Aussie Open Thread

[nuraman00]

Murray comes from down in a game to force several break points.

Djokovic holds on though.

Next service game, it's another long one. Djokovic has several break points. Murray holds on.

On serve, 6-5.

 

[nuraman00]

Djokovic hits several balls long, and Murray wins the 2nd set tiebreak.

 

[nuraman00]

Djokovic lunges during BP and loses.

Murray gets the break in the 3rd, up 1-0.

 

[nuraman00]

Back on serve, Murray to serve, 3-2 (Djokovic leads).

 

[Old Lion]

Murray's FH disintegrates at the end of the 3rd set and into the 4th. Murray unravels and gets bageled in the 4th.

 

[backupboo]

Great Match Andy and Novack. Novack you did it again the best in men's tennis.

 

[Hs0022]

It's not no Vack, it's Novak. Vack rhymes with Back, and Novak is pronounced No-vuk.
As predicted Nole won. I had it either four sets or five (because of the extra day rest Murray had), but Murray is a four cylinder and Nole six. Outcome was never in doubt. Window closing for Murray to win another slam if Nole is around or Nadal at 80%.

 

[Old Lion]

Murray at least looked like he can win another if he keeps his head on straight. Up until this tourney, I had my doubts that he would ever get back to where he was before the back surgery.

 

[Hs0022]

Murray at least looked like he can win another if he keeps his head on straight. Up until this tourney, I had my doubts that he would ever get back to where he was before the back surgery.

he's back to about 80-90% to his best. He had an amazing run on the hardcourts Masters in his peak where he also amassed a healthy h2h over Fed in the best of three format. After the Wimby and Olympic gold medal I think his desire/hunger have waned and is dwindling now. It jut shows among champions there are different tiers of hunger. Fed with 17 slams was and is still the hungriest, followed by Nadal with 14 and Nole with 8. Stay hungry and you will win more.

 

[cezero]

ended up falling asleep.

complete mental meltdown from murray. he let nole's "oh, i'm injured, oh, i'm running like a gazelle now" antics get in his head.

such a bummer after the great quality of the first 2 sets.

 

[cezero]

any fed fan can see that he's been "hungry" for the past 5 years, but only won 1 major in that time.

murray quite obviously is very hungry. but it doesn't matter with that weak 2nd serve and mental weakness. those 2 problems actually feed off of each other. when he's only winning 34% of his 2nd serve points, there's no way that can't put murray into a panic, which just drains him even more both mentally and physically.

i'm a big fan of andy and nole. if murray keeps working on improving weaknesses, i see them making many more major finals, and probably staying pretty even in H2H in major finals. that's a big if though.

 

[Hs0022]

any fed fan can see that he's been "hungry" for the past 5 years, but only won 1 major in that time.

murray quite obviously is very hungry. but it doesn't matter with that weak 2nd serve and mental weakness. those 2 problems actually feed off of each other. when he's only winning 34% of his 2nd serve points, there's no way that can't put murray into a panic, which just drains him even more both mentally and physically.

i'm a big fan of andy and nole. if murray keeps working on improving weaknesses, i see them making many more major finals, and probably staying pretty even in H2H in major finals. that's a big if though.

You need both things. The hunger to succeed and the tools to do it. Murray lacks both in my opinion. Fed is still hungry but he has put a mental and physical mileage and can be flat in any given match and lose to a nobody like Seppi. He can be brilliant and also beat an invigorated Nole in another match. Its just that he is unpredictable these days and his BP conversion rate is not helping either and neither are his BH UEs.

 

[cezero]

hunger is maybe 10% of the equation.

andy has that covered. congrats to him for getting back into the top 4 after he seemed completely out it/indifferent 8 months ago. his hunger for more majors isn't a problem at all.

federer's declining skills are his problem, no matter how hungry he is

murray's big problem is that 2nd serve, which is oftentimes under 80 mph. just unacceptable, and impossible to win majors with that.

 

[Hs0022]

At this point I have more faith that Fed can pull off a slam than Murray. Murray had an incredibly dull/tame draw. The other guys had to earn their SF spots. Don't know how Beedych lost to him. Prolly in his head. Berdych would have lost to Nole anyways. Mauresmo has done good for Mirray but not enough for a slam.

 

[Hs0022]

Good to see Hingis still kicking ass in doubles. Should irk the WS fans some.

 

[cezero]

it's nice to be able to disagree without it becoming a flame war like on ESPN.

it's what happens when you have people who actually talk about tennis.

 

[bksballer89]

When is the next big tournament? Indian Wells in March I assume?

 

[Hs0022]

Cezero, how many slams do you see Nole winning? Right now he is head and shoulders above. I hope he can win the FO this year and over Nadal. Over anyone else and the nadalnuts would immediately find a marker to put an asterisk. What do you think are Fed's chances?

 

[cezero]

When is the next big tournament? Indian Wells in March I assume?

for both the ATP and WTA, the next big Masters1000/Premier Mandatory tournaments are Indian Wells and Miami back to back in March, yeah.

 

[Hs0022]

When is the next big tournament? Indian Wells in March I assume?

Dubai is big too I think most of the top players playing it because of the money and the glam. Dunno if its a 500 series or a 250. Starts 23rd. Gives fed almost 30 day rest to rejuvenate and come back strong.