First?

The next coach for Dinara- Sanguinetti
we'll see how long will he last...

Pete Thanks.

Well a big plus for womans tennis.Seeing it had more viewers than the mens final.May I point out that our Aussie Cricket team were playing around the same time as the mens final and seeing our recent form against England Aussie fans are desperate that our Cricket team can find some form.

In regards to Safin and a new coach.Well I personally could see the writing on the wall.May I say even though Safina and Zelijko had a "love hate realtionship" I am saying that with tongue in cheek he did take her to no 1.Sometimes the devil you know if you get my point.I noticed at Medibank this year Dommy "the pocket rocket" has teamed up with Zelijko.

sokol

Thanks for the info on Safina and her new coach

went yesterday to the Russian tennis site and saw a headlind "Marat is going to help Sharapova in Fed Cup", opened to read and there was nothing about Marat helping Maria :-)), just Marat's words that he thinks our girls shouldn't have any problems winning and about Sharapova's first practice. I felted cheated and want a reimbursement for the time it took to read the article :-)

"felted"=felt", oops

Pete,

I enjoy these Around The World posts. Thanks.

It's worth noting that Zagreg and Santiago have drawn local-ish players, while SA is a reasonable 1/2 point on the trip back to Europe or North America for players from those continents. For many of them, after a sojourn Down Under of a least 3 weeks they're clearly ready to return to the home fires if possible.

Relative to Dancevic and Raonic's results, it's also worth noting Johannesberg's altitude (about 5700') and its effect on a tennis ball. Neither of the Canadians is all about keeping the ball in play for 37 shots, and thin air helps the short point cause a whole bunch.

Regarding Harrison, Honolulu, American players and the newcomers you mentioned, I'd say Hawaii serves a similar purpose for lower ranked players as SA: a good stop on the way home. And while I was thrilled to watch the exciting variety Raonic, Tomic, and Dolgopolov added to the AO, their results there didn't go much further than Harrison's at the US Open, or are at least just one tourney's outcome. I suspect that neither of us would be surprised to see any of them struggling to match those results in the immediate future, just like Harrison.

OMG, I'm just watching the news. The earth is going crazy; Queensland got blown away, America is drowned in snow and arctic temperatures and Egypt is blown up by human violence. All the best to everybody who lives or has loved ones in those regions.
Puts losing a tennis match into perspective, doesn't it?
We will have quite a storm tomorrow, but it will be puny in comparison.

skip1515

Tomic is currnetly playing a challenger event in Burnie,Tasmania which he won last year.Apparently reports that I have read he struggled to win his first match.

"Ryan won the Hawaii Challenger, beating Alex Kuznetsov"

there were so many hopes for Kuznetsov in Russia, he was viewed like the future for Russia in ATP...
but they are still looking for the next top guy there, someone who'll change Kolya ...
I think Tarpishev has his eye on Dolgopolov. Couple times in his interviews he said that if Alex would want to play for Russia there would not be any problems doing that....

"Puts losing a tennis match into perspective, doesn't it?"

agree

In regards to the damage that cyclone Yasi did in Northern Queensland it was surprising noone lost their lives.It will be sometime yet for the Queensland government to access the total damage in the area.

Sokol,
Could $$$ be involved for Dolgopolov. Speaking of Fed Cup, Victoria has won both her matches so far this week and unless Belarus collapses tomorrow, Belarus will be competing for a spot in World Group II playoffs. Meanwhile, Caroline won her match over Patty but Switzerland won the tie and will represent that group for the right to compete for a spot in World Group II playoffs. Meanwhile, Denmark must win tomorrow or face relegation on Saturday to Zone II competition.

Aussiemarg,
Thanks for the info on the Queensland situation as I heard on my local news about the cyclone heading that direction.

"Could $$$ be involved for Dolgopolov."

MA, may be the case. The situation with tennis in Ukraine is way worse than in Russia, but still Russian Tennis Federation can't offer big $$$ I think to Dolgopolov. If they could they wouldn't lose their player to Kazakhstan. It may make more sense to Dolgopolov to go to Kazakhstan, if he's thinking about switching countries, they give pretty generously :-)

"Belarus will be competing for a spot in World Group II"

would be interesting if sometime in the future Russia will face Belarus...

btw, MA, have Russia ever faced in FC or DC one of the former Soviet Republic? Maybe Ukraine or Kazakhstan?

