I believe a chair umpire can deduct a point for really offensive behavior which, if not corrected, could get someone disqualified.

Whoa! I'm surprised at all of the Clijsters hatred! She's always seemed so sweet, as for the injury, it was clear to me that her mobility remains limited. She was late for quite a few balls, particularly in the 2nd set, hence all of the UFE.

Well the media continues to ask her about the injuries, she's just responding. And, I think, because there's speculation that she's not injured or exaggerating, Kim becomes defensive and harps on her injuries even more. It's a bad cycle.

I agree. She seemed stiff and sprayed UEs right and left. She didn't move as smoothly as she does when she's uninjured. Though the second-set lull has become a bit of a trademark for her too, so I wasn't surprised that it went to a third set. She won't be able to pull that off with Henin, though. And I definitely like her a lot. She seems really likeable.

The author of Winning Ugly? Isn't that a little hypocritical?

Well, winning ugly did not include cheating.

I tend to agree. The media has been bringing up Kim’s injuries and I think she just brings them up when people question the validity of them. And her movement has seemed hindered.

I really liked how both JHH and Amelie made predictions for the Clijster’s/ Hingis match when they were being interviewed. It can be refreshing to see a tennis player just flat out pick their likely next opponent. I enjoyed Mauresmo’s interview with Chris. She does seem very likeable and I really enjoy how she seems to have a great relationship with the other French players. She and Grosjean seem close. I am really rooting for her to win this whole thing.

Speaking of Grosjean- I agree with whoever said that it was great how Mary pointed out how gracious he was being. I’m sure that if Kiwi had been on the other side of that he would still be out there arguing with the umpire. I wonder how may times the racket throwing incident will be brought up by the ESPN crew before and during Kiefer’s match with Federer? I predict at least 50 times.



You are not alone. When he is on court, he is enjoyable to watch with a nice smile but doesn’t really do anything for me. However, when I saw that interview where he was all clean with his hair down, I thought that he looked cute.

I'm sad I missed that Mauresmo interview. Like Clijsters at the U.S. Open, this is her best shot to win the big one. I'm hoping she does. I'm not a big fan of Clijsters, but she's likable enough. Can't say the same for JHH or Maria "Please Mispronounce My Name" Sharapova...

I'm hoping for a Baghdatis/Federer final. That would be a great story for ESPN. A little over a year ago, Marcos was little more than a second-round speed bump, so meeting in the final would be exciting.

Didn't Marcos actually give Federer a run at a slam last year before cramping and falling off? Or am I thinking of someone else.

Anyway.....is the coverage taking a break tonight because of Australia Day?

I can't believe I missed the thrown racquet incident. I watched all the coverage of the match (meaning the end of the 4th set through the completion) and left the room for a minute or two and come back to Mary talking about it. But up to that point, Kiefer was really out of line and in every instance of his screaming, shot spot showed he was wrong.

I didn't mind when he took his shirt off though.

I love(d?) Kiefer but he was out of line. Because he's never been a featured player for the broadcast schedule I'd not seen a lot of him like this, like the new Ilie Nastase. He was known for the stare-downs and little quirks, sure, but nothing so eggregious as this raquet-throwing incident. He's got a fantastic, tricky game. I did not at all mind seeing him with this shirt off either. Hmmm. Too bad.

Marcos took Roger to four sets in the second round at the 2004 USO and took Roger in a tie-break in the Rof16 at the 2005 Aussie Open.



Me neither, tee hee! He looked quite nice with the messy hair and lack of shirt. I enjoy Kiefer's play but I really do think he takes it too far with his craziness. He does, as you say - go over the line.



They are showing the women's semis matches in the US tonight on ESPN2 and then they are showing the Nalbandian/Baghdatis live early Thursday morning at 3:30 eastern.

Does anyone else think that Brad is falling in love with Marcos? There is an article in The Age makes me think that Brad must have drawn hearts on the margins while he was writing it.

Yeah. What I was trying to say is that his biggest claim to fame used to be taking a set off Federer. Now they could meet with Baghdatis having a few major wins under his belt.

From BG:Hey, that's about what we had. Sign us up for watching tennis as a full-time job!

