AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2012

- Everyone is injured
- Or choking

Laura Robson beat Melanie Oudin in qualies today. She was up 6-3 5-0 40-0 and serving and somehow nearly let Oudin get back to 5-5. She needed 11 match points to crawl over the finishing line :o

lol @ the draw

razzano vs bartoli :D can not fucking wait for that bitchfest.
sharapova vs dulko lol. dulko's won 2 of her last 10 matches i believe but will probably play flawlessly for that one. and maria's an injured mess with no match practice so THAT SHOULD BE FUN.
no complaints with serena's draw tbh. or kvitova's. wish they were on opposite sides tho

yay for no djokovic/fed semi.

bring on the end times

why do i have 2 exams next week

ughhh the inconvience

Pretty balanced draws. Really anticipating potential Li/Clijsters and Williams/Kvitova matches, those could go either way. Murray/Harrison 1R should be funny. Verdasco/Tomic 1R...FeVer could and should dominate that but it's the kind of match you just know he'll chump up sulkily. Petrova was gifted with Stosur, huh.

I wonder how Fed's back is - I take that a bit more seriously than the other assorted pre-AO injuries cuz he never withdraws from tournaments.

LOL @ Bepa's nightmare section. May as well lose to Dulgheru in the 1R. SF points off and an appropriate way of beginning her decline. The window, it has shut.

Ivanovic losing to Dominguez Lino would GIVE ME SO MUCH LIFE but I don't think it's gonna happen.

Niculescu seeded at a Slam <3

Predix!

Wozniacki d. Jankovic
Clijsters d. Li
Azarenka d. Rezai
A.Radwanska d. Schiavone
Williams d. Kanepi
Sharapova d. Peer
Zheng d. Petrova
Kvitova d. Pavlyuchenkova

Clijsters d. Wozniacki
Azarenka d. A.Radwanska
Williams d. Sharapova <= DOUBLE BAGEL PLEASE
Kvitova d. Zheng

Clijsters d. Azarenka
Williams d. Kvitova

Williams d. Clijsters
-----------------------------------
Djokovic d. Raonic
Ferrer d. Gasquet
Murray d. Monfils
Tsonga d. Benneteau
Del Potro d. Kohlschreiber
Federer d. Tomic
Dimitrov d. Q
Nadal d. Lopez

Djokovic d. Ferrer
Tsonga d. Murray
Federer d. Del Potro
Nadal d. Dimitrov

Djokovic d. Tsonga
Nadal d. Federer

Djokovic d. Nadal

sky sports :( genuinely depressing

"Maria Sharapova's quiet return to form and fitness is a blessing for the sport's promoters, and she will fancy her chances, provided she comes through a likely quarter-final with Serena Williams, which frankly she should.

Serena is not the player she was - the fear factor is gone. So many players hit the ball as hard, and serve harder than the American, that she is just one more contender."

like, i genuinely don't understand the thought process of a professional who writes this.

"French Open champion Na has been in sensational form, and there is no more steely player on the tour [...] Her speed around the court and aggression are currently without parallel and if she keeps the unforced error count - her Achilles heel - down, we tip her to win it."

:(

simon reed

"For me, Murray and Djokovic have to be considered joint second favourites behind Federer"

for me, you're a fucking idiot

why is everybody who writes about tennis so dumb idgi

To seriously believe that you'd have to honestly believe that Murray and Djokovic are equally likely to get to their semi, or that Murray is less likely to but favoured to beat Djokovic if they both DO make it there (or that while Novak would win, his road to that match is harder). It's really hard to credit ANY of those three possibilities.

I mean, it's just wrong isn't it?

Also, er, who?

So many players hit the ball as hard, and serve harder than the American, that she is just one more contender."

reminds me of pat cash's classic article before australian open 07 "williams is lost cause"

in which he states that loads of players have serena's firepower now... like JANKOVIC.

maria's return to fitness

like when she retired in tokyo, withdrew from year end championships and pulled out of the australian open warmup event

somebody please kill it with fire. kill them all with fire

& my eyes have finally been opened to the obvious fact that li is the fastest player on tour :o ty sky sports

LOL reminds me of when the online Wimbledon reports referred to the "tall American" Bethanie Mattek-Sands (she is 5'4") and the "powerful" Caroline Wozniacki (lololololololol). And some commentator saying that Lucic would not be as generous with the UEs in the next round as whoever Jankovic was playing at the time. siiiiiiigh.

also I have a definite memory of some commentator praising Lucie Safarova's tactical brain, lulz.

EVEN IF Sharapova had returned to form and fitness, on what bloody basis would you ever say she "should" get past Serena? She barely wins games off her.

Barthel trashing Witchmayer in the Auckland final is a very welcome result :D

Hobart, no? I know someone he went and he reported that there were tantrums all over the place. Tho I guess with Whoopeemayer and Rodionova in attendance, plus sour Pe'er that is to be expected.

Djokovic def Petzschner
Ferrer def Tipsarevic
Murray def Monfils
Benneteau def Tsonga
Del Potro def Kohlschreiber
Federer def Dogolpolov
Berdych def Dimitrov
Nadal def Isner

Djokovic def Ferrer
Murray def Benneteau
Del Potro def Federer
Nadal def Berdych

Djokovic def Murray
Nadal def Del Potro

Djokovic def Nadal

-------------------------

Wozniacki def Jankovic
Li def Clijsters
Azarenka def Pennetta
Radwanska def Schiavone
Williams def Hradecka
Sharapova def Scheepers
Bartoli def Hlavackova
Kvitova def Ivanovic

Wozniacki def Li
Radwanska def Azarenka
Williams def Sharapova
Kvitova def Bartoli

Wozniacki def Radwanska
Williams def Kvitova

Williams def Wozniacki

notable early results: Riske def Stosur, Hradecka def Zvonareva, Hlavackova def Petrova, Makarova def Kanepi, Scheepers def Lisicki

i.e. i have no fucking clue what's going to happen

I actually think quite a few of those early shocks might happen - especially Scheepers d. Lisicki.

Makarova will not in any century be beating Kanepi in the respective forms they are in. Kanepi will do to Makarova exactly what Li did because she has a solid, very powerful backhand so Makarova's plan A will be lol useless.

Kanepi's a complete weirdo though who could snap at any moment though so meh i'll go for it. have no clue what makarova's form is

Killer Kaia's streaks (winning or losing) usually go on for multiple tournaments at a time (normally until she breaks herself in some way). And I really did think what she showed in Brisbane was significantly higher than previous Peak Kaia.

Since Makarova reached the RG last 16, her last good result, she's won 4 main draw matches. None since Cincy. Even ancient Tammy might beat her!

omg LOL @ mattek-sands! 4 set points that game! why is she soooo nervous about winning the 1st set against fucking radwanska? smh. so many hilarious errors that game. lost it on a putaway smash hit into the net.

She does this all the time, play impressively against a top player up until it matters most, when she chokes. When she was about to hit that smash I said "she's gonna blow it," and then she did. Classic American bonehead.

FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, I know, but I bought a large TV for my bedroom so I could watch the tennis while I work, and the station carrying it is giving me really shit picture, and it seems like lots of other people are having problems with that network.

And to make things worse, the match on is Dellacqua/Jovanovski!

Jovanovski has regressed so much, she showed some signs of potential but she's just a noisy basher and Dellacqua is mashing her.

So hard to resist the urge to just post "Fuck off Azarenka" every 50 posts, so unless she wins, that's the last time I will post those three words. Lost all of one game in her first round, sigh.

oh god, mattek-sands

Tomic/Verdasco should be pretty good actually. Grudge match, too! Fernando is wearing the most fucking hideous red and yellow ensemble I have ever seen.

lollll! 12-10 for mattek-sands

Morita/Cetkovska is an early seed-falling chance I think. Just started but I think Petra the Lesser is not in prime shape.

A-Rad through in three, as you'd have expected. Tomic/Verdasco is Peak Women's Tennis. Unforced errors, bad shot selection, poor serving...

TV coverage using "Super Bass" as the backing music for a Kim Clijsters montage. Look, that's just not a good fit for her personality.

The whole of Melbourne Park has just erupted. Lol verdasco, you idiot.

Checking in.

Heard tell of but yet to see the Verdasco get-up. Must have looked like a Bondi lifesaver. Locals also mildly excited about Casey Delinquent winning, which I suppose has some novelty value. Next up is ILX fave in-up girl Victoria Azarenka.

Currently watching Rafa in cruise mode v Kuznetsov.

first Aus Open watched: tuned in to the Chardy/Dimitrov final set. All even on serve until Chardy serving at *4-5, at which point came two DFs and a missed sitter. I FEEL LIKE I HAVE SEEN THIS SORT OF THING FROM FRENCH PLAYERS BEFORE.

really NOT happy about another 1R loss for Mrs. Krumm >:(

LOL @ FeVer, that match sounds hilarious.

berdasco :(

Meanwhile, another 'bolter' finalist from yesteryear in Marcos Baghdatis is two sets and a break on Benny Becker.

noooo King Kolya lost too :( I should probably accept that his elite career isn't coming back.

keeping an eye on Paula Ormaechea - this was her first ever qualifying draw, she qualified and has now beaten Halep. Yeah I know, Halep sucks, but still...

hang on PENNETTA lost to BRATCHIKOVA??!!! *points and laughs forever*

Hanturexia losing a set to LEPCHENKO is almost as bad.

Also, 24th seed Lucie Safarova's Oz12 is over - her bags packed in two sets by American Christina McHale (insert obscure nautical reference here).

COME THE FUCK ON, Witchmayer is losing to Voskoboeva! *cheer* *cheer* *cheer*

Vague memories of Halep frightening hell out of somebody or other a year or so back, as usual it's the name that rings the bell....

She beat Li at last year's USO, though that was Li in total error mode...

The Witch has been burned! Vosko cantered in in the end, 7-5 6-2

yeesh, some of these Robson errors. Jankovic isn't even particularly on point.

Galina :D

Unknown local Ben Mitchell competitive in two and a half sets (so far) v 'King Kong' Isner.

Olivia Newton-Rodgowska wins set 1 v the Aphid, another local considered promising in Ashleigh Barteigh in her major debut 6-2 in the first but doing better so far in the second - 3-2 on serve.

This is absolutely dreadful from Robson.

Tatishvili lost to an AUS WC last week in qualifying, so you'd really expect Barty to be able to do something against her...

Three games won by Watson and Robson combined *points and laughs*

Such a hometown call there - Tatishvili serving for the match, 30-30, Barty misses a sitter FH that's called in

Another one to help Barty go up 6-5 :o

Tati fails to serve out the match - first time Barty's got near it but it doesn't look too alarming. Some of Barty's shot selection is pretty God-awful but she'll learn.

Tati showing signs of losing the plot.

Tati 4-2 in tiebreaker - looks home.

I was supporting Barty before the match but I'm glad Tatishvili closed it out - she was really robbed of a couple of crucial points.

LOL, Pironkova/Mirza and Niculescu/Cornet are on TV courts.

Somebody called Alexander Kudryetsev still on serve with Roger Federer, 5-4 in the first.

ONR squashes the Aphid.

Now I'm watching Neimemen v Nalbandian, neither seeded, combined age pushing 70.

They don't usually start the Legends tournament until about day 6, do they?

Oh GOODY, Rodionova/Wozniacki. Will Rodionova even get a game, and will she get any (giggle) hometown support from her masses of adoring (lol) fans?

