Game On

<p>This event is heating up! Once Federer laid the smack down on Tomic to end round three, the shackles on the tournament were loosened. Aussies were torn between their home countryman and their favourite, but in Federation Square (aka. Fed Square) the crowd clearly sided with the Swiss.</p>
<p>At the same start time, a classic French standoff played out between Gael and Gilles (with french commentary from Henri Leconte on channel 7). 42 shot rallies gave way to 60 shot rallies and into 71 shots. Both players, unsurprisingly, struggled with injuries throughout the 5-set match, but Gilles Simon pulled it out in the end. I hope he has some left in the tank for Murray today on Hisense (I have tickets!). The good news is that Monfils is moving well and looks to be on his way back to the top 15.</p>
<p>The top seeds have been rollong until Djokovic hit the brick wall known as Stanislas. Stan Wawrinka let Novak off the hook serving out set #2 and it cost him a massive break thru victory. Eventually it came down to 12-10 in the 5th for the #1 seed.</p>
<p>I am looking forward to some women's 4th round action with Sloane Stephens today (on Hisense).&nbsp; She has a very winnable match to make the quarterfinal against Serena Williams.</p>
<p>Federer takes on the big serves of Raonic again today.&nbsp; It's hard to see how Milos can break the master, so I expect a couple of tiebreaks and a 4 set win for Roger.&nbsp; Many brief points.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gasquet vs Tsonga (another french battle) is the most interesting match of the day.&nbsp; Tsonga has given Federer all kinds of problems in the past, while I don't think Richard could.&nbsp; It does seem like Gasquet has been improving his game and his results so maybe this is his opportunity to become the #1 Frenchman.&nbsp; Stay tuned, I'm expecting a great match with high skill and good contrast of styles.</p>
<p>More later on the doubles and junior side of things...</p>

Bernie vs Federer

The big match of week 1 pits the Australians' favorite sports hero against their best best hope for a local hero. That's right, Fed tops even the cricket stars and Aussie Rules Football standouts, according to one Sydney newspaper. Maybe he should be starring in Qantas in flight safety videos instead. Bernie Tomic is still up-and-coming (having just won his first tour title last week, on home soil at age 20) and quite enigmatic.

The draw is perfectly set up for maximum anticipation in the 3rd round. Not too far out that we can't expect the collision, but not too immediate that we can't build back story and suspense. Each player has gone through a rotation of questioning whether the other guy will make it to the tilt.

Last year, Federer schooled Bernard, but all appearances show this time will be completely different.  Tomic is in better physical shape, has much more confidence (and his crowd as well), but most importantly he has a bigger serve!

I expect this to be the match playing on Laver right when I arrive in Melbourne Saturday night. Should be electric in town.

Until then... off to the Great Barrier Reef...

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The best match so far was a first rounder between a couple of top 20 talents: Dolgopolov vs Monfils (back in good health). There was nothing between them for two sets (7-6, 6-7).  But Monfils turned out to have all the answers in the end, moving and sliding as no one else can.

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Sadly, Brian Baker took another serious injury and will likely be out until clay court season (if then). Tough one. But Sam Querrey stepped over him and into a match with the #1 seed. This should be a nice gauge of his prospects for 2013.

The Rumours Are True (Aussie Open 2013)

The rumours are true. The draw is posted, the bag is packed! After years of empty promises, I will finally be attending the main event, in person along with Scott "MileValue" G., downunder.  Middle Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday lookout, [M[E[L[B|O]U]R]N]E]!

Sadly, this means I will miss the ESPN2 gang. But I'll get the full Aussie flavor, and bring it direct to you.

 

Wherever there is wifi, I'll be micro-blogging and instagramming (@JRGrimmer) or playing Words w/ Friends.

About the draw:

   Federer is seeded #2 at the bottom and faces a severe path to the Final.. Raonic, Tsonga, Murray/DelPo.  

The #1 seed (Djokovic) has a much easier route, though I do like Sam Querrey to make some noise this season.

My player to watch is Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

Rafa Nadal is out (due to injury). Every tennis fan knows that the tournament won't be the same without him. It will be different. I'll wear a bull logo on my cap in his honor.

