Australian Open - Tennis

[Vihzel]

Anyone else excited for the upcoming Australian Open?

Thankfully... my first class for school starts at 1pm so I can actually stay up to watch matches live in my comfortable bed.

 

[Member138406]

I like tennis, but not enough to stay up late and watch it till later rounds. What time do they air PST?

 

[jamor]

Oh hell yea. I love watching Tennis.

I am def excited. Go Novak! And Zvonavera she is absolutely hilarious. You can bet I'll be watching her matches.. nothing like a few smashed up rackets to compliment the game of Tennis.

 

[NYCHitman1]

oh hell yea. I love watching tennis.

I am def excited. Go novak! And zvonavera she is absolutely hilarious. You can bet i'll be watching her matches.. Nothing like a few smashed up rackets to compliment the game of tennis.

blackmail!!!

 

[saps]

I do like Grand Slam tennis. Although its highly predictable. Give me Nadal and Serena and you take the field for all of 2011 and I bet they win more than they dont and thats with Serena missing the Aussie. Federer seems to be more competitive versus Nadal in recent months. But Im expecting at least 2 slams from Rafa this year

 

[Vihzel]

I think that there is no clear favorite to win the Australian Open from the women's side. It just feels so wide open and with Serena gone... not sure who will take the trophy this year. I'd have to say that my top five for the women's side are:

1. Kim Clijsters
2. Justine Henin
3. Venus Williams (great run at US Open losing to Clijsters in a final-worthy match)
4. Samantha Stosur
5. Vera Zvonareva (if she's mentally there and on her game)
5. Victoria Azarenka

Men's side:

1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Robin Soderling
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Tomas Berdych

 

[saps]

Yeah one of the Belgian girls are likely to take it. Also Im personally a fan of Fed but the fact remains Rafa just dominates him and its a mental thing now. Fed's best chance frankly is having Soderling or someone take him out before the final. I cannot see Fed beating Rafa in a GS final these days, even if that is my personal hope; Im too realistic

 

[jamor]

blackmail!!!

I'll get you! Mark my words.

Never mess with a Spectre!

 

[jamor]

I think that there is no clear favorite to win the Australian Open from the women's side. It just feels so wide open and with Serena gone... not sure who will take the trophy this year. I'd have to say that my top five for the women's side are:

1. Kim Clijsters
2. Justine Henin
3. Venus Williams (great run at US Open losing to Clijsters in a final-worthy match)
4. Samantha Stosur
5. Vera Zvonareva (if she's mentally there and on her game)
5. Victoria Azarenka

Men's side:

1. Roger Federer
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Robin Soderling
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Tomas Berdych

Sounds about right.. Id like to see Federer build on his legacy but a Nadal or Novak win would be fun too.. I haven't checked the brackets but if possible another Federer Nadal match would be epic.

I'm not too high on Venus though.

How could Serena still have that injury? She claimed she stepped on some glass and it was minor.. It's been months.

I don't buy her story one bit.

 

[Vihzel]

Sounds about right.. Id like to see Federer build on his legacy but a Nadal or Novak win would be fun too.. I haven't checked the brackets but if possible another Federer Nadal match would be epic.

I'm not too high on Venus though.

How could Serena still have that injury? She claimed she stepped on some glass and it was minor.. It's been months.

I don't buy her story one bit.

It's really unpredictable whether or not Federer or Nadal will win. Djokovic on the other hand... never won against either of them in 2010. If Federer and Nadal are playing well, I can't see Djokovic having a great chance at winning. #1 and #2 are really at a higher caliber than the rest of the field. I think Soderling can give them more trouble than Djokovic can if he plays really well. He did win a smaller tournament so far this year.

I think Venus has a decent shot at winning the AO. She did have pretty good results last year. The thing that I just don't understand with her is that she's incredibly spotty. Most days she'll do really well... but there are those days where she just collapses (losing to Clijsters at Miami 1-6 2-6, losing to Rezai at Madrid 2-6 5-7, losing to Jankovic at Rome 0-6 1-6, and Pironkova at Wimbledon 2-6 3-6). So often, you think that she's going to go to the title and then suddenly she loses. She should've gone to the finals of Wimbledon last year.

I think also that Li Na should be looked at depending on how well she does against Clijsters at Sydney. She had great runs at AO and US Open last year getting to semifinals.

 

[Vihzel]

Australian Open has begun tonight! Woohoo!

 

[jamor]

Some decent tennis so far. Too many blow outs unfortunately. Would have been nice to see Lauren Davis do better.

A few memorable names kick off just in time around 6pm central/11 AM Aussy. Roddick, Novak, Venus, Sharapova, and Wozniacki. Hopefully a good match comes out of the 4 but I'll be watching.

And whats up with Beck retiring 2 games short of the match against Murray. That was really lame.