Novak's dad seem to be trigger-happy. He meddles - derives and uses power and standing flowing from his son. I wonder if Novak is happy with that.

Sokol,
Russia played Ukraine in Fed Cup action in 93 and 95.

Ace,
Where are you finding your Fed Cup results? I am not finding them here on Tennis.com or at WTATour.com.

I'm pretty sure the elder Djokovic was actually making a "big deal about [Serbia's lack of a national tennis center]" in the months prior to the final. And Sorry, Bodo AND Bobo, Srdjan was right! The Federation has been sitting back twiddling its thumbs, while the Djokovic family brought in an ATP tournament. Knowing a little bit about corruption in the "Yugosphere", I'd actually trust Srdjan Djokovic to get the job done more than I would the Federation.

Seeing as how Novak dedicated his AO win to his family, he is clearly a happy son - and understands that he might not be where he is now without that support.

"trigger-happy" is an unfortunate phrase to use for this tennis dad.

Dave g,
Here is the link to Fed Cup website. Just browse around.

http://www.fedcup.com/en/home.aspx

Tina,
Did Djokovic's Dad say he did not want control of the Serbian Federation while he is campaiging?

The next coach for Dinara? Does Freud have a living relative? Kom sa, Caro!!

If only the Canadians would invest 1/10th of hockey money into tennis!!

I have a friend whose 11 year old daugher is a really good club player, he has very few options here in Canada so is considering moving to the USA.

Nam 1

Would you believe that there is a ice hockey tournament going in in Newcastle which is north of Sydney at the moment in our Summer? lol!
Aussie team is playing in it.Canadians and Ice Hockey what can I say

I told everyone beforehand that TV ratings would be way down without Federer (or Nadal) in it. I finally decided to stay up and watch at 1 a.m. in California, but barely stayed awake until the end and would have faded out if it had gone more than straight sets.

What a bore! If this is the future of tennis post Fed-Nadal, tennis is going to be in for big trouble and drastically lower TV ratings around the world. Endless unimaginative baseline rallies between Djoker-Murray, Delpo-Sod, Djoker-Delpo, Djoker-Sod etc. Snooze and snore! I've already almost fallen asleep from boredom just thinking about it.

I thought Safina's tennis was terrible (always), but I liked her personality and especially her eyes when intense.
As for the dropped ratings for men's final, all I can say, Pete, Steve, get your skates on and start the hype :) !!!!!!

I hope that all our posters who live in Austalia , the middle east, and in the US in the frozen midsection - are all safe !
particularly worried about our sweet Nancy , in Egypt , has anyone heard from her at all ?

just a picky detail - but the player who beat Raonic is named Greul - not Gruel
Although I know this was probably done for a literary effect :)
I saw him play in IW - he beat Gasquet , although neither man lost serve in the match
It was a tough loss for Richard - and probably Greul's best showing in a Master's event - before or since

A better deduction would be that Djoker puts people to sleep, not Murray. That was the only change in last year's final (Djoker instead of Federer; Murray was a constant). I am not saying either is the case.

somehow , I imagine that a Djokovic / Delpo final would be pretty entertaining
that would be some big shots against some really good defense
Not that either man is my personal favorite - I still think I would watch and be entertained

And Murray / Delpo has all ready had some personal fireworks
Given time and opportunity - I am sure that the publicists involved could work up a lather in the media over the Rumble between the two - and the yo mama's would fly

OMG, WTF?????

http://cowbell.typepad.com/forty_deuce/2011/02/something-about-jj.html

The reason the womens final outdrew the mens in Australia is that there was an Australia vs England cricket match on Sunday afternoon/evening, on one of the other free to air channels, no such competition on Saturday night

Cricket aside, the low ratings show that although the media is eager to see the end of Fed-Nadal, the viewing public is not.

Beth

My thoughts have been with Nancy.If AA from Perth comes on line I will ask her.AA and Nancy keep in contact with each by email.

I for one believe Safina's problem is her back injury,not a coach,to me even if she parted with Zelko she should still have the skills she's already instilled in her if any...I believe is her biggest issue and unless she's totally cure she can not claim her pas success,I wish her all the best meanwhile...yes she used to falter at final slams but she used to have a decent path to the final,why all of a sudden she can't beat anyone???

Nam1: 2:47 p.m.

