Aus Open Day 4:

oh...we have a match now. Struff hitting hard and really hurting Fed's mouvement.

Tenez wrote:oh...we have a match now. Struff hitting hard and really hurting Fed's mouvement.

You don’t really believe that, do you?

I reckon Fed must have said no to that horrible black/pink “night” outfit Rubi, Kyrgios and Tiafoe were wearing.

Struff is playing well for a 2nd round cakewalk draw.

Many of his shots have bith power and more importantly great lemgth.

Feds form certainly dropping.

Fed's still serving well but I remember he coudl hit over 200kmh easily in the past but tonight I have not see a serve that hard.

Tenez wrote:Fed's still serving well but I remember he coudl hit over 200kmh easily in the past but tonight I have not see a serve that hard.

I think he’s just trying to conserve as much energy as possible for week 2.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Fed's still serving well but I remember he coudl hit over 200kmh easily in the past but tonight I have not see a serve that hard.

I think he’s just trying to conserve as much energy as possible for week 2.

mmh maybe. Or he is trying to serve softer to protect his back...but he places the ball so well anyway.

Looks like Fed has a cold.

Not stopping him from playing well.
I am glad I skipped the gym.

Wow. Fed did well to keep those BHs in.

BH holding well in the TB.

I am not watching - but aren't you both rather over-analysing this?

I doubt Fed is trying to conserve energy for the next round at the business end of a winnable 3rd set if that means he'll face a possibly unnecessary 4th set.  Matches often follow a pattern of the favourite proceeding relatively OK until towards the end of the third set the opponent starts seeing the 'exit sign' and ups his game; another familiar pattern is that the opponent front loads the effort and then fades after losing a tight first set.

Tenez wrote:Wow. Fed did well to keep those BHs in.

You are right about the 15 years of emotions Fed gave us, and is still doing so.

Just that path/passage from the burning heart going to the lump in the throat finishing in misty eyes...even after beating Strumff in R2!

It may sound exhaggerated, but it really is like that.

The warm, silent glow.

It's a bit of shame he hasn't got that 26yo body anymore with today's shots and racquet.

I don;t think he was saving energy either. Just that Struff played like he had nothing to lose.

noleisthebest wrote:

Tenez wrote:Wow. Fed did well to keep those BHs in.

You are right about the 15 years of emotions Fed gave us, and is still doing so.

Just that path/passage from the burning heart going to the lump in the throat finishing in misty eyes...even after beating Strumff in R2!

It may sound exhaggerated, but it really is like that.

The warm, silent glow.

And to add to this, I think Fed is the greatest livng artist at the moment.

I went to Caddigan Hall the other week to hear Joshua Bell, the finest violinist of our time, and he played Vivaldi’s four seasons beautifully...but he did not kindle the same passion and reached deep corners of soul like Federer does in Oz.

And it’s simply wonderful he can do it just with his racquet...create such feeling in people all over the world, who may have never heard a piece of classical music or seen a masterpiece on a gallery wall.

We are truly lucky to be his contemporaries.

A lot of good matches in the next round. I know some would compare Dhumzur with Gasquet.....but Fed has a tough one next. His luck is that Stan hasn't got Struff power so Fed will be able to do more with teh ball.

Chung Zverev will be interesting.

Tenez wrote:It's a bit of shame he hasn't got that 26yo body anymore with today's shots and racquet.

I don;t think he was saving energy either. Just that Struff played like he had nothing to lose.

Yes,  it’s a shame to see proofs of his mortality.

Like  Brigitte  Bardot wanting to be 20 again...

And now that we know and he knows how precious these last years are, the emotions are even crazier.

That win last year was total madness.
I was numb for 24 hours.

Tenez wrote:A lot of good matches in the next round. I know some would compare Dhumzur with Gasquet.....but Fed has a tough one next. His luck is that Stan hasn't got Struff power so Fed will be able to do more with teh ball.

Chung Zverev will be interesting.

I think Dzumhur is going to give Nadal a good match.
He can keep the ball in play and is a good mover.

At least he iffers some hope unlike last two rounds...

Chung Zverev will bencool as Chung wonnbaby WTF where Zverev was absent, so in a way maybe a real final from there.

If Chung is playing well like in Milan, it will be a close one.

I read that on court temperatures in Laver arena was about 60 degrees.

I really don’t know how Nole and Monf managed three hours in that couldron.

And here comes the surprise!
Apparently Nole asked for the day session!!!

barrystar wrote:I am not watching - but aren't you both rather over-analysing this?

I doubt Fed is trying to conserve energy for the next round at the business end of a winnable 3rd set if that means he'll face a possibly unnecessary 4th set.  Matches often follow a pattern of the favourite proceeding relatively OK until towards the end of the third set the opponent starts seeing the 'exit sign' and ups his game; another familiar pattern is that the opponent front loads the effort and then fades after losing a tight first set.

That’s the beauty of OTF

We wear our tennis thoughts and emotions in our sleeve...

When I said he was saving himself, I meant the whole of himself - mentally, emotionally.
You don’t expect Federer to play his best flying tennis against Struff?
No need for fifth gear, because that is what I believe exhausts him most.

Credit to Struff who played wall and was pushing Fed to play better, which he did at times...after which he looked like his form dropped.

A bit like Donskoy in Dubai last year, except that Fed wasn’t bithered as much as in Oz, obviously.

noleisthebest wrote:

Like  Brigitte  Bardot wanting to be 20 again....

She is wise enough not to be wanting to be 20 again. She is a very smart woman.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:

Like  Brigitte  Bardot wanting to be 20 again....

She is wise enough not to be wanting to be 20 again. She is a very smart woman.

I know, that’s why I mentioned her.

noleisthebest wrote:

We wear our tennis thoughts and emotions in our sleeve...

Exasperatingly, Federer does seem to have a similar effect on me too.  He is known as 'King Roger' in our family.  I'm sure that there are millions of pairs of nails that get bitten each time he steps on Court in a slam.

I hope he's got one more in him, maybe two - but as you so rightly point out, expecting 2017 mk II is ridiculous.

Fed just ok today, and that boy was hitting some good shots, nice net play he got too.

Stan goes home, guess not even 80% yet to recovery.

Struff played really well. I was surprised how he towered over Fed at the net because his movement was not like that sort of height.

He also didn’t throw the towel in and was giving it everything right to the last point.

Yeah, he wasnt scared, quite some BH too, Fed can be in danger from these big hitters now, not types of Isner/Karlo but these ones that can mix in a few other shots too.

Djoko was lucky today that Monfs totally melted on heat, Djoko somehow kept playing, but his shots seem pretty powerless and relying on ball retreval more.

What an idiot

Anything dumb for a few likes on FB, sad fuk.

I saw the first set of Fed.  I thought Struff played very well.  Super aggressive, both hitting with a lot of power and coming in as much as he could.  So it was an odd match without much rhythm and hard to tell how well Fed was playing.  My impression was that he looked ok.  Certainly better than in Rds 1&2 at the USO.

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

But if he had played at 5pm at 40 degrees, you would be complaining just the same.

They'd have had him playing nights no matter what.  So they're being unfair either way.

I don’t think they are being unfair either way as Fed asked to play in the evening session.
Fortunately, the weather is cooling down significantly from to orrow so it won’t make much difference.

summerblues wrote:

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

But if he had played at 5pm at 40 degrees, you would be complaining just the same.  

Of course I 'd be complaining too. At 36 and 19 slams, Fed deserves some special treatment.

Though my point was starting the eve session so late. It should start at 6pm.