Tranquility Base... Roger Has Landed

Roger Federer may not be the first man to step onto the surface of the tennis landscape, but the footprints he'll leave might be the longest-lasting.



Seriously, what WILL the ATP record book look like after Federer is through with it? He has the chance to put career marks so far out of reach that the fanciful stories told about him to future generations will sound like the myths of the Greek Gods.

"Timmy, there was once a man who could hold up the heavens with his racket... and stack together the building blocks of life with his free hand."

Sunday's Australian Open Men's final was just another inevitable step further into history for Roger the Stupendous. Facing off against Fernando Gonzalez, the eighth different player he's met in his eleven career slam finals, was thought to potentially be a challenge for the generation's most well-tuned tennis machine.

It was, too. For about nine games.

Gonzo tried to stay with Federer and, for a while, when the world #1 was serving at under 50% and had more errors than winners on his match ledger, he did. He broke Federer to take a 5-4 lead in the 1st set, and held two set points on his own serve at 40-15. Then Federer used a firm wrist to swat away a shot at the net, and Gonzalez netted a makeable forehand down the line.

Deuce... and Gonzalez's fate was sealed.

Federer passed Gonzalez at the net to break, won nine of ten points after the netted forehand, and began to round his game into stellar form. The Swiss Mister failed to convert four set points on the Chilean's serve at 6-5 in a seven-deuce game that ended with Gonzalez converting on his own fifth game point. But Gonzalez had already let his opportuntiy pass him by.

Federer won the tie-break 7-2, then proceeded to run his opponent to the edges of the court (and beyond) over the next two sets, wearing him down until the only question remaining was whether or not the errant moth that had landed on Rod Laver Arena's court would suffer as public a demise as the helpful man from Chile who'd stopped play in order to remove his insect friend from the court.

(For the record, after nearly being stepped on by a ballkid, the moth was carried off to what was likely a more private end.)

After having seen his serve broken in the opening set to give Gonzalez a chance to serve for the set, Federer proceeded to win 49 of his remaining 53 service points in the match. After his 7-6/6-4/6-4 win, Federer's streak of sets won in Melbourne stood at 24 going back to last year (with the final 21 making him the first man to claim a slam without dropping a set since Bjorn Borg at Roland Garros in 1980...some fourteen months before Federer's birth).

Not that Federer needs any more numbers to back up his dominance, but here are a few more: he's the first man to win three different slams at least three times, he'll break Jimmy Connors' mark of 160 consecutive weeks at #1 by the end of February (and is just two and a half years -- a blink in Federer time -- from Pete Sampras' all-time mark of 286 weeks in the top spot), has won six of the last seven slams (plus 8/10, 9/13 and 10/15 to be precise) and is riding a 36-match winning streak that is the longest of his career.

Yes, he's better now than he's EVER been before. And that's saying something. Look out, Paris. Here he comes. Rafa, that means you, too.

Surely, the upcoming clay season's subplot of Federer's quest is a juicy one. Only winning Roland Garros (defeating Nadal there in the final... and, if there's any justice, the Spaniard will still be looking to continue his record clay winning streak when/if they meet) is left to eliminate from Federer's list of "things to prove" before he can simply worry himself (is he capable of "worry?") with the ghosts of tennis past, present and future.

Connors. Sampras. Borg. Laver. They're all in his sights now. Sampras and Andre Agassi have talked of Federer winning 18 slams in his career (jokingly referencing that he, along with his friend Tiger Woods, is going after Jack Nicklaus' golf major record of 18), but maybe it's Steffi Graf (22) and Margaret Court (24) whose slam records are REALLY in jeopardy, expanding this chase not only across sports boundaries, but gender ones as well. Federer stands at 10 (Tiger has 12). Let the race begin.

A win in Paris will make Federer as odds-on favorite as there's ever been in the history of sport to claim the men's game's first Grand Slam since 1969. Who'd think he's lose at SW19 or Flushing Meadows with the Australian and French titles in his pocket? No one. That would Federer's slam total at 13, just one behind Sampras' 14... and Roger will be only 26.

Melbourne was always meant to be the first step for (hardly) a mere man, but one giant leap toward "Roger Slam." Not only did Federer not disappoint Down Under... he amazed.

Did we expect anything less?



**MOST SLAM SINGLES TITLES**
14...Pete Sampras
12...Roy Emerson
11...Bjorn Borg
11...Rod Laver
10...ROGER FEDERER
10...Bill Tilden

**MEN'S GRAND SLAMS**
[won all 4 slams in a season]
1938...Don Budge
1962...Rod Laver
1969...Rod Laver

**WEEKS AT #1 ON COMPUTER**
286...Pete Sampras
270...Ivan Lendl
268...Jimmy Connors
170...John McEnroe
156...ROGER FEDERER

**CONSECUTIVE WEEKS AT #1**
160...Jimmy Connors
157...Ivan Lendl
156...ROGER FEDERER
102...Pete Sampras

**FEDERER SLAM FINAL VICTIMS**
2003 Wimbledon - Mark Philippoussis
2004 Australian - Marat Safin
2004 Wimbledon - Andy Roddick
2004 U.S. - Lleyton Hewitt
2005 Wimbledon - Andy Roddick
2005 U.S. - Andre Agassi
2006 Australian - Marcos Baghdatis
2006 Wimbledon - Rafael Nadal
2006 U.S. - Andy Roddick
2007 Australian - Fernando Gonzalez
==Slam Final Loss==
2006 Roland Garros - Rafael Nadal

**SLAM DOUBLES TITLES**
[Open Era]
11...Woodbridge/Woodforde (1992-00)
5....BRYAN/BRYAN (2003-07)
5....Eltingh/Haarhuis (1994-98)


MEN'S SINGLES: (1)Roger Federer d. (10)Fernando Gonzalez 7-6/6-4/6-4
WOMEN'S SINGLES: Serena Williams d. (1)Maria Sharapova 6-1/6-2
MEN'S DOUBLES: (1)Bryan/Bryan d. (2)Bjorkman/Mirnyi 7-5/7-5
WOMEN'S DOUBLES: (3)Black/Huber d. Chan/Chuang 6-4/6-7/6-1
MIXED DOUBLES: Likhovtseva/Nestor d. Azarenka/Mirnyi 6-4/6-4
BOYS SINGLES: Brydan Klein d. (2)Jonathan Eysseric 6-2/4-6/6-1
GIRLS SINGLES: (1)Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova d. (16)Madison Brengle 7-6/7-6
BOYS DOUBLES: Dyce/Heliovaara d. (8)Donald/Roy 6-2/6-7/6-3
GIRLS DOUBLES: Rodina/Rodionova d. (1)Cohen/U.Radwanska 2-6/6-3/6-1

All for now.

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Tell Him Something Pretty

"Tell him something pretty."

That was the last line of the final episode of "Deadwood," said by saloon owner Al Swearengen to an underling when asked what a somewhat "less jaded" employee should be told about how Swearengen had just been forced by "external forces" of survival to murder a prostitute the man had befriended.

"Tell him something pretty," Swearengen muttered before he dropped to his knees to wipe up the pool of blood on the floor.

After Roger Federer's 6-4/6-0/6-2 destruction of Andy Roddick -- who might have been led to believe that his Kooyang win over the Holy Trinity of Tennis could mean the dynamic had changed a little in this "non-rivalry" -- in the men's semifinals, I wonder if Jimmy Connors managed to come up with something appropriately "pretty" to tell his charge?

Whew! Beating Federer in that exhibition could have been the worst thing that Roddick's ever done. I mean, with that 12-1 career record against the American, Federer might have been able to take winning a match against him for granted. But Roddick's unofficial victory put him back on the All-Powerful One's radar... and this is what happens when He looks at an opponent as a threat. Hello, 13-1, with a twist of the knife in Roddick's gut for good measure. You know, just as a reminder of where he REALLY stands.

Honestly, sometimes your jaw just reflexively drops and you can't help but shake your head at how easy Federer makes things look sometimes. It used to be that only Lleyton Hewitt was subjected to this sort of public schooling by Headmaster Federer in a slam. Welcome to the club, Andy... see if there's any open seats where you can sit down.

For the record, Federer has won 35 straight matches. He's appeared in seven straight slam finals. He's three sets away from winning his 10th slam title, and if he can do it in straights he'll become the first maan in 27 years to win a slam without dropping a single set. Yeah, just what Federer needs... MORE records.

Get used to it. After a few years of the likes of John McEnroe and Andre Agassi talking about how Federer might just be the best ever it's becoming clear that they could be right.

