Things We Learned on Day 5 of the 2015 Australian Open

Amy:

1. The Federer tweener curse lives:

2. It takes a lot to make Bethanie Mattek-Sands look like she’s the well-dressed one in a tennis match. Halep’s outfit managed to do it. I tried to find a picture that conveyed how weird the outfit looked on-court, but it was mostly just bizarrely incongruous between the front and back.

3. Roger Federer conjured up some memories of his 2013 season in his four-set loss to Andreas Seppi. Missed chances, sloppy play, and poor serving. I wonder if the back was bothering him, given the nine (!) double faults. It’s probably not much to worry about, given that he had chances in the match and it could’ve gone either way, but still not the way Fed wanted to start his Grand Slam season. He had made the Australian Open semifinals or better 11 straight years! Crazy.

Lindsay:

1. Hey guys! It’s great to be back home after a WONDERFUL trip to Costa Rica to see one of my best friends get married. (You can check out pics on my Instagram if you’re nosy.) I’m still very much in catch-up mode, and I have some pieces upcoming on hot topics for this site and (hopefully) others, so you’ll have to bare with me as i get completely up to speed.

I wanted to start off with sending thoughts and prayers to the Sock family. In case you’re late to the news like me, Eric Sock, Jack’s older brother, is currently on life support in the ICU battling bilateral pneumonia. Eric is only 24 years old, and he was a great tennis player at Nebraska who often traveled around with Jack.

Praying for my bro Eric. been in ICU on life support since Fri w/bi-lateral pneumonia.Thoracotomy @1pm. Love this guy pic.twitter.com/2OByOZT3Fu

— Jack Sock (@JackSock) January 21, 2015

Some things are way more important than a game, and this is one of them. If you guys have a second, offer up good vibes, and maybe send a tweet of support to the Socks.

2. I wrote about Federer’s loss for Bleacher Report, and in case you’re too lazy to read it, it surrounds around tempering expectations for the 17-time major champion. There are going to be great days, and there are going to be days like Friday where he’s constantly a step too slow. Don’t let yourself get so frustrated by the bad days (which are inevitable, he’s not a machine) that you don’t enjoy the good times when they come.

(Also, let’s all enjoy Pissy and Pumped-Up Fed, because he’s hysterical and basically a Tommy Haas/Ana Ivanovic combo out there these days.)

"Every time, man. Every time!" – Roger Federer

— Svenja Mastroberardi (@svenja_mastro) January 23, 2015

Federer just fist-pumped and "Allez"-ed an opponent's shank. That sums it up.

— Stephanie Myles (@OpenCourt) January 23, 2015

3. But let’s talk a bit about Seppi some, shall we? He was cool as a cucumber throughout the match, and played way better than Federer in the biggest moments of the match, which is a sentence that I never thought I would type in earnest.

AND LOOK AT THIS MATCH POINT:

You understand something happens when the radio news speaker first words are: Out of the world at #AusOpen https://t.co/O8nHSZ6od3

— Angelica Fratini (@angelikf) January 23, 2015

He was so happy, you guys, and a happy Seppi is a good thing.

A happy Flavia is a good thing too.

Grandioso Seppiolaaaaaa!!!

— Flavia Pennetta (@flavia_pennetta) January 23, 2015

4. Is Kevin Anderson incredibly underrated? I think he just might be, you guys. He looked incredibly dangerous as he took out Richard Gasquet in straight sets today, and I do think he can rattle Nadal a bit in their fourth rounder. Anderson has never made it to the quarterfinals of a Slam, but I expect he will at some point this year. After all, he has been remarkably consistent in the Slams over the past two years, making it to the fourth round in six of the last nine majors.

He’s already up to No. 15 in the world, and he just seems to be getting better and better. I’m impressed.

5. Tweet of the year candidate, I think:

I really dislike Andreas Seppi these days…

— Alizé Lim (@AlizeLim) January 23, 2015

(Alize is a noted Federer KAD and her boyfriend is Jeremy Chardy, who Seppi beat in the last round.)

6. Genie Bouchard is looking impressive on the court, and she also continues to be unintentionally hilarious off of it:

Bouchard was asked about Caroline Garcia, her next opponent, and described her as a "young up and comer". She's a year and a half older.

— Brodie (@MindTheRacket) January 23, 2015

I pretty much love her.

7. I’m way behind on my Australian Open reading, and didn’t get caught up tonight thanks to Fed. If you have any recommendations of pieces I should check out, please share in the comments or on twitter!

8. I love these two:

@vika7 And some serious hairstyles going on, too.

— Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) January 23, 2015

“@andreapetkovic: @vika7 And some serious hairstyles going on, too.”something like that? pic.twitter.com/z80i3Yt8XZ

— victoria azarenka (@vika7) January 23, 2015

@vika7 NICK IS THAT YOU

— Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) January 23, 2015

@andreapetkovic @vika7 gotta keep new and fresh….. What's next

— Thanasi Kokkinakis (@TKokkinakis) January 23, 2015

“@TKokkinakis: @andreapetkovic @vika7 gotta keep new and fresh….. What's next” let's see if next year u manage to grow a mustache

— victoria azarenka (@vika7) January 23, 2015

@vika7 @TKokkinakis pic.twitter.com/Z1NRsBrvtr

— Andrea Petkovic (@andreapetkovic) January 23, 2015

“@TKokkinakis: @andreapetkovic @vika7 challenge accepted”okay okay okay Mustacho Macho

— victoria azarenka (@vika7) January 23, 2015

9. Today was my warm-up all nighter–I’ll get in full analysis/writing mode tomorrow. After a nap, of course. There are about a million matches on tomorrow’s OOP that I can’t wait for.

@linzsports well, like if you have a heart condition, that's how

— Tefe (@tefetic) January 23, 2015