Australian Open.

[Guest Princess Leena]

The biggest sports event in the world in January is underway. On ESPN for the next 2 weeks.

 

Discuss.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

The women's draw looks pretty interesting.

 

The men's draw is a coronation for Roger Federer.

[Guest Princess Leena]

This year will probably be the end of the run of interesting Aussie Opens with great matches. The men's draw is decimated by injuries. Roger has about 1% chance of losing before the final... and that consists of his ankle falling off.

 

Women's Tennis has been horrible for a while, and it will be no different here. I'm expecting one of the Willies to try for 2 weeks, win, then half-ass and focus on "acting" or whatever they do for the rest of year again.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Biggest sports event in the world? I thought it was the least important of the Grand Slams. Wimbledon > US > French > Australian. At any rate, there have been a lot of good Aussie matches; I remember Roddick-El Aynaoui being pretty crazy. Unfortunately, school + tape delay makes it hard for me to follow the event

[muzz 0]

I'm going to claim that it is the biggest event, even if it isn't.

 

Since New York is apparently the greatest city in the world.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Biggest sports event in the world?

 

In January. Although, I'm pretty sure it gets the biggest crowds of all the Grand Slams, anyway.

[Guest Princess Leena]

And Venus is already gone in the first hours of the tourney. Yay!

[naiwf 0]

The Tennis Gods have granted me one of my three wishes by bouncing Venus early. Now all we need is Roddick and Serena flaming out and I can call this two weeks a positive. If they'd like to bump Sharapova early, that'll be fine as well.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Serena losing to Na Li today wouldn't be a huge stretch. Serena is looking extra fat lately. Roddick, bleh. I kinda want him to win... because 4r vs. Ginepri would be pretty fun.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Serena is looking extra fat lately.

That ain't fat that's a 9-10 ass! (I think)

 

I also hope Serena is sent home early

[Prime Time Andrew Doyle 0]

I'm pretty sure it gets the biggest crowds of all the Grand Slams, anyway.

 

The only reason we get big crowds down here is because of a couple of reasons

 

a) Because it is a sport. People in Australia, especially Melbourne, LOVE sport. If it can be classified as a sport, we will go to it no matter how boring it is.

 

b) Because it summer, we can all go there and dress up and chant and drink in the sun for an entire day. Add in the fact that a good tennis match has a lot of suspence, it is an awesome day out

 

and finally

 

c) Now I'm not sure if this could also apply for the other Grand Slam cities, but where Rod Laver arena is located, it is just outside of the city, yet close enough that you could probably call it a part of the city, so if people have nothing to do for the day they can just get on a train or a tram and they are right there.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Serena is looking extra fat lately.

That ain't fat that's a 9-10 ass! (I think)

 

I also hope Serena is sent home early

 

Yes, she's always had the ass... but, in recent pics, she's looking noticeably bigger. And she won in 3 sets today. Blah.

 

But, anyway, she's not winning. And bye-bye Top 20 when her points from winning Aus Open last year come off.

 

I think Aussie Open ticket sales will plummet when you're finally moved to March, which should have happened a long time ago. It's the only slam currently where kids have off school for summer (outside of Wimbledon, where only rich people can go).

[The Czech Republic 0]

You know who I miss? Patrick Rafter. I heard he was giving it to Jelena Dokic pretty hard.

[Guest Princess Leena]

No... Dokic was with some fag singer. I don't think she's with anyone now. And Rafter retired because he had a kid with someone.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Was the 2001 Wimbledon final the last match for Rafter as well as Ivanisevic? I'm pretty sure it was.

EDIT: okay, no. I guess Rafter stuck around for a year, and Goran tried to come back in '04. Should've quit after Wimbledon.

[naiwf 0]

Was the 2001 Wimbledon final the last match for Rafter as well as Ivanisevic? I'm pretty sure it was.

 

According to the ATP site Goran quit after losing to Hewitt at Wimbledon in '04. Rafter retired in '02 and his last tour match was at the Masters Cup in '01, losing to you guessed it, Lleyton 'The Legend Killer' Hewitt

[Guest Princess Leena]

Rafter quit at the end of 2001.

 

Goran's made ill-fated attempts to play on fast surfaces the past few years, and has had injuries. He's still not retired, as he wanted to play Davis Cup last month... despite only playing in the dinosaur tour with fellow old fogies.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Mullet Hewitt > Buzzcut Hewitt, I don't care what anyone says.

[Guest Princess Leena]

That's not the head you focus on when watching Hewitt.

 

He's ugly, but the boy is very well hung.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Well if we're gonna take it in that direction

 

"Mary Pierce is down a set, but you'd never guess from watching"

[Guest Princess Leena]

Was the 2001 Wimbledon final the last match for Rafter as well as Ivanisevic? I'm pretty sure it was.

