Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog

Australian Open 2012: Women's Final Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:53:00 +0000

Maria Sharapova RUS (4) vs. Victoria Azarenka BLR (3).

by Mad Professah, contributing writer

Here is my prediction for the 2012 Australian Open women's final and reviews of the semifinals. I previously correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals this year.

On the men's side I correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 1 of 2 men's semifinals this year.

How Did They Get Here?

M. Sharapova RUS d. P. Kvitova CZE 6-2 3-6 6-4. This was a repeat of the 2011 Wimbledon final where Kvitova won her first major title over Sharapova, in the venue where Sharapova had won her first over Serena Williams in 2004. Sharapova knew that she had been outhit and outserved in that match so in Australia rematch she was prepared and determined to not let that happen. Despite serving no aces and 10 double faults, the Russian was able to stay aggressive in her service games and ended up winning a fair number that she really should have lost. Kvitova still has streaks where she is very very good and hits winners from (and to) every corner of the court but also streaks where she riddles the court with errors (reminiscent of a Serena Williams circa 2000). What eventually decided the match was not hitting the ball between the lines but what was between the ears. Sharapova was just mentally tougher; at 4-all in the 3rd set she gutted out another difficult service hold and when Kvitova's turn to hold her serve to stay in the match she dissolved into a puddle of unforced errors and lost.

V. Azarenka BLR d. K. Clijsters BEL, 6-4 1-6 6-3. Despite the score, this was actually quite a tight match, with the result in doubt until the last two games or so. After losing the first set, Clijsters raced out to a huge 5-0 lead in the second set, breaking Azarenka twice in succession and holding her own service games relatively easily. Faced with the indignity of losing a bagel set, Azarenka calmed down and started making first serves eventually winning a service game, and forcing Clijstersto serve out the set. More importantly, this allowed Azarenka to serve first in the deciding set and again she held serve and was able to break Clijsters first. However, what followed then was a series of breaks and nervy player from both sides of the net until finally at 5-3 Azarenka was able to hold her service game thanks to consecutive errors from Clijsters, and the match ended with Azarenka watching an errant backhand from the Australian Open defending champion sailing out of the court with relief and joy.

Who Will Win?
This final will surely be the loudest women's final ever played, with both players known for the sounds they make during play (also known as "grunts" or "shrieks"). Azarenka's is a pretty uniform low pitched, two-tone wail which she makes almost every time she hits the ball while Sharapova's can vary from a loud grunt to a truly earsplitting shriek as the point gets longer or more important. Anyway, the two have played 6 times before and have split their matches 3-all, 2-all on hard courts. Interestingly, Azarenka leads 2-0 in finals (both on outdoor hard courts); she beat Sharapova last year in Miami and the year before in Stanford in straight sets. The two have never met in a major final despite being on tour for a half-dozen years simultaneously.

Their games are somewhat similar: they both play what is known as "Big babe" tennis. They want to win the point as early as possible, with the first strike of the ball, and have the power to hit winners from any point in the court. Azarenka is better at the net, while Sharapova has a better se rve (in theory) but will be hard-pressed in a major final to serve well. Azarenka is the better mover on the court, but hard court is the surface on which Sharapova moves the best and she has extremely powerful defensive skills.

As usual in the women's game, the final result will almost certainly be won by the more mentally tough player. The fact that it has taken Azarenka 25 majors to reach her first major final despite being a legitimate Top 5 player for the last 2-3 years shows a degree of mental weakness that is not exhibited by her opponent. Sharapova is in her 5th major final, only losing the 2007 Australian Open and 2011 Wimbledon final to players who completely blew her off the court (Serena and Kvitova, respectively). In a hard-fought battle I would go with the more mentally tough, experienced player, which in this case is Sharapova. Azarenka has under performed in majors so far in her career (two semifinals and 1 final) while her opponent has been in 13 semifinal and 5 finals. It takes a rare player (who is not going to be a one-slam wonder, e.g. Schiavone, Majoli) to win their first major final (Sharapova, Serena, Kvitova) and I don't think Azarenka is either a one-slam wonder or a player mentally tough enough to win their first major slam final. Sharapova, of course, already holds three major titles (Wimbledon 2004, U.S. Open 2006, Australian Open 2008). Numerology would say that an even year like 2012 bodes well for her chances tonight.

The winner of this match will also claim the World #1 ranking, dethroning Caroline Wozniacki. Sharapova has been #1 before, for 17 weeks,and I fully expect Azarenka will get there eventually (perhaps even this year). The Belarussian is on a winning streak, having not yet lost in 2012 (she won the Sydney warm-up tournament in a tough 3-setter over Li Na). There's a chance her streak will continue, but I think it is more likely that it will end in Melbourne tonight.

MadProfessah's pick: Sharapova.

Australian Open 2012: Men's Semifinals Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:33:00 +0000

by Mad Professah, contributing writer

Here are my predictions for the Men's Semifinals at the 2012 Australian Open. My predictions for the Women's Semifinals are also available.

This year I previously predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly.

Novak Djokovic SRB (1) vs Andy Murray GBR (4). The World #1 and defending Australian Open champion re-asserted his dominance over the rest of the field by dismissing World #5 David Ferrer in ruthless fashion in straight sets 6-4 7-6(4) 6-1.

The Serbian has won half of his major titles at this venue and is looking in similar top form this year. Also looking good is the Scot Andy Murray who has made it to the Australian Open final for the last two consecutive years. Against 1st time quarterfinalist Kei Nishikori Muray deployed his vast reserves of guile, power and speed to gently demolish the Japanese youngster in straight sets 6-3 6-3 6-1. Murray has been in the Top 4 in the world since 2008 but only in the last year or so has he solidified his status there, reaching the five major semifinals in a row. It is time for him to take the next step, and beating Djokovic in a major final would be that step. Unfortunately, I don't think that is going to happen in Melbourne, but I do believe that Murray will come close, winning at least one set and possibly two. Head to head Murray has a decent 4 wins 6 losses record against Djokovic and ever since his disastrous performance in last year's final has taken his clashes with his contemporary rival extremely seriously. (The two were born one week apart, in 1987.) Murray was on his way to beating Djokovic last summer in the Cincinnati Masters final when the Serbian retired from the match and the two played one of the best matches of the year at the Rome semifinals. On hard courts the head-to-head narrows to 4-all, with all of Murray's victory over Djokovic coming on this surface. Much has been said and implied about Murray's decision to hire Ivan Lendl as a coach, and I do think it is the mental aspect of the game in which Murray needs to demonstrate improvement when playing against the only three people in the world more higher ranked than he is. That being said, after the year Djokovic has just had he is not particularly lacking in the confidence department, as will be made clear by the end of the match. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Roger Federer SUI (3) vs Rafael Nadal ESP (2). This is the 27th meeting between the two future Hall of Famers who have a staggering 26 major titles between the two of them, with 10-time major winner Nadal famously leading their legendary rivalry 17-9, although 16-time major champion Federer leads 5-4 on hard courts. Oddly, the two have met only once at the Australian Open where Nadal won their 2009 final by racing through the final 2 sets of their 5-set match. That result so devastated Federer that he was reduced to tears during the trophy ceremony and had to be comforted by his opponent, allowing the Swiss great to literally cry on his shoulder.

Another oddity is that this is only the second time the two have met in the semifinal of a major (the other time was at Roland Garros in 2005 and it was won by Nadal on his way to his first major title of his career). Although the physical match-up between their two styles of play puts Federer at a distinct disadvantage, the primary problem the Swiss player has had in this storied rivalry is the mental dimension. However, since the last time they met the result was a 6-3 6-0 demolition of Nadal that should put the mental edge between these two players at the lowest level it has been in years. Federer just played his 1000th career match (814 wins-186 losses) in dismissing an in-form Juan Martin del Potro in scintillating fashion, 6-4 6-3 6-2. Nadal, on the other hand, played well over 4 hours of grinding tennis to defeat a player 6-7(5) 7-6(6) 6-4 6-3 who has only ever beaten him three times in thirteen meetings. I believe all of these factors will combine to give Federer the edge to reach his 23rd (!) major final. Mad Professah's pick: Federer in 3 or 4 sets or Nadal in 5 sets.

Australian Open 2012: Women's Semifinals Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:41:00 +0000

by Mad Professah, contributing writer

Here are my predictions for the Women's Semifinals at the 2012 Australian Open.

This year I previously predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals correctly and predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly.

Victoria Azarenka BLR (3) vs. Kim Clijsters BEL (11). The most surprising aspect of the women's quarterfinals results were when 4-time major champion from Belgium beat World #1 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets many media outlets called it "an upset." Kim Clijsters has never lost a match to Wozniacki (only played three times) and anyone who appreciates "Big Babe" tennis knows why. Wozniacki can simply be overpowered by big hitting, she is too complacent to be a "Golden Retriever" of the ball. She has a horrendous record against such "Big Babes" as Li Na, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli, Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova. Clisjsters led 6-3, 5-2 when things started to get complicated with Wozniacki putting up stiffer resistance with Clijster responded by getting tight. Wozniacki forced a tiebreaker which Clijsters was able to gut out 7-4. The tiebreak was dramatic but not as intensely exciting as the 2nd set tiebreak with Li Na where Clijster saved 4 consecutive match points on the way to her 4th round victory.

The other quarterfinal in this half of the draw was a similar match up between a Big Babe and a counter puncher, i.e. Azarenka versus Agnieska Radwanska. The two best friends played a very scrappy first set of tennis with eight service breaks among the first dozen games played. Azarenka played an an atrocious tiebreak, failing to win a single point. But then she showed her mental toughness by deploying "selective amnesia" and forgot about the recent unpleasantness of the entire first set and proceeded to win the middle set with a bagel. During the third set the weather became a factor and it was clear that (surprisingly) the Pole was more heavily impacted than the Belarussian. Azarenka ended up sprinting to the finish line, winning 6-7(0) 6-0 6-2. Head to head, Clijsters leads Azarenka 4-2 overall (4-1 on hard courts). Clijsters has a decisive advantage in experience, with this being her 16th major semifinal compared to Azarenka's second. Clijsters' semifinal record is 8-7 in semis (although it is 3-0 since she returned after her ~~retirement~~ hiatus). I truly believe that Azarenka will reach a major final very soon, but will she be able to dismiss the defending Australian Open champion on her own turf? I believe the answer is yes. The good news for Azarenka is that it is unlikely that Clijsters is at 100% due to a rolled ankle two rounds before and also that the match will be played at night. PREDICTION: Azarenka.

