No doubt Novak and Rafa are the two toughest players these days, but is anyone else getting a wee bit bored with this match-up? I enjoy watching these guys ply their trade against other players, but their matches together feel increasing drawn-out and predictable. Especially three-out-of-five on a slow surface...probably won't surrender that big a chunk of my day for this one.

"The juniors took over center court yesterday. First, 15-year-old Taylor Townsend of the U.S. won the girls,"

Steve,
Have you seen or heard about the losing player did as far as racquets are concerned?

oh yeah, the crotch grab. Jimbo did that alot. I thought Rod Laver's interview for AO TV where he says the main reason for all the serve and volleying was due to the poor grass court surfaces back then. He said bad bounces were so frequent it made you take your chances up at net more.

thanks for the great reporting from down under, Steve. On the men's side, at least, it's been a great tournament. Rafa reasserting himself tomorrow would make it extra special.

Wish there was some way they could both lose tonight. The Final has been all-but ruined, but I might catch a set before falling asleep at 2 a.m., numbed by the inevitable endless dreary drab back-and-forth Waiting-for-the-error rallies. Djokovic should prevail unless he's sick or physically depleted, because he's just so superior and doesn't make errors as Roger did. The fetcher pop-and-spin Flim Flam Man is so lucky that this might indeed happen, and Inferiority could prevail yet again. Hail tennis!

If Flim Flam Man's lucky pop from 10 feet behind the baseline hadn't hit the other baseline at that 5-5 4th set breakpoint, I'm convinced that Fed would have won that semifinal match, and we'd be looking forward to a sublime classic Final instead of the tedious travesty that awaits us. Sigh ...

Djokovic will be a worthy and deserving A.O. (3rd time) Champion. Flim Flam man would decidedly not be. Let's at least root for tennis greatness (Djokovic), not trickster semi-mediocrity (Nadal).

If nadal want to win he needs to play with lots of power. Nole better not act like he is done before the match even started ...that fool doesn't even know how to play fair. Murray would've had beat him if he didn't feel sorry for him...jeez tennis should have a rule for that. Heck even sometime when I play sport I feel bad for some people that look out of it...but I never let my guard down.

Not to be disrespectful to Ron Laver, but all these predictions (even coming
from him) are worth nothing. Even Tignor's. When the dust settles and the history is written, the only thing that matters is who won the Slam. Nothing else. Has Murray reached the crossroad of his career? Is Nadal ready for new page? Is Djokovic's recovery "funny"? Will Lendl actually help Murray grow a pair? Who cares. That's why the pre-match analysis are worth zero. Post-match, so and so, but so far, no tennis writer has convinced me that they are not just fishing when predicting. Results are everything. Until then, just enjoy the game and stop predicting who's "gonna crush" whom. Pffft...

"Experts" pick Nadal because there will be more money to make in the sport for everyone if Nadal was #1. It's wishful thinking. It's picking against the sport and for marketing. It's pathetic.

Also, if you want Novak to stop playing at his highest level so Nadal could win, telling him that he is still not the undisputed king is exactly the wrong way to go about it.

Voldar wrote:

"No doubt Novak and Rafa are the two toughest players these days, but is anyone else getting a wee bit bored with this match-up? I enjoy watching these guys ply their trade against other players, but their matches together feel increasing drawn-out and predictable. Especially three-out-of-five on a slow surface...probably won't surrender that big a chunk of my day for this one."

Could not disagree more. Nadal-Djokovic is now THE matchup in tennis, better than Nadal-Federer. Not sure what matchup you would have preferred(?)

Interesting nadal is speaking up against his rival djoke. He sounds bitter that murray failed him because rafa would have crushed Murray in a final. Hoping for a competitive 5 setter, happy if either wins.

Isnt that Lavar also said more GSs for Federer? I would discard what he said, sorry.

Djokovic in four sets. Complete summary of the head-to-head match-up:

http://myballsmyballs.blogspot.com/2012/01/djokovic-survived-murray-in-nearly-five.html

All this writing leaves me with one impression: Djokovic is the "enemy" and all the other guys are the "good guys" trying to overcome this one "obstacle". "How did Murray lose the match?", "What Rafa needs to do to beat Djokovic?", "What game plan does Ivan Lendl have?", "What does Rafa think of Novak's breathing problems - fake or real?".

When Novak was losing to Rafa and Federer almost nobody wondered what Djokovic needs to do - we only heard how awesome RN and RF were and that he stood no chance. Strange...