I know I'm a believer. I'm drinking the Kool-Aid. As for Andy, Andy, James and maybe even Rafa... well, I hope someone tells them something pretty.




Love-Love... in the end, all four of the women's semifinalists played to type.

In the first match, Nicole Vaidisova stayed close to Serena Williams. But she couldn't quite close out the opening set (she had a set point) when she had the chance, reacted emotionally and then fell behind in the 2nd, caught herself before things got ugly and battled herself back into the match before ultimately losing 7-6/6-4 to Williams. Serena, displaying the muscle memory of a champion two years removed, used her big match, big point experience to hold off the Czech teen's ascension for at least one more slam. After coming this far, she's going to be very difficult to beat in the final.

In Match #2, Maria Sharapova continued to be shaky on her serve, tossing in more double-faults than in her lackluster effort against Chakvetadze in the QF... but she was able to hold herself together and play the big points with more ease than her opponent. Kim Clijsters was able to break the Russian twice in the 1st set, only to immediately give the advantage right back in the next game both times. Sharapova ultimately took a tight 6-4 1st stanza. The Belgian took a 40-0 lead on Sharapova's serve to open the 2nd, but lost the game and then squandered more break point opportunities throughout the set as the 19-year old closed out the match with a 6-2 set, thereby ending the 23-year old's Australian Open career.

So, bring on Serena vs. the Supernova, Part V... their first clash since Sharapova had three match points ripped from her grasp by Williams in the Oz SF in 2005 -- the last tourament that Serena won. Really, is there any other women's tennis matchup with so much going for it? What with Serena's in-and-out presence the past two seasons, this treat is a rare delicacy. But the Aussie Open couldn't ask for a better final than the game's biggest star (the odds-on favorite when the tournament began) versus its most talented player (who came to Melbourne as a longshot, but also as the most dangerous floater in the history of tennis draws).

Sure, Serena isn't quite in TOP form at the moment, but she's so "special good" that anything close allows her to put on an extended performance like the one she's given us in Melbourne. Hey, Sharapova isn't exactly making anyone compare her to Federer at the moment, either. But here they are, Justine Henin (how oddly short that seems now) aside, the two most fierce competitors in women's tennis meeting on the big stage.

This could be a classic. Should be fun.
=============================
15-Love...


**MOST CAREER SLAM TITLES - WOMEN**
24...Margaret Smith-Court
22...Steffi Graf
19...Helen Wills-Moody
18...Martina Navratilova
18...Chris Evert
12...Billie Jean King
12...Suzanne Lenglen
9....Monica Seles
8....Maureen Connolly
8....Molla Bjurstedt Mallory
7....SERENA WILLIAMS
7....Maria Bueno
7....Evonne Goolagong-Cawley
7....Dorothea Lambert-Chambers

**SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE**
12...Martina Hingis (5-7)
11...Venus Williams (5-6)
10*..SERENA WILLIAMS (7-2)
9....Justine Henin (5-4)
6....Mary Pierce (2-4)
5....Kim Clijsters (1-4)
3*...MARIA SHARAPOVA (2-0)
3....Jennifer Capriati (3-0)
3....Amelie Mauresmo (2-1)
--
*-including '07 Aust.Open final

**RUSSIAN WOMEN IN SLAM FINALS**
1974 Wimbledon - Evert d. MOROZOVA
1974 U.S. - Evert d. MOROZOVA
2004 R.G. - MYSKINA d. DEMENTIEVA
2004 Wimbledon - SHARAPOVA d. S.Williams
2004 U.S. - KUZNETSOVA d. DEMENTIEVA
2006 R.G. - Henin-H. d. KUZNETSOVA
2006 U.S. - SHARAPOVA d. Henin-H.
2007 Australian - SHARAPOVA vs. S.Williams

**RECENT UNSEEDED SLAM FINALISTS**
1997 Australian - Mary Pierce (lost to Hingis)
1997 US Open - Venus Williams (lost to Hingis)
1999 Australian - Amelie Mauresmo (lost to Hingis)
2007 AUSTRALIAN - SERENA WILLIAMS

**AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS IN 2000's**
2000 Davenport def. Hingis
2001 Capriati def. Hingis
2002 Capriati def. Hingis
2003 S.Williams def. V.Williams
2004 Henin-Hardenne def. Clijsters
2005 S.Williams def. Davenport
2006 Mauresmo def. Henin-Hardenne
2007 SHARAPOVA vs. S.WILLIAMS

**SERENA vs. MARIA**
2004 Miami 4r - Serena 6-4/6-3
2004 Wimbledon F - Sharapova 6-1/6-4
2004 WTA Chsp F - Sharapova 4-6/6-2/6-4
2005 Aust.SF - Serena 2-6/7-5/8-6
2007 AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINAL

=============================
30-Love...

