January '08 Awards

All good things must come to an end. Every journey begins with a single step.


AP Photo/Mark Baker

Or maybe we're just at a natural pause.

So much happened in January, but we won't know how much it REALLY meant until the balance of the 2008 season is complete.

**TOP PLAYERS**
1. Novak Djokovic, SRB... it was only a matter of time before it happened, but now comes the hard part.
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2. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA... a new threat, or a talented flash in the Melbourne pan?
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3. Rafael Nadal, ESP... the stunning destruction by Tsonga notwithstanding, Rafa should be proud of his best hard court slam result ever.
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4. Roger Federer, SUI... he might look more human now than usual, but to underestimate him would be pretty stupid.
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5. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram, ISR... bumping the Bryans from their accustomed moment in the spotlight.
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HM- Mikhail Youzhny, RUS & Michael Llodra, FRA
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**RISERS**
1. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA
2. Mikhail Youzhny, RUS
3. Dmitry Tursunov, RUS
4. Janko Tipsarevic, SRB
5. Nenad Zimonjic, SRB
HM- Andy Murray, GBR & Jarkko Nieminen, FIN

**SURPRISES**
1. Joseph Sirianni, AUS
2. Yang Tsung-Hua, TPE
3. Lukas Lacko, SVK
4. Ryan Harrison, USA
5. Michael Russell, USA
HM- Yuki Bhambri, IND

**VETERANS**
1. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram, ISR
2. Michael Llodra, FRA
3. Juan Carlos Ferrero, ESP
4. Carlos Moya, ESP
5. Lleyton Hewitt, AUS
HM- Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra, FRA

**FRESH FACES**
1. Philip Kohlschreiber, GER
2. Marin Cilic, CRO
3. Stanislaw Wawrinka, SUI
4. Chris Guccione, AUS
5. Sonchat Raitwatana/Sanchai Ratiwatana, THA
HM- Bernard Tomic, AUS

**DOWN**
1. Andy Roddick, USA
2. Roger Federer, SUI & Rafael Nadal, ESP (in slam SF)
3. Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, USA
4. Radek Stepanek, CZE (on the court)
5. David Nalbandian, ARG
HM- Andy Murray, GBR (at Oz)

**COMEBACKS**
1. Juan Carlos Ferrero, ESP
2. James Blake, USA
3. Mardy Fish, USA
HM- Sebastien Grosjean, FRA

**GOODBYES**
1. Gustavo Kuerten, BRA (after RG)
2. Davide Sanguinetti, ITA & Potito Starace, ITA (for three months for betting on matches)

=MATCH AWARDS=
*BEST PERFORMANCE*
Australian Open SF - Tsonga def. Nadal - 6-2/6-3/6-2.
...the Frenchman's Federeresque display of every shot in the book against Nadal turned the final into an Us-vs.-Novak affair.
*MOMENT OF TRUTH*
Australian Open SF - Djokovic def. Federer 7-5/6-3/7-6.
...to legitimize his prince-who-would-be-king claim to the throne, Djokovic had to take down The Mighty One on the big stage.
*MOST TELLING UPSET*
Australian Open 1st - Tsonga def. Murray - 7-5/6-4/0-6/7-6.
...it turned out to be a sneak preview.
*MOST DRAMATIC MATCH*
Australian Open 3rd - Federer def. Tipsarevic - 6-7/7-6/5-7/6-1/10-8.
...one wonders how much damage was done to Federer here, and how much confidence was instilled in Djokovic as a result of his countryman's near upset.
*BEST COMEBACK*
Australian Open 3r - Blake def. Grosjean - 4-6/2-6/6-0/7-6/6-2.
...now we know that Blake CAN overcome. But can he do it in NYC?
*LEAST SURPRISING UPSET*
Australian Open 3rd - Kohlschreiber def. Roddick - 6-4/3-6/7-6/6-7/8-6.
...actually, it'd be more of a stunner if Roddick ever WON another slam.
*DEVASTATION OF THE MONTH*
Chennai Final - Youzhny def. Nadal - 6-0/6-1.
...Rafa was on the wrong side of two head-knockers this month.
*MARATHON OF THE MONTH*
Australian Open 3rd - Hewitt def. Baghdatis - 4-6/7-5/7-5/6-7/6-3.
...if the pleas had been heeded and this match postponed until the next day, we'd missed out on a true classic that lasted until nearly 5 a.m. Sometimes the correct decision is the one that ISN'T made.


All for now.

