As is the case every time a major tennis tournament is played, I’m firmly immersed in the Australian Open that started a few days ago.
On the women’s side, I’m rooting for Ana Ivanovic, but she’s not the same player who won the French Open last year. The expectations that followed seem to have affected her on the court. She struggled in the first round a couple of days ago. She had an easier time in the second round with Alberta Brianti, but now she’ll be running into seeded players. Her draw doesn’t look overly difficult, so I’ll hold out hope.
Ivanovic would have to play Jelena Dokic in the fourth round if they both make it through, and that would be fun to watch. Dokic has gone through some rather bizarre situations with her father (he was once kicked out of the US Open for going nuts about the price of salmon at the tennis center; he also once claimed that the Australian Open draw was fixed since his daughter had to play Lindsay Davenport in the first round; and more) and she nearly lost her tennis career as a result. She’s come storming back, upsetting the 17-seed, Anna Chakvetadze, in the second round. I’m a sucker for a good comeback story.
If you ask me who I think is going to win, I’ll probably tell you Serena Williams, although I hope she doesn’t.
On the men’s side, I’m rooting for several guys who probably don’t have much of a chance to win. I’m always hoping for an Andy Roddick breakthrough and it’s always possible because of his big serve. He has another new coach, Larry Stefanki, who insisted that Roddick get in better shape, and he’s done that by dropping 15 pounds. Roddick is through to the third round where he’ll be matched up against one of my favorite players, Fabrice Santoro (whom I’ve written about here).
Santoro said he was retiring at the end of the 2008 season, but he’s back. To be honest, his antics sort of bug me, but his game appears to be a throwback to 100 years ago—so I love to watch him play. During the 2008 US Open, Roddick and Santoro met in the first round and Roddick crushed him 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, but it ended rather oddly. Two points from the end, Roddick smashed a 140 mph serve that came straight at Santoro and Santoro barely got out of the way. Santoro refused to try on the last point and Roddick served an ace. Santoro thought it was in poor taste for Roddick to serve toward the body with such a huge lead; Roddick said he wasn’t trying to serve into the body. Hopefully, they’ve worked through all of this before their third round match this week.
I’m still holding onto hope that James Blake will break through. But everything would have to align perfectly. He goes for nearly every shot and this surface is super slow, so his opponents will have more time to run down his shots (even when the do land in).
Marcos Baghdatis is always fun to watch. He’s through to the third round where he’ll play another player I enjoy watching, Mardy Fish. I’ll be rooting for Fish, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Baghdatis go deep into the tournament either.
Giles Muller is making a little noise (I wrote about his comeback here). He’s into the third round. I’m always rooting for him.
I can’t see Rafael Nadal winning on a hard court, even though he is ranked number one in the world. But if he’s ever going to win on a hard court it would be this one since it is so slow.
Roger Federer has a chip on his shoulder about being introduced before each match as the number two seed and as much as I admire his game, I can’t get past what I perceive as arrogance. He’s always a threat, but I think Novak Djokovic would take him out in the semi-finals.
Djokovic’s comments at the US Open last year after the Roddick match coupled with his Ivan Drago-like attitude (yes, that’s a Rocky IV reference) that he’s made out of steel is wearing on me. I was starting to become a fan, but I changed my mind about him. I’d love to see Baghdatis or Fish take him out in the fourth round, but I don’t think it’ll happen.
That leaves Andy Murray, who I’m not a fan of, but he’s my pick to win the tournament this year.
If you are following the tournament, feel free to leave comments about your predications or with stories about your favorite players.
