Brisbane International 2018, Queensland, Australia - ATP 250

[Fiero425]

Andy withdraws from Brisbane due to hip issues. Now that tournament has already started, they will not be allowed to rebalance the draw. Draw can be rebalanced only if a player withdraws before the first ball is struck.

Hard to believe 2 athletes like Nole and Andy can't discern how their bodies are when approaching tournament play and now have totally blown it! Nole could have done something like arthroscopic surgery over these lost months of non-play! Now both will be out for the foreseeable future allowing Fedal to continue their ancient run making more history on the tour! :whistle:

 

[Busted]

Andy withdraws from Brisbane due to hip issues. Now that tournament has already started, they will not be allowed to rebalance the draw. Draw can be rebalanced only if a player withdraws before the first ball is struck.

Just like the US Open. I feel bad for Murray, but dude needs to be nicer to his fellow players and pull out before the draw is made. If he'd done that at the US Open then obviously that would have changed the look of the entire tournament and the bottom half wouldn't have looked like a 250 event. At least he said he'll make a decision about the AO by the end of this week - not that his withdrawal would affect that draw very much since he'd be ranked 17-19 when the AO starts.

 

[Busted]

I bet Sir Andy won't play AO...

I'll go one better - I bet he doesn't play again until the grass court season. Coming back on clay courts with all that sliding would be nuts.

 

[Busted]

Hard to believe 2 athletes like Nole and Andy can't discern how their bodies are when approaching tournament play and now have totally blown it! Nole could have done something like arthroscopic surgery over these lost months of non-play! Now both will be out for the foreseeable future allowing Fedal to continue their ancient run making more history on the tour! :whistle:

Djokovic is still confirmed for Tie Break Tens XO on Jan 10. So are Nadal and Wawrinka. The organizers tweeted about it earlier today...



Djokovic also says he's planning to play longer than both of his current coaches played. Agassi retired at 36, Stepanek at 38. I find this ironic because in 2011 his father flapped his big yap and crapped on Roger still playing at 30 and said Novak would never play into his 30s the way Federer was doing. Guess he forgot to ask Novak what his long-range career plans were.

http://baseline.tennis.com/article/71003/djokovic-plans-play-beyond-agassis-career-length

 

[Fiero425]

Djokovic is still confirmed for Tie Break Tens XO on Jan 10. So are Nadal and Wawrinka. The organizers tweeted about it earlier today...



Djokovic also says he's planning to play longer than both of his current coaches played. Agassi retired at 36, Stepanek at 38. I find this ironic because in 2011 his father flapped his big yap and crapped on Roger still playing at 30 and said Novak would never play into his 30s the way Federer was doing. Guess he forgot to ask Novak what his long-range career plans were.

http://baseline.tennis.com/article/71003/djokovic-plans-play-beyond-agassis-career-length

Thanks! Allowing Hewitt since it's being held in Australia! - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tie_Break_Tens#2018:_Melbourne - :whistle:

 

[Horsa]

Lo

DATE: 31 Dec 2017 - 7 January 2018
SURFACE: Hard
PRIZE MONEY: $468,910
FIELD SIZE: 28
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Grigor Dimitrov

Seeds:

1 DIMITROV, Grigor
2 MURRAY, Andy
3 KYRGIOS, Nick
4 RAONIC, Milos
5 MULLER, Gilles
6 SCHWARTZMAN, Diego
7 DZUMHUR, Damir
8 ZVEREV, Mischa

The Tournament:

The Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, held 1-8 January 2017, is located at the Queensland Tennis Centre in close proximity to the Brisbane CBD. The tournament has built a reputation for delivering world-class entertainment, both on and off the court.

About Brisbane

Brisbane is the third largest city in Australia (after Sydney and Melbourne) with a population of 2.3 million. It is the state capital of Queensland.

One of the oldest cities in Australia, Brisbane was founded upon the ancient homelands of the aboriginal Turrbal and Jagera people. The Central Business District is on the Brisbane River with the popular South Bank cultural precinct flanking the other side.

