Coming Down

The Australian tennis summer has spoiled me. From having match after match on live TV to write about and all the time in the world to write it, I've gone to having nothing to see and very little time, what with the whole new world of nine to five. But persevere I must, and persevere I will. I, like Roger Federer, am not predisposed to giving up..

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It feels like the tennis world is still so shaken by the events of Sunday night that they can't quite process that life and tennis go on - there has been virtually no coverage of the tournaments this week at all (that I can find.) I suppose there's always that comedown period after a Slam - except, perhaps, after Roland Garros, when there's Wimbledon looming round the corner in two weeks, and everyone's scrambling to find their grass feet in Halle or Queen's or Nottingham or wherever. But the tournaments this week - Zagreb, Johannesburg and Vina del Mar - have absolutely no way in competing in interest level.

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For starters, the only really big name out there is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - everyone else is taking a well-earned week off. Somehow, I don't think the beaten finalist is going to weeping at these tournaments. He's probably going to be too psyched just to be there - especially in Zagreb, where just about every seed seems to have been knocked out. Top seed Andreev gone. Melzer gone, Bolelli gone. And the fact that those guys are the seeds really says something, hey.

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The tournament in Johannesburg should be exciting - it's brand new! It's in South Africa! Actually, if it wasn't in February, and, more particularly, the week after the Australian Open, you can bet your bottom dollar Federer would have played, what with his foundation being in South Africa and his mother being from there and whatnot. Instead, their big drawcard is Jo-Dub, with David Ferrer and Marcel Granollers second and third seed. They're good and all, but...

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...it's like when you come down from an adrenaline high, I suppose. Or a sugar high, or a caffeine high, or whatever. There has been so much and it's so intense, and then suddenly... it's gone. And the Australian Open was brought to a fever pitch of intensity by the Nadal/Verdasco match, and then the whole volcano just boiled over and exploded with the epic final and the tears of Federer. Because, in truth, no matter what happens in the next few weeks, that image of Federer in tears is going to be the most powerful one in tennis for a while yet.

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Today's Results

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SA Tennis Open (Johannesburg)

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Ivo Minar def. Kevin Anderson, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

Frederico Gil def. Daniel Koellerer, 6-4 6-0

Marco Chiudinelli def. Flavio Cipolla, 7-5 1-6 6-4

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Thierry Alves, 6-4 6-1

Kristof Vliegen def. Ross Hutchins, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

Jeremy Chardy def. Jiri Vanek, 6-0 6-4

David Ferrer def. Dudi Sela, 6-2 6-0

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Movistar Open (Vina del Mar)

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Juan Monaco def. Nicolas Devilder, 6-2 6-4

Paul Capdeville def. Eduardo Schwank, 6-3 6-4

Martin Vassallo Arguello def. Oscar Hernandez, 6-3 7-6 (7-1)

Maximo Gonzalez def. Boris Pashanski, 6-3 6-2

Brian Dabul def. Diego Junqueira, 6-2 6-7 (2-7) 6-1

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PBZ Zagreb Indoors (Zagreb)

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Ivan Dodig def. Igor Andreev, 6-1 6-4

Evgeny Korolev def. Jurgen Melzer, 6-4 6-0

Viktor Troicki def. Simone Bolelli, 6-3 6-4

Jan Hernych def. Nikola Mektic, 6-3 7-5

Sergiy Stakhovsky def. Dominik Hrbaty, 6-2 4-6 6-1

Ernests Gulbis def. Dmitry Tursunov, 4-6 6-4 6-4

Mario Ancic def. Lukas Lacko, 6-4 6-7 (6-8) 7-5