It's a cryin' shame that Martina couldn't overcome Clijsters. I must be one of the few who was rooting for her. Kim was just simply dominant from the forehand side. I think she must have one of the strongest forehands in the women's game. Her backhand, on the other hand, was another story. I liked how Martina kept attacking that side. Great point by Mary Carillo also by how Martina seemed to always be in the right position when she moved in to the net.

I liked how Martina really seemed to enjoy herself. Even after losing, she was smiling as she walked back to her chair after congratulating Kim. And it was nice that she got a standing ovation from the crowd. Martina's return to tennis is good for the tour.

The irony here (as Carillo correctly pointed out) is that the Clijsters backhand is usually significantly better than the forehand. Like Venus, her forehand breaks down at times while her backhand is generally rock solid. Strange. That was almost like seeing Roddick dominate a match with his backhand.

I agree with the comments about how cute Baghdadis looked with his clean hair down and the full force of the pretty smile and sparkling eyes in effect.

I, too, am somewhat surprised at the Clijsters-hate here. She's supposed to be the nicest of all the women players. (And if not her then it's Mauresmo). I read these comments about how she felt about her body and general form in the Hingis match: Clijsters was not thrilled with her body or overall play, saying she "hit the wall" leading 2-0 in the second. She finished with 35 winners to Hingis's 19, but committed 18 more unforced errors.
I was so impressed with Davydenko, even though the quality of the play in the match was wildly uneven. I don't remember him playing such exciting tennis. I also think it really sucks that he has no clothing sponsor. Jesus, he's the number five player in the world! Okay, he's balding and not especially charismatic, but what a player!

Federer-Kiefer could be ugly. Roger's level of play has been un-Roger-like the last two matches, due some unknown degree to the play of Haas and Davydenko. I remembered what Peter Lundgren said he was thinking during the Safin semi last year, that at some point in a longer match Roger's feet would start hurting and his game could get ragged. I wonder if this court/heat makes his feet hurt more than usual.

In fact, what with the prospect of Nalbandian in the final, if Roger gets through this tournament it will be the ugliest major win of his career, sort of a trench warfare kind of thing.

I don't want to hear the host guy calling any more matches. (Obviously I'm blanking on his name right now.) I think he's cool as a host, but when it gets to matches he approaches Al Trautwig-ness: he's trying to sound as if he knows more than he actually does. Why do they need him when they've got Cliffie, Enberg AND Tim Ryan?

Blech! Sharapova just took the first set.

One of the few maybe, but not the only. I'm irritated with myself for giving up on her when she was down 0-2 in the second. Sounds like she didn't lose another game that set. I made the mistake of following Dick Enberg's bent: giving up on a player way too early. At least she lost to a player that I actually like. It could have been a Williams sister. Ugh.

Anway, I'm thrilled that she did so well in Australia. She was the first player to even take a set off of Clijsters this tournament--and we're talking about the (upcoming) #1 player in the world. I think that bodes well for her, and it certainly means that I'll be watching more women's tennis. I quit when she did.

I may have thought they went a bit overboard with the coverage of her comeback, but I agree that having her back is nothing but positive. I'm really looking forward to seeing her in the French. I'd like to see her get the one GS that she doesn't have, and I think that surface is the great equalizer when it comes to power. Regardless, I do think she's going to be in the top 20 before long.


And besides that, he looks so damned cute with that little backwards cap he always wears.

Watching two players I dislike is not fun. I don't think I've ever rooted for JHH before. Nice that the cameras caught her coach cheating. Classy!

Fowler gets points from me for using the subjunctive mood appropriately. Of course, BG followed that up immediately with "if the roof was [sic] open." Ah, Brad... we'll always have Crowded House.

I may have to watch this on mute if Bones doesn't STFU. It sounds like someone's beating her with the racquet.

Third set baby! Go Henin-Hardenne, she is kicking ass now. After watching and listening to tonights match, I really do not like Mary Jo as a commentator. Hopefully Pam will be doing the Clijsters/Mauresmo match.

ETA: Because I have been looking at her mug for the past two hours and I am completely shallow, Sharapova has awful skin.

Damn, damn, damn...Maria...those calls were so unfair.

She looked so sad and depleted out there.

