British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

I'd like to see Rybakina win here. I feel she is such a underrated player and has been so close many times, but always falls short at the final hurdle. It was an impressive win to knock out Swiatek in straight sets. I didn't expect Pegula to beat Anisimova and to be honest, I think both those quarter final results will be unexpected.

Although I would like Rybakina to win, it is iimpossible to not make Sabalenka favourite to win the tournament. Shame the matches are on early morning UK time - the worst result for a night owl like me.

Yes, tbf it is just Rybakina's 4th Slam SF with 3 other QFs.

She has won 2 of her 3 previous SFs. And in finals won that Wimbledon 2022 final 3-6 6-2:6-2 vs Jabeur and lost the Aus Open 2023 final to Kvitova 7-6(14) 6-2 ( edit: err, or as per later correction rather a 3 set loss to Sabakenka by 4-6 6-3 6-4 with the Kvitova loss being a couple of months later in the Miami final ).

So she kind of wins her fair share at the sharp end, with also that tour finals title on the one occasion she has got into the SF.

indiana wrote:

---

Yes, tbf it is just Rybakina's 4th Slam SF with 3 other QFs.

She has won 2 of her 3 previous SFs. And in finals won that Wimbledon 2022 final 3-6 6-2:6-2 vs Jabeur and lost the Aus Open 2023 final to Kvitova 7-6(14) 6-2.

So she kind of wins her fair share at the sharp end, with also that tour finals title on the one occasion she has got into the SF.

 

---

Rybakina lost to Sabalenka in three sets in the 2023 final. And as for her record against Katie Boulter 6-1 6-1 in Wimbledon 3rd round 2023 when Katie was on a wildcard followed by a 6-0 7-5 loss in 3rd round Indian Wells in 2025 when both were seeded. Katie has managed to win 2 more games than Emma has in 2 matches against Rybakina. Losing 6-0 6-1 in Sydney 1st round 2022 and 6-1 6-2 in US Open 3rd round last year.

indiana wrote:

---

adz1983 wrote:

---

indiana wrote:

---

Yes, tbf it is just Rybakina's 4th Slam SF with 3 other QFs.

She has won 2 of her 3 previous SFs. And in finals won that Wimbledon 2022 final 3-6 6-2:6-2 vs Jabeur and lost the Aus Open 2023 final to Kvitova 7-6(14) 6-2.

So she kind of wins her fair share at the sharp end, with also that tour finals title on the one occasion she has got into the SF.

 

---

Rybakina lost to Sabalenka in three sets in the 2023 final. And as for her record against Katie Boulter 6-1 6-1 in Wimbledon 3rd round 2023 when Katie was on a wildcard followed by a 6-0 7-5 loss in 3rd round Indian Wells in 2025 when both were seeded. Katie has managed to win 2 more games than Emma has in 2 matches against Rybakina. Losing 6-0 6-1 in Sydney 1st round 2022 and 6-1 6-2 in US Open 3rd round last year.

---

 Yes, very sorry, having seen Rybakina lost the Aus Open 2023 final, I then mucked up going through her history for that year. She did indeed lose that final to Sabalenka by 4-6 6-3 6-4 ( the Kvitova final loss was at the start of April in Miami ).

---

 Anyhow a bit of a wobble at the end but she ended up seeing off Pegula and will face Sabalenka on Saturday. Andy, I am sure you are pleased with that outcome so far 

Var wrote:

---

Well to get back to the tennis ( or not). Not sure if anyone else saw Ms Gauff smashing her racquet after her defeat by Svitolina? I suppose a positive is at least she saved it until she was off the court. www.tntsports.co.uk/tennis/australian-open/2026/watch-as-coco-gauff-smashes-her-racquet-after-shock-defeat-to-elina-svitolina_vid60050333/video.shtml

---

Players have been speaking out about being watched by behind the scenes cameras "like animals in a zoo"..

Tennis Australia says that the intention is to create a "deeper connection" between fans and players.

But to my mind they do seem over intrusive in the corridors, gym, and warm-up areas.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/articles/cx2p1172n5lo

Yes Brittak, thanks, I was pleased to see Rybakina come through, and I think it should be a great final.

Re Swiatek and Gauff's comments about privacy, I agree with them entirely. I think it is a nightmare for players - virtually everyone has a mobile phone, and footage of whatever players do is being uploaded the whole time. Then add in AI and all the fake stuff and it must be so difficult for players to remain normal and express emotions that all of us need to express, free of being reported on and every minute action scrutinised.

Matthew Syed wrote a very interesting piece in The Times today - how he was just able to walk into locker rooms at sports events in the USA (and see Lee Westwood naked), just because he was a journalist and therfore allowed access, and how players have no privacy. He also talked about the dreadful intrusive drugs tests that winners of sports events undergo, with testers watching them undergo urine tests immediately after winning events..

I think it is difficult for any of us to comprehend what this must be like for a young elite player, and when for instance you think of how much criticism Emma Raducanu and others have faced and then think about how young they are, I think it should make us pause before we click on our computers and send out negative criticisms and add to the pressure that players feel under.

It is easy to think this has always been the case, but really it hasn't. In the 1960's and before, there really was no huge press pack following players and technology meant players were able to live much freer lives and most of what they did would not be made public. I would say that although things have gradually changed, it is really only with everyone uploading things from mobile phones in the last few years that now we have moved to a situation that players have almost no privacy and almost no space to relax and express themselves.

I know lots of players now avoid social media entirely, and I think you can understand why, given how toxic things have become.