Maria Sharapova RUS (4) vs. Petra Kvitova CZE (2). The two took similar paths to reach here, with both only dropping one set each in the first five rounds. In the quarterfinal matches, Kvitova dismissed Sara Errani in two surprisingly tight sets 6-4 6-4 while Sharapova was never really threatened by Ekaterina "Serena-killer" Markarova in their 6-2 6-3 quarterfinal match. This semifinal is a repeat of the 2011 Wimbledon final, which was won relatively easy by Kvitova.

This was a surprising result to some but not to yours truly after closely observing Sharapova's serving woes during that tournament and comparing them to Kvitova's heavy groundstrokes combined with a powerful lefty serve. The good news for Sharapova this time is that she is serving much better in Melbourne than she did last summer in London. Kvitova is averaging around 28 winners per match compared to Sharapova's average of 24. However, Sharapova's service percentage is averaging nearly 70% for the tournament, while Kvitova's is merely 60%. Through five rounds of grand slam play, Sharapova has an average of 4 doublefaults compared to 2 aces per match (an inauspicious ratio of 2:1) while Kvitova has a total of 12 doublefaults to 16 aces (with a much better ratio of 3:4). My druthers would be to see a repeat of the Wimbledon final result since I do believe that Kvitova will be the #1 player in the world very soon, and if Sharapova wins the semifinal the first post-Wozniacki #1 will be decided by whoever wins this tournament. Kvitova is still a very streaky player; when she's hot she's unbeatable, when she's cold she's very pedestrian. If she remains on a hot streak long enough she could again take Sharapova out very quickly in straight sets, but it is more likely that Sharapova will be able to put enough resistance to allow Kvitova to cool down and create enough tension to allow the more experienced and mentally tough player (and coincidentally happens to be the one currently playing the better tennis) to pull through. Regardless, it should be an excellent example of Big Babe tennis at its best: a close, hard-hitting, loud match. PREDICTION: Sharapova.

Australian Open 2012: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:29:00 +0000

by Mad Professah, contributing writer

Novak Djokovic SRB (1) vs David Ferrer ESP (5). The World #1 demonstrated that he is not perfect after all by dropping a set for the first time in the tournament against former World #1 and 2-time major champion Lleyton Hewitt in the previous round. That does not bode well for his quarterfinal match up with David "The Beast" Ferrer who basically is Hewitt 2.0 with more stamina and greater power on both wings. However the Spaniard will not have the huge audience support from the Melbourne crowd that nearly carried their countryman to victory. Ferrer actually has a decent career head-to-head record against Djokovic, winning 5 of 11 matches, which includes a win the last time they played at the Barclays ATP World Tour Championships at the end of Djokovic's "golden year" of 70 wins, 6 losses. On hard courts, Djokovic leads their head-to-head 5-2 and even though Ferrer was able to reach the semifinals against a hobbled Rafael Nadal last year, it is extremely unlikely that he will get as much assistance from his opponent this year. Mad Professah's Pick: Djokovic in 4 sets.

Andy Murray GBR (4) vs ~~Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (6~~) Kei Nishikori JPN (24). The second most surprising upset of the tournament was Nishikori's win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round. Tsonga had seemed to be on the verge of breaking into the stranglehold the Top 4 players in the world have had on the zenith of men's tennis by reaching the last match of the 2011 season (the championship match of the Barclay's ATP World Tour Finals) and winning one of the first ATP Tour titles of the 2012 season. Nishikori continues to make history, becoming the first Japanese male player to reach the quarterfinal of a grand slam final with his gutsy win over a surprisingly listless Tsonga. Nishikori has significant weapons (court coverage and speed, a sneakily powerful first serve and excellent backhand), which he used to great effect to hand Djokovic one of his rare losses in a full match in Basel last year. Unfortunately for Nishikori he is playing a well-rested Andy Murray who has reached the finals of this tournament for two consecutive years (l. Federer 2010, l. Djokovic 2011) and looks in even better form this year than he has previously. Nishikori has the skills to go even deeper into a slam, but this tournament will not be where that happens. Mad Professah's pick: Murray in 3 sets.

Juan Martin del Potro ARG (11) vs Roger Federer SUI (3). The Swiss Maestro continues to make history, reaching his incredible 31st consecutive major quarterfinal of his career. del Potro is one of the only players besides Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Federer who has been able to win a major championship in the last 6 years (2009 US Open). The tall Argentine is one of the hardest hitting players of all time but has spent the last two years recovering from a wrist injury and slowly returning to world-beating form. The bad news for Federer is that del Potro is very close to that form so that this match should be very tough for the 30-year-old father of twin girls. However, Federer has won this tournament four times previously and likes to start the year with good results and so I am confident that he is ready for the challenge. Additionally, Federer has a substantial 7-2 career advantage over del Potro, but if it gets to a 5th set Federer doesn't really have an excellent record and I think Juan Martin would have the edge, but I think it is more likely than not the match will not be that close. Mad Professah's pick: Federer in 3 or 4 sets or del Potro in 5 sets.

Tomas Berdych CZE (7) vs Rafael Nadal ESP (2). This match is a rematch of the 2010 Wimbledon Men's final (which I attended in person) that was easily won by Nadal. In fact, in 13 career meetings, Berdych has only beaten Nadal 3 times (all on hard courts) and lost ten times to the 10-time major champion from Spain. In fact, Berdych hasn't had a win over Nadal since 2006, losing 9 matches in a row. This is somewhat surprising because Berdych is an excellent hard-court player and Nadal's vicious topspin shouldn't trouble the 6'5" Czech player on the backhand side as much as it vexes most right-handed players (like Federer, for example). This is only Berdych's fifth major quarterfinal of his career while this is Nadal's tenth consecutive quarterfinal. The Spaniard will want to surpass his below-seeding performance from 2011 (losing in this round to Ferrer) and set up a mouth-watering semifinal between either Federer or del Potro. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal in 4 sets.

Australian Open 2012: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:46:00 +0000

by Mad Professah, contributing writer

Carolina Wozniacki DEN (1) vs. Kim Clijsters BEL (11). "Don't call it a Kimback, she's been here fr years!" Defending champion Clijsters survived 4 consecutive match points against 2011 Australian open finalist Li Na and somehow, miraculously was able to gut out the middle set and (mostly) ran away with the third set to complete one of the most amazing comebacks of recent years. Wozniacki has had a pretty uneventful run to the quarterfinals and dispatched the only other former No. 1 player to not win a major title (No. 11 seed Jelena Jankovic) surprisingly easily. However, against the Big Babes of tennis The Golden Retriever has been on the losing end of frequent beat downs during her "reign" at the top of the WTA rankings and I suspect this will just be another one. Losing to Clijsters in the quarterfinal (one round earlier than she was bounced from the tournament last year) will probably result in Wozniacki's demise as World No. 1, which would probably be relief for her and fans of women's tennis. PREDICTION: Clijsters in 2 sets.

Victoria Azarenka BLR (3) vs. Agnieska Radwanska POL (8). Azarenka has been cutting through the draw like a hot knife through butter, dropping a mere dozen games through four rounds of Grand Slam tournament play. (Only World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has been more dominating, losing a gawdy 10 games through 4 rounds of best-of-5-set matches.) Radwanska is a wily player (some would call her a poor man's Martina Hingis) but Azarenka enjoys a healthy 6-3 career head-to-head advantage over the Pole, including a 5-2 lead in hard court matches. Surprisingly, Azarenka has only won one major quarterfinal in her career (despite playing in 5), while Radwanska hasn't won any of the four major quarterfinals she has appeared in. Azarenka will make it zero out of five as she reaches her second major quarterfinal, as she starts to finally live up to to her Top 4 seeding. PREDICTION: Azarenka in 2 sets.

Maria Sharapova RUS (4) vs. ~~Serena Williams USA~~ ~~(12)~~ Ekaterina Makarova RUS. One of the most surprising results of the last five years was Makarova's dismissal of 5-time Australian Open champion Serena Williams in straight sets the round before. Makarova is clearly confident and loves pace. Serena was not playing her best tennis (3 double faults in one game? Service percentage well below 50%. An average of 2 unforced errors per game?) but Makarova did well to remain calm on the court while her opponent self-destructed. She demonstrated that her thrilling 3-6 6-4 10-8 win over Ana Ivanovic last year was not a fluke. Sharapova is the recipient of the gaping hole Serena's early exit leaves in the draw, and will almost certainly take advantage of her opportunity to produce a rematch of the 2011 Wimbledon final with Kvitova in the bottom half semifinal. PREDICTION: Sharapova in 3 sets.

~~Zheng Jie CHN~~ Sara Errani ITA vs. Petra Kvitova CZE (2). Future World No. 1 Kvitova has not been playing her best tennis but has been able to ride out her hot and cold streaks by coasting to wins after building up near insurmountable leads during the hot streaks and minimizing the damage caused by the cold streaks. Surprisingly, this is only Kvitova's 4th major quarterfinal appearance but will almost definitely lead to her 3rd major semifinal appearance. PREDICTION: Kvitova in 2 sets.

UPDATED: Australian Open 2012 Fourth Round Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:55:00 +0000

I'm busy catering a private dinner and can't even watch tennis.

Ugh.

Please tell us all what happened now that we're officially into the second week of the 2012 Australian Open.

Updates

Roger Federer decided to rule his runway and let the 19-year-old Aussie hope (who, incidentally, calls Federer his idol) that he's going to have to wait a minute.

It started competitively. But after Federer "broke his will" in a 20-minute stretch of play late in the first set, the former No. 1 moved about the court like he once did on a regular basis, even moving right to his forehand side with ease to return Bernard Tomic's down the line shots with ease.

