Irish at the Australian Open

[Dodge]

Louk Sorenson has just won his final qualifying match to become the first Irish tennis player in 25+ years to reach the main draw of a grand slam!

Conor Niland is currently 3-0 up in the first set of his last QR

A great night for Irish tennis

[irishultra]

awesome

[WexCar]

Good strong Irish names :)

[paul_oshea]

they won a game open the champagne.

[Stevo Da Gull]

Huge for Irish tennis, even bigger for Louk personally. Quite and achievement. Here's hoping he can pull off a big win over Lu!

[Poor Student]

Niland didn't make it in the end, he won the first set but lost the next two.

[Dodge]

they won a game open the champagne.

Hmmm, interesting that you cried when Irish men in a sport you like didn't qualify, and yet you're quick to dismiss Irish sports people who actually do qualify for something

If you've no interest in it. Don't comment.

[paul_oshea]

eh i dont remember saying i cried, though i thought i said close to tears, however thats semantics and not really relevant. relatively i dont think you could compare the two anyway.

I actually like tennis, played it a good bit at community games when younger, but out of all the nations, throughout the country we have public tennis courts and kids playing, not with proper coaching maybe, but i hardly think being in the top 128 is any great achievemnet or as the case maybe qualifying for one tournament to enter that number, especially when the aus open is probably one of the easier to qualify for too.

Its a public forum of course i am going to comment if i want to.

If he wins his next game or two games then ya that would be some achievement.

[Stevo Da Gull]

eh i dont remember saying i cried, though i thought i said close to tears, however thats semantics and not really relevant. relatively i dont think you could compare the two anyway.

I actually like tennis, played it a good bit at community games when younger, but out of all the nations, throughout the country we have public tennis courts and kids playing, not with proper coaching maybe, but i hardly think being in the top 128 is any great achievemnet or as the case maybe qualifying for one tournament to enter that number, especially when the aus open is probably one of the easier to qualify for too.

Its a public forum of course i am going to comment if i want to.

If he wins his next game or two games then ya that would be some achievement.


The AO is no easier to qualify for than any other slam really. When you consider how many people around the world play the sport with aspirations of making a career out of it and being the best, to make it into the top 200 is quite an achievement. I expect Louk to crack that nut this year.

I know a guy who played tennis from an early age, travelled a lot to play in his teens before going to America. He never got anywhere near where Louk is today. To qualify for a grand slam is a great achievement, we need to put things in perspective. I suppose in soccer terms this would be like an Irish player playing his first match in the English Premier League.. and we'd make a big deal out of that if no other Irishman had done it for 25 years.

[HarpoJoyce]

Rain interrupted must of the schedule on Day One on the outside courts.


Day Two schedule
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/schedule7.html
Court 14 Louk Sorensen (IRL) v. Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE)
11:00 am
Start

Weather permitting that puts him warming up at 12:00 midnight (Irish time) and starting his game a few minutes after on Tuesday morning

[tiktok]

i hardly think being in the top 128 is any great achievemnet or as the case maybe qualifying for one tournament to enter that number, especially when the aus open is probably one of the easier to qualify for too.

Pfft, sure to use that logic 32 teams qualified for the World cup and each is allowed to bring a squad of 23. So any individual player in that competition is actually only in the top 736 players, which we all know is easier to qualify for than the European Championships [or at least it's easier for us over the history of the sport in Ireland]. :p

Even something as simple as this qualification will help raise the profile of the game in Ireland and might mean a few extra kids will pick up a racket and in a few years time, we might have two people in the top 128 at Wimbledon.

[paul_oshea]

But tikok i knew loads growing up who played tennis at some stage. Picking up a racket isn't the problem, lots of 20 - 30 year old irish would have played tennis growing up at some stage. The problem is probably coaching and the struture in place. I dont remember anything after u14 community games that we were able to play in....probably because the person who used enter us wasn't aware of anything else. Same as table tennis, i loved that and was about the only thing i was decent at and we did well at up until u14 but we had nothing after that age.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Surely then that makes it an even greater achievement?

[tiktok]

But tikok i knew loads growing up who played tennis at some stage. Picking up a racket isn't the problem, lots of 20 - 30 year old irish would have played tennis growing up at some stage. The problem is probably coaching and the struture in place. I dont remember anything after u14 community games that we were able to play in....probably because the person who used enter us wasn't aware of anything else. Same as table tennis, i loved that and was about the only thing i was decent at and we did well at up until u14 but we had nothing after that age.