The Rent Is Too Damn High (Finals)

And we have the "epic" final downunder!  Djokovic beats Nadal 80, 66, 45, 88, 74.  Just two days after he beat Murray 47, 65, 88, 25, 65  (elapsed time each set).

I say, The Rent Is Too Damn High.

Djokovic may be the world's best persistence hunter, but the best tennis player? Are they even playing tennis? Where is the shot-making? Tivo considerations aside, why are they taking 30 seconds between points? Move to the net and prepare to be passed. Nadal was so strong and continued to cover so much court at 5-5, 30-all in the 5th set that Djokovic still couldn't get a winner past him. It's insane!

Even a three set final would have been over 3 hours, which is considered pretty standard for American football, a bit more than an NBA game, and double a soccer match (all of which are team sports).

The Ladies' Final lasted only 82 minutes. What sport are they playing? The irony is that women tend to perform better athletically at endurance than men on a relative basis (in marathons and ultra-marathons, yes there is such a thing). Azarenka is the new world #1 with her Grand Slam Championship, wasting Sharapova 6-0 going away in the second set.

So the fight and the heart shown by these two great tennis players and warriors is truly amazing, but where do we go from here? Can Nadal play better, and what would that really mean in the context of this match? Can he show more will to win?

For me the Federer/Nadal semi-final was the best match of the tournament. There was a true contrast of style and approach that was lacking in Djoker/Murray and Djoker/Rafa. Roger hit the best shots of any player, he initiates the attack, he moves forward, he is a creative problem solver. The main comment from Pat McEnroe was that he should be more predictable and just keep hitting to the Lefty's backhand. This is the state we are in. Because Nadal's and Djokovic's defense is too damn good and the rent is too damn high!

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The Bryan Bros could not win their record Slam. They lost 6-7, 2-6 to Paes/Stepanek.  Interesting stat for winners-to-errors: Doubles Final= 63-to-9; Singles final= 101-to-140.

Challenger at KRC (Semi-finals)

It was a beautiful day for tennis on the windward side Saturday.

Three of the four singles semi-finalists were from Japan.  Soeda v Ito was the matchup of the highest ranked players. For stretches it was a clinic on how to rally at a high level while keeping the ball just barely over the net. But there would also be some ugly stretches as I'm sure these guys were wearing each other out with the relentless game. Very few clean winners.

In the second semi-final Robby Ginepri ran into a flawless performance from Yuichi Sugita. Sugita could not miss in the first set.  Robby had to weather the storm and come back in the final two sets to deliver us the ideal final between the former #15 in the world against Go Soeda, the top seed and current #99.   I think set one is a coin flip, but I like Ginepri as the match goes deeper.  He's got the bigger game.

Doubles final should also be really fun to see.  Jack Sock and his partner going up against Amer Delic and his partner.  Delic is the former NCAA champion for Illinois and Sock is too young and good to even bother with college tennis.

I asked Sock why he chose to come play this Challenger. He said that he has been playing well lately and wanted to keep the streak going. Wanted to get some more matches. I think he got what he wanted, because he played well and only went down to Go #99 Soeda in 3 sets. He'll be playing in Dallas next...

I've got a cool sequence of Delic serving with a butterfly. That plus more photos from the event here. All the guys Ito, Soeda, Delic, Sugita, Ginepri...

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... 

the Generations of Tennis (Day 10)

Kei "Sweet Timing" Nishikori got swept by Murray. Murray should be as fresh as can be for the Semis... 

Likely Djokovic will be there to meet him (though no point is coming easy against Ferrer). Djoker/Murray are actually classic rivals only 7 days apart in age. A win for Murray could really legitimize him as not-just-perpetually-#4. So even though everyone is primed for Federer and Nadal, both semifinals are tremendous. Unfortunately for Murray, Novak is just moving too well. He looks untouchable. He's like playing against a computer, one that doesn't miss or let anything pass.

The generations of tennis.  Federer and Rod Laver (not the arena, the tennis great) join the ESPN2 studio.

FEDERER: I remember how happy I was when I had a chance to play Sampras, or Agassi still, and you know Moya and Henman and all these guys I knew from TV. For me that was the most exciting time of my life. To all of a sudden to stand opposite to Goran Ivanisevic, who I remember smashing racquets on TV. I'm playing him and he's smashing racquets against me. You know, that was big!