2015 Australian Open…ATP 2000...Melbourne, Australia

[don_budge]

Hope...

Madison Keys??

Is it too much to hope for?

[vrc10s]

Margaret Court holds the record for number of grand slam titles won...24 titles. I wonder if Serena has it in the back of her mind to beat that record. I cannot see anything (other than age) stopping her doing it. She's not even a great match player...she just plays so much better than anyone else.

Madison Keys??

[stotty]

Serena

Margaret Court holds the record for number of grand slam titles won...24 titles. I wonder if Serena has it in the back of her mind to beat that record. I cannot see anything (other than age) stopping her doing it. She's not even a great match player...she just plays so much better than anyone else.

[don_budge]

Serena's celebration...

This match has some serious "nausea" potential. I don't care what anyone says.

It was one nauseating spectacle of a celebration after the victory. One of the announcers mentioned the word Kangaroo…we can expect him to be arrested for something…anything.

The match? She out muscled Sharapova. Pure and simple. If you watched the contest it was obvious. Was she sick? She had her excuse already just in case. But judging from the energy that she expended after the match in her celebratory romp…it's mental.

[gzhpcu]

So did Martina ... a real separator (service motion) in woman's tennis where the points are short, and the one who can hammer the ball the hardest to the back line usually wins. So much different than watching the men. Its amazing how much the mens game has progressed, and the woman's hasn't.

Navratilova had a great serve and volley game.

As far as today is concerned:
It is probably physiological to a certain extent. Also, women, when serving, concentrate more on jumping up towards the ball, then on including shoulder turn.

[hockeyscout]

Serena wins 6-3, 7-6. You wonder what would happen if the tie-breaker had never been introduced. Serena has a great serve movement in women's tennis. 19 Grand Slam titles. Wow!

So did Martina ... a real separator (service motion) in woman's tennis where the points are short, and the one who can hammer the ball the hardest to the back line usually wins. So much different than watching the men. Its amazing how much the mens game has progressed, and the woman's hasn't.

[gzhpcu]

Serena wins 6-3, 7-6. You wonder what would happen if the tie-breaker had never been introduced. Serena has a great serve movement in women's tennis. 19 Grand Slam titles. Wow!

[don_budge]

Evolution of the Species?

I am watching a replay of the Serena Williams and Madison Keys. Serena is one strange looking character. But it isn't necessarily the looks…but the behaviour is bizarre. Already the commentatoes are talking about the virus or the cold that she supposedly has.

Even the announcers were talking about the obvious and they were only tip toeing around it. The elephant in the living room. She was screaming at the top of her lungs at the end of the match. For me it is very hard to stomach the spectacle.

She and Maria Sharapova are set to play in a couple of minutes. This is "The Ladies Game" as it has evolved to in 2015. On the one hand we have Serena Williams and what you see is what you get. On the other is Maria Sharapova who is another character as well. The thing about Maria is her screaming also on the court. So between the two of them…hysterical behavior is at a premium. Hardly the "Lady Like" behavior that I was brought up watching when I was young. Pure and simple social engineering. It's ok…it's going to be ok everyone.

I saw Maria Sharapova play a quarterfinal match at Roland Garros in Paris…when Paris was still Paris…and her screaming took on tactical proportions. The volume and the pitch varied depending upon the situation, the score and depending upon the effect she could impose on her opponent. Her screaming seems to be situational to me.

Finally there is Barbara Schett. I have poked fun at her previously here on a couple of occasions. I witnessed a couple of obnoxious interviews she had conducted…one in particular with Tomas Berdych where he was obviously very annoyed. I called her "horsey faced". The other day, without telling my wife any details, I asked her if there was anything about this woman…this talking mouthpiece…this commentatoe, as we were watching "Mats, Set and Match". Sure enough…she said "is it something about her mouth?". My wife is the horse breeder on our "team"…right from the horse's mouth.

There has been much talk over here about Amelie Mauresmo and Andy’s decision to appoint her as his coach.

Then there was my infamous quote when I referred to Amelie Mauresmo as "the lesbian coach" of Andy Murray. It is true that she is a lesbian…at least she has said as much. I personally do not care which way she goes…gay, bi, trans, metro, left or right. It makes absolutely no difference to me. I merely stated a fact. There is no crime in that…yet.

Women? Evolution? Ok…whatever. But something has changed. Something rather radical. Something that was very traditional…but also fundamental. The changes are obviously products of social engineering…I have witnessed the process. Where is it going? That's what I want to know.