Amen to that! I mentioned that once before. We're so hockey-mad here that all other sports, outside the Olympics, just don't get a lot of support. I don't know one Canadian boy who didn't have a pair of skates strapped on them as soon as they could walk! Myself and my brothers all were on skates by the age of 4 on a pond behind our house in Nova Scotia. My mother cut the backs off some old wooden kitchen chairs and made them into stools for us to push around while we learned how to skate.

I wish they had put a tennis raquet into my hand instead...

But, so nice to see stories starting to pop up more and more about Canadian tennis. It's nice to see a headline like, "Raonic takes out second seed," rather than, "Canadian qualifier takes out second seed."

Milos has had his big boost, and I really feel the same is going to happen for Rebecca Marino on the women's side this year.

wilson75 Indeed.Sad to say in some respects cause there are other players in the ATP.

Seeing Nadal could have made history and also Roger fans were out in force to see if he could defend his title.So many things for these 2 players to play for.

Though there wasnt much atmosphere around for the woman either may I say.

wilson: 3:40 p.m.

Now that's the best way I've seen it put so far wilson. The pundits groan about the dominance of Fedal, as do some posters here, and look what happens when we get something else. A boring final, no fault of Nole's, low t.v. ratings, and the women's tournament became more exciting than the men's.

I never thought I'd find myself enjoying more women's matches than men's at a major considering the slump the WTA has been in lately. But, between Kim, Li, Frankie, Kvitova, and other assorted nice stories, they really made it the first women's major I've enjoyed in a long time.

On ratings:
As you say, Pete, the men's final was a huge flop ratings wise in Australia. To quote the Melbourne Age:

"The women's compelling three set final between "Aussie Kim" Klijsters and LI Na outrated the straight sets lesson given by Novak Djokovic by 21% - almost 300,0000 people. The women's final won despite being on Saturday, the night when fewest people watch TV.

"The athletic men of tennis barely scraped past the unathletic families of the Biggest Loser and their match was 42% down on last year's final when Roger Federer also dispatched Murray in straight sets."

The article aslo mentioned that the rating showed we prefer cricket to tennis these days - the one day cricket match also outrated the men's final. My house was one of many luke warm tennis watchers who switched to the cricket.

Master Ace,

yes, Srdjan did say that. He proposed some other people, successful businessman AFAIK, who were willing to invest in tennis. As someone who wanted to see the back of Zivojinovic oh so much, I wish Srdjan stayed out of it. He is positively adored at TW compared to general sentiment about him in Serbia, so anyone connected to him in any way was destined to fail before the race even started. A pity, you'd be hard pressed to find a person as dumb and incompetent as Boba.

AM:

So sorry to hear and see the terrible mess in Queensland again. My thoughts are with all your countrymen/women that have suffered through all of this. Has Rod been active there trying to help out? Has he made any public statements or anything?

lilscot

Well apart from the damage no lives were lost so that is a plus.Rod Laver made comments from his home which was screened at the charity expo.I am certain Rod would be also helping out in other ways.Seeing he is a very private man I guess we wont know the full extent.

lilscot: I agree with re. WTA @ AO. It was the first slam in a very long time where there were a lot of good womens matches. I hope it continues.

thanks, MA for post at 2:30

BTW, interesting TV show with Jelena Gencic few days ago. She spoke about working with Nole, Monika, Goran, Majoli and basically everyone who's anyone in former Yugo tennis.
- showed some funny footage of kiddy Nole having some Vera-style meltdowns (collapsing in a heap on the court, crying...)
- she spoke about how he was thinking of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture when he felt he needed a boost of energy during the match (also liked Vltava)
- Nole used to always come for practice half an hour earlier and lectured other kids when they were late
- he snapped at Jelena at first practice for asking him if his mom packed his tennis bag "Please, it's ME who's playing tennis here, not my mom".
- Monika seemed to have similar attitude to him, she insisted she played with grownups' rackets right from the start even though they were too heavy for her because she wanted to play with "what champions play with" (Jelena says that was part of the reason she played 2Hed off both sides)
- Monika scolding Goran after he was constantly whining about not wanting to eat the food they were getting - "Do you think I like it!? We have to do it, so gobble that up!", or when Goran was trying to scare her before her SF match at some tournament, saying how she doesn't stand a chance because her opponent is "huge, the size of Jelena", and she doesn't even dignify him with a look and just calmly says: "Wrong Goran, I keep my eyes on the ball, not my opponent" (and she won the tourney convincingly, losing only a handful of games).