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The Velvet Revolution

Rainer Schuettler. Martin Verkerk. Mariano Puerta. Gaston Gaudio.

We won't know for some time if Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's name will be added to the list of recent slam finalists who shined brightly for two weeks only to come up short most every week in the months that followed.

We do know that Novak Djokovic won't be anywhere near that list, though.


Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images

Try as one might, there was no getting past the face that THE moment of this Australian Open was the dual upsets of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the semifinals by Djokovic and Tsonga. Still, King Roger-conqueror Djokovic entered the final as the favorite, with Tsonga looking to recapture the remarkable form he'd shown against Rafa. The Frenchman had his moments, but the Serb had tread upon similar grand slam final ground before and knew precisely how to advance his cause.

Djokovic's 4-6/6-4/6-3/7-6 victory was hardly an easy battle won, but it did bear some resemblance to a fait accompli. After dropping the opening set with a final game break of serve by Tsonga, a defiant Djokovic stared down the stormy atmosphere that threatened to envelope him, breaking the 22-year old in the seventh game of the 2nd set and then steadily steering the match to his favored conclusion.

If Tsonga has been able to win the 4th set tie-break it would have resulted in the first Oz Men's final to go to five sets in twenty years, but Djokovic raced to a 5-1 lead to put to rest any thought of his ascent to a power position on the ATP tour being delayed any longer.

The Serb, with four consecutive SF-or-better slam results and back-to-back slam finals, thus becomes the first of his countrymen or women to lift a slam singles trophy with his victory over the masses... err, I mean Tsonga. No matter how talented Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic may be, this "first" arrived precisely in the order in which it was expected.

We often anticipate the "official" coronation of a new champion to be accompanied by fanfare and ticker tape parades (and the real thing may actually occur back in Serbia), replete with a classic struggle that ends with a burst of relief and jubilation. As it turned out, the inauguration of tennis' newest royalty was a somewhat methodical affair in which the crowd steadfastly stood largely against the Serbian Prince-Who-Would-Be-King who's been diligently planning his future reign since adolescence. Rather than cheers for the "new benevolent leader," the loudest voices were in support of the exciting upstart with the looks of a young Cassius Clay (even the Prince's family was hovered over by a row of face-painted French fans directly behind them).

Philistines. He'll make them pay one day.

The third-youngest Oz champ in the Open Era, has 20-year old Djokovic now started something that will only grow exponentially from here on out? Is this the first step in the Prince becoming the future King?

Well, I said at the start of the season that Djokovic would win his first slam in 2008, but I really thought it would come in New York. Actually, I still think that he's a good bet to win there, where he'll likely enjoy an atmosphere that will stand in stark contrast to his lack of support in Melbourne. Memories of Novak the Entertainer on Ashe Stadium court last September won't likely be fading anytime soon, after all. So could the Serb claim HALF the slams this season? Maybe.

It could be that Oz will be HIS in spirit next time out, too. An example of Djokovic's velvety transition into a position of power was evident in the way he smoothly diffused the crowd issue... telling everyone during the post-match ceremony not to worry, "I still love you."

He'll make them pay one day, all right... but he'll do it with a smile, charming them all the way to the throne.



*CAREER SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE*
14...Roger Federer (12-2)
5....Rafael Nadal (3-2)
4....Marat Safin (2-2)
4....Lleyton Hewitt (2-2)
4....Andy Roddick (1-3)
3....Juan Carlos Ferrero (1-2)
2....Novak Djokovic (1-1)
2....Carlos Moya (1-1)
2....Mark Philippoussis (0-2)
1....Thomas Johansson (1-0)
1....Gaston Gaudio (1-0)
1....Marcos Baghdatis (0-1)
1....Arnaud Clement (0-1)
1....Fernando Gonzalez (0-1)
1....Guillermo Coria (0-1)
1....David Nalbandian (0-1)
1....Rainer Schuettler (0-1)
1....Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (0-1)




*2008 CHAMPIONS*
WOMEN'S SINGLES:
Maria Sharapova, RUS
MEN'S SINGLES:
Novak Djokovic, SRB
WOMEN'S DOUBLES:
Alona Bondarenko/Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR/UKR
MEN'S DOUBLES:
Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram, ISR/ISR
MIXED DOUBLES:
Sun Tiantian/Nenad Zimonjic, CHN/SRB
GIRL'S SINGLES:
Arantxa Rus, NED
BOY'S SINGLES:
Bernard Tomic, AUS
GIRL'S DOUBLES:
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova/Ksenia Lykina, RUS/RUS
BOY'S DOUBLES:
Hsieh Cheng-Peng/Yang Tsung-Hua, TPE/TPE




All for now.

