Hi Aussiemarg, to answer your question, no I am not a Roger fan. I was just responding to a question of scheduling and how unfair it was to Rafael.

Vamos Gonzo and Elf :).

A few of you sound like five year olds.

Where's Carson and Madison when you need them?

Thanks Rosangel and may I say to you

Vamos Rafa!!!!!

Morning, everyone. :)

yay Rafa and Gonzo! A nice cheer-up present for this morning. Commiserations, Monfils and Tsonga fans. :)

Alice Worry not

I have been up since 1.00am Sydney Time,its now 3.30pm

I cant think straight lol!

wow rolling good time to be had here in TeeDub.

oh and Jenni, yes to AbsGate

AA Carson and Madison ? hey

Jewell Gonzo even smashed his racket in the first set, though I missed that as I was still asleep.

Jenni Please show a bit more Decorum in future ok LOL!!!!!!!!

AM rafadoc's children (I think they are Rafadoc's).

Of all the gates, YoMammaGate and AllezUpYour ****ingA**Gate are still my faves. Followed by StomachAcheGate and BadLightGate.

I followed it to one set all, Angel - seemed to be great tennis up to then. :)

thanks for the shiny pretty overflow, Rosangel.

Ah, MamaGate. That was a classic, wasn't it? Good times.

AA Ok,I am brain dead

Jewell More great news Rafa is the no 2 again!!!!!

flove those gates Carrie! YoMamaGate is tops though.

Is he? That's good. :)

Sad for Murray though...life is complicated.

Aww, thanks Sherlock @ 1:10. great to be back.

I'm sad that AbGate ended so soon. Though I think more investigation is needed into Campi's assertions about Rafa's dark past. :)

Another big day tomorrow. As much as I try to root for Caro, it's just not happening. :) But even if she gets by Oudin and her semi, Serena probably awaits in the final. That would be worth the price of admission. :)

Ok, looks like ordering the remastered Beatles albums will have to wait till the morning. Good night, all. :)

Outside of missing Muzza for Muuzza's sake, I am also sad that we will not get the latest Brad Gilbert twist on YoMammaGate. With his colorful storytelling, I think the next Elf/Mandy match will include him saying how in Rome last year, Elf screamed at Judy Murray, drew an ugly caricature picture of her, tore it up in front of her (much like Sinead O'Connor and the Pope on Saturday Night Life) and then he and Judy started madly making out.

Goodnight Sherlock and all others. I should head out too. Work and all that.

Very welcome, Melancho. Catch you later. :)

"then he and Judy started madly making out."

And on that horrifying note, I'm off to bed. Thanks so much, Carrie. :)

Jewell Let me say I was shocked with Murrays defeat,but Marin played great and derserved to win.

Rafa fans,

That guy that ran on court after Rafa's match was arrested .

http://www.seattlepi.com/othersports/3000ap_ten_us_open_intruder.html

Good Night Sherlock

May I say you were kind of on the ball for once

I am gradually getting impressed.

Night, Sherly. :)

yeah, AM - think Murray acknowledged that in is his press conference. :)

"then he and Judy started madly making out."

This is a tennis website. Moderators please edit the posting.

Hi all, just catching up. Great win for Rafa! One step closer to a Fedal final, though a hurdle or two for both players first. One match at a time, I guess.

I do wish people would stop yammering on about scheduling. The top pros know how tricky it is(Roger says it's the hardest part of tournament organisation) and accept the outcomes without complaint. Their fans should too.

Murray's stint as number 2 must set some kind of record for brevity, at least in recent times, and he still has 2210 points to defend between now and Xmas.

My Goodness Snow Drop

The man rushed to Rafa and said I love you

Rafa thought that was very nice.

Gotta Love The Boy,but if..................................

yes, aussiemarg, this guy was nice, but what if he wasn't? !

Anyway, Rafa's reaction was priceless. Showed his good heart.

AA: Thanks for the shout out to my tennis KADS, Madison and Carson! Funny how 13 and 9 year olds are more mature about these things.

