Australian Open 2012 - Day 3

It all happens here. Dimitrov won teh first set v Almagro.

Nadal has had a good fight v old Haas and Fish was grilled by Falla.

Delpo in 3 v Kavkic.


Dolgo and Karlo in the lead v their opponents.

Nalbandian still has it. Unlucky to be drawn v Isner so early.

Nalby has still the best BH in teh world! No doubt!

Tomic v Querrey started 2 all.

I wonder if our friend Josiah is having a fit over Dolgopolov going to another 5 setter!!

Nalbandian is certainly turning back the clock.

legendkillar wrote:I wonder if our friend Josiah is having a fit over Dolgopolov going to another 5 setter!!

Nalbandian is certainly turning back the clock.

Frustrating to see how erratic Dolgo is. Not surprising considering his style.

As much as I admire Nalbandian's play, I just think if he meets Rafa along the way, he would not have anything left in the tank.

Almagro squares his match with Dimitrov.

Tenez wrote:

legendkillar wrote:I wonder if our friend Josiah is having a fit over Dolgopolov going to another 5 setter!!

Nalbandian is certainly turning back the clock.

Frustrating to see how erratic Dolgo is. Not surprising considering his style.

No-one could ever call him passive

Him and Monfils just don't play the percentages at all.

Lots of nerves from Nalby...for once!

I have sympathy with Nalbandian. Injuries have hampered him beyond belief.

Nalby can hold his nerves. I can only assume he is playing the Isner serve well and even the kick serve too.

Love watching nalbandian play, will miss him when he is gone. Such a shame injuries plagued him throughout his career. Such superb groundstrokes

Yes one of purest stricker of the ball.

Big John back on the mega-match trail.

Dimi Mugro in 3rd set tiebreak.. could go the distance...

Amazing miss by Nalby. Clearly playing an injured Isner is affecting him.

Nalby must win, he finally has a decent body weight. It would be sour if he had to go after a match like this

Dimitrov takes the third...

As much as I like Nalby, that's what annoys mewith him. Very often trying to play on his opponents' nerves.

Gamesmanship!

Having said that...Isner is probably not as badly injured as he may want to appear.

isner's through .... shame

AMAZING!!! How did he bloody throw that match????

Clearly we saw again the clear difference between a Nalby and a Federer...Talentwise pretty close but the head is miles apart!

And the head is what brings 16 slams to oen and 0 to the other.


And Dolgo seems to be another of those mentally fragile players.

*cough*

Another young gun doing some good things in this AO.

Go Dimitrov!!

Dolgo and Kamke deadlocked in their own little epic.

Still, for me Federer the biggest choker out of the rest!

Disgraceful mental strength shown by the Swiss this tournament so far!

Can't believe nalby lost. He seemed to have so many opportunities and got we into most isner service games. Shame heis out but a match like that will have taken so much out of both players, isner could struggle with energy levels later down the line. Fair play to him though. He is some man for his 5 setters

I am very impressed by the level of tennis played in those early rounds by the lower ranked players.

And how on earth can someone as big as Isner run for five sets v Nalbandian, who is famous for imposing a fast tempo with lots of running.
They all have amazing training regimes. Anybody trained on turkey breast and orange juice only would be dead in those 5 sets.

Tenez wrote:AMAZING!!! How did he bloody throw that match????

He gave away the second set... Was a break up are really handed the set back to Isner with silly mistakes. Then worked hard to try and take it in the 4th and 5th, but it's dangerous to get into a long match with a guy like Isner. He hit 43 aces against 7 for Nalbandian...

For a moment I thought I'd made a good bet picking Nalbandian to go far this AO, but back to reality now!

slashermcguirk wrote:Can't believe nalby lost. He seemed to have so many opportunities and got we into most isner service games. Shame heis out but a match like that will have taken so much out of both players, isner could struggle with energy levels later down the line. Fair play to him though. He is some man for his 5 setters

That's Nadal's luck! We see that in most of his draws.

