2019 Australian Open - Men's Singles - Discussion Thread

Who will win AO?

  • Novak Djokovic

    Votes: 54 39.4%
  • Roger Federer

    Votes: 29 21.2%
  • Alexander Zverev

    Votes: 4 2.9%
  • Dominic Thiem

    Votes: 4 2.9%
  • Rafael Nadal

    Votes: 21 15.3%
  • Stan Wawrinka

    Votes: 4 2.9%
  • Andy Murray

    Votes: 8 5.8%
  • Kei Nishikori

    Votes: 2 1.5%
  • Karen Khachanov

    Votes: 3 2.2%
  • Other

    Votes: 8 5.8%

  • Total voters
    137

marc45

G.O.A.T.
I have a severely damaged right hip says Murray. Can’t put his socks on without pain.

  1. [B]Simon Cambers[/B]‏ @[B]scambers73[/B] 24s25 seconds ago
    Andy Murray says the pain is just too much. Wants a good quality of life for himself in future, putting his socks and shoes on etc
    [B]George Bellshaw[/B]‏Verified account @[B]BellshawGeorge[/B] 18s19 seconds ago
    Murray: '(Operation) didn't help with the pain at all. The walking and certain things on the court I can't do properly even now, but it's the pain that's the driving issues. Having the limitations and also the pain is not allowing me to enjoy competing or training.'


 

icedevil0289

G.O.A.T.

Ouch. Looks like AO could be it for Murray. I was never a fan but even I feel bad.

its always really unfortunately when a player is forced to end their career or thinking about it before they had planned due to injury. I don't really know what Andy is planning on doing but it seems to heading towards retirement route and if that is the case, I hope he looks back at his career fondly and doesn't feel too badly about maybe having to end it earlier than he had planned. i mean tbqh the norm at one point was retirement around the early 30s, which I believe he is at, and one shouldn't feel obligated to play at a certain age because others are doing it.


although perhaps i could see him giving wimbledon one more chance as well before officially throwing in the towel.
 

marc45

G.O.A.T.

icedevil0289

G.O.A.T.
near the end....

[B]Steve Tignor[/B]‏ @[B]SteveTignor[/B] 9m9 minutes ago
Steve Tignor Retweeted #AusOpen

Andy Murray announces he’ll retire this year at Wimbledon, at the latest. Says the Aussie Open could be his last event, depending on the pain in his hip

i assume wimbledon holds a bit more of a special place in his heart, but it doesnt seem to be a certainty that he'll make it past teh first round of the AO, wouldn't it make more sense to just skip/pull out, rest a bit and then be able to play in london and retire? idk i mean at the end of the day one can only plan for so much and in this case unfortunate circumstances are making andy retire earlier than perhaps he would have liked but i figured if he atleast wanted something in his control, he could just skip this slam and have his final one be wimbledon
 

BGod

G.O.A.T.
I hope he wills himself in upsetting Agut. Then I hope he takes it easy and plays Wimbledon and makes the 4th Round.
 

marc45

G.O.A.T.
2uh66np.jpg
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Djokovic:
R128: Qualifier
R64: Tsonga
R32: Shapovalov
R16: Medvedev
QF: Nishikori
SF: Zverev
F: Nadal/Federer

The bolded players are dangerous. The first rounds are supposed to be easy, so drawing Tsonga may be a bad time. The equivalent player for Nadal is Struff and Federer is a qualifier. Definitely not easy. Shapo doesn't really matter, but he could deal some damage. Medvedev speaks for himself on how dangerous he's been recently. Nishikori just won a tournament and could tire Novak out if he plays right. Zverev could capitalize on a slightly weaker Djokovic by playing lights out, and Nadal and Federer speak for themselves.
Shapo is the definition of dangerous; if he's not forced into error he will be a winner machine.o_O Djokovic again like in Doha faces a lot of uncharted territory.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
WaWa/Gulbis excites me.

