Tennis

[dandannieldanok]

Nadal had a real run for his money today, Kohlschreiber played very well in the 3rd and 4th sets.

[Manwell Pablo]

Bit of test Satdee night for Murray, playing a giant.

[maddog]

great, because I wont be on my way to / at work then.

Hats off to Elena Baltacha, 3rd round excellent result for her, suspecting she will get handed by Safina though.

Yup was far too easy.

I'm up at 6 for work tomorrow so no chance i will be watching Murray tonight.

Not working Monday though so i'm hoping that the Hewitt Federer match will be on at a reasonable time Sunday night because really want to watch that one.

Actually i may end up missing the semis/final at this rate which will be a fooking bummer.

[maddog]

Hewitt Federer on at 08.30am tomorrow morning

Cilic beat Del Potro in a 5 set match which means if Murray can get past Nadal he will probably be favourite to make the final against either Roddick or Cilic.

Even though he lost to Roddick at Wimbledon, and lost to Cilic at the US open, he will probably still be slight favourite.

Just got to get past Nadal though, and even then he may lose to one of the other guys.

I would be shocked if he manages to beat Nadal.

[SOCCERROO FOX]

Hewitt v Federer should be a classic. Fed not as good as he has been in the last few years imo. Hewitt is playing great reminiscent of the Hewitt of old and with the home crowd I'm confident he can do very well.

[Guest DavidJCW]

I just wanted to ask what everyone else thinks of Justine Henin's return to tennis.

All the commentary I've heard about it keeps going on about how it's amazing what she's managing after her "retirement"... yet to be quite frank, she was out for about 5 minutes and when I heard she was coming back, I EXPECTED her to do as well as she is... in fact I was surprised she lost to Clijsters the other week in the final of Sydney I think it was.

Yes you can argue she was out for the best part of 2 years, but she actually left in mid May 2008 and then reports of her starting to retrain again were coming out in the summer of 2009 in Belgium. Now, that means she was out for a year... 1 year. It's not that long away from the game really and you don't just forget how to play tennis, especially for one of the top women's players in recent history.

So in summary I just think that people are going over the top about her return and they shouldn't be quite as surprised as they are about it all.

P.S. Come on Serena!!!

[Uncle Albert]

I just wanted to ask what everyone else thinks of Justine Henin's return to tennis.

All the commentary I've heard about it keeps going on about how it's amazing what she's managing after her "retirement"... yet to be quite frank, she was out for about 5 minutes and when I heard she was coming back, I EXPECTED her to do as well as she is... in fact I was surprised she lost to Clijsters the other week in the final of Sydney I think it was.

Yes you can argue she was out for the best part of 2 years, but she actually left in mid May 2008 and then reports of her starting to retrain again were coming out in the summer of 2009 in Belgium. Now, that means she was out for a year... 1 year. It's not that long away from the game really and you don't just forget how to play tennis, especially for one of the top women's players in recent history.

So in summary I just think that people are going over the top about her return and they shouldn't be quite as surprised as they are about it all.

P.S. Come on Serena!!!

Possibly the most boring thing I have read on here in a while, womens tennis in general is a peice of shit.

[Manwell Pablo]

Hewitt v Federer should be a classic. Fed not as good as he has been in the last few years imo. Hewitt is playing great reminiscent of the Hewitt of old and with the home crowd I'm confident he can do very well.

Looks as though you confidence seems to have been misplaced

He looks unstoppable again atm.

[Guest DavidJCW]

Possibly the most boring thing I have read on here in a while, womens tennis in general is a peice of shit.

You might think so but I personally think it's far more interesting to watch that the mens which can be at times very VERY boring. The only person I like watching from the mens tour is Rafa Nadal as he plays with such passion and determination... of course I'll watch the big matches but aside from that, forget it.

[maddog]

Federer looked like the unstoppable Federer of old, he was awesome.

Davydenko beat him 2 sets to 0 at Doha just a couple of weeks ago though, and beat him at the ATP tour finals so he could easily cause an upset, but to beat Federer over 5 sets is just a massive task compared to beating him over 3.

Murray is actually slight favourite to beat Nadal tomorrow with the bookies odds, i still can't see it but hope he proves me wrong.

[Samilktray]

Possibly the most boring thing I have read on here in a while, womens tennis in general is a peice of shit.

:laugh:

[maddog]

Cilic has just won the 1st set 7-6 against Roddick. Winner plays Nadal or Murray.

[lildave3]

Cracking first set that.

[maddog]

Fantastic hold from Nadal that.

I rekon whoever wins this 2nd set will go on to win the match, although i will probably be wrong

Tie break now will surely decide this match.

Edited 26 January 2010 by maddog

[lildave3]

Fantastic hold from Nadal that.

I rekon whoever wins this 2nd set will go on to win the match, although i will probably be wrong

Tie break now will surely decide this match.

For once Maddog I hope you're right.

[maddog]

Surely this won't end down to injury

[ACF]

Playing fantastic tennis here Andy, Nadal is looking great aswell. Brilliant tennis.

[ACF]

Bugger.

[Guest DavidJCW]

Nadal wasn't at his best throughout that match... he's played a LOT better. However, fair play to Murray, he stuck at it.

