2016 Australian Open Tennis Championships

[gzhpcu]

Shame that Verdasco was so tired today after the 5 hour match against Nadal... Guess it was a Pyrrhic victory...

[stotty]

Shame that Verdasco was so tired today after the 5 hour match against Nadal... Guess it was a Pyrrhic victory...

Pyrrhic indeed....

Thanks for the new word. I hadn't come across it before.

[don_budge]

The Men's Bathroom...

The facilities at Melbourne Park are way better then I expected, the stadiums are stunning, and the bathrooms are clean except for the ones in Rod Laver Arena they smell like 50 thousand have pissed on the floor. Not to mention the floor is a little sticky as well (hey guys let's focus on our aim a little more).

What is it about men and toilets? Men always make such a mess...miss the target half the time. At Wimbledon it sometimes gets the same, and they have someone hosing down every twenty minutes!

What is it with guys missing the mark? Have you ever heard the expression…"Ladies and Germs"?

[stotty]

Well it's all looking a bit routine at the Aussie Open. You almost feel like they should reintroduce the challenge round.

Berdych played solid throughout his match against the flamboyant Kyrgios. I liked the way he stuck to his guns and rode out the fleeting Kyrgios storm with solid play. It's a shame Berdych is so predictable. Players can tell exactly where he is going to hit to and move there well in advance sometimes. With all that power he has got it would be useful if he had a little more disguise.

[bottle]

Hey, where's our stringer's report? lobndropshot, please get on it. We're going to send you to Havana next. (No, not that kind of a stringer.)

[klacr]

Well it's all looking a bit routine at the Aussie Open. You almost feel like they should reintroduce the challenge round.

Berdych played solid throughout his match against the flamboyant Kyrgios. I liked the way he stuck to his guns and rode out the fleeting Kyrgios storm with solid play. It's a shame Berdych is so predictable. Players can tell exactly where he is going to hit to and move there well in advance sometimes. With all that power he has got it would be useful if he had a little more disguise.

Just as I expected. Berdych will remain steady while Kyrgios goes through ups and downs in level. Interesting match up. Berdych just too steady and did great job of getting off to great start to take crowd out of it early with break.

Berdych a professional. He wasn't going to do anything that wasn't going to help him win (a page from Allen Fox's book). Trust your skill set. At the end of the day, that's all you can count on.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

My day off

And yes, I stayed up all night to watch all matches on TV. More specifically, The Berdych match. But sometimes when you try to get you you want, you gotta trudge through the BS. In this case, it was every other match before Tberd-Kyrgios. 16 hour time difference makes it tricky, I didn't go to bed until 7:30am this morning...until staff and club members started calling me at 7:32am. Going on exactly 0 hours of sleep and still feel great. But Needless to say, gonna be an early bed time tonight.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Just as I expected. Berdych will remain steady while Kyrgios goes through ups and downs in level. Interesting match up. Berdych just too steady and did great job of getting off to great start to take crowd out of it early with break.

Berdych a professional. He wasn't going to do anything that wasn't going to help him win (a page from Allen Fox's book). Trust your skill set. At the end of the day, that's all you can count on.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Yes from what I saw he did exactly that. He rode out Kyrgios's histrionics and flashes of inspiration. Kyrgios became dangerous in the third set, once he'd semi given up....but Berdych remained rock solid in the fourth and stifled Kyrgios out of it.

One thing Berdych did well was hit a good length. I often think talented players can be negated by hitting such a good length. It stops them using their hands and other skills. Djokovic stifles players when he finds that incredible length of his. It's as old as the hills but hitting a consistent length works.

[klacr]

Yes from what I saw he did exactly that. He rode out Kyrgios's histrionics and flashes of inspiration. Kyrgios became dangerous in the third set, once he'd semi given up....but Berdych remained rock solid in the fourth and stifled Kyrgios out of it.

One thing Berdych did well was hit a good length. I often think talented players can be negated by hitting such a good length. It stops them using their hands and other skills. Djokovic stifles players when he finds that incredible length of his. It's as old as the hills but hitting a consistent length works.

Berdych one of the finest ball strikers in the biz. When he is playing well, his shots have tremendous depth on them. Hitting deep and penetrating shots certainly neutralizes opponents and Berdych will have to continue this form against Bautista Agut, Federer and Djokovic if he wants to get into finals.

