2011 Australian Open: Day 5

So. Exhausted. Australian Open Radio is alternately highly entertaining and exceedingly annoying.

• "First name Trinidad, last name Tobago?"
• Following Tomas Berdych vs. Richard Gasquet is absolutely maddening.
  

2011 Australian Open: Days 1-4

I want to watch the Australian Open! It seems like there are some amazing things going on and I am missing them all!

• It looks like Rafael Nadal is putting on freaking clinics every time he steps onto the court. His matches might not be the most exciting, but who cares?
• I almost died last night when Kei Nishikori lost the third set 6-0. He seems to have a speech impediment (irrelevant, I know), but he's fun to follow. All aboard the Japanese Singular Mindset Bandwagon!
• Apparently, Todd Woodbridge sent the following text to Rennae Stubbs:
  

  "Is Kim Clijsters pregnant? She looks grumpy and her boobs are bigger."
  
  

• Oh, Dinara Safina...
• Jelena Jankovic, your ship has sailed.
• Jamie Murray is married now? Damn, Jankovic's ships are all sailing away.

Can't Blame the Season for This One

So... Serena Williams just officially withdrew from the 2011 Australian Open. Not only is it a very early withdrawal, it is just the next chapter in an extremely perplexing injury story. She supposedly cuts her foot on glass in a restaurant and needs surgery for it (seriously, what kind of restaurants is she frequenting?), then provides conflicting information about the state of her injury. She's on crutches. She's on high heels at a red-carpet event. She's in a boot. She "pushed too hard" trying to get back into training and re-injured herself. How? Did her stitches split open? What exactly was cut by the glass?

I guess I was one of the skeptics out there when Serena was first injured, but I guess if she's withdrawing from all of these major events (including the WTA Championships), then there must be something serious going on. Why, then, doesn't she release something a little more detailed and forthcoming so that her haters don't have even more reason to hate?

2010 Australian Open: Men

On the men's side, the few things that I noticed were that Novak Djokovic lost a 2-sets-to-1 lead (with a physical complaint, as usual--I believe this time it was the stomach), Roger Federer almost lost to Nikolay Davydenko (that would have made things INTERESTING), and Rafael Nadal retired against Andy Murray with a knee injury, down 2 sets. It seems that this happened at the beginning of the third set and that Murray was actually outplaying Nadal for two sets, which makes for pretty interesting tennis. On the other hand it seems that Nadal's physical problems (actual) keep coming, and everyone is wondering how long his body will last. Changing his style of play is pretty much out of the question at this point in his career and training, and one can only hope that the ATP/WTA comes to its senses soon. This latest injury will have him out for 4 weeks, and it's frustrating to watch. I would really love to see Nadal win the U.S. Open sometime, but before that I just want him back to his agressive, healthy self. But all of this just highlights how special Federer is, who is so light on his feet and evidently almost immune to injury (no jinx, please).

Anyway, tonight (or rather tomorrow morning) is the men's final, and I really want Murray to take it. Logically I think that Federer will probably take this in 4 sets, but Murray has beaten Federer several times before and is also better rested coming in... so I'll say Murray in 4. 5, maybe? I don't know... I don't actually see the upset happening, but anything is possible and one can hope. Murray has to have his Grand Slam breakthrough sometime, right? x(._.)x

Also, speaking of men, I followed a little bit of Shingo Kunieda yesterday. Usually there's one hugely dominant player who sweeps all of the Grand Slams, but last night he was at least tested en route to a three-set win. Wheelchair tennis isn't the most exciting, but it's definitely inspirational and intriguing.

EDIT: Not this time, Murray... not even close. But his tears at the end endear him to me a lot.

2010 Australian Open: Women

Being unable to watch any tennis has severely hampered my ability to, well, formulate opinions on any of the matches. Up until now I've consequently followed everything very peripherally, noting only that the Chinese seemed to have a very good time at this tournament. This didn't really do much to heighten my interest, though, because Na Li took out Caroline Wozniacki, who was the only player left I cared about by the time the quarterfinals (or was it even before then?) rolled around. It got slightly interesting when Li really took it to Serena Williams in the semis, but as usual Serena found a way out (actually she almost lost to Victoria Azarenka in the quarters, and probably would have if a) Serena weren't Serena and b) Azarenka didn't have a tendency to headcase out in three-setters, especially with a lead). On the other side Justine Henin marched her way to the finals, completely demolishing Jie Zheng in the semis.

