Australian Open '13 Point by Point Coverage

[harry24]

Fed, you win the 1st 2, then the 3d can go to Tsonga, win it in 4, it can be a nice competitive match without giving me angst, okay? God I just wish all these players would get with the program and do what I want

Roger and Jo weren't listening, acre.

Damn, Rog just lost his serve in the third and is looking sort of shaky. I don't like this.

[oopssorry]

Me either, harry.

ETA: Lordy.

EATA: My kingdom for a first serve.

EATAA: BEcause I'm slow sometimes - and have given JWT flak for not following up on his incredible play against Roger - I now see that Roger is to JWT as Andy R was to Roger. Roger brings out JWT's best. Amazing, really.

But Dammit, Roger - HOLD.

[breezybee]

Well Federer and Tsonga did not dissapoint. I like when I get up in the morning and there is still lots of tennis going on. Roger made me pretty nervous when he kept failing to convert on the match points. A pretty enjoyable match though. I love watching Tsonga play. He just seems to really love what he does and it comes through on the court.

[lt]

I do think they should have put Murray on at night before the quarters at the very least.

The scheduling for him has been ridiculous. They knew all the way back after the third round that they weren't going to get a Delpo/Murray quarter (and even that wouldn't have been scheduled for a night match over Roger/Jo) so him not getting one night match--the Simon/Murray match should have been on Laver at night--doesn't make sense. Only Roger's first-round match wasn't at night. He even commented on that to Jim Courier--when Jim was asking if he was wearing the black compression shirt instead of the white because it was night Roger replied that he's only been playing at night so that wasn't why he switched. He also said that he isn't superstitious but since he tries so hard not to be superstitious he's realized that he has become superstitious just by doing everything trying not to be (love that).

I think Andy was right to complain, does no good now (obviously) but still. They showed him practicing on Hisense at what would be the start of his semi match so he can try to get used to the night conditions.

How good does Jo look? Having a coach is making a world of difference. Loved that moment when he ended up on Roger's side of the net after the net cord drop shot and he pretended to hit a ball at Roger. They both got a good chuckle out of that one, although Jo's was a bit wry.

btw: I don't know if everyone caught it but starting tomorrow morning (tonight's men's semis) ESPN will be doing the coverage instead of ESPN2 and that will follow for the rest of the tournament. While I'm thrilled ESPN is moving tennis to the show, ESPN2 has been good about sticking around for after-match stuff and ESPN will not be so kind.

[mooncreek]

If one of Murray's matches should have been on night session Laver (and I have to say I agree with the schedulers for the most part - Federer did have all the marquee match-ups this event), it was the Simon match. Once Delpo was eliminated in the third round, you knew a few match possibilities - Murray if in the QFs would face either Seppi or Chardy, Federer if in the the QFs would face either Tsonga or Gasquet. This means there was zero chance of Federer not being night session for the QFs. Simon himself was looking for a late match but I think the schedulers feared Simon's physical state after the Monfils match. If Simon WO/retired, that would have been a huge problem for ticketholders.

Ashleigh Barty (Tomic's partner at Hopman Cup) and Casey Dellacqua made the ladies doubles final! The Aussies have something to seriously cheer about - they'll need to be their obnoxious best to rattle the #1 team.

Men's doubles semis are two proven teams (Bryans, M+M) and two fascinating singles teams (Bolelli/Fog, Haase/Sijsling). I'm rooting for the Italians just for the laughs but really want to see Granollers/Lopez finally in a major final after their misfortune in US Open semi.

[breezybee]

Oops.

On why the Women’s side hasn’t seen the top 4 seeds in the semifinals in a while, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said “You know, the girls, they are more unstable emotionally than us. I’m sure everybody will say it’s true, even the girls (laughter). No? No, you don’t think? But, I mean, it’s just about hormones and all this stuff. We don’t have all these bad things, so we are physically in a good shape every time, and you are not. That’s it.”

[GrandSlamGuru]

Damn I fell asleep and missed Sloane vs Serena. Sorry to hear about Serena's back and ankle but good for Sloane for hanging in there.

[lt]

Oh, Jo. . . .

Don't ask me about the rabbit hole I fell down to find this but Gimeldouche, Chrissy E. and Lindsay are going to be on CSI tonight. Yeah, as much as I'd like to see Lindsay, I'll stick to the actual tennis.

[mooncreek]

lt - I'll use my CSI friends as a guide but I'd rather watch actual tennis. If any of them say that Gimeldouche dies, I'll find the clip later because that would be worth savoring (like when they killed off Justin Bieber's character). [Random]Lindsay would make a very good investigator.[/Random]

[Jer2002]

Carlos Rodriguez works with Li Na? Gross. Gah, my Henin hate will never die. Heh.

[GrandSlamGuru]

Li Na is taking it to Maria...but will it last?

[mooncreek]

I'm not sure who's going to win this semi but I've seen enough Li Na matches to know this won't be a straight-setter.

[Jer2002]

I hope not. Hearing that she works with Carlos Rodriguez has ruined her for me. LOL!

[roseha]

Yay Li Na, keep it up! Could the final with Li and Stephens happen after all?

[GrandSlamGuru]

That would be a wild turn of events -- Stephens v. Li, that is. Shrieky gets on my nerves after a while.