2016 Australian Open: Melbourne Sidewalk Cafe Talks

[Carol]

I have said it before and I'm going to say it again. The best thing that Raonic has done is to change the coach adding Moya in his team. I'm sure he is going to help him a lot his game and mentality . And about Muzz who is my second fav after Nadal, hope the baby comes after to finish the tournament and if he would win he would give me a happiness after to feel so much pain because that awful last set played by Rafa yesterday.... 

 

[Denis]

Hmm Rafa said himself that all credit in the fifth set should go to verdasco. He was more unhappy with the first and fourth set where verdasco did not play as well as he did in the fifth.

 

[ClayDeath]

bottom line: rafa has no fitness and limited physicality.

he started out with a break in the 5th set but his body hit the wall.

verdasco is a mental midget compared to the top players. rafa had owned him all his life.

what did you expect from a guy who complains about the heat and gets worn out after just 20 minutes of practice?

he was cramping and huffing and puffing after his win over fognini at hamburg last year. it was a simple straight sets win after such an easy semifinal.

unless he fixes his fitness and does some major physical work in the gym, he is at risk of next big injury that ends his career let alone winning 2-3 matches in succession.

you don't even need legs to be fit. Oscar pistorius doesn't even have legs and he became a world class athlete.

 

rafa can swim, do endless spinning on stationary bikes in the gym. and he can run on soft surfaces. he can do wind sprints. he can run up hills.

upper body work is easy. there are 90 year old people doing upper body physical work and getting significantly stronger.

rafa just doesn't care to win. the whole damn world is just going to have to wake up and live with that reality.

he farts around in practice and he does token work on fitness.

only he can change his stars but he just doesn't want to. he has to go get on clay and stay on clay for a while.

and he has to fix his fitness but it will take around 9 months.

 

[ClayDeath]

91 unforced errors and verdasco still wins the match.

has that ever happened before?

and 90 winners for him. that is what happens when you leave the ball short and it has lot less pace and spin than it used to.

 

again this is not new. this has been happening on clay as well.

simon hit 60 winners on rafa in rome a couple of years ago. 60 winners in a best of 3 sets match against rafa by simon.

on clay.

 

simon weighs 40 pounds and has not eaten in 4 years.

 

[ClayDeath]

there are players nearly 5-10 years older than Rafa who will do better than him in 2016 with a limited game and with a host of health issues.

rafa is not that old. djokovic is just one year younger and he keeps soaring with each passing week.

djokovic never lost a set on Doha while rafa struggled mightily against players ranked nearly #70 in the world.

 

it is just lack of a sufficient work ethic. it is piss poor preparation.

but I can get my heart broken as much as I want to. rafa is just done with tennis.

Sampras said it but I said long before Sampras said it: he is on his own little retirement tour.

he does not mind getting crushed and swatted aside like a hapless mosquito.

the money and the spotlight eases the sting almost instantly.

and you can always do a little bit of acting for the press and say all the right words.

the horrible performances on the courts and the lack of results speak much too clearly even for the most clueless.

 

[ClayDeath]

MELBOURNE, Australia — The bottom line on Sunday at the Australian Open was that <a title="More articles about Novak Djokovic." href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/novak_djokovic/index.html?inline=nyt-per">Novak Djokovic</a> prevailed over Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-7 (1), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to reach his 27 consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal.
But there was another line on the statistics sheet after this fourth-round marathon that was much more surprising.
Djokovic, a relentless force from the baseline and the world’s dominant player, finished with 100 unforced errors.
“That’s a good number for me, not for him, but unfortunately one more time it was not enough,” said Simon, looking flushed and sounding wistful after four hours and 32 minutes of deep effort and deep thinking.
If a clever man like Simon cannot upset Djokovic on a day that he makes 100 unforced errors, just when might a clever man pull it off?

 

[ClayDeath]

Nishikori will have his chances against Djokovic.

you can make book on that.

 

[Carol]

Simon was close to win but Novak miraculously survived though he should thanks the bad first serves and decisions in the most important points of the French

 

[DarthFed]

Novak has often had a really bad match early in slams and survived and then he turns it on right away.  He will be fine. That said I think Nishikori has the best chance to upset him aside from Stan.

 

[ClayDeath]

Nishikori will have to start strong and snatch the first two sets.

so that is where his chance exists. He simply has to get out of the blocks fast.

 

[mikecase]

Murray is looking good guys. Just sayin'

 

[ClayDeath]

Andy has worked hard on his fitness. he still has to take it to the next level.

if you don't have supreme endurance and you do not bother to log in the hours in the gym with your physical work, you wont amount to much in this sport in modern times.

nobody understands that better than andy, federer djokovic, stan, ferru, and the others.

 

[ClayDeath]

It is really simple:

For Nishikori:
1. Serve well and take care of your serve.
2. Return well. keep the pressure on djokovic's side of the net.
3. Hit deep and hit smart. Don't give him too many angles to work with.
4. Do this for the first 2 sets and take those sets.

that should set the stage for the win for Nishikori.

it is simple on paper for Nishikori.

 

[britbox]

First time since 1935 that GB have had men’s & women’s singles and men’s doubles semi-finalists! Andy Murray and Johanna Konta flying the flag.

 

[isabelle]

I bet on a Nole/Muzza final

 

[ClayDeath]

looks like it is going to be hard to stop djokovic.

fortune not only favors the brave but also those who are most prepared.

 

[britbox]

 

[ClayDeath]

this dude--jon- is a clown:

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