Cracking stuff from Murray.
Cracking stuff from Murray.
The final tonight.Potential to be a classic.
The perfect way to end the year. A straight shootout for no.1 in the world between Murray(1) and Djokovic(2). I'm on Djokovic in three sets (he has been getting his groove back and didn't look too far from his best in the semi yesterday; Murray has had two marathon matches this week and has played a huge amount of tennis recently).
The tennis hasn't been of the best standard this week, in the main. That has been the case for the last few years at the o2, when players are mentally and physically tired.
I went for the Thursday day session and was lucky to see the Bryan bros and Djokovic. Both matches were one-sided but it was a pleasure to see Djokovic - his movement is brilliant. He looks even skinnier in real life.
Sky Sports and BBC for those interested.
Murray's smacking him.
Yep. It'll be really interesting if he can translate it into a couple more grand slams next year. Amazing quality from him to get back to this standard after his back injury.
Watching Murray attempt to close this out from 4-1 has been infuriating.
Very rarely easy with him, but then he was playing Djokovic.Originally Posted by Jimmy Floyd
If you'd told me when I first started watching tennis we'd have a British Wimbledon champion, multiple grand slam champion, double Olympic Gold winner and now World Number 1 I'd have never believed it. Fair play to him and Judy.
Quite nuts, when you think about it. Davis Cup winner, as well.
Two British no1s at the same time.
Must be a bug.
Yep, he's won so much I'm starting to forget things.
When I looked up the rankings earlier to see how out of touch I am with who the top players are (very, as it turns out), I noticed there is another British player in the 40s. They have to get another top 20-ish player shortly you would think.
They tend to go through bubbles. Edmund's had a breakthrough year but, at that level, a breakthrough year is a sneaky third-round in a Slam.
Konta is doing well as well in the womens. It's a good time for British tennis.
Edmund will almost undoubtedly get top 20, in my opinion.
It'll be a really interesting start to next year. Djokovic and Murray should both be motivated, the former as he'll want no.1 back and is probably eyeing Federer's slam total, and the latter because he wants both the Australian and French for the first time.
Given the way the rankings work Djokovic is going to have to go some to get the number one spot back in the short term.
Yep, he has a shedload more points to defend. But his record at the Australian will help. I'd be surprised if he won the French again.
It'd be nice to have a new slam winner next year.
Other than the prestige is there any material difference between being 1 or 2? Either gets you out of playing the other until the final. Does the fact that the top seed usually plays first help in terms of fatigue? [/marginal gain]
Wimbledon draws seeds 1 & 3, and 2 & 4, on opposite sides of the draw. So it'd be an advantage being no2 in that case as you'd avoid the 3rd best player. (Obviously seeds don't always correlate to rankings.)
Can't think if that's the general way of doing things.
I think it would always be an advantage being no1 as you aren't playing catch up, and it's less risky to take weeks off.
Remember when Federer's records looked under threat? I actually wondered if Djokovic was challenging him for consecutive weeks at the top. Turns out he's years off that. Years that he might not have.
@Shindig
I had to look up Fed's 302 weeks. That's insane.
I still think Djokovic can get to 17 slams or more. His physical game is near faultless.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/38379952
Odds on whoever did that dying in custody? They don't have many sportspeople on that level of ability and fame these days, so if he's ended one he'll be in the shit.
Nah, she'll win another open right-handed.
Anna Ivanovic retires. Awww.
Australian Open draw has been made: full draw, preview stuff.
Djokovic looked like he was on the way back to his best in the Qatar final. Second half of the first set he was fantastic. An early win over Murray should help him. I'd have Murray and Wawrinka as the only two to realistically beat him at the Australian, so it's good for him that Wawrinka's on Murray's half. Verdasco in the 1st round's a bit of a bastard draw though.
I'm going to plump for Djokovic as very slight favourite. Intrigued to see where Federer's at, and high hopes for Dimitrov this tournament.
