2016 Australian Open match discussions

Denis

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Since I don't think we will have separate threads for each day.

The daily schedule can be found here:

 

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/index.html

 

 
 

britbox

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Nadal / Verdasco could potentially be interesting if Fernando steps up to the plate.

Also, liking the Duckworth/Hewitt match (a "local derby") in Lleyton's final AO.

Gulbis v Chardy is another to keep an eye on.  Both capable of good tennis but wildly inconsistent.

---

Highlights of Monday's openers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQbQQL8675g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_mR4YgN-B8
 

Carol

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Ferru and Verdasco always are trying their best against Nadal, more than they play against others but everything depends how Rafa is playing, if he plays well then the stats say who win most of the times, if he is playing bad (like part of the 2014 and 2015)  then it's a different story   :scratch:
 

Denis

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14721 said:
Ferru and Verdasco always are trying their best against Nadal, more than they play against others but everything depends how Rafa is playing, if he plays well then the stats say who win most of the times, if he is playing bad (like part of the 2014 and 2015) then it’s a different story
wpml_scratch.gif

Ferrer doing his best against Nadal? Always? Are you disillusional?
 

Denis

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14716 said:
Nadal / Verdasco could potentially be interesting if Fernando steps up to the plate. Also, liking the Duckworth/Hewitt match (a “local derby”) in Lleyton’s final AO. Gulbis v Chardy is another to keep an eye on. Both capable of good tennis but wildly inconsistent.  

Not a Hewitt fan by any means, but he deserves a good last fight here or in the next round. I wonder if he keeps it together after he shakes hands for the last time.

Rooting for Verdasco, for 2009 sake.
 

Carol

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14722 said:
Carol wrote:
Ferru and Verdasco always are trying their best against Nadal, more than they play against others but everything depends how Rafa is playing, if he plays well then the stats say who win most of the times, if he is playing bad (like part of the 2014 and 2015) then it’s a different story
wpml_scratch.gif
Ferrer doing his best against Nadal? Always? Are you disillusional?

Not, I'm not disillusioal, it's what it is
 

Carol

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Who is Chung? I saw half of the match and the poor kid was lost all over the court, bad serve and very erratic. He needs a lot of improvement to give some fight to the good ones
 

Denis

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14725 said:
Denis wrote:
<blockquote>
Carol wrote:
Ferru and Verdasco always are trying their best against Nadal, more than they play against others but everything depends how Rafa is playing, if he plays well then the stats say who win most of the times, if he is playing bad (like part of the 2014 and 2015) then it’s a different story
wpml_scratch.gif
Ferrer doing his best against Nadal? Always? Are you disillusional?</blockquote>
Not, I’m not disillusioal, it’s what it is
Since you have been saying since last AO that Rafa would be his old self very soon, I'll take that with a grain of salt.
 

britbox

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14728 said:
Who is Chung? I saw half of the match and the poor kid was lost all over the court, bad serve and very erratic. He needs a lot of improvement to give some fight to the good ones

Chung is one of the youngsters - quite a few people have high hopes for him going forward.  Needless to say, getting Djokovic in round one is a baptism of fire.
 

Carol

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14729 said:
Carol wrote:
<blockquote>
Denis wrote:
<blockquote>
Carol wrote:
Ferru and Verdasco always are trying their best against Nadal, more than they play against others but everything depends how Rafa is playing, if he plays well then the stats say who win most of the times, if he is playing bad (like part of the 2014 and 2015) then it’s a different story
wpml_scratch.gif
Ferrer doing his best against Nadal? Always? Are you disillusional?</blockquote>
Not, I’m not disillusioal, it’s what it is</blockquote>
Since you have been saying since last AO that Rafa would be his old self very soon, I’ll take that with a grain of salt.

Why not? take that with all the salt that you want. He is almost there even his horrible result against your idol in Doha, it was just a 250 but things can change soon though you will be very disappointed. Nothing is forever, the bad and neither the good times . By the way who is the next Novak's opponent? poor guy (Novak) he got so dificult draw........ ;-)
 

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Carol, there were threads in other forums discussing why the other spanish players used to fold so heavily against Nadal. A lot of Nadal fans were part of the discussion. This started to change (and slowly, in fact) just in the last two years, and even so most victories from the other Spaniards against him were in injury comeback periods. Up until 2013 all those guys (Ferrer, Verdasco, Lopez, Almagro) had almost zero victories combined against Nadal, even on surfaces were they should have some kind of advantage. Ferrer had a few more, but in two of them I remember pretty well that Nadal was clearly  injured.

