Nalbandian's back is holding. It seems David could be a real contender to the title and that's good news.

Federer does not seem affected by his lack of preparation. According to Santoro, he is even playing better than ever.

Nadal loves to play during the day. Though we knew this, it's clear he is a fifferent animal when the ball bounces higher. Looks like he is also going to be a tough cookie for the later stages (I had my doubts...sorry)

Djoko is certainly back to his best, certainly the most solid young gun out there and in my view with Nalbandian, the main challengers to the title with Federer. Shame they are all in the top draw.

Gasquet is playing well and his knee is no longer hurting he says! :phew:

Murray had a bad draw and lots of pressure. Not much else can be drawn from his shorten appearence. To be continued...

What else?

Admin note: moved to the AO forum

:admin:

Thanks Dinky. Never quite know how this works.

My husband disagrees with me on this one, but I think Nalbandian looks like his physical fitness has dropped again...

Ludicrous claims on the Beeb that Federer is 'scared' of Nalbandian - when both David and Djoko have to go H2H first, in what could prove to be a real battle of a match...

We've also learned that Djokovic can turn that heat back on when he needs to!

Still, all the real matches begin in the 3rd round...very exciting :ok:

FEderer is still the best by a mile and could play better than last yesar if that were possible????

So much for the slump haha!

Also Safin is still a lunatic.

:ban:

As usual, a slam never gets interesting until the 2nd week, despite the great match that has just taken place between Safin and Baghdatis.

I just have a sneaky feeling that Federer is winning his matches too easily. I feel there could be a surprise somewhere.

We'll see

that Tsonga could very well be one to watch - he's got Lopez next, so could very well find himself in the 4th round :ok:

oh, that Ljubicic will *never ever* do anything in a slam - how many first round exits in slams is that now?

We actually knew that before this AO! ;)

Very sad though. His game is beautiful when in sync. The thing is nowadays there is no room for emotion display and Safin shoudl know this by now. He still thinks he can win like Mc or Connors used to. That 's wasting too precious energy nowadays.

I saw Tsonga thrash Lopez in the 3rd rd of Wimbledon last year. Not a match Lopez will look forward to.

Ever since I saw Tsonga play I thought he was top 15 material, maybe higher if he becomes consistent and gets belief. Apparently we hadn't heard much of him before because he had a lot of injuries in the past.

Good show in the early rounds by the Americans. Roddick, Blake, Querrey and Spadea all into the third round (and nearly Delic).

:bigwave:

Tsonga has Garcia-Lopez next, not Lopez - Gasquet thrashed him last round. Really don't see any way Tsonga can lose that.

Will be interested to see how Gasquet does, but I can't see him ever doing well in Australia, despite that impressive result. It's a shame because his route to the final isn't particularly hard.

When I saw Nalby 4-6, 5-5 to Luczak earlier I was pretty worried. He got through easily enough in the end, but he needs to save his energy, since he's got Ferrero, then Ferrer, then Djoko/Baggy/Hewitt, then Federer. :yikes: Sadly, if he does make it to the semi, he probably wouldn't have enough left in the tank.

I'll be most interested to see how Nadal and Davydenko do. Nadal, because it will tell us lots about the surface, and Davydenko because it's the first time he has a clear run to the semis without a Federer matchup. He really has no excuses not to make the final here, but I'd be surprised if he did because he's simply not anything approaching a champion.

Lol sorry dinky. I think Safin has lots of talent so he should be winning matches like these today where he looked almost normal until he broke his racquet at the end and went mad again.

In his top form he should go realllly deep into majors.

He's looked pretty solid thus far, I agree he's not a Slam winner - but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him in the quarters.

I'd wonder what a potential Roddick vs Nadal encounter could produce?

it's alright - you posted that about 5 minutes after he lost and i was a little bit annoyed - bloody lunatic!!! :P

btw, tenez, have you seen the headline on the AO website?

"France for world domination?"

:blink:

No I did not see that Dinky but certainly with 5 players left in the 3rd round, its quite a good result. Shame they seem all in the same draw.

Its real champions we need, and that is a much rarer breed unfortunately. :shrug:

The French are actually fielding fairly strong teams in a lot of doubles tournaments as well I've noticed. Any variation of Clement, Llodra, Gasquet, Tsonga, Grosjean and Benneteau (i think i've missed some......) can usually be found in various tournaments. I think in the AO there's at least 3 all French doubles teams on the men's side

EDIT: there's 5 all French men's doubles teams entrered the AO :blink:

The French Armada! When I go to France I am impressed to see how much news tennis is taking in the daily news. It's really our second sport.

It's normal after all we invented the game! (well kind of). ;)

heyrs not rare in the UK, they are already extinct :(

What have I learnt from the AO so far?

That Dokic appears to not have the game anymore to get anywhere near her previous level.

That Turso is great at failing to impress

That Murray possibly doesn't have a major weapon...

