Why is it that draws always seem to turn out the same way - like with Federer and Nadal once again ending up in the same quarter? It has happened for Indian Wells, Wimbledon, Cincinnati and now the U.S. Open. Isn't it supposed to be a random draw? And why is it that poor Ryan Harrison always ends up with the worst possible early rounds in majors? At least he got someone different than Djokovic this time, though I don't think he would be any happier getting Nadal for a change (come on, Ryan - cause a huge upset!). Sure would have loved to see Federer end up in Ferrer's quarter but no such luck. The fact of the matter is, though, that when Roger is healthy and playing well, it really doesn't matter what his draw is. The question is, will his back hold out and has he finally found the form he has been looking for this year. His early rounds hopefully shouldn't be a problem and it would be quite surprising for him not to reach the quarterfinal. We will see if anyone like Verdasco or Isner can cause Nadal any problems.
Though with Nadal's recent form he may seem like the heavy favorite, I could see many of the top guys having a good chance. For the ones who have previously won majors they know what it takes to get it done, so whether they have recently been winning a lot of matches or not doesn't necessarily make a difference. Of course that would include Djokovic, Murray, Federer, Nadal, and even Del Potro. The curiosity really starts to get to me as we come to the cusp of a grand slam starting and it's no different here. Hopefully Fed will come in with good form that he can maintain to have an easy run to the second week.
It's too bad that Maria Sharapova won't be able to participate, with her shoulder once again causing her problems. Certainly Serena is the favorite going in. It seems like in the women's game there always tend to be upsets all across the board, though, so I don't even bother to try to decide what I think is going to happen. I would enjoy seeing a a new women's champion this time around, though.
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.
Well well well, we thought last year was a huge shocker when Rafael Nadal was beaten in the 2nd round by Lukas Rosol. Who in their right mind would have ever predicted Nadal going out this year in the 1st round, to an opponent ranked 135, in his first ever 1st round loss? Although obviously Rafa wasn't even close to his best, and most likely his knee was really bothering him, which became apparent by the end of the match, there was no doubt about it that Steve Darcis played a clutch match beginning to end. I have never seen some of the shots he was doing with his slice, and at the end of the match he was hitting some very Nadal-like winners. Earlier this year he was losing in challenger tournaments, but regardless of what happens in the rest of his career, he will now always be remembered as the guy who took out Nadal in the 1st round of Wimbledon. Quite the accomplishment!
Roger Federer had a much better day than Rafa did. He wasn't the slightest bit troubled in his first round match against Victor Hanescu. I think his victory in the tournament on grass in Halle was very helpful for his confidence going into Wimbledon. He played his beautiful grass court tennis that we have gotten so familiar with. The errors that can sometimes creep into his game weren't an issue in the slightest today and he showed his full range of all court tennis. He served great, which always helps so much in setting up his game. Obviously this was an opponent who couldn't do much to trouble him, but I think this bodes well for his upcoming matches. And with Rafa now out of the tournament (which I still find hard to believe!), that really changes things as to his chances to claim his 8th Wimbledon crown.
And now I just have to rant for a moment. There has been much debate for quite some time as to the GOAT (greatest of all time) question - really more than there should be when those being talked about are still playing. For a great majority Roger Federer is undeniably the GOAT for a good many reasons. Before Nadal's surprising exit, however, former tennis great and current commentator John McEnroe was trying to make the case that Nadal is getting close to taking over that spot. For one who used to speak so extremely highly of Federer in that position, McEnroe certainly is fickle and I can't see at all where he is coming from. Not even counting the 17 to 12 total grand slams, Federer is so far ahead in so many areas. What about his 23 consecutive grand slam semis, his still unbroken 36 straight quarterfinals, 302 weeks at #1 (237 of those consecutive), 18 of 19 major finals, winning 6 World Tour Finals (which Nadal has yet to win any). No, he doesn't have a Davis Cup win but that certainly isn't all on him by any means. Really the only thing Nadal has going for him is his record against the top guys, many of those wins, especially against Federer, on clay (on which Nadal is undeniably the GOAT). No one is going to have every record or be best at everything. However, in so many different areas Roger Federer has been the best in history. We will see how things end up when each of them have hung up their racquet, but for now, for me, there just is no room for any other view between these two great players.
