2008 Australian Open Tennis Championships

that was quite possibly one of the greatest i've seen anyone play.

the finals should be very interesting, regardless of who he plays


very glad i stayed awake to watch the match live, instead of just recording it and watching it tomorrow like i planned.


now...to get a couple hours of shut eye before my 8 am class
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Well, I don't know what to say. He absolutely kicked Rafa's ***. No excuses. Rafa was fresh and presumably as healthy as can be. Tsonga flat out played the match of his life. And he has been doing it all damn tournament. 2, 3, and 2 against Rafa on any surface is amazing. Dude was nails.

Rafa has nothing to hang his head about. He had a great tournament and went farther than he ever has at Melbourne. No matter what happens, he gained points in the rankings. Great job. He'll be deep the second week again next year. Now get through the tuneups in the next few weeks and be ready for the clay season.

I really, really, REALLY hope Tsonga carries this into the final. It will completely suck for him to lay an egg in the next match. If he plays in the final like he did tonight, he blows Djokovic off the court in straights, easily. Against Federer, the way he played tonight, I actually think he wins. Especially the way Fed has been playing. If he goes into the final and isn't taken by the moment, he can win this. He needs to just play his game like he did tonight. Amazing. I'll be rooting for him against either in the final. Great match and a well deserved spot in the final.
 
My God. Watched about an hour of the match this morning. I have never seen anyone totally dominate Nadal like that... Like everyone else said, Nadal didnt play bad.

I really hope that Tsonga can keep this play up after Australia... It's great to see some new names. Don't get me wrong, I love a Nadal/Federer battle, but more great players is good for the game. I just wish that an American would step up. Too bad James and Roddick don't have it...
 
Semi-serious question: Why do y'all sweat Nadal so much? Does he have a single career-defining win that wasn't on clay? He's good enough to get deep in most tourneys, but if it isn't the French, he's just another player that can't win the big one. Just wondering why there's such a love fest for this guy...
 
I equate him (non-clay) to the '07 Rockies, '05 Trojans, & every other team that almost did something worth remembering. It just seems like the few posters on here that care about tennis only sweat him, when we're probably watching the greatest athlete of our generation at the same time.
 
I agree about Federer. I want him to destroy all the records. I wish I was able to have seen Laver and Borg play, but I'm too young. I've seen Federer play several times in person. I saw him play Hewitt at the Masters in Houston. It had rained all day and people thought the match was canceled. I went out there with a friend and they let us in for free. We waited through a couple of rain delays and most everyone left. They let everyone move down as low as they could. I got to sit on the second row courtside. I want to say I saw the greatest tennis player ever.
 
i absolutely hate nadal. seems like a real nice person off the court(living with family, etc) but there's just something about him. maybe it's the butt picking he does after every f'in play!
i love Federer. i want to him win 20 singles slams. just something about him that i like. i've always rooted for americans, but something about Federer has me pulling for him almost every time he plays. i usually root for blake or roddick over him, but i know it's just not gonna happen so what the hell.

anyways, i could definitely see myself rooting for Tsonga for a long time to come. good luck to him in the finals.
 
Mike,

For the record, there is nothing wrong with thinking very highly of Nadal. I think he has a lot of huge wins in his career. In my opinion, todays loss was a minor set back for him.

I was a huge Agassi fan when he couldn't beat Pete... that doesn't mean he wasn't incredible and easy to cheer for.

You are right in that Nadal needs to be smarter with his schedule. It's kind of a joke that Nadal could have surpassed Federer as #1 in this tournament when Federer had won the last two slams. That tells me that Nadal plays a hell of a lot of tournaments.

I love the rivalry, I just pull for Federer.
 
I will freely admit I pretty much only watch the tennis majors, unless Fed or my girl Maria are playing. I will also admit winning Indian Wells means about as much to me as a golfer winning Colonial, which is to say not at all (& I live in FW). I will continue to admit that pretty much every match I've seen in this year's Australian, I've seen with quite a lot of alcohol in my system. The TV hours in this tournament are well suited for me. And you are 100% correct in that I can not name another player who has won a major during Fed's incredible run.

