tennis

Azarenka beats Li to win Australian Open

6 Comments
By JOHN PYE

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6 Comments
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I've never seen a colder crowd. She was a very unpopular winner.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I've always been put off by her "grunting". At least she didn't complain about Li Na having two medical timeouts - that blow to the head looked really painful.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

@Tamarama

I've never seen a colder crowd. She was a very unpopular winner.

People think she cheated in the previous match with the young American. She also pulled out of her previous tournament when she learned her upcoming opponent would probably be Serena Williams thus losing her #1 ranking before going into the Australian Open.

She is similar to the last few #1 ranked women's players. All very weak and play mostly minor tournaments while loosing most majors or avoid playing strong players as much as possible. Her behavior in the tournament lost the crowds support.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

“So when the physio come, she was like, ‘Focus on my finger.’ I was laughing. I was thinking, ‘This is tennis court, not like hospital.’”

I'm glad she found the humor in all this. She's been quite gracious in defeat many times, and just having to put up with two consecutive matches where the opponents are grunting, wailing and screaming is no mean feat. Considering that she'll be 31 soon, Li Na and the likes of Date-Krumm have shown the oldies can still come up with the goods.

Sharapova's grunting is bad enough, but I just cannot understand how Azarenka got to make those noises - they're not grunting a la Monica Seles, but wailing or crying out as if someone's cut off your tail. You have to hear it - pretty hard to describe.

JJ:

At least she didn't complain about Li Na having two medical timeouts - that blow to the head looked really painful.

Yes, a blow to the head and twisting an ankle that was just twisted a few moments beforehand, I think, deserves some attention. It's not as if Li Na took a time-out because of butterflies in the stomach. I mean, who would do that?

Some credit to Azarenka for putting up with that crowd. But she deservedly lost a lot of support.

Tamarama:

I've never seen a colder crowd.

You've obviously never watched Roland Garros. An example fresh in my mind, the 1999 final between Graf and Hingis. That crowds at that tournament will either love you or hate you.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Unworthy 2013 Australian Open Champion. Also she doesn't deserve to be No,1 WTA Ranking too.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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