Shiny Happy Shiny Things

There's something that makes you smile when you see Roger Federer with silverware in his hands. When there is a trophy over the Federhead, all is right with the world.

I mean, it's only Stockholm. A 250. For which I don't think he gets any ranking points. And it wasn't as if it was a great field - I mean, he was playing Florian Mayer in the final. I was hardly dialling 1800-SURPRISED when he won. But considering the definite title drought that has been going on this year, seeing Roger with some shiny stuff is definite happymaking.

And, as noted yesterday, it was a great result for Mayer as well - though he got a distinct lack of shiny stuff. Gypped. Maybe his reward was merely standing in the presence of mighty Fed. Who can tell.

And what a result for Viktor Troicki? He's a player I go on and off with, but I find it very hard to believe that this is his first ever ATP title. He's definitely got enough game to pick off a few 250 tournaments here and there in his career - maybe even a 500, if he gets very lucky. And it was a good victory for him in the final as well, beating Marcos Baghdatis. A bit disappointing for Marcos, I suppose, but a final is still a pretty good showing!

Now stop reading my random ramblings and go and look at pictures of Roger holding shiny things!

Florian and the Final

Well, well, well, he didn't need that last win after all. Robin Soderling is through to the world tour finals, and I am confident that he is going to rock them, providing he is uninjured. He wasn't that great last year, but here's hoping he can do something a bit spesh this year. He, after all, very, very much deserves to be there.

But Stockholm has been rolling on without him, and we have the final coming up very soon - Roger Federer vs Florian Mayer. You'd expect that Roger would make the final - he's Roger, after all, and even though he had a bit of a scare against Wawrinka, he makes it good - but this a big result from Florian Mayer, he who conquered Soderling and then backed it up.

Seriously, Florian Mayer has been around forever, and I could not tell you one single thing about him. That's usually a sign that he hasn't done that much, I think. This is certainly the first final I can remember him making. I can't think of too much more to say about this, due to not knowing too much about him, but well done, dude. You'll have your work cut out for against the Federer Express, but you should be pretty proud of coming this far, if nothing else.

There's also been a big result for Denis Istomin in Moscow. I know he lost to Marcos Baghdatis, but it was tight, and with his whole up and comer schtick, semis in a decent field like this is good stuff. And it's a good result for Baghdatis as well - he hasn't had the most awesome year ever and a title here would be a really good result for him. Actually, a final's not bad either. Fun times.

Super Soderling

Massively disappointing loss for Robin Soderling in Stockholm today - he is literally centimetres away from qualifying for the world tour finals, but he went down to Florian Mayer. Not an awesome result.

You would think this is a cue for another one of my x-player-who-did-well-at-a-Slam-one-time-is-now-so-disappointing rants, but no. Quite the opposite. While Soderling took a bad loss today, the fact that he is so close to qualifying for the world tour finals - which would make him the first guy outside the big four to do so - proves something very important. When Robin Soderling arrived on the scene, he made sure he hung around.

Ever since that win over Nadal at Roland Garros last year, the Yoker has been a force to be reckoned with. Before that, he was a mildly dangerous second tier player, capable of pulling the odd upset. Now he's someone that could legitimately challenge for a Slam title. And he is not a one hit wonder. He's not even a one album wonder. He's made two Slam finals now, and a whole bunch of other quarters and similarly awesome results. Soderling is keeping the standard up.

All this has left him one win away from the world tour finals - a win that he will get, even if he took a bad loss today. Robin Soderling has become what the Davydenkos and Berdychs of 2010 aspire to be - someone who made it big and then held their level, not someone who had a couple of good results and then fizzled spectacularly. The Yoker has really been a game changer in men's tennis. And with the team we have at the top at the moment, there's not many men who can say that.

Talking Tomas

So the big news of the day is that Maria Sharapova is engaged to her partner Sasha Vujacic.

Um... yeah. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.

In other news, I talked about the disappointment Davydenko's been this year. Let's talk about someone else who has been disappointing over the last few months - Tomas Berdych.

A big match can break you. I think we've seen this a few times this year. We've seen guys go into matches they've convinced themselves they have the goods to win, they haven't won it, and it's been goodnight Irene and disappointment has reigned. We've seen Federer do it to Andy Murray and Nikolay Davydenko, and I contend that Rafa Nadal did it to Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon.

