Two days ago, Rafa wasn't satisfied with his serve. After today's match he said his serve worked well.
From Rafa's interview after today's match:
<<Q. What do you take out of today's game, if anything? Is there anything that you can take out of it for the rest of the tournament?
RAFAEL NADAL: I think I played a solid match. A few mistakes with the backhand, that's all. The serve, my serve improved a lot since the first day. I think I was serving very well today. To the right, to the chair umpire, the sun was there and was very difficult for some moments.
But in general, I think my serve worked really well, so happy for that. Movement good; backhand good; having a few more mistakes than usual. I have to play longer with the backhand. Maybe have to play a little bit more aggressive, more inside the court.
But in general I am happy.>> (Read more on AO website)

His next opponent his Bernard Tomic.

Vamos, Rafa!

Tomic said he believed he had enough tricks in his bag to upset the Spanish world No.1.

"I catch a lot of guys out with (using) not a lot of power," Tomic said after disposing of Feliciano Lopez in straight sets to book his first ever third-round berth in a Grand Slam.

"I don't think he'll like my game," Tomic said.

"The way I mix it up he's not going to like, but we'll see how it goes."

So relaxed was he in arguably the biggest moment of his short career that in the final game he made a point of adjusting his shirt while waiting for a Lopez lob to fall, before swatting it away it to bring up match point.

======================================================

It s very difficult for Australians to produce persons who are easy to like or less cocky. Someone needs to put this teenager in his place.

If Tomic can play better than Murray then maybe he'll have a chance. Yeah one cocky fella, I'll be interested to see a Tomic vs Dimitrov match a few years down the road, pitching against each other in tennis and in cockiness. Rafa had already beaten Dimitrov, it's Tomic's turn to be beaten by the world no.1. Go Rafa, show this cocky fella his place in the packing order.

When Nadal was asked what Tomic needed to do to in their third-round match, he offered with a laugh, ?Play very bad, please. That's what I can say to him.?

He added afterward that Tomic could use his age to his advantage. ?It?s much easier when you are a teenager, I think. When you are 17 or 18, everything is easier. You play with no pressure. You can win, you can lose, everything is fine. That's a different mentality. You can play more aggressive.?

Tomic admitted, ?I can't believe that I'm playing him. What an opportunity it is to play him, in a third round as well. It's a dream come true. Look, I've got nothing to lose.

?I'm hitting the ball great,? he added. ?My confidence is up there, especially after two matches. I played a left hander before I played him, that's always good. But confidence wise I'm hitting the ball great, I'm hitting good, serving good. I can put confidence now in this next round.?

I hope Tomic is confident enough to make a match out of this.
He's allowed to be a bit cocky I guess.

Tomic plays junk ball kind of tennis. He said he'll give his opponents no pace to work with, sounded very much like how Murray plays. (Steve Tignor of Tennis World was court side watching him and wrote something about him in his Concrete Elbow column).

If Rafa can handle a better version in Murray, I'm sure he can handle the poorer version. I know the spectators will be on Tomic's side, but Rafa as a 17/18 years old had already dealt with the Aussie crowd when he played against Hewitt in 2004 & 2005, so I'm confident Rafa will give us good news on Saturday. Vamos Rafa!

Anything is possible, but I don't expect Nadal to have a particularly bad day, and Tomic, while having a lot of potential, is not yet the kind of player Nadal was at 18 so it might be a challenging match, perhaps, or not.

Bottom line is Rafa's victory is already assured as atr anti-jinxed it already several days ago. Book it, said he.

thx luckystar,

Here's to remind us of the Hewitt vs Nadal days back in 2004

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CvCxCnOC7Q

shireling,
thank you!
what electricity on and off court... and that was Nadal at 17 against Hewitt at his prime... so a fitting comparison with the upcoming Tomic match in that sense.

It was also just a couple of months before Nadal first played against Federer, who was within a year or so from his prime. Miami 2004.

@Shireling , 1/20/11 3:40 PM


Rafa is a phenomenon, end of.



The match up with Rafa is just what Tomic needs to show him where his game is at.

Darren Cahill said the other night that Rafa practised with Tomic at Melbourne last year and Rafa was losing 1-4 when he started throwing his equipment around and stopped the session.

If nothing else, Tomic will probably get under Rafa's skin. I expect 'el maestro' to give the cocky Aussie a lesson though.

A must read.............!!!

