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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007

    2018 Australian Open

    Put thoughts in here about the season's first Slam. We are through 2 rounds, and there are 32 players remaining in each draw.

    On the women's side, I feel like 20 of those 32 players could win it all. With Serena not back yet, parity is the name of the game. Looking forward to Kerber - Sharapova tomorrow.

    On the men's side, it looks like it could be a repeat of last year's final, another Federer-Nadal matchup. In Nadal's half, I think it would be Kyrgios who would throw a wrench in that prediction. The Aussie is getting a lot of hype this year to go far in his home Slam, and it would be nice to see him live up to his talent. In Federer's half, the big name to watch is 6-time champ Djokovic, of course. But this is his first tournament played in a long time coming off of injury, but then again, that was also the case with Federer and Nadal last year. (Coming back from injury is tough, though. I don't know that we should just assume that Federer and Nadal's success last year can be easily repeated. Stan Wawrinka, for example, lost in the 2nd round yesterday after his injury return.)

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Very interested in the match between young guns Alexander Zverev and Hyeon Chung tomorrow as well.

    Zverev is a bright young star (way ahead in U21 points) but just can't seem to do well in majors, so far. Chung is 11 months older and has come on strong over the past year and would love to beat fellow "next gen" player Zverev.

  3. #3
    I haven’t watched at all. Any thoughts on how Djokovic is playing?

    I was shocked to see that he is seeded 14. With the layoff, I suppose I shouldn’t be, but it is an odd sight.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    It's always weird watching this tournament in the middle of the Australian summer, while in the midst of a North Carolina winter.

    We even have snow on the ground outside, with people having heat stoke on the Samsung.

    And the heat has been brutal. They were quoting courtside temperatures in the 150F range last night.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Greenville, SC
    Quote Originally Posted by jimsumner View Post
    It's always weird watching this tournament in the middle of the Australian summer, while in the midst of a North Carolina winter.

    We even have snow on the ground outside, with people having heat stoke on the Samsung.

    And the heat has been brutal. They were quoting courtside temperatures in the 150F range last night.
    With the brutal cold we've been getting around here it makes sense (though not necessarily cause/effect sense) that the opposite side of the globe would be roasting.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by cato View Post
    I haven’t watched at all. Any thoughts on how Djokovic is playing?

    I was shocked to see that he is seeded 14. With the layoff, I suppose I shouldn’t be, but it is an odd sight.
    Novak has been far from dominant with lots of unforced errors BUT I don't think he looks any worse than last year's Nadal and Federer in the early rounds. (The heat was also probably a factor). The idea is to ramp up and be at his best for the later rounds, and I think he'll receive some help there when Chung takes out Zverev tomorrow who otherwise would be a Sweet 16 opponent.

    Novak's been using a new service motion that supposedly takes pressure off the injured elbow. We'll see.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Maggie Valley, NC
    Trouble - thanks for getting this going.

    Haven't watched yet, but am getting interested.

    And in addition to the matches that Trouble has highlighted and is looking forward to, I'm excited about:

    * First off, Federer vs Gasquet in the 3rd round - a battle of beautiful (one handed) backhands. Assume that is Saturday early AM so looking to get up for that one.

    * Sort of interested to see Nadal vs Dzumhur in the 3rd round, too. Had 4th row seats to watch Dzumhur in the semis of the Winston-Salem Open last August. A speedy little guy who can cover all over the court. Just think he won't have any/many weapons of offense against Nadal.

    * Dmitrov - A. Rublev should be good, too. Dmitrov almost went out 1st round to the reigning NCAA champ. Hopefully Rublev can get his old school serve & volley game going.

    * Personally, I just can't get behind all the chatter of Kyrgios making a deep run. Think his tournament is over at the hands of Tsonga next round.


    Again, thanks to Trouble for getting this going. Maybe you can set up an AOTennis Betting Contest on Covers!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Maggie Valley, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Green Wave Dukie View Post
    Trouble - thanks for getting this going.

    Haven't watched yet, but am getting interested.

    And in addition to the matches that Trouble has highlighted and is looking forward to, I'm excited about:

    * First off, Federer vs Gasquet in the 3rd round - a battle of beautiful (one handed) backhands. Assume that is Saturday early AM so looking to get up for that one.

