Wondering what the week in Cincy holds

After missing most of last week's tournaments in Montreal and Toronto because of vacation, I am back home and eager to watch Cincinnati this week.  I did catch the tail end of the last week's tournaments and was disappointed that the finals for each were so one-sided.  Of course, not being a Rafael Nadal fan myself I was disappointed by the result, but I won't get into that since I know there are many Rafa fans out there, so time to quickly move on.

This tournament in Cincinnati is a big one for Roger Federer and his fans.  It's difficult to know what to expect, though I have high hopes that his back will cooperate and that this will be the time he finds his form again on one of his favorite hard courts.  Interestingly enough, Mirka has been joining him on court in his practices the last two days.  Also of note is that yesterday he was using the new racquet, today his old one. 

These two pictures were from yesterday with the new racquet and they seemed to be having a serious discussion.  

This one is from today and look at the racquet - obviously his old one again.  They also look quite a bit happier in this picture.  It will be quite interesting to see what he comes on court with for his first match.  It would also have been interesting to have been able to watch both practices and see if there was a difference in the way he played with each.  

He will be playing Phillipp Kohlschreiber in his 2nd round match, a tricky customer.  This is such an important match for him to establish himself with a solid win and show that he is ready to compete solidly without the confusing losses to low ranked players.  I really feel like he can have a great week here in Cincy, maybe quelling the media's negativity and putting himself in the running for the U.S. Open.  It's been four whole years since he was in the final there, five since he's won it.  How about showing he is still at the top by winning it this year?! 

I am also curious to see how Andy Murray plays this week after losing early in Montreal.  He must be feeling a bit of pressure being the defending champion at the U.S. Open for the first time.  I'm sure he would love to have a good run to give himself confidence after a disappointing week last week.  Novak Djokovic was rather up and down in Montreal, and he has the chance to make history if he were to win this week in Cincy, becoming the first man to have won each of the Masters 1000 tournaments.  A lot on the line for many as things heat up heading into the last grand slam of the year.

Epic semis set up Wimbledon final

After all the crazy upsets the first week of Wimbledon, here we still end up with the predicted (by many) final, for the men anyway.  The fans of Roger Federer still were adjusting to him not being at least in the quarterfinal, and couldn't help but wonder what the outcome would have been if he had been in the semi, but that's irrelevant at this point.  The fact is that it is again Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray facing off on Sunday.

For those who didn't get a chance to watch the match between Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro you missed an epic!  Everyone was wondering how Delpo would fare with his knee injury against the greatest mover in the game.  How about if we just say "no issue."  The level of tennis in this match was one rarely seen.  The amount of power, the jaw dropping gets with awe inspiring returns, the sheer determination on both sides was no less than incredible.  I kept thinking I had seen the best and then they would come up with something more.  It was really a shame someone had to lose that one, as they both gave it their all and both deserved to win it.  And I never realized Delpo could be so funny.  From his instruction to the ball of how to go over the net after a barely missed shoelace volley, to jumping up on the edge of the player stands and giving a guy a high five, along with a few others really gave the crowd a new appreciation for the gentle giant, along with his amazing tennis.  I would have loved to see him make it through to another final, but if nothing else this showed himself as well as the fans what he is capable of.  Hopefully he will be able to put a run together again soon.  It would be fun to see him with another grand slam trophy - well, as long as it's not Roger Federer he's beating, that is.  :)

The second men's semifinal wasn't the same high level of tennis as the first one, but it still had its drama.  For some reason I was expecting this to be a fairly easy win for Andy Murray.  Jerzy Janowicz had other ideas, however.  After splitting the first two sets I was pretty surprised when Andy gave up a break in the third, thinking once he had found his game he would cruise.  But all of a sudden things turned around again.  I think Janowicz's drop shots were starting to really irritate Murray, and when Jerzy acted rather unsportsman-like by hitting the net with his racquet after a missed shot, with boos from the crowd, I think it triggered something in Andy, causing an amazing round of aggressive play getting the break back and also another break, finally closing out the third set.  There was no coming back after that, in spite of the delay for the roof to be closed (much to Andy's frustration) and he closed out a quick final set at 6-3 to seal the deal.

I really don't know who is the favorite between Murray and Djokovic.  Personally I would like to see Andy get his win at home after last year's heartbreak.

As for the women, the first semifinal ended up being a blow out match for Bartoli to reach the final, followed by a see-saw match in the next one which Lisicki finally took.  Either way we will have a first time grand slam champion.  In spite of the fact that Marion Bartoli can about drive you crazy with her quirkiness on the court, when you actually listen to her in interviews she can be rather endearing.  And of course who can't love Sabine Lisicki's contagious smile, plus the fact that one of the giant killers finally came good and actually followed up their big win.  What a Cinderella story that would be for her to end up holding the trophy in the end.

So even though Wimbledon was full of surprises and disappointments the first week, we still have ended up with some compelling tennis and some good stories.  I am looking forward to a weekend with some very good matches that really could go either way.  And even the men's doubles final has some excitement to see if the amazing Bryan Brothers can hold all four grand slam titles simultaneously.  Should be an exciting next couple days.

