Good luck to Fed!

Great exquisite luck to Fed.

Good to medium luck to Gasquet, Nadal, Tsonga, Monfils, DelPo, Davy.

So-so luck to Roddick and Hewitt.

Did I forget anyone?

The women? Go Venus!

Oh! Medium luck to Gulbis and Djoker as well.

Murray - a pox on you.

I have the whole place to myself.

Did they evacuate TW? Well, I will carry on a monologue.

The big apple - you are hilarious - LMAO

Here goes...

I had a fabulous holiday season. There are maybe 10 pounds more of me than we had before. Luck us. I have perusing adverts for a treadmill to help me through the winter. My sibling says I actually have to use it but I will only do that as a last resort. Just reading the manual and setting it up should be enough to make me sweat of the pounds. The anxiety of an installation and aggravation of awaiting a delivery, the stress of selecting the right one - all sufficient for me to get back my sublime pre-holiday form.

Hey, JKaren...good to have you in the house!

"And to Aussiemarg and the others who have kept us filled in on events on the ground in Australia, many thanks."

Pete,
Agree completely as she, Mina, Nic, Diane(on vacation), Corrie(hopefully I am spelling name correctly) and others have been good in providing reports.

Didn't Murray get the pox at last year's AO? ;-)

Hi, everyone! Can't wait till tomorrow. :)

Love the picture. :)

Ok, then....the usual suspects gather.

Hello, all. Let us all hope the next few days bring us some delightful tennis! I will be munching celery at home while watching TV but I know some of you will be there - lucky you!

DavyD holding the Maltese Falcon, one of pop cult's more memorable Macguffin's.

good to be here, even if just my fingers.
Program note: ESPN2 will have a preview of the AO at 1:00 EST (at least that is what my ESPN2 is saying).

Oops, forgot to yell first. Better late than never so..FIRST!!!

(and 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th!!)

Pete, I'm glad you're giving props to Elena Dementieva and at the same time concerned that by mentioning her you're possibly jinxing her. :) Let's just act like she and the other WTA player I'm really rooting for (no names for fear of further jinxing) aren't even in the draw, ok? And as for football, I have just two words for you: Geaux, Saints!!!

ahhh. Its almost here!
I still haven't gotten over the awesomeness of yesterday's "hit for haiti" exo. soooo much fun. Loved seeing all the big guns joking around. Priceless. :)

J. Karen: is ESPN showing the preview at 1:00 pm EST?

WTA Predictions

Q1: S Williams vs Azarenka
Q2: Wozniacki vs Molik
Q3: Dementieva/Henin winner vs Clijsters
Q4: Bartoli vs Sharapova

S1: Azarenka vs Wozniacki
S2: Clijsters vs Sharapova
F: Azarenka vs Clijsters
W: Clijsters

ATP Predictions:

Q1: Federer vs Davydenko
Q2: Djokovic vs Tsonga
Q3: Gonzalez vs Cilic
Q4: Murray vs Nadal

S1: Federer vs Tsonga
S2: Cilic vs Nadal
F: Federer vs Cilic
W: Federer

mcakron, you took my post. and with the pic in B&W, it really looks like he had the maltese falcon at some point.

bigapple: had a treadmill. it became a clothes hanger thing. hardly ever used it. and i too have to lose like 17 pounds.

Master Ace: interesting that you have Gonzo in the QF, I was just thinking earlier that he'd been a bit forgotten this time around and wondering if he could do some damage.

espn2 is showing the AO final right now. much prefer their commies to the TC folks.

lollipop, yes. However, my ESPN2 may be different as I get the Latin American and Caribbean feed which really is not very good as they are not actually scheduled to be showing the AO. I will be getting it on ESPNI and TSN so please check your schedule

I am assuming that the slam frazzle will rid me of my extra Christmas pounds, LOL.

Jewel, you are a genuis - you may just saved me maybe over a thousand dollars that would be wasted on an elaborate clothes hanger as described by Annie.

Treadmill - more thinking on it before purchase. Maybe I should see how the tourney goes. If Andreev knocks my boy out in the first round then my maximum frazzle maker will be absent.

Does it have to be a treadmill, or could you get an exercise bike or something instead?

I'm watching the AO 09 final replayed on ESPN2 at the moment. If there's a way of watching this without the commentary, that would be great, 'cos they can't stop crying for Fed, like he's the only one on court. And it's only the first set. UGH.

