Aus Open Day 4:

Sharapova (33) vs Sevastova (14)
Djoko (14) vs Monfils (33)
Strut your Struff (33) vs Fed (2)
Thiem (5) vs Kudla (33)
Kerber (21) vs Vekic (33)
Bouchard (33) vs Halep (1)
Sandgren (33) vs Stan (9)
Khachanov (33) vs Delpo (12)
Konta (9) vs Pera (33)
Chung (33) vs Medvedev (33)
Mannarino (26) vs Vesely (33)

Sharapova, Djok, Struff, Kudla, Kerber, Bouchard, Stan, Delpo, Pera, Chung, Manny
Bulge: shara, djok, fed, thiem, kerber, bouchard, stan, delpo, konta, chung, manna
T: shara, monfils, struff, kudla, vekic, genie, sandgren, delpo, pera, chung, vesely
mikeY: shara, djok, fed, thiem, kerber, genie, stan, delpo, konta, medvedev, vesely

Monfils, Thiem, Delpo, Vesely.

Djok will be rusty as hell, I feel.  But if anyone can mess it up, it's Monfailure.

Sharapova (33)
Djoko (14)
Strut your Struff (33)
Kudla (33)
Kerber (21)
Halep (1)
Sandgren (33)
Delpo (12)
Pera (33)
Chung (33)
Mannarino (26)

Sharapova, Ole him Nole, Fed, Thiem, Kerber, Halep, Stan, Delpo, Konta, Chung, Mannarino

Nole down 0:3, broken twice. The way he is playing so far would fill Jahu with Joy.

.... playing a little better now, gets one break back. 2:3.

3:3. Nole looking much sharper now

Monfils take the first set. Both players very inconsistent, mixing some good play with horrible errors. That is par for the course with Monfils, but obviously not typical for Novak.

If Novak is just rusty, he should be able to shake the rust off and win. If there are any other issues (e.g. elbow below 100%) then who knows.

Bedtime for me, so will find out tomorrow morning how it ended.

Picking it up at 2/3 on serve. Monfils serving. Starts with a 24shot rally. Monfils is dead. Looks like he is going to die. It seems extremely hot and Monfils still wins the game but simply does not try to win the next game by simply not even looking at Djoko's serve. Goes to his bench and asks for doctor.

Good morning everyone!
I am joining the “watch” 

Why don’t they clsemthe roof?

dunno. it's awful to watch.

A perfect example of players being knackered after one set.

c'mon Monfils! give up! don't make that ugly show!

this isn't tennis.

Wow, this is bad.

I am sure we would have seen a better match under the roof.

But the roof seems to close only for Serena in Australia.

That much for equal pay.

Good to see a composed Nole and one Step-like point.

Difficult to assess his level,  but def looks looser inside.

Some great shots, but some rusty, too.

All in all, Monfils is dragging this one down.

Cool - Bee Geese & Staying Alive.

The crowd would’ve had more fun watching Monfils dance.

Nole’s elbow doesn’t look happy with these DFs.
But no body language signs of any struggle like in the past.

Suddenly, the dead Monfils is full of energy.

not enough energy though.

Now it's Delpo's turn to run out of breath. Dead on his feet.

Am watching a ladies match for a change. Giorgi is a quite big hitting girl, but what she has to do to put the ball away against not-so-quick-Barty...it's annoying
Evening conditions are not that fast are they?

not sure....just watched a bit of it and I don;t think either hit hard. Giorgi can't keep them in.

forgot how annoying was the scheduling for the AO. A bext of 5 start at 10pm is wrong....especially for a 36yo.

A commentator who played on the courts this year and last said the balls fluff up more this year. Last year the fluff was getting less and less making the ball faster as it went along.

Tenez wrote:A commentator who played on the courts this year and last said the balls fluff up more this year. Last year the fluff was getting less and less making the ball faster as it went along.

NAdal effect...

I can imagine TD's having wet dreams of NAdal getting his revenge this year..

Meanwhile, no signs of a neo BH so far..
It seems a little tight or out of sync. Not a weapon like last year yet.
And the FH on the run is becoming weakness, when he stretches hit nets it 2 out of 3 times
Serve is solid though

Stan is out 

I would have liked to see how Nadal woudl have handled Struff's power.

gallery play wrote:Stan is out 

Yep..a real knee problem unlike others!

gallery play wrote:Meanwhile, no signs of a neo BH so far..
It seems a little tight or out of sync. Not a weapon like last year yet.
And the FH on the run is becoming weakness, when he stretches hit nets it 2 out of 3 times
Serve is solid though

He usually gets better as the rounds advance....well that was before. Now he can get rusty and rustier.

