2008 Australian Open Tennis

Hi Fred! I am happy you have started this thread. I have never EVER seen LLLLEYYYTON play as pitifully as he did against Guccione. It was embarrassing.

:( at Marat losing to A-Hole.

I will be glued to the TV unless I accidentally get a new job.

(yes, more embarrassing than actually being Lleyton Hewitt, I mean it)

I look forward to attempting to watch as many matches as I can on US TV :) Which sadly may not be too many.

Gooch has just beaten Stepanek in three and is into the final of the Sydney International. His form is nearly as good as this time last year. Hopefully it can last slightly longer into next week this time.

BOLD PREDICTION: "Our" Lleyton will a) complain about the great injustices placed upon him and b) bow out in the third round.

I HAD A TICKET TO THE MEN'S FINAL AND GAVE IT AWAY.

Lleyton won't do shit. I'm sick of his whining and sick of his obsession with women's mags. He can get fucked. Federer will win everything* anyway.

* yes that includes women's and doubles and youth finals

bec will be photographed wearing new jewellery and looking anxious and new idea will call her a WAG.

Meanwhile Philippoussis will bring his current 16yo starlet and make it to the second step outside before losing to some kid eating ice cream.

Sorry to be so cynical about this but srsly tennis has become incredibly dispiriting, especially for Australians. And the British.

i'm rooting for keith urban

"Sorry to be so cynical about this but srsly tennis has become incredibly dispiriting, especially for Australians. And the British."

You aint whistlin' dixie. The fact that Markipoo's withdrawal merited a headline at all, makes no further comment necessary. And as for Alicia Molik, much and all as she's a lovely lady and she has shown guts and dedication well beyond the call of duty in her attempt to come back, the fact that she remains the female FOAT, just as before her illness, is grimmer than grim.

The male FOAT (or, with Bernard Tomic, half thereof), Bryden 'Calvin' Klein, beat Open 4th seed Nikolai Davydenko at Kooyong two days ago in better news, which would have been even better still if BK had actually needed to raise a racquet in anger. Unfortunately, the Grim Reaper had merely skived off, withdrawing in anticipation of heat exhaustion on seeing the forecast of 41 celsius.

Blargh.

Is it because the kids are playing AFL now?

Sorry to be so cynical about this but srsly tennis has become incredibly dispiriting, especially for Australians. And the British.

Well, this Brit was never much of a one for face-painting or flag-waving so the fortunes of Our Boys and Our Girls never mean much to me. I remember getting moderately excited when John Lloyd outlasted Eliot Telscher at Wimbledon a few years ago but quite happy when Leconte sorted out Mr Chrissie in the next round. Henman, Shenman. Rusedski, Rushemdski.

However, Andy Murray I like. And I think he's the real deal - a first-row contender from the (born in the) mid-'80s pack to sweep up once Rodge goes into inevitable decline. He'll win a couple of Slams down the line. (And cross court).

Hmmm, that's a problam Aus tennis has always had. Nathan Buckley was an outstanding junior tennis player, likewise Gavin Brown, Andy Phillips of Carlton, Jeff Hogg who played for Richmond and Fitzroy, Brett Stephens who at least returned to tennis as a coach, doubtless there's others also.

And what are the girls playing instead of tennis?

And welcome aboard Mike J.

Hi guys, I'm also reporting for duty (though I never actually post except about Maria Elena Camerin). Go the Australian Open!

is davenport playing??

I think she's only skipping the French.

sweet

whoah, davenport named her kid jagger?

"I, seriously, was like the Lindsay Lohan of tennis"

Whose quote was that - Hewitt's?

Starts tomorrow.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html

Chewitt already whining.

Serena christens Rod Laver Arena at 11am with a match against unknown local Jarmila Gajdesova. Not much later Henin will follow. It is to be hoped this is not the only time Mila ever plays on RLA.

On Voda, no 3 seed Jelena Jankovic and her Austrian opponent, Tamira (only name reported in the Age so dunno whether it's her first or last) will kick the dust off the new paint job for Sandshoe Face and somebody very promisingly called Lukas Dlough. The FOAT, Bryden Klein, kicks off MCA against Paul Coupe de Ville, with comeback mama Lindsey Davenport to follow against Italian Sara Errani. The Grim Reaper is on next against Michel Llodra, if the weather isn't too hot....