Sith Effrican Rick de Voest (de Voest player in de Voeld) locked in a five-setter with Yen-Hsun Lu, while Cornet and Nicolescu still not into set 2 in a match that seems to have been going since before Christmas.

Wozniacki is pretty bad tonight. Fortunately Rodionova is a brainless fucking idiot with absolutely the worst temperament and mental discipline bar none.

Niculescu finishes off the last match of the day by reeling off five games in a row <3 Cornet netted a smash on MP and then promptly dissolved into tears.

As bad as the WTA is, the time when Cornet was on the verge of being the worst ever player in the top 10 looks even darker in hindsight.

She was nearly in tears losing to Scheepers in Sydney last week too.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s720x720/398404_10150521687059920_196363369919_8562301_3777574_n.jpg

hawt

and sporting the color of the year too

dushevina's disgusting forehand and nonexistant competitive attitude are two things i can always rely on in life

i'm pretty sure kvitova has won 16 points in a row

from 0-2 0-30

(right as i write this post she nets a forehand)

Dame Kiri giving Gajdesova a tennis lesson early on but Gadge showing signs of fighting back - won that game to love, now pressure her second serve FFS, God knows you get enough of them to look at!

The only thing Kiri can teach in is hitting the ball in the court, usually right in the middle of it. Can you imagine what Kvitova would be doing right now to Kiri's puffballs? As previously discussed, she is good at the net but against good players she has absolutely no ability to get to the net, so really, she has no weapons that aren't easily neutralised.

Gajdosova is just a hopeless case mentally who should be winning this easily except for two double faults in her opening service game.

lol Stosur lost the first set to Cirstea and will probably lose the whole thing. I mean seriously how can anyone lose to someone who is a bargain basement Ivanovic like Cirstea? She's so awful.

It's all between her ears - home pressure. Rafter suffered from it, likewise Mauresmo. And Stose has never been what you'd call boringly consistent anyway, even her form going into the US Open last year wasn't earth-shaking.

Dokic had a good win against somebody we've heard of, but Matos seems to be running out of steam v the always-very-beatable Gael Monfils. Bepa is struggling, Murray working his way to ascendancy over Harrison Ryan, Cake should be first to break over La Razz in 'la bataille francaise'.

Home pressure explains but doesn't excuse. Lol at some of those appalling slice backhands that went a mile out.

Annoyed that Seven is assuming we want to watch Murray instead of Bartoli. Given the choice, it's always an Anglophone player they'll go to - Australians, Roddick, Murray with a few exceptions (Baghdatis and Li being really the only two you can give an iron-clad guarantee will be on TV who don't come from Anglophone countries).

Fox is set on Murray as well, altho you can switch to other matches if a) you're set up that way, b) you know how to activate it and c) you can be stuffed.

The Murray game is reaching no great heights but it DOES have McEnroe commentating.

wtf is simon doing

dhjdsjfsjfj

sam losing even earlier than i predicted! great news to wake up to :D

Zonga doing OK after struggling early v Denis Istemin, Ana I through with little trouble, in case anybody still GAF Hewitt will prob get to play on Thursday (against the not-quite-so-egregiously-past-it Roddick), but with a great deal of trouble against an absolute nobody.

Murray built momentum quite impressively throughout his match.

4 grand slams in a row now where the winner of the previous slam has completely underperformed

Clijsters FO - loses to Rus 2R from a set and a break up
Li W - loses to Lisicki 1R from MPs up
Kvitova USO - 1R loss to Dulgheru
Stosur - 1R loss to Cirstea

lulz @ Stosur, I think everyone knew she was going out early but the question was whether she was bad enough to lose to CIRSTEA, and the answer was a resounding yes.

Bagels bagels bagels everywhere. Thank god Sweta got it together enough to prevent another bullshit Jeepers Slam run.

Bepa should have just saved ourselves the trouble of the next couple of rounds and lost to Dulgheru.

Why is Stephanie Dubois winning Slam matches in 2012 or in any year for that matter. 100 points for these 1R wins never fails to boggle my mind.

Jay-Z win :)

http://kworb.net/zheng.gif

btw uberweiss I got your webmail, I shall address it but it might take some time due to this HORRENDOUS hangover that I've got going on right now

The 100 point thing you're talking about is so so relevant when you consider some players seem to get PISS EASY draws every Slam whereas others seem to routinely draw seeds.

Zonga through after late wobble, played some amazing shots but also some absolute howlers. Hewitt has hit the wall in a big way, dropped the third and broken once and nearly twice in set 4.

The 100 point thing you're talking about is so so relevant when you consider some players seem to get PISS EASY draws every Slam whereas others seem to routinely draw seeds.

Baltacha drew sub-top 100 opponents in every Slam 1R last year and received 400 points for those wins - that's almost as much as a Premier title!

I mean, this is literally the difference between being ranked around 60 and ranked around 120, which is insaaaaaane. Why is the WTA so basic and stupid ;_;

Also can we take a moment to recall Dushevina beating Sharapova in the Wimbledon final (juniors)

Though I had seen it at the Hopman Cup, I am reminded that Hewitt's shirt if anything is uglier than Verdasco's.

Hrbaty and Petrova are surely the leaders in this particular field. Or maybe latter-day Venus

To be fair, neither Hewitt or Verdasco's match up to... whatever that thing Petrova was wearing last year was. But I think this thing has even peak Hrbaty beat.

I mean, cutting some holes near the shoulder blades might improve this, you know?

This isn't much of a game, either. Stebe has some nice flicky shots, good at changing direction, a little more height and power on him and maybe he could win a title.

A WTA title, amirite?

hawt

Not pictured: me, to the right of that picture thinking the exact same thing.

This is my one day and a bit past AO check-in, exhaustion plus catching up with old friends here in Melbourne means I haven't had time to turn on my laptop until now. Arrived late at Melb Park yesterday afternoon, basically just in time for the hotness-off that was Dimitrov/Chardy, but the match itself was pretty bad (neither played well at the same time throughout, plus no one went shirtless booo) so decided to join the crowd in front of the big screen for Tomic/Loldasco. Pandemonium during that last few games in the fifth.

enjoyed watching Alex Dolgopolov doing the Dolgo-thing where he misses everything until suddenly, he stops missing altogether. He is *such* an incredibly joy to watch when he's on, just the pace he gets from seemingly so little movement. The ball never moves quite like how you'd expect it to. Felt bad for his opponent though - poor guy didn't know what hit him.

Nearly bumped into Yanina Wickmayer as she was being escorted to the court for her match - but it was Galina V walking behind her who flashed her bitchface at me lol. Sorry for walking, ladies.

Back to Court 8 to watch the end of Dimi/Chardy and well, even Grigor doing his best to lose wasn't enough against Chardy's French-ness. The kid's backhand is a real problem though, esp on his return - by the end, there was nothing he could do with it except lamely hit the ball short where any player less allergic to the net than Chardy would've made quick work of it.

I had hoped Robson/JJ would be a lot better than the pathetic mess that ensued. Ugh. Robson = really poor attitude on court. Except for the small but vocal Serbian contingent, the audience was strongly pro-Laura and it sucked to see that being returned by her racquet-smashing, complaining, occasional yelps of frustration and generally poor play. I do wonder if she turned pro too soon.

Looking forward to a better day of tennis on the grounds tmr - I'll be there earlier at least so will hopefully get to see a bit more.

Great reportage! I decided against flying down as I had a job interview today, have another Thursday and a physio appointment Friday. EMO FACE.

Hewitt/Stebe ended up as quality women's tennis. From 1-5 down to 7-5 for the red-faced, red-shirted ball of hhate. And that's it.

Hewitt/Roddick is going to be lol though - how weird is it to be Roger Federer right now, seeing two of his former elite peers struggle through their twilight years while he's still going on and on...

Also it never fails to piss me off no matter how many times they do this with Australian players - Rod Laver audiences should really get a refund for the organisers putting Tomic on RLA at night, while relegating Federer to Hisense.

waittt lex

i thought you'd emailed me it already

ok then someone else did! so don't bother haha. thanks tho!

serena's love game of 4 aces <<<<<<<<3

That much was such a foregone conclusion even the most hardened contrarian wouldn't have picked Paszek, I mean, what does she have to hurt Serena with? Nothing.

Also, after seeing a batch of pointless pushing by the men, it was actually a relief to see someone hit the ball cleanly and hard. Fuck it, this tournament as far as I'm concerned is Everyone United Against Azarenka Winning, so GO SERENA. Also her outfit was nice.

46-0 first rounds :)

talking of that stat, as an ardent Seles hater it gave me so much life when her own 100% Slam 1R record was broken RIGHT IN HER VERY LAST SLAM! By - lololololol - Nadezhda Petrova.

I'd quite like a Serena/Petra SF to happen. One last rivalry for her in the twilight of her career could be just what the game needs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGcguSWMoLI

should be revising. watching this on repeat.

*looks up the sky sports review that said loads of players could hit as hard as serena nowadays*

Tatishvilli really should have at least forced Woz to a third set there. Hope her next opponent watched that - the second set, tactically, was a textbook description on how to beat Woz, only every time Tatishvilli go tto the aggressive point of a rally when she had deuce or her own game point, she'd blast her forehand DTL wide and long. Anyway, enjoy your last week at #1, Woz! I mean, you weren't as bad a #1 as Jankovic but you were still pretty bad.

rooting for the old man nalbandian now

Over Isner? Why wouldn't you?

isner can fuck right off

Is Nalbandian fat still? Oh, does it matter? WIN DAVEEED.

great report Roz! So jealous.

Watching Dolgopolov now. Genuinely thought he was going to steam back from two breaks down in the 4th set but he's so unpredictable - a joy to watch though.

Wozniacki pushed by Tatishvili smh. Tatishvili's game is just...nothingness. No top player should be pushed by her. OMG, Niculescu next, that would be hilarious.

Fran lost to Oprandi? Surprising, good for Romina though - she's as fun as Dolgopolov to watch when she's on.

Isner definitely needs to fuck off.

FISH OUT!!!! :D :D :D :D

That point that Dolgopolov won <3 Angles, drop shots and touch volleys <3

Dolgopolov is so great to watch and then you look at the score and he's losing. kmt @ solidity beating flair :(

Dolgopolov unable to play % tennis even match point down <3

WTF at the streams then switching to Queer Eye/Tomic. NO DON'T WANT TO WATCH THIS

Listening to radio of Tomic v querrey while watching Isner/Nalb in mute (always a great way of going bonkers). Nalbandian threw a five-minute mental two games ago over what looked like a very dodgy fault call, and that was about the last we saw of him - King Kong won 10-8 from that point, Nalb set new speed record into the change rooms after a game (3.7 secs).

Classy effort by Isner admitting he was dead lucky. there's so many things that could give me the screaming shits about this bloke, but don't....

Ugh @ the Isner result. Gross gross gross

Dog breaks with a ridiculous FH, will serve for the match

Nalbandian's no great loss to the general tone of the gathering these days = and all tonight he's been carrying on like a pork chop. In one of the middle sets he nearly decapitated a line-judge when he flung the racquet and it flew off a good length like a Curtley Ambrose throat ball.

oh dolgo

that overrule in the Isner match was absolutely shameful btw.

borderline sketchy.

Tomic and Querry 3rd set tiebreaker, the Vav and Baghdatis away.

Tomic wins TB 7-3

Badger starting the better v Vav, already broken.

