2012 Australian Open

[Sir David Gray]

It's hard to believe that the first Grand Slam of the 2012 season is almost upon us but the 2012 Australian Open will begin on Monday from Melbourne.

It doesn't seem that long since the 2011 World Tour Finals were being played in London but all the attention turns to the other side of the world for the next two weeks.

The draw was made today and it has thrown up a potential semi final line up of;

Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray
Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer

What a treat that would be!

That's all a long way off though and in the first round, Federer and Nadal will face qualifiers, the identify of whom is not yet known.

Djokovic and Murray's opponents are known though and the defending champion will face a 30 year old Italian called Paolo Lorenzi, who is currently ranked 108th in the world rankings. I think it's safe to say that Djokovic will be making a winning start.

Murray, who has reached the final for the last two years, faces the American Ryan Harrison. They have never played each other in a competitive match, however I can't see Murray having too many problems against someone who is ranked 80 places below him. It will also be very interesting to see how Murray approaches this tournament, considering that it will be his first Grand Slam under the guidance of Ivan Lendl.

Having looked further ahead, I cannot see Murray having too many problems before the quarter finals, when he will potentially face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

For any UK viewers, it will probably mean some very late nights over the next couple of weeks. A lot of the matches will be on at around 3-4am, although there will be some night matches, which we'll see about 8-9am.

Should be an exciting two weeks and I just hope Andy can do it this time!

[Twiglet]

You're right, it has come round quick. Praying for Andy that this is his year.
I'm interested about Lendls influence too. i was reading an article the other day that raised that very question. Murray at times starts muttering and shouting to himself, i just wonder if Lendl's identified this as something that needs sorting. it pointed out how Murray will shout at his box when things go wrong, but questioned whether he dare do that with Lendl there. if things do go to plan and he gets to the semis then Lendls influence might start to be seen then.
No matter i'm looking forward as it now feels like the tennis season has proprely begun.

[Sir David Gray]

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You're right, it has come round quick. Praying for Andy that this is his year.
I'm interested about Lendls influence too. i was reading an article the other day that raised that very question. Murray at times starts muttering and shouting to himself, i just wonder if Lendl's identified this as something that needs sorting. it pointed out how Murray will shout at his box when things go wrong, but questioned whether he dare do that with Lendl there. if things do go to plan and he gets to the semis then Lendls influence might start to be seen then.
No matter i'm looking forward as it now feels like the tennis season has proprely begun.

I read that same article.

Murray also spoke the other day about how honest Lendl had been since they joined up. He said that a lot of people are too nice and tend to just say things that they think you'll want to hear and that Lendl was nothing like this.

Like you, I wonder if Murray's on court conduct is something that Lendl has identified as something that needs to change.

There are a lot of similarities between them that may help Murray. Whilst Lendl went on to win eight Grand Slam titles in his career, he lost his first four finals.

Murray has played three and lost three so far and I think it might be important for Lendl to get across how to handle the pressure of getting so close to winning your first major, not quite managing it for a while and then finally making the breakthrough.

Lendl was also playing at a time when men's tennis was probably at a standard that was pretty much on a par with today. He was up against the likes of John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker and Mats Wilander, who were all multiple Grand Slam champions themselves and obviously Murray is challenging Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, who are three of the all-time greats.

It's one thing having a tantrum in front of your mum or someone like Miles MacLagan and something different altogether to do it in front of someone with the stature of Ivan Lendl.

[jodjam]

Really hope Murray goes on and wins this year but I don't think the draw is kind.

Nadal does not seem to be at his best and I reckon Murrays best chance was to be in his half of the draw. If seedings go to plan then to beat Tsonga, Nole and then Federer is a big ask as I reckon Nadal may go out early and give the winner of that half of the draw an easier run. Hope i'm wrong.

[Sir David Gray]

The schedule for tomorrow (later today if you're in Australia!) is out and there are some big names involved in day one.

