Oz open prediction game - Day 9!

Joker available!

Venus Williams  [13] vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova  [24]
CoCo Vandeweghe (33) vs. Garbiñe Muguruza  [7]
Stan Wawrinka [8] vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [24]
Mischa Zverev (33) vs. Roger Federer [17]
Caroline Garcia-Kristina Mladenovic [1] vs. Ashleigh Barty-Casey Dellacqua (16)
Ivan Dodig-Marcel Granollers [9] vs.Bob Bryan-Mike Bryan [3]
Pablo Carreno Busta- Guillero Garcia-Lopez (12) vs. Alex Bolt-Bradley Mousley (12)
Raquel Atawo-Yifan Xu (11) vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands-Lucie Safarova [2]

Venus, Coco, Stan, Feds (joker), Dellacqua, Dodig, Lopez, Safa

Bulge: Venus, Coco (joker), Stan, Feds, Garcia-mlad, Bryans, Busta-Lopez, Sands-Safarova

T: venus, coco (joker), fed, dellacqua, bryans, bolt, safa
OK: venus, mug, tsonga (joker), fed, garcia-mlad, bryans, busta, mattek

Thanks LS!

Pavly, Coco, Jo-ker, Federerererer, CGKM, IDMG, PCBGGL, BMSLS

Nadal: But I hope to be ready for it. I need to be very focused with my serve and play aggressive. If I am not playing aggressive, then I am dead, because he (Raonic) plays aggressive. You know finally he going to have chances on the return because he decides to play with going for the shots, so...

I hope women's matches take ages.... I want to see Stan-Tsonga, it should be a great match.

Tsonga was so good in AO 08 all those years ago...and I was so wrong about him then, thinking he was super arrogant to be jumping around and point to himself after wins...but how wrong I was...
He couldn't be more opposite than that...

In the meantime, he has gone wild with his hair, becoming a dad in April, still dreaming of winning a slam...

 I love both Stan and Jo, may the best man win!

And then we have Maestro and Misha Zverev.

Until I saw the end of that match vs Murray, I didn't have a clue Misha was a S&V-er.
And not just any S&V-er, a really good one!

I thought he was another Dodig, a percentage dullard...and a lot older than he was - he is actually same age as Murray!


Well...time to undo all past misconceptions...

So, on paper we should have a tennis feast!

yes tomorrow should be fun. Hope I can catch some of it.

Tenez wrote:Thanks LS!

Pavly, Coco, Jo-W, Federerererer, CGKM, IDMG, PCBGGL, BMSLS

Joker?

Done

Tenez wrote:Thanks LS!

Pavly, Coco, Jo-ker, Federerererer, CGKM, IDMG, PCBGGL, BMSLS

Someone's in a jolly mood tonight!

Stan is carrying some injury in the right leg. It has been heavily taped since the 2nd round, and today there is a bandage as all.

Daniel - Did your hear that on Eurosport?

Wilander and the other commentator saying that " even women ate getting older on tour. It takes more time to mature nowadays for men and women."

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:Stan is carrying some injury in the right leg. It has been heavily taped since the 2nd round, and today there is a bandage as all.

Yes but he seems still quite fast.

Its a real contest going on. Both playing great on their service games. All court tennis with many winners.

Who would be more dangerous for Roger? Stan or Tsonga?

Tenez wrote:Who would be more dangerous for Roger? Stan or Tsonga?

Its difficult to pick, Stan in BO5 can be extremely dangerous for anyone. It has been proven many times. 

Tsonga's BH can be exploited. But has a better net game compared to Stan.

I basically want anyone who if at all, beats Fed in semis to go on and win this slam. Tsonga has not shown in big moments in slam semis that he can play well enough to win. The AO2008 final he was a set up and playing great. And then loses the match.

In 2012 wimbledon, playing great and then loses tamely in semis.

RG was beating Djokovic and the loses.

Yes agree. Both can make federer run. I think Stan will be more dangerous.

Tsonga BH is such a liability.

I think Tsonga must have a very poor TB record. Anyone has any stats on this?

can check.....but I don't think he has....

There is some kind of conversation between the 2 and doesn't look like they agree on something... some argument perhaps about the crowd making noise.

Its French and I can't understand any word of it.

Tenez you got something?

Apparently Monfils has teh best TB record of teh last 52 weeks......amazing isn't it?

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:There is some kind of conversation between the 2 and doesn't look like they agree on something... some argument perhaps about the crowd making noise.

Its French and I can't understand any word of it.

Tenez you got something?

Nope I was looking for TB stats .

You might think I am taking the piss but the balls look to me smaller even on my screen.

It was obvious on a close up when Tsonga held it in his hand.

Stan is going to be very tough to beat. Let's not forget he is the last one to have won a slam.

Tenez wrote:Apparently Monfils has teh best TB record of teh last 52 weeks......amazing isn't it?

Yeah.. and perhaps he wanted to keep that record intact and hence  lost all 3 sets with no TBs.

Stan wins in 3.. it was a good performance except the 1st server % needs to be higher than 54%.

Fed on court, come on baby!! quick 3 sets.

There were 2000 fans watching Feds training.

Stan played great.

This will be quick, less then 2h match and some nice S & V.

Zverev should stay at the baseline, no one beats Fed at the net, he ain't Andy!!

What a start to the match!

Tennis as it's meant to be played.
Fed firing FH with the whip, painting lines....

Tenez wrote:Stan is going to be very tough to beat. Let's not forget he is the last one to have won a slam.

Yeah. Not out of the question that Stan heads to Wimbledon looking to sew up the 4-in-a-row.

I'm always waiting for those moments when Federer realises how high he's standing and gets vertigo. He's done it so many times I can't help but be a touch wary.

19 min and 1st set done...

Missed Tsonga Stan.

Expected a closer score. 
Couldn't Tsonga make use of fast courts on his serve and FH like when he won nis first masters a few years ago?

Fed's passing shots....are crazy!

Fed cleaning the ball so cleanly...it's breath-taking to watch, I can imagine how he must be feeling...doing it!!!!!

This is the tennis number 17 and number 50 are producing here.....

bogbrush wrote:I'm always waiting for those moments when Federer realises how high he's standing and gets vertigo. He's done it so many times I can't help but be a touch wary.

and here we go.....

This is actually very taxing for the body, esp heart, to play this tennis.
Tests you to the limits.

T, are you watchng?

No, he is writing an article about Fed wining AO, just to have it ready.

Federer is such a much better returner than Djoko and Murray WHEN the conds are fast.

Murray and Djoko (and Nadal)'s returns are based on standing further back and quick mouvement. If the ball doesn't slow down then the quick mouvement is not enough.

Whereas fed stands close and flicks everything back.

Ok, hopefully that was the key set. Time for Federer to press home and do some great work on the energy conservation front.

This so good...better than Mozart's 21st and 22nd.
It just has something extra potent that lifts the heart like nithing else.

Yes he cannot afford to be dragged down. Had his chance in that first game 3rd set.

Zverev has somewhat settled into this match..

Tenez wrote:Yes he cannot afford to be dragged down. Had his chance in that first game 3rd set.

This. I've lost count of the number of times he starts like a God and then joins the mortals. That 2006 RG final was a painful case in point.

Does anyone remember the discussion I had with Lydian about the Fed v Pete Wimbledon match?

He was saying that Fed at 19 was closer to his peak than Pete at 29....LOL how wrong was he again!