Serena Williams was knocked out of the Australian Open 2012 this morning in straight sets by unseeded Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 6-3.
Now she has come out with the outragous statement that she would not have played the tournament had it not been a major.
“No, no way. I probably shouldn’t have played. But no way,” Serena told reporters. “I never blame any injury that I have because I feel like she played really well and she deserved the win…Obviously I’m not 100 percent, and I haven’t been. But it’s no excuse.”
Want to watch the Australian Open 2012 on your Xbox 360? Well now you can with the ESPN app. I know we are into the second week of the tournament, but better late then never. Just get the ESPN app and enjoy! They have cameras on 4-5 different courts. This means you won’t get stuck watching another boring Serena Williams match!
Kei Nishikori has become the first Japanese male player to make the quarterfinals of the Australian Open with his 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 upset of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
“When you have a guy in front of you who return everything, even when you serve 215 [kilometers per hour], it put lot of pressure,” Tsonga said. “It’s tough to play against him because he run a lot and everything’s coming back. Even when he’s far in the point, he come back on his line.”
Tomas Berdych acted like a child at the Australian Open 2012 and was booed off court after Nicolas Almagro hit a ball that struck Berdych during a point toward the end of the fourth set. Berdych thought this was done deliberately, but come on its a serious game of tennis and you need to do whatever you have to do to win.
Almagro put the shot away and then approached the net to apologize, but Berdych didn’t respond to him.
Poor old Li Na left the Chinese press in tears after she choked and didn’t convert four match points against Kim Clijster. Li Na lost 4-6, 7-6, (6), 6-4.
“Maybe 6-2 up in the tiebreak I was a little bit shocking,” Li told reporters in English.
Shame.. I can now see Kim Clijsters going on to make the final and possibly even win the title.
The quote of the day today comes from Novak Djokovic who has been commenting on whether men should have the opportunity to pose in swimsuits in magazines: “I’m not getting naked for anybody, except my girlfriend.”
Would your girlfriend be interested in posing naked instead?
Bernard Tomic isnt the best looking guy in the world, but he has managed to pick up a very good looking girlfriend. Tomic is dating Gold Coast model Donay Meijer. Meijer is a 21 year old pharmacy student.
Lleyton Hewitt has continued his great run in the Australian Open 2012. Hewitt defeated (23) Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5), 6-3 in a todays night match.
Hewitt has been struggling with recent injuries, but he still looks very determined and has been working really hard to show some good results.
Raonic has also been struggling with injuries and Im sure he will be back in the later stages of the Australian Open in the coming years.
David Nalbandian was fined $8,000 for his outburst on Friday where he threw water at a staff member at the Australian Open. The incident happened in his match against John Isner and frankly I can easily see why he got upset!
Nalbandian commented about his penalty and said, “ridiculous playing this kind of tournament with this kind of umpires.”
Other penalties included:
Julien Benneteau’s $2,500 penalty for verbal abuse is the next highest.
Marcos Baghdatis was fined $1,250 for smashing four rackets on Wednesday.
Overall, I think Baghdatis got the best out of the penalties, it could have been a lot worse! Additionally, it got him a huge amount of press!
Matthew Ebden is out of the Australian Open 2012, but he put up an amazing fight. Ebden lost in five sets to 24th seed Kei Nishikori 1-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
“I think it’s extremely disappointing, but I have to give him a bit of credit. Probably for an hour and a half he might have missed less than five balls,” Ebden said.
Here I am doing what I love, so I’m just going to take it on the chin, look to be better, stronger, fitter, become a better player out of it and try to win that one next time.
Jelena Dokic got a bit of a tennis lesson today from Marion Bartoli today. Bartoli won the match 6-3 6-2. The match overall was quite boring with a lot of unforced errors, Dokic hit 28 herself. I can see Bartoli doing quite well in the rest of the tournament and Im sure she will make at least the semifinals.
David Nalbandian seemed to get ripped off in his Australian Open 2012 match against John Isner. It was 8 all in the fifth set and Nalbandian had a break point which was overruled. Then Nalbandian decided to challenge the call, but the umpire and tournament referee told him that he took too long to challenge the call. This is crazy! What a joke. In the end the ball left a mark on court and it was going to be a second serve for Isner at break point 8 all in the fifth set. In the end Isner won 10-8 in the fifth set, but really it should have been the other way!
Last night (Australian time) I was watching Marcos Baghdatis and Stanislas Wawrinka match. Baghdatis seemed to be in complete control in the first set, but really struggled to close out the set. This seemed to become a trend for the rest of the match.
Wawrinka won the match 7-6 6-4 5-7 6-1.
p.s. Did I mention that Baghdatis broke four racquets during the match! Great to see some emotion on court from a top player (shows it means a lot).
Lleyton Hewitt has moved into the third round of the Australian Open 2012 at the expense of Andy Roddick. Roddick had to retire injured with Hewitt leading two sets to one at the time.
Hewitt was leading 3-6 6-3 6-4.
“In the last four years I’ve had five surgeries, and last year I played just two grand slams and two Davis Cup ties,” Hewitt said.
“I came in here with nothing to lose, I’ll play with my heart on my sleeve and see where it gets me.”
Hewitt will now play Canadian Milos Raonic in the third round.
Mardy Fish struggled in Melbourne and is out of the Australian Open 2012. Fish lost to Alejandro Falla 6-7 3-6 6-7 and freely expressed his irritation that Falla was treated for cramps at the change of ends.
“I see that guy’s called the trainer three, four times, however many times he was out there. It’s hot and I’m down two sets to love and I’m looking for anything to sort of gain the momentum a little bit. They’re making the balls bigger and heavier. They’re making it to where it’s such a physical match now that you’re going to have guys that are going to abuse that a lot. So, yeah, I thought he was having some physical issues. But then in between on every point he was totally fine.
Roger Federer is my favourite to take the Australian Open 2012 title, but Im sure he will have stiff competition. Here is his interview from the Australian Open 2012.
