Australian Open 2016

[Riotbeard]

I think it's a solid draw for Novak. Fed is rough, but I think at the Aussie, the biggest potential hurdles are stan and even Andy.

 

[rafanoy1992]

As a Nadal fan, I'm quite happy with his draw. I'm not saying he will breeze through the draw, but I would rather have him face Wawrinka and Murray back to back than Federer and Djokovic. It will be interesting to see how the draw plays out.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Amazing. Tignor goes to work fast and jinxes Stan . Tignor may be the first pundit to pick Stan in a major.

 

[Front242]

Rafa gets Verdasco for the opener. Remember the 5 hour long SF from years ago. That is now downgraded to 1st round.

Biological passport, baby. Times are a changing

 

[nehmeth]

Amazing. Tignor goes to work fast and jinxes Stan . Tignor may be the first pundit to pick Stan in a major.

Steve Tignor: Go big or go home.

 

[Kieran]

Rafa gets Verdasco for the opener. Remember the 5 hour long SF from years ago. That is now downgraded to 1st round.

Biological passport, baby. Times are a changing

That doesn't even make logical sense. :cover

 

[the AntiPusher]

Rafa gets Verdasco for the opener. Remember the 5 hour long SF from years ago. That is now downgraded to 1st round.

Biological passport, baby. Times are a changing

That doesn't even make logical sense. :cover

I am glad I wasn't the only one who felt that it didn't

 

[isabelle]

Bagman/Tsonga and Nadal/Tabasco seems great, can't wait to see that

 

[Carol]

I would pay for to watch more matches like AO 09 Nadal- Verdasco, superb game by both players :clap

 

[Front242]

Rafa gets Verdasco for the opener. Remember the 5 hour long SF from years ago. That is now downgraded to 1st round.

Biological passport, baby. Times are a changing

That doesn't even make logical sense. :cover

It makes perfect sense. Neither guy is anywhere near as good anymore nor do they have the same level of fitness, speed or agility. An innocent and naive hardcore fan would say they're both older now but a realistic thinking third party would say you don't suddenly decline physically in terms of size, speed and fitness that much in that space of time. I'm getting bigger and stronger naturally the older I get, these guys are getting smaller and less fit since the biological passport arrived. Fascinating coincidence altogether.

 

[Kieran]

Biological passport, baby. Times are a changing

That doesn't even make logical sense. :cover

It makes perfect sense. Neither guy is anywhere near as good anymore nor do they have the same level of fitness, speed or agility. An innocent and naive hardcore fan would say they're both older now but a realistic thinking third party would say you don't suddenly decline physically in terms of size, speed and fitness that much in that space of time. I'm getting bigger and stronger naturally the older I get, these guys are getting smaller and less fit since the biological passport arrived. Fascinating coincidence altogether.

It actually makes less sense now that you fumbled about for an explanation. Nadal is 30 this year: he was 23 when he played Verdasco in 2009. That's not a sudden decline, but actually a natural one, as witnessed in players as great as Sampras, for example.

And Nadal is still #5 in the world, so I don't see how a 30 year old with a history of injury problems going down a few spaces in the rankings is a sudden decline.

The more unnatural and strange thing is a player who's 34 and still dispatching the best players in the world as if it's 1999. Nadal's decline is organic and in keeping with the relentless march of time, which takes its toll on most players. You'd know this if you watched tennis longer than Federer's prime...

 

[Front242]

That doesn't even make logical sense. :cover

It makes perfect sense. Neither guy is anywhere near as good anymore nor do they have the same level of fitness, speed or agility. An innocent and naive hardcore fan would say they're both older now but a realistic thinking third party would say you don't suddenly decline physically in terms of size, speed and fitness that much in that space of time. I'm getting bigger and stronger naturally the older I get, these guys are getting smaller and less fit since the biological passport arrived. Fascinating coincidence altogether.

It actually makes less sense now that you fumbled about for an explanation. Nadal is 30 this year: he was 23 when he played Verdasco in 2009. That's not a sudden decline, but actually a natural one, as witnessed in players as great as Sampras, for example.

And Nadal is still #5 in the world, so I don't see how a 30 year old with a history of injury problems going down a few spaces in the rankings is a sudden decline.

The more unnatural and strange thing is a player who's 34 and still dispatching the best players in the world as if it's 1999. Nadal's decline is organic and in keeping with the relentless march of time, which takes its toll on most players. You'd know this if you watched tennis longer than Federer's prime...

You see many of us here don't think Nadal has had half the injuries claimed and it's all a big cover up. After 2 of his biggest "injuries" he's come back and won practically everything in sight. That just isn't normal and it sticks out like a sore thumb, plus we all know he had PRP treatment prior to both those seasons anyway. Look, believe what you want and I'll believe and see 100% clearly what my eyes tell me. It's painfully obvious what's going on here to anyone but the most naive people out there.