Needless to say, Carson is "pumped" about Rafa's win tonight and Madison is quietly confident that Roger will get #6.

BC- I am sorry if I offended you. I was just being cheeky as Brad Gilbert is prone to exaggerating so I was poking fun.

I love this answer from Gonzo in his presser.

Q. Do you draw your energy from the crowd? Because even though it was a tough match, you kept entertaining the crowd very well.

FERNANDO GONZÁLEZ: Yeah, a lot of emotions in really short time. You know, sometimes you feel like super hero, and sometimes you feel like ‑‑ I don't have to say what you feel on court.

But I understand that the people come to watch ‑‑ I mean, to have fun. I mean, if I can do something, I mean, my opponent doesn't really care, I can do it, you know.

I would love to see a

Gonzo v Monfils match?

Ah Fedal wars have started? So, Rafa is playing well? ;-)

I see, I didn't miss much, I'm waiting for the ooh so enlightening and informative debate about cupcakes and schedule gate...trez exciting...

Pspace, if your'e still out there, I've come to the conclusion that Muzz was not ready to win a slam this year and that next year he'll be fit and rearing to go, it's a step by step process, first he got the minor titles, then he mastered the masters, up next the GS, it's a progression...Rome was not built in a day, don't pay attention to all the doom and gloom...dude will be fine, I mean if the Fed listened to the pundits, fans and so called experts he would have retired from tennis last year with his tail between his legs or better yet, hired Cahill, adopted a 2HBH, and thrown away the game that gave him 15 GS and counting all in an effort to master the so called no longer weak competition...

AM - apparently they played twice last year and Monfils won both times but Gonzo has said he was not playing great. If they had played tonight, I think Gonzo would of won, prolly in four.

Good morning,

I'm awfully late for work. Just passing by to congratulate Rafa and his fans. Judging by the scores, his troubles with tummy muscles and knees are over.

Good for Kim also. I feel I must cheer for her being from a neighbour country.

Pspace Help!!! LOL!!

Gee for the life of me cant people just congratulate whatever?

Aww Beckham, nice of you. Right now I'm comforting myself with the thought that Murray was totally crippled during the match. Gah! It's toooooo long to Australia. Anyways, lets see...I've given him time till USO '10. I'll wait till then before I go into total chernobyl meltdown mode.

Spacie Murray has some type of wrist injury, if that is any consolation.

AM, hehe, I think it helps to read between the lines, and not read the actual lines. Why would an anti-Rafa person choose to express negative sentiments at this point? Well, they prolly feel threatened in some way. What way could that be? Simple. Rafa beats Fed in the final, despite being lame and having no abs. Fed goes from GOAT to lamb. So, it typically is a good guage of Rafa's form ;-).

what is it with fools running onto tennis courts?
where is security?

AA, yeah, that's exactly what I'm consoling myself with. Jajaja...I'm such a bad sport.

The Rafael who played tonight has knees and abs that are fine. Any other claim is ridiculous.

Good news...

In light of Murray's loss to Cilic, Jesse Levine, who hasn't left his room since Friday, has finally come out.

You would think that the security at all tournies would be on 'high alert' after the Graf incident. I can't believe a looney was let loose.

Pspace, that's the spirit, the win didn't count he was injured, I totally should apply that to the Fed's losses, yup all the 08 losses didn't count Mono of course, 09 didn't happen bad back, and that's my story and I'm sticking to it...lol

PS, I'm convinced Fred is going to show up tomorrow, IDK why, but Muzz's WTF loss is just what Fred needs to come out and play...meh

Beckham, yeah, I think I've just about lost interest in the USO...in terms of results. Some good tennis to be had still. Nole vs FeVer should be a blast.

Gah! How the hail does the former #2 player lose 5,2&2 to a mug like Cilic? Don't answer that. I need to break something.

