Down Under Diary, Day 14
Melbourne, Australia

Federer Believes Murray Will Win A Major
Roger Federer may have extended Great Britain’s title drought in majors for at least another five months, but the Swiss believes it is only a matter of time before Andy Murray joins the Grand Slam Champions club.
“The next one is not going to get any easier [for him],” said the Swiss. “But his game is so good that I'm convinced he will win one. I thought he did really well tonight because conditions were tough.
“He's a wonderful mover, tactician, [has a] great backhand. He has got everything you need to beat the best and to win big tournaments. Sometimes it just doesn't happen when you want. Sometimes it all of a sudden happens without you knowing that it did.
“He's going through a tough generation at the moment. There are many guys [who can challenge for Grand Slams]. So I think it's just not an easy thing to do, [win] Grand Slams, and I proved it again tonight. But I think he's extremely strong in his mind, and I just feel like he's got the game to do it. The question is just when.”

Murray Manages To Make A Joke Of It
One year ago, when Roger Federer lost the Australian Open final to Rafael Nadal, the Swiss cried on the shoulder of his Spanish victor during the trophy presentation ceremony.
It’s catching, it seems. Having lost his second major final and failed to end Great Britain’s 74-year wait for a male Grand Slam singles winner, an understandably disappointed Andy Murray choked back tears as he thanked the crowd and his family and friends back home for all their support before joking: “I can cry like Roger; it's a shame I can't play like him.”

Players Discuss Greatest Ever
As Roger Federer lifted his 16th major singles trophy, Indian doubles star Mahesh Bhupathi asked the Twitter world – “good time to debate who is the greatest. Vijay says Laver.. I say Roger.. Some say Borg. Fed on song is unbeatable..”
“courageous effort by Andy_Murray, but Roger Federer is the Greatest Tennis Player of All-Time, end of discussion,” wrote former player-turned TV commentator Justin Gimelstob.
“Fed at 16 (majors)... He will get to 20. Still hungry and still better than the rest!!” commented Bhupathi in answer to his own question. “The stats Rog is putting up over the last few years won't be duplicated in my lifetime..that's for sure.. Number 1 in my book..”
“I'd say rog (Federer), (Rod) laver and pete (Sampras) are top 3 in that order but I put Lendl very high on the list too,” answered American Rajeev Ram.
Indian player Somdev Devvarman agreed: “Rog and laver... noone else is in the same league in my opinion.”

Jamie Murray Misses Tie-Break To Catch Flight
Jamie Murray was still in the dark as to his younger brother’s result in the Australian Open final when he was called to board a flight to Zagreb, where he will compete in the PBZ Zagreb Indoors with Jonathan Marray next week.
In a succession of tweets, the 23 year old said: “Looking forward to watching the final...in the Star Alliance lounge at Heathrow! What am I doing?! Predictions.....
“Tuning into 909 to listen to johnathan overend and pat cash (on BBC 5Live) doing the final..come on andy!!!
“I'm in a taxi on way to heathrow for flight to croatia! Gutted to be listening to you guys! Hahah
“Boarding flight now! Gonna have to switch my phone off in the tie break!”

More To Come From Paes
Indian Leander Paes partnered Zimbabwe’s Cara Black to his 11th Grand Slam win in Sunday’s mixed doubles final and believes he still has more to offer the sport at the age of 36.
“One of the first questions I was asked at my age, to continue winning Grand Slams,” said Paes. “That was something we were talking about at the prize ceremony. 21st Grand Slam final, 11th win. The beauty of continually putting in the hard work day in and day out in the gym or on the track when you're not feeling great, these are the things you play for.
“That's the thing about tennis, that it keeps teaching me. I'm a student of life; I'm a student of tennis. It keeps teaching me about getting better. If Roger Federer can keep improving, I think all of us can still improve.”

Eric BanaStar Spotting
The Australian Open attracted a whole host of famous faces to Melbourne Park. Among them were: actors Eric Bana, Jesse Metcalfe, Les Hill and Geoffrey Rush, singer Lily Allen, TV personality Erin McNaught, Antonia Kidman (younger sister of Nicole), Olympic swimming gold medallists Stephanie Rice and Liesel Jones, Aussie Rules footballer Ben Cousins, former Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian, restaurant critic Matt Preston, guitarist Darren Middleton and sports commentator Sam Kekovich.

