The Inaugural Nu ILX Tennis Thread: 2007 Australian Open

the sick list so far -

JHH is out because of "personal reasons" - this oblique announcement sent the belgian press into a frenzy of guesswork for all of one day. apparently her marriage is in trouble and she's staying at home to try to save it. myskina has a chronic foot injury - she hasn't won a match since last august, tried to make a comeback in auckland last fortnight but promptly flew home. venus williams' left wrist is still injured, pierce suffered an absolutely horrific knee injury a couple of months ago and won't be back for a good half year yet. davenport is retired! well, not officially, but she's pregnant, so as good as.

molik was talking big last week but ultimately fell quite easily to sania mirza (who seems to be somewhat resurgent, which is nice, i like her). jelena jankovic is the in-form player - at the time of writing she's won her first nine matches of the year, including a well-played 3-set win over hingis and an absolute trouncing of mauresmo. however you've got to think she might have peaked too early. serena williams is, as ever, also talking big, but when you're losing to players like sybille bammer you can't blame people for not taking this seriously.

did any australians see the sydney semi-finals last night btw? jankovic v vaidisova and li v clijsters - both sounded like fantastic matches.

rafael nadal continues to unimpress - made the semis at chennai before falling in straight sets to malisse. murray and djokovic, on the other hand, are playing smartly and well. roddick is in melbourne sans coach after jimmy connors' mother died last week.

i can't wait for the draw - out in an hour's time apparently!

Sharapova plays Pin, Mesmo the even more ludicrously-named American Shenay Perry.

BECAUSE OH GOD THE BALL BOUNCES TOO HIIIIGH FOR MEEEEE HERE AND I'M AUSTRALIAAAAN THIS ISN'T RIGHT MATE COOOOOME OOOON.

I propose that everyone who rates Hewitt's chances be named and shamed on this thread, and everywhere, in fact. First up, Kim Clijsters. Kim, girlfriend, you broke up with him, you don't have the humour the tedia on his behalf.

Nadal vs Kendrick! OMG!

Yay for Sania's re-rising star. People going politely excited-cakes over Guccione should just look at his previous results and the fact that his game is rubbish and take an ice shower. As if he'd even win six games in a match against Nadal let alone a set under most circumstances. A tall, big hitter can beat Rafa, but he has to hit _well_ as well. Like Berdych.

Who knew Jimmy Connors' mother could coach?

(man I spent ages trying to make that funny but gave up in the end)

Yay for the 1st tennis thread of the year! The players to watch out for, with rankings:

15. Francesca Schiavone
28. Flavia Pennetta
31. Mara Santangelo
38. Tathiana Garbin
50. Maria Elena Camerin (yay Maria Elena!)
53. Romina Oprandi
85. Roberta Vinci
99. Alberta Brianti

43. Filippo Volandri
66. Daniele Bracciali
78. Andrea Seppi
89. Potito Starace (yay Potito!)
94. Alessio Di Mauro

Any of that lot any good, then?

i've seen bracciali play and he was really impressive but curiously seems unable to put up the results to back this up.

the two women's favourites, sharapova and clijsters, have ended up in the same half - the bottom half seems to be pot luck between fragile mauresmo, ill kuznetsova, injured petrova, tired jankovic and fat serena. opportunity for one of the teenage wannabes (shahar peer, nicola vaidisova, tatiana golovin) to step up, maybe? nothing really stands out of the first round matches though vania king v ana ivanovic could be good - ivanovic will probably win, but king is definitely the best young american player around; she's a counterpuncher with no weapons, but that could be exactly the sort of game to throw off the STILL-inconsistent ivanovic.

Sharapova v Zvonareva
Chakvetadze v Molik or Peng
Clijsters v Rezai
Li v Hingis
Petrova v Jankovic
Peer v Kuznetsova
Vesnina v Vaidisova
Schiavone v Mauresmo

Federer v Djokovic
Gasquet v Robredo
Ljubicic v Ferrer
J.Johansson v Safin
Nalbandian v Soderling
Berdych v Davydenko
Blake v Del Potro
Murray v Nadal

gosh almost all seeds for the men!