Re Federer, he always was and always will be a far better aggressive/offensive tennis player than Nadal and hence the ease he dispatches players. Nothing more to it than that. Running left, right and centre around the court chasing down balls from every angle is not the way to hit winners and beat opponents easily and Nadal is living proof that this does not end matches quickly. His choice. Federer chose the easier path. Beat your opponent quicker and easier through shot making skills rather than hoping they make errors, tiring them out or boring them into submission. And finally, hence why he's also moving so well now 'cos his choice, plan (a) beat them quicker and easier is better for longevity. Plan (b) run like a MF isn't really even tennis imo, it's this bastardized new form of fitness and retrieval that is ruining the game. It's now just squash mixed with long distance running :nono

PS: I've been watching tennis since Borg and McEnroe.

 

[Kieran]

It makes perfect sense. Neither guy is anywhere near as good anymore nor do they have the same level of fitness, speed or agility. An innocent and naive hardcore fan would say they're both older now but a realistic thinking third party would say you don't suddenly decline physically in terms of size, speed and fitness that much in that space of time. I'm getting bigger and stronger naturally the older I get, these guys are getting smaller and less fit since the biological passport arrived. Fascinating coincidence altogether.

It actually makes less sense now that you fumbled about for an explanation. Nadal is 30 this year: he was 23 when he played Verdasco in 2009. That's not a sudden decline, but actually a natural one, as witnessed in players as great as Sampras, for example.

And Nadal is still #5 in the world, so I don't see how a 30 year old with a history of injury problems going down a few spaces in the rankings is a sudden decline.

The more unnatural and strange thing is a player who's 34 and still dispatching the best players in the world as if it's 1999. Nadal's decline is organic and in keeping with the relentless march of time, which takes its toll on most players. You'd know this if you watched tennis longer than Federer's prime...

You see many of us here don't think Nadal has had half the injuries claimed and it's all a big cover up. After 2 of his biggest "injuries" he's come back and won practically everything in sight. That just isn't normal and it sticks out like a sore thumb, plus we all know he had PRP treatment prior to both those seasons anyway. Look, believe what you want and I'll believe and see 100% clearly what my eyes tell me. It's painfully obvious what's going on here to anyone but the most naive people out there.

Re Federer, he always was and always will be a far better aggressive/offensive tennis player than Nadal and hence the ease he dispatches players. Nothing more to it than that. Running left, right and centre around the court chasing down balls from every angle is not the way to hit winners and beat opponents easily and Nadal is living proof that this does not end matches quickly. His choice. Federer chose the easier path. Beat your opponent quicker and easier through shot making skills rather than hoping they make errors, tiring them out or boring them into submission.

Federer's matches at Wimbledon are endless compared to Sampras, who took time off during clay and so wasn't the 12 month player Federer is. Federer won Wimbledon from the baseline. Not so aggressive at all compared to players of the 80's and 90's - who still burned down physically nonetheless, unlike the Deathless One.

As for Nadal and his alleged breaks being due to something other than injury, perhaps you'd furnish some proof.

I thought not.

The President of the ATP Players Council always welcomed Nadal back and hugged and cuddled him at the net after a huge serious defeat and never once betrayed what he surely knew: "this bass turd is stealing from me and ruining my legacy."

I think the reason he kept schtum is because there was nothing to keep schtum about. He knows what's going on and he's never once acted as if the man who was stopping him winning Calendar Year Slams was bogey. This is a condition that's unique to his less gracious fans, who couldn't accept that Federer could lose fairly.

Bad sportsmanship, say I. Oh, and utterly illogical...

 

[AnonymousFan]

Gonna be staying up super late to watch. Will be worth it though.

Two more days!

 

[Carol]

I've always heard that when someone accuses too often to someone without any proof and fundament usually is because that person is trying to divert the attention from someone else to whom he wants to cover.....whatever, very ugly reaction :nono

 

[Front242]

I've always heard that when someone accuses too often to someone without any proof and fundament usually is because that person is trying to divert the attention from someone else to whom he wants to cover.....whatever, very ugly reaction :nono

You probably haven't heard much about Lance Armstrong then.

 

[Carol]

Sharapova chooses Nadal over Federer, there must be a reason for it

http://youtu.be/ZWq3SCbGK3k

 

[isabelle]

Will Sock able to play ? he retired in Auckland's final, hope it's only to have some rest before AO

 

[Front242]

Sharapova chooses Nadal over Federer, there must be a reason for it

http://youtu.be/ZWq3SCbGK3k

There's a reason for everything indeed. She's the WTA's worst grunter/screamer and he's up there as the ATP's worst. There's one possibility anyway.

 

[pavlik89]

[video=youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RMyQ_qeCGw[/video]