I can bring down Nadal, says Tomic Darren Walton
January 20, 2011 AAP

Dream believer Bernard Tomic insists he can upstage history-chasing top seed Rafael Nadal in their third-round Australian Open blockbuster on Saturday night.

No Australian man in almost a decade has conquered a world No.1, but Tomic believes anything is possible after upsetting Spanish 31st seed Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 on Thursday to reach the last 32 of a grand slam event for the first time.

"I'm hitting the ball great, my confidence is up there, especially after two matches, I played a left-hander before I played him, that's always good," Tomic said.

Advertisement: Story continues below "There's not much weaknesses (in his game but) I don't think he'll like my game.

"He'll like the players that give him a lot of time, a lot of rally shots. The way I mix it up, he's not going to like."

Not since Mark Philippoussis shot down Andre Agassi in the fourth round at Wimbledon en route to the 2003 final at the All England Club has an Australian brought down the men's world No.1.

But while Philippoussis was already a grand slam finalist and accomplished grasscourt exponent, Tomic will enter his clash with Nadal as an 18-year-old wildcard ranked 198 places behind the reigning French Open, Wimbledon and US Open champion.

Nadal has won his past 23 grand slam matches and is bidding to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four major titles simultaneously.

Tomic, though, is undeterred and earnestly believes he can stop the Spanish juggernaut.

"Oh, I believe so," Tomic said.

"I mean, it's an opportunity that I get. He's the world No.1. I'll just have a go.

"When you step out against a player like that, you don't have nothing to lose.

"But I'm not going to go and win this match if I go out there and play not to lose. I've got to play to win."

Nadal will enter the marquee match-up a raging favourite but, carrying all the pressure, Nadal is nevertheless on guard.

"He's very young, he's playing well I think, he has a very very good future ... hopefully not for the next round," Nadal said after trouncing American qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-2 6-1 6-1 in his second-round encounter.

Nadal said a prime-time showdown with Tomic on Rod Laver Arena would be a nice occasion and recalled his days as a teenager himself taking on dual grand slam winner Lleyton Hewitt in Melbourne.

"I remember when I was here when I was 16, 17, I played against Lleyton (twice and lost both times). If you win, it's unbelievable. If not, it's OK," he said.

Even if he loses against Nadal, Tomic is guaranteed a rankings rise of about 20 spots from his current career-high place just inside the world's top 200.

The teenager's landmark win over Lopez - a two-time Wimbledon quarter-finalist and Queen's Club victor over Nadal last year - more than made up for fellow Australian Alicia Molik's 6-4 6-1 second-round loss to women's 13th seed Nadia Petrova.

It's never a good idea to brag about beating the #1 player in the world. I would love to see Rafa teach this kid a good lesson! Rafa is too polite to say anything or respond in kind, but Tomic is quite full of himself without having done anything to earn the right to open his big mouth.

I watched a good deal of his match with Feli yesterday. I can say that Feli was not playing well at all. Tomic is a bit of a showboater and likes to play to the crowd. At that age you sometimes think that you are invincible and can do anything. He could give Rafa a nice test and allow him to see where his game is at, as nadline said, however any dreams this kid has of taking out Rafa will remain just that - dreams!

The most annoying thing is that I will have to read this kid's trash talk for at least another day.

Tomic is a prime example of blowing your own trumpet, because for the life of me, I simply don't understand the frenzie around him. He has only played 16 matches on the ATP tour - won 5 and lost 11, so his success rate is a mere 31.3%; I'll grant him one thing that he has won 5 out of the 7 tie-breaks he's played in his career, which gives him a 71.4% success rate.

Sadly, the press are fanning his ego for reasons best known to themselves.

The press are fanning his ego because it sells copies (or page hits). This might give Timc a bit of a boost prior to the match. The match will be another story. He will probably play quite freely, and he will learn from the match: good on him, but that will be the extent of it.

Time will tell how much better he will fare on the circuit than have Gulbis, Dolgopolov, Gasquet, etc, so far ... . Will Tomic he ever get anywhere close to Andy's enormous level of achievements? That is FAR FAR from certain. One thing he has on his side is that by the time he will be into his prime years he will not have Federer at his prime to contend with, nor Nadal at his prime... the way Novak and Andy have had to. There does not seem to be anyone around Tomic's age coming up that will rise to Roger's or Rafa's level... and that includes Bernard.

