Official Australian Open thread 2012.

[Bornadog]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

No drama.

So who is your tip for ladies and the mens?

Djokovic

Azeranka

[azabob]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Djokovic

Azeranka

Great win by Azarenka. Hopefully Kvitova makes it through to the final also.

Will be interesting to see how Djokovic handles conditions if it is humid and no wind.

[Sedat]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Great win by Azarenka. Hopefully Kvitova makes it through to the final also.

Azarenka v Sharapova - bring your ear plugs if you've got a ticket to the final

[BulldogBelle]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Azarenka v Sharapova - bring your ear plugs if you've got a ticket to the final

I was at the Aus Open today and saw them both play in their semi's - my ears are still ringing. Azarenka I can handle, as for Sharapova you can never get used to her shrieking.

[chef]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

For as great a player that the Fed is, Rafa seems owns him head to head.

[Daughter of the West]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

I will be very interested to see if a few (or more) ditch the ladies final due to the noise factor. I watched the final points of the Sharapova/Kvitova match in a Brisbane mall, & more than a few people groaned out loud when Sharapova won.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

For as great a player that the Fed is, Rafa seems owns him head to head.

There's no 'seem' here. Their head-to-head record is as one-sided as anything you've ever seen, and it's worse in Grand Slams (8-2 to Rafa, with the 2 coming early in his career in 5 set Wimbledon finals). It's just that Fed's strengths (his beautiful cross-court backhand, his breaking serve in the deuce court, his down the line serve on the ad court, and his cross-court volleying) all go straight to Rafa's lefty hitting zone, and all of Rafa's strengths (his heavy cross-court forehand, his lefty breaking serve in the ad court) all go to Fed's 'weak' areas (bouncing high on his backhand side).

Fed used to fight it quite a lot when Rafa was still an up-and-coming tyro, changing his string pressure to negate Rafa's forehand etc, but these days, you can sense his resignation. Even against Djokovic in full flight Fed comes close (see US Open semi), but Rafa is the only player Fed looks 'human' against. He doesn't double-fault as often or make as many forehand errors against anyone else. It's funny, if not for Rafa, there would be ABSOLUTELY no question that he's the GOAT; his record against Rafa is the only question mark on his entire career. Also funny -- everyone calls Rafa the greatest clay-courter in history, which he is, but what many forget is that Fed is easily the second greatest clay-courter in history, even though he's only won one French Open. He's made 5 finals, and if Rafa didn't exist, Fed would have won them all. (Conversely, if Fed didn't exist, Rafa could mount a case for being one of the greatest grass-court players of all time, with 5+ Wimbledon titles. Ridiculous.)

I guess every Superman has his Kryptonite.

ps. Rafa has the same issue against Djok now -- all of Rafa's strengths go straight to Djok's best shot (his double handed backhand), and Djok beat him 6 times in 7 finals last year. Rafa's trying out different things now (flattening his forehand out, building a heavier serve) to beat Djok, but I fear it will be the same story for him as it has been for Fed against him. It's just funny how the match-ups work: Djok beats Rafa, Rafa beats Fed, and Fed (can) beat Djok. Oh, and Murray is their bitch (in Grand Slams).

[Bornadog]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Oh, and Murray is their bitch (in Grand Slams).

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray’s have met on 10 occasions and their head to head record currently stands at 6-4 in Djokovic’s favour.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

I was at the Aus Open today and saw them both play in their semi's - my ears are still ringing. Azarenka I can handle, as for Sharapova you can never get used to her shrieking.

Azarenka's is organic -- it's how she hits, and it's linked to her stroke. Sharapova's is tactical -- it's completely fake, totally made up, gets louder when she's behind and needs to psych out her opponent (usually works!), and lasts long after she hits the ball. She doesn't shriek during practice, yet in matches, she shrieks even when she's hitting drop shots (WHAT THE?). It's blatant cheating, pure and simple, but she'll never be called on it because she's the glamour girl: I watched her play Lisicki, who is ranked 13th and is a bloody good player, yet it was like Lisicki barely existed, the commentators just kept talking about Sharapova and her history and her game and her injuries and her love life for the whole hour and a half. It's bloody ridiculous.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray’s have met on 10 occasions and their head to head record currently stands at 6-4 in Djokovic’s favour.

