AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2017

sick topsin lob

serena/bencic match was p good quality for rd 1

Karlovic-Zeballos now over five hours. 20-19 in the 5th. Ivo just got to deuce from 40-0 though...

So Ivo won 22-20. I went looking for the AO thread from around the time of that Roddick-El Aynaoui 21-19 epic (14 years ago!), but it actually wasn't that interesting. Me giving the score every 15min, with exclamation marks.

The 2004 AO thread, now that was the one. William Swygart had to compile a glossary of all the nicknames Fred Nerk and I were using as we were driving Lex up the wall. Great days, Eddie.

happy to see stepanek get thru, and in < 2 hrs !

kerber just lobbing her 1st serve in his is bzarre; witthoeft is playing well, good dfense

yikes kerb w 2 double faults in a row in the tbreak

girl needs to get her head right

this set shd be entertaining tho i peeved it means fed wont be on til later now

great comeback from zverev the older to beat isner

hsieh is impressing v cibu

Istomin beat Djokovic! I only saw the last two games of the third set during which Djokovic had some quibbles with the referee on a couple of wrong calls from the linesmen (hawkeye proved him right). Anyway, wow!

Didn't see that coming.

Meanwhile, Heather Watson loses 10-8 in the third to Jennifer Brady after serving for a straight sets win and, later, failing to take any of the 14 break points she had in set 3, five of them match points. Oh Heather.

I always liked istomin but would've never thought he could win a match like this, esp best of 5...props

bottom half of the draw is wide open now (all of andy, kei, stan, fed are in the top half)

kind of sad that novak is now inarguably in his decline phase

I wonder if the pressure of chasing the French Open was giving him the focus he needed to be the terrifying monster player he had become and winning let off too much mental pressure?

playing relatively long rallies w/o a dominant aspect to his game (unless you count defense I suppose) means his margins are p narrow..ive always been amazed hes had as dominant a run as he has

it would still be surprising to me (barring injury) if he didn't win several tournaments this year, likely including a major

he did just beat murray in Dubai like a week ago

xp I think that theory could def explain losing to querrey @ wimb

That's absolutely what I think. Finally achieving that - and simultaneously the non-calendar year Grand Slam - he was bound to feel some relief and take his foot off the pedal somewhat, even subconsciously. That he's still struggling is because once you relax, it's harder to regain that insane level of focus. Or he hasn't rediscovered the hunger. Or, the post-Wimbledon personal problems. Some or all of those. I don't think he's done for good (he's got his health still, for one thing) but it's definitely a reminder that when a fall comes it can come very swiftly.

I also didn't read much into Doha, which would have been another signal of his decline had Verdasco possessed any mental strength at all. The final went Djokovic's way bc ultimately it's just a horrible match-up for Murray, who I feel has never worked out a workable strategy against a Djokovic not leaking errors.

xps to DJP

He'll probably stay #2 at least this year because the ATP is sooooooo weak and lacking in depth if/until the Kyrgios, Zverev types get it together. Thiem is shooting his career in the foot by overplaying.

I am in Melbourne!

I have tickets today and tomorrow. My sister and a friend of mine wanted to go and I had to choose - one wanted to go all out and a Laver night session, the other wanted to just get a cheaper ticket on say Margaret Court. I picked Court for today and Laver for Saturday night. Wish I'd done it the other way around. Not keen on watching Fed lose to Berdych probably maybe though so maybe I picked right?

really looking fwd to fed/nishikori now, tho prob will be 330am my time

watching the fed highlights against berdych just made my day.

^just saw those wow

gd lineup on laver today but seeing that rog match wouldve been aamazing

yeah Roger peaked but gosh, Berdych has not one ounce of fight in him - the match was effectively over when Federer broke for 5-2 in the first and Berdych was basically going through the motions after that

so happy to see Tennis Twitter go all the way in on Trump voter Isner today

Vandeweghe and Harrison we see you too

During the matches on MCA yesterday (my sister refers to it as "Biggie", for "Bigot" which I find amusing because I'm a small child), American fans were really weird, and bad at chanting. They really need to learn from the Australians and French who excel at it.

One dude in the audience yelled out to Sock: "Do it for Hillary!". Uh. (Not sure of Sock's persuasions but I've assumed many U.S. tennis players lean Republican). The same idiot also yelled it out while Venus was playing.

ALso yes I bore witness to the shitshow that was Kuznetsova/Jankovic. High quality for 1.5 sets and then... wow. It was not pretty. Kuznetsova peaked for 4 games then troughed for about 10.

Tsonga/Sock was a terrific hard-hitting spectacle. Sock lost the crowd by insulting a linesman and then oddly managed to win the set immediately. Venus's backhand was as good as I've ever seen it and such a thrill to see her in person.

I am seriously tossing up whether to take a gamble on Laver tickets tomorrow - day or night. Thinking night has a higher possibility of Roger/Kei.

also lol at the shade of putting Murray on Hisense. Kind of insulting really. Explained why my sister couldn't get a pass-out on Hisense after going to the bathroom.

Not entirely sure how to confirm but I think the food is substantially MORE overpriced than it was just two years ago and it was pretty bad then. I am extremely sunburnt.

Gavrilova then Gasquet/Dimitrov is really a piss-poor line-up for tonight on Laver but whatever I'll enjoy it anyway.

o yea they day matches on laver looked more compelling

i would leverage some assets to get in to see fed/kei prob

I can afford it - guess I might go myself if nobody I know wants to or feels they can!

by myself

wow @ jen brady into the 4th rd

also wow @ she'll play either sakkari or lucic baroni !

jen had TWO tour level wins before this tourney started

cibu/e-kat has turned into a battle

brady v lucic baroni 4th rd is very lol

very impressed by makarova to hold off cibu after being up a set and 4-0

Wow @ this Zverev-Murray match. Mischa 2 sets and a break up - net-rushing, serve and volleying like a champ.

