Tennis 2017

[Deanjam]

New thread for a new season. Are Fedal finished. Is Murray the new boss in town. Will future goat Raonic win it all.

Who knows.

Not me, that's for sure.

[selectivememory]

I genuinely did think that Petra was due a decent year in 2017 with the way she was playing the last few months. :(

[selectivememory]

Apparently Petra's had surgery and it went well, but she's not even going to be able to bear weight on her hand for at least three months.

We'll see how it goes, but it sounds like it could be a career-ending injury. Fucking awful if it is the case. She was inconsistent as hell, but had an incredibly high level when at her best and at only 26 could easily have won many more slams. Easily one of my favourite players on either tour to watch when she's playing her best. Ugh.

[Deanjam]

Ana Ivanovic has retired. No huge surprise. Will make more money off court than on.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Along with Wozniacki, one of the poorest number ones in tennis in living memory, but hey. Model in Peace sweet princess.

[selectivememory]

Murray to play Djokovic in the Doha final. Could be an interesting early indicator of how things might go this year. I do feel like it's going to be Murray's best ever shot at winning the Aussie, but a bad match against Novak this weekend would dampen that. Still, Djokovic had to save five match points to get past Verdasco in the semis, so he's kind of lucky to be in the final.

Meanwhile a very good semifinal line-up in Brisbane. I think Dimitrov is going to have a decent year after he started playing well again in the second half of last year. Would be nice if he could make the tour finals, but it might be really competitive for places, especially if Federer and Nadal stay healthy.

For the fun of it, here are my slam predictions for the year:

Murray and Pliskova for the Aussie
Djokovic and Muguruza for the French
Murray and Kerber for Wimbledon
Raonic and Halep for the US Open.

I think Serena looks a lot more vulnerable towards the end of a tournament these days, but of course it wouldn't be surprising if she won a major or two. Also Stan and Delpo will probably go close at one each, although I can't see Stan completing his career slam at Wimbledon, as cool as that would be.

Other things I'd like to see this year would include Kyrgios qualifying for the tour finals and Zverev pushing on towards the top ten with a decent run at a major or two.

[BlodwynPig]

Ooh so close for Cornet, final in Brisbane not a bad result

[selectivememory]

Ooh so close for Cornet, final in Brisbane not a bad result

No shame in losing to Pliskova who has been looking great this week after a strong finish to 2016.

Murray-Djokovic has been pretty tight so far, with some brutal rallies. Djokovic still looking slightly vulnerable to me, but a much stronger performance than in the O2 final, in which he was dire.

[selectivememory]

Oof. Djokovic steps it up to take the first set. Murray blew it a bit when he gave the break away, though Djokovic looks really good all of a sudden. Can't read too much into an ATP250 final perhaps, but if Djokovic plays like this in Australia he'll be very hard to beat.

[selectivememory]

Pfft. This is pretty weak stuff from Murray. Has played some great points but both times he's been broken he became very passive and hit some poor errors. Could definitely have made this match closer. Djokovic has been good but hardly great.


Edit: Spoke too soon! Murray back in the set after saving three match points.

[biggytitbo]

Nice fightback from Murray and some phenomenal shots. If he can win from here then you really might say a tide has turned.

[selectivememory]

If he can win from here then you really might say a tide has turned.

It would be significant simply because Murray has never won from a set down against Djokovic. If this follows the pattern from the previous two years Murray levels the match and then goes down 6-2 or 6-3 in the final set. Be a big deal for him if he can win from here, and a great win to get right ahead of the Aussie Open. Very impressive turnaround in this set anyway.

[selectivememory]

Djokovic takes it then. Pretty good match all in all. Closer than it usually is, but still it felt at the end that Murray was struggling to match Djokovic's intensity for such a long period. He'll be delighted if someone takes out Novak early in Melbourne.

[Deanjam]

Great win for Dimitrov in Brisbane, defeating Nishikori, Raonic & Thiem. Another false dawn? Or has baby Fed grown up.

