Louk Sorensen

[dipper]

Surprised that nobody has started a thread on this already!

http://www.rte.ie/sport/tennis/2010/0119/sorensenl.html

Well done Louk Sorensen! I believe he's the first Irish born person to win a match at a grand slam event.

[Cianostays]

A fantastic achievement. Well done.

[ribs]

Good bit of fun at his match today. Court 14 was tucked away in the corner of Melbourne Park with no TV cameras, beside the warmup court, and a score board that broke after the 2nd set. In fact, you could have watched the match for free from the pedestrian bridge over the railway line beside it. Lots of Chinese Taipai supporters complete with little flags and bunting set up at one end and the Irish muddled together at the other Some great first serves from Louk and lots of baseline rallies made it very entertaining. Louk even got to sign a few autographs afterwards. Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when he plays the american, though concerned about the number of aces that guy got his match today.

[dipper]

Good bit of fun at his match today. Court 14 was tucked away in the corner of Melbourne Park with no TV cameras, beside the warmup court, and a score board that broke after the 2nd set. In fact, you could have watched the match for free from the pedestrian bridge over the railway line beside it. Lots of Chinese Taipai supporters complete with little flags and bunting set up at one end and the Irish muddled together at the other Some great first serves from Louk and lots of baseline rallies made it very entertaining. Louk even got to sign a few autographs afterwards. Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when he plays the american, though concerned about the number of aces that guy got his match today.

Haha good stuff. I was in Melbourne in November and walked across that bridge. I could see a few of the courts but I suppose most of them are just for the warm ups. It's already a great underdog story. Hopefully he can produce a major shock against the American!

[El Diablo]

Good bit of fun at his match today. Court 14 was tucked away in the corner of Melbourne Park with no TV cameras, beside the warmup court, and a score board that broke after the 2nd set. In fact, you could have watched the match for free from the pedestrian bridge over the railway line beside it. Lots of Chinese Taipai supporters complete with little flags and bunting set up at one end and the Irish muddled together at the other Some great first serves from Louk and lots of baseline rallies made it very entertaining. Louk even got to sign a few autographs afterwards. Looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when he plays the american, though concerned about the number of aces that guy got his match today.

Ribs
Are you there? You will have to keep us updated.
What a shame there were no TV cameras. The biggest day in Irish tennis in 25 years and nobody gets to see it!
Great publicity for Irelands Davis Cup match in March (or is it April) against Turkey in Fitzwilliam. I think if they win that they will play Great Britain in the next round in June.
With the two 17 year olds doing well, tennis could really take off here.
Good luck to Luke...Here hasn't a prayer against John Isner but hopefully he goes out and enjoys himself and wins a couple of games.

[Sea_point]

Fair dues, solid win against a player ranked 180 places higher (at 101 in rankings). Both same age and physical profile. Next round seem him play somone in the top 30 rankings and at 6'9" almost a foot taller and a couple of stone heavier, so it's a huge challenge for him in every sense. Would be amazing if he manages another shock win, but brilliant for Irish Tennis..

[El Diablo]

Fair dues, solid win against a player ranked 180 places higher (at 101 in rankings). Both same age and physical profile. Next round seem him play somone in the top 30 rankings and at 6'9" almost a foot taller and a couple of stone heavier, so it's a huge challenge for him in every sense. Would be amazing if he manages another shock win, but brilliant for Irish Tennis..

No chance Sea Point... Isner has beaten top 10 players on his day. Sorensen will never have experienced anything close to this. he will get blown away. But the experience will be very good for him. He is still only 25 and he could break into the top 100 and qualify for more major tournaments.

[aisling7]

Are you there? You will have to keep us updated.

You can keep up to date on the lads progress here

http://www.tennisireland.ie/home/australianopen2010

Best of Luck to Louk, John and Sam!

[ribs]

another sunny warm day. Good few irish here today. Warm up now. Isner is a giant

[ribs]

struggling with 1st serve of isner loses 1st set after early break. Isner getting shoulder rubbed so maybe.

[ribs]

does well to hold serve. Gets one break chance but loses tie break to aces. 2 sets down now

[ribs]

managed to get 3 break points but doesn't convert. Goes to serve but loses match after service broken on last game of set. Only 12 un forced errors in the whole match. Very tidy player with a good 1st serve who was unlucky to come up against this style of player - expect louk to climb the rankings in the future.

[suisse]

Saw the score - yet the Guardian described it as Sorenson "crushed by big-hitting American" - it's hard to tell without evidence, and maybe Isner was brilliant and Sorenson did well to hang on, but since when is 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), 7-5 a thrashing?

Ribs, do tell all

[Sea_point]

Conceding 250 places in the rankings, that's not too bad a performance. He'll be dissapointed not to have taken a set, which would have put some pressure on the American's serve.

Still one month into 2010 and he's already €5k ahead of his eanings from the whole of last Season:

AO Second Round loser = €20,355.91
Earnings for 2009 = €15,762.60

It'll be interesting to see how Isner gets on further in the tournament, height is a wonderful tool for service (sort of like the best fast bowlers in cricket, he angle the ball reacher the recieve at (as much as the pace) makes it evry difficult to get into play. Against that a turning circle like the Titanic works against them when the ball actually gets into play. You'd expect aTop 10 play to have too much game for him, but then they have tio deal withthe Big Service game...

Punchers chance as they say in Boxing...

[El Diablo]

managed to get 3 break points but doesn't convert. Goes to serve but loses match after service broken on last game of set. Only 12 un forced errors in the whole match. Very tidy player with a good 1st serve who was unlucky to come up against this style of player - expect louk to climb the rankings in the future.

Well done Ribs.....Thanks for the commentary. Its a pity there was no one up reading it at that time. He certainly did much better than I expected. What court number was it on? Was there a reasonable crowd?