He refused to practise with Lleyton, didn't he, said he wasn't good enough! Hope Rafa gives him a well-deserved slap!

Tomic in his prime will have to compete with Dimitrov, Krajanovic, Berankis, Harrison etc and etc. I don't see Tomic, with his style of play, being a world beater. An aggressive style of play will always triumph over a passive style, ie waiting for your opponents to make mistake, of play. He'll take a long time to win his slam, see Murray for example, and Murray is so much better than Tomic. Tomic's problem lies with his movement, at 6'5", he can't move well. He won't even be a good retriever either, so not even a Simon. If Dimitrov and company live up to expectations, then Tomic can only be in the mix but not the overwhelming or dominant one. He doesn't come with an offensive mindset and that may be hard to change.

I prefer Harrison's all court game. Dimitrov may play with more flair, but yet to show that he has the potential of a world beater. Among the three, Harrison is the most pleasant one. Berankis is another guy to look out for, saw his match against Nalby, he looks like a Nole in the making. Yet to see a new Rafa appearing, most likely we won't see one, his style no one can copy. Rafa is always being compared to Borg, but i think the way Rafa moves on clay and the way he hits his forehand, I don't think he resembles Borg. The comparison is more about their mental toughness and concentration, and their dominance on clay.

deuce , 1/21/11 7:49 AM

Let me get this straight, Tomic refused to parctice against Hewitt because... he wasn't good enough!! give me a break, please!

muahahahahahah brilliant, ive been waiting for this day for years.

tomic was destroying nadal 4-1 in a practise match before nadal got scared.

tomic will beat nadal in 4 sets.

tomic has an amazing game to beat anyone, nadal is far less talented than bernie.

bernie doesnt fear a mug moonballer.

i wonder whats ricky dimon's prediction?

I always appreciate talented players but this Tomic guy is so arrogant that he gets on my nerves...he proved nothing so far, except that he always was enthusiastic at the AO and played some good matches...apart from that I did not see anything from him..Rafa is not scared if him, he does not get scared of the brainless egoistic teenagers...Rafa is pure class and all Tomic can do is learn from him...in fact, I think I recall Tomic was thrilled and grateful to have even a chance to practice with Rafa so I don't know why spoiling that image with this rubbish talk prior to the match...he only shows how immature he is...

shireling: yes really! I remember that incident last year and although I know reporters exaggerate stuff, I suspect there's some truth in this one. I know people don't like Hewitt but I love his fighting spirit and I really hope Rafa kicks some ass here!
Am pretty cross with Nalby too. Hewitt never caves in, he leaves his heart on court.

deuce is correct but it was 2-3 years ago, not last year. juan carlos ferrero was on the court at the time and he heard it himself and JCF said to hewitt's agent that in spain, if a junior treated a senior player like that, he'd be hung by his balls (JCF's words).

I've dug up this article about this Tomic-Hewitt incident , whilst at Wimbledon 2010,


http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/tennis/team-hewitt-fumi ng-at-wimbledon-snub/2009/09/16/1252780357083.html


It seems that it was someone in Tomic camp (apparently some guy who works with his agent) that said that Hewitt wasn't 'good enough'

I particualry like this sentence (page 2) from Ferrero's coach when giving his opinion on the matter :)


''Then we told Juan Carlos what had happened and his coach said that if a leading player in Spain asked a junior to practice and the junior said 'no', that he would never get to hit with a senior player again, they would make sure he had all his funding and support from the national federation cut and that he would be, in the coach's words, 'strung up from a tree by his balls'.''

homos , 1/21/11 2:10 PM

Thx for the date correction, indeed it was at Wimby 2009

shireling, rumour had it that it was bernard's dad who said it. conflicting stories from elsewhere said that it was tomic. whatever...tomic could have settled the matter on the spot! it's not respectful to a 2 time GS winner who's done so much for his country. bernard's dad was asked later and said he's very angry with hewitt because hewitt hadn't done enough for his boy!!!!!

with that kinda attitude, who on earth would...

rafa looking scary good.