Fucking shit! I REALLY don't care who wins the whole thing now. If only those 2 bogus line calls weren't made. God, I hate JH-H.

I abhor JHH. So much so that I will not watch Friday's final - I don't really care who wins now. Those two blown calls were huge. I hate you also, chair umpire. I hope you watch the shot spot replay tonight and feel really really bad. I thought it was a great point they made about one day having electronic line calling, and being able to throw out the red challenge flag. It would take some getting used to, but ultimately I think it would be better for tennis.


I turned this on at the beginning of the third set. What exactly was he doing?


I noticed this also - it was quite surprising. But no worse than JHH's cold sore.

Is that a cold sore or a mole? She's had that thing forever, no?

Yeah but to be fair, Sharapova benefitted from a horrendous call that lead to her capturing the first set as well and none of the commentators went on and on about it like they did the calls against her.

Justine is down double break point and hits a service winner (Sharapova hits it long). That wiped out one break point against. Only it didn't because the linesperson called it out. Late. Very late. Shot spot confirmed it wasn't even close.

The commentators never mentioned it again.

Third set? When it's against Maria? "This is why we need the electronic lines calls for the game." "This is really unfortunate". etc...

I hate Justine. I LOATHE Sharapova, but I hate Justine as well. So while I was rooting for Justine for the first time, I'm in no way a fan. But why is it ok that she got screwed and it wasn't ok that Maria got screwed. If you're upset about one, Mary Joe and Dick, then be upset about both.

He made a hand signal. Specifically, he held up his hand with the palm out and then turned so his palm was facing towards him. Mary Jo tried to figure out what it meant. Yuri Sharapov apparently cheats as well, so I guess it all cancels out. It really sucks that one of these two had to make the final.

Sharapova has always had bad skin.

Bad line calls occur at least once per match, such is the game, humans aren't perfect. And at some point every player benefits from bad line calls, and are hurt by bad line calls. Does it suck for Maria, yes. But I don't think JH-H is to blame; besides Maria still had plenty of opportunities in that match. And I did enjoy the match.

ETA: Clijsters/Mauresmo is about to start. What are the odds that Amelie will choke?

Thank God we have Cliffy and Mary for Clijsters/Mauresmo. It's another very late night and therefore easier to pretend/hallucinate that this match is really the final. Hard for me to pick one of these two - pretty fond of both of them.

Especially since they both appreciate that long-time-high-ranking-without-a-Slam-title predicament, and since they've both received some regative chatter despite their reportedly lovely natures both in life and the locker room.

Harry, I think you're right on about the dangers in tomorrow's top-half men's match. Will be interesting to watch. It was painful to read Roger's interview on the AO website - he has to defend scraping out wins and not blowing away the other players, when I think he and many others have almost always acknowledged the very obvious reality that there are several players who pose a threat to him for different reasons.

And three of them are left! So there you go, ESPN - not the runaway tournament you had predicted, despite (or because of???) the early departure of the Americans.

I'm surprised at the hate towards the Belgians here. Anyway, I'm glad that both are doing well and right now I'm okay with any of the three remaining players winning. Mauresmo has been doing so well that I think this may be her chance, and I'll be happy if she finally breaks through. As for Kim and Justine, I'm always happy when they win.

And I don't root for Federer, just like I never rooted for Sampras, but right now he needs to avenge Grosjean by beating the crap out of Kiefer. (But I do agree that Kiefer is kind of hot in that icky Colin Farrell way - not that I think CF is hot, but you know what I mean. He's nowhere near as yucky and greasy and gross as CF, anyway. But still an asshole. Bah.)

I'm glad that the Star Sports commentators for the Kim-Amelie match doesn't include Vijay. He's been annoying me this whole tournament.

Some of just think that Clijsters isn't as injured as she claims to be and it's not causing her undue problems. That's not "hate".

How does Shot Spot actually work? Since it's so fast on the television coverage, why not just use it for the actual match-they don't have to broadcast it, just maybe the line judge can consult over a disputed call.

I like just putting the match on mute or listening to something else on headphones instead of listening the commentary at all.

I mean "hate", of course, in the message board sense.

We have ESPN International, but right now it's showing some snooker tournament. This channel is next to useless. I think we get "The Ocho".

