fraser

Don't mate I was cringing

You forgot the c'mon tiger Tim

The facilities there were really good and the food wasn't overpriced.

OzTennis

Henman's post match interview was published verbatim in the Aussie press. He said you know 51 times!! :scared:

OzTennis

Lindsay Clan

We've been to Wimbledon and the atmosphere there was absolutely fantastic and so was the tennis. We are off to the Melbourne Open on Monday (23rd) and can't wait. Hopefully we'll see some big names but Hewitt is out and so are both of the Williams sisters now.

Lorraine

OzTennis

As is anyone else who doesn't prepare adequately due to other commitments, some understandable such as fatherhood and parenthood.

OzTennis

fraser

Thank god for that

OzTennis

Hewitt has not endeared himself to many of the Australian public because they see him as the ugly side of winning (rightly or wrongly depending on your point of view).

Aside from him being underprepared for the event I got the distinct feeling that he tried to be someone else when he played Chela - no come on's, no fist pumping, no disputing calls, applauding Chela's good shots, no reference to last year's match and the spitting etc, etc. Not surprisingly, all things considered, it was a limp, out of character performance. I was looking forward to Andy Murray vs Hewitt but Chela took care of that too.

Pat Cash and Mark Phillippoussis were similarly thought of 'luke warmly' by the Aussie public. Like our Pat Rafter (the boy every mother would want as a son etc) is how many want their champions to be.

Tim Henman has a similar standing to Rafter in the UK (minus the 2 Grand Slams and Davis Cup medals). The British public will never take as kindly to Murray because he is very much out of the normal Hewitt mould and he comes from the other side of Hadrian's. If he does well he'll be British but if he doesn't he will be Scottish.

OzTennis

fraser

I like murray and think that he will indeed go far.

I've never liked Hewitt I don't like the way he pumps his fist whan an opponent makes an UE.

Unfortunately I haven't seen the best matches as only have foxtel, I went out to buy a cheap video the other day to watch it but they don't exist here the cheapest being $120 which I cab't pay just to watch the tennis for a couple of weeks so I'm stuck in the outside show courts.

SuperSeagulls

Wimbledon does feel pretty special, but I also went to the Aussie Open a few years back and loved it...it was hot, sunny and cheap!! I paid to see all the QF games, but was very impressed that you could easily get ground entry passes for as little as $10..without any queueing.

The prices for Wimbledon these days is phenomenal.

SS

OzTennis

I know Andy quite well but he has his faults - technical, tactical, fitness and personality wise. He's only 18 and time will tell how far he will go. He will certainly eventually get into the top 30, probably top 20 but it remains to be seen whether he has the technique etc to win majors.

It is interesting to see the progress of better performed juniors who have gone before him. Monfils won the 3 other junior grand slams in the year Andy won the US. Baghdatis won most of the junior grand slams for the 2 years before that . I wasn't at all surprised Baghdatis beat Roddick because he was a much better junior than Roddick ever was (Roddick won Oz juniors 2000, Baghdatis 2004). He has been in the wilderness for 2 years since the juniors, playing challengers and very few main tour events but he seems to have come of age now and will be at least 20 places above Murray by the end of the tournament.

One final thought is that Andy swears a lot more than Hewitt ever did/does so how Hewitt's fist pumping can be objectionable while Murray's swearing isn't can't be logical!

OzTennis

fraser

Well you've obviously seen a lot more of him than me, so I'll take your word on it.

OzTennis

I hit with him a few times when he was 10 and again at 15 and he swore then when he wasn't winning or things going his way! His mother was Scottish national coach for 13 years and used to bring him to coaches conferences so I've literally seen him grow and develop.

OzTennis

fraser

So are you a coach? If so isn't it about time you got your arse home

OzTennis

Part time coach, intending to do it full time when we go back to Williamstown.

OzTennis

fraser

When are you back?

OzTennis

Exact time undecided - depends on elderly M-I-L's health not to put too fine a point on it. We can go anytime because we have the place in Williamstown and can find work either teaching or coaching, just need to arrange the spouse visa for Mrs OzT. I might continue to frequent this forum for another year or two!

OzTennis