    * Sort of interested to see Nadal vs Dzumhur in the 3rd round, too. Had 4th row seats to watch Dzumhur in the semis of the Winston-Salem Open last August. A speedy little guy who can cover all over the court. Just think he won't have any/many weapons of offense against Nadal.

    * Dmitrov - A. Rublev should be good, too. Dmitrov almost went out 1st round to the reigning NCAA champ. Hopefully Rublev can get his old school serve & volley game going.

    * Personally, I just can't get behind all the chatter of Kyrgios making a deep run. Think his tournament is over at the hands of Tsonga next round.


    Again, thanks to Trouble for getting this going. Maybe you can set up an AOTennis Betting Contest on Covers!!

    Well, had a brain fart there and thought it was Mischa Rublev playing against Dmitrov and not his brother Alexander. Should still be an excellent match.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Green Wave Dukie View Post
    Well, had a brain fart there and thought it was Mischa Rublev playing against Dmitrov and not his brother Alexander. Should still be an excellent match.
    It's worse than that, my friend. You're thinking of the Zverev brothers. But it's Andrey Rublev, a hard hitting Russian with little net game at this point in his career, who is playing Dimitrov tonight.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Maggie Valley, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Green Wave Dukie View Post

    * Sort of interested to see Nadal vs Dzumhur in the 3rd round, too. Had 4th row seats to watch Dzumhur in the semis of the Winston-Salem Open last August. A speedy little guy who can cover all over the court. Just think he won't have any/many weapons of offense against Nadal.
    Well, in the highlights I saw, Dzumhur got run all over the place by Nadal and got basically run out of the tournament. And Kyrgios took down Tsonga in 4 tough sets.

    Looking forward to Federer - Gasquet early tomorrow/Saturday morning.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Troublemaker View Post
    Novak has been far from dominant with lots of unforced errors BUT I don't think he looks any worse than last year's Nadal and Federer in the early rounds. (The heat was also probably a factor). The idea is to ramp up and be at his best for the later rounds, and I think he'll receive some help there when Chung takes out Zverev tomorrow who otherwise would be a Sweet 16 opponent.

    Novak's been using a new service motion that supposedly takes pressure off the injured elbow. We'll see.
    Yep, yep. The 4 seed goes down to Chung, who fed him a bagel in the 5th set.

    Djokovic looked really good for the first time, imo, against Vinolas. Would be a huge upset for the Fed-Djoker semifinal not to take place at this point.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2014
    Location
    Maggie Valley, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Troublemaker View Post
    Yep, yep. The 4 seed goes down to Chung, who fed him a bagel in the 5th set.

    Djokovic looked really good for the first time, imo, against Vinolas. Would be a huge upset for the Fed-Djoker semifinal not to take place at this point.
    Well called, Trouble.

    Thought Federer looked really solid this morning against Gasquet. Some classic backhand rallies.

    During the match, Johnny-Mac made a comment that was startling. Apparently, and I say that cause even he seemed a bit unsure of it, Federer has lost more matches while holding a match point -17 - than anyone else in tennis history. I guess with as long as he has played, how consistently he has progressed to the later rounds of a tournament and therefore played so many more matches than most players, and how many match points he has had (the great, great majority of which he has won, I guess it is not that surprising. Interesting and startling, nonetheless.

    I'm starting to believe in one of your other predictions - Kyrgios. Think he might take down #3 seed Dimitrov tonight/tomorrow morning.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Green Wave Dukie View Post
    Well called, Trouble.

    Thought Federer looked really solid this morning against Gasquet. Some classic backhand rallies.

    During the match, Johnny-Mac made a comment that was startling. Apparently, and I say that cause even he seemed a bit unsure of it, Federer has lost more matches while holding a match point -17 - than anyone else in tennis history. I guess with as long as he has played, how consistently he has progressed to the later rounds of a tournament and therefore played so many more matches than most players, and how many match points he has had (the great, great majority of which he has won, I guess it is not that surprising. Interesting and startling, nonetheless.

