AUSSIE OPEN 2016

draws are out

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf
http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ws/wsdraw.pdf

pospisil/simon is a really good rd 1 match

lol tomic just ret'd to gabishvilli in sydney

he has istomin rd 1 not that easy

Exciting stuff. Wonder what Vika will do.

assuming Tomic's injury was (weather, couldn't be arsed with the tournament any more).

Djokovic/Chung and Murray/Zverev - AO so tough on the youngsters.

Serena/Giorgi ooooohhhhh, not that bashers are the types she struggles with. Could be lots of young talent in her path, Ostapenko then Kasatkina, then BFF Wozniacki, then in the QF...really hope we finally get the Bencic/Sharapova R4 match to decide that (well...I hope Sharapova loses R1 to Hibino, but you know).

Venus/Konta! Their match in Wuhan last year was so good. Neither of them have won a match in 2016 yet...

Azarenka/Muguruza scheduled to meet in R4, and their section has Svitolina, Garcia, Crawford and Lucic-Baroni as well.

Kohlschreiber/Nishikori looks like a great R1 too...

Ostapenko/Hsieh and Gasparyan/Errani should be nice stylistic contrasts in R1.

tbqh I haven't done my predictions carefully yet but I can't see anyone keeping Azarenka from the final. I wonder how bad Muguruza's injury really was.

Notable losses in qualifying for

- injured 45yo Date-Krumm :(
- Schiavone, who lost to Razzano and now fails to tie Ai Sugiyama's record for most consecutive Slam MDs played
- 17yo Frances Tiafoe - came through an all-US teenager Q1 vs Donaldson but then lost tamely to Gojowczyk
- deaf 17yo Duckhee Lee, playing his first Slam qualies, lost to Roca Batalla
- Naomi Broady (as if that Hobart run wasn't a fluke)

Still alive in the final round

- NAOMI OSAKA! My favourite huge-hitting Japanese-Haitian 18yo who never played juniors. Coming for the WTA this year
- Resurgent Tamira Paszek
- Former junior #1 Ivana Jorovic
- Anastasija Sevastova continuing her stellar comeback
- Michelle Larcher de Brito in her first event since Wimbledon

- 18yo Taylor Fritz, who's won three Challengers since the US Open and looks sort of unstoppable at this level
- 19yo Karen Khachanov, who made that splash in Moscow a couple of years ago

SveKuz

More in the "Sydney International tournament organisers are a bunch of dickwads" - defending champion Troicki wasn't placed on centre court until the final and he's pretty pissed about it, and fair enough. Like, sure, not a big name, but when someone is the defending champion, they deserve to be plonked on centre at least once before the final. Not quite as shabby treatment as Pironkova not even getting a WC as defending champion that year, but believe me, despite Everyone's Attempts To Make Dimitrov happen, and his bing touted in the local press etc as the second fucking coming, which he isn't - nobody cares about him in particular either here.

KUMKHUM QUALIFIED AND DREW KVITOVA AGAIN LOLLLLLLL

Naomi Osaka making her Slam debut as well :D Taylor Fritz too.

didnt realize they slotted fritz v sock o_o

i watched some of di wu qualifying, looked good but idk couldve been playing sum chump

Wu has a nice game but it's a bit low-wattage.

I was going to go to Melbourne next weekend and see some of this live again but ugh finances took a hit because of wisdom teeth surgery fml so I might try to come to Wimbledon instead

lololololol "tennis" "expert" "Jon" Wertheim has picked Tomic to make the semifinals

lmk if you do come to Wim!

predix!
(1) Serena Williams d. Daria Kasatkina*
(16) Caroline Wozniacki d. (WC) Océane Dodin
(12) Belinda Bencic d. (23) Svetlana Kuznetsova**
(5) Maria Sharapova d. (26) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska d. Monica Puig
(24) Sloane Stephens d. (Q) Tamira Paszek***
(10) Carla Suarez Navarro d. Monica Niculescu
Daria Gavrilova d. Dominika Cibulkova****
(7) Angelique Kerber d. Johanna Larsson
(19) Jelena Jankovic d. Katerina Siniakova*****
(14) Victoria Azarenka d. (Q) Naomi Osaka******
(32) Caroline Garcia d. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni*******
Johanna Konta d. Denisa Allertova********
Julia Goerges d. (21) Ekaterina Makarova*********
(Q) Anastasija Sevastova d. (15) Madison Keys
(2) Simona Halep d. Varvara Lepchenko**********

S.Williams d. Wozniacki
Sharapova d. Bencic
A.Radwanska d. Stephens
Suarez Navarro d. Gavrilova***********
Kerber d. Jankovic
Azarenka d. Garcia
Konta d. Goerges
Halep d. Sevastova

S.Williams d. Sharapova
A.Radwanska d. Suarez Navarro
Azarenka d. Kerber
Halep d. Konta

S.Williams d. A.Radwanska
Azarenka d. Halep

S.Williams d. Azarenka

*the 1997-born generation is the best in some years; there are five representatives in the draw and three of them have ended up in this section. It'll be interesting to see Ostapenko and Kasatkina (or possibly Konjuh) go up against Serena
**I know how good Kuznetsova looked winning Sydney last week, but I have no confidence that she can do it two weeks running and I've seen Bencic totally dismantle her before
***Wouldn't it be something if Paszek could finally put together a consistent year of her best tennis? She was dominant in qualies and has a 2-0 H2H lead over her R1 opponent Vinci
****yes, I fully expect Kumkhum to reprise her hilarious 2014 win over Kvitova, but even if she doesn't Gavrilova will grind the No 6 seed (who is ill AGAIN) out
*****Bacsinszky seems to have turned into a walking bye; 19yo Siniakova backslid in the second half of 2015 but I expect her to resume her rise this year
******The 18yo Japanese-Haitian Osaka is COMING for the Tour this year. Best Newcomer award awaits in 10 months. Huge, huge game, great temperament. Interestingly, she completely skipped junior tennis, and it doesn't seem to have done her any harm
*******Not sure how serious Muguruza's injury is but this is a bit of a nightmare section of hard hitters who can randomly peak
********Venus vs Konta R1 decides the QFist, I think. Bit of a toss-up - they played a thriller in Wuhan a few months ago when they were both in top form, but Venus now has an injury cloud over her while Konta seems to have fallen off a bit; neither won a match in the warm-ups
*********I don't trust Pliskova in Slams
**********Halep's quarter is so soft, full of seeds who are injured or in terrible form
***********Feels strange picking CSN to actually do something in a Slam after she flopped in every one last year but she has made the QF here before