[selectivememory]

Brisbane had a very strong field this year, so a great win for him indeed. If it had come out of nowhere I wouldn't be optimistic, but he had been doing a lot better in the second half of 2016 after reaching his nadir midway through the year, so I'm fairly hopeful he can sustain this form. I can't remember him recording such impressive results in a single tournament for a couple of years now - he's had the odd win against Murray and Wawrinka but always failed to back it up in the next round. Now up to 15 in the world, which considering he was looking like he could drop out of the top 40 a few months ago shows his improvement.

[selectivememory]

Konta wins the Sydney title with some decent wins this week, but has a pretty tough draw for Melbourne. Meanwhile Evans also having a good tournament, including a win over Thiem. Is currently playing in the semifinal now, and would play Muller if he gets through to the final.

Anyway, an interesting draw on the men's side. Murray could face Federer in the quarters, and Djokovic has to play Verdasco (who blew five match points against him last week in Doha) in the first round, and could also play the in-form Dimitrov in the fourth round. All gets going on Monday.

[Deanjam]

Good win for Konta on home soil (bitchy!). If Evans wins the final it's officially crazy time. Great effort from both. Konta has a genuine chance in Melbourne with the field looking wide open. Cue first round defeat.

[Deanjam]

Australian Open starts tonight.

Section 1

Murray v Marchenko                                    
Rublev v Lu                                                                           
De Minaur v Melzer                                                                        
Halys v Querrey                                                                        
Isner v Kravchuk                                                                            
Garcia-Lopez v Zverev
Jaziri v Soeda
Bublik v Pouille
                                  
Section 2
                        
Berdych v Vanni                                                                            
Harrison v Mahut                                                                            
Fratangelo v Rubin
J Melzer v Federer                                                                            
Ramos Viñolas v Lacko                                                                            
Granollers v Sela                                                                            
Almagro v Chardy                                                                            
Kuznetsov v Nishikori
                                     
Section 3

S Wawrinka v Kližan                                                                            
Delbonis v Johnson                                                                            
Duckworth v Lorenzi                                                                            
Džumhur v Troicki                                                                            
Cuevas v Schwartzman                                                                            
Darcis v Groth                                                                            
Mathieu v Seppi                                                                            
Elias v Kyrgios                                      

Section 4

Tsonga v Monteiro                                                                            
Lajović v Robert                                                                            
Khachanov v Mannarino                                                                            
Herbert v Sock                                                                            
Tomic v Bellucci                                                                            
Estrella Burgos v Bedene                                                                            
Bagnis v Evans                                                                            
Janowicz v Čilić                                      

Section 5

Monfils v Veselý                                                                            
Dolgopolov v Ćorić                                                                            
Fabbiano v Young                                                                            
Basilashvili v Kohlschreiber                                                                            
A Zverev v Haase                                                                            
Tiafoe v Kukushkin                                                                            
Youzhny v Baghdatis                                                                            
F Mayer v Nadal                                      

Section 6

Bautista Agut v Pella                                                                            
Nishioka v Bolt                                                                            
Medvedev v Escobedo                                                                            
Jasika v Ferrer                                                                            
Simon v Mmoh                                                                            
Donaldson v Dutra Silva                                                                            
Müller v Fritz                                                                            
Brown v Raonic                                      

Section 7

Thiem v Struff                                                                            
Thompson v Sousa                                                                            
Haas v Paire                                                                            
Fognini v López                                                                            
Karlović v Zeballos                                                                            
Pavlásek v Whittington                                                                            
Tursunov v Štěpánek                                                                            
Opelka v Goffin                                      

Section 8

Dimitrov v O'Connell                                                                            
Chung v Olivo                                                                            
Albot v Berlocq                                                                            
Mott v Gasquet                                                                            
Carreño Busta  v Polansky                                                                            
Edmund v Giraldo                                                                            
Istomin v Dodig                                                                            
Verdasco v Djokovic                                      

[Deanjam]

And da ladies.

