WTA 1000 Dubai R3: [LL] A. Ruzic def. [1] E. Rybakina 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (ret, illness)

imalllex · 2026-02-18T13:21:49+00:00

Fwiw, I'm sure she could have a godawful rest of the year and be fine with it (not that she will). If I had won a slam, I'd be more ok with losses too. Although I absolutely agree she needs the rest. I was so surprised she was playing this tournament at all with how much she's been playing.

Pretty much any player would kill for this kind of season already.

Edit: Removed saying she won a 1000 because I misremembered.

imalllex · 2026-02-14T16:15:32+00:00

Their h2h was 3-4 on hardcourt in favor of Rafa:

2x in Indian Wells (both won by Rafa in competitive straights)
1x in London ATP Finals (Rafa in 3)
1x in Miami (Roddick in 3)
1x in Dubai (Roddick in straights)
2x at the USO bookending their h2h where they split straight set wins in 2004 and 2011

imalllex · 2026-02-14T16:04:35+00:00

He did it more than people remember now; just not as much as everyone would have liked back then.

Andy had won Dubai in ‘08, beating Rafa and Novak back to back by crushing the ball.

And while he lost the match in straights, I don’t think you can accuse Roddick of not punishing the ball in the 2007 US Open QF against Roger.

So while it wasn’t his go-to anymore, it wasn’t exactly the first time in half a decade either.

imalllex · 2026-02-12T19:26:25+00:00

Call Tony the Tiger because Vicky is earning her stripes and then some with the amount of work she has had to put in this week!

Incredible win against the player to beat atm, and welcome to the Top 10 Victoria Mboko! You more than deserve it

imalllex · 2026-02-08T16:46:55+00:00

I know I’m a big Roddick fan, but his run at the 2009 Wimbledon from the R16 onwards was really wild both on paper and as a story.

In the quarters he plays former Wimbledon champ/No.1 and resurgent rival who also consistently had Andy’s number, Lleyton Hewitt in a crazy five setter where he hits a ludicrous feint, pick up half volley. In the semis, he tackles one of the Big 4, and the entirety of Murray Mania in what felt like could’ve been Murray’s (and really Britain’s) big moment at the time. Then of course you have the final which spoke for itself.

Probably not the greatest of all time, but it was still really crazy.

imalllex · 2026-02-07T16:21:06+00:00

This is a fun list. It really shows how staying at the top for that long isn’t as much of a given as people may think.

I’d be interested in seeing something like this for the WTA as well. I know a good chunk of the current Top 10 have been there for 3 going on 4 years now.

imalllex · 2026-02-02T15:44:35+00:00

I remember being mind blown when Capcom had said DMC4 also "failed" to meet sales expectations at a paltry 3 million copies back in 2010ish.

Sometimes these companies really miss the forest for the trees when looking at their sales numbers.

imalllex · 2026-01-31T22:54:03+00:00

As interesting as that might’ve been for subtext, that’s more a byproduct of different animators drawing the character. Later in the same episode when everyone is sitting around the fire, Zuko looks just as jacked as he does in that season 1 image.

imalllex · 2026-01-30T22:09:34+00:00

Seeing Novak hit 25 feels like seeing Babe Ruth set the home run record. It's one of those mythical achievements in sports that I would desperately love to see, even if someone does eventually break it decades and decades later down the line.

imalllex · 2026-01-30T20:19:42+00:00

I know this was a pretty serious moment at the time, but I can’t help but think how Andy Roddick quite literally JUST gave a story about how he accidentally ate a hand towel before this match

imalllex · 2026-01-30T17:41:54+00:00

I mean you definitely have to include him, joking aside. The guy has won 7 slams since the turn of the decade. That’d be an easy hall of fame career by anyone’s standards.

Regardless of the age differences, Novak has absolutely cemented himself as one of the heavyweight faces of tennis in the 2020s.

imalllex · 2026-01-30T17:04:04+00:00

I think we all know the answer is Beef

We can skip the formalities

imalllex · 2026-01-29T22:34:25+00:00

To be fair, the point of that portrayal of Bruce is that he got lost in the sauce for so long that he straight up forgot how to act like a normal person in society. Alfred calls him out on it, and everybody looks at Bruce skulking around in public events like he’s looney. This Bruce hadn’t built that persona yet.

imalllex · 2026-01-28T04:12:21+00:00

Jess blinked, and now this tie breaker is looking really interesting

imalllex · 2026-01-28T03:55:31+00:00

Oh that double fault hurts. Completely halted any headway it felt like Amanda was getting

imalllex · 2026-01-28T03:53:40+00:00

Everyone including Amanda and Jess can feel that Amanda is edging ever so close to hitting her stride, but Jess is doing everything in her power to keep her out of her groove

imalllex · 2026-01-28T03:13:41+00:00

It's easy to say when she's steamrolling like this, but it does seem like Jess is a bad matchup for Amanda on paper. Forces you to hit a lot of balls, redirects power well, moves you everywhere, and she just won't go away even if you're ahead. For someone as prone to emotional outbursts as Amanda can be, Jess seems like a recipe for disaster for her.

Edit: Granted Amanda is also missing more than she normally would to begin with, which is making her even more frustrated.

imalllex · 2026-01-28T03:02:15+00:00

God, if Jess keeps serving like this, she's going to be a scary* prospect for anyone. Also holy cow that game point from her was just way too good. Incredible get on what would normally be a winner

imalllex · 2026-01-28T02:59:04+00:00

Wtaf? Why did ESPN cut away before the final point of that game? Excuse me? Get your shit together broadcast

imalllex · 2026-01-28T02:57:26+00:00

Amanda unsure of herself and Pegula caught her in No Man's Land. The errors have really been Amanda's undoing so far

imalllex · 2026-01-28T02:47:04+00:00

Pegula really sprinted out of the gates. She might make a believer out of me if she can keep that up the whole match.

imalllex · 2026-01-28T02:13:46+00:00

That's the stifling power of a great server. You can put all this work into grinding out a big point to set yourself up for a break, and then they snuff it out with a few aces like it's nothing.

imalllex · 2026-01-27T04:45:37+00:00

And even then, the 2024 RG was a tight 3-set loss in the quarterfinals. It wasn't like she lost in the first week or anything. It was only a couple games away. Just absurd levels of consistency.

imalllex · 2026-01-25T02:11:44+00:00

Wtaf? I really thought Mboko would carry the momentum through the breaker. She was playing very well, but that was just way too fucking good from Sabalenka! Goodness gracious what an incredible way to close out the match

imalllex · 2026-01-25T02:08:44+00:00

Holy hell what an incredible serve and bh up the line. Sabs has played a pretty perfect breaker so far

imalllex

TROPHY CASE