 

Another big surprise - what will the final outcome be?

Nine days ago if someone would have said that the quarterfinals of Wimbledon would be minus Nadal, Federer, Tsonga, Serena, Sharapova and Azarenka, who in their right mind would have believed it?  But that is exactly what we have.  

Serena's loss in the Round of 16 was another huge shock, for some more shocking than Federer's was (though I am not one of those).  It sure seemed, after a surprising collapse in the second half of the first set to lose it 6-2, that Serena had found her form as well as her fierce determination when she quickly won the second set 6-1 and then went up a quick break in the third.  In fact, two times she was up a break, but somehow grass court specialist Sabine Lisicki kept fighting and kept finding a way back in.  To find a way, though, not just to get the break back, but to get an additional break against powerful Serena and then be able to serve it out on her own serve was truly an inspiring fight.  If only Sabine could find a way to transfer her grass success to other surfaces, she could be at the top of the rankings.

You know, anytime all of the media and all the odds makers put all their bets on one person it almost makes me want them to lose.  NO ONE is invincible - no, not even Serena Williams, though that's what at least the commentators that I listen to seemed to believe.  It seemed they all thought Serena was unable to be beaten at this stage of her career.  So although I live in the U.S and it's always good to see someone from my country win, it seems to me that putting people on such a huge pedestal is never a good idea, no matter how super human they may seem to be for a while (kind of like those who seem to think that Roger Federer is God - no matter how much I love him, he is just a person!).

So in the end, on the men's side, will it be as many odds makers predicted with a Djokovic Murray final, or are there still more surprises to be seen, such as a Jerzy Janowicz , Tomas Berdych or Juan Martin Del Potro holding the trophy at the end?  As to the women, the eventual winner could be any number of ladies - maybe last year's finalist Aga Radwanska, or how about the young American Sloane Stevens, if she can hold her nerve?  Or maybe Petra Kvitova will find her magic again from a few years ago to claim the grass court title again.  In spite of the fact that my favorite, Roger Federer, no longer has a chance this year, I'm not one of those using hash tag WimbleDone - there are still good story lines to be had for the rest of the fortnight.

Federer into 4th round

After a bit of a sketchy start, Roger Federer soon found his form against Julien Benneteau, someone who has caused Federer problems in the past, winning in straight sets 6-3 6-4 7-5.  Apparently Benneteau was struggling with a bit of an injury - in fact, Roger said afterward in an interview with Pam Shriver that he (Julien) wasn't playing the way he normally does and he almost expected him to retire from the match.  In spite of that, it was still more of a challenge than his first two matches so far at Roland Garros, which were basically just cruise control.  This was his 899th win, so a win on Sunday would put him in an elite group of 900 wins or more.

Interestingly enough it has been Rafael Nadal who has struggled more in his first two matches, losing a set so far in each one.  It seems that some of the bigger hitting guys are getting the idea that if they just "go for it" against him they can trouble him a bit.  But holding that level on clay in a best of five match is a different story.  Apparently Rafa wasn't too happy that his match got pushed back to the next day after all the rain and he wasn't shy about letting the tournament organizers know that the reigning champion was a bit put out that his next round opponent got to finish his match the day before.

The third round match between Novak Djokovic and Grigor Dimitrov should be an interesting one.  Dimitrov was able to pull off a win against him just a couple weeks ago.  My sense is that Novak will be the mentally tougher of the two in this one, wanting so badly to have the chance at the career grand slam.  Will certainly be one of the more interesting ones.

Finally I can't let pass the opportunity to post a couple pictures of the adorable Federer twins.  The first one I just came across from a few weeks ago but they look so cute I had to share it.  The second one is from their brief stay watching Daddy play his match against Benneteau.  I love their white fur parkas in the cold Paris weather.

Questions to be answered after Monte Carlo

The first clay court masters has come and gone and for those who have been frequent followers of tennis, for once there is a different result.  After eight years of the field trying and failing to dismiss Rafael Nadal from his throne in Monte Carlo, finally the world #1 Novak Djokovic has succeeded.  

I was personally thrilled to see a different result after eight years.  It simply doesn't make sense for any person, no matter who they are, to not be able to be beaten.  So in spite of an ankle injury which made Djokovic unsure if he would even be able to play in the tournament at all, he pushed through the pain because he wanted to be able to play in what he now considers a home tournament, since he has been living just down the street for the last several years.  Watching the intensity that he played with you could tell how badly he wanted this title.  Even so, after the almost bagel first set which eventually ended at 6-2, when Rafa got up a break in the second set I fully expected it to go three.  I was certainly unprepared to see him get broken at love serving for the set; and not only that, once it got to the tiebreak to see him only win one point.

Of course this all brings questions.  Was Nole able to win mostly because the conditions favored him, with the clay being damp from an early rain shower? Was it because Rafa isn't up to his full strength yet, claiming he got tired in the second set?  Is Rafa still struggling with injury, whether from his knee or the taping on his back?  All of these things remain to be seen.  I fully expect Nadal to rally and win in Barcelona this week.  What about Madrid, where he struggles a bit with the altitude, Rome, and of course the big question, the French Open?  Although clay is my least favorite surface, these unanswerables spice things up enough to make it all interesting once again.  In two more weeks Roger Federer will be back in the picture, with many wondering how he will fare having not won a title yet in 2013.  And with Andy Murray's lopsided loss we can't help but wonder if he will be any threat during the clay season.  As for me, I'm glad to have these questions to ponder as we wait for big guys to play once again.

The finals are set for Monte Carlo

I'm sure everyone is shocked to be having a Nadal-Djokovic Monte Carlo final (note major sarcasm!).  Before the tournament started my attitude was almost like "why even watch - we already know who is going to win."  However, along the with the most gorgeous view in tennis, there have also been some tantalizing matches, along with some drama to make things interesting.

Djokovic began his trip to the final very slowly, dropping the first set in his second and third matches.  There was much speculation on how his ankle was really healing (leftover from his impressive win in Davis Cup after twisting it in the first set).  Was it the injury causing the problem, or was he just having a hard adjustment to clay?  In each of those matches, however, once he got through the error prone first set he was able to pull away and win easily.  Eight time champion Nadal, on the other hand, began strong in his first couple matches, only to be really pushed in his quarterfinal against Grigor Dimitrov, dropping his first set in Monte Carlo in many years.  And very surprisingly in his semifinal against Tsonga, after a 6-3 first set he was up 5-1 in the second, looking like an incredibly routine win, when Tsonga mounted a comeback, breaking the King of Clay two times as he served for the match, saving match points along the way.  However, the luck ended there, with Nadal taking it in straight sets in a tiebreak.  I have to admit I was quite surprised, however, to see Rafa twice broken in what looked to be a routine win.

Some other noteworthy matches through the week were the Wawrinka-Murray match, where Murray only managed to win three games!  Looks like some work is needed with Mr. Lendl.  Jarko Niemenen played some impressive matches, showing some of his best tennis at 31 years old.  In his quarterfinal match against Del Potro there were some incredible points played with amazing defense against what looked like sure winners.  After two incredibly physical matches in a row, however (he also won a three-setter against Raonic in impressive fashion) he didn't have much left against Djokovic.  He will definitely be one to watch in the upcoming clay season, however.

As for the drama, how about the match between Gulbis and Monaco where Gulbis had already been warned about his behavior so many times that when he decided to slam his racquet against the umpire's chair on his way past he was penalized not just a point but in an entire game.  Get a hold of yourself Ernie!!  And what about the story that Matosevic, while playing Rafael Nadal, decided to see what would happen if he kicked over Rafa's water bottles on his way past?  In spite of Nadal's compulsive behavior to carefully arrange his bottles just so on each changeover, he was able to just laugh it off while looking to his box.  What would the tennis world be without a little drama?

So who is the favorite in the final?  Hard to say that Nadal isn't, having won it eight times in a row, but I don't want to write off the world #1, who totally had Rafa's number in the 2011 season, beating him a couple times even on the clay.  I won't hide the fact that I would love to see Djokovic begin to challenge him once again, with Rafa having won three title already since his comeback, but I'm not holding my breath.

Inspiring Davis Cup weekend

It was Davis Cup weekend, with matches taking place all over the world.  Though I don't always like the idea of Davis Cup every year, several times during year, with the players having to choose whether to expend even more energy to play in a couple more best of five matches in an already exhausting season, it can make for some pretty high drama.  There were several examples of that on this occasion.

Since I'm from the U.S. I will start with that.  On Friday team USA and team Serbia ended up splitting sets, with John Isner losing to Novak Djokovic and Sam Querry pulling out a high intensity five setter against Victor Troicki.  Most people assumed, with the #1 Bryan Brothers playing the doubles rubber against Nenad Zimonjic and virtual unknown Ilija Bozoljac, that it was almost a given it would soon be 2-1 USA.  Many were saying Bozoljac was the weak link and assuming straight sets.  They didn't bargain for the incredible fight the Serbians put up, taking the first two sets in tiebreaks.  The Bryans came back to level it in the next two sets and then the match really began.  With no tiebreak in Davis Cup in the fifth set it became a battle of wills to hold serve and each team did their job with amazing veracity.  It was quite nerve wracking watching from my couch as the score crept higher and higher.  Finally, in the 27th game of the set, the Bryan Brothers faltered and the Serbian team came up with a break.  In spite of tremendous crowd support for the U.S., team Serbia pulled off an incredible victory, clinching it at 15-13.  All credit to them for an amazing win against the best doubles team of all time.

 The drama continued the following day for the Serbian team.  Djokovic was due to play Sam Querry.  Though Querry has beaten Djokovic before, it still appeared it would be a fairly easy win for world #1 Novak Djokovic.  However, in only the 2nd game of the match Djokovic turned his ankle mid point.  He continued on to finish the point, only to fall to the ground as soon as it ended in obvious pain.