(1) Novak Djokovic d. (28) Andreas Seppi*
(14) Gilles Simon d. Federico Delbonis
(9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga d. (17) Benoît Paire
(7) Kei Nishikori d. (Q) Daniel Brands
(3) Roger Federer d. (27) Grigor Dimitrov
(19) Dominic Thiem d. Kyle Edmund**
Borna Coric d. (24) Roberto Bautista Agut***
(29) Nick Kyrgios d. (6) Tomas Berdych
(5) Rafael Nadal d. Andrey Kuznetsov
(23) Gaël Monfils d. (11) Kevin Anderson****
(13) Milos Raonic d. (21) Viktor Troicki*****
(4) Stan Wawrinka d. (Q) Taylor Fritz******
(WC) James Duckworth d. Aljaz Bedene*******
Jerzy Janowicz d. (Q) Daniel Evans
(16) Bernard Tomic d. (20) Fabio Fognini
(2) Andy Murray d. (32) João Sousa

Djokovic d. Simon
Tsonga d. Nishikori********
Federer d. Thiem
Kyrgios d. Coric
Nadal d. Monfils
Wawrinka d. Raonic
Janowicz d. Duckworth*********
Murray d. Tomic

Djokovic d. Tsonga
Kyrgios d. Federer**********
Nadal d. Wawrinka
Murray d. Janowicz

Djokovic d. Kyrgios
Murray d. Nadal

Djokovic d. Murray

*Between the Djokovic/Chung and Murray/Zverev R1s, the AO hasn't exactly been kind to the ATP's young guns this year
**sort of expect Edmund to finish what he started against Goffin in the Davis Cup final
***time for Coric to make some noise in a Slam, he beat Bautista Agut in Chennai and he can outgrind his more erratic countryman Cilic
****neither of these two are in great form but this is a very soft section
*****meanwhile, two of this year's titlists get each other in R3
******18yo Fritz's rise looks pretty unstoppable right now; that's a very intriguing R1 for The Future Of US Tennis against Sock, who was The Future Of US Tennis in 2013. I saw Fritz at RG last year in juniors and he has a confidence bordering on arrogance about his abilities
*******It'll be an inevitable and tedious five-setter obviously but Duckworth should FINALLY, at long last, end Hewitt's career for good
********I feel like Nishikori hasn't quite recovered from losing that ridiculous RG QF against Tsonga last year
*********this is the "well, someone has to come through it" section
**********on the basis that if a clay novice Kyrgios could beat Federer in a third-set TB in Madrid last year, I don't see why he can't do it in front of his home crowd this year. Yes, it's a Slam - and Kyrgios clearly peaks at Slams

Some pessimistic fans say Maria's on MCA because she might retire like USO. Hopefully not.

GOOD LUCK SERENA LOVE U

**********Halep's quarter is so soft, full of seeds who are injured or in terrible form

she's losing r2 to cornet tho <3

nice timing for match-fixing stories to arise again

eurosport player lasted two (2) games before freezing

fucking useless

had no idea that Swiss Slam debutante Viktorija Golubic had a 1H BH, and she's playing CSN now too! sadly the match is otherwise not up to much

wtf coric

lol Stephens

lol Wozniacki. That last set was as pure comedy as you could hope for, and I'm glad I got home from work nice and early to see it. Basically, Woz's forehand was hilarious, her movement was probably hampered and she was run ragged by Putintseva drop-shotting constantly, even when it wasn't a good idea. Like, she actually returned a rapidly descending Woz moonball with not a smash but a drop-shot without it bouncing. If her actual game was 50% as feisty as her temperament then she would have won that set 6-1 instea of 6-4.

PUTINTSEVA!!!!!!!!!! Amazing. Gonna have to watch highlights of that.

wtf happened to Coric? terrible scoreline, terrible loss.

multiple women's seeds (Pavlyuchenkova and Errani) losing after winning opening-set breadsticks - when I went to bed Gasparyan was hitting through Errani more and tbh Pavs getting ground down by Davis is no shock. lol @ Slam Stephens striking again. Wang Qiang is a good ball-striker but so one-dimensional.

Kyle Edmund lost 16 76 46 63 61 to Dzumhur - second consecutive five-setter he's played a blistering start and totally faded by the end, this is no way to make up for the DC final

Paire is wearing a popped collar, one black shoe and one pink shoe, and is playing tragically against Noah Rubin

I know Melbourne bills itself as a cosmopolitan, almost-European city (it's not, fuck off), but Paire would only have to get a train about 20 minutes away from where he is to be in serious danger of being beaten up for wearing what he's wearing.

Bouchard is wearing the shortest dress I have ever seen on a tennis court and I lived through the Golovin era

The dress is probably shorter than the actual Golovin era itself

Konjuh just came back from 06 03 down to win the second set 64 over U-Rad

Tried to watch Jasika/Marchenko, lasted 5 minutes because Australian fans are unbearable at 9am

@BenRothenberg 22m22 minutes ago
"Not a good player, but I was very bad today...Yes, he's not a very good player. I was worse than him today" -Benoit Paire onRubin. #AusOpen

Paire is correct that he was very bad today

the shiny back zip on Dimitrov's pink tank top is the gay cherry on top

oh and Konjuh completed her comeback from 06 03 down in style

KrisPlis trying her best to choke against Stosur but it's impossible to do that in Australia. Some of the shanks in the TB...

Baghdatis has a man bun and the commentator for that match is fucking Henri Laconte. My TV is either going to get switched off or punched.

Hopefully this works - here's the preposterous dropper off moonball from Putintseva:
https://youtu.be/kg0KMzb1qaQ?t=70

Hon and Inglis get the AUS women's WCs off to their usual sparkling start: three games won and a bagel eaten by each. Hon losing like that to BECK is particularly bad.

Keys/Diyas played an abysmal first set. Like, imagine the worst stereotype of a retriever hitting everything back to the centre of the court vs the worst stereotype of a basher whaling everything long. Keys got lucky to win it, she was three SPs down and her shanked smash just clipped the line.

Kuznetsov dragging Harrison with some lovely flat shots, another unlucky draw for Ryan??

venus is getting destroyed

this ernie/chardy 5th set is wild

FeVerrrrr

fucking amazing performance!

fuck, I thought Verdasco was gone down 0-2 in the fifth. Got home just in time to see him win the 4th in a breaker, then.. wow.. Nadal dropped a bit, served not so well but some of those winners were just ridiculous. That 179km/h forehand was swoon-worthy

Zhang Shuai, whom you might know is 0-14 in Slam matches, is up 4-0 over Halep.

(I predict a 7-5 6-1 win for Halep anyway)

Gulbis/Chardy is the first match to make me hate AO time zones

Venus was sort of a sitting duck given how hampered she looked in Auckland

VERDASCO! Turned that clock all the way back. That clean return winner on MP must have gone a long way to exorcising the demons of the DF down MP in 2009. THE DECLINE CONTINUES TO BE REAL. Monfils's draw has tumbled open as a result

Very heartbreaking watching little Misaki Doi push another seed all the way but fail to put her away

Pretty happy that Dan Evans got trashed

meanwhile, Jovanovski's 2016 so far has gone:

06 36 vs Friedsam
06 06 vs Cepede Royg
16 06 vs Cornet

lmao Zhang Shuai finally wins a Slam match at her 15th go and it's over HALEP. Takes it with a FH DTL winner!

