Rafa Nadal: Australia Open Heat Dangerous to Health

[mike carey]

I like Novak and Roger, and have a possibly irrational distaste for Rafa. I missed most of Novak's game because the cricket was on at the same time.

[BSR]

I like Novak and Roger, and have a possibly irrational distaste for Rafa. I missed most of Novak's game because the cricket was on at the same time.

Mike, I'm curious, where does the Australian Open rank in the hierarchy of Australian sporting events? For example, in the US the biggest sporting event by far is the Super Bowl, followed by the NBA Final, and the World Series. Sure, the US Open is a big deal, but it's a peripheral sport at best. Even the biggest US Open matches draw just a 6-7% TV ratings share. In contrast, for some big Wimbledon matches as many as half of British households are watching.

 

From my very distant vantage point here in the US, it seems that the Australian Open's significance in Australia is closer to the Wimbledon end of the spectrum, but I'd like to get an "insider's" perspective.

[+ WilliamM]

it was no secret that they found his personality irritating in those days.

 

If Federer and Nadal believed Djokovic's personality was irritating they were lucky not to be playing tennis during the Jimmy Connors-John McEnroe era.

[MassageDrew]

http://a4.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2018%2F0122%2Fr317524_1296x518_5-2.jpg&w=800&h=320&scale=crop&cquality=80&location=origin

 

Sad day for Nole

 

As a Rafa fan, can’t say I’m sad. But I have met Djokovic at the US Open in New York few years back.

[MassageDrew]

I have never understood why Novak is not liked as much as the other two men. He has a wonderful sense of humor and has won 12 grand slams. If it is good Spain and Switzerland against bad Serbia (because of the war in Bosnia) that is unfair to Novak.

 

His parents have a lot to do with it as well. His mom in particular. If they didn’t want him to win so hard and kept their mouth shut them maybe fans would’ve warmed up to him. He won his first slam title I think when the mom started yapping about it’s Novak’s turn now. It didn’t quite worked out that way LOL

[+ WilliamM]

He won his first slam title I think when the mom started yapping about it’s Novak’s turn now. It didn’t quite worked out that way LOL

 

Actually it worked out way beyond what she may have expected. Novak is tied for fourth place in most male grand slam wins. Only Sampras Nadal and Federer have won more Slams.

[mike carey]

Mike, I'm curious, where does the Australian Open rank in the hierarchy of Australian sporting events? For example, in the US the biggest sporting event by far is the Super Bowl, followed by the NBA Final, and the World Series. Sure, the US Open is a big deal, but it's a peripheral sport at best. Even the biggest US Open matches draw just a 6-7% TV ratings share. In contrast, for some big Wimbledon matches as many as half of British households are watching.

 

From my very distant vantage point here in the US, it seems that the Australian Open's significance in Australia is closer to the Wimbledon end of the spectrum, but I'd like to get an "insider's" perspective.

As you suggest, it falls somewhere between the US and UK views of their national tennis tournaments. If they were all on at the same time it would fall a long way behind the most significant sporting events, the AFL and national rugby league grand finals, the 'state of origin' rugby league games, the Boxing Day cricket test, but they are all at different times so they don't actually compete. At this time of year, I prefer to watch cricket, but I have been switching back and forward between that and the tennis on TV. (We have a relatively new domestic short-form cricket league that is on television every night and it has taken some of the audience the tennis previously had for the last two weeks of January.) The tennis is on from midday to about 1am each day, and it is summer holidays so total viewership is high, although not constant. (And at 4pm I am watching Dimitrov in the quarters. It's 36 degrees outside in Canberra, so screw that!)

Edited January 23, 2018 by mike carey

[+ Charlie]

I was at the night match at the Australian Open between Andy Roddick and Younes elAynaoui in 2003 that went to 21-19 in the 5th set. The next day it was reported that there was a spike in power usage all over the country as people who had gone to sleep before 11pm started getting calls from friends who were watching to turn on their tv sets to watch what was certainly the most exciting live match I ever saw.

[mike carey]

I mentioned that it was 36 degrees in Canberra yesterday, but it rained over night and it was pleasant today. The rain came with a lightshow as seen here (long exposure, obviously)

[ATTACH=full]15021[/ATTACH]

[BSR]

I mentioned that it was 36 degrees in Canberra yesterday, but it rained over night and it was pleasant today. The rain came with a lightshow as seen here (long exposure, obviously)

[ATTACH=full]15021[/ATTACH]

Beautiful photo, but zoinks! it looks like the end of the world.

[mike carey]

Beautiful photo, but zoinks! it looks like the end of the world.

It does, a few minutes' worth of lightning can do that!

[+ WilliamM]

Ms. Wozniacki seemed so young the first year she played at the US Open. I have watched as many of her matches on TV or at the Open as possible. So happy for her win.

 

 

Tennis

Caroline Wozniacki Defeats Simona Halep to Win Australian Open

By CHRISTOPHER CLAREYJAN. 27, 2018

 

 

Photo

Caroline Wozniacki won her first Grand Slam title with a 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4 victory in the Australian Open women’s singles final on Saturday. Credit Toru Hanai/Reuters

 

MELBOURNE, Australia — One by one, former Grand Slam champions welcomed Caroline Wozniacki to the club late Saturday night at Melbourne Park after her 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4 victory over Simona Halep.

 

Billie Jean King was first. She handed the beaming Wozniacki the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, which is awarded to the women’s singles champion at the Australian Open.

 

Chris Evert and Mats Wilander were next. Rod Laver chimed in on Twitter. So did Serena Williams, Wozniacki’s friend and tennis role model, after watching her breakthrough match on television in the United States.

 

It took Wozniacki more than a decade to join the club by winning her first major singles title, and it required two final weeks of struggle in Melbourne.

Edited January 27, 2018 by WilliamM

[mike carey]

I admit I was switching back and forward between the cricket and the tennis tonight, but what an amazing final tonight. To have a hard-fought men's final after an equally hard-fought women's final was amazing. And yes it was 38 degrees in Melbourne today, but cooler in the evening (it's 31 there at 11.30pm) and the roof was closed for the final.

 

Special moment in the presentation, when Rod Laver took a photo of him in the arena. In the TV scenes leading up to the host broadcaster interview, there was a shot of Roger with the presidents of Tennis Australia and Tennis USA, and the chairman of the All England Tennis Club.

[+ Charlie]

I admit I was switching back and forward between the cricket and the tennis tonight, but what an amazing final tonight. To have a hard-fought men's final after an equally hard-fought women's final was amazing. And yes it was 38 degrees in Melbourne today, but cooler in the evening (it's 31 there at 11.30pm) and the roof was closed for the final.

 

Special moment in the presentation, when Rod Laver took a photo of him in the arena. In the TV scenes leading up to the host broadcaster interview, there was a shot of Roger with the presidents of Tennis Australia and Tennis USA, and the chairman of the All England Tennis Club.

For those in the US who might be confused by Mike's post, that was 38 degrees Celsius, not Fahrenheit.