In Lestat's presser he repeatedly and explicitly rejected suggestions his wrist was a factor, a squarely took responsibility for playing "poorly". Money quote:
"... my game wasn't up to scratch, and, you know, it's unfortunate. You know, sometimes in individual sports that can happen. That's the tough thing about it. You don't have any other players or anyone to sort of, you know, hide behind and can sort of cover for you. You have to take responsibility yourself.
You know, I just didn't play well enough."

His mature attitude to what was a devastating loss won him lots of points in my book.

aw, Spacie. *hugs*

Spacie sending you alcohol of your choice and a big hug.

>> In light of Murray's loss to Cilic, Jesse Levine, who hasn't left his room since Friday, has finally come out.

awesome sauce ML

Interesting observations from Rafa ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Q. What was your reaction to Andy Murray getting upset today, the No. 2 seed?

RAFAEL NADAL: Well, it's important lose for the tournament. He was playing really well. Nothing, no? Sorry for him, because I know for him, sure. Was tough lose after winning in Montreal, having the semifinals in Cincinnati, so was a big expectation around him in this tournament.

But Cilic played really well, no? These things happen. Happen to me at Roland Garros, so today was him. The tennis is, the level is very close. The matches decide in a few points. It's very difficult what the top players right now are doing. They are in the top, in the last rounds in almost every tournament, so that's not normal if you see the history. Not always was like this, so it's normal have loses, no?

Why do some Federer fans hate to hear that Rafa has a torn stomach muscle, to the point of denying it? I have not seen him play, but if his service speeds have significantly slowed down and he and his camp even acknowledged him having that pain, for me it is quite clear he has it, and it is unreasonable to assume he is just ok or making it up (most of the times, things are quite what they look like).

Nadal winning in these coditions rather means that he is able to beat many opponents with the rest of the tools available to him (i.e. discount service speed, but he still has other weapons, including service placement management, forehand, backhand, movement, intelligence, patience, etc.)

My impression is that the answer to the first question is they fear Nadal reaching the final and also beating Fed without the full arsenal, which would damage their admired's resume.

For me, a more fair assessment is to admit Federer's almost never getting injured as part of his greatness, and Nadal's ability to make good use of the arsenal remaining after (not fully inabilitating) injuries, or his ability to play with pain, as part of his own greatness (and not Federer's lack thereof).

well said, Kofi.

OT: how are u finding Sydney? Nice city, no? :)

*chants* Just say no to Fedal wars! LOL.

Gonzo's going to be a tough ask for Rafa, for me. I do not trust Rafa's form from yesterday yet. :)

Thanks for that, JohnC. *fangirls briefly over Rafa* He is adorable. :)

[OT] Mina, I sent you an email today ;-)

Jewell, me too, Gael FH is no Gonzo. hee. that said, fingers toes and knees crossed.

Also Gonzo can go the distance of five sets if need be.

Kofi, simple rule is that if a player steps onto a court they are fit to play and no further discussion is warranted, unless they retire.

Both Rafa and Murray firmly rebuffed any attempts at discussion of possible injuries at their pressers. Injury rumours traded by fans are all about ulterior motives, and quite frankly wearisome.

Hehe...did you guys see what Rafa did to Gonzo in Oz? Is there any reason to believe that this match is gonna be any different? Ok, Rafa's level is a little lower, but he's gonna go to town on that Gonzo bh.

Mina, what I have seen of Sydney is really beautiful. I am at the Darling Harbour area (my Conference is finishing soon for today).

Before the overflow I posted the reasons why I thing Nadal is going to beat Gonzo. I'd add that Monfil's fh is not Gonzo's, but Gonzo's bh is also not Monfil's. And the strength of a chain is that of the weakest piece, especially when Rafa is such an expert in punishing weak backhands.

I don't think "injury rumours traded by fans are all about ulterior motives"; for many fans, they're about concern for the player, rather than some dark plot to discredit opponents who might lose.

I also don't think this situation really falls into that of a rumour: sure there's been no official confirmation of the precise nature/extent, but Rafa did have to receive treatment on court and the other players are aware of it.

Do agree though that, if he plays and loses, that's it.