Dolgo through...but I'd like to have Lydian's view on Dolgo's blood conditions: Thalassemie (or smthng like that). Same condition as Sampras which according to Lydian prevented Sampras to win on clay cause he did not have the energy.

Well looking at Dolgo, it doesn't seem to bother him much. 2 5 setters and an injured leg...yet he gets through.

slashermcguirk wrote:Can't believe nalby lost. He seemed to have so many opportunities and got we into most isner service games. Shame heis out but a match like that will have taken so much out of both players, isner could struggle with energy levels later down the line. Fair play to him though. He is some man for his 5 setters

Great player to watch.

I believe he would have anyway been ripped off by the Nadull after such a tiring match. Isner is more of a match imo.

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:
I believe he would have anyway been ripped off by the Nadull after such a tiring match. Isner is more of a match imo.

I would have thought differently but you might be right.

Dolgo win!

Tenez wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:
I believe he would have anyway been ripped off by the Nadull after such a tiring match. Isner is more of a match imo.

I would have thought differently but you might be right.

Yeah I mean, in a one-off match he can beat anyone, though it's difficoult to see Nalby recovering from a five setter to face another lenghty match against Nadal.

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:

Tenez wrote:

Jeremy_Kyle wrote:
I believe he would have anyway been ripped off by the Nadull after such a tiring match. Isner is more of a match imo.

I would have thought differently but you might be right.

Yeah I mean, in a one-off match he can beat anyone, though it's difficoult to see Nalby recovering from a five setter to face another lenghty match against Nadal.

But Nalby would have made Nadal work much harder.

Yeah, that's a possibility........

Nalby is so unpredictable but at the same time you do have to hand it to him. He is very resilient and a player with as many injuries as he has had could easily have thrown in the towel. He was up against a huge server on hard court and somebody ranked way ahead of him. The thing is that you still often expect nalby to win despite being ranked far lower.

This proves what a superb player he actually is that even after all these years, he can still compete with the very best. When you think of how few tournaments he plays in compared to top players, he does have the ability to produce great tennis nonetheless.

That US Open where he lost to Roddick still haunts him I reckon (the year Roddick won his only slam title). Had he won that semi final, I have no doubt he would have beaten Ferrero. A win earlier in his career could have led to great things but with that I think a lot of his belief went and the injuries have made it nearly impossible to produce his best over a sustained period of time. Strangely, I think the Roddick loss will have affected him more than the Hewitt loss in Wimbledon.

Real shame if he retires soon as he is so gifted and would never tire of watching him in full flow

what a player..........Nalby I still salute you !!!!!!!!

Federer walks through the 3rd round! That will do his back lots of good!

Tenez wrote:Federer walks through the 3rd round! That will do his back lots of good!

I worry about the Fognini effect....

slashermcguirk wrote:
That US Open where he lost to Roddick still haunts him I reckon (the year Roddick won his only slam title).

Considering he had 1 or 2 MPs in that semi.

I am pretty sure that had South America had his slam he woudl be a slam champion by now.

I want SA to have a slam! They have produced so many great players! They don;t even have a TMS....a bit unfair!

His greatest win was definitely the Masters cup final when he came back from two sets down to beat Federer in the final. Great win and the other great one that I remember was when he pummeled Nadal in final of Paris Masters 6-4 6-0. In the 2nd set, Nadal seemed to be a spectator and you almost sensed that he knew there was no touching the guy when he was in that kind of form.

Go on nalby, give us one last tournament to remember, maybe he will do an ivanisevic and win as a wildcard

Please, no more Slams. Are you Ion Tiriac in disguise?

Yes barry, it has been irrefutably shown by Socal that the Fognini effect is devastating. Expect a 3rd round defeat for Federer.

bogbrush wrote:Please, no more Slams. Are you Ion Tiriac in disguise?

Imagine a blue clay slam wih huge yellow tennis balls and a delirious crowd Brazilian football WC match like!

Now we have a show!