Raise your hand if you think Federer will be able to play this freely in the semifinals.

::

Li Na reportedly broke down in her presser with the Chinese media. She held four match points against a hobbled(?) Kim Clijsters at 6-2 in the second set breaker and found a way to lose the match.

I saw it coming.

If you want to read the details, check out Racquet Reaction. I just can't bring myself to type it up myself.

I won't ever understand such meltdowns in professional sport. Not ever.

::

Order of Play for Monday, January 23, 2012

Rod Laver Arena 11:00 AM

Women's Singles - 4th Round
Ana Ivanovic(SRB)[21] vs. Petra Kvitova(CZE)[2]

Ivanonic never get her serve back. Kvitova's serve remains one of the best. It could get interesting off the ground, but the Wimbledon champion will prevail, no matter how many sets it takes.

Men's Singles - 4th Round
Andy Murray(GBR)[4] vs. Mikhail Kukushkin(KAZ)

If Kukushkin wants to really introduce his talent to the world, now is the time. I still don't trust the Scot to go all the way, but he'll win this match.

Women's Singles - 4th Round
Ekaterina Makarova(RUS) vs. Serena Williams(USA)[12]

I guess the Russian lefty could cause Serena some trouble early in the match, but I'm not counting on it.

Rod Laver Arena 7:30 PM

Women's Singles - 4th Round
Sabine Lisicki(GER)[14] vs. Maria Sharapova(RUS)[4]

Pick one. Lisicki has the game, Sharapova has the mettle. I want to see fireworks.

Men's Singles - 4th Round
Novak Djokovic(SRB)[1] vs. Lleyton Hewitt(AUS)

Hewitt's body might not be able to handle Djoke's game, but if anyone can cause trouble it's a homegrown champion in a brilliant swan song. I'm going to stay up for it.

Hisense Arena 12:30PM

Men's Singles - 4th Round
Kei Nishikori(JPN)[24] vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[6]
Richard Gasquet(FRA)[17] vs. David Ferrer(ESP)[5]

I'd like to see both Frenchman through to the quarters, but only one of them will prevail.

Margaret Court Arena 12:30 PM

Women's Singles - 4th Round
Sara Errani(ITA) vs. Jie Zheng(CHN)

Zheng Jie seems to have found her form at her "home" Slam. Errani will have to be more than a backboard to win this match.

Unconventional

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:50:00 +0000

Getty

I just finished watching Bernard Tomic defeat Alexandr Dolgopolov in five sets on Rod Laver Arena last night.

Another verse he wasn't supposed to write.

In three previous meetings, he'd never beaten the lithe, long-haired, lair trapper from the Ukraine, only winning two tight sets. The rest were either routine sets or all-out beatdowns by his higher-ranked opponent.

True to form, the newest Aussie hope took both tiebreaks after dropping the first routine set to take the match lead. True to form, he dropped the fourth set 2-6. But he earned an early break in the deciding set and never looked back.

Loved the match. Just because neither player is a household name doesn't mean the battle lacked great shot making, grueling points, and all sorts of drama. Both play unconventional tennis, both cover the court deceptively, both possess easy power. We often heard that Martina Hingis turned the court into a chessboard, but I'm not sure any two players construct points quite like these. Sure, a few rallies included a few too many slice backhand drills (it's one of the many ways Dolgopolov tries to trap you in his lair), but what kept even those lulls intriguing was trying to predict who would be the first to switch it up and send a flat laser down the line or run around and nail an inside-in forehand to the corner. Either choice would make the opponent dart to their right to cover the shot and what either would do with it remained unpredictable, sometimes eliciting a gasp.

Yeah. I loved it.

Tomic books a date on Sunday with Roger Federer. I haven't a clue who's going to prevail.

::

In the day's other five-setter, the lower-ranked player, No. 18-seed Feliciano Lopez, also prevailed, running away with the final set. John Isner, seeded No. 16, can win tiebreaks but he can't break serve. Thus, the last American man in the field is out.

::

On the women's side, only one match needed a decider. No. 22-seed Julia Goerges dismissed Italian Romina Oprandi 6-1 in the third.

::

Today, the rest of the final 16 will emerge. The order of play:

Rod Laver Arena 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Maria Kirilenko(RUS)[27] vs. Petra Kvitova(CZE)[2]
Angelique Kerber(GER)[30] vs. Maria Sharapova(RUS)[4]

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Novak Djokovic(SRB)[1] vs. Nicolas Mahut(FRA)

Rod Laver Arena 7:00 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Greta Arn(HUN) vs. Serena Williams(USA)[12]

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Milos Raonic(CAN)[23] vs. Lleyton Hewitt(AUS)

Hisense Arena 11:00 AM
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Frederico Gil(POR) vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga(FRA)[6]

Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Vania King(USA) vs. Ana Ivanovic(SRB)[21]
Sabine Lisicki(GER)[14] vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova(RUS)[18]

Hisense Arena 7:00 PM
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Andy Murray(GBR)[4] vs. Michael Llodra(FRA)

Margaret Court Arena Not Before 12:30 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Vera Zvonareva(RUS)[7] vs. Ekaterina Makarova(RUS)

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Janko Tipsarevic(SRB)[9] vs. Richard Gasquet(FRA)[17]
Mikhail Kukushkin(KAZ) vs. Gael Monfils(FRA)[14]

Show Court 2 11:00 AM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Sorana Cirstea(ROU) vs. Sara Errani(ITA)

Not Before 12:30 PM
Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Juan Ignacio Chela(ARG)[27] vs. David Ferrer(ESP)[5]

Show Court 3 Not Before 12:30 PM
Women's Singles - 3rd Round
Jie Zheng(CHN) vs. Marion Bartoli(FRA)[9]

Men's Singles - 3rd Round
Julien Benneteau(FRA) vs. Kei Nishikori(JPN)[24]

Anybody see any upsets brewing?

Falla Grilled Fish ... And Other Melbourne Morsels

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:23:00 +0000

Getty

Alejandro Falla seared No. 8 seed Mardy Fish with a comprehensive 7-6(4), 6-3, 7-6(6) grilling. Why does the Columbian lefty only seem to play world-class tennis in Slams? This is the same cat who served for the match against Roger Federer a mere two Wimbledons ago.

Getty

As well as Falla played, I was still surprised Fish couldn't find a way to extend the match, couldn't even win one of the tiebreaks. It just goes to show that no matter how much you improve your fitness and your forehand, if you're not mentally tough, you're not mentally tough. He showed more than a few glimpses of the old Mardy who would become demoralized and turn erratic. The man has been in several big-event finals and possesses weapons, including an underrated return of serve. But there's a reason why he hasn't ever won a big one.

::

Getty

Sam Querrey doesn't enjoy playing professional tennis anymore. I'm not sure that he ever has. At least that's what it looks like when he's on the court. We've heard that he's worked hard to improve his work ethic, and he did spend some time high enough in the rankings to be a seeded player at Slams (I admit to being surprised he wasn't a seed in Melbourne), but he just always looks like he wants to be somewhere else.

Getty

Bernard Tomic, on the other hand, seems committed to perfection. According to those who know better, he wasn't supposed to be able to recover from his marathon against Fernando Verdasco in order to have anything left for the big-serving American (why would we doubt a teenager's ability to physically recover from a tough match?), but the young Aussie once again wrote a different verse. How many more will he write Down Under?

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Reuters

Serena Williams consolidated a decisive break of serve in the sixth game of the second set in 56 seconds with four consecutive aces.

All Tamira Pasczek could do was smile.

Serena's 6-3, 6-2 victory means her record in first-round matches at Slam remains perfect. We can't even say that about Federer.

Melbourne almost always brings out the best in Serena's serve. And she doesn't seem to be hampered by her Kinesio-Taped left ankle and calf. Can she go all the way for the sixth time?

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When Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka and Anabel Medina Garrigues (!) can be winning matches with the loss of a single game in the second round of a major, something is just, well, wrong.

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Please use this as your Day 4 Open Thread.

Upset Of The Day

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:21:00 +0000

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I fell in love with her the first time I looked into her forehand. Today, Sorana Cirstea remembered who she was and took out US Open champ and homegirl Samantha Stosur in the first round of the Australian Open. So, for the second Slam in a row, the champion of the previous Slam is ousted out of the gate. (Yeah, my girl Petra Kvitova started it in New York last summer.)

But this girl here, Sorana, caught my eye a bit earlier than the oddsmakers favorite to take the title Down Under. Right here in 2008, against Ana Ivanovic, I saw something special in the Romanian. It's unfortunate she hasn't trusted herself enough since then to do something with that that special something.

Yesterday, though, she delivered.

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Now, make no mistake, Stosur conjures Amelie Mauresmo whenever she gets a chance. She gets that chance whenever she plays her home Slam. At least the Frenchwoman was able to finish her career with two Slams. If Stosur follows suit, I suppose she'll when Roland Garros this year or next and end her career with the two Slams Mauresmo refused to or could not take.

But I digress.

Sorana slaps her forehand around like a champion, but when push comes to shove, she's usually absent. I haven't a clue where Sorana goes from here, but I'll follow and pray and feel the pain of her disappointments.

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Andy Murray is simply not an aggressive tennis player and yesterday he was, as usual, cantankerous and erratic. Ivan Lendl won't be able to change any of that.

Ryan Harrison needs to get serious. He also needed to have found a way to win that match because the cantankerous, erratic Scot was there for the taking.

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I said it on twitter, I'm going to say it again: Serena Williams remains undefeated in Grand Slam first rounds. One of the greatest statistics in tennis history.

Tamira Pasczek has actually developed a relatively effective second serve. But against the return of Serena, it meant almost nothing.

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For Lleyton Hewitt, tennis still means something, his surgically repaired body be damned.

Verily I say unto you, he has grown on me. While I certainly don't want him to beat Andy Roddick in the next round, I truly won't be mad if he does.

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Round one is history. Use this as your Day 3 Open Thread.

Quote For The Day

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:34:00 +0000

"On some positions, Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?" Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?" And Vanity comes along and asks the question, "Is it popular?" But Conscience asks the question "Is it right?" And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must do it because Conscience tells him it is right."

- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

::

Today we honor the legacy of a man with a dream, a man called hero by all kinds of people in this nation and all over the globe. I hadn't gotten around to posting his words here because they didn't appear to have anything whatsoever to do with tennis.

Reuters

And then I saw the headline "Nadal Insults Federer" screaming at me from yahoo's homepage. Yesterday, I peeped a bit of what the controversy was all about but didn't find an insult in what Rafael Nadal said about Roger Federer. Didn't see a "rift" either. That's how most of the other headlines characterized it. To my ears, a man simply said what he had to say. Clearly, given all the headlines, what Nadal said was neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he obviously thought it was right. He even repeated it when asked again. Federer didn't seem at all insulted. He simply suggested that Nadal has matured and speaks his own mind more than he once did. As my mother is wont to say, "And that's about the size of it."

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Bernard Tomic came back from two sets to love down to defeat No. 22 seed Fernando Verdasco in the wilting heat. Throughout most of the first two sets, Darren Cahill could swear that his countryman didn't have the fitness to go toe-to-toe with Verdasco and there would be no way for him to come back from such a deep hole. Cahill even went so far as to suggest Tomic had done himself a disservice by requesting a day match. Surely the slower conditions at night would improve his chances against such a big hitter. But the teenager had the last word when his final forehand down the line blew by Verdasco, wrong-footed and stranded on the other side of the court.

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There's something about the Aussie's game that captures me. I still don't know what it is. When the draw came out, I was almost certain the underdog would upset the seed. I had no idea the drama would unfold as it did, but I'm oh, so glad it did. It's why I enjoy the Australian Open so much. You never have to wait more than a day or two before a match grabs you and doesn't let go.

::

All of the televised women's matches were unremarkable.

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Now we head into Day 2. Of course I'm interested in seeing if Serena Williams is 100% and if Andy Roddick can hold off Robin Haase. Neither American has an easy out in their first match. I expect some drama for both.

Use this as your Day 2 Open Thread.

Australian Open 2012 Day 1 Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 23:13:00 +0000

Are you excited yet?

For the first time in nearly a decade, I'm going to watch the first Slam of the year with pure curiosity and zero expectations.

I haven't followed tennis closely enough in so long I haven't a clue who's healthy and who isn't, who's hungry and who isn't, who's on fire and who's struggling.

I have no previews and no predictions.

I'm excited.

Australian Open 2012 Men's Draw

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:28:00 +0000

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Tournament Referee Wayne McKewen and Australian tennis legend Neale Fraser draw names from the Championship trophy at the Official draw ahead of the 2012 Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena on January 13, 2012 in Melbourne, Australia.

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Novak Djokovic SRB (1) v Paolo Lorenzi ITA
Santiago Giraldo COL v Qualifier
Tatsuma Ito JPN v Potito Starace ITA
Nicolas Mahut FRA v Radek Stepanek CZE (29)

Milos Raonic CAN (23) v Filippo Volandri ITA
Lukas Rosol CZE v Philipp Petzschner GER
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe GER v Lleyton Hewitt AUS
Robin Haase NED v Andy Roddick USA (15)

Janko Tipsarevic SRB (9) v Dmitry Tursunov RUS
Qualifier v James Duckworth AUS
Mikhail Youzhny RUS v Qualifier
Andreas Seppi ITA v Richard Gasquet FRA (17)

Juan Ignacio Chela ARG (27) v Michael Russell USA
Igor Kunitsyn RUS v Pablo Andujar ESP
Matthias Bachinger GER v Ryan Sweeting USA
Rui Machado POR v David Ferrer ESP (5)

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Andy Murray GBR (4) v Ryan Harrison USA
Xavier Malisse BEL v Edouard Roger-Vasselin FRA
Michael Llodra FRA v Ernests Gulbis LAT
Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP v Alex Bogomolov Jr. RUS (32)

Viktor Troicki SRB (19) v Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP v Mikhail Kukushkin KAZ
Thomaz Bellucci BRA v Dudi Sela ISR
Marinko Matosevic AUS v Gael Monfils FRA (14)

Gilles Simon FRA (12) v Qualifier
Julien Benneteau FRA v Karol Beck SVK
Joao Souza BRA v Matthew Ebden AUS
Stephane Robert FRA v Kei Nishikori JPN (24)

Marcel Granollers ESP (26) v Jesse Levine USA
Frederico Gil POR v Ivan Dodig CRO
Qualifier v Ricardo Mello BRA
Denis Istomin UZB v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (6)

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Mardy Fish USA (8) v Gilles Muller LUX
Alejandro Falla COL v Fabio Fognini ITA
Albert Montanes ESP v Pere Riba ESP
Philipp Kohlschreiber GER v Juan Monaco ARG (25)

Florian Mayer GER (20) v Yen-Hsun Lu TPE
Qualifier v Steve Darcis BEL
Qualifier v Blaz Kavcic SLO
Adrian Mannarino FRA v Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (11)

Alexandr Dolgopolov UKR (13) v Greg Jones AUS
Tobias Kamke GER v Victor Hanescu ROU
Kenny De Schepper FRA v Sam Querrey USA
Bernard Tomic AUS v Fernando Verdasco ESP (22)

Jurgen Melzer AUT (31) v Ivo Karlovic CRO
Carlos Berlocq ARG v Qualifier
Eric Prodon FRA v Andreas Beck GER
Qualifier v Roger Federer SUI (3)

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Tomas Berdych CZE (7) v Albert Ramos ESP
Olivier Rochus BEL v Qualifier
Sergiy Stakhovsky UKR v Qualifier
Qualifier v Kevin Anderson RSA (30)

Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (21) v Benoit Paire FRA
Marcos Baghdatis CYP v Benjamin Becker GER
Jeremy Chardy FRA v Grigor Dimitrov BUL
Lukasz Kubot POL v Nicolas Almagro ESP (10)

John Isner USA (16) v Benjamin Mitchell AUS
Jarkko Nieminen FIN v David Nalbandian ARG
Flavio Cipolla ITA v Nikolay Davydenko RUS
Leonardo Mayer ARG v Feliciano Lopez ESP (18)

Ivan Ljubicic CRO (28) v Qualifier
Qualifier v Donald Young USA
Tommy Haas GER v Qualifier
Qualifier v Rafael Nadal ESP (2)

Australian Open 2012 Women's Draw

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:27:00 +0000

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Caroline Wozniacki DEN (1) v Anastasia Rodionova AUS
Ashleigh Barty AUS v Anna Tatishvili GEO
Pauline Parmentier FRA v Alla Kudryavtseva RUS
Alize Cornet FRA v Monica Niculescu ROU (31)

Lucie Safarova CZE (24) v Christina McHale USA
Qualifier v Marina Erakovic NZL
Qualifier vPetra Martic CRO
Qualifier v Jelena Jankovic SRB (13)

Kim Clijsters BEL (11) v Qualifier
Stephanie Foretz Gacon FRA v Elena Baltacha GBR
Arantxa Rus NED v Lesia Tsurenko UKR
Qualifier v Daniela Hantuchova SVK (20)

Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP (26) v Eva Birnerova CZE
Patricia Mayr-Achleitner AUT v Olga Govortsova BLR
Sofia Arvidsson SWE v Olivia Rogowska AUS
Ksenia Pervak KAZ v Na Li CHN (5)

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Victoria Azarenka BLR(3) v Heather Watson GBR
Casey Dellacqua AUS v Bojana Jovanovski SRB
Anne Keothavong GBR v Mona Barthel GER
Ayumi Morita JPN v (32)Petra Cetkovska CZE

Flavia Pennetta ITA (19) v Qualifier
Alberta Brianti ITA v Irina Falconi USA
Iveta Benesova CZE v Mathilde Johansson FRA
Aravane Rezai FRA v Shuai Peng CHN (16)

Francesca Schiavone ITA (10) v Laura Pous-Tio ESP
Anastasiya Yakimova BLR v Romina Oprandi ITA
Kimiko Date-Krumm JPN v Eleni Daniilidou GRE
Polona Hercog SLO v Julia Goerges GER (22)

Yanina Wickmayer BEL (28) v Galina Voskoboeva KAZ
Tsvetana Pironkova BUL v Sania Mirza IND
Qualifier v Simona Halep ROU
Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA v Agnieszka Radwanska POL (8)

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Vera Zvonareva RUS (7) v Alexandra Dulgheru ROU
Evgeniya Rodina RUS v Lucie Hradecka CZE
Ekaterina Makarova RUS v Tamarine Tanasugarn THA
Johanna Larsson SWE v Kaia Kanepi EST (25)

Dominika Cibulkova SVK (17) v Magdalena Rybarikova SVK
Rebecca Marino CAN v Greta Arn HUN
Iryna Bremond FRA v Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE
Tamira Paszek AUT v Serena Williams USA (12)

Sabine Lisicki GER (14) v Qualifier
Shahar Peer ISR v Isabella Holland AUS
Sloane Stephens USA v Silvia Soler-Espinosa ESP
Chanelle Scheepers RSA v Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (18)

Angelique Kerber GER (30) v Bojana Bobusic AUS
Stephanie Dubois CAN v Elena Vesnina RUS
Mandy Minella LUX v Qualifier
Gisela Dulko ARG v Maria Sharapova RUS (4)

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Samantha Stosur AUS (6) v Sorana Cirstea ROU
Qualifier v Urszula Radwanska POL
Qualifier v Sara Errani ITA
Qualifier v Nadia Petrova RUS (29)

Roberta Vinci ITA (23) v Alexandra Cadantu ROU
Madison Keys USA v Jie Zheng CHN
Jelena Dokic AUS v Anna Chakvetadze RUS
Virginie Razzano FRA v Marion Bartoli FRA (9)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (15) v Klara Zakopalova CZE
Kateryna Bondarenko UKR v Vania King USA
Kristina Barrois GER v Michaella Krajicek NED
Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP v Ana Ivanovic SRB (21)

Maria Kirilenko RUS (27) v Jarmila Gajdosova AUS
Shuai Zhang CHN v Aleksandra Wozniak CAN
Irina-Camelia Begu ROU v Carla Suarez Navarro ESP
Vera Dushevina RUS v Petra Kvitova CZE (2)

Tennis New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:35:00 +0000

The tennis new year has already begun and I haven't even had a chance to review the old one yet. Oh, well. I'll get to it.

