Just noticed this tournament's already underway. Berdych looks like he'll be the first player to make it through to the next round, up a set and a break on Volandri.

Darcis, the guy who suddenly shot up the rankings with an impressive showing towards the end of the last year, is a set up on promising Russian youngster Korolev.

John "poor man's Karlovic" Isner lost his first set to Ivo Minar, and Grosjean took his against Luczak - I thought there might be a sniff of an upset here, given that the Frenchman's not getting any younger and the hot conditions would favour the home favourite, but so far it's not looking that way.

Stepanek currently a set and a double break on Robredo. Am liking Tommy's start to this season... lots of early losses. Don't stop on my account, you useless clown. B)2

Tursunov just beat Doha finalist Wawrinka quite handsomely, 6-3, 6-3 - whether this was down to him playing a blinder or Stan's fatigue, I don't know, but hopefully it will be the latter... he's due to play Gasquet next.

The Gooch has just dispatched of Alberto Martin in straight sets. The sooner this joker gets booted out the better.

Seppi has just levelled up against Tsonga and they're into a deicder... allez Jo-Wilfried.

I thought that was a rather strange 2008 turnaround! Until I read:

Hopefully the utter mediocrity of Robredo will now be exposed on a more frequent basis thus meaning any Slam coverage will not include him and thus waste 2hrs of a day... :)

Didn't Tursanov beat Gasquet?

yep - not sure whether to be pleased or not. I quite like Tursy, but it'd be nice to see Gasquet doing well..... :unsure:

Gasquet has plummeted further in my esteem after announcing his game wasn't strong enough to be a worthy contender for the AO. I mean, seriously, Richard?! :blink:

So :ok: Tursanov!

:yep: :doh:

At the start of the season I saw Tursunov saying his goal for the year was to finish number 1. And then we have Gasquet, a player with way more talent than Tursunov, already making rubbish excuses for why he's gonna fail. No wonder Tursunov won and well done to him.

I'd like to see Stepanek take care of business here. He's got the Gooch in the SF and Santoro or Tursunov in the final.

Tursunov is another one of those horribly inconsistent Russians, who seems to blow hot and cold within the space of a set. But he amuses me, so I like him.....

and as for gasquet - I only really gained any respect for him at Wimby last year, but if he's gonna come out with rubbish like that, I shall start losing respect again fairly quickly :doh:

Radek vs. Tursanov final would be a good option for the final

I may start a poll to see how many games Richard will win before 'valiantly' crashing out of the AO :angry3:

well, they announced the seeds today and he's seeded 8th so that should help him :shrug:

Yes, without doubt - significant advantage

i'd still be tempted to take a bet that he'd be one of the "shocking defeats" in the first round though :P

I can hear the report 'talented' Gasquet 'crashing out' in 'shock defeat' to 'up and coming...'

Without doubt the words flair, skill and backhand will make the report :D

actually, speaking of reporting, the BBCs reports about Murray are making me want to :banghead: apparently he's "back on track" now after beating Ljubicic at Kooyong :blink: this would be after he "suffered a setback" with a "surprise defeat" to Safin..... :argh:

I actually can't read any BBC reports on Murray anymore - whereas they used to make me laugh, they now just annoy the hell out of me. :angry3:

well, the fact that it's headline news that "Murray awaits Melbourne draw" is slightly odd. I wonder if i should write to them and point out that ALL of the players are awaiting the draw....not just Murray :rolleyes:

Hahaha - and this the other day:

The reality comes a little bit further down when Greg expands on his reasoning, but nothing like a hard-hitting headline from the Beeb :rolleyes:

Safin is not seeded. Who is going to get him the first round? A fearful prospect! :unsure:

definitely - if he's decided he wants to really play for this Slam, he'll push every single player. When he's good, he's bl00dy brilliant - when he's bad he's just awful. I'd like to see some of that brilliance!

From Safin's interview after his defeat to Roddick in Kooyong (excuse the formatting)


my rank is 57 in the world, which is not

great but still top hundred, and of course I don't want to

be here in my position right now. I want to be a little

bit higher for that, to be pretty solid throughout the

year, and the big tournament is coming right now. Also

hoping for the good draw, I won't be seeded so I need to -

I would have pretty touch match in any round, so hoping for

the rest not to play with Roger Federer in the first round.

And then, with a ranking, if you make a couple of good

results I think you can be seeded, and then you need to be,

stay confident and stay focused and be consistent. Then in

the middle of the year you already know where you are going

to be in the end of the year, and my goal is to be top 20.

I just try there, and from there to top 10 is not so far.