I didn't see the AO match, but I do remember the Olympic final match.

But, that was then. This is now. :)

Spacie Gonzo is in a much better position this time, as I have already stated. His match was not five sets, he won't be drained either physically or mentally and it won't be played in unbearable heat. The match he played against Gasquet was brutal no wonder he had no energy for the match against Rafa.

Vamos Gonzo :)

JohnC, the rule is indeed simple... only too simple.

Reality is what it is, and acknowledging a real injury is just playing tribute to reality. Unless you try to make excuses out of it, which I think I never do (if Rafa cannot stay away from injuries, that is part of his legacy as a tennis player, either for genetics or an OCD to train too much or whatever, just like Federer's legendary ability to stay away from them should legitimately be asessed as one of his greatnesses.)

I am running out of battery and will soon be away from wifi. Maybe I won't connect again until tomorrow.

as for injuries - I find it ridiculous not to acknowledge them, whether they are mono, wrists, backs, knees or abs - but I think there's a difference between that and using an injury as an excuse for a loss. *shrug*

and I reserve the right to frazzle stupidly over every little thing perhaps ending Rafa's career...whoever said being a KAD meant being rational???

Pspace @ 3:07 AM: word!

Btw, at the conclusion of R16 there have been 12 men's seeds upset and 23 seeds among the women, which is a record for this year in slams.

JohnC, not sure that no further discussion is warranted. The point of mentioning any injury (at least in TW) is in part to project how future matches will go. I mean, what can we conclude about any single match? Better player on the day won. End of story and we can all go home. I'm actually on my way now ;-).

Injuries matter if we're speculating about whether a player has another gear. Fwiw, I don't think Nadal is playing anywhere near his level at Oz...he looks closer to his Doha form. Players are under some obligation to be polite to the guy who beat them...so they prolly won't bring it up explicitly. I don't see why fans are under the same obligation.

Anyways, being healthy is part of being a pro tennis player. It's really not such a big deal to me.

'nite all.

AA, yeah, for your sake, I hope Gonzo does well. At least I think of him as my spiritual counterpart on the ATP...if I was ever good enough to be a pro, I'd play like Gonzo :-). So, it would be nice to see him do well.

'nite for real.

Vamos Rafa!

Allez Roger!

Vamos Elf!

Vamos Gonzo!

Allez Sod!

There you go.Everyone Happy Now.All fair and Equal.

Vamos Novak!

I would love it if Rockin' Robin came out and beat Fed but it ain't going to happen.

Work time...bye, everyone. :)

Happy morning folks! I just watched rafa/bambi match and it was incredible. When gael won the first set and acted like he had the match all sewn up I figured that would get rafa's competitive juices flowing.

As for the baiters on this board who say the same ridiculous garbage over and over about rafa's injuries, they seem to forget that he was injured to the point of withdrawing from Queen's and Wimby. Not to mention he was defending champion at both tournaments. That's a great deal to sacrifice and i am thrilled he's doing so well at the open.

Annie hello how's it going? Are you still working at the Open? Have you got to rub shoulders with anyone famous?

What counts is a player's form on the day. It may be that injury, illness or muscle pain contributes to poor form, but that is just speculation on our part, particularly since the top players keep their cards pretty close to their chest during a tournament.

Such speculation may provide entertainment for some, but I prefer to look at the play and draw my projections from that.

I also peeked in on rafa's practice today on the stadium court and he only served about 3 or 4 times and was consulting with toni at length about his tummy (for whatever that's worth).

Annie Sounds like you are having a great time.Also Rafa is back at no 2 now.

hi Angel: i've seen all the big names and their coaches and all that but the job is kind of a drag. standing by the practice courts where all the big names come in. the press is swarming around melanie now. 4 days ago she was walking by with her racket bag completely unmolested. now, she has to have security around her and everyone is screaming her name. it's kind of surreal. I have three more days of work. today, tomorrow and supersaturday but to be honest i can't wait for it to be over. the only tennis i've seen is what i've taped and watch when i get home. Marin Cilic is adorable btw. very nice to the fans. I was happy with his win today. Rafa is taller and leaner than he appears on tv and i think fed is doing something to his hair. coloring it a little, perhaps?