The big question was would he be able to continue.  When he was barely able to get off the court it certainly didn't appear he would be able to.  But the responsibility he felt in getting a victory for his country propelled him on and with some extra wrapping on the ankle and pain pills he continued to put forth great effort and energy.  Though he did drop the second set, soon he was on a roll and easily completed the victory for his team.  There is certainly speculation now, however, as to what this means for him in his next couple scheduled tournaments beginning the clay court season.

It was quite an exciting weekend for Canadian tennis fans.  The Canadian Davis Cup team has reached a new milestone - a trip to the DC semifinals, something they had never achieved before.  After splitting matches with visiting team Italy on day 1, their doubles team of Nestor and Pospisil did what the Bryan brothers weren't able to do - they closed out another five setter with the exact same fifth set score as the American-Serbian match - 15-13, giving Canada a 2-1 lead.  Milos Raonic had the honor of clinching the winning match for Canada, which will take them to Serbia in the fall for their first semifinal.  You can tell what the victory meant to Raonic.

 And finally I have to give some props to the team from Great Britain.  They were playing against Russia, not in the main draw of Davis Cup but in one of the lower tiers trying to gain entry into the elite group for next year.  Without their main man Andy Murray, they were playing with low ranked players who haven't been able to do much at the normal ATP level.  Down 0-2 after the first day of competition, their chances were pretty slim.  But at that point what did they have to lose?  After getting the doubles point to give them a slight chance, first number 214 James Ward came back from being down 2 sets to 1 to pull off the 5 set upset against Dimitri Tursonov.  But the likelihood of world number 325 Dan Evans, with all the pressure in the world sitting on his shoulders, beating someone ranked 245 places above him seemed virtually impossible.  Yet it turned out to be a fairly straight forward straight set win for an inspired player trying to get his team back into the World Group again.  Incredible effort by team Great Britain.  

Quite an inspiring weekend to lead us into the clay court season.

The amazing Tommy Haas

How impressive has Tommy Haas been this week?  I mean, when this Miami tournament started who would have chosen Tommy in their semifinal bracket?  I thought he might challenge Novak Djokovic, who hasn't really found his groove this whole month.  But even after the thumping in the first set, followed by a break in the second, once he surrendered the break back I really thought Novak would do his #1 thing and get on a roll.  Sure, Tommy had some help from a lot of uncharacteristic errors from his opponent, but at the same time his level of play was just amazing.  Some of saves he got at the net, stretching and really giving himself for the big win, showed his passion for the game and the incredible talent he has.  

A lot of times after a big win over a top player a lower ranked player, who has given their all for the victory, will have a major falter in their next match.  Tommy Haas has been around for a long time, though, and he showed his experience and the way his game has really been peaking against a tired Giles Simon, rolling over him in an hour with a 6-3 6-1 victory.  Will his almost 35-year-old body have what it takes to take it a step farther with a win over David Ferrer, who needed three sets in his win over a resurgent Meltzer?  I like to think that Tommy's motivation level, with a day of rest for his old bones to recover, will be enough to make it to the final of this Masters 1000.

A year ago Tommy Haas was ranked 145 in the world.  With this advancement into the semifinals he will crack the top 15 for the first time since January 2008.  If that isn't inspiring I don't know what is, especially given the fact that he is in his mid 30s.  I mean, Andy Roddick hung up his racquet on his 30th birthday.

The week started out kind of ho hum for me with Federer not participating.  However, this exciting development has reignited my interest.  Also, to be honest, it has given me more hope for Roger Federer's game in the months to come.  I have been rather discouraged by his results in the last six months, winning no titles after such amazing results in the fall of 2011 through summer of 2012.  But even if he goes through a slump for a bit, he's still a young pup compared to what we have been seeing this week and he should have lots of glory moments left for he and his fans to enjoy.

Semifinal action in Indian Wells

Wow, what a match by Juan Martin Del Potro to give Novak Djokovic his first defeat of the year and make it to his first BNP Paribas Open final.  He  played some amazing tennis, coming back from 0-3 in the third set to win it 6-4.  Though he had done so well to pull out the second set, when he was immediately broken in the third I thought the world #1 had it wrapped up.  However, Delpo had other ideas and really began taking it to Novak with some awe inspiring shots.  It reminded me of his form in 2009 when he beat the great Roger Federer in the U.S. Open after being down a set and a break.  

Back in 2009 when he won the U.S. Open he had also taking out Nadal before beating Federer.  Is he in good enough form now to take out Djokovic and Nadal back to back?  He has played two long three set matches in the last two days, while Nadal had fairly easy two set victories in his quarter final and semi.  Does JMDP have enough left in him to beat Rafa, who has quickly come back into his own pre-injury form?  At this point I would predict Nadal will pull off his first hard court victory since 2010, but I also predicted Djokovic would easily win the third set, so you just never can tell.

