Wimbledon - holy shit

[malaise]

I think Serena injured her knee - calling for the trainer.
Same thing happened to the Fed's opponent.

[malaise]

1. ack on Court - still limping slightly

not sure if it's knee or ankle

[Demovictory9]

2. hope she's ok

[malaise]

4. She isn't

She's actually crying - but still fighting. Not moving well - don't know how she finishes this match

[elleng]

11. ;-(

[Demovictory9]

16. 😢

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Looks very bad now, even though the score is all level

When she's crying while playing, you know it's bad.

[malaise]

5. Falls again

This surface is unplayable - Serena is out,

[11 Bravo]

17. Last night Tiafoe went down hard as well.

I'm not sure what they can do about it, but the court certainly appears unsafe.

[Cracklin Charlie]

6. Tough break.

Can happen to anyone.

[malaise]

8. Happened to Adrian Mannarino in the match against

Federer. The Fed was very lucky

[FakeNoose]

7. I've always wondered why tennis players don't tape their ankles and knees

... like other athletes. The hard court surface is so punishing, even when players don't fall they could damage themselves.

Good luck to Serena. I hope it's a quick recovery for her.

[malaise]

9. Wouldn't help on this wet court

Several players have fallen already

[Raftergirl]

19. Many players tape their ankles all the time

including Serena.

They can’t really tape their knees because you have to bend to hit the ball.

[lisa58]

10. 🎾😢🎾

[a kennedy]

12. Yup, this is very sad indeed.......😢😢😢

[2 Meow Momma]

13. 2 players hurt slipping on a damp court in the same area

of the court. I’m not sure what I’d do if I was scheduled to play on centre court next match.

Not really sure what can be done about it, but it pisses me off.

[malaise]

14. Djokovic was also slipping around yesterday

on said court.
Something will have to be done - it's too dangeroud. By the way Serena's opponent, Aliaksandra Sasnovich, also slipped.

[spooky3]

15. I hope the sun will come out and dry things off.

Glad to see Coco Gauff and Jessie Pegula won.

[malaise]

18. Well we both know that Serena is (was) in the same draw as Coco

and that would have been something else to see

[Raftergirl]

20. Grass courts are always

Slippery the first few days because they haven’t had much play in them, especially behind the baseline.

In a few days that area will have no grass, just dirt, from all the play. It used to not be that way when most played serve & volley. Then the area in front of the service boxes and net would be dirt.

The roof being closed makes the court more damp from condensation, but even the courts without a roof are slippery.

This slipping, falling and injuring oneself is not a new phenomenon on grass. Happens every year.

[malaise]

21. Never seen this much slipping and falling

and I've b een watching for decades

[Raftergirl]

22. I've been watching for decades also.

And I’ve been to Wimby a half dozen times.

Here is an article from 2018 where all the players were complaining about Court 18.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/08/wimbledon-complaints-quality-grass-slipping-court-18

And in 2017 - the year that Bethany Maddox Sands slipped and horribly injured her knee the ……”Although it was unclear what role the surface played in Mattek-Sands’s injury, many players criticized the court conditions on an unusually hot day.

“I heard lots of complaining,” 12th-seeded Kristina Mladenovic said of the locker-room mood. “Honestly, my point of view is not criticize. I’m just very blessed and happy I’m not injured right now, because we saw worse today.”

Mladenovic lost to Alison Riske, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4, on Court 18, which had to be inspected two games into the match.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/sports/tennis/bethanie-mattek-sands-knee-injury-wimbledon.html

And let’s not forget Philippoussis‘ injury when playing Pete in 1999. He was up a set and on serve in the second when fell and injured his knee so badly he was never the same.

“But for Philippoussis, it was three clicks and out of Wimbledon after he hit a backhand passing shot down the line and landed on the Centre Court grass.

"I felt I landed OK and heard a click," Philippoussis said.

He tried to play on, but heard two more clicks in his left knee, which he said "got stiffer and stiffer."