Section 1

Kerber v Tsurenko                                                      
Hozumi v Witthöft                                                        
Kr Plíšková v Golubic                                                        
Shvedova v Begu                                                        
Kasatkina v Peng                                                        
Chirico v Bouchard                                                        
Parmentier v Doi                                                        
Vandeweghe v Vinci                            

Section 2

Suárez Navarro v Čepelová                                                        
Khromacheva v Cîrstea                                                        
A Riske v M Brengle                         
Sasnovich v Zhang                                                        
Sevastova v Hibino                                                        
Kučová v McHale                                                        
Crawford v Davis                         
Erakovic v Muguruza                            

Section 3

Halep v Rogers                                                        
Barty v Beck                                                        
Barthel v Aiava                                                        
Țig v Puig                                                        
K Bertens v Lepchenko                                                        
Duan v Šramková                                                        
Vögele v Nara                                                        
Kozlova v V Williams                            

Section 4

Svitolina v Voskoboeva                                                        
Schiavone v Boserup                                                        
King v Vikhlyantseva                                                        
Rodina v Pavlyuchenkova                                                        
Siegemund v Janković                                                        
Siniaková v Görges                                                        
Tatishvili v Fourlis                                                        
Duque Mariño v Kuznetsova                            

Section 5

Ka Plíšková v Sorribes Tormo                                                        
Blinkova v Niculescu                                                        
Zhu v Ostapenko                                                        
Arruabarrena v Putintseva                                                        
Gavrilova v Broady                                                        
Konjuh v Mladenovic                                                        
Kovinić v Zheng                                                        
Giorgi v Bacsinszky                            

Section 6

Vesnina v Bogdan                                                        
Minella v Linette                                                        
Brady v Larsson                                                        
Watson v Stosur                                                        
Cornet v Georges                                              
Sakkari v Kontaveit                                                        
Lučić-Baroni v Wang                                                        
Pironkova v Radwańska
                           
Section 7

Cibulková v Allertová                                                        
Knapp v Hsieh                                                        
Errani v Ozaki                                                        
Alexandrova v Makarova                                                        
Wozniacki v Ar Rodionova                                                        
Vekić v Cabrera                                                        
Kumkhum v Osaka                                                        
Flipkens v Konta                            

Section 8

Strýcová v Kulichkova                                                        
Day v Petkovic                                                        
Büyükakçay v Dodin                                                        
Bondarenko v Garcia                                                        
Babos v Gibbs                                                        
Falconi v Han                                                        
Wickmayer v Šafářová                                                        
Bencic v S Williams                            

[biggytitbo]

Herbert v Sock

Sums up the tragic existence of many Cabbers.

[selectivememory]

Evans and Murray through in straight sets. Halep and Pouille both out. Cilic came back from 2-0 down to beat Janowicz, and Nishikori also won in five. Meanwhile Stan has lost the first set of his match to Klizan...

[BlodwynPig]

Not looking good for the French.

Well, the Mmoh-Bot has struck!

[BlodwynPig]

[BlodwynPig]

Only Parmentier and Chardy and Mmoh through for the French?

[selectivememory]

Only Parmentier and Chardy and Mmoh through for the French?

Tsonga won in four. Monfils (and probably a few others) are up tomorrow.

[BlodwynPig]

Tsonga won in four. Monfils (and probably a few others) are up tomorrow.

How did Mmoh get on...tough schedule

[selectivememory]

How did Mmoh get on...tough schedule

Ah, he's a real player! Apparently playing Simon tomorrow. One to look out for.

Not French though.

[BlodwynPig]

Ah, he's a real player! Apparently playing Simon tomorrow. One to look out for.

Not French though.

Mmoh gone! Better day for les Francais. Dodin through!

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Alex Bogdanovic: We go again

[selectivememory]

Kyrgios loses from two sets up against Seppi. Saw the last few games, looks like it was a very entertaining one. Meanwhile Dan Evans a game away from beating Cilic, 5-3 up in the fourth set. Came close against Stan in New York, and this would be a big win for him. He's become so consistent at these events in the last year.

Edit: And a horrible service game from Cilic gives it to him. Great win for Evans.