Grand Slam Day 8 - Australian Open 2024

[BobbyMorri]

Grand Slam - Day 9 - Australian Open

Day 8 and I am so happy that Kostyuk is now in the top 30. And she finally won a match under 3 sets. Coco looks very strong and it is shaping up to be a Coco v Sabe semi-final (which in all reality, is the actual final). Mens wise, the Greek God stopped, Mannerio went to the bakery and we are...

www.bigfooty.com

Here is the new daily thread.

 

[FreoRicci]

Goes into his shell too often and goes very safe which can be okay but it shouldn’t be your first shot and definitely not when you are controlling the point.

100%.
That’s counter intuitive though. He’s relying on the other guy to make errors more than him taking control.

Novak has always been known as a ball hitter, but what separates him is that he tries diagonal shots, drop shots as well as backhands down the line. Just never know with him.

Just feel De Minaur is being coached to bash the ball, keep the rally going and run to everything. He’s the poor version of Murray tbh. At least Andy came out of his shell and took points on.

 

[Cats_R_Cool_4_Ever]

Isn't Ash opening one here?

That would be awesome

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

That would be awesome

I think so don't think it's just tennis tho for all sports.

 

[JamisonRun40]

Patrick Mouratoglou is building an academy it will be first class. It won't be cheap though.

 

[JamisonRun40]

I think a lot of funding will go to soccer based on the Matilda's and Socceroos

 

[Cats_R_Cool_4_Ever]

I think so don't think it's just tennis tho for all sports.

Ash does like AFL and Cricket too I guess, sounds like a sporty chick like myself hehe

 

[Gift]

I just think his game is too taxing. Some of his gets were amazing. In saying that, his instinct seemed to be safe. I loved his play in the 2nd and 3rd set. He was aggressive, taking the ball early and hitting winners. He missed a lot over the baseline but That showed intent.

Playing him at night where the conditions are slower makes it harder for ADM as well. Aus Open need to schedule him on day matches only if they want him to get as far as possible.

His advantages in taking the ball early to mess up the opponents rhythm and quick return of serve is neutered by playing at night. Also at night his serve becomes non existant.

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

Patrick Mouratoglou is building an academy it will be first class. It won't be cheap though.

Players he's coached there is some pretty good names on that list

Marcos Baghdatis (1999–2006)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (2007–2009)
Aravane Rezaï (2009–2010)
Yanina Wickmayer (2009–2012)
Laura Robson (2010–2011)
Jérémy Chardy (2012)
Grigor Dimitrov (2012)
Serena Williams (2012–2022)
Stefanos Tsitsipas (2018–2021)
Holger Rune (2022–2023)
Simona Halep (2022–)

 

[BOMBERS 4 LIFE!!!!]

I think a lot of funding will go to soccer based on the Matilda's and Socceroos

Sam Kerr opening an academy as well i think

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

Let's just give credit to Rublev who battled his own personal demons and played incredible tennis for the last two sets.

ADM lost his first serve and played a little too conservatively once he was ahead on sets, but once Rublev had that killer momentum few would've wrestled control back.

Well said. Really enjoyable game …some excellent tennis from both players. Super impressed with Rublev’s final two sets. 52% of first serves for Alex was never going to be enough. Look forward to Sinner v Rublev

 

[pepsi]

The reason we don’t have superb tennis players here are because our places are not well known or highly reputable.

There are several reasons we don't produce superb tennis players.

A lot of Aussie kids like staying in the country (Barty and Kyrgios examples) and tennis is a tough lonely sport where you can be on the road for 10 months of the year, our genetically gifted young people aren't choosing tennis (think your 1.88m-1.95m super athletic types), it's an incredibly tough sport to be super successful, we don't have the academies they have in Europe.

We might produce a one in a million over time but it's not looking good and hasn't for many years.

Unfortunately the two we did produce decided to retire at her peak and the other has not had the professionalism or desire to be his absolute best over a sustained period. We aren't alone, even the USA hasn't had a male grand slam champion since Roddick in the 2000s. Granted they have some high calibre players like tiafoe, Korda, fritz, etc but they also have a population of 250 million plus people to have gather a talent pool from.

 

[My Tilly]

Playing him at night where the conditions are slower makes it harder for ADM as well. Aus Open need to schedule him on day matches only if they want him to get as far as possible.

His advantages in taking the ball early to mess up the opponents rhythm and quick return of serve is neutered by playing at night. Also at night his serve becomes non existant.

He had a pretty handy schedule first three rounds.
I doubt it will be as kind in Paris.

Typical de Minaur performance.
Bloke was on one leg midway through the 5ft set and barely tried to move him around the court.

 

[My Cotchin Rules]

Funding.
USA fund tennis and golf to a ridiculous level.

Tennis Australia has always been in trouble finding wise. The government pay billions to limited national competitions such as AFL and NRL, and the rest get a spread. Just not good enough.

Agree with you on academies. There’s nothing here.

Unfortunately grassroots tennis in Australia is very expensive. Both my young daughters participate in the "hot shots program" and it's fun, but "fun" is all it is and no real coaching. It isn't cheap for us especially with the extra school holiday programs. Not sure about VIC, but alot of kids are playing basketball now. Participation in women's soccer is growing aswell. My eldest does hotshots and soccer.
Soccer - Full season including uniform & regular invites to walk out with Perth Glory women's for about $450.
Full year of hotshots costs us about $800 (not including racquets).

