Australian Open tennis

[jktoooo]

Andy Murray

on his way to his first major

well Jacktwist, guess we were wrong!

I was rootin' but he be gone!

 

[JarodA]

Hmmm - I really wanted Muray to win. I'm sure he'll be there soon tho' I still see him as a future (and not too far in the future) # 1.

Now I'll hope Tsonga wins. He's certainly my favourite of those remaining. I'll be quite surprised if it isn't a Rafa v Jo & Novak v Roger line up fo the semis.

Here's my predictions for the Quarters and beyond.

Quarters:
Rafael Nadal/Gilles Simon
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Fernando Verdasco
Andy Roddick/Novak Djokovic
Roger Federer/Juan Martin del Potro

Semis:

Rafael Nadal/Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Roger Federer/Andy Roddick

Final:

Rafael Nadal/Roger Federer

And for the women:

Quarters:

Vera Zvonareva/Marion Bartoli
Dinara Safina/Jelena Dokic
Elena Dementieva/Carla Suarez Navarro
Svetlana Kuznetsova/Serena Williams

Semis:

Dinara Safina/Vera Zvonareva
Elena Dementieva/Svetlana Kuznetsova

Finals:

Elena Dementieva/Dinara Safina

I wonder how accurate I'll be.

 

[breion]

Here are my predictions:

MEN
Quarters:
Rafael Nadal/Gilles Simon
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Fernando Verdasco
Andy Roddick/Novak Djokovic
Roger Federer/Juan Martin del Potro

Semis:
Nadal over Tsonga
Federer over Djokovic

Final
Federer over Nadal

WOMEN
Quarters:
Vera Zvonareva/Marion Bartoli
Dinara Safina/Jelena Dokic
Elena Dementieva/Carla Suarez Navarro
Svetlana Kuznetsova/Serena Williams

Semis:
Safina over Bartoli
Williams over Suarez Navarro

Final:
Williams over Safina

 

[JarodA]

And Novak is out. I would rather Roddick have won but I feel kind of stink that I was wishing Novak to lose and then he retired. Roddick would've won anyway with two sets to one and a break in the fourth, so great performance by Roddick, and a deserved win in spite of the retirement.

 

[TriBi]

...and the fairytale ends (in the Australian Open, anyway) for Jelena Dokic.

I will admit, she hung in better than I thought. If her service had been more reliable, she would have won. She still has work to do to get back to her (playing) best. Mentally, she is there already.

 

[JarodA]

...and the fairytale ends (in the Australian Open, anyway) for Jelena Dokic.

I will admit, she hung in better than I thought. If her service had been more reliable, she would have won. She still has work to do to get back to her (playing) best. Mentally, she is there already.

Dokic had a dream run. For someone just making their return to top-level tennis, she could not have done any better. Dinara may have beat her but it was hardly a convincing win. She was serving like crap most of the time.

 

[PabloZed]

I am very surprised that Murray and Djokovic lost. Murrary at least lost a well fought battle whereas Novak wussed out. Quitting because of the heat? Federer took a shot at Novak saying, "its not surprising. He is not a player who hasn't quit in the past." Wow. I've dated a couple swiss guys so I am acquainted with their bluntness, but Federer basically called Novak a wimp.

 

[jktoooo]

I am very surprised that Murray and Djokovic lost. Murrary at least lost a well fought battle whereas Novak wussed out. Quitting because of the heat? Federer took a shot at Novak saying, "its not surprising. He is not a player who hasn't quit in the past." Wow. I've dated a couple swiss guys so I am acquainted with their bluntness, but Federer basically called Novak a wimp.

That was Classic! I loved it!

Federer called him out and Djokovic deserved it. Djokovic is a complete joke.

 

[EthanStorm]

Come on Rafa... counting on you!

 

[JarodA]

I really hope with all my might that Dementieva will beat Serena tomorrow. It'll really piss me off if Serena can cruise through the whole tournament playing average tennis and beat Dementieva who's in the form of her career. I think Dementieva can do it though. Serena thrives on mental toughness in Slams, but Dementieva seems just as much a woman on a mission and so I think her mental toughness will match Serena's. Couple that with Dementieva's superior form and you have the winner (hopefully).

