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

The U.S. hard court season keeps getting better for India’s Sania Mirza who has now made the third round of the final grand slam of the year in Flushing Meadows. Sania beat Laura Granville of the U.S. in straight sets. Granville is currently ranked 60th in the world; 30 places below the Indian. And Granville is no rookie, she was ranked as high as no.9 in 2003. You have to hand it to Mirza, she is continuing to justify her rank, and beats lower ranked players with regularity these days.

Up next- Anna Chakvetadze, the Russian youngster who has already defeated Sania twice this season. Chakvetadze first beat Sania in the Cincinnati Open semifinals and then again two weeks later in the final at Stanford. After quarterfinal appearences in both the Australian and French Opens, Chakvetadze is looking good for a final four appearence at the U.S. Open. Unless, Sania has something to say about that!

Sportsnob’s favourite tennis player Sania Mirza is on a roll in the U.S. hardcourt season. After a semifinal appearance at last week’s tournament in Cincinatti, she has reached the semifinals of the Stanford Classic.

After coming through a tough three setter in the first match against Japan’s Akiko Morigami, Sania then went on to defeat French teenager and World No. 19 Tatiana Golovin. And in the quarterfinals played last night, she upset fourth seed and World No. 17 Patty Schynder 7-6 6-1. Sania plays 8th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria tonight.

India’s Sania Mirza and Israeli Shahar Peer’s run at Wimbledon came to a halt today as they lost to top seeds Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in three sets. For Mirza this is another bullet point in the list of controversies she has found herself in. Be it for her T-shirts, religious fatwas or for her comments on pre-marital sex, Sania has managed to stay in the news for more reasons away from the tennis court.

But full credit to the girl for doing what she thinks is right. This partnership with Israeli Shahar Peer is particularly significant considering the two were criticized by religious groups for pairing in the Japan Open in 2005. I had hoped the two would do well and shut people up, too bad they had to run into the top seeds so early in the tournament!

I don’t care too much for what religious fundamentalists have to say but stay the hell out of sport!

Not the first controversial pairing:

However, the Mirza-Peer team is not the first controversial pairing in the world of tennis. That title should definitely go to the duo of Althea Gibson and Angela Buxton. Althea Gibson is well known for being a breaker of barriers, the first black to play both the US Open and Wimbledon, she was also the first black to win Wimbledon (however her achievements are much less known than those of Arthur Ashe) and was an inspiration to a number of players including the Williams sisters.

However, the Gibson-Buxton partnership is not very well known. Anti-Semitism kept Buxton out of a number of British clubs in the same way racism kept Gibson out of white clubs in the U.S. By the time the two met (in India of all places!), Gibson was nearing 30 and had remained in the sidelines due to restrictive polices in the U.S.

The following French Open found the two without partners (because no one would partner them) and the rest is history. Gibson and Buxton partnered in both the French Open and Wimbledon and would win both quite convincingly. Althea Gibson would go on to win 5 grand slam titles including 2 Wimbledon titles.

And if you had taken our Wimbledon quiz , you would know that in 1995 Gibson wrote a letter to Buxton saying that she was sick, poor and forgotten. Buxton immediately got the letter published (without Gibson’s knowledge) and managed to raise over a million dollars for Gibson.

Lets hope the Mirza-Peer team wins a couple of grand slams before they quit!

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

Sania Mirza has just defeated Martina Hingis in the second round of the Hanso Korea Open in Seoul. Mirza defeated Hingis 4-6 6-0 6-4 and avenged her defeat in last week’s Sunfeast Open in Calcutta. In Friday’s quarterfinal, Sania will face doubles specialist Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain.

Hingis is now ranked number 8 in the world and this definitely has to be Sania’s biggest victory of her career. Sania’s career is now starting to resemble the perfect sine curve. Just when people were starting to write her off as a one-season wonder, she seems to have picked up her form and after a semifinal appearance in Calcutta looks set to progress far in the Korean Open.

This victory should do wonders to both her confidence and her ranking! We all know what Hingis is capable of and beating her can be no easy task. If Sania can keep herself injury-free for one or two years, she can possibly work towards becoming a real contender at the grand slams. (barring the French obviously)

It has to be said that the people at Sportsnob are huge fans of Sania for a number of reasons and hopefully she will give us a lot of things to write about!

Z

____________________

Update:

Sania Mirza lost to Virgina Ruano Pascual 6-7 6-4 6-7 in the quarterfinals of the Korean Open. The match was bound to be tough. Pascual is a tough and experienced campaigner. Pity she couldnt go through. The fact that the third set went to a tie-breaker shows how close she got.
Technorati Tags: Tennis, Sania, Mirza, Hingis

First Indian Sportswoman on Time South Asia’s cover; WTA Newcomer of the Year, 2005; Round 4 of US Open 2004; Winner Girls doubles at Wimbledon 2003; Media darling and THE TRUE MEASURE OF POPULARITY: had a fatwa issued against her.

That was 2005. The world of sport is unforgiving and most fans have the memory spans shorter than a goldfish. Great champions have been seen to come back after breaks, after brilliant seasons and struggle like ordinary mortals. Things change quickly. Borg found out when he took a break, Ferrari found out last season: you need to keep working, keep improving because sooner rather than later, someone is going to figure you out.

Sania Mirza is discovering that this season. She has had a terrible year, especially at the Grand Slams: Round 2, Round 1, Round 1. Yes, she has been plagued by injuries that have been recurring, a major cause for worry.

The Player…

Sania has a very powerful forehand and is a powerful hitter of the ball. Some wonderful forehand crosscourts she hits! Also, she goes for her shots at all times. This has won her matches against some very good players. She has a strong mind and an ability to dig deep and face adverse situations.

But her serve has been weak and not much work seems to have gone into it in the off-season: if I could see this any opponent would have. And as an athlete, she needn’t necessarily be in the class of the Williams Sisters (very few are). But she seems to be struggling for pace on the court and seems to lack stamina, a drawback for Leander in his early years. Agassi, at 30, was training in the heat in the mountains to help him in the Australian Open. Now, that’s the kind of commitment you need to display to be at the top of your sport.

To a certain extent, there seems to be a feeling that beating a top ten player once or twice is a huge achievement. But then, champions don’t think that way. They know they belong and display that through their performances.

She has passion for the game which is essential but not sufficient. Sania is figuring out the hard way that being a media celebrity is one thing (hard as even that may be). But professional sport is a whole new ball game.

…And More

The perfect poster child: young, good looking woman from a minority community? The woman who will aid the growth of tennis popularity in India? Or will she be more: a consistent winner on the world stage, a top ten ranker on a regular basis? The next two years will tell whether Sania means as much business on-court as the business she generates off it.

Technorati Tags: Mirza, Sania

-Prof