Wow! Murray out!

Terrific match! Murray outplayed.

First time both men's top seeds out before QFs since RG'04.

hahahahahahahaha

so tragic for Murray but am here for an ATP era of chaos

NO RAONIC SLAM THOUGH

NO FEDAL NOSTALGIA EITHER

The way Nishikori fell apart in that 3rd set though :-(

Can't see N returning from this - epic 4th game

Holds, come on!

and breaks!

game away from a 5th

Wins 4th and now has kept that level up straight on the 5th

ugh

Lol how did I just know that Nishikori would mess this up somehow? Fell asleep when he was up 4-0 in the first set, can't believe that not only is this match still going, old man Fed is somehow winning.

:-(

one.more.set - for both of them

Brutal 1st game on both sides - Fed has one more BP to save

and broken :-(

what a response, 2xBP back

Saves 3 BPs and gets through

another BH for another BP chance - come on!!

fed ends with a bullet BH for the longest rally in the match

Nadal's resistance vs Fed's is such a great winding of the clock back. Nostalgia evaporates.

Another BP but will he take it?

missed the line - back on serve!!

rattling through the next game - lets believe once again

jesus @ that return on the 2nd serve - another 3 BPs saved!

jesus christ - 26 shot god rally - will this break rafa

no

never in doubt lmao

and then finally finally finally

to serve for the match

Hes like 58-42 on points this set. About time he got something to show.

Nadal is such an incredible big point player.

jesus FH for deuce

CP!!

wow at that challenge

back to the deuce

ace for another cp

lol challenge

its in! 18th slam title - the greatest of them all!

I was way too tense to look at this thread, much less post on it, for the duration of that match. Astonishing stuff.

Lol at Fed blocking his fanboy Goffin from the top ten

God Basil Zempilas is an inept TV host and an embarrassing MC

Missed most of the final set cause I was chasing a story but yay, old man Fed! Fabulous match.

Sorely needed this, and Serena's win, after the utterly dispiriting news of the past couple of days.

Yeah its lifted my spirits too.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2017 [Started by johnny crunch in January 2017, last updated twenty-one minutes ago by xyzzzz__] 142 new answers
What age do you intend to retire? [Started by Bob Six (bobbysix) in July 2006, last updated one hour ago by Dr Drudge (Bob Six)] 3 new answers

"I decide" -- Johan Cruyff

Match definitely came alive at the right time - not a lot of drama until the fifth set, each set decided by an early lead, but it delivered and then some once it was there.

First Slam champion to have won three five-setters en route since Gaston Gaudio, RG 2004. Illustrious company.

This match goes quite some way to pushing back against the Nadal h2h being the weak point in Federer's resumé - at this stage of their careers, to overcome that in 5 sets in a Slam final is a real statement. Fed's BH was a revelation, after 12 years he finally solved Nadal's topspin into that corner all day long by taking it ridic early all the time. His FH reminded me of Venus's yesterday, either an astounding winner or a terrible error, but obviously his ratio was a bit better...

couple of points to take away:

- wonder if the TBT Slam will be seen as a last hurrah or a return of the titans in six months' time? Could go either way
- wonder if tennis as a major sport might actually die when in five years time Raonic and Pliskova are contesting Slam finals while thousands of fans would rather pay top dollar to watch Federer vs Nadal legends' exhibitions

I doubt raonic will be at the top of the game in 5 years. The 22 and under group is going to obliterate that generation.

Federer backhand just vicious today. Every now and then he'd decide OK, now I'm putting rocket boosters on it, SEEYA. So glad I tuned in. Rafa looked properly upset, poor ol Rafa.

The baseline rallies were so intense - maximum effort, each guy punishing the ball - and then somehow Fed would see an angle, take his backhand early - done

I feel like Federer figured out that BH a while ago - he beat Nadal indoors at the WTFs twice playing like that (once three and love). Great vicious early ball sweeps off the high ball. I don't think he got much of a chance while he's been regularly outperforming Nadal in the late autumn of their careers (particularly the last 2.5 years) to test it out and improve that h2h.

So pleased. Fed seemed doomed at the very start of the third and after that horrible fourth.

Federer was able to hit the backhand like that because the court was fast. That's always what it's about with this matchup.

The interesting wrinkle to me is that instead of slicing the backhand in defensive positions he used moonballs and it was very effective

He also seemed to hit every return deep and right at Rafa's feet

I felt Rafa didn't change up his gameplan much in response - thought he was on to something at the start of the second set when he started coming to net and varying height/depth a lot, but he didn't really continue that

The 22 and under group is going to obliterate that generation.

― Matt Armstrong, Sunday, January 29, 2017 2:42 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I need them to start getting on w/it. But Thiem is killing his career by overplaying, I think Kyrgios will win Slams but he won't be a dominant figure, the first wave of 1996 kids have all turned out to be permanently injured (Kokkinakis, Chung) or not that good (Coric), and who knows what effect fatherhood will have on Fritz's career. Rublev is insanely talented but has such a poor attitude. Tiafoe's technique is sooooo ugly. Opelka will reprise Isner's career.

Zverev is the best hope to me but he'll turn 20 without having been to the second week of a Slam. Some of the teenagers look really promising - Ruud, Shapovalov, Auger-Aliassime - but they're a while off being on tour...

The WTA seems to be in much the same situation re: a paucity of young stars. Bencic and Bellis both seem injury-prone, sadly. Aiava looks good, as well as her fellow 2000 girls Andreescu, Yastremska and Pervushina.

Or maybe the new model of "underwhelming results until your mid-20s, bag 1-2 Slams" is really here to stay and what we've seen is the last of the truly dominant champions