It was a fun watch, Nole lucked out big time having had Gencic and Pilic as his coaches in those years. Both are very smart, well-spoken people who had capacity to teach him more then just how to hit the ball.
Oh, and Jelena said everyone's giving her strange looks when they see the racket she plays with (12-years-old, scratched all over, battered), but it's the one she used while she was working with Nole, so she doesn't plan on changing it, thinks of it as an emotional connection with Nole. Can I get an 'awww'? ;)

A "dog poop final"? I don't understand that, pete. It was no franny-Kuzy match :), but "dog poop"? That's a little harsh.

The casual fans-- who make up the majority of Slam TV audiences, I'm sure-- always tend to tune out when the final doesn't feature the names of the players they know well, whether its Roddick and Williams in the USA or Federer and Nadal everywhere. I think that the knowledgeable/serious Aussie tennis fans would have tuned in anyway although they may have been disappointed by the "names" who made the final and even by the match itself.

To see what I mean, check out the golf TV ratings when Tiger -- even the disgraced Tiger playing at a relatively low level--isn't on on TV! :)

About Srdjan Djokovic: I know 3 people who've done business with him (related to both tennis and restaurant business), and they all say that he is absolutely impossible to work with or reason with.

Therefore, regardless of whether what he said or is saying makes sense, the fact is that if the solution involves him working with anyone else on anything - it will fail.

That said, I don't know that Boba Zivojinovic is any better. It's all just business as usual in Serbia: all ego, no business. Only new generations can offer hope for the better. The old guard is good for nothing.

And just to say something actually tennis related: watch out for Bojana Jovanovski. She lost two matches this year: to Li Na at Sydney semis (after loosing first set in tie-break), and to Vera Zvonareva (after winning the first set) AO 2nd round. I saw both matches, and I saw no reason why she couldn't beat both except: lack of experience on the big stage. For someone who just turned 19, that's no issue. I am currently not seeing any limits for her.

That was supposed to be "successful businessMEN", plural at 04:07 PM

beth,

I heard from Nancy, she sounds really sad, but is thankfully ok physically. Hopefully things will ease up soon, it's heartbreaking enough to watch it from the outside, must be absolute hell for her :(

Awwwww,lira vega, that TV show sounds absolutely delightful.

Thanks for sharing those nuggets from it. Wish we could see some ofit ou YouTube or something likethat. I'd read about Nole's indignant reaction to Jelena's asking himwho had packed his tennis bag,and I thought that was very funny.

Tigress, some of your comments sound as if you think Novak should have deliberately dumped his match to Federer, and Ferrer should have pretended Nadal wasn't injured and fallen in three sets - all for the good of the TV ratings. I find Novak charming, high-spirited, and amazingly well spoken. He will win many fans with no connection to Serbia in the years ahead. If there are more Federer-Nadal clashes, great. But I also look forward to seeing much more of Novak, and I don't find his game boring in the least.

ATP Friday Order of Play:

Johannesburg at 7 AM: Van Der Merwe vs Greul followed by De Voest vs Devvarman
Zagreb at 7:50 AM: Gasquet vs Berrer and Bogomolov Jr vs Garcia-Lopez scheduled
Johannesburg at 11 AM: Dancevic vs Mannarino followed by Anderson vs Beck
Zagreb at 11 AM: Cilic vs Mayer followed by Dodig vs Ljubicic
Santiago : TBD

Fed Cup Order of Play for Saturday 2/5 and Sunday 2/6

Australia vs Italy (9 PM on Friday and 7 PM on Saturday)
Russia vs France (7 AM - 6 AM)
Slovak Republic vs Czech Republic (8 AM - 6 AM)
Belgium vs United States (7:30 AM on both days)

lira vega

Thanks for that news regarding Nancy glad to hear she is ok under the circumstances

I also am impressed with Jovanoski.I watched her at Medibank this year.I agree "inexpierence" cost her the match in her game against Li who was the winner at Medibank.

Clearly, by opposing Zivojinovic, Srdjan Djokovic was trying to exert some control. Since Bobo remains the president of the Federation, we'll soon see how much progress is made on their national tennis center....

I like Novak a lot too, but people here are in a minority of committed fans and that's not the point - the future popularity of tennis rests also with the casual viewership, not just with a devoted minority. No question, it was a disaster for the tournamnet in terms of TV ratings to lose on the male side their two biggest stars and names, no matter how much some here might disapprove of that.