Shuai is crying, what a way to break that terrible record

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING WAWRINKA I CAN'T MY EYES OH GOD

Vika double bagel

That final quarter in the women's draw vacated by Simona and Venus...wide fucking open. Makarova's looked good despite her lay-off and peaks at Slams? Pliskova to finally make a Slam second week? Goerges seems to be playing well? Konta? Keys even though she looked like a mess against Diyas? Low-key rooting for Arruabarrena or Zheng Saisai

looool halep didn't even make it to r2 to lose to cornet
she is so useless

watching the re-air, verdasco is playing exactly how fognini beat rafa @ usopen, everythings a winner or error

oh look, Sweta's peak didn't last into a second consecutive tournament, what a shock

wonder how many basic jokes were made as Berdych was bagelling Mirza Basic

Well Bouchard had that set in her pocket and then gave it away to A Rad.

Radwanska reeled her in with a couple of tight games then Bouchard collapsed. And then tried to fight back at the end to no avail.

Niculescu also confounding Kulichkova with her clever shots...

Virtual bagel for Aga :)

lol that must have been embarrassing for the umpire, overrules on MP in Bouchard's favour only for Aga's challenge to prove him wrong

Well that was.. better than last year's shambles for Bouchard, probably. Hope the Genie Army didn't book hotel rooms for the whole fortnight.

Niculescu/Kulichkova is sort of brilliant, fascinating to see Kulichkova try to deal with...everything Niculescu does, and alternately succeed and fail

And ultimately succeed, impressively. Good shot at CSN next.

Puig and KrisPlis going the distance, 7-7 in the 3rd...Puig just saved two MPs in the last game

Dasha's taken the first set against Petra

Pliskova way too passive in that last game

It's really easy to see why Kristyna hasn't had any of her twin's success. That lazy FH scoop she does whenever she's made to move on that side...

NID that Puig would celebrate as though she'd just won a Slam!

That absolutely nothingy FH slice error from Kristyna on her 4th MP was lol.
Puig saved 5 in total.

Bouchard/Radwanska was kind of nice quality I thought.

Kvitova's volleys... I don't even know.

Kvitova completely imploding now

Gavrilova is a hoot. Kvitova is as useless as ever. Knew it was coming as soon as she said she was ill two weeks ago, ready-made excuse

siiiiiiiigh

such an unforgivable 15-15 DF in the last game.

lmao Gavrilova choked but Petra was having NONE of it

Petra looked tired, and she was also mostly Shitra independent of that.

I'm glad she decided to flop to someone I like this time though.

He's half my age but would sex Quentin Halys so fucking hard. He actually broke Djokovic once! (He broke Nadal twice in Paris last year. I saw that one live and he's good.)

yeah I hope Halys becomes a regular fixture on my TV.

Petra will never change, she doesn't have embarrassing losses any more, she has wholly expected ones

At least she has won a couple of slams #trashConsolation

I'll accept her terrible career as long as she finishes with more slams than Wozniacki, which she will. If I can deal with the general appalling shittiness of Li when she wasn't playing well, I can deal with Petra winning one slam every three years, randomly peaking at like Madrid or Wuhan and then being dreadful for the rest of time, then that's life.

Li's career arc was so unusual that I honestly considered her reaching her peak at all a bit of a bonus. Considering her time out and constant injuries we're lucky we had her at all, and I don't think there's anything to regret about her career.

Petra, well she probably won't regret anything tbh.

incidentally, if anyone's wondering where Taylor Townsend and Laura Robson are this week, the answer is: ranked 378 and 556 respectively, and losing in 25K qualies in Florida to 17-year-olds. Yes, 25K qualies.

:( i always liked robson

im glad it looks like fila gear fits isner a little better his former giant baggy polos were p bad sometimes

what the hell, isner/granny just had a 42-shot rally

& it was mostly just easy mid-pace slices backandforth

lmao that sounds hilariously bad

Naomi Osaka into R3! Knew she could beat Svitolina, let's see what she can do against Azarenka.

Amazed Keys/Ivanovic didn't get upset. Annoying that one of them will make R4 or better with the shit form they're in.

oh and Verdasco losing to Sela after the Rafa upset is bad even by his wholly expected standards

Kuznetsov's BH is such a great shot

his volleys are pretty awful though :/

lmao @ Chardy dumping a BH slice halfway up the net SP down, so predictable

luvvvvv Kuznetsov's groundstrokes

Thought Hewitt retired

i <3 having german ES bc i get to watch dulgheru/kerber and bacsinszky/beck instead of hewitt

nice win for Kuznetsov, with the obligatory Chardy DF to set up match point

5-5 in the third set TB, Chardy DFs and then tries to go for a ridiculous winner off a Kuznetsov second serve, bashes it into the bottom of the net

Thought Hewitt retired

pretending he has. WILL HE NEVER EVER FUCK OFF

this is his last fucking tournament right?

or is it just his last year

https://twitter.com/tumcarayol/status/690121133673336832

an appropriate note to end his career (PLEASE) on

And that's that.

GOOD RIDDANCE

Q. Are you surprised by that? You always act like you're surprised when there's lots of Japanese fans behind you.
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, because before, when I like -- I always, always think like they think I -- what am I saying? Okay. I always think that they're surprised that I'm Japanese. So like the fact that there was like Japanese flags and stuff, it was like really touching.

Q. Do you feel like you have been embraced by Japanese fans, Japanese media, all that?
NAOMI OSAKA: Yeah, yeah. It's really cool.

Q. You always makes fans excited with your play, but we rarely see you very excited. Even after you won the match you behave very, you know, reserved and you look very calm. Can we see you, you know, fist pump or something in the future?
NAOMI OSAKA: Oh, I do that on the court, though. I'm just like a really -- I don't want to say lazy, but if I don't have to show emotion, I'm just not gonna. I'm happy. Just genetically my face is like this. I'm sorry. (Laughter.)

Q. Similar to that, a lot of the people have been impressed by your composure on the court. Deep down are you just seething inside, or is there a lot more roiling underneath the surface or are you that composed?
NAOMI OSAKA: No. In my brain I'm going, Oh, my God, why about like 90% of the time.

But, you know, I feel like I try to smile sometimes just so I don't throw my racquet. I'm not sure if I threw my racquet today.

But, yeah, like I don't feel like I'm composed. I keep hearing people say that, but I'm like, Whoa, okay.

Q. So is your smile your version of a racquet throw?
NAOMI OSAKA: Wait, yeah. Wait, wait. Sometimes I'm like actually smiling.

