I am gona go with cheryl and pick blake in 4 sets ! vamos cheryl's prediction :D

giving a score of 1 for a perfect prediction,so far cheryl is the victor .
Cheryl : 5 points
Ricky:2 points
VIncent:2 points
Kelly: nought (but she has made half the amount of predictions so far ) so vamos kelli! lol

Good luck with your prediction guys ,you ppl are doin a fine job :D

LOL. When in doubt, ALWAYS go with Cheryl. She picked Gonzalez to reach the 2007 final in September of the previous year, she picked Nadal's Wimbledon win @ eight months prior...and Enano's US Open victory in January.

If betting were legal where I lived, she'd make me a very wealthy petunia. :)

awww....I'm blushing. :D

hahaha. i always go with cheryl when in doubt. she picked federer to win in 4 today and youzhny to beat gasquet (albeit he took 5 rather than 4 :P). so i'll say blake will win

Interesting site this, might become a regular.
Anyway-if I may, here is my predictions:
Delpo in 4; Cilic in 3 ; Berdych in 3 ; Karlovic in 3

Reading above post-good call Cheryl. I thought Gasquet would do it in 3 or 4. It was close, could've gone either way, in my opinion Youshny had a bit of luck at vital stages, but he showed some real fighting spirit again. Pity that they had to meet in the 1st round. I would have liked to see Gasquet go deep in this one.

Delpo in 4, Berdych in 3, Ivo in 3 and Tomic in 3...just joking, Cilic in 3

welcome, BigL

and thanks for joining in the prediction fun

My head says Delpo in 3, but my heart wants to agree with Cheryl, just because I have a soft spot for him. :D I won't be able to watch this one cos it's at Hisense. :(

Cilic in straights for Cilic v Tomic. Tomic might make one set competitive, maybe even bring it to a tiebreaker, but Cilic should roll over him easy. Crowds are going to be dramatic and uncontrollable almost I feel.

Going with Ricky for Korolev v Birdman. I give Korolev the edge if it goes 5 because Birdy WILL go mental and lose concentration.

Karlovic in 4 will be my pick for Karlovic v Benneteau. Benneteau played brilliant tennis to shock Fed last year but hasn't even been minutely impressive since then. Karlovic coming from a high of sending off the seeded Steps should be able to continue his run.

I'll probably check out Berdych v Korolev as I am really uninterested in the starting women's matches at Rod Laver.

why is no one discussing nadal v lacko?

what makes everyone so sure nadal will win, its on hard courts and lacko is a good flat hitter.

attacker - thanks for the tip. Nadal in 3 quick ones.

And what about Roddick and Belluci?

i think this lacko guy could push nadal. he goes for his flat hard shots, ive watched a couple of videos of him on youtube and he seems like he can play.
nadal will go in with the usual defensive appraoch and hope lacko makes errors, if that happens nadal will be in trouble for sure.

I dont really care about IFs. Just tell us what you think is going to happen.

I think Nadal 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. No IFs about it. Nadal 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 regardless.

belluci is an idiot. in the 2008 french open vs nadal, this belluci guy tried to copy nadal and do that jumping that nadal does during the toss.
and nadal started jumping even higher and belluci looked like a complete dork.

i hope roddick bagels belluci.

6-4, 6-3, 6-1................................lacko!

nah jokes :)

nadal will win!

Attacker, if that is what Belluchi tried to do in FO08, then he sure is an idiot. I too hope Roddick Bagels him, not one but in all 3 sets.

Rooting for Roddick to reach the semis for the 5th time.
Am also getting the feeling that Delpo will be knocked off the tournament today.

yea if blake is on his game, i have a feeling del potro is gone today as well.

i hope henin kicks dementieva's ruskie ar*e.
last year the ruskie said nadal wont win the french open last year during the tournament. ever since then i hated the woman.
it was the ultimate curse on nadal.
what business is it of hers to comment on nadal's or anyone else's chances in the mens draw.
it was typical lack of class from a classless woman.

go justine, ur the real number 1.

Attacker, she was right wasn't she?

there was no need for such a statement. it was an attack on nadal. he was dominanct in the clay season last year. women dont need to comment on mens matches. they need to learn to hold their service games before they talk about mens tennis.