Also, it was the style of play in the final in particular that turned off people. The second set effort by Murray was no fun to watch, it was agonising to see him agonising. We switched channels at that point to find more interesting entertainment and I don't know anyone who saw it all.

The 2010 finals featuring Nadal - X were no better. Wimbledon fell off similarly to 40% viewership from the Federer - Roddick match of 2010. The USO was even worse because of the rain delays.

lira vega: Fun anecdotes.

Rex Ryan should be her next coach. He's the only guy who could get her confident again lol. Obviosuly that's a joke, but her problem is confidence. She's a good player who took too much crap when she was on top and is now struggling to come back.

ebh:

Murray is a virtual cipher. It's whether or not Federer is in a Final that determines if it will be interesting (and widely watched) or not.

Peter

Corrie, yes, casual viewers want the Nadal vs. Federer matchup. But unless Federer is immortal (hey, maybe he is), those meetings will have to taper off eventually. I think Novak has a lot of potential as a telegenic personality - give it time. I'm not a good one to evaluate Federer's appeal (I completely tuned out when he took over the game, only rejoining the tennis audience when he was challenged by Nadal). But surely it took time for Federer to develop his following and TV ratings. You have to start somewhere. Some new rivalry will develop. Maybe it will be Nadal-Murray - not an appealing prospect to me, but I was surprised to see how many warm supporters Murray had in one of the previous streams.

I have a feeling that Nadal will play DC on early March. The reasons?

1. Olympics. It says players have to make themselves available for at least 2 years between 2009-2012. Well, he only played in 2009. That requires him to be available for either this year or next. And A. Costa will waste no more than 0.00001 sec before choosing Rafa for indoor hard court tie.

2. he's not the smartest dude as as far as scheduling.

3. his inury excuse will not fly since too many newspapers have declared that it would heal by mid-Feb. Maybe he could learn thing or two on this from Fed, but he's no Fed. He would have to play. Poor bastard indeed.

Meanwhile what's Djoker's excuse for bailing out DC 1st rd? To focus on IW-Miami. Oy, how refreshing! He took that out of Fed's DC playbook!! Take that DC.

Muzz did the same thing a couple years ago, btw. Can't blame the guy. He's not as good as Fed, so he can't win 3 ties alone, even at the zoning ties. And he got tired of kept losing at the Europe DC zone.

It was really lovely show, Ruth. Jelena is truly fascinating person, I doubt it there are many people like her left in professional sports. She has two degrees, one in art history, the other in philosophy, she worked on Serbian national TV for 45 years in TV drama and educational program departments, directed many of the shows herself, was part of Yugoslavian national teams in handball and tennis, discovered Djokovic and Seles and even now, in her mid-seventies, she puts me to shame when I hear her speak about her job with impossible amount of enthusiasm and passion.

I doubt show's gonna appear anywhere, though. It was shown on a small local TV station, no prior notice, big announcements, no video material on their website...I went there to check out if there's a rerun planned cuz I didn't catch it from the start, but nope, not even that.

xyz:

You're so right. Despited the irrational infatuated Nadal worship here and on ESPN, most people worldwide don't care that much about his tedious mostly defensive game and won't bother watching a Nadal match against someone other than Federer. That's why viewer ratings for the three Nadal Finals last year were so off the previous year. For example, even a tennis addict like me could only bother to watch one set of last year's USO final.

Still, I must admit that Nadal's game is more interesting than the baseline-rooted robot-like bashers who threaten to take over tennis in the post Fedal era. Ratings for those dismal future slugfests will be even lower than today's finals in which Rafa appears without Fed.

Crybaby: Hasn't Rafa already confirmed that he will play DC?

anyone whose own enjoyment of tennis matches is predicated on potential ratings, and claims to be bored by nearly any match-up - I don't get it. Why watch tennis at all, then?

There hasn't been a proper "Fedal" final in 2 years now. Were those 8 slam finals boring, too?

I'm obviously not Serbian, and know no businessmen who've worked with Srdjan - but I will say that I attended the inaugural Serbia Open two years ago and was impressed it got pulled together so quickly. Maybe all credit is due Uncle Goran for that, I don't really know.

wilson75

Rafa said before the AO he might not play the first tie.He was going to take time off after the AO regardless of this "tear" he received.

I havent read any up to date news.All I have read that is resting and getting physio and taking anti-inflammotories for the injury

Tina: Can you truthfully say that you have watched every final involving Federer in the last 8 years?

