you probably mean R16, but still there is a slight difference - 9-12 are not as good players as 5-8...

you're right, it's been edited.

Yeah, but it's still better facing 5-8 than 1-4...... Ok, so if he was 8th, he'd be facing someone in 9-12, but the comparisons aren't there for me. I don't thinl there is all that much difference. Spud's main point is that whoever said he'd be facing top 4 a round earlier was wrong.

That's the point I was trying to get across, thanks for the support Neil. Besides, a horribly off form Roddick/Gonzalez would be a far better draw in the 4th round than an on-fire Nalbandian.

[Canas]

Calm down people, Andy's in pretty good shape for the November-January period.

Assuming he's going to Doha to defend his final only Davydenko from last years entry list is ranked higher, with only one more top 10 player should turn at the most, so Andy'll be seeded 2-3 and I'm confident he'll go one better and win the title this year.

Players losing points in November: Canas (95)
*Shanghai contestants all gain at least 100 points.

Players defending points  in the first week of 2008: Ljubicic (Doha W, 175), Djokovic (Adelaide W, 155), Murray (Doha F, 150), Daydenko (Doha SF, 85), Canas (Challenger W, 65), Moya (Chennai SF, 35), Nadal (Chennai SF, 20)

Australian Open seedings done. So, if Murray wins Doha and no other rankings change he'll be seeded 9th, if he defends the final 11th, if he loses in the semis 13th, and before the semis 14th.

Players defending points in second week of 2008: Ferrer (Auckland W, 135), Blake (Sydney W, 100), Moya (Sydney F, 95), Robredo (Auckland F, 60), Gasquet (Sydney SF, 35)

Australian Open Points: Federer (1000), Gonzalez (700), Roddick (450), Haas (450), Robredo (250), Davydenko (250), Nadal (250), Murray (150), Blake (150), Djokovic (150), Ferrer (150), Nalbandian (150), Berdych (150), Youzhny (75), Chela (75), Canas (65), Baghdatis (35), Ljubicic (5), Moya (5)

Most importantly, seeds 9-12 will face seeds 5-8 in the 4th round and avoid the top 4 seeds so it doesn't really matter whether he can mathematically reach the top 8 before the Aussie Open anyway.

Total points to defend in January:
1) Federer 1000
2) Gonzalez 700
3) Roddick 450
4) Haas 450
5) Davydenko 435
6) Robredo 310
7) Djokovic 305
8) Murray 300
9) Ferrer 285
10) Nadal 270
11) Blake 250
12) Canas 225
13) Gasquet 185
14) Ljubicic 180
15 Berdych 150
16 Nalbandian 150
17 Moya 135
18 Youzhny 75
19 Chela 75
20 Baghdatis 35

Post-AO predictions are obviously tricky to say the least. But Murray should defend his points at the very least. Gonzalez and Haas will need a miracle to defend theirs while Robredo could struggle without a top 8 seeding to reach the quarters again.

With a bit of luck Murray SHOULD have cracked the top 10 by February.

I saw that too spud, they usually keep it going if not they'll have me to deal with, but you could be right about the red button.  I don't think they'd dare take if off air midway through the match.

Thanks very much, I MUST see Gasquet v Murray dammit!

Hey does anyone know where I watch this? Sky Sports Xtra are showing up until 9pm, will they keep the match on if you press the red button? Or can I watch it online by downloading something?

Korolev's a decent youngster but is relying on power and natural skill to get past his oponents at the moment. He's still too immature to have the right tactics and choose the right shots, so the end result is, Murray should win easily.

According to MTF, Korolev struggled with Canas' defensive skills this week, and you'd think Andy should be able to at least match Canas' performance.

All looks fine except for Stepanek who is hot right now and will probably beat Tursunov to be Andy's 3rd round opponent. Other than that, seeing as Davydenko is off form it should be very achievable to make the final. Once there, Murray v Youzhny would be a heck of a match. Of course, these Russians might be a level above normal playing at home...

the words 'Stepanek' and 'hot' in one sentence....Can't see either the Czech or Tursunov causing Andy much of a problem, both their games match up well with Andy's counter-punching style, but you're right in seeing Stepanek as favourite for making it to the Quarters.

Davydenko is the only worry for me. Safin and Youzhny are both power hitters susceptible to multiple UE's so Andy will eat them for breakfast. Davydenko's solid play might grind down a fatigued Murray off the back of this week's success. Remember Andy hasn't played so many matches in such a short space of time sine March.

Scousers 1-0 Chelski  Torres. Not so good for my fantasy footy team though....

Well that was fun! My scoreboard just skipped from 0-1* 0-15 to *0-2 40-30!!

erm what's happening? my scoreboards stuck on 15-0....

and we're off!

Fognini really shouldn't pose many problems for Andy tomorrow. Thought I'd do a little research on him but decided I wouldn't post it until after he beat Ginepri for fear of jinxing him!

The Italian has played all but one of his tournaments on clay this year (the exception being a first round defeat to Canas in a Challenger Event in Sau Paulo in the first week of the year). Most of his success has come on the Challenger circuit, 3 finals, 1 semi and 2 quarter final appearances while up until only 2 weeks ago he hadn't posted a win on the ATP tour in 3 attempts.