...and men... should they talk about women's tennis???

forget everything and watch TOMIC the next GOAT and the man who can spank rafa 'easily' get dominated by cilic LOL

...next GOAT... don't have chanse... Cili is waaaaaaaaaay better...

tomic has stolen rafa's outfit

zare..my post was filled with sarcasm of the very highest order ! hehe. tomic is a good ball striker,he is talented but he is aweful in terms of movement in comparision to the top dogs. rafa at 17 had an extremely efficiet footwork and scary groundies too! his mtch against lleyton in the 3rd rnd oz 2004.

tomic has stolen rafa's outfit

Sib69 , 1/20/10 12:46 PM

*******************

Sibb, they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Cilic is playing very safe and not attacking at all, it's not a very watchable match is it?

it's mindnumbingly dull. i'm only half watching it as i'm writing an abusive email to eurosport. haha

Sibb, I'll sign your letter as well. Eurosport are so useless that they show a programme on their TV Guide when what they are showing is completely different, they let programmes run beyond the alloted time. When Rafa played his first match, they cut if off half way from one channel and asked us to view the rest of it on another channel, so my recording was messed up.

I also need to complain about that Mats Wilander, what a wally.

I can't believe how boring this match is, at least even if Rafa's match this morning wasn't as exciting as usual, we could always look at Rafa.

next GOAT tomic takes 1st set.
tomic is like murray, gives no pace but suddenly accelerates and gives the opponent no rhythm.

so much for those clowns that said cillic will win this in 3 sets.

even if cilic had won the set, he wud have been lucky.didnt deserve to win ,despite being the senior player he was afraid to go for shots ,is home court adv that pressurizing? may b but cilic shud start playing the way heh normally does.attack and dominate rallies, weldone to tomic tho . the match is kind of boring

ATR, the next GOAT (if there will be anyone besides Federer) will be Dimitrov! :-p

What did Cilic have for breakfast, even his coach Bob Brett looks bewildered at the way he is playing.

I really wouldn't compare Murray to Tomic, he is nowhere near Murray's standard. They are just shunting the ball around, I don't know what's happened to Cilic. This is the first time I've seen Tomic play, and I'm looking for the Tomic that everyone had built up to be new talent, some people even call him the GOAT in waiting.

dimitrov is good but not GOAT material. he is an absoulute mental midget, he can never close out a match and always chokes, just another blake.
dimitrov will be a player that gets wins against top players but dont have the consistency.

Of course Tomic is no where near Murray yet. If he is near Murray now, at the age of seventeen, then he will definitely be the goat when he grows up! Its just that we see some similarities there, Tomic definitely is still not up to Murrray's standard. The Cilic at his normal standard should be able to beat Tomic comfortably, however we are definitely seeing a below par Cilic at the moment. His powerful forehand shots are missing, and so are his powerful serves. His first serve percentage is at a miserable below 50%.

carrie it's only attcker who called him a GOAT

carrie, i just sent it. also mentioned the need for an interactive service like sky sports have so we can have choice of matches. and that they cut rafa off halfway through. and complained about the bile mats wilander seems to spew at any opportunity

hope they read it! :D

tomic is choking in the 2nd and 3rd sets. was a break up in both sets

The way Tomic plays, it can be quite irritating for his opponents. He seems to be just getting the ball back and waiting for his opponent to make mistakes, rather defensive tennis, something we used to describe Murray's tennis. He has a good forehand, I don't understand why he is not using it to unleash more winners. Still a long way to go before he can become a world beater. Tomic better play more attacking tennis, I certainly do not want defensive tennis to be the future of tennis.

I'm disappointed with the way Cilic is playing, where is his big forehand? Where is his big serves? He is mistiming his forehands so frequently, how to win the match playing like that?

Good call on DelPo, Kelli! :D I knew if Blake couldn't win in 4 he wouldn't win at all. Honestly, that guy's 5 set record is almost sad. Well done to the Argie.

the correct comment would have been "good call on DelPo, everyone but me" :-)

Live from Rod Laver Arena: This match is putting me to sleep, and not because it is 1.45AM.

After a hardy battle Down Under , our 4 competitors RICKY,CHERYL,KELLI,VINCENT have procured new standings in the competition :p LOL
1.Cheryl:5 points (unchanged,rusty day for cheryl :D)
2.Vincent:3 points
2.Ricky:3 points
4.Kelli: 1 point ( wins her first one but was the best so far ,delp in 5 ,fantastic! :D,and she has made 3-4 less predictions)

*Each competitor gets a point if Cilic beats Tomic ,the battle is very much on

LOL :D

you're scoring it wrong. You get a point for picking the winner, sets is just a tiebreaker. Not that it will make a difference.

winner Cilic. I dedicate our win (mine and Cilic's) to attackingtennisrulez.

Although almost anyone else in the draw would have taken out Cilic today. He is lucky Del Potro is in mediocre form.

