SPIN'S DAY 2 PICKS & RESULTS

Yesterday, Spin got slammed with her Day 2 Suicide Pool Picks. From a field of 32 matches, Spin was successful in a little over 59% of her picks. Not a good day. Below are the results of Spin's picks. 

PLAYER A	PLAYER B	SPIN’S PICKS	RESULTS
Victoria Azarenka	Monica Niculescu	Azarenka – the returning defending champion will let her game and voice be heard against her tricky opponent	Azarenka
Eleni Daniilidou	Karolina Pliskova	Pliskova – the youngster over the veteran, although this one will be tough	Daniilidou
Luksika Kumkhum	Sofia Arvidsson	Arvidsson – has been playing great tennis over the past year. Should continue here	Kumkhum
Jamie Hampton	Urszula Radwanska	Hampton – made it to the 1/4s of Auckland where she pushed Radwanska to 2 tight tiebreak sets	Hampton
Varvara Lepchenko	Polona Hercog	Lepchenko – the lefty needs a big win here and her opponent is not very good on hard courts	Lepchenko
Caroline Garcia	Elena Vesnina	Vesnina – the joy of winning her first career title should still be with Vesnina.	Vesnina
Mathilde Johansson	Akgul Amanmuradova	Johansson – has been playing very good tennis of late.  Pushed Venus to 3 sets in Hopman Cup earlier this season	Amanmuradova
Silvia Soler-Espinosa	Roberta Vinci	Vinci – veteran with lots of great shots should pull this one out	Vinci
Caroline Wozniacki	Sabinie Lisicki	Wozniacki – this is a pick em.  It is all dependent on which Sabine comes to play.  Usually brings her best stuff against top players and despite the rankings, Wozniacki is still a top player	Wozniacki
Daria Gavrilova	Lauren Davis	Davis – young American should make it through to the second round	Gabrilova
Lesia Tsurenko	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Pavlyuchenkova – these 2 met in the semis of Brisbane where Tsurenko fell in 3 tough sets. Look for a long hard battle here	Tsurenko
Su-Wei Hsieh	Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino	Hsieh – the wily veteran with the game that puts opponent on an UFE tear to pick the youngster apart and to frustration	Hsieh
Svetlana Kuznetsova	Lourdes Dominguez Lino	Kuznetsova – this is a match that Svetlana should win easily, but Lino can frustrate even the good Lord himself.	Kuznetsova
Yulia Putintseva	Christina McHale	McHale – this will be a fiery match with the ever vocal Putintseva.  Look out for lots of twitter posts about this one. If she gets a tv court, enjoy the commentary from the booth	Putintseva
Carla Suarez Navarro	Sara Errani	Errani – the battle of the dimunitive ones.  Carla usually plays well Down Under, but Errani will be too steady	Navarro
Serena Williams	Edina Gallovits-Hall	Williams – is Serena still playing great ball or has she had a let down since Brisbane.  No, she will be announcing herself to the rest of the field.  Look for some errors early, but the 15 time GS champ should get through easily	Williams
Magdalena Rybarikova	Garbine Muguruza	Muguruza – this match will be a tough one for Rybarikova.  The young Garbine has awesome firepower. Should be a good one
Ayumi Morita	Anna Tatishvili	Tatishvili – the young Russian (is she a US citizen now) should  win this one in straights	Morita
Annika Beck	Yaroslava Shvedova	Shvedova (?) – since taking Serena to a third set at Wimbledon and making her own mark in tennis history with her Golden Set, Slava has not done much.  Look for her to find her form here.	Beck
Yanina Wickmayer	Jarmila Gajdosova	Wickmayer – this is a pick em, but I have not seen Wickmayer so determined and focused as she is now.	Wickmayer
Greta Arn	Jana Cepelova	Arn – the veteran over the youngster	Cepelova
Rebecca Marino	Shuai Peng	Peng – the patient player against the error prone Canadian	Peng
Vania King	Maria Kirilenko	Kirilenko – Vania, if she plays up to her level could make this interesting, but Kirilenko plays well here and should pull through	Kirilenko
Nadia Petrova	Kimiko Date-Krumm	Petrova – 2 veterans.  Nadia looked injured in her last match so remains to be seen if she can pull this out	Krumm
Shahar Peer	Alexandra Panova	Peer – I picked Peer because of the support she usually receives Down Under.	Peer
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor	Bojana Jovanovski	Jovanovski – the youngster in straights	Jovanoski
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni	Lucie Safarova	Safarova (?) – everyone thought that Fed Cup would do for Lucie what it did for Djokovic.  No such luck but should come through over the veteran	Safarova
Sloane Stephens	Simona Halep	Stephens – these 2 played in Hobart last week, with Stephens winning in straight sets. Look for the same thing to happen again.	Stephens
Kristina Mladenovic	Timea Babos	Babos – 2 youngsters going at it. Pick em	Mladenovic
Melanie Oudin	Laura Robson	Oudin – I think Oudin is due for a win, why not here	Robson
Francesca Schiavone	Petra Kvitova	Kvitova – this is the most complicated pick of Day 2 action. Will Kvitova bounce back or will the wily veteran frustrate her into errors.	Kvitova

Spin's Picks on Day 3 of the Australian Open singles draw will be up later today as soon as  Spin has finished licking her wounds, of which there are many.  I have no idea how I will console Spin as she is just beside herself with grief. 

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?

Every Grand Slam brings out new outfits for players to wear.  From time to time we have some classic pieces that are never worn again and which fans the world over rave about in social media.  One of these was Serena’s dress at the 2012 French Open.  Beautiful green colour and it fit very well.  Unfortunately, fans only got to see it for one round as for the first time, Serena was ousted in the first round of a Major.