An in-form Gloobs could be very dangerous indeed.
That little section is tasty with winner facing the survivor of Kyrgios v Raonic. Kyrgios in recent match got 2nd place for Aces in best of 3 at 44 one behind Karlovic. If Kyrgios knee heels up he could be red hot.:eek:
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Nadal got a cakewalk to the 4th round (not surprising because he is severely lucky with draws), Djokovic's is tough but doable and Federer's is tough. Djokovic can handle that draw but no playing around and just take care of business. He better be ready to go from round 1. Nadal will have trouble starting in round 4 because Berdych is playing good again. Federer's also gets popping in round 4. He shouldn't have too much trouble with Istomin and Monfils.
A red hot, power hitting Struff is likely to be Nadal's 2nd round opponent. He's had trouble with speedy players so Demon may drain him first in round of 32. I'll add that Demon and Shapo are the most dangerous players in the 25-32 group, so no picnic for Djoko either. Edmund, Berdych, and Schwartzman are in form (well Edmund not.) Schwartzman and Edmund have caused trouble in the recent past so no picnic at R16 unless Bendych prevails. The Anderson-Isner group is a joke so really need a surprise to come out for the QF to trouble Nadal. Federer is in fine, fine form so that will likely be the end of the line for Nadal if he's bled some coming into the match.:unsure:
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
I don't think fed's draw atleast to the quarters anyway is particularly tough, I suppose monfils can make his life difficult in the physical sense.
Fed is my strong favorite for the tournament with this draw:
Cilic first event back is not threat
Basilashvilli and Tsitsipas on paper are trouble, but not coming out of the gates strong this year and ditto that for Khachanov
Nadal or whoever for SF should be ripe for the picking.
I'd have to be in fantasy land to think Zedrot is going to make final fresh as a daisy and beat Fed. Djokovic has done nothing on the faster Auz surface of the last few years and has a difficult draw. Fed was my in form favorite before the draw and this is bordering on a slam dunk for the title. My only hope to stop the nonsense is that somehow Tsitsipas finds a new higher level with his early exit from Sydney. I'd say that and Coric from the top half would be his only threats and Coric hasn't played in 2019.:rolleyes:
 

marc45

G.O.A.T.
Fed is my strong favorite for the tournament with this draw:
Cilic first event back is not threat
Basilashvilli and Tsitsipas on paper are trouble, but not coming out of the gates strong this year and ditto that for Khachanov
Nadal or whoever for SF should be ripe for the picking.
I'd have to be in fantasy land to think Zedrot is going to make final fresh as a daisy and beat Fed. Djokovic has done nothing on the faster Auz surface of the last few years and has a difficult draw. Fed was my in form favorite before the draw and this is bordering on a slam dunk for the title. My only hope to stop the nonsense is that somehow Tsitsipas finds a new higher level with his early exit from Sydney. I'd say that and Coric from the top half would be his only threats and Coric hasn't played in 2019.:rolleyes:

organizers will turn the courts to ice if Fed keeps coming back and rolling through draws and packing the house :)
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Thiem

R1: Benoit #Paire
R2: Mischa #Zverev
R3: Lucas #Pouille
R4: Borna #Coric
QF: Alexander #Zverev
SF: Novak #Djokovic
F: Rafael #Nadal

@Meles
It looks like a joke, but Thiem troubled by big servers and it could very well be Popyrin in 2nd round in place of Mischa if Thiem even gets by Paire. Everyone else has wins over Thiem the rest of the way, but I would fancy Thiem if he somehow made the final and it was Nadal.:D
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
A red hot, power hitting Struff is likely to be Nadal's 2nd round opponent. He's had trouble with speedy players so Demon may drain him first in round of 32. I'll add that Demon and Shapo are the most dangerous players in the 25-32 group, so no picnic for Djoko either. Edmund, Berdych, and Schwartzman are in form (well Edmund not.) Schwartzman and Edmund have caused trouble in the recent past so no picnic at R16 unless Bendych prevails. The Anderson-Isner group is a joke so really need a surprise to come out for the QF to trouble Nadal. Federer is in fine, fine form so that will likely be the end of the line for Nadal if he's bled some coming into the match.:unsure:
don fedr to Meles. “I know it was you. You broke my heart!”

