Talk About Tennis 2.0

Rod Laver Arena

Day session - From 8:00pm EST

Mixed Doubles • Final
S. Mirza/R. Bopanna vs L. Stefani/R. Matos
Day session - Not before 10:30pm EST
Men's Singles • Semifinals
K. Khachanov 18 vs S. Tsitsipas 3
Night session - From 3:30am EST
Men's Singles • Semifinals
N. Djokovic 4 vs T. Paul

Margaret Court Arena
Day session - From 8:00pm EST

Women's Doubles • Semifinals
B. Krejcikova 1/K. Siniakova 1 vs M. Kostyuk/E. Ruse
Women's Doubles • Semifinals
S. Aoyama 10/E. Shibahara 10 vs C. Gauff 2/J. Pegula 2

Men's Legends Doubles • Round 1
M. Baghdatis/R. Stepanek vs B. Bryan/M. Bryan

Court 3
Day session - From 8:00pm EST

Junior Boys' Singles • Semifinals
Y. Zhou 11 vs A. Blockx 3
Day session - Not before 9:30pm EST
Junior Girls' Singles • Semifinals
S. Ishii 12 vs A. Korneeva 9
Junior Boys' Doubles • Final
A. Blockx 1/J. Fonseca 1 vs L. Tien 7/C. Williams 7
Junior Girls' Doubles • Final
R. Jamrichova/F. Urgesi vs H. Kinoshita 4/S. Saito 4

Court 5
Day session - From 8:00pm EST

Junior Boys' Singles • Semifinals
T. Berkieta vs L. Tien
Junior Girls' Singles • Semifinals
M. Andreeva 7 vs R. Stoiber 13

Court 8
Day session - From 8:00pm EST

Women's Wheelchair Doubles • Final
D. De Groot 1/A. Van Koot 1 vs Y. Kamiji 2/Z. Zhu 2
Men's Wheelchair Doubles • Final
M. Scheffers/R. Spaargaren vs A. Hewett 2/G. Reid 2
Quad Wheelchair Doubles • Final
S. Schroder 1/N. Vink 1 vs D. Ramphadi/Y. Silva

How many total games does Paul bet? I say 8.
And Khachanov for the upset. He can no longer be taken in the early rounds of a hard court slam (for the SP's).

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:00 pm How many total games does Paul bet? I say 8.

I'll take the over.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:00 pm How many total games does Paul bet? I say 8.
And Khachanov for the upset. He can no longer be taken in the early rounds of a hard court slam (for the SP's).

Under. Khachanov to be packing when SF 2 starts

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Thu Jan 26, 2023 10:00 pm How many total games does Paul bet? I say 8.
And Khachanov for the upset. He can no longer be taken in the early rounds of a hard court slam (for the SP's).

with T. Paul definitely the OVER.
Khachanov for the upset? I think he can do it!!

Yeah, ponchi, I think you are right, I took Khachanov Day 1 in the SP.....and he's still here!!!

Um. Wow. Why is the chair being so strict on a hot day?

JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:27 am Um. Wow. Why is the chair being so strict on a hot day?

Definitely there should be more lee-way when it's crazy-hot. And, for all of his annoying ways- is Tsitsipas known as being slow and a staller with his first serve? Seriously- I am just not sure about this. Please let me know if he is frequently guilty of this. I mean, you give warnings to Novak and Rafa, sure. IN any case, glad that Tsitsipas, so far, and for once, has been able to not go into drama-queen mode, and just get on with things.

I'm also btw pretty disappointed with Gauff and Pegula today. Even with their below-standards play today- they had set points in the second set. For sure, for most of the match, Shibahara and especially Aoyama (she is SUCH a 5'1" pain-in-the ass player at the net, which I 100% respect, and is very enjoyable) played wonderful tennis, and better doubles. Like too many players, I just get tired of players freezing up too often and not problem solving. Plus, Krejčíková and Siniaková are the Novaks of the WTA doubles tour. I felt like the only remaining players who might have had any chance against Krejčíková and Siniaková would have been Gauff and Pegula- AKA, my would-be WTA doubles version of Tsitsipas in this scenario.

The 25 second serve clock was introduced and used before COVID-19.
Then, because of COVID, the players were told that they had to get their own towels; that the ball kids would not be handling their towels anymore. That is still the case today - the ball kids don't touch the player's towels.

When this became the norm (that players had to get their own towels), I said aloud that they should extend the serve clock to at least 30 seconds - to make up for the extra time required by players getting their own towels instead of the ball kids getting the towels.

It only makes sense - if they had 25 seconds between points when the ball kids were getting the towels for the players, then of course they should be given more time between points if the players have to get their towels themselves.
The current 25 seconds when players are getting their own towels is comparable to having only about 15 seconds when the ball kids were getting the towels.
They should adjust the time to at least 30 seconds now.

nelslus wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 5:06 am

JazzNU wrote: ↑Fri Jan 27, 2023 4:27 am Um. Wow. Why is the chair being so strict on a hot day?

Definitely there should be more lee-way when it's crazy-hot. And, for all of his annoying ways- is Tsitsipas known as being slow and a staller with his first serve? Seriously- I am just not sure about this. Please let me know if he is frequently guilty of this. I mean, you give warnings to Novak and Rafa, sure. IN any case, glad that Tsitsipas, so far, and for once, has been able to not go into drama-queen mode, and just get on with things.

No, he's not a slow player. Chris and John were just saying he's a faster player, so he'll be able to adjust. But this is a semifinal, what is that chair thinking? It's the first set and you are being strict when it's hot because he was 2 seconds over because you're starting the clock much quicker than other umpires do? I can't imagine why he thought that was a good idea.

If it doesn't happen much more in this match, I'd guess the tournament director spoke to the chair between sets to tell him to ease up because that cannot become the story of this match.

Got it, gentlemen. Makes sense. I mean, if Tsitsipas had been egregiously slow with is first serve, different story. Good to see no melt-downs from him- even with his being called for foot faults electronically.

AND, btw, what a nightmare break of Khachanov's serve at 4-all!!

OK- that was an awesome break game from Tsitsipas. SHEEESSSHHHH.

I was happy to FINALLY see a CENTRE LINE FOOT FAULT called (on Tsitsipas).
This is something which is very, very rarely called - and I have seen plenty of clear centre line foot faults NOT called over the years - both live and on TV.

Back in the days of linespeople, the problem was that there was not a linesperson on the centre line on the server's side of the court for most matches. Maybe in the latter stages of the Majors there was - but in the earlier rounds of Majors, and throughout the entire tournament in pretty much all other tournaments, there was only a centre line linesperson on the side of the receiver - to call the line on serves.
This is still the case, obviously, in tournaments that use linespeople.
And the chair umpire obviously has a bad angle to see centre line foot faults, so he/she won't be calling them from the chair...

I wondered if they even calibrate these automatic systems to call centre line foot faults. Apparently they do - at least at the Aussie Open this year.
If centre line foot faults are going to be called more often now, it wouldn't surprise me if the centre line marker that's in front of the baseline is extended to the equal length behind the baseline, to give the players a better idea of where they can and cannot stand.

This Learner Tien American junior- who beat the 2nd seed 0 and 0 in junior singles- just won the junior doubles final with fellow American Cooper Williams 4 & 4. (I watched the last game and a half from my computer). They were the 7th seeds, beating the 1st seeds. Tien will play one of his doubles opponents in the junior singles final- Alexander Blockx, who is the #3 junior seed.

BTW, Tsitsipas has been called for more than one electronic foot fault. 2 or 3?