Djokovic is the first ever AO semifinalist who hasn't played in a day session

Kralingen

Talk Tennis Guru
You can see for yourself what the norms are at the AO.

Not even Roger played all night matches.
I think you’re arguing over nothing tbh. Like literal peanuts, if that.

Look at the choices…

QF - Djokovic-Rublev (top 6 players) - vs Shelton-Paul, Pliskova-Linette, Sabalenka-Vekic
4R - Djokovic-De Minaur (Aussie) - next question
3R - Djokovic-Dimitrov (well known, former SF and top 3) vs Rublev-Evans, Rune-Humbert, ADM-Bonzi, Paul-Brooksby … (Murray got the night session on MCA)

A tournament director would be making a very stupid financial decision to put those 3 matches anywhere but the most lucrative night session on RLA.

2R and 1R maybe could’ve been during the day, I don’t know why they made that decision. But ultimately you’re saying that playing Enzo Couacaud at 7pm instead of 3pm is some sort of blatant favoritism. I mean come on, lol.

Facts are, with Kyrgios pulling out, this is an unprecedentedly weak bottom half across both genders, and the tournament’s main goal is to sell tickets.
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
Rightly so. After the country treated him horrendously last year.


Djokovic himself could have complied with federal regulations like all the other male players and coaches but in any case being deported wasn't a decision taken by the tournament.


This however is and it is unprecedented just like the tournament director warning the crowd not to cheer against Djokovic before the tournament even began
 

weakera

Talk Tennis Guru
Nadal's game is maximally effective during the day, this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone

Specially not Nadal fans who complained endlessly about Djokovic/Nadal being scheduled for the night session


This isn't clay kiddo, lol
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
I think you’re arguing over nothing tbh. Like literal peanuts, if that.

Look at the choices…

QF - Djokovic-Rublev (top 6 players) - vs Shelton-Paul, Pliskova-Linette, Sabalenka-Vekic
4R - Djokovic-De Minaur (Aussie) - next question
3R - Djokovic-Dimitrov (well known, former SF and top 3) vs Rublev-Evans, Rune-Humbert, ADM-Bonzi, Paul-Brooksby … (Murray got the night session on MCA)

A tournament director would be making a very stupid financial decision to put those 3 matches anywhere but the most lucrative night session on RLA.

2R and 1R maybe could’ve been during the day, I don’t know why they made that decision. But ultimately you’re saying that playing Enzo Couacaud at 7pm instead of 3pm is some sort of blatant favoritism. I mean come on, lol.

Facts are, with Kyrgios pulling out, this is an unprecedentedly weak bottom half across both genders, and the tournament’s main goal is to sell tickets.

It's not about nothing and it's not even about probable results.

It's plain to see what the issue is.
 

Chanwan

G.O.A.T.
They all do it. It's specially hilarious to see Nadal fans outraged at this seeing how their idol got 4/5 day sessions last year. Much harder to justify than giving 5/5 night sessions to a big name like Djokovic, in particular this year where a lot of big names got bounced out early
Agree.
 

RF-18

Talk Tennis Guru
Djokovic is box office. If he is on camera and drops a pen there will be multiple headlines about it. With Djokos comeback to the tournament, I'm not sure people even knew Nadal was gonna play AO. He is like a shadow in Novaks presence.

Only right the most popular player gets prime time, Tiley knows it, everyone knows it.
 

TearTheRoofOff

G.O.A.T.
Yes. I mean what would you do if you have no Federer around and Nadal said No Mas? ;)
I would fall immediately into an oscillatory pattern of complete madness from Fedless depression and #ABTN elation, eventually stabilizing on the bisecting feeling of nothingness.

Then i would put Monfils vs Simon on. Twice.
 

intrepidish

Hall of Fame
You’re arguing just to argue and be aggrieved, rather than looking circumspectly at the details of the situation (y)

Hardly. Please don't flatter yourself that you can read minds.