Heather Watson will play her first ever match in the main draw of the Australian Open when she takes on the third seed Victoria Azarenka.

She will be in the first match of the tournament on the main Rod Laver Arena and it will start at midnight (UK time).

Roger Federer will try to win the 17th Grand Slam title of his career and he will begin against Alexander Kudryavtsev, who is a qualifier from Russia. His match will be on at 8am (UK time).

Rafael Nadal also faces a qualifier in Alex Kuznetsov and he will be on at approximately 5am (UK time).

Laura Robson will also be playing her first ever match in the main draw of the Australian Open when she takes on Jelena Jankovic. She will be on at approximately 6am (UK time).

James Ward will also be playing his first ever match in the main draw of the Australian Open and he will face Blaz Kavcic at midnight (UK time).

Some exciting matches to look forward to tonight and tomorrow morning and it should be good fun!

[Sir David Gray]

And then there was one...

Yep, after just one day's play, Andy Murray is the sole surviving British player left in either the men's or women's draw after five players went out today and none of them even managed to win one set between them.

Heather Watson was first to go after losing heavily against world number three Victoria Azarenka, 6-1 6-0.

Then Elena Baltacha lost out to a player ranked 53 players below her, 6-2 6-4.

Shortly afterwards, Laura Robson lost 6-2 6-0 to former world number one, Jelena Jankovic.

Anne Keothavong lost the first set 6-0 against her opponent, before retiring from the match with an illness.

Last to go was James Ward as he lost his match against Blaz Kavcic, 6-4 6-3 6-4.

There were no such worries for Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal, who both got safely through to round two.

Former US Open champion, Juan Martin Del Potro, also progressed, despite dropping the opening set against Adrian Mannarino and Mardy Fish also got through.

There were a few seeds who made an early exit from the tournament;

22nd seed Fernando Verdasco lost a two set lead against home favourite, Bernard Tomic, after around 4 hours.
25th seed Juan Monaco also lost in a five set match against Philipp Kohlschreiber.
28th seed Ivan Ljubicic lost to Lukas Lacko in a five set match, despite being two sets up.
31st seed Jurgen Melzer lost to Ivo Karlovic in straight sets.

So the last remaining Brit in Australia, Andy Murray, begins his tournament tomorrow against Ryan Harrison. Murray should be on sometime around 3am-3.30am (UK time). Anyone wanting to watch that in the UK will have to be up early! I think I'll give it a miss, myself!

Defending champion, Novak Djokovic, also begins his tournament tomorrow and he will be on at around 1.30am-2am.

[Dashing Bob S]

The wife has finally gotten wise about my passionate interest in the women's tennis game. Thank god for Murray, he's been such an excellent smokescreen when those unsocial hours come along.

Now all we need is a world-class Scottish volleyball player, and all is good.

[PatHead]

Is this only on Eurosport this year? Can't seem to find anything about tennis on the red button bbc.

By the way DBS surely you mean Beach Volleyball?

[Sir David Gray]

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Is this only on Eurosport this year? Can't seem to find anything about tennis on the red button bbc.

By the way DBS surely you mean Beach Volleyball?

The BBC has the men's and women's finals, plus one men's semi final.

[PatHead]

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The BBC has the men's and women's finals, plus one men's semi final.

Damn, need to join Eurosport

[Sir David Gray]

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Damn, need to join Eurosport

As a publicly funded broadcaster, the BBC obviously has to be careful with how they spend their budget and, showing live coverage of a tournament in Australia, when the vast majority of matches are being played between the hours of 12am-6am, when most people in the UK are asleep, just isn't good use of their resources.

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray progressed into round two of the Australian Open, but it was far from easy against Ryan Harrison.

Murray dropped the opening set and seemed to be struggling with his serve before taking control in the second set and became more comfortable as the match wore on.

He eventually came through it in just over 3 hours and will now play Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Novak Djokovic lost just two games en route to victory over Paolo Lorenzi as he attempts to win his 3rd Australian Open.