Having said all that, I will stick to this statement:

In reply to:
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American tennis keeps getting brought up. It frustrates the hell out of me right now. I like and will root for Blake, especially after the other night. Even though it was straights, I think he played Roger tough. The bad thing, though, is that is only the second time I have ever seen that from him. The other time being against Andre in the '05 Open. I've just never seen that killer instinct in Blake. Again, I like what I saw the other night. But, at 28, I don't think he is going to get over the hump. I hope he does, though.

I can't stand Andycakes. He is a stereotypical American tennis player, representing everything that the rest of the world hates about American tennis. Andy has a ton of natural talent, but he has stayed narrow-minded. He thinks practicing only on hards having a big forehand and bigger serve will help him win and translate well to grass. Yes, Rafa has most, if not all, of his success on clay. But he is putting in the work to get better on other surfaces. It shows with his finals appearances at Wimbledon. And though I think hard is his worst surface, he still has a quarter in New York and a semi in Melbourne. Like I said, he is working at getting better and I think he will. I don't see that from Andycakes. Plus, he chokes. I give him a lot of credit for winning the '03 Open. A major is a major and it is definitely something to be proud of. But, in my opinion, and I include Hewitt's year or two of success, Andy's win was nothing more than a filler. He was lucky to win at end of the Agassi/Sampras era and right before the Federer/Nadal era. He hasn't done **** since. He completely lays down against Federer, everytime. It absolutely kills me.

I really hope American tennis gets a new star soon. I really don't see guys like Fish, Querrey or Isner as potential slam winners. I hope for the best from guys like Donald Young. But I honestly think we were spoiled with the recent era of Agassi, Sampras, Courrier, Chang, Martin, etc.. I hope I am wrong, but I don't know if we will ever see a class as good as that again. The rest of the world is just too good.
 
Safn beat Roger before the '05 French, not during the stretch I am talking about.
 
I have to Agree with Mike...Not a fan of Andy, in fact meet him downtown with the support group that cheers for the mens tennis team and he just came off as a dick when I tried talking to him. Of course this was a couple of years ago when he lost to Federer in the Quarters or was it the semis of Wimbledon?? Either way...he sucks. Speaking of American Tennis, what happen to phenom Donald Young...he did GREAT in the juniors.
 
roger had still won 3 of the previous 4 majors before that Australian. and 4 of the previous 6. so it proves valid imo because he was #1 and killing everyone at that time. and that austrialian open was exactly 12 majors ago if you don't count this one.

not sayin' but i'm just sayin' man....
 
I am not a fan of Andy either. I like Blake, but he doesn't have it (backhand).

I wish Donald Young would step up. I don't think he has the power for the pros. Hope I'm wrong.
 
sblazer, I personally, don't count '04 in Roger's "era" for a couple of reasons. While he did win three of the four majors, he really didn't have much competition yet. Agassi was injured after the Australian. Nadal wasn't yet 100% on tour, nor had he yet to become "Rafa". No one else had yet to step up. Plus, Roger lost early in the Olympics. To me, he wasn't "Roger" yet ... playing at the level that he has been. It was more of not much competition yet.

I don't mind throwing in the '05 Australian in the "era". If that is the case, then Safin counts. However, instead of going backward we should probably go forward, starting at '05 Wimbledon which is where he began his amazing run of 10 straight major finals, this year pending and possibly being 11. To be, that is when Roger really became Roger. He has had competition, and still dominating everyone in majors, sans Nadal. For the record, Rafa is 3-2 against Roger in majors.
 
I think I put the hornfans jinx on that one by suggesting that Federer and Nadal might be facing each other soon. What happens, you wake up the next day and see that Nadal got destroyed.

To me this match is a huge story. Tsonga's style of play from what I saw is very similar to that of Nadal except he has a huge serve. We all know that Nadal's serve is his biggest weakness and honestly it hasn't developed enough to make him a threat year round. Tsonga was out hustling Nadal to balls and moved Nadal around near the net in a way you don't see very often. Nadal has great passing shots, is a great returner, moves around well, and stays in points. Those attributes make him a great clay court player and make him very competitive on other surfaces. However like others have said it may shorten his overall career and makes his him less effective on other surfaces. He just doesn't have the big serve to consistently win easy points....that is why he can be seen as a fighter as well...his style of play allows for him to have that opportunity. However I would say that any player that wins as consistently as Federer should be viewed as a fighter as well. He just has a more soft spoken style.