Hi , all and good morning - looking forward to the start of tennis later today ( in LA coverage begins at 4 pm ,)
pretty much just as the NFL playoffs are ending - so all in all - a spectacular sports viewing day for me !
Pete - I hope the Jets do win today for you - I will be so proud of Mark Sanchez if he can lead the team to this win ,although in reality ,his roll as qb has been greatly reduced . That is what happens to rookies who make many big mistakes along the way - Still he has done a good job , and has great potential - don't you think ?

As for eating crow, I hope you don't have to do that . Even though I predicted a Davydenko win in Jackie's Deuce club the other day - I would not wish that on you , and he is not who I really want to see holding the trophy in the end

I cannot stand bikes - stationary or moving. I have a bony behind and they make me sore. Yes, yes - wear special shorts. That is too much trouble.

The elliptical is under consideration though.

I watched last year's matches on channelsurfing streams. Great streams with just the ball-striking and crowd noises but no commentary. Not great memories of the match but the streams were quality.

Pete
That's bold of you. Throwing the gauntlet like that. Amidst the TWibe. Fantastic. I have a similar bet going (but no butchering of fowls involved) but it is going to cost me a bit of monies. Totally agree with you. Love Davy, but ain't gonna happen. On the other hand, the ticker insides me whispers something about Nole and Murray (per your nod), but the heart aches and yearns for Fed to grab it this time. Oh...what would I give to see that happen!

PS: I was watching the AO 09 final repeats on Tennis channel. What a fantastic 4 sets of tennis (I haven't seen that quality of tennis in recent times - I would rate those first 4 sets of Rafa and Roger higher than the entire '08 Wimbledon). The tearful face of Fed in the end...killed me man. Hope he makes it. Prayers.

I had BBC commentary and I can't remember whether I liked it or not. I expect they talked about Murray for the first three sets at least. :)

A cushion on the seat, perhaps?

Treadmill and exercise bike just about exhausts my knowledge of gym machines, LOL.

It's a beautiful daaayyyyy!! (Bono style)

Slam tennis in a few hrs.*180 degree fistpump*
Just watched the Hit for Haiti on ESPN360, good rapport between all players. Can't believe Andy went there with the footfault, but it was funny.

izidane- it was hilarious, i enjoyed it a lot. :)
*fist pumps back*.. so giddy for the AO to just start already!

Yeah, the AO '09 final seems destined to take its place along side the Wimby '08 final with the AO '05 (Safin) SF tossed in for good measure. Ugh ...

Oh well.

Agree about the first four sets ... and Rafa's play throughout the match ... but i kinda recall Fed serving like crap for the entirety of that thing. Andrew had a more technical observation at the time, but I remember feeling as if Fed was going for too many lines, especially in the deuce court. Could have had something to do with overall pressure from the guy on the other side of the net. But I recall thinking, "just put the first one in, and take control of the point." You know, chuck the aces.

pictures from party for players (check out JJ's dress:-), it's not on AO page )
http://www.gotennis.ru/news/?p=34414

I like Darren Cahill normally, but I really wish he'd stop calling Fedal matches, 'cos he can't hide his personal preferences. The majority of casual tennis fans tune into watch only like the slam finals, and if he's going to keep talking about how Fed is mentally weak against Nadal, bringing up pie charts and everything, it casts both these guys in a bad light. But never mind me, I'm probably just rambling at this point.

Oh, JJ honey, that was not a cheerleader audition. But looking at Aga, never mind, it probably was.

Who is the girl in the first pic?

"Who is the girl in the first pic?"

the gereous girl in the first picture is Anastasiya Pivovarova :-)

"gereous"="gorgeous" I can't spell it....

JJ's dress with the huge LV belt...bless her heart.
And Aga's leading the mini parade. Getty has very few pics from the party. If anyone finds links to more, I would appreciate it. Thx in advance

lollipop,
saw Nole's new threads. Hope something better is coming later, the name over his bum was a first on the men's tour, I think.

Good Morning Everyone,

Yay Day 1,good luck to all players,especially my faves

Safina I will be in Dentists chair when you are on court so please keep your head on ok.

I sort of hate that one person's great match has to be another person's despair, but that's sport, I guess. I did feel for Federer - and his fans - but on the other hand, this Rafa fan enjoyed that win rather a lot, under all the tension. :)

Hi sokol! How are you?

AM, I'm jealous. You'll be legitimately drugged up during her match - I'm just going to buy a lot of cold medicine. ;)

Jenni,
Ready for Julien today along with Dinara? Bepa starts tomorrow.

Pete who cares about the Jets, its all about the Vikings!

For me, what was worse than the result and the fifth-set performance of Federer was the vitriol and derision thrown at him over an understandable and entirely human, if somewhat embarrassing breakdown at the ceremony. It put me off checking tennis news altogether for a while. It was also nice to see tears of joy at the French instead. Rafa handled it brilliantly however.