I agree with you homos,
If not on the spot at a press conference or interview.
His dad seems to be a bit of a * though, he also said that Hewitt was being racist to Tomic (because of his Croatian origin) answering to reported allegations from Hewitt stating that he (Tomic) didn't deserve to be in the Davis-cup team (maybe right, but it's not up to Hewitt do decide)

cheers homos. Perhaps rafa could kick Tomic's dad's ass as well ;)
I don't understand attacking's logic, perhaps he has none? From what lucky and others have said, Tomic seems to be a counter puncher????

rafael in 3 most probably....eagerly waiting for tomorrow's match

an interesting bit from andy murray....revealing what made him switch to barcelona to learn and get better at his tennis....was surprised rafa had something to do with it...
here is the link

http://goo.gl/Zf1m1

rafa's draw till the semis is like a cakewalk
surely luck is with rafa once again
and fed gets simon in 2nd round

deuce, I remember watching Tomic vs Cilic match last year at the AO. First impression - Tomic played like Murray. Of course, he didn't have Murray's superb speed and movement around the court. He tried to slice the ball low and gave his opponent, Cilic, with no pace to work with. Cilic being so tall had a hard time scooping up those low balls and poor Cilic spent the whole night doing that. I was so happy that Cilic won in the end, as it would be embarrassing for him to lose to a 17 year old boy then (Cilic is my second favorite player so I don't want to see him lose).

I don't know how to classify Tomic's style of play, counter puncher? His speed around the court isn't that great, how to be a good counter puncher? Aggressive/offensive player he is not. Defense/offense kind of player (like Rafa)? I don't know whether he can turn defense to offense that effectively. He's neither here nor there, just simply playing his own brand of tennis, irritating the hell out of his opponents, slicing and slicing and forcing an error along the way. I think if he met someone like Delpo, he may be blown off the court, provided of course Delpo controls the match and doesn't allow Tomic to slice and slice the whole match.

All top four or five guys should be able to handle this young fella, I'm sure about that.

Funny, the AO has decided to schedule Nadal vs Tomic as the last night match. Hope it doesn't run too late ... past anyone's bedtime. ;)

With the Nadal / Tomic match being the last night match, UK time that should be around 9 - 10am Saturday morning, so should be ok to watch that one.

Rather more concerning is Rafa's opponent in the 4th round. Both Isner and Cilic will casue him so many problems on a hard court with the big serves and hard flat forehands. They will probably be a bigger threat that Rafa's potential opponent in the quarters and possibly the semis. Having said that he did handle Karlovic in three sets last year so he still has a good chance against either Isner or Cilic.

Let's just say it wouldn't be an incredibly major shock if Rafa goes out in the 4th round

lebsta2: Rafa could handle Isner easily! He would make him run and run and then pounce! Cilic is a much more complete player but even he has not been playing too well and I don't think Rafa will be too troubled.

A wise article, for atr's and tomic's edification:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jan/21/australian -open-bernard-tomic-nadal

What is wrong with some of you?!! Poor yee of little faith!!!!! Why are you guys so afraid for Rafa...........he is a 9 time GSlam champ who has won TWO hard court tournaments!!! The guys who Rafa is supposed to be so "scared" of have never even made it past the 3rd round in ANY GSlam and added to that Rafa has a +ve H2H against them!!!!!!!!................what the hell!............dont understand whats going on here!!! I am not saying that the potential matches may not be tough but to go as far as saying Rafa will exit b4 the 4th round is absurd to me! Anything can happen, yes, but that goes for ALL the players!!!! Rafa seems to be playing well enough, so what exactly is the basis for those comments, if any at all?!!

Show Rafa some respect...........please!!!!!..........damn it!!!!

Monalysa,

Don't listen to this nonsense about Rafa going out in the fourth round. We are already seeing Rafa bring that big serve and that is what will help him a lot in any potential match with either Isner or Cilic!

Some people just like to incite and make absurd statements just for the purpose of getting Rafa fans riled up. Did you read saxenanelin's latest bit of propaganda about how easy Rafa's draw is compared to Fed's? As though the likes of Robredo and Malisse could possibly trouble Fed. How about Wawa and Roddick? Fed fans are just annoyed that he got pushed to five sets and got a scare because of Simon. Their guy is supposed to cruise throught his matches, don't you know that?

Rafa will handle whatever comes his way, just as he has always done. You don't get through a slam without some tough matches. I have faith that he will play his best and manage to get through to the second week. I try not to look ahead. I learned it from Rafa! :)

Rafa is good enough to weather all storms, he's not the no.1 ranked player for nothing. This is a slam that we are talking about, and best of five sets matches. We know how difficult it is to beat a fit and confident Rafa in a best of five sets match, just ask Nando, Nole and Fed.

