Tennis!

[IAceI]

In tennis you develop alot.

Safin has learnt alot from Lundgren and will definately be stronger this year than last.

[Zaz]

I'm not as disappointed about Hewitt losing as I am about him marrying Bec Cartwright . Damn Hewitt, leave the poor girl alone! Let her stay single!

[kaya]

Shit, they got married already? Are you sure? I thought they'd just started dating...

[Underage Politician]

They got engaged. It's been all over these bullshit A Current Affair shows tonight.

[Mongrel]

I wonder when her bloody vision will start working again, but I suppose it doesn't matter how he looks when he's 23 and has 15 million dollars already.

[IAceI]

He split with Kim because he didn't like her parents I believe - which I see as a stupid reason really but I don't think anything was ever confirmed.

Still, this is very soon.

[Malenko]

So... when did this change from australian open 2005 to big brother official topic?

[Underage Politician]

No one cares about tennis. You could tell by the way they kept cutting to Bec Cartright during Leyton's matches.

[IAceI]

No one cares about tennis. You could tell by the way they kept cutting to Bec Cartright during Leyton's matches.

←

[Zaz]

No one cares about tennis. You could tell by the way they kept cutting to Bec Cartright during Leyton's matches.

←

That is a joke, right?

←

[IAceI]

So would alot of people - but thats because they think tennis is a game where you hit a ball back and forth to each other.

[therockbox]

You mean it isn't?

[naiwf]

I think what Ace is saying is that people think of tennis as a recreational activity where you just try to hit the ball to each other, and not a sport as it is at its highest level. For example, no one thinks of pro basketball as something similar to what you'd be able to play on the street, but tennis has a different stigma to it. I guess because it's something older people tend to do for fun, (sort of like golf or bowling) it's therefore not really thought of in the same regard as basketball, either kind of football, baseball or even hockey.

I could be wrong, but that's what I think he was getting at.

[IAceI]

It was. Tennis isn't about knocking a ball around, it's about mental confidence and the physical ability. You don't hit it to your opponent, you open up the court, angling serves into the corners. Precision shots into the corner of the service box to open up the court so when the return falls short, you have the entire forehand court to put the ball away.

Tennis isn't hitting a ball over the net for some other guy to get to it. Nawif understands what I'm saying.

[Malenko]

I think what Ace is saying is that people think of tennis as a recreational activity where you just try to hit the ball to each other, and not a sport as it is at its highest level. For example, no one thinks of pro basketball as something similar to what you'd be able to play on the street, but tennis has a different stigma to it. I guess because it's something older people tend to do for fun, (sort of like golf or bowling) it's therefore not really thought of in the same regard as basketball, either kind of football, baseball or even hockey.

I could be wrong, but that's what I think he was getting at.

←

[IAceI]

I can relate - my friend thinks basketball is just running up and down and scoring.

Ask people from America, Lithuania, places like that and they will say it's about setting up position around the key and looking for holes to attack to get into the paint to score.

[Malenko]

I can relate - my friend thinks basketball is just running up and down and scoring.

Ask people from America, Lithuania, places like that and they will say it's about setting up position around the key and looking for holes to attack to get into the paint to score.

←

[FLiam]

So, the draw has been made.

Men's singles draw 

The men's draw for Wimbledon 2005.

FIRST ROUND

(1) Roger Federer (Swi) v Paul-Henri Mathieu (Fra)

Ivo Minar (Cze) v Michal Tabara (Cze)

Joshua Goodall (GB) v Alessio Di Mauro (Ita)

Julien Benneteau (Fra) v (25) Nicolas Kiefer (Ger)

(23) Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spa) v Qualifier

Thomas Enqvist (Swe) v Hyung-taik Lee (Kor)

Florian Mayer (Ger) v Santiago Ventura (Spa)

Fernando Verdasco (Spa) v (13) Tommy Robredo (Spa)

(11) Joachim Johansson (Swe) v Albert Montanes (Spa)

Alberto Martin (Spa) v Greg Rusedski (GB)

Jose Acasuso (Arg) v Tomas Zib (Cze)

Alan Mackin (GB) v (21) Fernando Gonzalez (Chi)

(31) Mikhail Youzhny (Rus) v Marcos Baghdatis (Cyp)

Oscar Hernandez (Spa) v Jean-Rene Lisnard (Fra)

Jonas Bjorkman (Swe) v Qualifier

Scott Draper (Aus) v (8) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)

(3) Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) v Christophe Rochus (Bel)

