Australian Open 2019

Floppybits

First major of the year already. Below is the full mens draw. Alot interesting first round matches in there.

Djokovics Section

Djokovic vs Q
Tsonga vs Kilzan
T Daniel vs Q
Andujar vs Shapovalov
Goffin vs Garin
Granoliers vs Copil
Vesely vs Harrison
Medvedev vs Q
Fognini vs Munar
jarry vs Mayer
Ivashka vs Jaziri
Carreno Busta vs Q
Kohlschreiber vs Li
Pella vs Sousa
Karlovic vs Hurkacz
Nishikori vs Q

Zverev Section

Zverev vs Bedene
Chardy vs Humber
Bolt vs Sock
Simon vs Q
Chung vs Klahn
Querrey vs Herbert
Wawrinka vs Gulbis
Kyrgios vs Raonic
Coric vs Darcis
Ramos-Vinolas vs Fucsovics
Djere vs Donskoy
Krajinovic vs Cecchinato
Pouille vs Kukushkin
Marterer vs Q
Popyrin vs M. Zverev
Paire vs Thiem

Federer Section

Cilic vs Tomic
Rublev vs McDonald
Mmoh vs Albot
Verdasco vs Q
Bautista Agut vs Murray
Delbonis vs Milman
Nishioka vs Sandgren
Gojowczyk vs Khachanov
Tsitsipas vs Berrettini
Carballes Baena vs Q
Andreozzi vs Q
Basilashvili vs Q
Monfils vs Dzumhur
Norrie vs Fritz
Q vs Q
Federer vs Istomin

Nadals Section

Anderson vs Mannarino
Tiafoe vs Q
Lopez vs Thompson
Seppi vs Johnson
Dimitrov vs Tipsarevic
Cuevas vs Lajovic
Kubler vs Fabbiano
Opelka vs Isner
Edmund vs Berdych
Garcia Lopez vs Haase
Polmans vs Kudla
Schwartzman vs Q
De Minaur vs Sousa
Basic vs Q
Ebden vs Struff
Nadal vs Duckworth

Floppybits

Not be accused of being sexiest or anything like that here is the Ladies draw.

Halep Section

Halep v Kanepi
Kenin v Q
Cornet v Arruabarrena
V.Williams v Buzarnescu
Suarez Navarro v Burel
Stosur v Yastremska
Bouchard v )Peng
Maria v S.Williams
Kasatkina v Bacsinszky
Q v Q
Konta v Tomljanovic
Zheng v Muguruza
Giorgi v Jakupovic
Q v Bogdan
Brengle v Q
Q v Ka.Pliskova

Osaka Section

Osaka v Linette
Zidansek v Gavrilova
Siegemund v Azarenka
Voegele v Hsieh
Q.Wang v Ferro
Diyas v Krunic
Q v Osuigwe
Barthel v Sevastova
Mertens v Schmiedlova
Q v Gasparyan
Parmentier v Potapova
Aiava v Keys
Cibulkova v Zhang
Kr.Pliskova v Blinkova
Kuzmova v Kozlova
Q v Svitolina

Wozniacki Section

Kvitova v Rybarikova
Begu v Petkovic
Bencic v Siniakova
Putintseva v Strycova
Tsurenko v Alexandrova
Niculescu v Anisimova
Boulter v Makarova
Q v Sabalenka
Barty v Kumkhum
Perez v Y.Wang
Q v Hon
Sakkari v Ostapenko
Sharapova v Q
Cirstea v Peterson
Lapko v Larsson
Van Uytvanck v Wozniacki

Kerber Section

Stephens v Townsend
Jabeur v Babos
Vondrousova v Rodina
Watson v Martic
Kontaveit v Sorribes Tormo
Flipkens v Sasnovich
Puig v Pavlyuchenkova
Riske v Bertens
Goerges v Collins
Q v Vickery
Mattek-Sands v Hives
Q v Garcia
Vekic v Mladenovic
Q v Birrell
Q v Pera
Hercog v Kerber

SophieLockhart

Fed looks to have it easy to round 4 (if anything is easy at 37) but then having to face the two best young guns seems unfortunate. (I expect Khacha to get past an unfit Cilic). Doubt if Nadal will be a factor. Djoker could hopefully get dragged into a few long ones against Tsonga and Shapo. Hard to believe Osaka is 12/1, easily the best player if she can get her attitude sorted.

jr86

Wouldn't write off Nadal that easily. He hasn't had the best of luck here over the years, but if he's close to his best who in his section can honestly beat him? Unless Isner or Anderson have an absolute flawless serving day, barring further injury problems (and yes it is worth noting that he does have an injury cloud over him) I think he'll get to the semis fairly unscathed

Federer is just too much of an unknown at his age and didn't have the best of seasons from the summer onwards in 2018. I can't see him beating Djokovic at this stage of his career although he should get to the quarters anyway (probably v Cilic)

If Djokovic is fit and motivated I can't see him being beaten here

bada_bing

typical that Federer is the only one who is guaranteed to play a qualifier in the 2nd round!! does nothing to help the accusations of favoritism towards Federer.

