Brouhaha

Whoa.

I'm not that old, but I've been following tennis for a very significant portion of my life and I have never, ever, EVER seen anything like this.

The scene: Kim Clijsters vs Serena Williams. Clijsters up a set and leading 6-5 in the second. Williams serving. 15-30.

First serve - fault.

Second serve - foot fault.

Whether or not it actually was a foot fault is debatable, but Serena certainly didn't think it was. She marched to within six feet of the linesperson, started waving her racquet and saying something incomprehensible, very, very mad. Which is understandable, given as it was sort of an important point and all.

Up gets the linesperson and reports what was said to the umpire.

Out comes the tournament referee.

A conference. With shouting.

Serena Williams is defaulted. Kim Clijsters is through to the final.

I have never, ever, ever seen anything like it.

I don't know if it was a 'hey, you threatened to kill the linesperson' (which is what the linesperson reported) or a simple point penalty (Serena received a racquet abuse warning earlier in the match) which came at the worst possible time. But this was terrible. It was a shocking example of behaviour from Serena and a bizarre end to the match, and you know who I feel sorry for? Kim Clijsters. She had two match points and chances are she would have converted on one of them anyway, but this is not the way she wanted to win this match. This is not the way at all.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out in the media and what Serena has to say. I understand that she was angry but her behaviour was genuinely terrible and I think she should be extremely ashamed. I don't know if she deserved to lose the match because of it but if it was a point penalty I support it 100%. If that is the case, Serena will reap what she has sown.

One thing is certain, though. We are going to have a totally random winner of this US Open. Kim Clijsters, the comeback queen and Belgian sweetheart - will this brouhaha affect her? How will the crowd respond to her? And she'll be facing Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki, who cut down Yanina Wickmayer three and three... will her defensive wall be enough to penetrate the defenses of Kim Possible.

But one thing is certain. Not one person in the world could have predicted today's events. Not even close.


Today's Results

US Open (Flushing Meadows)

Men's Draw

Rafael Nadal def. Fernando Gonzalez, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) 6-0


Women's Draw

Kim Clijsters def. Serena Williams, 6-4 7-5
Caroline Wozniacki def. Yanina Wickmayer, 6-3 6-3

Pull Your Head In, Bernard!

You know what makes me sad? When I hear bad things about Australia's great white hope, Bernard Tomic. The kid is good - ain't no one can deny that. But it sounds like he has a bit of an attitude problem.

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Scratch that. A lot of an attitude problem.

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He's been practicing with Mark Draper, who has commented on this - Bernard, it seems, often thinks he's too good for practice and such things, and is a bit... naughty, shall we say. Added to that the current controversy over his retirement a week or so ago, where his dad supposedly signalled to him to retire... dodgy, Bernard, dodgy.

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He is only sixteen. If he were a model of perfect behaviour, that would be seriously weird. Hell, look at Federer at sixteen - smashing racquets and bursting into tears all over the shop, and now look at him: the ice king god of tennis. Bernard is going to do some maturing, that's for sure - but I really, really hope it is not at the expense of his game. What he neglects now might come back to bite him...

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...of course, I am extremely ill-informed about the whole situation. Maybe there are extenuating circumstances. Maybe there are lots of things. But I would hate for Australia's next great tennis player, which is what Bernard Tomic is shaping up to be, to grow up and turn into Lleyton Hewitt - or, worse, Novak Djokovic. Now THAT would make me really sad.

Moaning Murray

So pretty much nothing is going on in the world of tennis today. Tournaments in Beijing and Seoul, with Bangkok starting tomorrow... it's the Asian swing, I suppose. And that's pretty much all I have to say about that.

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Back to Davis Cup - yes, I still have more to say about that, even though it's over. I am not happy with Andy Murray this morning. Yeah, sure Britain got relegated and that's bad, and sure, he did his best and won his ties, but how dare he come out and suggest that his teammates weren't trying? This is what he said:

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"If I make a sacrifice I think every single person in the team should be willing to make those sacrifices and say they will give it all they've got... I want them to say they are physically able to play even if they have to play three days of five-set matches. Then I know everyone on the team wants to play as badly as I do."