It was another good day for Roger Federer and his fans as he beat Gilles Simon 6-1 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals. Simon is one who has given him problems in the past and Roger knew he would need to be at the very top of his game to beat him. Generally Simon is known as one who just keeps getting everything back, not necessarily hitting a lot of winners, but very consistent - ok, yes, a pusher. This time Roger basically took it out of his hands, however, playing aggressively like he did in his first match and forcing Simon into many more errors than normal. Though Federer had a few more errors himself than he did in his first match, that makes sense against a very consistent player and he still had more winners than errors.
He continues to seem very motivated and determined, which he will need in his next match against hard-hitter Jerzy Janowicz, who has taken out two top 10 players this week. These two have never faced each other before and I'm sure each of them will be out to prove themselves in this match-up. They seem to have Fed on night shift right now, playing again in the second night match of the day, which can sometimes work against him with the cooler slower conditions. Maybe this will actually help him a bit against Janowicz, though, slowing down his power. I am hopeful that if can get through this one he will have a straight shot to the final (and do I dare hope his first title of the year?).
There was almost a huge upset in the match between Nadal and Gulbis. Gulbis came out simply on fire and Nadal looked a little nervous. The amazing part of this match to me was that Gulbis hit about five times the amount of winners to what Nadal hit, had a positive winners to errors ratio, yet somehow he still lost the match. Nadal has a way of squeaking through these matches and often goes on to win the title. What's scary is that Gulbis may not be seeded in the French Open. I feel sorry for anyone who gets him in their early rounds if he is playing as he was today.
Our eight remaining quarterfinalists are Djokovic-Berdych, Nadal-Ferrer, strangely Paire-Granollers and Janowicz-Federer. Can anyone keep the trophy out of Nadal's hands this weekend?
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.
It's April now, which means the hard courts are done and we head to clay. So the tennis March Madness is over with the two big Masters events in Indian Wells and Miami. The Miami tournament was a bit anticlimactic this year on the men's side being that we were missing two of the huge drawing cards, Federer and Nadal. The resurgence of Tommy Haas into the semis did bring some excitement, however, taking out #1 Novak Djokovic in the process. At that point I was really hoping to see a very unusual final, Haas against Gasquet. However, things went along the much more predictable lines and gave us Murray and Ferrer.
It was a strange, brutal and error prone match between the two. Ferrer ended up with only 14 winners in three sets with 50 unforced errors while Murray had 23 winners and 45 unforced. Not only that, but there were 15 breaks of serve between the two, at one point six games in a row! The rallies were long, often ending with an error, and by the time the match was over Ferrer was badly cramping, something I never thought I would see, and neither one hardly had the energy to finish. Faster courts anyone? Andy Murray managed to pull off the win in a third set tiebreak (which I didn't get to see since I was watching on the DVR and didn't know CBS would be ending their coverage - but that's a different story!). With this win he passes Roger Federer for the #2 ranking. It's the first time in over nine years that neither Federer or Nadal has held either the #1 or #2 ranking. Wow!
I was concerned about the women's match between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. I have seen enough blow-out matches between the two that I went into it wondering if they would even make it to an hour. But Maria obviously came out with a game plan and Serena took a while to find hers, meaning that Maria took the first set. But Serena being Serena, part way through the second set she found her form and by the time they got to the third Masha's plan had totally gone out the window. A bagel third set for the beautiful world #2 had to hurt. Looking back, though, she will have to feel good that she at least found a way to win a set against Serena, something that hadn't happened since 2008!
Clay court season has already started for the women in Charleston this week, albeit green clay. Then next week, after Davis Cup over the weekend in various places around the world, we move over to Europe once again and the world will be watching to see if Rafa Nadal is going to clean up once again or if someone can hold their nerve to finally beat this guy on the red stuff.
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.
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.
I am home from hot sunshine, palm trees and amazing live tennis to dreary clouds, rain, evergreen trees, and watching tennis like everyone else on a screen instead of the incredible experience live in the stadium. Almost immediately upon walking in the door I fired up my DVR to fast forward past early matches and get to the beginning of the one I had been thinking about all day - Federer/Wawrinka. Not knowing how his back would be, especially after not showing up for his practice the day before (more on that later), for a while it seemed like it was going to be a straightforward win. However, serving for the match Roger suddenly seemed to get tight and pretty much handed the game to Stan, who went on to take the second set. I really didn't know what was gong to happen after that; it really seemed like it could go either way, especially after Roger got frustrated with not being allowed to challenge one of his own serves that was out. Somehow he managed to hold it all together though, which Wawrinka didn't, ending the match with several errors and a break for 7-5 in the third for Fed. It's hard to know how much his back issue was bothering Roger. His serving looked a lot more normal than it had the other night after the obvious injury. Surely it must have been a bit of a factor, however, and can't help but wonder, after three sets, how he will hold up for another match the very next day.