@ Nativenewyorker and luckystar (and nadline)

I have always been able to count on your interesting and informative posts!

^^^^^Tnx Monalysa.

There is no doubt that a big server like Isner is awkward to play but Rafa has a 5.0 h2h with him and Karlovic put together; 3.0 with Ivo and 2.0 with Isner. Karlovic served 48 aces in his first round against Dodig and still lost. So far Isner has served 46 aces in 2 matches, which is not that many actually because that was over 7 sets. In 2009 at RG Ivo served 55 aces against Lleyton Hewitt and still lost the match.

Rafa just has to make sure he doesn't drop his serve, so far he hasn't.

Of course no one can be sure of the outcome of any match, but if Isner or Cilic were such threats, they would be in the top 5 at least.

""Both Isner and Cilic will casue him so many problems on a hard court with the big serves and hard flat forehands. They will probably be a bigger threat that Rafa's potential opponent in the quarters and possibly the semis ""
______

LOL! Isner and Cilic as BIGGER threats to whatever Nadal may face in the SF? Are you serious? At best, Isner/ Cilic might take a set off Nadal, and even that would be surprising. I don't think either has ANY chance of coming close to taking 3 sets of Nadal.

In any case, both of these are not even in the same STRATOSPHERE as Andy Murray, w.r.t the challenge they present to Nadal. Murray is a whole different ballgame compared to folks like Isner and Cilic.

@imjimmy, please stop threatening us with Andy Murray (duce, sorry nothing against Andy really). old same story before each GS. thanks.

shireling i remember that racist accusation from john tomic. i assumed that it was because hewitt was still angry with tomic for the wimb incident and not racist. it's anyone's guess (remember hewitt's uso incident with blake and linesman?). anyway, he and bernard seem ok now.

i don't know that i'd call tomic a counter puncher. his match against starace a few years ago seems like he had a very nice touch and slick DTL shots and did mix it up well. he didn't really counter punch. but it seems against cilic he played quite differently, into cilic's hands sometimes. i think cilic being a better and stronger player than starace didn't let bernard play his game. i will try to catch rafa-bernard today and see how bernard plays.

come to think of it, hewitt can't be a racist towards bernard or else he would not have invited bernard to practice with him at wimb (thereby inviting that snub from the tomic cam). so john tomic's accusation is baseless. hewitt has always tried to help the juniors and younger players because he said that TA did a lot for him in the past and he always wants to give back what he got from TA.

I guess I should've expected some defensive reactions when making my comment and perhaps should have elaborated a bit more to save a bit of backlash.

Just to conifrm - NNY, Monalysa, this was not a slant on Rafa, or an attempt to provoke anyone. I for one would love to see Rafa complete the set of four majors consecutively. It would be great for the current generation of fans witness a truly historic event in the game.

I just made the observation that because this is on a hard court, either Cilic of Isner could make things really difficult for Rafa. Isner can be a problem for anyone if he's on form with his serve. Rafa shouldn't have too many problems holding his own serve, but it would be a concern going into any tiebreaks especially, if Isner has a high 1st sevre perecentage and is bombing aces left, right and centre.

I agree with deuce that Cilic is a moe complete player than Isner. He's a bit like a lesser version of Del Potro. In the past we've seen players (e.g Tsonga, Davydenko etc) on a hard court have success against Rafa by taking the ball on early, putting away the short forehands, keeping up a high intensity and try to take time away from Rafa. Cilic will try to adopt this strategy to possibly hit Rafa off the court.

Of course Imjimmy Murray is a better player than Clilc, and despite their matches always being close, I feel Rafa has more capacity to deal with Murray's game plan as opposed to an opponent who is playing ultra aggressive with big serves and smashing forehand winners all over the court. He would certainly have an easier time with Youznhy or Ferrer.

In Rafa's encounters with Murray, it normally comes down to mental focus on the pressure points, which I think was the main reason for Rafa's victory at Wimbledon and the O2.

Look, I didn't say that Rafa's defnitely going out in the 4th round at all, and more than likely he'll go through. I just think that a match up with either Isner or Cilic will prove to be one of the more difficult matches for him en route to the final.

We can't deny that both players have the game to hurt Rafa on a hard court - which is why it would not be a complete shock if they pulled off a victory.

And of course if he thrashes either of them in three straight sets, I'll be the first to come on here and admit being wrong.

