Australian Open 2016 Jan 18th - Jan 31st

cowboyBuilder

So here we are, another grand slam .

http://www.ausopen.com/index.html

James McGee won his 1st qualie

Nice to see RTE reporting it

http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2016/0113/759655-james-mcgee-marches-on-at-australian-open/

James McGee eased into the second round of qualifying at the Australian Open with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Calvin Hemery.
The Castleknock man didn’t face a break point in the entire match against the Frenchman as he took a step forward in the year's first Grand Slam.
Last year McGee was beaten in straight sets by home favourite Dane Proppoggia 6-3 6-4 in the second qualifying round.
He qualified for the first round of the US Open in 2014, falling to Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Nedovyesov in four sets.
There are three qualifying rounds before the competition starts proper.

Enjoy !

RosyLily

Great to see McGee get the win after an injury-hit 2015. He'll play Radu Albot in the next round. Hope he makes the main draw! Dan Evans had a good win as well. He beat the #1 seeded qualifier Luca Vanni in straight sets.

As for the main tournament, I'm going anyone but Djokovic in the men's. I'd love a new winner, even if it was Murray. In the women's, I'll be keeping my eye on Azarenka. So hard to know, especially with a few "are they actually injured?" cases.

yerwanthere123

Great win for James, although with Daniel Brands looming in the fqr (if he gets there) it's difficult to see him in the main draw. Obviously I hope I'm wrong.

yerwanthere123

Very excited about the Australian Open draw, particularly to see who Serena gets in her 4th round. 50-50 chance it's either Azarenka or Vinci. The latter could be very interesting. I'd like to see Kyrgios take on Djokovic, only one of the big 4 he hasn't played yet.

James McGee plays his next qualifier at 11pm tonight our time. Anyone know how Georgia Drummy got on? Simply can't seem to find the junior qualies draw anywhere, although I'm guessing by the lack of Tweets she must have lost.

yerwanthere123

James loses first set 1-6.

yerwanthere123

Some turnaround! James dropped only three games after losing first set for a 1-6 6-1 6-2 victory, into the final qualifying round for the third time in his career. Really hope he can do it, especially after being out injured last year.

Full draws are out! Some interesting matches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Australian_Open_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_Singles

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Australian_Open_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_Singles

smurfs5

Delighted McGee managed to turn it around and get through. It would be fantastic to see him get through to the main draw.

Federer could face Dimitrov in R3.

One early tie that really stands out is a potential meeting between Radwanska and Bouchard in R2! Both have started the year well so that could be a cracker. Ivanovic-Keys in R3 could be tasty as well.

Men's R16

Djokovic-Simon
Tsonga-Nishikori
Federer-Goffin
Cilic-Berdych

Nadal-Anderson
Raonic-Wawrinka
Ferrer-Isner
Tomic-Murray

Women's R16

Serena-Wozniacki
Bencic-Sharapova
Radwanska-Vinci
Suarez Navarro-Kvitova

Kerber-Bacsinszky
Azarenka-Muguruza
Venus-Pliskova
Keys-Halep

smurfs5

There's been more Tomic drama. He retired midway through the second round match against Gabashvili in Sydney. People are all over Twitter saying he wasn't even trying, pretty much gave up and didn't even give a proper reason for stopping.

This video shows a bizarre exchange between Tomic and Mohamed Lahyani at one of the changeovers where Tomic is saying that he's thinking about Melbourne already and he's not focussed on this game. Lahyani then tries to tell him to concentrate and focus on the game. Tomic also talks to Lahyani in a strange, broken English accent which many people might interpret as being quite insulting. Unbelievable stuff.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ Not sure what happened there but Tomic often has a different accent when he does pressers. Sometimes he sounds like a normal Australian and sometimes he sounds like someone with very little English. He's a weird one.

smurfs5

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

^ Not sure what happened there but Tomic often has a different accent when he does pressers. Sometimes he sounds like a normal Australian and sometimes he sounds like someone with very little English. He's a weird one.

The way he breaks up the words "I have to make final to make points" is like how some people patronise foreigners by thinking they can't understand English.

The way he just gave up and didn't want to be there is pretty inexcusable though. It devalues the tournament, delegitimises Gabashvili's win and makes the fans feel like they haven't gotten value for money.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

smurfs5 wrote: »

The way he breaks up the words "I have to make final to make points" is like how some people patronise foreigners by thinking they can't understand English.

The way he just gave up and didn't want to be there is pretty inexcusable though. It devalues the tournament, delegitimises Gabashvili's win and makes the fans feel like they haven't gotten value for money.

Yeah, like I said I don't know what happened and it does sound like he just gave up but I've heard him talk like that before. It's all very strange. Makes you wonder if he's got a bit of a split personality happening.

StillIntact

McGee's win seems a little like the last round of US Open qualifying in 2014, bad start but incredible fightback. The first game of the second set appears to have been crucial. As others have said won't be easy against Brands.

Not sure who is injured on the women's side so hard to say much on the draw there. I wouldn't be surprised if Serena hasn't a lot of motivation this year.

Looking at the men's draw a potential final between Djokovic and Wawrinka could be on the cards. Don't think any of the others can beat Djokovic over 5 sets at the moment but if he makes the final I'd give Wawrinka a great chance.

