The Australian Open 2008 will always be remembered for the fact that it was the first grandslam when the juggernaut that is Roger Federer was stopped in over three years. The talented Serbian Nole Djokovic stopped Federer in the semifinals and then went on to win the tournament defeating another youngster Jo Wilifried Tsonga in a pulsating final. The woman’s final was a young man’s dream, two dazzling beauties in Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic fighting it out for the top prize. Sharapova of course took the match easily. The tournament through up a lot of surprises, great matches, controversies and of course a lot of new faces and set the tone for the rest of the year. Here are some of the talking points of the event.

Best Match (men): Roger Federer vs Janko Tipsarevic. Federer won 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-1) 5-7 6-1 10-8.

Before Nole Djokovic took Federer out in the semifinals, another Serb almost did just that in the third round. Tipsarevic looked class and has a good career ahead of him.

Best Match (women): Casey Dellacqua vs Amelie Mauresmo 3-6 6-4 6-4 in round 3.

Dellacqua sent the home fans into delirium by ousting the former champion. Mauresmo now faces a big fight to break back into the top 10.

Surprise of the tournament (men) : No doubt Jo Wilifried Tsonga.

Tsonga defeated the great Brit hope Andy Murray in Round 1, Chennai Open winner Mikhail Youzhny in the 4th Round and pulled off a massive upset in the semifinals when he defeated Rafael Nadal. Djokovic went on to win the tournament but the tennis world had discovered a new star (and whats more a star with a striking resemblance to Muhammed Ali!)

Surprise of the tournament (women) : Daniela Hantuchova.

At the ripe old age of twenty four Hantuchova finally overcomes her biggest the obstacle- the grand slam quarterfinal. And she might have just gone on to the final if she hadn’t blown her big lead in the semifinal against Ana Ivanovic.

The biggest disappointment: David Nalbandian

The Argentinian lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the third round in straight sets. A big let down considering his form in the indoor season in 2007 when he won both the Madrid and Paris masters (defeating both Federer and Nadal in the process)

Nasty Parent of the Tournament: Yuri Sharapov

There was no competition for Maria Sharapova in the woman’s side of the grand slam and her father Yuri wins this award hands down. Already one of the most hated parents on the woman’s tour, he was in the news for the wrong reasons during the tournament when cameras caught him gesturing to slit-her throat after Sharapova’s match against Henin. If he doesn’t curb his behaviour, he could just go the way of Damir Dokic (father of Jelena) and Jim Pearce (father of Mary) by getting banned from the tour.

Get a good job with good pay and you’re okay- Money, Pink Floyd

Lindsay Davenport became the highest-earning female athlete (over $21 million) during the course of the tournament. Davenport has always been a fantastic professional and has recently come back to the tour after becoming a mom. Here is hoping she has a great 2008.

The Sania Mirza Verdict:

Sania had a good run in the singles event reaching round 3 before running into multiple grand slam champion Venus Williams. The Indian put up a great fight matching Venus stroke for stroke in the first set before running out of steam. Sania also had a good run in the mixed doubles reaching the final with Mahesh Bhupathi.

Quotes of the tournament:

Stay in school, kids, or you’ll end up being an umpire,”- Andy Roddick yells at the umpire during his round 3 loss to German Philipp Kohlschreiber

“Nadal tried to hit Tsonga in the nuts with that ball but somehow he managed to get some wood on it.” - Jeff Tarango on 5 Live Sports Extra during Nadal-Tsonga at the Australian Open.

There’s a lot of resemblance to Uma Thurman, actually. Everyone who meets my mom says she looks like Uma Thurman.”– Sharapova on being asked about her low-profile mother

” I know you guys wanted him to win. Its ok. I still love you” - Nole Djokovic, after the final vs Tsonga where the crowd was pretty much behind the underdog the entire match.
A big thanks to Aja  for helping out with this list.