(One of the players in the boys' draw is named Pavel Chekhov. Hee.)

That was a great match, it is sad that Clijsters had to retire, damn. Hopefully Mauresmo can finally win a grand slam Saturday.

Ai-ya-yi. First, Sharapova goes down. Then Clijsters retires after a freak ankle sprain. No way I'm watching Friday now for sure. I could care less who wins, although I would want Mauresmo just so JHH doesn't get another Slam.

Anyone catch the blonde "gossip reporter" who reported on the lunch they had for Australia day? I thought it was so gross how she was taking the fly swatter and SWATTING THE ACTUAL FOOD in attempts to kill the flies. And then you expect people to eat those meat pies? After the bacteria infested fly swatter has splattered the entire top of it? So gross.

Thank goodness, that started off the night right.

Yay!! Mauresmo. Even though she was winning that third set and was up a break I'm happy she didn't have to finish it. Damn I was nervous the whole match and especially that last set that I had to mute the T.V. and I just kept glancing back and watching a little as I did h.w. On my last glance back I saw Clijster go down....



'Funny' we've been accussing Clijster as playing up her injuries while being fine and then she really hurts herself which knocks her out of the Open. lol. Yes, freaky. O well......

Call me odd- but I was fond of Gilbert when he was wearing the goofy cork hat and yucking about the Vegimite. He and Chris seem to have a lot of fun with each other. I can not believe this- but Brad has grown on me.

A shame that it had to end this way. Both for Kim and for Mauresmo- who I want to win this tournament. I just think it stinks that Mauresmo was unable to have a "real" win before going into a final, which would have been good for her confidence, and also was unable to do a real congratulatory wave to the crowd, which I am sure can be inspiring.

Am I the only one up watching?

Is the match re-airing later? If so, I'm pissed I stayed up to watch (PT zone, night owl, sucked into a 5-setter). Just wanted to know I wasn't the only TWoPper watching live.

I was watching and then I had to go to work. Stupid work! But I just checked out the Australian Open website and saw who won. Do I have to spoiler the results?

Totally with you on this.

I was watching. Fabulous! Love the rain's bad timing, too -- 5-4 15-all. Actually it made it even more fun. The commentators were going nuts. Annoyingly, though, I missed the resumption of play, which was probably all of five minutes, because I had to do some stuff. I'll watch the replay later.

...but YAY!!! He needs to win it all now.

GO MARCOS!!!! I can't believe I missed the ending of this match. I really thought David would pull it out. So I guess I have another tennis boyfriend to add to my list.

I caught the first couple of sets, went to sleep- gotta catch some Zzzzs and frankly I thought it would be a blow out- and then caught the last set. Unreal.

This kid has so much fight. And I loved how he was just looking up and smiling at the rain when other players would have probably been tense or irritated. Chris and PMac appear, like Brad, to be really taken with this kid. I feel bad for David because it really seemed like he had a great chance to win this tournament but I am soooo happy for Marcos.

I wanted to give him a hug at that moment.

Me too. PMac and Chris were giggling at the replay when they were showing that.

I was happy that ESPN stayed and showed the Courier interview for Aussie TV. Gotta sat Jim- looking a little bloated.

I really, really hope that they are able to work something out in this matter. It would be such a shame for Baghdatis' career to be interupted for two years because of conscription. I hope that they can delay his service until his 30s or maybe let him do installments of a couple of months during the winter break.

Cyprus is probably going nuts right now. I'll bet there'll be an outcry if Baghdatis had to cut his career short just now that he's made them so proud. I forget, didn't Srichaphan do some required duty as well? Did he get out of that?

Another thing, those ballkids on their knees scrubbing the floor with towels? Is this really a Grand Slam? Vijay was pretty disgusted with that, and I was too. That was totally unprofessional. Even our old school gym has mops, for heaven's sake. I know they were required to keep the roof open until it rained, and it came down suddenly in buckets, but it looked like amateur hour out there with those kids wiping away. They even had different methods - one kid had his foot on the towel and was moving his leg back and forth, while the others were on their knes scrubbing away at random places. Compare that with how they do it at Wimbledon. Highly organized and even fun to watch.

