2012 Australia Open Campaign

[Chip Bayless]

Good win Azarenka. Well played.

 

[TheParraboy]

6-3, 6-0 slaughter

 

[joshie]

Now we look to Nadal v Djokovich.

I have Novak for the win.

 

[Bulldog Force]

I taught them well

Bulldog do you have twitter?

No I don't use that thing mate... what with all the followers etc lol... no time for it

 

[Bulldog Force]

Such a shocking match for Sharapova... leaves her worst performance until last. She really threw in that towel in the last set after such a promising start to the game. So many players give us these days... they don't understand how important every single point is in a tennis game. Maria needs to work on that.

Looking ahead to 2013 Aussie Open now!

 

[drago brelli]

$2.3 mil for 90 minutes. Men are discriminated againt in terms of prize money. Women best of 3 men best of 5 same money. It's an insult to women.

 

[joshie]

Okay.

 

[Marshall_magic]

Gald to see Vika win. it somewhat bothered me that she cops it badly from the crowd for grunting but Maria barely cops it at all, when they're on par as far as volume goes. Hopefully now she gets some respect, because she's a very good player. Plus it's good to see a real number 1 in the world, not an imposter.

 

[joshie]

Where to now, do you think Vika can hold onto her number 1 placement with heat now well and truly on her to win more slams?

 

[Bulldog Force]

Where to now, do you think Vika can hold onto her number 1 placement with heat now well and truly on her to win more slams?

It depends on the success of world # 2, 3 & 4 as far as I'm concerned. She did pretty well in all 4 majors last year, went deep into all the tournaments, so there's no doubt she can have the same success this year, however if the above said 3 players can go further than her in those tournaments, she'll lose the ranking. Let's also keep in mind Sharapova didn't show up yesterday and threw the towel in.

 

[Chip Bayless]

If Serena remains fit and focused on tennis, the world #1 tag will be short lived. I have Serena winning one or two Grand Slams in 2012.

 

[Bulldog Force]

Each to their own, but I don't see that happening chip. The way the final 4 women played in this tournament makes me feel that serena's past her time and past her best. I can't see her winning anymore grand slams.

 

[Chip Bayless]

We'll see. She was underdone at the Australian Open. If she is fit, she is better than any player out there and intimidates like no woman before her. The women's game isn't as deep as some suggest and you cannot tell me she wouldn't be a favourite over ANY of the semi finalists. I don't think the quality on show was jaw dropping good, far from it. That's just me. I think she wins the US Open and rewrites some wrongs there and is right in at Wimbledon.

 

[joshie]

I'd have to agree with Chip as much as I hate to say it. But I am not convinced she can take out a slam though, runner up at best IMO for 2012. She's good but some of these younger girls are just too willing to fight for what they want compared to her or Sharapova.

Sharapova definatly gave up and you saw it in her face, why do that I will never know. But oh well, good on Vika.

I have Novak tonight in a 5 setter.

 

[umina panther]

Lets go Novak!

 

[umina panther]

I like Hewitt on camera, better then most the other wankers they have on 7

 

[Jono078]

Yeah Hewitt is actually a really good commentator/analyst, love when he does that stuff.

I'm thinking Nadal wins tonight.

 

[Chip Bayless]

Agree with Hewitt sentiment, provides good insight, well spoken. The ONLY annoyance I had was the Federer vs Nadal semi-final where he continued to say "Rodg" when referring to Federer. It became painfully annoying.

Nadal in five set classic.

 

[andrew057]

Nole has got this.

 

[Bulldog Force]

I'm going Nadal tonight, but could go either way.

On a different note, I'm not happy about the generous prize money. This grand slam has a total prize pool of $26,000,000, the biggest ever in Grand Slam history (not just Australian Open History). The Aussie Open is considered the 3rd most prestigious (after Wimbledon and US), so, considering this, why not only offer the amount of prize money 3rd to these other two?

Hell, use the left over money (and there will be MILLIONS of it) and invest for our future players in AIS.