Have you been spying on him in the showers again Trisc? ;)

:lmaao:

..that Nalby isn’t quite in Paris/Madrid shape
..that Safin shouldn’t be taken serious anymore
..that there’s little hope for the future for the Dutch; Haase
..that Santoro will be missed next year
..big balls, slow court, low bounce, the best will win anyway

I think he does,but won't believe that he can produce the power.I do think he is lacking the technique on the forehand to really release his wrist and get through it like a federer or a gonzalez.

The backhand is an entirely different matter though as he can really hit that one flat,great posture and very safin when lets loose.

What have we learnt so far?Federer will be harder to stop on this surface in 5 than rebound ace.The pace might be much the same or slower depending on your take,but the bounce is low which plays into Federer's wheelhouse.

Also is anyone going to have enough gas to have something in the semi or the final to possibly beat Rog?

....that Roger is setting his sights on topping his own achievement of winning the tournament without dropping a set and focusing on dishing out at least one bagel with every beating.

:D
..that Roger is sending chilling warnings to Ferrer, the one who stole the Golden Bagle Award from him last year

I just looked at the ATP site and it reckons the French have 6 men in the thid round :blink:

Yep Dinky. Just heard that on Eurosport too!

And one French player is guaranteed a quarter final spot.

I am not convinced Murray has a major weapon, either. He does have a nice game - but what does he have to get himself out of tight spots? He needs the kind of game that will get him to Slam finals - like Fed, Nadal - and a shot to get him out of sticky situations...Fed has his serve and forehand, Nadal has those groundstrokes, and also his forehand...Djoko has his groundstrokes...and his serve is starting to become a weapon...

Murray doesn't appear to have 'that shot' yet - and he can't rely on having his decent game for an entire Slam. He needs that weapon.

Gasquet v Tsonga next.

I like both players a lot. I reluctantly will have to follow Gasquet in this match because I think he can go very far in this event - if he believes in himself, and stop playing too far behind the baseline!

I don't know why I say reluctantly. I like Gasquet a lot, I would be happy to see him win, but I would like to see Tsonga go far well.

They met eachother in the 4th rd of Wimbledon last year and Gasquet won in straight sets. Gasquet also beat Tsonga in the Paris Masters in November.

Hi laurie :)

Well I am really exited about this match: I will not miss a single sec of it..I like as well both and it is clear that Richard has all the weapons-talent-skills to win a GS..Not sure if it will be this one though...Wait and see..

BTW: It is true that Richard won in Paris but it was quite close..Besides a couple of weeks before Tsonga was able to beat him in Lyon in a more convincing way (4 and 4)..I am expecting a huge fight: Tsonga has never played so well IMO

A part from that: I have learned that Bagdy is an asset an a great young gun: let's hope as well it will be able to win against Hewitt. :pray: :pray:

In Paris it was a 7-5 7-6(3) victory for Richard..In Lyon (two or one weeks before :unsure: ) as I said was a Tsonga victory 4 and 4..

Details here:

http://www.atptennis.com/3/en/players/head...&player2=tsonga

Agree with you Sara,but do you remember last year in the 4th round against Nadal.
For me that was Murray's finest performance under Gilbert.He mixed his pace,but every so often he let rip on both wings,especially the backhand.To leave a player of Nadal's defensive ability flat footed is no easy task.
Murray himself said afterwards in the presser that he didn't know he could hit that hard and keep the ball in.Something that Gilbert surely was encouraging him to do and probably Petchey before that.

Of course these 2 are now history and he has gone back to Hewitt mode and we know from his career that counter-attacking will lead to a shorter degree of sucess.
Were in the era of an aggressive baseline or all-court game now.I think it's a case of Murray doesn't want to hit the ball hard,not a case of he can't do it.

I saw the Tsonga v Gasquet match in Lyon and clearly Gasquet was injured. Gasquet, like Federer, enjoy playing those guys who hit the ball hard and go for winners like him.

I would be very surprised if Gasquet were to lose this one.

Brakkus - I think it would be a mistake to judge Murray's shot making ability on the Nadal's match. Especially last year at the AO when Nadal was 3 meters behind the baseline and all his shots ended in the T-line. Making nice shots in those conditions are not the same as making them versus Djoko, Gonzo or Berdych who actually draw blood first.

Murray has an eye for the ball but he hardly ever goes for winners or unbalancing the opponent first. He waits for the opportunity but he does rarely create it first! that is in my view his main problem.

Ok so what do you think the problem is?

Can he hit it hard or is covering up a weakness of not being able to hit at pace because he can't hold his technique together?

Myself I tend to believe he has conditioned himself not to miss and therefore lacks the confidence possibly to lose his control by holding back.

This is my take too. But I think it is down to the nature of the player as well as his "conditioning" or let's say those two are linked.

...that A. Murray needs to go back to the practice courts
...that A. Mauresmo and L. Davenport need to seriously think about where they are at this point in their lives. *that's not an insult by the way*

So much for that celebration . . .

My patriotic side still has Blake and Querrey to cheer for tomorrow, though.

Edit: I forgot . . . Spadea is still in it, too. I don't see all three of those making it to fourth round, though.