gilo la Mek Tam ni! me pi buat bfast tau2 dah berdiri tgh court ,interviewed
serba salah..heart nak Venus menang after 14 longggg years
head nak Mek Na menang..#23
tgh rest minum kopi sambil pikir betapa besarnya pressure Rafa esok
all eyes on him..
peminat2 kertu mcm iols ni semua mengharapkan fedal final ok
sambil tgk Fedal , bolehlah mengimbau zaman2 muda dulu
Come on Rafa!
i dah buat keputusan kalau Rafa masuk final
nak Rafa and Venus jd champion.
dua org ni tak tahu celah bila lagik boleh menang..sometimes kita kena realistik sket.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEMIFINAL PREVIEW: RAFAEL NADAL VS. GRIGOR DIMITROV
by: STEVE TIGNOR January 26, 2017
Grand Slam semis don’t come much more tantalizing.
There’s emotion: Nadal and his old rival Roger Federer have been the sentimental favorites for the last two weeks, as they try to reclaim their old co-glory.
There’s a clash of generations: The 30-year-old Nadal is a lifetime member of the Big 4, while the 25-year-old Dimitrov hails from the generation that has labored fruitlessly in the shadows of those legendary elders. A win for Dimitrov would turn that age-old hierarchy on its head.
Best of all, there’s a crackling collision of two contrasting game styles, and two world-class talents seemingly playing their best tennis.
Nadal leads Dimitrov 7-1 head to head, but the Bulgarian has always been able to get his cuts in and take control of rallies against the Spaniard. With his wide serve and sharp crosscourt forehands, he can pull Rafa wide to his backhand side, and then finish down the line. Their first three meetings all went three sets, and their fourth was a furiously competitive four-set quarterfinal at the 2014 Australian Open. The surface in Laver has quickened since then, which should help Dimitrov, who finally snapped his losing streak to Rafa last November in Beijing. Since that match, both men have only gotten better, and over the last 10 days their self-belief has grown accordingly. Now we’ll see who has more of it.
Winner: Dimitrov
From the Associated Press:
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Even with such vast experience on the big occasion of a Grand Slam, Rafael Nadal is nervous. His jitters aren't eased by an impressive 7-1 head-to-head lead over Australian Open semifinal rival Grigor Dimitrov.
For a start, the 14-time major winner is aware Dimitrov broke through against him last time, in Beijing less than four months ago. And the emerging Bulgarian picked up where he left off late last year by winning the singles title in Brisbane three weeks ago in the perfect lead-up to the season's first major championship.
"He's a player that has an unbelievable talent, unbelievable potential," Nadal said. "He started the season playing unbelievable.
"It's going to be a very tough match for me. I hope for him, too. I'm going to try to play my best because I know he's playing with high confidence."
Nadal certainty won't shy from another challenge and he draws strength from his own form that accounted for German teenager Alexander Zverev, Frenchman Gael Monfils and then big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic.
"I think all of them are top players. So that's very important for me because that means that I'm competitive and playing well," said Nadal, who won the Australian title in 2009. "Very happy that after a lot of work, to be in this round again. Is a special thing for me, especially here in Australia."
Nadal reversed the recent loss to Raonic in Brisbane, where he was returning from a couple of months off to rest his injured left wrist. He went in with a more aggressive approach in Melbourne, taking the ball earlier to force errors as he surged to his 50th Grand Slam win at Melbourne Park and into his 24th major semifinal.
"Even moments he played so good from the baseline, I was there trying to stop his aggressive shots and don't lose court, don't lose meters behind the baseline. That's an important change for me," Nadal said. "I feel very happy for my attitude. I hit some great passing shots. That's good news for me. When I make that happen, it's because I'm playing well."
No. 15-seeded Dimitrov conceded only nine games to 11th-seeded Belgian David Goffin in a clinical warm-up for his semifinal with Nadal.
He's fit and fresh after rebuilding a ranking that slipped to 40 last July, his lowest standing for more than three years.
"I just kept doing the things that I was believing in," he said, paying tribute to his coach Daniel Vallverdu and fitness trainer and others who "were there for me at the tough time."
"I never felt that I was doing something wrong. I just felt that I was not playing and practicing well, not doing the right things. But with the right set of people, things started to slowly move forward for me. Now I think I'm just in a good place."
Dimitrov said he had the talent and the preparation to reach his first Grand Slam final.