Use this as an open thread until I can get my post holiday act together and get back to some semblance of tennis blogging.

It's been a ride.....

WTA Year In Review: Best Women's Matches of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:15:00 +0000

BY MAD PROFESSAH
Here are my picks for the "best" (or most memorable) tennis matches by women in 2011. These are basically the matches that had the most impact on me while they were occurring, feature some of the best play or most amazing shots, had the most impact on the rest of the tennis season or are matches that I would most likely to watch again in the future. You can see my previous lists: Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2011, Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2010, Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2009 and Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2006. (There were no men's lists in 2007 and in 2008 I was too busy with post-Proposition 8 activities to produce lists for the Men or Women.) I have also compiled lists of the Best Women's Tennis Matches for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010. These can all be accessed at my MadProfessah.com Tennis tab which also contains my coverage of the four major tennis tournaments.

1. F. Schiavone ITA d. S. Kuznetsova RUS, 6-4 1-6 16-14, 2011 Australian Open 4th Round, Melbourne.

Less than one year after the longest men's match of all time enthralled the entire world (and not just fans of tennis or sports) the longest women's grand slam match of all time occurred in the 4th round of Asia-Pacific's major tournament to very little acclaim or notice (by anyone but hardcore tennis fans). 2-time major champion Svetlana Kuznetsova faced the reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in a mind-boggling battle of wills and fitness which lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes. Schiavone saved 6 match points in the 3-hour long final set and needed 3 match points of her own before finally prevailing to win 6-4 1-6 16-14. Kuznetsova was coming off one of her most satisfying wins by defeating her bete noire Justine Henin the round before, setting events in motion which would lead to that 7-time major champion announcing her (second) retirement soon afterwards. Anyway, back to the best women's match of 2011. The tennis (especially the last 80 minutes or so) was of an extremely high quality, with both players refusing to give an inch and pushing their bodies to their physical limits as they battled on and on and on for nearly 5 hours. Kuznetsova served for the match twice and repeatedly broke Schiavone when the Italian was serving for the match in the seemingly interminable 3rd set and although the 6 match points the Russian lost would seem to confirm her reputation for mental frailty, the reality is that the majority of these points were on Schiavone's serve and the Italian played some of her gutsiest tennis when she had her back against the wall. After multiple opportunities were squandered, the 30-year-old was able to come back from 0-30 down in the final game and execute a surprise serve-and-volley tactic to win the last point of this emotionally taut contest at the net with a crisp volley into the open court, demolishing her good friend Kuznetsova's hope for a good start to the year.

2. N. Li CHN d. F. Schiavone ITA, 6-4 7-6(0), 2011 French Open final, Paris.

The fact that a woman from a country with over 1 billion citizens was able to indelibly add her name to the tennis history books by winning her first major title is the single most important thing to happen this year that will impact the future of the sport. Amazingly, Li Na was appearing in her second consecutive major final, and ended up being the only player who was able to reach two major finals in 2011. Faced with the wily defending champion from Italy, the hard-hitting player from China was able to harness her power and control her emotions as she played the match of her life with the hopes and dreams of tens of millions of people hanging on every swing of her racquet. Schiavone showed that her win over the much-vaunted Australian Samantha Stosur the year before was no fluke by nearly repeating that feat this year. However this time Schiavone faced a player who used the experience gained from losing one major final to avoid repeating that result and instead successfully reached her goal while playing excellent, exciting tennis. Li played a tactically flawless match until she was about 2 games away from winning her first major and then she got a little nervous and let Schiavone back in the match. A controversial line call almost led to a set point for Schiavone, but instead she found herself in a tiebreak where her game completely unraveled against the Chinese barrage of pin-point accurate groundstrokes and she relinquished her major title with grace and style.

3. P. Kvitova CZE d. M. Sharapova RUS, 6-3 6-4, 2011 Wimbledon final, London.

Kvitova had been on the list of up-and-coming players to watch for quite awhile, having become the lowest ranked player (#143) ever to beat Venus Williams way back in 2008 and breaking through to lose a surprisingly taut 2-set semifinal encounter with eventual champion Serena Williams at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. Just one year later, Kvitova demolished the 3-time major champion Maria Sharapova relatively easily in the young Czech's very first major final appearance. It was a glittering performance, surprising to some, but not to anyone like myself who had been closely following the trajectories of thew two players through the tournament. Sharapova was constantly having serving issues throughout the tournament, usually winning matches with double fault totals in the double digits. Kvitova, on the other hand, was playing her brand of high-stakes, go-for-broke style of tennis regardless of the score and was allowing her lefty serve and penetrating groundstrokes to sweep her opponents off the court. Sharapova was just her latest, but not her last, victim.

4. M. Bartoli FRA d. S. Williams USA, 6-3 7-6(3), 2011 Wimbledon 4th round, London.

The 2007 Wimbledon finalist was facing the 4-time Wimbledon champion in only Serena's 3rd event back after a nearly year-long hiatus from the sport in which she nearly died due to a freak illness. Bartoli is known as one of the most unconventional players on the tour, hitting her groundstrokes with two-hands on both sides and what can only be described as a curious service motion concocted by her coach and father. However, in this showdown with the most powerful player on tour Bartoli produced flawless tennis from every aspect of her game, repeatedly out-hitting the 13-time major champion on both the forehand and backhand sides. But it was the Frenchwoman's serve that was the true weapon. She had made the decision early on to go for both her first and second serves and it paid off. Her service percentage was incredibly high and her surprisingly powerful second serve was very effective. This match was one of the rare occasions when Serena Williams was on the court but the outcome of the match was not really dependent on the American's level of play, but would be decided by the Frenchwoman continuing to play some of the best tennis of the year until she won the last point of the match.

5. S. Stosur AUS d. S. Williams USA, 6-2 6-3, 2011 U.S. Open Final, New York.

This result was one of the most surprising in a major final in the last decade. Serena Williams had won 18 consecutive hard court matches in a row, racking up two titles, including one won over this very opponent during that streak. Stosur was clearly playing some of her best tennis during the tournament, displaying surprising mental toughness by surviving grueling 3-set matches with Maria Kirilenko (which featured the longest tie-breaker in women's grand slam tennis) and Nadia Petrova (which featured the most number of games in a women's match at the US Open). Stosur had learned from the experience of famously losing the 2010 French Open final to Schiavone despite being heavily favored to win. This time Stosur was not favored to win this match and I believe this freed her up to play some of the best tennis of her career. Serena obviously was not playing some of her best tennis, her total of 5 games in a Grand Slam match is her lowest total in her entire career. The reason for this performance is still unexplained and remains a mystery. Personally, I think it is because Serena re-injured her foot during her semifinal beatdown of World #1 Caroline Wozniacki the night before. Regardless of what the cause for her listless play was, the match is now famous for another reason: the ridiculous decision by the umpire to dock Serena a point (and thus a game, since the incident occurred on a break point) for a verbal outburst during play which allegedly hindered her opponent. Even without that exciting (and controversial) moment this match would be memorable for the rare result of Serena Williams losing a major final and the very popular Sam Stosur finally actualizing her talent to win a major.

6. P. Kvitova CZE d. V. Azarenka BLR, 7-5 4-6 6-3, 2011 WTA Championships, Istanbul.

The very last competitive match on tour at the year end championships is often on the list of most memorable matches of the year because by definition the winner of that match is most likely to have an impact on the following year's tennis results. This year, Petra Kvitova, the most improved player on tour this year (zooming from #34 at the end of 2010 to #2 at the end of 2011) won the year-end championship by culminating her astonishing 18-match indoor winning streak with a hard-fought 3-set win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. The match was also one of the more exciting encounters on tour all year long. The Czech powerhouse rolled to a quick 5-0 lead in the first set, blasting powerful winners into all four corners of the court. Then, surprisingly, Azarenka was able to slowly crawl her way back into the match as Kvitova's balls started having difficulty landing in the court. Eventually Azarenka was able to even the first set at 5-all by winning five games in a row but then ended up losing the set as Kvitova was able to rein in her errors at precisely the right moment. In the second set, Azarenka got pretty lucky when she went for broke on her first set point and painted the sideline for a winner, evening the match at 1 set each. After saving two breakpoints in the first game of the third set and eventually holding serve, Kvitova never looked back and eventually wracked up an insurmountable lead which she maintained easily to win her second million-dollar plus payday of the year, but it is very likely there will be many more such days in her future. Kvitova is "the real deal," joining Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova as one of the rare players to win the year-end championships in her debut at the tournament. Azarenka, too, should be pleased with her performance in Istanbul because she was finally able to reach the final of a very important tournament, and this should bode well for her goal of becoming a major champion in 2011.

7. S. Lisicki GER d. N. Li CHN, 3-6 6-4 8-6, 2011 Wimbledon 3rd Round, London.

This match featured some of the most dramatic moments and best tennis at Wimbledon this year. Lisicki had won one of the grass-court warm-up tournaments and received a wild card entry into Wimbledon by the All-England Lawn Tennis Club's seeding committee after she handwrote a personal plea to the committee because her ranking had plummeted due to a serious injury. Li was a newly crowned Grand Slam champion and has often had good results on this surface as well. She won the first set relatively easily and had 2 match points on Lisicki's serve at 4-5 in the third set when an astonishing thing happened: the German player served 4 consecutive service winners (including two aces) to hold serve and completely even the match at 5-all. It was one of the gutsiest serving performances of the year and immediately hurtled this match into the top tier for the year. Wimbledon, famously, does not have a tie-break in the deciding set and so the match would have to end after a service break. What followed was a tense contest of will and nerve which Li lost when she lost her serve and Lisicki was able to call upon her excellent nerves (and serves) again to serve out the match and eventually reach the semifinals (where she would lose to Sharapova).