Roz totally right about Dimitrov's BH, he can come up with the occasional flashy winner off it but mostly it's just too much of an easy target for Almagro

Tomic through in four (he's doing OK but I wish he'd try a little harder to look a little less like Brendan Fevola), and cops the Courier treatment. Meanwhile, Vav v Bagh set 1 back on level terms.

They're trying to get us all excited about Casey Delinquent v 'Renka. With all the will in the world, snowball's in hell.....

Really dreadful performance/attitude in the last set from Dimitrov.

Guessing Tomic will come through against Dolgopolov, who's now played b2b five-setters against inferior opposition and is carrying an injury.

Surprised Berdych beat Rochus so easily! Kinda had him tipped for an early exit.

Gonna be cheering so hard for Barthel next round. The WTA would no doubt hate her doing really well because she's not glamour-photo ready but she was, apparently, a total sweetheart in Hobart amidst a field full of bitchy drama queens and sour-faces and has improved a lot so good on her - BEAT AZARENKA PLEASE MONA.

Oh and Kader Nouni is such a bad umpire.

Barthel's got a nice crafty game, too.

JaJa committed 30 UEs and had 37% first serves. Jesus

kader nouni is SUCH A MORON WHY IS HE AN UMPIRE AND WHY DID PEOPLE EVER THINK HE WAS GOOD?

i saw him umpire hantuchova-tsurenko as well. calling a hantuchova shot out etc when it turns out it was in. and that shit he pulled on radwanska in doha or w/e it was. he might want to learn that a good umpire is one you barely notice

Day 2 at the AO update!

Dimitrov was injured, lex. Pulled an ab muscle or something, but opted to play on rather than withdraw in the fifth. Shame really, cause on the whole, it was a MUCH better performance from him compared to his 1R-er. And yeah, the match prob would've ended earlier if he had a BH (or if Almagro had brains but anyway) - it's just sooo weak, way too weak for a male pro I feel, and def has a tendency to break down the longer a match goes on. He can do plenty with it from an aggressive position but so often he's being pushed back on that side and struggling just to get back to a neutral position.

Nalbandian. :( Seriously, for 90 per cent of that match, he was just tremendous - made the court feel much smaller than it was, which was quite a feat considering who he was playing. Seemed like Isner has lost a ton of weight though. Is this a thing with the American guys? First Roddick, then Fish (RIP), now Big John.

Fran lost to Oprandi? Surprising, good for Romina though - she's as fun as Dolgopolov to watch when she's on.

^^I only saw a bit of the first set but ya, this. Francesca was out of sorts though - nothing was working for her.

Also went to see Delpo, ostensibly just to snap some pix, but it turned out to be a better match than i expected - plenty of decent rallies, a couple of sweet cat-and-mouse points. Never watched Kavcic play before but he was game from the start, except for an awful tendency to double-fault at the most inopportune moments. Solid win for Pony. :)

Plenty of doubles today - lol'd a bit at Nadezhda/Makiri, took some pics for my Bellucci-loving best friend during his match with Brazilian countryman Marcelo Melo, and had the most fun at Bepa/Sveta v Govortsova/Cornet, which was appropriately women's tennis-y - Olga/Alize lost the second set 4-6 after being up 4-0 loool.

Bepa looked solid, Sveta... not so much. Olga was pretty impressive too but probably only because she's allowed to hit into the tramlines. Scintillating commentary by dudes sitting next to me: "The one in blue (Olga) is pretty... bouncy."

Also watched Gajdosova practicing for doubles with Mattek-Sands whose practice outfit was, unsurprisingly, a ball of crazy - zebra-print leggings, neon green t-shirt, purple-streaked hair, and bright yellow cap. Jarmila seemed to be in good spirits despite her first round exit.

Sunburnt! Pretty sure I'm about three shades browner than I was on Sunday.

Nouni looks like a fun dude and has a good voice. But he's bad, and inconsistent on application of some rules. Some players look at their box for 20 seconds before deciding to challenge, and a guy who wasn't sure what the call was initially isn't allowed 15? Yet he seldom gets called out whereas Eva Asderaki has to go through the wringer for ruling correctly on things.

GOD SO TEMPTED to catch the train down Friday night and take in Sat/Sun/Mon and fly home Tuesday...

well eva asderaki is inconsistent on application of rules as well

see serena vs kuznetsova doha 09 / serena vs stosur uso 11

I'm not putting Asderaki up as a perfect umpire, just saying Nouni seems to be teflon, whereas Asderaki gets it right and gets a barrage of criticism - tho maybe someone had a word with her post-Doha because she ruled hindrance correctly in the Woz/Henin match at Miami in 2010 (for the faintest "allez").

In any case, WTA rules (which govern the WTA Championships in Doha) and USTA rules (which govern US Open) aren't exactly the same. One could argue that Serena's yelling was deliberate but it wasn't intended to hinder - the wording here is pretty open to interpretation, a sign of a bad rule (well done WTA, you so basic).

See page 112 of this: http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/AboutTheTour/rules.pdf

The ITF rules as used by the USTA are much better - p12 of http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/15/ITF%20-%20RoT%202010.pdf

that wording is so awful, i think "intentional" doesn't refer to whether the player intended to hinder the opponent but whether she intended to commit whatever act was a hindrance.

ie, unintentional = venus's beads falling out mid-point back in the day - she didn't intend for her beads to fall out. intentional = serena yelling - she clearly intended to yell

maybe Serena has developed Tourette's

Here's a clip of the Woz/Henin match, which I post not because of the Asderaki call, which is uninteresting because hindrance gets called now and then and is uncontroversial, but because the other point in the clip is pretty funny:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNhQzDFQPtI

Kveta Peschke CZE (1)/ Mike Bryan USA (1) v Serena Williams USA / Andy Roddick USA

lol @ this mixed doubles first round

Lol Makarova a break up on Kanepi. Guess either I spoke too soon or Makarova was well below par v Li last week. Of course, Sharapova pwning some scrub is more important.

Nadezhda Petrova is possibly going to lose to Unforced Errani. That's pretty tragic.

But Kanepi being on the verge of losing to Makarova is just pathetic. Kaia, Kaia, Kaia.

Oh and hoping for massive meltdown and anger from Zahlavova-Strycova v Serena!

KAIA WHY YOU MAKE MY OVER-CONFIDENCE IN YOU LOOK REALLY STUPID IN HINDSIGHT. 2-6 5-7? Pathetic.

Take a bow, uberweiss, and I'm sure you'd have been right if Stosur had got to play Riske too!

lol kanepi. endless enigma

can't be too smug. i like kaia :(

Also Petra, how are you supposed to save the WTA if you're dropping service games to Carla Suarez Navarro?

These results are looking appalling. Cibulkova going from 2-0 to 2-5 against Greta Arn? What even is that?

On the plus side, King up a break in the decider over Pavlyuchenkova! Come on Vania! Useless Crunchy Granollers out, as Lex has pointed out, him being seeded is someone's idea of a joke.

Hoping U-Rad can break back against Cirstea. One Ivanovic is plenty, WTA.

Bark Petra! Don't you know Hingis is in the crowd today?

I didn't want to say it, but Suarez Navarro looks exactly like, well, a small boy. She can actually look quite nice, but er, she doesn't.

King and Kvitova win within a minute of each other :D :D :D

And I get to watch a Nishikori match because he's playing a scrub Australian. Mixed blessing.

please tell me someone else just saw Mary make King sing

only caught the lest coupla games, but happy for Ferrer.

Had a dream just a few nights ago that Ferrer was a DJ. On a bus. He played a Cymande record.

I didn't want to say it, but Suarez Navarro looks exactly like, well, a small boy.

someone on Twitter said that she looks like a mini Gulbis in a skirt and now I can't unsee it. :(

Special Kei, what are you doing?

Ebden has actually hit some superb passing shots, so, all credit. Nishikori is not playing well, hitting his ground shots super long :)

That should be :(

Suarez Navarro is a former QFist here and would be top 30 at least if she didn't get a horrible injury every few months. Can't be too worried. Maybe Petra needed to get the shit play out of her system.

Ugh, Nadezhda's loss paving the way for a Discount Ivanovic run, as well as no one stopping the actual Ivanovic. I appreciate King beating Chunkova but now she needs to do the same to Ana.

The GREAT ARN winning an epic! Dominika is so unpredictable in Slams. Either total suckage or a random deep run.

Kaia, lol. I am never going to have faith in anyone again. Kudos to uberweiss.

Mildly surprised that Bepa came through against hard-hitting Hradecka.

OK, Nishikori comeback time. Just broke Ebden at the start of the 5th and looks in control.

I am worried about the fact that Serena and Maria are both playing so well. Thank god they meet in the QF.

Ebden is TERRIBLE. WTF happened in the first two sets.

Some of Sweta's errors are making me wince even by Sweta's standards. WTF was that FH?

Now a slice BH into the bottom of the net.

Why can this moron play amazingly when BP down but hit the most needless stupid errors on every other point. Can someone please end this stupid multideuce game.

Cake serving for the match v Dokic, as the unfailingly ridiculous Gael Monfils concedes set 1 to Tom Bellucci.

I can't believe I watched that Sweta/Stephens set to its conclusion. Atrocious tennis. Stephens did NOTHING and Sweta just sat there and whaled the ball into the net.

Troicka is so useless. But why isn't Kukushkin ranked higher? He's good!

Monf suddenly on fire - 3-0 inc two breaks in set 2

Troicka hissy fit, ump trying not to laugh at him

Amazing tennis from Kukushkin right now - played so bravely to break despite fucking up a smash on his 2nd BP, and now he's unstoppable

ffs roddick is injured or something

YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE PLAYING MIXED DOUBLES WITH SERENA :@

Roddick's done his hammy - he's struggling

I know it's bad, but I checked the men's forum that's the brother site to Tennis Forum, and read this:

"Hewitt is not a man. He is a child. This fucker kept moving Andy around. WTF. Why don't you beat him like a real man. No seriously. I hate Roddick but I felt bad for him. Maybe the first time in many years I felt Andy deserved better. Too bad his body is not holding up."

Can't even begin to explain what's wrong with this. If someone has impaired movement, you move them around. Presumably this person would say Hanturexia lost WITH HONOUR to Silliams that time Silliams was injured and just hit the ball right back to her.

I mean, Hewitt should retire but it's a cold fucking day in hell when I have any sympathy for Roddick. Raonic is a boring big server but he seems like a nice kid so, er, feel free to lose to him, Lleyton.

the Hewitt/Roddick/Raonic section was my nightmare from the start. I anticipate the last 16 beatdown at the hands of Nole.

Simon losing to Benneteau is very very poor.

does roddick actively seek to annoy me? serena needs this AO and french mixed doubles championships then she has all 4 slams in each of the 3 categories :( YOU BETTER NOT WITHDRAW. JUST STAND THERE AND HIT SOME ACES.

I suggest she finds another partner. Do you remember Roddick's volleying ability?

I don't, has he ventured beyond the service line in the last 20 years other than to shake hands?

Yes! That hilarious missed bh volley at SP over Fed in the Wim final! SO MUCH LIFE

Oh and remember that AO SF vs Fed where Connors told him to get to net at every opportunity and he won like five games

i think it's too late to find another partner :(

omg lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwbnU4W3S4A

pffftt Vika

LMAO Roger just sent a lob over Karlovic of all people to save set point.

The backhand to set up his own SP was marvellous too.

Also loved Radwanska's point to set up her MP v Voskoboeva!

Rooting for McHale because she can prob beat Wozniacki again!

I quite like waking up to find I've missed nothing of note. Winning just two games off JaJa = McFail, though.

Thank god the tournament has been de-Isnered.

Sigh @ the unwanted Gorgeous run through an easy draw. Kill her, Aga.

I wouldn't expect her to win more than five games against Aga.

I tweeted at Seven, who screen the tennis here, telling them they need to learn how to pronounce Eastern European names properly. Tonight, they're pronouncing Dolgopolov with the stress on the third syllable. I'm actually impressed! Hopefully this will also spell the end of "rad-WON-skuh" and "ber-DEESH" but I doubt it.

Really I attribute this change to variance :(

God I love Dolgo's mix of finesse and power. One minute all dropshots and caressed groundstrokes and then the next BLAM electric FH winner that no human could possibly react to.

wow, thought he was gonna stuff up serving for the set when he went down 0-40 with stupidity, then BLAM BLAM BLAM 5 points in a row, utterly dominant.

I'd thought Tomic would take this, if only because of Dolgopolov's b2b five-setters so far, but if Dolgo can get the job done quickly...

Ahahahahaha I hope that point gets on youtube. Dropshots, returned smashes, slices, everything

SIGH

Q. Any thoughts about players breaking their racquets on the court? Do you think that helps out?

SERENA WILLIAMS: That's an interesting question, and different. Thank you.

I actually used to break a lot of racquets on the court. I sometimes break them in practice, just not in a match anymore.

I think when you're young it kind of maybe lets out a little frustration. It just is a way to express yourself. I think those players are super, super intense. So I can't necessarily go and say you shouldn't do that when I was actually someone that did it a lot.

I got to a place where I could see how many places I could crack in a racquet. I got five. This is great.

But it's definitely not the best way to release your anger. I think the older you get, you realize there's more different ways.

Like shoving this fucking ball down your fucking throat, I presume

I'm glad I'm not a Tomic fan because man, is he an idiot at times, perhaps even more so than Dog! Like, hitting slice shots or mid-court puff forehands from aggressive positions. I mean, suits me fine because I prefer Dolgopolov and think the next round match would be better with him in it!

I'm loving this match, slices and all!

I'm pretty sure Tomic thinks he's being clever

Only intermittently. What's winner is Dolgopolov's winners.

What's clever, that is.

lol @ serena's trolling :D

go dolgo. don't you dare lose to fucking tomic smh

Dolgopolov has lost two points behind his first serve so far. Sadly his first serve percentage is 33%.

Like Serena has enough self-awareness to troll like that

What a peculiar YT video upthread to illustrate Roddick's weaknesses... one of only twice in three billion attempts he's beaten Federer! Mind you, I never knew "centre theory" could be applied to volleying.

Made my annual venture to Melb Park today. The day began less than well when I passed up several perfectly good parking spots in Alexandra Avenue, about 300 metres from the entrance, assuming I'd get a shady spot somewhere in Linlithgow Ave behind the Music Bowl. This was a bad idea for two reasons: 1) LLgow Ave was full end to end, and 2) The sun never appeared all day anyway. Finally fluked a spot somewhere near the Malthouse and made it into 'I Hate Gays' Arena for the start of a doubles match featuring veteran Leander Paes and his 2012 partner in crime, Radek Stepanek, against Simon Bellilli and somebody called Fognini (first name unknown). Paes and Step easily won set 1, Paes fending off his nose into vacant space on the other side often enough for it not to be dumb luck. He's Indian so he's probably played cricket as well, and borrowed the technique.

Three games into set 2, on hearing that Azarenka had duly monstered a no-name in Nonsense Arena's opener (and lacking the GAF needed to cross a street to see/hear Miss Vicki do anything), I took my seat for Wozniacki v Nicolescu. This was the first time I had seen Woz in live action, and she did a good deal right, not much wrong (except for threatening to choke in her serve-for-the-match game) and did most of it with a grace and economy of technique, and an absence of grunt, that puts her straight into the top half of my preferred winners. And not being a saint, I can't put hand on heart and swear that part of the attraction of a CW win would not be the reaction it would spark in here.

Next up: John Isner v Feleciano Lopez, 16 v 18, it doesn't get more evenly matched than that and so it proved, Jose clearly the better player in the first set and early in the second before Isner, lethargic and slow early, suddenly found a way through Lopez's serve with both power and the kind of deftness and precision supposedly beyond such a one-speed gorilla, and won the second set tie-break.

Decision time. Stay put, or back to Court 3 for Wawrinka v Almagro, with the prospect of Hewitt and Luczak v the Hardy Boys (that's the Bryans, of course) to follow? Chose to take a walk, got stuck in a queue outside C3 for ten minutes, finally got in (when word spread that the Leyt'n'Looch show had been moved) just in time to hear Vav call for a medical time-out at a set and a break down. Was looking a great call at that moment - and more so when Stan staggered barely competitive through the rest of set 2.

But then the pain-killers must have kicked in because Vav took it to Nico in an entertaining third set, actually breaking him (after barely averaging a point a game on Nico's serve previously) and playing some audacious drop shots, a surprising number of which worked. At one stage he played half a dozen on the trot, his fans screaming at him that his luck was bound to run out if he tried another - and a forehand ripped past Nico at a million miles an hour to set up the break point. Vav still looks like a roadie who scammed his way onto the court, and 'elegant' tennis should be way beyond him, but isn't - at least as a surprise weapon. Nico took control again from there and eventually won with a mis-hit drop shot that bounced on the net cord, out of Vav's reach by an inch and landed in my a similar margin. Nico knew he'd been pushed a lot harder that the scoreline showed - hence his very out-there reaction to the result.

Back to Nonsense for the last set of Isner v Lopez - sets three and four had been a rerun of one and two, with Lopez winning 6-3 and Isner prevailing in a tiebreaker. But this time Isner really was on his last legs and there was no 70-68, or even 10-8 as Lopez won the set 5-1 but 'Big John' still fought it right out, by far Lopez hardest hold was the last.

Heading home, on the radio Josh Eagle gave Victoria Azarenka the biggest serve I have hear from him or anybody else on that panel, calling her a 'pain in the backside generally', who 'treats all people like crap' and did so well before anybody knew she could play. He also reported that the ump in the Isner-Nalbandian fiasco had been 'demoted' (apparently the word used in the TA press release) to womens' matches - then had the sense to backpedal vary fast indeed before Mrs Eagle (Barbara Schett) came back on air!

Not a great day this year for stretching out on the grass watching on the big screen, but still saw some good tennis. And made a good decision not to follow the Hewitt circus - apparently the Hardys made very short work of Lleyton and his lookalike.

What a peculiar YT video upthread to illustrate Roddick's weaknesses... one of only twice in three billion attempts he's beaten Federer! Mind you, I never knew "centre theory" could be applied to volleying

the volleys still suck though lols

i guess he withdraw from mixed :@ :@ :@ see his and serena's name nowhere on the schedule. fuckkkk

"That was a shitty decision".

You're right, Dog. It was. Fucking umpires, how can they not understand the challenge rule?

Tomic lying and fabricating! "I didn't challenge" smh

Also fuck you Tomic, you should have conceded that point, you stuck your racquet up.

oh no i was in the shower what did i miss :(

WHY these errors ughhhh

79 winners, 77 UEs...

siiiigh. Last set was a def step down in quality though, Dolgopolov just ran out of gas.

oh no i was in the shower what did i miss :(

Tomic stuck his racquet up and looked at the ump mid-rally, hit ball back anyway, Dolgopolov then hit it out - ump said he didn't think that counted as a challenge by Tomic, Tomic denied it, Dolgopolov called it "a shitty decision", crowd went BOOOOOOO and Dolgopolov started goading them a bit

thx lex

ugh tomic go away

"ugh tomic go away"

No! Get used to it!

Regards, BT

Medina Garrigues has gone down and it looks nasty.

that happened to her nine years ago here too

vs...seles?

um a good idea when you can't move is not to hit puffballs down the centre of the court to li na

yes lex 10 years ago vs seles

has AMG ever done anything on court apart from hit puffballs down the centre?

lol. Well-rested Li v Clijsters who barely raised a sweat. Could whoever wins please do it in straights so you can be fresh to massacre Wozniacki?

watching her try and do a serena circa yec 2004/brisbane vs jovanovski would've been entertaining though

it's over :( AMG looked heartbroken

li vs clijsters now though. interesting.

I've just realised that if Wozniacki loses in the QF to Li/Clijsters, Sharapova loses in the QF to Silliams (duh and duh), and if Kvitova chumps up in the QF or earlier, and Azarenka makes the SF before losing to Li/Clijsters...

Azarenka No 1 :o :o :o

plz li play the match of your life <3 we can take her out. do it do it do it do it do it

Really really hope Li can beat Clijsters but ehhhh it's a long shot I think :(

Vaguely remember AMG nearly beat Alicia Molik (ranked top dozen at the time) two days before AM beat Villiams, but we're talking 2004 or 2005, actually surprised to see she's still on the circuit at all, let alone ranked career-high top 30 and seeded.

Azarenka and her fucking downy-soft draw. Benesova in the fourth round? Then either overrated Goerges or never-been-to-a-SF Radwanska in the quarters?

loooooooooool @ azarenka getting so pissy about a call (which was probably a correct call anyway) when she wasted her challenges on shit like her 2nd match point where Barthel's ball was on the inside of the line. Moronnnn.

vika makes me feel so ill

YOU HAVE NO POWER AND NO MENTAL STRENGTH SO STOP PRETENDING YOU DO WITH YOUR TRYHARD GRUNT AND "COME ON"S AND ACTING LIKE YOU SHOULD WIN EVERY MATCH 6-0 6-0 WHEN MATCHES ARE RARELY IN YOUR CONTROL AND YOU ARE SO. VERY. SHIT.

what Azarenka does isn't "grunting", it's more like a sustained whine

aussie fans were singing "dude looks like a lady" during the tomic match. depressing.

Ugh people who do that should basically be killed.

Discount Ma¢ha retires down 0-6 0-1. Like you were winning a game anyway.

I'm watching some tennis! Gorgeous pouting Romanian Sorana Cirstea and Excellent Italian Bulldog Sara Errani are on the clout on Court #2. Cirstea has a lovely backhand, Errani is deeply stubborn, and there's basically nothing to choose between them. 6-6, 3-3 in tiebreak in the first. There's the feeling this one will be going a while.

lol kirilenko wasn't even injured

Or rather, there was the feeling - Cirstea did well to outlast Errani in the first set, taking it in the tie-break, but then the Italian went and baggled her in the second. Cirstea's back appears to be playing up, but Errani was definitely on top before it started to go.

OH HEY BEPA WAS CRYING AGAIN, HELLO OLD BEPA

good riddance cake!

Might as well roll this out one more time:

http://kworb.net/zheng.gif

niiiiice

What happened to Sveta's serve in that game? Dementieva would have been embarrassed with some of those... things... in the last game. Well done Sabine, prepare for imminent liquefication next round!

The ARN SLAM STARTS HERE!

One game counts as a win, right?

Job to do in the next round Petra.

LOL @ Discount Ana and Discount Ma¢ha. This sort of thing should always happen to them.

Don't care about Bepa, this just spares us her crying and wailing vs Silliams.

