Patrick McEnroe called Novak Djokovic to win the tournament back on day one and the Serbian looks ready to triumph for his second career major. Finally, Djokovic’s mojo and serve have returned and Federer may have his hands full in the semifinal with the very confident and matured world #3.
With the Davis Cup under his belt, I believe Djokovic is playing his best tennis again, which, as we saw in 2007 and 2008, is good enough to handle Federer. Djokovic to upset Federer.
I really like the way Sweet Caroline Wozniacki has handled the insult of being called boring by the media. I know through personal experience she is a very nice and likeable young champion, having interviewed her one on one two times. She is not boring. She is the world’s best player, and anybody who is the best in the world at anything is far from boring. Some tennis reporters even said the same thing about Pete Sampras. Boring? Only to the boring minded.
It was disappointing to see Stan Wawrinka play so poorly against his pal Roger Federer after destroying Roddick so impressively, though hardly a surprise. Federer is still the alpha male of Australia (defending champ) and Stan knows it and respects it. It made me think of the times playing the late Eugene Scott. Scott, the former founder of Tennis Week and a Hall of Famer, was a top 10 player in the U.S. and took a set off Laver at Wimbledon. I played him around six years ago and though I wanted to win, a small part of my competitive fire respected him so much that I actually felt feelings of maybe wanting to lose too. I actually thought: Hey, I’m just a glorified local hacker with some wheels who should be happy to be on the same court with this legend. I just couldn’t conjure up the emotions or hate, or desire to kill this guy on the court (I lost 67 46 and 46 57). I see the same weakness in Wawrinka. He respects and reveres Federer so much that, deep down, he doesn’t really want to win.
We have been wondering when the young players would breakthrough and emerge as future stars, as the development of Dimitrov, Berankis, Tomic, Harrison and Young has stagnated over the last 18 months. The drought appears to be over now though. Milos Raonic looks like a threat to be #1 someday. And Alexandr Dolgopolov (pictured above) has a tremendous future also. As many ATP veterans like Monfils, Gasquet, Simon, Tsonga, Roddick, Fish, Cilic, Murray, Querrey, etc. keep failing to kick down the door at the majors, this new wave of young talents might soon surpass them and show then how it’s done.
I wrote it last week, I’m gonna say it again…Li Na is going to win the Australian Open. To come back from 0-5 down in the first set to an in-form Clijsters (in Sydney final), has got to be the ultimate confidence builder. Kim didn’t choke, Li Na just turned into superwoman on the court. And she is still superwoman in Melbourne, taking out Petkovic, aka Petkorazzi, in the quarters. (Check out Petkorazzi’s quirky You Tube videos!) She is the most colorful and kooky off-court personality in all of tennis right now.
Could the reign of the Williams sisters be over? Sadly, it may well be. With Venus injured and Serena mysteriously absent, you have to wonder if their time has passed. It’s hard to imagine them winning majors any more. But you can never count out Venus or Serena.
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RIP · January 26, 2011 at 12:40 am
Yes, I remember Patrick Mac picking Djoker and Djoker looked tremendous vs. Berdych. He looks more relaxed and comfortable on court since the US Open.
In a weird way I kind of trace it back to his comeback vs. Troicki at the Open. He was down 2 sets to 1 and nearly down a double break and he fought back.
Definitely winning Davis Cup seems to have both motivated him and settled him. Should be a great match vs. Roger. I would almost say that’s a pick ’em match though if I had to pick I would still give Fed a slight edge, but Djoker definitely looks good.
Agree with you on Li Na – I think she will beat Caroline and get to the final. I picked Clijsters to win it before the tournament started and will stick with Clijsters as my pick but Li Na has impressed me the most. Did you see her footwork in that Petko win? She’s moving her feet so quickly and on her toes for every ball – there’s an eagerness and confidence in her footwork and she takes the ball so early you could see (as Martina N pointed out) how Petko was a little late on her forehand because Li’s ball was on her so quick.
Also agree with you on Wozniacki – have interviewed her several times and she’s always cooperative, always pleasant, always gives you complete answers, she knows and follows other sports. Remember last year at the Open when she won that quarterfinal match how she and her dad walked near the Heineken bar and stopped, talked to fans, took photos with fans – I don’t find her boring at all. Yes her game is obviously more of a defensive, counter-punching game, but athletically she has more ability than other former No. 1’s including Sharapova and Safina, IMO. She’s taller than people realize, she moves really well, she’s agile, changes directions well.
If she can strengthen her serve, use her speed to move forward and times and try to flatten out her forehand she can become better offensively. That’s what gets me about people who criticize her – if people don’t like her style that’s fine but she’s 20 years old. The game she plays now will not be the same style she plays in a few years from now. she really does work on her game and it’s a work in progress. I do think she will expand it.