And what a match between Nadal and Gulbis. There was some amazing tennis going on there! I know everyone was wanting a Fed-Nadal quarter, which is what is going to happen, but I have to say I was cheering for Gulbis. What an incredible job he has done in the last few weeks. Hope he can keep it up. As for the Fed-Nadal match it's really difficult to know what to expect. I am certainly hoping for last year's semi rather than two years ago Miami, that's for sure! Back to Federer's missed practice. I was very excited to watch one last practice, knowing I would be heading home the next day and it would be my last time to see him. I got to the practice court 45 minutes early and got the perfect seat. It would have been closer than I had ever been to him. All along, though, I couldn't help but wonder if he was actually going to show up, and as the minutes crept by I knew unfortunately it wasn't going to happen. Though I wasn't necessarily surprised, I certainly was very disappointed, as it would have been a tremendous last day for my 2013 Indian Wells experience. Even without that, however, it was a wonderful time and I got to have a lot of Federer highlights. I will try to post a few more pictures of my experience in the lull between Indian Wells and Miami, as I have quite a few more pictures I haven't put up. In the meantime, back to reality - work and trying to watch tennis in and around all the normal responsibilities of life.
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:
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.
It was a busy tennis week this last week I realized as I was trying to find time to watch four different finals on Sunday. As I digested my disappointment that I wouldn't be watching Roger Federer in either the semifinal or final of Rotterdam I had to remind myself that I am a tennis fan, not just a Fedfan, and that I could still enjoy watching some good tennis even though I wasn't watching my favorite. So putting my disappointment aside I was able to appreciate the good matches that were still on the docket for the weekend.
In spite of this, though, I admit that none of the matches turned out the way I had hoped. Though I for the most part like Juan Martin Del Potro and would usually want him to win when he's not playing Roger, I couldn't help but feel the pain for Julien Benneteau for his previous losses in finals and really wanted to see him break through this time. Almost the whole match though it felt like he was just trying to keep up with the great play of Delpo and in the end there really was nothing he could do against someone playing this well. JMDP deserved this win, after a poor showing in last year's final, and poor Benneteau once again had to face another disappointment. Though not one of my favorites, and certainly a threat always now to Federer, I really hope he gets his breakthrough title at some point before he retires.
In the women's final, though I'm not always one to cheer for Serena, in this case after the emotion shown after regaining #1 I was really hoping she would be holding the trophy at the end to supplement her great accomplishment. She just didn't seem herself in this match, though, never seeming fully comfortable, and Victoria Azarenka wasn't about to be intimidated. I'm sure it felt so good to her to prove that she had been the valid #1 by beating her replacement. It will be interesting to see upcoming matches between the two.
I didn't see the full final between Nadal and Nalbandian, really only some of the second set, but my impression of what I saw was that Rafa still wasn't playing like his normal self, making quite a few errors, but when Nalbandian was in a great position with two breaks in the 2nd set he just folded and gave it away. I think it will be a test for Nadal in his next tournament where Ferrer will also be playing, so we'll see what his form is by the end of February for his next tournament. I'm sure he felt very happy to be holding another trophy, though, whether he played his best or not.
In the final match of the day I was really hoping to see Tommy Haas pull it off. I have liked Tommy for a long time, and I think it's a real inspiration to see him playing great tennis at the age of 34 after a long injury timeout. He really didn't even have a chance, however, with the way Milos Raonic was playing. I don't know what it is about the conditions in San Jose, but he wasn't giving an inch on his service games, and the return winners that he was hitting on Tommy's service games were incredible. I'm sure he wishes he could buy the tournament himself to keep it in San Jose where he has had so much success, winning it three times in a row. To be honest, though, what I was thinking at the end of the match was that I really hope he's not in Federer's draw for Indian Wells!