I have said before and will continue to say that I give Federer more respect for reaching the last two French Open Finals and ending Nadal's clay streak last year than I will for Nadal pushing Federer to 5 sets at Wimbledon. I have also said and will continue say that Nadal has much to prove in terms of reaching other slam semifinals and finals before he can be considered a great all around player. Certainly we aren't annointing Tsonga as the world's #2 player just yet.

Roger can change his style and finds ways to win. I don't know that Rafa has that ability and he certainly didn't do it vs. Tsonga. Personally I think Nadal is the best clay court player we have seen since Borg. I also think he is a top competitor on other surfaces. However he hasn't taken his game to another level just yet on those other surfaces and he hasn't made his serve a big enough weapon yet. He is young and he very well may do those things but it hasn't happened yet and we are all waiting for it to happen.

Nobody is dismissing Nadal to anything less than what he is....a guy that consistently beats Federer on clay. To make him more than that though just has not materialized yet. Perhaps it will but it is not there yet.

Federer wants to win the French so bad to give him the career grand slam that he plays extra clay court tournaments to prepare. Many of his career losses to Rafa have come on clay because of this. Many may think that Rafa will beat Federer on another surface and become the new dominante player int he world but IMO I think that Federer will finally break through on clay 1st and then after that it won't matter. At his current age we can't expect much more dominance from Federer...perhaps thru this year and most of next. If Rafa's breakthrough doesn't happen soon then you won't be really able to say he beat Federer at his best either. To me both of them have this pressure on themselves to break through and that is another story that will be played out through the course of the year.

Both are great players.
 
fk, with respect, I'll post my opinion whether you like it or not. That is why it is called an opinion, and that is the purpose of a board and thread like this. As for your opinion, again with respect, thank you for bringing it to this thread. I appreciate hearing your thoughts.

With regard to your response, I'm happy to hear that Andy is preparing for his upcoming respective tournaments and matches. But, who isn't? If a clay tournament is coming up, most every player practices on clay prior to. If a hard court tourmanent is coming up, most every player practices on hards prior to. And on down the line.

What I am talking about, and what I would love to hear regarding Roddick, is what does he do when those respective tournaments are not coming up? I know for a fact that Rafa practices on grass during the "offseason" because he cares that much about winning at Wimbledon. I don't know for a fact, but I presume Roger does the same with respect to the clay "offseason" because he cares so much about winning at Roland Garros. My question is, does Andy do the same? Does he care about at least one other surface during its offseason because he is trying to better his game on said surface? From what I have heard and read, he doesn't seem to. If he does, I'll gladly stand corrected on that point.
 
Maybe just maybe people root for Rafa because he has the underdog quality to him. I have never been one to jump on the bandwagon of the favorite and ride it out like a Federer or Sampras. What's the fun in that it's boring and predictable. I also prefer great counterpunchers who have a relentless will and energy level to bring it on every point. That's why Rafa is my favorite player. If any of the Americans had this quality, they would be my fav. Blake is my fav american and he fights pretty well but he still has a tendency to mentally rail it in if things aren't going his way. Yes Rafa still has some improvements to do to win slams on other surfaces than clay but with him being a Spaniard and making the finals of Wimbledon and losing to the 2nd greatest grass courter of all time doesn't give you guys belief that Rafa is for real on other surfaces than you my friends are haters. Rafa has even come out and said Wimbledon is his favorite slam and the one he wants to win the most. I expect him to win at least 2-3 slams on grass and hardcourts by the time his career is over.
 
So don't think I'll be up for the Roger/Novak match but I will Tivo it. As soon as I say that watch it be the match of the tourney!
 
Mike, with respect.....

Of course you're entitled to your opinion. I was merely pointing out that your opinion that Roddick only practiced on hard courts was wrong.
 
and yet, there is still no indication that Roddick does anything to better his all around game other than what is considered standard practice.
 
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