I'd like to see someone else win this major. I'm personally a Federer fan. Rafa still has time to get his "Rafa Slam", and I would like Federer to show that he still has it (hopefully) and win this major and maybe Wimbledon.
I have never seen this happen in a tennis match before. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sh5oENt5hNc?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Sh5oENt5hNc?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Anyone having problems getting remote access on Espn3 working? I'm at home and I've tried 3 different browsers to sign into Espn3 and enable remote access. Each browser just pops up a small blank window with nothing in it when I hit remote access.
To answer the question, I like Pat McEnroe best. I don't like how he has some sour grapes with some American players like Donald Young and to some extent Andy Roddick, but in general, I like his commentary. As far as the tournament goes, there has been a lot of chalk in both the men's and women's draw. Rafa is in top form and Federer has been playing well although he looks more beatable than Rafa. It's another tough tournament for Americans as only Isner and Roddick remain in the men's draw and the women's draw is now void of Americans.
But, Pat is spot on in his criticism of Roddick's game. He doesn't attack with his forehand, he plays behind the baseline too much, and that damn slice backhand will be the death of him. If Andy went back to the attacking style he played when he was young, hitting big serves then following it up with big forehands, he would be fine. His backhand and net game have improved to the point where he'd be very dangerous if he just went back to hitting his serve and forehand with gusto like the good old days.
Big day 6 at the Aussie Open. #152 Milos Raonic beats #10 Mikhail Youzhny, an unranked Ukrainian named Dolgopolov, and the Australian wunderkin Bernard Tomic pushed Nadal only to lose in straight sets. From an American standpoint, John Isner lost a five set marathon to Marin Cilic. It looks eerily similar to pretty much every other major match Isner has lost. His opponent couldn't break his serve, he couldn't break his opponent's serve, and he ends up losing when he makes a couple of unforced errors. Those are matches Isner is going to have to start winning if he is ever going to rise above his current status of "dangerous player who is a tough out for the top players." Roddick goes tonight against Stanislas Wawrinka, a player he has good success against. That bodes well for Roddick, but what doesn't bode well is that Wawrinka has been playing his best tennis this week. Should be a good match.
Welp. Americans are now completely out. Roddick's match last night against Wawrinka was a complete bloodbath, losing in straight sets. Cahill and Pat McEnroe rightfully lit into him after the match. Roddick continually refuses to change the way he plays, even in a situation like he was in last night when it was painfully obvious that what he was doing was not working. McEnroe has an interesting point about Roddick, saying that Roddick is somewhat content to stay ranked in the 6-10 range and make it to the fourth or fifth round of majors playing the way he does. His contention is that Roddick would rather stay where he is and change nothing instead of raking a risk and changing the way he plays because even though he might be more successful in majors, he is afraid of running the risk of losing in the earlier rounds thanks to more aggressive play. Interesting topic of conversation. Unfortunately, Cahill and McEnroe are right. Roddick is not going to ever be a factor in a major again playing the way that he is right now.
Someone needs to explain to Roddick that he plays men's professional tennis and you can't continually hit a backhand slice and hope to win. The women can get away with it to a point, but the men just crush it.
Anyone up watching the Australian Open? The Rafa Slam is in serious trouble, he is down 2 sets against Ferrer at the moment.
Yeah that was painful to watch. Feel bad for the guy. Semifinals on both women's and men's sides will be interesting and fun to watch. It's all up for grabs.
Nadal, dealing with some leg injury, went down yesterday to David Ferrer. He'll take on Andy Murray in the semifinals. Speaking of Murray, the draw really broke nicely for him. In the round of 16, he took on an overrated Jurgen Melzer. He missed Robin Soderling in the quarters and got the unranked Alexandr Dolgopolov instead. Now, he'll face Ferrer in the semis rather than Nadal.
Djokovic dominated Murray in the final to win his second Aussie Open and second major title overall. The Djoker was easily the most solid player all tournament long. He only dropped one set and it was in a tiebreaker in his second round match against Dodig. This result is somewhat being framed as a matchup of two players kind of at different points of their careers. Djokovic has righted the ship after looking absolutely adrift going into last year's US Open and now looks poised to break up the Nadal/Federer monopoly even more so than he already has. Murray, on the other hand, is 0-for-6 in sets at Aussie Open finals the last two years and the questions about whether or not he can ever win a major will only get louder from here.