The South Bank area includes the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, The Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), which is located at South Bank, consists of the Lyric Theatre, a Concert Hall, Cremorne Theatre and the Playhouse Theatre and is home to the Queensland Ballet, Opera Queensland, Queensland Theatre Company,

Brisbane hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games and the 1988 World Expo. The two events laid the foundations that saw Brisbane transform from a regional country town into an international city.

Brisbane has a humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers and dry warm winters.

Tourism Guide:

That's a lovely, clean beach. The weather is nice too. It's the sharks, venomous snakes & the fact that cockatiels are garden birds over there & they can be very noisy that put me off going. I know cockatiels can be noisy because I've kept a few. They're beautiful birds as are parakeets, budgerigars & cockatoos which are also garden birds over there. It's just after the last cockatiel I had I can't stand the noise.

 

[Horsa]

Brisbane 2018 forecast as draw is revealed:

1 2

Andy Murray 34.3% 16 1 2266 2421 71.4% 80.0% 1 30
2 1

Grigor Dimitrov 25.3% 3 3 2174 2272 72.1% 78.0% 4 26
3 4

Milos Raonic 12.9% 24 3 2091 2136 70.7% 73.7% 27
4 3

Nick Kyrgios 11.7% 21 13 2037 2128 64.6% 71.1% 22
5 7

Damir Dzumhur 3.4% 30 30 1968 2052 60.0% 67.3% 2 25
6 6

Diego Sebastian Schwartzman 2.6% 26 25 1994 2034 58.5% 61.8% 25
7

Alexandr Dolgopolov 1.6% 38 13 1945 1970 53.1% 48.1% 1 29
8 5

Gilles Muller 1.4% 25 21 1970 1874 64.0% 57.1% 2 34
9

Steve Johnson 0.9% 44 21 1889 1899 57.7% 52.9% 1 28
10

Kyle Edmund 0.8% 50 40 1893 1942 50.0% 54.8% 22

Live forecast (as tournament go): http://www.ultimatetennisstatistics.com/inProgressEventForecast?name=Brisbane

It would be nice to see a British winner because we don't get many.

 

[isabelle]

atrocious loss for Milos

 

[Fiero425]

atrocious loss for Milos

A number of "so called" top players have gone down in flames so far this season! It's sorta weird after the injured players are coming back weak and unprepared IMO! Even Serena lost in Doha with a lead! Is it them or are the "also rans," WC's, Qualifiers, & LL's just playing better? Seems to be a combination; Fedal better look out "down under!" :whistle:

 

[Moxie]

A number of "so called" top players have gone down in flames so far this season! It's sorta weird after the injured players are coming back weak and unprepared IMO! Even Serena lost in Doha with a lead! Is it them or are the "also rans," WC's, Qualifiers, & LL's just playing better? Seems to be a combination; Fedal better look out "down under!" :whistle:

Kyrgios pulled his first match out over Ebden, though. That's one in the comeback column.

 

[Fiero425]

Kyrgios pulled his first match out over Ebden, though. That's one in the comeback column.

I saw that and was terribly surprised! Coric pulled out his match yesterday down match points, then Thiem was up and down in his today! I expected better from all concerned! Nole and Murray are still in/out so this is "their" chance to pull a Johansson at the AO! :whistle:

 

[Moxie]

Coric won handily today, though. I didn't see Thiem, but the scoreline seemed straightforward.

 

[Fiero425]

Coric won handily today, though. I didn't see Thiem, but the scoreline seemed straightforward.

I only surfed by, but Thiem was up a break 4-2, then dropped his serve after a long drawn out game with him making terrible unforced errors! I came back to the match to see he had taken the 1st in a TB! Early rounds are hard to watch for me going back to my childhood! When a star drops a set, you almost hope for an upset, but it usually doesn't happen even if spotted a couple match points! They find a way to blow their chances, but this season seeds are dropping like flies or being pushed to the limit! :whistle:

 

[isabelle]

bad Nick in final

 

[Moxie]

Not-so-bad Nick beat Grigor 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Not-so-bad Nick beat Grigor 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final.