Cilic was HORRIBLE. in fact, the entire match was dreadful.

vamosrafa, Ricky is VERY distraught that I have more points than he does. Don't worry Ricky...you have a whole week and a half to catch up. :hug:

I think you may b right,sets should be used as a t.brk only.No worries ,here is the new scoring then :D

1.Ricky:8 points
2.Cheryl:7 points
3.Vincent:6 points
4.kelli:5 points (despite 3 less attempts )

WOW! each competitor seperated by a mere 1 point.The competition is fierce Down Under :D.
okay as an incentive for the sets thing, there is a bonus golden racquet award i.e 'THE BEST PREDICTION OF THE TOURNAMENT' and Kelli is holding the golden racquet for now when she got delp in 5 rite . LOL. i luv doing this

VAMOS GUYS! 10 more days to go! LOL

Cilic should be ashamed ... ATR your boy played well ... he's ranked 289 ! right ?

Thank goodness the match is over. Poor Cilic, he was caught unprepared for such a tough fight. I'm glad he has come through, though I think he played below par, probably a bit afraid to make too many mistakes, as the ball keeps coming back at him, it might have reminded him of those times when he played against Murray.

This Tomic guy really plays like Murray. I can't imagine if Tomic plays Murray, how long the match will be, and I think many people will fall asleep during the match! Still early days to pronounce Tomic as the newest star of tennis. He has a good forehand and good serve, I hope he plays more attacking tennis rather than just getting the ball back at his opponents. He needs to improve on his movements too.

I hope both Cilic and Delpo, after today's tough five set match(es), will really wake up and play the way they used to play, I really want to see a rematch of their USO quarterfinal.

there is absolutely no doubt in a few years time tomic will be a world number 1.
he is definitely a future great.
he just lacked the match experience.

he was clearly the better player and the match was on his racket.
he has alot of variety and once he gets stronger he will be a massive force in mens tennis for years to come.

i think australia has got its next all time great player.
i think once tomic's career is over, he will be australia's greatest player, surpassing rod laver.

it was tomic that lost it, he should have won in straight sets, he had a break in the 2nd set but choked. got nervous.

one thing is for sure, that tomic has more variety and talent than alot of the top 20 players.
tomic has a better slice than nadal, a better forehand.

and tomic only just turned 17.
so for those americans thinking ur going to return to ur glory days, keep dreaming, tomic will eat up any of these american youngsters.

tomic just confirmed that he definitely is the future GOAT!!!!!

vamosrafa - the pick of the tournament has to go to someone who accurately predicted a winner that NOBODY else had.

Come back to me with THAT answer. :-) (hint - its in this blog)

one of tomic's great strengths is that he doesnt allow his opponents to play their game, alot like what nadal does.
he has great changes of pace, plays slow pusher tennis then suddenly accelerates and surprises the opponent.
tomic really choked that match away.

i think tomic will be this year's breakthrough player.

Please someone give Ricky a gold star! :)

ATR, as someone who was actually there witnessing the match live, I have to say Tomic, at this stage of his career, has no variety. He virtually hit no winners and was extremely content to keep pushing the ball back and forth until Cilic (or himself) eventually made a mistake. He has quite a good forehand but he does not utilise it at all. His backhand looked pretty ordinary to me, but maybe personal opinion.

As for Cilic, I did not know what happened to him, but he was probably at his worst today.

The entire match was boring, boring, boring. I'm sorry but it really was, and more than half the arena was emptied by time the last ball was struck. It didn't even have 1.15% of the urgency and excitement of Gasquet and Youzhny's 5-setter yesterday night.

Excuse me attackingtennis, tomic has a better forehand than Nadal? Go back to watch Nadal vs Hewitt matches of 2004 & 2005 AO, and see what a forehand Nadal had. Even John Mac can't stop praising Nadal, and Nadal really played aggressive attacking tennis then and hit so many winners with his forehand. Look at Tomic now, the way he played is exactly the way Murray played, and he is slicing all the time. Despite having quite a good forehand, he didn't even know how to use it to his advantage, and you call him the future goat and even had the audacity to say that he will surpass Rod Laver!! What are you smoking?

Don't be overly excited attackingtennis, tomic may turn out to be just another player, after all he is only seventeen, and who knows where he will be heading - the road to greatness or to something else? We shall see!

jyannis - I agree with you. That was a dreadfully boring match. Cilic was WAY off. I just don't understand how he can go from being an outside contender to what he showed us today. No pace, lackadaisical movement....it was all bad.

