2011 Tennis Thread (Grand Slams, ATP World Tour, Davis Cup)

[Lungzyn]

The Great Dolgo upsets Tsonga in 5 :bowdown:
I was wrong about him making an impact in the USO last year, but now he has come to the party :yesyes:
4th round Dolgopolov/Soderling. He will lose I guess but Robin should watch out :hammer:

That Canadian Raonic guy is going well too beating Youzhny. Might give Ferrer some trouble.

Murray cruising against GGL. Another virtual practice match for a top 5 player.

 

[Lungzyn]

Nadal still not 100% fresh
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/sports/tennis/23nadal.html?_r=1

He did look sluggish against Tomic, like getting down 0-4 in the second and sweating a lot. The shirt might be part of that, its got some special technology but it looks clingy. Nadal looked like he just crawled out of a dunk machine a few times.
Rafa slam looking far from certain at the moment.

Cilic had that 5-setter against Isner but there werent many long rallies so he shouldnt be too tired. If he had lost that he would have really dropped down the rankings.

Wozzzniacki, Robredo getting walloped by Fed, iffy Sharapova/Petkovic and Roddick/Stan look like the bigger draws at Rod Laver arena. Djokovic is playing early at Hisense too though. Might need an internet stream if they put Caro on TV instead.

 

[Lungzyn]

Make sure you see the Kuznetsova/Schiavone match because its going to be the best womens match at the AO, maybe the best of the year :bowdown:
Fran wins 16-14 in the third set after saving six match points! Too bad that Kuz had to lose, they were both slinging great shots right until the end.
It is the second longest womens match in the Open Era, 4 hours, 44 minutes :bowdown:
Schiavone is going to be gassed against backboard Caro now though, has little chance to win I guess.

Petkovic/Sharapova is a letdown. 6-2 5-1 to Pet right now.
Still got Stan/Roddick to come.

 

[Lungzyn]

Stan GOATing, 67 winners/19 UE's. GBHOAT.
Roddick wont go deep in slams with that ground game anymore. Looks helpless out there against top guys.
Roger could have a tough time, but I guess he will prevail. There has been a bunch of redlining guys at the AO over the last few years (Gonzalez, Baghdatis, Tsonga, Verdasco) but they have lost eventually against Fedalovic.
All the top 5 guys could be said to have 'not easy' matches in their next rounds finally.

 

[lechepicha]

Stan GOATing, 67 winners/19 UE's. GBHOAT.
Roddick wont go deep in slams with that ground game anymore. Looks helpless out there against top guys.
Roger could have a tough time, but I guess he will prevail. There has been a bunch of redlining guys at the AO over the last few years (Gonzalez, Baghdatis, Tsonga, Verdasco) but they have lost eventually against Fedalovic.
All the top 5 guys could be said to have 'not easy' matches in their next rounds finally.

"GBHOAT" ? :dunno: what does it mean ?

"Fedalovic"?
but Nole doesn't deserve to be named in the same "Fedal" word. :2 cents:

and yes, Roger should prevail, but not easily: He played very poorly the 2nd set against Robredo (slow, with no motivation, almost like waiting for Tommy to fail).
Roger in four, maybe in five.

Either way, Roger should be worry: Nole/Berdych would be a BIG problem in the SF. I don't see the defeat THAT unlikely...

 

[Lungzyn]

^ Greatest BackHand Of All Time Maybe not, but the best at this tournament. He has more BH winners than anyone else I think
------------------

The Great Dolgo :bowdown:
Beat Sod in 5, who looked shaky.
50 winners/23 UE's.
HC isnt even his best surface, he has 5 challenger titles on clay. Watch out at RG

 

[lechepicha]

^ Greatest BackHand Of All Time Maybe not, but the best at this tournament.

hell yeah.

but i don't think that would be enough to beat Roger tonight.

Like i said before, Roger in 4, maybe in 5. And of course, a lot of neat backhands, from both

The Great Dolgo :bowdown:
Beat Sod in 5, who looked shaky.
50 winners/23 UE's.
HC isnt even his best surface, he has 5 challenger titles on clay. Watch out at RG

i saw the entire match, and Robin played like he was in 2007. Dolgo counter-punched amazingly.

however, Andy Murray is playing extremely well (he crushed Melzer) and should win over Dolgo in straight.

 

[lechepicha]

Roger puts himself into his 8th consecutive Australian Open semifinal

damn! :eek: EIGHT!

he beat his fellow countryman in straight sets, way more easily than expected.

it was a hell of a tournament for Stan anyway, and will get precious points. :clap:

roger is playing superb again, and looks good for the SF, against Nole/Berdych :nanner:

Federer has won 15 consecutive matches and 27 of his last 28.

He has either won or held match point in 42 of his last 43

HOW ABOUT THAT! :bowdown:

 

[lechepicha]

i love this headline: Sorcerer Federer teaches apprentice harsh lesson

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/25012...-federer-teaches-apprentice-harsh-lesson.html

 

[Lungzyn]

Fran the lion-hearted, saved 9 MP's in two matches but ended up losing. She might not look the best, but she might have the best looking game.
Caro hit 13 winners, can she win a slam playing like that? Probably has to go through Li Na and Clijsters.