However, there are the outfits that defy description.  During the next 2 weeks Overhead Spin will choose one outfit that is based on how many comments it garners on social media and post the outfit with the caption ... What were you thinking?

The outfit that garnered the  most comments on Twitter last night was that worn by Olga Puchkova, a Russian who was playing fellow Russian, Sharapova.  Pouchkova, not only had everything go wrong with her game last night, but her outfit was described by many as a cross between sleepwear and as one fashonista tweeted “is this a onesie?”

Here for your viewing pleasure is Puchkova in her definition of tennis gear. While this picture does not make the outfit look too bad, it is when Puchkova is in full flight, or indeed is stationary that the real disaster of the outfit comes into full recognition.

Do you think this outfit was the worst of Day 1?  Sound off

AUSTRALIAN OPEN DAY 2 PICKS

Day 2 of the Australian Open starts in about 6 hours.  Day 1 was good with all of the seeds making it through the first round.  Here's hoping that Day 2 holds true to form.

Below is Spin's picks for Day 2

PLAYER A	PLAYER B	SPIN’S PICKS	RESULTS
Victoria Azarenka	Monica Niculescu	Azarenka – the returning defending champion will let her game and voice be heard against her tricky opponent
Eleni Daniilidou	Karolina Pliskova	Pliskova – the youngster over the veteran, although this one will be tough
Luksika Kumkhum	Sofia Arvidsson	Arvidsson – has been playing great tennis over the past year. Should continue here
Jamie Hampton	Urszula Radwanska	Hampton – made it to the 1/4s of Auckland where she pushed Radwanska to 2 tight tiebreak sets
Varvara Lepchenko	Polona Hercog	Lepchenko – the lefty needs a big win here and her opponent is not very good on hard courts
Caroline Garcia	Elena Vesnina	Vesnina – the joy of winning her first career title should still be with Vesnina.
Mathilde Johansson	Akgul Amanmuradova	Johansson – has been playing very good tennis of late.  Pushed Venus to 3 sets in Hopman Cup earlier this season
Silvia Soler-Espinosa	Roberta Vinci	Vinci – veteran with lots of great shots should pull this one out
Caroline Wozniacki	Sabinie Lisicki	Wozniacki – this is a pick em.  It is all dependent on which Sabine comes to play.  Usually brings her best stuff against top players and despite the rankings, Wozniacki is still a top player
Daria Gavrilova	Lauren Davis	Davis – young American should make it through to the second round
Lesia Tsurenko	Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Pavlyuchenkova – these 2 met in the semis of Brisbane where Tsurenko fell in 3 tough sets. Look for a long hard battle here
Su-Wei Hsieh	Lara Arruabarrena-Vecino	Hsieh – the wily veteran with the game that puts opponent on an UFE tear to pick the youngster apart and to frustration
Svetlana Kuznetsova	Lourdes Dominguez Lino	Kuznetsova – this is a match that Svetlana should win easily, but Lino can frustrate even the good Lord himself.
Yulia Putintseva	Christina McHale	McHale – this will be a fiery match with the ever vocal Putintseva.  Look out for lots of twitter posts about this one. If she gets a tv court, enjoy the commentary from the booth
Carla Suarez Navarro	Sara Errani	Errani – the battle of the dimunitive ones.  Carla usually plays well Down Under, but Errani will be too steady
Serena Williams	Edina Gallovits-Hall	Williams – is Serena still playing great ball or has she had a let down since Brisbane.  No, she will be announcing herself to the rest of the field.  Look for some errors early, but the 15 time GS champ should get through easily
Magdalena Rybarikova	Garbine Muguruza	Muguruza – this match will be a tough one for Rybarikova.  The young Garbine has awesome firepower. Should be a good one
Ayumi Morita	Anna Tatishvili	Tatishvili – the young Russian (is she a US citizen now) should  win this one in straights
Annika Beck	Yaroslava Shvedova	Shvedova (?) – since taking Serena to a third set at Wimbledon and making her own mark in tennis history with her Golden Set, Slava has not done much.  Look for her to find her form here.
Yanina Wickmayer	Jarmila Gajdosova	Wickmayer – this is a pick em, but I have not seen Wickmayer so determined and focused as she is now.
Greta Arn	Jana Cepelova	Arn – the veteran over the youngster
Rebecca Marino	Shuai Peng	Peng – the patient player against the error prone Canadian
Vania King	Maria Kirilenko	Kirilenko – Vania, if she plays up to her level could make this interesting, but Kirilenko plays well here and should pull through
Nadia Petrova	Kimiko Date-Krumm	Petrova – 2 veterans.  Nadia looked injured in her last match so remains to be seen if she can pull this out
Shahar Peer	Alexandra Panova	Peer – I picked Peer because of the support she usually receives Down Under.
Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor	Bojana Jovanovski	Jovanovski – the youngster in straights
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni	Lucie Safarova	Safarova (?) – everyone thought that Fed Cup would do for Lucie what it did for Djokovic.  No such luck but should come through over the veteran
Sloane Stephens	Simona Halep	Stephens – these 2 played in Hobart last week, with Stephens winning in straight sets. Look for the same thing to happen again.
Kristina Mladenovic	Timea Babos	Babos – 2 youngsters going at it. Pick em
Melanie Oudin	Laura Robson	Oudin – I think Oudin is due for a win, why not here
Francesca Schiavone	Petra Kvitova	Kvitova – this is the most complicated pick of Day 2 action. Will Kvitova bounce back or will the wily veteran frustrate her into errors.

MATCHES TO WATCH:-

Francesca Schiavone v. Petra Kvitova; Sloane Stephens v. Simona Halep; Caroline Wozniacki v. Sabine Lisicki; Melanie Oudin v. Laura Robson; Carla Suarez-Navarro v. Sara Errani