Tipsy just broke to take a lead in set two:

Tipsarevic leads 7-6 4*-3

:angry: I went for a Tipsy win in the predictions contest, then changed my mind at the last minute.

Berdych about to serve for the match to complete an impressive 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 victory against H-T Lee.

Berdych, Djokovic and Gasquet won easily. Lets see how much trouble they give to Federer or Nadal.
Nalby will plummet down the rankings if he loses as he is defending a SF from last year.

Berdych wins.

Tipsarevic 2 sets up now.

Good win for Berdych. I can't see any of the action right now, but I know Lee was playing well at the end of last season.

Nick.
The ESPN coverage starts at 9 pm in about 10 mins. Can watch the end of the sharapova match. ope they show the Nadal match and not some american woman in a singles match.

Nalbandian a break down in the third...

:ok:

Meanwhiles, Tipsy grabs a quick break to open the third set. :blink:

2-0 Tipsarevic already. He hasn't dropped a point yet in the third.

Nalbandian survives another break chance to hold.

2-1 Tipsarevic

Scoreboard hasn't changed in a few minutes. Is there an injury timeout?

In other matches, Ginepri and Kim have each just gone two sets to one down in their matches against Almagro and Wawrinka, respectively. The US men might not be able to repeat their success of the opening day . . .

Ginepri a break down in the fourth. This result would surprise me a lot.

due to the extreme heat, Nadal's match would be played with the roof closed. This would be a cakewalk for Rafa then.

thats it for Nalby..

Getting ahead of yourself again, chet . . .

Match point . . . saved. Deuce.

Janko Tipsarevic must think he's playing Roger Federer, given the way he's just squandered two chances to serve out the match. 5-5 now, 3rd set.

Ginepri has earned a match point in the 5th against Almagro.

And he's won.

another quick exhibition of choking...Nalby has it wrapped up now.

Nalby is on the comeback trail, though. He's 3-0, double-break up in the fourth. Tipsy should have converted his match points when he had the chance . . . .

What happened to Tipsarevic people? Sounds like Nalby was a wee bit lucky there?

DJ this final outcome it is due, mainly, to the extreme conditions :angry: ...Nalbi was honest enough to point forward this element in his analysis of the match:

"Serb Janko Tipsarevic was two sets and two match points up on Argentine eighth seed Nalbandian before he visibly wilted in the heat, finally retiring when last year's semi-finalist had opened a 2-1 lead in the fifth.

"I was tired from the first point. It's not tennis any more, it's who is going to last longest in the sun," the world number 64 told reporters.

Nalbandian was extremely critical of the situation.

"The thing I didn't understand is why they didn't call the match (off) after 40-something degrees," Nalbandian said.
"I mean, why didn't they stop all of it? It's very disgusting playing like this. :angry: "

Organisers kickstart their extreme heat plans when the thermometers pass 35 degrees and when the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, a combination of ambient air temperature and humidity, exceeds 28 degrees.
Players are also able to use ice vests when the heat exceeds 26 degrees.

Sharapova was among the players to take advantage of the vests -- ice-filled tubes worn round the neck and chest to fend off the punishing heat.
The roof was retracted when Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal and Robert Kendrick began their match on the showpiece court.
With play suspended for more than seven hours, officials are now facing a huge backlog of matches." (Report By Reuters News).

From my perspective we are back to the usual: too extreme conditions in Australia to play outside Tennis.

Final result: We are facing to the usual two tournaments in one, i.e. a first tournament in which you will have the lucky guys (and girls) playing at the right hours and moreover in an indoor event and simultaneously we will have the great spectacle of some other participants playing Tennis in extreme conditions :angry: ...

Great: the first GS tournament of the year is simply biased and because it is not the same for all participants.

Conclusion: Why the AO does not start at least three weeks later?
This will assure already some better conditions to all participants and moreover there will be the room of a longer break for the players (something good in itself they will be back fully fit and ready)

But do not worry DJ with Mr.Etienne de Villiers :whistle: and his Round Robin I am sure he would be able to find a solution :yikes: !!!

No, seriously we have the worst managers of the ATP ever so we should really do not expect any changes (improvements) to help the players-what matters for Mr. de Villiers is money not fair conditions to all participants-.

So DJ, you should get used to an unfair first GS tournament because he will be like that for a while do not worry :angry: : Just sad. :angry:

I think the heat is what makes the Australian Open what it is and I love the fact thats its in January!.The guys need to get over themselves and stop whining!Every Grand Slam has an element which makes it special!

Australia-The Heat
Roland Garros-The Windy Clay blowing about
Wimbledon-The Rain
US Open-The Wind

So really,I think it adds more diversity to the tournament!

Hi Dark,

I see your point, no problem on that: Australian hot summer is one of the main feature of the first GS of the year. Nevertheless, when it is too much it is too much. This GS becomes simply unfair with some (unlucky) players...

