Aussie Open Thread

C

CTGA_Horn

250+ Posts
So the real tennis season is starting. Should be pretty interesting. There's always Federer and Nadal. Djokovic is very tough. But the guy who might be the hottest going into the event is Andy Murray whose beaten a lot of the top guys in the last few weeks.

Should be interesting.
 
This is going to be great. The winner here will say a ton about the coming year. If Rafa wins, let the GS talk begin. If Fed wins, it's shows he's still on top. Murray or Djokovic wins, it really opens things up. No bad options.
 
Glad you started a thread. I wanted to come and talk but have been busy. It has been an intense Aussie open thus far. Federer has come in looking in shape and well better shape than he has been lately. He looks like he has lot a bit of weight and will be quicker on his feet.

Federer got pushed yesterday going down 2 sets to love but then rallied and showed some fire. Being seeded #2 he has a little tougher draw than Nadal and a possible Djokovic/Federer matcup in the semis awaits.

Nadal and Murray could also play in semis but Murray 1st has to get by Tsonga which will be a great match. Blake still in it too but doubt he beats Tsonga.

A-rod vs. Djokovic matchup coming up in quarters. Very good chance the top 8 seeds on the mens side make it to the quarters. Awesome matchups coming.

Here is a clip of the Federer match:

espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3859194&categoryid=2378529
 
yea, I caught most of the Federer match last night. He will still be tough to beat. Men's bracket is still full of top players right now. Everyone from the top 8 has made it to the 4th round or 1/4 final. Should be a great second week.

Women's draw is wide open. I saw some of Safina's match yesterday. She came within an inch of losing on a match point against, but could win this think, really anyone of these players could.
 
Fed looked awful last night. He pulled away in the 5th set b/c his opponent pulled a hammy. Roddick looked sharp yesterday.
 
Berdych simply choked in 3rd set; after that, it was all over but the crying. Also watched the Dokic match way early this morning (7-5, 5-7, 8-6), & the hometown crowd was going nuts.
 
He made alot of errors but his opponent was also really stroking it. Combination of the 2 made for 5 sets.

Nadal is on cruise control. He is the favorite. Murray just lost too so Nadal has even more wide open draw. We don't get the top 8 seeds in the quarters now either due to Murray's loss.
 
On the women's side, all I can say is that I wouldn't count out Serena. She is awesome at the Aussie in odd years. Won in 03, 05, and 07. 09 would well just be destiny, but we'll see.
 
Jo-Wilie Tsonga destroyed Blake in straights & is lined up to meet Nadal in Semis again. Tsonga's strength is sick to watch.
 
Djokovic is a ******* *****, it was only in the 90's down there. That was nothing for Andy.
I actually like his chances in the Semi's.
 
The guy played a long night match the previous night that kept him on the court until 226am Monday morning. Then he basically comes back a little more than a day later and instead of getting another night match they throw him during the day in what turned out to be an inferno with temperatures reaching 140 degrees on court. I'll give him a bit of a pass on this one though I will say I wouldn't have minded seeing him try a little harder and to push through.

I think he just knew he was gassed and his play wasn't there. He was down 2 sets to 1 and just quit. I would have liked to see him push to the 3nd of the 4th set and if he lost that set then he would have lost the match. Otherwise he would have gotten a good rest before the 5th set and who knows.
 
Federer was absolutely on cruise control his last match, only losing 3 games. The guy won just 8 points in 2nd set and only 6 points in 3rd set. That is ridiculous.

This is Fed's record 19th straight Grandslam semifinal match.

With Roddick dispatching the world's #3 and last year's champion Djokovic, and losing weight in the offseason and looking quicker than ever, the semifinal between Federer should be a high level match. Can't wait to see this one.

On the otherside it looks like Nadal vs. Tsonga. That too should be a great match featuring strength and scrappy play.
 
yea, I just watched the Federer match without being spoilered. He played effortlessly against a guy he seemed to match up with perfectly. He also was probably pretty lucky to get an easy night match. One of the funniest things, I thought, was that they had martina navratilova as a commentator. She kept talking about how quickly the match went. She had so many of these matches in her career, I thought it was pretty funny.

I went to bed after seeing Roddick lose the first set. I thought he was pretty much done. Right now it looks like another Federer/Nadal final, but there could be a suprise in the semis.
 
it looks that way but this Roddick/Federer match could go either way.

No way Nadal loses his match unless he gets injured.
 
Wow, Roddick just didn't show up. Federer is playing like he has and really stroking it.

Should be a great final if Nadal wins tonight.
 
Actually I thought Roddick played well in the 2nd and 3rd sets. Just doesn't seem to have the talent to keep up with Federer when he's playing well.

Verdasco's been playing well, beating two top 5 players in his last two matches. He won't be a pushover for Nadal. The X factor will be that they know each other quite well and of course Nadal is a legend in Spain.

I've also been watching a lot of Safina's matches. She actually hits the ball a heck of a lot harder than Serena Williams.
 
Watching Nadal/Verdasco live right now. Nadal lost 1st and 4th sets. Now in 5th set tied 3-3. Biggest game of the match right now.

We'll see how Nadal can dig deep as Federer did earlier in the tournament when he got pushed to 5.

I would say this will wear down Nadal but that guy can go forever.
 
Wow Nadal down 0-30 on own serve with set tied 4-4. He had been looking tired and was hitting defensive shots. Verdasco was pouncing. Then Nadal got a few breaks and then pounced himself and now up 5-4. Digging deep and coming up with big shots when he needs to.

This match is so even right now.
 
Wow. Hated to see the match end on 2 double faults in the final service game for Verdasco. But Nadal just wore him out. It really seemed that Nadal's strategy was to prolong the match by playing long rallies mixing in defensive backhands with his arsenal of aggresive groundstrokes. He really forced the other guy to make the mistakes similar to how he wins the French every year.

Cool to see him jump over the net and give Verdasco a hug. That really was one of the toughest matches Nadal has been forced to play in a major outside of his Federer matches at Wimbledon the last 2 years.
 
That was an awesome match. I've really become a fan of tennis the last week or so. I've always enjoyed the sport, but I would only watch it if it was on the channel I was already watching. Now, I'm looking forward to seeing the matches each and every night.
 
Tennis really has become more exciting the last few years. The game has gone away from the relatively fan unfriendly boring serve and volley play to a background grind it out match of groundstrokes. You still need a big serve but as Nadal has shown if you have a great return game and great groundstrokes then you can still win.

Just more fun to watch IMO. Longer rallies and better shot making. I think that is why myself and many others watch these matches in awe b/c you just didn't see these types of rallies very routinely in the 90's.
 
Watched every point live last night & I still feel worn out. Absolutely incredible how those guys were still battling 5 hours in. I don't even want to know what their left arms feel like today.

I hope Safina smokes Serena tonight.
 
Don't forget Venus. She's won Wimbledon 3 out of the lat 4 years.

And added 2 doubles Slams titles in her last 3 tries.
 
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