Australian Open 2021 Discussion thread

[Jating]

What a game between Djokovic and Fritz.
The audience were beeing told to leave the stadium due to the new impending Melbourne lockdown.
7-6, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2 in 3 hours and 25 minutes for Djokovic.

Yes, it was a thriller, however, Djokovic admitted that he injured himself and he is lucky to have won that marathon match. But as he is now injured, he will be facing big serving Raonic on the next round, and with his body not 100%, we don't know if he can win or not. Haven't check the odds though, but if the odds are attractive for Raonic, maybe I will put some on him.

@vennali - probably Diego Schwartzman really was not really up against Karatsev and couldn't get things go his way. Auger Aliassime also won against compatriot Shapovalov and will be facing Karatsev next.

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[Daniel91]

Due to Covid the tennis players did not have normal training conditions and it is obvious that many favorites are not in optimal shape.
Dominic Thiem struggled against Nick Kyrgios to reverse the nearly lost match, Djokovic also struggled and due to injury it is possible that he will not be able to continue the competition (see https://www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/56042096) and Medvedev, another favorite, struggled today against Krajinovic to win in 5 sets.
Based on the matches so far, I think it can be concluded that there are no clear favorites and that everyone has a chance to win this GS.
Even without this injury, Djokovic seems too nervous and too focused on things that have nothing to do with tennis.
Looking at today's results, I am a little surprised that Pliskova lost to Muchova in the women's competition. 

[Daniel91]

Very interesting results today in Australia.
For me personally the biggest surprise is Thiem’s easy defeat against Dimitrov.
Before the tournament, I thought Thiem could even go all the way and win the tournament.
Osaka and Serena Williams struggled but still won and went on to the tournament and remain the main favorites in the women's competition.

[aoluain]

Thiem was definitely a favourite to go all the way. He certainly had a tough match against Kyrgios

My favourite Ladies player is Osaka, She struggled against Muguruza. It was always going to be a
close match, very close in the end. There seemed to be a lot of unforced errors by both.

[fullhdpixel]

Very interesting results today in Australia.
For me personally the biggest surprise is Thiem’s easy defeat against Dimitrov.
Before the tournament, I thought Thiem could even go all the way and win the tournament.
Osaka and Serena Williams struggled but still won and went on to the tournament and remain the main favorites in the women's competition.

Indeed! He won the US open and if someone asked me who is going to win apart from Dkjoovic I would have said Medvedev or Domininc Thiem but now that is out of the tournament I am not so sure whom to pick as the winner. In the ladies game I really like the chances of Halep because lets be honest Iga was playing so good but Halep's defending against Iga was just something I haven't seen recently in the women's game at all.

Maybe a big server can dismantle Halep but with Pliskova out of the game I don't see any real threat for Halep unless she has a bad day and just tanks couple of service games and doesn't press forward for the returns.

[doomloop]

Thiem was definitely a favourite to go all the way. He certainly had a tough match against Kyrgios

My favourite Ladies player is Osaka, She struggled against Muguruza. It was always going to be a
close match, very close in the end. There seemed to be a lot of unforced errors by both.

You know Thiem looked exhausted in the match against Dimitrov because he played 5 tiring sets in front of the ever so disrespecting crowd who were shouting and booing for a guy as good as Thiem.

He looked so tired that imagine he lost a set 6-0 to Dimitrov and we know Dimitrov is an excellent server but he has never been a good returner and Them has a solid serve but he lost 6-0 which shows how tiring and mentally fatigued he was today. Djokovic looked in trouble against Raonic after 2nd set but managed to see off the big guy quite easily in the end.

[Cnut237]

Djokovic admitted that he injured himself

Djokovic also struggled and due to injury

I don't think he's injured. It seems like every tournament there's a time when he suffers an 'injury' that's so bad he's on the verge of quitting the whole tournament, but then he generally recovers... often within the same match, and often within a few minutes, with absolutely no ill effects at all. The play acting is ridiculous because it happens so often. He has no need to do this. His skill and talent mean that he is one of the best in the world, there is absolutely no need for him to fake injuries to try to create some sort of psychological advantage over his opponents. I really hope he gets knocked out soon, because it's basically play-acting and it casts tennis in a bad light. And the thing is, one day he will actually be injured, and no-one will believe him. It's classic boy-who-cried-wolf.

His career is littered with evidence of his fake injury claims. We don't have to look any further than this same tournament last year and his miraculous 'injury' recoveries in the semi-final and final. Absurd.

[Yaunfitda]

^^ I agree here. I don't know but I have suspected that Djokovic could have been faking his injury not just in this year's AO but throughout his career them. Perhaps he wanted to give his opponent a feeling that they can bet him and that he was at a handicap or something.

