AUSTRALIAN OPEN, Melbourne, ATP GRAND SLAM

[Tennis Fan]

I think people made a joke about them meeting early because they were low in the rankings so there was a theoretical probability for them to meet early. Rafa's in Nole's half, Federer in Murray's, they can only meet in the final.

Oh, OK. I knew I heard it. I thought they were stating that as a fact. Thank you.

 

[Tennis Fan]

I know it's not going to happen, but I'd like to see a Rafa or Murray win.

 

[Denis]

You missed the biggest, it seems. Cilic lost to D. Evans.

Indeed, quite a shocker. We know cilic thrives on grass and fast hards but winning this second round should have been feasible for him. Good win for Evans though.

 

[Mastoor]

Oh, OK. I knew I heard it. I thought they were stating that as a fact. Thank you.

No, but from what I hear, they don't draw by hand anymore. Like USO, they started using a program to generate the draw. And like in USO Federer gets easier opponents than anyone else. And no tennis fan is allowed to have a look at the codes of either program. Why is that secrecy if the programs are supposedly honest? I made this last thing up, no one is supposing the programs are honest.

 

[Denis]

Do you live in UK? They say Eurosport there has some excellent deal, they beat if you don't subscribe.

Thanks Mastoor. No, on the continent. I would only watch tv for tennis, so a subscription is not much use. I would actually gladly buy some app that broadcasts only tennis for a monthly fee, not sure that exists.

 

[mrzz]

No, but from what I hear, they don't draw by hand anymore. Like USO, they started using a program to generate the draw. And like in USO Federer gets easier opponents than anyone else. And no tennis fan is allowed to have a look at the codes of either program. Why is that secrecy if the programs are supposedly honest? I made this last thing up, no one is supposing the programs are honest.

I guess that if someone would ask, they would give the codes. It is a quite straight forward coding task, in fact.

In the last USO Federer was not playing, so yes, he got the easiest draw. This time, I agree that Djokovic got the worst draw by far, but Federer´s draw is no cakewalk either. He is projected to get top 10 opponents all the way down to the final now, including the world #1 on the quarters. If those things were rigged, they could have done a much better job.

I am not saying that I put my hand on flames for the honesty of these things. There are a lot of details on draws that I keep on noticing (we could discuss that somewhere else, if you want), but random events are strange little things, so all we can do is speculate.

 

[britbox]

Results from the Australian Open Men's Singles Round 2 matches on Wednesday

27-Bernard Tomic (Australia) beat Victor Estrella (Dominican Republic) 7-5 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(5)
1-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Andrey Rublev (Russia) 6-3 6-0 6-2
Daniel Evans (Britain) beat 7-Marin Cilic (Croatia) 3-6 7-5 6-3 6-3
Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat 14-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) 1-6 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 10-8
23-Jack Sock (U.S.) beat Karen Khachanov (Russia) 6-3 6-4 6-4
29-Viktor Troicki (Serbia) beat Paolo Lorenzi (Italy) 6-3 1-6 7-6(3) 3-6 6-3
Steve Darcis (Belgium) beat Diego Schwartzman (Argentina) 6-3 6-3 2-6 6-4
31-Sam Querrey (U.S.) beat Alex De Minaur (Australia) 7-6(5) 6-0 6-1
Mischa Zverev (Germany) beat 19-John Isner (U.S.) 6-7(4) 6-7(4) 6-4 7-6(7) 9-7
17-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Noah Rubin (U.S.) 7-5 6-3 7-6(3)
4-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) beat Steve Johnson (U.S.) 6-3 6-4 6-4
10-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Ryan Harrison (U.S.) 6-3 7-6(6) 6-2
Lukas Lacko (Slovakia) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4
12-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Dusan Lajovic (Serbia) 6-2 6-2 6-3
5-Kei Nishikori (Japan) beat Jeremy Chardy (France) 6-3 6-4 6-3
Malek Jaziri (Tunisia) beat Alexander Bublik (Kazakhstan) 6-2 6-3 7-5

 

[britbox]

17-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Noah Rubin (U.S.) 7-5 6-3 7-6(3)

 

[britbox]

1-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Andrey Rublev (Russia) 6-3 6-0 6-2

 

[britbox]

Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat 14-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) 1-6 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 10-8

 

[britbox]

You missed the biggest, it seems. Cilic lost to D. Evans.

Yeah, that one flew under the radar. Great win for Dan... who's really finding some belief in his game.

 

[britbox]

 

[britbox]

Thursday Schedule - Order of Play

 

[Vince Evert]

McEnroe criticized Kyrgios for his lack of effort not once. This comment was in response to that. Cynical and bad attitude, on and off the court. I am happy he lost.

Thanks. I wasn't aware McEnroe was in Oz and has had another go at Nick's attitude. He has to decide if he actually wants to play tennis - for starters.

 

[Vince Evert]

1-Andy Murray (Britain) beat Andrey Rublev (Russia) 6-3 6-0 6-2

That was a stunning turnaround by Andy because he was really ordinary in his opening round match. Did not expect to see him step things up so quick.

 

[Vince Evert]

Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat 14-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) 1-6 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 10-8

Extraordinary match (for reasons I mentioned before). The first 4 sets was over in two hours and 5 minutes, must be a record ! However the 5th was 64 minutes. Nick may have had aggravated his knee injury but then again he may have suffered a mental breakdown or a combo of both. Hard to figure. At any rate well played Seppi. Especially remember the winner he hit when he was down a match-point.

 

[Moxie]

Yeah, that one flew under the radar. Great win for Dan... who's really finding some belief in his game.

I just want to point out (ahem) that I picked that upset in my draw challenge. I really didn't believe Cilic was going to make it the long haul, and Evans has had some good results lately. IMO, Cilic will be a flukey one-Slam wonder.

 

[Moxie]

Andreas Seppi (Italy) beat 14-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) 1-6 6-7(1) 6-4 6-2 10-8

I only watched the highlights, but Nick's presser was fascinating, and made me feel sort of sad for him. He does admit he probably needs a coach, that it's a mental issue his lack of results, and that he needs to learn to get out of his own way. I wonder who saw the match and if you thought he was tanking at any point? Is that fair, or just McEnroe complaining? Good win for Seppi, for sure...gets points for mental sturdiness, and bravery on that MP against.

 

[Tennis Fan]

No, but from what I hear, they don't draw by hand anymore. Like USO, they started using a program to generate the draw. And like in USO Federer gets easier opponents than anyone else. And no tennis fan is allowed to have a look at the codes of either program. Why is that secrecy if the programs are supposedly honest? I made this last thing up, no one is supposing the programs are honest.

Which part is true? They use a computerized program, or no? Either way this post is hilarious.

 

[Moxie]

Dimitrov loses the first set to Cheung 1-6. Let's see his new mentality, now, then, eh? Will he come back, or revert to old habits?