Statistic Of The Day
Over the Australian Open fortnight, fans devoured 15,000 Aussie sausages, 110,000 ice creams, 100,000 cups of coffee, 150,000 bottles of Evian water, 85,437 bottles of Jacobs Creek wine, 80,000 bottles of Heineken and 230,000 draught cups and more than 50,000 buckets of hot chips.
In the player cafe, players ordered more than 3,500 Chef's specials and 2,000 pasta dishes per day during peak times. The players also loved salad, with more than 1.400 per day consumed during peak periods.

Record Attendance
The 2010 Australian Open enjoyed a record tournament attendance of 653,860, beating the previous record of 605,735 set in 2008.
“I'm very thankful to the legends of the game who created this great platform for us,” said Federer. “We did have another record crowd attendance at the Australian Open. For me to be part of something like this is something also very special, of course.”

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis … Diary.aspx

Czy mógłby ktoś zrelacjonować w skrócie jakie tezy postawił Pan Wojtek w programie?

Bo niestety dałem ciała i zapomniałem obejrzeć .

Po raz pierwszy od dłuższego czsu widać było gołym okiem,że z głową Rogera jest co raz lepiej.
On nie musi nic udowadniać,gra bez obciązen,jest spełniony pod każdym względem i to widać na korcie.
Mysle,że teraz będzie groźniejszy niż kiedykolwiek.
Porażka na USO z Del Potro pozwolila mu wyciągnąc wnioski i z Murrayem zrobił to co powinien z Argentynczykiem czyli nie rozluźnił się we frajerski sposób i skończył w trzech setach.
Murray wcale nie zagrał źle aczkolwiek zginął troszkę od własnej broni.Roger przyjął jego taktykę (czego Szkot pewnie się nie spodziewał) i fantastycznie go kontrował.
Obaj w przekroju calego turnieju zasluzyli na finał ale z taką grą z Federerem nikt nie mialby szans.
Trzeba oddać cesarzowi to co cesarskie:D

Robertinho napisał:

Żadnych rewelacji; Federer-jest-wielki, a teraz nawet jeszcze-większy, zagrał genialnie pod każdym względem, Kubot miał super wynik, a Isia oby kiedyś zrobiła semi w WS.   Nawet do rzeczy gadał.

Zapomniałeś dodać, że co najmniej 7 razy podkreślił, jak niesamowite jest to, że Roker wszystkie zagrania wykonuje jedną ręką.

Nowy Fan Roda na forum. Syd

Ma ktoś gdzieś jakieś skróty z finału? Przejrzałem YT i nic nie znalazłem. W sensie, kompilacja najlepszych akcji.

Lipa.

Ten stan rzeczy chyba się ma od przeszło 2 tygodni. Wszystkie fajne skróty z pokazówki na rzecz Haiti też zostały zdjęte.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cx_Tn4z3tk

Australian Open final 2010: The best bits

What were the highlights from Roger Federer's victory over Andy Murray in the Australian Open final?


Shot of the match: Federer's scorching forehand at 5-3 in the second set. A flick of the wrist and it simply disappeared, kissing the line as it went.

Park player miss of the day: Nothing is ever easy at set point up, but even Yvonne Murray could have put away the half-court forehand Andy missed in the third set tie-break.

Turning point of the match: The first set was fairly even until Federer wound up a scintillating backhand winner down the line to give himself break point. Murray never got as close again.

Good celebration: A hearty 'Come on!' and a double fist pump was as good as it got for Murray, while Federer remained menacingly stoic throughout.

Naff celebration: Federer's hands-on-face victory yelp is still the naffest celebration in sport, never mind tennis.

Tactics watch: Federer pounced on Murray's errant serve to push the Scot behind the baseline. Murray tried the same tactic, but retreated fatally into his shell on the big points.

Racket mania: Murray changed his racket immediately after getting broken in the first set, hoping for a change of luck. It didn't work.

Outfit watch: Murray began in a pleasing shade of blue with yellow flashes down the sides, but later switched to all white. Federer opted for sky-blue with matching signature headband.

Family watch: Fist pumps and energetic applause from Judy Murray, but even she appeared subdued by the end. A hoodie-clad Mirka Federer, meanwhile, was content to sit quietly.

Celeb watch: Sir Chris Hoy was the notable face in the Murray camp, the cyclist flying out specially for the game. A promised appearance from Ricky Hatton never materialised.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/711936 … -bits.html

The Final Word: Australian Open 2010

A record crowd of 653,860 attended Australian Open 2010.

The attendance smashed the previous record by nearly 50,000 in a fortnight of tennis that dominated the world sporting spotlight and eclipsed many of the historical marks for the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific.