PTAB93

Always follow the tennis thread but never post!

I really think this is Azarankas year, while I don't think she'll win the AO I think she'll finally win the USO. I really like Kerber and would love to see her win one, as well as Lisicki she's always the one I want to do well even though she has next to no consistency.

As for the mens, I'd love to see someone new win it, like Nishikori. I am sick of Djokovic and I don't find him interesting in the slightest. Would love to see Murray do well. I would say to watch out for Dimitrov this year.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

PTAB93 wrote: »

I really think this is Azarankas year, while I don't think she'll win the AO I think she'll finally win the USO. I really like Kerber and would love to see her win one, as well as Lisicki she's always the one I want to do well even though she has next to no consistency.

Azarenka has had a great start to the year but she's played a lot more already than the other main contenders. Could have an impact when it comes to the later rounds. Although it may come in handy for her too. We shall see. She certainly seems to be over all the physical and mental issues she had last year.

Memnoch

Fed with a horrible draw. Tough matches all the way. He'll struggle to make it to the semis.

lostcat

Memnoch wrote: »

Fed with a horrible draw. Tough matches all the way. He'll struggle to make it to the semis.

tricky draw for Federer, lots of differently shaped obstacles.

tougher draw for the nadal/stan quarter I think. Stan will have to bulldoze his way through a lot of good players to make a final.

Murray looks set until the semis (unless a babog decides to make an early appearance) and Djokovic does too.

Fed hasn't made a final here for a few years, don't think he will change that this year, and Nadal dosen't have 'it' anymore, I'm afraid.

Hard really to see anybody beating Djokovic unless he has a major lapse of concentration.

yerwanthere123

So James lost, which is pretty disappointing. Interesting article on Irish tennis here, might be worth a read.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/sports/tennis/operating-on-a-shoestring-ireland-struggles-to-develop-first-rate-players.html?_r=0

On to tonight, I think Serena's match against Giorgi has the potential to be interesting. Serena's hasn't played a full competitive match since Vinci took her out in New York. Giorgi is the highest ranked unseeded player too, so you never know. At the same time Giorgi is likely to hit 10+ double-faults and about 50+ unforced errors, so..

Floppybits

Looks like berdych has changed clothing sponsor and is now with adidas. Hopefully we will never see those horrible h&m outfits again.

yerwanthere123

Here we go!

yerwanthere123

Eurosport showing the Errani match. Giving the people what they want.

Floppybits

Wozniacki has been knocked out. She badly needs to change something in her game

RosyLily

Floppybits wrote: »

Wozniacki has been knocked out. She badly needs to change something in her game

Agreed. She needs to do something to kick her game up a gear. But that's been said so many times before that I don't think she'll change now. Unfortunately!

whiterebel

Nice easy start for Roger, hardly broke sweat.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Happy as I am to see Bouchard winning matches again I'd forgotten that the bloody Genie Army was an Australian thing.

Floppybits

RosyLily wrote: »

Agreed. She needs to do something to kick her game up a gear. But that's been said so many times before that I don't think she'll change now. Unfortunately!

It is sad to see her not changing when it is clear to everyone that her game it is not working. She has the fitness and the game but she needs to develop her game and that mean's biting the bullet and getting in a coach and giving that coach 100% control. Surely her father can see this and should be taking the decision himself for his daughters career to step away.

I think if she would have won a Grand slam or 2 by now if she didn't have her father as her coach. Maybe her bestie Serena would give her some advice on this.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

^ Agreed. Her game got her so far and being #1 in the world for so long is no small feat. However once the rest of the tour figured out how to beat her she should have changed things up. She hasn't though and bar the odd run of form here and there she's a pretty average tour player these days.

thomasj

And nadal is out too. Sad to see. He never came back to his best after that injury.struggled through his game. Good result for verdasco though, to come back from 2-1 down

yerwanthere123

It's so satisfying to see a great champion get over their demons and seemingly get back to their best. Really hope this is the case with Azarenka, because 2016 will be fascinating if so. Her projected 4R match with Muguruza could be brilliant, really hope it happens, cause the victor of the match will surely be the finalist from the bottom half.

Floppybits

Kvitova knocked out as well. Watched the highlights of nadal verdassco. Hard to believe that nadal was 2-0 up in the 5th set and lost 6 straight games.

I think even the most die hard nadal fan has to admit that he is in decline now and just won't get back to challenge the top guys. I think he is in the same boat as wozniacki and needs to change his game and coach. Federer is the best example of this, he struggled in 2014 but went away and got edberg on board and changed his game. Nadal has to do the same.

yerwanthere123

I posted on here last night but the post disappeared, forum still not really working. Anyway, 15 year-old Georgia Drummy has qualified for the girls main draw.

Some interesting matches brewing, particularly Azarenka-Osaka in the third round. Azarenka hasn't lost more than three games per set so far this year.

RosyLily

Finally I can post!!!:D

Heard about Drummy on the news this morning...delighted!

I'm impressed with Konta. Thought she might be a bit flat after a fantastic end to 2015 but she's been great so far! Looking forward to seeing how far she'll go in Melbourne and what she'll do this year.

Listened to the Hewitt match in work. Was a bit teary when they played the players' tributes to him.