Nice opposition, Nicolas.

Nishikori into his first Slam 4R since his USO breakthrough. Building nicely on his strong autumn. Maybe this great career can happen after all :)

ZHENG ZHENG ZHENG ZHENG :D :D

OK - who the hell is that bloke playing against Kishkishkin, and what has he done with the real Gael Monfils?"

And no Lex, you're not washing your hands of Bepa that easy. Over a period of years you convinced me (and I doubt that I'm alone) that the clueless sobbing adolescent I first clocked around 2003 was a real player, with multi-major-winning potential once she grew up - to the point where about this time last year I declared her 'over the line' to win the Oz Open. Seems I may have been right the first time....

Silliams destroying Arn, surprise factor zero ( only just exceeded by Arn's games tally)

Methinks that someone may have been betting on this Kukushkin/Monfils match. it is very suspicious looking, to be frank.

Every time I see "Ma¢ha" I laugh even more than I do when Ma¢ha herself gets blasted off the court by someone I <3 like Petra.

I just lol cause over here in Malaysia, "macha" is Tamil slang for bro or dude.

wtf is this Monf/Kukushkin match?

I only caught the end of that match, but that was weird. Was it true Monfils was injured? I watched him practise just before the match started, he seemed fine then.

Monfils called the medicos out three or four times, supposedly he was flu-ridden AND had various injuries, all while he was going two sets down. Then he hit a hot streak and looked like over-running Kuku. Then he ran out of steam just as suddenly and lost. No I haven't a clue either.

He looked pretty sickly during the first set, actually.

Is Sweta the only athlete who can justifiably be called both an overachiever and an underachiever?

Like, look at her career and you can't deny she's a bit lucky to be a multi-Slam winner. Then look at her gifts and the amount of times she's been a MORON on court and the era she's playing in and it's like GIRL WTF HAVE YOU BEEN DOING YOUR WHOLE CAREER LOOK AT YOUR LIFE LOOK AT YOUR CHOICES

lol Lex.

Fred thanks - was just caught off-guard by how suddenly Kukushkin started imposing himself again at the end there.

French players, what are we gonna do? I watched Benneteau earlier fail to serve out the third set against Nishikori THREE times, eventually double-faulting on set point in the TB. But yay, Kei - loved seeing adorable Japanese kids running down to get his autograph after.

Women's last 16 -

(1) Caroline Wozniacki vs. (13) Jelena Jankovic
(11) Kim Clijsters vs. (5) Na Li
(3) Victoria Azarenka vs. Iveta Benesova
(22) Julia Goerges vs. (8) Agnieszka Radwanska
Ekaterina Makarova vs. (12) Serena Williams
(14) Sabine Lisicki vs. (4) Maria Sharapova
Sara Errani vs. Jie Zheng
(21) Ana Ivanovic vs. (2) Petra Kvitova

Clijsters/Li seems like the only really interesting match-up there.

Ugh Chewitt two sets to one up. Come on, Canada!

Think the non-Wimby slams should start deviating from the rankings tbqh. Bumping Clijsters and Serena up to, say, 7 and 8 ahead of never-been-to-a-SF Radwanska and slumping Zvonareva, nobody would have complained.

Li/Clijsters is far too good to be in this round.

Wait, Hingis is playing legends doubles with Majoli tomorrow! Lex pleasure meltdown imminent! Vs M-Nav and.. uh.. Nicole Bradtke?

that french final :( hingis should NOT be on speaking terms with that woman!

hit her in the head with a serve, martina (k i know that probably wouldn't hurt much but still)

tennis players asked what their favourite shot in tennis is

bartoli says djokovic's backhand
benesova says serena's serve
...
jankovic says jankovic's backhand DTL

Methinks that someone may have been betting on this Kukushkin/Monfils match. it is very suspicious looking, to be frank.

― unskinny blap (edwardo), Saturday, January 21, 2012 9:03 AM (13 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

wtf is this Monf/Kukushkin match?

― Roz, Saturday, January 21, 2012 9:11 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

u guys, come on. This was classic Monfils. Totally standard Monfils result. There's a reason he never has good slam results and it's not because he's being bribed to do so.

he's a really dumb player who wastes a ton of energy in every match and gets injured a lot.

Wasn't entirely serious there. But did you watch it? It was pretty wild even for a Monfils match.

Azarenka is thrashing Benesova, as expected. Benesova's bf, Jurgen Melzer, in the audience tweeting about how he wishes Rod Laver Arena had a mute button.

Lol, kinda.

More pointless bitching about TV commentators... saying Lopez should serve and volley more, but it's "hard to break the mindset of a clay-courter". Uh. Lopez might be Spanish but he's hardly a clay court specialist, having made three QFs at Wimby and only once beyond the second round at the French.

I mean, DO YOU PEOPLE WATCH tennis. Lopez used to S&V from time to time, but has now beefed up his baseline game and is now in the top 20 thanks to better hard-court results, why the heck is he supposed to regress?

good hands, though on that deep volley, wrongfooting Nadal in that forehand corner. would like to see more of that. mix it up

So apparently Lopez is going to read for a part on a Spanish soap.

http://americastelevisionsweetheart.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/roger-howarth.jpg

Li wins first set against Clijsters, who has a bit of ankle tweak.

Hoping for this go straight-sets so whoever wins pwns Woz or Jankovic. NEITHER of those two may make the SF. It is UNTHINKABLE. PLEASE.

li had 4 match points in a row

and we are now in a 3rd set

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

one of those match points clijsters hit the worst drop shot ever and li just hit it to her.

whoops you're watching and caring about womens tennis

stfu?

fair 'nuff

:)

5-1 to 5-4 for kim lolz

no way li wins this though

well that's that. embarrassing match.

BOOOOO Berdych

Hitting people and getting hit is one of the joys of tennis you sad doosh

I love Clijsters. I do, really. But I honestly give Li more chance of beating Wozniacki if Jankovic doesn't (and Jankovic being shit means she probably won't). And Wozniacki needs to lose - the sooner, the better.

So, er, well done Kim, you're smart enough to take advantage of momentum swings in a way you never did in your first career. But if you lose to your next opponent, grr we are through.

I like how the announcer is saying he would throw down with Berdych in the locker-room

nooooooooooooooo Na :( :( :(

first big match of the tournament for me that actually mattered and of course it ends up like this. I want to throw things :(

A-Rad slaughtering Gorgeous is my silver lining. If she can just beat Azza next? Please? For me?

lulz @ Flo's attempt to make his features less womanly with the facial hair. Not working!

Li started crying during her press conference after someone asked her how she felt after that second set. :(

Tomic seems like a chill bro

Morning dudes. I cannot find a stream for Eurosport or anywhere that is showing Fed/Tomic :(

Wait I have found one!

I doubt Tomic will get a set off Fed but at least he's not disgracing himself.

A-Rad slaughtering Gorgeous is my silver lining. If she can just beat Azza next? Please? For me?

― tinie tempurah (lex pretend), Sunday, January 22, 2012 8:05 AM (34 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

why do you hate gerrgiss?

ugly bashy game, overrated because she's ~pretty~, nasty pissy attitude every time i've seen her

Li started crying during her press conference after someone asked her how she felt after that second set. :(

:( :( :( :(

why couldn't you just win, na :(

this is out of date now but I never posted the men's last 16 y'day because stupid Hewitt couldn't close it out before I left the house, and slight OCd is demanding that I don't miss it out.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (WC) Lleyton Hewitt
(17) Richard Gasquet vs. (5) David Ferrer
(4) Andy Murray vs. Mikhail Kukushkin
(24) Kei Nishikori vs. (6) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Philipp Kohlschreiber vs. (11) Juan Martin Del Potro
Bernard Tomic vs. (3) Roger Federer
(7) Tomas Berdych vs. (10) Nicolas Almagro
(18) Feliciano Lopez vs. (2) Rafael Nadal

Got 10/16 women, 11/16 men.

Tomic looks much improved to me. Less of a pusher.

ugly bashy game, overrated because she's ~pretty~, nasty pissy attitude every time i've seen her

― tinie tempurah (lex pretend), Sunday, January 22, 2012 9:08 AM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

well I haven't seen the overrating; in the states they just talk about the Williamses and St. Kim

This game has been pretty good!

Tomic playing to Fed's backhand and grinding out the odd point from it.

It was!

Does Tomic win another game though.

Heh, chip-and-charge and BH smash. Fed just playing with him now.

Yeah I think when Tomic didn't convert that break point he deflated a bit.

Federer/Pony QF should be interesting. I haven't seen Pony play this year yet but his scorelines have been impressive...

Yeah, that shd be interesting.

Is there any way I can stream this? Damn I just saw BBC are only showing one of the SFs and the finals on TV.

The scruffy-haired guy in the white shirt who got the first autograph off Fed is my housemate. Lucky prick.

Though he now has to sit through Wozniacki/Jankovic so... eh.

pusher vs. pusher!

streams at http://www.lshunter.tv/tennis-live-streaming-video.html

Prime JaJa isn't a pusher but prime JaJa is several years in the past and never coming back ;_;

this match will take 4 hours

I hope it's as hilarious as Niculescu/Cornet (no joke maybe my match of the year just for...idk, EVERYTHING)

or Jankovic could go in the tank

Cheers lex!

I sort of appreciate Wozniacki's success as an indictment of women's tennis.

WOMEN'S TENNIS

Wozniacki almost completely whiffed on a serve, believe it or not

god JJ is so useless

Bagel coming up!

jesus christ i went to have a shower and this is the scoreline?!

21 UEs in seven games. Retire, JaJa.

Nets a smash, whines to her box.

Three DFs at 0-6, 1-3 down. Just watching for the comedy now.

Prime Jaja, hah, like Haley's Comet, appears every 76 years for a moment or two. Worst player ever to be #1, boring game with no weapon apart from backhand, shit serve, overbearingly precious regal demeanour that would be inappropriate even if she'd won 20 slams, overrated because of inexplicable competitive H2H with Serena and past-it-except-on-grass Venus, choker.

(This is one of the few major points of difference in taste between Lex and me)

Also, the line calling at this event? Women's tennis.

This is hilarious.

Oh god

LOL @ Jankovic's smashes
LOL @ Wozniacki's shanked FH

Jankovic's smashes, Wozniacki's shanks, why am i complaining? This is peak WTA!

Oh god that FH! WTF

Is Jankovic the only person who hits a drive volley and then MOVES BACK o_0

this is making me feel ill

stop hitting basic errors JJ? plz.

this match pulled me out of retirement

it is embarrassing how tight Wozniacki habitually gets at the end of big matches

This match producing a slam QFist should pull Justine Henin, Lindsay Davenport and Steffi Graf out of retirement. Even with a busted elbow, just having popped out a kid, and being out of the game for 12 years, they would have stepped inside the baseline and killed these mid-court forehand jokes.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL @ Wozniacki trying to be aggressive

KAMAN!

first point after breaking...

i'm fighting a losing cause here. smh

FNJFJDSKJDSKJFIJNMKMMFEWRT IDIOT

Fuck's sake JaJa

Jelena, honey, there's this huge area between the service line and the baseline. Your shot should ideally bounce _there_.

omg this is making me so ill

JJ the entire point of your game is NOT to hit stupid errors

Annoying as she is, I do like Woz's sparkly Denmark heart pendant.