I really think Berdych thought he could win that match. And after you've beaten Federer on grass at Wimbledon, no wonder. But I think that expectation has been the death of him, because what has he done since? Unremarkable US Open series, capped off with a disappointing first round loss in New York. And now he's been upset by Jarkko Nieminen, who is a wily veteran but hardly a tennis ninja.

I don't think the final nail has been hammered in the Berdych coffin - not by a long shot. But you know what? If he plays Federer again any time soon and loses - whether it's a blowout or a tough one - you can start playing that funeral dirge. Because what is currently very, very bent will then be completely broken.

Burnout

So Nikolay Davydenko just got beaten by some dude called Pablo Cuevas. I suppose I've vaguely heard of Cuevas, but I couldn't tell you jack about him. I can tell you something about Nikolay Davydenko, however, and it's that 2010 is not shaping up to be like 2009. Not even close.

Remember this time last year, when Davydenko was kicking arse and taking names and generally pretty much winning everything? ...um, yeah, it's not like that this year. This year, he's the one that's getting his arse kicked and his name taken. I'm not sure where he is in the line for qualification for the world tour finals, but considering the results he's had this year, I can't really imagine he's high up the list...

It's a sad story. Kolya is simultaneously cardboardy and totally charming and likeable. His game is sort of watchable, when he isn't playing awfully (remember Davydenko vs Verdasco at the Australian this year)? But it's been a year of pretty much fat nothing for him. Ever since Federer took him and snapped him at the Open, he's not been the same.

For a guy who supposedly hasn't had a good year, Federer's done a lot of psychological damage this year. At the Australian Open, he managed to slay both Andy Murray and Davydenko. The Murray thing's been discussed a lot but the Davydenko thing has been underestimated. I don't want it to be true, but I think we might have seen the best of Kolya. He burned very, very bright at the end of last year and the beginning of this year. I'm really hoping he hasn't burned himself out.

Perfect Pat

So the new Australian Davis Cup captain has been announced. John Fitzgerald is stepping down after ten years at the helm (including a memorable victory in 2003) and the new dude is...

...Pat Rafter.

And Jodi says this: what a sweet choice.

Seriously, I cannot imagine how they could have made a better choice for captain. Pat Rafter will be 100% awesome. I'm not a fan of the player captain, but I really do love the idea of the young captain, and I think Pat fits that niche perfectly. He's young enough to have played with some of the team (i.e. Hewitt) and isn't so far off the tour that he completely can't relate.

He's also a public figure - much more so than John Fitzgerald - and if he can raise the profile of Davis Cup, I think that will be a good thing. Added to which he is a totally awesome guy whom people really look up to and an excellent statesman for the sport and stuff. He's charismatic and I really think he'll spur the team on to better things. Like getting in the World Group, for example.

In addition, Tony Roche is coach. Great pick. Well played, Tennis Australia!

Experience Wins Out

I was so caught up in the Federdrama last week I almost totally forgot to cover what was one of the most remarkable women's finals of the year. Let me remedy that now.

In Osaka, Tamarine Tanasugarn beat Kimiko Date Krumm in the oldest women's final I can think of, and, I would hazard to guess, the oldest women's final ever. They have a combined age of 73 and between them managed to beat a whole handful of awesome and much younger players en route to the title. Date Krumm bagged the scalps of Stosur and Peer, while Tanasugarn took out Bartoli. Not so shabby. Not so shabby at all.

It would have been awesome if Date Krumm could have won this won - it is her home tournament, after all - but there was no way this was not going to be a feelgood final. Women's tennis has traditionally been the bailiwick of teenage wunderkids like Hingis and Sharapova, and while that is a story in and of itself, there is something very heartwarming of the triumph of experience.

I didn't see the match and so I can't comment on the quality of it, but when two women like Kimiko and Tamarine can keep pace with people who are, in some cases, more than twenty years their junior... not only keep pace but beat them... well, that's pretty awesome. I don't have too much more to say except this was an awesome match. With awesomeness. Covered in a luscious awesome sauce. And I hope Kimiko and Tamarine keep rocking on and showing the young 'uns how it's done.