In a one-sided final of the 2008 Australian Open, Maria Sharapova won her third grand slam by beating the new world no.2 Ana Ivanovic from Serbia 7-5, 6-3. Masha, as she is fondly called by her fans went through the entire tournament without dropping a set. Sharapova’s victory seemed inevitable after the form she showed in beating world no. 1 Justine Henin (Sharapova won 6-4, 6-0) in the quarterfinals.

Through the final Sharapova was the aggressor controlling most of the rallies. Her court coverage, though not the best in the game, has improved tremendously and coupled with her never-say-die attitude ensured that she had no serious problems in any of her matches at Melbourne. From the beginning of the final it looked clear that Masha wanted to erase the memory of last year’s final (she was ruthlessly drubbed by Serena Williams 6-1, 6-2).

Ivanovic was leading 5-4 30-30 on Sharapova’s serve in the first set, but the Serb was unable to win the set as the Russian fifth seed held her serve confidently. From then on, Ana was left playing catch-up for the rest of the match. Through the final, it seemed as if Sharapova was against an Australian player considering the support Ivanovic received from the fans. Like Kim Clijsters before her, Ivanovic has been adopted by the fans at Melbourne and Ivanvoic’s column through the tournament i an Australian newspaper certainly helped.

Maria Sharapova now has to win the French Open to complete a career slam and if she is playing at this level she has a good chance to better her last year’s semi-final appearance at Roland Garros. This is the second time that Ivanovic has ended up bridesmaid but she has the game to win on any of the four surfaces and could just end up going all the way in one of the three remaining slams.

Technorati Tags: Sharapova

The first grand slam of the year has just started to get into the business end of the event. Here is a quick update of all the action so far:

Best match of the first two rounds: 

2006 runner up Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis beat 2005 champion Marat Safin in a fabulous five setter- 6-4 6-4 2-6 3-6 6-2 in a tough five setter that could have gone either way. Baghdatis now finds himself in a very promising third round match against Lleyton Hewitt.

Biggest Upset: 

We haven’t witnessed too many upsets so far but the biggest one definitely has to be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s defeat of Andy Murray. Murray has come off a very difficult 2007 and the new year hasn’t started on a very promising note.

Other upsets: 11th seed Tommy Robredo lost to American Mardy Fish and Australia’s Casey Dellacqua defeated Patty Schnyder in three tough sets. (8-6 in the third!)

Some good links:

Why Todd Woodbridge believes Roger Federer is the greatest of all time! (GOAT): Here

The Australian police use pepper spray on fans after racism allegations:  Here

What is an anti-grand slam? Really interesting read and a lot of research! Here

This year’s Australian Open, could just prove to be the perfect start for a special year for Roger Federer. 2008 is the year of the Beijing Olympic Games and Federer has the best possible chance to achieve a Golden Slam (4 slams plus the Olympic gold medal). Here in Melbourne, the defending champion is not taking things easy. His biggest concern right now is his physical condition; he is recovering from a stomach infection and has arrived at Melbourne without any match practice. He missed playing at the Kooyong Classic exhibition tournament.

On the other hand, the draw has been very favorable to Federer. His first real test is a potential fourth round clash against Tomas Berdych, the thirteenth seed. The world no.1 is likely to face last year’s runner-up Fernando Gonzalez or his friend American Davis-cupper James Blake in the quarters. Both Gonzalez and Blake have not been in great form in the tune-up events. Blake lost to Santoro in Sydney International and Gonzalez didn’t fare too well in the Kooyong Classic, losing to Marcos Baghdatis

Novak Djokovic, the current world no.3 is the second favorite for the title. Nole, as he is affectionately called by his fans started the year on a positive note winning 4 matches at the Hopman Cup, in spite of playing with a back problem. He is seeded to face Federer in the semi-finals, but his path is filled with very dangerous opponents and he could face 5th seed, David Ferrer or the hottest player in the 2007 fall- David Nalbandian in the quarters. Nalbandian on his part is fighting his own battle of recovering from his back injury. Djokovic could face Tursunov in round 3 and 2006 finalist Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis or local hope Lleyton Hewitt in round 4.