In fairness Paul, that a different argument to what I was responding to, if anything what you've posted above only goes to show more clearly what a huge achievement it is for an Irishman to get into the top 128 and qualify for a grand slam.

[Dodge]

SOrenson on now. He broke serve in first game :)


Long, long way to go though

[TheBoss]

5-3 now in the first set. Doing fine so far.

[Leejo]

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/index.html Click on live scoreboard on the right hand side of the page is the only way I think you can follow it. 5-4 up in the first now, serving for the set.

Edit- Just won it 6-4

[TheBoss]

Can he keep it up or will the nerves appear ?

[Leejo]

Can he keep it up or will the nerves appear ?

Just broke him again, 2-1 up in the second :)

[PartySaint]

they won a game open the champagne.

You dont think its a big achievement?? maybe your just not as patriotic as the rest of us

[TheBoss]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8466427.stm

Talking about the scoreboard not updating. :D

[DmanDmythDledge]

1 set all now.

[HarpoJoyce]

Aussie Open website scoreboard working again
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/index.html

Sorensen won the third set 6-2

[HarpoJoyce]

Sorensen is 5-0 up in the fourth.

Y-H Lu has saved about three Match points so far.


After Edit:

Lu won that game on his own serve, 5-1 Sorensen 4th set 2-1.

[HarpoJoyce]

Congratulations Louk!

Sorensen wins 6-4,3-6,6-2, 6-1. vg

His next opponent is Isner (USA) or Seppi (ITA) both around the 50 mark.
Isner lost a two set lead to Seppi 2-2 sets all at the moment.

In another qualifer versus Goliath game. Sergeyev (UKR) took a two set lead to Sela(ISR). Sela has won a set but is still losing serve to Sergeyev.

[weecountyman]

Sorensen goes through in 4 sets! Massive win against a tough and rated opponent. This is a good day for Irish sport, the lad is self-financed and if not for injury would be a top 100 player.

Now he's playing the giant John Isner, but I think Sorensen's game might cause an upset.

As for "just" being in the top 128, what is most enlightening is to work with anyone, male or female, who plies their trade on the tour. To break into the top 1000 means you've got talent and ability. To break top 500 means you've both those attributes with a bit of dedication and some financial support. To break top 200 means you have all the above and luck, and top 100 means you can make a living. Qualifying for an ITF 10k event is a chore, to play 3 qualies and win a round at a major is more than most can dream of.

[Real ale Madrid]

From BBC:


"The ITF confirms that Louk Sorensen is the first player representing Ireland to win a main draw singles match at a Grand Slam tournament."

A fantastic achievement, congrats to him.

John Isner up next - what odds the locals might throw it on a main court so we might see it?? Lots of Irish punters courtside apparently??

Edit - No chance - Sorensen v Isner tomorrow - 3rd match on court 8. after 2 x womens singles

[Nagger]

Lets hope Sorensen can win another match. Isner is huge though. 6.9. And a top30 player at the moment.

[endabob1]

Great achivement, even as a non-tennis fan I can recognise the achivement, especially considering the lack of funding, infrastructure and coaching at home. When was the last time an Irish player made the 2nd round of a Grand Salm event?

[Gather round]

Great achivement, even as a non-tennis fan I can recognise the achivement, especially considering the lack of funding, infrastructure and coaching at home. When was the last time an Irish player made the 2nd round of a Grand Salm event?

2007- Claire Curran in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon.

[shakermaker1982]

Good luck to the lad.

Apparently he's been getting loads of Facebook friend requests!!!

[bennocelt]

Great news to wake up to on a cold and wet day, brilliant result, and hoping he can do the business in the next one too.:)

[paul_oshea]

I humbly eat my words :D

How much does he get for this?

Are both his parents German? did he grow up in ireland?

[Torn-Ado]

Fantastic achievement. Best of luck to the lad and hopefully he will improve and grow from this.

[Hibs4Ever]

Are both his parents German? did he grow up in ireland?



His dad, Sean, is Irish, current coach of our Davis Cup team, and played in the first round of Wimbledon in 1980.

[swinfordfc]

Congrats to him and good luck for tonight - really hope he can caused an upset .....

[Hibs4Ever]

His match is due on court at 4am tomorrow morning

[Dodge]

2007- Claire Curran in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon.

