The 2014 Australian Open Tennis Championships (Jan. 13-26) |OT|
- Thread starter szaromir
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Woke up and decided to check the results to see how badly Nadal won, was absolutely shocked that Stan won(and, based on the score, looks like he won fairly easily too).
He was a man possessed in this tournament. Sucks because I really wanted to see Rafa get that second career slam.
He was a man possessed in this tournament. Sucks because I really wanted to see Rafa get that second career slam.
Canadian Psycho
Banned
Hell yes!
Unfortunately, roider Nadal again has to fake an injury like he almost always does when in deep trouble (of course, he never gets "injured" when up a set and a break, always the other way around to break his opponent's momentum). Not only that, but he HAS to show the world how much it hinders him. He did the same when down two sets to none against Ferrer in 2011 and Murray in 2010.
Can't wait for when he is outed as the biggest fraud in tennis. Until then, that will do.
Unfortunately, roider Nadal again has to fake an injury like he almost always does when in deep trouble (of course, he never gets "injured" when up a set and a break, always the other way around to break his opponent's momentum). Not only that, but he HAS to show the world how much it hinders him. He did the same when down two sets to none against Ferrer in 2011 and Murray in 2010.
Can't wait for when he is outed as the biggest fraud in tennis. Until then, that will do.
Hell yes!
Unfortunately, roider Nadal again has to fake an injury like he almost always does when in deep trouble (of course, he never gets "injured" when up a set and a break, always the other way around to break his opponent's momentum). Not only that, but he HAS to show the world how much it hinders him. He did the same when down two sets to none against Ferrer in 2011 and Murray in 2010.
Can't wait for when he is outed as the biggest fraud in tennis. Until then, that will do.
He was injured, he can't serve. Second set was too painful to watch. I wish I didn't watch it
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
It's the Catch 22 of slow courts. Nadal can win more and compete but his playing style drains his life force chakra.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Break his back make him humble. Do it old country way.
H_Prestige
Banned
I didn't see the match, but holy shit Nadal is still pretending to be injured when he realizes he's about to lose a big match?
He wasn't faking. According to the recap, he started serving 77 mph first serves after the MTO.
Rafa=FedKilla
Banned
Not even big matches. Do you remember when he acted like someone to a machete to his ACLs before jumping around like e was about to lis virginity against Robin Hasse at Wimbledon?
No, he didn't pretend anything. He was serving (up to) 200kmph first serves in the beginning, was serving ~130kmph immediately after the timeout and only got it back up to 170kmph later in the match. He wasn't defending anywhere near as well as usual. It was a genuine injury.
H_Prestige
Banned
Didn't see that one. The match that comes to mind was against Ferrero some years back. He had some ridiculous streak on clay going but when he saw that JCF wasn't going to take shit from his grindy ass moonballing and took the first set, he suddenly developed blisters on his feet and couldn't move anymore.
Of course he then went on to win the French one week later as if nothing was wrong.
Canadian Psycho
Banned
How convenient.
To anyone who has been following the sport since at least 2009, it is obvious: he takes MTOs to break the opponent's momentum. He has done so countless times. Dude is the king of gamesmanship.
He also faked an injury against Petschzner at Wimbledon that same year. The following year at RG, he did the same against Federer when down 2-5 in the first set. He is a fraud of the greatest order (that and the obvious PED use - he is as close to a robot you can get; does anyone here really think he was injured those 7 months he missed in 2012?).
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
That username is really accurate.
Not really, that's why people wondering when he took MTO
No, he was serving 200+ kmph first serves and moving well.
Gotcha. I didn't get a chance to watch much of the match yet (final set is on ESPN right now)
Indeed.
H_Prestige
Banned
Probably very recently with Spain.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
There were two active Spanish grand slam winners until Ferrero's retirement in 2012, so pretty recently in all honesty.
What's more reassuring is that we're moving past the stranglehold at the top of tennis, at long last. After the 2012 Valencia Open, there were only 6 active Slam winners in the men's game - Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Hewitt, Murray and Del Potro, which is an an all time low, even including the pre-Open Era. Now we're up to a rather more healthy 7, with Wawrinka joining the crew, and I can only see it going up from here, because Hewitt's going to play until he's a hundred years old at least and the others have a while before retirement.
What's more reassuring is that we're moving past the stranglehold at the top of tennis, at long last. After the 2012 Valencia Open, there were only 6 active Slam winners in the men's game - Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Hewitt, Murray and Del Potro, which is an an all time low, even including the pre-Open Era. Now we're up to a rather more healthy 7, with Wawrinka joining the crew, and I can only see it going up from here, because Hewitt's going to play until he's a hundred years old at least and the others have a while before retirement.