What I will say though is that it really was Nadal who was in control of the vast majority of the points and his mistakes handed Murray many of his points. About the only area where Murray was clearly better was on serve... but Nadal just couldn't read that virtually all of Murray's serves were up the T. Yes Murray hit some good shots... but there weren't any outstanding winners from him that I was impressed by... and if he gets through to the final to face Federer, he'll have to play A LOT better than that if he's to stand any chance.

[Manwell Pablo]

Nadal wasn't at his best throughout that match... he's played a LOT better. However, fair play to Murray, he stuck at it.

What I will say though is that it really was Nadal who was in control of the vast majority of the points and his mistakes handed Murray many of his points. About the only area where Murray was clearly better was on serve... but Nadal just couldn't read that virtually all of Murray's serves were up the T. Yes Murray hit some good shots... but there weren't any outstanding winners from him that I was impressed by... and if he gets through to the final to face Federer, he'll have to play A LOT better than that if he's to stand any chance.

Federers form will have to drop off for anyone to beat him, Murray will struggle to take more than a set off him the way he's playing at the minute, unstoppable.

Edited 26 January 2010 by Manwell Pablo

[maddog]

Murray played fantastic, he is well capable of beating Federer if he plays like that.

Nadal was playing alright but there was nothing he could do, Murray was hitting the ball so well, serving very well, and was so consistent. Some of the points he played were top class, thats one of the best matches i've ever seen Murray play.

I hope he gets past Cilic now and makes the final at least.

[Guest DavidJCW]

Murray played fantastic, he is well capable of beating Federer if he plays like that.

Nadal was playing alright but there was nothing he could do, Murray was hitting the ball so well, serving very well, and was so consistent. Some of the points he played were top class, thats one of the best matches i've ever seen Murray play.

I hope he gets past Cilic now and makes the final at least.

You really think Murray playing like that stands any chance against Federer? A lot of the time during todays match he was scrambling around trying to get balls back and that was all he was doing... getting balls back. Nadal was self imploding with errors and the injury so it was inevitable that Murray would win... put him up against Federer who can hit some sublime shots and create unbelievable angles, much more so than Nadal today, and he'll be well beaten. The only thing that might save him would be his serve... but Federer reads serves extremely well so I can't see him getting any joy there.

And where does this 'Murray was hitting the ball so well' come from? It wasn't like he was ripping winner after winner... he played well, it wasn't that good and I would certainly expect more from a top 5 player with hopes of taking the top spot and claiming this Grand Slam.

It's a real shame Nadal got injured prior to the match as if he was on top form, he'd have won today... and now we've been deprived of the final everyone wanted to see...

[maddog]

You really think Murray playing like that stands any chance against Federer? A lot of the time during todays match he was scrambling around trying to get balls back and that was all he was doing... getting balls back. Nadal was self imploding with errors and the injury so it was inevitable that Murray would win... put him up against Federer who can hit some sublime shots and create unbelievable angles, much more so than Nadal today, and he'll be well beaten. The only thing that might save him would be his serve... but Federer reads serves extremely well so I can't see him getting any joy there.

And where does this 'Murray was hitting the ball so well' come from? It wasn't like he was ripping winner after winner... he played well, it wasn't that good and I would certainly expect more from a top 5 player with hopes of taking the top spot and claiming this Grand Slam.

It's a real shame Nadal got injured prior to the match as if he was on top form, he'd have won today... and now we've been deprived of the final everyone wanted to see...

Yes.

Federer played very well against Hewitt, but Hewitt doesn't have the strength or power to hurt Federer, so he's able to dominate all the points and hit a lot more easy winners.

Murray has a lot more power than Hewitt who just seems to look too weak and short against the top guys now, unlike 8 years ago when he was world number one. And a lot of the top players around today weren't playing.

Murray has the determination of Hewitt, and a lot more power, Federer certainly won't be able to play like he did against Hewitt when he plays Murray.

Murray looked unstoppable at times against Nadal, who is a much much tougher oppenent than Hewitt, who Federer looked unstoppable against.

Edited 26 January 2010 by maddog

[Guest DavidJCW]

Yes.

Federer played very well against Hewitt, but Hewitt doesn't have the strength or power to hurt Federer, so he's able to dominate all the points and hit a lot more easy winners.

Murray has a lot more power than Hewitt who just seems to look too weak and short against the top guys now, unlike 8 years ago when he was world number one. And a lot of the top players around today weren't playing.

Murray has the determination of Hewitt, and a lot more power, Federer certainly won't be able to play like he did against Hewitt when he plays Murray.

Murray looked unstoppable at times against Nadal, who is a much much tougher oppenent than Hewitt, who Federer looked unstoppable against.

Oh OK... if you say so.

[maddog]

Oh OK... if you say so.

Least we forget Murrays head to head record against Federer is the second best of all time, 6 wins, 4 defeats. 60% win.

Nadal just edges Murray with 13 wins, 7 defeats. 65% win.

And i rekon their the only 2 players to have won more against Federer than lost, not sure on that though.

And Murrays just knocked out Nadal!

Edited 26 January 2010 by maddog