Nadal heads the bottom half of the draw and would hope to better his last year’s performance, where he reached the quarterfinals. The year has started well for Nadal as the Spanish world no.2 reached the final of the Chennai Open where he was felled by Russian Mikhail Youzhny. The new Plexicushion surface - supposed to be a lot quicker than the Rebound Ace surface previously used - is right now playing slow. It is expected to become faster once sufficient matches are played on it during the first week. If that happens Nadal could have his task cut short. However, he has been presented with a fairly easy draw and his first real challenge could be Andy Roddick, the sixth seed in the quarterfinals – assuming he gets past Carlos Moya or the talented young Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in round 4.

Fourth seed Nokolay Davydenko is seeded to face Nadal in the semis and the Russian did not have an ideal start for the year (only won a match at the Kooyong Classic) and lost in the semis of the Qatar Open to the eventual tournament winner Andy Murray, the 9^th seed here.

Predictions:

Semi-final 1: Roger Federer Vs Novak Djokovic

Semi-final 2: Andy Roddick Vs Nikolay Davydenko

Final: Federer Vs Roddick

Winner: Federer

Best Outside Chance: Andy Murray

Womens Singles:

Justine Henin arrives at the 2008 Australian Open with the best possible tune-up – she defeated world no.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final of the Sydney International – thus establishing herself as the firm favorite for the first slam of the year. Her draw also appears to be easy till the quarterfinal stage, where she is expected to clash with Russian Maria Sharapova, provided the Russian gets past American Lindsay Davenport in round 2. Davenport has been in fine form since her return to tennis last year end, winning three titles- one of them this year at Auckland

Henin is seeded to face defending Champion Serena Williams in the semi-finals. Serena too is coming off a good preparation at the Hopman Cup, where she helped U.S. win the title. Serena would be looking for some serious revenge over the Belgian world no.1, to whom she has lost in the quarterfinals at the last three Grand Slams.

Venus Williams is in the bottom half of the draw and would be looking for her first Australian Open crown. She appeared in the finals once losing to sister Serena Williams in 2003. Venus is likely to face Indian Star Sania Mirza in the third round and in-form Serb Ana Ivanovic in the quarters.

Second-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had a good 2007, where in spite of winning just one title she has managed to attain the world no.2 ranking. The highlight of her year was her appearance in the finals of the U.S. Open. She is seeded to face compatriot Anna Chakvetadze (6 seed) or 9th seed Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals.

Predictions:

Semi-finals 1: Justin Henin Vs Serena Williams
Semi-finals 2: Venus Williams Vs Svetlana Kuznetsova
Final : Henin Vs Venus

Winner: Henin

Best Outside Chance: Lindsay Davenport

Roger Federer came to Melbourne for the year’s first grand slam – with “insufficient” match practice. At the beginning of the year he choose not to play at the Qatar Open, despite being the defending champion. His only real-match preparation for the Aussie Open was the Kooyong Classic, an exhibition tournament. And after wins over Radek Stepanek ( a tough three-setter) and Marat Safin, he lost in the final to Andy Roddick. Any other player would not classify such a lead-up before a slam as a good warm-up. But Roger Federer is not exactly any other player, is he?

Read the rest of this entry »

How things change! It was about 30 months ago that we saw an extremely pretty Russian girl play on the hallowed center court at Wimbledon against the Serena. Nobody gave her any chance of beating Serena but in a display of absolutely confident tennis, Serena was stunned and a star was born. 30 months hence, women’s tennis has seen major changes: Davenport is gone, Clijsters about to go, Henin spends more time injured, Mauresmo actually won a grandslam (!), Sharapova has shown us she is no Kournikova and the Williams sisters are more interested in fashion than tennis.

Deja vu

The showdown will be repeated a few minutes from when I write this post. Serena, overweight and in bad shape has scraped and scratched her way into the finals and Sharapova has been scorching on court at times.