"I feel like I have all the tools to go further and my job isn't over yet." He said. "I'm ready to go the distance.
"Just going forward with the confidence that I have built up also from the previous tournament. With each match I've been feeling better and better — It just all comes pretty natural right now."
Dimitrov had the luxury of watching the Nadal-Raonic duel Wednesday night while relaxing in his hotel room, staying in for the night to focus on his Open advance.
"Right now I'm enjoying the fight, that's for sure. I'm enjoying running down every ball. When you feel physically good and you feel to kind of get into a match, that gives you a different perspective as soon as you get out on the court," he said. "Whoever you play, you know you're going to get your chance."
WATCH: A LOOK BACK AT THE EIGHT VENUS-SERENA GRAND SLAM FINALS
by: BRAD KALLET January 26, 2017
Going back to 2001, Serena Williams has won six of their eight title matches at majors. (AP)
For the ninth time in their illustrious careers, Serena Williams and her older sister, Venus, will meet in the final of a Grand Slam.
Serena eased past sentimental favorite Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, 6-2, 6-1, in the Australian Open semifinals on Thursday, and Venus came from a set down to top up-and-comer CoCo Vandeweghe.
Serena is looking for her Open-era record 23rd major title and seventh Aussie Open. Venus is targeting her eighth major championship, and first since 2008. The elder Williams has never won the title Down Under.
In anticipation of their highly-anticipated match, and as a testament to their sustained brilliance and longevity, we’re taking a trip down memory lane and chronicling their previous eight Grand Slam final matches.
Cue the way-back machine. We’re going deep.
2001 U.S. OPEN: VENUS D. SERENA, 6-2, 6-4
This match was particularly memorable. It was the first installment of Williams-Williams in a major final, and in front of the American fans in Flushing Meadows, the atmosphere was especially palpable. The big sister got the best of her kin on this day, winning rather easily in straight sets. It was Venus’ second and final U.S. Open title, and her fourth major in two years.
2002 FRENCH OPEN: SERENA D. VENUS, 7-5, 6-3
This was the first of four straight majors final (and five of six) in which Serena and Venus squared off for the trophy, an absolutely incredible display of dominance over the women’s game. Serena turned the tide on her sister at Roland Garros, beating Venus in straights. After taking the French Open, Serena would go on to win three more Grand Slams in succession and hold all four majors.
2002 WIMBLEDON: SERENA D. VENUS, 7-6 (4), 6-3
Serena needed a tiebreaker to get the first set, and then rolled in the second. This was the first of Serena’s seven titles at the All England Club.
2002 U.S. OPEN: SERENA D. VENUS, 6-4, 6-3
Another straight-setter for Serena, who at this point has established herself as the undisputed best player on the WTA tour. She picks up her second U.S. Open title—and first since 1999—and ties Venus with four major trophies.
2003 AUSTRALIAN OPEN: SERENA D. VENUS, 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4
OK, now Serena is making history, and by this point her sister must be getting awfully frustrated. In their tightest match yet in a Slam final, Serena takes the first set in a tiebreaker before dropping the second. She pulls out the deciding third to complete the career Grand Slam at just 22 years of age.
2003 WIMBLEDON: SERENA D. VENUS, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2
Another heartbreaker for Venus, who grabs the first set before letting the next two get away. This would be Serena’s last Grand Slam title until 2005.
2008 WIMBLEDON: VENUS D. SERENA, 7-5, 6-4
Five years later, they meet again in a major final. And what do you know? Venus finally exacts some revenge, snapping a five-match losing streak against her sister in Grand Slam title matches. Venus wins her fifth Wimbledon title, and last major to date.
2009 WIMBLEDON: SERENA D. VENUS, 7-6 (3), 6-2
Serena denies her sister a sixth Wimbledon title with a straight-sets victory. Venus would never reach another Grand Slam final (until now); Serena, on the other hand, would go on to win 11 more singles majors.
Serena is 6-2 against Venus in Slam finals, but it’s worth noting that, in their other 19 meetings, Serena holds a narrow 10-9 edge.
The younger sister, ranked second in the world, is the clear favorite coming into the match. But knowing what we know about Venus’ competitive nature and desire—and about this historic rivalry—she can’t be counted out, by any means.
Savor this match, on this stage, because we may never see it again.
It’s been two years since Rafael Nadal won a major, but the Spaniard’s iron will has him back at the sharp end of a Slam once more.