Berd/Djok should be good.

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

Damn Schiavone is a bad bitch. Her grunts/yells are intimidating. No wonder she won Roland. Glad Caroline snapped out of it.

Nole cruised against Berdych. Now the final four is almost here.

 

[lechepicha]

Djokovic on song as he tunes up for Federer

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/austral...s-he-tunes-up-for-federer-20110125-1a4gz.html

NOVAK Djokovic is like the Krist Novoselic of tennis. He is the third member of the band, the Nirvana bass player in the shadows of Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl

 

[Lungzyn]

The Great Dolgo :bowdown: takes a set off Murray, takes 17 games compared to Andys first four matches where he dropped 23.
Dolgo shows his good power, speed, serve, return of serve and variety. Can improve on net play, drop shots and patience/consistency. That could come in time with more experience.
Murray resorting to his high defense/pushing strategy, letting Aleks beat himself for the most part.

Cant see Ferrer beating Nadal.

 

[Lungzyn]

^should be 19 games for Aleks

Couldnt see Ferrer beating Nadal before, but there it is!
Nadals movement was obviously hampered by whatever injury he had, seemed to be a hamstring problem. He might have retired a while ago if not for it being a major and what happened last year (he hates retiring to begin with).
But that is not to take away from Ferrer, who played the best match offensively I have seen him play, painting the lines all night :clap:

Hopefully he doesnt dip against Murray, he doesnt have much chance otherwise.

Looking forward to sorcerer vs grunge bassist.

 

[Bloodshot Scott]

Didn't see it but uh, bye bye Nadal. Straight sets too.

 

[lechepicha]

Ferrer backs Nadal to win next four Slams

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...o-win-next-four-Slams/articleshow/7367148.cms

i disagree.

i mean, Rafa is a hell of a player, but one thing is that and another is winning the 4 majors in a row. It's something almost impossible to do. I don't think he even will win 3 straight again.



for tonight, i hope Wozzie and Kim win their matches.

and of course, a Roger win over Nole would be great for us all Fedophiles. However, like i said before, it's far for being easy: the Djoker is playing amazingly well, and it's a solid threat for Roger's bid. It would be probably 4 or maybe 5 sets, thriller-style.

and for the other SF, Murray is clearly the favorite, BUT, David is in high hopes and Andy not much (he didn't play too good against Dolgo). Hell, Ferrer is up in their head-to-head! (but with 0-2 in hard courts)
should be a 4 or 5 setter as well.

 

[Lungzyn]

Henin retired again.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/01/26/2035043/henin-announces-sudden-retirement.html
Too bad, she was one of the greats of this generation and all time. 7th equal on the open era slams list.

"Justine Henin will go down as one of the greatest female athletes of her era. She has been an incredible ambassador for women's tennis on and off the court, and her fighting spirit, tremendous courage and ultimate success has captured the minds and hearts of millions of fans around the world," said WTA chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster.

:bowdown: :hatsoff:

 

[Lungzyn]

Djokovic best class, wins in straights :surprise: :hatsoff:
Great form from the Serb, Roger couldn't deny him tonight. Had some chances but Novak was zoning most of the match.
Doesnt help Feds number 1 aspirations, helps consolidate Djoks number 3 spot.
Deserved win, hope he takes the title now :clap:

Woz out earlier too, playing 'not to lose' instead of playing to win again I think. If the other player is hitting their spots enough, you can end up losing that way which is what happened. Clijsters ftw in the final though most likely.

 

[lechepicha]

Djokovic best class, wins in straights :surprise: :hatsoff:
Great form from the Serb, Roger couldn't deny him tonight. Had some chances but Novak was zoning most of the match.
Doesnt help Feds number 1 aspirations, helps consolidate Djoks number 3 spot.
Deserved win, hope he takes the title now :clap:.

the level of play of the match was extremely high. 3 hours for straight sets, tells a lot.
Specially in the first 2 sets, the speed and accuracy was truly unbelievable. It was very hard to keep that level, and it was only a matter of time for one of both to drop down a little bit. And it was Roger

resume of the game:

- Roger served poorly, and wasn't aggressive enough.
- Like Novak said himself, he played one of the best matches of his life: it is extremely hard to mantain the level he showed in the entire match, and he did.
- Roger chocked in the tie-break, and when serving for the 2nd set, and it was too hard to get up from there

Yes, very deserved win. :hatsoff:
And yes, he will win the title, either against Ferrer or Murray.

Nole will be one-slam-wonder no more

A very bad stat for Roger: this is the first time since 2003 (that is, since Roger is Roger) that Roger fails to make a major final in four straight occasions.

 

[Lungzyn]

Three set womens final, nice battle.
Kinda wanted Li Na to win, but congrats to Kim for the win :hatsoff:
Looked like Kim's moonballing played into Li's swinging volley/smash problems.

Adje Nole for tomorrow :spump: