Tennis: Australian Open 2024

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Well, the optics of Sasha Zverev in the AO final is averted. Sinner v Meddy will be a very fun final, need to give Meddy liquid IQs until then

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Lmao, Medvedev has the best on court interviews

 

[Tuggy]

Rough one for Zverev to cough up. That will be hard to get over.

Will be an interesting final.

 

[Primary Assist]

Gutsy, gutsy win for Med today. Simply incredible to storm back after falling down two sets. Alcaraz could learn a thing or two from today's performance.

I like Joker, but it'll be a great spectacle to see Med vs Sinner in the finals

 

[kihei]

Stat of the match for Sinner/Djokovic: On the first four shots on Sinners serve, Jannik dominated by winning points to the tune of 56-4. That's beyond mind boggling, especially when we are talking about the best service returner in history. One of those four points was a double fault, too.

 

[CupofOil]

And THIS is why Zverev will likely never be a slam winner. He tried his best to choke away the Alcaraz match and did full choke in this one. Credit to Medvedev of course but this match was Vintage Sasha.

 

[Elvis P]

Has Novak won his last major?

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

With Zverev's collapse, Djokovic/Tsonga in 2008 remains the most recent Aussie final without a previous slam winner.

That is absolutely crazy.

Has Novak won his last major?

Absolutely not.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Sinner is going to be the trendy pick for the final, but beating Djokovic takes a lot out of you emotionally. Can he rebound from that to beat a guy that we have a good idea is going to be stubborn and make him earn it? Medvedev might even simply outplay Sinner.

He could be due for a second slam. He had a slump for like a year, but if you look at his results of late, he was a finalist at US Open beating Alcaraz, and had his best ever Wimbledon getting to the semis. Now back in his third AO final.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

“This is one of the worst Grand Slam matches I’ve ever played — at least that I remember.” - ND

It was not a pretty display of tennis. Full credit to Sinner for being rock solid, not an easy thing to do.

Final should be a good one, let's see how much energy Daniil has left in him. Hopefully a competitive match, don't care who wins.

 

[MsMeow]

I'm so happy! I went to bed after the 3rd set, fully expecting Sinner to lose but I was wrong. He must be thrilled that Medvedev went 5. I'm so happy he won, too.

Add me to the list of people enjoying Kyrgios' commentary. I'm so tired of the McEnroes, Gilbert etc. and their constant comparisons of tennis to other sports and other useless banter.

 

[kihei]

Has Novak won his last major?

One bad match is not sufficient evidence to jump to any conclusions. He will rebound. This debacle actually might provide needed motivation at this point in his career.

 

[hockey20000]

medvedev is an interesting cat lol. funny in interviews and like a chess master on the court. not a fan of sinner not sure why hes just a weird looking dude maybe its cause hes a ginger lol.

 

[kihei]

Sinner is going to be the trendy pick for the final, but beating Djokovic takes a lot out of you emotionally. Can he rebound from that to beat a guy that we have a good idea is going to be stubborn and make him earn it? Medvedev might even simply outplay Sinner.

He could be due for a second slam. He had a slump for like a year, but if you look at his results of late, he was a finalist at US Open beating Alcaraz, and had his best ever Wimbledon getting to the semis. Now back in his third AO final.

Trendy? At this point in the tournament? Sinner has dropped a single set; he's played six fewer hours of tennis than his older opponent; after losing to Medvedev six times in a row, he has defeated him in their last three meetings; he is winning second serve points to the tune of 60%; his serve has never looked better; and his opponent has just played two gruelling five setters in a row. I think all that makes him the "logical" pick, not the "trendy" pick.

That isn't to say that Medvedev couldn't win, just that Jannik has well earned his role as favourite. Sinner seems to be managing his emotions with a new maturity, but if any one can test that newfound equanimity to the fullest, it is definitely Medvedev. I think in his third set turnaround against Zverev, Daniil looked like the old utterly relentless Medvedev who I haven't seen in a quite some time. If that Medvedev shows up and is fit, he is fully capable of upsetting Jannik's apple cart. I'm picking Sinner to win, but a lot of me wants the upset,

 

[Fish on The Sand]

That is absolutely crazy.

It seems crazy, sure, but the run is even longer at the French and Wimbledon.

Nadal's first win in 2005 is the most recent time the French final was between two people without a slam, and for Wimbledon it was Federer's first win in 2003.

It all really just goes to show the dominance of the big 3 over the last 21 years. It's so difficult to find any final that doesn't have at least one of them in it.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Trendy? At this point in the tournament? Sinner has dropped a single set; he's played six fewer hours of tennis than his older opponent; after losing to Medvedev six times in a row, he has defeated him in their last three meetings; he is winning second serve points to the tune of 60%; his serve has never looked better; and his opponent has just played two gruelling five setters in a row. I think all that makes him the "logical" pick, not the "trendy" pick.

