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!

Challenger at KRC (Day 2)

At the Challenger at KRC this week we've got some really interesting talents and stories.  A few NCAA champs, some up-and-coming stars and junior champs, players directly from early round losses in Melbourne, international hopefuls from Japan to Zimbabwe, and past champs on the ATP World Tour.

Check out Hawaii's best player, Dennis Lajola, against US Open Juniors 2010 champion Jack Sock. I'll be there.

Wednesday Schedule

Welcome to the Fed FUn HOuSe (Day 9)

Roger had it all working against del Potro. Early and often. He went up 3-Love with 7 winners and zero errors. Note in the final stats:38 fun house winners against 22 unforced errors. Also he won 89% of his first serve points. He used the lethal one-two of serve and forehand to control the match. But it was the backhand pick-ups off the baseline and the backhand winners down the line that made this no contest. 6-4; 6-3; 6-2.

One tense moment came at 5-3 in the second set with Roger trying to serve out the set. These are the moments where he has faltered to Djokovic and Nadal in 2011. But this time at least he prevailed

We learned that Roger is a serious contender this season and Juan Martin is just not quite back to prime grand slam form. He should be able to build up his match toughness over the summer and be ready for the US Open.
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In between men's quarters, Kimmy took out the #1 seed and former #1 ranked Wozniacki. We know there will finally be a new #1 now, but exactly who will depend on how this tournament plays out.
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Berdych played some great tennis. He is legit, but this top guys are just so unbeatable. Nadal does it again with his unbelievable competitiveness. This match featured many questionable line calls which could have gotten him off track, but Rafa just kept coming and coming and overwhelmed Tomas by the end. Nadal is just hitting these great deep balls. Federer will need to pick those backhands clean. With this semifinal matchup coming, I have no idea what could happen!

The Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific (Day 8)

Last year Li "the girl with the rose tattoo" Na broke through into the Aussie Finals, endearing us all to her (remember). This year she is bitching out her husband/coach in the aftermath of her meltdown to Kim Clijsters. It's always going to be an excruciating loss when you miss on 4 straight match points to someone with a busted ankle.

But this year we still have another Asian break through. Kei Nishikori is the first Japanese man to make the quarterfinals of Australia in 80 years! He toughed out Tsonga in 5 sets. This is huge for Japan where according to Chris Evert, "The Japanese have the best tournaments. And they just love tennis." The problem is that to keep the momentum building he will have to beat Team Murray featuring Ivan Lendl, who earned so little of a workout (6-1;6-1;1-0{ret}) that he had to go back out for more practice.

And thank you Lendl for being humorless (not counting unintentional comedy). The important thing is that he's a real Louis C.K. in his own mind...

Lendl: Jokes are meant to be jokes, they're not jokes to be told on TV, they're jokes to make you laugh.

Ranking Points (info)

The $50K Challenger at KRC winner earns 80 ranking points. Compare that with earning 90 points by making the round of 32 (or 45 for making the round of 64) downunder.

From Wikipaedia...

Present-day prize money and ranking points

Challenger tournaments offer total prize money ranging from $35,000 up to $150,000+, which, along with whether the tournament provides hospitality (food and lodging) to the players, determines the number of points a player gets for winning each match in the tournament.

Hospitality bumps the points distribution up one level, and the points to the overall winner range from 75 points for a $35K tournament to 125 points for $150K with Hospitality, in contrast of ATP-level tournaments, which offer total prize money from $400K to over $6 Million and points to the overall winners from 250 to 2000.

As a point of reference, player rankings are based on points accumulated in the previous 52 weeks, and in any given week of rankings, a player who has earned 400 points in the last 52 weeks would be ranked around the 100th position. 200 points would get him a ranking near 200th, while with 100 points he would get to about the 350th, and 50 points would put him close to the 500th. So rankings points earned in Challengers can help a player to move up in the rankings quickly.

How you put the 3 grams (Day 7)

Nadal, DelPo, Federer (the Man) roll in straights... Berdych loses the crowd.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  (1 Corinthians 13:11)

Federer put away the young Aussie Bernie Tomic by making better shots with his backhand. Better topspin, better slice, and better winners down the line. Even though he did play well in the first set, and had already played 14 sets to Roger's 6, Bernie's off pace slice and push shots were just not going to work this time.  

"I knew I wasn't going to hit 10 slices in a row against him, like Alexander did."
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Nadal stands back farther for receiving the second serve than for the first serve. Counter-intuitive? The basic reason is that, on the second serve, it allows him more time to take a full cut with bigger topspin, while still keeping his shot in the court. This approach works well in doubles, too. On the first serve it takes away time from the net man for poaching, especially if one is just blocking a return back. Then for the slower second serve one can stand back to take that bigger cut (with spin) and "hold" the net man in place.

Chrissy Evert: You weighted your racquet with 3 grams more. Have you felt any changes in your game?

Nadal: I feel a change on my racquet that's sure. On my game...? We decided to make the change because we thought that that can help little bit in a few shots. Especially the higher balls or the serve... If we talk about that with the normal people 3 grams seems like a stupid, no but depends on how you put the 3 grams.
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Del Potro is on fire. He would be looking like the champion if he didn't have Federer next (this is only a quarterfinal!). That match is pretty much the first must see match of 2012. It will help determine how the season plays out for all of the top 4 + JMdP. Federer just said that he missed del Potro when he was out with injuries and that the big guy had a shot at the #1 ranking...
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Berdych lost the crowd in his match when he refused to shake Almagro's hand.  Nico had taken a hard shot which nailed Tomas in the right arm. Berdych was booed off the court for making such a stink. The Aussie crowd will not soon forget this incident. They say he could even be fined by the ATP, but to me it isn't appropriate to legislate good sportsmanship. It's better to let guys be jerks if they want to be, then we all see who they are. Hitting balls at players and being hit are both parts of tennis. Don't be a sitting duck, but if you are, don't be a turkey or a turducken. 
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The Challenger at KRC has the main draw posted.  Qualys are in full effect in Kailua, check it out!

Grand Slam Champion Jack Sock, winner of the Mixed Doubles at US Open 2011 with Melanie Oudin is in the draw to face Hawaii star Dennis Lajola... (Jack's coming from Florida where he just won 3 rounds in a Futures level tournament.)