MA, I'm totally ready. Del Potro plays too - I'm trying not to frazzle.

Jenni I think from now on its the Only way to go with a Safina match

Well at least My teeth will be fantastic

Pete Thanks for the "shoutout" us Aussie girls,Mina,Nic and myself are just complete Tennis nuts and part time tennis stalkers.Maybe I should have put Tennis Stalkers first lol!

Vikings 17 Cowboys 3 - Half. Favre with 2 TD passes to Rice.

Wow, prize money at the AO has come a long way.

"The men's and women's singles winners at this year's Australian Open will each receive more than $2 million.

That's a far cry from what Margaret Court received when she won the first of her 11 Australian singles titles in 1960 - before the Open Era and nine years before prize money.

Court, who leads the list of female Grand Slam singles winners with 24 titles, was given an umbrella, which didn't impress her very much.

``Rod Laver, the men's champion, got a beautiful silver tea service, and I thought, 'That's wrong - why do they get a beautiful silver tea service and I get a silly umbrella?''' Court told the Sunday Age newspaper in Melbourne. ``I've never forgotten that. And I think the next year I got a cosmetics case and that was even worse.''

http://tinyurl.com/yjb4722

LOL!

greenhopper: i loved the comms on espn2, with the exception of cahill who i could never hear/understand. they kept referring to the "rafa effect" with fed and yes, did back it up with stats to show that he doesn't serve as well or convert break points as well when he plays rafa. I didn't object to it because i thought it was fascinating and germaine to the discussion, no?

Papo I would not have minded the Cosmetic Case lol!

How times have changed.

Darren Cahill is a Dork sometimes

He dosent hold a candle to my Doug!!

Heaven help me if Pat Cash is doing commentaty the Mute button will be on Pronto!

One of the oldest (combined) WTA women's doubles teams in recent years will be competing at the AO.

39-year old Kimiko Date Krumm will be partnering 39-year old Yayuk Basuki.

If they're going to go far in this tournament, they may have to go thru several good Spanish doubles players in their half of the draw, such as Virginia Ruana Pascual (partnering Sania Mirza), Anabel Medina Garrigues (partnering Caro), and the Llagostera Vives-Martinez Sanchez team that won the 2009 year-end WTA doubles championships.

Hope that double-39 is a lucky number combo this year.

hopper: the comms on TTC, otoh, were obviously pro fed. You can tell if they aren't being completely neutral. that's true.

So the greater number of Eurosport experts pick Federer, the greater number of ESPN experts pick Nadal, here at Tennis.com the editors favor Davydenko and over at Sports Illustrated Jon Wertheim predicts Djokovic who also got Steve Tignor's KOD ; )

So who'll win? Probably Delpo or Murray, hehe.

Hi folks. Does anyone have the link for the suicide tennis pool? Thanks!

Rafa Fans

Seeing Rafa's website is down due to new construction.Rafa will be posting on his Face Book Page.

http://www.talkabouttennis.com/forum/showthread.php?p=529962&posted=1#post529962

carrie: here's the link. i have it bookmarked.

Carrie The link to TAT was posted on Jackie Decue club post

Carrie I see it has been posted here.

a tea set and an umbrella? so domestic. i'm surprised they didn't give out a silver sewing kit. times have sure changed.

51 degrees F at 7:06 AM Melbourne

Master Ace What is the deadline that we can put our picks in to TAT.I lost my p/word and e mailed them.I am waiting for a reply cause I cant enter the picks without it

Annie, I haven't watched TTC enough to comment on it.

Did I hear correctly that Dick Enberg is leaving tennis commentary to do something else?
Please, let this be true.

I think the Aussie Open web site is pretty user friendly, generally. And I totally get that they are using 'Military Time', but would it KILL them to put AM/PM on the clocks at their site. Oh, and also, the DAY. Like, "hey mates, right now it is 4pm on Tues. the whatever date..."

Thanks MA.

Annie- thanks for the link.

CL Good point regarding the time.Its 7.13am here to be precise

Rafa Fans Vamos Brigade have a great post and picture of Rafa since his win last year and coming into this years AO.Check it out when you have the time.

