2016 Australian Open Womens Final - Serena Williams [1] vs Angelique Kerber [7]

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Who will win the AO 2016 women's title?

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90's Clay said:
Because she's feasted on crap competition for long. And nows she struggling to beat some of the on the big stage. ROFLMAO!!!
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So, women's tennis has been on a what, 17 year "weak era?" She won her first GS title in 1999, no? It's amazing how many players Serena has seen come and go, and she's still going. Just that number, 17, deserves some respect, no pun intended.
 
JustBob said:
The most hideous outfit in tennis history lost, so this is a big win for fashion.

And mad props to Kerber for keeping her nerves and not crumbling after losing the 2nd set.
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I actually think the colour was lovely, but not flattering for her body shape. She's worn much better.
 
Well, I've been taken off life support and been cleared to post again.

Last night I had to stand up and pace in disgust a few times and my wife had to remind me that I like Serena and to quit yelling mean things at her lol. I was initially upset that she didn't go to plan B or C. Normally she will adapt to her opponent's game or her own deficiencies. Ultimately I now realize she couldn't have if she wanted to last night. I was so mad that she kept going to the net when clearly her volleys were not working. Then I remembered that all her groundies were flying long (and toward the end she adjusted and started dumping them into the net), so it's not like the baseline was doing much for her. She wasn't cracking winners off the weak serves, her own serve was not great, a mess. So, really, she did what she could do and it just wasn't good enough last night.

I was shocked when I saw the stats, because I expected them to be much worse (second set maybe made them look better). At times she played well, but a lot of it was downright cringeworthy (and so annoying to see trolls acting like that's how she always volleys). Of course, Kerber had something to do with her not playing well, but that was not a normal quality performance. It's like they replaced her with a bodysnatcher. I'm not saying Kerber couldn't have beaten an in form Serena at all (if SW raised her level, perhaps AK would raise hers and still win). I'm just saying I'm disppointed. Serena did not seem disappointed with herself, though, so perhaps she knew that she did her best on that night and that's all she can do.

All that said, I'm super happy for Angie, and that takes a lot of the sting off. I have been saying for a long time that I thought she could win a slam and I'm happy that she took out two former champs so that no one can diss her over some easy draw BS. Not only that, she has upped her fitness and made other changes, and now everyone can see she is a contender and may win more yet. She is one of the few defensive players I enjoy watching (probably because she's not strictly defensive).
 
JustBob said:
The most hideous outfit in tennis history lost, so this is a big win for fashion.

.
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That's funny because I thought Kerber's outfit was hideous :oops:
Serena played terrible. Everybody knows that if she had played decent by her standards, she would have won
 
BlewByU said:
woat?
gracious runner-up?
where do you guys come up with fiction like that?

here is yet another evidence, from just days ago, which proves beyond any doubt that it is the same old vintage "fakery" serena out there today :

Nov 2015 .. serena's camp (mouratoglou) discreetly spills in public that serena has serious knee problem.
thereby insinuating that this was the reason she lost during US Open.
"It’s just playing for so many years, the cartilage is almost gone."
"Not all of it, but a big part, so the bones just hit themselves."
"She has bone bruises, and if you keep on playing with this for too long, too much, the next step is a stress fracture."

Jan 6, 2016 .. serena withdraws from Hopman Cup due to same serious persistent knee condition.
serena_knee1.jpg


Australian Open 2016 .. only a few days later.
miraculously, as soon as AO starts, serena's knee problem is completely gone!


as shown today, serena has been running around like an energizer bunny as soon as AO started - not one slightest hint of knee condition which supposedly dogged her up until just a few days ago.

even a 9-year-old can see thru this ridiculous chicanery.

yes, it is always the same old "let me screw your mind with my fakery & chicanery, so that i can attain my worldly greed & glory" serena!