Who cares about TV ratings in Australia? I know I don't.
I'd have a Djoko-Murray final anyday instead of Fedal. Fedal puts me to sleep.
The ratings both in American and Australia are down because they don't have any remotely great player on tour right now. Casual viewers are gloryhunters, wait until Novak has two more slams and he will be breaking the ratings.
I'd like to see the ratings worldwide, not just in Australia. Shame on them anyway.

Except for 2008 Wimbledon - yes.

Whatever happened to freedom of choice? If people don't want to watch Djokovic-Murray why is it so difficult for others to accept?

In the US, it was live at 03:30(East Coast) 00:30 (West coast) - *of course* ratings weren't great here.

It's funny. I tunned in to watch tennis because of Djokovic. Never paid attention while it was Federer vs Nadal on a court. So, yes, new fans tune in all the time for different reasons. Just give it time. Djoko is the perfect personality for TV ratings.

I hate to get too down on Dinara Safina (I mean, she really doesn't need me to kick her around), but it's never made much sense to me that a woman with her sizabe frame and questionable movement (she's no Mary Pierce, but she's also no Venus Williams) would be content to park it on or well behind the baseline and bash away for hours on end. She needs to develop an all-court game, and fast. And that, of course, starts with a decent, and more important, reliable serve.

Iike Raonic's upside, as well as Dolgopolov's. I see them both as mainstays in the top 30 within 18 months. I'm not sure about Tomic; it will depend on how he matures as a person more than as a player. Harrison's upside is that he's got an unquenchable thirst for competition and for learning and improving. You can't teahc that, and it's hard to make it go away. I suspect he'll be toiling arond in the top 50 soon enough (say within 18 to 24 months); can he climb much higher? Who knows.

wilson75

Well according to a site I just checked

Rafa intends playing the firs tie then IW and Miami

slice

Considering Tomic had a tough first match in a challenger event in Burnie,Tasmania yesterday I am out on him until he gets some consistant results.He won this challenger tournament last year.

AM: Thanks for the confirmation. It's probably the best time for Rafa to fulfill his DC obligations/Olympics requirements. The other dates are ridiculous.

Tina: Since, I live in the same house as you I'll have to take your word for it.

*sorry for the typo, inserting the word "don't" in my response.

Tina: Since, I don't live in the same house as you I'll have to take your word for it.

"For example, even a tennis addict like me could only bother to watch one set of last year's USO final."

But Tigress, it involved Djokovic against your second favorite player? :)

Fedal has obviously been a great rivalry, but I somehow think tennis will survive just fine. :)

First, it always takes people a while to warm to new faces; I doubt the Fed/Phillipousis Wimby final was a blockbuster. When my mom first saw Fed (at my insistance)in the 2004 wimby final she said he looked old, wasn't good-looking or charismatic and the ATP would never be able to make him a star.

Of the recent Fedless finals, the only one I really enjoyed was the Nadal/Djoko USO. It was competative and the level was very high.

While Nadal is a baseliner, his topspin does contrast enough w/ the flat shots of others to keep things intersting if the match is competative. If he's just beating up on the other guy like at FO and Wimby it's not much fun at least for me.

It would be sad if men's tennis started to go the way of women's tennis after the retirement of Martina Hingis. I never liked Martina who I thought was a stuck-up brat and I always rooted for the power players to beat her. But once she was gone I realized that because of her consistancy and court savvy she'd forced the power players to play clean, relatively error free in order to win. Once she was gone, it seemed like the WTA matches became error-fest shootouts.

Both Fed and Nadal (in decent form) can be overpowered or outplayed but the opposition must play pretty clean to win, which keeps things interesting.

It's the flavor of this month, but Dolgo totally captured me this AO. Fingers crossed for his health, both physical and career.

OK I've rambled without making too much sense here, but will post anyway :)

Rafa at Bauxa

http://oi52.tinypic.com/2u90g1e.jpg

http://oi52.tinypic.com/2zpnla0.jpg

http://oi52.tinypic.com/ne87f4.jpg

http://oi51.tinypic.com/26049dg.jpg

http://oi52.tinypic.com/29100fm.jpg

My final words on the Djokovic v. Murray final, which as a match was extremely disappointing, in the way a third round TKO in a heavyweight championship match is disappointing......

I was expecting something approaching an epic final, for a number of reasons. To wit:

1. They have a special rivalry, being friends and so close in age, and having both been like groomsmen at some weird Federer-Nadal wedding that seems to have no end. Novak caught the bouquet this time.

