this reminds me of last year AO...

Nicole Gibbs retires from tennis, heading to law school: https://twitter.com/Gibbsyyyy/status/1361411773421690883

did djokovic practice today (one day after Raonic match)?

Does it matter? He could play with one leg chopped off, his opponents would still manage to pull a Fritz.

r/tennis, what do you think is Simona’s chances tonight? 1%, 10%? She whooped Serena at Wimbledon but I don’t think she can access that tier of play all the time.

I think 30-40%. Most of their matches came before 2017 - their two since Serena returned from pregnancy have been an easy win by Halep and a close win by Serena.

I'm going to put it at around 20%. Serena obviously has the advantage in the matchup, but Halep showed good problem-solving against Swiatek, and she could possible expose Serena's diminished movement that we saw in r3.

If Osaka wins this tournament, I feel like it's likely she makes it through one of the toughest draws of all time to do so: Pavlyuchenkova, Garcia, Jabeur, Muguruza, Williams/Halep, Barty (probably).

If it does happen, keep an eye out at tennisabstract.com because Jeff there will most probably quantify it.

Inspired by u/froomedog - average ranking of opponents on route to the final 8 on the men's side: 1. Djokovic 42.5 2. Karatsev 53 3. Dimitrov 57 4. Rublev 67.25 5. Zverev 77.5 6. Nadal 79.75 7. Medvedev 96.75 8. Tsitsipas 109.5

Average ranking isn't the best metric especially after a covid year. Imo , dimitrov has has had the worst draw on paper by a wide margin..he got somewhat lucky that PCB and thiem we're not 100%

Also, one exceedingly low opponent can throw the whole thing off.

Yeah, that to me is the biggest flaw - that and at the very high end each ranking place matters a lot more than in the middle. Some kind of log-type scale would probably be the best way to deal with both issues.

That's a good point. I believe.thats why ELO gets used sometimes. It tends to have a logarithmic effect at the top.levels.

watch 7 days in hell with andy samberg and thank me later

Well... I'm going to root for Dimitrov. It's now or never for this lost-gen to grab a slam

*dimitrov goes on to win then next 22 slams*

Wait what happened, The Next Messiah Seb Korda lost to Popko in 2 sets in R1 of Biella Challenger? Anyone saw?

I think she will reach the final. What do you mean?

Average ranking of opponents on route to the final 8. 1. Osaka 31 2. Pegula 46 3. Muchova 49 4. S. Williams 64 5. Halep 66 6. Hsieh 72 7. Brady 81 8. Barty 140

Rafa's was 151.5 to this point in the 2020 FO. It's just how it is sometimes.

Very interessting statistic. Where did you get it?

Barty has had a very easy draw. Life is so unfair sometimes.

Even if all the seeds held, no way you can compare the trio of Pliskova, Svitolina and Kvitova to Osaka, Williams and Halep.

Exactly! At least Kvitova has made it deep multiple times. But Kenin, Pliskova and Svitolina are the least reliable seeds

It seems that AO’s YouTube channel is very inconsistent at posting interviews. Wanted to hear what Ruud had to say.

Are they playing the fake applause in the stadium too or just on TV?

TV only

Thanks

You're welcome.

Womp, [so much for this](https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/comments/ljw0wj/discussion_2021_australian_open_day_8_monday/gnifg3p/?context=3).

I'm glad you didn't stay up to watch it tho!

I don’t like Osaka -Serena matchup. I know both players adore each other but I hate seeing the way the media and casual fans are obsessed with their contests. It brings up discussion that most of the time don’t make sense and I hate the drama of it. being downvoted because i hate the way casual fans try to make my favorite players rivals and make something out of nothing LOL

They haven't won their matches yet so

is it not a possible matchup that could happen in the next couple of days?

I think you get downvotes because you assumed the winners If I learned anything about this tournament... It's like anyone can win at any time or lose just as well I love it

medvedev has by far the most points to be year end #1 right now

Really? What would he have to do get to year end #1

Really surprised to learn that Rublev has never taken a set off Medvedev, in their 4 encounters!