Floppybits

jr86 wrote: »

Wouldn't write off Nadal that easily. He hasn't had the best of luck here over the years, but if he's close to his best who in his section can honestly beat him? Unless Isner or Anderson have an absolute flawless serving day, barring further injury problems (and yes it is worth noting that he does have an injury cloud over him) I think he'll get to the semis fairly unscathed

Federer is just too much of an unknown at his age and didn't have the best of seasons from the summer onwards in 2018. I can't see him beating Djokovic at this stage of his career although he should get to the quarters anyway (probably v Cilic)

If Djokovic is fit and motivated I can't see him being beaten here

Cilic is only coming back from injury, if Tomic is up for it he could be take a scalp here.

Johnmb

bada_bing wrote: »

typical that Federer is the only one who is guaranteed to play a qualifier in the 2nd round!! does nothing to help the accusations of favoritism towards Federer.

Ehm, you do know how the draws work don't you? Federer getting a qualifier doesn't show any favoritism towards him, it's not something that anyone has any control over.
It's also not necessarily a good thing. The qualifier will be match fit, ready to go, and there are some dangerous names in there (Kokkinakis, Brown, Troicki jump out).

Floppybits

Johnmb wrote: »

Ehm, you do know how the draws work don't you? Federer getting a qualifier doesn't show any favoritism towards him, it's not something that anyone has any control over.
It's also not necessarily a good thing. The qualifier will be match fit, ready to go, and there are some dangerous names in there (Kokkinakis, Brown, Troicki jump out).

Speaking of qualifiers, I see British player Dan Evans is going well in the qualifiers as well. He had a good run in Australia not that long ago before getting banned for drug offences be interesting to see how he does.

SophieLockhart

Floppybits wrote: »

Speaking of qualifiers, I see British player Dan Evans is going well in the qualifiers as well. He had a good run in Australia not that long ago before getting banned for drug offences be interesting to see how he does.

He's already pulled off a Shot of the Year contender anyway -

bada_bing

Andy has announced his plans to retire after Wimbledon next year!
https://twitter.com/stu_fraser/status/1083518286283694080

I feel gutted for him as he was still hungry to get back and win more titles, but it was clear from his matches last year that the injury was still there as you could see that he was hobbling a bit with the hip. Apparently he still experiences pain when doing simple things like putting on socks.

Hector Savage

Can't see anyone but Nadal winning this one.

dominatinMC

Hector Savage wrote:

Can't see anyone but Nadal winning this one.

Christ, what are you basing that on? It will be an achievement for him to compete without retiring injured imo

Hector Savage

dominatinMC wrote: »

Christ, what are you basing that on? It will be an achievement for him to compete without retiring injured imo

Speak to you in 2 weeks .... Nadals "injury" and pulling out of Brisbane a few weeks ago just made it 99.9998% sure he'd win AO rather then 99.9999%

yerwanthere123

Hector Savage wrote: »

Speak to you in 2 weeks .... Nadals "injury" and pulling out of Brisbane a few weeks ago just made it 99.9998% sure he'd win AO rather then 99.9999%

Ah, so this is where the_monkey has disappeared to :pac: Didn't realise you had another account again.

C__MC

Novak to win

yerwanthere123

Djokovic and Kerber to win I think. Wouldn't be surprised if Serena lost her 3rd consecutive grand slam final.

dominatinMC

Although Djokovic is deservedly favourite, I don't think he is the certainty that some people are suggesting. Khachanov is my outside bet, great value at 25/1 and capable of playing quality hard court tennis (2018 USO, 2018 Paris Masters).

lostcat

dominatinMC wrote: »

Although Djokovic is deservedly favourite, I don't think he is the certainty that some people are suggesting. Khachanov is my outside bet, great value at 25/1 and capable of playing quality hard court tennis (2018 USO, 2018 Paris Masters).

djokovic certainly is the favourite, but the severe heat promised for the first few days seems to affect him more than most, he could get dragged in to a long match or two in the heat (possibly excerbated by the way he might be put on an outside court which is closer to the sun, at midday)

Can't see Nadal wining this, he never seems to get the breaks in OZ.

