Australian Open 2026 - Men’s Singles

Choose your Champion


  • Total voters
    91
  • Poll closed .
I think a lot of members here criticize him bc they want to like him but don’t like being disappointed. I’ve had this avatar for years and probably been one of his 2-3 biggest fans here…lots of time spent trying to convince ppl he isn’t a mug. I’m not a person who needs a player to be a consistent Slam winner to enjoy their game, although Lorenzo does have some Slam winning potential
I like him. He plays beautiful tennis and when he’s on, he’s a pleasure to watch.
 
That’s unfair imo if best player and number 1 seed has to play on MC arena.
The scheduling of the Sinner match was a bit of an eye opener. i guess they had a busy day and night session with men's matches that had star power on both sides of the net and an aussie girl making a run against swiatek and ended up with nowhere to put Sinner. They may have been worried about the potential of the match as a second week showcase given the mismatch and the fact that Darderi was not going to be able to make a showcase match style opponent and didn't want to disappoint reserve ticket holders. Who knows, though? Maybe Sinner requested to play MCA. certainly seemed happy based on how he played lol.
 
Ruud vs Shelton has five sets written all over it. Shelton is on a tear right now but the Ruudinator's conditioning is the best on tour. This is going five.

The only caveat would be if Ruud gets the call that his partner has gone into labour. He has stated that he is withdrawing immediately and leaving on a private charter flight if he receives the news that his wife has gone into labour.
 
Lovely touch one handed lob from Shelton. He is kind of in the zone right now. Shame he missed that backhand with the whole court open.
 
Hey guys remember when this Ruud dude reached back to back RG finals and the US Open final and nearly became world number 1? Those were the days
 
I gonna give it to Shelton. He's like the new and declined Ferrer. Good enough to beat every non top 10 player on tour, but absolutely completely and utterly useless against the top players. Ferrer at least could cause an upset once every blue moon, but with Shelton he's taking all the QF (and sometimes SF with a good draw) slots and wastes them every time.

Expect him to beat Ruud in 4 here and fully expect him to get straight setted by Sinner.
 
Shelton is returning incredibly well. I don't think Ruud's serve is just making it look like that :-D he is putting him under pressure immediately again and again and again. It's beautiful.
 
A more focused Ruud would have won this. Shelton still feels vulnerable in rallies although he might play some spectacular ones every now and then.

Anyways Rudd gets to go home early for the birth of his kids.

Shelton gets to get his butt kicked all over RLA by Sinner. I think Ruud will prefer his outcome
 
Haters can hate, but that was a hell of a performance. Inside out forehand to finish (even if we could have done without the eeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEYEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAH!) is as classy as it gets.
 
A more focused Ruud would have won this. Shelton still feels vulnerable in rallies although he might play some spectacular ones every now and then.

Anyways Rudd gets to go home early for the birth of his kids.

Shelton gets to get his butt kicked all over RLA by Sinner. I think Ruud will prefer his outcome
Just checked Sinner-Shelton H2H. Seems Shelton hasnt taken a single set from Sinner in the 8 last matches!
 
Like Ruud more, but the prospect of giving Jannik a walkover to pursue paternity leave was a bit annoying. Glad to see Big Ben come thru this one time. Enjoy your baby, Casper, pretty bada$$ consolation prize!
 
I got the sense that as Shelton got overtly positive and vocal, Ruud retreated mentally and became more negative and introspective.

Contrast that with how Djokovic or Hewitt would deal with someone acting like Shelton.

Saw a bit of in the FO final vs Nadal. It’s obviously one of the toughest challenges in the history of tennis, but Ruud looked like he was happy to simply be there and would have gladly carried Rafa’s kit bag had he asked him to.
 
Has there been a Slam before where so few things have happened?

7/8 of the top 8 seeds into the quarter-finals (the one loss being a retirement), and only nine sets dropped between them (Musetti-Machac the only one that went to five). I suppose Tien reaching the quarter-finals is a thing that has happened, but the only seed he has beaten is Medvedev, who he's beaten several times before, so it's not any huge surprise. The only other thing I can think of is Wawrinka winning a couple of matches at his last Australian Open. Usually you at least get some five-set jeopardy for a top player or some rando qualifier from the Czech Republic making the fourth round.
 
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