2017 Australian Open

jon abbey

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Nadal looks like he is on a mission early, up 4-1 (just one break).
 

tbrep

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Apr 26, 2012
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Dimitrov with some scintillating ground strokes - up 4-1 in the second set.
 

tbrep

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Apr 26, 2012
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One set all now. It's really easy to see why they call Dimitrov "Baby Fed". This match actually resembles the Fed-Nadal 09 Aus Open final somewhat.
 

BigMike

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This match has been too good for someone to lose. I think both guys deserve a nice 30 game final set here, maybe 40 games
 

Ed Hillel

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As a guy who wants Feds to win, I am rooting for Nadal here. He won't rebound as well, even with his Spanish PEDs.
 

BigMike

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Eh, Come on Grigor. Break back here. We need a couple more hours of tennis
 

BigMike

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Well it's Nadal vs Federer again.

Maybe 6 years is long enough that Roger has forgotten his demons, and he won't play like shit on Sunday
 

Sam Ray Not

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Holy crap!

If tennis was as big these days as it was in the '70s, Federer/Nadal 2017 (plus a Williams/Williams bonus card!) might be the biggest sports story in the past 25 years.

As it is, age 35.5 Federer winning a major would have to rank up there Nicklaus in the '86 Masters, only I think it might be harder to win in tennis after age 35 than it is to win in golf after age 45.
 

hittery

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Aug 13, 2005
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Great 5th set. Dimitrov is an amazing player. Can't wait to see both finals. Looks like I'll be sleeping on the couch this weekend.
 

bosoxsue

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I wonder which player will have the crowd's backing -- and that goes for the men's and women's finals.
 

Infield Infidel

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I think the crowds will firmly side with the older players.

I think it would be bigger news if it were one of the other three slams. This tournament has basically no buildup, calendar turns and there it is. French has a long clay court season and then they all build on each other over the summer. Time zones don't help, plus there's a ton of other sports right now. So Aussie gets short shrift
 

BigMike

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I wonder which player will have the crowd's backing -- and that goes for the men's and women's finals.
It's going to be a heavily Fed crowd on the Mens side; although Rafa will certainly have fans. On the women's side I suspect Venus is the crowd favorite. She is the underdog, she is the great story, and she has been the more likable sister.

Time zone has always been the killer for the Aussie. Only if it is an epic match does it make it to 7am East Coast time
 

phenweigh

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I wonder what the record is for the combined age of the four finalists (men and women) in a grand slam tournament. It's hard to image that this won't break it by a lot.
 

InstaFace

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Great for Fed, really awesome to see him pull this out.

I hate ESPN. I set up the record on one TV 2 days ago, when it was still scheduled for ESPN2. So that didn't record. I set up the recording for ESPN last night on a different TV< and didn't realize they not only switched channels but made it a very short recording window. So I didn't get the 5th set
Mike (and anyone who wants to watch these finals this weekend), if you have any cable subscription, you can go to www.espn3.com and get a Replay of pretty much anything televised on the ESPN universe (and many things that aren't) for the past 30 days. Just have to know your account login for your cable provider.

I just finished watching Rafa-Dimitrov a few minutes ago, because of that time-zone problem. I'll probably watch Serena-Venus in the morning, on a few hours' lag that same way. Highly recommend it for when events are on wonky times.
 

InstaFace

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Venus gave her quite a match. They traded breaks for the first 4 games of the match, Venus had some amazing groundstrokes, just couldn't match Serena's consistency.
 

amh03

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Serena is simply amazing!! Wonder if that will be the final Williams' sisters match. How lucky to be watching competitors like them.
 

BigMike

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It is freaking Roger versus Rafa, and ESPN is blathering about Serena on the pregame show. I really don't give a flying f***.

Come on Roger, just one more time. Give it everything you have, and lets see if you can avoid the stretch where you fall asleep for 3-5 games in a couple of sets.

Come on let's get a fast start here Roger
 
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BigMike

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Roger breaks first 4-3, come on take this set

Roger really heats up after a somewhat slow start and wins the first set.

Come on, stay at this level for 2 more sets
 
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BigMike

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Nadal takes a break after the first set and goes in.

Now we have 2 different players in the second set. Nadal has raised his game, and Roger had a poor service game (starting with a double),. Roger had a couple break chances to get back to even and his forehand has suddenly gone south. Nadal up 3-0 in the second