John Dunbar
correct about everything
would be nice if this opened the floodgates and surprise champions at slams became more common. with federer being an old man, nadal possibly running out of body parts that are not a source of excruciating pain, djokovic and his stunning ability to bottle big matches and murray and his botched back operation, there's actually a chance their ridiculous consistency might start developing some cracks.
but then again, that might have seemed to be the case with del potro in 2009, and that didn't do anyone any good.
but then again, that might have seemed to be the case with del potro in 2009, and that didn't do anyone any good.
The difference between Wawrinka's and Murray's wins is that Murray's victory was a long time coming, people had been expecting him to make a breakthrough since 2008 or so (of course there were some who had been claiming he would never win a major), whereas Wawrinka's is more of a surprise. Hopefully it gives more healthy dynamics to the men's game, other guys should be inspired and motivated by Stan's title run, "going through two of those guys" should no longer be an excuse not to challenge Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Fed.
edit:
You and I think the same
Unfortunately, real or not it's his pattern. Never seems to suffer any injury when he's ahead in a match but as soon as he's down a set and feeling the match slipping away he gets injured. That way Nadal fans can say "he can't be beat when he's healthy!"
Well that was a fitting ending to a great and surprising tournament. I think the scenario of this final shows one more time, with both Nadal's injury and Stan's difficulty to conclude, how hard it is to win a Grand Slam. Nothing is written in advance and this is why tennis is such a great sport.
Stan before the match, like a boss ! With Luthi and Magnus Norman, the man who coached Söderling during that other Nadal match you might have heard of.
Stan before the match, like a boss ! With Luthi and Magnus Norman, the man who coached Söderling during that other Nadal match you might have heard of.
Tennis has always been better when there isn't one dominant players.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
To an extent. You don't want a generation of totally inconsistent players where the only reason lots of different players win is because they engage in choking competitions (see: tennis in the late '90s/early '00s).
Lone_Prodigy
Member
Women's tennis? 1 slam wonders and number 1's with 0 GS titles?
Good for Stan, will have to catch the highlights later. When I saw 9 unread pages in this thread I thought he might have pulled off the upset haha.
D
Deleted member 231381
Unconfirmed Member
Yeah, the Wozniacki era was definitely not one I enjoyed.
True. A bunch of mediocre isn't good either.
I suppose having a big 4 is best. Unfortunately it looks like Federer will have a tough time keeping up.
What a disappointing final. Nadal had a legit injury but the drama queen antics are just blech. A loss with an excuse takes away from the win.
I suppose having a big 4 is best. Unfortunately it looks like Federer will have a tough time keeping up.
What a disappointing final. Nadal had a legit injury but the drama queen antics are just blech. A loss with an excuse takes away from the win.
Agreed. He beat the top two players. I tip my hat to that. Hopefully Stan can build off this success.
I read an interview last year where Wawrinka said that he basically didn't believe that he could realistically beat the Big 4 and that a lot of players on the tour felt the same way. That there's a big, insurmountable gap between them and the rest of the players. I'm glad to see that he started believing in himself.
IISANDERII
Member
Noticeable but not obvious. I was waiting for him to go into beast mode, thought he was just off to a slow, nervous start.
Glad Stan won, his strokes have made him my favourite player to watch for years and he brought it, I don't think even a healthy Nadal would've beaten him.
Yeah, normally you expect players to drop on the floor or slide on their knees or some bullshit but he did the best thing by doing it like this for Nadal. I bet he was screaming internally
Yeah, normally you expect players to drop on the floor or slide on their knees or some bullshit but he did the best thing by doing it like this for Nadal. I bet he was screaming internally
Heh, for some reason I just thought of a screen capture I took of Djokovic winning the US Open a couple years ago.
That's AO 2012
That's AO 2012
Shit, you're right! Checked the date on the file.
RedAssedApe
Banned
celebrations and speeches were weak. wanted to see another one like this
Hours Left
Member
Even though I "went to bed", I still watched the end of the match. In the end, I'm glad Nadal won that one set, it made the match more... acceptable? (For lack of a better word.)
Congrat to Stan, but this was just a temporary sojourn. Novak will always be my man.
Congrat to Stan, but this was just a temporary sojourn. Novak will always be my man.
perfectchaos007
Member
IISANDERII
Member
Not Stan's fault they cancelled the fireworks and pyrotechnics.celebrations and speeches were weak. wanted to see another one like this
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