the more things change, the more they stay the same

The Aussie Open is over and two new champions have been crowned. Kim Clijsters won the women’s title over Li Na of China and Novak Djovokic won the men’s over Andy Murray. For the women, it was a chance to see two first time finalists battle it out. Serena Williams, the five time champion was out with an injury and the tennis press was literally drooling to crown a new diva. They found an unlikely one in Li Na. She captivated audiences with her wit, her straightforwardness, and her powerful tennis. There was nothing contrived about her press conferences and her easy demeanor brooked no hint of a desperation to be liked. (*Side eyes a certain #1 player). By the time the ladies final arrived, pundits and fans alike were giving her more than a half a chance to win; thus becoming the first Chinese player ever to win a major title.

It didn’t happen though. She faced a player who had played in eight grand slam finals. After losing the first set, Clijsters tapped into her storage of experience and started to confound Li Na with spin and off pace shots. By the third set, Li Na was clearly flustered. She started to complain about the crowd noise, the calls, the photographers, the crowd, the calls, and the crowd again. She sprayed shots all over the court and dropped her serve like bad fashion. Clijsters capitalized on the mistakes and trotted through the set to win the title. It just goes to show that experience usually tends to trump guile. Congrats to Li Na. She’s won a new fan in me. I hope to see her compete for more major titles this year.

As for the men, two familiar faces graced the final this year. 2008 winner Djokovic had  been playing like a possessed man throughout the tournament. Murray, the 2010 finalist had been playing well too. I said before the start of the match that the intangibles were going to be the biggest factor in the match. It was going to go down to who could handle the pressure better. By the time Djokovic won a bruising 39 shot rally, it was apparent. Murray’s spirit and game wilted along with the hopes of the entire United Kingdom. Nole kept applying the pressure and triumphed in three sets. It was a mature performance from a player who went through some rather painful personal growth spurts in the public eye.

Something to note: Murray hasn’t even won a set in three finals. The drumbeat of “mental fragility” is going to sound even louder now after this last drubbing. It’s not as if I can ignore anymore either. What else can explain Murray’s dismal performances in major finals? It could be true that with the way Novak was playing, it would have been impossible for anyone to beat him, but to not even win a set is very confusing. I’m not entirely heartless. I can understand how hard it is to play when an entire nation tends to remind you every time that you step out on court that they haven’t had a Grand Slam winner in 60 odd years. It must be tough to try to make your mark in the age of Federer and Nadal.  But two of your contemporaries have won major titles while facing just as much pressure as you have. I. Do. Not. Get. Murray is extremely talented. He has every shot on the book and he has the ability to make his tennis look effortless. He’s a tactician with the uncanny ability to make his opponent look extremely uncomfortable on the court. Yet, he’s considered a lightweight in the guts department. I’m not writing him off . Ivan Lendl played in eight finals before he won so Murray has five more tries before I completely give up.

As for Novak, he’s occupying some rarefied air. He’s managed to break the FeDal title stranglehold twice. He did it the old-fashioned t way too, with hard work and mental toughness. The most traditional ways to win. Good job.

No Slam, No Cry.

The quest is over. It was derailed by injury. So for now, history will remain as it is. Some things did change though. Many more people became admirers of Rafael Nadal because of his classy and graceful post match press conference. Although he struggled to compose himself, he gave no excuses nor did he lament his fate. He accepted the hand that was dealt to him and credited his opponent for a match well played.