Rafa is not playing worse than usual against Djokovic, Murray did not play 4th set worse than usual, Djokovic was simply better. But when media does not like someone, it doesn't matter that Djokovic spends hours practicing daily and is athletic and built for playing tennis. The only thing that does matters is who does ads for major companies (Nike with RF and RN or Adidas with AM) and how much those companies pay aforementioned media for those ads. It doesn't help that this outsider is destroying established harmony. Thank you for all the "fair and balance news", "journalists"!

To be honest, i did not like Djokovic couple years back when he kept losing to Federer. But he changes, let us hope he makes history tonite.

"the loudest cheers were for hecklers from the crowd ....”

"Also noticeable were empty rows of those pricey seats around the top of the arena."

****

I wonder why tignor? maybe because no one wants to lose their hearing? both are a disgrace to women's tennis.

Rafa said yesterday, in his Rafa way, that Djokovic's ability to go from exhausted to awesome in two hours time was "funny, no?" and that it was, "difficult to imagine he has these problems."

What's more funny is that Rafa saying this who supposedly had severe knee pain before the tournament and somehow he is now in the finals with his knee perfectly fine. What an irony that he is commenting about others when he himself has done the same.

Hypocrite Nadal, somehow I think the humble Nadal that we were used to watching is now a past thing. The new one is aggressive and strange- first federer, then he says this about Djokovic and not to mention Murray also.

Djokovic/Nadal's Mind War: What does the stats indicate? http://bit.ly/xOwaeS

So sick of the racism in tennis.

Everyone love the "true" Europeans Rafa and Fed. But now the Eastern European is taken over all hell has broken lose. Baseless accusations and nasty remarks are thrown at Nole.

We have two lovely Eastern European champion women in the final and all you hearing about is some folks hyperventilating about a lil grunting.

Just sad.

"When Novak was losing to Rafa and Federer almost nobody wondered what Djokovic needs to do - we only heard how awesome RN and RF were and that he stood no chance. Strange..." (NYJets)

Who would have thought that so much scrutiny would ever come along with being a #1 ranked player? It's unreal!

Ilia,

this is all about the money, nobady there cares about the sport itself!
Future is obviously not there but at the East, but they can not earn on this!

I submit that Laver is much smarter than this bunch, who cannot even spell correctly his name. A good analyst (as opposed to Tignor) would not derive his conclusions based solely on statistical data. But would take into consideration other staff, like current form and health of the players, which can hint that at the moment Nadal has a better chance than Nole.
Statistics shows though that Tignor has poor guessing skills. They are worse even then random guessing.

On the other hand, both Nadal and Nole are tricksters. They pretend they are injured or about to expire, so an opponent just waiting when it happened is losing his game. But the "poor disadvantaged" guys continue to run like a Duracell Bunnies until the opponent loses.
That also can deceive some "analysts".

COME OOOOOOOOOON NOLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Those nasty remarks Nadal threw at Novak about physical problems one minute, then strangely recovering - talk about pot calling the kettle black.

Since Novak saw a doctor yesterday, I'm sure he really does have allergies, like half the population. He said some of the other players are finding it a very bad summer for allergies too.

Steve, Ricky Ponting has had an amazing renaissance, but I really doubt Federer can do it against far higher calibre of opposition than Ponting is facing.

It must take a phone call to get the two fnalists to the net! Looks like advanced ping pong. Thank heavens for doubles lest we forget what tennis can look like!

Alright, tuned in anyway (guess I don't have much of a life) and this is a more interesting match than times past. My main problem with these two is the amount of time between points. It simply should not be tolerated and it adds up over the course of an already long-ass match. Must say that they seem to be attempting more variety so far this time. Will pull for Rafa, though, because it will be a more exciting year if he can flip the trend tonight...

Rafa is simply not the same player against Novak as he is against Fed. How many obscene offensive/defensive gets did Rafa make in the semis compared to tonight? Obviously, Novak isn't attacking the net nearly as much as Fed, but I think the main reason for Rafa's relative impotence is this: he can't rely on his cross-court forehand for a superior feeling in each point against Novak. That simple fact affects his entire bearing and consciousness on court. Rafa needs to mix the up batter more real quick or that championship cake ain't gonna rise at all!

So what Taylor Townsend won the juniors...How about Donald Young (Aussie Open 2005; Wimbledon 2007), Ryan Sweeting (US Open 2005), or Jack Sock (US |Open 2010). None of them are/were successful.

Junior tennis isn't the ATP/WTA tour.

I like this blog http://www.fit-2-hit.com

set 4 just finished. Haven't seen Novak play this badly in a long long time!

