Aus Tennis Open 2014

vilkrang wrote:So Rafa is getting a pasting, then gets "injured" causing the other player to lose their focus, then makes a miraculous recovery and wins the 3rd set.

HMMM!!! HAVEN'T SEEN THAT ONE BEFORE RAFA, MATE!!!

At least the despicable Spanish c*nt lost. He'll have to wait until at least next year to overtake Fed now.

I have to admit, this was my thought. An uninjured Rafa was blown away in the first set, then "became" injured in the 2nd set.

I guess only Rafa knows.

PeterCS wrote:Poor Rappa. He tried so hard. And maybe he was actually injured.

Yebbut calling him a cheat is more fun and makes you sound harder.

That is a bit of a stretch Fred. I don't thnk it is possible to talk about tennis AND sound hard

Nailed it.   

Yes, Rafa would roll his serves in and go about like a 3.5 or 4.0 level guy...so that...so that, well, we don't know exactly.....

This is the guy who gives it all for each point in every match....and this was a GS final...

Unbelievable..

You could be 100% correct, and I hope you are, A_G, but some of these top players are dreadful losers. Not saying Rafa is one (I reckon Serena and Fed are sooky losers), but he looked OK in the 1st set but was blown away by an on-his-game Stan. Suddenly he had a crook back in the 2nd set.

I truly hope a bad back was the problem (as I said, only Rafa knows) and not tanking.

I see where you are coming from, but Rafa is the last person on the earth to tank a tennis match, that too a GS final. Just the thought is unbelievable having followed Rafa for all these years.

Fed is a sooky loser. Rafa isn't exactly the greatest of losers either (better then Fed though). But no doubt he was injured.

Plus it is not uncommon for a lesser player to start out strong, win the first, go strong half way or so in the second, then lose it or be put in his place. Rafa could have come back - not saying he certainly would have. He could have lost being fully fit as well - it happens.

Furry muff, A_G.

FWIW, I don't think Rafa was quite on his game the whole tournament. Perhaps the blisters made it very tough for him.

skully wrote:Furry muff, A_G.

FWIW, I don't think Rafa was quite on his game the whole tournament. Perhaps the blisters made it very tough for him.

Oh he absolutely was not. The blister no doubt played a big part. He did put a clinic on Fed though, as always

I did not for a moment believe all this declaration of Rafa being the winner even before the match. Stan has been playing the best tennis of his life. He deserves the title and should enjoy his first and last one.

I, like quite a few, thought Stan had played his Final in beating the Joker, but he proved otherwise. Well done him.

First time I saw Stan I thought, he's absolutely the wrong shape for a tennis player, more like a footballer, or a bloke that helped cart the sound gear in and then scammed his way onto the court.

He was around top 30 when he first got really noticed, when he walloped Roddick here on the middle Sunday, must be 5 years ago. Then a couple of years ago he found himself in the Nadal position, injured and two sets down to that Spanish big-serving lamebrain Al-Magro on an outside court and he called for the medical time-out, got a jab of Panedeine Forte and won the next set. But it couldn't last, and at the end of the match he had to be helped off the court. (Mind you, having to literally lean on the net-post straight after the winning point while Al-Mag did his lap of honor, for winning a round-of-32 match FFS, wouldn't have done him a whole heap of good either). You can win one set on elephant juice, but probably not three, even if you are Rafa.

Also, Nadal doesn't have to play those kind of silly buggers to win the 'mind games' - he does that by just being Rafael Nadal with Rafael Nadal's (extremely well-earned) reputation for mental strength.

One thing about the Joker is that he's a good loser; he was very warm in his praise of Stan and congratulated him genuinely at the net. Serena takes the case for bad losing and agree about Fev, think he finds it hard to accept that his seemingly invincible reign came to an end. Believe the crowd was a tad harsh booing Rafa re. the injury time-outs.

Apparently* it was the first time anyone had beaten both Joker and Rafa in the same GS tournament.

Some achievement by the nondescript Stan.

The Nathan Lyon of tennis: his most deadly weapon is his ability to look devoid of deadly weapons.

Some deadly weapons might be appropriate when being inquisited by Spaniards, although I suspect surprise might be more useful than a fanatical devotion to the pope.

Anyway, well done to the big W. IMO tennis needs an injection of 'new blood' to make it more interesting to those who have wandered off.

He's older than three of the "big four" though... the sport does need the next generation to emerge as it's been the same names for so long. But the state of the women's game with so many inconsistent nonentities winning Slams should serve as a warning to those who want to see the big stars of the men's game step aside. It could easily be an era like that next, rather than another two or three legends coming through.

This is a golden era for tennis. One guy is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. One guy has just about a valid claim to that, and is increasingly being recognized as such. Then there is another who is an all time great. Then there is yet another who has won two slams and is quite a complete player. Even outside of that, there are many capable of beating the top guys on their day.

Lendl recently talked about the depth compared to his days. McEnroe and so many others have said the same things.

--
"How difficult is it? It's much tougher now than 30 years ago because the depth is much bigger. You look at the players in today's game and even guys ranked 200 are very good players, so you still have to perform well. Obviously they're ranked 200 for some reason – not because they're great under pressure or they're great all around – but you still have to play well to beat them, whereas in our times when anybody was ranked 200, it was most of the time just glorified practice. That has changed dramatically."
------

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/jan/21/ivan-lendl-andy-murray-australian-open

2012 - the four slams were won by four different guys.

So many matches in the late stages of the tournaments turn to out to be great matches. So many memorable epic matches between Nadal and Djokovic in the last few years - the kind you watch over and over again.

Wins are extremely hard fought out - instead of winning by default (A team/individual winning because, well, someone has to win).

Federer wins the Dubai tournament beating Novak in the SF and Berdych in the final.

He was only seeded 4th!

Check out the post at 9.46pm

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/australian-open/live-australian-open-2015--day-3-20150121-12uhho.html

I'm ashamed to say that it took a few seconds for that to click, but that's marvellous .

JGK wrote:Check out the post at 9.46pm

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/australian-open/live-australian-open-2015--day-3-20150121-12uhho.html

I also liked the comment by 'realist' re: Tomic

Meanwhile...

http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/boris-beckers-illegitimate-15yearold-love-child-launches-her-modelling-career-20150122-12vsua.html

Now MrK, how very i-Gen of you NOT to start a 2015 thread.

Federer loses his first set.

We could be seeing Fed and Hewitt playing their last matches at the Aust Open within hours of each other.