. . . . . . . . . .
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So Serena ONLY lost today because of knee injury ????
 
mattosgrant said:
Yeah since Graf, Martina, Evert, and Court would never lose to such players in slams at age 34, LOL! Graf wasnt even playing tennis anymore weeks past turning 30, tired of regularly losing to the likes of Coetzer since she turned 27. Martina at this age was losing to greats like the Maleeva sisters and Oremons in slams. I cant really speak to who they were losing to in slam finals at that age as they were so rarely making them (for the record someone like Conchita Martinez on grass for Navratilova the rare times any did make one).
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See, this is where I find Serena fans get obnoxious. Coetzer had nothing whatsoever to do with Graf's retirement. Yes, she had some ugly slam losses to her in 97 when either her fitness or her motivation or both were down. But she bounced back in 99, calling the lie on Hingis's outrageous put-downs. If any one player had something to do with her retirement, it would probably be Davenport. Graf was regularly losing to Davenport even on her comeback trail from 98-end through to the last Wimbledon final loss. She couldn't counter Davenport's CC DBH; probably bothered her even more than Seles's double handed onslaught from both wings because it took the ball way out of reach from her slice.
 
Djokovic2011 said:
I do still think Serena will get to 22 but it really won't be as easy as many people think, not if what we saw today is anything to go by and especially not if she continues volleying like she did! :oops:
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She's more vulnerable to 'milestone pressure' than I'd have thought. First the CYGS yips and now this. She's got to get over the hump. Losing in a slam final like this in 3 sets - i.e. in spite of her fighting her way back into the match several times - is the worst case scenario because it's going to make the tour believe again. She was not impressive at either RG or Wimbledon finals last year either and Masha just basically couldn't work out how to beat a sick Serena at AO. Just one final push to get it done, sooner the better.
 
Sometimes, watching the re-run/HLs after a day's gap can give a fresh perspective. Watching the HLs now and it's funny how in live telecast my mind seemed to pick more on the uncharacteristic errors of Serena and not the shots that Kerber made which many others would have missed in a high stakes match like this, esp against Serena. A smash she hit from pretty deep in the court, going backwards, at 40-30. She took her time and executed it calmly. Lots of Serena's opponents would chicken out and hit a forehand or just miss the smash and suddenly it would be deuce and a quick break back for Serena. I noticed yesterday too that the stats didn't reflect Serena having played as badly as she appeared to be. So the mistakes had a lot to do with Kerber's relentless consistency.
 
Just watched it again......what a great match. Angie played great and Serena fought as hard as she could till the very end, you cant ask for a better slam final. Looking back at last year and all the three set matches Serena won, makes Angie's win that much more special in my opinion.
 
Congratulations to Kerber
That was a good win indeed
Finally someone winning slam beating Serena Williams
In the last few years, all the names that won here or there because there was someone eliminated Serena
Kvitova, Sharapova, Bartoli, Azarenka, etc
In somehow I felt like some German power in Kerber will stop Serena from equaling her compatriot lol
 
snowwhite said:
Congratulations to Kerber
That was a good win indeed
Finally someone winning slam beating Serena Williams
In the last few years, all the names that won here or there because there was someone eliminated Serena
Kvitova, Sharapova, Bartoli, Azarenka, etc
In somehow I felt like some German power in Kerber will stop Serena from equaling her compatriot lol
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Lol...the irony of a German player preventing Serena from equalling the record of another German player! Not surprising that apparently she'd had a bit of coaching from Steffi. ;)
 
Two dropshots and couple passing winners in six game of 3rd set by Kerber are best shots i've seen in recent times. In such a moment, in final against Serena! Well done.
 
Last edited:
Vanhool said:
Well, I've been taken off life support and been cleared to post again.

Last night I had to stand up and pace in disgust a few times and my wife had to remind me that I like Serena and to quit yelling mean things at her lol. I was initially upset that she didn't go to plan B or C. Normally she will adapt to her opponent's game or her own deficiencies. Ultimately I now realize she couldn't have if she wanted to last night. I was so mad that she kept going to the net when clearly her volleys were not working. Then I remembered that all her groundies were flying long (and toward the end she adjusted and started dumping them into the net), so it's not like the baseline was doing much for her. She wasn't cracking winners off the weak serves, her own serve was not great, a mess. So, really, she did what she could do and it just wasn't good enough last night.