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What kind of attitude is that? Look, Andy, just because they didn't win didn't mean they didn't want it? Not everyone is #4 in the world. I hope Alex Bogdanovic and Ross Hutchins and his brother Jamie find him down a dark alley sometime and give him a really serious talking to. There's speculation that this means he won't play in Davis Cup next year. If I were a self-respecting British tennis player, I'd refuse to play with him if he's going to have an attitude like that. He has a lot to learn about being a top echelon tennis player. Can you imagine Roger Federer coming out and saying that Stan Wawrinka, Stephane Bohli and Yves Allegro hadn't been trying, had Switzerland lost to Belgium? I thought Andy Murray was improving - I had previous thought of him as a sort of Scottish Lleyton Hewitt - but obviously I was wrong. Grow up, Andy.

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The Australians, on the other hand, have got exactly the right idea, and have come away with just the right message - we might not have won, but we tried, and we have a lot to be encouraged about. John Fitzgerald said it was the most optimistic he had felt about Australian men's tennis in a long time, and I agree with him. We might not have world-beaters at the moment, but the young Aussie kids we have coming up are damn exciting! You just wait, World Group. You just wait.

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Meanwhile, Darren Cahill is apparently the favourite to become Roger Federer's new coach. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, but I think it would certainly be an interesting combination... let's see what happens!

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Today's Results

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China Open (Beijing)

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Men's Draw

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Rainer Schuettler def. Ivan Navarro, 2-6 6-3 6-4

Yen-hsun Lu def. Juan-chao Xu, 6-4 6-3

Bjorn Phau def. Hyun-woo Nam, 6-1 6-3

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Women's Draw

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Daniela Hantuchova def. Gisela Dulko, 6-3 6-1

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4

Dominika Cibulkova def. Amélie Mauresmo, 3-6 6-4 6-3

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Hanson Korea Open (Seoul)

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Shahar Peer def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-3 6-4

Pauline Parmentier def. Han Sung-Hee, 6-1 6-1

Akgul Amanmuradova def. Marta Domachowska, 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 6-3

Sabine Lisicki def. Vera Dushevina, 6-1 6-0

Yanina Wickmayer def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-3 7-6 (7-1)

Happy Being A Hippo

Once upon a time, in a faraway land, Marat Safin was asked whether he fought with himself on court. His reply?

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'I'm not fighting with myself. Oh, my God. That's how I am. You know, the story of the hippo? The hippo comes to the monkey and said, listen, I'm not a hippo. So, he paint himself like a zebra. He said but he's still a hippo. He said but look at you, you're painted like a zebra but you are a hippo. So then he goes, you know, like I want be a little parrot. So, he put the colours on him and he comes to the monkey and said but, sorry, you are a hippo. So, in the end, you know, he comes and said I'm happy to be a hippo. This is who I am. So, I have to be who I am and he's happy being a hippo.'

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Well, I, for one, am very glad that Marat is happy being a hippo - because I have never loved him so much in my life. Day #3 at Wimbledon was pretty much my ideal day of tennis. I could not have asked for better results. An impressive yet comfortable straight sets win for Federer over a potentially tricky opponent, and an absolute drubbing of Novak Djokovic by Safin the Hippo. It was... ah, it was beautiful.

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Who knew Maratski still had that kind of tennis on tap? Djokovic did not play his best, certainly, but I would certainly be happy to put money on the fact that Safin would have won even if he had. Marat has been so scratchy lately - he said himself in his post match presser he can't really remember the last time he won two matches in a row - that although I was hoping for it desperately, I didn't really expect much of him. But hey, hey, hey. There's some tennis in the Safinator yet.

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Seriously, some of the tennis he played was vintage stuff. Some of the shots were reminiscent of the semi final he played against Federer at the Australian in 2005, which I think is easily the highest quality tennis match that has been played in the last twenty years, if not the whole Open Era. Safin's game has always been unusual in that it is based around a sweet backhand rather than a heavy forehand, and he hit some beautiful shots off his favourite wing in this match. For example, take that one he hit to go up 15-40 in the last game of the match, that sick, SICK backhand down the line (aka 'the Lily O'Dwyer.') That one drew a 'phwoah!' (spelled phonetically) from me - and I've seen so much tennis in my time that there's not much that does that any more. The player that hit that looked like the Safin of yore. It was great.

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Safin will play Seppi next, and if plays like this, there is no doubt he can win. Of course, with Marat, playing like that is never a certainty... but he was very impressive against Fognini in the first round and now against Djokovic here. C'mon, Marat. Go for three in a row! Davai!

