[Mustafina]

Happy that she made it into the final but I'm honestly not too optimistic about her chances against Li. I foresee a repeat of their Hua Hin exhibition match with one blowout set and one fairly close set.

[saul1333]

Really nervous about the final with all these questions about her injuries.

Would be really great if she can win #2, will put all this drama away.

[Break My Rapture]

Originally Posted by saul1333

Really nervous about the final with all these questions about her injuries.

Would be really great if she can win #2, will put all this drama away.

This so much. Natural Joe, I think I'm already getting nervous. I've NEVER liked this match-up, always been nervous about their matches even when Vika started turning the H2H around, and now she's playing Li in a Slam final. It would be so impressive if she could pull it off though. I guess I've sort of become oblivious to the unwarranted havoc around Vika. Even though I still get furious about it for 20 minutes, I cool down after a little rant usually. Hopefully Vika can/will let her tennis do the talking once again.

3 straight HC slam finals is so impressive. Hopefully Vika can offset the disappointment of losing so narrowly to Serena at the last stage of the US Open on Saturday.

[Deestruction]

Originally Posted by saul1333

Really nervous about the final with all these questions about her injuries.

Would be really great if she can win #2, will put all this drama away.

I dont think its gonna solve anything. Vika has always been hated. Even when she won her first GS slam. People were furious that she won over Tennis' princess Masha. So the drama will still continue no matter what. The players that the tennis critics, commentators, fans and other respect the most are Masha and Federer.

[ozza]

Most of these injuries are sorta things that either get fixed quick (locked rib) or stuff painkillers and anti-inflammatories can take you through for 1 match. I am not that concerned about the injury.

As for the match vs Na Li. It's a tough one to read. Na has looked very good at points this tournament, and not so much in others. She was very good vs Sharapova. The biggest thing is the 2nd serve for both players imo. Vika's 2nd serve is very attackable and she needs to be winning 40%+ on her own, while forcing Na below 40% on hers. This is something Sharapova struggled with, but she returned very badly. Vika's return needs to be at her best Saturday.

[saul1333]

Originally Posted by Deestruction

I dont think its gonna solve anything. Vika has always been hated. Even when she won her first GS slam. People were furious that she won over Tennis' princess Masha. So the drama will still continue no matter what. The players that the tennis critics, commentators, fans and other respect the most are Masha and Federer.

True, I love that people hate her but over time people will forget what happened in the SF especially if she wins.

[garwe]

Originally Posted by Temperenka

Sloane is very classy in her comments- nice girl.

Win it tomorrow, Vika. Shut the critics down.

Agree, she seems nice and has a lot of talent.

I don't get what the big deal was about the injury break. I think it has a lot to do with everyone thought they had a new young american star that could win the big tournaments. They may have it 2 years or so. It is not Vikas fault the journalists were flying away in the clouds about Sloane after the Serena match.

If they allow players to take injury breaks, how can anyone say Vika was not really needing it? If they want to remove injury breaks, fine. Same rule for everyone.

I think it is open season on her because Belarus is a small country. And her playing style is not liked by everyone. ( hard to understand the last part )

Anyway, so very strong to be in second ao final. Remarkable result in the last 5 slams overall. And still undefeated this year.

[nastya]

I've read the full Sloane's interview, this journalists with their questions just
Indeed very nice and classy from Sloane, I'm really starting to like this girl
Hopefully Vika will recover to the match, but (please don't kill me ) I'm very afraid and have a bad feeling about outcome of final, Na is very impressive at this moment...

I think all these trolles on GM have to be thankful that we have Vika. Sometimes I wondering, what they'd doing without her?

[Natural Joe]

Originally Posted by nastya

I've read the full Sloane's interview, this journalists with their questions just
Indeed very nice and classy from Sloane, I'm really starting to like this girl

Yeah, they asked some really pathetic questions.

Q. What did you think when she took the long medical break at the end?

Q. We had the impression it was for her to calm herself down a bit instead of a physical problem. Was that the impression you got?

Q. She said she felt overwhelmed, she couldn't breathe, she had chest pains. She was describing basically a panic attack. If it was nerves or not a tweaked ankle or knee, does that bother you?

Q. You don't want to use that as kind of a reason for why the match didn't go your way?

Q. You've had quite a few people take medical timeouts this tournament. Do you think there are players abusing the system?

Q. Would you feel comfortable leaving the court for nine minutes having just blown five match points?

Q. Did you lose momentum in those 10 minutes while you were sitting there waiting for her?

Q. Has she said anything to you? On TV she was pretty outspoken about the fact that it wasn't your conventional physical break. Has she apologized or in any way conveyed anything to you about that?

Q. It was a breathing problem. Do you feel it may have been some gamesmanship on her part at that point in time?

Hats off to Sloane. She earned my full respect for the way she reacted in that situation.

PS: Don't want to predict a result for the final. There are simply too many unknowns but I hope Vika comes into that match with her peak pissed-off attitude.

[saul1333]

If Yahoo news could be any more of a joke

Australian Open, Day 11: The day Azarenka cheated tennis

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/tennis...7592--ten.html

[Break My Rapture]

Actually it's making me sort of laugh at how people are pissed at Vika, because she took a medical time-out. Just pathetic.

[LUVMIRZA]

OMG all those American news websites calling it faking like she was down 1-6 and 3-5 to turn around the match Such crap is too much even for USA

[ozza]

Mats Wilander is making out Vika may have taken away Sloane's only chance at a grand slam lol. One thing that seems to be lost in this. If you are good enough for the top you shouldn't be affected by your opponent take a break. Somehow a MTO at 6-1, 5-4* has turned into the turning point in the match for some journalists, like Stephens was controlling the match.

And tbh Stephens said she wasn't affected, and it's not like there was a noticeable collapse in her game in the final game, it's not like she spewed 4 quick errors. The game followed the pattern of about the last 4 games. At the end of the day Sloane held twice in nine attempts, the break was to be expected really (certainly a lot of non-Vika fans were expecting it before she even took the MTO).

[hurricanejeanne]

Originally Posted by Break My Rapture

Actually it's making me sort of laugh at how people are pissed at Vika, because she took a medical time-out. Just pathetic.

And didn't cross check their information.

Seriously, you'd think Vika murdered someone in plain sight on the court. Like this is any worse than what other players in the past have done. All this hate simply because Vika's Vika and god forbid she misunderstand a question.

[hurricanejeanne]

Shutting haters us on Tennis Channel's facebook.

My post:
I'm calling foul on these aforementioned tennis "fans". She had a rib get disjointed that caused her back to hurt and her breathing to become irregular. That's why she called the trainer. Read the transcripts. I also cry foul on the American tennis media for making a mountain out of a molehill, an embarrassment across the board. And for the record, Stephens was never going to win this match. And if you don't like her grunt, don't watch her. It's not her fault she's better than the non-grunters.