Come on you cannot ask players having a match when it is too hot out there!!!

By a reshape of the calendar-three weeks later- I am quite sure you will still have the hot conditions of the Australian (late) summer but with the chance to have a "fair" tournaments for all players IMO.

Anyway: Nothing will change so :(

I have to disagree with you on this TV.If the players were much more prepared physically then we would have less whining and more tennis.The players nowadays dont want to work for anything and its sad.Most of them are really overpaid.

My substantiation is that you really have to look at Agassi and the preparation he took when goin down under and winning.The man was a physical machine trained by Gil-ray.And we never ever had him whining about the heat.He also won when he was in his thirties down there so really the young guns need not complain.Nalbandian is an overweight donut and he has himself to blame.

Why must there always be a moan and a groan then an injury claim.I give up!

Dark: Now that your ideas are well spotted I tend to agree with you. For sure some of them are just "overpaid"...Moreover, 100% with you on:

roflmao roflmao

Still, three additional weeks of breaks would allow to the serious guys out there (e.g. FED, Nadal and AROD...) to prepare even better and therefore to have more great matches played on decent conditions (around 25 degree)..

But OK I took your points. :rolleyes:

Thanks TV...Glad you agree with me.You also make good points there!

You also have to consider the ballkids, line judges etc. who also have to work in the punishing heat. I'm guessing that they have regular access to drinks during matches? Although I think I'm right in saying that the line judges at least are swapped several times during a match?

It does spoil it a bit when matches have to be stopped due to one player not being able to cope with the heat. Although the opposite argument is that it not only comes down to who is the most skillful player, it's also who is the fittest and can cope with the conditions the best.

Ball kids are in the shade they only feel the hot air blowing over them which isnt as bad as what the players go through.The umpires sit high up very well shaded!

This is true!

I must say though, that I do think its a tragedy waiting to happen. The stakes are so high these days and the margin between victory and defeat so small that players may push themselves more than they really should.

I really hope that I'm wrong though. :(

That's all well and good saying it adds something to the tournament, but the conditions at the other slams don't affect the players' health in the same way that the heat does. I'm sure the players are aware of how to cope in the heat, but it surely must get to the point where it could be dangerous for them?I've just read a quote about Benneteau collapsing after his 5 set defeat to Capdeville - surely that can't be a good sign.

I realise that a certain amount of it is down to training etc etc, but in the end, i'm sure biologically some people deal with heat better than others do. Plus, the players' have just had their "holidays" and some of them may have gone home to places where it isn't so warm at this time of year. They have a few weeks to aclimatise to playing in this kind of heat.

We may say that the players are just whinging, but it may well be that they're whinging because they have a point. If they think it's too hot, then perhaps it is. It's not just Nalby saying this either, Sharapova mentioned it, as did Tipsarevic. Also, with the Agassi example, i'm taking a fair bet Agassi didn't often play on outside courts, and would have had the luxury of playing in indoor conditions quite regularly. I have absolutely no evidence whatsoever to back that up though.....

I must say I agree with Yorkshire, it could very well be a tragedy waiting to happen.

(I apologise if this post seems a bit rambling, it's one of those stream of consciousness moments.....)

And the tragedy was almost there :yikes: :yikes: :

I found the following article about Julien Benneteau match. The guy was in a very bad shape. The new (a Reuters one for a change) has been released only in french..Anyway here the details :angry: :

Julien Benneteau a été victime mardi, à Melbourne, d'une grosse défaillance due à la chaleur qui lui a valu une élimination dès le premier tour de l'Open d'Australie.

Alors qu'il menait deux manches à zéro face au Chilien Paul Capdeville, 148e mondial, le Français, 36e à l'ATP, s'est écroulé et a concédé les trois derniers sets 6-2 6-1 6-2.

Incapable de servir, peinant à se tenir debout, il a même été pris de vomissements au cour de la cinquième manche.
"Dès le début du troisième set, j'ai eu des crampes, je ne pouvais plus servir. J'avais la gorge desséchée, ce n'était pas agréable", a-t-il dit.
"Plusieurs fois, j'ai songé à abandonner mais je suis allé au bout de moi-même, vomissant à la fin du cinquième set. J'ai eu peur. D'ailleurs, quand je suis rentré au vestiaire, le médecin du tournoi m'a perfusé pour faciliter ma réhydratation. Pendant cette perfusion, j'étais fatigué, je m'endormais mais le médecin me remuait en me disant : 'Reste avec nous'. Il était assez craintif."

Julien Benneteau estime que le règlement d'extrême chaleur, appliqué à partir de midi, doit changer.
"J'ai appris que les organisateurs avaient stoppé tout lancement de match à midi. Si c'est dangereux pour les autres, pourquoi pas pour nous?", a-t-il dit.