    I'm starting to believe in one of your other predictions - Kyrgios. Think he might take down #3 seed Dimitrov tonight/tomorrow morning.
    I suspect the number of matches won by Federer would closely correlate to the number of match points he's won.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Santa Cruz CA
    Quote Originally Posted by Troublemaker View Post
    Yep, yep. The 4 seed goes down to Chung, who fed him a bagel in the 5th set.

    Djokovic looked really good for the first time, imo, against Vinolas. Would be a huge upset for the Fed-Djoker semifinal not to take place at this point.
    Watched that last set last night. Hadn't seen the earlier action, but Zverev had nothing left. He only won 5 points in the whole set.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Green Wave Dukie View Post
    During the match, Johnny-Mac made a comment that was startling. Apparently, and I say that cause even he seemed a bit unsure of it, Federer has lost more matches while holding a match point -17 - than anyone else in tennis history. I guess with as long as he has played, how consistently he has progressed to the later rounds of a tournament and therefore played so many more matches than most players, and how many match points he has had (the great, great majority of which he has won, I guess it is not that surprising. Interesting and startling, nonetheless.
    According to this, it's actually 18 losses for Federer when he's held a match point. Among the Big 4 it's 7 for Nadal, 5 for Murray and only 2 for Djoker. Compared to their respective overall records:

    Fed: 1135 wins, 98.44% winning pct when holding match point
    Nadal: 876 wins, 99.21%
    Murray: 655 wins, 99.24%
    Djokovic: 786 wins, 99.75%

    So it's not just opportunities, Fed has lost those matches at a higher rate then these guys, but it's obviously a very thin margin between them. Each of them except Djoker has lost after having 5 match points, and his two losses both came after having 3 match points.

    It also shows wins after facing match point, and Fed is similarly the leader with 17, compared to 13 for Nadal, 12 for Djoker and 11 for Murray.
    Demented and sad, but social, right?

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Top half still chalky as Nadal, Cilic, and Dimitrov all advance to the quarters. Only Edmund breaks up the high-seed path of that foursome.

    Thiem, Djokovic, Berdych, and Federer all look primed to advance tonight.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by Green Wave Dukie View Post
    I'm starting to believe in one of your other predictions - Kyrgios. Think he might take down #3 seed Dimitrov tonight/tomorrow morning.
    Alas, Kyrgios went down to Dimitrov last night (this morning) in 4 tight sets.

    I would say I'm wrong about Kyrgios being the only threat to Nadal in that half of the bracket. Dimitrov could definitely do it with his wonderful defense. He's played Nadal close recently, including the 5-setter at last year's Aussie.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Federer’s draw just got much easier, as both Thiem and Djokovic were upset. This means his match against Berdych will be the only seed he will face before the Finals.

    The other side of the draw still has Nadal, Cilic, and Dimitrov.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    I was able to watch a good bit of the Chung/Djokovic match this morning. I'm not a big fan of the big players with big serves who end so many their points quickly (probably the reason I enjoy watching the women play more). The Chung/Djokovic match was fun to watch. Lots of long rally's, hustle and great shots to win points. I know Djokovic isn't himself right now but I still enjoyed seeing the young underdog win.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Chung again! Taking out Djokovic this time. This one was a surprise to me because Chung is stylistically a young Djokovic and would've had to beat Djoker at his own game, which he did manage to do. If anyone's seen Chung play, the similarities to Novak's game are striking, especially the Gumby-like stretches out wide.

    I feel bad for Novak, who had to call the trainer on his elbow during the match. It seems like after 6 months off, the problem there remains.


    Mike DicksonVerified account @Mike_Dickson_DM 3h3 hours ago
    Djokovic: Elbow 'not great'. 'It's frustrating when you have that much time and you don't heal properly'.' I have to reassess everything'.


    Stuart FraserVerified account @stu_fraser 3h3 hours ago
    Novak Djokovic answers a question on his right elbow: "It's not great. At the end of the first set it started hurting more. I had to deal with it till the end of the match."


    With that said, it was still a great performance by the youngster Chung. I'll be interested to see how he, Shapovalov, Zverev, and Kyrgios develop into the future.

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