Highlights included:
·         The highest ever day/night attendance in Grand Slam history, with 77,043 fans attending on Saturday 23th January
·         Record traffic to the official Australian Open 2010 website www.australianopen.com
·         More than half a million dollars raised through The Hit for Haiti charity match
·         Record international interest with peaks in China and Britain
·         Australian Open 2010 was one of the top Twitter trending topics throughout the six days of the finals

The highest ever day/night attendance in Grand Slam history was recorded twice during the first week of Australian Open 2010 - on Wednesday 20 January and again on Saturday 23 January. The new record of 77,043 was set on Saturday 23rd January, eclipsing the previous record by more than 11,000 fans.

A star-studded men's and women's singles draw included nine men's Grand Slam champions and nine women's Grand Slam champions and 31 of the top 32 men and all of the top 32 women. A total of 38 nations were represented in the singles main draws (38 countries each in both the men’s and women's singles.)

American Serena Williams won her fifth Australian Open title, defeating Justin Henin, and a dream final line up in the men’s draw saw world No.1 Roger Federer battling it out with world No.4 Andy Murray for the first Grand Slam title of the year.

Australian Open 2010  was the stage for Grand Slam comebacks for former world No.1 Justine Henin and former world No.9 Alicia Molik.  Henin enjoyed a remarkable return to Grand Slam tennis, eliminating three seeded players as she progressed through the draw. Molik was knocked out in the opening round by Frenchwoman Julie Coin.

China’s Li Na and Jie Zheng created history when they became the first two Chinese players to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.  The pair captured the attention of the world and made front page news in their home country.

Tennis fans logged on to the official Australian Open 2010 website  - www.australianopen.com – in record numbers. Prior to the men’s final, unique visitors were at 9.38 million, while page views jumped 41.4 percent to 302,270 million.

The most popular male players on the website were Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick while in the women’s event Justine Henin, Maria Kirilenko and 2010 champion Serena Williams led the field.

The first official iPhone app, produced with Australian Open technology partner IBM, had 367,003 downloads and continues to climb, while the mobile Australian Open website (m.australianopen.com) notched 6,170,384 page views.

The Australian Open Facebook page drew 56,696 fans and nearly 10,000 followers on Twitter.
The Hit for Haiti Charity Fundraiser raised $44,007.19 from an online auction of tennis racquets.

Overall donations from the fundraiser reached nearly $700,000 and included major contributions from the ATP World Tour, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, International Tennis Federation, and the Grand Slam Committee.

Entertaining the crowds were some of Australia’s top music acts including Jessica Mauboy, Vanessa Amorosi, Jersey Boys, Kisschasy, Kate Miller-Heidke, Ladyhawke, James Reyne and Mark Seymore and Daryl Braithwaite.

Over the fortnight fans devoured 15,000 Aussie sausages, 110,000 icecreams, 100,000 cups of coffee, 150,000 bottles of Evian water, 85,437 bottles of Jacobs Creek wine, 80,000 bottles of Heineken and 230,000 draught cups and more than 50,000 buckets of hot chips.

In the player cafe, players ordered more than 3500 Chef's specials and 2000 pasta dishes per day during peak times. The players also loved salad, with more than 1400 per day consumed during peak periods.

More than 1500 media attended the event with record numbers attending from China and Great Britain.
Keeping all the media, staff and players up to date with what was happening around the site were 770

Panasonic televisions tuned to display courts, stats and other information.

And making it all happen behind the scenes were more than 4,500 members of staff, including 316 MLC Ballkids, 330 umpires, 205 Kia courtesy car drivers, 44 court services staff, 120 retail staff and 50 statisticians.

A fleet of 100 official cars supplied by the tournament’s major sponsor Kia Motors made in excess of 40,000 journeys transporting players to and from Melbourne Park, clocking up more than 315,000 km.

The fastest serves of the tournament were recorded by Americans Taylor Dent (231 kmh) and Venus Williams (201 kmh). Helping the players serve were 14 professional racquet stringers who strung 3297 racquets using close to 40km of string.

Famous faces watching the action included Erica Bana, Lily Allen, Jesse Metcalfe, Les Hill, Luke Mitchell, Erin McNaught, Antonia Kidman, Stephanie Rice, Ben Cousins, Guy Sebastian, Matt Preston, Darren Middleton, Pete Evans, Daniel McPherson, Sam Kekovich, Liesel Jones and Geoffrey Rush.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis … stics.aspx