Murray is fantastic, and has beaten Djok a few times earlier in their careers in best-of-three finals, but Grand Slams is a whole other kettle of fish. I think it's too late for him now unless the three ahead of him get injured or retire: Djok has gone to another level (to even Rafa and Fed), and Murray's not going to be beating him anytime soon. Having said that, I was just being flippant about Murray -- he has a great record against Fed and Djok (but not Rafa), just not in Grand Slams, where he's hardly ever beaten the big 3. Won't do it tonight either, in my opinion -- Murray is great on the ATP and in three-setters, but five set tennis is what sets the men apart from the boys.

Djok late 2011 was as close to the 'perfect' tennis player in history as there's ever been, I think. He's not as beautiful to watch as Fed, not as relentless as Rafa, but he's built his game to be technically perfect. Every shot he hits is now textbook, but more than that, he's become TACTICALLY perfect too -- he hits the right shots at the right time, plays an all-court game so he comes to the net exactly when he has to, has impeccable footwork, serves a ridiculously high percentage of first serves, and just doesn't make mistakes at crucial points. The only player he looked remotely human playing against all of the second half of 2011 (other than when injured) was Fed.

[BulldogBelle]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Azarenka's is organic -- it's how she hits, and it's linked to her stroke. Sharapova's is tactical -- it's completely fake, totally made up, gets louder when she's behind and needs to psych out her opponent (usually works!), and lasts long after she hits the ball. She doesn't shriek during practice, yet in matches, she shrieks even when she's hitting drop shots (WHAT THE?). It's blatant cheating, pure and simple, but she'll never be called on it because she's the glamour girl.

Lantern totally agree - I have seen Sharapova play a few times over the years at the Open it's definitely a tactical move.

The whole crowd at one stage started mocking her squeals but the funniest incident was when the Australia Day jet planes were flying over the stadium, looping and doing their acrobatics which was noisy...you seriously could hear Sharapova over the plane noise..so the umpire at the moment on the microphone says..'Quiet Please' and the crowd started yelling out to the umpire to tell Sharapova to quieten down. So people are starting to get jack of it.

[azabob]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Djokovic V Murray - What a grueling epic that was.

I can only imagine what Sunday night holds.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

I don't think any of us could have expected such a great final.

(I actually did expect this. Before the match I said to all and sundry that it would go for six hours, with 90 minute sets and 30 shot rallies. If you had watched the other games these guys have been playing, and the matches they played towards the end of last year, you knew that pattern was going to be crazy defence, long rallies, and neither of them was going to go away quietly, especially Rafa, who had prepared himself specifically for this match-up during his short off-season. It was 7 minutes short of my prediction at 5 hours 53 minutes.)

Fed/Roddick (Wimbledon), Rafa/Verdasco, Sampras/Agassi (take your pick), Fed/Rafa (first of Rafa's wins), Lendl/Becker etc. were great finals.

This, this was something else altogether. In years to come you'll hear ridiculous hyperbole about this match, but it will all actually still fall short of what actually happened. It was a game of inches -- one net cord in the fifth set was going to be a straight forehand winner to Rafa and would have put him 5-2 up in the fifth, but it flew out instead off the net cord, Djokovic broke to get back on serve, and the rest is history. On such tiny margins are such contests decided. There was a third-shot volley in that fifth set that Rafa hit from just inside the baseline from his shoelaces (because Novak was returning so deep -- Rafa didn't even let it bounce). Between these guys and Fed, over the last 5 years they've taken tennis to a level never previously imagined. Championship winning shots in 2005 are not even good approach shots today, with the level they've taken tennis defence to. Passing shots from 5 metres behind the baseline aren't 'crazy' shots anymore, they're expected, necessary even, if you want to get to the top (hear that, Tomic?). We are witnessing the greatest era of tennis in history (Rafa/Fed's semi was the first time in history two men with more than 10 grand slams have played each other) These guys are redefining the new normal.