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1999-07-03-9907030031-story.html

[malaise]

23. I remember previous injuries and slipping but we're on day two here

Ah well!
There was also rain today

[Raftergirl]

25. The first few days are always the most slippery.

Because of the freshness of the grass. And the rain doesn’t help. But that isn’t unusual either. I can not even count how many days I queued in the rain during Wimby and was a soggy mess at the matches.

Seeing Wimby’s courts in person the first few days is amazing. Nothing like it looks on TV.

[malaise]

26. True but this year the courts are also softer because there was

so little tennis - so I heard one of the experts suggesting. Rain is normal in England.
Never been but I learned the game on grass way back when

[Raftergirl]

29. Yeah, that's a possibility since there

hasn’t been play on the courts for two years. But other comms have been saying the grass seems different and more like it used to be, when it was fast. I would think softer would make the court slower. James Blake said they’d be able to tell when they get the analytics of play on first few days, in a few days.


But the “commentary” on some tennis forums is ridiculous - with people saying the injured players should sue Wimby.

But regardless, there will always be players slipping, falling and getting injured on grass courts.

[malaise]

30. James is very good at commentary

I ignore the forums for my own sanity

[malaise]

32. Wimbledon put out a statement

You are mostly right but the closed courts hold more moisture.
Serena has a ham string injury

[Raftergirl]

37. Serena's been carrying this injury

since before Roland Garros. She had that leg wrapped when she played RG and iirc, in the warm up in Parma.

The courts do hold more moisture when the roofs are closed, but players on the other courts have been slipping, also. Because, again, grass is slippery the first few days of any grass tourneys.

Have been a tennis geek for decades and players complain about everything. It’s too hot, it’s too cold, courts are too sticky, courts are too slippery. The balls are heavy, the balls are flying through the air.

My favorite of all time was when Madrid dyed the clay blue. The players said they wouldn’t play Madrid again if that stayed - completely forgetting that Madrid, being at altitude plays much faster than any other clay tourney. Roger, of course, loved the blue clay because the faster the surface the better.

[malaise]

38. Yep - she has been playing with it

Lots more slipping and falling today

[Raftergirl]

39. I'm a few hours behind watching

So just saw Isner take a fall on Court 18 and Bianca fall a few times (which is not surprising since she practically has never played on grass. Both these matches were on courts with no roofs.

Last night, listening to a bunch of tennis pods by tennis commentators and some others, not one got her injury correct and they were out after she released her statement that it was her right leg. Most thought it was an ankle or knee injury. And talked about her “slipping and falling. It’s like the didn’t even watch the match (which is also not surprising.)

The only “fall” was deliberate, when she realized how bad the re-injury was, and she went down because of the pain.

[rurallib]

24. This is really sad to hear

I am not much of a tennis fan, but Serena is an athlete for the ages.

If she is really hurt, knee problems for a woman at age 39 could be truly tough to recover from. She has long passed the career length of most female athletes.

I wish her well.

[malaise]

27. She's the greatest of all time

bar none. I know her career is coming to an end I was really rooting for her.
She still has the US Open to come, but I think the Fed, Murray and Serena will put away their racquets soon and very soon. Amazing that Venus won her first round match yesterday.

[rurallib]

28. Always sad when someone of her caliber is near the end

feel glad you were able to see the greatest.

[malaise]

31. Well we've sure been lucky in both women's and men's tennis

[MissMillie]

33. One of the best athletes of the last 10 years

but because it's tennis, and because she's a woman, she probably wouldn't make anyone else's list but mine.

(And I'm not even a Serena fan. I find her hard to watch because of all the screaming she does when she hits the ball.)

[malaise]

36. More like 20

[spanone]

34. the grass courts are slick as owl sh*t....djokovic is slipping this morning

[malaise]

35. Anderson as well

[electric_blue68]

40. oh, no poor Serena! And be careful to the others!

My 💖 mom (who could have been a tennis pro, but chose not to) loved Serena, and Venus! 👍