And, before you get defensive (sorry...), the same use to happen with Wawrinka against Federer (not anymore) and with the other serbs (Troicky, Tipsarevic) against Djokovic.

 
 

Moxie

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14722 said:
Carol wrote:
Ferru and Verdasco always are trying their best against Nadal, more than they play against others but everything depends how Rafa is playing, if he plays well then the stats say who win most of the times, if he is playing bad (like part of the 2014 and 2015) then it’s a different story
wpml_scratch.gif
Ferrer doing his best against Nadal? Always? Are you disillusional?
I don't see how anyone who's seen him play would suggest that Ferrer ever gives it anything less than his best.
 

Moxie

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14728 said:
Who is Chung? I saw half of the match and the poor kid was lost all over the court, bad serve and very erratic. He needs a lot of improvement to give some fight to the good ones
That doesn't sound like the match I watched.  Surely the half you watched wasn't the first one.  The kid is young (18?), but very promising.  I thought self-possessed as well, given the stage and the opponent.
 

Moxie

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14716 said:
Nadal / Verdasco could potentially be interesting if Fernando steps up to the plate. Also, liking the Duckworth/Hewitt match (a “local derby”) in Lleyton’s final AO. Gulbis v Chardy is another to keep an eye on. Both capable of good tennis but wildly inconsistent.  
Duckworth is in the unenviable position of needing to beat fellow Aussie Lleyton in the 1st round of Hewitt's last Oz.  I expect Verdasco will give Rafa a fight, but Nadal should get past him.  Fernando beat him last year in Miami and in '12 at Madrid, but it's 15-2 overall.  Agreed on Gulbis/Chardy, but the Frenchmen is on better form, currently.
 

Billie

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Regarding Nole - Chung, I'll start with bad things:  the young guy needs more experience and needs to work on his body.  He is very young so that'll come naturally and in due time, if he is serious about his tennis.  But for his first AO main draw match I thought he presented himself really nicely.  In some of the rallies he went head to head with Nole.  His backhand is really the steadiest of all shots and very good.  He is not afraid of changing directions, he used slices wisely.  He said he was a bit nervous playing his idol, but he was happy with the match and I am sure it was a great experience for him.  He actually did better than I suspected.  Good luck for the rest of the year to young Chung.  :good:

I am sad that Paire lost, I did not expect that.  :wacko:

Since I only had little less than 6 hours of sleep, I am not sure I'll get to see Rafa vs Nando match, maybe some part of it.

TSN is starting with Raonic tonight, not a surprise.  Milos is up a break in the 1st set and playing well.
 

Moxie

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Re: Paire, it seems he had some injury to his arm, that got looked at.  Disappointing for him not to be at his best first round of a major.

As to other matches:  Milos has a good youngster in Pouille (21.)  And Murray has another one in Zverev (18,) later.
 

Carol

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Good starting by Garbine, hope she can keep that level and her foot is ok
 

Billie

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14741 said:
Re: Paire, it seems he had some injury to his arm, that got looked at. Disappointing for him not to be at his best first round of a major.

Thanks Moxie.  I didn't see any of that match.  Hopefully it is nothing serious for Benoit,  and good for the young American, who I yet have to see play. 3 tiebreaks, impressive for him, even if his opponent had difficulties with his arm.

Dr Ivo retired with left knee problems,  Sam Querrey also retired.  I caught the end of Jo-Willie vs Marcos this morning when I woke up.   And didn't have to clear snow off my car as it was in the garage.  But tomorrow morning, 'nother story LOL
 

Billie

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F3 and Muller are going to 1st set tiebreak and Sousa is up 6:3 vs Kukushkin.  Chardy stole set #1 7:5 from Ernie.  I don't have these on TV so I am just checking scores.

And F3 loses the 1st set TB 8:6.  Come on Fabio, re-group.
 

Carol

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14734 said:
Carol wrote:
Who is Chung? I saw half of the match and the poor kid was lost all over the court, bad serve and very erratic. He needs a lot of improvement to give some fight to the good ones
That doesn’t sound like the match I watched. Surely the half you watched wasn’t the first one. The kid is young (18?), but very promising. I thought self-possessed as well, given the stage and the opponent. [/quote

I saw half of the second set and the third and he was very erratic and with a bad serve, he is not still ready to give a fight to the good ones, but yes, he is still 19 so we'll see how he will play in the future