8. S. Williams USA d. V. Azarenka BLR, 6-1 7-6(5), 2011 U.S. Open 3rd Round, New York.

When the draw for the 2011 US Open came out this showdown between the recovering 13-time major champion and the World's #4 ranked player was quickly identified as likely to be one of the best matches of the tournament. Surprisingly, the actual contest easily matched (and perhaps surpassed) these mouth-watering expectations. What resulted was a clinic on "Big Babe" tennis as both players pounded the balls into the far reaches of the court and demonstrated their spectacular defensive and offensive skills to produce extended rallies. In the first set there was really not much that Vika could do to get the ball past Serena and she was actually pretty lucky to win the one game she did. In the second set it was pretty much a lot of the same, with Serena managing to break in the seventh game and hold in the 8th to go up 6-1 5-3 when suddenly things started to get verrry interesting. Azarenka was able to hold her serve in that game despite looking straight into the jaws of defeat at triple match point at 0-40, forcing Serena to try to serve out the match at 5-4. Amazingly, despite having a match point on her own serve, Serena was broken and suddenly the 2nd set was completely even and the momentum had completely shifted to the higher ranked player. Despite needing 3 deuces, Azarenka was able to hold her service game, pushing her nose ahead in the set for the first time to 6-5. A quick hold by Serena resulted in a tiebreaker which was a must win for Azarenka. Unfortunately for her, Serena was able to reach her 5th match point at 6-5 in the tiebreak and win the match due to one more error by her opponent.

9. K. Clijsters BEL d. N. Li CHN, 3-6 6-3 6-3, 2011 Australian Open final, Melbourne.

Kim Clijsters had won three U.S. Open titles (2005, 2009 and 2010) and appeared in 4 other major finals but had never been able to actually win the title at any other major except for in New York. This was always somewhat surprising since she is almost universally loved in Australia due to her longtime (ended) relationship with Lleyton Hewitt where the locals have taken to calling her "Aussie Kim." With defending champion Serena Williams unable to defend her 2010 title due to illness, Clijsters was the favorite to finally claim her first Australian Open title, despite her #3 seeding. Li, on the other hand, was finally able to break through to her first Grand Slam final after reaching four quarterfinals and one semifinal in her illustrious career to date. She had had to get past the #1 ranked player in the world to do so, and she did it in a tough 3-set match while saving a match point. No one really gave the Chinese player much of a chance in this final even though she had beaten Clijsters a few weeks before in Sydney (by coming back from a 0-5 deficit). So it was quite surprising when Li won the first set relatively easily and stayed even for the early part of he second set by trading service breaks. Clijsters calmed down in the last two sets and dug in, determined to get as much balls back in the court as possible and reduced her unforced errors, eventually leading to her first win in Australia. Unfortunately for her, Aussie Kim's brilliant start to the year was the best part of her 2011 as she did not win any other tournaments for the rest of the year and ended up skipping Wimbledon and the U.S. Open completely.

10. S. Kuznetsova RUS d J. Henin BEL, 6-4 7-6(8), 2011 Australian Open 3rd Round, Melbourne.

The 2-time major champion from Russia had always had difficulty winning matches against the 7-time major champion from Belgium; Henin lead their career head-to-head rivalry 16 to 2 when they met in the 2011 Australian Open 3rd round where Henin had reached the final the year before. It was the first time the two had met since Henin had "unretired" and in the interim Kuznetsova had picked up her second major title (the 2009 French Open). Henin did not play her best tennis in this encounter, but Henin had beaten Kuznetsova over a dozen times without always playing her best tennis so I'm sure she very much expected to win this match. Kuznetsova came out strong early and secured the break in the first set and nursed it to take the set without much complication. In the second set, Kuznetsova served for the match (twice!) but was broken both times and was forced to save multiple set points in the tiebreaker, which was one of nerviest and drama-filled affairs of the year. Losing this match was a huge contributing factor to Henin announcing her second (and presumably last) retirement from competitive tennis. The departure of the 7-time major champion and the absence of the 13-time major champion Serena Williams led to the occurrence of four individual winners of the four majors this year.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

A. Petkovic GER d. C. Wozniacki DEN, 7-5 3-6 6-3, 2011 Sony Erisson Open 4th Round, Miami.
N. Li CHN d. C. Wozniacki DEN, 3-6 7-5 6-3, 2011 Australian Open semifinal, Melbourne.
K.Clijsters BEL d. A. Ivanovic SRB, 7-6(4) 3-6 7-6(5), 2011 Sony Ericssno Open 4th Round.

M. Sharapova RUS d. A. Dulgheru ROU, 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(5), 2011 Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinal.

F. Schiavone ITA d. A. Pavlyuchenkova RUS, 1-6 7-5 7-5, 2011 French Open quarterfinal, Paris.

S. Stosur AUS d. N. Petrova RUS, 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5, 2011 U.S. Open 3rd Round, New York

S. Stosur AUS d. M. Kirilenko RUS, 6-2 6-7(15) 6-3, 2011 U.S. Open 4th Round, New York.

C. Wozniacki DEN d. S. Kuznetsova RUS, 6-7(6) 7-5 6-1, U.S. Open 4th Round, New York.

M. Bartoli FRA d. V. Azarenka BLR, 5-7 6-4 6-4 , WTA Championships, Istanbul.

E. Makarova RUS d A. Ivanovic SRB, 3-6 6-4 10-8, 2011 Australian Open 1st Round, Melbourne.

K. Clijsters BEL d D. Safina RUS, 6-0 6-0, 2011 Australian Open 1st Round, Melbourne.
M. Sharapova RUS d J. Georges GER, 4-6 6-4 6-4, 2011 Australian Open 3rd Round, Melbourne.
A. Petkovic GER d V. Williams USA, 1-0 (retired), 2011 Australian Open 3rd Round, Melbourne.
C. Wozniacki DEN d F. Schiavone ITA, 3-6 6-3 6-3, 2011 Australian Open quarterfinal, Melbourne.
N. Li CHN d. K. Clijsters BEL, 7-6(3) 6-3, 2011 Sydney final, Sydney.

A. Petkovic GER d M. Sharapova RUS, 6-3 6-2, 2011 Australian Open 4th Round, Melbourne.

P. Kvitova CZE d S. Stosur AUS, 7-6(5) 6-3, 2011 Australian Open 3rd Round, Melbourne.

ATP Year In Review: Best Men's Matches of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:07:00 +0000

BY MAD PROFESSAH

Here are my picks for the "best" (or most memorable) tennis matches by men in 2011. These are basically the matches that had the most impact on me while they were occurring, feature some of the best play or most amazing shots, had the most impact on the rest of the tennis season or are matches that I would most likely to watch again in the future. You can see my previous lists: Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2010, Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2009 and Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2006. (There were no men's lists in 2007 or 2008 for some reason.) I have also compiled lists of the Best Women's Tennis Matches for 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010. These can all be accessed at my MadProfessah.com Tennis tab.

1. N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-2 6-4 6-7(3) 6-3, 2011 U.S. Open final, New York.

For the sixth time in 2011 the World #1 and World #2 met in tournament final, this time at the last grand slam of the year (with the ranking positions reversed from the 5 previous meetings), in New York where Rafael Nadal had had his career defining success the year before, completing the career slam by defeating this same opponent at this very same tournament. After surviving a double match point against the Greatest Player of All Time in the previous round Novak Djokovic was playing with "house money" in the final. Surely the new #1 player from Serbia would be unable to snatch another major tournament title from the Spanish defending champion? The most amazing part of this match was that in my estimation Nadal played better tennis than Djokovic for the majority of the first two sets but somehow managed to lose them both. Djokovic seemed impervious to the score and just refused to go away in the first two sets, repeatedly responding to ridiculous shots and enervating rallies from Nadal with one more clear strike of the ball on or near the lines. The mental stakes of this match were even more important than the physical impact. By winning this match Djokovic showed that there was no question that he was the best player in the world, and that he had truly demolished the Federer-Nadal duopoly at the pinnacle of tennis, and was in the process of filling new pages in the tennis record books with the name of the new kid on the block, Novak Djokovic.

2. R. Federer SUI d. N. Djokovic, 7-6(5) 6-3 3-6 7-6(5), 2011 Roland Garros Semifinal, Paris. This match was the only result standing between Novak Djokovic's astonishing 2011 season of three major titles, 5 Masters series shields, a record $12.6 million dollars and 70 tour wins and the rare, sheer perfection of a calendar year slam, which only a handful of male or female tennis players have ever accomplished. After all, Roger Federer has thrice won 3 of the 4 major tournaments in a year (2004, 2006 and 2007) while Nadal did it last year in 2010. Players like Mats Wilander (1988) and Jimmy Connors (1974), who are superb champions but arguably not indelible names in the tennis pantheon, have been able to win 3 major titles in a calendar year. But no man sincethe great Rod Laver has been able to win 4 in a year or 4 in a row. In this match, Federer demonstrated, for the umpteenth time, that he is the second-best clay court player of his generation, behind Rafael Nadal who is the Greatest Clay Court player of all-time, when he faced off against a Djokovic who had not lost a match for the entire year and who had dismissed Federer relatively easily (3 times!) in his 42-match winning streak through the first 5 months of the year. Djokovic's confidence was at its peak and he (and most observers) believed that he would win this match to face Nadal in the final. I sincerely believe that if Djokovic had won this match he would have beaten Nadal in the Roland Garros final and won the elusive calendar Grand Slam to cement his superlative year in the record books for ever. 2011 was the first year since 2002 that Federer did not win a major title but handing Djokovic his only defeat in a Grand Slam match all year long is something the Swiss will long remember and treasure even if his total remains stuck at 16 major singles titles.