 

Meles

Bionic Poster
So, what's notable about the draw? At first glance:

  • Federer gets into the Nadal half, which I guess is positive for him based on current form.
  • Semi-potential roadblock for Fed is Monfils in the third round, tho I don't think La Monf is at his best. Could easily meet Tsits in the 4th.
  • Some easy early rounds for Vamos, but wouldn't be surprised if KAnderson takes him out in the quarters.
  • Cilic first round vs Tomic and second round vs Rublev are potentially interesting matches, though I wouldn't bet on the upset.
  • Could absolutely see Thiem in the quarters here, but Coric can be tough in the fourth round.
  • Raonic vs Kyrgios opener is a blockbuster. Wawrinka or Gulbis for the winner is great as well.
  • Who will trip the ZedTrain this time around? Chardy?
  • Toughish draw for Novak (relatively speaking). Could get Tsonga in the 2nd, Shapo in the 3rd, Medvedev or Goffin 4th, and it sure looks like Nishikori will make the QF date. Some potentially interesting matches here.
The highlight of this event for me will be watching to see who takes Djoko down. Tsonga showed surprisingly good form and was pummeling Medvedev. Shapo is totally uncharted territory and as insane as it seems Shapo is even more aggressive in 2019 so pushing to him a really bad, bad idea and that has been Djoko's game in his comeback. Medvedev was in top form and slaughtered Tsonga with Tokyo level serving (75% serve points won which he did to Murray by the way in Brisbane) until fading against Nishikori. Meddy wisely pulled the plug on defending Sydney title so he'll be much fresher than last year and is a huge threat on this surface and grass if healthy (unlike 2018). Agree Nishikori likely quite fresh for QF and he's one to watch as he's generally been pretty gimpy end of year into Auz which is absolutely not the case this year.

Medvedev is my favorite youngish player at this event:
He's around 9 in current Elo and 9 in hard court Elo
His form looks rather good
His draw is a joke until Djoko who lost a set to Medvedev in early 2017 Davis Cup and also had a good match in Nottingham 2017 (the precursor the great Djoko grass season of 2018). Medvedev is now like 5000 times better than that player so if Djoko makes it look for one of the top 2019 Auz Open matches.

Assuming Medvedev gets past Djokovic or someone else (he destroyed a game Tsonga in the end in Brisbane plus Raonic and Murray), he could show for SF. Thiemerev might not be a good matchup as Zverev has strong record against Med and Thiem handles low junk quite well for the most part. Hard to predict the Thiemerev quarter which is rather soft. I love Med's efficient flat hitting game on this surface which favors a flat ball with its low bounce propelling such shots to the back wall with great speed.:p
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
don fedr to Meles. “I know it was you. You broke my heart!”

I'm the guy who liked his form and draw at this point in 2017. Fraudo is breaking my heart with his form this year and then this draw. Tsitsipas has had some disappointing losses though the 7-6, 7-6 highlights from his defeat to Fed at Hopman give me some hope. Hopefully Tsits was tanking in Sydney and will have another showdown with Fed, but my eyeball says Tsit's not clicking for this event. Fraudo is going to steam roll, but I honestly can't imagine a draw that would have stopped him on this surface. A heavy dosage of heavy spinners might have done it, The only player I like for form in Fed's entire quarter is Cameron Norrie.:confused:
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Ya, agreed, those other serve bots might end up in some long battles, which is a balancing factor. But then again, if they do early on, they'll likely not go deep at all. And Anderson is of course very capable of losing earlyish.

Does it even matter?

jk. He's 9/4 to win his quarter, so you can ballpark the value of laying him.


Yup! Though what are you referring to with Raonic and Kyrgios? That there'll be a lot of aces in their match? I think so too.

You really think Nadal is winning this one? Bold call, I'd say. He doesn't have the best fitness history in hard court tournaments in the last year or so, and the signs haven't been the best to start this season either.


Agreed, I actually think he could surprise positively this time (touch wood!). I'd favor him against Isner in the third, and reckon he has a very fighting chance if he meets Anderson in the fourth.
I do like this draw and its balance. My favorite thing is that all the dangerous servebots are grouped so we'll be down to just a few in no time.:cool:
 

stringertom

Bionic Poster
I'm the guy who liked his form and draw at this point in 2017. Fraudo is breaking my heart with his form this year and then this draw. Tsitsipas has had some disappointing losses though the 7-6, 7-6 highlights from his defeat to Fed at Hopman give me some hope. Hopefully Tsits was tanking in Sydney and will have another showdown with Fed, but my eyeball says Tsit's not clicking for this event. Fraudo is going to steam roll, but I honestly can't imagine a draw that would have stopped him on this surface. A heavy dosage of heavy spinners might have done it, The only player I like for form in Fed's entire quarter is Cameron Norrie.:confused:
Norrie is fully nourished now from twin breadsticks baked by SexiSwissBreadstickBakerer in his portable Perth oven???
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Neither has Tsitsipas.