I am looking forward to the women's final between Caroline Wozniacki and Maria Sharapova.  Caroline fought back from a set and a break down against Angelique Kerber with some very strange strategy of moon balls, yet also really upping her winner total compared to what we have gotten used to.  Against Maria Sharapova she better skip the moon balls and go for the winners if she wants a chance to once again lift the trophy at Indian Wells.

On another topic, I haven't done a blog post since Federer's uninspiring loss against Nadal in the quarter finals.  It was quite discouraging to see him obviously struggling so much physically to not be able to even come close to playing his game.  While it would have been easy for him to withdraw from this match, however, the always classy Federer knew what a great disappointment this would be for both the tournament and the fans after two ladies withdrawals in the same day and chose to put his own comfort aside to play, knowing he had little chance to win.  I continue to be impressed by Roger over and over again and can see why he was voted the 2nd most respected person, surpassed only by Nelson Mandela.  He now takes a 7 week break before he plays next in Madrid and hopefully he can get treatment for his back, a lot of rest, time with his beautiful family and then some good practice time to come back strong and ready to add some titles, which he so far hasn't been able to do in 2013.  Even though he lost earlier than I had hoped in Indian Wells I treasure the memories of seeing him play live.  

More pictures to come from my experience in Indian Wells next week.

Impressive quarterfinals in Dubai

I think all the top seeds were anxious to get off court quickly in their quarterfinal matches to be ready for what will, I'm sure, be much more challenging semis.  The most games lost by any of them was 6.  I wasn't able to watch much of Del Potro or Berdych, but Djokovic looked as impressive as he has all week.  And Federer has significantly raised his game, looking the best he has since probably the Tomic match at the Australian Open.  He was always firmly in control of the match; Davydenko simply had nothing to offer whatsoever with all that was being thrown at him.  Roger's ball striking was superb and his movement around court very impressive.  It would be hard to see anyone beating him in this form.

The semis should be quite interesting between Del Potro-Djokovic and Berdych-Federer.  Though I would expect a Federer-Djokovic final, nothing is sure with these top players.  If they are all playing as well as they did in the quarters we could be set for some really great matches!

If you haven't seen the CNN interview of Roger Federer talking about topics like his recent South Africa trip and his tennis goals it is definitely worth a watch!

And finally, If you don't have Twitter or don't follow little Michaela Bryan you have really missed out on "her" ingenious tweets that always cheer up my day.  Along the same lines, USA Today has come up with a great "interview" of the little 1-year-old celeb.  You will definitely be missing out on a good laugh if you don't take the time to read this one:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2013/02/28/micaela-bryan-bob-bryan-mike-bryan/1952455/

Catching up on the tennis world

I'm afraid I have been slacking a bit on blog posts lately.  I still follow all the tennis going on as closely as I can, but with all the little tournaments it's just a bit harder to find the excitement level to write about it.  It doesn't help when much of it isn't televised live, and watching it live on the computer at uncomfortable hours often isn't an option (unless it's a certain guy by the name of Roger Federer).  Unfortunately I wasn't able to watch any of the Tsonga-Berdych match, though that would have been a good one and I was happy to see that Tsonga had won, saving two match points in the process.  I was disappointed to miss all but the last few games of the Ferrer-Wawrinka match due to a prior commitment.  I was glad Stan was able to take a set, but in the end Ferrer was just too strong on clay.

I did follow pretty closely the women's tournament in Dubai, however, and enjoyed seeing some good tennis.  I was glad to see Caroline Wozniacki playing well again, though she just didn't have enough against Petra Kvitova, who was really on her game.  The final against Kvitova and Erani was one of those really strange matches where one set looked completely different from the next, with the scoreline being 6-2 1-6 6-1.  Kvitova is just one of those players where, when things are working for her, she is almost impossible to beat.  Some of the winners she hits are just bullets through the court with not the slightest chance of being returned.  But when things go off, they really go off.  It was good to see her winning another title after some struggles for a while to find her real game.

I also was able to watch the semis and final of the ATP Memphis tournament.  Kei Nishikori played some brilliant tennis against Feli Lopez, seeming to get back almost everything Lopez threw at him and hitting just punishing shots to win his 3rd career title.  It was the semifinal Lopez played against Istomin, however, that was more intriguing to me, particularly the end.  It was match point for Lopez and he hit what both he and his opponent thought was an ace.  They both came to the net and had shaken hands when the chair umpire finally got their attention to tell them the serve was a let.  It has been 40-15 and Lopez went on to lose the next three points.  I was getting pretty nervous for him that he was going to get broken and potentially go on to lose the match after already having celebrated his victory.  However, he held his nerve and managed to come back to win the game and the match.  Though I'm sure he is disappointed to lose in the final, that is still so much better than losing in the semi when he thought he had it won.  I had never seen that situation happen before.

 And now on to the really important stuff - Roger Federer is in Dubai getting prepared to try to defend his title from last year, not to mention that he has won here five times already.  Hopefully being back in the warm climate again after the cold in Rotterdam, and being back with his family again will up his game and produce his first title of 2013.  Of course, Novak Djokovic, will have something to say about this.  It will be Novak's first tournament back in action since Australia and he will be anxious to re-solidify his #1 ranking.