I think she was representing GBR at the time. She flip flops between them

[swinfordfc]

What ranking points would he get for wining the round 1 game? ...... and where would that put him in the rankings .... like would he get inside the top 200?

[DmanDmythDledge]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATP_Rankings#Points_distribution_as_of_2009

He's 284 currently and should be close enough to top 200 at the moment. He'd break top 200 if he wins his 2nd round match.
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx?d=18.01.2010&c=&r=201#

[HarpoJoyce]

Isner and Sorensen next up on Court 8 in about 15 mins.
http://sportprovider.blogspot.com/2010/01/john-isner-louk-sorensen-live.html

Edit: Isner broke Sorensen's serve once and raced into 3-0 game lead. Sorensen held his next service game 3-1 Isner.
Edit: Sorensen held his serve to love. 4-2 Isner.
Edit: Sorensen saved two break points on his serve 5-3 Isner.
Edit: Isner wins first set 6-3

[HarpoJoyce]

Second set.
Sorensen wins another service game to love. Sorensen 3-2 up in 2nd set.
Edit: Both players holding their serve. 5-5. Sorensen was a break-point up in the 8th game but Isner won it.
Edit: 6-6. Tie-break. Isner went a break-point upin the tie-break, lost it on a double-fault. But broke Sorensen again after a rally and Isner held his serve to win the tie-break 7-4.

Isner two sets up. But Sorensen is not far away from him.

[HarpoJoyce]

Third set.

Games to serve. 2-1 Sorensen still worth a couple of points on Isner's serve.
Edit: Medical Time Out for Isner as his right upper arm is massaged.
Edit: Still the games to serve. 3-3 another game to love for Sorensen.
Edit 4-4 games to serve. Sorensen game to love.
Sorensen doesn't leave the base-line. I think he came into the net once, lost the point. Havn't seen him there since.
Edit; 5-5.

edit.
Medical time out for sorensen now. Twice he was a break-point up and on each occasion he slipped, second time grazing his leg. So he is just attempting to clot the wound. During that game Sorensen put two incredible passing shots beyond Isner but Isner still held serve. 6-5.

Isner takes the third set 7-5 and the Match. Sorensen saved one Match point.

Excellent performance by Sorensen, he was 0-30 up on Isner's serve numerous times but could never make the breakthrough. He was break-point up on only three occasions in the game, two of them in Isner's last service game.

Good start to the year for him.

[weecountyman]

Well done Sorensen, should push up close to the top 200, but will start next week/week after around 210/220. Conor Niland should be moving up as well so we'll have 2 players well set in the top 250.

[Nagger]

Well done to Sorensen. Not a bad performace against a top30 player.

[Stuttgart88]

Great reading about Sorensen senior & Matt Doyle in today's UK papers. I was a ballboy at the Irish Open in Fitzwilliam in 1983(?) and there was an absolutely epic match between Sorensen & Doyle on the indoor courts (due to rain). The final set was about 13-11 I think. The two went on to become great friends, rivals and doubles partners. John McEnroe's brother Mark played in that tournament too. Nowhere near as talented as John, and totally wild - when I was net ballboy he nearly hit me with a serve and I was on the side opposite to where he was serving to! Cool guy though, really made an effort to involve the ball boys off court. God, the memories are flooding back. I was a rubbish tennis player but my older brother's claim to fame was serving an ace against Sorensen, then Irish no. 1, in a Leinster Open game at Templeogue LTC, way way back.

[sheao]

Great performance and hopefully it will be the beginning of a massive interest in the sport in Ireland. The Irish public have always had an interest in tennis but it's about time that we have repesentation at the grand slam events.

[weecountyman]

Cue a complete drop in interest in tennis until Wimbledon or some drugs/betting/gender scandal breaks out. Unless you read Paddy Hickey in the Indo it's almost impossible to get any news about Irish tennis. Tennis Ireland is no real help, it is doing relatively good work but seems to work on a premise that only tournament wins are enough to shout about.

[Real ale Madrid]

Sorensen's conqueror John Isner has beaten 12th Seed Gael Monfis in round 3 in 4 sets, and will now play Andy Murray in round 4.

[samhaydenjr]

I humbly eat my words :D

How much does he get for this?

Are both his parents German? did he grow up in ireland?

According to Wikipedia, A$31,000, about 16,500 euros