**MOST CAREER SLAM TITLES - MEN**
14...Pete Sampras
12...Roy Emerson
11...Bjorn Borg
11...Rod Laver
10...Bill Tilden
9....ROGER FEDERER

**SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE**
11*..ROGER FEDERER (9-1)
4....Marat Safin (2-2)
4....Lleyton Hewitt (2-2)
4....Andy Roddick (1-3)
--
*-including '07 Aust.Open final

**AUSTRALIAN OPEN BOYS CHAMPIONS**
2000 Andy Roddick
2001 Janko Tipsarevic
2002 Clement Morel
2003 Marcos Baghdatis
2004 Gael Monfils
2005 Donald Young
2006 Alexandre Sidorenko

=============================
30-15... a big upset happened in the Women's Doubles SF on Day 11, as #2-seeded defending champions Zi Yan & Jie Zheng were knocked out by a Taiwanese team, 17-year old Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang, 22, by a 6-3/6-4 score.

Individually, the doubles players still in contention for multiple titles are Liezel Huber, Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi. All three are in Doubles finals, and still alive in the Mixed SF.
=============================
40-15

... just as the Belarussians impressed in the early rounds of the main draw, one has done so in the Girls competition, as well. 16-year old #3-seed Ksenia Milevskaya advanced to the SF with a win over Urszula Radwanska. She'll play the lowest-seeded semifinalist, 16-year old American #16-seed Madison Brengle. The other two Girls semifinalists are defending champion and #1-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and #6-seeded French Pastry Alize Cornet (who also was a qualifier for the main draw).

Aussie Brydan Klein advanced on the Boys side, and will face #10-seed Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania. The other semi will be contested by #2-seed Jonathan Eysseric of France and Italian #8-seed Thomas Fabbiano.

**GIRLS DOUBLES SF**
#1 Julia Cohen(USA) & Urszula Radwanska(POL)
vs.
Evgeniya Rodina(RUS) & Arina Rodionva(RUS)

**BOYS DOUBLES SF**
#8 Stephen Donald(AUS) & Rupesh Roy(IND)
vs.
Graeme Dyce(GBR) & Harri Heliovaara(FIN)

=============================
MATCH, "Down to the Wire"...

**MEN'S FINAL**
#1 Roger Federer vs. #10 Fernando Gonzalez or #12 Tommy Haas
**WOMEN'S FINAL**
#1 Maria Sharapova vs. Serena Williams
**MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL**
#1 Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan vs. #2 Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi
**WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL**
#3 Cara Black/Liezel Huber vs. Yung-Jan Chan/Chia-Jung Chuang
**MIXED DOUBLES SEMIFINAS**
#4 Francesca Schiavone/Jonas Bjorkman vs. Victoria Azarenka/Max Mirnyi
-----------------------------
#7 Liezel Huber/Kevin Ullyett vs. Elena Likhovtseva/Daniel Nestor

=============================




All for Day 11.

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2007 Australian Open Picks

Well, it's time to be wrong for the first time in 2007. So, needless to say, I'm going to hedge my bets and picks Roger Federer to win the Australian Open. There is no safer bet in sports at the moment, is there?

As a matter of fact, I'll go one better (of is it four?) and say that the Magnificent One will this season become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win the true Grand Slam. And, yes, he'll cry on Arthur Ashe in September... hopefully, Laver will be there to see it yet again, too.

As for Oz:



**ROUND OF 16**
#1 Federer def. #14 Djokovic
#7 Robredo def. #11 Baghdatis
T.Johansson def. #4 Ljubicic
#6 Roddick def.#9 Ancic
#12 Haas def. #8 Nalbandian
#3 Davydenko def. #13 Berdych
#5 Blake def. #19 Hewitt
#31 Wawrinka def. #15 Murray

...if Djokovic had been in the bottom half of the draw, I would have been tempted to pick a SF (at least). Blake and Hewitt seem to be connected by a slam umbilical cord. No Rafa? He doesn't appear to be ready, but then again that was the thought at Wimbledon last year, too.

