Australian Open 2012

The forthcoming Australian Open 2012 will be the 100th edition thus reaching it's centenary anniversary.

So my questions to you guys are:

Who would you like to see win the 100th Australian Open?

What is your most memorable moment at the Australian Open?

What player defines the Australian Open?

I will post mine when I return home from work

Over to you.

For me it would be Mats Wilander the 83 champion, after this point I feel it became a slam worth winning and where the best players started to turn up.

Immediately before Wilander the two champions were Brian Teacher and Johan Kriek and even our John Lloyd made it to the final at some point.

Before Wilander I feel it was almost treated with disrespect by the top players I mean some masters events were regarded as more important and had stronger fields.

Who would you like to see win the 100th Australian Open? - Murray or Federer

What is your most memorable moment at the Australian Open? - That Clijsters interview:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfIbH7ssv5Q

What player defines the Australian Open? - Mats Wilander

And of course Wilander is the only guy to win AO when it was grass, then hard. I think Agassi is a legend at AO, he won it 4 times but lets not forget for quite a number of years he didnt bother going so lord knows how many he could have won had he gone every year like they do now.

Borg didnt bother with AO unless he won USO so he could get the slam...but he never won USO...just think had he done that lord knows how many slams he would have won given his SW19 prowess...we could add another 5-6 slams for AO alone!

2 matches stand out for me there; Agassi vs Sampras, and Safin vs Federer.

This year I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Federer, and that it will be his last major title swansong.

Hard to pick things out but I always remember poor old Andy Roddick being beaten like a dog by Federer who was playing one of those days when he was seeing the ball like it was a football.

Roddick was pretty much at the top of his game back then, and the courts fairly rewarded his serve, but he really did get his head handed to him.


However, for significance I think you do go back to when the events was elevated to proper Slam status.

AO for me always triggers luminent blue memories.

On a sunny day, the sky is so saturated with light in Australia it almost transports that light through my computer every time I watch matches at night.

I love that doubleness of life it offers like that. Yes, a sleepless wreck I am during that fortnight, but a happy wreck, indeed....

The AO I'll never forget was the one in 2008. My house was undergoing a massive extension and on the day of the final, builders were actually constructing the new roof: they were banging away with their hammers and saws, but they had nothing on me.....for Nole won his first slam and I was very happy

I shall be following some of it from the West Indies where they are so far behind in time that when there's a night match on in Melbourne, the tournament hasn't even started in Barbados.
Remember watching the terrific Rafa-Rog final at the AO in 09 in Tenerife (yes, it's a tough life) and going out for lunch afterwards trying - and failing -to console myself with the thought that it had been a great match.

The Australian Open was the setting for two of my favourite matches both from 2009. The Nadal v Verdasco semi followed by the Nadal v Federer final. Topped off by that emotional trophy presentation. Can tennis get better than that...

It's the Agassi-Sampras semi-final in 2000 for me. Great match, and the right result!

In general terms, though, i agree with nitb's eloquent assessment. The contrast of shivering, icy England (especially the North-East) and the azure skies and dazzling sunshine of Australia is a stark but strangely glorious one. Bit like when the Ashes are Down Under.

sirfredperry wrote:I shall be following some of it from the West Indies where they are so far behind in time that when there's a night match on in Melbourne, the tournament hasn't even started in Barbados.
Remember watching the terrific Rafa-Rog final at the AO in 09 in Tenerife (yes, it's a tough life) and going out for lunch afterwards trying - and failing -to console myself with the thought that it had been a great match.

Very nice.....us plebs have to be happy with hot chocolate, panettone and games .....

hawkeye wrote:The Australian Open was the setting for two of my favourite matches both from 2009. The Nadal v Verdasco semi followed by the Nadal v Federer final. Topped off by that emotional trophy presentation. Can tennis get better than that...

yes, THAT trophy presentation was something else

noleisthebest. Just as Nole himself admitted after watching another of Federer and Nadals historical match ups - You have a lot to learn...

hawkeye wrote:noleisthebest. Just as Nole himself admitted after watching another of Federer and Nadals historical match ups - You have a lot to learn...

you crack me up...every time...

Who would you like to see win the 100th Australian Open?
I would like to win it myself to be honest. I could do with the prize money for starters. However I doubt the match I played at my club last night where I lost 6-2 to a pensioner is going to be enough to qualify me for a wilcard, so I will say Dolgopolov, exciting brand of tennis, variety, would be nice if someone like that were to be the young player that emerges next. More realistically I would like to see Murray first slam or Federer cos I'm a fan.

What is your most memorable moment at the Australian Open?
It has to be the AO09 final, a great match and especially the first 4 sets. Secondly, the 2000 Agassi-Sampras match, there was a trmendous 4th set tiebreak although the 5th set didn't quite follow it.

What player defines the Australian Open?
I suppose Laver, Agassi or Federer could be contenders, but really no-one player would normally define a tournament.

I would love to see Fed win this one and I think he really has a good chance.

The match that stands out was Fed v Safin AO 05. Two of my all time best favs going toe-to-toe with each other. I wanted Fed to win but was not utterly distraught after Safin won that and the final. And the best part is that it was a great match!

I think Agassi did a lot to bring AO at par with the other Slams. So he would be my choice for the AO symbol. However, that can change if Fed adds another couple at the AO.... after all, 6 wins is 50% more than 4!

Who would you like to see win the 100th Australian Open?

Not Nadal or Ferrer.

What is your most memorable moment at the Australian Open?

Tsonga demolishing Nadal.

What player defines the Australian Open?

Thomas Johansson

noleisthebest wrote:

hawkeye wrote:noleisthebest. Just as Nole himself admitted after watching another of Federer and Nadals historical match ups - You have a lot to learn...

you crack me up...every time...

Huh! legendkiller asked what was our most memorable moment from the AO. Typical that when I responded with a memory that involved Nadal that it gets dismissed like this!

To understand what makes that trophy ceremony memorable it first had to be set in the context of what preceded it. This involves previous matches between these two great rivals, the expected result, what the win would have meant to either player and the great tennis played by both. Of course all this would be irelevant to anyone who views tennis as simply bashing the ball over the net. I could talk a bit about the reactions of both players during the ceremony as it exposed so much about the meaning of sport and winning and losing. I'm sure sports phychologists could write books on it...

But to keep it simple I'll just describe one small bit. Nadal had just achieved a huge win but he hardly lifted the trophy in celebration above his head. He didn't need to. In contrast when Djokovic got a win over Nadal on clay in Madrid this year (of course a big achievement as I have described elsewhere but not significant compared to Nadal's AO) he and his team celebrated in such a crass way.

Comparing Djokovics reactions after his big win and the brave, classy and humble reactions of BOTH men at the AO trophy ceremony IMO it is obvious that he has a lot to learn. Anyone watching that thought it was laughable also IMO has a lot to learn. I recommend they try...