It costs much more and it's driving away the middle to lower class families.

 

[Benj7]

Yeah and he’s still trying to the very last point when plenty of other players would have cracked the shits by now?

I’ve seen you comment this twice. Should they give out medals for trying your best at 5-0?
Weird place to hang your hat.

 

[Gift]

He had a pretty handy schedule first three rounds.

Typical de Minaur performance.
Bloke was on one leg midway through the 5ft set and barely tried to move him around the court.

I reckon he would have beaten Rublev if he had Djokovic's time slot during the day. Still would have been 3-0 by Sinner easily anyways.

I feel De Minaur was lucky to even win two tie breaks against Rublev. He lost the other three sets convincingly.

 

[JamisonRun40]

The conditions were heavy due to the cold weather. If the roof was closed different match. I don't think the conditions suited Rublev either. TV decided who would get the night match had nothing to do with Alex.

 

[MrBarry]

Demon our best and we are stuffed will never see a male win the aus open

Import some players from over seas give them what ever they want citizenship,money etc haha

Nonsense, many would have said the same about a female winner before Barty came along.

 

[MrBarry]

There are several reasons we don't produce superb tennis players.

A lot of Aussie kids like staying in the country (Barty and Kyrgios examples) and tennis is a tough lonely sport where you can be on the road for 10 months of the year, our genetically gifted young people aren't choosing tennis (think your 1.88m-1.95m super athletic types), it's an incredibly tough sport to be super successful, we don't have the academies they have in Europe.

We might produce a one in a million over time but it's not looking good and hasn't for many years.

Unfortunately the two we did produce decided to retire at her peak and the other has not had the professionalism or desire to be his absolute best over a sustained period. We aren't alone, even the USA hasn't had a male grand slam champion since Roddick in the 2000s. Granted they have some high calibre players like tiafoe, Korda, fritz, etc but they also have a population of 250 million plus people to have gather a talent pool from.

Considering our population we punch well above our weight - we've had Barty in recent years who would have dominated the women's game if she went on, krygios who has made a Wimbledon final and now ADM who at 24 has finally cracked into the top 10.

People need to take a chill pill and look at the positivea imo.

The UK and the USA have not fielded players who have dominated the field for a long time - Murray and roddick aside, yet look at the size of them compared to us.

 

[FreoRicci]

There are several reasons we don't produce superb tennis players.

A lot of Aussie kids like staying in the country (Barty and Kyrgios examples) and tennis is a tough lonely sport where you can be on the road for 10 months of the year, our genetically gifted young people aren't choosing tennis (think your 1.88m-1.95m super athletic types), it's an incredibly tough sport to be super successful, we don't have the academies they have in Europe.

We might produce a one in a million over time but it's not looking good and hasn't for many years.

Unfortunately the two we did produce decided to retire at her peak and the other has not had the professionalism or desire to be his absolute best over a sustained period. We aren't alone, even the USA hasn't had a male grand slam champion since Roddick in the 2000s. Granted they have some high calibre players like tiafoe, Korda, fritz, etc but they also have a population of 250 million plus people to have gather a talent pool from.

JJ Wolf
Ben Shelton
Tommy Paul.

It’s ridiculously hard to crack the top 1000.
Then having to make the top 100, without hardly winnings or sponsorships is another.

USA does okay. 4 men in top 15 last year.
Russia always seem to have talented upcomers in both men’s and women’s

 

[srobbo]

Rublev showed some real grit & mental strength to claw his way back into that & win runnng away. I think he’ll def push Sinner to min 4 sets.

 

[matt_897]

Given how slow the court and balls are this year, a 5 set loss to Rublev in the 4th round is a good result for ADM

 

[Redline]

Considering our population we punch well above our weight - we've had Barty in recent years who would have dominated the women's game if she went on, krygios who has made a Wimbledon final and now ADM who at 24 has finally cracked into the top 10.

People need to take a chill pill and look at the positivea imo.

The UK and the USA have not fielded players who have dominated the field for a long time - Murray and roddick aside, yet look at the size of them compared to us.

Agreed, Tennis is a hard sport.

De Minaur is now top ten but looks miles off winning a slam. The jump from best of three to best of five is underestimated by some. That's why we see more variation of winners in women's tennis.

 

[10Dulkar]

Considering our population we punch well above our weight - we've had Barty in recent years who would have dominated the women's game if she went on, krygios who has made a Wimbledon final and now ADM who at 24 has finally cracked into the top 10.

People need to take a chill pill and look at the positivea imo.

The UK and the USA have not fielded players who have dominated the field for a long time - Murray and roddick aside, yet look at the size of them compared to us.

Looking at the men, we had a Canadian who got to the US Open final in Rusedski, Henman the typical Brit bottler of the era and Murray who got to where he did because he went outside the UK. I don't know much about tennis here but it can't be as elitist as in the UK!

Yesterday I had a great time at the tennis. Saw three games on RLA. Gauff was a sight to behold regardless of her opponent. It was good to see Djokovic purring again and the mixed doubles is fun to watch. Also saw a really entertaining mens doubles game on Kia Arena with some outrageous tennis being played.

 

[YeoShuey]

Yeah figured as much. Ah well, stoked to be going either way. I really, really wanna watch Sinner live though.

You got your wish. Sinner tomorrow night

Match Schedule | AO