Federer, Hewitt Make 2005 Debuts Monday; Hingis, Philippous

[boyo]

"i'll take hewitt pal, Andrew Mcleod for a hundred, thanks alex." he's the studyly one. hewitt still looks stringy to me. lol, like horsemeat in wartime or something.

EXCELLENT analogy with the tugboat for Agassi, but to be fair, he's got that strange semi-pigeon-toed gait that allows for unusual quickness. so, it works for him.

[ChrisM]

oh and for your viewing pleasure, "hulk hewitt":
http://homepage.mac.com/squashnazi/FileSharing1.html

(as a special bonus feature i included a pic of his unarguably buff pal and current roommate, andrew mcleod)

There are a couple of pics on gettyimages from yesterday that really do show Hewitt's gotten bigger than he was.... but no question he's not in his footballer friend's league -- that is what I call ridiculous physique.

I agree Hewitt's whining about the surface doesn't paint the picture of the conquering hero, but we'll have to see how much in control of the spin he is. I wonder if he's savvy enough to throw out a bunch of meaningless smokescreen. Might take _some_ of the heat off the Federer problem and the relationship debacle.

I don't ever remember seeing a close-up of Agassi's feet during a played point... does he run pigeon-toed too?!?

[gsm]

Hewitt started the yr on a off note , but soon came good.

Def Clement 26 61 61

Are you guys overseas getting the unedited soundbites on the sport news of Hewitt calling the AO courts "cow sh*t" , we are its very amusing.

The AO dont seem to mind the comments , shrugging them off with a smirk.

Hey I just realised you can preview posts , I'm typing this during the preview , how cool. (Im new to this)

[Socket]

Hewitt didn't call the RA surface cowshit, he said he'd play on cowshit, if he had to, to win the AO. That's different.

Personally, I say, good on you, Lleyton. Tennis Australia is an incompentent group of fools who are leaving him high and dry in terms of developing young Aussie players. If he wants a different surface, they should say, thank you very much and how soon do you want it, sir. Pollard and McNamee aren't doing anything for Aussie tennis, Lleyton is. At least he's not refusing to play Davis Cup unless the USTA agrees to his requests, like Sampras used to do.

[onewoman74]

If the USTA can give in to the demands of top US players, so can Aussie organizers. It's their grand slam. They can do want they want. People will complain no matter what you do.

[boyo]

seems like a surface should be reflected in the country's tennis life if it's going to give an advantage to a home-grown players.

are there tennis courts all over australia made of the stuff?

that's why it seems like a fair court in a way ... favoring games as opposed to players.

.

[ChrisM]

Def Clement 26 61 61

This is exactly the kind of landmine opponent Hewitt is going to want to avoid at the Australian Open. Talk about bad luck... super-grinder Arnaud Clement as a qualifier in the first round! Looks like Hewitt found his groove, but if this had been a five-setter, who knows?

At least he's not refusing to play Davis Cup unless the USTA agrees to his requests, like Sampras used to do.

I'll never understand the Sampras-Agassi Davis Cup yo-yo. Their refusal to play after playing earlier in their careers seemed boneheaded to me. At least players like Roddick and Hewitt (and many others in many countries) have shown exemplary dedication to the competition, despite the fact that they occasionally say boneheaded things.

[Socket]

seems like a surface should be reflected in the country's tennis life if it's going to give an advantage to a home-grown players.

are there tennis courts all over australia made of the stuff?

that's why it seems like a fair court in a way ... favoring games as opposed to players.

.

Well, if they change the speed of the AO surface, all the lead-in tournaments (surfaced by the same company) would change, too.

Even apart from Lleyton's comments, the injury issue should lead to a change in how sticky the surface is.

[Socket]

If the USTA can give in to the demands of top US players, so can Aussie organizers. It's their grand slam. They can do want they want. People will complain no matter what you do.

If Tennis Australia was actually doing something to help tennis in Australia, I'd probably be less sympathetic to Lleyton, but they're not. Only person in Australia (male) is producing any goods for Aussie tennis, and that's Lleyton. The whole lot of them should just retire in shame. One male player in the top 100? Please.

[mariam]

I can see I'm going to enjoy reading from this forum! I see all the Federer haters - but there are a lot of Federer lovers here as well. To the person who said Hewitt has 'buffed' up to beat Federer... Well, he's going to need it although I don't think it's help too much. And Safin! Please, Safin's a mental case! If he ever got his head together, he would do great. But that's a big IF. Anyway... I'm really looking forward to another dominating year by Federer in 2005. Bring on the challengers!

