Aus Open Tennis 2017 - Return Of Old The Guard Pleasantly Surprises Everyone

#AustralianOpen #Tennis #GrandSlam 2017
#Melbourne #Park

This year's Australian Open Tennis championship has been nothing short of awe inspiring display of tennis for the old guard. The legends of "yesterday" as they were labeled, just rose to the occasion and showed why they are legends in the first place!

In the Men's Singles draw, arguably the greatest rivalry after Borg and McEnroe, #RogerFederer and #RafaelNadal stormed into the finals with classic 5 set victories over their higher ranked and younger aged opponents showing their class and stamina alike to play at this level. What a dream final this would be! #Rafa has a big edge over #Roger in Head-to-Head comparison and also Grand Slam meetings so he will feel the upperhand going into the contest. But those wins were way back in 2009-2011. Their latest meeting in 2015 saw Roger turn the tide on Nadal and pull one back (although not in a grand slam event).

We as tennis fans can only hope to see a classic on Sunday (remember some of those epic battles ; the 2007 and 2008 Wimbledon Finals, 2011 Australian Open final to name just a few...) Who are you supporting to win? Federer his 18th or Nadal his 15th? Only time will tell.

In the Women's Singles draw, the #Williams #Sisters have brought back memories of their rivalry down the years yet again. #Serena has always been on top of her game over the last few years but #Venus has been the surprise package this year. And she promises to challenge Serena's supremacy in Women's Tennis. Also, Serena's Grand Slam finals record over the last few tournaments has been surprisingly poor. She has lost 3 finals (surprisingly to low ranked newbies) so she needs to put that behind her. Venus can go all out with nothing to lose. The pressure will be on Serena as she stands on threshold of surpassing #SteffiGraf (22 Grand Slam crowns).

Whatever the outcome, we are going to see two classic matches from the legends of the game.  Lets just savor the moments.

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Djokovic Stretched To Limit At Aus Open 2016

#NovakDjokovic vs #GillesSimon
#AustralianOpen #GrandSlam #Tennis 2016

It was expected to be a canter for #Djoker, but what transpired at the #RodLaverArena on Sunday night was nothing short of extraordinary. Little known, Gilles Simon stretched the champion to a magnificent 5 setter in Round 3 of the Men's Singles draw winning hearts of millions watching that match worldwide.

After winning the first set rather comfortably, Djoker and Simon wrestled in the second set and it went to a tie-breaker. Simon ran through the tie-break 7-1 (many unforced errors from Novak) to level the set line.

Novak however gained composure to lead yet again, taking the third set 6-4.
However, not to be out done, Simon bounced back to take the fourth with an identical margin 6-4.

The pressure was clearly showing on Novak but he brought all his experience and gritty play to snatch the fifth one 6-3 and progress to the next round.

The gruelling game lasted 4 hours 32 min and the crowd was spellbound by the strokeplay of little known Gilles as he enthralled them with dazzling serves and strokeplay. Djoker made 100 enforced errors and had it been a more accomplished/experienced player, would have been packing bags for that display. 

He now faces Kei Nishikori in the next round.
The Australian Open is heating up as we move into the decisive week of the tournament and players scrambling for Quarterfinal berths!

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Australian Open 2016: Will Novak Achieve GRAND SLAM?

The Australian Open ‪#‎Tennis‬ ‪#‎Grand‬ ‪#‎Slam‬ tournament gets underway n Melbourne, Australia. 

Novak Djokovic vying to complete the GRAND SLAM (all four majors in a row) and dont see anyone stopping him considering his form and class! There is clear daylight between him and the others at the moment. Note that, he had won French, Wimbledon and US Open (bt Federer at the Championships and Flushing meadows) and is looking ominous to go the distance here at the Rod Laver Arena at Melbourne Park. 

Roger Federer will probably on tour for the last time in his glittering career, trying to add to his 17 Grand Slam titles. Can he add one more? Rafa Nadal is on his way back but loads of injuries and back problems have hampered him for well over an year now. He looks a shadow of his golden prime from 2-3 years ago. Andy Murray looks out of sorts. So, the men's draw seems to petering out into a Djoker vs Fed/Nadal/Murray final.

Serena Williams seems to be hot favorite to win this SLAM in women's draw. While the Russians are always competitive, Serena looks a class apart and will look to go past Steffi Graf's 22 Grand slams.  

In women's doubles, Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis will look to extend their unbelievable run of successes from 2015. Unbeaten since Wimbledon 2015, they are the golden pair to watch out and grab their third straight GRAND SLAM crown. 

In men's doubles, the Bryan Brothers will look to win this slam easily unless there is some big upset or likes of Leander Paes, Daniel Nestor, Andy Ram pull out something sensational.

All in all, looks like an interesting couple of weeks of action at the first grand slam of the year!

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