Australian Open Day 7: Sunday, Jan 19 - Order of Play

[Moxie]

I don't watch much ladies' tennis with all the ball bashing and grunting! It's just ugly tennis at times; esp. with Aza and Sharapova! The volume definitely needs to be lowered when they're on court playing! It's ugly tennis at its worst! :nono

You don't know what you are missing
I find men's tennis boring (robotic), and lacking in emotions and full commitment.

They're hard to watch as well, but at least I can tolerate Nole! I'll miss Federer when he's gone! There are a few I can follow and appreciate their abilities, but most of the top players are unwatchable; esp. Nadal, Berdych, and Ferrer! Again, I find it "ugly," unimaginative, and graceless tennis! :nono :cry

It's really surprising that you bother at all. "Ugly," "unimaginative," and "graceless" are subjective terms. To each her/his own.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

OK. Now did you all see the Serena interview. Although she was gracious to give
credit to Ana, she did throw it out that she is having some back injury.

Apparently, she quit doubles partly because of that (and also due to heat) and
apparently, she also did not practice yesterday because of that.

Now, do not think that I am just trying to advocate for Serena and mitigate this
loss. In fact, so many times before I have been angry at her for not giving credit
to her opponent when she loses.

But, somehow I think this time, the back injury stuff is real and is not an excuse
for the loss. If you look at the stats, her numbers are very skewed. So, I believe
that there is a legitimate injury here.

Having said that Ana still deserves full credit. Any weakling would have given
up after losing the first set to Serena. She hung it there and stuck to the game
plan courageously.

 

[Fiero425]

They're hard to watch as well, but at least I can tolerate Nole! I'll miss Federer when he's gone! There are a few I can follow and appreciate their abilities, but most of the top players are unwatchable; esp. Nadal, Berdych, and Ferrer! Again, I find it "ugly," unimaginative, and graceless tennis! :nono :cry

"fair enough".. I got you now. Just chill and, you will enjoy women tennis more than men's tennis, its a promise
Women tennis is much more technical and thoughtful and suits you more.

It was women's tennis that I truly admired and emulated when I was a kid! I never got enough of watching Goologong, Court, King, Wade, Navratilova, and Shriver since I chipped and charged all day long! :clap :angel: I just pulled out '74 USO final with Evonne and Billy Jean on grass! It was heaven! "Gets" were true "gets" back then; not this joke of a game with new tech rackets and strings!

 

[kskate2]

OK. Now did you all see the Serena interview. Although she was gracious to give
credit to Ana, she did throw it out that she is having some back injury.

Apparently, she quit doubles partly because of that (and also due to heat) and
apparently, she also did not practice yesterday because of that.

Now, do not think that I am just trying to advocate for Serena and mitigate this
loss. In fact, so many times before I have been angry at her for not giving credit
to her opponent when she loses.

But, somehow I think this time, the back injury stuff is real and is not an excuse
for the loss. If you look at the stats, her numbers are very skewed. So, I believe
that there is a legitimate injury here.

Having said that Ana still deserves full credit. Any weakling would have given
up after losing the first set to Serena. She hung it there and stuck to the game
plan courageously.

Well she might have been ailing from some kind of issue. It doesn't change the result. Apparently Patrick spoke to the media after the match and told them she was dealing w/ a back issue. When she got to her presser, they asked her questions about it and tried to deflect it but she did answer.

 

[Fiero425]

OK. Now did you all see the Serena interview. Although she was gracious to give
credit to Ana, she did throw it out that she is having some back injury.

Apparently, she quit doubles partly because of that (and also due to heat) and
apparently, she also did not practice yesterday because of that.

Now, do not think that I am just trying to advocate for Serena and mitigate this
loss. In fact, so many times before I have been angry at her for not giving credit
to her opponent when she loses.

But, somehow I think this time, the back injury stuff is real and is not an excuse
for the loss. If you look at the stats, her numbers are very skewed. So, I believe
that there is a legitimate injury here.

Having said that Ana still deserves full credit. Any weakling would have given
up after losing the first set to Serena. She hung it there and stuck to the game
plan courageously.

Well at least Serena wasn't as totally classless as her sister Venus saying, "she didn't beat me, I beat myself!" I hope someone sat her butt down "way back when" and told her what sour grapes "that" sounded like; more than a couple times! Tacky; very tacky! :nono

 

[GameSetAndMath]

OK. Now did you all see the Serena interview. Although she was gracious to give
credit to Ana, she did throw it out that she is having some back injury.

Apparently, she quit doubles partly because of that (and also due to heat) and
apparently, she also did not practice yesterday because of that.

Now, do not think that I am just trying to advocate for Serena and mitigate this
loss. In fact, so many times before I have been angry at her for not giving credit
to her opponent when she loses.

But, somehow I think this time, the back injury stuff is real and is not an excuse
for the loss. If you look at the stats, her numbers are very skewed. So, I believe
that there is a legitimate injury here.

Having said that Ana still deserves full credit. Any weakling would have given
up after losing the first set to Serena. She hung it there and stuck to the game
plan courageously.

Well she might have been ailing from some kind of issue. It doesn't change the result. Apparently Patrick spoke to the media after the match and told them she was dealing w/ a back issue. When she got to her presser, they asked her questions about it and tried to deflect it but she did answer.

Not only it does not change the result, It does not take anything away from Ana.
The moment you step into the court, you are declaring that you are fit enough to
try and play for a win. So, I believe one does not have excuse if they lose.

Having said that it does not mean that Serena was not having issues. Despite
the issues she thought she might be able to pull one off and so she stepped into
the court.

This match is somewhat like Fed losing to Berdych in Wimbledon. Afterwards,
Fed said that he could not play the way he wanted to due to back problems and
Berdych took offense to that remark. While Berdych deserves full credit for
winning it, that does not necessarily make Fed's claim false.