I was shocked when I saw the stats, because I expected them to be much worse (second set maybe made them look better). At times she played well, but a lot of it was downright cringeworthy (and so annoying to see trolls acting like that's how she always volleys). Of course, Kerber had something to do with her not playing well, but that was not a normal quality performance. It's like they replaced her with a bodysnatcher. I'm not saying Kerber couldn't have beaten an in form Serena at all (if SW raised her level, perhaps AK would raise hers and still win). I'm just saying I'm disppointed. Serena did not seem disappointed with herself, though, so perhaps she knew that she did her best on that night and that's all she can do.

All that said, I'm super happy for Angie, and that takes a lot of the sting off. I have been saying for a long time that I thought she could win a slam and I'm happy that she took out two former champs so that no one can diss her over some easy draw BS. Not only that, she has upped her fitness and made other changes, and now everyone can see she is a contender and may win more yet. She is one of the few defensive players I enjoy watching (probably because she's not strictly defensive).
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Hear, hear.
 
CYGS said:
Wow, it was a pleasant surprise. I gave up watching under the impression that Serena got this, but oh I was wrong. I hope Kerber finds her way to be the next No.1 and ends this extremely weak WTA era. Halep is a disappointment, so I think it's a free fall for her from there.
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Keep in mind that Simona Halep is still only 24. Kerber just got to her first slam final at the ripe age of 28. At 24, her best results were 2 SF slam appearances. Would you have written her off at 24? At 24, Halep has 2 slams SFs and 1 slam Final under her belt. Hard to say how she will fare in the next 4-6 years.

Also keep on mind that Li Na and Marion Bartoli did not win slams until they were ~29. Even tho' she didn't go deep here, another top 5 player with some potential is 22-yr old, Garbine Muguruza.
 
Meles said:
You can blow $100 a month or more on cable and everything. I am blowing $45 per month on 18 mbit internet, but my phone bill with Republic wireless is less than $20 depending on how much data I use (sometimes less than $15). No landline and equipment. No cable and cheap smart phone with which I can talk and text all I want. $100 per month on high priced services adds up over time to a tremendous amount of money. Once you try ESPN3/sling for French Open you can explore finding a provider with ESPN3 just with the internet or keep shuffling the cheap intro deals and pay for Sling. Glad you have tennis tv. So many on this site have cable and don't know what they are missing.
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Yes, one of the best decisions lately has been to let go of cable. I have been cutting out a lot of bloat in the services that I use, and once many are gone, I wonder why I thought I ever needed them. A decent internet speed is the one thing I can't let go of. Too crucial for work, school, and tennis! :)
 
Mainad said:
Just discovered that Sabine Lisicki is of Polish parentage too and Andrea Petkovic is of Serbian birth and background.:)

Thank God for those pesky immigrants!!! ;)
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If anything, it shows that having the right approach, yields results with people from other cultures (given that the people also want to integrate).

But it requires hard work from both sides.

:cool:
 
IMO, it was a combination of nerves/unsteady hands, Kerber's lefty topspin dipping passing shots and Serena being just a touch slow on most volleys. But yes, fundamentally, JS is right - someone with flawless technique would find a way to play some drop volleys even from that position.

Serena was always very good at obliterating high balls around the net. Not sure I've seen someone test her with so many low, dipping topspin shots in a while. Definitely was out of her comfort zone.
 
More damning than the volleys were the approach shots. All but one to the forehand IIRC. Serena couldn't adjust to the leftie patterns and kept using the DTL forehand to open up the court. She did approach on kerber's backhand once and kerber couldn't make the pass. I thought she would pick it up from there and zone in on kerber's backhand but she didn't.
 
Dolgopolov85 said:
More damning than the volleys were the approach shots. All but one to the forehand IIRC. Serena couldn't adjust to the leftie patterns and kept using the DTL forehand to open up the court. She did approach on kerber's backhand once and kerber couldn't make the pass. I thought she would pick it up from there and zone in on kerber's backhand but she didn't.
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Yes, Kerber being a southpaw seemed to remain unnoticed by Serena pretty much until the end. Maybe she doesn't play lefties often enough.
 
Fed881981 said:
I never saw a loser looking the way Serena looked today. I'm amazed.
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Not that long ago, last major actually.
Vinci was delighted for Penetta. She even went and sat together after the match.
But they were friends and compatriots. Even so, exceptionally sporting.
 
