Time for a new thread, the Australian season.
Richard made a great start to the 2012 season by beating Di 6/1 6/3 and also helping France claim a 2-1 victory over China.
Australian Season Schedule
31/12/2011 - Week 1: Hopman Cup (Indoor Hard)
09/01/2012 - Week 2: Sydney- ATP 250 (Hard)
16/01/2012 - Week 3: Australian Open- Grand Slam (Hard)
23/01/2012 - Week 4: Australian Open- Grand Slam (Hard)
Good fight from Richard in second set, played more aggressive, but still not good enough to beat today's Istomin. Richard needs to realize he can't start the match by pushing and expect everyone will pull Verdasco of last week and miss every other shot.
The better player won. Richard was just a frustrated, agitated mess most of the match. He came up with some nice aggressive points but not often enough and Istomin took advantage of every short ball(and there were many of those).
When I saw the draw I was worried and when Isner lost i was REALLY worried - the more the draw opens up and gives Richard a chance, the worse Richard usually plays.
When I saw the draw I was worried and when Isner lost i was REALLY worried - the more the draw opens up and gives Richard a chance, the worse Richard usually plays.
My thoughts exactly. I think it is a combination of being under pressure and hoping for the opponent to make errors when he plays a lower ranked guy.
One could see that he was tight from the start ( "A must win match"), he rarely discusses with umpires, today he did, more than once. He started passively, the first set was an outright disappointment. When he had understood that he would not get away with it, his level was better, but Istomin served well up to 5-4 in the 2nd set, on 2 or 3 of Richard's bps he came up with aces. The 12th game tells everything, two right out return winners to reach the breaker, in which he did 3 direct BH errors. Positive point: Overall he served well, but not on the breaker.
Istomin was too good, to beat him with an average performance. But still I feel he was beaten by his own attitude, too passive at the start and too much agitation throughout.
A much better second set indeed but even with Istomin tight as a drum towards the closing stages, he couldn't pull out that set, although it was of a lot better quality.
Istomin certainly did play better than anyone Richard beat at Hopman Cup last week and yesterday's match with Fognini didn't exactly prepare him well for today either. Wish he'd employ a more aggressive strategy from the start of his matches, but I know it's hard for him to break out of his comfort zone.
Onwards to Melbourne, hopefully he leaves the negative attitude behind.
good job Richie your goal of staying injury free is still safe
I advocate that you tank the AO to stay fresh for the Indoors European season.
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