January '07 Awards

Hmmm, maybe there'd be more suspense if I called these monthly recaps the "Anti-Federer Awards" that honored everyone "not named Roger."

Sure, Rogier Wassen might be left out in the cold... but maybe he could get a waver for that extra "i."

**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Roger Federer... first comes Melbourne, then comes Paris. By September, will it be "here comes Roger pushing a baby carriage full of four brand-spanking-new slam trophies?"
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2. Fernando Gonzalez... as time goes by, what Nadal did against Federer in the early stages of '06 is becoming more and more impressive.
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3. Bob & Mike Bryan... one more slam title and they'll be more than half-way to Woodbridge & Woodforde's Open Era record of 11.
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4. Andy Roddick... remember the quaint "olden days" when Federer wasn't #1, but Roddick was? You know, all the way back in 2003. Did they even have the internet back then?
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5. Novak Djokovic... sure, he couldn't touch Federer in Melbourne. But he's not exactly the "odd man out" in that department.
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**RISERS**
1. Fernando Gonzalez
2. Novak Djokovic
3. Andy Murray
4. Dmitry Tursunov
5. Richard Gasquet

**SURPRISES**
1. Stefan Koubek
2. Mardy Fish
3. Brydan Klein
4. Dudi Sela
5. Danai Udomchoke

**VETERANS**
1. Carlos Moya
2. Daniel Nestor
3. Jonas Bjorkman & Max Mirnyi
HM- Paul Hanley & Kevin Ullyett

**FRESH FACES**
1. Chris Guccione
2. Gael Monfils
3. Juan Martin Del Potro
4. Brydan Klein
5. Jonathan Eysseric

**DOWN**
1. Marcos Baghdatis
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Ivan Ljubicic
4. Mark Philippoussis
5. Lleyton Hewitt

TOP PERFORMANCE: Roger Federer wins Australian Open without dropping a set, becoming the first man since Bjorn Borg ('80 Roland Garros) to do so at a slam

TOP COMEBACK (in a tour event): Mardy Fish, reaching QF at Oz Open
TOP COMEBACK (in a non-tour event) Andy Roddick, who beat Federer in the Kooyang exhibition final

BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGH: Fernando Gonzalez reaches first slam final, defeating Top 5 players Rafael Nadal and James Blake along the way
BEST MATCH: Australian Open SF - Federer d. Roddick 6-4/6-0/6-2. No, it wasn't truly competitive... but it was as close to a "time capsule" Federer peformance as you're likely to find (well, until he does something similar again, of course)

YOU SAY ROUND ROBIN, ROGER SAYS NO THANK YOU: Federer stated his dislike for the ATP's '07 practice of holding tournament Round Robins on the regular schedule. He says he won't enter one. As a footnote, Novak Djokovic was the first champion at one of these events, at Adelaide in Week 1. (Great, another reason for Federer to look askance at Djokovic... nice move, Novak.)

SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE: Mark Philippoussis injured his knee at the Hopman Cup in Perth and missed the Australian Open.
SOME THINGS DO CHANGE.. but not always for the good: Serb and Croat "fans" made the Australian Open grounds look like a European soccer match when they got into a brawl before the match between Serbia's Ilia Bozoljic and Croatia's Marin Cilic.

HOW WAS YOUR DAY?: Alberto Martin lost the first seventeen games in his 1st Round Melbourne match against Andy Murray. Don't worry, though. It wasn't a TOTAL loss... he battled back to only lose 6-0/6-0/6-1. Way to go, Alberto!

ON SECOND THOUGHT: I was going to say something eruditely philosophical here about Nikolay Davydenko being at least a little right about "no one caring about" the slam tune-up events like Sydney. But, then, I thought, why bother?


All for now.

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