Ricky - hold it together, man. It'll be alright. You picking Berdych to lose is never going to be the pick of the tournament. Berdych losing is NEVER a real surprise. Vamosrafa is right. kelli holds the prize right now. VAMOS KELLI! :D

actually one commentator said who has been working with tomic, that his backhand is his best shot.
yea he needs to hit the forehand more for winners, he has easy power, current tomic could really trouble nadal, infact i think tomic right now could beat nadal on a fast hard court.

cillic was intimidated, he thought he would have an easy match but tomic really surprised him. tomic was changing the pace and not giving cillic pace to work with.
tomic looked like the pro there and cillic looked like a noob.

btw tomic's mommy is gorgeous

who won the Cilic-Tomic match?

tomic cannot beat nadal ,no way.rafa is 10 times mentally stronger,5 times quicker,has a better forehand,has a better backhand ,only serve goes to tomic. and tomic will get mystified whe nhe faces rafa's spin! its a diff experience after all. cilic was below par,had he shown good form he wud have won more comfortably. but it was a very good fight from tomic ,he is showing signs of being the futire of tennis


@RICKY & CHERYL : Ricky I knew u were the only one to predict a korolev victory and that was brave and cool, but the delp prediction was coolest so far i think,marginally edging out your's but the GOLDEN RACQUET will keep on shifing if u ppl keep on making fine after fine predictions! . Dont worry u lead the scoreboard tho ,LOL
And I am impressed with KELLY,she has ben unlucky as she didnt make predictions for day 1 which were the easiest..beware of KELLI !! LOL
Good Luck for tomorrow guys,choose wisely :D:D

There you go again, attackingtennis. Why are you so presumptuous? If it is Nadal playing Tomic today, Nadal would have blown Tomic off the court and finished the match in straight sets. Tomic's movement has left much to be desired and Nadal will outrun and outhit him. Cilic is definitely below par today, and he comes unprepared. Cilic at his 100% would also blow Tomic off the court, just like what he did to Murray at the USO last year, Tomic would have zero chance, mind you! Fat hope of Tomic beating Nadal, he can't even manage a sub-par Cilic! Please attackingtennis, stop all your baseless speculations, just keep your fingers cross and wait patiently for your Tomic to grow up and see what he will become.

ricky, tomic won in straight sets!!!

attcker, pls don't stoop low to make things up. cilic never thought he'd beat tomic easily. he said right from the beginning that tomic is a very talented player, he watched him in adelaide and agaisnt nole and he expected a tough match along with the fact that the crowd would help carry tomic through. so pls, don't put cilic down just because you've found another player to glory worship.

tomic lost the match, it was on his racket???....my ass!!! i guess cilic got to no. 14 by luck, just like tomic got put on centre court and delpo, blake, murray got thrown to outside courts. anything for the next goat.

homos - dangit!

I turned the TV off and went shopping instead because the match was doing my head in; it was sending me to sleep and I think it was even more boring than I remember of the King of Boredom being, the one and only Mats Wilander.

I think Tomic should show some respect to Hewitt, if he had agreed to practice with the former world No 1 and GS champion, he may have learnt a thing or two.

Sibb, I am watching the recording of Rafa's match from this morning and just heard Wilander say Federer is the only one who has the shots that make people go Ooooh Aaaarh, but Rafa doesn't have those kind of shots because he goes about tennis in a very slow and methodical way - WHAT???? I think I am going to start turning the sound off when he is on.

lolllzzz....wilander go watch those 2 points from last year's oz open semi b/w rafa and nando...rafa's banana shot and that impossible defence in the 4th set at 3-4 game point; the entire stadium stood up to applaud the effort from rafa and the crowd kept standing for like 2 minutes!

Is this Wilander guy blind or what. Had he at least watched last year's AO semi and final matches? Some of Rafa's shots were simply amazing and even got the whole arena to stand up and applaud. Maybe somebody should write in and question his commentating and make him feel embarrassed about his comments.

Attacker, when do you think Tomic will win his first GS, it had better be in the next two years, because I know a certain player who achieved that at 19, and beat the world No 1 at the age of 18.

Furthermore, Attacker Tomic should be at least world No 2 by the end of 2011 when he is 19, just like the player I referred to above as he's got better shots than the said player.

tomic will win aussie open 2011.

bookmark it!

and wilander makes me hate those swedes even more.
wilander represents the goo of the human race.