Serena's sportsmanship is easy to understand. She has always given credit to really exceptional shots, even from Pova. However, her standards are very high. If she congratulates you like she did with Kerber, you know you've done something right. For Kerber, she played the best I've ever seen her play, it would be good enough to win several slam finals all played at once against anybody else, it was that insanely difficult to beat Serena.
 
Dolgopolov85 said:
More damning than the volleys were the approach shots. All but one to the forehand IIRC. Serena couldn't adjust to the leftie patterns and kept using the DTL forehand to open up the court. She did approach on kerber's backhand once and kerber couldn't make the pass. I thought she would pick it up from there and zone in on kerber's backhand but she didn't.
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Thats one of serena's tactics. She said it somewhere....she looks to break down her oppenents forehand each time until it deteriorates.....most of the time it works but sometimes it can bite her in the a*s as it did in the final
 
It's sad when attacking tennis loses to a mega-pusher like Kerber. It's strange how pushers are winning the AO and attackers have been winning the French lately.
 
Winners or Errors said:
So, women's tennis has been on a what, 17 year "weak era?" She won her first GS title in 1999, no? It's amazing how many players Serena has seen come and go, and she's still going. Just that number, 17, deserves some respect, no pun intended.
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No, not a 17-year weak era. But after Henin and Clijsters retired, you'd be hard-pressed not to see that the WTA field significantly softened.
 
Man of steel said:
Thats one of serena's tactics. She said it somewhere....she looks to break down her oppenents forehand each time until it deteriorates.....most of the time it works but sometimes it can bite her in the a*s as it did in the final
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I can understand targeting the forehand in rally balls and yes it's a popular and useful tactic to break down the forehand. But it applies even more so in the case of somebody breaking down the opponent's forehand that they should logically aim the approach towards the opponent's backhand. Because (a) it is the weaker wing, even if not by much in the case of most top WTA players and (b) it will get them running. It is much more difficult to make a running backhand pass. It is also more difficult for the rightie to hit a cross court approach to the leftie backhand; hence Serena was falling back on patterns she was used to.
 
sarag said:
It's sad when attacking tennis loses to a mega-pusher like Kerber. It's strange how pushers are winning the AO and attackers have been winning the French lately.
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Yawn.....did you even watch Kerber in this tournament?

25 winners against Serena/13 UFE
31 winners against Vika (in a two-set match......three more than her opponent)/16 UFE
 
^^^ In fact, had it been a five setter, Serena would have trended towards almost Verdasco-like numbers. Believe she had 46 winners from just 3 sets? So Kerber actually made her take on more risk than she'd like (evidenced by Serena's 45 UEs).
 
I say this as a huge Serena fan:

What a breath of fresh air to see Kerber win this! Not only is it good to see someone else win a Slam title, period, but it's especially refreshing to see someone beat Serena in the final. If Serena doesn't win, it's usually because she has bombed horribly in the earlier rounds.

If anything, this is a sign that Serena may finally be regressing, the fact that she can lose when she's seemingly mentally right, in form and in the final, a stage at which she's been nearly unbeatable during her career (only 4 previous losses in Slam finals, I believe).

Will be looking forward to what the French Open brings us on the women's side. I have a feeling some women are going to finally step up after seeing what Vinci and Kerber did.
 
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LOL, I find it so awesome that I can go away for several months and come back to find certain posters EXACTLY where I left them (cough 90's Clay cough).

I love this forum man. :D
 
Man of steel said:
When one of those players you mentioned has the same number of wins against serena as sharapova does:confused:
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I agree with that comment, though; nobody has really filled the void left by Henin and Clijsters. Or, put another way, only partially filled. Li maxed out at two slams and it looks worryingly as if that may be the case for Vika and Kvitty as well. Nobody seems to have the staying power at the top...other than Serena of course. Intermittent Masha and I wonder if she's done winning slams too, maybe one last RG?
 
rh310 said:
Of course, a meaningful and relevant common would also compare her losses to Sharapova's, as well. Why did you leave that out? :confused: :confused: :confused:
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I'm not the one who brought it up, but the last time Serena and Kim played was in 2009. If you check Maria's head to head with Serena at the end of 2009, it was the same number of wins and losses (2-7).
 
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