Australian Open 2009

THEmasterWAYNE · Post #21 » by **THEmasterWAYNE** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:03 am

Jelena Dokic is my pick to win the women's, and Nadal the men's.

leaguegod692 · Post #22 » by **leaguegod692** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 11:57 am

dokic won't win but **** me, she is back and better then ever

really happy for her, both for getting her personal like back on track (getting rid of that canver for a father damir ) and this run just tops it off

she has safina next, so the run will likely stop but still a great effort

AdamTheGreek · Post #23 » by **AdamTheGreek** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 4:49 pm

Marco put up a good fight in the end but he shot himself in the foot early.
Woke up at 7 a.m. to see the whole thing, no regrets. Crowd support was about what I expected.
Marco just couldn't get his shots to go, leading to a quick 1st set loss.
He gave Novak the 2nd set, Marco earned that and he just gave it back to Djokovic.
The 3rd set showed Marco fighting for his life and finally having some fun as he pulled out the 3rd to stay alive.
4th set, Marco missed 2 games where he should've broken Djokovic and then proceeded to get broken and thus having no hope left.

The first 3 sets, Djokovic wasn't doing anything special. He woke up at the right time in the 4th as he finally started to assert himself as he knew Marco was gonna pull a comeback if he didn't start putting some pressure on and make some huge shots.

Marco needs to stay fit and healthy now as he can have a great year with some luck and great health.

Holmes · Post #24 » by **Holmes** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 7:27 pm

Great run by Dokic. But she already looks exhausted going into the quarters.

Serena and Safina are head and shoulders above all others in terms of sheer power. Safina is ripped.

Dementieva has an absolute golden opportunity now with the lost of Jankovic. She has got to capitalize.

THEmasterWAYNE · Post #25 » by **THEmasterWAYNE** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:28 am

Safina is playing like crapola. Serena is kind of messy, can hit a plethora of unforced errors anyday. Dementieva has a troublesome serve that always prevents her.

Post #26 » by **Slava** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 8:34 am

So thats the end of Andy Murray. He looked all so impressive coming into the slam but he's proved again that he's still a 3 set player and not a 5 set guy. He was neither physically nor mentally strong enough to play in the 5th set. Credit to Verdasco though, he played a monster game in the last 2 sets.

So far, Nadal looks the most impressive of the mens' contenders. It'll take a special effort from anyone to beat him in a set much further a match.

THEmasterWAYNE · Post #27 » by **THEmasterWAYNE** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 1:36 am

Yeah lets not forget that Nadal almost made the US OPEN Final despite being extremely tired after playing double the number of matches everyone else played last year (as happens when you don't lose) including the Olympic Gold. He led 2-0 in the 4th set in that semi v Murray but then looked truly tired. So now a 100% fresh Nadal is obviously moving better and finishing better. Nadal won more hardcourt matches than anyone last year and we are seeing why.

As for Murray I'm not really surprised he lost, because despite having a great hardcourt game he is prone to unforced errors at times. Whereas Nadal has a much neater game, he won't hit unforced errors, so to beat him you have to hit clean winners.

Ong_dynasty · Post #28 » by **Ong_dynasty** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:46 pm

Did anybody see federer head the ball?!?!lol!

Post #29 » by **BlackMamba** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 3:46 pm

got to see the recap on the roddick-djokovic game, it seems it was an entertaining match with both players playing more with their physical side than their tennis side and with that heat!

and then i watched the last set of federed-del potro and wow! federer looked absolutely dominant and really never gave del potro a chance of something.

if both roddick and federer play like their quarter finals match we will see a very good game. but remember, federer is 15-2 vs. roddick and i think he will be 16-2.

so, are we on the verge of the first federer-nadal final of the year?

Post #30 » by **Rich Rane** » Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:12 pm

BlackMamba wrote:got to see the recap on the roddick-djokovic game, it seems it was an entertaining match with both players playing more with their physical side than their tennis side and with that heat!