Tues and Wed are both forecast to hit high 30s, which probably translates to high 40s in the middle of Tina Arena Court (or whatever it's called), where in those conditions on the first Friday last year, Kuzzi gave Santangelo a fearful ass-whuppin'. I saw that match live at the scene, and whether the problem was heatstroke or Kim Beazley ticker shortage, the memories are enough to make me fight shy of backing MSA against anybody if the frying pan gets turned on again....even a dubiously-prepared Serena Williams.

i've also just remembered that at wimbledon 05 santangelo took a set from, but still could not beat, a serena williams playing so woefully that she would lose to craybas in the next round. hmm.

RF didn't exactly stroll to the title last year and I've a suspicion he won't win this; if not Youzhny, then perhaps Djokovic will upset him. (Of course he'll reach the quarters without being taken beyond 6-3 in any set now).

Whoever emerges from the Becker-Safin-Srichaphan segment to do Pandy in r3, I hope.

Voda kicks off with Sandshoe Face (who scores today's Age front-page beefcake shot, a sign that even the local tedia has given up on Hewitt?) v Tsonga, followed not much tlonga most likely by Craybas v Vaidisova, then Ljubicic (Looby Loo) v the impossible-to-further-ridicule Mardy Fish, then WA first-timer Jessica Moore (only confirmed as a starter on Saturday) will come up against 3rd seed Kuznetsova. Her Open involvement may not long exceed 48 hours including plane flights to and from home.

Wine Airfurs christens MCA v one Stefan Koubek of Austria, then Casey Delinquent plays Srobotnik of Slovakia, and Tommy Jo Hansen plays a Swiss whose first name is Marco and his last name has far too many l's and i's to be readable this early in the morning.

Tonight the unseeded Serena W plays the seeded Mara Santangelo in what shapes as a very close contest, and Nicolas the Massupial plays 2007 designated 'next big thing' Novak Djokovic.

Arfurs in his farewell appearance already 5-1 down. Perry broke Mesmo at her fist try but has since gone down twice herself. Tsonga staying with Rddick.

Wine broken but takes it back straight away.

Mesmo about to polish off Perry, Koubek has two serves coming to go to 2-0 lead. (EDIT: Which he does.)

Arthurs now one game away from victory. Rodge mow back on cruise control in third set after facing a set point in the first, surviving and winning next set 6-0. Apparently his opponent's name is pronounced 'POW' and they polayed each other often in juniors. Sandshoe Face also safely thgrough after early scare against Tsonga, who if he ever appeared in a cryptic crossword the clue sould have to be 'backward agnostic'. The BA did well to win one tiebreaker and contest another before running out of steam .

And at a set and 5-0 down, it's goodbye and thanks for coming Jessica Moore.

not that anyone expects that of srichaphan any more, but all the same a straight sets loss to DUDI SELA is not impressive.

most surprising women's result has to be jie zheng going down to julia schruff after falling away in the 2nd set tiebreak - though they have given us the first match to go the distance, vivi ruano pascual beating melinda czink by the unlikely score of 1-6, 6-1, 9-7.

and serena is through with ease - and she shouldn't have any trouble with anne kremer in round two either...

http://img389.imageshack.us/img389/6339/capthk11401021214hongkowa1.jpg

BUSINESSLIKE.

Safin and Becker away.

Looby-Loo's demise just mentioned by the ABC crew for the first time, half an hour after the event - slack work fellas.

blowout of the day - novak djokovic making very short work of a potentially tricky opponent, surrendering just two games against massú.

(The ABC comms just helpfully mentioned that Becker Snr turns 40 this year....)

fixed! ah at least lovely marat won today. i hope he can go on an unlikely run which takes him at least past roddick. apparently roddick's behaviour towards tsonga was very uncouth.

Something new boy Novak* might like to contemplate. Nobody cares that you look like Sean Penn in 'Dead Men Walking' when you win in the first round, but some time between now and his first major (which They Say mightn't be very long) he needs to confirm that is the image of himself he wants the media to present round the world as he holds up the trophy. Still, at least he didn't follow Massu into the Rob the Slob 'dragged through a hedge backwards' fashion school.