Hector Savage

lostcat wrote: »

djokovic certainly is the favourite, but the severe heat promised for the first few days seems to affect him more than most, he could get dragged in to a long match or two in the heat (possibly excerbated by the way he might be put on an outside court which is closer to the sun, at midday)

Can't see Nadal wining this, he never seems to get the breaks in OZ.

He had a good strong start against Duckworth .... not to bad from someone that 2 weeks ago was injured.

hmm

Floppybits

It's tough watching Murray hobbling around the court. I thought he was going to concede the match when he lost the second set and now he has set point.

jr86

It really will be quite fitting if it is indeed his last match

I was sure he was headed for an easy straight sets loss here but he's putting up one hell of a fight.

Sheer determination and grit - the story of a wonderful career

Hector Savage

Love if he could push it to 5 sets here .... 5/5 in 4th .... lets see ...

Joe_ Public

Have to admit I didn’t really like Murray for a long time but he grew on me over the years and I’m absolutely rooting for him here. Heroic stuff.

Hector Savage

6/6 tie break .... business end of things here

thomasj

Given what he's going through , surely this has to rank as his greatest match?

Joe_ Public

Some atmosphere for a R1 match!

jr86

Gone to a 5th!

Wouldn't write off Murray winning the tournament yet!!!

Hector Savage

Boom !!
Wow ... 1st round match !!

T E N N I S !

Floppybits

jr86 wrote: »

Gone to a 5th!

Wouldn't write off Murray winning the tournament yet!!!

I would be nice to think that, but what this match is going to take out of him is going to cost him in the next round. If he does win I can't see him recovering enough for the next match.

dominatinMC

This is heroic stuff! Can't believe what I'm seeing. For those that need convincing of Murrays Big4 status, get to a tv now!

jr86

Floppybits wrote: »

I would be nice to think that, but what this match is going to take out of him is going to cost him in the next round. If he does win I can't see him recovering enough for the next match.

I'm obviously taking the piss sure he'll probably pull out if he wins this

Joe_ Public

What a point to win!

Floppybits

Ah here, that last point, is there really something wrong with his hip?

Hector Savage

Floppybits wrote: »

Ah here, that last point, is there really something wrong with his hip?

It will hurt in the morning!

Joe_ Public

Poor choice of shot there, critical points here.

Floppybits

Could this be it now.

Floppybits

Hector Savage wrote: »

It will hurt in the morning!

It will take him till Wimbledon to recover from this match.

Joe_ Public

I think that’s it. Herculean effort but going to come up short.

Floppybits

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I think that’s it. Herculean effort but going to come up short.

Bautista Agut needed a good hold there. Unfortunately its all over now. Some value for a outside court ticket.

Hector Savage

It's sad

Floppybits

Hard to watch.

Hector Savage

such emotional scenes here as he prepares to serve , and it's still not over ...

Joe_ Public

Putting positive spin on it, maybe better this way as really, how much further could he have gone? He was amazing today and lots of hope if he can somehow get back in one piece, sheer desire and will to perform is amazing.

Floppybits

And still he battles.

jr86

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Putting positive spin on it, maybe better this way as really, how much further could he have gone? He was amazing today and lots of hope if he can somehow get back in one piece, sheer desire and will to perform is amazing.

100%

I'd imagine he'd have pulled out anyhow after this. The tournament needed RBA to progress really, who I wouldn't totally write off making a quarter here

What an effort by Murray though, and some way to bow out if this is is his last match

Hector Savage

It aint over ......



























































... till it's over ...

Floppybits

jr86 wrote: »

100%

I'd imagine he'd have pulled out anyhow after this. The tournament needed RBA to progress really, who I wouldn't totally write off making a quarter here

What an effort by Murray though, and some way to bow out if this is is his last match

I don't think it is his last match, he wont play again till Wimbledon and will play his last match there, more than likely on Centre Court and who could begrudge him.

dominatinMC

Emotional stuff. More evidence that the Big 4 will be a hard act to follow. Even in a loss, that was epic

lostcat

Floppybits wrote: »

I don't think it is his last match, he wont play again till Wimbledon and will play his last match there, more than likely on Centre Court and who could begrudge him.

hmm, if he is clearly crocked and takes his place in what amounts to an honourary first round match, which he loses, he would want to donate his appearance fee to whomever poor lowby he bumped off the match..otherwise, why not.

hopefully he is fit enough to give it the effort he gave today, which was immense

Joe_ Public

They all seem a lot more convinced he won’t be back than Andy himself. He didn’t fully play along with the retirement angle did he?

Hector Savage

People go on about how Murray underachieved but they are comparing him to guys who won a ridiculous amount of slams,
He has 3 slams (2 Wimbledon 1 USO) and 2 Olympic Golds.
Also was #1 during the Nadal,Federer, Djokovic era.

Fantastic achievements.