In other news, Federer beat Dimitrov in a mediocre performance from Roger. Numerous errors on the forehand. But more importantly, He won his 300th Grand Slam match. That's 67 more matches than the #2 guy on the list, Jimmy Connors. Impressive figure indeed. To win that many matches, at that level, against the best, 3 out of 5 sets, it's damn remarkable. Perhaps a stat that many overlook, but should be an important figure to measure when a career is over.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[don_budge]

"Baby Fed"…the 28th seed…dispatched

In other news, Federer beat Dimitrov in a mediocre performance from Roger. Numerous errors on the forehand. But more importantly, He won his 300th Grand Slam match. That's 67 more matches than the #2 guy on the list, Jimmy Connors. Impressive figure indeed. To win that many matches, at that level, against the best, 3 out of 5 sets, it's damn remarkable. Perhaps a stat that many overlook, but should be an important figure to measure when a career is over.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Of course this statistic is a measurement of Roger Federer's career but perhaps more importantly it is an amazing indications of a real lack of depth in men's tennis the last 15 years. The same four have dominated for the last ten years. Supporting cast players such as Tomas Berdych have impressive ball striking capability but consider the fact that he is totally lost in the forecourt. The modern game is a mere shadow of its former self. The fact that it is fast and showy has merely glossed over the fact that in reality it is a dumbed down version.

Roger was impressive against Dimitrov in a sense or at least it was somewhat of an impressive match. He didn't have the "A game" and he went with the "B". Patience takes on a whole new meaning nowadays compared to previous eras. But Roger demonstrated it in the first set as he patiently waited for his opportunity to break the Dimitrov serve. Dimitrov was actually playing rather well and the ball striking between the two was very impressive.

The cloned strokes of "Baby Fed" were holding up under the pressure from the great Swiss player. Grigor took control of the second set with an early break and held on to serve out the set. But he got a little over confident or perhaps he lacked the confidence necessary to continue and once again Federer seized control of the play. Roger kept the Bulgarian Playboy off balance with his net play tactics and he controlled the middle of the playing board…like a master chess player.

Then he just ran out the set and served his way to the locker room. In his post match on-court interview he acknowledged that he was a bit spotty in his play but he patiently let the game come to him. Towards the end he had recovered his rhythm and tactics to dominate his clone. He also thinks it is interesting to play against a player that has emulated his style to such a degree he was once known as "Baby Fed".

[stotty]

Here's the latest draw:

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf

Tsonga and Nishikori could been interesting.

I am looking forward to Tomic and Murray most. Tomic has little to lose at this stage in the contest and will have the home crowd behind him. If Tomic is ever going to justify himself and come of age, this is the match to do it.

I am hoping Stan can take care of Raonic. Raonic is the biggest lumberjack out there and dead dull to watch. He needs to go.

Federer has had the easiest draw and Goffin ought to a formality.

John Isner has a decent chance to make the quarters if he can muster a good performance.

lobndropshot, you have gone all quiet. What matches have you seen? What's the latest lowdown?

[stroke]

Here's the latest draw:

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf

Tsonga and Nishikori could been interesting.

I am looking forward to Tomic and Murray most. Tomic has little to lose at this stage in the contest and will have the home crowd behind him. If Tomic is ever going to justify himself and come of age, this is the match to do it.

I am hoping Stan can take care of Raonic. Raonic is the biggest lumberjack out there and dead dull to watch. He needs to go.

Federer has had the easiest draw and Goffin ought to a formality.

John Isner has a decent chance to make the quarters if he can muster a good performance.

lobndropshot, you have gone all quiet. What matches have you seen? What's the latest lowdown?

So true about Tomic, but as Kyle pointed out about Berdych and Nick, it is way more than a few spectacular shots. See Fed, the gold standArd. As Lc, I am really looking forward to Tomic and Murray. I much prefer Murray's movement, as does all, but Tomic is technically better.

[stroke]

As McEnroe once said, Milos has the best serve in tennis, and it is getting better.

[don_budge]

The Routine...

Here's the latest draw:

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/ms/msdraw.pdf

Gilles Simon has just taken the second set from Novak Djokovic to even up the match. Novak doesn't look like himself…is he not feeling well today? The announcers are already writing his epitaph but haven't we seen this before from Djokovic. Many times. Five set matches have their ebb and flow and Djokovic may just be giving him the lame routine. If history is any indication…Djokovic prevails.

[klacr]

Djokovic up 4-1 in fifth set. Simon with uncanny ability to play at level of opponent and gives players issues. Djokovic does not seem himself tonight, but credit to the wily Gilles Simon for forcing it.

Berdych up two sets to one but down a break in the 4th set to Bautista Agut. Maybe going 5 in that one.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton