Djoko or Muzza?

Just a quick breakdown of how I see these two matching up.

Serve: The serve is pretty even. Djokovic has been getting a higher first serve percentage throughout the tournament but they both have similar first serve points won percentages.

Return: Murray is one of the best returners in the game so I'll give him the edge here.

Forehand: Big advantage to Djokovic here; he has a bigger forehand and likes to be super aggressive with it, whereas Murray has a tendency to push with his. Murray can flatten it out on the forehand side but the errors can flow off his raquet when he does so.

Backhand: Both these players have outstanding backhands so I'm going even on this one.

Defense: Again, these two guys are two of the best defenders in the game. Gotta go even again.

Intangibles: I think Murray has the edge here, and here's why
-he isn't facing Federer which should come as a relief since his other two finals against Federer left him bound and broken.
-the HEAT! It's gonna be a scorcher today; the first really hot day of the fortnight. Yes, the match is at night but if we're talking 40 deg C, this spells trouble for Djokovic who has famously struggled in the heat, including here in 2008, where he retired in the QF against Roddick.

These guys are both 23 years old, born just a week apart and this should be the start of a tremendous rivalry. I picked Murray at the start of the tournament and I can't back off it now. Murray in 5.

Women's Final

 
Coming into the tournament I had picked Kim Clijsters to win because she is the most complete player out there in the field and most importantly she was healthy. At full health only Justine or Venus could have really pushed her. In the final she came up against Li Na, who was vying to become to first asian player to win a grand slam singles title. It was an interesting match-up because just 2 weeks prior, Li had beaten Clijsters in a warm-up event in Sydney. They both have very similar styles of play. They have two of the best two-handers in the game and they love to take it down the line. Their forehands are bigger but will give you more errors. Their serves are serviceable but not great. However, Clijsters has all the experience being a 3-time slam champion and having played her first grand slam final in 2002. She is also the better defender. None of this mattered in the first set. Clijsters came out on fire winning the first 8 points and I thought she might run through Li Na as she has done to her other grand slam victory opponents, but after Li got settled she was the one dictating play. Clijsters' game plan was to fight power with power and Li was feeding off of her pace and taking it to her. So in a surprise, Li took the first 6-3. It was more of the same at the start of the second set and at 3-2, 30-all on the Cljisters serve, it seemed that Li could actually win this thing. At critical moments such as that one, champions tighten the screws but inexplicably Li started leaking errors and then was getting increasingly frustrated by crowd noise, photographers, and her own poor play. To be fair, Clijsters was causing some of these errors by changing the pace of the rallies. She started using her variety instead of going toe to toe with Li in the power department. She successfully used a combination of slices and looping top spin shots to get some more air under the ball and force Li to generate her own power and Li missed, again and again. Li's biggest detriment is her lack of gameplan options and her propensity to run hot and cold; all of which were on display in the final. At the end of the day it is Clijsters who now has won 3 of the past 5 majors after coming back from retirement. I see her as a big favorite at the French and US Open. Who would have thought that Kim might be the more successful of the "Belgian Sisters"?

End of a career for Justine Henin

Although incredibly sad, you had to see this coming. Today, Justine Henin has retired for a second time; this time it's forever. The elbow injury she sustained last year at Wimbledon has ended her career as the pain has not subsided. You wonder why she came to Australia in the first place, but as she explains in her letter,
"I have rarely been spared from the pain, those last months were very hard. Time has passed, and the doubts have grown, and only return to the courts would give me answers. Not the answer I was hoping for... unfortunately.".

Justine Henin was my favourite player to watch and I will remember Justine as a truly special player. Her all-court versatility was so refreshing and who can forget that perfect, flowing one-handed backhand. At 5"5 she was able to combat the much bigger and stronger women on the tour with a combination of pure talent, finess, and guile. I'll never forget her SF match against Capriati in the 2003 US Open. Henin was 2 points from losing the match no less than 4 times. It was a grueling affair which left Henin on IV afterwards, but somehow she came back the very next day and bested Clijsters for her first US Open title. She has won 4 French Open titles, 2 US Open titles,1 Australian Open title as well as olympic gold, but the one which eludes her, the one she came back for, will be forever missing from her CV; Wimbledon.

Merci Justine, et bonne chance.

Predictions for the AO 2011 QF's and beyond

QF Picks (Men)
Nadal def. Ferrer in 4
Murray def. Dolgopolov in 3
Djokovic def. Berdych in 4
Federer def. Wawrinka in 4

SF Picks (Men)
Murray def. Nadal
Federer def. Djokovic

F (Men)
Murray def. Federer

QF Picks (Women)

Wozniacki def. Schiavone in 2

Li def. Petkovic in 3

Clijsters def. Radwanska in 2

Zvonareva def. Kvitova in 3

SF Picks (Women)

Wozniacki def. Li
Clijsters def. Zvonareva

F (Women)
Clijsters def. Wozniacki

Maple Leaf Missile

Hey everyone, thanks for reading! Just a quick post here. I thought that the Canadian Milos Raonic (who has been dubbed the Maple Leaf Missile) did really well to take a set off of David Ferrer. Ferrer is such a strong competitor and he wore Raonic down over the course of 4 sets but it was a good effort. Ferrer is precisely the type of player an up and comer needs to beat as a sort of measuring stick and Raonic aquitted himself well. He was very aggressive in the first set, ripping the ball and coming in behind everything and pressuring Ferrer who was still getting used to Raonic's powerful game. Ferrer started getting some passes in though and I think that Raonic backed off from the net and tried to win a ground war against Ferrer which is often a losing battle. We'll see much more of Raonic that is for sure. He seems like a polite and confident kid who has the tools to go far.

Sharapova searching for answers

I was hoping to start this blog up before the Aussie Open but computer troubles have stalled me. Alright, let's get down to it-first post! Maria Sharapova!

Anyone who saw the Andrea Petkovic and Maria Sharapova match last night on Laver saw Petkovic wipe the court with Sharapova. It's now the norm for the Sharapova serve to be completely atrocious and she has never had any semblance of competence at net, however add to this that her forehand, backhand and limited movement were also off last night and you get a blowout. It seemed that even she did not believe in her trademark fist pumps and thigh slaps and was just doing them to go through the motions. At 6-2, 5-1 Sharapova saved a match point and then started connecting on a few shots breaking serve and then holding to get to 6-2, 5-3. It seemed as though maybe I had written her off too early. Would Petkovic feel the pressure mounting on the second time of asking to serve out the match? On the penultimate point, Sharapova badly missed a volley and on match point, she dumped a routine shot into the bottom of the net and that was all she wrote.

Ever since returning from shoulder surgery, Sharapova has just not been the same. I hope she does make it back to the top but it is hard for me to see that happening. She is a great fighter and talent and it is a shame that she is a shadow of her former self. Sharapova was philosophical in her post-match interview and has vowed to continue on. I have to admire her for her fight to push on. She is the highest paid female athlete in the world. She has accomplished so much in tennis winning 3 slams and being a former world no. 1. She doesn't need tennis, but there is no place she'd rather be than on the court and competing.