Q. You said you didn't expect to be in the third round, but how do you shift your expectations when you make it there and then you play a top 15 player like Vika?
NAOMI OSAKA: Well, okay, I don't know. I feel like there's something wrong with me because I don't get excited or anything that much.

<333333

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2016/01/21/victoria-azarenka-introduces-dabbing-down-under/79102972/

so round 3 all set...

- 18 women's seeds out. 6 men's seeds out.
- Two qualifiers left in each draw - two Asian women (Osaka, Zhang), two French men (Herbert, Robert)
- all-unseeded battles for a spot in the second week: Gasparyan vs Putintseva, Siegemund vs Beck, Konta vs Allertova on the women's side; Sela vs Kuznetsov on the men's
- brewing upsets imo: Kulichkova over CSN, Gavrilova over Mladenovic, Thiem over Goffin, Kyrgios over Berdych

thiem/goffin is really entertaining imo

goffin is crazy fast

The Fed getting into some WTA

https://49.media.tumblr.com/aee5b9c67bcdb9c830264cfd04c5a8f7/tumblr_o1ca00L0d01uhpajzo1_500.gif

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2016/01/21/victoria-azarenka-introduces-dabbing-down-under/79102972/

― johnny crunch, Thursday, January 21, 2016 12:56 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

iggy azarenka ;_;

Gasparyan played really well against Putintseva, week two in her AO debut! Last game was a banger, looked like she was nervous with that DF, then ace, incredible DTL shots in extended rally ending with FH DTL winner, ace.

So rare to see a WTA player with a 1H BH hit it as hard as Gasparyan does

Mladenovic/Gavrilova is such a wonky-ass mess, but lots of fun as well

Kyrgios so angry at Berdych being better than him

wtf is he complaining about?

literally no idea, some sort of...sound...that he could hear...over the crowd??

Gavrilova serves it out on her second go, 11-9 in the third! Such a hustler.

Mladenovic's returns ://////////

Meanwhile Bautista Agut, having gone five with Klizan and Lajovic, just straight-setted Cilic

lol those Kyrgios DFs to end it, idiot

I don't really like Kyrgios and was supporting Berdych but this result is going to make for a very rote AO. I can't get hyped for another Federer/Berdych QF, Federer/Kyrgios might have been interesting...

Strycova looked really good. Like, sometimes you watch her and you go "How come her career is so terrible given what she has/had to work with?". Then you remember her temperament. Muguruza was just flat and kept getting passed over and over again. Barbie's backhand passes :D :D :D

Flicked between that and the NID Makarova dismantling of Pliskova, just moving her to the right, then the left, then punishing the weak backhand response.

Osaka v Azarenka. Breaks traded! Excitement. I haven't seen her play before but seems like everything Lex says is true here.

Ah unfortunately Osaka's rally ball is very very predictable and she has no real ability to go up the line, so Azarenka just has her on a string.

Lopez's gorgeous slice winner to win the first-set TB v Isner, that was so nice.

During the Ivanovic-Keys match, Nigel Sears literally fell down the stairs. I mean, I suppose there's only so many Ivanovic matches you can watch even if you are her coach, but she's actually up a set.

Andy Murray goes one point away from going down a double-break to Sousa after romping home in the first. Really rough couple of minutes for Kim.

Ivanovic/Keys suspended.

Kim Murray (nee Sears) that is, not Kim Clijsters, who was commentating on the match on Australian TV and sounded too bored for words.

Speculation was that it was a heart attack but in any case he's conscious and breathing, thankfully.

that was p unprecedented! Murray commentators made it entirely about him of course

lmao @ that entire Ivanovic collapse

This section is going to produce a shock QF when Keys herself implodes next round.

that said, I enjoyed hearing Clijsters sweetly shade Ivanovic. "I always felt I was in control of the rallies" - lol

Millman has a WTA-level serve. I'm not sure how he's in the third round really. He seems a nice boy. Actually, he pings my you-know-what radar a bit (no google). I hope he beats Tomic somehow as one in the eye for the institution and the manchildren it coddles.

For all the people that believe Sharapova is the face of women's tennis, most marketable, most popular, the Australian crowd has never warmed to her that much. To my ears, their applsuse indicates they're supporting Bencic here.

(When Maria plays Serena, the crowd is violently pro-Serena, who is very popular in Melbourne.)

This section is going to produce a shock QF when Keys herself implodes next round.

― oh, boy, .GIF! That's where I'm a Viking! (edwardo), Saturday, January 23, 2016 11:47 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the Keys-Zhang h2h is 2-2 so I wouldn't be surprised, exactly. Keys' bouts of nerves when trying to close out her sets were probably worse than her usual messy UEs. talking of messy UEs, this long-awaited Bencic/Sharapova match...

your last 16s:

(1) Serena Williams vs. Margarita Gasparyan
(12) Belinda Bencic vs. (5) Maria Sharapova
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam
(10) Carla Suarez Navarro vs. Daria Gavrilova
(7) Angelique Kerber vs. Annika Beck
(14) Victoria Azarenka vs. Barbora Strycova
Johanna Konta vs. (21) Ekaterina Makarova
(15) Madison Keys vs. (Q) Shuai Zhang

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (14) Gilles Simon
(9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. (7) Kei Nishikori
(3) Roger Federer vs. (15) David Goffin
(24) Roberto Bautista Agut vs. (6) Tomas Berdych
Andrey Kuznetsov vs. (23) Gael Monfils
(13) Milos Raonic vs. (4) Stan Wawrinka
(8) David Ferrer vs. (10) John Isner
(16) Bernard Tomic vs. (2) Andy Murray

cackling @ the only unseeded man coming through Nadal's section

Servotpova in full effect :(

Serevebotpova I mean

simons defensive bh has been nice here

simon was a backboard but this set was vv illustrative of the painful tennis reality where u can play really well in that style and still lose a set 6-3

weird match, novak looking human

damn sweet shot there giles holds at 5-4 2nd set

lol @ simons like offspeed serves fucking up djoko O_o

simon winner!

That tie-break was like... the worst run of eight points Djokovic has hit since.. when? What's with the dropshots?

Simon takes it 7-1 after not even seeing a break point or close to it!

felt like he was trying to prove a point w the drops idk it was def bizarre

Simon is possessed by the terrifying spirit of Peak Wozniacki here

Oh god lol Simon. 100 UFEs from Djokovic!

lol state of this!

lol Maria vs Serena

Dasha started so well but then just imploded with errors in the third set in particular. Sad.

Even though Aga was broadly terrible in the bits I saw in her 4R, she should beat Suarez handily.

Bummed about that dasha loss. Why must all Aussie players turn into shankers in clutch moments?

I'm rooting for Shuai to beat Keys, what a story that would be!

CSN is a grittier competitor than people give her credit for imo, and for all her Slam flops in an otherwise career-year last year, she's shown she can play well at Slams in the past. Gavrilova is a tremendous fighter but also afflicted by nerves a lot...