I've stated exactly what the issue is. You can see the chart in the first post if you need a reminder.
 
batman-im-just-the-night-shift.gif
The Joker becomes the Dark Knight
 

jm1980

Talk Tennis Guru
Imputing mental states
Have you already forgotten your endless threads on Djokovic?
to try and obscure the simple fact that this is unprecedented favoritism from the AO and is obvious to all.
You know what else is unprecedented? Every other high seed in Djokovic's half of the draw, who could have feasibly taken the night session from him, being bounced out early

The two are not unconnected
 
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jm1980

Talk Tennis Guru
Djokovic could have played during the day any session all tournament like every single other top seed has done in the past.
Maybe the plan was to slot him into the day session in the 3R, 4R, or the QF? But once the second round concluded, it was hard to justify putting any other match in the night session. There isn't much more to this than that
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
Right, he was invited into the country only to be detained, and then kicked out using a minister's nearly limitless personal powers
He chose to fly into Australia unvaccinated. What role the Australian Open and Tennis Australia played, and the whole positive test situation in mid December 2021, is why there should have been an investigation.
 

jeroenn

Semi-Pro
It's the least he deserves for last year's not-so-privileged treatment.

There's this weird sense of entitlement I'm seeing across these threads. He deserves it because of last year or he deserves it because he's goat.
Really, is that how it works?

Also hilarious that people still have their own narrative over last years events. Flat earthers are still going strong on here, I see.

Oh well..

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
There's this weird sense of entitlement I'm seeing across these threads. He deserves it because of last year or he deserves it because he's goat.
Really, is that how it works?

Also hilarious that people still have their own narrative over last years events. Flat earthers are still going strong on here, I see.

Oh well..

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." - Philip K. Dick
As J.R. Ewing once said, once you get rid of integrity then the rest is a piece of cake.
 

I Am Finnish

Bionic Poster
It's about $$$ and considering they broke attendance records, they got what they wanted. I usually don't like this because I feel everyone should have to play at least one match in the heat like everyone else, but this is the coolest AO I have ever seen. Heat is not a factor this year.
Humble as always
 

ibbi

G.O.A.T.
Djoker 5-0 in night matches and Paul 5-0 in day matches. Poor Tommy had no hope to begin with, but if he wins 2 games in the first set I'll be impressed.
 

HFK

Professional
- Rigged draw
- Rigged balls
- No day matches
- Spectators that boo him will be thrown out
- Supervisor gives him bottle with coaching message (twice).
 

TheFifthSet

Legend
As mentioned by many, Djokovic is spotlighting an otherwise unprecedentedly name-less draw. Perhaps favouritism is making the decision easier, but it’s already an easy enough decision to have him play the night sessions.
 

Mustard

Bionic Poster
It's obvious he only did so believing he had a valid exemption to the vaccination requirement, and was subsequently targeted by Australian authorities for cheap political points. A complete clusterf*** where Novak had exactly zero blame
Oh, of course. And what's the whole story behind the positive Covid test of mid December 2021, including its timing?
 

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
What are the rules norms and procedures?

I agree he should’ve played day sessions, but the field is so barren that he’s basically the only recognizable name on the bottom half, both men’s and women’s.

It really does show how much tennis has changed over the years. Agassi, Sampras, Connors, Mac never got all night matches at USO(meaning first 5 rounds since last 2 rounds were day matches)

In the big 3 era, it seems like TD's basically consider everyone else a no name unworthy of night matches(and this has been going on for a while - I remember Fed at 05 USO played more night matches that year than anyone had ever done before. And that became pretty common in years since with other big 3)

I have a lot of old draw sheets, you would be surprised at some players who got night matches. Something like Rune-Rublev 4R (a 19 year old who skyrocketed into top 10 in a few months playing another top 10) would definitely been a night match in the 90s over Agassi, Sampras etc (especially since those 2 would have already likely had 1 or 2 night matches, and TD's back then actually believed in some sort of "fairness" with schedules and in giving young guys a chance to shine)

Even at 91 USO, where some grumbled about Connors getting all night matches, he "only" got 3 out of his 5 matches at night.
 

jeroenn

Semi-Pro
It's obvious he only did so believing he had a valid exemption to the vaccination requirement, and was subsequently targeted by Australian authorities for cheap political points. A complete clusterf*** where Novak had exactly zero blame

Zero....Well, it might be that the ministers decision was SLIGHTLY motivated by his attrocious behaviour before coming to Oz, proving (once again after earlier incidents) he's not acting responsible with Covid....

And lest ye forget, they opted not to further argue the mistakes on his entry form etc, though they easilly could. One could even argue that he was privelidged they didn't because any ordinary person would be kicked out on that alone.
But hey, whatever fits your narrative, eh?
Sweet dreams...
 
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