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Safin conducted his press conference in his usual laconic smile - Marat is, as he as always been, still a hippo. The strawberries are still too expensive, he says. There is still not enough dessert. He would have gone to Dinara's final in Paris, but she didn't send him the charter. And he didn't let Djokovic get away with much, and I respect that. Djokovic said this in his presser, when asked whether this match was a case of him playing badly or Marat playing well:

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'It was mostly me.'

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And sure, Djokovic did not have his best day. His double faults in particular hurt him badly. But how dare he try and take the credit away from Safin? Marat had this to say, when told that Novak had said that he had played badly as opposed to Marat playing well:

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'Yeah, well, he's a nice guy, a great answerer and great for you guys. I think he scored some points over there by saying that, yeah, he played well and everything. But he had small chances. He didn't take them. Whenever I had a chance I went for it, and I just played, like I said, solid, took my chances.'

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Just to clarify, because I think the way I've phrased things might be a little unfair to Djokovic. He did say that Safin played well. He didn't say that he didn't. But he did say that the result came about because he played badly.

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Hmph.

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Compare this to the guy that says, and says repeatedly, that you can't take anything away from the other guy, because he was trying his best. Guess who.

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Federer, of course, and while we're on the subject, his win against Soderling was very impressive. He wasn't in top gear, nor was he playing God Tennis (tm), but then again, he didn't to. He did exactly what he had to, and he dismantled Soderling's game with ruthless efficiency. Soderling had a brief rebellion in the third set when he broke the Federer serve after a lackadaisical game from Roger, but Roger wasn't having any of that. I'm convinced that he waited till he was set point down to launch his charge just to see if he could. You know, like chess players that let themselves get into bad situations just to see if they can get out of it.

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And so it was very very good. Remember Soderling's match last year? The one against Rafa that started on the middle Saturday and didn't end till the second Wednesday, by the end of which the two guys thoroughly hated each other (and still do, by all reports.) That match went five days. Today? Federer dismissed him in two hours. Soderling has a good game on grass so it's a shame for him that he had to be drawn so close to the Maestro. But these things happen. Just like it happens that Safin got drawn so close to Djokovic.

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Federer didn't let Djokovic get away with much in his presser either. He said this (translated from Swiss German):

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'If Novak says he’s tired then it’s most likely that the pressure is getting to him – I’ve played as much as he has recently. He’s automatically going to be under increased pressure, but when you lose, you just have to accept it. I wasn’t as consistent as he was when I was 20, 21 – he’s been incredible. And somehow you expect him to lose early at some point, but all credit to him for being so consistent in Grand Slams up until now.'

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Ah, Roger. Polite yet pointed all at the same time. A genius on and off the court.

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There were some lovely articles on the Wimbledon website today that I would thoroughly recommend - Drew Lilley (of blog fame) wrote one about Federer's fluency on and off the court, discussing how great Roger is for conducting his press conferences in about ninety different languages; and a lovely match report from Alix Ramsey. Both seemed to me to be a little more true than some of the other stuff the media has been saying. Alix Ramsey wrote an article after the Hrbaty match the other day that directly addressed this media phenomenon of the vulnerable Federer, and it finished with this brilliant sentence:

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'Yes, there must be a lot of men sitting nervously in the locker room who would love to be as vulnerable right now as Roger Federer.'

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Perfection.

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The loss of Djokovic - and of LameDave Headbandian the round before - has really opened up that section of the draw, as they were the big seeds in that quarter. So now I have to pick a new semi finalist! Oh no! I am distraught! Feel my pain and agony!

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(That was a joke, in case I haven't made my loathing of Djokovic clear enough.)

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I don't think you can go past Marcos Baghdatis. Even with Djokovic and Headbandian still in the quarter, he was a legitimate threat, because his grass court game is very very excellent. I would put good money on him reaching the semis now, repeating his run from 2006. The only two players I can really see challenging him are Safin, if he keeps up this sudden regression to 2004-05, and Wawrinka, if Stan has a good day. Beyond that... let's just say I would be very, very surprised if anyone that is not one of these three reaches the semi.

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So we're going to have TWO random semi finalists now... if random means someone that is not Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. It's not like A-Rod and the Bags, my picks for those spots, are rubbish players - it's just that tennis is such a dominated game at the moment. It'll be nice to see the two big boys, providing they get through, which I'm very sure they will, playing some different guys.