Jan Hernych (Cze) v James Blake (USA)

Qualifier v Qualifier

Sargis Sargsian (Arm) v (29) Nicolas Massu (Chi)

(24) Taylor Dent (USA) v Qualifier

Kevin Kim (USA) v Alex Bogdanovic (GB)

Qualifier v Tomas Berdych (Cze)

Lars Burgsmuller (Ger) v (16) Mariano Puerta (Arg)

(10) Mario Ancic (Cro) v Qualifier

Qualifier v Stefan Koubek (Aut)

Gael Monfils (Fra) v Olivier Rochus (Bel)

Cyril Saulnier (Fra) v (22) Dominik Hrbaty (Svk)

(26) Feliciano Lopez (Spa) v Bjorn Phau (Ger)

David Sherwood (GB) v Ricardo Mello (Bra)

Karol Beck (Svk) v Mark Philippoussis (Aus)

Paradorn Srichaphan (Tha) v (5) Marat Safin (Rus)

(7) Guillermo Canas (Arg) v Qualifier

Max Mirnyi (Bel) v Rainer Schuettler (Ger)

Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) v Fabrice Santoro (Fra)

Peter Wessels (Ned) v (28) Jiri Novak (Cze)

(19) Tommy Haas (Ger) v Janko Tipsarevic

Qualifier v Qualifier

Andrei Pavel (Rom) v Qualifier

Bohdan Ulihrach (Cze) v (12) Thomas Johansson (Swe)

(14) Radek Stepanek (Cze) v Robby Ginepri (USA)

Andrew Murray (GB) v Qualifier

Karol Kucera (Svk) v Luis Horna (Per)

Raemon Sluiter (Ned) v (18) David Nalbandian (Arg)

(27) Richard Gasquet (Fra) v Philipp Kohlschreiber (Ger)

Sjeng Schalken (Ned) v Potito Starace (Ita)

Felix Mantilla (Spa) v Gilles Muller (Lux)

Vincent Spadea (USA) v (4) Rafael Nadal (Spa)

(6) Tim Henman (GB) v Jarkko Nieminen (Fin)

Nicolas Almagro (Spa) v Dmitry Tursunov (Rus)

Alexander Popp (Ger) v Jerome Haehnel (Fra)

Wayne Arthurs (Aus) v (32) Filippo Volandri (Ita)

(17) David Ferrer (Spa) v Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (Spa)

Juan Monaco (Arg) v Qualifier

Victor Hanescu (Rom) v Kenneth Carlsen (Den)

Michael Llodra (FRa) v (9) Sebastien Grosjean (Fra)

(15) Guillermo Coria (Arg) v Tomas Behrend (Ger)

Jonathan Marray (GB) v Xavier Malisse (Bel)

Alex Calatrava (Spa) v Qualifier

Jurgen Melzer (Aut) v (20) Ivan Ljubicic (Cro)

(30) Robin Soderling (Swe) v Igor Andreev (Rus)

Davide Sanguinetti (Ita) v Qualifier

Qualifier v Ivo Karlovic (Cro)

Jiri Vanek (Cze) v (2) Andy Roddick (USA)

Start predicting and whatever.

Andy Murray gets a qualifer, interesting.

Jon Marray gets Malisse. I hope Marray can win, I don't like Malisse.

Federer to win.

I'll get the women's draw in a second.

Women's singles draw 

The women's draw for Wimbledon 2005.

FIRST ROUND

(1) Lindsay Davenport (US) v Alina Jidkova (Rus)

Marta Marrero (Spa) v Qualifier

Barbora Strycova (Cze) v Lilia Osterloh (US)

Sanda Mamic (Cro) v (30) Dinara Safina (Rus)

(23) Ai Sugiyama (Jpn) v Roberta Vinci (Ita)

Abigail Spears (US) v Anne Kremer (Lux)

Marissa Irvin (US) v Qualifier

Katie O'Brien (GB) v (15) Kim Clijsters (Bel)

(10) Patty Schnyder (Swi) v Antonella Serra Zanetti (Ita)

Tatiana Perebiynis (Ukr) v Qualifier

Maria Kirilenko (Rus) v Qualifier

Magdalena Maleeva (Bul) v (24) Shinobu Asagoe (Jpn)

(27) Nicole Vaidisova (Cze) v Jelena Kostanic (Cro)

Samantha Stosur (Aus) v Michaela Pastikova (Cze)

Akiko Morigami (Jpn) v Sania Mirza (Ind)

