Rogi look a tad rusty but unbothered. Serena looked v rusty.
Djoker has now withdrawn from Doha, Rafa from Brizzy and Kei from Sydney.
It is likely that Djokovic and Nadal will miss the AO, and the Djokovic will miss much of the hard court season and focus on starting during the clay season. I would not be surprised if Djokovic had surgery on his elbow in January.
Nadal will play the Tie Break Ten on Jan. 10th.
Djoker scheduled to play it too but hasn’t confirmed he will play it and Auckland will give him a wildcard if he wants some match play before AO.
Maybe it’s time he stopped using hug therapy and listen to real doctors.
Watched the tennis from Brizzy last night. KikiM extended her losing streak to 13. She looked in complete control taking first set 6-1. But you know what they say about karma. And the Zverev brother I like won too.
“Maybe it’s time he stopped using hug therapy and listen to real doctors.”
I could not agree more. Hopefully, the voices of reason will prevail.
Just finished up some of yesterday’s matches from China/Oz/NZ
WTA is still one big mess. Only Sunshine got through with no drama,
Birdy lost to Struff and Borna beat PCB coming from behind in 3rd set and saving 3mps. Hoping he can keep it up this year.
The young Canadian put up a nice fight but the Edmond too much in the end.
LLegs played dubs with another Aussie. They lost in 3 to Dimi and Harrison. Fun match.
Sir Andrew has withdrawn from Brizzy.
Order restored yesterday in WTA. No big upsets.
Chris Evert has lost her mind if she thinks CiCi Bellis will make the top 20 this year. She got dusted by KaPlisk 6-1, 6-1.
Genie continues to look as hopeless as ever and Angie looks to be turning it around from last years dreadfulness.
Some young Aussie I never heard of beat The Robot 6-4, 6-4. 
Roger continues to roll.
Auckland was rained out today (their yesterday) so tonight all qtr finals and semi’s will be played.
At Brisbane - Sashnovic upset Cornet in 3 sets and after being blown away by JoKo in the first, Svitolina won a tight second set in tb and was on serve 3-2 in 3rd when JoKo retired with an injury. I think only because AO is coming up.
KaPlisk needed 3 to get past Kanepi and Sevastova had too much game for Krunic to handle.
Maria and Simone both won. Maria’s serve was dire but she was clutch on bps against her.
Possible final between her & Simona but she’ll have tough match against Siniakova in semi.
Rogi defeated Sock and Belinda defeated CoConut. And in dubs they won, too.
In Brizzy Dimi best Millman and in Doha Domi defeated the young Greek Tsitsipas.
I ff’d through the other matches.
Murray is out of AO, Tennis Australia refused to give Tomic a WC. Good riddance to bad rubbish,
Still raining in Auckland. They are playing the dubs on an indoor court but have no plans to do that for the singles. Forecast looks dreadful for rest if the day, too.
They are drying the courts in Auckland.
Serena has withdrawn from AO. Not surprised.
The young Belarussian upset Sevastove to reach the final. She won 3 matches in the qualies and now 4 main draw matches. She’ll play Svitolina who beat KaPlisk.
Auckland was completely washed out again. Qtrs and SF will play today. Final will be on Sunday.
Marta lost to Siniakova in 3 sets.
Genie lost every match but one dubs she played in Hopman Cup and ended up with an injury to her bum.
Angie continues to roll.
Switzerland v Germany in the final.
The young Aussie beat the young American easily. Nick K looked like he was either injured or uninterested - losing first set 1-6 to Dolgo but decided to play after that and won in 3. He plays Dimi in SF.
Finally all caught up.
Benderer won the Hopman Cup over Germany. 2-1. Only Angie kept them in it for decider mixed dubs match.
Gorgeous Goerges beat Sunshine to win Auckland. Competive second set but GG held on to win it in a tb. I think Sunshine was running on empty after two tough matches on Saturday.
NickK has easy time of his match over Harrison to win Brizzy.
In Sydney, KikiM extended her losing streak to 14 - losing to a Aussie WC ranked in the 300. It was very hot but Kiki didn’t even put on ice packed towel on changeovers or even wore a visor and she retired after losing first set and down 4-2 in 2nd. Karma.
EKat beat the Brat 7-6, 6-1. Her second breadstick in as many weeks. Served up 11dfs.
I just read Serena’s Vogue article.https://www.vogue.com/article/serena-williams-vogue-cover-interview-february-2018 I LOVE the cover. I was surprised to read that Serena ended up having to have a C-section, and then had a number of complications (blood clots in her lungs, hematoma in her abdomen, etc…). NO WONDER she isn’t ready to go back on tour!!
Serena says she will be back on the tour at Indian Wells, yeah! I will be there.
I will be at Indian Wells too! Usually I go earlier in the tournament. But this year I am playing in the BNP Paribas Open Senior Cup, which includes tickets to the finals. http://www.bnpparibasopen.com/en/event-info/senior-cup
@tx5athome – it also sounds like Serena is suffering from post partum depression. Glad to hear she has lots of support. Her mother’s quotes cracked me up.
She was ok enough to show up in Abu Dhabi and play the exo - but it was obvious seeing her play she wouldn’t have been able to defend her AO title.
I would be surprised if she plays IW. I think she’ll start in Miami - which is basically her home tourney.
Meanwhile - hilarity continues to ensue on WTA tour. Mugu was a walking injury yesterday, still won her match and promptly withdrew from the tourney. America’s overly hyped next coming - flopped to Aga, eating a bagel in the 2nd set. KVitty lost to Giorgi in a match where Giorgi remarkably made fewer UEs than her opponent, That has to be a first! And Stosur got walloped by DashaG. She really should just bin the Aussie summer and not play until clay.
JMdP beat the young Canadian and both Sock and Isner lost. Stanley withdrew from Tie Break Ten. No word on if he’s going to play AO or not.
Tomic decided to enter the qualies and won his first match.
The men’s draw for the AO is out, and the top half looks significantly lighter than the bottom half. Federer, Djokovic, Thiem, Zverev, Wawrinka, Del Potro and Raonic are all in the bottom half, while the top half has Nadal, Cilic and Kyrgios.
Draws have a funny way of falling apart.
Thiem is horrible on hard courts, Stan is injured and Raonic lost to the 18 yr old Aussie last week.
Dimi (3rd seed) is in top half too. Kyrgios just won tourney last week and Cilic made the semi’s in Pune so is playing pretty well.
Lots of tough 1st rd matches on the women’s side.
I really dislike the new AO website. The only good thing is that the Watch Live is working in the States - at least for the qualies.
Agreed emily. And Djokovic and Wawrinka could very well be nowhere close to 100%. It will be interesting to see how things unfold.
I’m surprised Stanley is still in the draw. I hope he doesn’t decide to pull out now and there’s a reshuffle.
Djoker changed his serve motion - likely to protect his wonky elbow. I have doubts it’ll hold up in best of five over two weeks.