Number five seed, David Ferrer, was also in impressive form as he saw off Rui Machado in straight sets.

The only seed to go out on day two was Radek Stepanek as he lost to Nicolas Mahut in straight sets.

Lleyton Hewitt set up a tasty encounter with his old rival Andy Roddick on Thursday as he finally saw off the challenge of Cedrik-Marcel Stebe. Hewitt took the opening two sets but Stebe came back and won the third set, was looking comfortable at 5-1 up in the fourth set and looked as if it was heading for a decider.

However, Hewitt somehow found some extra motivation from somewhere and managed to win six games in a row to get into the second round, where he will face Roddick after he had a comfortable victory over Robin Haase.

It was also a great night for France as, along with Mahut, they also saw Simon, Tsonga, Gasquet, Benneteau, Monfils, Roger-Vasselin and Llodra all advance.

The only Frenchman to go out on day two was Stephane Robert, who lost to Kei Nishikori.

[CallumLaidlaw]

Murray looked very sluggish for most of the match. He also appeared to have a bit of a knock at some point. Main thing is he's through. Lendl will give him a talking to anyway!

[Sir David Gray]

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Murray looked very sluggish for most of the match. He also appeared to have a bit of a knock at some point. Main thing is he's through. Lendl will give him a talking to anyway!

Murray will get through the early rounds here without having too much trouble. He'll beat Roger-Vasselin, even if he stays in 2nd gear, and even in the next couple of rounds after that, I can't see too many problems;

3rd round-Alex Bogomolov Jr?-Straight sets victory.
4th round-Viktor Troicki/Gael Monfils?-A bit tougher but I still don't think he would lose to either of them over five sets.

If he doesn't raise his game, the problems may begin in the quarter finals, when he might face Tsonga. At his best, Murray would have too much for him but he will be a really tough opponent, if Murray isn't on the ball.

[Sylar]

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The draw was made today and it has thrown up a potential semi final line up of;

Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray
Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer

What a treat that would be!

This is the one thing which really bothers me about tennis and why I find it so unbearably boring. If fitness isn't an issue, this semi-final lineup is almost to be expected at every single tournament, because the rest of the field just aren't on the same level as this four.

People slate football leagues for the domination of a few, but tennis is the epitome of a dominated sport.

[Sir David Gray]

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This is the one thing which really bothers me about tennis and why I find it so unbearably boring. If fitness isn't an issue, this semi-final lineup is almost to be expected at every single tournament, because the rest of the field just aren't on the same level as this four.

People slate football leagues for the domination of a few, but tennis is the epitome of a dominated sport.

In the last 9 Majors in which all four of them have played, there have only been two occasions where all four of them have made the semi finals.

On most occasions, there's at least one "outsider" who manages to get that far.

I actually think it's good that the top of men's tennis is as strong as it currently is.

In Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray, we have four of the greatest players who have ever picked up a tennis racket. I think they have taken tennis to an unprecedented level.

If the other players want the "big four" to become the "big five or six" then they're going to have to put in the hard work, get the results and push their way towards the top.

I can't speak for anyone else but I personally find that it's a privilege to watch these players play at the top of their game and I will miss them once they've retired.

[Dashing Bob S]

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In the last 9 Majors in which all four of them have played, there have only been two occasions where all four of them have made the semi finals.

On most occasions, there's at least one "outsider" who manages to get that far.

I actually think it's good that the top of men's tennis is as strong as it currently is.

In Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray, we have four of the greatest players who have ever picked up a tennis racket. I think they have taken tennis to an unprecedented level.

If the other players want the "big four" to become the "big five or six" then they're going to have to put in the hard work, get the results and push their way towards the top.

I can't speak for anyone else but I personally find that it's a privilege to watch these players play at the top of their game and I will miss them once they've retired.

I think you're correct about the first three but I can't in all honesty put Murray in that bracket. Until he wins a GS tourney to do so is stretching it a bit.