A fit and healthy Rafa who is playing well WON'T be blown off the court by anyone. This is the new version Rafa we are talking about, not the 2008 AO or the 2009 USO version. Can Isner or Cilic or Sod consistantly hit big serves and big forehands over five sets to blow Rafa off the court? Not when Rafa is playing so well now! Fat hope that a 2009FO kind of hard hitting by Sod can yield the same results, not when Rafa is well ready for it, and will grind Sod into submission over four five hours if need be (though I doubt anything like that is necessary).

The issue is not misinterpreting what anyone says. The issue is that Rafa has evolved as a player and now has additional weapons to combat the problems that players like Isner and Cicil presented in the past.

Unless anyone was living under a rock for the last year, then they would see that Rafa now has a much faster first serve that has been a formidable weapon for him on hardcourt. It gives him the opportunity to get some cheap points and also to serve his way out of tough spots in a match. He has shown that he can bang a lot more aces these days.

Additionally, Rafa has become more aggressive in his game. He now stands closer to the baseline and even inside the baseline, looking to move into the court and close out points more quickly. He is no longer the player who used to stand two feet behind the baseline and try to outhit his opponent from the baseline. That style of play won't work against guys like Cilic, Isner, Delpo, Sod or Berdych.

Also, in case some here haven't noticed, Rafa's net game has become absolutly superb. He has even tried some serve and volleying. What I love is that serve out wide that pulls his opponent off the court and the follow up with a blazing forehand to the opposite end of the court. That one-two punch is something that Rafa didn't have in the past.

Isner or Cilic will be facing a very different Rafa than they have in the past. Cilic only played Rafa once in the fall of 2009, when he was at his lowest point having just recovered from an abdominal tear and not being confident and in form. This Rafa is one that Cilic has not faced.

The changes that Rafa has made in his game have stood him in good stead on hardcourts. He can now best these tall, big serving guys and beat them at their own game. The biggest advantage that Rafa has is his formidable mental toughness, his will to win and his sheer intelligence and ability to adjust in the middle of a match. He is one smart young man! He knows how to outwit his opponents. Rafa is healthy and filled with a good deal of confidence after having won three straight slams in a row, achieving the career grand slam.

I am not going to sit here trembling at the prospect of Rafa facing either Isner or Cilic. I say - bring it on! However, Rafa first has to get through the arrogant brat tonight. I am planning on staying up for the duration. Since I am in L.A. and the match won't start until sometime after midnight, this will be a long night.

One match at a time, just like Rafa! :)

rfzr: I am not threatening anyone with Andy Murray. Did you even read my post? I am just saying that of all opponents Nadal might face (Federer, Djokovic, Soderling etc). Murray is the toughest. Fed hasn't beaten Nadal in a big slam match since 2007; Djokovic has NEVER beaten Nadal at slam level; For Soderling: the only time Sod beat Nadal in a big match was in F.O 2009 was when Rafa was in a world of hurt. And please, saying Cilic and Isner are bigger threats than the guys above, is laughable to say the least. Not against the current Nadal; both of them wouldn't come close to breaking his serve consistently. They don't posses a ROS in the same level as the above players.

Now about Murray: The Scott has beaten Nadal at slam level twice and was close in the WTF match. So it follows that Murray is the toughest opponent for Nadal. Can Nadal beat Murray? SURE. Still, Whatever the outcome, I'm willing to wager that this would be Rafa's toughest test in the AO.

Finally, Murray played excellent in humiliating GGL in the past couple of hrs. His serve has more MPH to it (especially the second) and he is MORE aggressive from his forehand. So he seems to be in fine touch, and is making a conscientious effort to be more offensive.

Let's hope Nadal plays likewise against Tomic. I feel that we are setting up for a SUPER EXCITING final week; each of the top guys is trying to outdo the others by playing out of his skin. I can hardly recall any slam where all the top players were looking so good.

GGL couldn't offer much resistence against Murray. In fact he can't against the top few guys, his win over Rafa last year at Bangkok was an exception more than the norm. Rafa was having his unusual break point conversion problems then, can't convert even having twenty over break point chances.

Murray also won't have an easy path to the semi, so one match at a time and don't assume that Sod can't do any damage.

I have been keeping an eye on Sod and got another look at him today. The guy is really feeling it now. He seems to be peaking nicely. I think he has a special motivation to do well at this slam, where he has never gotten past the early rounds.

