Australian Open 2025 [Men] - Grand Slam

kskate2

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Alright kiddos, gotta pay the bills, bills, bills. I'll check in later and see how this shakes out, but if Chuck doesn't wake up from his slumber in time, pencil Djoke in the final to face #1 because I don't see Zed taking him down in a slam.
 

MargaretMcAleer

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Alright kiddos, gotta pay the bills, bills, bills. I'll check in later and see how this shakes out, but if Chuck doesn't wake up from his slumber in time, pencil Djoke in the final to face #1 because I don't see Zed taking him down in a slam.
I will have to leave shortly as I have surgery tomorrow, personally it will be a miracle if Carlos wakes up in time
Alcaraz down a break early in the 4th set, cant see him breaking back in the match,I will check later, but now I need sleep
 
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kskate2

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Order of Play for Australian Open, Day 11 QF Round, January 21, 2025

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Federberg

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feels like Carlito needs a super fast surface to be too much for Novak to handle. For some reason I always felt, in this contest today, that Carlito would have to red line it to beat Novak
 

don_fabio

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Slightly disappointing performance from Carlos IMO. Djokovic did raise his level mid 2nd set and kept it until the end, but Carlos didn't seem up to the task. He lost this match at least 3-4 times in some key moments and still had a chance close to the end. You can't afford so many loose games against Novak. He's not Zverev.

Level was best in 4th set after Novak led 2:0.
 

nehmeth

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Impressed with some of the things I have seen from Murray. Budding coach. At 37 years, it’s good to see that Novak is still able to make the shots that he does. I’m sure Mahac and Lehecka helped prep him for Carlos.
 

Shivashish Sarkar

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tbh Djokovic deserved to win and carlos alcaraz made way too many unforced errors. carlos does not have a defensive game and it's a shame given how good his stamina is. Novak Djokovic also strategized points way better than Carlos Alcaraz. That was a pretty careless performance by Carlos Alcaraz given his age and the advantage he gets because of it.
 
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El Dude

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Carlos relies on his athleticism and speed for defense, which could be a problem down the line. But we also said the same about Rafa, and even as he lost a hair of speed he made up for it in other ways.

But yeah, this match reminds us that A) the young guys, especially 21 year olds like Carlos, still have room to grow - as should be expected; and B) the Big Three, in this case Novak, were/are something really special.

I mean, this was a 37-year old beating arguably the most talented younger player on tour. And it isn't like Carlos is a new sprout just beginning to feel out the tour (e.g. Fonseca).

It is also noteworthy that Carlos has yet to make it past the QF of the Australian Open. Small sample size, of course, but so far it has been his worst Slam.
 
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Shivashish Sarkar

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Carlos relies on his athleticism and speed for defense, which could be a problem down the line. But we also said the same about Rafa, and even as he lost a hair of speed he made up for it in other ways.

But yeah, this match reminds us that A) the young guys, especially 21 year olds like Carlos, still have room to grow - as should be expected; and B) the Big Three, in this case Novak, were/are something really special.

I mean, this was a 37-year old beating arguably the most talented younger player on tour. And it isn't like Carlos is a new sprout just beginning to feel out the tour (e.g. Fonseca).

It is also noteworthy that Carlos has yet to make it past the QF of the Australian Open. Small sample size, of course, but so far it has been his worst Slam.

I think Carlos is more of a natural surfaces player.
 

Shivashish Sarkar

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The issue with Carlos Alcaraz is the moment his A game is not working, (when he's not able to hit the opponents off the court), he is all over the place, trying to reach for the ball and moving randomly everywhere on the court looking stupid. He really needs to work on his defensive game if he is willing to have a good career. If he puts in the work someone with his stamina would be great at defense. Why not? I can picture him as a great all round player but for that he is going to have to be malleable. He was also making a lot of unforced errors in a big game although that's understandable against a charged Djokovic.

As for Djokovic, annoyingly great stuff. He did everything perfectly. I don't see any signs of aging too.
 
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mrzz

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Carlos relies on his athleticism and speed for defense, which could be a problem down the line. But we also said the same about Rafa, and even as he lost a hair of speed he made up for it in other ways.

But yeah, this match reminds us that A) the young guys, especially 21 year olds like Carlos, still have room to grow - as should be expected; and B) the Big Three, in this case Novak, were/are something really special.

I mean, this was a 37-year old beating arguably the most talented younger player on tour. And it isn't like Carlos is a new sprout just beginning to feel out the tour (e.g. Fonseca).

It is also noteworthy that Carlos has yet to make it past the QF of the Australian Open. Small sample size, of course, but so far it has been his worst Slam.
Fonseca will soon be blowing those two out of the court...


(I am exaggerating a bit, but let me have some fun. But, the serious part of it is that after watching some of the Fonseca matches the others seem a bit in slow motion, including this one).
 

Front242

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If I were Djokovic, I'd post a msg to that clown Tony Jones asking if he still thinks he's overrated. I had a feeling Novak would win to prove a point after that bs and will watch highlights later. For the record, the tennis.com AI pick to win the title is Novak.
 
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Shivashish Sarkar

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If I were Djokovic, I'd post a msg to that clown Tony Jones asking if he still thinks he's overrated. I had a feeling Novak would win to prove a point after that bs and will watch highlights later. For the record, the tennis.com AI pick to win the title is Novak.

Well he seems to be in great shape. Sinner will bruise like a peach.