2020 AUSTRALIAN OPEN

now w/ brushfires~

To be fair, south eastern Australia is *usually* on fire around AO time. Smoke lingering in Melbourne itself is admittedly an exciting new development.

Bushfire edition

^had the same first thought when I saw this thread

fucs/shapo is good quality ~ fucsovics abt to get the upset

https://www.10sballs.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Insta-photo.jpg

^ entertainer

Ymer-Khachanov maybe the longest match so far? 4hr33, into the 5th set champs t/b. Absurd number of breaks. Poor old Kevin A lost from two sets and a break up vs Taylor Fritz. Nadal coasting now, but missed 17 of 18 bps in first two sets.

Not seen a minute of this so far!

hadnt realized fogninis comeback vs opelka rd 1 gave him such a feat in all 4 slams

"I make the grand slam," Fognini joked after the match. "Not in the way of Rafa or Roger... a different kind of one, but it's OK."

i heard hes something like the 8th man to do this but I cant for the life of me find/figure out how to google it~

serena/wang has been excellent

woz put into retirement by ons jabeur

Brilliant stuff from Ons, also becomes 1st ever Arab woman to make the fourth round of a Slam.

Caro with the self-deprecating joeks: "I think it was only fitting that my last match would be a three setter, a grinder, and my career would finish with a forehand error."

oh no.. Wang :( two UEs to squander two MPs on Serena's serve.

gets another...

and she does it! Amazing match

It really does sound amazing!

Millman is giving Fed nightmares again - into a fifth set.

i had to go to bed, that is some legit mettle from wang after serena won the 2nd set

& coco ! wau

Okay fed is in fact being outplayed by Millman in this TB. Incredible stuff.

Ooh Fed got a little lucky with that Millman miss and suddenly it’s match point Roger.

LOL that was nuts. Down 8-4 in the TB, Fed somehow reeled off six points in a row to take the match. Millman was fire though.

Federer 1st time in career, on his 4th attempt, wins 5th set TB:
Masters '05: Nalbandian 76 76 26 16 6-7(3)... 2 pts away
Rome '06: Nadal 76 67 46 62 6-7(5)... 2 MPs
Wimbledon '19: Djokovic 67 61 67 64 12-13(3)... 2 MPs
Aus Open '20: Millman 46 76 64 46 7-6(10/8)... 2 pts

— Voo de Mar (@VoodeMar) January 24, 2020

wangs feat was that much more amazing when you recall their last yr usopen match

feel pretty bad for this wang person who is going to lose 1 and love to serena in 45 minutes

― k3vin k., Tuesday, September 3, 2019 7:59 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

she won 15 total pts

― johnny crunch, Tuesday, September 3, 2019 9:10 PM (four months ago) bookmarkflaglink

Kyrgiossssssssssssss

same scoreline as wimbledon innit

i love the KENINTENSITY

mugu/kenin final!

novak is playing welll jeez

women's tennis is quite compelling now, who captures serena's throne?

No one, it seems, why it's so exciting right now.

Men's also shifting a bit. It's now for Djoko to get past two of the younger ones for the title -- which he is favourite to do -- but just recently it could've easily been the other way round.

yep dozen-ish or more ladies (serena still too imo) could win each major, & looks it will be that way for a while

Thiem has a decent chance of beating Djokovic if he makes it to the final, I reckon. It'll be his third Slam final, he just beat Rafa, has beaten Djoko in their past two matches: a five-setter at RG and a tight three-setter on hard court at the year-end championships.

I’ve only just tuned in but this Sascha-Thiem match is incredible.

Of course I say that just as one of the lights in the arena goes off and they have to stop play while it’s being fixed.

‪ffs Domi. These two are so frustrating to watch, long stretches of brilliance followed by moments of absolute bone-headedness at the worst times.

Thiem didn’t play well throughout the match, but he’s just so fucking clutch, it’s unreal. Levelled up at the right moments, finishes brilliantly. Hope he wins it all.

Anywhere I can stream this final?

lots of annoying pop ups but it works: http://sportcategory.org/tennis/kenin-sofia-muguruza-garbie-fs9l9dj

too many pop ups just can't seem to get through.