Well I'm a fed fan but I see nothing wrong in the news rafa has a stomach muscle problem-I mean his second serves get down to almost 80 mph-there is obviously something wrong here-give the guy some trust.

AM: i'm glad i've had the experience but wouldn't do it again. If i lived closer maybe but i get off work at 11pm and don't get home until about 12:30. and we get very short breaks so you don't have enough time to watch any tennis. I wasn't supposed to be in the stadium today but i took a chance since i've missed all of rafa's practices. he's usually on the practice court around 1:00 and i don't get to work until 3:30. Seen roger several times though.

Well, i've got to try to get some sleep but i'll post more when i've got some time. cheerio, as one of my co-workers says (he's from Melbourne!)

Annie that is a shame that you don't get to see much tennis. Did you manage to catch up with any of the Twibers? BTW I keep forgetting to ask you, did you go to James Blakes official clothing launch a few weeks' back.

Annie Thanks for your report.Hopefully you will see Rafa practice.

Get some well deserved sleep,

Mina If you are around thats the thing working at a tournament.It depends where you are allocated to etc.Dont see a lot of tennis at all.

I hope we get the Media Area,thats where one can see the players up close.Though you do get free passes.Use them on your days off.

I saw Stefan Edberg have to default in the AO final because of the stomach muscle injury. He was in severe pain and he was out for weeks afterwards.

As Wally Masur said, if Nadal's injured I'm Charlton Heston. I've got nothing against Nadal, I like him a lot, and I hope he keeps winning, but this stomach muscle injury must be very mild, so why should people bring it up?

And as far as I know Nadal himself hasn't said anything much about it, so it's not him, it's some fans or media hyping it up.

Corrie Hi,when I saw Rafa do that o/head smash on court and also I did post the fact I thought it cant be that bad.Still uses the tape as a pre cautionary thing which is sensible

Borg had a cortizone injection at Wimbledon because of a badley strained stomach muscle then went on to win.

I remember that indcident with Edberg too.

hi AM! yeah i hope we get to see some actual tennis LOL. but i would gladly exchange that if i get assigned to Player Services and get Dina or Flavia or someone i really like LOL

The amount of venom towards Kim Clijsters in this thread is astounding.
I understand that her chances are not that good against Serena at this point. However I wish Kim all the luck. Serena is a bully and I love when bullies get what they just deserve.

Another thing: we’re giving flack to commentators for mispronunciation of player’s names. But it seems that it is OK for posters here to mutilate the names of players, they don’t care about: "Boderanko", "Penatta". Extremely poor taste in my view.

mick1303 the amount of venom Serena recieves on a regular basis is what i find even more astounding.

mick1303 the amount of venom Serena recieves on a regular basis is what i find even more astounding.

Serena had very nice things to say about Kim during her post match interview. I did think the answer to this interviewer's question was clasic Serena:

Q. Doesn't sound at all like, you know, you carry any grudge, you know, You beat my sister so I want to beat her, at all. I'm wondering, in the past, has that ever been a factor? Has that ever happened? Is there ever a time someone beat your sister and you said, I really want to beat her because she did that?

SERENA WILLIAMS: I'm a really good actress. Thank you.

"Tournament spokesman Tim Curry said police arrested the man for interference with a sporting event.

"We're reviewing what happened and then will determine if we have to make any changes to our on-court security procedures," Curry said."

****

Gee, Mr. Curry, you think any changes are necessary when someone can get that close to a player? Genius. :)

Although a Murray Fan and merely a Nadal Admirer I am glad that Rafa has got the number 2 ranking back. Think Murray would be have been embarrassed to be number 2 with his GS record this year.

Oooh big time doubles drama yesterday.

