Tennis!

[Baddar]

He'll make a statement about never returning to play in the Australian Open again shortly. Calling it.

Just saw this tweet...

One of Djokovic's arguments against the cancellation of his visa is that "Cancelling Mr Djokovic's visa would prejudice Australia's economic interests, and jeopardise the viability of Australia continuing to host the Australian Open".

Seriously, what a twat.

[METALMAN]

Maybe they'll do what they did with the Paris-Dakar Rally and move the Australian Open to Saudi Arabia.

[Baddar]

Djokovic won't be able to play in the French Open either, unless he's vaccinated.

[Bobfoc]

Good wins today for Murray, Evans, Watson and Raducanu. To be honest, it was Raducanu's victory that surprised me the most. She's had a difficult build-up to the tournament after having covid and Sloane Stephens looked like a really difficult first round opponent.

[Chris2K]

And today all the Brits fall, except for Evans who got through on a bye.

[Bobfoc]

Raducanu was clearly suffering with a blister on her hand. He couldn't even use her forehand, yet she still ran her opponent close.

[Lineker]

Quote

Doubts have emerged over the timing of the positive Covid test Novak Djokovic used to enter Australia to try to compete in the Australian Open.

It was provided to exempt him from rules barring unvaccinated people.

However, the serial number on his test on 16 December appears out of sequence with a sample of tests from Serbia over this period gathered by the BBC.

It is also higher than for his second (negative) test result from six days later.

His visa application was ultimately rejected, but not on these grounds.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/59999541

[gunnar hendershow]

Usually the time zone difference makes seeing the finals impossible here in the US but pleasantly surprised to finish breakfast and check to see who won only to find out the men's final's still going on.

[Lineker]

It is almost 1am in Melbourne  

[gunnar hendershow]

Number 21 for Rafa! And to do it in the Australian Open, the one tournament that constantly knocked him down, incredible.

Medvedev is the future and maybe even the present, but this is Rafa's night.

[Szumi]

Ashleigh Barty has announced her retirement from tennis

[Bobfoc]

That came out of nowhere. It reminds me of when Justine Henin retired for the first time.

[Bobfoc]

Cameron Norrie has reached the top ten. It's good to see an unheralded player climb the rankings through hard graft.

[gunnar hendershow]

Meanwhile Carlos Alcaraz won the Miami Open at 18 years old. 20 year old Iga Swiatek is the new women's number 1.

Big time youth movement going on. Will be exciting to see the ceilings for them.

[Bobfoc]

Alcaraz seems like the real deal. He ought to be challenging for Grand Slams over the next couple of years, and perhaps earlier if Djokovic keeps being silly.

The male game has seen a lot of promising youngsters never quite reach the level of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic (and Murray to a lesser extent) over the last fifteen years or so. Tsonga, Dimitrov, Nishikori, Monfils and Gasquet all made it towards the business end of Grand Slams, but couldn't quite get there. Zverev hasn't seemed to make the step-up in Slams yet either.

[Malenko]

Way too many people in Spain (and I don't just mean regular fans like you and me) are saying he'll be much better than Nadal ever was.

Regardless of how undeniably talented he is and also regardless of your feelings towards Nadal, that is putting waaaay too much pressure on an 18 year old. I don't like it.

[gunnar hendershow]

4 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

Alcaraz seems like the real deal. He ought to be challenging for Grand Slams over the next couple of years, and perhaps earlier if Djokovic keeps being silly.

The male game has seen a lot of promising youngsters never quite reach the level of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic (and Murray to a lesser extent) over the last fifteen years or so. Tsonga, Dimitrov, Nishikori, Monfils and Gasquet all made it towards the business end of Grand Slams, but couldn't quite get there. Zverev hasn't seemed to make the step-up in Slams yet either.

There's multiple generations who the Big Three basically prevented from being multi-time Grand Slam winners. Murray was easily the best of that bunch and if not for injuries could have probably wound up with 5 or 6 Grand Slams I'd wager. In his prime he was as good as the rest, just had a very short peak.

But it's an incredibly long list of names who won 1 (usually when 2 or 3 of the Big Three were out or not at their best) or 0 Grand Slams. Compare to the women's game which has had an incredible amount of depth and so many one or two time winners, despite 20 years of Williams dominance. I think the men's game has to be due for something similar, adding to how uniquely special the current era has been. There will always be one, or two, who tower above the rest but even they will be beat on their day.

[Adam]

Maybe I'm biased, but Andy Murray was capable of winning 10 Grand Slams minimum. He has won 3, and lost 6 finals, all of which were to Federer or Djokovic. He's also lost multiple extremely tight semi-finals and was at times as good if not better than the Big 3 for stretches.

[gunnar hendershow]

Carlos Alcaraz just finished off Djokovic in the semis at the Madrid Open. In the quarters he beat Nadal. Doesn't feel like there's a ceiling for how great he could be.

[Bobfoc]

Even if they're not quite firing on all cylinders, beating Nadal and Djokovic in consecutive matches is still just about the best thing you can do in men's tennis at the moment.