[HeretiC]

Originally Posted by krystlel

Yes I am, for the first six days. Are you going as well?

I guess this is where I may as well tell everyone the good news. I'm going to be blogging for Tennis Week, for the Australian Open. I sent them the reports that I wrote for Brisbane and they liked it a lot.

I'm not getting paid for it, so I guess there are no terms. So I can watch whoever I want and blog about whatever I want.

[HeretiC]

Anyone having a luck to watch the match? I don't think that court 2 is televised anyway Anyway David wraped up the first set 6-1 in about a half an hour.

[Joolz]

No luck. No cameras on that court.
But so far, the scoreboard looks pretty good to me.

[HeretiC]

Originally Posted by Joolz

No luck. No cameras on that court.
But so far, the scoreboard looks pretty good to me.

More than good, he finished the job in 57 minutes. 6-1 6-3. Good start of the year. Next one might be tricky. If it is Hewitt he was always a bad match up, Tipsy can cause a lot of troubles on a given day too.

[Joolz]

Yeah, great start into the tournament and the new season.

But the next match will indeed be tricky. He only played Tipsarevic once, AO 2007. That match went to five sets (with Tipsarevic retiring early in the fifth). And Hewitt... At first I wasn't sure whether I'd want that match to happen. But I think I do.

[HeretiC]

Originally Posted by Joolz

Yeah, great start into the tournament and the new season.

But the next match will indeed be tricky. He only played Tipsarevic once, AO 2007. That match went to five sets (with Tipsarevic retiring early in the fifth). And Hewitt... At first I wasn't sure whether I'd want that match to happen. But I think I do.

That was some match, David was down 2 sets to 0 and Janko served for the match in the third. David saved a lot of MPs if I remember correctly.

[Joolz]

Yeah, he did save MPs in that match. Don't know how many there were.

[novanora]

Originally Posted by krystlel

Yes I am, for the first six days. Are you going as well?

I guess this is where I may as well tell everyone the good news. I'm going to be blogging for Tennis Week, for the Australian Open. I sent them the reports that I wrote for Brisbane and they liked it a lot.

I'm not getting paid for it, so I guess there are no terms. So I can watch whoever I want and blog about whatever I want.

Happy for you Nope, I won't go to AO this year, coz I need to spare my vacation to RG. It's good to know that you will blog for Tennis Week, otherwise anyway, I will keep checking your own tennis blog. And I agree that sometimes you will be limited if you are paid to do sth. Looking forward to your AO blog, and hope you will get more chance of writing tennis like this time.

[novanora]

Originally Posted by Joolz

Yeah, he did save MPs in that match. Don't know how many there were.

i remember there were two? and he also saved three MPs in the following 3rd round match against Grosjean.

[novanora]

The stats looks solid, 6aces and no bps. I am not sure if Mika's injury still has problem or not, but he played quite good in the 1st round. Good win for David.

[novanora]

Hewitt def. Tipsy by 7-5 6-4, so David will play against Hewitt next

[MalwareDie]

Hopefully Nalby treats a victory here as a victory for Argentina over Australia like in the Davis Cup and brings his movtiated self to crush Hewitt.

[krystlel]

I'm looking forward to the match against Hewitt.

I watched Hewitt's match on TV and he was impressive after initially playing poorly. It was amazing to me how the match seemed to turn around, he looked like he was getting completely overpowered at first. Then after getting the break, it was like Tipsarevic couldn't hit through him at all and Hewitt's return of serve was good as well, more aggressive than usual. But Tipsarevic did overplay a lot, instead of playing a more patient game.

I had a look into GM and wacked82 seemed to be very impressed with David's performance. I'll try not to read anything into that. It is a completely different kind of match-up, it must be said.

Originally Posted by novanora

Happy for you Nope, I won't go to AO this year, coz I need to spare my vacation to RG. It's good to know that you will blog for Tennis Week, otherwise anyway, I will keep checking your own tennis blog. And I agree that sometimes you will be limited if you are paid to do sth. Looking forward to your AO blog, and hope you will get more chance of writing tennis like this time.

Okay, I just remember you going to the AO last year. I'm hoping that doing the blog will open up more opportunities but I guess that won't necessarily happen. And yeah, people should check out the blog to see reports of particular untelevised matches.

Originally Posted by HeretiC

That was some match, David was down 2 sets to 0 and Janko served for the match in the third. David saved a lot of MPs if I remember correctly.

That was an awful match, both players struggling in the heat, particularly the last two sets. I remember the fourth set where both of them could barely move, incredibly boring.

[Minerva]

Hewitt and David have some history, so I hope David wins this match "just" for history's sake.

[Joolz]

A little something to read while waiting for the match against Hewitt.
Yesterday's press conference:


D. NALBANDIAN/M. Llodra
6-1, 6-3


THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You've had, I think, more time on court than anyone today in today's hot weather. How did you find it?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, it was pretty hot. I think it was worse maybe in the morning, and then it was a little bit more windy so it's a little bit better.
It was tough. I don't know how much degrees it was, but it was pretty tough to play, to breathe, to everything. So it's better to get used to it before the Australian Open, so it's better.

Q. How much time have you had here to prepare?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: I arrive on Thursday night.

Q. So do you feel acclimatized yet?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, pretty much.

Q. It's been quite some time since you last played Lleyton. Looking forward to it?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: It's going to be -- I mean, Lleyton is a great player, former No. 1. I mean, he wins a lot of titles. Great player. It's going to be a tough one, like everybody else. He got injured last year. So I don't know how he is now, if he's 100% fit or not. Always a tough match play against him.

Q. You've had some famous matches with him. I think early on you said some things that annoyed him and he played better in that circumstance, but the last time you played you beat him. Do you think he's easier to play if you don't annoy him before the match?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: No, of course if you know the opponent it's much better than playing with somebody that you never play before. But like I say, all the matches that we play was tight for both. It was hard for both, too.
So it's going to be tough. A little different that he's playing in his own country, so nothing special, just tough one.

Q. How do you feel your form is right now? Are you in peak form?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. Today was my first match officially in the year, but I think match after match will be better and better. I hope will be better and better.
But I'm feeling that I played good today. I hope -- I will try to improve some things for tomorrow and play better.

Q. What you do you think you need to improve?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Well, the match of today was short. I mean, was serve and volleying, and tomorrow is completely different. I just hit a few shots from the baseline, and tomorrow I will need to be playing more. So I just thinking about try to hit better from the baseline or more time from the baseline.
So it's going to be a different -- completely different match than today.

Q. Do you take for granted that you understand how everyone plays, or do you do research to prepare for that particular player?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: For tomorrow, or...

Q. Each person you're going to play, tomorrow and others.
DAVID NALBANDIAN: I just try to do something at the warmup the same day as I play. For example, today was this guy serve and volley, and I practice a little bit more returns than normally. Tomorrow it's going to be like a normal match, so I don't needed to nothing special.
Anyway, you have the match in your mind all the time, so you know what to do and how it's going to be. Sometimes they surprise you or the opponent surprise you and play better than you thought or whatever, but it's going to be like a normal match.

Q. You had a great year last year except maybe at the Grand Slams. Is your goal to do better at the Grand Slams this year? Is that one of your goals?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah, of course. Yeah, yeah. 100%.

Q. Do you have other goals for this year, too?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Davis Cup.

Q. Winning the Davis Cup?
DAVID NALBANDIAN: Yeah.