Good lord

Congratulations on your Australian Open win, Petra Kvitova or Serena Williams!

so gross

jeeez berdych what a loser refusing to shake almagro's hand because he hit the ball at him? idiot

Berdprych nickname will always suit him

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jYjB24ZKu8

best video ever lol

those continual boos during the interview. amazing

Believe Berdych was also pissed at what he suspects were fake medical time outs to but who knows really.

"After my video, every player watch me don’t say hello. (They) say, ‘Yo, yo.’"
– Zheng Jie, into the fourth round after beating Marion Bartoli, on the locker-room reaction to her Jay-Z video.

I want to hug her.

That video should be mandatory viewing for pretty much every player and tennis journo to show how to do those "getting to know player X" videos right. From that, you get an insight that Jie is charming and fun as opposed to lots of forced smiles and unenlightening questions.

Oh, Petra. Air shot on the easiest smash ever. At least she's somewhat in control.

lolllllllllllllllllll @ that miss from petra. she was so calm about it afterwards as well. love her

... well that break went very quickly

Or not. Sigh.

Petra, if you lose a set to Ivanovic, you'll hear me shaking my ahead all the way from Melbourne.

... and that game went very quickly as well

what the fuck? petra...

2 service points, 2 double faults in this tiebreak for ivanovic

how useless can you be

lulz and of course it's Ana who serves two DFs in the TB

Gosh, Ivanovic really does suck at tennis.

Though those last few games were unforgivable from Petra.

x-post Ivanovic at the net. So much lol.

Bark.

Bark! xp

xp means you're referring to the post two posts above yours right? lol :/

hahaha it actually just means crosspost, but well...

Kei looking good out here. I love Jo, but how terrific would it be for Nishikori to make the QFs here? <3

Tsonga not helping his own cause with stunning boneheaded-ness either. that missed overhead on BP.... oof.

In other wtf news, Serena Williams is down a set to Ekaterina Makarova.

Serena's in a super-pissy mood.... sluggish movement, 13434534563 UFEs. Broke Makarova early in the second only to give the break back immediately the next game.

where the fuck is the fight?

pushing on the groundstrokes and her serve is just an utter catastrophe. don't see it happening today. more talk about the END OF SERENA then. 'yay'

also, she CAN NOT MOVE AT ALL.

loooool is this actually happening?

omg

Um my phone just told me Makarova won

did your phone also tell you that serena is an injured mess?

over it

french open :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

somebody just please beat clijsters. maria or petra, i rely on you with all my heart and soul.

I love Tsonga but Nishikori playing like this is giving me life!

KEIIIII! What a terrific, terrific win!

First Japanese male to make the AO quarters in 80 years. :D :D

i feel nothing but a dull aching but i suppose i am happy for kei yay.

i hate tennis though.

so does serena

nope

"It's not that I've fallen out of love; I've actually never liked sports, and I never understood how I became an athlete," she said, according to the website. "I don't like working out; I don't like anything that has to do with working physically."

She may even hate tennis more than Gulbis.

UM WTF HAPPENED WHILE I WAS SLEEPING WHAT ARE THESE RESULTS

I am talking about Errani d. Zheng 6-2 6-1 obviously. THREE GAMES JIE?

I'm so happy for Nishikori. Never thought that would happen. Guess it's not TSONGATIME after all.

And...how does Makarova d. Serena happen? I am amazed and have been given life

At least Wussquet going down without a fight restores some normality to proceedings, LOL

Makarova made two Slam 4Rs last year. Aside from those two runs, her 2011 W/L record was 9-21 (4-13 post-RG). Saving herself for the Slams like Silliams.

Oh fuck I am now scared as to what this might mean re: a Sharapova run. Noooooooo

The only player to have taken a set off Makarova so far...

TANASUGARN!

Then Kanepi, Zvonareva, Williams all dispatched in straight sets :D

Q. When do you think you'll play next?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I don't know. I don't know. I'm gonna play Fed Cup. I look forward to that. Gosh, I was just thinking I want to pick up a tournament because I did so awful here. There's no tournaments, unless I pick up Indian Wells, and we all know I'm not going there (smiling). It crossed my mind very briefly, like a nanosecond.

Q. You can play on clay in Acapulco.

SERENA WILLIAMS: Yeah? I'm not that desperate. Maybe I'll just work out for a long time.

Um, Indian Wells zing, whatever, but is she throwing shade at VENUS there?! Calling her own sister desperate!

OMG in the excitement I didn't notice Lisicki win 6 straight games from 0-3 down. Serena and Maria losing on the same day = BEST DAY EVERRRRR

I'm mostly paraphrasing, but Makarova apparently told the on-court interviewer "you better be nice to me in the interview." When the interviewer replied "oh no, we're not doing pre-match", Makarova said "no I mean afterwards."

Now that's ballsy.

God this match is so shit. I don't even like Sharapova but can she get it done already so I can watch djokovic destroy hewitt before I go to bed?

Boo.

Your women's QFs:

(1) Caroline Wozniacki vs. (11) Kim Clijsters
(3) Victoria Azarenka vs. (8) Agnieszka Radwanska
Ekaterina Makarova vs. (4) Maria Sharapova
Sara Errani vs. (2) Petra Kvitova

Going with the Saint, the Shrieks and Kvitty Kat. Petra please save us ;_;

^co-sign. Do it, Petra!

i know what she said matt, lol. she was just being weird as always. she loves tennis.

the moment serena loses so does my passion for the rest of the tournament ;_; maria or petra you fucking BETTER give me life in the final.

And...how does Makarova d. Serena happen? I am amazed and have been given life

INJURIES. Couldn't move forward on her serve, couldn't run properly, etc. :D

also she nearly died less than a year ago so LET'S ALL GET OVER THIS LOSS NOW PLZ AND NOT HAVE TO TALK ABOUT IT THIS LOSS IS NOT A BIG DEAL NOT A BIG DEAL NOT A BIG DEAL ;_;

why am i SO invested in this? ugh. hate sports.

Serena fans get to know how Bepa fans feel :)

also:

Q. Looking at other Russian girls, there were some more than the others that inspired you or you would like to imitate, or there's none?

EKATERINA MAKAROVA: I can say that my idol was Anastasia Myskina. I really love her game. I didn't want to look like her, but just wanted maybe to play because I really love her game.

:o

god the top half of the women's draw is such a nightmare apart from A-Rad

Top half is an absolute horror. I am rooting for... Wozniacki for lol purposes. And for Kvitova to embarrass her in the final. Or for the final vs Maria which could be fun.

Third set Hewitt. Howsaboutthatthen? (6-0 Nole in the 4th, quite possibly; see: two GS finals last year)

Respect. The crowd loves it, and even if some of them are cretins, it's a nice send-off.

wtf that match is still going on? how on earth did hewitt win a set? last i checked it was like 6-1 3-1

vomit, I'd been hoping for a humiliation

like, djokovic does EVERYTHING better than hewitt. how odd

Finally over. Can Hewitt go away forever now please?

Your men's QFs.

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (5) David Ferrer
(4) Andy Murray vs. (24) Kei Nishikori
(11) Juan Martin Del Potro vs. (3) Roger Federer
(7) Tomas Berdych vs. (2) Rafael Nadal

Siiiiigh only one of those that might be interesting is Pony/Fed and tbh I'm still gonna go with Fed. Big Four SFs coming up and they'd better come up with some good stuff to make up for the lack of drama thus far.

If not for all Hewitt's DFs, this match might still have been going!

Theoretically, if Hewitt can push Nole to four, Ferrer would be the sort of player that could give him the same sort of fits. Don't see it though.

can ferrer fuck off. he's so dull

He's more interesting than Murray, to be fair.

Rooting, obviously, for Clijsters and Radwanska tomorrow, even though if that happens, the resulting SF will likely be so, so, so dreadful.

I like Ferrer, not one of my favourites but I'm happy to have him around.

There's a certain kind of retriever/counterpuncher I love to watch, when they're basically a study in perpetual motion and their little legs just never stop working. Sugiyama/ASV/Chang/Ferrer are all like this.

I'm not sure exactly what the dividing line between them and the ones I find unutterably dull (AMG/Coetzer/Wozniacki) is but it definitely exists.

My QF support goes to:

Wozniacki (for the comedy, also she's much less likely than the Saint to follow through with a title)
Radwanska (duh, she is great and Azarenka is hideous)
Makarova (duh, we need Ma$ha out out out swiftly to prevent a horrendous end)
Kvitova (WIN IT ALL)

Djokovic (so nice that a player I root for is actually dominant)
Nishikori (can't be bothered to think about Murray and Slams any more and I've always loved Kei's game, so good to see that potential being fulfilled at last)
Del Potro (bored of Fedal now)
Nadal (but not sufficiently bored to cheer for Berdprych)

Ferrer is weirdly compelling to watch, yeah.

man I really really really really REALLY want Radwanska to win, like desperately

Ferrer made Gasquet look ridiculously inept today except for a short stretch in the second set. But the undersized long-distnace runner is kinda rare on the men's tour these days so I appreciate him!

I loved Coetzer so much, putting her in the same category as Woz isn't fair, I mean, she had a real personality!

Djokovic/Nishikori, Del Potro/Nadal, Wozniacki/Azarenka (oof) and Kvitova/Sharapova semis plz.

Serena and Zvonareva should form a doubles team; imagine the histrionics/crying/screaming meltdowns as they lost 6-0, 6-2

Rooting for Del Petra, and Del Potro.

And I like Ferrer - don't find him boring at all. He's the ultimate over-achiever (I mean, let's face it, he kind of has no business being in the Top 5 especially in this era) and tremendous fun to watch when he's in fighter mode.

If the men's Big Four had dipped in and out of the game like their female equivalents and only deigned to play part-time, Ferrer would probably be the Wozniacki-esque Slamless No 1 on the ATP, and Berdprych would be his Azarenka

lol Ferrer and Berdych would never be BFFs though

Serena didn't have a meltdown or any histrionics yesterday tyvm

Thought you might be underrating Berdy's chances but then I see that he's only won one set in his last nine meetings with Nadal. Er... Ferrer much more likely to be a threat to Djoko (I know, I know, most recent result at the O2 can be discounted).

I just want Federer to spend another couple of weeks at #1 and push Sampras out of the way. Winning this would be a start. Delpy immensely dangerous though.

Put a few dollars on Nadal at 8:1 to win, which strikes me as exceptionally good odds if Djokovic plays a little below his best.

God, the last two points of the game with Azarenka serving at 2-1, from deuce:

1. Magnificent drop-shot from Radwanska.
2. Preposterous defense leading to LOLOLOL smash flub from Azarenka.

:D :D :D

On serve, thankfully, but I guess breaks will be common.

SOMEBODY HOLD FUCKING SERVE PLEASE.
Except if it's Azarenka.

feel like i should be rooting for azarenka because at least the semi could be halfway interesting (kim/woz would still win though) but i just CAN'T. she's so vile in every way.

This tie-break is in no way going to be like having one's throat slit.

It feels like everyone hates Azarenka, except the baseline judges, who seem reluctant to call anything she hits out.

such a beautiful thing

SO MUCH FUCKING LIFE! 7-0!

can the uninformed, moronic tennis "experts" one day learn that the fact that azarenka beats heather watson and casey dellacqua easily doesn't mean she's suddenly the new GOAT and the favourite to win the title.

she's just absolutely useless.

