AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2017

Wawrinka-Dimitrov final may be good. Fed-Nadal final could be spectacular (but I understand the oh-no-not-again feelings) but I don't think my nerves could stand it.

I'd be interested in watching Fed/Nadal just because it's been so long, it's the fawning nostalgia that will accompany it that I can't stand

Dimitrov has owned Wawrinka in recent years, weirdly. Not that I think Dimitrov is capable of rising to the occasion in his first Slam final. I mean, I give him 0.00001% chance against Nadal.

On the women's side the most important thing is that VENUS STOPS THIS NONSENSE. Either a double bagel, or a comeback saving a zillion match points that breaks Vandeweghe's career for good.

lex OTM, Vandeweghe must be destroyed

It is really hard as someone who by default wants to root for all of the players from his country to have ppl like Isner and Vandeweghe in the mix. Basically, the Williams sisters can never retire and I need the currently-rising young guns on the men's side to pull through and take over.

I've got no time for the awful nostalgia which is inevitable for a Fed/Nadal re-match - please Stan don't let us down.

xp the female US players other than Vandeweghe have all impressed me politically of late - Keys, Hampton, Min, several of the ITF-level players and especially Nicole Gibbs have made some pretty smart, on-point statements. I haven't seen anything like that from any of the men except retired James Blake, who has been extraordinarily patient with some of his compatriots lately.

On the subject of rising US men, you all heard about 19yo Taylor Fritz becoming a daddy six months after his sudden marriage last summer? Such sensible decisions being made there.

Watching even a little bit of the coverage on ESPN has been miserable: They've been doing their damnedest to try to make Vandeweghe in any way likable, and it is just immediately exhausting. She's also featured in a biometrics ad that has been airing incessantly on Tennis Channel during their coverage, so it has tried my patience to watch any of this event live. Completely with lex that I want Venus to win in a way that makes Vandeweghe reconsider her every choice moving forward.

I'm pulling decisively for a Federer v Dmitrov final, but would honestly be fine were Stan to win the title.

seems weird to root against two of the greatest players of all time meeting in a GS final when there are no other compelling competing storylines

the only reason I'm not emphatically rooting against a Fedal final is because I'm not really a fan of Wawrinka or Dimitrov (but I'd much rather see their games square off against each other in the final). If Monfils or Nishikori had only made it...

I was also rooting for Monfils and Nishikori

same

hard for me to recall/believe i saw lucic baroni lose in qualifiers just last august :o

o damn, that loss was to Sakkari !

nishikori is trending down imo, i had thought he could contend for a major this yr but i would back off that hard currently

espn tennis coverage is always bad; compared w how the cover the us open, this is a dream

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS

18 years after their first ever meeting on tour - here in R2 in 1998!

Thank goodness for Venus Williams.

Fed two sets up. Can't watch this - how it's going? Stats are not suggesting a great match (UEs>Winners, average serve %age) but that can be deceptive.

couldn't watch the match because of work, but I just caught the Venus/Coco highlights - lol/smdh @ Coco's sore loser handshake at the net afterwards. girl, bye.

xp Fed's looking in control under pressure rather than peaking particularly - his net-rushing is keeping Wawrinka off-balance and it feels like Wawrinka doesn't have time to set up as he'd like. Federer's errors haven't come at crucial times.

As I type that Federer gets broken thanks to a bunch of errors obv

Going down two sets loosened Stan up, he's hitting much more freely and making fewer errors now. Now up two breaks in the fourth and serving it out.

Nothing about my post is true any more

wow, Fed broken for the third time in a row. his timing and serve has completely deserted him.

Fed stops the rot with a break back. All about steadying the serve now.

like that.

I'm trying to calm myself with the notion that Fed has - against the odds - defended his 2016 points here, which is a good bedrock on which to build the year, keeps him in the top 20 through the spring probably, etc. This is the line that Fed would peddle after a defeat, most likely. All good, nice to be back, yada yada. But, damn, I really want him to get that 18th Slam.

Stan just PEAKED to break for 5-4. Three incredible winners in that game

wau Stan

My little live scores app runs Bet365 odds along the bottom (annoyingly). *Still* they have Fed favourite. I don't think so.

I really want Fed to win but at the same time... lol.

I didn't realise that Wawrinka has never beaten Fed on anything other than clay (Monte Carlo 2009 & 2014, Roland Garros 2015).

Huge hold for 2-1 for Fed

His 3-2 hold was huge too and it paid off, Wawrinka breaks himself with a DF

yoow @ that stan double

First AO final since 2010 for Fed

28th Slam final.

Imagine if Dimitrov of all people played spoiler now

a Dimitrov/Fed final would be fascinating in a Luke vs Darth Vader kinda way. but I have no faith in the kid against a motivated Rafa.

If Dimitrov beats Fed and Nadal back-to-back to win a Slam - well, he can dine out on that for the rest of his life. Never mind that they're past their peak.

Liked Fed's comment in the after-match interview about wanting to play a charity match with Nadal a few months back but all they could manage was mini-tennis with the kids.

Guess 2005 was a happier time for many of us...might as well travel back this w/e.

Dimi failing to take chances to level this... following the pattern of Rafa's QF vs Raonic so far.

I've just realised that BBC has *no* live TV coverage of this. Guess I'll be looking for dodgy streams this weekend.

this is the stream of choice atm: http://videostream.dn.ua/videopage/videoPage.php?g=OTcxOTY%E2%84%96f&c=en&i=eWl2bW9iZGlzaA%E2%84%96f%E2%84%96f

The four consecutive breaks, two ceded on DFs, with Dimitrov blowing four SPs were a pretty hilarious passage of play

Pinches the second set!

Thanks for the tip, Lex. Probably can't do that at work, mind.

I can't believe Dimitrov won that set after all that lmao

this kind of feels like a Fedal match already, right down to the part where Nadal just wore Dimitrov down with sheer will.

Only reading the blow-by-blow and, yeah, from 5-5 in the t-b, Dimi dominates two rallies and loses both.

tbh I've felt like more rallies have been about Nadal dominating and Dimitrov scrambling - his defence has been spectacular at times

i was only able to watch for ~15 minutes or so before having to come to work but dimitrov might have to sellout for more winners imo

This is a bit like 2009 - Nadal in epic slugfest vs Verdasco with Fed already safely in the final with 24 hours' to spare. But Nadal showed no sign of fatigue on the Sunday on that occasion - it was Fed who fell away.

Except Dimi is going to win the whole thing, right?

That was the most mentally strong set I have ever seen Dimitrov play