Rebecca Llewellyn (GB) v (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus)

(3) Amelie Mauresmo (Fra) v Paola Suarez (Arg)

Maria Sanchez Lorenzo (Spa) v Marta Domachowska (Pol)

Sarah Borwell (GB) v Shenay Perry (US)

Tamarine Tanasugarn (Tha) v (25) Karolina Sprem (Cro)

(22) Silvia Farina Elia (Ita) v Martina Sucha (Svk)

Maria Vento-Kabchi (Ven) v Milagros Sequera (Ven)

Meghann Shaughnessy (US) v Julia Schruff (Ger)

Anna Smashnova (Isr) v (13) Elena Likhovtseva (Rus)

(9) Anastasia Myskina (Rus) v Qualifier

Evie Dominikovic (Aus) v Aiko Nakamura (Jpn)

Mariana Diaz-Oliva (Arg) v Anne Keothavong (GB)

Anna Chakvetadze (Rus) v (17) Jelena Jankovic (SeM)

(28) Amy Frazier (US) v Mashona Washington (US)

Selima Sfar (Tun) v Emilie Loit (Fra)

Elena Baltacha (GB) v Qualifier

Iveta Benesova (Cze) v (6) Elena Dementieva (Rus)

(7) Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) v Eleni Daniilidou (Gre)

Klara Koukalova (Cze) v Laura Granville (US)

Gisela Dulko (Arg) v Yuliana Fedak (Ukr)

Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Swi) v (26) Flavia Pennetta (Ita)

(19) Ana Ivanovic (SeM) v Vera Douchevina (Rus)

Denisa Chladkova (Cze) v Stephanie Foretz (Fra)

Qualifier v Tathiana Garbin (Ita)

Lucie Safarova (Cze) v (12) Mary Pierce (Fra)

(14) Venus Williams (US) v Qualifier

Nicole Pratt (Aus) v Ludmila Cervanova (Svk)

Qualifier v Shahar Peer (Isr)

Evgenia Linetskaya (Rus) v (20) Daniela Hantuchova (Svk)

(29) Marion Bartoli (Fra) v Rika Fujiwara (Jpn)

Qualifier v Jill Craybas (US)

Qualifier v Qualifier

Angela Haynes (US) v (4) Serena Williams (US)

(8) Nadia Petrova (Rus) v Virginia Ruano Pascual (Spa)

Claudine Schaul (Lux) v Michaela Krajicek (Ned)

Zuzana Ondraskova (Cze) v Cara Black (Zim)

Catalina Castano (Col) v (32) Virginie Razzano (Fra)

(21) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) v Kristina Brandi (PuR)

Conchita Martinez (Spa) v Qualifier

Kveta Peschke (Cze) v Dally Randriantefy (Mad)

Marlene Weingartner (Ger) v (11) Vera Zvonareva (Rus)

(16) Nathalie Dechy (Fra) v Maria Elena Camerin (Ita)

Jane O'Donoghue (GB) v Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Ger)

Tatiana Panova (Rus) v Lisa Raymond (US)

Alyona Bondarenko (Ukr) v (18) Tatiana Golovin (Fra)

(31) A Medina Garrigues (Spa) v Katarina Srebotnik (Slo)

Yoon Jeong-cho (Kor) v Arantxa Parra Santonja (Spa)

Amanda Janes (GB) v Sesil Karatancheva (Bul)

Nuria Llagostera Vives (Spa) v (2) Maria Sharapova (Rus)

Edited June 16, 2005 by Gooner4Life

[Malenko]

So far, i'll just predict Karlovic and Ancic getting a lot further than what people expect. I'll check the draw later and do the rest of my predictions, although now that we aren't on clay anymore, i'll probably start missing a pick now and then.

[naiwf]

MEN'S SEMIS

(1) Roger Federer (Swi) vs (10) Mario Ancic (Cro)

(12) Thomas Johansson (Swe) vs (2) Andy Roddick (USA)

FINALS

Federer def. Roddick in 4 again

-------------------

WOMEN'S SEMIS

FIRST ROUND

(15) Kim Clijsters (Bel) vs (6) Elena Dementieva (Rus)

(7) Justine Henin-Hardenne (Bel) vs (2) Maria Sharapova (Rus)

FINALS

Henin-Hardenne def. Clijsters in 3 to go 4 for 4 in 'Belgian Slams'

-------------------

The first week will probably be lackluster, but from the Quarters on, we should have some really exciting matchups.