Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

[Janik]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Lack of belief.

I think he will also find himself facing questions about his training regime, which has reportedly been more focused on speed than stamina. Dani Vallverdu and Matt Little probably had wry smiles on their faces during the last few games.

[multipleman78]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

12 out of 13 games only goes to highlight the woeful delivery of Murray's serve. It has been improved but went walkabout in the big match at the important time.

[multipleman78]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Murray spoke of their quarter final match in New York before this match. That night it was 1 set all after two tie breaks and then Murray collapsed physically. He said he had focused on stopping that happening again. Looks like he failed.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Crikey, Janik, that's some concept of "generation" you're working with there. Henin is less than 5 years older than Sharapova. That's a different generation if they were cats or dogs maybe. FWIW, 4 of Henin's 7 slam wins post date Sharapova's first. Never mind. As you say, Sharapova probably wouldn't be very happy even if you structure the metric so that she can come second. Still, by way of consolation, she's top for cynical financial milking of her profile and pretty much equal top for hideous noise-making on court.

[Janik]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Cats and dogs have ~10-15 year life spans. So do tennis careers. The comparison is therefore apt.

[Satchmo Distel]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

The first two sets were very long today. It was noted on commentary that Murray would have won the 2nd set a lot quicker had he not lost the break at 2-0. The sheer length of that set broke him more than Novak.

Perhaps the most galling thing about the 2/8 record is that Murray seems to have lost on stamina and/or in the mind, rarely from the opponent having a greater range or penetration of strokes or more 'game'. Novak and Nadal just need to stay with him for the first three sets to be sure of winning the 4th and (if needed) 5th.

Also notable that Novak has beefed up the 2nd serve and has become more aggressive on return but Murray's game never really seems to change or evolve beyond the point it was at when he first became the World No. 4.

[Satchmo Distel]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Sharapova has done the career grand slam; not so Venus or Henin. I think her ranking has been more consistent than Venus, in that she's been a Top 5 player for 10 years apart from the injury period.

[Janik]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: FWIW, 4 of Henin's 7 slam wins post date Sharapova's first. Never mind.

And the last of them came when Sharapova was a 20 year-old. Even with Henin retiring for the first time rather early, it is easy to forget just how precocious Sharapova was. She was Wimbledon Champion aged 17!
She and Nadal were the most recent absolute prodigies, who were already high seeds and Slam champions within half a dozen appearances. But both were still improving even at that stage. I would take modern Maria to beat the 2003-8 vintage, even with the downgraded service motion after her shoulder surgeries.

[Satchmo Distel]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

I think the Henin of 2007 is the closest anyone has been to Serena's level, probably since Graf. Henin's record that year was 63-4 and has only been beaten by Graf (1995) and Serena (2013) in the last 20 years. I can't think of any version of Sharapova that would beat Henin of that year.

Venus is an odd one: perhaps better than Serena at Wimbledon, but never quite fulfilled her potential all-round after her early US Open successes. Only two weeks at No. 1 ever. OTOH Venus cracked the glass ceiling for black women players before Serena did.

Post-Graf I'd probably go 1) Serena; 2) Henin; 3) Sharapova (career grand slam); 4) Venus

[multipleman78]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Seles is unlucky not to be in that list when you consider what she achieved before she was stabbed.

[multipleman78]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Apologies as you probably meant after Graf retired. Initially i thought you meant players who came along after Graf's dominance.

[Satchmo Distel]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Yes, that was my meaning, although I would say Graf did have another dominant period post-stabbing in 1995-96, when her record in Grand Slam singles was 42-0.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steffi_Graf_career_statistics#Singles:_31_finals_. 2822_titles.2C_9_runner-ups.29

Seles was an incredible player for those first three years of the Nineties, an amazingly tough competitor. But then Graf in 1995-96 won all six GS she played in, just missing the two Aus Opens, so I think Graf would have still been sharing titles with Seles had not Monica been so cruelly denied the chance to continue her run of excellence through the decade.

Clearly there are players from the mid-90s to the mid-2000s who, on their day, could certainly beat Sharapova, such as Davenport, Novotna, and Hingis, but I think Sharapova has already achieved greater longevity than them, a greater span of GS finals and Top 2 rankings. At the very least, it's a tribute to her fitness and tenacity.

[Borracho]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

I've nothing against Andy Murray at all, but this picture is very funny.

[Outside Agent]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

I make it 25 Grand Slam Finals involving two of the Big Four of Federer, Nadal, Djokovic & Murray, stretching back to the 2006 French Open.
It's been an even spread, with seven Wimbledon Finals, and six each for French, Australian & US Opens.
The most common Final pairing has been Nadal v Federer with eight (6-2 to Nadal), followed by Nadal v Djokovic with seven (4-3 to Nadal), Djokovic v Murray with five (3-2 to Djokovic), Federer v Murray with three (3-0 to Federer), Federer v Djokovic with two (1-1). Nadal v Murray has never happened.

Nadal v Djokovic is the only pairing to happen in each of the four Slams.

Must be time to compile a top ten list.

[multipleman78]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

Right so we need a Murray v Nadal final to complete the set. They are back as the top 4 today. I guess the new blood will need to wait.

[Janik]

Twirling Drongo - 2015 Aussie Open and warm-ups

White Girls Can Jump



Bethanie Mattek-Sands, or course. After she and Lucia Safarova won the Women's Doubles.