I was encouraged by a couple of the things Roger had to say to the media in the last week, one of them being:  "I strongly believe I have more Slams in me."  That is something every Fed fan likes to hear because no matter how much we believe in him, he also needs to have the belief himself that he can still win out in a major over his younger competitors.  He also said this about whether he could return to #1 again:  ''Absolutely realistic, if you play great."  Here's hoping that he can start that playing great pattern this week in Dubai and show that he is still fully in there.  
 

And our champions are...

The first major of the year is over.  I find I am feeling a mixture of sadness and relief - sadness because I look so much forward to the Happy Slam every year, relief because I can finally get some sleep again!

The men's final turned out as so many predicted it would - with Novak Djokovic holding his third consecutive Australian Open trophy, fourth overall, and sixth major title.  It was certainly a tight match for the first 2 1/2 hours with, amazingly, no breaks of serve.  Murray had his chances to really get his teeth into it, after winning the first set in a tiebreak, when he had three break point opportunities.  He was not able to capitalize on those, however, and Djokovic ended up winning that set in a tiebreak.  By the third set Murray was being hampered by a foot injury and it certainly started to take its toll in his movement.  Once Novak was able to get the first break of serve in the match there was no turning back.  Andy definitely hung in there but it was inevitable which way things were going to turn out.

I can't help but wonder if things would have turned out differently if Murray wouldn't have played a five set four hour match in his semifinal compared to an incredibly easy hour-and-a-half semi by Djokovic with an extra day of rest.  But each player must deal with what is given them in the draw - it's all just part of the game of tennis.  

As for the women, Victoria Azarenka had to overcome an unsupportive crowd in her victory against Li Na.  It was obvious that the tennis fans in Rod Laver arena hadn't forgiven her for her injury timeout against Sloane Stevens and were in full support of her opponent.  The match was full of drama, with Li Na taking the first set but then having two falls, one twisting her ankle and the other hitting her head on the court.  She really didn't seem too affected by these injuries, however, and it was really Azarenka settling into the match and taking control that won her her second consecutive AO title.  Her reaction at the end of the match was very telling as to the emotions she had been holding back over these difficult days leading up to the final.  Rather than walking back onto the court to receive her congratulatory applause, she instead sat in her chair and began to sob.  Hopefully this will be a real learning experience for her to keep her making these kind of costly mistakes again which tend to turn people against her.

Though there are no more majors for four months now, there is much tennis action coming up with many smaller tournaments.  Roger Federer will be making his next appearance the second week in February in a 500 level tournament in Rotterdam and again in Dubai.  The one I am waiting for is Indian Wells in March, the first Masters tournament of the year, which I will be present at for the third year in a row.  Still so much to look forward to!

 

And the finals are set

For Federer fans it wasn't the result we were hoping for.  It appeared to be a 50-50 match going into it, with reasons to believe either one could pull it off.  It was obvious from the beginning, however, that Murray was very much on his game, pushing Federer in each of his service games, not aided whatsoever by Federer's serve numbers being very low.  It seemed pretty much at all times during the match that Roger was playing from behind and really only for brief moments was he really able to play his game, coming up with flashes of brilliance when he really needed it.  I have to give all credit to Murray.  He, like Djokovic, has an amazing combination of offense and incredible defense, getting back shots that seem impossible.  

I had already resigned myself to a Federer loss when he was broken back in the 4th set and then broken again, so when he surprisingly pulled off a great comeback to win the set in a tiebreak I still wasn't real surprised when he quickly fell behind once again in the 5th set.  It reminded me of the 2010 U.S. Open semi when he had been pushed hard by Djokovic, with Nadal already waiting in the final.  As that match went on in the 5th set I was getting nervous wondering how much energy he would have left for a final.  That was very much in my mind watching this today.  He had never before played two five set matches in a row.  How could he possibly have anything left, at 31 years of age, to challenge a well rested Novak, who only had to play 89 minutes in his ridiculous win over Ferrer?  So when Roger quickly got in a hole in the 5th set I wasn't extremely disappointed.  He showed great heart and resolve to push a very on form Andy Murray to a 5th set.  And to be honest, his win at Wimbledon, claiming another major after a two year drought, did much to calm me down in these situations (well, as long as he keeps his quarter final record going that is!).

So we will be having another Djokovic Murray final.  I am hoping that Murray's five set match won't play into things, but that this match will be one that really shows who the best is at this moment.  With a much more confident Murray this could be a real interesting one.

On a side note, Federer had a few choice words for Andy at a particularly tense time of the match.  Personally I wish he would try to refrain from lowering himself to that level.  I happen to like the squeaky clean Roger image, which is one of the things that makes me such a fan.