'Did I hear correctly that Dick Enberg is leaving tennis commentary to do something else?
Please, let this be true.'
~~~~~~~~
++1

ESPN commentary seems pretty good..well except for DE and Carillo when she gets shrill-ly outraged at everything on the WTA.

Sokol - thanks for the link to the players' party.

I actually like JJ's dress, but she needs a better bra. And someone needs to tell Shrieka that gladiator sandals do not go with that beautifully-cut blazer. (Never mind the white garbage bag she's wearing underneath.)

That said, is Pivovarova that gorgeous on-court as well? I may have to start looking for her in the qualies... [/very much the shallow end of the pool]

ESPN360 will have coverages on Rod Laver, Hisense, Margaret Court, Court 2, Court 3, Court 6 and Court 8 starting at 7:00 PM EST

Peg LOL!!!!! Ahhh to the Gladiator Sandals indeed.Even here in Aussie land they have made a comeback.Methinks of Russell Crowe when I see them.

Aussiemarg,
Send your picks to tatpicks@yahoo.com

Give them your TAT name and explain the situation once again. If that does not work in a few minutes, please let me know and I will log your pick in for you.

ROFLMAO at JJ's dress *and* sock tan... is it so very very hard to put on self tanner on your feet?! love the girl, but dang does she make it easy.

see you all when Rafa takes to court. Vamos!!! oh and Davai MaSha! although its Dinara who needs it the desperately...fingerscrossed she makes it past 3 matches. okay, i'll take one!

Yes, Enberg will do baseball but if I read correctly, he will be doing work at AO. Therefore, do not celebrate

can't even type... that should be desperately without 'the' in front. bye for reals. hate having to work during slams!!!

JJ has got a incredible body just the same.pfft.Though she needs to get some Quick tan for the "sock marks".I know the feeling lol!

Master Ace Thank you.

ESPN2 is showing the AO '09 Fedal again...4th set is on the way. The flaming hot 3rd set just got over.

'Afternoon y'all.

*glances at the Cowboys/Viking score, grimaces, and flips to ESPN2 for the AO '09 repeat*

Has it really only been a year?

Sokol - many thanks for that link...if you took his v-neck sweaters away from him., couldn't make any off court appearances. lol. Oh well, if you have a look that works, why change.

Also, Mr CL thanks you...he want to brush up on his Cyrillic alphabet and reading captions of pictures with people he recognizes will help. Esp. practicing reading the names.

Master Ace,I just checked my e mail again,they sent me what I needed.So I am in and have made my selections.Thanks just the same.

This 5th game in the 4th set is full of "AYFKM?" points. Un.Believable.

mina, did you get my email?

Thank goodness for the AO shop in Melbourne,when I go down I get get a DVD of the mens final 09.

The level was astonishing in that game. It was a big hold for Federer in order to win that set. What I'm unable to figure out from that match was how Federer ended up winning more points overall (174-173) despite losing 6-2 in the fifth which wasn't even close. I'd like to see the set-by-set point differential statistics.

Sokol If you are still around will you watching Dinara's match

I'd forgotten how good Rafa can be on hard courts when he plays aggressively.

VC I am sure you could get stats set by set somewhere on that game.My hubby taped the match for me,cause I was at the hospital would you believe it,he forgot to push the On button.I got back just to see the last set.

ablily I agree.Its been sometime.Oh except for the 1st set against Koyla in Doha.

AM: VB is a huge site with tons of pictures of rafa. can you be a little more precise about where to go?

VC: can you go to the atp site and look up match stats? i've never done that before but
they might have it. I think it means each game was close. and they each had a few love holds as well.

T minus 3hrs.

VC, in the third set there was a game where rafa was down love-40 and came back to win it. very up and down in the drama department that match.

Aussiemarg : Yeah, the impression I got watching it live was that it wouldn't be that close (and no chance of Fed leading) but I was surprised when they put it up at the end. I'd have expected it to be more like the Fed-DelPo match at the USO (I think that was 180-172 or something in favour of DelPo). I'm not going to watch it again to find out, though. ;-)

AO doubles draws are available

WTA - Jelena J is playing w/ Shenay Perry while Caroline is playing Anabel and Maria K is playing with Agnieszka

Annie Google Rafa Nadal.Then just scroll down.You will see Vamos Brigade site and just click enter.

Hi everyone.
*picks a pen*
Anastasiya...Pivovarova. I'll have to remember that name:)

By the way, when i predicted Gilles Simon as an early exit on the DC, i never thought i would be so right. And i read some words from Delpo, saying that his wirsts still hurts at times, but he will go out and play no matter what, considering all the work he has done on it.

Watched some parts of that exho thay had yesterday. Even if Fed and Rafa arent natural showmen like RAndy and Nole, they sure gave it their best shot. The Rafa/Nole team was certainly the highlight.
"He's killing us. What do we do?"
"I'm gonna serve to the BH"
"Good idea"

VC Chicken? lol! When I get my DVD copy I will send it to you ok