**QUARTERFINALS**
#1 Federer def. #7 Robredo
#6 Roddick def. T.Johansson
#3 Davydenko def. #12 Haas
#5 Blake def. #31 Wawrinka

...of course, Joachim Johansson might end up being a story at this Australian Open, as well.

**SEMIFINALS**
#1 Federer def. #6 Roddick
#3 Davydenko def. #5 Blake

...yeah, Roddick beat Federer at Kooyang. But Tommy Haas did the same thing a year ago, and how much did that matter? At least Blake won't have to be obliterated by Federer again.

**FINAL**
#1 Federer def. #3 Davydenko

...Nikolay cares about this one. But, unfortunately for the Russian, so does Roger.


One down in RogerSlam. Three to go. All for now.

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2007 ATP Top 10 Predictions

Unlike with the WTA, forecasting the ATP in 2007 isn't a matter of determining which players will walk away with the slam crowns... but instead it's all about how many slams that Roger Federer will win THIS year.

Federer seems focused on adding Roland Garros to the collection of trophy "pelts" on his wall. So is this the year that the "RogerSlam" becomes a reality? The Swiss Mister might actually NEED to pull off the first men's Grand Slam since Rod Laver in 1969 if he's to ever rise above the world's other male athletes and finally claim a few of those "Athlete/Sportsman of the Year" awards for which he's been undeservedly passed over the past couple of years.

Hmmm, that being the case, maybe the better question should be which of THESE two guys will win the most slams/majors in 2007?




Now THAT is a true conundrum.

=============================

Here's my early predictions for the 2007's Top 10 male players:

1. Roger Federer... come on, who else am I going to choose?
-----------------------------
2. Rafael Nadal... it's tough holding up your half of a rivalry when the other side is being held up by the King of Kings. Right, Rafa?
-----------------------------
3. Andy Roddick... is another slam final in A-Rodd's future now that Jimmy Connors is along for the ride? Problem is, Roger owns all the freeways.
-----------------------------
4. Nikolay Davydenko... he needs to reach a slam final if he's going to make a name for himself outside the serious tennis circles
-----------------------------
5. James Blake... how much longer can he hold off the Roddick/Connors combo and remain the USA's top-ranked player?
-----------------------------
6. Mario Ancic... it's about time he made a major move at a slam, isn't it?
-----------------------------
7. Ivan Ljubicic... '06 was a good step up, but the next one will be even tougher with Roger & Rafa guarding the door.
-----------------------------
8. Novak Djokovic... I may regret not putting him up a little higher than this when things are all said and done.
-----------------------------
9. David Nalbandian... the Argentine is always hovering, so I can hardly leave him out.
-----------------------------
10. Dmitry Tursunov... when you challenge Safin for the title of "most entertaining" Russian, that's saying something.
-----------------------------
DON'T FORGET... Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Marat Safin, Marcos Baghdatis
-----------------------------
LOOK OUT FOR... Joachim Johansson & Thomas Johansson
-----------------------------
IS THE TIME FINALLY RIGHT FOR... Richard Gasquet?
-----------------------------
AND IF LATE 2006 MOMENTUM COUNTS FOR ANYTHING... Fernando Gonzalez
-----------------------------


For a second opinion, here's what Tennisrulz Head Honcho Pierre Cantin says:

1-Roger Federer (ok, could anyone really do otherwise? Seriously?
-----------------------------
2-Rafael Nadal (hate to sound obvious here but...)
-----------------------------
3-James Blake (been on the rise for a couple of years, 2007 will be no exception)
-----------------------------
4-Andy Roddick (back in rythm with his new coach, he'll be back up there battling for US #1
-----------------------------
5-Nikolay Davydenko (good on all surfaces, plays so much)
-----------------------------
6-David Nalbandian (seems dedicated to proving his doubters wrong)
-----------------------------
7-Ivan Ljubicic (still solid but will have injury problems)
-----------------------------
8-Andy Murray (constant improvement thanks in part to coach Brad Gilbert)
-----------------------------
9-Mario Ancic (moments of greatness followed by a few consecutive losses)
-----------------------------
10-Marat Safin (need I add anything?)
-----------------------------


Of course, we could be wrong. Well, on pretty much everything except for Federer finishing at #1, of course.

All for now.

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