Real McCoy 5,428 Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 (edited) Was looking forward to AO this year. I signed up for sonyliv to watch this mainly not the ind tour of aus. But now Fed is not playing Will he ever return is the question. AO is up for grabs. Novak is the fav but if he loses to some youngster, Rafa can win it and overtake Roger here itself and also have a double career slam in all GS. Ideally I would prefer him to win it at RG as its very special to him. @Gollum@I6MTW@Cricketics@velu your thoughts? Edited January 1 by Real McCoy Gollum and Cricketics 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Gollum 25,745 Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Gutted that Fed is out, honestly think this is the end of the road for him. Had multiple knee surgeries, unable to train hard or recover in time, soon going to be 40. That 2019 Wimbledon choke will haunt me for the rest of my life. Rooting for Thiem and Med, Rafa won't win this much I can tell you, he is cursed at AO , will overtake the Swiss at RG unless he gets injured. Nole will always be a factor especially in this event, but I think he has declined. Unless he rediscovers his BH mojo very tough road ahead for him especially against the younger gen guys who aren't afraid of him. In fact Nole will be sad to see Fed out, since he could have relied on Fed to take out one of these dangerous younger players only to get blown away against him in SF or F. I will probably give it a skip in initial rounds and start watching QF onwards. Really missing Fed now. Real McCoy and Cricketics 2 Link to post Share on other sites
velu 24,553 Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 RaFa fan .. cant wait to see Rogers fans crying Gollum 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Real McCoy 5,428 Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 @velu Roger fans have made peace with the fact that Rafa or Novak or both will overtake him as early as W19 loss. Most of us just want to see Roger play as much as can atleast as far as I'm concerned. Many Rafa fans and Nole fans have commented that AO is losing sheen since Roger is not playing in tennis forums. He has missed USO, FO and now AO. The same ones who annoy Roger fans for attention are missing his presence. What an irony. Its the Federer effect Gollum and velu 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites
I6MTW 671 Posted January 1 Share Posted January 1 Sad to see Federer out. It seems like it's the end of the road for him. I think Thiem and Medvedev are the favourites to win. Djokovic of course is always a threat at AO, but considering his level the past year and the fact that he should've lost the AO final last year, I wouldn't put it past him to lose before the SF-F stage. His focus is anyway on catching Federer's 310 weeks at No 1 record which is almost 99.9% certain. Gollum 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Cricketics 11,134 Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 It is begining to sink in that Federer’s end is very near. I do know and feel that he will be back and won’t quit just like that. I hope he does and I know Tennis world wants to see him few more times before he quit. Regarding this tournament, well it is in Feburary for the first time. Looking forward to see all the rusty players or may be for the first time at their best? Generally many players come into Aus open with not much play due to off season months of Nov/December and are challenged by the qualifiers in January. This time around they might have just eithee practiced a lot more due to lockdown, or some might have practiced a lot less. I think mentally, this will be a different slam to French and US Open from recent history which were both played in pandemic. Great to see Murray back and into the main draw. I expect Djokovic to win this. Gollum 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Chalks 111 Posted January 3 Share Posted January 3 (edited) AO is on February 8-21 this year. Bad luck for school kids, because school year starts end of Jan/beginning of Feb here. AO is Djoker’s to lose, even in February (when Melbourne might be even hotter than in January). Thiem, Med next best chances. On the women’s side, would really love to see the local hero Ash Barty win it (1978 was the last time an Aussie won her home slam - Chris O’Neil), but fear she might be a bit underdone having not played for nearly a year. On Roger, I feel he might play Wimbledon, then maybe decide on his future. Edited January 3 by Chalks Link to post Share on other sites
Stan AF 4,525 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 Are people still watching tennis these days?. Why don't they just give the AO trophy to Nole and French to Nadal. Waste of a tournament really. Link to post Share on other sites
