I'm going to have a fairly quiet day today. Looking at the OP, I'll try to see Radwanska - Robson on Court 3 and then move to Center Court for Harrison - Tomic and Anderson - Blake. Anyone with any spei cial suggestions?
I followed the above plan and had a very enjoyable lazy day spent mostly watching tennis in the sun.
I arrived early at the first just as Falla was about to lose the first set to Lu. He also lost the second. Lu, I believe, is they guy who took out Gulbis in qualie1. He has a similar game, which might account for it, although he is of much lighter build. Radwanska - Robson was one of those games whose outcome was always uncertain even though the former, who eventually won, was mostly on top of things. There always seemed to be a possibility of a major reversal. I notice that Goffin is gone, beaten by Dodig in qualies2.
Both Tomic and Harrison have improved greatly since last year but it was a very strange match chock full of low-percentage tennis shots. Neither is very likeable and both annoy me on court in the same way that Andy Roddick does. Tomic reminded me today of Andy Murray several years ago, when Andy insisted on attempting drop shots at inopportune moments and sending them into the net. He eventually of course got quite good at them but I think at the time it was tough for Brad Gilbert. Tomic could have won earlier this afternoon if he had played more conventional tennis. But I must admit that it was fun to watch and there were some eye-popping exchanges at the net. Needless to say, Harrison became increasingly unhappy towards the end. It was a close match at something like 6-4 7-6. Carlos Bernades was in the chair, probably chosen for his moderating (as in nuclear reactors) excellence.
Blake played remarkably well to win at something like 7-5 6-4 tonight over Kevin Anderson. He knew what he wanted to do on the court and could do it. The years of experience showed. Anderson also knew what he wanted to do but could not. He is a tall guy and normally gets lots of points with his serve but not tonight. Blake did every bit as well in that department.
Well, today we perhaps saw the future of Australian tennis. Tomorrow night we turn to past greatness with Lleyton Hewitt playing Mikhail Youzhny. Should be a good match! There was a story in Australia that a few years ago Hewitt offered to hit with Tomic but Tomic made it clear that he didn't want tp pick up bad habits. That didn't go down well!