That isn't to say that Medvedev couldn't win, just that Jannik has well earned his role as favourite. Sinner seems to be managing his emotions with a new maturity, but if any one can test that newfound equanimity to the fullest, it is definitely Medvedev. I think in his third set turnaround against Zverev, Daniil looked like the old utterly relentless Medvedev who I haven't seen in a quite some time. If that Medvedev shows up and is fit, he is fully capable of upsetting Jannik's apple cart. I'm picking Sinner to win, but a lot of me wants the upset,

At the same time, Medvedev is ranked higher, has gotten over the big hurdle already of winning his first slam, and is generally a lot more experienced of a player. I agree that Sinner is probably in better form. Yet, Medvedev is also in very good form. Taking out Hurkacz and then Zverev proved that.

You could really make an argument for either. I don’t think there’s a clear favorite. Everyone was talking about Sinner beating Djokovic of the two semis, and that’s understandable why it’s more than just the quality of the opponent on the other side of the net that he beat. He beat a dominant figure at arguably his best tournament. I think though that this match has no clear favorite, even if some will try to make Sinner into a huge favorite for reasons that I’m not sure are necessarily a positive.

 

[kihei]

Sabalenka in straight sets over Zheng later tonight. Though Sabalenka has done a great deal to overcome her nerve management issues, there are still occasions when her self control can seem a little iffy. Zheng, in her first GS final, will have nerve management challenges of her own. She likely requires an Aryna meltdown of some kind to win. But Qinwen has played very well all tournament and she won't be a pushover.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

At the same time, Medvedev is ranked higher, has gotten over the big hurdle already of winning his first slam, and is generally a lot more experienced of a player. I agree that Sinner is probably in better form. Yet, Medvedev is also in very good form. Taking out Hurkacz and then Zverev proved that.

You could really make an argument for either. I don’t think there’s a clear favorite. Everyone was talking about Sinner beating Djokovic of the two semis, and that’s understandable why it’s more than just the quality of the opponent on the other side of the net that he beat. He beat a dominant figure at arguably his best tournament. I think though that this match has no clear favorite, even if some will try to make Sinner into a huge favorite for reasons that I’m not sure are necessarily a positive.

I don't mean to come off as an asshat saying this but in tennis, form is usually the biggest decider in who people pick in betting/in general. Sinner has been absolutely incredible dating back to the end of last year, he's beaten top guys left and right. I like Medvedev as a player but Sinner is a lot more cerebral than his last two opponents were. The one thing you can argue for Sinner is the jitters for him playing his first final but he's played in massive matches before.

Sabalenka in straight sets over Zheng later tonight. Though Sabalenka has done a great deal to overcome her nerve management issues, there are still occasions when her self control can seem a little iffy. Zheng, in her first GS final, will have nerve management challenges of her own. She likely requires an Aryna meltdown of some kind to win. But Qinwen has played very well all tournament and she won't be a pushover.

It depends how that much starts for sure, Zheng keeps it close and Saba turns into the women version of Rublev then she has a chance. Saba has basically been the woman version of Sinner at this tournament.

 

[Evilo]

Playing your first grand slam final is always different.
Always.
Nerves will be huge and Medvedev has a huge advantage.
Most first time finalists lose when they face an experienced finalist and it's a bigger factor than form.
To me Medvedev is favourite.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Would love to see Zheng win this but Saba seems too in form

 

[VMBM]

I can only wish it's not going to be a cake-walk. I find Sabalenka very one-dimensional, but of course her brand of power tennis is very effective when it works.

 

[kihei]

A nervous Zheng (she couldn't hit a decent practice lob during the warm-up) was broken in her first service game, never recovered, but she settled down as the set progressed, displaying a strong serve and skill off the ground. Sabalenka was far the superior player, overpowering at times, though the second set might get more interesting, 6-3.

2nd set: The second set didn't get more interesting. Again, Zheng is broken in her first service game and can't recover as Sabalenka is even more dominant than in the first set, targeting her serve wide on both deuce and ad courts and pounding groundstrokes relentlessly to Zheng's backhand corner. Sabalenka had a little, ultimately inconsequential wobble serving it out, but otherwise a superb performance by Aryna.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Unfortunately, Zheng's not ready to contend. She had a terrific run with a bracket that didn't have Iga/Rybakina (their faults obviously but it did help her) because of their early upsets. This run will do her good but needs to fine tune some things to be a grand slam contender

 

[VMBM]

Well, at least it was not quite the same as the 1988 French Open final between Steffi Graf and Natalya Zvereva (the most embarrassing display of superiority I've ever seen anywhere)!

Still, what a boring, unmemorable final. Not once did it look like Zheng was going to find some true momentum in the match. And those double-faults...

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Yeah, the real final was Gauff v Sabalenka, it was similar to those Hawks/Kings WCF's we had in hockey in 2010's. It happens, the semis sometimes in women's tennis are usually better than the finals due to the draws/upsets happening. Really stoked for Sinner v Meddy tomorrow, I think we get a classic.