 

[saps]

Well looks like Fed wont be winning this year. That 5 setter suggests me to he aint all there this time. Man he was spraying some shots

 

[jamor]

I missed it. I gotta wait till they start airing stuff at 10 pm

 

[Member138406]

Ivanovic.... nooooo!

 

[Xoom]

I hate Rafa with a passion. Why won't he just go away?

 

[saps]

I hate Rafa with a passion. Why won't he just go away?

Same reason Kobe wont or Jimmie Johnson in NASCAR [hows that for a cross sport analogy] when you're the best its too easy to hang around and collect titles

 

[jamor]

Same reason Kobe wont or Jimmie Johnson in NASCAR [hows that for a cross sport analogy] when you're the best its too easy to hang around and collect titles

Well you started off well and had the right intention. Unfortunately driving a car in circles isn't a sport.

 

[jamor]

Apparently ESPN only caters to the jobless.

Why do they air at 2pm and 10 pm? What the **** I know there is a time difference but they could at least try to put at least one day of Tennis on during Primetime for the majority of the country that actually works.

FAIL

 

[saps]

Well you started off well and had the right intention. Unfortunately driving a car in circles isn't a sport.

Well whatever the point remains the same the dominant dominate then. Tiger hits a golf ball. Now whether golf is a sport or not, he dominates. Not sure we need to get into a debate on what defines a sport

 

[jamor]

Well whatever the point remains the same the dominant dominate then. Tiger hits a golf ball. Now whether golf is a sport or not, he dominates. Not sure we need to get into a debate on what defines a sport

Ugh fine.. it would have been fun though!

 

[saps]

Ugh fine.. it would have been fun though!

OK what the heck even though maybe we should make it a different thread.
What defines a sport vs a game?
So like which of the following of these are sports:
Fishing
BullRiding
FigureSkating
Strongman
Golf
Billards
Surfing
All the X games stuff

jamor go ahead and make a thread if you really wanna get into it in a friendly way it would be a fun discussion debate actually

 

[Vihzel]

Maria played a fantastic match tonight. I found myself cheering loudly every time she won a point in the 3rd set. lol First set wasn't too great but she really upped her game.

I am very surprised that Henin went out to Kuznetsova in the 3rd round... very unlike of her.

I hope that Venus can play well tonight at Melbourne vs. Petkovic even with that pelvic injury that she had in previous match. I really don't see her getting past Sharapova if she wins this match though due to that injury and against someone like Sharapova.

In regards to saps's post:

I would consider them all to be sports. They're just classified differently when it comes to sports and have different requirements. For example in figure skating... artistry is a large component of the sport, while artistry doesn't matter at all in fishing. Bull riding has an essence of dealing with real danger while golf has virtually none (reason why so many old men and women can play). I think the differences really lie with the status of a sport, whether it be a prestigious, world-renowned, and well-respected sport like tennis or umm... NASCAR.

 

[saps]

Maria played a fantastic match tonight. I found myself cheering loudly every time she won a point in the 3rd set. lol First set wasn't too great but she really upped her game.

I am very surprised that Henin went out to Kuznetsova in the 3rd round... very unlike of her.

I hope that Venus can play well tonight at Melbourne vs. Petkovic even with that pelvic injury that she had in previous match. I really don't see her getting past Sharapova if she wins this match though due to that injury and against someone like Sharapova.

In regards to saps's post:

I would consider them all to be sports. They're just classified differently when it comes to sports and have different requirements. For example in figure skating... artistry is a large component of the sport, while artistry doesn't matter at all in fishing. Bull riding has an essence of dealing with real danger while golf has virtually none (reason why so many old men and women can play). I think the differences really lie with the status of a sport, whether it be a prestigious, world-renowned, and well-respected sport like tennis or umm... NASCAR.

Well Venus is done due to injury. I was surprised by Henin too. Now I wonder if she will ever make it back to the top of the mountain. She ownz the clay so we'll see at the French if she can make it back all the way.

Also yeah sports is a pretty board term I suppose. To some fishing or skydiving or bodybuilding are sports and to others maybe not. I suppose thats why ESPN is not just SPN, the E is for Entertainment after all. Which Im sure is why they have X games and the hot dog eating contests and other wacky stuff like that

 

[Stuntman]

Raonic made it to the third round, but will have a tough test against Youzhny. Only Canadian left in singles.

Marino played well against Schiavone, but eventually lost in extra games in the final set.

I wonder how well Nestor will do with his new partner Mirnyi. He may face his old partner, Zimonic in the semis.

I'm upset that Henin got knocked out. She's my favourite women singles player. At least my favourite mens player, Federer, is still in it. He had a scare against Simon, but managed to pull it out and handled Malisse fairly easily.

Although I want Federer to win, I don't mind it too much if Nadal wins and ends up holding all 4 Grand Slam titles at the same time since Laver. It would be a special moment.

I'm routing for a Clijsters-Wosniacki final.

I can't believe what has happened to Safina. I didn't think the could beat Clijsters, but did not expect to lose both sets at love.