The Federer At The End Of The Mahuniverse

Sometimes I think it would be easier if I were just a fan of tennis instead of a fan of tennis AND some particular players. Yes, Mr Federer, I am looking at you.

If I weren't a Federer fan, I would be able to be excited about the prospect of a fifth set in the second round against Gilles Simon. I would be glad to see more tennis, to see the battle, to see who would blink first, whose game would stand up to it. I would be able to objectively analyse the match, saying, 'oh, Simon raised his game there, Federer stopped playing so aggressively on the return there, and that is where the problems started.' I certainly wouldn't be trying to curl into the foetal position in my seat in Rod Laver Arena, so nervous that I was almost shaking.

But then, if I weren't a Federer fan, I wouldn't have had that brilliant rush of adrenaline when he finally did win the match. I wouldn't have screamed and laughed and almost cried, and I certainly would not have hugged four random strangers who were doing pretty much exactly the same thing. Perhaps I might live longer if I weren't a Federer fan. But the highs - and yes, to have the highs, we do have to have the lows sometimes, though I'm glad it wasn't tonight - make it worth it.

Take out Federer, substitute Nadal or Djokovic or Murray or the player of your choice. It works with anyone. Sure, we can appreciate a great tennis match, a real battle - something like Hewitt/Nalbandian last night, in which I had no real emotional investment, so I could enjoy almost objectively - but when your heart is in the match (and your throat, half the time)... well, those are the ones you remember.

What I'm trying to say is this - we need our heroes. Tennis isn't the same without your guys to get behind. (Or 'root on', as Wilson ads on Facebook keep telling me today. Insert 'yes please' type innuendo joke here.)

Federer is mine. And in tonight's match, I smiled, I laughed, I was almost calm... and then I raged and screamed and almost cried. And then, at the end... it is more than relief, more than joy. When your hero pulls through, it is euphoria. And I was, believe me, euphoric.

And I was also pleased I managed to survive a Federer five set match live. I never thought I would be able to do that. I am stronger than I think.

And I have another hero in my stable, of course, who was not quite so lucky. I watched all four sets of Mahut and Troicki today, and I cheered my lungs out. But I suppose having a journeyman hero is a little different from having a champion. If Federer had lost today, there would have been tears and bitter retribution. With Mahut out in the second round, I can simply be proud of what he has achieved.

Because seriously, that dude is AWESOME. His ranking is definitely going to go up after this tournament, considering he didn't play it last year, and he deserves it. He has been taking it to players who should probably be crushing him all year - and can we forget, of course, John Isner, ranked about a hundred places above him? He challenged Murray in Perth and beat Starace. He put paid to Dabul. And he played Troicki hard today - he played well, and even though he did not win, getting a set was a great result. I think he can be proud.

But I do have to talk a bit about villains, in all this talk of heroes, and after watching the Mahut match today, I think it is definitely true to say Troicki is in my stable of villains. He is probably the worst behaved tennis player I have ever seen. I seriously thought he was going to punch one of the linespeople today - he screamed right in her face. He argued with the ref, he argued with the crowd, he argued with Mahut... the guy just cannot get enough arguing. I mean, I understand that he's a 'volatile player' or whatever, but I seriously thought there was a chance he might get defaulted from the match for bad behaviour, because he was behaving foully. We saw the same thing in Sydney where he played Simon (who is definitely not in my villain's stable, despite taking Federer all the way) and if he continues like this, I really hope he gets in some serious trouble.

That is the end of the Australian Open for Mahut, because his doubles partner, Benneteau, is out with some kind of Serena-esque injury. I'm really sad about that, because it means I probably won't have the chance to see him again... which means I have failed in my tournament goal, which was to touch his hair. (I want to touch the Ma-do more than I want to touch the Federlocks, and that is saying something.) But just because Mahut is out does not mean I am jumping off the bandwagon.

Oh no, gentle reader. You will be seeing A LOT of Nico Mahut this year. Trust me. He's a blog hero now. You cannot escape.

Clean Slate

There is something magical about walking through the gates on the first day of the Slam. It is a clean slate. There is tennis to be played, stories to be told, portraits to be painted, hearts to broken, tears and laughter and incredible sadness and joy ahead, but on that first day, everything is clean and new. Anything is possible. And you are there to witness it.

I made a decision this year that unlike previous years, where I have flitted from court to court to court (usually in an effort to make sure I don't miss any Federer practice sessions, because I am a fangirl like that), I was going to try and watch some real proper tennis on the outside courts (ie. more than one change of ends). I also wanted to make sure I watched at least one player a day I had never seen before, preferably one I'd barely/never heard of. So, without further ado, here is my story of Australian Open - Day One.

I'd decided to begin my day on Court 6 with what looked like a tasty match up between Julien Benneteau and Juan Monaco, but then when the players walked on court... hey, THAT's not Benneteau, quoth I to myself. No, it was Simon Greul, whom I presume is a lucky loser. I have no idea what's happened to Benneteau, but he wasn't on that court when he was supposed to be. I hope it's nothing bad... particularly as he is doubles partners with Mahut and I want them to be awesome! (More on Mahut later.)

So I upped and left after two changes of ends (see, I watched some of it! I gave it a chance!) and wandered round to the back courts. For some reason, it is so difficult to get there now that you practically have to answer three riddles of increasing difficulty then fight a troll, but when I did manage to fight my way to Court 16 through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I was treated with Federer practice goodness. I feel like it was the tennis gods rewarding me for being good. La la la.

Then I went to Court 19 (the original aim of my trek to the back courts) and caught a set and a half of Carlos Berlocq against Robin Haase, which was a very interesting match indeed. I've been watching Haase for a while - actually, no, that's a lie. I picked up on a him a number of years ago when he took Hewitt to five at Wimbledon, thought he was cool, then forgot about him (apart from a few 'hey, where's Haase these days? I thought he was going to be good and stuff!). But I've found him now, and I'm glad I have.

I feel like Haase is sort of the thinking tennis fan's Ernests Gulbis. He has big power off both wings, is practically exploding with talent but suffers a little from inconsistency and... well, he has hair that could rival Ernie's. But I feel like he has a better mindset on court - he got down in sets to Berlocq a couple of times and fought his way back every time. One thing I did think was unusual was the frequency with which he played the squash shot - he played it a LOT - but it seemed to be working for him, so no complaints.

After some serious time spent with Haase, I wandered back over the other side with the intention of catching some of Nishikori's match. However, Court 8 was UBER-packed, so I opted for a match that was just beginning instead - Tobias Kamke and Philipp Kohlschreiber. And boy, was this a surprise.

I only caught the first set, in which Kamke TOTALLY dominated Kohli. I mean, SCARY dominance here. I'd never seen Kamke play before (tick!) nor did I know anything about him other than that he won newcomer of the year last year, so this was a real treat. Looking at the scores now, I see that Kohli came back from two sets to love down to win (after a third set breaker), and as all I have to go off is that first set, I was very surprised. Kamke was painting the lines left, right and centre. He was eating Kohli alive out there. But I guess he came back down to earth after I left or something.

Sorry, Tobias, but Federer called. I didn't have a day ticket into Rod Laver Arena, so I caught the first set of his match on the big screen in Garden Square. To say that Federer had things under control is an understatement. (He'll face a bigger test in round two with Gilles Simon - FRAZZLE!) He was powering ahead, so I wasn't nervous at all when I left after the first set to go and spend some quality time with my new best friend, Nicolas Mahut.

Watching this match was my favourite thing of the whole day. I didn't expect Nico to win going into this match. I didn't expect him to lose either. I was very careful to have no expectations. And one of the expectations that I did not have was that Mahut would win the match in FREAKING STRAIGHT SETS!

Seriously, I was cheering my lungs out out there. (Anyone who was there - I was the one yelling 'Allez!' A LOT.) Watching Nico serve, you can understand why he managed to hold serve 68 times in a row - he has one hell of a serve on him. When Dabul started getting a read on it and cracking some returns, he just kept changing it up. He is RIDICULOUSLY talented. I totally understand how he won junior Wimbledon. And it is SO NICE to watch serve and volley tennis. Especially done so well.