Nick is proving that he is becoming mentally mature. I bet he has a very good year.

 

[Busted]

Not-so-bad Nick beat Grigor 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the final.

Didn't see the match but I did see the score earlier and I can only assume that he was motivated being at home because he basically handed Dimitrov the Cincy title.

What's going to be interesting going into the AO is how Dimitrov handles the pressure of his high seeding. He's not exactly the steadiest the ship in the water, is he? Looking back at the numbers for his season last year - you know I'm no fan of his - I realized that 3,750 of his 5,150 points came from just 5 events. Problem is - he played 23 events. I've always thought of him more as Stan, Jr. instead of Baby Fed - just without the Slam titles. Gonna be interesting to see how far he falls in the ranking by the end of the year - because no way in hell is he defending Cincy and ATP finals to retain those points. I'm not even sure he'll be able to defend the 720 points from the AO SF. I think he's going to need for Djokovic, Murray and others to remain injured.

 

[Busted]

Nick is proving that he is becoming mentally mature. I bet he has a very good year.

When I saw his interview a few weeks ago at the ATP he sounded like he'd grown up quite a bit in the last few months and is more committed to the game. Hopefully watching Tomic muck it up has helped him see that he's wasting his own potential. I did pick him to win a Slam or Masters this year - but I'm not sure it'll be the AO.

 

[Fiero425]

Didn't see the match but I did see the score earlier and I can only assume that he was motivated being at home because he basically handed Dimitrov the Cincy title.

What's going to be interesting going into the AO is how Dimitrov handles the pressure of his high seeding. He's not exactly the steadiest the ship in the water, is he? Looking back at the numbers for his season last year - you know I'm no fan of his - I realized that 3,750 of his 5,150 points came from just 5 events. Problem is - he played 23 events. I've always thought of him more as Stan, Jr. instead of Baby Fed - just without the Slam titles. Gonna be interesting to see how far he falls in the ranking by the end of the year - because no way in hell is he defending Cincy and ATP finals to retain those points. I'm not even sure he'll be able to defend the 720 points from the AO SF. I think he's going to need for Djokovic, Murray and others to remain injured.

Kyrgios beating Nadal in the QF in Cincy had to take its toll on him! He barely got by Ferrer in the SF in 2 TB's! Commenting about other players underperforming in Slams, we really need to get over it since the last 10+ years have been owned by 3 or 4 players! I've seen many players come and go with high expectations, but no one seems to break through! I think Zrevev is right on schedule, actually winning 2 Masters last season! That's more than MOST and he needs to be cultivated, not undermined just because he didn't beat the GOAT in some meaningless team exhibition contest! Grigor was called "Baby Fed," has all the talent in the world & he only has 1 Masters won last year & has made only a couple SF in Slams! It happens no matter how young & talented! Cilic's been around forever & he didn't win his lone major until '14! Until Fedalovic decide to hang it up, we have to just live with limited success of the Next Gen.! :whistle:

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Kyrgios beating Nadal in the QF in Cincy had to take its toll on him! He barely got by Ferrer in the SF in 2 TB's! Commenting about other players underperforming in Slams, we really need to get over it since the last 10+ years have been owned by 3 or 4 players! I've seen many players come and go with high expectations, but no one seems to break through! I think Zrevev is right on schedule, actually winning 2 Masters last season! That's more than MOST and he needs to be cultivated, not undermined just because he didn't beat the GOAT in some meaningless team exhibition contest! Grigor was called "Baby Fed," has all the talent in the world & he only has 1 Masters won last year & has made only a couple SF in Slams! It happens no matter how young & talented! Cilic's been around forever & he didn't win his lone major until '14! Until Fedalovic decide to hang it up, we have to just live with limited success of the Next Gen.! :whistle:

1. Hopman cup is not an exhibition event. It is an ITF event as opposed to ATP event. That's all.

2. Sasha did not lose just to GOAT (which would have been acceptable), but also to Goffin and Kokk who is barely in top 200.
This year may be the year of Sasha disappointing all his fans (I am not one of them) just like so many other up and coming
players like Grigor have done before.