Go Marcos! He's so freaking fabulous. I'm sooooooo very happy for him. He didn't get the support that the other young players got, and yet here he is with his star charisma, good looks (yes, I think he's a hottie) and great game making a name for himself. Everyone was looking at Gasquet, Monfils and Berdych, and no one thought of Marcos.

And now I'm torn. I want Federer in the final, 'cause Kiefer deserves to be spanked, both literally and figuratively. And I do love, adore and worship Roger. But it would be incredible for Marcos to win it all. If the Roger/Marcos final happens, it's probably going to be the first match where I would be fine with Roger losing.

And I got the women's final I wanted. That never happens. It was a great match between Sharapova and JHH (as was the coaching competition going on in the stands). I love JHH and her game, but I so want Mauresmo to win this. She deserves it.

My two favorite players. I'm so happy!

ETA:

Hee. That happens every year at the US Open...

I was and I'm on the East Coast. Yes, I ruined my workday for nothing. Nalbandian choked. It's a pity the Australian Open is over. OK, OK, just for me. But without Nalby, Hingis, or Clijsters, I've lost a lot of interest.

I'm disappointed mmmmmMaria lost. Yeah, she did benefit in the first set from one call, but the ones in the third set were horrendous. Particularly the one on Justine's service game at 2-2. Instead of going up a break, Sharapova gets another bad call and was down 4-2. I turned the TV off at that point.

I'm also disappointed Clijsters withdrew. With JHH and Mauresmo in the finals, I'm not planning on watching. Maria-Kim would have had me glued, but now that both of them are out, I guess I have to root for Mauresmo by default.

I only hope that Mauresmo hasn't saved her patented choke for the finals. If it were anyone but JHH in the finals, I wouldn't mind if she choked.

I heard JHH on an interview, and I guess I'm kind of surprised I realized I had never heard her speak before. She had a lot heavier French accent than I thought. It's completely normal and expected of course, but I guess I was so used to hearing non-Americans like Sharapova speaking with very little accent that it surprised me.

This is cute.
Hee!

One of Star Sports' flaws it that it rarely shows the post-match press conferences. Not that those things are enlightening, but once in a while there comes a player whose interview I would very much like to hear. At least the channel still shows the post-match on-court interview.

I'm with a lot of you - finding myself pulling for Justine for the first time ever. I am so sick of Sharapova's screaming and 10-minute long Pierce-like ritual between EVERY point. Not to mention the weak little fist pump and did I mention the screaming?

I am also sick of Mary Joe's fawining over Sharapova, and I don't think ESPN should let her call those matches. She never says anything critical of her at all. They barely even talked about JHH for the first several minutes of the match.

Maybe I dreamed this, but isn't Mary Joe's husband involved with the management company that handles Sharapova? I really got a bad taste in my mouth when they held up her new perfume. Seems if MJ's finances are impacted by Sharapova's success, ESPN may want to find other matches for her to comment on.

I am just thankful it wasn't Cliffy with M.J. - although I love him I think he has a major crush on Maria too! Mary pretty much calls it like she sees it and I think she has a lot of good insight on what these players need to do to improve.

Exactly. Kim has always been one of my favorite players, but sometimes I think rumors of players' injuries are greatly exaggerated so they have something to blame or fall back on when they lose. That said, her rolled ankle had to hurt like hell. What a way to go out of a Grand Slam match.

I hope Amelie beats Justine. Not only do I dislike Justine, but Amelie has been my favorite player for a long time and it's painful to see her choke in many big matches. I was so happy when she won last year's ending tournament.

The icing on the cake, though, is that shrieking Sharapova is gone. I want to shove a tennis ball down her throat when she starts that shit. I took great delight in what I thought looked like tears in her eyes few games before the match was over. I know, I'm evil, but I really love it when she goes down in flames.

All we need is for Federer to beat Keifer. I am really rooting for a Federer/Baghdatis final, and I would be happy that at least one of them would be the Aussie Open champ. Jimena I am totally with you. I love Federer but I really want Baghdatis to win this thing.

So Keifer was the guy that knocked out Paradorn Srichaphan in the first round?

Darn it...because Srichaphan could have easily won it in 3 sets...but didn't.