This is a typical match where we see Fed focus on 1 break each set and rely on his better serve. He should wrap ut up with 6-4 6-4 6-3. But if little goes wrong, Fed could get in trouble and end up wasting way too many minutes on court

Tenez wrote:

gallery play wrote:Stan is out 

Yep..a real knee problem unlike others!

Yeah, Stan the man doesn't feign injuries. What you see is what you get.

Federer's language and attitude getting more aggressive like his game. He is having a go at the empire.

hmmm, i do not like Fed's form. He's not bossing Struff around, he's just serving well..

gallery play wrote:hmmm, i do not like Fed's form. He's not bossing Struff around, he's just serving well..

Yes but to be fair, Struff is really playing hard...and exposing Fed's mouvement. Any slower ball and you would see Fed getting confident and moving his player around.

A lot is down to Struff imo.

Fed looks good to me. Healthy. Beautiful footwork.
Returning well with the bh.
Smooth.

Going in third gear waiting for Strumpf to crack.

Tenez wrote:

gallery play wrote:hmmm, i do not like Fed's form. He's not bossing Struff around, he's just serving well..

Yes but to be fair, Struff is really playing hard...and exposing Fed's mouvement. Any slower ball and you would see Fed getting confident and moving his player around.

A lot is down to Struff imo.

True, but last year Fed knew how to handle a Berdych-ish game like Struff.

Anyway, he got the break. Like i said, one break each set and he'll be allright

And there goes BDTL, boom!

Should it be legal for Fed to take his shirt off in public?

noleisthebest wrote:Fed looks good to me. Healthy. Beautiful footwork.
Returning well with the bh.
Smooth.

Going in third gear waiting for Strumpf to crack.

This is so different from how i see it...he really doesn't hit well. He can't control Struff's fast ball. That's not vintage Fed

Ok, nice BH there.
First one this match?

SABR!!
perfectly well executed. Unfortunalty it was a let

gallery play wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Fed looks good to me. Healthy. Beautiful footwork.
Returning well with the bh.
Smooth.

Going in third gear waiting for Strumpf to crack.

This is so different from how i see it...he really doesn't hit well. He can't control Struff's fast ball. That's not vintage Fed

It’s just a second round and Fed is not playing flying tennis, I think he is sparing his energy.
Don’t forget he is a year older.

Much better now, he relaxed a bit, and bosses Struff around now

gallery play wrote:Much better now, he relaxed a bit, and bosses Struff around now

That’s because I started watching.

noleisthebest wrote:Should it be legal for Fed to take his shirt off in public?

Don't worry about it, since you have a pic of him shirtless on your nightstand

gallery play wrote:
True, but last year Fed knew how to handle a Berdych-ish game like Struff.

I had anticipated your response. I find Struff more powerful and unpredictable than Berds. Even if he not as complete a player as Berds he has a more aggressive game. Probably cause he knows he has nothing to lose.

gallery play wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:Should it be legal for Fed to take his shirt off in public?

Don't worry about it, since you have a pic of him shirtless on your nightstand

You just gave me an idea!
I may frame that photo of his BH from Wimbledon.

And now FHDTL.

Aaaaaaaaaahhhh.....

Struff must be 15 years younger than Fed and compare his and Feds footwork, looks like Struff is the older guy.

WOW, the ease with which Federer flicks that return dtl with his BH, standing ON the baseline...like he is hitting a shuttlecock...amazing!

Tournament should start to really get going in R3. There’s a few cracking looking matches. The section with  Dimi v Rublev and Tsonga v Kyrgios looks particularly good.

Nadal and Federer both have absolute cakewalks to the QF. However, the other two quarters look much more interesting. Zverev v Djokovic could be an absolute classic in R4. 

I think Nadal is more or less nailed on to make the final, Kyrgios (who is the player I could see beating him) needs to win three tough matches in a row just to get to the SF against Rafa. Bottom half looks a bit less certain, depending on how well Novak is actually playing. I haven’t seen Fed at all yet.