Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Brady takes it 6-4 in the third but wow what a final game that was. 6 match points and 3 break points, some fantastic points at the end it was fairly standard until then.

Brady v Osaka will be a very interesting final and hopefully a higher standard then the semis.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Brady into final.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Small margins in this one, but Brady comes through 6-4 3-6 6-4.

Totally amazing last game - Muchova saved five match points and fought so hard.

This one really could have gone either way and credit to both players. Bedtime at last. Feel sorry for all our tennis nuts on here who slept through this one.

Re-Jaggy's last post, hope Serena doesn't retire - I think she'll go after the US Open or if she beat Court's record, but she will be down and despondent after today's match, for sure.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Muchova had some real clutch moments there and probably deserved to break at the end to be fair but a great tournament for her and Im sure she will have similar runs in the years to come.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

This could change but Martina,Venus and Serena all reached their last Grand Slam singles finals at the age of 37. Martina (Wimbledon 1994 ) , Venus ( Wimbledon 2017) and Serena (US 2019)

-- Edited by ROSAMUND on Friday 19th of February 2021 10:11:33 AM

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Those are telling stats aren't they.

I had thought Martina had gone on much longer than that - the memory playing tricks on me, but maybe it was her doubles finals.

It is getting more and more difficult for Serena to break Margaret Court's record and it feels like she needs a miracle now for it to happen. One thing that I have noticed is that her power is not quite as awesome as it once was; she always hit the ball far, far harder than most players, and it was a major factor as she overwhelmed other big hitters like Sharapova for instance; now the likes of Osaka are matching her in that department, and as she is slower around the court now, it is putting a lot of pressure on the rest of her game.

I think whatever anyone says or thinks of Serena, what she has achieved so far in her career is amazing, and whatever judgements anyone wishes to make, the biggest thing to remember is that she is now 39 years old, which is ridiculously old in tennis terms and the fact that she is even still able to make Grand Slam semi-finals is a major achievement.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

JonH comes home wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
The list of Black American female tennis players excludes the name of Andrea Buchanan. She played at Wimbledon in the early 80's. She was shot dead in Los Angeles in January 1982 and her murderer was never found.
I do remember her. I guess the list was as good as wiki could offer, probably more missing. Hadnt realised there are so many Washingtons that played pro tennis!

Not necessarily to do with the Australian Open but there were 2 other Black female players who were pioneers but are not well known. One is Carolyn Williams(Mrs Bell) who was one of the 1st African American ladies to play in the US Open (Forest Hills) 1961. There is a very informative obituary if you google her name. She is no relation to Venus and Serena. The 2nd was Bonnie Logan who played at Forest Hills in the 1960's and was the 1st black woman to play on the Virginia Slims Tour in 1972-73. Sadly I was not aware of her name back at that time although I was following tennis then. All the Washington's were related if they had christian names beginning with M. Of course Mal was the Wimbledon runner up in 1996.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Osaka well up 6-4 3-0 - an impressive and disciplined display - focused and concentrating throughout. Am I the only one watching this though?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I am too :)

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Just as I thought it was all over, Osaka broken back to 4-1- she was playing it way too safe in that last service game and inviting Brady to dominate and take charge. She won't win like that and needs to go for it more or this match is still on.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Much better service game from Naomi - 5-2 and nearly there, but Brady playing better too and threatening a comeback. The 1st set was very close, by the way, for anyone who doesn't bother watching it.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Andy Parker wrote:
Osaka well up 6-4 3-0 - an impressive and disciplined display - focused and concentrating throughout. Am I the only one watching this though?

I'm listening to it on the radio with Laura and Annabel.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Well done Naomi 6-4 6-3 - a worthy winner and a pretty straightforward win for her in the end. She looks like the best player in the world for me, at the moment; Brady wasn't in the same class as her, but most players aren't and Naomi has had a superb tournament.

Can't believe all you sleepy heads missed this - I was working until midnight last night, too.

Maybe you wanted to watch and not post; at this early hour, I can understand that. Tennis on the radio, Rosamund; I don't think I've ever done that; how was the experience?

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Saturday 20th of February 2021 10:29:01 AM

Jan · Hall of fame

Yes I watched.
Well done to Naomi