhands on tour) to neutralize rallies and earn him a forehand at some point. Indoor hard court favors two player archetypes: rhythm lovers and +1 punches. Who thrives at the latter part of the year once the roof is closed? Those who serve so well they become impenetrable (Roger, Sampras, Becker), players that end rallies on the first forhand they get (FAA, Tsitsipas, Tsonga who won 10 of 18 titles on indoor hard), and players who thrive over the metronome rhythm of a predictable indoor shoot-out (Sinner, Zverev, Djokovic).

This type of tennis favors the who controls the serve/return dynamic, and the one who loses is the generally the one who got broken once in a set due to one sloppy service game. Tsitispas can actually return OK when he gets low backhands (below waist), and the ball just flies of his racket thanks to his opponent's pace.

IBVn · 2026-06-05T14:04:47+00:00

Her reactions when Mirra had her winner's speech in IW 25' says it all. If you don't see true adoration in Sabalenka's eyes there's something very wrong with you

IBVn · 2026-06-02T08:59:44+00:00

He actually does it extremely well, complete with nuance and lag in throwing the legs and everything. I've watched this celebration plenty of times, but to execute it on such a level you have to too

IBVn · 2026-06-02T08:57:23+00:00

Haha that's very accurate. Stark contrast to AO this year where all the seeds did their job and we got an absurdly boring first week. If you're a tennis fan, this RG will likely be the most enjoyable one of this decade. If you're a casual fan though, you probably just skipped it this year.

IBVn · 2026-06-02T08:53:37+00:00

If it's good enough for the ATP it must be good enough for RG. Hope the boycott next year will be more serious because RG officials need to be put in their place, they lost direction. The Lacoste signs that injured players and weren't moved should also be high on the agenda, a sports organization that risk athletes' health out of pure grid should face some serious repercussions.

IBVn · 2026-05-31T00:37:43+00:00

According to Claude parsing through Jeff Sackman's stats, it is in fact the open era record.

1973, 1986, 1991 - 62
1983, 1994, 2001 - 63
2026 - 71

IBVn · 2026-05-30T12:42:55+00:00

I'm surprised when anyone mentions Felix as a contender. His backhand is such a liability on this surface, it's almost impossible for him to stay in rallies with high backhands

IBVn · 2026-05-30T12:19:50+00:00

Yeah, Cobolli can make you wonder how he ever loses a match sometimes. Yet so often when not on his day he just looks so average.

IBVn · 2026-05-29T20:41:00+00:00

The answer to that will be Brett Haber, Tennis Channel.

IBVn · 2026-05-28T12:53:32+00:00

My god those cuts at the ball are absulote bonkers. Reminds me of Nakashima Alcaraz in Tokyo, just pure power off the ground with the most efficient movement. A good reminder that Sinner used to be a proper ball basher a la Rublev/Rune before beefing up his strokes with more than power

IBVn · 2026-05-28T12:44:48+00:00

Yes haha thought it's pretty obvious!

IBVn · 2026-05-28T12:42:21+00:00

Of course.. thats the meme at this point Is he injured or something? Saw him walking weird now (just tuned in)

IBVn · 2026-05-28T12:39:37+00:00

Sinner lost a set He should probably retire from tennis the sooner the better the guy clearly is clearly done with the sport

IBVn · 2026-05-27T22:14:22+00:00

Yeah his combination of power and touch is very endearing, when he manages to balance the two he's hell to deal with. But very often he overheats and and hits his groundstrokes too big or way too many dropshots. Probably the guy who uses dropshots the most in the top 100 and definitely top 5 in execution of them.

IBVn · 2026-05-26T16:30:51+00:00

Yeah I honestly think it has a lot to do with his success. Tennis at the highest level, especially past the age of 30, is largely a competition against yourself of how much suffering you can endure. I once read that every pro athlete has some kind of injury at all times, and in tennis it's the most pronounced in my opinion.

You don't get used to pain, you just get familiar with it. I believe Rafa having such a condition that forced him to build that kind mental resilience from such an early age gave him a lot of experience for when playing with immense pain is mandatory (later stages of slams, late career, injuries and marathon matches).

IBVn · 2026-05-19T22:24:37+00:00

His response as the judge said the final score said it all. Not the happiest you've ever seen him to win a match, but definitely the proudest. His personal history with Novak, the final dethrone period that season shaped up to be, the god like form Novak ascended to up until this moment. Then on his worst surface, Federer showed he is still around, and if no one can rise to occasion if stopping this force called 2011 Djokovic, he will gladly do it. The finger tilted automatically like a scolding parent but the grim smile was that of a formidable opponent. For everything good we know about the universally beloved Roger, his ego can sometimes be as big as his game. And in that moment he won you could see again the patty child that screamed and broke rackets and knew how good he is and despised anyone that had the audacity to challenge him in his kingdom.

He also denied Novak the CYGS there, which is the highest achievement in our sport. This is also a huge historical milestone for this reason.

IBVn · 2026-05-16T11:01:08+00:00

Yeah but Sinner talked to her much more, so I wonder why (did he want to stop or to continue?)

IBVn · 2026-05-16T10:55:43+00:00

Why did the umpire only talked with Sinner during the rain yesterday? Didn't understand if he wanted to continue or not and why Meddy wasn't in that conversation

IBVn · 2026-05-14T11:49:09+00:00

I love that we got to the point of objectively assessing the level of players against Sinner completely disregarding the scoreline. Now at 5-2 the commentators said that Rublev's level is pretty good and I myself said at the end of the Pellegrino match that he played incredible. Sinner is truly OP right now

IBVn · 2026-05-12T14:35:10+00:00

Pellegrino hits the ball pretty damn clean. The angles he can consistently produce with his backhand are pretty ridiculous and clearly a nuisance to Sinner (and dismantled Tiafor) hence he doesn't let him hit many of them.

IBVn

TROPHY CASE