As long as we're talking about Chinese tennis players, can I digress? These two players need to start going by Na Li and Jie Zheng all the time, and not half the time while they try to assert their country's linguistic traditions by going by Li Na and Zheng Jie. Look, it's do as Romans do, and the fact that both of their names sound equally likely as first and last to foreigners without exposure to Chinese only complicates things more. This actually goes for Yu-Na Kim as well. Someone needs to tell international athletes that first names go first and last names go last, because other than creating unncessary confusion it's just a blatant disregard for international conventions and blind stubbornness. Anyway.

It's hard to believe that Serena and Henin have never played each other before in a Grand Slam final. Actually I don't really understand how that works (have they always somehow ended up on the same side of the draw?) but this should make for some interesting tennis. I'm not much of a fan of either of them, but I think all considered I have to throw my support to Henin. Whether she'll win is hard to say... but I think that she has a good chance. She comes in fresher than Serena and is more consistent, with none of the boredom that usually comes with the word. This will be a great match to watch--a lot of athleticism without any of my personal stake--too bad it airs at 3:30 AM EST. Right. Bottom line: Henin in 3?

2010 Australian Open: Days 2-4

I have to admit, I haven't been following this Australian Open as closely as I usually do--this new Nationals schedule seems to have taken up my attention. Regardless I still do check the scores and read Jon Wertheim's column, and it seems nothing too major has happened so far:

• Justine Henin beat Elena Dementieva 7-5, 7-6. I am not surprised.
• Gisela Dulko beat Ana Ivanovic 6-7, 7-5, 6-4. Also not surprised. What is going on with her, anyway? She keeps talking about looking at the "positives" and gaining back her confidence, but she says this after every loss and nothing has happened.
• Juan Martin del Potro took out James Blake in some long five-setter. This wasn't entirely surprising either, but disappointing, since it's always kind of nice to see a really good guy go far.
• Oh, and Marcos Baghdatis is back, sort of--at least for now.

Seriously, something interesting better happen soon. In the meantime, you can always look at this.

EDIT: Someone listened to me: Jelena Jankovic lost, Andy Roddick is down a set, and Justine Henin is down a break. Yeah Day 5!
EDIT: Not really a surprise, but Roddick and Henin made it through after all. Well, I didn't really want Roddick to lose so I suppose that's good. But while I was asleep Kim Clijsters lost in a bad way... I don't think this is what I meant when I wanted something interesting to happen. Also, I should probably rename this post to Days 2-5.

2010 Australian Open: Days 0 and 1

Yes, it's already that time of year--the Australian Open has begun! The time difference makes matches difficult to follow live, and more often that not I end up waking up to the result of the key matches, but it's all exciting nonetheless.

I just have to mention Day 0 because that was when Hit for Haiti, Roger Federer's brainchild, took place. It's such a simple idea but so well executed, and it seems to have had an amazing turnout in terms of audience, players, and donations. There was something quite unsettling about Jon Wertheim's analysis that 'This is not the "foundation benefit," whereby you pay your buddies an appearance, hold a lavish party and give the "proceeds" to charity.' (sigh), but he's right--this was a purely charitable event. It makes me wonder why the US Nationals, which started this past weekend (see: previous posts), hasn't capitalized on its opportunity to make a mention of Haiti. Perhaps part of the ticket sales to the gala could be contributed... But anyway, I'm not here to judge, or rather I shouldn't when I'm on the East Coast instead of Spokane.

Onto the actual tournament. Maria Sharapova was upset in the first round by Maria Kirilenko, and I'm not sure if I'm surprised by this result or not. It's hard to tell where Sharapova's game stands right now, but I think I expected a little more from her. And as most others have been saying, her dress was a part disaster, if not a full one:

Sorry for the terrible quality.

Evidently she designed it herself. I guess this is another one of those super-hyped outfits that will be used once (or twice) and then never seen again...

Rafael Nadal also won, as did the other top seeds (Dinara Safina, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick)--it's also good to see that Ana Ivanovic, now seeded 20(!), won as well. Day 2 is already underway, and it looks like both Serena Williams and Nikolay Davydenko will win, but sadly (although no surprise) Fabrice Santoro is a game away from losing.

My personal favorites have a tendency to lose, but here's to them and to more drama and excitement over the next two weeks~