Tennis Talk 2013

[breezybee]

The Legends event at the Australian Open has some interesting pairings. Darren Cahill and Goran Ivanisevic are teaming up in the men's doubles as are Fabrice Santoro and Thomas Enqvist.

I've been watching with interest the new application of the 25 seconds to serve rule in the ATP events. Now after your first warning you lose a first serve and the umpires are beining militant in it's enforcement. A lot of players have been hit with it. None reacted well. I think it's a good thing as long as the umpires apply it across the board.

[mooncreek]

Just want to remind that the Slams do not apply when it comes to that 25 second rule. My guess would be that players who were in warm-up events will be a bit faster but those who weren't aren't going to be aware of anything yet (Djokovic and del Potro in particular, both notoriously slow). The real changes won't be noticed until the French Open.

As it is right now, there are some flaws. One that comes to mind is when Dolgopolov (the returner) went to his bag between points to get another racquet but Nishikori (the server) got the time penalty. Kei is one of the least argumentative of players but he was understandably livid.

[breezybee]

Just want to remind that the Slams do not apply when it comes to that 25 second rule.

Thanks Mooncreek, I forgot to mention that. As the rule at slams is 20 seconds (ITF rules) I wonder if the umpires will be cracking down on time violations there as well?

Yes, I saw the Nishikori incident and that was ridiculous.

[skyz]

Just a heads up for anyone with DirecTV and wants to see their 1st week 6 courts coverage, it's only in HD and I think all the rest of the slams will be as well.

[harry24]

Bumming out about Roger's brutal AO draw. Yikes.

[mooncreek]

In the Seriously? Category: Radwanska double-bageled Cibulkova in the Sydney final. Aga has won all 9 matches this year.

I have to admit I like how Tomic has handled himself so far this month. His attitude gets on my nerves but he's dealt with all the drama in a way to improve his on-court performance.

While Roger's draw isn't the greatest, I do think he'll get to the semis - it'll just be very high-profile given those possible first week encounters. Davydenko will be brutal but after seeing that Doha final and remembering their last AO encounter, I have zero confidence in him closing such a match out.

That said, it's wrong that I cheered upon seeing Tipsarevic-Hewitt first round but, yeah. Outside of that epic Federer match, Tipsy does not have a good history at this event (which is especially odd in that he won the junior AO). That was after seeing the Murray-Haase match and getting horrible flashbacks so it balanced out.

[falafaclese]

I think I figured out tennis channel's user-unfriendly bracket site. Hurry and register for our bracket pool now, there's about a day left.

Roger really does have a rough draw when I was filling out my bracket I had to take a pause at every round for him to think about whether he was going to make it. He seems to have every player who is on a hot streak right now.
The women's draw is very top heavy with people who are playing well right now, with Serena and Vika in the same half along with Pavlyuchenkova, Stephens. I think Radwanska has the easiest draw of the top 4.

[lt]

They're only talking about Odesnik in this exposé about the drug clinic in Miami that was getting PEDs to athletes but this quote concerns me:

Or take Wayne Odesnik, who appears under the heading of "Tennis" in five handwritten lists of clients. He was billed $500 a month by the clinic. Odesnik, a left-handed, South African-born professional tennis player, lives and trains in Weston and rose as high as number 77 in the world rankings three years ago. But in 2010, he was caught trying to bring HGH into Australia before a tournament and was banned from the tour for two years.

The "under the heading of 'Tennis'" is the part I don't like. Who else is there? Is Odesnik the biggest name on the list or soomeone they could prove? This is going to be one wacky year for the "who's guilty" "who isn't" "who's under super-secret suspension" questions.

eta: oh dear, turns out already happening.

[mooncreek]

With a few days to go before Rafa's return, this interview by him doesn't make it sound promising.

[harry24]

Good heavens, I just saw that Canada is leading Spain 2-0 in the Davis Cup, with Roanic beating Ramos and Dancevic beating Granollers. What's the story there with Spain only bringing Ramos, Granollers and M. Lopez? Surely they knew they were taking a chance facing Raonic and company. Were they simply totally confident that Ramos and Granollers could beat the Canada #2 and that G/L would have no trouble taking the doubles?

And have the rules changed, or if Spain loses this rubber are they out of the running for the DC this year?

[falafaclese]

If Spain loses they will have to play a World Group playoff, and if they win that they will stay in the World Group next year. If they lose, they'll be relegated to World Group Two next year and will have to play their way back up into the world group. But yeah, they're out of the running for the title this year if they lose this tie.

[mooncreek]

A series of events: Ferrer went on a well-deserved vacation after all those matches he played in January, Verdasco and FLopez made previous plans (I presume - not together), Almagro was supposed to play but he got injured in the midst of that choke job against Ferrer at AO.

But with that said, it's been ages since Dancevic has done anything on the main tour so it was at least fair to assume Spain would win that point.

If you want to see insanity, turn on Tennis Channel tonight. They're supposed to be airing some part of the Czech Republic-Switzerland doubles match... which is right now at the seven hour mark! Also remember that Berdych, Rosol (in due to Stepanek's injury) and Wawrinka are all supposed to play singles tomorrow.

[falafaclese]

Feb 2, 2013 19:43:23 GMT mooncreek said:

If you want to see insanity, turn on Tennis Channel tonight. They're supposed to be airing some part of the Czech Republic-Switzerland doubles match... which is right now at the seven hour mark! Also remember that Berdych, Rosol (in due to Stepanek's injury) and Wawrinka are all supposed to play singles tomorrow.

Wow, 22-24 in the 5th is cuckoo. Especially with a less-than-24-hour turnaround. Wawrinka/Berdych could be a barnburner tomorrow. Stan leads their head-to-head is 5-4 and has won their last three meetings, and hopefully got even more confidence from hi performance against Djoker last week, but then Berdych has been as steady as a rock in Davis Cup over the past couple of years.

And the Bryans just lost to Soares/Melo in their doubles rubber. Perhaps somewhat less cuckoo, but still a surprise.

[harry24]

Good heavens, that Czech-Swiss doubles match sounds insane. I wish I had thought to tune in last night!

Thanks for the info on the Spaniards, falafaclese and mooncreek! It also occurred to me that Rafa might have requested/paid for the team to lose early this year.

Also, Raonic looks nice with his hair slicked back

[falafaclese]

Li Na baby pictures.

'Nuff said.

I think my favorite is the one of her in bell bottoms.