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And I can't not say anything about that Ivanovic match, at the risk of totally forgetting women's tennis exists again. She was so, so lucky with that let cord. She's a nervy player traditionally, and I think the pressure might have got to her a bit. However, in the end, I think this kind of marathon match will be good for her. She knows she can dig it out at the end when it counts. So on the whole, I think the Dechy match will be a positive experience for her.

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I don't like her tennis dress, though. Not a fan. It's better than Sharapova's little see through tuxedo ensemble, but it's still not good. I do like Serena's coat, though. I don't know if I'd wear it on a tennis court, but I like it. And I like Roger's cardie, too - not as much as the blazer of the past two years, but I guess there's only so many other things you can do!

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Also on women's tennis - go Casey. The young Miss Dellacqua had a great win over Pauline Parmentier, and here's hoping she can back it up again against recently scratchy Nicole Vaidisova.

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Well, I think that might be enough of a ramble from me for the day. To summarise: Federer good (very much so.) Djokovic bad (extraordinarily so.) Ivanovic lucky (ridiculously so.) Safin...

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...hippo.

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Wimbledon Results - Day #3

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Men's Draw

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Roger Federer def. Robin Soderling, 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-3)

Marat Safin def. Novak Djokovic, 6-4 7-6 (7-3) 6-2

David Ferrer def. Igor Andreev, 3-6 6-3 6-4 6-2

Marcos Baghdatis def. Thomas Johansson, 6-4 6-4 6-4

Lleyton Hewitt def. Albert Montanes, 7-6 (7-4) 6-0 6-2

Tomas Berdych def. Victor Hanescu, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (8-6) 6-1 6-2

Mischa Zverev def. Juan Carlos Ferrero, 6-4 6-4 2-1 retired

Marc Gicquel def. Ilia Bozoljac, 4-6 5-7 7-6 (7-1) 7-6 (7-0) 6-3

Fernando Verdasco def. Olivier Rochus, 7-6(7-4) 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-1

Stanislas Wawrinka def. Juan Martin del Potro, 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 7-5

Mario Ancic def. Philipp Petzschner, 6-1 6-4 6-7 (1-7) 4-6 6-3

Andreas Seppi def. Florent Serra, 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 6-4

Simon Stadler def. Thomaz Bellucci, 3-6 6-3 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 8-6

Feliciano Lopez def. Roko Karanusic, 6-3 6-3 6-4

Simone Bolelli def. Fernando Gonzalez, 7-6 (10-8) 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 7-6 (7-4)

Bobby Reynolds def. Frank Dancevic, 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 6-4 6-4

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Women's Draw

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Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Kateryna Bondarenko, 6-2 6-3

Ana Ivanovic def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-7 (2-7) 7-6 (7-3) 10-8

Jie Zheng def. Elena Baltacha, 6-2 7-5

Anna Chakvetadze def. Edina Gallovits, 6-4 6-2

Serena Williams def. Urszula Radwanska, 6-4 6-4

Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Francesca Schiavone, 3-6 7-5 9-7

Nicole Vaidisova def. Samantha Stosur, 6-2 0-6 6-4

Agnieszka Radwanska def. Marta Domachowska, 6-1 6-3

Agnes Szavay def. Monica Niculescu, 5-7 7-5 6-2

Evgeniya Rodina def. Elena Vesnina, 6-1 7-6 (7-0)

Marion Bartoli def. Tatiana Perebiynis, 6-2 7-5

Amelie Mauresmo def. Virginia Ruano Pascual, 4-6 6-1 6-1

Bethanie Mattek def. Vera Dushevina, 7-6 (8-6) 6-4

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Li Na, 6-2 6-4

Elena Dementieva def. Maria Elena Camerin, 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-3

Casey Dellacqua def. Pauline Parmentier, 1-6 6-2 6-3

Barbora Zahlavova Strycova def. Alona Bondarenko, 6-3 3-0 retired

Halleback

Okay, I lied. I'm a bad person. One thing I didn't realise when I promised human interest stories is that you have to research them. I mean, I knew that, but I didn't realise how time consuming that would be. So, because I am in a hurry today, you just get the Musings of Jodi on Tennis She Hasn't Actually Seen. Tomorrow I have a whole day off, though... so I promise you faithfully a player profile. If there's anyone in particular you'd like me to profile, please leave a comment on my blog! I'm trying not to do Federer because I talk about him all the time... but it's always an option!