(*Bad pun. Just in case you missed it.)

They are calling today 'Aussie day', with Hewitt, Luczak, Molik, Gooch and Sammy the Stoat, and doubtless others, all in action. Chances of any of that lot, or yesterday's line-up, still playing on the real Australia Day (ie Friday week): Negligible bordering on zero.

I went home early from work and all I got to see was the interminable Rochus Man vs Gooch. One of those matches people will go "it was really good" becuase of the scoreline (9-7) in the third. Don't listen, it was rub.

Dear Anal Elf shellacked Kendrick. Crap match, too, though did feature one moment of comedy when a ball about six miles in was challenged as being out. Tipsy McStagger had Nailbags on the ropes but had to retire. What a pisser.

The Clidge had a double bagel. Ana In The Van might as well have - two and love over Vania King - v. impressive. Glee, Hingis squashed Dechy. Sania won. Well done, Sania.

An Australian I've never heard of, Robert Smeets won. United Colours of Benneteau lost after being 2 sets to 0 up, and then won 5 more games in the match against Paul Capdeville, of whom your guess is as good as mine. Potito lost to J-Ig. Boo. Rob The Slob won. Also boo. Berdych won easily. I like Berdych, so well done Tomas.

Rub maybe, but there's something very pleasing about a geezer smacking down 45 aces against a guy 13 inches shorter than him and still losing. Gives you hope.

I hadn't heard of Smeets either. I looked up Coupe de Ville, and no he wasn't found at ther bottom of a crackerjack box (Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell, but I guess you already know that). He's Chilean, 23 and is ranked 148 with a high of 102.

Leece is in trouble on serve for the second game running, Andy the Haggis has single-bagelled Al Martino, Stose has recovered an early break and looks like taking the first set, Pratt is on top in the first set against Virginie Razzano, tennis's own Nana Mouskouri. Sophie Ferguson has a break on a Croatian Creation who most likely would rather you didn't know her name is Jelena Tossa. Or Toxic. Or something between the two.

Isn't he British until he gets beat? He's just gone 4-0 in the 2nd.

Which she signally failed to do and now she's in trouble in the tiebreaker.

The most banal part of this soap opera is yet to come: the grovelling and the 20-20 hindsight in the papers tomorrow.

Fed is monstering him on his own serve - he's more likely to fly thru the air than break.

Goodnight, farewell and Amen. The fat lady has sung.

Gonzo was brave to the end but he was never going to bridge the gap in class.

Well, maybe, Fed is basically asking you to take chances, push the lines as far as they'll go, and for at least 4-5 sets at his first slam final...but you never know if he had won that first set.

1. Roger Federer (1)
2. Rafael Nadal (2)
3. Nikolay Davydenko (3)
4. Andy Roddick (7)
5. Fernando Gonzalez (9)
6. James Blake (5)
7. Tommy Robredo (6)
8. Ivan Ljubicic (4)
9. Tommy Haas (12)
10. Mario Ancic (10)
11. David Nalbandian (9)
12. Tomas Berdych (13)
13. Novak Djokovic (15)
14. Andy Murray (16)
15. David Ferrer (14)
16. Richard Gasquet (17)
17. Lleyton Hewitt (19)
18. Radek Stepanek (20)
19. Jarkko Nieminen (18)
20. Dmitry Tursunov (21)
21. Marcos Baghdatis (11)
22. Mikhail Youzhny (25)
23. Dominik Hrbaty (22)
24. Marat Safin (27)
25. Mardy Fish (42)
26. Robin Soderling (23)
27. Juan Carlos Ferrero (24)
28. Agustin Calleri (26)
29. Jose Acasuso (28)
30. Jurgen Melzer (32)
31. Xavier Malisse (30)
32. Nicolas Almagro (31)

