Taming the Monster?

Has the course of Roger Federer's career changed forever, or is that just "the monster" talking?



Novak Djokovic defeated Federer in the Men's Singles semifinals on Day 12, 7-5/6-3/7-6. It was the world #1's first straight sets loss in a hard court slam since he was victimized by Max Mirnyi in the US Open Round of 16 in 2002... before Federer was even "Federer."

Surely, after such a deceptively quick start during the first two rounds of the 2008 Australian Open, this tournament was Federer's toughest since he rose to the top of the tennis world four years ago. From his narrow escape against Janko Tipsarevic in the 3rd Round that was followed by a pair of closer-than-expected wins, leading up to the end of his record ten consecutive slam finals streak, his road in Oz was anything but lined with yellow bricks.

But is this just a single-slam alteration of course, or a sign of things to come. Has the talented, younger field caught the King?

Djokovic has been in Federer's rear view mirror for the past year, and after squandering the opportunities given to him in New York in the US Open final last September, he seemed determined to not do the same thing again this time out. Instead, it was the Swiss Numero Uno who did the squandering.

After breaking the Serb for a 4-3 lead in the 1st set, then holding a 5-3, 30-love advantage on Djokovic's serve moments later, Federer blinked. As was the case against Djokovic's countryman Tipsarevic last week, Federer was unable to put away the big points that have defined his career. After letting Djokovic off the hook in a set in which the 20-year old wasn't particularly sharp, Federer gave away the set with a string of wildly errant groundstrokes that ended with his own serve being broken to close the match's first stanza.

From there on, zero-time slam champion Djokovic simply outplayed the twelve-time slam winner, running to a 5-1 lead in the 2nd and dominating Federer's service games. Federer offered up some resistance late, gaining a break and closing to within 5-3, but it was too late to salvage the 2nd set.

In the 3rd, with his 40-match hard court slam winning streak on the line, Federer again couldn't take advantage of the chances he managed to carve out of Djokovic's game. He failed to convert an early break point, then saw the Serb's big serve save two set points late. Federer took a 3-1 lead in the tie-break, but consecutive forehand errors knotted the score. Djokovic's service winner gave him a match point, then Federer's netted forehand halted tennis history.

But did it really?

Well, Federer WASN'T quite himself during the last week. It may have been the lingering aftereffects of the illness that struck him down prior to Melbourne, or even the slower Plexicushion surface. But the fact is that his own struggles to win big points at this Australian Open had as much to do with his opponents' lack of intimidation and fear as it did with Federer himself.

Still, even while a burgeoning men's tennis posse may be surrounding Federer at the moment, it'd be premature to assume we've now reached the stage in his career where he'll still be able to dominate at SW19, but be something less than the favorite at the Australian and US Opens.

Of course, even if that did turn out to be the case from here on out, think of all the potentially great matches we have to look forward to as the slams become ultra-competitive and not just a Rafa-or-Roger proposition (which it has been for the previous eleven grand slams, with the pair splitting up the titles 8-to-3).

Federer hasn't relinquished his position as the best player on earth. Nadal's loss in the SF to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga assures Federer of retaining his #1 ranking for now, but don't be surprised to see the upcoming clay season finally allow Rafa to rise to the top spot after a ridiculously long "apprenticeship." When Wimbledon rolls around, Federer might be ranked #2 in the world... setting the stage for him to attempt to reclaim his aura in London, Beijing (he's still never won a Gold Medal) and New York. By the end of the year, Melbourne could be a footnote as Pete Sampras' all-time career slam mark of fourteen could be tied.

But, make no mistake, the days of simply assuming we'll see a continuation of Federer's three-slams-in-a-season dominance might have died a natural death on Day 12. The superhuman expectations his brilliance has inspired -- a "monster" of his own making, he noted after the match -- will for the moment work against his reputation. But once the dust of Melbourne settles, the last four seasons will be viewed in context as the extended prime of a career that still has many chapters left to be written.



Djokovic's moment in the sun was coming, and he had to go through Federer to fully legitimize his inclusion in the discussion about who's the best player in the world. Of course, now, to back up THIS victory, he'll have to win another match against the #38-ranked Tsonga, fresh off his shockingly incanddescent performance against Nadal.

If the 22-year old Frenchman can capture his SF magic -- the mesmerizing mix of power, touch and athleticism -- in a bottle, well, then Djokovic might be left in the wake of ANOTHER rising star and Melbourne won't turn out to be the defining moment in his career that it appeared to be just a few hours ago.

Without Federer or Nadal, it'll be an odd match on Sunday, for sure. It won't even feel like a grand slam final. Roger's not going anywhere, and neither is Rafa... but tennis will go on without them in Melbourne.

And if both of the NextGen champions play up to their abilities, this could be one of the wildest, most entertaining finals on record.




The Bondarenkos Alona & Kateryna became the first champions of this Australian Open, overcoming a slow start against #12-seeds Victoria Azarenka & Shahar Peer to physically take over the match, until the Corporal's (too) late surge made them sweat just a little down the stretch. The Ukrainian sisters won their first career slam titles with a 2-6/6-1/6-4 victory.

Top-seeded Russians Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova & Ksenia Lykina won the Girls Doubles, while Taiwan's unseeded pair of Hsieh Cheng Peng & Yang Tsung-Hua won the Boys Doubles. Yang will try to sweep the junior competition in the singles against Aussie Bernard Tomic.

Meanwhile, a pair unlikely finalists have emerged as dual "Breakout Stars" on the Girls side. Unseeded Australian Jessica Moore upset Romania's Simona Halep, while Dutch #14-seed Arantxa Rus took out China's Zhou Yi-Miao in the SF.



*FINALS*
[WOMEN'S]
#4 Ana Ivanovic/SRB vs. #5 Maria Sharapova/RUS
[MEN'S]
#3 Novak Djokovic/SRB vs. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/FRA
[WOMEN'S DOUBLES]
Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR/UKR) def. #12 Victoria Azarenka/Shahar Peer (BLR/ISR) 2-6/6-1/6-4
[MEN'S DOUBLES]
#7 Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra (FRA/FRA) vs. #8 Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram (ISR/ISR)
[MIXED DOUBLES]
#5 Sun Tiantian/Nenad Zimonjic (CHN/SRB) vs. Sania Mirza/Mahesh Bhupathi (IND/IND)
[GIRL'S]
#14 Arantxa Rus/NED vs. Jessica Moore/AUS
[BOY'S]
#10 Yang Tsung-Hua/TPE vs. #5 Bernard Tomic/AUS
[GIRL'S DOUBLES]
#1 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/Ksenia Lykina (RUS/RUS) def. Elena Bogdan/Misaki Doi (ROU/JPN) - 6-0/6-4
[BOY'S DOUBLES]
Hsieh Cheng-Peng/Yang Tsung-Hua (TPE/TPE) def. #2 Vasek Pospisil/Cesar Ramirez (CAN/MEX) - 3-6/7-5/10-5




[WOMEN'S]
Sharapova def. Ivanovic 6-4/6-4
[MEN'S]
Djokovic def. Tsonga 7-6/6-4/1-6/7-5





All for now.

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