Australian Open 2014 Draw

[I.Haychew]

A fourth round match between Wawrinka and Gasquet could be good.

It's unlikely that either guy will make it that far, but I'd like to see a third rounder between F3 and Gulbis.

Would like to see Youzhny vs. Ferrer in R4, as I think the good doctor could give Ferrer some trouble. But, I'd be surprised if Youzhny makes it past the first or second round.

A third rounder between Djokovic and Baghdatis could be fun. Baghdatis is usually pretty entertaining at the AO.

 

[brokenshoelace]

A fourth round match between Wawrinka and Gasquet could be good.

Prediction for Wawrinka vs. Gasquet: Richard gets a two set lead and loses anyway.

 

[Front242]

A fourth round match between Wawrinka and Gasquet could be good.

Prediction for Wawrinka vs. Gasquet: Richard gets a two set lead and loses anyway.

Maybe he'll snort some coke and get turbo charged.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

an unusal very top loaded heavy draw for the world's number 1..

This is why Novak, LET Rafa have the no. 1 ranking at the end of last year.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Murray and Nadal in the same half AGAIN. How many times?

Now you sound like Janowicz. Yes, but we've been waiting 2 years for them to play now.

How many times? x 100

It has been a long time BUT I never want them to meet in a semi. In all honesty I'm not too stressed about this slam. I'm just happy to see Andy back playing. If he reaches the semis I'd be ecstatic - even if Nadal is there to meet him.

Actually Murray is under the radar deceptively.

As all of us know, he needs match practice. But the good news is that
his draw is suitable for that. He has easy matches for the first three rounds
at least and so he definitely can play up to form in AO itself.

Murray would have been unluck if he had got a dangerous opponent early.
If that be the case, an upset might be possible given his lack of practice.

But, that is not the case.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Peter Bodo is the only man on the planet who thinks Rafa and Novak both have equally
difficult path to the final.

http://espn.go.com/blog/peter-bodo/post/_/id/580/rafael-nadal-to-be-tested-early-in-oz

How come these people make a living out of writing about tennis?

 

[the AntiPusher]

Peter Bodo is the only man on the planet who thinks Rafa and Novak both have equally
difficult path to the final.

http://espn.go.com/blog/peter-bodo/post/_/id/580/rafael-nadal-to-be-tested-early-in-oz

How come these people make a living out of writing about tennis?

The Sports Illustrated guy John W is an idiot too.. These guys makes these posts but noone ever challenges their credibility.. I would advise to just stick with this board(Kieran, Darth Fed and BS are typically on point with their anaylsis.. I mentioned those three because they are pretty realistic about their views)

 

[brokenshoelace]

Peter Bodo is the only man on the planet who thinks Rafa and Novak both have equally
difficult path to the final.

http://espn.go.com/blog/peter-bodo/post/_/id/580/rafael-nadal-to-be-tested-early-in-oz

How come these people make a living out of writing about tennis?

To his defense, he stopped short of calling their draws equally difficult, but it was obvious he was really reaching to come up with a narrative that isn't there. I mean, Tursunov a difficult 3rd round opponent for Djokovic? Really?

 

[Front242]

Tursunov is playing well lately since his injuries cleared up but I agree no chance against Djokovic. Might well beat Roger at this stage though.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Peter Bodo is the only man on the planet who thinks Rafa and Novak both have equally
difficult path to the final.

http://espn.go.com/blog/peter-bodo/post/_/id/580/rafael-nadal-to-be-tested-early-in-oz

How come these people make a living out of writing about tennis?

To his defense, he stopped short of calling their draws equally difficult, but it was obvious he was really reaching to come up with a narrative that isn't there. I mean, Tursunov a difficult 3rd round opponent for Djokovic? Really?

Looks like you did not really read through his article completely.

Here is his ending sentence.

The truth is that if Nadal and Djokovic hope to meet in yet another dream Grand Slam final, they must be prepared to jump through comparably hazardous hoops to make it happen.


Is this what you mean by stopping short? He is stopping short of what?

 

[Kieran]

"Comparatively hazardous" being the keywords here. Not "similarly hazardous".

Tursunov in the 3rd? And maybe - wait for it folks - Gasquet!

As I said above, neither one has a prohibitive draw, but getting Tomic in round 1 and maybe DP in the QF is an opportunity for Rafa to raise his game, to put a positive spin on it.

I expect the top 2 to reach the final...

 

[Denis]

True. There wasn't really much at stake here with this draw if your a Rafa or Novak fan. But Rafa got the harder opponents relatively speaking.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

"Comparatively hazardous" being the keywords here. Not "similarly hazardous".

You are just splitting hair.

 

[Kieran]

"Comparatively hazardous" being the keywords here. Not "similarly hazardous".

You are just splitting hair.

I'm not, actually. I'm stating what's there in the article. Broken Shoelace was correct when he said that "he stopped short of calling their draws equally difficult..."

 

[lacatch]

Draw schmaw. Remember how everyone was predicting the outcome based on the draw at last year's Wimbledon, and we saw what happened there!

 

[brokenshoelace]

Peter Bodo is the only man on the planet who thinks Rafa and Novak both have equally
difficult path to the final.

http://espn.go.com/blog/peter-bodo/post/_/id/580/rafael-nadal-to-be-tested-early-in-oz

How come these people make a living out of writing about tennis?

To his defense, he stopped short of calling their draws equally difficult, but it was obvious he was really reaching to come up with a narrative that isn't there. I mean, Tursunov a difficult 3rd round opponent for Djokovic? Really?

Looks like you did not really read through his article completely.

Here is his ending sentence.

The truth is that if Nadal and Djokovic hope to meet in yet another dream Grand Slam final, they must be prepared to jump through comparably hazardous hoops to make it happen.


Is this what you mean by stopping short? He is stopping short of what?

Isn't it self explanatory? I said he stopped short of calling them "equally difficult." Saying two things are comparable does not mean they're equal. I agreed with you that Bodo is really reaching... But he did not explicitly say they have equally difficult draws. That's all.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Draw schmaw. Remember how everyone was predicting the outcome based on the draw at last year's Wimbledon, and we saw what happened there!

...yup, Rafa turned out to have a super difficult draw, facing the great Steve Darcis in the first round. See, draws matter!

 

[brokenshoelace]

True. There wasn't really much at stake here with this draw if your a Rafa or Novak fan. But Rafa got the harder opponents relatively speaking.

Yes. Plus we know match-ups matter. Almost all the dangerous players in Novak's draw match up very poorly with him. Ferrer has zero chance against him on this sort of surface (their 3 AO meetings have been pure massacres. Novak's game is an absolute nightmare for Gasquet. Ditto for Berdych (though he can always catch fire). Wawrinka's the most dangerous...but he's got a 2-14 H2H with Novak, with his last win coming in 2006. Still, he's obviously improved and has troubled Novak in their last two slam meetings, to say the least.

 

[isabelle]

Simon is out of AO, he has a foot problem dur to his fall yesterday vs Gasquet in Kooyong
bad luck for him

 

[Riotbeard]

I think Seiko rigged this for Novak . It is worth remembering that last year at wimby, one half of the draw seemed loaded and most of those matches never got played.