====
Nestor was furious with chair umpire Lynn Welch for not controlling what appeared to be a rowdy bunch who stood out in the sparely populated Grandstand stadium. They yelled and distracted in support of Mirnyi and Ram, which bothered Nestor and Zimonjic enough to complain.
"Your job is to say something, this is not Davis Cup," the 27-year-old Canadian told the chair. "There is something called sportsmanship."

He and the burly Ram then exchanged harsh words after the loss.

"I don't mind losing if we get beat," said Nestor. "But not losing if some guy in the crowd is acting like a jackass. I remember him from Cincinnati last year making the same kind of noises and clapping between serves.
"I got in his face about it and got a warning (fifth game of the third set). I asked Ram about it in the locker-room and he claimed not to know anything - said he was too focused on his game or something."
===

http://bit.ly/XolFC

Hey all. :)

That's not the *real* Tim Curry? LOL.

aw, CJ. He did fine at the FO and at Wimbledon - one crap result does not invalidate every other good one. :) He had the points, he deserved the ranking, I think.

Top half WTA quarterfinals as Kim and Serena have a semifinal date on Friday.

Yanina Wickmayer vs Kateryna Bondarenko
While Melanie Oudin has been eliminating Russians, these unseeded players have made it to a career best result capitalizing on the upsets in the 1st quarter of the draw. Yanina signature win was against Virginie Razzano, who is a hot and cold player, in the first round. In her last match against Petra Kvitova, who is hot and cold also and defeated Dinara Safina, she led 5-2 and was serving for the match but lost serve twice serving for the match. After the match was tied at 5 in the final set, she found a way to stop the trend and win the last 2 games of the match. If she wins today, there will be 2 Belgians in the semifinals. Kateryna signature win was her first round win over Ana Ivanovic, who has been slumping since 2008 French Open, in a 3rd set tiebreak hobbling on one leg. She rallied from a set and a break to force the decider when she got hot winning 9 out of 10 games during one stretch of the match. In her last match against Gisela Dulko, she served double bagels in less than an hour to the point where some local CBS stations went to their normal programming for 30 minuntes.

Prediction : Kateryna Bondarenko

Melanie Oudin vs Caroline Wozniacki
Melanie is the story of the US Open so far by defeating 4 Russians and according to some posters, she is getting too much type. Her best attribute has been her competitive fire as illustrated by winning 17 out of her last 21 matches that have gone 3 sets. Now, breaking her draw down and this is what I find. Her first match where she won easily against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who is highly ranked due to making the semifinals at Indian Wells. Anastasia has not done much since then. Her best match was against Elena Dementieva, who was the favorite if Serena was not to win USO due to her good USO Series and playing for a million dollars, where she outplayed her in all aspects. In her last 2 matches, she was helped by Maria Sharapova making over 60 errors(USO record of 21 double faults included) and by Nadia Petrova(who led 6-1,4-3 and serving at 40-15) who made a flurry of errors in the last 2 sets. Her positive points against Maria was around 44% and Nadia was at 39%. Caroline was struggling during the USO Series and there were talk of her not going far in the tournament to the point where one tennis analyst had her losing very early at USO. However, she won New Haven defeating Flavia Pennetta in the semifinals and Elena Vesnina in the finals. Last person to win USO after winning New Haven was Venus Williams in 2001. Her career defining moment in Slams came on Monday night when she survived an onslaught of winners(2 of them with high risk winners on match points before the deciding tiebreak) from Svetlana Kuznetsova. Svetlana was playing very well early and had Caroline's 2nd serve for "lunch" but those same shots started to go wide, long, or into the net. However, Caroline's consistency in the end along with some timely backhand winners outlasted Svetlana's barrage capped off by match point in the tiebreaker. Caroline positive points for that match was at 38%. Now, she finally equaled her peers(except for Dominika's semifinal appearance at the 2009 French Open)in making a Slam quarterfinal. Today, she will have to find a way to keep the crowd out of the match as Melanie used the crowd's energy in her last 3 matches to complete the upset.

Prediction : Caroline Wozniacki ends Melanie's magical ride and extend her win streak to 10.