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1) Are Djokovic and Murray ready to compete by then?
2) How are Nadal and Federer doing physically?
3) In what shape are the chasers (or former chasers) such as Tsonga and Nishikori? Is former chaser, Dimitrov, standing out among this list?
4) Where does Stanimal stand in all of this?
5) Have the young ones such as Zverev and Thiem elevated to a higher level, thus increased their chance at winning a grand slam, than 6 months ago?
6) Why is Thiem getting so much attention, when similar-aged players like Sock and Goffin play just as well, and not getting the "future number 1" or "future grand slam winner" mentions?
7) Who do you think will the Semi-Finalist at 2018 Australian Open?
1) Are Djokovic and Murray ready to compete by then?
2) How are Nadal and Federer doing physically?
3) In what shape are the chasers (or former chasers) such as Tsonga and Nishikori? Is former chaser, Dimitrov, standing out among this list?
4) Where does Stanimal stand in all of this?
5) Have the young ones such as Zverev and Thiem elevated to a higher level, thus increased their chance at winning a grand slam, than 6 months ago?
6) Why is Thiem getting so much attention, when similar-aged players like Sock and Goffin play just as well, and not getting the "future number 1" or "future grand slam winner" mentions?
7) Who do you think will the Semi-Finalist at 2018 Australian Open?
Glad you brought this up now, it's a long off season until the AO.
I think Djoker will be ready, but I think Murray's injury is much more serious, and possibly career threatening.
Fed and Nadal should have enough time to be fit and healthy.
Stanimal is probably done now, and the other chasers are fading.
Zverev is unproven in Slams, Thiem more likely to win on clay than hard courts.
Dimitrov is the dark horse now imo for the tournament, he should be riding the wave from the WTF's victory, a great breakthrough success.
He is my pick to win it.
Glad you brought this up now, it's a long off season until the AO.
I think Djoker will be ready, but I think Murray's injury is much more serious, and possibly career threatening.
Fed and Nadal should have enough time to be fit and healthy.
Stanimal is probably done now, and the other chasers are fading.
Zverev is unproven in Slams, Thiem more likely to win on clay than hard courts.
Dimitrov is the dark horse now imo for the tournament, he should be riding the wave from the WTF's victory, a great breakthrough success.
He is my pick to win it.
Why do you think Murray's career is ending? How serious is his injuries?
Why do you think Stan is done?
Dimitrov is at best at the Semi at WTF if there was a decent number of top players that he has to face.
In a few short hours Rafael Nadal will set foot on Australian and Melbourne soil.
There is a huge chance Nadal will make the AO Final, but he's usually too nervous to win it.
But who knows, he may prove me wrong!
Last year I said he'd only win the French Open and US Open, and I was correct but he very nearly proved me wrong at the AO.
I'm very confident Nadal will beat Djokovic this time, because Nadal leads Djokovic 2-1 at the US Open, and their only AO meeting went 6 hours and Nadal was up a break in the 5th set despite not using the correct strategy.
In that 2012ao final, Nadal went crosscourt way too much, whereas at 2010 and 2013 US Open finals you saw Nadal go down-the-line frequently and it really destroyed Djokovic.
Moya's version of Nadal is very down-the-line, plus his 2nd serve is now faster than ever before which helps negate Djokovic's aggressive backhand return.
Of course, Djokovic won't make the final if his elbow plays up, but if the elbow is healed (Djokovic says it is) then Djokovic will beat Federer in the semi.
Federer has way too much emotional baggage, having lost his last 3 meetings with Djokovic at the AO, last 3 at the US Open and last 2 at Wimbledon!
I saw Nadal's exhibition match with Gasquet + the super-tie-breaker tournament, and Nadal's court movement is outstanding right now; he actually appears to be moving faster than he was at last year's victorious US Open (and that is no surprise, because he was fatigued after a busy first half of 2017).
This week Nadal's timing was very rusty in the Gasquet match especially, but physically he's 100% and will fine tune his game in the 1st week of AO.
I'm very confident Nadal will beat Djokovic this time, because Nadal leads Djokovic 2-1 at the US Open, and their only AO meeting went 6 hours and Nadal was up a break in the 5th set despite not using the correct strategy.
In that 2012ao final, Nadal went crosscourt way too much, whereas at 2010 and 2013 US Open finals you saw Nadal go down-the-line frequently and it really destroyed Djokovic.
Moya's version of Nadal is very down-the-line, plus his 2nd serve is now faster than ever before which helps negate Djokovic's aggressive backhand return.
Of course, Djokovic won't make the final if his elbow plays up, but if the elbow is healed (Djokovic says it is) then Djokovic will beat Federer in the semi.
Federer has way too much emotional baggage, having lost his last 3 meetings with Djokovic at the AO, last 3 at the US Open and last 2 at Wimbledon!
I saw Nadal's exhibition match with Gasquet + the super-tie-breaker tournament, and Nadal's court movement is outstanding right now; he actually appears to be moving faster than he was at last year's victorious US Open (and that is no surprise, because he was fatigued after a busy first half of 2017).
This week Nadal's timing was very rusty in the Gasquet match especially, but physically he's 100% and will fine tune his game in the 1st week of AO.
First comment only, both have to make the final for there to be a repeat match at the AO.
The probability of both happening would be low, regardless of which player you support.
Nobody saw a Fedal final happening last year at the start of the tourney (with rankings drops etc), so anything can happen.
But both are coming back from injuries and long layoffs, esp Djoker, so it will be one match at a time.
Djokovic's service action being abbreviated, will give Nadal a pretty big advantage in the rivalry.
Djokovic getting more free points on serve than Nadal was usually the reason for Djokovic's wins over Nadal.
Whereas Federer will still struggle big league to beat Djokovic at the slams especially because Djokovic will continue to own the baseline rallies and will pass Federer if Federer comes to net.
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