Australian Open '12: Point By Point Coverage

[breezybee]

There might be more people who prefer Roger over Rafa on this board but I think the majority of people like Rafa a lot

That's me. I like Rafa a lot (hate his book though). I just don't like Djokovic and I thought Roger had a better shot beating him than Rafa does, thus my pulling for Roger. Truth be told, I'd like to see Murray win it. If it's a Djoker/Nadal final I'll be pulling for Rafa all the way.

Chesty - Almagro and Ferrer are good friends? Didn't know that. I know he's extremely close with Ferrero and to a lesser extent Robredo. Speaking of which -printwhore - where are those Daveeeeed pictures?!

[chestylarue]

*(and that is a very recent change for me and boy, am I regretting writing about it!). *

You shouldn't regret not being a fan of a player anymore and I didn't mean to imply as much. Sorry.

That happens sometimes. It happened to me with Safin. But of course- he was always so popular that one little lost fan did notmatter.

If Rafa and Nole play in the final I want Rafa to win. I don't think I can take a 0-7 record in finals for Rafa against Nole. If that happens, I don't think he will ever beat Nole again and I will likely cry.

If he and Murray play- I will be divided. I would feel bad for either of them to lose. Rafa would lose his third major final in a row and Murray would be 0-4 major finals. That match will be happy/sad regardless.


While Rafa is a big fave of mine I can sometimes root for his oppoents. I was rooting for Delpo hard at Wimbledon in their match. That was the least excited I have ever been about a Rafa win, lol- although some of the Master's titles over Ferrer come close. I was about 60/40 rooting for Rafa/Roger in this match. I was happy for Rafa, but sad to see Feds out of the tournament.

BTW- Ferru has a new English website and featured on the front page is "What I Am Reading Now" with a link to the book description. He also has long bios of his parents and brother up.
He is adorable.

[lt]

What's the link to the Ferrer website? I feel like for a player that I adore so much I just don't know anything about him.

I was never a fan of the Rafa and Roger Show.

When Jim interviewed Rafa and then later when SportsCenter talked about the match they kept talking about the "rivalry." I was very much reminded of Roddick's statement about a rivalry with Roger: (paraphrased) "It can't be a rivalry when you can't beat the guy."

[printwhore]

Que? What is going on with tinypic? They banned my ip, maybe I am using too much of their bandwidth. It sure as hell can't be copyright, no photographer on earth would be taking shots as awful as mine.

Grr, let's try this again:
picturepush.com/public/7426141
picturepush.com/public/7426165

More David: picturepush.com/public/7426026

A photographer I had a little fun with. He had a great camera and he was taking pictures of Djoko serving so I decided to take a picture of him. He was surprised: picturepush.com/public/7426068

For the Rafa girls: picturepush.com/public/7426079

I have quite a few of these (and Fed and whomever) but I am too lazy to post everything from my SD.


Forgot to mention that I saw Carlos Vamos Ramos and Enric Molina crossing the Yarra river bridge as I was walking to Melbourne Park. They were on the opposite side of the road but I wanted to yell "CHALLENGE!!!" Carlos Vamos Ramos is very very Vamos indeed.

I tried to take a picture but all I got were two little dudes in orange shirts.

Ok guys, I'm off to make the most of my winnings from last night. Will also be calculating the best payout ratio for the final. Good luck to your players. Had a great Aussie Open this year, will definitely do this again at some point, maybe after Roger has hired a sports psychologist.

[skyz]

I think Roger's game can be amazing and enjoy watching him play, he's not a hardcore favorite of mine, when he was winning I wanted someone to dethrone him. His arrogance sometimes rubs me the wrong way.

Now Rafa I used to be able to watch his matches and like them, but now? Not so much and I get caught up in all the little things he does on court that didn't bother me before, but drive me crazy now. I think he seems like a nice fella though.

In regards to the Fedal rivalry I'd like it to actually be a competitive rivalry where the h2h wasn't so fucking skewed. Which is why outside of the French I tend to root for Roger to somehow overcome the little Rafa inside his head that taunts him. Except Roger never does.

[lt]

Forgot to mention that I saw Carlos Vamos Ramos and Enric Molina crossing the Yarra river bridge as I was walking to Melbourne Park.

Are those two a couple or best friends? They were walking around the US Open together last year--and what was funny was that the fans were recognizing Ramos and asking for his autograph but never asked Molina.

That first picture of Ferrer is hysterical--he looks way taller than Djokovic! Nice camera angle. And HA! to the look of surprise on the photographer's face.

[printwhore]

Ooh, should I do a championship double payout instead?
Nadal/Sharapova- 5.25 payout
Djokovic/Sharapova- 4.65 payout
Djokovic-Azarenka- 3.60
Nadal-Azarenka- 3.95

Better odds than just betting on the boys, no? Murray's payouts are huge.
Murray-Azarenka- 11.50
Murray-Sharapova- 14.50

As for Max Mirnyi, shouldn't he be credited with bringing Azarenka to the world stage? I remember when they partnered here back in 2007. She was so young and bright eyed then.

lt: No. Carlos Vamos Ramos and I are together. He just has Molina on the side.

[lt]

double payout? What an interesting idea. I'd put a couple of bucks on Murry-Azarenka just 'cause what's the harm? (But not Murray-Sharapova. . . that's just crazy talk!)

Yup, Max was Azarenka's mentor for bit when she was 15. He sure as hell didn't teach her all that squalling--he's a quiet player. For the life of me I can't remember if she was squealing when they played. I don't think so because I think I would have remembered that. . . I do remember the big blond braid she had. I thought it was pretty but, like with Woz, I don't understand wanting all that weight in my hair when playing--a heavy ponytail would give me such a headache.

