Well, I won money on the Novak/Clijsters double, but I can't help but feel a bit dirty.
Novak played great tennis in both the semi and the final, but geez the Fed & Murray played poorly. I'll start with the latter; he will never win a GS until he believes he can. Everything after the third game tonight just stank of 'lack-of-belief.' Played far too safe, and the only time he showed some ticker, was when he was down 5-1 in the second set, when the outcome had already been decided. I think he has the game to win GSs, but that counts for nothing if you ain't got it upstairs.
Federer's effort in the semi final worried me too. Just looked too lackadasical, like he really didn't mind losing (I know he makes things look easy/care-free, but this was more than that). Even in his press conference after, I got the feeling that he was happy to fall back on his record, thinking that that would be sufficient way to defend his straight sets loss (i.e. I've bounced back before, so I can do it again, etc).
And don't get me started on the women's draw. Stosur? Hardly worth mentioning, but I seem to recall her saying that she couldn't figure out how she lost her match, after "...playing" so well. Newsflash Sam, hitting well isn't the same as playing well. You can pump as many weights and hit as many balls as you want, but you need to have it upstairs (I know, I know, broken record).
Now to 'Aussie Kim'... sure I love Clijsters, and would love for her to win every tournament she plays in from now til the end of her career, but it's hard to be a fan of the sport, when no one can hold their nerve at crucial moments. I mean, even in the final, I think six of the first seven games of the second set were won due to service breaks. Looking back, was there anyone who could beat Kim if she made the 2nd week...? Probably not.
A real lackluster Aus Open for mine. The Schiavone/Kuznetsova match aside, were there any real epic matches? Don't seem to remember any. Sure there have been five-setters, but long =/= epic.
Channel 7 continue their record as the worst sports broadcaster this country has ever seen. Coming back from an ad break after a point (or even a fault) is played, is simply not good enough. The on-air roles need a drastic overhaul too. Bruce, Sandy, Stubbs, Griggs were woeful, but the icing on the cake for me was the inclusion of Hamish McLaughlin. He doesn't even have to say anything, he just looks like a sloppy human being (refer to Simon O'Donnell), and just screams Ch7 fanboy. You can't tell me there are better people in the industry than that lot! Kudos to the Hewitt commentator experiment - one of the few things that they got lucky with. But throughout the two weeks, you could just feel it in Courier's voice, the guy's obviously frustrated that he has to work amongst such mediocrity. Wouldn't surprise me if he discontinues his contract within 2-3 years. Same goes for Sam Smith, the poor girl.
Novak played great tennis in both the semi and the final, but geez the Fed & Murray played poorly. I'll start with the latter; he will never win a GS until he believes he can. Everything after the third game tonight just stank of 'lack-of-belief.' Played far too safe, and the only time he showed some ticker, was when he was down 5-1 in the second set, when the outcome had already been decided. I think he has the game to win GSs, but that counts for nothing if you ain't got it upstairs.
Federer's effort in the semi final worried me too. Just looked too lackadasical, like he really didn't mind losing (I know he makes things look easy/care-free, but this was more than that). Even in his press conference after, I got the feeling that he was happy to fall back on his record, thinking that that would be sufficient way to defend his straight sets loss (i.e. I've bounced back before, so I can do it again, etc).
And don't get me started on the women's draw. Stosur? Hardly worth mentioning, but I seem to recall her saying that she couldn't figure out how she lost her match, after "...playing" so well. Newsflash Sam, hitting well isn't the same as playing well. You can pump as many weights and hit as many balls as you want, but you need to have it upstairs (I know, I know, broken record).
Now to 'Aussie Kim'... sure I love Clijsters, and would love for her to win every tournament she plays in from now til the end of her career, but it's hard to be a fan of the sport, when no one can hold their nerve at crucial moments. I mean, even in the final, I think six of the first seven games of the second set were won due to service breaks. Looking back, was there anyone who could beat Kim if she made the 2nd week...? Probably not.
A real lackluster Aus Open for mine. The Schiavone/Kuznetsova match aside, were there any real epic matches? Don't seem to remember any. Sure there have been five-setters, but long =/= epic.
Channel 7 continue their record as the worst sports broadcaster this country has ever seen. Coming back from an ad break after a point (or even a fault) is played, is simply not good enough. The on-air roles need a drastic overhaul too. Bruce, Sandy, Stubbs, Griggs were woeful, but the icing on the cake for me was the inclusion of Hamish McLaughlin. He doesn't even have to say anything, he just looks like a sloppy human being (refer to Simon O'Donnell), and just screams Ch7 fanboy. You can't tell me there are better people in the industry than that lot! Kudos to the Hewitt commentator experiment - one of the few things that they got lucky with. But throughout the two weeks, you could just feel it in Courier's voice, the guy's obviously frustrated that he has to work amongst such mediocrity. Wouldn't surprise me if he discontinues his contract within 2-3 years. Same goes for Sam Smith, the poor girl.
He is not even defending that many points from here on 
And the points he isn't defending that you speak of can only help him with his ranking. It's Nadal with his 3 GS's that will have trouble defending all those points. Not that there is anything wrong with that as he is clearly the number 1 at the moment.