Also on the bill today: Gasquet, Nadal, Molik, Moya, Mesmo, Sharapova, Batty Patty Schnyder, and, as the spruiker of those '20 SuperFab Hits' compilations from the 60s always finished, 'Manny Moore!'

I'm assuming it's Tamira Paszek (spelling), a really good junior by reputation tho I've never seen her play.

Klein 3-0 incl two service breaks down. Start as you mean to continue and all that....

Klein now 3-2 down and has not lost a point since last post. He's quick and rangy and a clean hitter.

Wierd Al Jankovic in early bother v Paszek: a break down and a point away from another.

omg elevenis liveblog

xpost: And now a set down, 6-2. Much nettage from Jankovic, but also some nice winners from Paszek.

Coupe de Ville has set point. Robredo a set down v the Russian Bear, Mischa Zverev. Schuttler about to take first set v Arnie Clements (combined age: about 83).

Niemenen first into third set, v Dancevic. Paul-Henri Mathiue (pronounced 'mature' but can't use obv nick 'Victor' this time cos that's the name of the bloke he's playing) also 6-1 plus break on Hanescu.

Coupe de Ville has chassis problems. He's flat on his back, trainers working on one hip, ref speaking to him a tad sternly it seems.

Game to resume.

oh my GOD I wish I had Merde TV right about now. This Serena Williams game is fucking fucking terrible and boring.

Niemenen

There's no way to pronounce this name that doesn't make one sound like a robot.

de Ville breaks Klein game 1 of second set. This kid Klein can play but (unsurprisingly) lacks the smarts and the concentration.

Robredo 5-1 up the khyber in the second.

Serena first into Round 2. Only used the towel courtside to fulfil promotional obligs. Pre-game she didn't seem as bloody-minded as last year (cracking jokes with the 7 talking-heads) but she wasn't playing any better at this stage of the tournament either.

Dancin' Frankie pulls one back v Nemo. Mardy Fish and Dudi Sela both two sets up. Paszek mhas made a good start in decider v Wierd Al with an early break,

Okay, it's a typical Australian Open thread - I've bitched about the Australian media, and Adam has commented on the pronunciation of Neimenen's name. And Serena Williams has won.

Right on track.

I won't say that word that has racist connotations in the US but not in Australia, because now I know it has racist connotations in the US.

Calvin Klein has broken back to 3-3 in the second.

Henin and Nakamura are away. Henin already has a break point.

Half of what you're saying sounds like euphemisms.

Henin and Nakamura are away. Henin already has a break point.

Tommy Robredo looking good for 'first seed out' sweeps, Zverev has broken in the third.

Klein holds with difficulty to go 5-4 up.

Many tasty cross-court backhands from Paszek!

Wow at Paszek! She looks cool as a cucumber - taking the ball early and getting HEAPS of power. And point construction skills too.

AMAZING match point saved!

Tamira will get another shot at serving for the match....

I wish I knew how to do small text on this place as I want to say something inappropriate.

oh no, I was thinking "losing serve when the match is about to be yours indicates eep eep eep chokey chokey mc choke choke" but I didn't think at 40/15 on the second time it might happen.

Okay, this is ridiculous. Jankovic cannot buy a decent point on serve - Paszek will try a third time. And then maybe a fourth, fifth, sixth.. etc. But you get the idea that if she misses, then doesn't break, she's toast.

'Choke' is a word I used very sparingly, I suppose that's because it's too often used by noisy cretins.

Wow. Is the final going to be three sets too? I hope not.

Also: both finals feature entertaining matchups, for different reasons. The men's final features two very hot players. Djokovic probably needs to cut down on those unforced errors.

This is the most-totty-containing pair of finals evah.

don't forget Djokovic's adorable younger brother too.

I'm bummed Federer couldn't even take a set off the guy, but he really didn't look like himself tonight. Congrats Djoker.

I feel bad for Andy Murray. I mean, he at least managed to grab a set of Tsonga, which nobody else other than Gasquet could do. And yet he's got that first round loss anyways.