Thanks for trying Roz, will switch to Radio

Does sound like Muguruza has all the answers rn

Kenin has just broken. Perfect timing

Final set, breaking twice

3x bps Muguruza

Saves one with a solid rally

2x more winners. Saves them all. Holy shit

Ace

3-2 Kenin. Just too good.

Those DTL winners from Kenin were goddamn incredible. Five points in a row to hold.

This is a proper amazing battle now.

Now Kenin has a bp.

Df Muguruza. She has been ground down

Kenin is surely not too far away now. Don't see her freezing but that is Muguruza's only hope.

Yeah Garbine’s timing has been off esp on her serve - her back was bothering her earlier. Meanwhile Kenin has been on fire since the middle of the second set, just absolutely zoning.

And now CP.

Deuce, come on make Kenin serve for it

Another winner for CP

DF. Kenin wins!!

Totally fell apart at the end but Kenin's incredible hold earlier sealed it.

‪Sad to see that end on a DF. Congrats to Kenin, that third set was way closer than that score line suggests.

God I love her!! She expresses a childlike zeal, intensity and enthusiasm that's so charming and infectious

I just watched this match and Kenin is legit

those groundstrokes. nowhere near prime serena, but will be tough to beat right now.

🤣😂🤣😂😭😭😭

Djoko getting his ass kicked, he's about to cry at this point.

Had to skip out on this match due to prior commitments but happy that Thiem seems to be doing his thing!

Dangerous times for Thiem

15-40, Djoko two bps

I jinxed him didn’t I? Sigh

metoo. I was wondering where Djoko's famous fighting spirit was, but here it is, hanging on and grinding it out.

It's ok, probably going to a 5th

It is.

First bp...

Lol Thiem us an error machine, break down in the decider

What a turn around

Glad I’m not watching this after all lol. dammit Thiem - where did that clutch mentality from the Zverev match go?

😢😢😢

Deuce at the next.

Break back point

It's the second one he has saved

And Thiem just holds at the next

😢

it seems likely now that both Rafa and Djoko will pass Roger's slams #. So who is the GOAT??

First record to go seems likely to be Roger's weeks at #1. Novak returns to the top tomorrow. He's only 35wks behind now and didn't have a spectacular spring/early summer in 2019, so little to defend between now and Wimbledon.

Massively disappointed. Medvedev's missed BPs at the start of the 5th in NYC vs Nadal last September similar to Thiem's fleeting opportunity early in the 4th today. These second-hour slumps from Novak are all very well on the regular tour, and cost him a few matches in the last two years, but there's always a third act in best-of-5.

Again, I wonder, as I have periodically on several editions of this thread since... uh, 2002?... why split the men's semis over two days in this event?

Maybe we should skip the '90s kids altogether, have Rafa and Roger win their final Slams in the summer and start afresh with Sinner/FAA at the USO.

GOAT is... Navratilova, then Pancho Gonzales. :)

Med and Thiem will win slams. They both got close, whether they will get going and shut out Nadal and Novak from Fed's record is another question.

So... points to defend before Roland Garros:
Djokovic: 1915 (W Madrid, F Rome, QF Monte Carlo, L16 Miami, L32 Indian Wells)
Nadal: 2405 (W Rome, SF Madrid, SF Monte Carlo, SF Indian Wells, SF Barcelona, L16 Acapulco, DNP Miami)
Federer: 2460 (W Miami, W Dubai, F Indian Wells, QF Rome, QF Madrid)
Thiem: 1970 (W Indian Wells, W Barcelona, SF Madrid, L16 Monte Carlo, L64 Rome, L128 Miami)

I will be in the rare position of hoping Nadal plays and wins in Acapulco at the end of the month - that would be enough to make up the 325pt deficit, but I fear Novak will play (and go deep) at Dubai the same week. Stupid bloody ATP Cup messing things up; Novak was unbeaten and Serbia won the title, so that's better than an extra ATP500 to him.

Fed was really playing great Feb-Jul last year (the above + W Halle, SF Roland Garros, F Wimb), but I suspect he will bleeding points this year. Maybe not even top six by time he turns 39.