Aga was savagely cruel to a cramping(?) Friedsam, dropshotting her like that and reinducing her injury. Friedsam didn't look that bothered by her leg until Radwanska had started her comeback, then she took that dubiously timed MTO at 5-4, and then suddenly she was in tears at 5-5? She played really well though, def gone up a level this year. I think Aga will be pleased to face CSN rather than Gavrilova.

Watched two men's fifth sets that were carbon copies of each other in Djokovic/Simon and RBA/Berdych, rather anticlimactic both.

Savage it was, but it sure beats the alternative Hantuchovian method of just getting petrified and hitting the ball straight back to them!

Djokovic will lose to Nishikori if his ground game is that off, but I don't expect it to be.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/sports/tennis/match-fixing-australian-open-mixed-doubles-betting.html

why is MCA so empty for Konta/Makarova? it was like this for the Berdych/RBA fifth set yesterday too. you'd think ticket-holders would want to stick around for the last match, esp as there are only two singles matches scheduled (both Berdych/RBA and this one were also good and went to deciders!)

also ewwww Raonic in the QFs ewwwwww praying 4 Monfils now

Konta/Makarova feels like a life and death battle, I love it. Such a brutal match, their shots are so workmanlike and belaboured.

6-4 4-6 4-4, not a single love game

total slugfest! Konta fails to serve it out...

More breaks in the first eight games of Murray-Tomic than there were in the first 28 in Konta-Makarova. LOL men's tennis.

Konta serving for it again after three hours...

First love game of the match!

ha, what a time to produce the first love game of the match for Konta! Serves it out on her second go

Looool @ that love game. Very very happy for her. That was some mental toughness

Konta and CSN are the QF picks I'm proudest of

Good old David Ferrer. Isner lands 75% of first serves and Ferrer takes him in three anyway.

Tomic playing some deft shots at the net, result looks a foregone conclusion tho

what a terrible TB from Tomic. 1-5 in Slam R16s now and yeah, as good as some of those shots were it was still NID.

men's QFs and H2Hs:

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (7) Kei Nishikori
(3) Roger Federer vs. (6) Tomas Berdych
(23) Gael Monfils vs. (13) Milos Raonic
(8) David Ferrer vs. (2) Andy Murray

Djokovic 5-2 Nishikori (3-2 on HC, 1-1 at Slams, 2-0 in past year)
Federer 15-6 Berdych (8-5 on HC, 4-2 at Slams, 3-0 in past year)
Monfils 2-0 Raonic (1-0 on HC, 0-0 at Slams, 0-0 in past year, last match Halle 2013)
Murray 12-6 Ferrer (10-2 on HC, 3-1 at Slams, 3-0 in past year)

Keys limping. If she is injured, more reason to cheer for Zhang to take it.

B2B DFs by Keys to lose the set.

Zhang is not playing this particularly cleverly...

This match has descended into tragedy. These errors from Zhang against a crying, limping Keys...

lmao @ Zhang's c'mons

oh my god that rally. tragic

it ends at last. your women's QFs:

(1) Serena Williams vs. (5) Maria Sharapova
(4) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. (10) Carla Suárez Navarro
(7) Angelique Kerber vs. (14) Victoria Azarenka
Johanna Konta vs. (Q) Shuai Zhang

Williams 18-2 Sharapova (11-1 on HC, 6-1 at Slams, 2-0 in past year)
Radwanska 3-1 Suárez Navarro (2-1 on HC, 1-0 at Slams, Suárez Navarro 1-0 in past year)
Azarenka 6-0 Kerber (5-0 on HC, 1-0 at Slams, 3-0 in past year)
Konta 1-1 Zhang (1-1 on HC, Konta 1-0 in Slam qualies, 0-0 in past year)

I mean, that was tragicccc but Zhang/Konta QF <3 <3 <3

Yeah great opportunity.

Williams 18-2 Sharapova (11-1 on HC, 6-1 at Slams, 2-0 in past year) The last time Sharapova beat Williams the dinosaurs were walking the earth.

fixed

Kvitova fired David Kotyza :o

Is she finally taking her career seriously? Is she actually intending to...work...and...improve?

Only a matter of time til Isner breaks into the Top 5. LMAO

the last time Sharapova beat Williams, we must all have been so fucking young.

Break her and drag her, Serena.

The last time Maria beat Serena I didn't have any kids. In September my eldest starts secondary school (= junior high).

It's actually kind of amusing that despite her aesthetically lovely backhand, Suarez Navarro can just be made to look awful by almost every top player (except Petra, obviously). Radwanska is embarrassing her.

yea otm..never considered it before but in that respect shes v much the female gasquet

Radwanska was super-passive and sloppy in that second set and she still won it 6-3. Like, for 2 games Suarez Navarro got actually aggressive but that was that

I sense Serena will beat her like 6-2 6-0

also Serena just described herself as a Belieber

Yeesh

murray's got one of the most fortunate draws for a 2 seed i've ever seen

is it usual for the 2 seed to draw the 32nd, 16th, and 8th seeds like this?

and the 4/5!

i know the masters series juggle their draws so the same people don't end up playing every week, but it seems pretty disadvantageous for the 1 seed to have to play the 7th seed and the winner of 3/6 rather than the 8th and the winner of 4/5

This match isn't as bad as Radwanska/Suarez but it's not good but at least Serena got out of that set. Those serves on BP :D :D :D

IIRC Berdych dominated the H2H vs Federer from 2010-2013. I don't really understand how Fed has turned it around, since neither he nor Berd have declined or improved significantly in the last few years.

I haven't crunched the results or anything it iirc there was a period when Federer began losing to the Next Four types like Berdych and Tsonga quite often, but I think he has reversed that decline a bit since 2013.

Murray got v lucky with the draw but it was done totally normally. Top 4 seeds draw 13-16 randomly in R4, 5-8 randomly in the QFs. 1) I don't think #7 is definitively better than #8, they're in such flux - a week earlier Nishikori would have been #8 and Ferrer #7, 2) for every good draw a top player gets they've also had a bad one in the past, 3) I don't think top players are entitled to the easiest possible draw; the rules make for a certain minimum of fairness but no more

So after a two-game slow start Serena basically won 62 61. No more to say about it really!

CSN now ties Kanepi for the active WTA player with the most Slam QFs without any Slam SFs (five).

(The only other active players with multiple QFs but no SFs are Pavlyuchenkova, Paszek, Shvedova and Peer, with two each)

(On the men's side the record belongs to Robredo with seven QFs, then you have Lopez and Almagro with four, then Fish and Nieminen (have they officially retired?) with three, then Simon, Kyrgios and Florian Mayer with two.)

Kei was looking good for a few games! Then broken from 40-0 up.

...ending on a DF

Ugh, any suggestion of a Kei comeback snuffed out by his inability to consolidate breaks. Hard to square this with their respective 4th-round performances.

zzzzzz men's tennis

Women's tennis too. Serena huge fave to walk this.