Predictions : Sherpa and The Joker.

The women's finals have been so boring lately. I'm just hoping for an exciting match where both finalists play well.

http://www.footballheaven.net/acatalog/serbiaflag5x3b.jpg

Serbs in the finals! Super!

Ana vs Maria is on on on, baby.

When my TV reception blinks, all I can see is a pair of legs and arms moving about the court. Easy first hold for the sometimes invisible Ana and her nice blue outfit.

Well Maria Sharapova is looking pretty great. It's an uphill battle for Ana today. Maria is up one break in the first set.

TS: Maria's annoying and obviously deliberate grunting vs Ana's annoying and obviously deliverate shoe-squeaking.

Tracy Austin thinks the squeak is accidental as a result of keeping her legs moving. Bollocks to that.

Maria double-faulted to give a break point, then double-faulted twice more after saving it. Back on serve. Maria's tough enough to withstand that mental blip, I'm sure, though.

Some Dementieva like service technique from Maria there.

I think it's pretty obvious the squeak is intentional, and probably more annoying than the grunts.

Bloody awful game from Ivanovic with Shara serving at 5-6. She had 0/30 and then.. what was that drop shot? What was any of that?

That drop shot was the same horrible ill conceived drop shot that Djokovic kept trying on Federer. It's weird.

The announcers have mentioned that it is Australia day at least 10 times this match.

Well Ivanovic played terrible for 3 straight games to lose the first set.

For those 3 games, it was the same one that got pwned by Henin last year.

Lots of her balls aren't even touching the top half of the net even!

But there! On a break point, Ivanovic hit a preposterously good defensive lob and it was absolutely perfect.

There's no question that Ivanovic has had flashes of great shotmaking here but the great shots are interspersed with way too many inexplicable errors.

There have been some great rallies this match.

Ivanovic is going for the record for most net dumps in a single tournament.

Maria Sharapova wins 7-5, 6-3. Congrats Maria!

A wilting performance dominated by good conversion of first serves by Mazza, and some truly dire backhand errors from Ana. She'll be back but she should really learn from how she botched the chances she had in this game.

Yuri Sharapov gives me the creeps. But as much as I find her robotic, Maria was the best player all fortnight.

In every Ivanovic match I've seen so far she has botched many chances. She really needs to cut down on the errors if she wants to contend with the elite.

man sharapova has her shit together. this could be a real good year for her.

ivanovic meanwhile needs a little work in the shit-together dept.

http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2008/writers/jon_wertheim/01/26/womens.final/p1.maria3.jpg

"lol @ everyone who said I was finished"

damn, she hueg!

(not a new observation, I know)

And thery're away - Tsonga tserve.

Djoko breaks Zonga at first attempt. Couple of bad nisses already.

Courier pronounces everything incorrectly, loses first set

Djoko holds serve at last. Already a lot of tennis has been played and we're just 4 games in.

I just checked both the ATP and ITF (including juniors!) databases, and it appears these two have never played each other before! Does anyone have any candidates to when this could last have happened in a GS singles final?

Becker v Kevin Curran at Wimbers in 85 would be an obvious one to check.

That's possible yes! Unfortunately the bases don't contain data from "lesser" tournaments that far back.

Aces being brung

Tsonga takes first set. This is one hell of a final.

Zonga holds with difficulty to 3-2 in the second set.

Just got home and been watching for the last 20 - this is really great stuff! Power AND finesse and lots of lovely angles. I'm enjoying it. Also, they keep showing Novak's hotttt brother.

Djoko breaks to 4-3 in the second.

Djoko serves out second. Newk on 774 thinks the tide has turned.

Djoko wins his seventh set point to go 2-1 up. Zonga has never played a five-setter, and played out of his skin to stay in that last game as long as he did.

It'sDjoko's to lose now.

In the absence of the Lex...

ROLL OF HONOUR:

Men's singles: Novak Đoković
Women's singles: Maria Sharapova
Men's doubles: Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram
Women's doubles: Alyona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko
Mixed doubles: Sūn Tiántián and Nenad Zimonjić
Boys' singles: Bernard Tomić
Girls' singles: Arantxa Rus
Boys' doubles: Hsieh Cheng Peng and Yang Tsung-Hua
Girls' doubles: Ksenia Lykina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

dommage...