On the women's side of things, the final between Li Na, who played a brilliant match to soundly defeat Maria Sharapova, and Victoria Azarenka is being clouded by the great controversy of Vika's actions at 5-4 in the 2nd set semi against Sloane Stephens, choosing to take a 10 minute medical timeout before Sloane had to serve to stay in the match.  Definitely bad taste.  She has tried to smooth things over, but I think for most fans they would much prefer to see a new champion in Li Na this year.  I am real interested to see how this all goes down.  I hope it is a competitive match, as there have been some real duds in the women's major finals, including last year's Australian Open.

After almost two weeks of little sleep, we now know our finalists.  A couple exciting matches to go before the new king and queen are crowned.  Though my favorite will not be holding the trophy, in terms of tennis we still should be in for some great tennis to come.

Squeaking vs. gliding through

The match of the tournament so far definitely has been the 5 hour nail biter between Djokovic and Wawrinka, not just because of its length and scoreline (which ended 12-10 in the 5th) but because of the high intensity in level of play for the full 5 hours.  Stan started out on fire, breaking the #1's serve over and over again to win the first set 6-1 and start the second set also up a break.  It looked like he could end up with a pretty quick two set lead before reality closed in, his level dropped a bit, and Novak upped his game.  Though Djokovic went on to take the second set and then the third, the impressive part was that Stan kept fighting through the entire 5 hours, never giving into discouragement, and he continued to pressure Novak with sizzling winners firing from his racquet.  It really looked like it could go either way through that long 5th set, but as in so many cases champions seem to have that tiny bit extra that pulls them through these pressurized moments.  I was very disappointed for Wawrinka that after such a hard fought battle both physically and mentally, that he wasn't able to come away with what would have been a huge upset win against the three time Aussie champion.  In spite of not earning the win, however, I believe he certainly earned much respect in the locker room for pushing Novak Djokovic to the brink of defeat in the Round of 16.

The only man left in the tournament who still hasn't lost his serve after four rounds is Roger Federer.  It was agreed pretty much across the board that Roger had the most difficult draw of those favored to to be holding the trophy at the end of the fortnight.  He put on another clinical display of great tennis in his fourth round match against Milos Raonic, a dangerous player who has taken a set off him at each of their prior three meetings.  Not even facing a break point the whole match, he served great and and was once again able to keep his unforced error count extremely low.  Interestingly, he has faced very different types of players in each of the rounds so far and has had the answers for every one.  Obviously things can change a lot from one match to the next and he will undoubtedly have his hands full with Jo Wilfred Tsonga.  Fed fans have to be pleased, though, with how sharp he looks so far, including his great movement around the court.  With 35 consecutive quarterfinals in majors now, he continues to add to his impressive record that sets him so far apart from all others.

And finally, I'm glad that Roger is taking care of his back playing in the cool conditions.  I loved his post match interview with Jim Courier where he claimed the undershirt was because he needed to take care of his big muscles underneath.  And his comments about his skinny left arm being such a threat were hilarious.  Great to see him so relaxed and enjoying himself. 

Final thoughts on Shanghai

What an amazing final that was between Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray!  The quality of tennis was incredible.  I can't count the number of points where it should have been over multiple times, yet one or the other of them was able to keep it going and turn things around to win the point.  I'm sure Murray must be bitterly disappointed after having 5 match points, to end up losing in the end.  Novak seems to have an uncanny ability to come back from the brink of defeat to win matches.  

With another 1,000 points added with this win it won't be long at all before Djokovic is able to wrestle #1 away from Roger Federer once again.  I must say, as a Federer fan I was rather discouraged with his lackluster performance against Andy Murray in the semis, strewn with so many errors, knowing this would have so much affect on the end-of-year #1 ranking.  However, I was encouraged to read this comment from him:

"I would love to finish number one as well for the end of the year. For that it's going to take a great stretch again, winning Basel, Paris and London I assume to give myself a chance," said the 17-time Grand Slam champion. "We'll see how it goes.  Look, I'm relaxed about it.  I'll give everything I can.  I want to get through this season well and finish strong.  But it's not the number one goal right now.  Right now it's to manage my schedule, hopefully be in good shape for Basel, then kind of go from there.  Just to repeat, the goal was to become world number one this year, which happened, not the end of the year. But if that happens, that's a bonus."

It's easy to just keep wanting more and more as Federer fans because we've seen him do so many amazing things.  But the fact that he repeated the statement that his goal was to become world #1, not to end the year as #1, just reminded me that it's okay if he goes back to #2.  Novak deserves #1 again at this point, and to have achieved 300 weeks at #1 was just incredible.  We can't expect him to win everything at 31 years old.  

It will be a fascinating next few weeks, particularly, in my opinion, to see who is going to step up at the World Tour Finals.  I would imagine Djokovic has much motivation this year to add that to his resume.

A strange super Saturday at the Open

Is Andy thanking God for the wind?