The biggest news in tennis these days seems to be Rafael Nadal's return to competition after over 7 months away due to injury. He was successful in his first appearance in doubles with partner Juan Monaco and now has also played his singles match. He started out nervously, getting broken immediately and barely winning any points in the first couple games. He eventually was able to break back after a long game on his opponent's serve, however, and that seemed to give him confidence. Though he wasn't playing anywhere near his best, by the second set there were some typical Nadal-on-clay type shots that should make him and his team feel encouraged for the future. It will be interesting in the next few matches when he has at least a bit stiffer competition if the rust will still be evident or if he will start looking quickly like the old Rafa again. I know every tennis fan is very curious to see what 2013 will hold for Mr. Nadal.
When Roger Federer isn't playing, even if there is other tennis going on, I can't help but start thinking ahead to his next tournament. Such is the case right now, waiting for three upcoming tournaments he will be playing over the next month.
As I was thinking about his next three tournaments in Rotterdam, Dubai and Indian Wells, I realized that last year he won all three of these. Wow, that's impressive! While I doubt that he would be able to repeat this, it certainly would be great if he could win at least one of these. By doing so he would tie John McEnroe's title count at 77, which I was hoping would happen at the end of last year. I would love to see him make it to 80 this year, but I am trying to lessen my expectations of what he "should" achieve and just enjoy the moments of getting to see him play his beautiful tennis. That is hard to fully do, though, and I am hoping for a good result next week in Rotterdam - i.e., holding the trophy at the end.
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!
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.
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.
What an absolutely incredible display of tennis between Roger Federer and Bernard Tomic. Wow! If I was to tell someone to watch one match at the Australian Open so far it would be this one. I am just so impressed by what each of those guys were able to do. Even though I haven't liked Tomic's cocky attitude leading up to this, he certainly was able to put on a great display of tennis for his packed home crowd on Rod Laver Arena. However, he wasn't able to match the brilliance of the Maestro from Switzerland. Really the only thing Federer wasn't able to do well was to convert break points. Much of that, however, was due to Tomic's clutch play in those moments, really coming up with the goods at the important times. The shot making between both of them was downright breathtaking at times. Definitely Tomic was wanting to make a good impression and prove himself capable of being a top player. I think, though, that the hype about this match also brought out in Roger a fierce determination to show that he isn't going down yet to the young up and coming guys.
Federer ended the match with 46 winners and 20 unforced errors. Now those are the types of numbers his fans love to see! He truly hasn't lost his greatness in any way, and the way he moved around the court shows he hasn't lost his speed either, with some amazing retrieval ability to stay in points. Here is just one small example showing the full range of his skills.
I
thought Roger did a great job in his press conference delicately
dealing with the issue of respect between players, in a gentle way implying that Tomic could have handled that aspect better than he did. Here is a
link to that interview, as he says it much better than I could:
I could go on and on with my appreciation for this match and for Federer in general as he claimed his 250th grand slam win. I can say it was definitely worth staying up until 2:30 a.m. Hopefully he can keep up this incredible form through the next challenging matches to come.
You know it's a very hot day when Roger Federer is sweating that much. Still 104 degrees in the first evening match, they at least didn't have to deal with the intense sunshine that the daytime matches had to contend with. It was a fairly easy, though definitely not epic win for the world #2 against someone who has beaten him a couple times before. I'm sure he felt cautious about this one, knowing Davydenko had really stretched him in Oz a couple years ago, plus had recently been a finalist in Doha a couple weeks ago. However, Davy certainly wasn't up to form, making many, many unforced errors and really making it pretty easy for Roger. Of course, this sets up what has been getting a lot of attention in the media - Fed vs. Tomic at the AO. Tomic is taking full advantage of the situation and saying things that frankly I hope get him into some trouble. Yes he has turned his game around from the depths it had fallen to the second half of last year, and yes he beat Novak Djokovic in an exhibition match, meaning he obviously is playing some good tennis, but it seems he may be setting himself up to be made a bit of a fool of if he isn't able to live up to his own expectations, after making comments implying Federer may not even make it to the 3rd round - even though it hasn't happened in over eight years. It all remains to be seen how this match will go, but I hope that Roger teaches his young opponent that he is still the master. I am finding that I had already forgotten, in the 4-5 months since the last major, how much of the action we don't get to see,. especially in the first couple rounds. There is just so much tennis going on, and I feel like I have seen just a tiny fraction of it, in spite of watching hours and hours a day. But one thing that does seem evident is that the top players for both the men and women are in tip top form, with some of the women hardly losing any games in their first two rounds. Things will start heating up more now for some of them and we have some good matches to look forward to, like Maria Sharaova vs Venus in third round action.