[PeeJay]

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In ....and Murray, we have four of the greatest players who have ever picked up a tennis racket. I think they have taken tennis to an unprecedented level.

Seriously? Better than Becker - McEnroe. Lendl, Borg, Connors - Laver? Murray hasn't won anything of note yet, how has he taken tennis to an unprecedented level?

[Sir David Gray]

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I think you're correct about the first three but I can't in all honesty put Murray in that bracket. Until he wins a GS tourney to do so is stretching it a bit.

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Seriously? Better than Becker - McEnroe. Lendl, Borg, Connors - Laver? Murray hasn't won anything of note yet, how has he taken tennis to an unprecedented level?

As I said previously, I believe men's tennis is generally at a level that it has never been at before so the fact that Murray has already reached 3 Grand Slam finals and has been consistently ranked in the top four for so long now shows that he deserves to be mentioned as one of the best.

Of course I agree that he needs to win a few Grand Slams before he can claim to be better than the likes of Borg, McEnroe, Sampras, Becker etc, but I think that the type of tennis that Andy Murray plays would have won him several Grand Slams already, if he had been playing in almost any other era previous to this one.

Apart from anything else, I don't really think that winning a Major is the be all and end all, in terms of where you are placed in an all-time list.

The likes of Gaston Gaudio, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Thomas Johansson and Carlos Moya all managed to win one Major but I would say that Murray (even if he never manages to win one) will be regarded as a far better player than any of those players, long after he's retired.

[Wembley67]

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As I said previously, I believe men's tennis is generally at a level that it has never been at before so the fact that Murray has already reached 3 Grand Slam finals and has been consistently ranked in the top four for so long now shows that he deserves to be mentioned as one of the best.

Of course I agree that he needs to win a few Grand Slams before he can claim to be better than the likes of Borg, McEnroe, Sampras, Becker etc, but I think that the type of tennis that Andy Murray plays would have won him several Grand Slams already, if he had been playing in almost any other era previous to this one.

Apart from anything else, I don't really think that winning a Major is the be all and end all, in terms of where you are placed in an all-time list.

The likes of Gaston Gaudio, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Thomas Johansson and Carlos Moya all managed to win one Major but I would say that Murray (even if he never manages to win one) will be regarded as a far better player than any of those players, long after he's retired.

By the British media.

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray is safely through to round 3 after a comfortable victory over Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Murray got through in straight sets, 6-1 6-4 6-4 and will now play Michael Llodra in the last 32.

Novak Djokovic also got through without any problems after he beat Santiago Giraldo 6-3 6-2 6-1.

David Ferrer had to battle to get past Ryan Sweeting and found himself two sets to one down before eventually progressing in five sets.

In the battle of the former world number ones, it was Lleyton Hewitt who got through to round three at the expense of Andy Roddick. Roddick won the opening set, however he appeared to go over on his ankle at one point and never really looked comfortable after that. Hewitt came back at him and won the next two sets before Roddick eventually pulled out of the match.

There were also wins for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Janko Tipsarevic, Kei Nishikori, Gael Monfils, Mikhail Kukushkin, Milos Raonic, Richard Gasquet, Juan Ignacio Chela, Frederico Gil, Nicolas Mahut, Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau.

That means the draw for the last 32 is as follows;
TOP HALF

[1] Djokovic vs Mahut
[23] Raonic vs Hewitt
[9] Tipsarevic vs [17] Gasquet
[27] Chela vs [5] Ferrer
[4] Murray vs Llodra
Kukushkin vs [14] Monfils
Benneteau vs [24] Nishikori
Gil vs [6] Tsonga

BOTTOM HALF

Falla vs Kohlschreiber
Lu vs [11] Del Potro
[13] Dolgopolov vs Tomic
Karlovic vs [3] Federer
[7] Berdych vs [30] Anderson
[21] Wawrinka vs [10] Almagro
[16] Isner vs [18] Lopez
Lacko vs [2] Nadal

[Sir David Gray]

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By the British media.

