El Classico (Day 11)

What more can you say about this rivalry? Federer / Nadal is just off the charts for quality. Federer came out of the gates guns blazing. He took an early lead, but Nadal broke back on a couple loose serve-and-volley plays from Fed. You simply can't come to the net against Nadal. His running forehands can curl behind you or in front of you, it is ridiculous. Even though Fed's backhand was as good as it has ever been and he forced a few errors, Nadal just covers too much court. 
   Federer did have plenty of chances in the match. He even had a couple of break points in the final game of the match. On one, Nadal threw up a completely desperate lob which luckily fell on the baseline and Federer sliced his overhead wide. On two of Federer's breaks in the match, Nadal broke right back. 
   The overall feeling to me was that Federer's offense had to be so good to win a point against Nadal's defense. His passing shots from way off the court after good, even great, volleys were just insane. Keep in mind these shots would literally be off almost any recreational tennis court.
   I also think it really helps Nadal that he is a lefty. Federer can only go to his backhand so many times. His approaches are more based on his inside-out forehand which go right to Nadal's strength. Also Nadal's ad-court serve can easily swing way out wide to Fed's one-hand backhand.
   I wish that good offense were better rewarded, but Nadal & Djokovic are both just too great on defense.  Sit back and watch even more "D" tonight between Murray and Djoker.
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The Ladies Final is set with Maria Sharapova v Victoria Azarenka.  The winner will be the AO Champion and the new #1 ranked player in the world.


The Bryan Twins are in the Men's Doubles Final which, I believe, will follow the Ladies final on Saturday night (Melbourne time).
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At the Challenger at KRC on Wednesday night, Jack Sock looked strong. Big power from the serve and forehand. There were some incredible points in the first set, both players seemed to be on their game, but Sock just had too easy of a time holding serve, so it wasn't close. Overall he looked very tough, but his backhand is a little soft and his forehand is a bit wild. He moves fairly heavily around the court (lots of squeaking from his shoes). The way I see it, he has a lot of room to improve, and potentially be the next bright American star...