Re: Serena. our old friend from the TW board, the legendary DMan, bet me several years ago. He told me Serena would not win a major after 2008. I told him he was nuts. I feel Serena gets written off every year when she takes these breaks and I think she actually likes it that way because then she comes back motivated to prove people wrong, well rested and has less pressure because her ranking drops during the break.
I would say barring a career-ending injury and if she stays healthy she will win at lest 3 more majors, IMO. I say that because she’s won every Grand Slam title in singles and doubles, won a Fed Cup and won Olympic gold in doubles. The one thing she has not done is win the gold in singles and the 2012 Olympics are at Wimbledon where she has dominated. So i think she will be highly motivated to have a big 2012. The other factor is she has less mileage on her body than most players her age and her serve, IMO, is the greatest serve in the history of women’s tennis. Look how hard it is even for the top women of today to hold serve. She holds more effectively than anyone and she’s the best big match woman player of this era (13-3 in major finals) so for those reasons I definitely see her winning more majors. Remember, this is a woman who won 2 of the 4 majors playing in only 6 events last year.
Scoop Malinowski · January 26, 2011 at 1:55 am
The last time seeing Serena play, her movement did not look smooth and flowing, she really seemed to labor and struggle to reach wide balls, almost like she was wearing combat boots or she hadn’t stretched in weeks. She can’t win majors moving stiffly like that. She looked like an aging heavyweight fighter who had lost his limberness and his feet and legs. It’s going to take a lot of work to get back into taht kind of condition. She is built like Capriati whose body broke down early. You can never count out Serena though.
Li Na looks like a champ, she is just not missing. She took a while to get to this point of confidence and mental toughness in big situations, but she is there now and going to be tough to beat.
Did you see that simple ESPN piece where they showed the players from different perspective, close up of Iz walking off the court after losing, Verdasco in golf cart, Zvonareva drijnking water in back room awaiting match call, Petkorazzi kissed by father after match win in hallway, Federer walking onto practice court. Loved that piece, one of the best features ESPN ever did. Really showed different perspectives of the event, FANTASTIC short piece.
vinko · January 26, 2011 at 4:24 am
espn3.com does a great job. we can see all the side courts without commercials and endless chit chat. It’s the best thing other than actually being down under. Stan Warinka looked frightened out there with Fed. He looked like the guys who had to fight Mike Tyson back in the 1980s. You could see the fear in their eyes.
Andrew Miller · January 26, 2011 at 5:13 am
Tough to write off Serena Williams: two slams in 2010, not all too long ago 🙂 However Venus Williams is struggling.
New guard: as Roddick would say let’s see what they can do. I can’t see the mile-tall players as #1 players – Ferrer handled Raonic through sheer grit (someone needs to thank Ferrer for taking out tournament threats – Ferrer does the players above him more favors than anyone on tour! You need Isner out? Ask Ferrer to do it! Don’t want to face the new kid on the block? CALL FERRER! He will save you!)
As much talk as there’s been about the big fellas on tour (Soderling, Berdych, Cilic, Isner, Querrey), where are they now? Del Potro certainly has the Ferrer “grit” and the champion’s aura and proven ability to win big titles, but what about the other big guys? The Australian Open shows that you get no points for just being tall. But here’s the story on the big fellas:
None of them are left. They are all gone. Their movement is exploited. They’ll have more tournaments to do damage. But they’re overhyped. Just like any player, no points for losing early.
Andrew Miller · January 26, 2011 at 5:46 am
Scoop! After watching Dolgo come back vs. Murray in the third set from 1-3 to go up 4-3 based on some absolutely brilliant tennis, sheesh I want to play like Dolgo! I thought Dolgo was down and out after the 2nd set (the botched service game and solid play of Murray), but Dolgo seems to have been taking a measure of Murray and is now making Murray pay the price! Murray is playing well enough to win the match in this third set, but Dolgo is way more exciting as a player – this guy is, as a shotmaker, in a special league (Federer, Nadal, Rios and a few select others from what I’ve seen!)
Hope he pulls the 4th set out. This is some great, special stuff off Dolgo’s racquet!
Andrew Miller · January 26, 2011 at 5:48 am
Sorry: add to that Nalbandian and Baghdatis. But it’s special. Magic tennis!
Andrew Miller · January 26, 2011 at 6:02 am
Sheesh. Dolgo is awesome! 6-5 Dolgo in the third set. Hope he takes the set. Sheesh. Awesome.
Scoop Malinowski · January 26, 2011 at 1:56 pm
What a match! Murray is playing like a slam champion but Dolgo answwered him. He has to clean up thos esloppy misses on easy shots. Just a marvel of a player, what an incredible match.