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Speaking of Federer, he had a great win in Halle last night, taking out Michael Berrer. Berrer is hardly one of the Nadals of this world, but he's a tricky player - another southpaw - and Roger had a very dominating win by the looks of things. I read his presser from after the match, and he said he was feeling comfortable enough up 30-0, 40-0 on his serve to try stuff out - and he never got broken, so some of the stuff must have worked.

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Every time I think I've encompassed the spectrum of Federer, he just gets that little bit better. His attitude after that crushing defeat in Roland Garros was... I don't think he could have a better attitude. Let me see if I can find the quote... it was from his pre-tournament presser in Halle... ah, here we go. “I am already over the loss in Paris. It does not matter if you lose by a big or a small margin. A loss is a loss. After all, I was in the final of the French Open, so I am happy about it.”

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Isn't that just an incredible way to look at things? The world has endless things to learn from the way this man looks at life. Just after that awful loss on Sunday, a journalist asked him if he thought he could still win Roland Garros, and he fired back, "yes," immediately. He backs himself, he trusts himself and he doesn't let things get him down. A lot of people - and I include myself in this - have many lessons to learn from Roger Federer. I'm a member of a Facebook group called 'Roger Federer makes me better-er' and I couldn't believe that statement any more fervently. I swear.

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Onto other guys. Rafa and the Djoker both won their matches in Queen's. Marat lost... but we know how he hates the grass, which he thinks is for cows. I know they're not particularly high ranked players, but I was very surprised at both Isner and Guccione losing in Queen's. Querrey lost the day before. I thought that enormous serve might help them out on the grass... but maybe, if the ball does come back, they don't have the footspeed to keep up with it. They are all about eleven feet tall, after all.

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There's one last player I'd like to talk a bit about, and that's Tomas Berdych. I never to know what to think about him. In some ways, I think he's another Philipp Kohlschreiber to me (Philipp, incidentally, won yesterday.) I think he's better than he is, and so he perpetually underwhelms me. I know Soderling is crazy in form at the moment, but Berdych's game is so well suited to grass! He won Halle last year and was the runner up the year before! He's only young, but Tomas, man, wake up!

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I really like Berdych's game - and time has allowed me to forgive him for beating Roger at the Olympics in 2004 - and so it's disappointing when he doesn't do as well as he should. I'd like to see him make a run to the semis in a slam - to be the other guy along with Roger, Rafa and the Djoker, as they basically seem to be locked into the semis of the Slams. I'd like him to be the random, the Tsonga, the Monfils, the Richou. He has the potential - actualise, Tomas, actualise!

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I don't know if he's playing a tournament next week, but he should - Nottingham or something. A grass court tournament, obviously... still not sure what's going on with Warsaw and Barcelona and the clay. That's just weird.

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Also, before I go, I'd just like to apologise for the horrendous pun in today's title. Not quite as bad as the Kuerten falling for Guga pun, but everyone was using variations on that. This one is all my own... ahahahaha.

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Today's Results

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Artois Championships (Queen's Club, London)

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Rafael Nadal def. Jonas Bjorkman, 6-2 6-2

Kei Nishikori def. Olivier Patience, 7-6 (10-8) 6-3

Fernando Gonzalez def. Marat Safin, 6-3 7-6 (7-3)

Andy Roddick def. Robby Ginepri, 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 6-1

Mardy Fish def. Chris Guccione, 4-6 7-6 (7-0) 6-4

Ernests Gulbis def. Andreas Seppi, 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-3

Richard Gasquet def. Simone Bolelli, 6-3 6-3

Nicolas Mahut def. John Isner, 7-5 6-4

David Nalbandian def. Viktor Troicki, 6-4 7-6 (7-4)

Lleyton Hewitt def. Xavier Malisse, 6-3 6-2

Janko Tipsarevic def. Ivo Minar, 3-6 6-3 6-4

Novak Djokovic def. Roko Karanusic, 6-2 7-6 (9-7)

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Gerry Weber Open (Halle)

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Roger Federer def. Michael Berrer, 6-4 6-2

Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Tommy Haas, 7-5 5-7 7-6 (7-5)

Robin Soderling def. Tomas Berdych, 6-2 7-5

Andreas Beck def. Mischa Zverev, 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-5) 6-1

James Blake def. Benjamin Becker, 4-6 7-5 6-3

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Warsaw Orange Open (Warsaw)

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Nikolay Davydenko def. Jiri Vanek, 4-6 7-5 6-1

