Men’s preview: Roger’s Open quest

It is almost 12 months since Roger Federer cradled his newly earned Australian Open trophy while his vanquished opponent Andy Murray stood by, tired, tear-stained and no doubt vowing to do better next time. In what seems to be a matter of moments, the next time is already nearly upon both them and us.

Federer himself finished the 2010 season strongly with a dominant week at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, culminating in victory over Rafael Nadal in the final. The string of performances the Swiss produced at the 02 Arena meant that his year was bookended with success, although the road between Melbourne and London contained more bumps and twists than anyone might have predicted.

Those fallow times Federer endured during 2010 included relatively early exits at the quarterfinal stage of Roland Garros and Wimbledon, the first of which saw Robin Soderling end Federer's extraordinary run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinal appearances. Federer's final flourish might have given him a surge of self-confidence at just the right time, the uneven nature of his form during 2010 should lend his 2011 Australian Open challenge an air of unpredictability.

Nadal might have looked the more tired by the time the last balls of the season were hit but then he had good cause to be. He so subjugated the rest of the field that he had all but secured the year-end No.1 spot even before he had won his first US Open to take three grand slam titles in a row and become the seventh man in history to have won all four majors.

That sparkling run means that Nadal will come to Melbourne with a chance of holding all four trophies at once, a feat famously dubbed 'the Serena slam' when Miss Williams completed her set. It will soon be renamed the 'the Rafa Slam' if the Spaniard manages it.

Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are likely to complete the quartet of top four seeds at the Australian Open, with the field set to become all the stronger with the return of Juan Martin Del Potro from a long-term wrist injury. Murray made the semifinals in London, having already made it a successful autumn with victory in the Shanghai Masters while Djokovic enjoyed a huge emotional high by helping Serbia to its first Davis Cup title.

Like Federer, the man who made him cry in Melbourne, Murray's highs came at the start and end of the season, with fluctuating fortunes in between. Ending the year as world No.4 making one Grand Slam final and the semifinal of another (at Wimbledon no less) is not too shabby for Murray, even if expectations for the talented Scot are always pitched so high that it somehow did not feel like quite enough. As for his own expectations, Murray, like Djokovic, will go into the Australian Open hoping to be both tearless and peerless this time around.

Tennis retains a capacity to surprise, and that has not changed since the last Australian Open. 2010 saw one or two genuine shocks in the men's game and there are bound to be more during 2011, though they will have to be thunderous to compete with Tomas Berdych beating Federer at Wimbledon or Yen-Hsun Lu knocking three-time finalist Andy Roddick out of the same event. When noting upsets, we would be remiss not to mention Lleyton Hewitt's surprise win over Federer in the final of the ATP event in Halle, even though the Australian is a former Wimbledon champion.

Hewitt's presence at his home Grand Slam in Melbourne will be most welcome, not least because the 30-year-old can always be relied upon to give his all when in front of a patriotic crowd. He will not be seeded but having recently been reunited with former coach Tony Roche, he could be dangerous to whomever the draw throws at him.

Whoever you barrack for, you would be advised to enjoy every moment of this coming Australian Open - before you know it, it will be time for the next one.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/new … 48062.html

Turniej główny:

Mathieu OUT
Falla IN

NEXT - Dimitrov


Kwalifikacje:

OUT - Beck, Brands, Luczak, Matosevic, Paire, Harrison, Ebdon, Zampieri, Delic, Krajinovic, Fischer, Ouahab, Kendrick, Falla (Molteni, Galvani ALT)
IN - Lobkov, Donskoy, Groth, Jones, Nielsen, Brizzi, Gutierrez-Ferrol, Middlekoop, Jouan, Stadler, Dancevic, Brezac, Wolmarans, Trevisan

NEXT - Bester, Metkic, Reix

DUN I LOVE napisał:

J.C. Ferrero OUT
F.Gonzalez OUT

K. Beck IN
D. Brands IN

Rezerwowi:
1. Falla
2. Dimitrov
3. Bolelli

Dopiero teraz zauważyłem. Dzięki Bogu. Ten Rafa Slam był naprawdę realny

polo90 napisał:

Zauważyłem dziwną okoliczność. Kilku zawodników którzy zgłosili się do kwalifikacji Australian Open zgłosiło się też do kwalifikacji turniejów w Auckland i Sydney.
Nie wiem jak więc planują pogodzić oba starty???. Do Auckland zgłosili się: Van Der Merwe, Lojda, Smyczek. Do Sydney: Korolev.
Czy ktoś z was zna odpowiedź dlaczego tak się stało???.