That's why I am not making any predictions about the semifinals. Murray also looked to be in excellent form against GGL. Granted he is not a top player, but Murray is serving extremely well and faster than ever. He appears to have worked very hard to be in great shape for this tournament.

Even Nole, who has really been under the radar in this tournament, seems to be playing well and quietly confident after winning the Davis Cup. This could be a real barn burner of a second week, or as some of you like to say, a "cracker"! :)

rfzr: u r 4given, ;) I get equally cross when a certain person claims Soderling will annialate Andy =:( not u lucky, u r a fair and thoughtful poster. If they should meet, just hope Sod's been practising his volleying is all ;)
V. interesting how some players are so difficult for others, regardless of ranking eg Simon and Fed, Wawa and Andy and so on. Where's cheryl, must be a blog in here somewhere.

Sorry cheryl, I know you've done Simon and Fed already, and really enjoyed it, but there must be quite a few others and also in the past?

Nativenewyorker: I agree. Soderling vs Murray should be cracker. What I really like about Soderling is that he does not check out mentally and has the killer instinct (crucial at the top level). Still, over 5 sets, I have to give Murray the edge. Soderling might win a set (or maybe 2) but Murray will come through eventually by just out-grinding Soderling. Anyway, I would be surprised if this match is a straight set victory for either player.

Meanwhile, I am also very interested to see how Nadal plays Tomic. This could be a nice match. Not in terms of the result; for the outcome will never be in doubt. Still there are certain things that Tomic does well: He has a good solid flat backhand, counter-punches well; good thinker on court; doesn't make too many UFEs and plays confidently. In other words, sort of a poor man's Andy Murray.

I expect Nadal to put the hammer down, but parts of the match could be interesting..

imjimmy,

I have enormous respect for Murray. I do think that he has the overall advantage against Sod. However, Sod seems to be on a mission to do well at this tournament. He has already exceeded his previous results, so it's all good for him. I think Murray has a lot of weapons to trouble Sod. Being the great counterpuncher that he is, the way he is returning serve, will be huge in a match with Sod. I think Murray gets criticized unfairly for being "too defensive". There is defensive tennis and passive tennis and they are two very different things. Great defense does win slams. However, Murray did need to integrate more aggressive play in his game and has managed to do that quite succesfully. He is in great form and looking hard to beat.

I am too mad at Tomic and his comments about beating Rafa to even care much about his game at the moment. I have heard that he can hit flat shots, take the ball early and also hit unexpected shots to throw off his opponent. Monfils' coach, Roger Rasheed has disparagingly called him a "junk ball" player. He also said that the players on tour will expose his junk balling. There is so much controversy surrounding this young man and so many unfavorable incidents with him, that I really don't find myself all that interested in how he plays.

I do thank you for giving me more information, so that I know what to look for in the match. I have heard the comparison to Murray, although he is not supposed to be anywhere near as good a mover on court. I couldn't get a sense of his game from just watching the parts of his match with Feli that espn2 allowed us to see. This business of jumping from one match to another drives me crazy. He did seem to have some decent shots, but I also thought that Feli wasn't playing as well as I have seen him play. I will get a chance tonight, but already I dislike this kid because he has a big mouth.

It's okay if the match is competitive. Rafa needs a bit of a test at this point in the tournament. He has been fortunate to get two easy early matches, which should have helped him ease into the tournament and get stronger every day after that bug that felled him.

I will try to stay up for this match, although it's already after midnight here in L.A. I wish that Rafa's match would have come before the women. All I can hope is that their match will be over in straight sets and then I can hopefully see Rafa's match. This is one that I would like to see live.

Nativenewyorker: It's worse for me. I'm one hour ahead of CA time. Yet the thought of skipping Nadal's match never entered my mind! Meanwhile the Stosur WTA match goes on and on, unfortunately. Finish already!

You're right about Soderling. He sometimes gets overlooked. Apart from the AO, he's only lost to Fed or Nadal at slams. I know that he won't go down tamely. So maybe this is his time..let's see how competitive he is against Murray..

Late night matches, perfect for UK fans :) Bring on Sod, say I, this is calm, relaxed, serve firing Andy!

Funny, the AO has decided to schedule Nadal vs Tomic as the last night match. Hope it doesn't run too late ... past anyone's bedtime. ;)
smr , 1/21/11 5:53 PM

channel 7 network - not AO - decides who plays on centre court and what time slot they play.