But my favourite thing about Mahut was how, even when he was down (like in the third set), he didn't break down about it. He just gritted his teeth, came back, and GOT IT DONE. He did this in qualies as well, but I somehow wasn't expecting to see it in front of me. (Another side effect of 'no expectations'.)

Dabul was ranked higher than Mahut - not much higher, but enough to qualify for direct entry - and he was overwhelmingly outplayed. Considering Mahut didn't play the Australian Open last year, a second round result will definitely boost him up a bit - here's hoping he doesn't need to rely on my 0-from-1 #wildcardformahut campaign at Roland Garros and Wimbledon!

After Mahut kindly took a photo with me (!) it was off to catch a bit of Stan Wawrinka, who had a bit of an up and down match with Gabashvili. To clarify - it was Gabashvili who was up and down, Stan was pretty solid throughout. This is the best I've seen Stan play in a while - he was cranking it against an opponent who was alternately on fire and in the gutter - so clearly that whole 'leaving his wife' thing worked for him. To each their own.

I tried to get in to see Gilles Simon and Rendy Lu after this, but it was packed out, so I went and watched a little bit of Benoit Paire, the French wildcard, against Flavio Cipolla. I have previously bitched about how Mahut should have got the wildcard and who is this Paire kid anyway, and that is ALL STILL TRUE (Mahut should have got a wildcard, even if he didn't end up needing one), but I was seriously impressed with Paire. That kid has got some strokes on him and no mistake. But he needs to stop playing with his necklace in his mouth. That seems silly.

And then it was time for my night on Rod Laver Arena.

I was spectacularly disappointed with the scheduling, but Groth and Wickmayer almost made a decent match of it - or would have, if Groth wasn't doing exactly what Gabashvili had done earlier and alternating between extreme awesome and extreme awful. She started off very poorly, sacrificing the first set to Wickmayer with barely a whimper and then getting down a break in the second, but then flipped the switch and reeled off six straight games to win the set. But then it all came crashing down in the third set...

Jarmila Groth is a player of the type I like. She's aggressive, she goes for her shots, it's great when it works, sometimes it's awful. But she needs to find some chill - or at least direct her frustration in a more productive direction. Gesturing up to your player's box ultimately achieves nothing. If she could harness that energy, well... watch out world.

And then Djokovic came on and totally owned Granollers. It was... not that interesting. Nole is looking very good, though. I will say this.

In a nutshell, here is what I thought of Day One of the Australian Open:

Win of the Day: I'm sentimental. Mahut. It was awesome. I loved it.
Loss of the Day: Davydenko, who lost to Florian Mayer. I didn't see it, but seriously, Kolya? I know Mayer's in form, but remember how you were the one everyone feared last year...? Also Sam Querrey. Baaaaaaaaaad.
Players in dangerous form: Federer. Djokovic. The usual suspects. Wawrinka also looking great guns.
Players to watch in the future: Haase. Kamke. Paire.
Things for Jodi to do tomorrow: Maybe catch a WTA match or two - looking back over this, it was a total sausagefest!

A Melzer Moment

The biggest thing to come out of today's showdown in Shanghai is not that Rafa Nadal lost a match. People will probably jump up and down and be all RAFA'S DECLINE about it, but at the end of the day, this was no biggie for the Rafinator and I don't think it indicates too much about him and his form.

No, the biggest thing to come out of today was that Jurgen Melzer won a match. He won a match against an excellent player and he did it with panache.

You know what this match reminded me of? It reminded me of that match last year where Benneteau played an absolute screamer of a match against Federer, and there just wasn't much Roger could do about it. In the best of three sets arena, there is always going to be a guy that comes out not just red, but white hot - ablaze, an inferno of a man, and even if you are the best player in the world, you just can't do much about it.

That was Jurgen Melzer today.

