VINDICATION?

The Spin Team 

Katie Boulter - Great Britain

In case you missed it, today ESPN published an article where they did a bit of investigative journalism regarding Serena's claim that sexism was at the heart of Carlos Ramos' treatment of her at the US Open. 

According to the article, the journalists reviewed over 200 matches (100 men and 100 women).  They indicated that they were only able to view matches that had been broadcast on television.  Notwithstanding, the report is fantastic in the way that it shows the arbitrary way in which umpires do their jobs.  If you watch as much tennis as I do, (and if you are reading this blog then no doubt you do), then you will also agree with the premise that is expressed in the piece.  It makes for very interesting reading and I hope that the commentators on ESPN would perhaps review their talking points in relation to what happened at the USO. 

I did not get to see many matches from Day 2 but I did see Serena (looked fantastic) and I did see Keys' match.  I was quite disappointed with the Schmiedlova result as I thought she had been playing well since the latter part of last year.  Mertens stayed tough and did what she needed to do.  Venus Williams struggled through a third set.  I will no doubt need to watch that particular match to see just how much she had to fight through that one.  

I guess I will need to revisit the Azarenka situation at some point.  All I will say at this time is that it is hard to get your game where you need it to be after being away from the game for such a long time, and for the reasons that she was out.  It could not have been easy.  Siegemund is a very tough opponent for anyone to get, but especially someone who does not have a lot of confidence in her game at the moment. 

Simona Halep battled her way past Kanepi and a blister and Tomljanovic lost a winnable match. 

Day 3 sees the bottom half of the draw taking to the courts.  Spin's Picks are in red:

P. Kvitova [8] vs I. Begu

B. Bencic vs Y. Putintseva

L. Tsurenko [24] vs A. Anisimova

K. Boulter vs A. Sabalenka [11]

A. Barty [15] vs Y. Wang

A. Sharma vs M. Sakkari

M. Sharapova [30] vs R. Peterson

J. Larsson vs C. Wozniacki [3]

S. Stephens [5] vs T. Babos

M. Vondrousova vs P. Martic [31]

A. Kontaveit [20] vs A. Sasnovich

A. Pavlyuchenkova vs K. Bertens [9]

D. Collins vs S. Vickery

Z. Hives vs C. Garcia [19]

D. Vekic [29] vs K. Birrell 

B. Haddad Maia vs A. Kerber [2]

What to Watch

Bencic v. Putintseva - 2 fiery players with a lot to prove

Boulter v. Sabalenka - I am really loving Boulter's fight

Anisimova v Tsurenko - offence against defence and youth vs experience

Stephens v. Babos - former doubles partners going at each other 

Haddad Maia v Kerber - Haddad can crush the ball but Kerber will no doubt force the errors