Phenomenal choking from Xu and Zheng against the Rodionova sisters - they were up 6-2 5-2.., now we're going to a 3rd set!

Feels like in those last 5 games the Chinese pair won about 3 points total

Well, one chance left in the "huge underdog but they *have" done this before" stakes - Ferrer over Murray. But it's not clay.

Is Murray really about to lose a FIFTH Aussie final? Because I don't see him losing before Sunday, but I don't see him winning ON Sunday. I think this would be a record. Lendl lost five US Open finals, but at least he won three. I think you have to go back to WW1 to find anyone with worse than 0-4 in any individual men's singles Slam final.

If Murray's baby pops out maybe he can miss out on it. It'll be a fun * on his wiki page.

isn't Kim due in Feb? it was a nice way to get brownie points with minimal risk of having to actually do it.

yeah, both men's and women's games feel extremely far away from any sort of sea change or power shift, whether among established top players or from the youngsters.

Murray made a remark saying he wouldn't miss the birth so...come on Kim.

Obv I'd love Fed to win this, esp in the same fortnight as Hewitt retires (six months Fed's senior), having not come close to Slam in a decade. I mean, any arguments surrounding the class of '81-'82 were settled long ago, but I do like to see Roger putting so much distance between himself and his immediate peers, much like I never tired of Fed breaking Roddick twice per set.

last night I went to bed and made a wish on a star that Kerber magically learned how to serve at 200km/h before her match with Azarenka today :(

vika is gonna def kick herself if she cant even get this to a 3rd set

Kerber/Vika is the first match of this I've been able to watch

So far I am incredibly pleased

Kerber is so underrated, and probably still will be even if she makes the final (which I expect her to do). Konta's a great story too, really like that she's come out of (almost) nowhere, with no hype or great expectations, and a slam SF is in all likelihood something neither Robson, nor Watson will ever achieve (tho I'd love to see Heather prove me wrong).

wow Angie! never ever expected that after the Brisbane final, so happy she's bringing it at Slams - to think she was MP down against Doi in R1, too.

Konta is tremendous too, still the best interviewee on the WTA along with Bacsinszky by miles and miles and miles

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CZtkVDYWkAAbWVp.jpg:large

talking of Robson, she lost in 25K qualies for the second straight week last night

WHY does Raonic play with a mouthguard tho

I really hate even seeing Raonic's inside-out FH, repeat x 93983983422, approach to rallies. anti-tennis.

was really into Raonic's orange look generally.

To be fair, just about everyone's dressed like crap this year and Raonic's get up does work.

Serena's outfit is clearly the best of anyone's though. It's like, hey, I'm a scary banana and I'm going to mash you into a pulp while you gawk at my super-tight midriff and wonder how it can possibly be attached to my ass, peasant.

Serena's outfit is amazing, what magic makes the top never ride up?

Serena looked particularly good next to Sharapova yesterday, who in that orange/salmon thing had no shape and no presence at all.

SF H2Hs:

Williams 8-0 Radwanska (5-0 on HC, 2-0 at Slams, 0-0 in past year)
Kerber 0-0 Konta

Djokovic 22-22 Federer (Federer 17-16 on HC, Djokovic 8-6 at Slams, Djokovic 5-3 in past year)
Murray 3-3 Raonic (2-2 on HC, Murray 1-0 at Slams, Murray 1-0 in past year)

- Radwanska actually beat Serena at the Hopman Cup last year, not that it counts. I wonder if she'll ever get a proper win over Serena in her career? She's won one set ever and that was when Serena gagged briefly in the Wim final
- Konta/Kerber is way more of a toss-up than it seems on paper imo. Three-setter at least, most likely SF to be a great match
- A win would mean Djokovic leads his h2h with both Federer and Nadal at last. It's been a long time coming
- Worrying h2h for Murray, who looked bad and tetchy earlier, not that he and Ferrer ever bring good tennis out of each other

A win for Federer, on the other hand, would leapfrog Djokovic in the all-time Slam W/L %-age table (Borg and Nadal being well clear in that).

A measure of Djokovic's consistency is that he's now ahead of Nadal and Sampras in terms of Slam match wins, and will likely overtake Agassi and Lendl this year (leaving just Federer and Connors ahead).

Wondering when was the last men's singles Slam to have a qualifier in the quarters and/or a player outside the top 40 in the semis, as per this year's women's AO?

Raonic is making the final I fear. Well, there's good and bad in that:

- He can't beat Novak in a final, I don't think (good).
- Portends long career of winning 4-5 slams in post-Fedalovic era despite being Diet Roddick (not literally)
- Him having a final on his resume will stop people hyping bloody Dimitrov so much (good).
- I'll have to endure Todd Woodbridge calling him "ray-on-itch" and "rijnitch" (yes, like the "ij" from "Clijsters", he really does this) and "rye-uh-nitch" interchangeably when his name is one of the easiest Slavic names on the tour to say for an Anglophone

Gaston Gaudio springs to mind but there are non-seeds more recent than that, but not sure if they were outside top 40.

Now when was the last time Gaston Gaudio sprang to YOUR mind, I ask.

I think about Gaston *all the time*. Neither player recovered from that insane Roland Garros final.

Non-seeds in the semis last decade or so, nearly all of whom have an asterisk for having been much higher previously, or for being Mariano Puerta. Some may have been in the 33-39 range I guess.

2003 AU: Wayne Ferreira
2003 RG: Martin Verkerk
2003 WM: Mark Philippoussis
2004 AU: Marit Safin
2004 RG: Gaston Gaudio
2004 WM: Mario Ancic
2005 RG: Mariano Puerta
2006 AU: Marcos Baghdatis
2006 WM: Jonas Bjorkman
2008 AU: Jo-Wilfriend Tsonga
2008 RG: Gael Monfils
2008 WM: Rainer Schuttler
2009 WM: Marat Safin

Thanks for that! Verkerk and Gaudio being the breakthroughs that led to nothing else, Tsonga and Monfils the breakthroughs that led to *something* else (but not enough), everyone else was coming back or fading away with one last flourish or allegedly jacked up on go-juice.

Nothing in the 2010s, mind.

yeah, no non-seed has reached a Slam SF since Wimbledon 2008, when #75 Safin and #94 Schüttler got there, both former top 10 players of course. The last non-seed to reach a Slam SF who hadn't been ranked much higher before was #59 Monfils at RG 2008.

The last qualifier to reach a Slam QF was #158 Tomic at Wimbledon 2011, and before him #130 Müller at the USO 2008. That's it as far back as 2004, which is when I stopped checking (Gaudio seemed a fitting point for that). #144 Kyrgios did reach the Wim 2014 QF as a WC, of course.

for a QFist out of the top 100 AND a SFist out of the top 40 your best bet might be the USO 2005 - Blake reached the QF as a WC and Ginepri reached the SF unseeded, though I'm not sure of their exact rankings at the time.