And
I have to make mention of the sad situation that happened for Sam
Stosur the other night. She has always struggled to play in her home
country and once again her nerves got the best of her. It was heart
wrenching to watch. After dropping the first set and looking like the
same old - same old, she managed to get things together, won the second set and was up 5-2 in the third. Then
the demons attacked again. She got broken serving for it the first
time. Oh well, she has another insurance break, she can do it the next
time. Not so. Errors, tentative play, and aggression from her opponent
caused her to lose her serve again. Then discouragement took over and
her opponent took advantage. Soon the match was over with her losing
the last five games of the match. I have major sympathy for her. All
the advice in the world doesn't seem to help. I really hope for her
sake she can find a new way to wrestle through this incredibly
frustrating malady.
For those who are still alive in the tournament, though, on to the third round. And many of us are needing to adopt the hash tag the AO twitter page is using - sleepisfortheweak!
Well, needless to say a second loss in a row to Juan Martin Del Potro wasn't the result Roger Federer was hoping for in his last Round Robin match. Though it has to play tricks with your mind just a bit knowing you didn't "have to" win the match to move on, it was still obvious that Roger really wanted to end this portion of the tournament with another win to give him momentum heading into the semis. And I'm sure he really would have liked to get it done in 2 sets rather than 3, knowing he has the disadvantage of not getting a day to rest. However, failure to convert break points in the first set, as well as playing a terrible tiebreak didn't work in his favor, so instead he not only had to play three sets, but also got his first loss in the World Tour Finals since 2009. Hopefully, rather than giving him less confidence moving forward, it will instead motivate him out of his frustration in losing this match. He was definitely showing more emotion than normal, shouting out in frustration at some of his more annoying misses.
With Ferrer's win over Tipsarevic, that means that Federer will play Murray in the evening match (Djokovic vs. Del Potro in the afternoon). I really don' know how to predict the outcome of this match. On the one hand Roger could have a letdown after having just played three sets and being tired from a long season. On the other hand, he has lost to Murray the last two times they played, both at the Olympics and in Shanghai. He's certainly not going to want to end the season with two losses in a row to both him and Del Potro. I think both Federer and Murray are going to have a lot of determination in this match. Murray, of course, has the advantage of having a day of rest. Will this be enough to see him through? So our possibilities for the final are Djokovic-Federer, Djokovic-Murray, Del Potro-Federer or Del Potro-Murray. After some matches during the Round Robin stage that were certainly less than tantalizing tennis, the next two days should be a treat, no matter what the outcome. While I certainly would love to see my guy Roger prevail once again, even if he loses in the semis he has had an amazing season and accomplished so much, so I will try to take that attitude into the semis showdown.
What an anticlimactic day at the U.S. Open. What looked to be a great Order of Play turned out instead to be a series of delays, moving courts, and very little accomplished. While those who did get their matches finished (namely Victoria Azarenka and David Ferrer) feel a great deal of relief, I'm sure those who are left hanging are dealing with some frustration, knowing the schedule is getting behind. And it always intrigues me, when they have to carry over a match, how the scheduling gets decided. I mean, why would they put the Errani-Vinci match on before the resumption of the Djokovic-Wawrinka match, which really needs to get finished? And, of course, the much anticipated match between Roddick and Del Potro, where everyone is wondering if it will be Andy's last match, ended up having a completely different feel than expected with really more of an eye to the weather than the drama it deserves. The problem is that it really doesn't look much better for tomorrow. If this is making me a bit cranky wondering when the big matches really will be and how I can work my schedule around something unknown, I can just imagine what it does to the players, and to those who actually have tickets to the event! I pretty much plan my life around tennis matches, especially if Roger Federer is playing, and it's driving me crazy wondering how it's all going to work out! Will he actually play his quarterfinal tomorrow night, or will it end up being Thursday afternoon when I have something planned? Will the semis actually be on Saturday? Will the final be moved to Monday once again, and do I cancel my plans for Monday afternoon? Enough to drive those who just like to know what's going on a bit crazy! I guess we will see what tomorrow holds. Rain rain, go away!
