Weeks 3 & 4 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Main Draw - Hard

flamingowings · All-time great

Weeks 3 & 4 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Main Draw - Hard

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

flamingowings wrote:
Jo and her boyfriend have a wee dog called blue- maybe the change is that! ;)

smile Knew someone would have the answer.............

JonH · All-time great

The Optimist wrote:
What interested me was that Jo hasn't changed her style of tennis at all. No plan B or C or anything else. Just playing the way she has since she started her charge up the rankings the other year. And it is suddenly working again. There just seemed to be a complete lack of tension in her which meant that instead of missing by a few inches, most shots were going over and in. Has the new coach put her in a more relaxed frame of mind? Life off court in a better place? No idea, but I think it puts paid to the theory a lot of us held on here that her recent struggles were due to the fact that everyone had worked out how to play her.....

confidence, relaxation, stress are such a massive part of tennis. Could easily be that being happy in real life translates into better tennis

ROSAMUND · Futures level

flamingowings wrote:
Jo and her boyfriend have a wee dog called blue- maybe the change is that! ;)

I think you will find the dog is called Bono.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

wolf wrote:
Excellent match. Never seen 32 service holds in a row in a women's match before. Unfortuntely, JoKo was broken in the first and last game of the match either side. Encouragment for a better year this year, for sure.

Remarkably neither player served any double faults which is a testimony to the quality of serving.

JonH · All-time great

ROSAMUND wrote:
flamingowings wrote:
Jo and her boyfriend have a wee dog called blue- maybe the change is that! ;)
I think you will find the dog is called Bono.

naming a small dog after the small Irish rocker makes sense

indiana · Tennis legend

The Optimist wrote:
What interested me was that Jo hasn't changed her style of tennis at all. No plan B or C or anything else. Just playing the way she has since she started her charge up the rankings the other year. And it is suddenly working again. There just seemed to be a complete lack of tension in her which meant that instead of missing by a few inches, most shots were going over and in. Has the new coach put her in a more relaxed frame of mind? Life off court in a better place? No idea, but I think it puts paid to the theory a lot of us held on here that her recent struggles were due to the fact that everyone had worked out how to play her.....

Personally I have never bought that theory to any huge extent, while of course there is some element of getting to know a player's game ( pros learn about pros ). The biggie was always that she wasn't executing Plan A nearly as well, simply was playing relatively badly. She has a game that on form can still be very damaging however much the opponent may know what's likely coming..

Great that she appears more relaxed and at ease with herself. May good things follow ...

flamingowings · All-time great

ROSAMUND wrote:
flamingowings wrote:
Jo and her boyfriend have a wee dog called blue- maybe the change is that! ;)
I think you will find the dog is called Bono.

Oh the breed is blue isn't it? Not very au fait on dog breeds (cat person) but he is cute.

JonH · All-time great

A blue miniature dachshund apparently

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great show by the American female players this week.

In the last 16, we have:

USA - 5

Czech Rep 2
Russia 2

Australia 1
Germany 1
Japan 1
Latvia 1
Roumania 1
Spain 1
Ukraine 1

and huge kudos to Anisimova, age 17

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Similarly to the men, this GS shows the women's average age in the last 16 has dropped slightly: it is now 26, spot on.

In terms of age tranches, though, it is far more centred round the average, far less dispersion.

Under 20: 1

20-24: 4

25-29: 8

30-34: 2

35+ : 1

indiana · Tennis legend

Barty vs Sharapova biggrin

Mervatron2 · Futures level

Womens draw looking pretty good for the round of 16. Very shocked at Kerber's loss. Thought she was on her way to another final/title.

I do hope either Petra or Barty come through the bottom half.

Top half, interesting to see if we get a Serena vs Garbine QF

SuperT · Futures qualifying

Absolutely delighted that Ash Barty beat Sharapova. Would love to see her progress further although Petra's form looks excellent just now. In the other half, hoping it's Simona v Garbine in the the QF.

indiana · Tennis legend

I see that Petra Kvitova has taken over as live #1 from the ousted Simona Halep after reaching the SF. She now has Danielle Collins ( well done her ) to face in that SF.

If Naomi Osaka wins her QF she will in turn take over as live #1.

But if either Svitolina or Pliskova win the title they will go to #1 ( the final would be enough for Svitolina if Collins rather than Kvitova is the other finalist though for her as indeed Pliskova the title would truly be much the bigger thing ).