Australian Tennis Open.....all discussions etc here

well it starts today

my tips would be

Novak & Serena to take out their respective singles title, i know its not a brave tip but they both clearly look the best players on the planet

From what I have seen which is very little most of the Aussies is through to the second round so far

I think most of them are out of it now JT.

My tip, Serena Williams if she can go on after rolling an ankle and the Fed Xpress.

I know sorry probly only three left now

Obviously I'm biased to a degree with this - hence my avatar - but Jarmila Gajdosova has all the potential in the world and needs a sports psychologist to unlock it. She had every chance possible to take the second set but her shot selection at times was awful, even when the entire opposition court was gaping at her.

Needs a coach that teaches her to construct a point, not just utilise the "smash and clobber game". Her power is among the best on the women's tour, but needs much more patience in a point and a willingness to build the point gradually. Last night's game against Yanina Wickmayer (a top 25 player, admittedly) was incredibly frustrating to watch.

Are you sure it's just not the weight of expectation from the Aussie media and public? Perhaps that's where a sports psychologist can come into play. Make sure it's not one of the brainwashing ones that Cricket Australia use, otherwise she'll never hit the court again due to fake injuries created in the mind.

We expect all Aussie players to go deep in the Open, regardless of their ranking, and when they don't, they should either retire or a Parliamentary Inquiry needs to be opened to find out why we are so crap. The way some people treated Lleyton Hewitt after his loss (to the friggin #8 seed) was disgraceful. Obviously people with short-term memory loss forget that he won a ATP tournament last week.

TBH, I'm sick to death of media beating up small incidents and making mountains out of molehills. Sure, journalists are somewhat entitled to their opinion, but I want to read news that is factual, not some made up BS that maybe is going to get their outlet a bit more coin.

I can differentiate between a social network and a media outlet. I'm not so sure that people running media outlets can these days.

Overall, I think the sporting media is very reasonable and fair to Jarmila. They have accounted for the grief she is suffering at the loss of her mother last year and injuries also for much of 2012, and have not been particularly harsh on her at all really.

It has to be remembered, she was a top 30 player in 2011, so while allowing for the above, her overall form in 2012 has been very moderate at best with a large amount of first round exits. For a player of her talent - again, allowing for her 2012 difficulties - she really should be finding a greater degree of consistency at this stage of her career, and I am among her biggest fans in tennis.

Possibly, I mean I don't follow the tennis all that much, but we pretty much expect to be #1 in everything - rugby, cricket, tennis, swimming, etc etc etc, I just think that sometimes we go over the top in our expectations.

She has now competed in 9 Australian Opens and exited after round 1 in all of these attempts.
I fail to no how anyone has the "potential" after dipping out in round 1 of every Aussie Open she has competed in.

If Sam Stosur doesn't need a new coach and psychologist.........

was Maria Sharapova sending R&B a message on her bag at the end of her match ? if it wasn't for him i hope it was a message for me

Tell me more

well didn't Novak & Stan put on a magnificent match last night ? it had me enthralled throughout the 5 hours & 2 minutes, i doubt we'll see a better contest during the final days of the tournament ................... my burning question is can Novak recover in time for his next match ?

Novak's speech was full of class, sportsmanship & admiration for his opponent

Have only caught 'bits and peices' this year.

My Question is why so much dislike for Djokovic - I often read people's dislike for him - I actually like him - I think I must be missing something..lol.

A Mum wrote:Have only caught 'bits and peices' this year.

My Question is why so much dislike for Djokovic - I often read people's dislike for him - I actually like him - I think I must be missing something..lol.

i like him, he has humility & has humour, did you see what he did for that young boy ? = class act as are the majority of the tennis players

No didn't see what he did for the young boy.

I saw him make some officials day by doing 'gangnam style' dance with him for the camera

I love a good sense of humour - but I also admire that he can put on his 'game' face to get through his matches.