3. N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Federer SUI, 6-7(7) 4-6 6-3 6-2 7-5, 2011 U.S. Open semifinal, New York.
Just to get to the final of the U.S. Open for the second year in a row, Djokovic had to face the best hard-court player of his generation, Roger Federer. Amazingly, for the second year in a row Federer held two match points against Djokovic and managed to lose! For Djokovic he had the added mental pressure that he was also facing the only player who had beaten him at a major tournament all year long. However, in the fifth set, having made the herculean effort to overcome a 2-set deficit to even the match, Djokovic faced a match point with Roger Federer serving at 5-3, 40-15. On a pretty good first serve Djokovic hit a forehand go-for-broke service return winner, smacking away a match point in jaw-dropping, history-making fashion. The second match point was lost on a difficult half-volley by Federer (caused by another Djokovic excellent service return) which hit the net and bounced out of bounds. It was this point, 5-3, Deuce in the5th set of the 2011 US Open semifinals that Federer will remember for decades. He should have been able to regroup and serve out the game by finding a way to win two points in a row on his serve but instead he lost the next two points and before he knew it Djokovic had held serve and the match was dead even at 5-all with a complete momentum switch and soon it slipped away completely. It is precisely these very small moments and individual points which extremely close matches can be decided on, and these kinds of matches often decide major championships which are remembered forever.

4. J-W Tsonga FRA d. R. Federer SUI, 3-6 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4 6-4, 2011 Wimbledon quarterfinal, London.
Roger Federer had won 178 Grand Slam matches in a row when he had won the first two sets of a 5-set match at a major tournament, never losing a match with such a huge lead. He was playing at Wimbledon, in the quarterfinals, on a surface he had dominated for the better part of a decade, collecting 6 titles (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009). On the other side of the net was the wildly talented Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who had lost to Federer the last three times they had played but who had acquitted himself well in the Queen's Club warm-up tournament, losing a hard-fought final to Andy Murray. Somehow, after facing a breakpoint in the 1st set Tsonga was able to raise his service effectiveness to stratospheric levels and never even faced a break point in the subsequent 4 sets, managing to break Federer three times, once each time in the three final sets, which was enough to win the match. Federer did not play badly, but he did not play aggressively enough to jar the Frenchman from his self-conceived (and self-confident) game plan once he gained that 2-0 set lead. I believe that Federer was hurt by the fact that he had won so many times due to his opponent basically giving up at the thought of trying to win 3 consecutive sets against The Greatest Player of all Time that he was unprepared for the stiff resistance put up by Tsonga. It was literally a very unfamiliar position for Federer to be in. This match was critical to demonstrate to the rest of the field that Federer, like everyone else, can lose a match despite holding a commanding a lead, and providing a reminder that a match is ot ove runtil the final point is played. Tsonga also exposed the truth that Federer was no longer at the very top of the game, and that there were other players besides former and reigning Grand Slam champions, who could defeat the Swiss Maestro.

5. N. Djokovic SRB d. A. Murray GBR, 6-1 3-6 7-6(2), 2011 Italian Open semifinal, Rome.
Clay court tennis is almost a completely different sport from tennis played on harder, faster surfaces. It requires more patience, more guile and (often), more physical tenacity than hard court tennis. Amazingly, the best clay court match of the year did not feature the presence of the King of Clay Rafael Nadal, but instead was a brutal, brilliant 3-hour slugfest between the 3rd and 4th best clay court players in the world. Some observers call this semifinal clash between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic the best match of the year but I would disagree. For pure tennis entertainment, it probably is the best match of the year, featuring some of the longest rallies of the year but as for overall significance on the future of tennis or impact on me while I was watching it, matches that occur at majors have an inherent advantage of historical significance. I would also argue that the matches higher on the list may not have as many ridiculously long rallies (although the #1 match does) but they each have more eye-popping shots attempted (and frequently made) with tennis posterity on the line. That being said, this was a heck of a match, clearly the best non-final, non-major match of the year. Murray served for the match in the third set and his play throughout was able to partially erase his disappointing performance(s) in major finals and show why he belongs to be in the conversation when discussing the best players in tennis, but in the end, he again fell heart-wrendlingly short of the win, which is all most people will ever remember.

6. N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Nadal, 4-6 6-3 7-6(4), 2011 Sony Ericsson Open final, Miami.
This match was played a mere few weeks after Indian Wells where Djokovic had beaten Nadal for the first time in a final, after losing to him in the five previous finals they had contested. However, it was this match that really cemented in my mind that Djokovic had reached a brand new level of tennis. Djokovic had a bad (16 losses 8 wins) head-to-head record overall with Nadal but all his 8 wins against the Spaniard had come on hard courts (but never in an important final). Nadal was the defending US Open champion and had shown that he could find a way to win on all surfaces, against anyone when it really counted, even the reigning Australian Open champion who was on a 24 match winning streak. The result was a very physical, tactical war of attrition played on a tennis court. And at the end of it all the tennis world was stunned to see Novak Djokovic standing victoriously while the indomitable Rafael Nadal looked exhausted and defeated. This was the match (along with the US Open semifinal win against Federer) that gave Djokovic the confidence to know that he could beat Nadal even if he was not playing his best tennis. After this match it was clear that would only be a matter of when, not if, Djokovic would shatter the Federer-Nadal duopoly at the pinnacle of tennis.

7. R. Nadal ESP d. R. Federer SUI, 7-5 7-6(3) 5-7 6-1, Roland Garros final, Paris.
This was the 25th career meeting between Federer and Nadal, two of the greatest players of all time. It was the 4th time they met in the final of Roland Garros and their 8th major final showdown (Nadal winning 5 times.). Nadal had never lost a final at Roland Garros (in fact so far in his career he has only ever lost one match there!) and thus no one really expected this match to be close. Nadal lead their career head-to-head with 16 wins to 8 losses and had won all 3 previous clay court major finals, their only hard court final in Australia and also won their greatest match (which many people call the greatest match of all time), the 2008 Wimbledon final. There's no question that the physical match up between Nadal's lefty spin and power on both wings with Federer's shot-making and serving prowess is a bad one for the Swiss, but the mental challenge is even more devastating. No one else on tour wins 2/3rds (and expects to win that many) of their matches against the 16-time major champion. So it was quite surprising for everyone watching this match when the first set was clearly on Federer's racquet after he played 40 minutes of crisp, aggressive clay court tennis to blunt and thwart Nadal's many advantages on the surface. An attempted drop shot winner from the baseline on set point which just bounced centimetres wide is what separated the two gladiators this time. Realizing that he had played better than Nadal for large stretches of the first set but had still lost it sapped Federer's mental resolve and he meekly succumbed to the inevitable defeat in four sets of elegant but futile tennis.

8. N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3, Wimbledon final, London.
This was the match that really reflected the fact that the changing of the guard was complete at the top of men's tennis and the new #1 was not named Federer or Nadal but Djokovic. This was Djokovic's first match after clinching his lifetime goal of being universally (and officially) acclaimed the best tennis player in the world. He was facing a 2-time Wimbledon defending champion who had not lost since the 2007 Men's final (having skipped the 2009 tournament due to injury). Did Djokovic really have the ability to take away a major title from a defending champion on that champion's turf? The answer was clearly yes as Djokovic showed how his game with an improved serve, flawless groundstrokes combined with unmatched confidence and stunning movement were a much more problematic match-up for Nadal than what he was used to facing against his arch-rival Roger Federer. Surely having previously lost five finals in a row to Nadal in his career, Djokovic would not be able to beat Nadal in five finals in the same year? Again, the Serbian responded to the question in the affirmative and marked the official beginning of the Djokovic era by winning the most prestigious title in tennis in a convincing fashion.

9. N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Nadal ESP, 7-5 6-4, 2011 Madrid Masters final, Madrid.
Rafael Nadal has gone through entire clay court seasons (2006, 2010) without losing a match on the surface in which he is almost universally acclaimed as the greatest of all time. So, when earlier this year Nadal faced a still undefeated Novak Djokovic it was a canonical example of an unmovable object facing an irresistible force. Most observers felt that Nadal's clay court magic would carry him to victory in this match as it had in the 10 previous times the two had met on clay. This final is most important for the significance of the result: The first time Nadal was beaten by Djokovic in a clay court final.

10. A. Roddick USA d. M. Raonic CAN, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (11), 7-5, Regions Morgan Keegan Championships final, Memphis.
This match is the only one not featuring any of the Top 4 players in the world, Djokovic, Nadal, Federer or Murray. However, it does feature one of the most incredible shots on match points ever (although I would still argue the 2010 US Open Fernando Verdasco-David Ferrer match has the best match point of all time). It also features Milos Raonic, who is almost certainly going to be joining the Top 4 within the next few years. The 21-year-old 6'5" hard-serving Canadian ended the year at #31 and reached a career high of #25 during the year. In this match he faced off against Andy Roddick, a player who was unlucky to be playing in the era of two of the greatest players of all time (Federer and Nadal), in the throes of a hot streak which included winning his first ATP Tour title the week before in San Jose. Roddick's performance in the 2009 Wimbledon men's final is still fresh in a lot of people's memories, where Federer finally broke Sampras's record of 14 major singles titles by outlasting a determined challenge from the American. After his one major win in New York in 2003, Roddick has amassed an impressively consistent record of winning at least one ATP tour title for the last 9 years, a record he shares with Federer thanks to his amazingly gutsy effort on the final point of his match against Raonic.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

The following matches are ones that should not be forgotten, but because of mathematical limitations, could not be in the Top 10 matches of the year. However each one either featured some amazing shots or extended periods of high-quality tennis or were entertaining or important to me as a tennis fan. (They are provided here, in no ranked order, for your perusal, and to jog your memory.)
J.-C. Ferrero ESP d. G. Monfils FRA, 7-6 (5), 5-7, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 2011 U.S. Open 2nd Round, New York

D. Nalbandian ARG d L. Hewitt AUS, 3-6 6-4 3-6 7-6(1) 9-7 , 2011 Australian Open 1st Round, Melbourne.
R. Federer SUI d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-3 6-0, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals round-robin, London.

A. Dolgopolov UKR d R. Soderling SWE, 1-6 6-3 6-1 4-6 6-2, 2011 Australian Open 4th Round, Melbourne.

N. Djokovic SRB d. A. Murray GBR, 6-4 6-2 6-3, 2011 Australian Open final, Melbourne.

N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Federer SUI, 6-4 6-2 6-3, 2011 Australian Open semifinal, Melbourne.