Okay so my thoughts;
1. Kyrgios to throw his racket at an umpire, swear at spectators and storm off. The Australian press the next day engage in a chorus of 'Aww mate, it's not like that, it's different'
2. Proably Tsonga's last year as a serious competitor (I'm being generous there as well as much as I love him and want him to win a slam)
3. Monfils is either winning the damn thing, or going out in the second round. There's no middle ground with him. I'd actually fancy him if his head is on straight, he's one of the most athletic competitors out there
4. Since when did Raonic move to 3rd in the world?
5. Edmund will go out in the third round against the big, bad Djok. (now 100% more gluten free)
Has Tsonga ever really been a serious competitor? I always thought of him as one of the best non-serious competitors, but I never thought for a moment that he'd win a major, unless the other guys fell over themselves on the way.
I thought he'd attained cult like status due to being a physical beast, but he's never been good enough at the actual tennis part to compete at the top of the game.
By serious competitor I'm going by someone who could feasibly win something, but he would need everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) to go his way.
He's French, so won't win but I'll still be rooting for him.
He just looks like someone that lacks an edge. If you were a particularly shitty mate to him and asked him to put the hammer down, he'd bottle calling you out on it.
Djokovic knocked out by 133rd ranked Uzbek, Denis Istomin
Kyrgios mate is currently the most hated Australian I reckon.
He's better than his ranking suggests, but he's dropped down through injuries and the like - that's why he was given a wildcard entry. Realistically he's somewhere between 30 and 50. Still a huge shock.Djokovic knocked out by 133rd ranked Uzbek, Denis Istomin
What Ital said, Istomin is similar to Del Potro in that injuries have taken their toll on his ranking.
Still, good to see the big bad Djok out. He needs less gluten.
For sure. Looking at his career ranking history, 30 might be a bit at the top end, given his all time high was 33, and he was only in the Top 40 for 2 months of his career.
He knocked off some big scalps along the way. He's injury-prone though. He occupies the same territory as, say, Nicholas Mahut in terms of quality, from what I've seen of him. Occasional big scalps, and generally good for a couple of rounds in a slam. Never going to threaten the second week though.
30 is a bit high, I'll grant. But he's certainly capable of pulling that level of performance out, if not on a regular basis.
Istomin was only ranked that low because of all the gluten he eats.
And the drugs he doesn't take.
Istomin already sounds like a PED.
He had a 1 in 32 record against top 10 players, so it's about as big a shock as they come. Particularly since it looked like Djokovic won in Qatar and looked on the way to his best again.
I'm a Djokovic fan but now that he's out I'd like to see a new slam winner this tournament.
Some nice ties coming up - Federer/Berdych, Tsonga/Sock, Tomic/Evans.
Ooof, just seen Nadal will be against Zverev. And Konta v Wozniacki.
I'd like Murray to complete the career grand slam just so Mahow can complete his grand seethe.
He's got as good shot as he'll ever get in the next few months.
That's a quality euphemism for a wanking sock. Tell your mate about it, @igor_balis
Federer rolling back the years against Berdych. This is absolutely vintage stuff. He's in some kind of touch.
Is Federer the last player who I'm going to actually enjoy watching? I used to like Sampras as well. I don't know who else of that ilk is around. Goffin, lol.
I can't stand power/endurance tennis. Nadal = the devil.
Nishikori?
Not seen a lot of him. Tell me he has a single handed backhand.
Watched the Federer match. You're right, Ital. That was pretty unreal.
I don't think you'd like Nishikori, Jim. Catch Dimitrov sometime.
Good of Tomic to turn up in his board shorts. What a pleb. He and Kyrgios must be just about the most 'un-Australian' sportsmen going.
The Nadal Zverev match was a bit of an epic. Zverev got cramps (after a never-ending rally) and looked pretty much done physically and mentally toward the end. He's going to be big though, big big big. Probably world number 1.
The commentator came up with a good stat. Zverev had played 5 matches that had gone 5 sets in his career. Nadal... 331.
Most hated ATM that don't beat their wives.
The Zverev brothers are both pretty decent. When was the last time two brothers met in a Grand Slam?
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