I don't think Melzer can keep that standard up, purely because no one can keep that standard up. But this has been the year of his tennis career. He made the semis of a Slam - I sure never picked that one! - has had some excellent victories, and now he's played his ultimate game to beat the best player in the world right now. He's really made good on his talent and potential this year. And if he continues playing at a not-quite-this-good level, he could even win this tournament.

Spare a moment for Jurgen Melzer. This match is going to get talked about from a Rafa-centric perspective, the way any match is talked about when a big player loses. But remember - Rafa didn't lose this match. Jurgen won it. And what sweet, sweet victory it was.

GoodDave Turns Up

Seems Big Dave took umbrage at me suggesting that his time was past and this was the time of del Potro, by resoundingly beating said del Potro to reach the final of Basel. Even though del Potro is one of my Stars (though I still don't know if I can legitimately claim him - I definitely jumped late on that bandwagon) I have to say that I was pleased for Nalbandian. I'm not a huge fan of his - he seems like a pretty unpleasant kind of guy - but I am a big fan of that generation, the generation of Federer and Safin and Hewitt and those guys. So kudos to Dave - it was GoodDave, seemingly, and not LameDave, that showed up. I don't really care which Dave shows up tomorrow, as long as Federer wins. That partisanship of mine will not be changing any time soon.

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Roger and Dave aside, as they were the top two seeds in Basel and regulars in finals (well... Roger is, anyway) we have some very strange men in the finals this week. Andy Murray in St Petersburg is no great shock, but what about Andrey Golubev? I'm sorry, but who? He stomped all over Victor Hanescu in his semi-final, and I have totally never heard of him. His ATP profile tells us that he is twenty-one, ranked #150 and won a Challenger event this year. I'll have to keep an eye on him. He may yet be young enough for admission to the Stars program, but he'll have to prove himself a little more first. Look at Eduardo Schwank. He won three Challenger events this year and he's only hanging on to his spot in the program by his teeth. Because it is such a highly-sought after honour, after all.

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Then in Lyon, we have a final between Robin Soderling and Julien Benneteau, who knocked out Gilles Simon and Jo-W Tsonga between them. I bet no one was expecting that. Soderling is seeded #7, so I guess he's the favourite... it's about time he did something. He's been considered 'dangerous' for a long time, but he really needs to step up to the plate and produce good results on a week-to-week basis if he wants to move up the rankings. As for Benneteau, I can't say I know too much about him. I think he maybe knocked out Andy Roddick in the first round of the US Open one time, though I could be getting him confused with someone else. Oh, and I saw him play Stan Wawrinka at the Australian Open this year on Show Court 3. It was fun.

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And guess who else is in a final? ANA IVANOVIC! Horror of horrors, shock of shocks! And she beat a decent player to get there. I say 'beat' - she totally scraped through by the skin of her teeth against Agnieszka Radwanska. But a win is a win, and she obviously hung tough throughout the match. Please let this be the sign of good things to come. Doha is coming up so soon, and I'd love to see Ana do well.

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Speaking of Doha, the field is finalised: Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and my special favourite, Dinara Safina. Dinara's been so close at so many of the Slams this year that I feel she deserves this one, to go along with the rest of her Tier I lovin'. That said, I am oddly sad that Sharapova is going to miss out with her injury. I am definitely not a Sharapova fan - we all know that - but that final between her and Henin last year was so spectacular that it's a shame she doesn't get to have another crack at it. Oh well. Next year, Shazzapov.

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Today's Results

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Davidoff Swiss Indoors (Basel)
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Roger Federer def. Feliciano Lopez, 6-3 6-2

David Nalbandian def. Juan Martin Del Potro, 6-4 6-4

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St Petersburg Open (St Petersburg)

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Andy Murray def. Fernando Verdasco, 6-0 6-3

Andrey Golubev def. Victor Hanescu (ROU) 6-3 6-0

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Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon (Lyon)

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Julien Benneteau def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (7-4) 7-5

Robin Soderling def. Gilles Simon, 5-7 6-3 6-3

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Generali Ladies Linz (Linz)

