2013 Australian Open final- Na vs Azarenka

[JadeC]

Wouldn't mind either winning, but slightly leaning towards Li.

[norbac]

Hope Li beats the cheater.

[RajFederer]

Azarenka with 11 votes totally

[flyinghippos101]

There will be no justice in this world if Azarenka wins this final

[tacou]

I really hope Li Na wins

[Colin]

Hope Li Na shuts up Azarenka. Better game, better personality, better control of vocal exertions.

[Love Game]

Originally Posted by Clarky21

I am really hoping Na can beat the female version of Lance. She reminds me so much of him that I simply cannot stand her.

Please save at least half of the tournament for me by beating this hoot owl, Na. It's bad enough having to suffer another Lance win, don't make me suffer another hoot owl win as well.

I don't know who Lance is ... but otherwise I second that emotion!

Wonder how much the Bellyaching Belarussion paid the Bed-Head Red-Foo to make an actual CD with her hooting on it!?!?!?!

I'll take a guess and predict that won't be one of Red Fooey's best sellers ... some people might download it as a ringtone, tho!

[Love Game]

Originally Posted by Beryl

But don't you know, Azarenka cheated. Stephens was blasting winners left and right until Azarenka pulled an MTO to get Sloane off her game. Vika is also doping, faked injuries, lied about said fake injuries, uses the cvac egg, gave Fed mono, sabotaged Nadal's knees and is behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax.

lol ... good one! ... she also single-handedly ruined Red-Fooey's career!

Go Li Na!!!!!

[hugobosstachini]

Originally Posted by always_crosscourt

I can't be the only one hoping for an Azarenka win?

I want Victoria to win too but as you can see this thread is filled with ad-hominem arguments which doesn't worth the deal (giving an opinion). Haven't seen any technical, tactical and or other analyses about this match which should theoretically be the base purpose of a tennis forum.

Lastly, polls and thread like this a greatly useless since they induce more subjective judgment than objective ones of whom would really have a chance to win this match, voting then in harmony [...] and backing up these claims obviously with well constructed arguments -- but ah well, this is the ideal forum.

No one with some sense would contribute to something where the main counter-argument would be infantile 'cheater, screamer...' making whatever logical argument an honest poster will formulate pretty useless.

Anyways to bring a contribution here, I would say that Victoria is winning this for various reasons but the first being, Li as a more offensive (riskier should I say preferably) player, knowing this is a GS F will be the more at risk of losing this. Victoria is extremely solid though her level of play hasn't really been IMO up to the standards that it could be.

Statistically speaking, her aggressive margin for example though a little bit higher than her previous open indicates to me that she doesn't win enough winning points through her offensive game, explainable though by her relatively poor form early on in the event -- even her forced winners are little bit pale IMO, sector she really really needs to drastically ameliorate in the F.

Li will forcefully attempt for much more winners than Victoria and the trick will be to absorb all that and try to force her to strike impossible shots more often than not [...] so she needs to correct this forced winners to unforced differential and be more solid at keeping/moving the ball around efficiently than she has been for now in this tournament.

All this will be useless though if Victoria would be the one on fire playing a riskier game -- Li, always plays one great set against Victoria (see Madrid, Sydney) but Victoria is always just to though/mentally strong for her to keep this up because this is the challenge Victoria imposes, staying 100% on each and every point knowing that she'll be keeping an extremely high regular level of play throughout the match.

I'm though scared of Victoria mental fragility in key moments. She was scared to serve out the SF when she's already made three, doesn't really bode well if/when she'll be in position to serve for the title. She said after the US Open that this was something she would learn from [...]

[kishnabe]

Originally Posted by Love Game

lol ... good one! ... she also single-handedly ruined Red-Fooey's career!

Go Li Na!!!!!

I think it was already ruined before he met her.

[Love Game]

Do sports writers always make it so obvious that they thought a player (azarenka in this case) was cheating?