Epic is too small a word to describe what happened last night. It was 12-round, brutal, knockdown, barefisted, Ali-Frazier, break all the bones in your body mindf__k.

ps. Anyone still think Rafa is 'past his peak'? His forehand is still a work in progress (scary as that sounds) -- he's only started hitting it flatter and it will only improve over the rest of the year. He is also not as confident with his serve with his new heavier racket so he's been rolling it in more than usual, but when he starts hitting it flatter again he'll improve again. He's also as close to Novak as he's been in 12 months, and this was the last hurrah of Novak's domination, although he will remain the man to beat. Rafa will win the French playing like this, and Wimbledon and the US will be two more dogfights. Won't be surprised to see Fed or Murray in either final (especially the US -- I don't know if Rafa will last the year at this level) but my prediction is that Rafa and Novak will end up splitting at least the French and Wimbledon, and Novak will beat Murray or Fed in the US final.

[Bornadog]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

(I actually did expect this. Before the match I said to all and sundry that it would go for six hours, with 90 minute sets and 30 shot rallies. If you had watched the other games these guys have been playing, and the matches they played towards the end of last year, you knew that pattern was going to be crazy defence, long rallies, and neither of them was going to go away quietly, especially Rafa, who had prepared himself specifically for this match-up during his short off-season. It was 7 minutes short of my prediction at 5 hours 53 minutes.)

Fed/Roddick (Wimbledon), Rafa/Verdasco, Sampras/Agassi (take your pick), Fed/Rafa (first of Rafa's wins), Lendl/Becker etc. were great finals.

This, this was something else altogether. In years to come you'll hear ridiculous hyperbole about this match, but it will all actually still fall short of what actually happened. It was a game of inches -- one net cord in the fifth set was going to be a straight forehand winner to Rafa and would have put him 5-2 up in the fifth, but it flew out instead off the net cord, Djokovic broke to get back on serve, and the rest is history. On such tiny margins are such contests decided. There was a third-shot volley in that fifth set that Rafa hit from just inside the baseline from his shoelaces (because Novak was returning so deep -- Rafa didn't even let it bounce). Between these guys and Fed, over the last 5 years they've taken tennis to a level never previously imagined. Championship winning shots in 2005 are not even good approach shots today, with the level they've taken tennis defence to. Passing shots from 5 metres behind the baseline aren't 'crazy' shots anymore, they're expected, necessary even, if you want to get to the top (hear that, Tomic?). We are witnessing the greatest era of tennis in history (Rafa/Fed's semi was the first time in history two men with more than 10 grand slams have played each other) These guys are redefining the new normal.

Epic is too small a word to describe what happened last night. It was 12-round, brutal, knockdown, barefisted, Ali-Frazier, break all the bones in your body mindf__k.

ps. Anyone still think Rafa is 'past his peak'? His forehand is still a work in progress (scary as that sounds) -- he's only started hitting it flatter and it will only improve over the rest of the year. He is also not as confident with his serve with his new heavier racket so he's been rolling it in more than usual, but when he starts hitting it flatter again he'll improve again. He's also as close to Novak as he's been in 12 months, and this was the last hurrah of Novak's domination, although he will remain the man to beat. Rafa will win the French playing like this, and Wimbledon and the US will be two more dogfights. Won't be surprised to see Fed or Murray in either final (especially the US -- I don't know if Rafa will last the year at this level) but my prediction is that Rafa and Novak will end up splitting at least the French and Wimbledon, and Novak will beat Murray or Fed in the US final.

Best match I have ever seen, unbelievable tennis.

[westdog54]

Re: Official Australian Open thread 2012.

Best match I have ever seen, unbelievable tennis.

I couldn't have quoted Lantern's post and added anything of value, so I'll simply say this:

That was unbe-F***ing-lieveable. I don't think I will ever see anything like it again in any sporting context, quite simply extraordinary.