"Je sais que le règlement ne le permet pas (NDLR : toute partie débutée en extérieur doit s'achever dans les conditions initiales) mais je pense que ça méritait une interruption, à la fin d'un set par exemple."

"Il y avait un responsable de la Fédération Internationale au bord de mon court et je pense que ça va évoluer car j'ai vraiment vécu une expérience extrême et pas agréable. Je vais voir les traces que ce match va laisser et j'espère être opérationnel pour le double."

Mian message (roughly translated) the doctor was really worry about him and the guy was really in bad shape :yikes: ...Scarry...And too hot. :angry: ..

oooh...this reuters thing is quite good isn't it TV??? here's another article

MELBOURNE, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Maria Sharapova and David Nalbandian lambasted the Australian Open organisers on Tuesday for making them play in 50 degree on-court heat during their first-round matches.

With the mercury soaring to 39 degrees in the shade, all unstarted matches were suspended on the outside courts for several hours. But under the rules, players already on court have to play on and finish their matches.


"It's inhuman to play three hours in that kind of heat," Sharapova said following her 6-3 4-6 9-7 win over France's Camille Pin.

"I don't think our bodies were made to do that. When it's that hot your mind doesn't work properly," added the Russian, who looked dazed during the closing stages of the match.

Sharapova took a medical time out during the contest, which included a 10-minute heat break after the second set.

Play was restricted to the two main courts -- Rod Laver Arena and Vodafone Arena -- where action was only possible because of the retractable roofs. These can only be closed between matches.

Belgium's Christophe Rochus became the first casualty to the draining weather on Tuesday, withdrawing with breathing problems after 13 games of his first-round match against France's Sebastien Grosjean.


VISIBLY WILTED

Serb Janko Tipsarevic was two sets and two match points up on Argentine eighth seed Nalbandian before he visibly wilted in the heat, finally retiring when last year's semi-finalist had opened a 2-1 lead in the fifth.


"I was tired from the first point. It's not tennis any more, it's who is going to last longest in the sun," the world number 64 told reporters.

Nalbandian was extremely critical of the situation.

"The thing I didn't understand is why they didn't call the match (off) after 40-something degrees," Nalbandian said.

"I mean, why didn't they stop all of it? It's very disgusting playing like this."

France's Julien Benneteau even lost consciousness after his five-set defeat to Paul Capdeville.

"Several times I thought about quitting but I pushed myself to my limits, vomiting at the end of the fifth set. I was scared," he said.

"Later when I went into the dressing room, the tournament doctor used a drip to try to hydrate me. During this procedure, I was tired, I fell asleep but the doctor shook me and said 'Stay with us'. He was quite scared."

Organisers kickstart their extreme heat plans when the thermometers pass 35 degrees and when the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature, a combination of ambient air temperature and humidity, exceeds 28 degrees.


Players are also able to use ice vests when the heat exceeds 26 degrees.

Sharapova was among the players to take advantage of the vests -- ice-filled tubes worn round the neck and chest to fend off the punishing heat.

The roof was retracted when Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal and Robert Kendrick began their match on the showpiece court and Nadal went on to win easily.

It brings another dimension to the game that is simply not right. Tennis is tennis, it is not boxing or cycling. The better player seems to have lost on the day so there is something wrong there. Also i f I understand some were playing at 2am there. Another absurd schedule.

I can understand midnight..up to one in extreme cases but 2 am?

I would love to see grass back in the AO. It never was the same as Wimbledon (slower due to the natural conditions) and much better in keeping temperatures low.

the current AO courts are only playable from 8m to 11m...the rest is crap. Too slow, too bouncy, too dangerous, too late at night..unless it rains of course. :angry:

As with most things, it will take some kind of tragedy to finally make the decision-makers wake up to the real problems that exist. I'd put money on it that the people in the suits making the decisions have a nice air-conditioned office to work in, while the players are out there slogging their guts out (literally in Benneteau's case) in 100 degree plus heat. It's beyond a joke in my opinion.

Tenez :bow: :bow: yorkshire :bow: :bow: fully agree...It is just becoming a shame...It is just absurd...FED is playing tomorrow around 12.00 AM... :ban: Crap :angry:

Maybe the players should weather themselves to the conditions before the Open, after all they know exactly what to expect. It's not like they are getting paid peanuts to slog it out in the heat. If they are not prepared to make the effort they should not enter in the first place

Some players do train themselves for it (as best they can). Murray trained in California for a while and Federer in Dubai to try and get used to warm weather.

You can work as hard as you like but the fact remains that most human bodies aren't designed to work that hard in such hot temperatures.

And all the money in the world won't be any good to you if you're in a coffin ...

Murray and Fed trained? Of course, thats why they werent knackered during their matches. I heard a Sharapova quote that she holidayed during the off season, hence the state she was in last night. Obviously her opponent HAD been getting used to it because she was bouncing round the court