Q. What did you think when she took the long medical break at the end?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Nothing. It's happened before. I mean, I've had in the last match, the match before, medical breaks, go to the bathroom, the whole showdown.
It was just something else, but it didn't affect anything, I don't think.

Q. We had the impression it was for her to calm herself down a bit instead of a physical problem. Was that the impression you got?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No. I mean, when you take a medical break or timeout, obviously it's for a reason. Just a normal, routine break, medical timeout.

Q. She said she felt overwhelmed, she couldn't breathe, she had chest pains. She was describing basically a panic attack. If it was nerves or not a tweaked ankle or knee, does that bother you?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, not really. I mean, just another something else that happens. Like if it was one of my friends, I would say, Oh, my God, that sounds like a PP, which is a personal problem.
Other than that, it's just unfortunate.

Q. You don't want to use that as kind of a reason for why the match didn't go your way?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, not at all. I mean, she played obviously a really good match. First set she played awesome; got close in the second.
I just didn't want to give it to her basically and just kind of worked for every point.
It didn't go my way, but I wouldn't say at all what happened affected the match.

Q. You've had quite a few people take medical timeouts this tournament. Do you think there are players abusing the system?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, I don't think so. Like, there's a certain thing in the locker room that tells you like if you take more than six a year or something that they'll start charging you. That's a good rule.
But the whole time I've been on the WTA Tour I've never had a medical timeout, so I don't know how it feels. I don't know what they do. I don't even know what you say.
Honestly, I don't even know how you would call the trainer to the court. I mean, I don't know. It happens.

Q. Would you feel comfortable leaving the court for nine minutes having just blown five match points?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Would I feel comfortable?

Q. Would it play on your conscience, leaving the court for nine minutes after blowing five match points?
SLOANE STEPHENS: I mean, no. I don't know. I mean, it never happened to me before, so I don't know. I don't know how I would feel.

Q. Did you lose momentum in those 10 minutes while you were sitting there waiting for her?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Uhm, no. I mean, I did lose the next game, but I wouldn't say that's because of the medical timeout is why I lost the next game.

[Love Game]

Originally Posted by kishnabe

I think it was already ruined before he met her.

LOL ... true dat! in fact, had anyone ever heard of him before? except for that fact that he's a relative of a big record producer?

[President]

Hopefully Li Na wins, I think she is the better player at her best and she's hitting her forehand with a lot more margin now.

[Claudius]

Li Na, please tear that cheater up.

[mightyrick]

For OP, "Na" is her *first* name. Not her surname. When full Chinese names are indicated, it is standard for the surname to come first and then the last name.

So the poll should not refer to "Na" -- it should say "Li".

[Ripster]

Azarenka is the favourite going into the final. Interesting poll results so far....

[Sid_Vicious]

Originally Posted by President

Hopefully Li Na wins, I think she is the better player at her best and she's hitting her forehand with a lot more margin now.

Are you staying up to watch this? Didn't you say you are taking the MCATs tomorrow?

[BreakPoint]

Q. What did you think when she took the long medical break at the end?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Nothing. It's happened before. I mean, I've had in the last match, the match before, medical breaks, go to the bathroom, the whole showdown.
It was just something else, but it didn't affect anything, I don't think.

Q. We had the impression it was for her to calm herself down a bit instead of a physical problem. Was that the impression you got?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No. I mean, when you take a medical break or timeout, obviously it's for a reason. Just a normal, routine break, medical timeout.

Q. She said she felt overwhelmed, she couldn't breathe, she had chest pains. She was describing basically a panic attack. If it was nerves or not a tweaked ankle or knee, does that bother you?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, not really. I mean, just another something else that happens. Like if it was one of my friends, I would say, Oh, my God, that sounds like a PP, which is a personal problem.
Other than that, it's just unfortunate.

Q. You don't want to use that as kind of a reason for why the match didn't go your way?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, not at all. I mean, she played obviously a really good match. First set she played awesome; got close in the second.
I just didn't want to give it to her basically and just kind of worked for every point.
It didn't go my way, but I wouldn't say at all what happened affected the match.

