Sinner will walk over Rublev. He was in real danger of losing 2 times already.

What I'm really looking forward to is the Sinner - Đoković match.
I hope the odds on Sinner will be good, I plan to bet big on anything over @2 odds, and I expect it to be closer to 3.

And the two have set a new record. So far, the match between Lesia Tsurenko and Ana Bogdan has been the longest tiebreak. That was 20:18 at Wimbledon in 2023  and now Rybakina and Blinkova have made it to 20:22. Sensational performance from Blinkova. The tiebreak lasted over 30 minutes.

There were generally a lot of match tie-breaks at the Australian Open. And now also a few surprises.
It seems that the young and wild ones are coming.

I just found this place, it says it's insured up to $50,000. It's just astonishing that after all this time this is the first place that does that. Called bankofblockchain.us Insured against hacks, why isn't this a standard for pete's sake. I just feel everyone needs to know this.

Well, even though it's the first GS of the year - pretty much the usual suspects.
In the men's draw it's between Alcaraz, Đoković, Sinner and Medvedev and in women's side Swiatek, Rybakina, Sabalenka and eventually Gauff.

I hope Sinner takes it, I've enjoyed his end of season performances.

A couple of revealing news from “great Russia”
1. Chicken disappeared from stores in Russia: officials came up with a ridiculous excuse. In Russia, against the backdrop of sanctions, the economic system continues to collapse, one of the manifestations of which has recently become a periodic shortage of chicken in stores. To justify themselves, Russian retailers and officials are inventing ridiculous reasons why poultry meat has disappeared from the shelves.

Thus, residents of a number of regions of Russia – in particular, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Chelyabinsk and Ulyanovsk – faced a shortage of the most affordable meat. Russia's largest retail chain X5, which owns the Pyaterochka, Perekrestok and Chizhik store chains, blamed bad weather.
2. Prices for eggs in Russia increased by 61% over the year and continue to rise. Inflation for 2023 met official forecasts, but many goods have risen in price by tens of percent, Rosstat reported. Beyond competition are eggs, prices for which increased by 61.4% and continued to rise in the new year.

Eggs rose in price by 18.2% in December, and by 61.35% in just a year. They became a symbol of inflation; President Vladimir Putin had to apologize for the rise in prices. In his characteristic manner, he asked how Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev was doing with his eggs, and he promised to improve: “I felt that I needed to work better <...> I hope that in the near future, at the beginning of the year, the price should go down.”
Since January, the government has zeroed out import duties on eggs, and supplies have begun from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Russia is a country that has defeated common sense

Ukrainians are weary, short of ammunition and outnumbered, and their prospects look bleak. “We can stop them for now, but who knows,” one soldier said. “Tomorrow or the next day, maybe we can’t stop them.”

Ukraine’s military prospects are looking bleak. Western military aid is no longer assured at the same levels as years past. Ukraine’s summer counteroffensive in the south, where Jaeger was wounded days after it began, is over, having failed to meet any of its objectives.

And now, Russian troops are on the attack, especially in the country’s east. The town of Marinka has all but fallen. Avdiivka is being slowly encircled. A push on Chasiv Yar, near Bakhmut, is expected. Farther north, outside Kupiansk, the fighting has barely slowed since the fall.

For now, Ukraine is in a perilous position. The problems afflicting its military have been exacerbated since the summer. Ukrainian soldiers are exhausted by long stretches of combat and shorter rest periods. The ranks, thinned by mounting casualties, are only being partly replenished, often with older and poorly trained recruits.

One Ukrainian soldier, part of a brigade tasked with holding the line southwest of Avdiivka, pointed to a video he took during training recently. The instructors, trying to stifle their laughs, were forced to hold up the man, who was in his mid-50s, just so he could fire his rifle. The man was crippled from alcoholism, said the soldier, insisting on anonymity to candidly describe a private training episode.

“Three out of ten soldiers who show up are no better than drunks who fell asleep and woke up in uniform,” he said, referring to the new recruits who arrive at his brigade.

Kyiv’s recruiting strategy has been plagued by overly aggressive tactics and more widespread attempts to dodge the draft. Efforts to rectify the problem have spawned a political argument between the military and civilian leadership.

Military officials reinforce the need for wider mobilization to win the war, but the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine is apprehensive about introducing unpopular changes that could end with a drive to mobilize 500,000 new soldiers. That number, analysts say, takes into account Ukraine’s staggering losses and what is likely needed to push back the Russians.

While Ukrainian casualties remain a closely guarded secret, U.S. officials over the summer estimated deaths and injuries to be well over 150,000.

“We’re tired,” a Ukrainian platoon commander said, speaking anonymously given the sensitivity of his comments. “We could always use more people.”

The shortage of troops is only one part of the problem. The other and currently more pressing issue is Ukraine’s dwindling ammunition reserves as continued Western supplies remain anything but certain. Ukrainian commanders now have to ration their ammunition, not knowing whether every new shipment might be their last.

Only when a truck carrying two artillery shells arrived could the crew get to work for the first time in days. They quickly loaded the shells and fired toward Russian soldiers attacking Ukrainian positions three miles away.

“Today we had two shells, but some days we don’t have any in these positions,” said the crew’s commander, who goes by the call sign Monk. “The last time we fired was four days ago, and that was only five shells.”

