This a quick note to say that I will be blogging from the Australian Open, for the first six days. However, unlike my Brisbane reports, my reports will be published on the Tennis Week website. My first writing breakthrough, and it will be in a similar format to the Brisbane blog although I would imagine that it would be slightly more descriptive of the surroundings, merely because Melbourne Park is such a big venue.
So feel free to leave your comments on those blogs here, or in fact any comments about the website here.
Here is a link to each individual blog as well as the matches covered in each of them.
Day 1 blog: Tomas Berdych vs Robby Ginepri, Robin Soderling vs Robert Kendrick, Feliciano Lopez vs Gilles Muller, Jelena Dokic vs Tamira Paszek, Paul-Henri Mathieu vs Jarkko Nieminen, David Nalbandian vs Marc Gicquel.
Day 2 blog: Jurgen Melzer vs Kei Nishikori, Richard Gasquet vs Diego Junqueira, Gilles Simon vs Pablo Andujar, Mikhail Youzhny vs Stefan Koubek, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs Juan Monaco, James Blake vs Frank Dancevic.
Day 3 blog: Marin Cilic vs Janko Tipsarevic, Jelena Jankovic vs Kirsten Flipkens, David Nalbandian vs Yen-Hsun Lu, Juan Martin Del Potro vs Florian Mayer.
Day 4 blog: Jurgen Melzer vs Andreas Beck, Gael Monfils vs Stefan Koubek, Radek Stepanek vs Michael Berrer, Ivan Ljubicic vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Day 5 blog: Juan Martin Del Potro vs Gilles Muller, Tommy Robredo vs Yen-Hsun Lu, Andy Roddick vs Fabrice Santoro, Stanislas Wawrinka vs Tomas Berdych.
Day 6 blog: Carla Suarez Navarro vs Maria Martinez Sanchez, Gilles Simon vs Mario Ancic
Sunday, January 18, 2009
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6 comments:
looking forward to your reports Krystle, have fun in Melbourne
I printed a copy of the 2009 Australian Open men's singles draw today and proceeded to highlight the key match ups for the 1st round. There are many good matches in the bottom half of the draw including the matches involving:
Roddick V Rehnquist (not a new player but one who is rising up the ranks and well in the top 100. Go the Swede for an upset)
Malisse V Llodra (Malisse qualified easily but Llodra could be a tricky customer, especially if he gets to the net) Go Malisse! because time is running out for him and he knows it.
Ferrero V Santoro (both are veterans of the tour with magnificent games - should be a close one)
Querry V Kohlschreiber (a tough match for both players who are looking for a good start to the new year)
Benneteau V Baghdatis (Benneteau showed in Sydney he can play and there is a cloud over Baggy pants Baghdatis whether he is fit enough)
Mathieu V Nieminen (both players will fancy their chances in this match. I like Nieminen.)
Ginepri V Berdych (a lot of pressure on both players to perform but Ginepri loses his cool and goes away if he doesn't lead from the start)
These matches however, will get scant coverage from Channel 7 who could use their 2nd and 3rd digital channels to give blanket coverage and heaps of choice to the viewing public, but won't/isn't. Pathetic Channel 7 will have plenty of ads and snuf pieces with sponsors and have News with Kylie Gillies while they could be flicking over to other courts and giving us a true taste of the excitement which is the Australian Open. Channel 7 is doing Tennis in Australia no favours at all, although it will get heaps of praise from Tennis Australia - an incestuous relationship!)
I love the Australian Open but can't get Foxtel in my building so I will be at the mercy of Channel 7 who will show in full less than 5% of all singles matches played. Let's hope those matches we do see are shown in their entirety and that the ad breaks don't eat into the new game after the change of ends. Channel 7 treats the viewing public with contempt and utter arrogance returning to the match whenever it feels like it - add an extra ad here, promote the new shows for 2009 there, and squeeze in some tennis; and they will never show you the draw and who is playing who in the next round. No way, this takes up valuable time in which they could shove more ads.
Thankfully, necessarily, we have the internet and can follow the matches and schedule and listen to the radio, etc.
Of course, being an Australian tennis fan and player, and coach, I love Wimbledon because we can subscribe to their internet coverage and choose between 9 or more courts to watch, plus whatever channel 9 is showing. What a ripper set up and I look forward to this tournament most every year.
Meanwhile, in the top half of the draw, the match everyone is talking about is Hewitt V Gonzalez. I hope both players are on song and we have a terrific match. Go Hewitt! If he wins through he will play Gasquet in the 3rd round, Nadal in the 4th. Oh well . . . he needs to play the circuit fulltime in 2009 and not be such a part-timer (injuries not withstanding) and hopefully he will at least get back into the top 20. He will have to come to the net more and really play like he's got nothing to lose and re-embrace his go for it attitude of his youth.
OK, wish I could be in Melbourne. I have been going there every year since 1996 - 2006. Maybe next year. Enjoy! I hope the weather is kind to tennis in Melbourne ie not too windy or hot.
Hi Anonymous,
Good post, I enjoyed reading that, thanks.
It's a shame that you don't have Fox Sports, because I agree that Seven's coverage is almost unbearable to watch. I remember a few years back before I got Fox Sports I literally had to go to my computer while they were having their interruptions/features to avoid getting boiled over with frustration. Hopefully there will be some good live streams for you to enjoy the tennis.
Yes, the subscription paid live service for Wimbledon is excellent, and almost makes it my favourite Grand Slam almost purely based on that reason.
Having seen Baghdatis play on TV, in Brisbane and Kooyong, I can say that I have no interest in watching him this year at the Australian Open. I'd say he probably is vulnerable to losing to Benneteau.
I particularly like the match-up between Querrey and Kohlschreiber, though I'm not sure how much I will be able to watch of that match, if any at all.
I've also highlighted the match between Ginepri and Berdych as one of the more potentially closely contested matches.
The other matches that I'm looking to watch are Dent vs Delic and Nalbandian vs Gicquel. The rest will be more something I decide based on how far along the schedule is moving on each court.
I can say that having many of the interesting matches scheduled late is very annoying indeed.
Hello Krystle,
very nice blog
excellent live streams
on the web you can find
from Eurosport Player
(subscription based)
rc
trading tennis blog
Kystle,
This is such great news!!!! I look forward to reading your blogs!
Hello Krystle... wow Tennis Week!! Cool break!! ... I've been following your posts on the Aussie Open.. am sure you're overwhelmed. Keep up the good work :)
R
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