I guess you might say that in this regard that I am a bit "old-fashioned". But to my knowledge that isn't a crime. Yet. I happen to like women…I like them a lot. Well…I should say certain women. Usually I like women who like me. The human species in general doesn't set the bar too high these days. Not that it ever has. This match has some serious "nausea" potential. I don't care what anyone says.

[hockeyscout]

Sliver hitting. Hit to the sliver first and most often and you will beat anyone.

Yes, thats in, insanely small targets. That is hockey. Small targets to score. Its got to be perfect!

[klacr]

Murray versus Djokovic is my least favourite match-up. If they both play well, they are likely to have some mind-numbingly long rallies. Both have amazing court-shrinking footwork and neither one cannot put the ball where the other won’t get it. So it all comes down to tolerance, shot tolerance, mental tolerance…sheer tolerance all round. The decision making of both players could be the deciding factor...when to pressurise...when to pull the trigger in those long rallies. I think the faster court suits Andy’s wide serve and this could be worth a fair few points here and there. He also has a better sliced backhand than Djokovic which I hope he will put to good use here and there too.

There has been much talk over here about Amelie Mauresmo and Andy’s decision to appoint her as his coach. I know no more than any of you about what goes on in the inner sanctum of Murray’s coaching team. But I do know she got his off-season training spot on. If Klacr is right in his assessment of the value of off-season training, then it could prove pivotal were Murray to win on Sunday.

It seems to me that Djokovic is simply Murray version 2.0. On paper, what does Murray do that is better than Djokovic? Djokovic has same strengths as Murray just greater. Then again, matches never get played on paper.

And yes, The Australian Open is all about the sweat equity done in December.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

Interesting. I will have to find those bad positions, and see how we can practice them! Everyone is always practicing good positions, so why not bad ones?

Sliver hitting. Hit to the sliver first and most often and you will beat anyone.

[stotty]

Murray v Djokovic

Murray versus Djokovic is my least favourite match-up. If they both play well, they are likely to have some mind-numbingly long rallies. Both have amazing court-shrinking footwork and neither one cannot put the ball where the other won’t get it. So it all comes down to tolerance, shot tolerance, mental tolerance…sheer tolerance all round. The decision making of both players could be the deciding factor...when to pressurise...when to pull the trigger in those long rallies. I think the faster court suits Andy’s wide serve and this could be worth a fair few points here and there. He also has a better sliced backhand than Djokovic which I hope he will put to good use here and there too.

There has been much talk over here about Amelie Mauresmo and Andy’s decision to appoint her as his coach. I know no more than any of you about what goes on in the inner sanctum of Murray’s coaching team. But I do know she got his off-season training spot on. If Klacr is right in his assessment of the value of off-season training, then it could prove pivotal were Murray to win on Sunday.

[hockeyscout]

He can hit that thing from all kinds of off balanced positions and still put the ball where he wants to

Interesting. I will have to find those bad positions, and see how we can practice them! Everyone is always practicing good positions, so why not bad ones?

[hockeyscout]

The commentato I witnessed gleefully pointed out that Wawrinka will now sink to number nine in the world without once pointing out that a single line call of two inches might have changed momentum and given Wawrinka the first set, which would have changed outcome of another five-set match between him and Djokovic.

We bloggers and letter writers in the world should relentlessly stay on the case of every commentato and soulless politician whether in tennis or anything else.

The goal is that through our relentless making fun of them they will go away, replaced by better professionals.

Nah, they actually want us poking fun at them, and making commentary's because bad PR to them, is good PR. Why put a professional behind the microphone? They wouldn't cause an uproar every two days!

[don_budge]

The Stan Wawrinka Backhand...

The match may not have been the highest quality. Wawrinka may have lost. But he sure won me over with that backhand. I was watching just him for periods to try and figure how he could hit that thing so hard from anywhere. He has the quickest backswing that I have seen. No matter what kind of ball Novak Djokovic hit to him he had that racquet up and in position to go forwards.

That may be the single most fascinating shot in tennis…that and Roger's forehand.

The return of serve was actually a bigger factor than either of the serves. I like the strategy of Wawrinka getting the ball back into play and trying to reset the point on the return. It makes more sense than making a glut of mistakes.

He seemed to run out of gas in the end which I don't understand. Djokovic is rather amazing on the backhand side as well. He can hit that thing from all kinds of off balanced positions and still put the ball where he wants to. It may not have been the cleanest match…but it was interesting.