Player Activity

It baffles me why he even attempted to qualify here, but with a cakewalk draw the decision has obviously paid off. He beat Giraldo #154 and (WC) Duclos #495 to qualify and then another Canadian wildcard Polansky #326 albeit unconvincingly in round one.

One poster has named him 'a bye for Murray into round 3' which I quite liked
Fognini - Polansky: Post Match Reaction

Basically this guy is very fortunate to make it to round 2 of a Masters event and should feel like he has nothing to lose. The only worry is that Murray could get complacent or more likely become frustrated that this clay court expert will resort to defensive tactics moonballing every shot to Murray's forehand hoping for an error. Either way Andy will need to be more aggressive and this match should be a good opportunity to unleash the forehand a bit more. 

If Murray was 100% this could easily be a bagel or two. Tomorrow we may have to settle for something along the lines of 6-4, 6-2. Still, 3rd Round on your return from a 3 month injury without dropping a set is pretty impressive.

Saw this on MTF and just HAD to post it on here...

Author JK ROWLING looked very relieved few days ahead of the release of her final book in the Potter series, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’. Scheduled for a July 21st release, the book will see the culmination of the series on the boy-wizard that have built her a fortune of more than 200 million pounds, not counting her royalties generated from the box-office returns of the movies based on her novels. When we caught up with the writer at her Georgian mansion in west London, she took us on a nostalgic trip. Enjoy this extract:

Q: A long journey has come to an end?
JKR: Yes (laughs). I feel like a burden has been removed from my shoulders.

Q: So now its back to real life, is it?
JKR: I suppose so (reluctantly giggles). Even if only for a while. I find it very hard to stop imagining.

Q: Tell us, which parts of your fable were inspired by elements of reality?
JKR: Well I always search for magic in the real world, and the sport of Quidditch is a direct example of that.

Q: Really? Most muggles can only dream about playing Quidditch. Tell us what inspired you to envision such a sport?
JKR: Moonballing.

Q: What?
JKR: Moon-balling! It’s a technique in tennis where you just lob the ball high over your opponent’s side. The higher the ball goes, the better the moon-baller! I distinctly remember; after my tenure as a teacher in Portugal and writing of the third draft of the first book, I had a hiatus in Spain, and I was passing this club, where I saw an 11-year-old boy practicing tennis. I think it was Rafael Nadal. Every ball his opponent flung at him, he lobbed back high in the air, and this went on and on. He never had problems in returning the balls if the opponent smashed it back...you see, because he could cover his court area very well, but he slowed down the game considerably, ...and this went on and on till the ball just kept going higher and higher and it kind of hung in the air refusing to come down. And I started imagining things...What if the ball just stayed there? What if it grew wings? Obviously, the players would need to jump or fly high enough to get to it. And what better way to do it than navigate yourself with broomsticks? So there you have it, the origins of The Golden Snitch and Quidditch!



Q: Wow! So you’re saying that Nadal was the real inspiration behind Quidditch? You’ve never mentioned this before?
JKR: Well, no one ever asked me this before (shrugs). People blindly assume that the game was based on soccer. (guilty now) But I have mentioned Nadal as the inspiration...in my own ‘mysterious author-like’ ways. Since he enjoyed digging his nose into the clay court so much, I kind of named the sport after him replacing the suffix ‘pro-quo’, with ‘ditch’. Besides, I even surnamed the protagonist after him.

Q: ...Harry ‘Potter’?
JKR: Yes. It was so charming; the way Nadal rolled on clay every time he won a point. Since pots are made of clay, I felt this might be an apt tribute... In fact, the complete name was ‘Hoggy Potter’, but my contacts at Bloomsberry declined, saying the name wouldn’t sell (rolls her eyes). They settled for a household name instead. As you can see, they weren’t half as imaginative, but it can’t be undone (regrets).

Q: You piggy-backed on a tennis-prodigy for your personal writing glory. And yet your tributes to him have been so secretive till now. Explain.
JKR: Now, now...You are reading things out of context.
You’re making it sound like I’m hogging on the limelight all by myself. That’s not true. You are forgetting that I even named the school ‘Hogwarts’,hoping it would spawn an entire generation of moonballers! What can be a bigger tribute to the world of sports, huh?

Q: Was he the only inspiration?
JKR: For Quidditch...yes! But the inspiration for the series came when I was travelling in a train. I happened to see a cow chewing grass delightfully as if there was nothing better in the world...And all of a sudden I had the complete vision (closes her eyes meditatively and slips into a trance)...

When contacted, World # 2, Rafael Nadal had a few good words for the author himself:

Nadal: She very good, no? She write very creative, for sure. I also very creative. When I moonball, I try to very hard concentrate, so I jump. Try to fly, hit very high the ball, so it stay there. But Harry even better. He have broom, no? I not that good without broom. But I young. Still only 21. Have great years ahead of me. We will see.

Roger Federer was unavailable for comment.

© The National Enigma
All Rights Reserved--TNE's Spoof Enterprises


linky

As for height,I have no idea what the hell do you mean with 5'6,but probably your height...

5 foot 6 inches = 168 centimetres

Don't be too impressed it is my best.It took so much concentration that I don't beleive I could acheive any higher. As for my age I am 41 now but was about 30 when I did the break. The only reason I was able to do it was because I played with a very good player. Not a great player but a very good one. I very rarely beat him but when I did I played quite good.

No need to be so modest, an 8 ball break is still pretty impressive from where I'm standing