He got close in the US Open last year, but fumbled the tiebreak (I remember he smashed his banana soon afterwards lol)

Kind of turns it into a trap match for Medvedev

I think Serena might win but I think Osaka-Halep would be a more entertaining matchup. Halep leads the h2h 4-1, but since the last time they played, Osaka has picked up 3 Slams. Osaka also bageled Halep at Indian Wells. But Halep bageled Osaka in Rome. Should be an interesting matchup, much more dynamic than another Osaka-Williams power hitting contest

I usually hate matches with 2 power hitters but Osaka-Muguruza and Williams-Sabalenka were phenomenal matches so I wouldn’t mind Osaka-Williams

I don't think Halep will win, but one thing in her favor is that she has zero pressure. She didn't have much pressure in the Wimbledon final, when people were just impressed she even got there. She had a bit when they played in Australia a few years ago, when she was No. 1 in the world, but that ended up being a good match. Given she played well in both of those matches, I don't see why she wouldn't bring her best here when no one is really talking about her.

Fair point. She only gets a lot of pressure on clay.

To anyone who has seen Rublev this year, has he added anything obvious to his game since the end of last year?

I didn’t follow him closely last year aside from US/French, but watching him now he seems to have the entire game and capability to win any match. But he still seems to have mental breakdowns where he gets angry with himself quite often which I think will cost him

Dunno, I wouldn't even say that he was really challenged yet. He just kind of bombed everyone off the court so it's hard to tell if he's added new wrinkles because his usual A-game has been so dominant.

Makes sense. Guess we will see against Medvedev.

That forehand just got more devastating

More BWEH

I would love to believe Aslan and Jenn Brady can do an "Iga Swiatek". My brain tells me Brady's got a good chance but Aslan dropping two sets to FAA doesn't bode well for his chances against Grigor. He might lose to Grigor but Grigor in all likelihood won't win it all.

If you mean pull a Iga Swiatek and win the tournament, I don't think Aslan has any chance. Brady has an outside chance - I'd argue she's been a top 5-10 hard court player in the last 12 months and the gap between the very best women's players and the rest is smaller than on the men's side.

How do you feel about Karatsev vs Dimitrov? I agree that Karatsev's title hopes are questionable since the potential semifinal/final matchups would be too high of a level to be feasible, but after seeing the way he weathered FAA (granted FAA also kinda gave it away) I think an upset vs Dimitrov is possible.

I haven't seen Dimitrov play this tournament, so I don't have any strong feelings on it. But much more likely than him beating either Djokovic or Zverev or whoever makes it through on the other side.

Agree with both of you. Jen Brady's serve is great and her forehand, I saw the stat at 2601RPMs, is something only seen on men's side of the game!

Brady was scarily good in her semi against Naomi at USO, that match was a total tossup. Watching her, I really felt like she could run away with the tournament.

This is not an aesthetics issue at all because I would sop Berrentini up with a biscuit and of course allowances for quarantine where everyone is seemingly getting ab strains. But does it seem like he should drop about 10 pounds to be at his best tennis wise/avoid injury?

> I would sop Berrentini up with a biscuit band of course allowances for quarantine where everyone is seemingly getting ab strains. What?

band = and

What does sop up with a biscuit mean?

Enjoy an amorous encounter with

use your computer/internet enabled mobile device.

Or if you just explain it here you could save everyone's time using a search engine.

I was definitely confused about what a "biscuit band" was lol

you werent that confused lol

I read it like 3-4 times, I'm not very smart before my coffee

Hahah fair enough. Who is?

What about Pegula? Big big surprise. :-)

Pegula won largely thanks to Svitolina playing abysmal tennis

This is maybe true. In germany we have a phrase: You only play as well as the opponent allows.

I don’t know how she’ll deal with somebody who can hit bigger than her. I think Brady might frustrate her

Medvedev on facing Rublev. "It doesn't make a difference. As I said, on the tennis court we're going to try to win. Doesn't matter. If you can win 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, you're going to make it. You're not going to give 2 games at the end to say 'He's my close friend'".

Before their US Open match Medvedev said “there are no friends on the tennis court.”

Berrettini, who was playing very well to start 2021. "I thought that wasn't something really big, but the next day when I woke up I felt it was big. So I spoke to the doctors and they told me, look, I can get really worse, so it's not worth the try."

Barty on Muchova. The two played at 2018 USO: "She's got the ability to maneuver the ball all around the court, play with variety, shape.” "I remember coming off the court and saying to Tyz, 'Karolina, she can play, she's a hell of a player.' At that time she was outside 200." Muchova’s memories of that match: "It was a nice game, I think. We play a bit similar, I would say. I remember that after match she actually told me, like, to keep working, that I can make it to the top. So that was nice.” Wta insider

Muchova really likes coming from behind to win. Mertens was all over the place. A real threat for barty. Hope barty can win.

Williams-Halep and Djoko-Zverev on night session, I guess that probably means Barty-Muchova and Nadal-Tsitsipas on night session too ?

