okay that was massively funny reading
"breakthrough" clearly means something different to me than it does to some of these guys
― ah ah oh ooh ooh oh ah ah ah ah ah oh ah ah aha ooh (HI DERE), Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:05 (fourteen years ago) link
monfils is a funny one. he can never seem to decide between dumb ball-bashing and passive pushing, either. it's so frustrating that he STILL stands 5 million miles behind the baseline so often - whenever he comes in a bit more he's so good. i think he'd rather coast along and be the crowd-pleasing, entertaining sort than push himself to be a real elite player.
i'm so annoyed i'm going to have to do these myself, even though some of the questions are dumb and making any predictions in the first week of the year is a fool's game
How many Slams will Federer win? - oneWhich Andy will win a major? - murrayShould the U.S. Open add a roof? - yes, but it should probably sort out its dumb-ass final week schedule firstPlayer of the Year - nadalBreakthrough Player - cilicOn His Last Legs - ferreroMost Curious About - nishikoriYear-End Top Five - nadal, murray, djokovic, federer, davydenkoAustralian Open - murrayRoland Garros - nadalWimbledon - federerUS Open - djokovic
Will Serena be suspended in 2010? - wtf, noWill Henin crack the Top 5? - duh, yesHigher year-end ranking: Melanie Oudin or Ana Ivanovic? - lol, ivanovic, but neither will be impressivePlayer of the Year - heninBreakthrough Player - lisickiOn Her Last Legs - schnyderMost Curious About - jankovicYear-End Top Five - henin, clijsters, serena, azarenka, jankovicAustralian Open - serenaRoland Garros - heninWimbledon - heninUS Open - serena
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link
Most Curious About - nishikori
OTM!
― ah ah oh ooh ooh oh ah ah ah ah ah oh ah ah aha ooh (HI DERE), Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:12 (fourteen years ago) link
actually in the women's i'm most curious about robson - she had some really poor senior results last year! ditto larcher de brito, but i'd rather not think about her.
nishikori had such bad luck with injuries in 09 and fell out of the top 200 - would love to see if he can work his way back and get back on track.
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:19 (fourteen years ago) link
glad to see i'm not the only one who was doing that in my head. agree with most of your picks except my top 5 ATP were: Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Murray, Delpo; Murray to win the AO, Rafa to win RG and Wimby, Fed/Nole to win USO.
Top 5 WTA: Clijsters, Henin, Serena, Jankovic, Sveta
Slams: Clijsters, Henin, Henin, Serena
Laura Robson's been losing her matches at the Hopman Cup but she looks like she's gonna grow into a very good player. Huge if unreliable serve, good groundstrokes, good head.
― Roz, Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:24 (fourteen years ago) link
sorry good head sounded wrong lol. i just mean that she seems to be pretty mentally tough.
― Roz, Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:28 (fourteen years ago) link
i kind of think del potro will have a bit of a sophomore slump - most male players who win slams that young do - maybe not a drastic one, but i think a few wtf losses are in his future this year. a fair few post-USO kiss-and-tells have been emerging out of argentina, too. (jealous!)
robson seems to play way better on the main tour, but some of her challenger losses last year...
xp haha
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:29 (fourteen years ago) link
dish! i haven't heard anything except that he's been announcing that he's single and looking to anyone who'd listen. I think he thinks a Slam winner should have a permanent WAG, aw.
also i just noticed your username and loooooooool nice one.
― Roz, Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:33 (fourteen years ago) link
kudos, first to get it!
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:40 (fourteen years ago) link
here, lex pretend: ليخ فريتينض
it's not quite accurate though because there aren't any real equivalents to "e" and "x" in the arabic alphabet so it's more like "likh pritind". :)
― Roz, Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:50 (fourteen years ago) link
amazing. will save for future use...
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Thursday, 7 January 2010 20:56 (fourteen years ago) link
also, i'm not a fan of either wozniacki or azarenka, but their twitter banter to each other is pretty charming.
lynx?