By tennis people in general, I would imagine.

The British media actually goes the other way and is only too keen to knock our best sportsmen and women.

[Dashing Bob S]

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As I said previously, I believe men's tennis is generally at a level that it has never been at before so the fact that Murray has already reached 3 Grand Slam finals and has been consistently ranked in the top four for so long now shows that he deserves to be mentioned as one of the best.

Of course I agree that he needs to win a few Grand Slams before he can claim to be better than the likes of Borg, McEnroe, Sampras, Becker etc, but I think that the type of tennis that Andy Murray plays would have won him several Grand Slams already, if he had been playing in almost any other era previous to this one.

Apart from anything else, I don't really think that winning a Major is the be all and end all, in terms of where you are placed in an all-time list.

The likes of Gaston Gaudio, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Thomas Johansson and Carlos Moya all managed to win one Major but I would say that Murray (even if he never manages to win one) will be regarded as a far better player than any of those players, long after he's retired.

Not disputing that he's better than the trail of one-off (to date) GS winners that you mention, nor that he's playing in a 'golden era' (though with advancing sports science diet and training techniques every passing era seems to throw up stronger players) but I still have difficulty in putting him in the same cachet as the big three, and find it particularly ludicrous to bracket him with Federer and Nadal, given their accomplishments in the game.

[PeeJay]

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Of course I agree that he needs to win a few Grand Slams before he can claim to be better than the likes of Borg, McEnroe, Sampras, Becker etc, but I think that the type of tennis that Andy Murray plays would have won him several Grand Slams already, if he had been playing in almost any other era previous to this one.

Apart from anything else, I don't really think that winning a Major is the be all and end all, in terms of where you are placed in an all-time list.

Get Andy into a Delorean and have him face the likes of this lot - think he'd win?

Boris Becker or Andy Murray?
Björn Borg v A Murray?
John McEnroe v Andy Murray?
Jimmy Connors v Andy Murray?

If it's not technique, what is this new unprecedented level? Power, better equipment, athleticism? How do you measure "greatness" if you don't rate GS victories?

I'm not a tennis expert, so you may well be right, of course, but I'm struggling to see how you can put him up there with what I would consider greats on account of what they achieved?

[HibbyAndy]

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As I said previously, I believe men's tennis is generally at a level that it has never been at before so the fact that Murray has already reached 3 Grand Slam finals and has been consistently ranked in the top four for so long now shows that he deserves to be mentioned as one of the best.

Of course I agree that he needs to win a few Grand Slams before he can claim to be better than the likes of Borg, McEnroe, Sampras, Becker etc, but I think that the type of tennis that Andy Murray plays would have won him several Grand Slams already, if he had been playing in almost any other era previous to this one.

Apart from anything else, I don't really think that winning a Major is the be all and end all, in terms of where you are placed in an all-time list.

The likes of Gaston Gaudio, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Albert Costa, Thomas Johansson and Carlos Moya all managed to win one Major but I would say that Murray (even if he never manages to win one) will be regarded as a far better player than any of those players, long after he's retired.

Agree 100% with all of that mate.

[Sir David Gray]

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Not disputing that he's better than the trail of one-off (to date) GS winners that you mention, nor that he's playing in a 'golden era' (though with advancing sports science diet and training techniques every passing era seems to throw up stronger players) but I still have difficulty in putting him in the same cachet as the big three, and find it particularly ludicrous to bracket him with Federer and Nadal, given their accomplishments in the game.

I don't think he's on a par with Federer or Nadal, I actually think these two are out on their own (with Sampras) as the three greatest players ever.

All I meant by my post was that Andy Murray is up there, in my opinion, as one of the best tennis players that we've seen. I'm not saying that he's better or worse than any particular player but simply saying that when people are asked who they think are the best tennis players of the last 30 years or so, I think a lot of people will mention Murray.

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Get Andy into a Delorean and have him face the likes of this lot - think he'd win?

