Day 1 Main Draw : Tennis wins when Tennys loses & the Mialman delivers another win

To use a wrestling analogy the pre show has been done and today was the start of the main PPV. For those who don't get that it means it's Day 1 of the Aus Open Yes, it was very warm and not much breeze around, as per usual it was a mess with the accreditation and picking up tickets that were being left for pick up was a sham.

Caught up with the main man Sammy and lookiing at the order of play it was pretty easy to see which matches I was going to be out and surprise surprise that's where I went.

Cuevas vs. Lajovic

Thankfully the first WTA match did not last too long, once the Seppi and Mackenzie McDonald finished their hitting session went over to court 20 to watch Salto's finest Cuevas against Lajovic. Cuevas hasn't been in good form for a while this is due to some injury issues and playing through them.

Cuevas started well got an early break in the 1st set. He was down a break point and Lajovic got a dead letcord to break back. Cuevas handled the setback, he kept hitting good length on the groundstrokes, moving Lajovic around to expose the movement and the backhand. Cuevas broke and served out the 1st set.


Cuevas backhand

The 2nd set was a familar pattern Cuevas serving well moving it around the box to open the court from where Cuevas was able to dominate from the baseline using quality angles with the forehand to set up the signature backhand down the line. The match was progressing comfortably on serve for both until the 11th game where Cuevas stepped it up and broke.

After taking a 2 sets to 0 lead in the searing heat Lajovic was demoralised. Cuevas sensed it and made very unforced errors which lead to an easy 3rd set win for Cuevas who got out of the heat with a straight sets win. The best match of the year for the Uruguayan and there were a couple of times where Cuevas hit kick serves to the ad where it bounced out of the court, too bad they were wide.

Schwartzman vs. Molleker

This match followed Cuevas on court 20 aka the car park as it's away from the main courts and suffers from a lack of shade. Schwartzman aka "The Big Man" with Chubby Chela in his corner started very well and showed Molleker what the main level tour is about.

The Big Man got into the groove early on serve and making very few unforced errors pressing Molleker into errors and frustrating the hell out of him. Schwartman took the first 2 sets easily and it looked like a routine straight sets win for the Big Man.

At the 3rd set had a couple of Gremio fans sit next to me and they were fans of Schwartzman which is always a good thing. Yes, Gremio is a football team in Brazil, they said when there no Brazilians they will support other South Americans which is a good thing. Molleker starts hitting better length while holding serve with more ease. The Big Man is crusiing along until the 10th game where plays an absolute stinker of a game and gets broken to lose the 3rd set.


Schwartzman

Schwartzman goes for a toilet break and gets cheered by the Argentine fans as he comes past them. That was the thing which annoyed me during this match there were people taking selfies with the tennis going on in the background. These are the people who go to a gig watching the whole thing through their phones or the ones who complain about 1 gram over on food at the deli.

After the break Schwartzman gets focused after the 3rd set lapse, becomes the human backboard and hitting the corners with the groundstokes. He easily takes the 4th set and was mobbed by fans after the match. If you get a chance to watch Schwartzman do it.

Seppi vs. Johnson

Of course what is this blog without a Seppi report. It's like a pizza without cheese or having a 20 year single malt whisky with coke. This was a tough match for Seppi as he was 0-3 in head to head meetings and only arriving in Melbourne yesterday afternoon.

The key to this match was Seppi attempting to break down the Johnson backhand. Johnson is a good fastcourt player serves well and a good forehand but the backhand is mostly slice. Seppi was a bit sluggish at the start which was understandable but was able to dig in and dominate from the baseline especially the backhand to backhand rallies.

It's not easy to back up after a big week previously especially when losing a final where Seppi let the occasion get better of him anf not play the match. Seppi was able to get the break and managed the serve the 1st set out comfortably which is something Seppi doesn't normally do.

The 2nd set continues on in the same manner. Johnson using his serve and forehand to get on the front foot. Seppi having some issues on serve but once the point was starting working Johnson side to side going to the forehand to expose the backhand. The match was progressing along comfortably until Seppi lost his concentration made a game of errors where Johnson broke and took the 2nd set.

Even afer 1 set all the match feels like it's Seppi's to lose. Johnson does not have a great Slam record and his return game is not a strength. Seppi was hitting well off both sides, got an early break and ran out the 3rd set fairly easily using his groundstokes to keep Johnson pinned on the baseline.


Seppi

We begin the 4th set which continued in the same as the 3rd. Both were holding serve fairly easily, Seppi grinding away and Johnson hitting the spots on serve until a controversial moment in the game where Johnson was broken.

At the first point Johnson cleans the line with a first serve which was an ace. Seppi was walking to the other side and gestured Johnson to challenge. Hawkeye showed it was on the line and the umpire called first serve. Johnson was very pissed off with the decision and debated with the umpire which is like arguing with a female, even when they are wrong, they are right. Seppi returned well after the first point and was able to get the break point where Johnson was being pushed around who floated a slice backhand long for Seppi to break.

Seppi having a few hiccups on serve but these were not fully exploited by Johnson who was making some poor errors especially on the backhand, In that rare moment Seppi served out a match easily and got the W.

After the match Seppi was delighted that the match did not go too long as he said he was feeling flat. He was grinding and Johnson made a lot of mistakes on the backhand after 3 or 4 shots, which Seppi said was unsuual for Johnson as he normally hits it well and keeps it deeps. Now, Seppi is going to enjoy his day off and have a very gentle hit with the coach.

Talking Points

The Mialman delivered with the effort and the victory over Delbonis in 4 sets. It was impossible to get a seat on the court which was way too small for Millman. He should have been placed on court 3 but Millman does not have the right management company, more on that later.

Millman was fantastic as per usual with the fans aftet the match. It's interesting as anyone who has followed this rather strange blog that I have been advocate for Millman. He is a hard and fair competitor but more importantly a fantastic individual. After defeating Federer last year at the US Open, there has been a bandwagon of course, but definitely a sense of happitness that there are more people realising what he's about.


Millman

After the match Millman spent at least 40 minutes taking photos with and signing autographs for fans making sure no one missed out. It's genuine and not done for PR purposes which will give fans fantastic memories. He will go on to play one of his friends Bautista Agut in what will be a big grindfest in the next round.

Roberto Bautista Agut is definitely playing the villain role this week. He played the dry witted Scot Andy Murray who announced that he will be finishing his career due to injury. The fact a player can't retire on their own terms is one of the worst things for a pro sportsman. Bautigol took the first 2 sets, then Murray came back taking the next 2 tiebreakers but once Bautista Agut saw Murray getting fatigued, he got focused.

Now to end this entry with some controversial comments from Nard Dogg Tomic. After losing straight sets to Marin Cilic. Tomic came out and made comments about Lleyton Hewitt's role within Tennis Australia and a conflict of interest. Hewitt is the Davis Cup captain, has a say in who gets the wildcards and in addition has a management company. When there are a multitude of hats being worn, the potential for perceived conflict of interest is clear, especially when Hewitt is still playing doubles when he has been retired, giving himself wildcards to the Australian events and his playing partners are part of the management company. In addition to that, while getting a salary from TA, he is getting prizemoney for the doubles which is double dipping and the fee from the clients.


Tomic on Hewitt

As for Tomic he is not the brightest or most articulate individual. He's definitely a character who manages to divide people, thankfully he doesn't give a monkeys and will answer questions without fake palatitudes or cliches. In the above comments, which have been discussed the issue seems to be the messenger in this case and not so much the content. As they say in the classics a broken clock is right twice a day.

On that note time to end this successful tennis day especially as the big 4 won and Trimp lover Tennys Sandgren lost.