She has a huge army of retarded internet fanboys, viz. Tennisforum where it's all "epic fuckery" and "vika and her snickers" and how she'd have won slams if she didn't keep running into "the form player". Last I checked, Serena Williams never gave two shits about her draw, she kept winning Slams because she could beat anybody.

radwanska looks exhausted since that amazing get off the dropshot.

tank the second set and wait for the heat to melt azarenka.

taking my advice <3

k lol @ radwanska's pushing

forgot i hate her as well :D win/win / lose/lose situation

////////

I honestly never thought I would see a player I hate more than Conchita Martinez, but here we are.

A-Rad's inability to finish off points with commanding ground-strokes, eh, what's new, this is why I cbf cheering for her except if she's playing a complete bitch.

is there anyway to have neither of them in the semis

i mean how fucking useless can you be. if it's your job to be a tennis player you should really be better at it than this

radwanska... what a coward. good riddance.

baffling attitude. you're playing for your first ever slam semi. you win the first set on a tiebreak. and then you show no emotion or signs that you give a shit at all after that. endless pushing with no plan B (mostly because she doesn't have one but still).

"we fought both really hard" lol azarenka. don't lie

This match is pretty much puff-balls from Wozniacki and forehand errors from Clijsters. Oh and enough decent shots from Kim to make it look really, really easy.

watching wozniacki attempt to put away the easiest forehands in the world which any top 500 player could smash away into the stands is PURE COMEDY

omg cliff and chris getting into a fight

can the commentators stop going on about how wozniacki TRIES SO HARD? if she really tried that hard and put that much effort in, she'd have fundamentally changed her game by now. nobody who tries that hard would be content with having forehand technique like that.

Best entertainment here has been Sam Smith pointing out that Wozniacki shouldn't bother arguing with Alison lang because "she's a Geordie".

Also: this match has proved how hopeless tactically most of the WTA is. When playing Woz, they just hit left, then right, then left, then right, and Woz knows where it's going every time. Clijsters goes to the backhand deep, then goes deep to the same wing and Woz is completely wrong-footed. Easy, easy point construction that would work for anyone who had half a brain to use it.

everybody point + laugh

Learn to serve, everyone.

bahhhhhh i went out hoping to come back in time for Pony/Fed only to find this fuckery still going on. Kim, you moron, this should've ended 20 mins ago.

yet another of those just unbelievable shots from wozniacki where her just ludicrously bad forehand technique lets her down. you just can not fail to hit a winner from that position in the court. so embarrassing

omg looool @ both of them, that pt

she put away a sitter forehand :o !!!

bahhhhhh i went out hoping to come back in time for Pony/Fed only to find this fuckery still going on. Kim, you moron, this should've ended 20 mins ago.

― Roz, Tuesday, January 24, 2012 12:07 AM (7 minutes ago)

yeah it's midnight here, so fuck both of them for depriving me of this

:(

bye in the semis.

our only chance is kvitova. BARKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK.

what a gross semi. Go Kvitova, indeed.

Lol Woz is useless

Btw is she now guaranteed to lose the #1 ranking?

I'm pretty sure if you take all the points off, she was tied with Azarenka, who's now gone a round further.

Oh look, forehands.

Roger's reflex backhands = so much love.

lol <3 xpost

roger is looking fucking sharp.

not really surprised that set ended that way. oh pony. :/

for a second I thought Pony was gonna break Fed there. 4 BPs! But now two sets down.

St Kim/Shriekarenka. What an enticing SF. Vomit.

Fed breaks with a clean drop shot return!

Wozniacki FINALLY out of No 1 :) At least No 3 - she's behind Petra and Vika now, can Ma$ha overtake?

Um, not that an Azarenka No 1 is any better, but...I think Petra just needs to win her QF to ensure that Vika needs to actually win the AO to take it?

OK looked it up.

A title secures any of Petra/Vika/Ma$ha No 1.
If Petra wins her QF but Kim wins the title, Petra is No 1.
If Petra loses her QF, Vika is No 1, unless Ma$ha makes the final, in which case she's No 1.

Sooooooo we just need Petra not to lose to Unforced Errani and then normal things can happen to the ranking :/

(I didn't bother to work out the scenarios for Makarova or Errani winning the title.)

Meanwhile that was scary good from Fed.

I haven't seen Rafa play at all yet, I assume he's in form despite the moaning and whining?

Yeah pony was a bit boneheaded throughout but then again fed looked super super sharp (then he goes into fed-error mode vs rafa ;_;).

Hey guys I'm in rod laver arena right now waiting to cheer on Rafa. Stupidly, stupidly forgot to insert the SD card into my camera before I left however. Sigh.

according to Patrick McEnroe, Tomas Berdych's first serve isn't great.

Till tonight I hadn't seen Rafa play a shot either - the ultimate 'under the radar' performer.

WHAT A WAY TO SAVE SET POINT

His mini-break shot at 4-3 in the tiebreaker wasn't bed either

wtf was Rafa thinking

props to the chair ump for following the rules

Wow, didn't think Berdman would hold his nerve after missing those SPs.

Challenge system doesn't so much eliminate controversy as just set up new types of it.

Very well-played TB otherwise but Rafa's horrible second serve at *5-4 that begged to be smacked away for a winner was the deciding factor...

I mean seriously rafa:

sees a shot he thinks might be out, looks at the linesperson (!!!) then turns to run to cover berdych's shot, then sees it go in, and THEN challenges? come on dude

oh god will mats wilander stfu

WTF is Wilander chatting about re: palaces and foundations. STFU

And what a way to break!

Lulz, Berdych out of challenges already at only 2-1 in the set.

Umpire got it right, but any further out and he'd have been expected to overrule.

Such awful linespeople this tournament. So many clear, clear errors.

How about making a return one of these days, either of you.

God that was the most stressful set ever.

Hey Rafa when you gonna learn those short, high-bouncing balls won't do anything to hurt tall dudes like Berdych?

lulz what's this about

@lisaraymond73 Lisa Raymond
Devastating loss @australianopen today to a great team. A well played and deserved win by @evesnina001 @MirzaSania. Good luck in next rd!
3 hours ago via web

@EVesnina001 Elena Vesnina
@lisaraymond73 Thank you Lis!It was great match and u are better player and person on and off the court,then your partner!!!
1 hour ago via Twitter for iPhone

tennisforum coming through for the gossip

WOW!! The drama was epic proportion!! The match ended at 6-2 in the TB on a double bounce that Huber got to and for some reason the point still went on and the umpire ruled against Mirza/Vesnina and they went into hysterics. Huber/Raymond leveled it at 6-6 then Sania SMACKS Liezel in the face with the ball for another MP which they win!

Liezel Huber continues to be THE WORST. A Mirza FH in the face, OUCH, but so deserved. Sania and Elena <3 <3

I don't think I've ever watched a match with this many bad line calls. Horrible officiating.

Nadal in four sets and well over four hours... You'd say Fed was favourite for the semi, but that seemed the case for the 2009 final too (Nadal epic semi win, Fed flattening Roddick as per).

if Rafa was in poor form I might go with Fed but that QF was long because Berdych played very well for stretches of it, and I didn't feel there was much wrong with Rafa's game. So, I'll go with Rafa in the SF.

omg i absolutely NEED to see that huber drama :D such a shitty human being

Yeah, you often feel Nadal needs a match like this to focus himself. He's almost invariably better after a battle of this sort. If Fed had laboured to four long sets over Tomic, for example, you'd take that as a sign that he was below his best.

I'm still backing Fed.

yeah otm that it's reminiscent of his win over Verdasco in '09: he survives a tough one and goes out to face Fed with a confidence boost.

Also he won't be repeating his mistake of standing a million miles behind the baseline to return serve again.

(I didn't see it, but on Twitter some pundits were complaining about Toni Nadal blatantly coaching Rafa to come into the court during the changeover in between the second and third sets - and indeed, the match turned around when he started returning serve on the baseline, as opposed to in the bleachers, early in the third.)

honestly i think the best solution to the whole "coaching problem" thing is if both tours go, ok, you players are obviously unable to control yourselves in this regard, so coaches are NOT ALLOWED IN THE STADIUM. they can watch it on tv.

My housemate and I have a recurring argument about this and I am annoyed that I cannot land the killer blow in it - coaching from the stands makes me vomit neraly as much as them coming down on the court on the WTA. (Don't give two shits about it happening at Davis Cup - who would?).

I consider it a way useless analogy, but the counter-arguments include that most other sports have time outs for coaching. And also the fact that it's proved very hard to police is an argument for the rule's abolition. But duh, what other one-on-one sports (besides boxing) allow the coach to have any input at all? Darts? Squash? Billiards? Badminton? Table tennis? I'd wager most of these don't.

Whether an umpire is qualified to make a judgment call on what, say, Li Na's husband is actually saying, is another matter.

Time of Nadal matches - and Djokovic ones - is exaggerated because of HOW LONG THEY TAKE BETWEEN POINTS. Del Potro got pinged on this a few times, but Nadal has always been immune.

Errani is such an irritating gnat. GO AWAY. LET PETRA BE GREAT.

Oh god is Petra going to lose to Errani. What was that FH

No, she's not, but it is worrying that she actually drops her serve even against total scrubs.

I mean, a scrub who can hit drop shots and do drop volleys is STILL A SCRUB if they could be out-hit as easily as Kvitova should be doing to Errani.

wtf even is this. Focus Petra, try to get your first serve in.

I guess.. uh.. Sharapova won't be feeding her this kind of junk, or going to the net (lol Sharapova's movement towards the net! Hah! I needed something to lighten my mood).

When I saw Makarova in Sydney, she was wearing a white top with a super-cute pink skirt, and the pink skirt was the same colour as the sports drink she had in a bottle, which was ALSO PINK. She is sadly not wearing this today.

ready for makarova to be humiliated and destroyed

don't lose games from 40-0 -_-

why are the commentators saying the umpire's decision in the nadal/berdych match was totally wrong? wtf. nadal PLAYED ON and when berdych hit the winner he then decided to try and challenge. no.

Umpire was totally right. Maybe Berdych should have challenged a bit quicker when he had a nearly similar thing in the next set but he challenged before Nadal had hit the ball at least!

YESSS!!

TASTE THAT 6-2 6-3 LOSS MAKAROVA

TASTE ITTTTTTTTTTTT

/bitter

woah tweener lob from nishikori!

Nishikori is so awesome but he needs to take some game points now now now.

wow what a half-volley from Murray there

kind of sad to think that murray is my favorite player tbh

this is a weird match

who is ur favorite player lamp

since i stopped paying for cable i hardly watch any matches so i feel out of the loop. also i dont play anymore myself so im less avid in my viewing when i do catch a match. all thats a way of saying that i dont really feel close enough to the tour to have a favorite rn. fed's lost his magic but i still root for him, its almost nicer now when theres the keen edge of fear watching him play. but i like all the top four a lot tbh

yeah me too

lulz I can't believe Kvitova's boyfriend is STILL in juniors. and even kinda looks it :/

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/9205/22863620266420636761172.jpg

She was terrible last night and now I am worrying about the Ma$habot match. My small dribble of hope lies in the fact that Petra's only stunk up the court against fast players who can annoy her by getting every ball back, whereas she trashed Dushevina and Kirilenko.

Methinks Petra was quite clever in snaring him young.

they look like twins

Crazy rallying between Ferrer and Djoko, Ferrer's fended off 5 break points in style already and even did well on Djoko's first service game. Eventually Novak will start outplaying him but he isn't going to wear him out.