Boris Becker or Andy Murray?
Björn Borg v A Murray?
John McEnroe v Andy Murray?
Jimmy Connors v Andy Murray?

If it's not technique, what is this new unprecedented level? Power, better equipment, athleticism? How do you measure "greatness" if you don't rate GS victories?

I'm not a tennis expert, so you may well be right, of course, but I'm struggling to see how you can put him up there with what I would consider greats on account of what they achieved?

Obviously it's an impossible question that you've posed there as it's never going to happen. However I think if Andy Murray had played against most of those players in their prime, Murray would have a fairly decent record against them. For a start, a lot of players from that era are serve and volley specialists.

That tactic is hardly ever used nowadays, however Murray will be playing someone who still does it (Michael Llodra) in the next round of the Australian Open. Guys like Murray will punish the serve and volley tactic almost every single time because they are so good at finding a target on the court and if you're going to come to the net after practically every single serve, you'll get punished more often than not.

[Dashing Bob S]

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Is this only on Eurosport this year? Can't seem to find anything about tennis on the red button bbc.

By the way DBS surely you mean Beach Volleyball?

Yes. I certainly do.

[Dashing Bob S]

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I don't think he's on a par with Federer or Nadal, I actually think these two are out on their own (with Sampras) as the three greatest players ever.

All I meant by my post was that Andy Murray is up there, in my opinion, as one of the best tennis players that we've seen. I'm not saying that he's better or worse than any particular player but simply saying that when people are asked who they think are the best tennis players of the last 30 years or so, I think a lot of people will mention Murray.



Obviously it's an impossible question that you've posed there as it's never going to happen. However I think if Andy Murray had played against most of those players in their prime, Murray would have a fairly decent record against them. For a start, a lot of players from that era are serve and volley specialists.

That tactic is hardly ever used nowadays, however Murray will be playing someone who still does it (Michael Llodra) in the next round of the Australian Open. Guys like Murray will punish the serve and volley tactic almost every single time because they are so good at finding a target on the court and if you're going to come to the net after practically every single serve, you'll get punished more often than not.

Murray is undoubtedly the best British and one of the best European, but if you're talking best in the last thirty years in the world, i'd seriously doubt he'd be on the list. Not splitting hairs about this FH, I respect your evident knowledge of, and passion for, the game of tennis, I just think you've got Hibs/Scotland blinkers on a bitty with AM!

[Sir David Gray]

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Murray is undoubtedly the best British and one of the best European, but if you're talking best in the last thirty years in the world, i'd seriously doubt he'd be on the list. Not splitting hairs about this FH, I respect your evident knowledge of, and passion for, the game of tennis, I just think you've got Hibs/Scotland blinkers on a bitty with AM!

Having thought a bit about this last night, I probably was being a bit kind to Murray.

I now retract what I said about him being on an all-time list of greatest players.

However, what I will say is that I do honestly believe that Murray's talents are not given the full respect that they deserve by people in Britain, just because he's yet to win a Grand Slam and what people fail to appreciate is that he is currently playing in one of the toughest periods of men's tennis for many years. He is a world class tennis player and I don't think that should be forgotten about or ignored just because he's yet to win a big one.

[Sir David Gray]

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are both safely into the last 16 with straight sets victories over Lukas Lacko and Ivo Karlovic respectively.

Nadal will now play his fellow Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, after he defeated John Isner in five sets. Federer will play the home favourite, Bernard Tomic, after he knocked out the 13th seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov, also in five sets.

There were also wins for Juan Martin Del Potro, Tomas Berdych, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Nicolas Almagro.

Tomorrow, Andy Murray plays his 3rd round match against Michael Llodra. For a change, his match will be on at a time that is more suitable for UK viewers as he is due to begin at 8am (UK time).

World number one, Novak Djokovic, plays against Nicolas Mahut and he will be on at approximately 3.30am.

Lleyton Hewitt is also in action against Milos Raonic and that will be on about 9.30am.