Evgeny Korolev def. Potito Starace, 7-5 4-0 retired

Marcel Granollers def. Marcos Daniel, 6-2 6-4

Juan Monaco def. Florent Serra, 7-5 6-3

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DFS Classic (Birmingham)

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Petra Cetkovska def. Marion Bartoli, 5-7 6-4 6-0

Camille Pin def. Marta Domachowska, 6-4 6-2

Kateryna Bondarenko def. Samantha Stosur, 6-3 6-2

Melinda Czink def. Olga Govortsova, 6-3 7-6 (8-6)

Alona Bondarenko def. Virginia Ruano Pascual, 7-6 (7-4) 3-6 7-5

Sunitha Rao def. Naomi Cavaday, 4-6 6-3 6-1

Yaroslava Shvedova def. Katie O'Brien, 7-5 1-6 7-5

Marina Erakovic def. Sania Mirza, 6-3 6-0

Yanina Wickmayer def. Casey Dellacqua, 6-2 3-6 6-3

Aiko Nakamura def. Sorana Cirstea, 6-4 4-6 6-4

Nicole Vaidisova def. Nathalie Dechy, 6-1 6-3

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Campeanatos Internacionales de Tenis Femenino de Espana (Barcelona)

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Nuria Llagostera Vives def. Eloisa Compostizo de Andres, 6-3 6-0

Sara Errani def. Varvara Lepchenko, 6-4 7-5

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez def. Pauline Parmentier, 6-2 6-4

Stephani Cohen-Aloro def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 7-6 (7-3) 6-0

Reflections on the Final That Wasn't

I never realised before today how anticlimactic a Slam final without Federer can feel.

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I know I shouldn't complain about it. I love tennis outside of Federer, even if he really is the reason I got into it in the first place. As Erin frequently tells me, I am spoiled. Before now, Roger had been in the previous ten Slam finals. Which, you know, was nice. And he won eight of them. Which was, you know, nicer.

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Maybe it's good for tennis to have someone different in the final for a change. I'm pretty fixed in my position of not liking Djokovic, but he was always going to break through sometime, and really, when it comes down to it, I am glad it was here and not at Wimbledon. The Australian Open is important but Wimbledon really is the most important tournament of the year, from a sentimental perspective anyway.

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Normally, in a tennis final, I am on the edge of my seat. My heart is in my mouth, and with every ball that flies long or careens into the tape I wince; with every winner I clap. But this match left me cold, really. I like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and I like the way he plays, but I haven't seen enough of him yet to induct him into my hall of favourites. And we all know where I stand on Djokovic. So, yeah, I watched it, and yeah, I enjoyed it, but my heart wasn't in it. I was cheering for Tsonga, but let's just say I shed no tears over this match... which makes it the first Slam final I have not cried over since the US Open '05, which was before I really became a hardcore Federer fan.

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I make no pretences at being unbiased. If Roger Federer won every match he played in straight sets, that would be fine with me, though I'm sure the greater tennis world would find it boring. It was hard to see Novak Djokovic hoisting up the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup, when it has such deep emotional connections for me - the Australian Open '06, the famous Open of the crying Roger, was when I fell in love with tennis. I am a tennis fan. But I am a fan because of Federer. I mean, sure, there are other players I like and like a lot - Tursunov, Safin, Moya, Gasquet, etc, etc - but when it comes down to it, it's all about Roger, really. I love what he brings to tennis. I love the way he plays tennis. And I love his attitude to tennis. 'You can never be bigger than the game,' he once said, 'and you have to remember that.'

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That's the mistake I make, I think. In many ways, for me, Federer is bigger than the game. Hell, he is the freaking game. Basically, he is my hero, and it is very difficult for me to see my hero not at the top of his game.

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So, for a blog that's supposed to be about tennis in general, I talk an awful lot about Federer, hey?

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This was meant to be a blog purely for the Australian tennis summer, which would make this the last post. However, thirty-odd posts in, I still have a lot to say (probably because I've spent most of my time writing about what a great guy Roger Federer is instead of, you know, actual tennis.) I'm not going to write it daily any more - mainly because I have no way of watching tennis now that the tour has moved onto the South American swing - but I'll write a weekly roundup of the week's tournaments... and see where that takes us!

