Tennis!

[Starvinho]

Bit harsh on Henman to say he wasn't very good. On his day he was a class player. Certainly not in the league of Murray but a solid top 10 player during his prime. He was very unlucky not to win Wimbledon, in 2001 especially.

[Ant]

Henman was solid. He wasn't top class though.

[gunnar hendershow]

He still could have won in 2001. He needed a perfect storm to have a chance of winning Wimbledon in his prime, but that storm basically happened in 2001. Murray was good enough to beat the best in order to win, and while he had some luck of Nadal and Federer getting bounced early he still had to get through the world number one to win the tournament. Henman would never have done that.

[Bobfoc]

Henman never quite had the talent of the likes of Sampras, Agassi and Rafter, but I respect him greatly. As a junior, he wasn't even considered Britain's most promising up-and-coming player, and his early years on the senior tour yielded little success, but his attitude and dedication far eclipsed those of most of his British peers. For a guy like him to have reached six Grand Slam semi-finals and been a member of the Top 10 in the World Rankings for the better part of a decade says a considerable amount about the way in which he made the very best of his abilities, especially when compared to plenty of other wasted talents, both from Britain and elsewhere.

David Nalbandian, for example, could probably have won at least a couple of Grand Slams if not for his lack of application and hot-headed attitude, and Marat Safin, despite having won two Slams, never quite reached the heights that his potential suggested for similar reasons. You could also throw the likes of Gasquet and Gulbis into the equation as far as the current crop of players is concerned. I'd have no hesitation in stating that all of these players possessed far more natural skill than Henman, yet are all considered in many circles as having failed to make the most of it, whereas Henman became way more of a star than most pundits would ever have expected him to.

[EddieG]

Federer lost in straight sets to Tommy Robredo (7-6; 6-3; 6-4) .. surely it won't be much longer until he calls it quits?

[EddieG]

So, Andy Murray, Scottish again?

[Lineker]

Wawrinka has won the first set against Djokovic.

[Lineker]

ATP Finals start today at the O2. Managed to get tickets for the final!

[Baddar]

Boris Becker has become Djokovic's Head Coach.

[Lineker]

Love it.

[Hornswoggle4PM]

Saw that we didn't have one for this year yet, so I thought it best to get one started before the Aussie Open starts on Monday (Sunday if you're in other parts of the world).

I'll be posting my predictions after the full draw comes out, but just to start the discussion; who will win?

Edited January 9, 2014 by Hornswoggle4PM

[Starvinho]

I think Djokovic will win it but I can't rule out Murray. If he can find his best form then he'll be a contender.

[EddieG]

Don't think Murray will win it, he's still getting back in form after his injury, can't see that happening just yet.

[Starvinho]

Murray was injured prior to Wimbledon too. I know this time he's had surgery and a longer lay-off but it's not inconceivable that he can win this. It is a long shot for sure but I think if he can hit the ground running and improve with every match then he might suprise a few people.

[Hornswoggle4PM]

He's playing an exhibition against Hewitt tomorrow, maybe that will give us some indication. At the moment I can't go past Djokovic to win the men's though.

[Lineker]

No panda energy tag?

[Hornswoggle4PM]

I did consider it, but I could only have ten.

Screw it, ITF is gone.

[Starvinho]

Good to see Heather Watson qualify for the first round, hopefully she can start climbing the rankings again.

[Hornswoggle4PM]

Full draws are out!

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/index.html

As for my predictions, here they are;

Men's Singles

Winner - Novak Djokovic [2]

Runner-Up - Rafael Nadal [1]

Semi-Finalists - Rafael Nadal [1] vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [10], Tomas Berdych [7] vs Novak Djokovic [2]

Best Aussie - Lleyton Hewitt (3R)

Best Unseeded player - Florian Mayer, Jarkko Nieminen (4R)

Group of Death - Marin Cilic vs Marcel Granollers, Daniel Brands vs Gilles Simon [18]

Group of Life - Jan Hajek vs Damir Dzumhur [Q], Ivo Karlovic vs Ivan Dodig [32]

Women's Singles

Winner - Serena Williams [1]

Runner-Up - Maria Sharapova [3]

Semi-Finalists - Serena Williams [1] vs Sabine Lisicki [15], Maria Sharapova [3] vs Caroline Wozniacki [10]

Best Aussie - Samantha Stosur [17], Olivia Rogowska [W] (2R)

Best Unseeded player - Laura Robson, Andrea Petkovic (4R)

Group of Death - Kristina Mladenovic vs Stefanie Voegele, Francesca Schiavone vs Dominika Cibulkova [20]

Group of Life - Carina Witthoeft [Q] vs Mandy Minella, Teliana Pereira vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova [29]

Tough draws for the Aussies this year (Tomic vs Nadal, Duckworth vs Federer, Matosevic vs Nishikori, Barty vs Serena and Gajdosova vs Kerber) and I really can't see too many surprises happening this year. Of course, if a top seed falls early on it could open up the draw significantly but in most cases they should make it through to the third round.

Edited January 12, 2014 by Hornswoggle4PM

[METALMAN]

I might post in here when Wimbledon happens