US Open - djokovic
i dont have a lot of faith in his game tbh in fact i can see this being a discouraging year for him
― Lamp, Friday, 8 January 2010 02:44 (fourteen years ago) link
http://cowbell.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83423e30253ef012876b6002d970c-pi
― Roz, Friday, 8 January 2010 06:35 (fourteen years ago) link
awwwww
― spiny doughboy (baaderonixx), Friday, 8 January 2010 08:39 (fourteen years ago) link
it's funny that wozniacki was the one who gave in eventually. obviously.
saw the first set of henin/ivanovic last night before falling asleep - justine made ana look like a joke. after a while, ana just joined in with that. all i could think while watching was, how the fuck did you ever win a slam and get to no 1. (ah that's right, because justine "retired"!)
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 8 January 2010 09:45 (fourteen years ago) link
KOLYA! ruining my dreams of a Fedal final. Oh well, Rafa would've crushed Fed anyway, this is a much better matchup.
But in troubling news, the commies suggested that Fed may have tweaked his wrist, which wouldn't surprise me at all given how hard Gulbis was hitting to him yesterday. And he really did look uncomfortable today. As in, worse than usual Fed-error mode. I just hope he'll be okay once the AO starts.
― Roz, Friday, 8 January 2010 16:49 (fourteen years ago) link
king kolya! :)
idk i know i predicted federer to win wimbledon this year but it wouldn't surprise me if he went slamless. i mean...he kind of backed into RG and wimbledon last year! a month before RG he looked washed up! and now he's got the 15...
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 8 January 2010 19:57 (fourteen years ago) link
it wouldn't surprise me either honestly. I'm more curious to see if this is the year his ridiculous semi-finals streak gets broken!
― Roz, Friday, 8 January 2010 20:05 (fourteen years ago) link
unless he gets ambushed by someone random, or injury, i don't think so...even murray and djokovic, who beat him regularly in tour events, haven't learnt to do it in slams yet, apart from djokovic once. (that said i think this is the year they learn.) those two + nadal + del potro and davydenko are the only five players i can even imagine beating him in a slam - like even give a chance, not even favour - and he wouldn't ever meet 3 of them before the SF, so...
― لوووووووووووووووووووول (lex pretend), Friday, 8 January 2010 20:13 (fourteen years ago) link
I still have this ridiculous idea/hope that Fed can do a calendar year Grand Slam; this is the last year he could possibly do it, I think (he was only a few points away last year, to be fair). Nadal is back at something like his best then? Because in London a few weeks ago he played like a decent top-20 scrapper, out of his depth.
― Michael Jones, Friday, 8 January 2010 20:23 (fourteen years ago) link
hahaha yeah - hearing lex and roz talking like fed is vulnerable im like... COLON LEFT BRACKET
Oh well, Rafa would've crushed Fed anyway, this is a much better matchup.
this is what i get for sleeping the eoy tournaments! last time i saw footage of nadal he was still very tentative and nowhere near his 08 level.
― Lamp, Friday, 8 January 2010 21:32 (fourteen years ago) link
yeah i dunno guys, Haas came so close to beating Fed at RG last year, and Soderling nearly pushed him to a fifth set at the USO QFs, and this was with Fed playing better than he has been in the past week and throughout the indoor season. i feel like an upset could def happen if he ran into someone with a habit of suddenly getting on fire, like a tsonga or a gonzo in say, the fourth round or the QFs.
but of course, the tough part is that anyone who wants to beat Fed probably needs to do it in straights because you just know the longer a match goes on, the higher the odds favour Fed.
re Nadal: yep playing much better. should've really beaten troicki 6-1 6-1 today - got a little ahead of himself serving out the match but it was still very much a one-sided affair. he's remembered how to play on hard court and i think the davis cup win at the end of last year did wonders for his confidence.