 

[JarodA]

I hope Dinara surprises me and beats Serena but yeah, Serena will almost definitely win this. Damn it, I really thought Dementieva could do it this year. Oh well, she's still got three more slams to try her luck. She's had her best results at French and US Opens.

 

[ozstud87]

safina is my pick 2moro nite and hoping verdasco can overcome nadal in their epic current battle

 

[TriBi]

I must admit I'm not a Rafa fan - but I certainly didn't expect Verdasco to be playing at this level. To dominate Rafa in the 4th set tie break like he just has - unbelievable.

I think there has been one double fault each in 4 incredible sets of tennis. The quality of the match is just amazing. This could go down as one of the best matches in history - and worthy of a (and likely better than the) final.

*EDIT*
They have just mentioned that, until now, the longest match of this tournament was 4hrs 22mins - that was in the first round and went to 16-14 in the 5th.

This match has now reached 4hrs 24mins - at the conclusion of the 4th set.

 

[TriBi]

Oh - and while the quality of tennis may be giving Federer some pause for thought (if he's still up and watching it) - I'm sure he would have to be happy at how physically demanding it must be on both players...

 

[JarodA]

That Nadal/Verdasco match was phenomenal tennis. I stayed up till 3:10am where I am to watch that. Verdasco will enter the Top 10 after the Australian Open and he deserves to. I hope he can then keep himself there. Awesome stuff. That match will get him a few new fans for sure.

 

[EthanStorm]

Im glad Nadal won I just hope the final will be good!

 

[Renegade]

That Nadal/Verdasco match was phenomenal tennis. I stayed up till 3:10am where I am to watch that. Verdasco will enter the Top 10 after the Australian Open and he deserves to. I hope he can then keep himself there. Awesome stuff. That match will get him a few new fans for sure.

Me too, I'm also in New Zealand and stayed up till 3.10am. I was damn tired for the day but it was worth it, best match I've ever watched LIVE and best match since the Wimbledon final by far. It was such a thrill, I would have liked Verdasco to win but I don't feel too disappointed as Nadal played amazingly also.

I've been following Verdasco the whole tournament (I posted him in the hot tennis players thread in one of the other forums) and always had a soft spot for his looks, but my respect for him as a player has been steadily growing since Davis Cup. He played really solidly the whole Australian Open, then he got to the semis and stepped it up another notch. Although he lost I think he's won a huge number of fans, imagine how popular he will be when he returns next year. Hopefully he'll have a good year.

I skipped watching the women's final as I was out... looks like it would have been a big let down though after the great men's semi. I'm a bit tired of crappy women's grand slam finals. They're meant to be the pinnacle of the sport but either they are lopsided or they are close because both players play badly. The Wimbledon and US Open ones were not too bad last year but far from great. Come on ladies!

 

[PabloZed]

Congrats to Serena Williams, now a winner of 10 grand slams, and congrats to her and Venus for winning the doubles title. The Williams sisters together now hold 29 grand slam titles (singles and doubles).

The trouble on the ladies side is that the only real consistency is the Williams sisters. It would have been boring if they had risen to the top and stayed there, but the truth is they have maintained a high level of play. OTOH, a lot of other women rose quickly only to fall just as fast. Sharapova will be back, but none of the Russians have enjoyed prolonged success.

There is a lot of quality tennis on the men's side, but when you think about it the very top is still dominated by only a couple players. Tsonga, Murray, Roddick, now Verdasco and others have enough to get to the semis or even a final, but none have punched through. On the women's side and lot of women have won a slam, even if just one.

 

[JarodA]

You're basically right PabloZed. Tennis is a bit boring that way sometimes. In the Australian Open this year the best stories were Jelena Dokic and her big comeback, Fernando Verdasco who came from under the radar and really surprised everybody, and to a lesser degree, the early exits of many of the seeded women players.
Other than that it's just been a bit predictable.

Oh well, I'm still looking forward to the Rafa/Fed final.

 

[Telstra]

a funny question:

aren't Rafael & Rodger feels strange when their fellow tennis players all dis-appeared from the tour (aus open) ?