Q. You've had quite a few people take medical timeouts this tournament. Do you think there are players abusing the system?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, I don't think so. Like, there's a certain thing in the locker room that tells you like if you take more than six a year or something that they'll start charging you. That's a good rule.
But the whole time I've been on the WTA Tour I've never had a medical timeout, so I don't know how it feels. I don't know what they do. I don't even know what you say.
Honestly, I don't even know how you would call the trainer to the court. I mean, I don't know. It happens.

Q. Would you feel comfortable leaving the court for nine minutes having just blown five match points?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Would I feel comfortable?

Q. Would it play on your conscience, leaving the court for nine minutes after blowing five match points?
SLOANE STEPHENS: I mean, no. I don't know. I mean, it never happened to me before, so I don't know. I don't know how I would feel.

Q. Did you lose momentum in those 10 minutes while you were sitting there waiting for her?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Uhm, no. I mean, I did lose the next game, but I wouldn't say that's because of the medical timeout is why I lost the next game.

Wow! Such class at such a young age!

You just know that if the same thing happened to Serena that her answers to those same questions would be different.

[cc0509]

Originally Posted by hugobosstachini

Anyways to bring a contribution here, I would say that Victoria is winning this for various reasons but the first being, Li as a more offensive (riskier should I say preferably) player, knowing this is a GS F will be the more at risk of losing this. Victoria is extremely solid though her level of play hasn't really been IMO up to the standards that it could be.

[...]

What are you yammering about? The reality is in slams their h2h record is 2-0 in favor of Li Na so how is Li Na more at risk of losing knowing it is a slam?

[BlewByU]

Originally Posted by Love Game

Do sports writers always make it so obvious that they thought a player (azarenka in this case) was cheating?

Quote:
Q. What did you think when she took the long medical break at the end?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Nothing. It's happened before. I mean, I've had in the last match, the match before, medical breaks, go to the bathroom, the whole showdown.
It was just something else, but it didn't affect anything, I don't think.

Q. We had the impression it was for her to calm herself down a bit instead of a physical problem. Was that the impression you got?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No. I mean, when you take a medical break or timeout, obviously it's for a reason. Just a normal, routine break, medical timeout.

Q. She said she felt overwhelmed, she couldn't breathe, she had chest pains. She was describing basically a panic attack. If it was nerves or not a tweaked ankle or knee, does that bother you?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, not really. I mean, just another something else that happens. Like if it was one of my friends, I would say, Oh, my God, that sounds like a PP, which is a personal problem.
Other than that, it's just unfortunate.

Q. You don't want to use that as kind of a reason for why the match didn't go your way?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, not at all. I mean, she played obviously a really good match. First set she played awesome; got close in the second.
I just didn't want to give it to her basically and just kind of worked for every point.
It didn't go my way, but I wouldn't say at all what happened affected the match.

Q. You've had quite a few people take medical timeouts this tournament. Do you think there are players abusing the system?
SLOANE STEPHENS: No, I don't think so. Like, there's a certain thing in the locker room that tells you like if you take more than six a year or something that they'll start charging you. That's a good rule.
But the whole time I've been on the WTA Tour I've never had a medical timeout, so I don't know how it feels. I don't know what they do. I don't even know what you say.
Honestly, I don't even know how you would call the trainer to the court. I mean, I don't know. It happens.

Q. Would you feel comfortable leaving the court for nine minutes having just blown five match points?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Would I feel comfortable?

Q. Would it play on your conscience, leaving the court for nine minutes after blowing five match points?
SLOANE STEPHENS: I mean, no. I don't know. I mean, it never happened to me before, so I don't know. I don't know how I would feel.

Q. Did you lose momentum in those 10 minutes while you were sitting there waiting for her?
SLOANE STEPHENS: Uhm, no. I mean, I did lose the next game, but I wouldn't say that's because of the medical timeout is why I lost the next game.
_______________

exactly!

. . . . .