AO and Andy Murray

Seeds crash out—slow balls—Sir Andy Murray

The third-round matches are complete. Of the 32 seeds, 13 have fallen, including top seed Rafael Nadal (lost to McDonald R2), and second seed Casper Ruud (lost to Brooksby R2). Amazingly, the fourth quarter only has one seed remaining (Bautista).

Balls

Much of the talk this year has centred around the Dunlop balls and their lack of durability. Some quotes from around the grounds:

“I never complain about this but the balls are not bouncing,” Auger-Aliassime could be heard saying. "I mean, we’re hitting normal but I don’t know. I know you can’t do anything, but I don’t know if it’s the batch of cans but it’s terrible." The umpire replied: “I’ll double-check this to make sure they’re feeling normal.” Auger-Aliassime handed the ball to the umpire but was fuming. “I’m bouncing the ball to serve, I know, I know (what it is supposed to feel like),” the sixth seed said. “I’ve never seen it before.”

"The balls are a little heavy and don't bounce so much, so it's very good for Tsitsipas's backhand," said Eurosport's Mats Wilander.

Djokovic: “The balls are slower than last year. It makes it more difficult to penetrate through the court. Some of the players are complaining about it, but I’m not.”

“The conditions were different today, the balls didn't jump as much," Svrcina said after losing to Nishioka. "It was played in the evening and it was cold. It was a completely different match than the others."

"Many of the matches today had long, gruelling rallies as the ball fluffed up," said the Eurosport commentator. "Conditions are even slower now, at 12:40am."

It seems the consensus is the court is reasonably fast, but temperatures are playing an outsized roll in the perceived speed of the conditions. Many marquee matches at the AO—especially in the second week and always for the final—occur in the evening (one reason I suspect Djokovic has dominated AO over other Big-4 members).

Sir Andy Fucking Murray

If you’re in Australia you’re probably just waking up to the news that Andy Murray has somehow won his second-round match against hometown hero Thanasi Kokkinakis. I’m actually in tears as I write this: 35-years old and a shadow of his former self, off the back of a five-set match-point-saving win against Berrettini in the first round, down two sets to love tonight, down 2-0 in the third. Then this:

But we were just getting started. Kokkinakis would break again at 3-2 and eventually serve for the third set at 5-4. Serving at 30-30 he was two points from a routine win. But Murray—one of the greatest ever returners—drew on all his heart and experience to just find a way back in; slice forehands, excellent instincts to sneak into the net, and an overall ability to put balls in play in awkward spots, over and over and over again as the morning drew on and the Brit blunted all the bludgeoning power of the Aussie. Kokkinakis will have nightmares of the volley he had on the net at 5-6 in the third-set tiebreaker. By 2:30 in the morning one of the kiosks had to reopen to feed the hungry mob that had stuck around—and they were making plenty of noise—with crowd support equal for both; a testament to the Brit’s universal appeal at this stage of his career. There were countless great rallies and swings of momentum, and after 5 hours and 50 minutes at 4 am local time, Murray sealed the win with that absolute shield of a backhand that made him so great; a winner down the line. Watch the highlights below:

John Fitzgerald asked how he did it in the post-match interview:

“I don’t know. Unbelievable that I managed to turn that around…I don’t know how I managed—I did start to play better as the match went on. And yeah, I have a big heart.”

On having the most comebacks from 2-0 sets down in tennis history:

“I rely on that experience and that drive and that fight and my love of the game and competing, and my respect for this event and the competition, and that’s why I kept going.”

“I’ve always loved competing, I’ve always worn my heart on my sleeve and shown my emotions when I’ve played. I’ve been criticised a lot for it over the years, but that’s who I am.”

Fitzgerald:

“Well I’ve got a feeling that’s who we actually love.”