I don't know why Wilander has it in for Rafa so much, throughout his commentary on any match whether Rafa is palying or not, he can't stop himself thinking of ways to beat Nadal, he never ever does that with Federer or anyone else.

lol carrie...said player. you are a hoot!

wilander??? who's that? ;)

***comment deleted. Duplicate post.***

well Cilic won but it wasn't 3:0 either. I think attacker deserves one time article!

yes ricky, i know you're upset but you know...tomic played out of this world against the world no. 14 who was way on top of his game, definitely the next goat. i think tomic can take this title, ricky. i don't think nadal, fed, davy, murray or nole have a chance, even if all 5 of them played on one side against tomic across the net!

carrie, if that's the case i'm not watching the rafa match i sky plussed then. i hate it when commentators are so ridiculously biased like that

***comment deleted. Duplicate post.***

I think this Wilander guy is jealous of Rafa being called the best clay court player ever. Rafa has equaled Borg's four FO titles in a roll and he needs two more to equal Borg's record. Wilander has only three, so possibly he isn't happy that Rafa has surpassed him.

'tomic the future of tennis' - let's wait and see. There are many youngsters out there, still early days to make a prediction. If tomic is a boy genius, he would have qualified for the AO instead of having to depend on a wildcard. I think the guy that beats tomic at the qualifying match is even more a genius, by beating a genius to qualify for the next round.

Thursday - http://www.tennistalk.com/en/blog/Ricky_Dimon/20100120/Thursday_Matche s_of_the_Day_-_Expert_Picks

i take it cilic won that match then? i switched it off halfway through to go and watch paint dry. also got a sarcastic tweet from @australianopen when i told them the match was boring, which really made me laugh :D

sib69 - who r u on Twitter

Borez69 (no, i don't quite know why either, haha)

i sent them a tweet saying something like "it's not a thrilling match. it's just long and drawn out" and they went "yes. it's our pleasure"

I was at the game last night...Tomic was incredibly impressive, Cilic was lucky to survive. Tomic's low and flat shots and change of speed and unreachable ball retrieval skill...just one word 'wow'. He can beat anyone in the world. he's gonna be a great great player.

If Wilander made that comment, he was an idiot. I watched Rafa playing opening day, he was playing against an Australian but the support he's got from the crowd was mind blowing. Every incredible shot he made, the whole stadium went 'ooooh' 'aaah'. And when he finally won, the crowd was in frenzy...I think people even forgot he won against an Aussie.

Cilic was lucky to have won yesterday because he played very badly by his own standard. His serve was no where near his best level. If he were to play the way he did at last year's USO, he would have beaten Tomic in straight sets. Just looked at how he dealt with Murray, a definitely better version of Tomic. Its still early days to say that Tomic will be a world beater, though he has the tools to be one in future. Look at Monfils, a junior champ at three of the slams and now at 23, he has yet to realize his full potential and I'm not sure that he'll ever be able to fulfil his potential.

WHAT DID WILLANDER SAY??

vrael, Wilander said that Federer is the only player who has people gasping at his shots, that Rafa doesn't make those kind of shots, that he simply slowly wears his opponents down - in a nutshell.

luckystar, you've probably got the answer to the Nadal hating boring old Swede, he is jealous of Rafa being called the King of Clay, because he was supposed to be a claycourt specialist in his day.

Here is an interesting take on the Wilander AO review programme:

Anyway, the point is, Mats is unarguably there on broadcasting merit first and foremost, boasting a tidy line in post-match analysis and a way with a handheld microphone that few right-handed Swedish players of his generation can match. (And not just any old handheld microphone, either. The one Mats wields is, for some obscure reason, in this age of ever more convenient electronics, the size of a baby?s head ? a meaty ask, stamina-wise, over the programme?s half-hour duration.) Wilander hosts Game, Set and Mats from an apparently open-topped and open-backed (and possibly even open-sided) booth, many feet above sea level and overlooking the outside of the Rod Laver Arena. (We know it?s the Rod Laver Arena because huge, green, neon letters say, ?Rod Laver Arena?, removing most of the doubt.) In front of him is a white table so achingly modern that it appears to be a partly melted surfboard and next to him is Annabel Croft, who appears only to be Annabel Croft.

Now, here we have to confess that Game, Set and Mats takes something of a Macca?s Monday Night turn, in that, if we?re going to be pedantic about it, it?s the former British women?s No 1 who technically hosts the show, doing all the ?hello?-ing, ?goodbye?-ing and ?after the break?-ing. Wilander?s contributions are gained by Croft lobbing him a few volley-tempting questions about how well Roger Federer seems to be going at the moment. (Angus Scott provided much the same service for Macca.) Realistically, then, it?s ?Game, Set and Croft?. But, as discussed, that wouldn?t work as well.



Full article in:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/columnists/giles_smith/a rticle6995576.ece

There is a suggestion that he was only given the job because his name fits the title of the programme - Game Set and 'Mats'.

he had to be good for something...