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Ana Ivanovic def. Agnieszka Radwanska, 6-2 3-6 7-5

Vera Zvonareva def. Marion Bartoli, 6-0 6-1

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FORTIS Championships Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

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Elena Dementieva def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-2 6-2

Caroline Wozniacki def. Li Na, 7-6 (7-1) 3-6 6-2

Mirnyi Lays Down The Law

First things first: I know there's lots of proper grown up tennis going on in the world at the moment, but I have to say the result I found most exciting was in the Optus under-12 National Championships, where little Ashleigh Barty and Li Tu took out the titles. Not having seen either of them play, I can make no real comment, but the fact that such an event exists and the standard is reportedly so high is a very good sign for the future of Australian tennis. Here's hoping these kids grow up into something spectacular, so I can look back at this post when I'm thirty, thirty-five, and say, 'I told you so.'

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No major upsets in the grown up tennis world today, unless you count Juan Martin del Potro, who was technically beaten, but it was a walkover, so I don't know if that counts. The only other seeded player to be beaten was Janko Tipsarevic, who got knocked out in Moscow by Viktor Troicki. I saw Troicki play Nadal at the Australian Open this year, and though Nadal beat him in straights, he played very well and held a couple of set points, so it's nice to see that potential come through.

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Speaking of potential, Star of the Future Kei Nishikori had a good win over Dominik Hrbaty - I know Hrbaty isn't exactly the best, most in-form player on the circuit right now, but a win is a win, and I am very proud of my Kei. For he is one of mine, and that is something. And yay for Marat, who strung a second win onto his first one! He beat Julien Benneteau, despite Benneteau handing him a bagel in the second set.

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And a big shout out to Max Mirnyi, who got his degree! I find it incredible how some of these players can find time to study when you consider the rigorous life of a tennis player - I mean, I know Ancic earned his degree while he was off with glandular fever, but it takes years to earn a degree - particularly a law degree, which is what both of these guys now have. They both must have been studying like crazy. I have major kudos for both of them. I find it hard enough to study in my own life - I can't imagine what it would be like if you had to deal with being a professional athlete as well. Particularly writing a thesis, which both of them did - Mirnyi's was about the human rights of children, and Ancic's about the legal status of the ATP, or somesuch. I'm putting the finishing touches on my thesis now, and it has consumed my whole life. I can't imagine having to spend hours and hours and hours training and playing and whatnot every single day. And I don't know about Ancic, but Mirnyi has a family, as well. Max, you are a machine. I salute you.

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Today's Results

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Kremlin Cup (Moscow)

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Men's Draw

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Nikolay Davydenko, def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-1 6-1

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Dudi Sela, 6-7 (3-7) 7-5 7-6 (7-0)

Marat Safin def. Julien Benneteau, 6-4 0-6 6-2

Viktor Troicki def. Janko Tipsarevic, 6-3 6-4

Mischa Zverev def. Teimuraz Gabashvili, 6-2 2-6 6-1

Igor Kunitsyn def. Robby Ginepri, 6-4 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Jelena Jankovic def. Vera Dushevina, 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 6-2

Vera Zvonareva def. Daniela Hantuchova, 6-1 6-0

Nadia Petrova def. Caroline Wozniacki, 6-4 3-2 retired

Flavia Pennetta def. Ekaterina Makarova, 3-6 6-4 6-4

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If Stockholm Open (Stockholm)

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David Nalbandian def. Joachim Johansson, 6-3 6-2

Mario Ancic def. Steve Darcis, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4

Jarkko Nieminen def. Arnaud Clement, 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-2

Robin Soderling def. Juan Monaco, 6-3 6-3

Albert Montanes def. George Bastl, 1-6 6-3 6-2

Kei Nishikori def. Dominik Hrbaty, 6-1 1-6 7-5

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Bank Austria Tennis Trophy (Vienna)

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Juan Martin Del Potro, walkover

Gael Monfils def. Radek Stepanek, 6-4 6-3

Feliciano Lopez def. Santiago Giraldo, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3

Jurgen Melzer def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 7-6 (7-4) 6-3