 

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same.”–Rudyard Kipling

Words and Numbers

The first week of the Australian Open is over and there are several words/ terms that come to mind when describing how it went:

• 16-14 -The score in the third set of the most epic battle in women’s tennis in quite some time. Svetlana Kuznetsova and Francesca Schiavone fought for over 3 hours in that set. Kuznetsova had 6 match points, but couldn’t put away the crafty Italian. This was no Isner/Mahut redux. The rallies were fierce and both women were at their peak. It’s only the 3rd week in the new year, but this match will definitely be on the “Best Matches of The Year” list at the end of the season.
• Psosas-The part of Venus’ body that was injured during her 2nd round match. She battled back and won but had to retire in the next round. Tennis fans were checking Dictionary.com in droves to figure out if they had a Psosas too.
• Wonderland Dress-The name of the monstrosity that Venus Williams wore during her 2nd round match. Funny though, most folks were calling it, “Nightmare”.
• Busted Racket- No, that’s not the name of the Yahoo tennis blog, it’s what happened to Agnieska Radwanska’s racket during her match with Kimiko Date. During the previous point, Radwanska banged her Babolat racket on the court in frustration. During the next game when trying to return a shot, the head literally exploded and flew off.  Her dumbfounded expression was the favorite of silly .gif makers for days.
• Rafa Slam-A term much bandied about but successfully bunted away by Rafael Nadal. If he wins the Aussie Open, he’ll be the first man in over 40 years to hold all Major titles consecutively. Nadal assured the world that he’s not obsessed with accomplishing that feat and politely let the press know that they needed to, “Get off that”- Not that they are listening though.
• 6-0- The 5th set  score of the match between Fernando Verdasco and Janko Tipsarevic. Verdasco was down and out in the 3rd set, but thanks to one of the most monumental chokes of recent memory by Tipsarevic, he was able to battle back. 3 match points bungled and Janko was nothing more than a ghost in that final set. No doubt, that loss will haunt him for a very long time.
• Boobs- Aussie commentator Todd Woodbridge just couldn’t help himself when he sent a text to fellow Aussie player Renee Stubbs which included his opinion of Kim Clijster’s recent demeanor. He suggested that she was pregnant because she,” looked grumpy and her boobs were bigger”. Stubbs of course, being a good friend (and an instigator), showed Kim the text and she called Todd out on it during her post match interview with him. It was 2 parts funny and 1 parts awkward, but made for some compelling viewing. The lesson from this: Be careful what you text, and don’t show anything to Renee Stubbs.
• Dead spots-The world is fully up on the news about the massive floods in Australia. The city of Melbourne has been fortunate so far in that it hasn’t received the brunt of the rains, unlike Queensland. It has had it’s share and as a result, the extra water has wrecked a tiny bit of havoc on the courts. Several dead spots have appeared on the show courts because the seepage into the Plexicushion used to cover the courts. Bubbles were formed and viola, balls dying on the court like Arkansas Starlings. Luckily, Aussies know how to use drills too and the problems were fixed.
• 18- The number of five set matches that Mardy Fish lost before triumphing in his 1st rd match at the Australian. An awesome feat, and in my opinion was partly due to his new love affair with full sized socks. Unfortunately, the good times were short lived, Mardy was bounced in the next round and is reported to be suffering from a thyroid problem.

Can’t wait to see what next week brings.

Tragedy

This morning, United States Representative Gabrielle Giffords was shot today at an event in Tuscon, Arizona.  She survived the shooting, but 6 others were killed including a federal judge, one of Gifford’s staffers, and a 9-year-old girl. The suspect was tackled by onlookers and taken into custody.

Prayers for the Gifford family and for the families of the victims who did not survive.

Tennis Hack and Cough

So much tennis going on, I’m feeling dizzy but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

• After serving a bagel yesterday, Rafa Nadal was fed one by Lukas Lacko. Nadal managed to pull out the win and keep a lung, although he tried he darndest to cough it up in the 3rd set. Surprisingly, he went out a few hours later and won his doubles match. During the presser, Nadal said that he was suffering from a fever and was on antibiotics. Let’s hope for a quick recovery. The Aussie Open starts in 8 days.
• Roger Federer struggled a bit against his countryman Marco Chiudinelli, but he managed to win and book a date with Victor Troicki. And he didn’t hit a tweener this time.
• Maria Sharapova was defeated by 31-year-old veteran Greta Arn today in Auckland. I’m not quite ready to bring up the “y” word (YIPS), but it’s apparent that she still has serving issues. Richard Gasquet keeps on disappointing everyone, and Kuznetsova had yet another inexplicable loss.
• Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic continue to frolic and have fun at Hopman Cup.

