2014 Australian Open

[Sir David Gray]

First Grand Slam of the year (I won't go on about how quickly it seems to have come around again since I got told off for doing that last year! ).

There's been a bit of a change in the coaching ranks of a couple of the top guys.

Novak Djokovic has teamed up with Boris Becker for the 2014 season and Roger Federer has hired another major champion in Stefan Edberg.

With Murray still going strong with Ivan Lendl, that leaves Rafael Nadal as the only member of the so called "big four" without a former major champion in his corner.

Anyway the draw was made a short while ago and it's a fairly easy start for Murray.

He'll play Go Soeda in the first round and if he wins that, he's guaranteed to play a qualifier in round two.

The other seeds in his section are Feliciano Lopez, Philipp Kohlschreiber and John Isner and I think he'll beat any of them quite comfortably over 5 sets.

In the quarter finals, he'll potentially play either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Roger Federer. In the semis it would probably be Nadal and then the final would be Djokovic.

So if the draw goes with seedings, Murray's route to the title is;

Round 1 - Soeda
Round 2 - Qualifier
Round 3 - Lopez
Round 4 - Isner
QF-Federer
SF-Nadal
F-Djokovic

Coverage starts on Monday on Eurosport. Not sure how much of it I'll actually see considering the time difference but I am looking forward to it.

[CallumLaidlaw]

Murray having a wee go at the organisers today on Facebook as they have scheduled Nadal v Tomic first on court 13 on Tuesday. Seems like a decent match that should be much higher up.

Hope Andy gets a good run in this, but he normally takes a wee while when coming back from injury to hit his peak.
Will be surprised if Federer gets to the quarter finals

[Sir David Gray]

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Murray having a wee go at the organisers today on Facebook as they have scheduled Nadal v Tomic first on court 13 on Tuesday. Seems like a decent match that should be much higher up.

Hope Andy gets a good run in this, but he normally takes a wee while when coming back from injury to hit his peak.
Will be surprised if Federer gets to the quarter finals

If true, that is unbelievable.

Is court 13 even a court that can be televised?

Surely a mistake has been somewhere or Murray is simply mistaken!

[PatHead]

Is it only on Eurosport?

[jodjam]

Hope I'm wrong but this slam has come too early for Murray. I reckon he may only get thru 3 or 4 rounds.

[Sir David Gray]

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Is it only on Eurosport?

One men's semi final and both the men's and women's finals are being shown on BBC.

Other than that, it's just Eurosport.

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Hope I'm wrong but this slam has come too early for Murray. I reckon he may only get thru 3 or 4 rounds.

Don't see Murray winning it but I think he'll get to at least the quarter finals.

He's not had great preparation, playing in just one competitive tournament for four months but I think he'll have enough natural ability to progress into the second week.

[PatHead]

Order of play for Monday- no Murray

http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/index.html

[jodjam]

Old Ginny wade has a neck like a lizard

[Sir David Gray]

And then there was one.

After just one day's play, only one British player remains in the singles draws.

Heather Watson lost to Daniela Hantuchova in three sets whilst Laura Robson was hammered by Kirsten Flipkens.

So it's down to Andy Murray (yet again) to fly the flag for Britain at a Grand Slam.

He plays Go Soeda at approximately 6am (UK time) tomorrow, however the schedule may be disrupted as the temperature in Melbourne tomorrow is expected to reach highs of 109 degrees.

If it does reach that sort of level, I would expect the officials to suspend play due to the possible health hazards.

[jodjam]

Murray wins dropping only 5 games. One positive was his serve which was working well

Crazy temperatures. One of the women players water bottle melted in the heat.

[Sir David Gray]

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Murray wins dropping only 5 games. One positive was his serve which was working well

Crazy temperatures. One of the women players water bottle melted in the heat.

Good win for Murray to get it done so quickly on a day like that.

He now plays qualifier Vincent Millot on Thursday when it will possibly be even hotter than today.

The good news is that the temperatures are expected to drop significantly by the weekend so if he gets through his next match, it should be much more comfortable by the time he gets to the third round.

[Sir David Gray]

Much better timing for Murray's second round match tomorrow for UK fans.

He is the second night match on the Rod Laver Court which should mean that his match starts at about 9pm Melbourne time and 10am UK time.

It will also mean that he'll miss the worst of the hot weather tomorrow as well which will be good.

Can't see any upset tomorrow against Vincent Millot.

Straight sets.

[Treadstone]

I think Andy could play himself into this slam and be fresher than others for a second week assault on the title.
He commented that regarding the back surgery its been eighteen months since he felt that free. Considering he won the US and Wimbledon in that time its a very encouraging sign.

[Pretty Boy]

What the hell is going on with the weather?

I'm watching Eurosport and they are going on about excessive heat and inhumane conditions, next thing the match i'm betting on and following on live text is suspended due to heavy rain!

[Speedy]

Reckon Murray could win this 6-0,6-0,6-0.

[Sir David Gray]

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Reckon Murray could win this 6-0,6-0,6-0.

Unlikely but I think he'll lose fewer than five games.

He's just toying with this boy.

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Millot breaks Murrays serve then Murray breaks back again. 4-1. Starting to feel his back between points.

[Sir David Gray]

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Millot breaks Murrays serve then Murray breaks back again. 4-1. Starting to feel his back between points.

Not really too concerned about that at the moment.

I think he'll always have a twitch in his back every now and again as there's a lot of pressure put on a tennis player's back during a match.

I'm sure he'll be ok.

[Speedy]

5-2. He's getting a bit complacent but he'll still stroll through it.

[Sir David Gray]

First set 6-2.

Great start to the match but struggled to see the set out.

[Pretty Boy]

Hope the wee wobble there was just complacency and nothing to do with him feeling his back.

[Sir David Gray]

Millot having a medical timeout now for a sore leg.

Murray serving for the second set at 5-2.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray wins second set 6-2.

Needs to win the final set 6-0 for my prediction to come true!

[Sir David Gray]

Murray's collapsed in this third set.

4-1 down.

[Sir David Gray]

Millot breaks again and will now serve for the third set.

5-1.

[jodjam]

French lad got his second wind here

[Sir David Gray]

Murray gets one of the breaks back.

He's serving at 2-5.

[Sir David Gray]

Holds serve and gets it back to 3-5.

Will be interesting if he can break here again

[Sir David Gray]

Murray does break again and it's back on serve.

Murray serving at 4-5.

[Sir David Gray]

Five games in a row for Murray and he'll now serve for the match at 6-5 up.

I can't quite believe what I've watched over the past 20 minutes or so!