My favourite Grand Slam is here!! I love it because of the night matches. Hopefully we'll see a lot of 5 setters that end around 12am.

Was a good night even though Sinner lost. I was pulling for him. I don't want Tsitsipas to win Australia. Glad Lehecka won! He's become my new favorite behind Dominic. Korda almost blew his match last night but pulled it out.

@Faulkner

Dominic is adorable! I was surprised he knew all the winners. He should've won it in 2020.

I saw bits and pieces of the Rybakina and Ostapenko match....funny.  Nothin's changed since the last time I saw Ostapenko.  Complaining about every call practically...and I know it's happened before but someone (was that Stubbs?) mentioned, even with the automated line calls she still says it's incorrect.  

5 hours ago, Fevuh said:

I saw bits and pieces of the Rybakina and Ostapenko match....funny.  Nothin's changed since the last time I saw Ostapenko.  Complaining about every call practically...and I know it's happened before but someone (was that Stubbs?) mentioned, even with the automated line calls she still says it's incorrect.  

She also said that's why no one wants to coach her.😂 She complains all the time and doesn't do what the coach tells her to do.

I still have memories of pitched battles between Serbians and Bosnians outside of RLA at least a decade ago.

Just took a walk around Melbourne Park after filing and a group of people were standing on the Rod Laver Arena steps, holding up a flag with Vladimir Putin’s face and chanting in support of Russia. pic.twitter.com/2p0LfkyVC3

— Tumaini Carayol (@tumcarayol) January 25, 2023

The ass hole and his family present after trashing Australia. 

What a sh!tty final between him and Tsitsipas. I can't stand either one or their families.

I wondered when Vika would become Vika again.  So that happened.

This year's Australian open has to be one of the worst ever. The women's final four was atrocious! I hardly even paid attention to the women's side. The men's side was no better. The major 3 courts were so empty as well during the tournament. 

25 minutes ago, Soapsuds said:

This year's Australian open has to be one of the worst ever. The women's final four was atrocious! I hardly even paid attention to the women's side. The men's side was no better. The major 3 courts were so empty as well during the tournament. 

Aside from Linette randomly peaking (has she ever made the second week of a major prior to this?), I thought the final four was pretty good on paper. Two Slam winners on one side. Vika playing well. Rybakina actually backing her Wimbledon title a bit. Sabalenka finally breaking through. Are they huge stars, aside from Vika? No, but they mostly are people who *should* be in the conversation to win majors based on past performance.

Edited January 26, 20232 yr by Faulkner

Can't remember the last time, if ever, a slam was so underwhelming.  The King and Queen are gone and Rafa is holding on for dear life.  End of an era The WTA is a mess!  The upside, you ask?  The heiress with no weapons will not be winning the AO.  Pegula shows the really bad shape the WTA is in.  

To me, Rybakina had a really tough trip to the final.  That was not an easy quarter to come out of.  Sabalenka has shown promise for years and has over the years, beaten some very good players.  I don't think the women's final is that bad.  

What it does underline for me is that Keys is likely won't be winning a Slam, because for a while it was literally almost there for the taking.  I'm having doubts about Gauff as well - there comes a point where you have to admit she's no longer the 15, 16, 17, 18 year young prodigy.  By no means is it too late, but when you reach 19 years old, if you're going to take control the way so many Women Champion did - it's time.  And I said that last year.  I do think she's going to win some Slams, but it's not going to be the 12, 15, 18 slams that we might have thought.  And what's puzzling is the feeling that - why not?  There doesn't SEEM to be anyone THERE.  Weird.

 

2 minutes ago, Fevuh said:

 

To me, Rybakina had a really tough trip to the final.  That was not an easy quarter to come out of.  Sabalenka has shown promise for years and has over the years, beaten some very good players.  I don't think the women's final is that bad.  

 

People have been asking for more aggressive tennis on the WTA side, and you’ll certainly get that from Rybakina and Sabalenka.

4 hours ago, ChitHappens said:

Can't remember the last time, if ever, a slam was so underwhelming.  The King and Queen are gone and Rafa is holding on for dear life.  End of an era The WTA is a mess!  The upside, you ask?  The heiress with no weapons will not be winning the AO.  Pegula shows the really bad shape the WTA is in.  

Some folks were musing about the early millennium WTA stars and how many had the personality, the game and were cocky AF back then. I don’t see a return to that era, tennis as an industry is wholly different, an industry that seems to disregard the aspect of sports as entertainment and promotes the suffering mentality and would have us believe that the more agonizing and torturous a match is, the more epic it will be.

The ATP wasn’t any better either. They really promote the torturous match and slap a “warrior” label on it. I sure as hell wasn’t paying for an ESPN+ subscription to watch that!

The rankings are so messed up that Tsitsipas has a chance at being #1?

Terrible......

I can't stand either player but I'm hoping for a novak win.

The women.....who cares....

Oh and Tommy Paul.....out of his league..... He had an easy draw.

Edited January 27, 20232 yr by Soapsuds

Well, I’m happy for Sabalenka. Always great to see a player who struggled to close big matches finally come through at the highest level.

 

 

Big Lenka finally captured a major championship title, huh? I didn’t see the match but congratulations to her at getting over that hurdle.