Recorded 129 degrees Fahrenheit on the court in the 4th set. Djokovic after the first few games of the second set wasn't the same. Roddick looked like he could've played 5 sets.

Post #31 » by **Rich Rane** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:01 am

Serena is a warrior. Anyone see her against Kuznetsova?

WEFFPIM · Post #32 » by **WEFFPIM** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:41 pm

Rich Rane wrote:Serena is a warrior. Anyone see her against Kuznetsova?

She was a warrior when they closed the roof.

Holmes · Post #33 » by **Holmes** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:56 pm

Kuznetsova gave it away like she always does. 3 points away from winning a dominant 2nd set only to lose 11 of the next 12 games. Disgusting. Exactly how the old dude color commentator predicted at the end of the 1st set, "Kuzzy will find a way to lose".

Can't wait for Dementieva vs Williams matchup. Go Dementieva.

Post #34 » by **Rich Rane** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 9:07 pm

WEFFPIM wrote:
Rich Rane wrote:Serena is a warrior. Anyone see her against Kuznetsova?

She was a warrior when they closed the roof.

Nevertheless, she's one of the most clutch players on both tours. One of the players you could never count out even if it was match point for her opponent.

a-rod · Post #35 » by **a-rod** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 10:16 pm

^ indeed, serena showed the heart of a champion that drives her to keep fighting for every point, Kuznetsova she was crumbling under pressure, but exactly why was as baffling to her as it was to all those looking on. Isn't pressure supposed to bring out the best in us? we try harder, we concentrate harder, we get a boost of adrenaline, we care more about how well we perform, so what was happening to her?

now that marion bartoli, Kuznetsova and Jankovic are out, I'm rooting for serena to win it all.

Jankovic still without grand slam title???!!

THEmasterWAYNE · Post #36 » by **THEmasterWAYNE** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:19 am

Notice how in the RAFA v Simon quarter-final, RAFA made the tacticool decision to never hit a flat backhand. Back in October last year Simon beat RAFA because everytime RAFA hit a flat backhand Simon would smack it for a forehand winner. This time RAFA didn't give him the chance, RAFA hit either topsin backhand or slice backhand everytime. Brilliant problem-solving skills. RAFA sacrificed his usual 20+ backhand winners for safety and it gave him a straight-sets victory. Next up is Verdasco, and that is a player RAFA will use the flat backhand with, to bully him around. Verdasco recently dumped the innocent cutie Ana Ivanovic. So I look forward to RAFA putting this punk in his place, or as Jim Courier would say 'beating him like a red-headed step-child'.

Post #37 » by **Rich Rane** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:30 am

Tough loss for Dementieva. I was going for her so she could win her first slam. Serena was just on though.

TheMartian · Post #38 » by **TheMartian** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:34 pm

Looks like we're headed for another Roger-Rafa finals. Roger always seems rattled when facing Rafa. He should realize that the only thing keeping him from beating Nadal is himself. Not to discredit Rafa - he's the future of tennis - but in their last two meetings in Roland Garros and in Wimbledon Roger made a ton of unforced errors which could have led to a different outcome if he hadn't committed them. It's all in the mind of Roger. He has to believe he can beat Nadal. I certainly believe he can if he puts his mind to it.

Post #39 » by **BlackMamba** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:18 pm

yes, i agree, federer still has the pressure on him, and that doesn't help.

i'm almost sure nadal will make it to the final, but verdasco has looked pretty good so far, i wouln't be surprised if he makes it to the final.

has there every been a year in history where the same 2 guys play the GS finals?

Ong_dynasty · Post #40 » by **Ong_dynasty** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:00 pm

BlackMamba wrote:yes, i agree, federer still has the pressure on him, and that doesn't help.

i'm almost sure nadal will make it to the final, but verdasco has looked pretty good so far, i wouln't be surprised if he makes it to the final.

has there every been a year in history where the same 2 guys play the GS finals?

Lol I was actually asking my friend what he thinks the odds would be for such a thing.