2. They are two of the best, if not the two best, movers in the game -- their sheer speed, footwork, court coverage and defensive skills surpassing almost all others. Then there's offense, where Novak showed he is superior.

3. They both were due for a breakout tournament -- Murray to finally win in his third attempt, and Djokovic repeating after a rough year that was only redeemed (or perhaps propelled) by his Davis Cup victory dance. It was Novak who broke away.

Perhaps I had been too excited to see something BESIDE Federer-or-Nadal or Federer-AND-Nadal, something not yet scripted, ssomething that held enough questions as to inspire the players to answer them boldly, bravely.

In the end, I think the match mostly proved the old adage that contrasting styles make for the best, or at least most interesting, tennis. And let's face it, Novak played very good tennis at times, and through most of the last two sets. And Murray had a few moments of his own. And there were a few handfuls of toe-to-toe punchouts that were dazzling if not brilliant (as in smart). But it was in the end a sleeeper. I wish I'd hit the snooze button.

CWATC

I also had the same thoughts with Hingis lol!

They didnt call her the "Acid Queen" for nothing

Team Nadal

Thanks for those photos

I hope with Rafa's rest he can try to gain some weight maybe his cookie sponsor should send him boxes to munch.I saw him in his warm up at the AO and I nearly fell over lol!

"It's the flavor of this month, but Dolgo totally captured me this AO. Fingers crossed for his health, both physical and career."

+1

CWATC, great post. Hingis against one of the Williams, or Davenport, or Capriati, always fun to watch just for the contrast.

Slice, well said. I think there was a lot of anticipation for Andy-Novak, which made it seem even worse when it didn't live up to it.

CWATC: Everything is cyclical. Mens tennis did suffer for attention the early 2000s before Federer started on his run. Womens tennis at that time was more popular. Now it's the reverse. The whole "new balls" campaign was geared towards getting people interested in the new male players who were appearing on the scene in the early 2000s. I expect that when Federer-Nadal retire mens tennis popularity will go into decline again until a new exciting player comes on the scene. I'm looking to Del Porto to the leading player when that time comes.

Slice n dice..I think every one of those guys will crack the top 30. Raonic, Harrison and Tomic all came up thru the juniors together. Even though Harrison and Tomic are 2 years younger than Raonic they played a lot of the same events. It takes time for younger guys to develop. Harrison and Tomic are ahead of the bar compared to the other guys mentioned on the young guns list and seem to be making steady progress. I think they have a real chance to be the only teenagers in the top 100 at years end.

pat, good points about the age differentials among these young guns. Dogolpolov, at 22, is obviously a near-contemprary of Murray and Djokovic, but in ATP terms he's still very green. But Harrison and Tomic, both at 18, certainly have the most time to improve. Raonic, being right in the middle, may be easy to overlook. I'd recommend he get some Spanish-based training, but on hard courts.

Still, there's such a thing as being match old, I think. It's like a 22-year-old fighter who's already had 50 bouts, compared to a 24-year old who has had only 25. A fighter's body and head cnly take so much punishment before (a) that fighter starts to think before letting himself punch, which opens himself up for a punch, or (b) he simply loses the heart for the battle. For a tennis player, the tougher the loss, the greater the toll, too. And each player has, I think, a certain number of really tough losses that they can absorb and rebound from. This is the danger I think Murray faces, and his decision to take an indefinite amount of time away from the game suggests he's feeling it.

That said, Lendl was a four- or five-time loser before he got his chance in the 1984 French Open final against McEnroe. And who knows... if Mac had taken it in three (remember, he was up two sets to love), how would Lendl have responded (I don't menan in the presser)?. Or, if Lendl had evened it a two sets apiece and then mac came back to steal it awayb from Lendl -- again, how would he have responded to such a heart-rending loss?

No one can predict these things. Least of all, the player. But they can feel it when they don't have the fight in them. AndyM, are you listening?

Slice@6:22 Nice assessment. I agree, and also looked forward to this AO final. I was disappointed that Rafa was not in the final, especially with his chance to make history, but I woke up in the middle of the night expecting that Murry and Nole would be creating some histrionic magic to take advantage of this great Fedal-less opportunity. I was sorry that it turned out to be so one-sided.