I6MTW 671 Posted January 27 Share Posted January 27 5 hours ago, Stan AF said: Are people still watching tennis these days?. Why don't they just give the AO trophy to Nole and French to Nadal. Waste of a tournament really. The only open slam these days is USO. Even Wimbledon is a sure victory for Nole. Hopefully AO gets a new winner as it was so close to one last year. Link to post Share on other sites
Cricketics 11,134 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 So apparently there was a brilliant game between Shappo and Sinner, need to catch the highlights. Missed that game. Link to post Share on other sites
I6MTW 671 Posted February 9 Share Posted February 9 Potential Nadal-Fognini and Stanimal-Nole clashes in the 4th round. Look to be exciting encounters. Link to post Share on other sites
Real McCoy 5,428 Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 On 2/9/2021 at 9:16 PM, I6MTW said: Potential Nadal-Fognini and Stanimal-Nole clashes in the 4th round. Look to be exciting encounters. Stan lost to fucsovic who will lose to raonic who will lose to nole. rafa will easily beat a tired fognini or de minaur to advance. This has the making of a repeat of AO19 Link to post Share on other sites
I6MTW 671 Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 4 hours ago, Real McCoy said: Stan lost to fucsovic who will lose to raonic who will lose to nole. rafa will easily beat a tired fognini or de minaur to advance. This has the making of a repeat of AO19 No, unlike AO19, there's a red hot Medvedev and an experienced Thiem waiting . Plus Zverev and Tsitsipas are no pushovers, they'll at least take a set or two. I wouldn't be surprised if neither of Nole or Rafa make it to the final. Link to post Share on other sites
Real McCoy 5,428 Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 22 hours ago, I6MTW said: No, unlike AO19, there's a red hot Medvedev and an experienced Thiem waiting . Plus Zverev and Tsitsipas are no pushovers, they'll at least take a set or two. I wouldn't be surprised if neither of Nole or Rafa make it to the final. We'll see what happens I'm picking AO19 repeat even after today's abdomen "tear" to Nole Link to post Share on other sites
I6MTW 671 Posted February 13 Share Posted February 13 8 hours ago, Real McCoy said: We'll see what happens I'm picking AO19 repeat even after today's abdomen "tear" to Nole Nadal also has back issues. We'll see if they're really injured or not. Link to post Share on other sites
Cricketics 11,134 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Gentlemen. We have arrived at PreQuarter Finals finally. This is it. Nadal vs Fognini should be fun. Link to post Share on other sites
I6MTW 671 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Karatsev's run is the most unexpected I've seen in a long time. Thiem down, one of the worst performances I've ever seen from him. Link to post Share on other sites
Cricketics 11,134 Posted February 14 Share Posted February 14 Wait wtf happened there. Theim routed straight sets to Grigor? Dimitrov isn’t bad but straight sets defeat for Thiem? Has to be injury there after that kind of performance which he out in 3rd round. Link to post Share on other sites
Real McCoy 5,428 Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 On 2/13/2021 at 6:10 AM, I6MTW said: Nadal also has back issues. We'll see if they're really injured or not. Both are playing mind games on their opponents. While nole may have been injured in that 3rd round match, he described it as a "tear" in the post match interview. Such a tear would have made it impossible to play for atleast 2 months. Obviously it wasnt a tear as he beat Raonic easily. In fact Raonic seemed to move gingerly with his knee but didnt complain or take MTOs. Everytime raonic played a good shot, Nole would grunt like he is dying and reach for his abs. i guess its a boy who cried wolf kinda scenario. He has done so many fake MTOs in the past to disrupt the opponent that when an actual injury occured, everyone including the crowd and some players on tour dont believe him. Fritz, Kokkinakis questioned it and even Rafa said he played well in the 5th set. Rafa himself is no angel. He is the one who started this stuff in the first place. I won't be surprised if an "injured abs" Nole would play lights out tennis against rafa like in AO19 and the runner up speech from Rafa would highlight his back issues which won't be mentioned once the clay season starts. Link to post Share on other sites
Real McCoy 5,428 Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 6 hours ago, Cricketics said: Wait wtf happened there. Theim routed straight sets to Grigor? Dimitrov isn’t bad but straight sets defeat for Thiem? Has to be injury there after that kind of performance which he out in 3rd round. Whats more worrying is he was bageled in the last set. He is no.3 in tennis shows the future of tennis. Roger, Rafa, Nole were champions when they were 21, 19, 20 respectively. Thiem is 27. No one has become champions at their early 20s. I wont be surprised if the big 3 continue for the next decade Cricketics 1 Link to post Share on other sites