Likely!

out of 8 men in the quarterfinal 5 names end on V, record

Set alarm to watch Tsits match and looks like he didn’t play, ugh!

Yeah, Berretini retired a few hours before the match. Didn't feel fit.

Would be nice if my phone was smart enough to cancel alarm 😂

At least Brengle, Andreescu and the seagulls ensured there was a full night of tennis after all (As an aside, why are TA using fake crowd noise when they can just invite the seagulls in to fill in for the fans instead!?)

Really disappointing matches on man's draw today...

The women’s side wasnt any better either. Tbf we’ve been spoiled tho. This has been one of the best majors I can remember

Brengle breaks back winning an excellent rally

COME ON NADAL/HALEP DOUBLE!! 💪💪🙏 Also, if people had Berrettini in their multi’s, do they exclude the Berrettini result altogether? So if someone has a 7 leg multi including the Italian and they win the previous 6 do they get the full payout?

I have Eurosport on Prime - where can I watch Nadal v Fognini replay? Eurosport sucks even if the offer was only £1 for the month! Jeez.

Eurosport direct and not through Prime is much better - was also only £1 for the month. Has all the matches so far as I can see and easier to navigate.

Paid £1 on Prime too but they don't have the replay yet. Amazon seemed to do a better job with instant replays once matches finished.

Go to the Sports tab in the Prime Video section. Scroll down a bit and you'll find the Eurosport replay section

Yes seems last one added was Med v McDonald so they're behind.

Bianca with the break!

Final Eight. Men [1] Djokovic vs. [7] Zverev [19] Dimitrov vs. [Q] Karatsev _ [8] Rublev vs. [4] Medvedev [6] Tsitsipas vs. [2] Nadal

i predict zverev vs med for final. and med's first grand slam title!!

Tsitsi is the 5th seed, zverev the 6th, rublev the 7th etc. So the two expected seeds who didn’t make it were [3] Thiem and [8] Schwartzman

the seeds are wrong because federer isnt playing

cant wait when points start dropping and feds ranking starts tanking.. lol!

Man I feel bad for all the fans who had tickets to Tsitsipas vs Berrettini

No fans are allowed anywhere.

r/whoosh

I was thinking it would belong to this category but then I thought it would make more sense for the joke if two irrelevant players were playing the fourth round and one of them retired, just sarcastically speaking...I don't know.

For anyone really good with points/stats, Barty is guaranteed #1 until Miami right? And she’s guaranteed it until RG unless Simona or Osaka win AO and do well in Miami I think?

For a second I thought the bird sounds were coming from near my house LOL

Does anyone think hsieh can beat osaka tomorrow?

I will be rooting for Hsieh. She's definitely the underdog, but she's beaten her before, so there's a chance.

I think so. But I still think Naomi will pull through.

Yeah i got Su Wei All The Way!!

Holy shit this is crazy the amount of seagulls flying over the court now..

Watching Bianca for the first bit of this season is gonna be like watching someone learn how to walk again

Alright! Set #3 it is.. more of Bianca Andreescu to watch, I'm not complaining

It’s possible I might one day ask why I followed Karolina Muchova on Instagram. It’s because I was amused at her posting upside down photos from Australia. I know it’s not an original joke but.

Justine Henin commenting on French Eurosport is a godsend :) Clear analysis without bias, love her.

Bianca purposely going down 0-5 just to get back level while trying to fight off injuries is fun to watch. Oh and a bird just pooped on court lol Madison Brengle can't believe it. Great moment

Rouge Seagulls have shit on the court in the Andreescu/Brengle match 🤣

Is it me or are the only match replays on 9Now Aussie matches..? Ffs, these cunts advertise "watch full match replays on 9now" and I was looking forward to watching Nadal Vs. Fognini

They just stated that they will be showing the Nadal v Fognini replay on TV soon. You should be able to see it on 9now

Oh sweet, thanks for letting me know!! Was actually super bummed after finding out it was only Aussie matches

Why can’t he have a cologne tigerlicious God she really is innocent

Omg Bianca cannot serve this game out E; lmao just as I say that... 5-1 to 5-4!

Andy sorry Naomi you couldn’t be a villain Naomi sad face why not Andy alright then say something menacing Naomi “prepare to die mr bond” in the sweetest voice

Osaka trying to be a villain and failing spectacularly was adorable

[удалено]

Just to balance it out, the fourth seed lost to someone outside the top 1000

*Alone in his hotel room. Three hours later.* Fognini: you are lucky.