1. Maria Sharapova (2)
2. Justine Henin-Hardenne (1)
3. Amelie Mauresmo (3)
4. Kim Clijsters (5)
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova (4)
6. Martina Hingis (7)
7. Nadia Petrova (6)
8. Elena Dementieva (8)
9. Nicole Vaidisova (12)
10. Jelena Jankovic (11)
11. Patty Schnyder (9)
12. Dinara Safina (10)
13. Anna Chakvetadze (13)
14. Serena Williams (81)
15. Shahar Peer (17)
16. Ana Ivanovic (14)
17. Na Li (16)
18. Daniela Hantuchova (18)
19. Tatiana Golovin (23)
20. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (19)
21. Vera Zvonareva (24)
22. Katarina Srebotnik (22)
23. Anastasia Myskina (15)
24. Marion Bartoli (21)
25. Francesca Schiavone (20)
26. Ai Sugiyama (26)
27. Samantha Stosur (27)
28. Tathiana Garbin (33)
29. Alona Bondarenko (34)
30. Maria Kirilenko (28)
31. Lucie Safarova (70)
32. Anabel Medina Garrigues (30)

Men's singles: Roger Federer
Women's singles: Serena Williams
Men's doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan
Women's doubles: Cara Black and Liezel Huber
Mixed doubles: Daniel Nestor and Elena Likhovtseva
Boys' singles: Brydan Klein
Girls' singles: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Boys' doubles: Graeme Dyce and Harri Heliovaara
Girls' doubles: Evgeniya Rodina and Arina Rodionova

note - Russia sweeping the board in the girls' juniors; a British person winning the boys' doubles! (Dyce, not Heliovaara.) Do the Aussies here know anything about their local boys' winner?

Just checked his profile. He's from Perth and he turned 17 on New Years Eve. And his total prizemoney (so far) is about 4.1k$ US.

'Norman Gunston* Medal' for services to bonehead journalism and stupid questions: Jim Courier

'Andy Warhol Memorial Award' for being front-page news for about 15 minutes: Gael 'Le Fonz' Monfils, who excited us all with his exuberance beating Baghdatis, only to literally limp through his next match with Gasquet two days later

'Halleys Comet Award' for comebacks not quite living up to the hype: The 'new look' Andy Roddick, James Blake, Martina Hingis

The Perpetual Glass Half Full Trophy: Nicole Pratt for her undying belief in Sammy the Stoat v Kostanic

A good but not great Open, the memorable matches tended to be the later-round train wrecks: both mens' semis, the womens' final. Nadal v Murray was as close to 'epic' as we saw for the fortnight, then Roddick v SBCE.

Sir Roger the Inevitable was the benevolent dictator of the men's half of the event, but it might be the deeds of Queen Serena, the angry, menacing returning-exile on the 'futile' (so they said) mission to reclaim her crown, that will be better recalled in six months.

*(Non-Aussies: NG was a comedy character bad-journo in the 70s, played by Mother and Son star Garry McDonald)

Weird - those are my initals, albeit the wrong way round.

I loved this thread. Can the keener tennis fans please start one for every circuit event?

In my case, I most likely won't look at the tennis news in the paper again until just before France, and the others like Mike, Lex and Ed tend to stick to the majors as well, so I dunno about the circuits but there'll def be another thread like this for RG, and most years an even bigger one for Wimbledon.

lots of Italians in Tokyo, mark! Roberta Vinci qualified (beating Peng along the way), and Santangelo and Schiavone are already in the draw.

xp!

(yeah that's the trouble, i'd hardly get to see any of it - though I note that betfair does show a number of regular tour events. ah, to have those two years in my student houses when we had eurosport back!)

It's the lack of contact with the WTA/ATP tours that discourages it, I think (at least for those of us without Eurosport and huge amounts of free time to spend watching it). We have had a couple of end-of-year threads (one Masters Cup thread from 2003 or 2004 on which I was virtually the only poster!).

It's funny how these threads have evolved; I suppose I started the goofy nicknaming thing in 2001 or so but I just can't keep up with the giddy heights to which WBS, Lex, Ed, Fred and others have taken it, so I mostly just use their real names now!

xp!