Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

ROSAMUND · Futures level

JonH comes home wrote:
Heather on John Cain court (who was John Cain?) tomorrow, 2nd match
on court, so early hours.

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Wednesday 10th of February 2021 07:39:50 AM

I Googled John Cain. He was the premier of Victoria from 1982 to 1990 who was responsible for the creation of Melbourne Park. He died in December 2019 aged 88. The Melbourne Arena was renamed the John Cain Arena.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

ROSAMUND wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Heather on John Cain court (who was John Cain?) tomorrow, 2nd match
on court, so early hours.

-- Edited by JonH comes home on Wednesday 10th of February 2021 07:39:50 AM
I Googled John Cain. He was the premier of Victoria from 1982 to 1990 who was responsible for the creation of Melbourne Park. He died in December 2019 aged 88. The Melbourne Arena was renamed the John Cain Arena.

Thanks for that info on John Cain; I was thinking he must be an obscure Aussie tennis player I had not heard of; if he was a state politician, then it is not surprising that he is a name I have only vaguely heard of, a bit like Ken Livingstone and the GLC would be pretty much unknown outside of the UK, but would be well known to most Brits.

Thanks also for finding out who beat Rogers in the US; I had forgotten it was Osaka, but I am now questioning my memory of whether it was that match that she had a bit of a meltdown entirely - I don't think I am going to remember properly, but Rogers does appear to be a player who when she is calm and relaxed, is noticeably hugely better than when things start to go wrong. When Fran took 3 games in a row from her in the first set, Shelby stepped down a couple of gears, but once she started well in the second set, she was in absolute cruise control and it just looked like a question of when and not if, she would win.

I wonder what everyone thinks of Heather's chances against Anett Kontaveit. I can't wait for that to start tonight and just hope it isn't on too late. I'd love to see Heather get on a run here, and for me, although Heather is a definite underdog, it isn't an unwinnable match for her.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

I couldn't recall any Australian tennis players called John Cain. The only sporting John Cain I had heard of was an American golfer with that name, so not likely to be having tennis arenas named after him.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

The Halep - Tomljanovic match was pretty entertaining, probably the best, all things considered, on the women's side thus far IMO. Great will to win by Halep who was well down in the decider, but another match that slipped away from Alja.

A couple of big names out today, but good to see that most of the main contenders are still there (albeit it's only day 3). I was most disappointed with Rybakina, she has looked a shell of the player that did so well at the back end of 2019 and Jan/Feb 2020, with her clean, big, effortless groundstrokes, but she's been fairly off since the restart, not just the hard quarantine, and a second successive R2 slam defeat to Ferro. Hopefully she can turn her fortunes back around soon.

Good luck to Heather. I'll be catching her match when I wake up (on delay).

Tennpar · Club Coach

Go Hev - enjoying her matches. Gonna have to set a very early alarm I think, especially as it's a show court smile

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I've liked my schedule thus far of bed by 11pm, up at 6am and then going through all the Eurosports shows that I recorded through the night, so I'll be sticking with that, but Heather must be on at the worst time in general for the UK audience. She follows Rublev (so that one could be over relatively quickly) who starts at 1am (or circa 1.10am) so you're probably looking at anything between a 2.45am and 4am start (I'd be surprised if it was later than that), but it is that one period that would take proper dedication to watch live. A 12am start would mean you could be in bed by 2ish and still get a good nights kip, or anything after 5am is doable if you go to bed around 10/11pm, but this will be slap, bang in the middle.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Ace Ventura wrote:
The Halep - Tomljanovic match was pretty entertaining, probably the best, all things considered, on the women's side thus far IMO. Great will to win by Halep who was well down in the decider, but another match that slipped away from Alja.

A couple of big names out today, but good to see that most of the main contenders are still there (albeit it's only day 3). I was most disappointed with Rybakina, she has looked a shell of the player that did so well at the back end of 2019 and Jan/Feb 2020, with her clean, big, effortless groundstrokes, but she's been fairly off since the restart, not just the hard quarantine, and a second successive R2 slam defeat to Ferro. Hopefully she can turn her fortunes back around soon.

Good luck to Heather. I'll be catching her match when I wake up (on delay).

I got in from an early shift at work and saw most of the second and all of the third set, and yes it was an absolute cracker of a match - Halep was really made to work hard for her win, but she really stepped up right at the point when she looked to be going out. I agree Ace - the best match I have seen so far too.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

It shows how vital to the game, generally, strong players from the grand slam nations is. We need them to be competitive in their home Slam, for sure, it adds to the excitement and, not unlike the home nation doing well in a World Cup, it ensures media and casual fans stay involved longer.

But to be good in their own slam, players need to be competitive all year around as well, so having Aussies, French, British and US men and women doing well across the season is, for me, a really important aspect of our sport.

Right now, the Aussie men are looking interesting again, the Aussie women don't appear to have too much too offer, Tomljanovic doing well though would be a boost. CD has written about the French and it is a worrying situation for them, the Brits arent really any better than over many years in the womens side, and the men (when Andy goes) will look thin at slam level; and the US have numbers but don't have star quality in the mens side, but do have Kenin and a few others womens side - putting Serena to one side, of course.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

And Heather in classic Houdini style twice escapes the downward slide and takes the first set on a tie break. Brilliant.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Sounds like heather put up a fight but goes down in 3. Still, promising event for her, onwards.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

With no women in mixed, Heather in womens doubles tomorrow is our last hope. She has a decent draw in the last 32 however in doubles, versus some local wildcards.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

kenin loses overnight to Kanepi, comfortably as well.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Good effort from Heather. Bodes well for the normal WTA250 type events to see her playing like that.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Juvan who Jo retired to reached the third round beating Sharif in 3 sets.