"I would have loved to have played. I feel sad for the fans at Hisense who would have loved to come and see me play," Federer said.

I love that quote! Dedicated by Federer to Wyse, I am sure!

I think this could work against fed, he needs some matches to play himself into the tournament and find his form. Now he will have just two matches (one of which is karlovic? - which is the worst opponent to get any kind of rythmn against) before a potential quarter against delpo and then a semi against nadal. If his back is ok then he needs a few matches to play himself into form. Roger is usually rusty in the earlier rounds and then hits top gear towards the latter rounds.

As for nalby, what an awesome talent, plays the most breathtaking tennis at times

Tenez wrote:Dolgo through...but I'd like to have Lydian's view on Dolgo's blood conditions: Thalassemie (or smthng like that). Same condition as Sampras which according to Lydian prevented Sampras to win on clay cause he did not have the energy.

Well looking at Dolgo, it doesn't seem to bother him much. 2 5 setters and an injured leg...yet he gets through.

Tenez...it's not my view...once again read this newpaper article and the words of the man himself....

What kind of a man does it take to receive a kick second serve at ad-in (after multiple deuces) from the No. 12 player in the world and No. 10 seed at this U.S. Open and return it with a drop shot, the way Alexandr Dolgopolov did while facing David Ferrer here today? Well, a brave one. Or maybe an incredibly gifted one. Or someone who's just plain dumb. Then again, maybe it takes a guy who's feeling so ill he knows he can't string together more than two or three shots without feeling dizzy and incapacitated—a guy who's had a rare blood disorder from birth, one which is sometimes activated when he crosses a string of time zones and usually winds up forcing him to take intravenous medication and pills, and demands a severe change of diet (eliminating fried foods, salt and gassy beverages, among other things) coupled with a few weeks of utter rest.

Dolgo..."I have this problem from birth—some blood problems. Sometimes, I don't feel so well, especially when I change time zones a lot: Australia, Europe to the U.S. . . That's why I don't like to fly. Sometimes it affects my game, and I just have to deal with it. I couldn't have the usual [medical] treatment before the U.S. Open Series because I played Umag and then had just five days before I came to the U.S. They do intravenous blood stuff. They just put some medicine in, and I have to take some pills and change my diet, take some time [two weeks] off. I don't really want to say a lot. . . I just have it. It affects my stomach. I feel ill all the time. I don't want to eat. So for four tournaments now, I couldn't play my game. In Cincinnati, I felt a lot better. I was more consistent in my game. Here in New York, I didn't even practice before the tournament. I practiced today for 20 minutes, just to hit the ball. I'm feeling really bad. So today I risked what I could, got a few games, but pretty well that was the maximum of what I can do. I couldn't run. I couldnt serve. I was feeling dizzy. I just had to go for it because the more I played the worse I felt. So I just play like I could, and with David [Ferrer] you have to play really soild, because he's running so good, and he's getting all the balls back. I couldn't let him play a lot. I felt badly for the guy. I reminded him he still managed to pull an impressive number of rabbits out of his hat. Well, it's my style, too. I don't wait for the other guys. I don't run like crazy on the baseline. I like to play a lot of risk—attacking tennis, serving fast, going to net, drop shots. . .And now, with my health, I don't have a choice. I can't imagine running and working out points."

As it mentions above this condition is variable and can affect them more on one day than another, it can be very disabling and also affects recovery between matches.

BTW, been travelling a lot, had no time for being on here. Keeping up with the matches, and the time diff in the US made it good to watch some of the daylight matches.

Tenez wrote:

"I would have loved to have played. I feel sad for the fans at Hisense who would have loved to come and see me play," Federer said.

I love that quote! Dedicated by Federer to Wyse, I am sure!

The complete absence of bull$hit is one of his best qualities. It's like how he's handled this recent stuff about whining, just no big deal, tell the press he doesn't like to tell them that kind of private stuff and move on.