― Roz, Friday, 8 January 2010 21:51 (fourteen years ago) link
Is Laura Robson is getting more out of the Hopman Cup experience than Andy Murray? Murray supposedly skipped a defence in Doha to get three guaranteed matches in Perth but he's won them all so easily it's barely been a workout. Robson's lost hers, as expected, but it'll be a while before she plays people of this calibre again. They've won all their mixed and they're in the final!
― Michael Jones, Friday, 8 January 2010 22:54 (fourteen years ago) link
It'll prob be useful for her when she plays the AO qualies next. she beat MJMS today while Andy lost his singles match in three against Robredo, and now Andy's continuing to be useless while Robson's outhitting Robredo from the baseline! I think I love her.
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 07:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Kim vs Justine is on. Hurrah. First impression after five games is that Clijsters is playing a bit better but is chucking in a few errors that is making the games go closer than they need to and robbed her of a break.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 09:33 (fourteen years ago) link
Oh Justine, double faults.. less good.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 09:36 (fourteen years ago) link
oh dear down a set and two breaks.
looking up at Carlos. just like old times...
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:14 (fourteen years ago) link
Now zero breaks. What a terrible run of games from Clijsters. As if she's forgotten the ball needs to land inside the lines.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:23 (fourteen years ago) link
looooool 4-1 up to lose it 4-6. Epic choking Kim.
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Lololol, that was practically a 0-6 set with a brief introduction on it.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:37 (fourteen years ago) link
Women's tennis, eh.
like nothing's changed. :')
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:40 (fourteen years ago) link
terrible officiating in this match - why hasn't brisbane splashed out some dough for hawkeye yet?
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 10:55 (fourteen years ago) link
Yeah, definitely. Even the commentators are pointing it out (correctly). Shame, as the game has just re-sprung into life. as a result!
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:00 (fourteen years ago) link
the momentum swings in this match is ridiculous - clijsters wins her first game out of 8 and suddenly she's broken back and leveled up.
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:02 (fourteen years ago) link
Zomg wtf, Clijsters was just hiting the ball so ridiculously hard and then flubbed the smash on the tape.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:07 (fourteen years ago) link
And that was to go down a (presumably decisive) break.
or not...
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:10 (fourteen years ago) link
Wow. This is ridiculous now. Henin is probably wishing she hadn't stood so close to the net there.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:11 (fourteen years ago) link
WOMEN'S. TENNIS.
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:12 (fourteen years ago) link
It's a small tournament, something like $200k total prize money. Presumably Hawkeye would have wiped that out.
― () |\| | |\/| () (onimo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Two match points saved! Maybe I've watched too much men's tennis which is filled with players who take an eternity to serve the bloody ball, but I think Kim's charging through the points a little quickly.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:15 (fourteen years ago) link
5-5! I need to find a stream of this...
― Michael Jones, Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:16 (fourteen years ago) link
http://www.atdhe.net/7635/watch-wta-brisbane
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:17 (fourteen years ago) link
You've just missed a love service game from Henin which included Clijsters doing the splits as she often does.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:18 (fourteen years ago) link
xposts things like hawkeye are what sponsors are for. I worked at the even smaller tournament in KL and we had hawkeye. it's the tournament director's job to secure enough funding for the best tourney possible.
― Roz, Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:19 (fourteen years ago) link
Four backhand errors that game. Atypical for Justine. And this is a tie-break.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:22 (fourteen years ago) link
Mini-break to Kim. But not over yet, there's a little part of me that kind of expects one of them to reveal that they're actually Elena Dementieva wearing a mask.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:24 (fourteen years ago) link
Gah, can't get any feeds to work. Looks like this is all over... 2nd-serve ace for 5-1 for KC?
― Michael Jones, Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:28 (fourteen years ago) link
Not yet. But probably. 5-3 now.
― i left my hat in tokyo (edwardo), Saturday, 9 January 2010 11:29 (fourteen years ago) link