 

According to the ATP site Goran quit after losing to Hewitt at Wimbledon in '04. Rafter retired in '02 and his last tour match was at the Masters Cup in '01, losing to you guessed it, Lleyton 'The Legend Killer' Hewitt

 

Feh. Pat was a total lame duck for the Masters Cup that year. We'd like to remember him for the final Davis Cup win over Grosjean.

[naiwf 0]

Hewitt is easily the best player to watch in all of tennis between having opponents spit at him, racially tinged comments, the Vischt, his obnoxious COME ON'S!, and generally being a surly prick on and off the court. Losing his mullet only took away a fraction of his greatness.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Lleyton is actually quite nice, off court. Although, that was when he was with Kim. And his game sucks now. He'll probably win today, but he's obviously not all there mentally.

[Guest Princess Leena]

Who else is staying up until 3:30am to watch Martina Hingis?

 

For those of you who don't know her opponent, Vera Zvonareva... she's fucking crazy. Like, crazier than me. She's known for the worst temper tantrums on tour. And crying for no reason.

 

I highly suggest recording this one.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Who else is staying up until 3:30am to watch Martina Hingis?

 

For those of you who don't know her opponent, Vera Zvonareva... she's fucking crazy. Like, crazier than me. She's known for the worst temper tantrums on tour. And crying for no reason.

 

I highly suggest recording this one.

 

Is it actually on? My cable listings show a bunch of random garbage on ESPN and ESPN 2 (bowling, Matchup of the Millenium, and so on). If that's 12:30 am pacific and it's on for sure, then yeah I'm watching it (I've always had a thing for Martina Hingis).

 

Oh, and Richard Gasquet got upset in the first round, which just makes Federer's road to the title that much easier. Aside from Nalbandian, is there even anyone left in the tournament who has ever beaten him? He will dust off Leyton if they meet up again, as usual.

[Guest Princess Leena]

It's on. At the last minute, ESPN decided to show live night matches at 3:30am because losers like me at certain message boards kept bugging them to do so!

 

Federer's road didn't get easier. Haas was the huge favorite to beat Gasquet. While Dick Gasket is talented, he was injured late last year, and has about zero confidence... which was very apparent in what ESPN showed of the match. And Haas beat Roger in the Kooyong exhibition, last week. But, Roger isn't losing here, so whatever.

 

And players in the field who have beat Federer:

 

Lleyton actually owned him early in their careers... now, Hewitt has 0% chance.

 

Haas as mentioned before.

 

Probable 3rd round opponent, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi has beat him a couple times, including 2002 US Open.

 

QF opponent Kolya Davydenko should have beat him at last Olympics before Berdych did.

 

But, Roger isn't losing here. So, meh.

[naiwf 0]

Who else is staying up until 3:30am to watch Martina Hingis?

 

For those of you who don't know her opponent, Vera Zvonareva... she's fucking crazy. Like, crazier than me. She's known for the worst temper tantrums on tour. And crying for no reason.

 

I highly suggest recording this one.

 

I will give it a go, hopefully it'll be over in an hour or so either way though I'd love to see Martina make it to at least the 3rd round or so just to get her ranking up.

[Guest Princess Leena]

This Australian Open is especially important for rankings. I won't get too involved in it, but they basically reset a couple weeks after AO, and will only count 2006 results. And no more bonus points.

 

I really REALLY hope Tina wins. WTA needs her so desperately badly right now. She'd get squashed by a hot Mahree Pierce in the 3rd round... but, Martina needs some wins so she stays confident, and wants to keep playing.

[naiwf 0]

This Australian Open is especially important for rankings. I won't get too involved in it, but they basically reset a couple weeks after AO, and will only count 2006 results. And no more bonus points.

 

I really REALLY hope Tina wins. WTA needs her so desperately badly right now. She'd get squashed by a hot Mahree Pierce in the 3rd round... but, Martina needs some wins so she stays confident, and wants to keep playing.

 

I don't want to derail the topic too much, but I'm very happy with the removal of bonus points. Now the Williamses can't play 10 times a year against top competition and pick up 1/3 or more of their points just by beating people in the top 50. I really wanted Serena to lose in the first round so her points could plummet to the point where she was ranked in the 40's, but it simply wasn't to be. I didn't see any of her match with Li, did you? If so, how did Serena look?

[Guest Princess Leena]

I didn't watch any of Serena's match. I think they didn't replay it. Apparently, Serena sucked. The lack of bonus points doesn't affect players like the Williams', too much. It only did for Serena because she got a ridiculous amount for winning AO last year, something like 1200 points.

 

It's more a weak attempt to get more higher ranked players to play more tourneys, especially the lower ones. But, it won't work.

 

I like it simply because beating top players doesn't mean as much anymore. For example, Garbin beating Justine at '03 French Open. The 200 bonus points alone for beating a sickly #1 raised her ranking from 100 to 50. And shit Top 10 players, especially Russians, who play 30 tournaments a year, thus boosting their ranking higher than where it should be... and losing 1st round half the time because they overplay.