bagels, tweeners, and upsets

The first real full day of tennis brought the following:

• A feverish Rafael Nadal made himself feel better by serving a bagel to Karol Beck in his first round match at Doha
• Earlier,  Roger Federer performed another tweener to delighted audiences who pretended that he hadn’t done it before. It’s still impressive that he can seemingly do that at will.
• Fernando Verdasco and his new racket are out in Brisbane. If he wants to know how successful a player can be when they switch sticks in mid-career, he can ask Ivan Lubijic.
• Sam Stosur-bounced. Dinara Safina-bounced (no surprise). Marin Cilic-bounced (the surprise was in who did the bouncing-Kei Nishikori. Remember him?).
• Bernard Tomic put his wildcard hopes for the Aussie Open in further jeopardy by losing to Florian Mayer.
• The U.S. continues to roll in Hopman Cup. I smell a hot and crackling match up with Serbia who is also undefeated. The pairing of Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic is just too cute for words.

fighting for your political life

I know I write about Michael Steele a lot but he’s just so damn funny I can’t help it. It could also be that my black encrusted heart is thumping with glee over his monumental struggle to lead the RNC. If there was any example I could pull out of my hat to illustrate the unwavering cluelessness of the Republican Party, electing a self serving boob like Steele would always be my first choice.

This morning, Steele participated in a debate along with other wannabe candidates for the RNC chairmanship. His tenure is up and he’s holding on with tether hooks to his position. It was his time to lay it all on the line. It was his chance to defend the decisions he’s made and make nice with the upper echelon of the party so that he can keep his job. How did he do?

Well, after a lot of sucking up to the base, (reaffirming homophobia, anti-choice, and the right to stockpile a lot of guns without paying too much in taxes), he seemed to do fine. He reiterated the need for the Republican party to reach out and improve communications with the rank and file. He also pointed out the importance of expanding the tent by actively recruiting more minorities. He sounded far more reasonable than the members of the Hard Right Brigade sitting with him. That was until he decided to quote from one of his favorite books, “War and Peace”. Except, the quote was actually from Charles Dickens. Lawd Jesus.

It’s not just once gaffe that draws giggles and exasperation, it’s the entire collection of gaffes, miscues, off color comments, and general buffoonery that Steele has engaged in for the past two years. There’s no way he’s going to be re-elected because despite the fact that he has foot in the mouth disease, his real crime was financial mismanagement. In other words, he messed with other people’s money and that ain’t gonna fly. I guess I’m still wondering if the RNC expected Steele to be their own little right leaning version of Obama. Steele obviously thought he was in the same league as PBO, but those with sense knew he wasn’t.

Looks like the other side has seen it too.

The start of a new season

It’s two days into the new year and the tennis season is about to kick off. There’s Brisbane, Chennai, Qatar, The ASB in Auckland, and The Hopman Cup in Sydney. I’m so excited I could skip. I won’t but you tennis freaks know what I’m saying. Let the speculation and predictions begin.

Can Nadal continue his winning ways? Can Federer face his new challengers and continue his winning ways? Does Andy Roddick still have it in him to try for another major title? Does Maria Sharapova? Can Henin and Del Portro make  full comebacks after long injury layoffs? Can Ivanovic find her way back into the top 10? When will Serena make her appearance? Will there be a new women’s number #1? A better question, can the current #1 win a major title? So many questions. So much to ponder. Good thing we have a whole year to wrack our brains.

In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy waking up at ungodly hours to watch live tennis, and cursing the DVR when it cuts off a recorded match, and scouring the internet for a live feed of a match.

Let the games begin!