Yes - I have read all that. But they are still playing extremely well in 5th sets. And Pete has one of teh best record in 5th set. So surely it can be a problem to have that blood condition but if well managed it is not causing any effect.

You are saying that those guys woudl be even fitter in 5th sets without that condition. Which means they woudl be head and shoulder of everybody else physically if that was the case.

There are different forms of it..and he first 2 are hardly visible.

In fact my brother has actually that condition. He was told by his doctors but they never gave him any treatment and he has an amazing condition for his age.

Bottom line is a physical impairement woudl get you nowhere nowadays. SO yes they may have side effects but tiring in the 5th set doesn;t seem to be one of those.

bogbrush wrote:

Tenez wrote:

"I would have loved to have played. I feel sad for the fans at Hisense who would have loved to come and see me play," Federer said.

I love that quote! Dedicated by Federer to Wyse, I am sure!

The complete absence of bull$hit is one of his best qualities. It's like how he's handled this recent stuff about whining, just no big deal, tell the press he doesn't like to tell them that kind of private stuff and move on.

Depends on your tastes I guess. I find today's quote a bit hubristic.

He's just says it like it is - no false modesty.

Surely the fans in Hisense didn't come to have their opportunity to see Andreas Beck playing, right?

Well Dolgo's words about the condition make it clear that sometimes the condition affects him badly, other times clearly not, it's not a black or white thing. Also...many people, like your brother, can have it and not know it...or have a mild form....it's at the pro-athlete level that the effects of the condition emerge. This article discussed that further.....

For the supremely talented Pete Sampras, it is unlikely that any opponent will prove as much of a challenge as thalassemia. It has been learned that Sampras has an inherited condition that is almost certainly thalassemia, a congenital form of anemia common among people in the Meditteranean. Sampras's mother, Georgia, was born in Greece, and his father, Sam, is of Greek ancestry. Having that thalassemia means the 25-year old Sampras has a low count of hemoglobin, which carries oxygen in red blood cells. "It's a mild to moderate anemia and you lead a normal life with no reduction in life expectancy," Toronto hematologist Dr. George Kutas explained.

"A weekend hacker probably wouldn't even notice it. There haven't been many world-class athletes with thalassemia, so there's no literature
available on the subject. We don't have studies to prove it, but due to
the limited oxygen-carrying capacity, an athlete might get to the point where he could no longer increase his cardiovascular output because of a limited number of red blood cells. That would impair the extra effort required at that top level of sport."

Inhaling oxygen, as is done in some sports, notably football, would not be a solution for Sampras. "That probably wouldn't help," Kutas said, "because there's nothing wrong with the red blood cells carrying the oxygen, it's just that he's not making enough hemoglobin."

What advice would Kutas have for Sampras? "It's obvious that in a long
match he gets into more trouble," he said. "One minute he's hunched over leaning on his racquet [as against Alex Corretja in a memorable match at the U.S. Open] and then the next he's serving an ace at 110 miles an hour. I'd basically tell him only to push himself to a certain point."

Should Sampras be watching what he eats? "There's nothing he can really do in terms of diet," Kutas said, "because it's a condition you have from birth-actually it's often misdiagnosed as a lack of iron."

As for the effects on Sampras's career, it's clear that he will continue to have problems when he gets involved in long, exhausting matches. But especially at tournaments such as Wimbledon where the points are over quickly, he should be able to perform well and possibly add to his impressive total of eight Grand Slam wins. If Sampras admits to having thalassemia [which he did a year after this article in 1997], it would help silence critics who have interpreted his frequent physical breakdowns as being the result of poor preparation and conditioning.

"an average couch potato would usually not even be aware of having this form of anemia. But when a world-class athlete pushes himself to the limit in hot weather or long matches, it can sap his resistance. And I need not catalogue the periodic collapses by Sampras in such conditions. One wonders whether the effects of Pete's anemia will be more apparent from now to the end of his career. I admit this is sheer speculation. But it is no secret that as athletes approach 30 years of age -- Sampras is 26 -- they no longer possess the physical resistance they once did