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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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Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This

Day 6 was precisely why it's wise to invest in Starbucks Double Shot and Red Bull. For, when it can be a ridiculously late night in BOTH Australia and the U.S. -- at the same time -- you know some very extreme happenings are taking place.

And, boy, did they ever.

With rain finally threatening to wreak havoc on the schedule at Melbourne Park, the Australian Open closed the roofs of Rod Laver and Vodafone Arenas and became an exclusively indoor affair. Technology has rarely ever been so welcome.

Rarely has Roger Federer looked so mortal, either. At least not without Rafael Nadal on the other side of the net... on clay. Against Serbian (no, not THAT one) Janko Tipsarevic, the #49-ranked player in the world, the would-be Greatest Who Ever Lived found his every move matched. His every winner copied. The usual awe with which opponents approach a match with him no where to be found. Seemingly with the supernaturally transplanted old soul of a long-ago champion, Tipsarevic tangled with Federer for four hours and 27 minutes, twice taking one-set leads and threatening to bounce him from a grand slam before the final for the first time in eleven slams, and from the Australian Open for the first time since Marat Safin did it in the 2005 semifinals.

And to think that, in the early going, Tipsarevic's ending of Federer's 30-set Melbourne winning streak seemed as if it would be enough to be the match's top headline.

It wasn't.

At various moments throughout the match, in what I believe were the very early morning hours at Backspin Headquarters -- whose clocks I now know DO indeed work between the hours of 4:00 and 5:00 am, Federer did appear to be on his last legs... maybe. Remember who we're talking about here.

Tipsarevic just wouldn't give an inch, and didn't even appear to be sweating (hence the idea that some sort of supernatural occurrence might have taken place). Federer is just never pushed like this in the early rounds of a slam. Never. He wasn't taking advantage of break point chances, and his forehand was uncharacteristically letting him down. And Tipsarevic wasn't going away.

Suddenly, the #1 ranking was at stake, and the historic implications of a possible Grand Slam or Golden Slam season were set to go by the wayside. But it's in moments like this that all-time champions find the heart that has enabled them to reach such a high plane in the first place, and Federer did just that on Day 6.



As the fifth set dragged on... 6-6, 7-7, 8-8... Federer began to hold his serve more easily. The match's "classic" status was already a foregone conclusion, and it was just a matter of whether it would be a career highlight or a rare stumble for the Man Who Would Be the All-time King. But, come on, this is Roger Federer, so the former had to be the predestined outcome, right? (Hey, that'll be the story written in the history books if Federer ends up pulling off a season to beat all seasons in 2008, one that nearly was sidetracked on an almost-momentous day in Melbourne.)

Federer finally broke Tipsarevic, who had led the game 40-love, for 9-8. Realizing this might be his last chance to escape the Serbian's web, he put the match away and let out a breath heard 'round the world.

Whew! Federer prevailed 6-7/7-6/5-7/6-1/10-8 in 4:27... at somewhere around 5:30 am at the ol' HQ.

Needless to say, "Zzzzzzzzzzz" was able to be heard reverberating around here a few moments afterward.



Then, just when you thought the day couldn't be any more remarkable, Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis followed up Venus Williams' 7-6/6-4 test against Sania Mirza (which I just couldn't coax my body to actually stick around to witness without risking an all-organ strike that would drag on longer than that of the WGA) and made a little history of their own, beginning play at an all-time late 11:47 pm local time (or so I'm told... since I can't actually admit to seeing any of this match through live-and-clear eyes until my alarm clock nudged me from my cadaver-like slumber about half-way through).

Baghdatis fairly well outplayed Hewitt in the opening sets, but found the Aussie staying with him on the scoreboard... then inching ahead after three sets were complete. A turned ankle by the Cypriot appeared to signal an anticlimactic close to Day 6, but Baghdatis got back up on his feet and joined Hewitt in one for the ages, to the delight of the crowd... if they could keep their eyes open, that is.

Down 5-1 in the 4th set, Baghdatis fed off the crowd support, flashing his ever-present smile and reaching deep down for reserves that he didn't appear to have just moments earlier. A saved match point and string of back-against-the-wall games later, it was 5-5 with the contest going later into the night than any other grand slam match ever had before. As the clock ticked toward 4 am, Baghdatis amazingly tied the match by claiming a tie-break.

