Vasek also advances to round 3, although he's being plagued by lingering back issues. He faces Stan Wawrinka next, which is going to be a tough match.
The Canadian took treatment three times in the second set and at times looked finished, but the 23-year-old fought on and managed to earn the improbable victory.
The back pain has bothered him since the start of the year, forcing him to quit a semifinal in India and pull out of a tournament in Sydney.
“It’s been lingering, I had to hang tough. I’m super-thrilled to get through,” said Pospisil, who depended on painkillers to get him to the finish after being told by a physiotherapist that he could go on if he wished.
I was reading some recaps this morning and it says Ebden had a set point in the 2nd set (which would have essentially been a match point as Vasek might not have continued).
He's learning how to win when not playing his best, which is as important a skill as you can have on tour. These were the type of matches he's lost throughout most of his career, but he managed to find a way through it. It's a big step for him on the mental side of the game which was always the main thing he lacked and what prevented him from breaking through like he is now.
He's now won 6 of his last 8 tiebreaks after losing about 9 in a row.
Wawrinka will be tough, but not impossible depending on what level the two of them are at. He's now reached his best ever result at a slam, though, and has already played to his seed. The rest is just gravy.
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Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
Good on Vashy, too bad he's not 100% to play Wawrinka, I think at full health that would be a very close match. Still 90 more points from 0 here last year means probably top 25 next week.
Ha, am totally one of the canadian supporters in jack's post, once the canucks are out of a tournament I couldn't care less. Although I do have a second favourite in whoever's playing Tomic ever since that article exposed what dbags him and mainly his dad are.
Genie wins the first set 6-2 - a loud contingent of Canadian fans showing great support. Razzano has left the court after the first set (extra long delay).
Spoiler!
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Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
is Vasek ever not injured these days? it's like he's playing in the Stanley Cup finals and is proving how hard core Canadian he is by playing through heinous upper/lower body ailments. he might as well just start the beard on day 1 of every tournament.
A ball girl was treated for heat stress during a morning match, and the tournament shortened rotations for the ball kids to 45-minute shifts.
Players used metaphors and anecdotes to describe how hot it was.
"I put the (water) bottle down on the court and it started melting a little bit underneath -- the plastic. So you know it was warm," former No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki said. "It felt like I was playing in a sauna."
Quote:
Sometimes a hot breeze stirred the air, making things worse, said No. 13-seeded John Isner, who retired from his first-round match with a right ankle injury.
"It was like an oven -- when I open the oven and the potatoes are done. That's what it's like," Isner said.
Two-time defending champion Victoria Azarenka agreed.
"It felt pretty hot, like you're dancing in a frying pan or something like that," she said after advancing to the second round.
Quote:
Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic said he started feeling dizzy in the first set of his match against Benoit Paire and then collapsed in the next set.
"I couldn't keep my balance anymore and I leaned over the fence, and when I woke up people were all around me," he said. After receiving medical attention, he returned to the match and lost in straight sets.
"It's hazardous to be out there. It's dangerous," Dancevic said, criticizing the tournament for not having suspended play. "Until somebody dies, they're just going to keep playing matches in this heat."
Perhaps the only player who isn’t affected by all this is Roger Federer. The 17-time Grand Slam winner remarked: “Depending on where you come from, it has a bigger effect on you, this type of heat, than maybe humid heat,” Federer said. “So it’s very personal, and it can become just a very mental thing and you just can’t accept that it’s hot. Just deal with it, because it’s the same for both.”
The arrogance of this guy never ceases to amaze me. I really admire his tennis career, no doubt he's one of the best ever, but with his personality, I just wanna punch him in the face. All he does is look out for himself, I don't think he ever stood up for somebody else.
The arrogance of this guy never ceases to amaze me. I really admire his tennis career, no doubt he's one of the best ever, but with his personality, I just wanna punch him in the face. All he does is look out for himself, I don't think he ever stood up for somebody else.
He's not wrong though, I don't find anything appalling about what he said.
Everything in tennis is about the world rankings which is a 52-week rolling calendar. Each tournament is allocated a number of points.
For Grand Slams the winner gets 2000 points (there are 4 of these)
For Masters the winner gets 1000 points (there are 9 of these)
For ATP 500 the winner gets 500 points
and so on down the food chain.
Whatever points you accumulate you get to hold on to for one year, meaning in one years time, you have to 'defend' these points.
For example last year Djokovic won Australia, he's defending 2000 points this week. Nadal did not play Australia last year, he's defending 0 points.
So entry into this Australian Open tournament is simply the top 104 players in the rankings + 8 wildcards (determined by the organizers) + 16 qualifers (determined by a separate 128 man tournament)
The tournament you saw in the November was the year-end championships. The top 8 point accumulators in the calendar year 2013 get invited to a special tournament in London.
Okay that makes a lot more sense. Thanks Girlysports!
The arrogance of this guy never ceases to amaze me. I really admire his tennis career, no doubt he's one of the best ever, but with his personality, I just wanna punch him in the face. All he does is look out for himself, I don't think he ever stood up for somebody else.
Good for him, I completely agree! I'm really not a fan of athletes whining about conditions when it is the same for everyone.
The arrogance of this guy never ceases to amaze me. I really admire his tennis career, no doubt he's one of the best ever, but with his personality, I just wanna punch him in the face. All he does is look out for himself, I don't think he ever stood up for somebody else.
as a Nole fan I know you're contractually obligated to feel this way, and that's alright. but to say he only looks out for himself isn't true. there's plenty of examples, but I remember a couple years back when both Fed and Rafa were on the players association council, and Rafa was fighting for fewer mandatory events, because of the toll it was taking on his body/knees. Fed was against this because he knew that the lower ranked players needed as many chances on the tour as possible to make a decent living, since the vast majority weren't making 6 or 7 digits per appearance. so unlike the NHLPA heads, you had a top star repping for the no-name grunts as opposed to his fellow stars.
now that isn't to say Fed is above a certain level of gamesmanship, and I think that's what rubs non-fans the wrong way. his dismissal of heat complaints is probably his way of taunting his opponents with "oh it's too hot for you princess? I'm all good, piece of cake, see you on court!" it's either funny or irritating depending on your preferences.
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