Photo by: Luke Hemer/Tennis Australia
“If I am here, is because I believe,” Rafael Nadal said on the eve of Australian Open 2017.
He believes, two years removed from the last of his 14 major triumphs, he is still a contender for the sport’s crown jewels. He believes, despite a 10-Slam stretch without as much as a semifinal berth, he is capable of winning seven best-of-five-set matches over two weeks. He believes, after a season beset by injuries that forced him out of the French Open, Wimbledon and the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, he is approaching his best form once more.
Ten days on and five victories later, he has proven why.
Nadal is back in a Grand Slam semifinal for the first time since his Roland Garros triumph in 2014. After straight-sets victories over Florian Mayer and Marcos Baghdatis, the 2009 champion overcame sterner tests against youngster Alexander Zverev in five sets, Gael Monfils in four and Milos Raonic, the No.3 seed, in three. At turns he’s been brilliant, bullish – and, by his own admission, beatable. But whenever it has mattered most, the Spaniard has found a way.
With Carlos Moya alongside Toni Nadal and Francisco Roig in his corner, and with girlfriend Xisca Perello in the stands at Melbourne Park for the first time this year – “after 10 years, finally my girlfriend gets a wildcard,” he joked – the No.9 seed will take on Grigor Dimitrov, winner in Brisbane and unbeaten in Australia this summer, for a place in his fourth Australian Open final.
Suffice to say, the partnership with Moya is off to a fine start. After his successful spell with Raonic in 2016, the former world No.1 and fellow Mallorcan has quickly instilled and implemented the adjustments he believes Nadal must make – both on court and during training.
“I believe a lot in specifics training,” Moya told Spanish news outlet El Espanol in Melbourne. “It is something I used with Raonic, and adapting a lot of those exercises to Nadal is important because they are completely distinct players. We want to focus a lot on the repetition of what you have to do in matches.”
The focus has not been on wholesale changes to Nadal’s game, but rather on drills that maximise the 30-year-old’s strengths on court – advice that speaks volumes about the trust he places in the 1998 French Open champion.
“Moya has clarity about my playing style,” Nadal said. “We have played each other a few times and practiced together tons of times. He has come with some new exercises – since Carlos has arrived we are doing less, and doing more specific things.”
Such clarity is a priceless commodity for Nadal, who finds the chasing pack closing in around him. But if the days of Nadal rampaging through draws are long gone, watching the southpaw find new ways to outbox and outfox his opponents has made for compelling viewing.
At times over the first four rounds he had retreated deep behind the Melbourne lettering on Rod Laver Arena on return, a chasm from the baseline – but against Raonic, who possesses one of the most potent serves in the men’s game and who beat Nadal in Brisbane, he switched his position and came forward to great effect.
“Talking with Toni, with Carlos, we know that we needed to change that,” Nadal said. “Before the match we were talking about trying to combine returning sometimes very close to the baseline and sometimes back. But the real thing is I felt well from inside, and I felt that I was putting some pressure on him, so I decided to stay in almost all the time.
“[I’m] happy because in Brisbane, I think I was close. I was very, very close. I feel very happy for my attitude and for the tennis, too. I hitted some great passing shots. That's good news for me. When I make that happen, it's because I'm playing well.”
Nadal heads into the showdown with Dimitrov with seven previous wins against the Bulgarian, but a solitary loss – their most recent encounter in Beijing last year.
“He’s a player that has been on the tour for a lot of years already,” Nadal said of the No.15 seed, playing his second Grand Slam semifinal. “He’s a player that has an unbelievable talent; unbelievable potential. He started the season playing unbelievable. Is going to be a very tough match for me. I hope for him, too. I’m going to try to play my best because I know he’s playing with high confidence.”
Win there, however, and Nadal is once again in contention for a major, something that seemed a long shot over the past two seasons – so much so, that the historical significance of a second Australian Open title has passed many fans by. Not only would it make the Spaniard the first man in the Open era to win all four majors twice, but would see him surpass Pete Sampras all-time majors record, and close in on Federer.
“Rafa wins, it's 15-17, and the French Open is around the corner – it’s back on. It’s literally game on for the most Slams ever,” said Hall of Fame inductee Andy Roddick.
An unbelievable thought? Perhaps. But not to Rafa – he’s earned the right to believe.
Post time 26-1-2017 03:10 PM
Author