[falafaclese]

You've both piqued my curiosity about sports books., I've never bet on anything, but I'm suddenly fascinated.

Damn American gambling laws.

[acre]

Well, I've been quiet, guess I didn't have a lot to say. Once it got to 1/4's I felt ve-y st-ongly it was gonna be the men's seeds -(shocking un-gamble- that I am)...JMDP had no hope, Dave F had no hope, 2/3(Nadal/Fed is the way it is and was, and uh-huh, -ight, Andym is gonna beat the cu--ent
Djok? I don't think so.

Not to say the matches cant be wildly excellent. These guys and thei- skills a-e off the cha-ts, they push each othe- unme-cifully. Fo- excellence of tennis, look no fu-the-. So it's dull to know the -esult a week ahead of time(and not my own fave -esult), but the tennis is f-om anothe- dimension

Oh, Yeah, and that allllnighlong shit, kills me. I will be genuinely hapy fo the Champs, even my own deluded self saw Fed winning only in d-eams, not reality. All the men a-e wo-thy, and in fact -ight nw so a=e all the women. Good times.

ETA: Typo's a plenty I can deal with, but I do know the diffe-ence b/t uite and quiet, thei-, they-e and the-e, him/them etc. Shitty w-iting, but at least I can dound like something othe- that totally illite-ate. "-" and all

[lizm]

Yeah, I'm not waking up to watch Djokovic beat Murray... I would be pleasantly surprised, but I'll watch it at lunch.

[printwhore]

falafaclese Gambling here is a strange, strange thing. But very widely practiced and at least 80% of adults have done it at one point or another/and or are currently doing it.

I was with this couple yesterday: she was rooting for Federer but wearing a Rafa hat and he was rooting for Nadal but wearing an RF hat. He wagered something like 700 dollars and got a payout of 1645 so the two of us were commiserating about our odds. It's kind of funny, but it's socially acceptable here. The government derives a huge amount of revenue from taxing the gambling operators so every bar has what's called a TAB where you can wager on almost anything you like.

Personally, my system is much more subjective unlike the actuaries I know. I look at a h2h and if I'm emotionally invested in it, I think to myself, "How much am I willing to pay to see my guy win this thing/see the other guy lose?" Then I look at the odds. I have to calibrate the precise amount where I go home happy, either emotionally or financially.

I'm going to have fun with the betting on this Djoko/Rafa match, at least if Murray doesn't come in and muck up my plans. Right now I've given a slight edge to Nadal in terms of money invested, but if the odds improve I'm going to increase the wager. I'm hoping that the average punter is too naive to do the number-crunching and the research (i.e. the Federer Nadal match where Fed was paying out 1.6 and Nadal was paying out 2.45, so that's a 145% return for an outcome that was 77.7% given and a 60% return for something that was 22.3% given) but it all depends on the day.

In any case, this is one area where my tennis obsession can prove remunerative. But only on special occasions.

[mooncreek]

Is it weird that I'd rather watch a crappy Lindsay Lohan movie* than the ladies doubles final? I'm actually awake but Sveta/Vera tagteam drama is just not something that can be handled at 1am.

* - okay, so it's Just My Luck and I'm only watching for Chris Pine. Talk about art imitating life with that movie!

[skyz]

I'm up watching and despite Vera and Sveta being head cases it's been entertaining enough. Nice points being played, but no one can hold serve. It's not scintillating by any means but I'm awake and waiting for Tabatha Takes Over on Bravo to start at 2 and then it's the men at 3:30 if I don't fall asleep.

[printwhore2012]

Here are some odds and ends. I'll try to make the various peeps/fans happy, cleaning out my SD card. Can I just say thank you to chesty, lt, falafaclese, tikigirl, harry24 and everybody else who came and read my fangirly exploits at the AO. If you ever decide to come Melbourne for next year, send me a PM and I can give some tips on where the cheapest/most reasonable places are to stay and things to do while you're here. Avoid the tourist traps! I will also be getting the AO member's perk to purchase tickets before they open to the public so in case you're so inclined, you can always contact me if you are planning to head over here in the next year or so. I'd be happy to show fellow THers around, buy you a pint, trawl through the crowds with a beer in hand and then we can rag on the punters while we stalk our faves on practice courts sixteen and seventeen. We can even get companionably drunk while rooting for different players. Coz that's just what we do for the love of this sport.

Random assortment of what we like to call "basura" from my SD:

Vika, who does seem like a sweet girl even though the thought of her and Sharapova in the final made the elderly gentleman cringe beside me. He wanted to scalp his ticket.: picturepush.com/public/7427864 (from the practice courts)
Vika on the court after beating Aggie: picturepush.com/host.php?image=7427946

Federer laughing at something silly his coach said: picturepush.com/public/7427873

Vavavamos Ramos: picturepush.com/public/7427873
I am perhaps forced to accept that he and Enique Molina are together, or at least very close chums. There is a lovely pic of the two of them from Wimbledon last year.

Folks will be happy to know that the weird, spindly spy drone from the Empire Strikes Back has now found gainful employment after the collapse of the Empire. It is now better known as "spider cam": picturepush.com/public/7427891

The Kooze, but this was from a singles match in MCA: picturepush.com/public/7427898

Shirtless Rafa! This is one time when I really really wished my camera wasn't so crappy: picturepush.com/public/7427903