Immaculate research!

Ginepri! Now there's a name from the past. Brings us back to the Gaston fallout, indirectly, as Coria lost to Ginepri in that USO QF. Poor guy was in the midst of his serving yips at the time and basically double-faulted the match away.

Wow, how did I miss Ginepri on my list, never liked him. My eyes must have just denied it.

Did you just pull that out of your head, Lex? I can believe it, and amazing, if so.

lol no, Wikipedia!

What was Goran's rank when he won Wimbledon?

#125

I'm a total tennis dilettante but watching Kerber beat Sharapova last year or whenever it was might be my favourite tennis experience of recent years, might have to tune in

ughhh fuck raonic beating monfils

21 minute bagel ;_;

22 minute breadstick ;_;

Seriously that was total dominance though, everything Nole touched turned to gold.

kamikaze net rushes off nothing just to end the point from Federer now

When was the last time Fed only won 11 points in a set? RG2008?

that insane BH lob to reset the point, that ridiculously casual BH winner to end it

This set might be even more one-sided. Ugh.

32 mins and 16 points, an improvement!

Reading the game-by-game account and its like a chapter of a horror novel!

An interesting development or a blip? Have no way of watching this. Have been in transit for first hour and now swamped with work.

Federer playing much more aggressively, the game he broke Nole was really brilliant tennis from both, though I thought Nole was way too casual on the volley that gave Federer the BP he ultimately took (insane get from Federer tho)

so Nole saved a SP with a winner on the line, then another by successfully challenging a putative Federer ace that was just out

but not a third!

Nole surely to win the 4th set but this is good to see.

….duffs up 3 consecutive 2nd-serve returns at 0-30

what time is the women's final btw? sad to have missed kerber/konta

i think both finals are like 8am UK time or something similar

cool ty

what a point that was omg

...and Federer gets broken anyway

After losing that GOAT point, Djokovic just reeled off six in a row for the match

it was almost as if federer had achieved what he wanted (a GOAT point)

Any links to a video of that point? Just to cheer me up, like ;)

Considering the Slam count was 9-1 in favour of Nadal at the end of 2010, it's extraordinary that it's now likely that ND will end up with more titles than Rafa. By the time he's 31, he may have more than Federer.

But I guess we said the same things about Rafa 2-3 years ago - that undisputed GOAT status was his for the taking, he just had to stay healthy and rack up the tournament wins, because he basically had everyone's number on every surface except grass. Nole got better and Rafa's body and form failed him.

Murray for a late-career upswing? Starting Sunday?

here you go! https://twitter.com/fedele_giulio/status/692662930131808257

Aw, lovely, thanks.

Raonic has won the first 6-4.

Two more and I won't need to bother with the finals this weekend.

Murray staves off the death of the ATP and wins the second set...

:-(

There hasn't been a single point against serve in the third set. Shall we just cut to the chase and have a tie-break?

(Again, can't watch. Hopefully not missing much)

Oh, beg your pardon, Milos just held to fifteen.

Hopefully not missing much)

― Michael Jones, Friday, January 29, 2016 10:38 AM (59 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the only thing Raonic in latter stages of tournaments is good for is if I can't watch them, then I don't feel annoyed about it. (no, you're not missing anything.)

also, being short and unable to serve to any adequate standard myself, my antipathy to tree-height servebots is v personal. ban aces, is what I say

Imagine paying a tkt to see this.

Murray can't even win the rallies

lost the breaker in the 3rd.

Murray breaks in the 4th: 5-3 up so we might be about to go into a 5th.

Djoko must be lolling all the way through this.

Raonic injured and broken to start the fifth...

Get your money on a bagel.

Murray totally spurned the bagel opportunity in that game

Saved five break-points! Don't listen to me.

Its going to be such a depressing Sunday.

Kim is my only hope now!

Maybe Novak peaked in the first hour yesterday? That's the only hope really - that he will suffer a little dip.

H2Hs:

Williams 5-1 Kerber (all on HC, 1-0 at Slams, 0-0 in past year)

Two scenarios:

1) Serena comes out slow or becomes nervous mid-match AND Kerber is at her most intensely competitive and hitting all her spots. Then it could be two tight sets or three sets to Serena
2) Serena is as relaxed as she's been all tournament => Kerber gets flattened, like 2 and 3

Djokovic 21-9 Murray (18-6 on HC, 6-2 in Slams, 6-1 in past year)

I can imagine this being straight sets, maybe 1 or 2 of them tight; or four sets rather like Djokovic's SF; or a grinding mess that lasts 4-5 sets. In every scenario Djokovic wins.

Kim's baby pops overnight and a newly re-born Murray proceeds to play THE MATCH OF HIS LYFE on Sunday to win at the 5th attempt.

Kim's baby pops overnight and Murray flies home and the final is a walkover

AAAAHHHHH I just noticed the favourite for the men's wooden spoon is RAFA

:/ already

for it being a good final, eternal :D for williams' level

i say that and kerber holds

and then breaks lololol stfu me forever

this could be great actually

Great start from Kerber + Serena slightly nervy = fun match so far

Serena's BH looks solid-to-great but ooooofffff, a lot of terrible FH errors

(listening to the radio) Lots of long FHs

Can't believe Serena will lose till it happens.

Serving for the set Kerber

3x SPs

Wins!

kerber's recovery scrapping is nadalesque at times

Is my radio broken?

Carebear takes it. I feel she could get punished for letting up on depth at times, but she's really solid. No idea where this goes.

Serena's pretty bad off the FH, and some of those swing volleys.. help. Kerber I think is mentally tough to put her away if the level doesn't increase, but surely it will.

Important for Kerber to keep Serena moving in the rallies...

Two DFs in that game from Kerber :/

I make breakfast and look at what happens!

this is more how it seemed it would go after a game and a half

Serena takes the second set. She seems much more secure on serve now - really just that one loose game from Kerber that decided the set.

KERBER!!!!

whoooooa

point of the match

https://www.clippituser.tv/c/baday

why does Serena persist with approaching the net? her approach shots are tentative, her touch on volleys is...not there today, Kerber's passing shots are peaking

some lovely angled rallies from both today

another amazing rally, this time Serena puts the drive volley away...

god, angie's angles are so incredible

angle-ique kerber

And her drop-shots are perfectly timed

Serena is below-par but Kerber deserves this for getting that game.

my word

Those perfect dropshots from Kerber in that amazing game. Breaks for 4-2 on her 5th BP

Drop-shots, getting down to return the ball super-low, Kerber is Peak Radwanska come a round later.

Here's where I go underground for 20min and Serena wins 7-5 by the time I have a signal again.

Kerber to serve for the title...

Serena has never lost a three-set Slam final before...

That wasn't predictable at all

MP KERBER

OH MY GOD

Aw Serena goes over to the other side of the net to hug her.