It was indeed another strange day at the U.S. Open.  While I have seen many a match played in very windy conditions, I have certainly never seen chairs or bags blow onto the court in the middle of the point!  Is it fair for the players to have to play in these conditions?  Tomas Berdych, and maybe Novak Djokovic, would say no, while obviously Andy Murray and David Ferrer seemed to be handling themselves just fine.  Yes it's unfortunate to not be able to go out there and play "normal" tennis.  But weather is part of professional sports and something that needs to be dealt with, and whichever player handles it better will be the victor.  

The most unfortunate part I felt was for David Ferrer.  He handled himself very well in those first seven games and Djokovic didn't.  But in spite of there being blue skies still  he was not allowed to try to serve out the set.  I understand the need for precaution (though it sounds like the severe storm didn't come), but what a frustrating situation.  I hope for his sake he is able to come back tomorrow and serve out the set on the first try.  Even winning the first set, his chances of pulling off the upset, in my opinion, would probably be 5% or less.  But he would have to feel good to at least take a set off the defending champion.

I have to admit as I was watching the first semifinal that I was wishing these conditions had been in effect Wednesday night as Roger took the court against Berdych.  When he plays in wind it seems to affect him not a bit.  What a different scenario we could be looking at.  But that isn't the case and one must move on (though it certainly ticks me off when I once again see articles coming out that the end is near for Federer just because he lost a match again - don't even get me going on that one!).

Anyway, I regress.  I would predict a four set win for Novak against Ferrer and a straight set win by Serena tomorrow.  As for Monday, though I'm not really a Murray fan, I would like to see him get his first grand slam win.  It's time and I hope he can pull it off.

Semis set, big 3 + 1

So the semis are set for one of the biggest tennis events of the year.  Each one of them would love to take home a medal, and three of the four will.  It must feel strange knowing that even if they lose tomorrow, they will still play one more match for the bronze.  Even though on the one hand this has felt just like another tennis tournament, at the same time it just has a different feel with it being the Olympics - more special somehow.


Most predicted the big 3 making it to the semis, with the 4th being a little up in the air.  But there was always a bit of the unpredictable with the best of 3 sets on grass.  Honestly I hope that each of the top three seeds end up with a medal - they all deserve it (and of course you know who I want to get the gold!).  


On the ladies side it's hard to believe it wouldn't be Serena and Maria Sharapova in the gold medal match with the way each of them are playing.  They each seem pretty fiercely determined.  


A few more days of wondering and the questions will be answered after all the waiting for the Olympics.  Big anticipation, again, different than other tournaments, even grand slams, as there is only a chance every four years.  Lots of pressure tomorrow, no doubt about that!

They're back!

The London Olympics are getting close now!  The tennis players are arriving at Wimbledon and beginning their practices.  Local hero Andy Murray got the opportunity to carry the torch today:

I'm sure that was a special moment for him.   He then got to pass the torch to Venus Williams, which has to be a triumphant moment for her with all she has been through!  

Here is a picture of friends-rivals Novak Djokovic with Murray, who both have to feel their medal chances are pretty good:

And, of course, Roger Federer is back at his beloved Wimbledon grounds, looking pretty hot in more ways than one:
 

It was announced today that although Federer had been granted the privilege of carrying the Olympic flag for Switzerland for the third time, he deferred this time, wanting another athlete to have the opportunity (isn't he a sweet guy?!!).  How awesome that the honor was given to his good friend and gold medal partner Stan Wawrinka!!

 
And I can't let the day go by without saying happy 3rd birthday to sweet Myla and Charlene!  Amazing it has been three years already since the exciting news was announced that Roger and Mirka had not one, but two new babies!  I'm sure they have some special plans for their little girls today.  It won't be long before they're old enough to actually sit and watch Daddy's matches in the player box.

 

Nadal out!

Wow, it was rather shocking to hear the news this morning that reigning gold medalist Rafael Nadal has pulled out of the Olympics, claiming he is not in condition yet to compete.  "I've waited until the final moment of my preparation and my training, but I cannot do it."  "It is one of the saddest days of my career. You can imagine how difficult it was to take this decision."  Nadal fan or not, you can't help but feel bad for him to have to miss such a huge event as this, not to mention no longer getting to have the honor of carrying the Spanish flag in the opening ceremonies. 


While neither Federer or Djokovic would wish this for their co-competitor, they would have to admit this makes their road to the gold easier.  Granted, they each still have to get through the early rounds to be in contention, and that can be one of the most difficult parts.  There aren't many easy matches in this 64-man draw, and things can get away quickly in best of 3 matches, as confirmed by Roger Federer not yet having any medal in singles in his previous visits to the Olympics.  However, this new development will, I'm sure, put even more fire into each of them to make sure they are on the podium listening to their national anthem.  And not to mention the number 1 ranking again is on the line, with Federer only 75 points ahead in the race.  

Of course, this doesn't even address the upcoming hard court season.  Likely this is related to Rafa's continued issues with knee tendinitis, and hard courts are the worst for this condition.  Makes things even more interesting, being that he has a lot of ranking points to defend from last year's final at the U.S. Open.


In the meantime, though, anticipation is building and I am anxiously awaiting next Friday's opening ceremonies in London!