The shortage of ammunition — and the shifting battlefield momentum — means the gunners are no longer supporting Ukrainian attacks. Instead, they only fire when Russian troops are storming Ukrainian trenches.

“We can stop them for now, but who knows,” Monk said. “Tomorrow or the next day, maybe we can’t stop them. It’s a really big problem for us.”

Near Kupiansk, a deputy battalion commander from the 68th Brigade, who goes by the call sign Italian, echoed Monk’s concerns.

“I have two tanks, but only five shells,” said Italian, as he walked through a denuded tree line splintered by shelling about 500 yards from Russian positions in the Luhansk region. “It’s a bad situation now, especially in Avdiivka and Kupiansk.”

This ammunition imbalance has been felt across much of the more than 600-mile front line, Ukrainian soldiers said. The Russian units are in a position similar to the summer of 2022, where they can simply wear down a Ukrainian position until Kyiv’s forces run out of ordnance. But unlike that summer, there is no longer a frantic scramble in Western capitals to arm and re-equip Ukraine’s troops.

Outside Avdiivka, where Russian forces are concentrating much of their forces in the east, the rumble of artillery on one recent afternoon was almost nonstop. It was a soundtrack not heard since the war’s earlier months, when Russian paramilitary forces assaulted Bakhmut, eventually capturing it.

Washington’s suggestion for Ukraine to go on the defensive in 2024 will mean little if Kyiv does not have the ammunition or people to defend what territory it currently holds, analysts have said.

“Our guys are getting pounded heavily,” said Bardak, a Ukrainian soldier working alongside Jaeger next to the derelict tank. “It’s hot all over
now.”

Dino Prižmić, a Croatian 18-year old guy that reached the main draw through the qualifiers, played a terrific match against Đoković.
He lost 3-1, but other than in the 1st set actually held his own. He even had a break advantage in the middle of the 3rd set at 1-1 in sets.

He should be the next Croatian big tennis star, so keep an eye out. Today's performance should give him a lot of confidence.

Ah I had a small bet on Bublik but it wasnt to be. It was a close one but in the end he
couldnt do it. I parts of the match and thought Bublik had some fantastic shots, he is
very talented but tries to enjoy himself a bit more than others! Its enjoyable to watch.

Tomorrows final could go either way, Draper has been solid but Lehecka could be tricky
to beat, Draper is favourite though 1.58.

---

On the Womens side its Ostapenko v Kasatkina, its the 6th seed Ostapenko who is
favourite @ 1.58.

Bublik played quite well when he beat Musetti and it was a very close match, and against Draper it will be quite close in my opinion and as you said Bublik has a chance to win and even become champion in this tournament.

WTA Adelaide, Daria Kasatkina was lucky enough to be able to reach the final without having to play the last two matches. L. Siegemund, her opponent in the quarterfinals withdrew, as well as Jessica Pegula, her opponent in the semifinals withdrew, she is waiting for the ongoing Ostapenko vs Alexandrova match to compete in tomorrow's final.

It uses terrorism against its own people (bombings of apartment buildings in Russia, organized by the FSB),

against its neighbors (Ichkeria, Moldova, Georgia, Ukraine,...), against countries that say they are terrorists, against all those who prevent them from terrorism.

They are not limited by moral and ethical norms, obligations. Their word is an empty sound! A treaty signed by them is worthless paper.

Regarding NATO and other things - this is nonsense, sorry If backward savages have a million cobblestones, it doesn't mean that the developed west will lose to them because they don't have 2 million cobblestones ) Just compare the power of the developed world's economy and the pariah countries that are trying to destabilize the world ? ! Yes, I realize that it is cheaper and easier to shit on the world than to create something, to build a legal state, to adhere to laws.  But this does not mean that the developed world will give up and allow terrorists and scum of the world to destroy civilization!

Cold fusion technology - also has a key role in the future world, where fossil resources that provide energy are running out and their extraction is becoming more and more expensive. Moreover, this resource is becoming an element for manipulation, blackmail, and economic terrorism. And the launch of thermonuclear industrial power generation will also bankrupt countries that try to terrorize the world at the cost of energy resources.  

It was a great performance from Zverev and there are high hopes that if he keeps playing at this level, we will see him go further at the Australian Open, there is at least a week for him to recover as he didn't play in Adelaide or Auckland, and the MVP goes to Swiatek who was quite disappointed with Poland's loss in the final.

Rafael Nadal finally decided to pull out of the 2024 Australian Open after having another muscle problem, I think it's time for him to retire and do it at the tournament that will be held in Spain in April between the Barcelona Open or the Mutua Madrid Open and that would be a pretty perfect time because it looks like he is already difficult to compete when the match has to run more than two hours.
https://ausopen.com/articles/news/rafael-nadal-withdraws-australian-open-2024

By "we", he means Wall Street-level corporate psychopaths who don't give a shit about anything but extracting as much wealth as possible from the American public. Stop simping for him. Its embarrassing.

Is this the same person who was telling everyone about appreciating the power of Bitcoin because he experienced having $1,000,000 of his own money locked in Argentina with no way to send it out of the country? Didn't he need censorship-resistance to send that money out?

Plus it's understandable that the largest Bitcoin HODLers should not say anything that might get them and their investment in some inconveniences, but actually saying the censorship-resistance is a "bad idea"?

Remove the "Chad", just "Saylor", he is not a friend to the Bitcoin community. He doesn't support its ethos.