I had written about Serena here: “…Nobody, ever, can wake up one fine day, come out on court and expect to win.” I think Serena has the capability to prove me wrong, I guess by getting as far as she has, she already has proved her point. She is far too good for me to write her off but I don’t expect her to do a Sharapova. Will Serena make me eat my words again?

Go Maria. Let’s watch some good tennis.

Talking of good tennis, what did you guys think of the men’s semi-finals. Federer demolishing Roddick and Gonzalez repeating that against Haas. Would it be too much to expect that both of them will turn in those kind of performances come Sunday?

- Prof

Technorati Tags:
Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Federer, Gonzalez

Sania, disappointment

Sania Mirza disappointed yet again and crashed out of the Australian Open in the second round. She lost to Akiko Nakamura of Japan who is ranked 10 places below her in the WTA rankings. Coming off a good run in the Hopman Cup and the other lead-up tournaments, there was a promise of better things to come at the first grandslam. But unfortunately for her “billion fans” and her, an inconsistent performance proved inadequate. Let us see how she handles this loss and how the rest of this season shape up.

Roddick versus Safin

 

 

If there is any player in the Australian Open draw that Roddick should want to avoid like the plague (other than Federer ofcourse), it is Marat Safin. The Russian who is making his billionth comeback is probably the second most talented man on the ATP circuit. And, he is the only guy to have beaten Federer in a Grandslam on a surface other than clay since the beginning of 2005. It is unfortunate for both players that this matchup had to happen so early in the tournament. Blame it on the mercurial Russian whose performances belie the talent he possesses.

 

Roddick is in the finest form he has been in for 12 months now. The serves are powerful and clicking, the powerful backcourt shots are in place and he appears fairly confident of his place on the court. Even given all this, he would be well advised to take Safin seriously. That man coming off two exhausting five set matches must be feeling like a polar bear in Chennai. But give him an opening and he will demolish you, if he fails to self-destruct that is. Safin is his own cyanide pill. You can find a previous post on Safin here.

Given current form, Roddick should win. But I would rather watch Safin progress in the tournament because he is capable of better tennis and in my opinion, has a better chance of beating Federer. Go Marat (ideal point to crack a Borat joke or pun… none come to mind right away)!

- Prof

Women’s Singles - 1st Round
Olga Savchuk UKR 3 5

Sania Mirza IND 6 7

Sania Mirza beat Olga Savchuk of Ukraine to advance to the second round of the Australian Open. If she moves to the third round, there is a potential matchup against the Swiss Miss, Martina Hingis.

Anybody for Mirza in the 3rd round? If yes, can she beat the Swiss Miss (whom she might meet)? How far in the tournament will Sania go?

Nice article about Sania and Anna Ivanovic finding fitness to improve their power.

Quote of the day- “The heat in Australian tans you. You can feel the sun burning your legs during changeovers. In Hyderabad, the sun isn’t that hot. I don’t know if it’s the ozone or whatever.” - Sania

- Prof

Technorati tags: Sania Mirza Martina Hingis

Roddick beat Federer! Under normal circumstances, when two players who are in the top five in the world meet each other, we wouldn’t think this is that much of an upset. But Federer’s record over the last two seasons have given him an aura of invincibility. Roddick has beaten the Fed only twice in fifteen meetings and Federer last lost to Andy Murray quite some time back last season: not invincible, but close.

Australian Open Preview

It’s the middle of January and the first major of the tennis calendar is upon us. The Australian Open doesn’t get the noise that Wimbledon and the US Open generate but it comes early in the year and tennis fans starved of grandslam action for five months eagerly lap it up. It is time for self appointed critics to comment on players’ strategies and serves, predict winners and comment on who will make it big in the next two weeks, months or even years. And yours truly is going to embark on such a mission though I restrict myself to just the next two weeks.