In the end, renowned battler Hewitt won the 4-6/7-5/7-5/6-7/6-3 match as his cut tennis-player-turned-bodybuilder sister Jaslyn (serving as the ESPN director's official favorite go-to reaction shot subject) and others cheered him on from his rooting section, but it was Baghdatis who'd etched his name into the collective tennis fan psyche once again by participating in another dramatic marathon, a fine companion piece to his dramatic defeat at the hands of Andre Agassi in the early morning hours in NYC two seasons ago. This one, though, didn't end until 4:35 am in Melbourne.

I can hear Federer now, rolling out of bed after a well-deserved night's sleep... stumbling past Merka and her half-eaten mid-morning snack... half-listening to the news as he searches for a breakfast energy bar. Merka starts to take a bite, then is startled by a shocked Federer's words from the kitchen.

"They played until what time?!?!," Roger shrieks. He chuckles to himself, then emerges with a big smile. "I guess I didn't get the bad end of things, after all."

Even when he's spent the better part of five hours dangling from the cliff overlooking the graveyard of all-time champions shocked into temporary submission (Hingis at the '99 Wimbledon, Sharapova at last year's US Open, etc.), Federer finds a way to come out on top.

I'm sure he didn't REALLY say that... but he could have.

Now... time for a nap.



And to think, if Day 6 took place at Flushing Meadows, NOTHING would have occurred on what turned out to be one those great, stirring grand slam days in Melbourne that you'll remember forever... and create tennis fans from whole cloth right on the spot.

It's shocking what a few arenas with retractable roofs can produce, huh?



You know it was a wild day when the upset of the #2 women's seed turns out to be an afterthought when all is said and done.

In a true "deja vu" moment, Agnieszka Radwanska knocked out the Russian-born #2 seed in the 3rd Round in a second consecutive slam. Only this time it was Svetlana Kuznetsova in Melbourne rather than Maria Sharapova in New York. But in her latest big-stage upset, A-Rad didn't have to pull any just-this-short-of-doing-jumping-jacks antics before her opponent served, and instead simply out-thought and outmaneuvered the Contessova in a surprisingly routine straight sets wins, 6-3/6-4.

Now, the Polish teenager will try to do what she couldn't do at the US Open, where she was dumped out in the Round of 16 by Shahar Peer. This time, she'll face the winner of the all-Russian Petrova/Makarova match up.



Meanwhile, James Blake surprisingly avoided sealing a woeful fate for the remaining American men in the draw. Once he fell down two sets to none to Sebastien Grosjean, it appeared that he would join the likes of Roddick, Fish and Querrey (and probably, Spadea) and play the sitting duck in the carnival sideshow while the Frenchman was the sharpshooter.

But, then, something remarkable happened. Blake didn't choke. In a grand slam. In a five-setter (he was 1-10 in them before Day 6). Against a player he'd never beaten (he was 0-3).

Imagine that.

Rather than continue to be the American version of Tim Henman, constantly tempting but continually frustrating his fans on the biggest stages, he showed that there might just be a champion's heart lurking inside him somewhere, after all. Down 4-1 in the 4th set, he battled back. Down 4-1 in the ensuing tie-break, he survived and prevailed. In the 5th, his superior fitness won out and he was the star of the day.

Well, for a few minutes, at least.





All for now.

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The Pursuit of Perfection... on a Grand Scale

Even when Roger Federer gets sick, it works to his advantage... or so it would appear after two brilliant matches in Melbourne.



Even food poisoning, while it may have made him appear mortal for about a week earlier this month, can't allow the men's field to catch a break with the world's best player.

No tune-up matches? Potentially tired? Ripe for a bad day and, egads, an early-round loss?

Yeah, right.

All Federer's done is put together back-to-back matches that have exhibited a dominance like no one has ever seen in a grand slam event. Through two rounds, he's lost six games... in total. His latest masterpiece was a 6-1/6-2/6-0 clinic against Fabrice Santoro, only the player who's played in more grand slams (62) than any man in the history of the sport. Yet again on Day 4, Federer made perfection seem possible, and his pursuit of it as intriguing as any five-set duel in a final could ever hope to be.

As when Tiger Woods puts up a 22-under par score while his closest competitor is left at least a dozen shots in his wake, Federer smothering an opponent with every shot in the book (and a few that shouldn't be, or aren't at all) is must-see stuff.

At the start of a season where he could secure immortality, Federer so far looks up to the challenge. Could it be that his offseason exhibition tour with all-time slam champ Pete Sampras has actually managed to make him a BETTER player even more focused on carving out a place in the history of the game so far up in the clouds that future generations will marvel at the audacity of it all?