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Next week is Vina del Mar, a claycourt IS event in Chile. The top seed is Fernando Gonzalez, but this tournament also marks the comeback of Guillermo Coria, former French Open finalist, so it could be very interesting! Also, Peter Luczak (Milkshake) is playing, so it'll be fun to see how he goes on clay!

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And also Roger isn't playing, so I might make some actual observations about tennis, which could be fun...

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Australian Open Results - Day #14

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Men's Draw

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Novak Djokovic def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (7-2)

This Year's Marcos

Like I've said about four billion times, I'm not very nationalistic when it comes to tennis. I go for the personalities, not the Aussies. But damn if I wasn't cheering my lungs out for Casey Dellacqua last night!

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I love a good underdog. Maybe Casey is this tournament's Marcos...? (Though I have another contender for the position, who I'll talk about later.) She played a fabulous match last night against Amelie Mauresmo - really, really fabulous. One of the things people say about Federer (and I'd imagine they say it about Justine Henin as well) is that he often defeats opponents before they come onto the court, because they're afraid of him. I think that might be one of the keys to his game, actually - he's said before that he respects everyone, but fears no one.

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Well, Casey Dellacqua played with no fear last night, and that's what won her the match. It must be a bit overwhelming, when you know your opponent is expected to pound you into the ground, but at the same time, I can see how it gives you a certain level of freedom. No pressure. No expectations. You can just give it your all and see how you go.

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I really like her game, especially when she goes for the lines. She hit some sweet shots last night, some awesome winners. But her real strength was that she just didn't go away mentally. A lot of low-ranked players, coming up against a Mauresmo and losing the first set, might give up. But she didn't. Maybe it was the strength of her first two matches that kept her going - they both went three sets, and both times she won 8-6 in the third. The match against Schnyder must have been especially heartening - she lost the first set, but won the match.

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What I really like about her is that she has an 'I can do it' mentality. You could see it - she steeled herself, went for her shots, and came up with the goods.

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She plays Jelena Jankovic next. Jankovic is one of the best players in the world, but she is carrying that hamstring injury from the Hopman Cup and she hasn't been playing spectacularly well here - her first round match against Paszek went to 12-10 in the third. So can Casey do it again? We'll see...

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Meanwhile, what a great match from Philipp Kohlschreiber! He is my other contender for the role of Marcos this year. It wasn't necessarily a poor match from Roddick - not one of his best, but not awful - but Kohlschreiber played awesomely. He's started off this year great, with that win in Auckland, and I think he might shoot up the rankings a bit this year. Top twenty for sure, if not top ten. His backhand is gorgeous. It's not the driving weapon that Safin's is - which is probably my favourite backhand in the game after Federer's - but he places it so well, and knows how to spread out the court... at this rate, he's scheduled to meet Rafa in the quarters, and if Kohlschreiber keeps playing like this, I think he's a real chance of taking him out - which I confess I would like to see! I have a soft spot for Rafa, but it's nothing compared to my one for Federer, and I don't want him gaining any more ranking points here, thank you very much!

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And go Hsieh Su-wei! A qualifier, into the round of sixteen! Didn't I pick her weeks ago? Didn't I? How good am I?

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Australian Open Results - Day 5

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Men's Draw

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Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Andy Roddick, 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-7 (3-7) 8-6

Rafael Nadal def. Gilles Simon, 7-5 6-2 6-3

Richard Gasquet def. Igor Andreev, 6-3 6-2 4-6 6-4

Nikolay Davydenko def. Marc Gicquel, 6-3 6-2 6-3

Jarkko Nieminen def. Mardy Fish, 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-1

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga def. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 6-3 6-4 6-2

Mikhail Youzhny def. Ivo Karlovic, 6-2 6-4 6-2

Paul-Henri Mathieu def. Stefan Koubek, 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-2 5-7 8-6

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Women's Draw

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Justine Henin def. Francesca Schiavone, 7-5 6-4

Jelena Jankovic def. Virginie Razzano, 6-2 4-6 6-1

Maria Sharapova def. Elena Vesnina, 6-3 6-0

Serena Williams def. Victoria Azarenka, 6-3 6-4

Elena Dementieva def. Shahar Peer, 6-2 6-0

Nicole Vaidisova def. Ai Sugiyama, 6-3 6-4

Casey Dellacqua def. Amélie Mauresmo, 3-6 6-4 6-4

Hsieh Su-Wei def. Aravane Rezai, 6-2 6-7 (3-7) 6-4