It’s the middle of January and the first major of the tennis calendar is upon us. The Australian Open doesn’t get the noise that Wimbledon and the US Open generate but it comes early in the year and tennis fans starved of grandslam action for five months eagerly lap it up. It is time for self appointed critics to comment on players’ strategies and serves, predict winners and comment on who will make it big in the next two weeks, months or even years. And yours truly is going to embark on such a mission though I restrict myself to just the next two weeks.Men

Does Roddick’s victory mean anything different for this year’s Australian Open? Does anybody change their predictions on the basis of this result? You would be a fool to bet against Fed based on this match. It is a new season and even Federer might require sometime to get back into his groove. But even when he is not in form, you are going to need a flawless performance and a bad Fed day to beat the man like Safin got two years back at Melbourne. So, Federer it will be again this time around.

Nadal hasn’t started the season too well either, losing at Chennai and pulling out of a tournament with a strained groin muscle. Rafter turned down Hewitt’s practice request for some personal reason and this probably dents the fairly flimsy chances that Hewitt had of doing anything at all. At this point, I would bet on Roddick to do some damage but not quite enough to topple Federer. Then the other names, Andy Murray, Baghdatis, Tursunov pop-up: no serious challenge here. The dark horse could very well be James Blake. He played well last season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few strong performances this season too. If one of these players can mount a serious challenge to Federer, we could be in for some rivetting tennis.

History suggests an Opportunity

The best time to challenge Fed is at the Australian Open. The new season implies the champ is still rusty from the lack of match practice and the early rounds could be crucial especially against a dangerous opponent such as say, Karlovic. Looking back at the results of the last ten years, we see that the Sampras name figures only once. And he was the most dominant player of his time. Agassi has won it thrice. He was always the one for meticulous training in the heights during the Australian summer. Further, there have been unlikely champions: Petr Korda, Yevgeny Kafalnikov and Thomas Johansson (really!!!). Add to this list, Marat Safin (the 2005 winner) and you can see what I mean when I say the best time to beat the top guy is at the beginning of the season. In cricket terms, before he is well set and has got his eye in.

Women

The women’s field looks fairly weak to me with the pullout of Henin and the retirement of Davenport. I predict a Sharapova victory and I am certain the organizers would love for her to be there till the end of the tournament. This Russian is a showstopper, both with the game and the looks. She is not just another pretty thing. She is focussed, talented and does not look like she will fritter it away. Clijsters and 2006 champion Mauresmo will have to be contended with before she can lift the Daphne Akhurst memorial cup.

As I was recollecting the men’s winners of the past, I looked up some of the women’s winners of the last decade. And guess what? The women victors have been more consistent with the then rankings and stuff. Hingis won thrice in a row at the peak of her powers. Capriati won twice in her glorious comeback run. Lindsay won once and yes, there was a Wiliams winner, Serena, twice. Does this mean that the women’s game is weaker outside the top few? Is that the reason no serious challenge is mounted on the reputed players? Old winners’ lists give some interesting things to wonder about.

Sania Mirza’s chances:

Sania has had a fantastic start to the 2007 season. She was in good form as India nearly qualified for the final of the Hopman Cup and made the semifinals of the tournament in Hobart losing eventually to the top seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

Sania has an easy draw at the Australian open. She has been drawn against an unknown Ukranian (another East European!) Olga Shevchuk in the first round. If she manages to win that she will meet either Emma Laine (another unknown!) or a qualifier. Sania may well face Martina Hingis in the third round and that match is going to generate a lot of interest! Besides Sania had actually defeated Hingis last year.

Here’s wishing her a great Australian Open and a fantastic 2007!

Pretty Russian

And before I end this one, I have a question to raise. I would like readers to post their views on this. How do those Russians manage to produce all these pretty women players! Saying that they don’t play that well is missing the point I am trying to make. Here is the new additon that I noticed, Anna Chakvetadze (who is seeded 12 at the Australian Open):

- Prof and Z

Technorati Tags: Tennis, Australian, Open, Federer, Roddick, Sania, Sharapova