Australian Open '12: Point By Point Coverage

[GrandSlamGuru]

Hellboy? LMAO.

Stosur and Murray have certainly started off a bit tight.

ETA: Sam looked terrible.

[harry24]

Oh, Sam.

[skyz]

Damn. Sam's still a headcase. That was a poor showing from Sam, but good for Cirstea! And the crowd didn't give the girl her due either.

[mooncreek]

Sam done. This playing-in-Australia issue is a serious problem.

Meanwhile, it looks like Andy has started to get control of the match. Thinking about these two matches together, it's rather amazing that Murray hasn't ever lost early at Wimbledon and Roddick is the only player ranked lower than him to beat him there.

[roseha]

Sam lost? Unbelievable. There does seem to be a lot of pressure on the Aussies playing there.

Murray seems to be coming back.

I listened to Kvitova being interviewed on the Aussie radio and she still seems quite modest and charming.

[lizm]

Ok, Murray's got this, right? I can go to bed? I'm dying here...

[mooncreek]

The commentators can talk Roddick's game up all they want but there's nothing there that will scare anyone in the Top 20. The only reason he'll win this easily is because Haase is still a headcase. He double faulted on all three break point opportunities so far and, if anyone speaks Dutch, he's providing better commentary.

Another awesome quote: “I’m not the problem, you’re the problem!” - umpire replying to an argument from Gulbis (related to a delay of match because he couldn't find something in his bag). So true.

[printwhore2012]

I'm back! Spent twelve hours at Melbourne Park so I got to see the following:

Gasquet and Seppi
Djokovic and Lorenzi
Monfils and random Aussie dude

Federer and Nadal on the practice courts: stalked Federer, he is gorgeous. Was two feet away from him. He didn't sign my ticket but he signed at least a thousand other fan items. He is a nice guy. And hot. Soo bloody hot.

Then I went over to Margaret Court and caught Tsongs and Istomin.

I was sitting next to a very pretty and scarily skinny blonde who ended up being Jelen Rstic, Novak's girlfriend. Djokovic has this immense AURA: like Rod Laver Arena wasn't enough to contain it.

I was so spoiled today because for all the matches I caught, I was two or three rows behind the baseline. Am a happy camper.

Oh, I also have a really close up pic of Tipsarevic because he passed by Federer's practice court.

Most fun player to watch? Monfils, by far. He is an entertainer and his athletic skills are immense. Some kind of physical freak who has amazing hand eye coordination and speed.

Most lethal? Djokovic. Most powerful? Tsonga. Most boring? Hewitt.

[printwhore2012]

Forgot to add something: as Federer started walking away from his fans, I yelled out Good Luck Roger! Go win the seventeenth! And he turned back to loom at me and smiled. Ok, stupid fan girl moment but hey, for a couple of hours we occupied the same twenty-foot radius. excellent. Also, he's training with a left hander and it's backhand, backhand, backhand drills.

[harry24]

printwhore, thank you so much for your superb reports. It's great to have a Tennis Heaven reporter on site!

Have you always been a Roger Girl, or did he convert you by seeing him in person?

Also, in really big news to Verizon FIOS users (like me), I got the following email from Tennis Channel today:

Great news! Tennis Channel and Verizon FiOS have completed a new distribution deal just in time for the Australian Open – if it’s not already on, then by tomorrow the latest. We are sorry that we were not on their lineup for the past 4 months and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Without fans like you we couldn’t have made this happen. We thank you for your continued support and viewership.

[printwhore2012]

Always have been a Federer girl so yesterday was really just the culmination of years of admiration and flat out lust. Yes, this is starting to read like Tiger Beat. But I love tennis and even if I love Fed, I put down money on Djokovic to win the whole thing.

Have to add some things:

Do not do not do not shell out for night sessions and especially during the second week: it's not worth it for the crappy nosebleed seats you end up getting! Buy a day pass for twenty five bucks and if you can, buy a day pass for Rod Laver Arena for the first three days. I paid sixty dollars to sit next to Djokovic's box, row D: that's how good the seats are. Also, you get front row seats to all the show courts you want, with the exception of HiSense. I was never more than ten feet away from a player I wanted to see and I saw ALL of them. You're better off watching the night session on TV for the second week.

Also, Grand Slams bring out all kinds of jerks. I was unfortunate enough to sit beside some really really prejudiced people from the sticks: the things they would call Serena or the way they treated a young ten year old Australian junior from an immigrant background was detestable. There was also a dude who was wearing short aqua shorts and displaying liberal amounts of backne, complaining loudly about gay people, using the F word. Not all Aussies are like this but there are some at the slams so be wary: don't engage, just sublimate.

There are also plenty of very lovely people so you can go sit down at a match and make some friends. Don't be afraid to go it alone: you won't be lonely and everybody is very nice.

Another thing: Tsonga is a superstar here, people LOVE him. Almost Federer/Nadal levels of adulation. There was a point in the match where he took his shirt off and the crowd went crazy, saying Merci Beaucoup!! He and Carlos Vamos Ramos were laughing their asses off about it and he was giggling as he jogged to the baseline: you know you're hot Jo, show some skin!

I'll type up something coherent. Am buying a card reader so I can post my pics too. Have loads of them. Took one of Rafa, he seemed ok, no knee issues. To be fair, Federer was on the next practice court so I was all, hello Rafs, I have seen you before, let me go into super Federer stalker mode now...

[falafaclese]

Loving the updates! I was going to ask for pics, but then I thought that'd be a little pushy. Looking forward to seeing them.

I got to see Serena this morning before, and she was looking pretty good, albeit scratchy. Most importantly, her movement didn't seem compromised. She was serving well too.

I'm still mastering the best way to DVR all this tennis, and I'm bummed because I was looking forward to coming home and watching the recording of Na today, but I realized I had accidentally cancelled the recording. I can hardly complain though, I've been setting the recordings with my smartphone, and I can't believe I didn't get it sooner.

Mardy Fish is stinking up the joint something awful, and getting cranky in the process.

[tikigirl]

Forgive me if you all already discussed this, but watching Murray last night, I had this thought... When he and Lendl sat down to talk about coaching, Lendl totally laid down the law and said, "I won't even think about coaching you unless you promise to never, never, NEVER scream at me during matches."

I dunno. I kinda think that happened.

[mooncreek]

It is such a pity that Falla can't hold it together for five minutes because no way on earth does Fish deserve to win this match. The jackass side of Fish has been in full bloom today.

ETA: I honestly cannot believe Fish lost that tiebreak. Falla was totally choking but Fish could not find the court.

[lt]

I won't even think about coaching you unless you promise to never, never, NEVER scream at me during matches."

I don't know if he did, but I sure hope so.

printwhore, thank you! More details please. Are you going again?

Harry, I'm so happy for you. Did you check yet? I wonder if my friends who have Fios will wonder why I suddenly start stopping by. . .