Nadal talking about Djoker going from exhausted to nothing in 2 hours is unbelievable. This from the guy who actually enters every tournament complaining of an injury and then miraculously recovers. Also someone who has had the steroid rumor follow him his whole career whos is bulked up but denies ever lifting weights. Also when every one talks about Roger and Rafa they are 3-2 for Nadal in their last 5 matches. Roger winning 2 WTF and Rafa SF at AO and Final at last year FO and Miami. Not bad for a 30 years competing against a 25 year. Also got up to check who won and they are still playing. That is another way Nadal cheats. The slow play he intentionally does and never gets called on it disrupts his opponents. Unbelievable he continues to get away with the time rule.

After today's performance one has to wonder if Djoker Slam is on the way already? http://bit.ly/ya9oln

Are you crying, Tignor?

Let's speed the courts up because I'm tired of watching baseline bashing! It's boring!

STAYIN ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vj092UgKwQ

Tired of this match up? Would you be tired if Novak hasn't won the last 7? Many of us were tired of the Fed/Nadal matchup. This is refreshing, IMO.

hehe....Fernando and all others like him
NOVAK WON.......BIG time.....by the way, to those FEW western schmucks Nole is not an enemy.....just talented guy playing a good tennis.....
hehehehe....but keep it up Fernando and others,keep it up.....regards

Steve,
Enjoyed your grounds pass series as well.
Here's a clip from the Age which pretty much sums up the match I saw. Interesting read.
http://tinyurl.com/77uf6nk

The women should be put on performance related pay. It is sickening that they serve up this doubly-unwatchable tripe and still get half of the money the men bring into the sport. It is blatant inverted sexual discrimination, but in our decadent messed-up society some kinds of injustice are celebrated rather than stamped out. Don't have boy children - then at least some of the dominant sex will end up sad and lonely. That seems to be the only recourse left against the ruling feminist establishment.

As for those who make their livings doing this kind of thing, they’re going with Nole: $1.65 to $2.30 for Nadal. According to the money, Djokovic in four is the most likely outcome. A little surprising to me is that Djokovic winning a fifth set is deemed more likely than Nadal winning a fifth. If it goes the distance, I think I would take Rafa
-----------------------
Hence proverb:
"Put your money where your mouth is"
Definition:
To show by your actions and not just your words that you support or believe in something.

It is simply a proof that thou professional writers or commentators or "people of/from sport",..they are biased,..and deeply
They are paid for that BS

But if someone people actually have to put their money(an earn) or TRUST WITH MONEY to what he or she thinks or believes,..heheheheh...suddenly reality kicks in full gear and an emotional or bias component is totally immediately non existent

He’s Up, He’s Down, He’s Up, He’s . . .
Today it's Age columnist Tim Lane’s turn to decide which direction the world No. 3 is heading. Lane takes the mythic route: “Roger Federer, certainly, has become a Job-like figure—endowed with great gifts, admired and praised but later teased and wounded by the Gods.”

I guess that's one way of looking at this stage of Federer’s career. In his prime, he was untouchable; everything he did turned to gold, or at least a Grand Slam win. Now, at 30, when he needs a break, he can’t catch one.
---------------

Cause IN HIS PRIME he had Hewitt, Roddick, Bagdadis and Safin(when not injured) across the net.
Players somewhat nice, but far from the TOP SHELF as Nadal, Novak or Marray..
Even players from lower 'shelf' like DelPo, Berdich, Verdasco, Soderling etc etc ...of THIS era, are far better than from same "shelf" at Fed's prime era.

When AO champ in 2008, Novak lost to Safin in straight sets at Wimbledon and has lost at the FO to Kohlschrieber, Melzer and Federer even last year! He lost a set to Hewitt - a 30 year old player who could barely manage 20 matches last year and has had multiple surgeries! Murray was no.2 seed at Wimbledon in 2009 but still got ousted by Roddick in 4 sets; and whilst a member of the top 4 the past 4 years has lost at Majors to Verdasco, Gonzalez, Berdych, Cilic and Wawrinka amongst others. Federer has a strong winning record against all those you call "lower shelf" players, even though his prime was at least 6 years ago. I'm not knocking Novak or Rafa or AndyM - but I think Federer's rivals were much better than they're currently given credit for.

For all this complaining about the women it was ONE match, unfortunate that it happens in the final but the matches leading up to that final, especially the SFs were great.

Funny, no one mentioned the help from above that Djokovic requested and received in this Australian Open final.