Well, how about that.

that was incredible

I mean, it was one thing to be blindsided by Sharapova at Wimbledon or blown off the court by Stosur in New York, but who's ever won such a dogfight v Serena? Maybe Capriati back in the day, but in a final like that?

also Kerber now has a slam and Wozniacki doesn't :D :D :D :D

Petkovic on Facebook:
2 mins · Darmstadt, Germany ·
Angelique. Du bist der Wahnsinn. Ich möchte dich heiraten.

That means "I want to marry you".

That's the first ever three-set Slam final loss of Serena's career

She was 1-11 against Vika and Serena combined coming into the tournament

And she was MP down against Misaki Doi in R1!!!

I had the feeling that if she didn't take that MP she'd have crumbled - in fact, if she didn't win those 3 points in a row facing the Williams serve - amazing

that was unbelievable

Andy staying up til 1am to see Jamie win, Jamie tells him he should be in bed!

Jamie - it won't matter what time Andy goes to bed.

Awesome Kerber. Thanks for linking to that point.

Just lose already Andy. Jamie has done the business.

Saved 5 Deuces (lost count) prev game. Djoko wins his game in a couple of mins. Back on Murray.

Lets finish off plz

Comedy overhead flub from Novak, live for those. But please win in 3 anyway.

There there

break back points - so not happening

jesus

break back P

why am i posting here I've got to stop

I just want my life back

Deuce now, from 40-0

plz not like this

lol

the joke is on me

I'm a broken man, can't imagine what Murray is feeling rn

LOL DF from Novak - what is this guy on

Just lose already Andy. Jamie has done the business.

― xyzzzz__, Sunday, 31 January 2016 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

called it

when Djokovic serves two consecutive DFs you just CANNOT MAKE THOSE ERRORS!!!

Glad I am listening to this on the radio

Kim plz pop

this thing still on

back on level what's the point

kim plz pop now

That damp squib of a TB. It was probably closer than anyone expected. Slightly surprising that this was Djokovic's first straight-sets Slam final since the AO 2011!

Second time he'll be going for the Nole Slam at RG...

Roll of honour:

Men's singles: Novak Djokovic
Women's singles: Angelique Kerber
Men's doubles: Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares
Women's doubles: Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza
Mixed doubles: Elena Vesnina & Bruno Soares
Boys' singles: Oliver Anderson
Girls' singles: Vera Lapko
Boys' doubles: Alex De Minaur & Blake Ellis
Girls' doubles: Anna Kalinskaya & Tereza Mihalikova

and also highly hilarious

MEN'S WOODEN SPOON: RAFAEL NADAL

That's hilarious. Getting the wooden spoon at a Slam when you've won a Slam, that's the sort of indignity normally reserved for someone like Ivanovic.

Can't feel too bad for Murray, he didn't put up a better fight than Federer and had he been seeded 3 and got it in the semi-final not much would have changed. Lack of aggressive intent on the FH, attackable second-serve. 9 slam finals is damned impressive but the Big 4 doesn't exist - he trails the "big 3" in terms of career and Novak blasts him aside just like he does everyone else - except, lol, Simon. Djokovic is too good, even with lapses he seems unstoppable. I think he gets the Nole slam this year.

It's really strange at this point to think that Djokovic still hasn't won RG. It's not even like his game is unsuited to it. I think it's def become a mental thing with him so I wouldn't write him into that title yet.

Murray is a bit of a hollow No 2, it's pretty much due to Federer's reduced schedule. I'd have favoured Federer had he been drawn in Murray's half. There's def getting to be a Novak : Andy/Roger :: Serena : Maria/Vika feel about how the men's top 3 match up to each other.

Most stupid debate yesterday must have been comparing Wawrinka and Murray's careers. People actually arguing that 2-0 in Slam finals is better than 2-7.

New rankings!

1. Serena Williams (1)
2. Angelique Kerber (6)
3. Simona Halep (2)
4. Agnieszka Radwanska (4)
5. Garbiñe Muguruza (3)
6. Maria Sharapova (5)
7. Flavia Pennetta (8)
8. Carla Suárez Navarro (11)
9. Petra Kvitova (7)
10. Lucie Safarova (9)
11. Belinda Bencic (13)
12. Venus Williams (10)
13. Karolina Pliskova (12)
14. Victoria Azarenka (16)
15. Timea Bacsinszky (14)
16. Roberta Vinci (15)
17. Svetlana Kuznetsova (20)
18. Caroline Wozniacki (18)
19. Jelena Jankovic (22)
20. Ana Ivanovic (23)
21. Elina Svitolina (21)
22. Sara Errani (19)
23. Andrea Petkovic (25)
24. Madison Keys (17)
25. Sloane Stephens (26)
26. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (28)
27. Samantha Stosur (28)
28. Johanna Konta (47)
29. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (29)
30. Kristina Mladenovic (30)
...
31. Ekaterina Makarova (24)
33. Daria Gavrilova (39)
39. Annika Beck (55)
41 Barbora Strycova (48)
42. Margarita Gasparyan (58)
52. Anna-Lena Friedsam (82)
58. Eugenie Bouchard (37)
65. Shuai Zhang (133)
100. Anastasija Sevastova (113)
108. Naomi Osaka (127)

1. Novak Djokovic (1)
2. Andy Murray (2)
3. Roger Federer (3)
4. Stan Wawrinka (4)
5. Rafael Nadal (5)
6. David Ferrer (8)
7. Kei Nishikori (7)
8. Tomas Berdych (6)
9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10)
10. Richard Gasquet (9)
11. Milos Raonic (14)
12. John Isner (11)
13. Marin Cilic (13)
14. Kevin Anderson (12)
15. Gilles Simon (15)
16. David Goffin (16)
17. Gaël Monfils (25)
18. Roberto Bautista Agut (21)
19. Dominic Thiem (20)
20. Bernard Tomic (17)
21. Benoît Paire (18)
22. Feliciano López (19)
23. Jack Sock (22)
24. Fabio Fognini (23)
25. Viktor Troicki (26)
26. Ivo Karlovic (24)
27. Guillermo García López (27)
28. Grigor Dimitrov (28)
29. Jérémy Chardy (31)
30. Steve Johnson (32)
...
41. Nick Kyrgios (30)
52. Andrey Kuznetsov (74)
73. Jerzy Janowicz (56)

The most striking thing when you post the Monday rankings after a Slam is how little movement occurs inside the men's top 20, or even beyond. Double the points available vs any other event and everyone just settles into the same old roles.

It's really strange at this point to think that Djokovic still hasn't won RG. It's not even like his game is unsuited to it. I think it's def become a mental thing with him so I wouldn't write him into that title yet.

idk, it was Nadal (whom Djoko despatched with ease last year) but then Stan played an incredible match to beat him last year.

Expect Novak to win RG but not the slam, the pressure will be very high and he could unexpectedly lose.