But little did they know that Djokovic is playing mind games with them and this has been working on his side all the time. Not good to fake injuries just to have an advantage.

[Jating]

Djokovic admitted that he injured himself

[..snip..]

His career is littered with evidence of his fake injury claims. We don't have to look any further than this same tournament last year and his miraculous 'injury' recoveries in the semi-final and final. Absurd.

I'm not aware that Djokovic is claiming fake injuries in his career. However, we all know that in the last years or so, he has a lot of these controversial statement in his personal life so I wouldn't be surprised if this is true.

And not that he won against Raonic and people saying that he is somewhat very though mentally, it's beginning to unravel the extend of his claims about his past injury. And yes, this is really absurd not telling the truth and lying to his fans.

[Koal-84]

Very bad day from Dominik Thiem and one of his worst matches at the last year i think. But he have the most time problems with Dimitrov...



Not much worked and in the third sentence there was apparently no will or condition problem?

[PixxelDesign]

I am thinking about to bet on the Djokovic vs Zverev match, my bet would be over 39.5 games, what do you guys think about it?

[bct_ail]

I am curious about the next games. I think there will be surprises, as no spectators are allowed at the moment.

[slaman29]

I don't think he's injured. It seems like every tournament there's a time when he suffers an 'injury' that's so bad he's on the verge of quitting the whole tournament, but then he generally recovers... often within the same match, and often within a few minutes, with absolutely no ill effects at all. The play acting is ridiculous because it happens so often. He has no need to do this. His skill and talent mean that he is one of the best in the world, there is absolutely no need for him to fake injuries to try to create some sort of psychological advantage over his opponents. I really hope he gets knocked out soon, because it's basically play-acting and it casts tennis in a bad light. And the thing is, one day he will actually be injured, and no-one will believe him. It's classic boy-who-cried-wolf.

Yeah, sorry but nobody bought that this time too. Imagine struggling for two matches and then winning your last one on the important set. He even went 2:0 before claiming the injury. I like his play but hate his acting. Sometimes I wonder if he purposely does it for friends betting on 3:2 outcome since those odds are crazy.

[vennali]

Surprised to see how well Dimitrov has been doing this tourney. He always had the potential to reach the finals of a slam but the big 4 always seemed to be too strong for him. Low key rooting for him. Also, cant wait for Djokovic vs Zverev. In some tourneys this would be worthy of a finals.

[Strongkored]

For this year's AO I only saw the results of the match without watching the match on TV, and you are right Dimitrov is good enough so far, but unfortunately he is left behind.
Not only Djokovic vs Zverev who can be said to qualify as the final match, but also 2 quarterfinals have the same value and will be an interesting match and also difficult to predict who will advance to the Semifinals.

[vennali]

For this year's AO I only saw the results of the match without watching the match on TV, and you are right Dimitrov is good enough so far, but unfortunately he is left behind.
Not only Djokovic vs Zverev who can be said to qualify as the final match, but also 2 quarterfinals have the same value and will be an interesting match and also difficult to predict who will advance to the Semifinals.

As soon as I said that, man, Dimitrov falling short once again. I haven't watched any of Karatsev's matches but he seems to be on a fairlytale run. World no 116 and has taken down some quality opponents. Felix Auger- Aliassime, Schwartzman and now Dimitrov. All of them are good enough to reach semies of the tourney. I might have to tune in for his next match.

[Koal-84]

The next surprise at the Australian open, the qualifier Aslan Karazew also defeated Dimitrov. The Russian plays the tournament of his life. Nadal made clear progress in 3 sentences.



The next match today will be exciting Zverev against Djokovic even if I assume Djokovic will win in a maximum of 4 sets.

[rdbase]

The next surprise at the Australian open, the qualifier Aslan Karazew also defeated Dimitrov. The Russian plays the tournament of his life. Nadal made clear progress in 3 sentences.



The next match today will be exciting Zverev against Djokovic even if I assume Djokovic will win in a maximum of 4 sets.

Also am excited to see Zverev against Djokovic as well.
I have them taking it all the way to 4 sets with Novak edging out the german slightly.
Only due to having a grueling match a couple of days ago with the other german Taylor Fritz.

[Daniel91]

Karatsev is definitely the biggest surprise of this tournament.
He also beat Dimitrov and is now in the semifinals. How long will this tennis fairy tale last?
Osaka won convincingly and remains one of the main favorites in the women’s competition.
I expected Halep to offer stronger resistance to Serena Williams and I even thought she would beat Serena.
Obviously Serena has prepared very well for this tournament and is chasing a record number of GS titles.

[aoluain]

Happy for my Favourite Ladies player Osaka, can she get past Williams who is also
going well after despatching Halep easy enough.

Karatsev is definitely the surprise of the tournament, really happy for him but hard to
see him progressing past Djokovic....