All Ball

1st Set What a start to the match.  #1 Iga Świątek goes up 40-0 in the opening game of the match.  Elena Rybakina battles back to win the next five points to break the world #1 right away.  Feeling the heat,  Świątek responds by going up 15-40.  With two breakpoint opportunities, Iga drops the next four straight points to go down 0-2 to start the match.  A golden opportunity to be up 2-0, but instead, due to an inability to close out the first two games is down 0-2.  Świątek serves.  She needs to hold serve, if she gets broken again to go down 0-3, the first set is lost in all likelihood.   Świątek holds.  Regaining her composure, Iga goes on the attack.  Having lost her first service, she knows that she has to break Rybakina in order to have any chance to win the first set. Świątek gets the break out of the way early and wins to tie up the set 2-2.  The next two games are both holds, making the first set 3-3 with Świątek ...

A stacked slate of sports for Saturday.  A day consisting of Liverpool v Chelsea, two NFL playoff games, and even a Kentucky basketball game.  With all of this action, I have my eyes set on one match. Iga Świątek vs. Elena Rybakina #1 vs. #25** in the world.   Fourth  Round of The Australian Open 8:30 PM tonight (probably won't start until 9/9:30pm) @ Rod Laver Arena 2022 US Open Champion vs. 2022 Wimbledon Champion *The WTA, ATP, and ITF didn't award points for the Wimbledon Championships last year after the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club banned Russian and Belarusian players from competing.  Instead of having Russian and Belarusian players protesting the invasion of Ukraine on a global stage, which they have done countless times since the start of the war, Wimbledon cowered to the pressure brought by literally no one*  **Seeded #22 for this tournament but is ranked #25 in the WTA rankings** But I digress. The Rise Iga Świątek (pronounced...

Wow what a match.  Five hours and forty-five minutes.  The second longest match ever in tennis and Andy Murray’s longest.  Ending at 4:05 AM local time in Melbourne Park.  This battle had everything you wanted to see in a tennis match.  Crucial aces, clinical returns, thrilling rally's, and massive momentum shifts.  An instant classic. After defeating #13 in the world Matteo Berrettini in a thrilling 5-set match, Andy Murray reminds the world that although he may be old, he has not retired yet.  The 3-time major champion, having suffered years of repeated and debilitating ankle, hip, and knee injuries, should not be able to compete at Grand Slams where matches are 5 sets instead of 3 sets.  And yet somehow, the 35-year old Scot managed to outlast the 26- year old Italian, and subject of the new Netflix docuseries, Break Point, in a thrilling 4 hour & 49 minute match.  A momentous win in the opening round of the Australian Open. A usual fa...