Winning less points and winning matches, especially with a dominance ratio below 1.0 is definitely not as good as winning them with a DR of over 1.0, because it's simply not sustainable. You can't count on winning those matches, cause you'll lose them the majority of the time.

Tsitsipas had a DR of 0.8 vs Anderson and 0.9 vs Zverev are both matches he's gonna lose most of the time.

How do I want to have it both ways?
I would concur on Tsitsipas, but he did put up real stats in the Fall winning Stockholm and playing rather well the rest of the year. Rogers cup was an early fluke, but he backed it up late in the year.
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Norrie is fully nourished now from twin breadsticks baked by SexiSwissBreadstickBakerer in his portable Perth oven???
Well believe he beat Tsitsipas before his nourishment and he's played above his pay grade so far in Auckland. I like Norrie's form, but Fraudo appears to enjoy it as well.:D
 

Red Rick

Bionic Poster
I would concur on Tsitsipas, but he did put up real stats in the Fall winning Stockholm and playing rather well the rest of the year. Rogers cup was an early fluke, but he backed it up late in the year.
Toronto was kind of a fluke, but I was actually impressed with his Barcelona run earlier in the year. Honestly think HC may be his weakest surface.

But the Seppi match didn't look good. Soo many backhands without any purpose.
 

marc45

G.O.A.T.
schedule out....

Nadal second up Monday in the mid-day heat, after Sharapova.... followed by Kerber

Fed up second at night, after Wozniacki
 

Meles

Bionic Poster
Toronto was kind of a fluke, but I was actually impressed with his Barcelona run earlier in the year. Honestly think HC may be his weakest surface.

But the Seppi match didn't look good. Soo many backhands without any purpose.
Yeah I love his clay game and the heavy spinner cross backhand deep was a big weapon. To me grass and hard courts have been a tremendous bonus that has me on a Tsitsi high.

Tsitsi is a grinder at heart and Seppi really powered through him. At least Seppi was playing exceptionally well, but Tsitsi seems to be in flattering to deceive mode and someone will tear him apart at Auz. Seems likely to make it to Federer and then hopefully at least an entertaining demise in R16, but two TB's with Fed at Hopman cup gives me some hope.:p
 

NuBas

Legend
Rudi Molleker, promising 18 year old from Germany takes of Schwartzman first round.

Also Rublev vs McDonald R1
 

EasyGoing

Professional
schedule out....

Nadal second up Monday in the mid-day heat, after Sharapova.... followed by Kerber

Fed up second at night, after Wozniacki

Business as usual and food for conspiracy theorists - the organisers hit the spot ;))

Yeah I love his clay game and the heavy spinner cross backhand deep was a big weapon. To me grass and hard courts have been a tremendous bonus that has me on a Tsitsi high.

Tsitsi is a grinder at heart and Seppi really powered through him. At least Seppi was playing exceptionally well, but Tsitsi seems to be in flattering to deceive mode and someone will tear him apart at Auz. Seems likely to make it to Federer and then hopefully at least an entertaining demise in R16, but two TB's with Fed at Hopman cup gives me some hope.:p

Saw that Hopman match. Tsitsi didn’t get a sniff at Roger’s serve, and Fed only got a few good looks. Should have converted some BP’s, but I am guessing he’ll be much nore familiar with Stefanos’ serve and more dialed in at Melbourne. I really like Tsitsi’s game but he ain’t get through this time.
 

marc45

G.O.A.T.
Business as usual and food for conspiracy theorists - the organisers hit the spot ;))



Saw that Hopman match. Tsitsi didn’t get a sniff at Roger’s serve, and Fed only got a few good looks. Should have converted some BP’s, but I am guessing he’ll be much nore familiar with Stefanos’ serve and more dialed in at Melbourne. I really like Tsitsi’s game but he ain’t get through this time.

Benneteau is somewhere fuming
 

Red Rick

Bionic Poster
Business as usual and food for conspiracy theorists - the organisers hit the spot ;))



Saw that Hopman match. Tsitsi didn’t get a sniff at Roger’s serve, and Fed only got a few good looks. Should have converted some BP’s, but I am guessing he’ll be much nore familiar with Stefanos’ serve and more dialed in at Melbourne. I really like Tsitsi’s game but he ain’t get through this time.
Will be interesting to see if it continues.
 
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