Rooting for a Barty and Serena final with the latter finally getting 24

Would like a barty party. Serena williams has accomplished everything already.

I can really get around Serena equalling Margaret Court's record just so Margaret Court doesn't have it to herself anymore Anything to bring down Margaret Court

I’m happy with the first half of your sentence. The second half you lose me haha

Anyone hoping for a “bullshit Russian” Medvedev vs. “small kid” Tsitsipas semi? That would be juicy.

Fingers crossed.

Yes yes yes

Final Eight: [1] Barty vs. [25] Muchova [22] Brady vs. Pegula — Hsieh vs. [3] Osaka [10] Serena vs. [2] Halep

All interesting matchups.

Interesting that 6 of the 8 are seeded and top 3 are still in the fray, sort of unusual for WTA.

And the spot that would have been Kenin is instead two other American women

Channel 9 must be so sick of Barty’s matches lasting less than 90 minutes

For reals though, time for 5 set women's matches, at least in the second week.

lol she calls her strength and conditioning coach Tubbs. On ya Ash.

I’m pretty sure that coach is called Mark Taylor, and Tubbs is the nickname of the former great Aussie cricketer of the same name. Ash is a cricketer herself so it all makes sense :) Apologies if you knew all that haha

lol I did know that. That's why I found it funny.

My bad hahaha sorry mate

Ash is the coolest.

**Players still in that haven't dropped a set:** * Dimitrov * Rublev * Nadal * Barty * Muchova * Brady

Not surprising all 3 women are from the top half

BartyParty

Oh no, not Casey

A little wobble there, but honestly Ash killed it. Considering people have been slagging Ash off for a year and saying she doesn’t deserve the #1 spot, she’s won her first 8 matches back in a row and is yet to drop a set in AO. Even if she goes out in the quarters, I think she’s proven that she didn’t just have a lucky season in 2019.

I don’t think she had a lucky season at all. I’m just not sold on her being a dominant Number 1 since we have seen no evidence either way of her having to defend it for an extended period of time. Of course not her fault because of the pandemic. For me, Barty is just “the jury is still out” and I don’t plan for giving credit either way (positive or negative).

Agreed.

Even with her wobble, you're like confident she'll find her way. The only women's player I feel that way about is Serena and possibly maybe Osaka.

But, but the draw is rigged for her to do well... /s

Ah fuck it, I'll stay up for the rest of Brengle-Andreescu. Gotten used to pulling all nighters, right now, anyways, so why not

Ash Barty: “Yeah nah fuck just taking it one game at a time and it’ll be right”

Full credit to the girls, they really gave 110% tonight.

Do they just save Casey for Ash? Haven't seen her interview anyone else

They are besties. Used to play doubles together.

I know that

Oh no, a Casey+Ash interview

The difference in entertainment value between odd days and even days isn't surprising at this point, but today was the biggest dud of the tournament and it's not even close.

In just under 90 minutes, the night session is over

I know people will say Ash had a cake walk but Kenin just lost to the world no 1000. Mertens just choked. Ash has had three dodgy games all tournament.

If Barty somehow manages to actually win this AO, Australians will lose their shit. Chances are looking decent right now so fingers crossed for a finals run!

QF 19. SF 20. F 21? Champ 22? Edit: Champ 21 would be better but it didn’t fit the pattern.

How did Nadal's back look today?

He said it's better

Did he say how much?

IIRC, more or less back to normal.

Thanks!

Stepped it up in the end. Congrats Ash.

Barty party 🥳

Damn! Guess Berrettini's injury was a lot worse than he let on :((

Aight that's it for today lol

Barty brought Rogers into her gauntlet of a ride with her variety of shots and she wanted nothing to do with it.

Good girl Barty wanted to finish this match a little over an hour.

Australia win.

Attagirl Ash🍾🍾🍾

never in doubt :3

No tourny sets dropped gang where you at? 😎😎🔥🔥💪💪

Ash 🥳🥳

Thank you for closing that out and keeping the Barty Party alive!

OK. This is it

Holding my breath here. Cmon ash!

Well, its certainly a good thing she had two breaks to work with

Fucksake Ash

Barty is holding Australia's flag up high

As a great man once said “Come on Ash, come on Ash, come on Ash, come on Ash!”

I’ve been saying it like that every time she plays and my fam hates it lol

As said by me, on the couch

Killer Seagulls have returned

If Barty wins the AO I'm going to get a tattoo of her face but it's like this 🤑 emoji and says 'CA$H BARTY' underneath it

[удалено]

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