FED GROUPIES ARE HERE! YES!

well it seemed like you have derrogatory stuff to say about every single player other than federer. , and than you go on to accuse us of 'hating' fed. I don't hate anybody,esp anybody I don't know ( well maybe george steinbrenner, but that's a whole other story )

that's partly why I'm not the biggest of fed fans: he's arrogant and so are his fans. yes he has a reason to, but a) ever heard of being humble and b) how and why does it translate to his fans being arrogant?

he is great, but he's boring to watch IMO (i'd rather watch paint dry)...believe it or not, there are other players worth watching, open your eyes. you'll be surprised. and the reason you resort to ridiculing hewitt and safin is because deep down you know that they can challenge GOD FED's superiority... c'mon, admit it.

[gsm]

"mariam" great to see that you are to taking charge and having a go at the tunnel vissioned Fed lovers.

But saying that you would 'rather watch paint dry' is going to get them fired up even more!!! If you dont mind dealing with them then go for it.

And "ChrisM" your enthusiasm for Davis cup I believe is cool , all these no brainers out there wanting to write off the format for what ever reason have no doubt not seen a tie. The aptmosphere is like no other , and that no one can argue with.

Who remembers Pat Rafters loss at Wimby to Goran? Supporters going ape over every point , hairs were on end for about an hour after I turned off the telly. Come to think of it , it was very similar to a lot of Davis cup matches I've seen.

If Roddick is to be commended for anything it has to be his Davis cup ambitions and commitment.

And Federer (I know your reading this) , the way you weazled your way out of Davis cup this year was a disgrace , it wouldnt have anything to do with you loosing to Hewitt does it? For those that dont know Hewitt is deadly in Davis cup , the "Ladys man" Poo isnt bad either.

"Socket" , his exact quote was : 'If I gotta win on cow sh*t , then I guess I have to do it'.

[pepper]

And Federer (I know your reading this) , the way you weazled your way out of Davis cup this year was a disgrace , it wouldnt have anything to do with you loosing to Hewitt does it? For those that dont know Hewitt is deadly in Davis cup , the "Ladys man" Poo isnt bad either.

Think that's a bit unfair, gsm. This is the first time (in 6 years) Fed's not made himself available for a single tie. How can it have anything to do with his loss to Hewitt? That was over a year ago and you know the h2h has changed a just bit since then; anyway Switzerland are hardly likely to play Australia in DC this year.

Whilst I agree Hewitt is amazing in DC, Poo is more dead than deadly. His career is over, I'd say.

[gsm]

Yeah sorry 'pepper' , didnt explain myself , infact it was a bad attempt at humor (maybe should have included a laughing emoticon thingy). I still think that Federer's excuse for skipping Davis cup was a disgrace , but not becouse of his loss to Hewitt.

He came out saying that he only wanted to represent his country if they made the qtr finals claiming that he wanted to concentrate on the Masters events , my point is;

Being world no 1 , he should set an example to the rest of the tennis field that representing your country in Davis cup is an honour , not to just turn up when you feel like it.

Now I hear all you guys out there screaming "the team would be a one man band" , "Roger will be worn out and threaten his chances at the TMS events", "they have no chance at making the final anyway" and "Davis cup is a washed up comp that has no following".

* "the team would be a one man band" , true it would , but it would be a no man band (sorry Kratochvil and Rosset) thanks to selfish Roger.

* "Roger will be worn out and threaten his chances at the TMS events" , Lets get one thing straight , it is three tennis matches. Not only that the majority of the TMS draw would have played Davis cup aswell so they would all be on a level playing field. Not now Roger is going to have an advantage.

* "they have no chance at making the final anyway" , they came within a couple of points in what would have been the deciding set of making the Davis cup final , thanks to Hewitt it was not to be. Keep in mind that Australia only just won the final , so having only one established player Switzerland were within a whisker of taking home the "Salad Bowl".

* "Davis cup is a washed up comp that has no following" , anyone who has been to a tie or seen one on telly wont need to hear these statistics , but to those who have not. The Davis cup website last year got 1000,000 hits most month's and had 50 000,000 over the final. Dont know about the semi's etc...

Davis cup is essential for the developement of the game globaly , practicaly all countries play some form of Davis cup tie. It gives them a reference point as to where the country's game is at and gives them something to strive for.

I dont have the answers as to what can be done to make it more compatible with the ATP calender , ranking points etc... , but it cannot be scraped for reasons mentioned above.

And on the "Poo" and his ability. I've always thought he plays on a tightrope , going for the line when he doesnt have to , hitting the net when he just has to go through the motions , going for an ace on a second serve when he's trying to stay in the match. I guess I'm just biased to his outstanding performances in two Davis cup finals. As I type he has just had his 7th straight loss.

[boyo]

maybe roger just doesn't feel that patriotic surge about davis cup, you know? i know i don't.

it'd good to see someone stay true to his instincts and not be goaded into it.

[Conrad]

Sorry to go off topic, but what do all these women see in "The Scud?" He looks like a cromagnon. The picture of him with his new woman is laughable. It's the ATP version of beauty and the beast.