A. Murray GBR d A. Dolgopolov UKR, 7-5 6-3 6-7(3) 6-3, 2011 Australian Open quarterfinal, Melbourne.

N. Djokovic SRB d. T. Berdych CZE, 6-1 7-6(5) 6-1, 2011 Australian Open semifinal, Melbourne.

F. Lopez ESP d. A. Roddick USA, 7-6(2) 7-6(2) 6-4, Wimbledon 3rd Round, London.

K. Nishikori JPN d. N. Djokovic SRB, 3-6 7-6(4) 6-0, Swiss Indoors semi-final, Basel.

N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Nadal, 4-6 6-3 6-2, BNP Paribas Open final, Indian Wells.

D. Ferrer ESP d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-4 6-2 6-3, 2011 Australian Open quarterfinal, Melbourne.

R. Federer SUI d. F. Lopez ESP, 7-6(13) 6-7(1) 7-6(7), 2011 Madrid Open 3rd Round, Madrid.

N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Nadal ESP, 7-5 6-4, 2011 Madrid Open final, Madrid.

R. Gasquet FRA d. R. Federer SUI, 4-6 7-6(2) 7-6(4), Italian Open 3rd Round, Rome.

R. Nadal ESP d. J. Isner USA, 6-4 6-7(2) 6-7(2) 6-2 6-3, Roland Garros 1st Round, Paris.

A. Murray GBR d. J-W. Tsonga FRA, 2-6 7-6(2) 6-4, Queen's Club final, London.

J. Isner USA d. N. Mahut FRA 7-6(4) 6-4 7-6(6), Wimbledon 1st Round, London.

R. Nadal ESP d. J-M. Del Potro ARG, 7-6(6) 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4, Wimbledon 4th Round, London.

D. Young USA d. S. Wawrinka SUI, 7-6(7) 3-6 2-6 6-3 7-6(1), U.S. Open 2nd Round, New York.

R. Federer SUI d. J-W Tsonga FRA, 6-4 6-3 6-3, U.S. Open quarterfinal, New York.
A. Murray GBR d. J. Isner USA, 7-5 6-4 3-6 7-6(2), U.S. Open quarterfinal, New York.
J-W Tsonga FRA d. M. Fish USA,6-4 6-7(3) 3-6 6-4 6-2, U.S. Open 4th round, New York.

J-W Tsonga FRA d. J. Isner USA, 3-6 7-6(1) 7-6(3), BNP Paribas Paris Masters semi-final, Bercy.

R. Federer SUI d. J-W. Tsonga FRA, 6-3 6-7(6) 6-3, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals final, London.
R. Nadal ESP d. J-M del Potro ARG, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 7-6(0), Davis Cup Final.

Djokovic Won A Record $12,619,803 In 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 00:05:00 +0000

BY MAD PROFESSAH

Novak Djokovic won a record $12.6 million in 2011, as a result of winning 70 ATP tour matches (and losing only 6 times all year) along with 10 titles including 3 majors (2011 Australian Open, 2011 Wimbledon and 2011 U.S. Open) and a record 5 Masters Series shields (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, and Montreal). He beat former World #1 Rafael Nadal in 4 of those 5 Masters series finals, beating Mardy Fish in the other and losing to World #4 Andy Murray in the finals of Cincinnati. He also beat Nadal in two of those major finals, beating Murray in the Australian Open final.

Djokovic's financial haul in 2011 moved him up to #4 on the all-time career list, with career earning of $32.4 million, eclipsing Andre Agassi's $31.1 million. World #3 Roger Federer still tops this list with $67.4 million, with Nadal second at $45 million and Pete Sampras now at #3 with $43.2 million. Djokovic's 2011 was the 3rd time in history a player had won more than $10 million in a year, following Federer's $10.13 million in 2007 and Nadal's $10.17 million in 2010.

Spain Reigns

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 05:40:00 +0000

Reuters

Spain's team celebrates with the Davis Cup trophy after defeating Argentina at their Davis Cup final reverse singles rubber at the Olympic Stadium in Seville December 4, 2011. Rafael Nadal mounted a thrilling comeback back from a set down to beat Argentina's Juan Martín del Potro and clinched Spain's fifth Davis Cup tennis title on Sunday.

::

The 2011 tennis season is officially over. Finally.

Davis Cup Final Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:14:00 +0000

Spain vs. Argentina in Seville, Spain, on the slippery red stuff.

Right now, Juan Martín del Potro is serving for a two set to one lead on David Ferrer. Rafael Nadal made quick work of Juan Mónaco in the opener.

Have at it.

Federer Wins Record Sixth World Tour Final

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 13:27:00 +0000

by Craig Hickman

Getty

After his semifinal in London, Roger Federer said something like this: I'm in my 100th final and I can still walk.

He can also still remain composed after tightening up when serving for history.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga comported himself well, but allowing a man to hold serve who's only serving at 33% is something Tsonga might have a nightmare or two about in the coming weeks.

That was Federer's woeful serve stat in his opening service games of the final set. Momentarily demoralized by failing to close out the match in two sets, he appeared sluggish. Almost disinterested. Facing 0-30 on serve in one of those games, it would have been easy to blink. But the Frenchman simply didn't make Federer pay. After all, missing first serves is what got Federer in trouble the first time he served for the match. But this time, Tsonga didn't pounce. Passive play and an error here, then there, allowed Federer to get to game point in that crucial passage. Once the Swiss held serve, the escape was complete. Serving out the match half a set later was a cinch.

It was champion vs. challenger. The challenger has the game to beat the champion, but he's never been able to do so in a final.

Still, I enjoy this match-up. Tsonga, who possesses multiple weapons and exhibits as much touch and court sense as anyone playing the game, forces Federer to bring all his tricks to bear.

The final regular-season match for the men lived up to the occasion. Here's hoping Tsonga can cross the line and become a champion in 2012.

As for Federer, well, he just finished the worst season of his career since 2002 and he's still breaking records.

World Tour Finals Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 23:12:00 +0000

WTF?

I caught some of the opening singles match today between Roger Federer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. It was a see-saw affair until the final game of the match when Tsonga left the stadium. The advantage of serving first in the final set served Raja well.

Now, I'm glimpsing points between Rafael Nadal and Mardy Fish. The American just saved a few match points on serve, a game behind in the second set. Will he go the way of Tsonga or will Rafa get rattled by failing to convert match points? I guess we'll find out soon enough.

The group on the court today is considered the tougher of the two. Tomorrow, the Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, and Tomas Berdych group will commence play.

I alluded to it in a comment, but I'll repeat it here: this event is Raja's to lose.

Enjoy the second-to-last event of the tennis calendar for the men.

Federer Wins Paris Masters Title Over Tsonga

noreply@blogger.com (Ron Buckmire) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 18:58:00 +0000

PHOTO CREDIT: MIGUEL MEDINA

BY MAD PROFESSAH

Roger Federer won his 69th ATP tour title in the Bercy suburbs of Paris (one week after winning his 68th in Basel) by defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1 7-6(3). Tsonga may have been slightly tired due to his thrilling three-set win against John Isner in the semifinals, while Federer has looked extremely sharp all week, becoming only the fourth player to win the tournament without dropping a set and the second, after Andre Agassi, to win both important tournaments played in Paris (Roland Garros and the Paris Masters).

It was Federer's 3rd title of the year and 69th of his career, playing in his 99th career final. It was the Swiss Great's 18th career ATP Masters title, one behind Rafael Nadal's 19 (which is the all-time record). In 2011, Novak Djokovic won 5 Masters events (the most anyone has ever won in a single season), followed by Andy Murray with two (Shanghai and Cincinnati) and Federer and Nadal with one each (Paris and Monte Carlo, respectively). It was Federer's first title in Bercy, and he has now reached the finals of all 9 Masters series tournament (but has never won in Monte Carlo).

The most prestigious tournament of the year starts Sunday November 20th with the top 8 players (Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Federer, David Ferrer, Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and Mardy Fish) who qualified for the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Federer is the defending champion (defeating Nadal last year) and enters the round-robin tournament on a 12-match winning streak.

End Of Season Open Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 22:42:00 +0000

As Carter told us in the comments, Andy Murray is the King of Asia, supplanting Roger Federer at No. 3 in the rankings.

Agnieszka Radwańska is the Queen.

I missed all of it.

This week, the tour turned back to Europe. Soon, the season ending events will commence and I'm still not sure what will hold my focus.

For now, it's feeding people. Tennis will just have to wait.

I hope you are all having a great season, wherever in the world you are.

Peace.

Czech Republic Makes History

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 01:54:00 +0000

For the first time as an independent nation, the Czech Republic takes home the Fed Cup. No small feat considering that the team of Lucie Šafářová, Lucie Hradecká, Captain Petr Pála, Květa Peschke and Petra Kvitová did it in Moscow against a team that has won the most Fed Cup titles of any nation in the past decade.

Championships Debut

noreply@blogger.com (Craig Hickman) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:21:00 +0000

Getty

There she goes again. Winning another indoor match in 2011. Remaining undefeated on the year under the roof and capturing her first WTA Season Ending Championships Crown on her debut in the year's best eight. Only Serena Williams (2001) and Maria Sharapova (2004) have achieved that.

The most I can say about the final is that it was played primarily on Petra Kvitova's racquet. She raced out to a 5-0 lead, only to squander it by losing the next 5 games. She recovered just in time to take the first set 7-5 and then I can't tell you want happened.

Silly me. I thought ESPN was airing the match live or at least would show the entire thing on delay. Nope. After the first-set, PMac and crew cut to Victoria Azarenka serving for the second set at 5-4, which she managed to do with some line-clipping winners. The first day in forever I sit down to watch a complete tennis match and I don't actually get to watch a complete tennis match.

Sigh.

Petra fought off four break points in the first game of the final set and then broke at love to lead 2-0. The young Czech with the Bette Davis eyes never looked back, taking the final set 6-3. She will rise to a career high ranking of No. 2 in the world on Monday.

The computer's world No. 1 didn't even get out of the round robin.

Humph.

Who knows what 2012 will bring for a streaky player with a great serve and every shot in the book. By the looks of it, a top ranking is a good bet and I doubt anyone would be surprised if she added an other Slam to her trophy case. As it is, she's the best the WTA has to offer, emerging undefeated in the year's final event, as did Serena two years ago.