Week 3- Australian Open

philwrig · Hall of fame

RE: Week 3- Australian Open

RJA · Hall of fame

Madeline wrote:

Not long to go. . . I'm feeling nervous already. I want him to win SO much, having followed him since he was just a junior. I'm not sure how much of the final I'll actually see as I will be

Seconded on all counts. Andy has suffered a lot of pain in Grand Slams. He really deserves to win one so lets pray that this is his moment. I don't even want to think about how badly it would hurt him to miss out again.

On a less emotional point I will re-iterate my view (stated after last years US Open) that the best set up for Andy is not to have a coach with him at tournaments. His two wins last year came at events where he has no coach present and I don't think that is down to chance. Having to take responsibility for his own tactics seems to bring out the best in him. I often feel that when things go wrong he has partly hid behind the excuse that he is following his coach's game plan, or a very least a game plan that he not 100% sure of, and that is why things have gone wrong (hence his habit of shouting at his coach). Without a coach there he has no excuse not to play exactly how he wants and if things aren't working he can focus on changing things rather than having futile thoughts about his coach being to blame. You only have to look at last summer. In Toronto without a coach he played without absolute tactical clarity. 3 weeks later at the US Open and with Corretja there he played a match where tactically he was all over the place.

indiana · Tennis legend

OK, I really really hope Andy can get the win in the final but let us not in this forum even begin to go there that the guy is some sort of loser if he should not happen to beat the bookies' ( and probably deserved ) favourite Djokovic in the final.

In the matches that really count :

He has won 3 out of 5 Slam semi finals

He has win 5 out of 7 Slam quarter finals

He has won 6 out of 7 Master Series finals

OK, yes, so far he has lost 2 out of 2 Slam finals to one of the greatest players that has ever played the game and hey if he lost to Djokovic it would be a big disappointment, particularly for Andy, but hardly a disaster.

I hate I am almost getting defensive before a possible event that I hope doesn't happen, but with with our media and uninformed commentators just saying....

RJA · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:

OK, I really really hope Andy can get the win in the final but let us not in this forum even begin to go there that the guy is some sort of loser if he should not happen to beat the bookies' ( and probably deserved ) favourite Djokovic in the final.

In the matches that really count :

He has won 3 out of 5 Slam semi finals

He has win 5 out of 7 Slam quarter finals

He has won 6 out of 7 Master Series finals

OK, yes, so far he has lost 2 out of 2 Slam finals to one of the greatest players that has ever played the game and hey if he lost to Djokovic it would be a big disappointment, particularly for Andy, but hardly a disaster.

I hate I am almost getting defensive before a possible event that I hope doesn't happen, but with with our media and uninformed commentators just saying....

Agree entirely. Whatever happens today I retain a near certain belief that he will win Grand Slams.

Mikeduke · County player

This is going to take a long time....

Count Zero · Tennis legend

seems things have gone downhill for andy as soon as he got the newly strung racquets!

Mikeduke · County player

Nole is playing extremely well.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I have to admit Novak deserved the win. I wondered if he would be able to keep up the fantastic standard of the Federer match, but he proved he could.

I'm bitterly disappointed, but hey - I'm used to that after years of supporting Tim. I don't feel as bad as last year. I think I'll be staying away from other tennis forums, though, for a week at least!

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

All horribly predictable after the previous two slam finals. Can't seem to get past the nerves. Terrible serving, astonishingly passive first shot after the serve, refused to come to the net when he had Novak on the defensive floating balls back, return of 2nd serve was timid until the 3rd set. Making errors with simple shots time and time again and totally lost his nerve whenever asked to smash. Seemed to have no energy, movement much worse than usual.

-- Edited by kundalini on Sunday 30th of January 2011 11:40:24 AM

RJA · Hall of fame

Well that was sheer agony to watch cry

Djokovic played very well but Andy was far from his best and never managed to impose himself on the match. Almost every good point was followed by a bad one and I don't think I have ever seen him lose so many points from dominating positions. That being said I can't help wondering how the match would have turned out had he not missed the overhead at 1-1 15-30

As I said before the match I remain convinced that he will win Grand Slams but lets hope he gets over this defeat quicker than he did his loss last year.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Perhaps if he reaches another final and wins a set, he'll feel he belongs and will be able to play more freely. As it is, it's tough to see how he's going to get that first set because his standard of play in the 3 finals has been wretched.

wolf · Tennis legend

Andy was wretched, but Nole was outstanding. Even if Andy had played his best I don't think he would have won that.

Agree that Andy just didn't have the belief that he could play the shots he needed to win, and we know he can produce the shots he was trying normally so it could only have been the pressure of the occasion.

That's the best I've ever seen Djokovic play though. His level of defence was out of this world at times.

The Serb was a deserving winner of this tournament, easily the best player right the way through.

RJA · Hall of fame

wolf wrote:
That's the best I've ever seen Djokovic play though. His level of defence was out of this world at times.

It was indeed, the amount of desperate defensive shots that landed on the baseline was very, very frustrating. However I do think that Murray allowed him to defend that well by his steadfast refusal to come to the net.

-- Edited by RJA on Sunday 30th of January 2011 12:52:39 PM

RJA · Hall of fame

I must remember not to buy, or even look at, a newspaper for a couple of days.

There is already a nasty article on the Daily Mail website littered with words like loser and choker and gleefully informing the world that Andy is the first player to reach three grand slam finals and not win a set furious

Julia Carrot · All-time great

It's my fault; I jinxed him: took a punt at 7:1 a week or so back when he was playing properly (And not wearing the green shirt) biggrin