ROLL OF HONOUR ACCORDING TO JIM COURIER:

Men's singles: Novak DOE-kovitch
Women's singles: Maria Sheara-POE-va
Men's doubles: Jonathan EAR-litch and Andy Ram
Women's doubles: Al-YOE-na Bone-dah-REN-koe and Katta-REE-na Bone-dah-REN-koe
Mixed doubles: Suhn Tee-AN-tee-AN and NEE-nad Zim-OH-n-djitch
Boys' singles: Bernard TOE-mitch
Girls' singles: <no attempt made>
Boys' doubles: See Cheng Peng and Yang Sung-Wa
Girls' doubles: SEE-nia Luh-KEE-nia and Ana-STAY-zha Pav-LOE-va

So that was Oz Open 2008.

So much to remember, from the Jankovic-Pacek epic on day 1 to the Tsonga-Djokovic epic on day 14. In between, former beaten finalist Baghdatis beat former winner Safin in round 2, only to lose to fading local hero Hewitt (also a recent beaten finalist) in the Midnight Fiasco two nights later. Hewitt may have copped his final come-uppance next up at the hands of the 'New Sensation' Hjokovich. Another 'old foorum favorite' to show definite signs of losing pace with the pack was our old mate Sandshoe Face, whose presence at this year's get-together is barely remembered. For the first time in many years his conqueror (Fabulous Phil Kohlschreib) did not go on to make the final. You no longer need to be running that red hot to beat Roddick.

Meanwhile, a Frenchman from the Congo with a suspiciously German-sounding name and all the mannerisms of (and a rather studied resemblance to) a young Muhammad Ali was storming all over the other half of the draw, walloping Andy DCHS Murray, then Gasquet, Youzhny and finally Nadal before finally running out of steam a set and a half into the final. Even then he never went completely away but Djoko, who had stared down the same challenge from an even better player just two days previously, wasn't going anywhere either at this stage and so all that remained was for Jim C, the Bain of Victory, to think up his last set of inane questions for 2008. One of the questions not even Jim is game to ask, not aloud, not yet anyway, is, 'Is Roger gone?' The same question is not being whispered quite so softly about Nadal after the bollocking Tsonga dished out in his semi.

There were similar baton-changings in the ladies' event. We all kept a wary eye on the Williams push, but there were no inspiring surges through the second week for wither this time. Justine Henin got beaten for the first time in a long time, but in the process was thrashed for the first time in a lot longer, by eventual winner, Ice Queen Maria Sharapova. The second most recent winner, Amelie Mauresmo, also went out feet first, shown the door by well-known Italo-Australian Monaro fan Casey Dellaqua without so much as a pair of fluffy dice to dangle from her windscreen. The Delinquent had already beaten our old mate Batty Patty, so the Aussie tedia got excited for about 24 hours before Hewitt did his thing so normal service was resumed. With last rites inevitably being called on Alicia Molik's reign as The Next Big Thing, Casey is suddenly womens' FOAT.

Aspiring journalist, Alan Jones sound-alike (whilst waiting to receive) and general AKWA (that's Anna Kournikova With Ability) Ana Ivanovic, AKA Annie Johnson, provided most of the visual highlights as she charmed her way into the womens' final v Shara (beating the Coathanger from 0-6 0-2 in her semi in another dramatic match) but once there may have wished she hadn't. Shara wasn't ever going to lose that (prob thinking of Yuri's possible reaction if she dared). She always has carried herself like she's the biggest ticket in womens' tennis, but now that air of superiority may not be just aspirational. She may soon become Numero Uno, and be destined stay there a long time.

All in all, one of the best Opens of recent times. The quality of the tennis quickly snuffed out any threat that a non-story like Ana's Squeaky Shoes or Bagsy's boozing companions or Should Venus Have Made Way For The Boys' (of course not!!) would distract from the matches for long.

(Now, if only they could just get rid of Jim Bloody Courier for 2009......
)
See you at Wimbledon.

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/feedstory/0,,-7299982,00.html