Running Aussie Open Thread...

Chocolate and fried chicken if you ask me.

 

ok, that was fucking funny, but i meant in the "before" photo.

 

for the last time serena, no, you do not look fat in those pants ... damn, wrong thread.

 

See, I love Serena no matter if it is catsuit days or not. I just want to do her. But that is just me. Y'all are allowed to think what you like.

 

I never thought she did. There were girls on the college team I covered who were as bult as she was.

Course I never want to believe anybody's doping (except Lance Armstrong).

 

Whatever shape she's in, Serena has pretty much a free pass to the final now that that part of the draw has opened up with Mauresmo and Kunetzova losing.
It was pretty obvious that players like Petrova (How is she seeeded No. 5?) and Jankovic were intimidated from the start by the thought that she just might be the overpowering Serna of old and they had no answers for that.
Sharapova, Cljisters and Hingis are all in the other half of the draw.
Serena gets Peer in the quarters and probably Vaidisova in the semis.

 

Well, Petrova blew Serena away in the first set and was a couple of points away from winning the match, so "intimidated from the start" isn't the term I would use.

Petrova simply does not have a champion's attitude. She gets easily frustrated and cannot put bad breaks or questionable calls behind her. But she plays tons of tournaments, wins occasionally, and almost always makes the quarters. That's how you get to be in the top 10.

 

Exactly. The thing most of the true champions have in common is an unshakable belief that they can pull it off. Sharapova, Serena (fat or not), JHhardenne have it. Petrova does not. Jankovic does not yet. Mauresmo does not. Venus doesn't have it as much as Serena does.

Athletic ability is fine, but as we know, so much of it goes on between the ears.

Evert had it. Navratilova didn't, at first.

Roddick doesn't. Federer does. Hewitt does, but doesn't have the weapons.

 

Petrova was the hottest player on the tour last season heading into Roland Garros. I believe she would have won the tournament if not for her injury.

She won Doha (carpet) beating Mauresmo in the finals, she won Amelia Island (clay), she won Charleston (clay) and she won Berlin (clay) beating JHH in the finals.

She has won big tournaments. She has won tight matches (her victory over JHH was 4-6 6-4 7-5).

So to say Petrova doesn't have an "unshakable belief that she can pull it off" is just not true.

 

BIG difference between Charleston and Melbourne.

 

wfw

 

Sloppy games by Hingis and Li. But Hingis just completely dominated the third set (6-0) to win.

Bring on Kim.