The problem is many people tend to think of these in a mutually exclusive
manner. I don't think it has to be mutually exclusive.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

There used to be an Australian (by being a citizen of Australia, but not by birth) WTA
player whose name I cannot remember. Her last name got changed as she got married.
She had her husband as her coach. They both used to have fights (not literally) over
on courts.

Who is that? Can some one help me?

Does anyone know who I am talking about?

Is it this Jamila, but the first name does not ring a bell to me.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The last remaining Aussie gets on court now. Wake up everybody.

 

[Si Si Simona]

My predictions below based on instinct . I don't believe in logic in sports, its the instinct which knows better..

1) Ana can give some bother to the best player of all times. When Ana clicks, "you never know"... my instinct smells something about this match, maybe a Serena mental fatigue? hard to tell. Serena is my best of all times anyway. Serena wins a tougher match than what was expected.
2) Genie wants to see her bunch of "crazy" Canadians again and will win this.
3) Na Li. I cant see her lose this.
4) Flavia lights up in the big stage while Kerber tends to fade under pressure. My logic says Kerber but my instinct says Flavia, so I predict a Flavia win!

Will be interesting to see how many I got right

I cant believe how correct I was about all 4 matches! uzzled
1) I said Serena will get troubles and "you never know" about Ana. I may be the only creature on earth who said that Ana will trouble Serena. My instinct indeed smelled something!
2) Genie won (but I am a bit disappointed about her level of play).
3) Easy match for Li, spot on.
4) Flavia won in a hard match. A great prediction here.

Tomorrow's 4 matches are like a minefield. I cant feel them!

 

[kskate2]

There used to be an Australian (by being a citizen of Australia, but not by birth) WTA
player whose name I cannot remember. Her last name got changed as she got married.
She had her husband as her coach. They both used to have fights (not literally) over
on courts.

Who is that? Can some one help me?

Does anyone know who I am talking about?

Is it this Jamila, but the first name does not ring a bell to me.

Her name is Jamila Gadijisova. Her married name was Groth. The ex is Sam Groth and I think he either lost in quali's or the 1R here.

 

[shawnbm]

Serena gave credit to Ana. Said she was the better player.

And it is a rare thing for her to do. This one she knows she can't sugarcoat; the other hit more winers and fewer UFEs. She outplayed Serena. The match was on Ana's racquet last night, not Serena's--that has been a rare thing over the years. Kudos to Ana.

 

[colleen66]

Serena gave credit to Ana. Said she was the better player.

And it is a rare thing for her to do. This one she knows she can't sugarcoat; the other hit more winers and fewer UFEs. She outplayed Serena. The match was on Ana's racquet last night, not Serena's--that has been a rare thing over the years. Kudos to Ana.

Shawnbm, it is a "rare" thing for her to do, because the match is usually on her racket. People may not like it when she says that she lost because of her play and not her opponent's play, but the reality is that she is usually correct. I will also say that when her opponent plays better that her (in her mind) she usually does give the credit. Her overall record in slams show that she does not lose that often when she plays.

 

[colleen66]

I picked Serena to win and she did not. If she had issues she should not have taken the court, but she did. As a result she lost fair and square to the better opponent for that match. Good luck to Ana, after beating Serena I would like to see her in the end, but I am still not sure that she will win the tournament. I am now hoping for a Na Li/ Azarenka rematch.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

My problem that I have noticed with Patrick as a coach is it doesn't seem he has her in an aggressive mindset at all. I am all for the consistency he brings, but there have been a few matches where the aggressiveness is not there. This match and the Sabine match at Wimbledon are two examples where she really wasn't driving and had no intention of driving.

I am happy Ana won because she deserved it. She was the better player. I hope she can go far and win this if not her then maybe Li.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Ana is awesome right now , what return winners

A while ago we were talking if Ana would make the hall of fame, I think she will.
She demonstrated again that she can beat the best at top of their game.

None of us gave her a chance.

More to my and my Canadian friends liking was the 20 year old Genie holding true to her rank and doing better by joining the last 16

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

The minute a hint of an injury is uttered, some credit is instantly taken from the winner...It is just a fact. So, if you want to give FULL credit to the person that beat you, say nothing about an injury, absolutely nothing. Lie, if necessary. That's what I think anyways...

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Or there's another way of looking at it, if a player pushes themselves past the limit to match their opponent and mess up physically, more credit to the opponent!

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

^To clarify what I said up there, I am talking about pre existing injuries. If you hurt yourself DURING a match, and still try to push yourself, no problem with it...everyone will most likely see what's going on anyways. My issue is hinting that you were hurt even before you stepped on the court, after you lose. You should keep that to yourself, so the opponent gets full credit.

 

[tented]

I picked Serena to win and she did not. If she had issues she should not have taken the court, but she did. As a result she lost fair and square to the better opponent for that match. Good luck to Ana, after beating Serena I would like to see her in the end, but I am still not sure that she will win the tournament. I am now hoping for a Na Li/ Azarenka rematch.

I think that's precisely where we're heading, and I'm hoping Li Na will prevail this year.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

There used to be an Australian (by being a citizen of Australia, but not by birth) WTA
player whose name I cannot remember. Her last name got changed as she got married.
She had her husband as her coach. They both used to have fights (not literally) over
on courts.

Who is that? Can some one help me?

Does anyone know who I am talking about?

Is it this Jamila, but the first name does not ring a bell to me.

Her name is Jamila Gadijisova. Her married name was Groth. The ex is Sam Groth and I think he either lost in quali's or the 1R here.

Thanks. I thought so, but was not sure. I could not remember Groth. Yes, he lost early.
This Jamila from the court and Groth from the box used to have irritating fights during
the match before on how she should play.