Great set in terms of shotmaking and rallying, curiously not too tense but literally it was two points away from 6-4 in the other direction. It'll probably be 6-4 6-4 6-4.

Oh, Novak's not pushing off on the serve like usual. He hasn't called a trainer but it's quite obvious something is up.

But he breaks Ferrer anyway.

Interviewer Jim Courier asked Djokovic why he was breathing through his nose, Djokovic: "As far as I know humans are supposed to breathe in from the nose."

Game, set, match to Novak

Courier o_0

Sharapova EVISCERATES Radwanska after her comments about Maria's grunting

"Isn't she back in Poland already?"
"No one important enough has told me to change or do something different"

GET IT :D

channel your inner serena <3

ugh @ tennisforum comments of "this is why i watch women's tennis" tho

Well sure nobody important enough has told her. Her sponsors are pretty happy.

(That said, Radwanska stanning for her friend is totally lame. Sharapova's screaming is usually accompanied by actual big shots and I don't know if Maria has ever been so shameless as to screech on a DROP SHOT like Azarenka has)

when am i going to sleep today ;_; 2am and none of the 3 matches i want to watch have started yet.

i can just tell i'm gonna make it through the womens semis and then fall asleep for fucking federer/nadal :( i don't even care about azarenka/clijsters but falling asleep now is not possible... because i woke up at noon after having watched sharapova/makarova

FUCK YOU AUSTRALIA

LMFAO @ Azarenka telling the umpire to tell the CROWD to be quiet during points

haha was that what that was? i thought she was complaining abt the planes

nope. the umpire then told the crowd to be quiet. and the crowd laughed and impersonated azarenka's shrieks some more.

genuinely terrified of a Vika/Masha final now. Oh god.

Seriously Kim, this is about the only time I will ever root for you - can you please take her out in three now?

who is that GUY commentating with pam and cliff, i can't place his voice atm

that's not brad is it

lol vika losing this is NID don't worry

i mean, unless clijsters is EVEN more mentally unstable than i thought

okay kim cruising now and vika imploding. as it should be.

i think it's brad

i like listening to the radio broadcast and muting w/e random commentary i get on the streaming

what radio station?

ao radio - its available on the tournament's website

ohh nice

o damn

This set is going to kill me, isn't it

GO KIM

Oh ffs

13 unforced

poor azarenka is gonna lose a big lead again at the AO lol.

point + laugh at clijsters though for getting herself in this situation.

BRAD finally someone said his name, i love him

lol

lollll from 40-0 up. azarenka you idiot. bye

:/

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

:D Kim not bullshitting her way to another slam.

go lose the final now, azarenka. i have no further use for you :D

ARF!

smh @ some of these errors from Kvitova

fuck this

So fucking gross. Ugh Petra so many fucking chances to break, and you lose via a double fault and three shitty FHs in a row.

lol womens tennis

Oh no no no no no no no no nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Not the final I wanted to wake up to. Hideous. Hideous in every way. Aargh. I don't think I can watch this, I can't take so much screaming first thing in the morning. And if I do I'll probably end up rotting for Shaarpova because Vika is so repellent.

Silver lining: up middle finger to the part-timers. Tennis doesn't need that shit. At least this is a final between players who a) can play and b) do so more than 4 times a year.

Ay yay yay flashback to the total mess that was the Ma$ha/Vika Miami final last year.

so now i'm forced to root for maria... ugh

Fed/Nadal is amazing already

Fed in God mode. That FH pass! That lob!

Seriously amazing.

And Rafa breaks anyway...

Really Fed? It only takes half a set for Rafa to get in your head?

Gah I need to leave for dinner soon - I'm recording this but still... gah! why the fuck did I agree to go out tonight of all nights?

Gosh. Fed actually seemed a bit lucky to get away with that set in the end

Wow, break to love for Fed at the start of the second. Amazing FH slice in that game. Back to the form of the early first set

Lulz and Rafa breaks straight back to love. At least Fed didn't carry on the pretense that he was gonna hold on to that break for the rest of the set.

Not the final I wanted to wake up to. Hideous. Hideous in every way. Aargh. I don't think I can watch this, I can't take so much screaming first thing in the morning. And if I do I'll probably end up rotting for Shaarpova because Vika is so repellent.

lex about as otm as it's possible to be

lol @ "rotting for sharapova"

Holy fuck that Rafa get

Fed had BP in the last game and shanked three straight FHs and now immediately broken. That felt like a match turning point.

And...slowly it dawns on me that I've done it again and booked a trip to see my mother on Merseyside on finals weekend. Consigning me to phone updates on the final while the kids run around Play Planet at Seacombe Ferry terminal, Sunday morning.

Y'know, I've at least followed on the radio every Federer Slam final (can that be true? Perhaps I didn't see/hear much of USO '07. And only caught the bitter end of RG '08). But if he's really unravelling here then I s'pose I don't have to worry about that.

too soon to say "unravelling", I guess; we're not in full Federror mode. Prob a few twists and turns yet. But from a huge chance to go a set and a break up to being on the brink of one set all, that's a classic Rafa way of getting into a match.

These fireworks. Every year. Australia you fail.

LOL @ that FH volley. Oh Roger.

This reminds me of mooching around shops in Brighton in the rain in June, watching 5-2 turn into 5-7 6-7 at Roland Garros on my phone.

It's funny how being a fan of the most successful male tennis player in history actually involves so much casual distress; usually when Rafa is involved.

Oh dear. Lame FH halfway up net and Rafa breaks to love.

From 7-6, *1-0 up, Roger won one game to Rafa's six.

Oh my god two consecutive Fed DFs and he's already down 0-40 in the third...

FUCKING STREAM

HOLDS.

(Will not get involved in this! Too much work to do!)

Well...he just got out of that game.

Fed breaks.

I have no idea how it happened because my stream is unwatchable now. I have no idea whether it's the stream itself or this cunting BT cunting weak cunting signal.

Well, you won't be surprised to hear that he tossed in another DF in the next game and immediately lost the break. Arrgh.

Federror has shown up for this TB then.

Fed came back from 1-6 to 5-6 and then Rafa just did his classic serve out wide then big FH, end.

The Big Four matches almost always play out in the same way, it feels like we've been watching the same matches for half a decade now. We continue to watch because they're so talented that there's a lot of good tennis in that, and also for the rare incremental shift to tilt the rivalries like Djokovic made last year.

Are you talking about just in the Slams, Lex? Three and love destruction of Rafa in November irrelevant? (Funny how RF is the only one who maintains his level through to the end of the season, even if it's not quite the level of old). I don't know, you could hardly get a greatest contrast than between the two Fed-Nad matches three weeks apart in the summer of '08...

Yeah, in Slams over five sets.

I do wonder what would happen if they played over five sets indoors...

OK that pick-up from Fed was kinda astonishing. 15-30 on Rafa's serve...

Well, quite. Always felt the H2H is a bit unfair to Roger seeing as how many times he's made their date in a clay final, while Rafa hasn't made it through the other side of the draw indoors or on hardcourt. But, it's becoming increasingly hard to argue with a 2-7 Slam record, which might become 2-8 today. And I think 2008 really evened things up (Roger failing to make those final-Sunday dates on the regular tour).

Nadal will serve for it.

Incredible defending from Nadal in that game, and he'll serve for the match now...

That was a really stupid attempt at a baseline overhand by Federer to lose that BP.

That BP. Insane Nadal lob manages to land in and Federer...slices it out...?!

Fin. On a Fed FH error, appropriately.

Oh well.

give me another djokovic def nadal humiliation :D

p.s. MARIA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh god don't lose to azarenka. oh god oh god oh god

I've suddenly realised I'd rather have Wozniacki as Slamless No 1 than Azarenka as a Slam champion and No 1 :///////

Not to take anything away from Nadal's defense, which was astonishing, but what the fuck was Federer doing going in behind so many average approach shots?

x-post totally agree. Go Maria.

I am trying to remember the last top woman I disliked as much as I dislike Azarenka. I think I have to go back to Hingis.

rotting for Shaarpova

I love this so much

anyway the silver lining of this Australian Open women's final is that I don't have to stay up late watching it yay. What an intolerable match-up. Although I hate Sharapova much more.

So I came home to watch the match and well, sad to say I called it. :(

Yeah pony was a bit boneheaded throughout but then again fed looked super super sharp (then he goes into fed-error mode vs rafa ;_;).

― Roz, Tuesday, January 24, 2012 3:42 PM (3 days ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I mean, 63 UFEs to 46 winners compared to Nadal's 34 UFEs to 36 winners is just... smh Roger.

watching tennis on a proper tv instead of a shitty stream <3

oh dear that Murray volley

...and DF on BP.

lol @ showing lendl's face every time murray does something stupid

oh dear that Djokovic volley

Both are playing passively, with errors.

And neither can hold serve.

It feels like Hobak doesn't even need to get out of third gear and there's even more of an inevitability about this than there was yesterday.

Murray breaks back in the second set after an 11-minute game. Some actually good points in that, too. I'm only half-watching now though.

The momentum swings in this match are ridic

Hobak has been mediocre throughout (good defense, poor on the attack). Murray has been intermittently brilliant & authoritative but mostly mediocre-to-bad with some awfully basic errors.

lmao will one of you hold serve at some point?

This is exhausting to watch. It's like Harold Solomon vs Eddie Dibbs on green American clay in the late '70s, except played at 2x.

I've got it on in the background and every time I look up I'm like, um, you've only played one game since the last time I checked?

At least it looks like they're being a bit more aggressive

This is brutal. I don't know how many deuces and break-points in this set opener but it's 12min now...

Right now, it seems like all Murray really has to do is stay in the points, move Nole around, win 50% of these 30-stroke rallies and, at some point in the next half-hour, his opponent will either quit or effectively quit. He doesn't look fit. But...remember how Djokovic looked at the end of the 3rd set at Flushing Meadow vs Nadal.

Yeah, we've seen Djokovic look exhausted on court before.

this match is weirdly compelling

Yes, it's kind of uncallable at this point. It could be over in four relatively quickly in either direction (they're both weirdly fragile on serve) or we could be here all night.

(I'm only glancing at it but Djoko doesn't seem to be struggling as much).

whenever I glance at it it seems to be pretty awesome now

damn this work

stunning defense from Murray to break but it's still kind of weirdly up and down. Neither of them are serving particularly well.

lulz Murray attempting to serve out the set is going exactly as you thought it would

jeez these rallies...

Nothing like as high quality, but it's much the same pacing as last year's US Open Final. At the end of this set we'll have had 31 games in around 200min...

will Djokovic retire now?

he's probably tired, that's seems like good enough a reason to forfeit this match

oh my god

heh :D oh well :)

lulz i turned away to finish that bit of work and 0-3 happened

argh i scheduled an interview for 1pm assuming that'd be late enough, it's not gonna be ;_;

lol fourth set took 25 mins compared to 88 in the third.

LOL Muzza

wtf is this

nadal sitting comfortably at home right now. smh. scheduling i hate you

OMG that rally

they should've worked out between them beforehand who would win nice and easily to be fresh for the final :(

i want to root for murray, but i want nadal to lose so i should probs root for djokovic

Good to see Murray being aggressive and making Djokovic do the running.

They have a day to rest before the final, that should be enough!

murray looks like he's about to die. which is why pushing on that 30-30 point PROBS WASN'T THE BEST IDEA