Ummm... yeah, maybe.

Mister Federer is ready for his close-up.






All for now.

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2008 Australian Open Picks

Roger is sick! Rafa just isn't right! Novak has the pressure pushing down on him from every angle!

Andy Roddick always plays well in Melbourne... so we might be two weeks away from the American recapturing the spirit of... uh, nevermind.



**ROUND OF 16**
#1 Federer def. #21 Monaco
#7 Gonzalez def. #17 Ljubicic
#3 Djokovic def. #15 Baghdatis
#10 Nalbandian def. #5 Ferrer
#8 Gasquet def. #9 Murray
#14 Youzhny def. #26 Wawrinka
#6 Roddick def. #24 Nieminen
#16 Moya def. #2 Nadal

...down goes Rafa.

**QUARTERFINALS**
#1 Federer def. #7 Gonzalez
#3 Djokovic def. #10 Nalbandian
#14 Youzhny def. #8 Gasquet
#6 Roddick def. #16 Moya

...and Roger breathes a sigh of relief (well, at least subconsciously... maybe). No more Nalbandian.

**SEMIFINALS**
#1 Federer d. #3 Djokovic
#14 Youzhny def. #6 Roddick

...The Entertainer is waiting for Federer to tire out late in the summer for his true Gold Medal/grand slam title push.

**FINAL**
#1 Federer d. #14 Youzhny

...no drama, just Step One in the continuing process.


All for now.

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2008 ATP Top 10 Predictions

2008 could present us with a virtual front row seat for so many historical moments:

...Roger Federer could surpass Pete Sampras to become the all-time slam king

...Novak Djokovic could become the first Serbian grand slam winner

...Rafael Nadal could finally topple a tired Federer from the #1 spot in the rankings

...Federer could finally grab that elusive Olympic Gold Medal that's so far eluded him, and might even have an outside shot at matching Steffi Graf's '88 Golden Slam by sweeping all four slams AND the the Olympics

...Andy Murray could succeed where Tim Henman so often failed

...Andy Roddick might actually defeat Federer in a big match. Once. And it could cause such a worldwide commotion that the continents will drift BACK and re-form as Rodinia (or Pannotia, if you prefer) once again, forcing everyone to either live together or die trying.



Hmmm... yeah, I know that last one isn't very likely. I mean, what are the odds that Roddick will actually beat Federer in a match that counts?

Here are my early predictions for the 2008's Top 10 male players:

1. Roger Federer, SUI... he showed signs of being human in 2007, but maybe that was just a way to lull his opponents into a false hope of possibly being competitive in '08.
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2. Novak Djokovic, SRB... Mr. Fantastic is poised to at least take down ONE of the big two.
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3. Rafael Nadal, ESP... will his body hold up?
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4. David Ferrer, ESP... if things fall just right, could he actually challenge Nadal to be the top Spaniard?
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5. Andy Murray... healthy, and ready to live up to the potential.
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6. Andy Roddick, USA... the current continental lineup is safe.
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7. James Blake, USA... in danger of becoming something of a tease.
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8. David Nalbandian, ARG... can he carry over his late '07 momentum?
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9. Nikolay Davydenko, RUS... bet on it! (Sorry, force of habit.)
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10. Mikhail Youzhny, RUS... if he could just harness his talent to become a consistent winner. Hmmm... or am I thinking about that OTHER Russian. Marat something or other?



DON'T FORGET... Fernando Gonzalez (he can't flame out again... right?), Tomas Berdych, Richard Gasquet
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LOOK OUT FOR... Juan Monaco
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WHO THE FREAK KNOWS?... Ivan Ljubicic & Marat Safin
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CURSED, OR REINVIGORATED... Radek Stepanek, king of trading in the old fiance for a newer, younger model
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AND THE CARNIVAL SIDESHOW MATCH EVERYONE WANTS TO SEE... Ivo Karlovic vs. John Isner (well, either that or a doubles match that includes these two along with the Rochus brothers)



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

1-Roger Federer, SUI
2-Rafael Nadal, ESP
3-Novak Djokovic, SRB
4-Andy Murray, GBR
5-David Ferrer, ESP
6-Tomas Berdych, CZE
7-Andy Roddick, USA
8-Nikolay Davydenko, RUS
9-Richard Gasquet, FRA
10-Mikhail Youzhny, RUS
WC-James Blake, USA


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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