To me, the great thing about Fedal is that the excitement over their matches grew out of the fact that Roger was establishing himself as a potential GOAT, while Rafa was making his own history as the longest-running #2, the longest clay court streak, and the only player who could regularly challenge Roger, even on hard courts and grass.

There are many epic Fedal matches on all surfaces, and hopefully one day soon there will be another such rivalry. Nole has challenged Rafa on clay, competed well on grass, and beaten him (and Roger) on hard courts. So, maybe given their closeness in age, there will be a Rafa/Nole challenge for the top spot with ensuing great matches.

Murry should be a major contender. I can add nothing to the speculation over Murray's problems, but after three major finals, but they are high-class problems, nevertheless.

Personally, I couldn't care less for TV rankings, I actually don't even have one and watch all my tennis online.
TV is America is a sausage machine creating dull uneducated masses who don't know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland, Austria and Australia.
Bread and games: morbidly obese nation with zero concentration span.
Same in Australia (got some relatives there) .

Why not see what shows get good viewing Ophra Winfrey (sorry can't spell the name) telling everyone what they should think and do?

Crap that Hollywoos pumps out year in year out?

Stupid and mindless rap animal grunting (I feel so sorry for myself because Im black/white and unemployed awwwww) "music"?

Semi naked gyrating underaged "stars" "singing"?

The freak looking Mariyn Mansoon (sorry probably wrong spelling as well)?

THAT is what makes TV ratings.

Nadal Federer : read: bored old housewives vs this guy who seems to be here all the time but our stud beats him all the time, so we don't mind.....ah, yeah, he's also Spanish and most of America seems to be becoming Spanish anyway, so great, yeah, great........

Go, one, show some guts people and get your head out of sand....enjoy life, enjoy tennis, don't let yourself be told what to think and enjoy!

slice

Good points.Though may I say I think Andys downfall at times he plays "too passive" playing the role as a "counter puncher" like he does he has to see on court when playing defense to ofense when to pull the tigger.Not just wait and put another ball back in play seeing if his opponent is going to make a error.

I'm sorry for getting a bit carried away in my previous post, but this is a TENNIS forum, I really can't stand it when people go on about TV rankings and other nonsense that has nothing to do with tennis.
THere is obvioulsy hidden agenda here, but hey, I go to the gym almost every day and do you know what I wear: no it;s not NIKE or Addidas, no it's not even ST, it the cheapest white cotton T shirt and navy shorts.....

So no need to froth about poor rankings and be barking dogs for your owners on this board...

Apparently the news of Murray taking some time off was exaggerated. He is apparently playing Rotterdam next week, as originally scheduled.

slice,raonic with that serve wont be overlooked. he'll be around a long time. i think that whole group will. they all seem to be making steady progress. none of them seems to have overplayed. while tough losses can be hard to overcome i think that too depends on the player and his ability to deal with it and how much he wants to work to fix it. The amount of money he has in the bank already may have an effect on how hard he wants to work to overcome it as well.

noleisthebest: to paraphrase another great American television icon, Archie Bunker, I must say that I strongly resemble your remarks!

Hi all

Tigress, the only time that Roger had more rating in a final than Rafa was Wimbledon 09 and you know why??? because his opponent was Roddick which one had all US tennis followers with the hope that he had a chance to beat Roger, and he almost did

Tina: Since, I don't live in the same house as you I'll have to take your word for it.
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Wait, am I on trial here?

Look, even though I'm pleased with the outcome, I freely admit it wasn't a great final in Melbourne. If Murray can pull himself together in the best-of-5 format, these other rivalries will get better. I flove del Potro and can't wait until he's fully back in the mix.

We don't need Fedal, just Federer. and actually i much prefer watching Fed-Djoker to watching Fed-Nadal, just in terms of interesting tennis.

And the Fed-Murray Final last year was quite a compelling match, since Murray was playing quite well and especially for that immortal 13-11 3rd Set TB.

I also like watching Davydenko because his style of play is so smart and tactical. A Kolya-Djoker or Kolya-Rafa Final would be very interesting.

Well I had a ball at the final

I mean I was photgraphed though not the full picture I had hoped for

Beggars cant be Choosers I suppose!

Goodness Gracious!

Yeah, definitely we don't need Fedal, just we need to watch great matches like Rafa/Murray in London, Rafa/Nole in US Open, Rafa/Soderling in RG 10 Rafa/Nole en Madrid, Nole/Roger in USO, Delpo/Roger in the USO 09, Kolya/Roger London 09, etc, etc, etc