Zawodnicy nie wierzą w swoje umiejętności i ani  myślą o awansie do 1/4 turnieju głównego tych eventów

Ostatnio edytowany przez asiek (07-01-2011 13:57:54)

A gdyby jednemu z nich udało się przebić do turnieju głównego to specjalnie by przegrał
Bezsensowne. Moim zdaniem nie powinni występować w tych turniejach. Później by powiedzieli:,, O kurcze doszedłem za daleko muszę przegrać".
A wyobrażacie sobie teoretyczną sytuacje w której gra w turnieju głównym dwóch zawodników zgłoszonych do kwalifikacji Australian Open. Ten kto wygra napewno nie wystąpi w kwalifikacjach AO bo nie zdąży. Chyba grają z nastawieniem: ,,a zagram sobie jak będzie za dobrze to specjalnie przegram".

Dziennik Herald Sun przygotował podstronę AO. Jakby ktoś poszukiwał newsów to polecam, choć i tak pewnie ważniejsze z nich pojawią się u nas w tematach zawodników.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/australian-open-2011

jaccol55 napisał:

Somdev Devvarman

Będzie to pierwszy występ Indyjczyka w turnieju głównym AO.

Chyba Hindusa

Ostatnio edytowany przez Kazik (09-01-2011 13:34:57)

Zawsze wydawało mi się, że forma Hindus jest w takim przypadku jedynie używana, no ale jeśli Indyjczyk też może być to spoko, chociaż przyznam, że brzmi ona co najmniej dziwnie Poza tym edytor tekstu zaznaczył mi go na czerwono

Ostatnio edytowany przez Kazik (09-01-2011 16:17:00)

polo90 napisał:

O której godzinie losowanie kwalifikacji ???.

Hm... rzeczywiście nie ma żadnego info na ten temat nigdzie...

Australian Open - Agassi tips Nadal to win Oz Open



World number one Rafael Nadal has been laid low by flu this week but Andre Agassi is confident the illness will not scupper the Spaniard's chances of winning the Australian Open later this month.

Nadal could become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time should he triumph at Melbourne Park.

However, his illness has cast some doubt over whether he will be able to last the distance by playing seven matches in the unforgiving Australian heat.

"He (Rafa) came off dominating the year (2010) and he took a healthy break after the US Open, so he is going to be rested and confident," former world number one Agassi said on Saturday at the Rise of Legends exhibition in Taiwan.

"(Roger) Federer also played fantastically at the end of the year. I think it's a close race between these two players but Nadal has a bigger chance now," added the American.

The 24-year-old Nadal silenced all his detractors, who had written him off in 2009 after he was dogged by tendinitis in both knees, by winning the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S Open titles within three months in 2010.
Ominously for the Spaniard's rivals, Agassi warned that he had not reached his peak.

"Nadal is not even at his prime yet, he is still getting better. Nothing Nadal does will surprise me anymore," said Agassi.
"It's not easy to reach (Bjorn) Borg's record at Wimbledon but it's amazing what the Spanish player has done at Wimbledon with the game he has."

Borg won five Wimbledon titles and on three occasions followed victory at the French Open with success at the grasscourt major. Nadal has already won back-to-back French Open and Wimbledon titles twice.

Nadal, who was unable to defend his Wimbledon crown two years ago because of painful knees, has been an outspoken critic of the men's calendar which he believes does not allow players to take a long enough break.

Although the ATP season will be shortened by two weeks from next year, Agassi feels the players need to listen to their bodies more instead of simply fulfilling their commitments.

"After I was world number one, I did not have to care about being number one of the world for two, three, or four years in a row," said the eight-times grand slam champion.

"I just focused very much on keeping myself healthy and trying to prepare (for the) big tournaments. I made very good decisions that allowed me to play longer."

Reuters

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/08012011/58/ … -open.html

Robertinho napisał:

4r Kola - 1/4 Marej, ciekawe czy ktoś wejdzie na taką minę?

Mam nadzieję, że nie my. Toż to grozi rozległym wylewem.