It is now Monday and I am writing my final entry about the Mixed Doubles and Men's Singles finals, which you may have already seen. Since the Men's singles was played in the evening, I did not get back to Ormond College until after midnight, and that was too late to write my last blog entry. I did go back to the courts earlier today to meet with the tournament director and he provided some great insights about the research that I am doing so I was really grateful to be able to meet with him, especially after what must have been an ordeal for the past several weeks.
Back to Sunday's matches...
Only two matches were scheduled for Sunday, with the MXD final at 4:00 p.m. featuring Daniel Nestor (CAN) and Elena Likhovtseva (RUS) against the Belarussian pair of Max Mirnyi and Victoria Azarenka. Both teams were unseeded and had to advance to the final by way of several upsets. Like the earlier doubles finals, the stadium did not fill until closer to the time of the Men's Singles final, but about 2,000 or 3,000 fans arrived in time to see the Mixed Doubles. Each team held serve in both sets to go to 3-3, but that is where Nestor and Likhovtseva managed to break, in what is often referred to as the "crucial 7th game." From there, they simply held serve to win each set and the match, 6-4, 6-4. The biggest difference in these two teams was the relative inexperience of 17-year old Azarenka, who had never been to the final of a Grand Slam event. Needless to say, she received excellent mentoring from her countryman, Max Mirnyi, and he praised her potential after it was over. Nestor and Likhovtseva had been to the MXD finals last year which they lost, so winning this year's title was especially sweet for them. It took only an hour and 19 minutes to capture the title.
Between the MXD finals and the introduction of players in the Men's Singles finals, entertainment of Jimmy Barnes was featured in Garden Square (to see his website, you can go to http://www.jimmybarnes.com/). Since it was still a bit nippy, most fans opted for dinner and stayed within the confines of Rod Laver Arena. That was my decision as well.
Shortly after 7:00 p.m., fans began to fill the arena in anticipation of the Men's finals. In place of the ever-present Swedish contingent, there were numerous Swiss fans wearing red t-shirts with a white cross in the middle. Several Swiss fans of Federer sported noticeable wigs (perhaps you saw them on t.v?) and one person held up a sign that said, "Quiet: Genius at Work"). The fans for Fernando Gonzalez were colorfully decked out as well, wearing t-shirts that read "Red Hot Chilean," or "Go Gonzo." As the arena filled, chants and cheers echoed throughout the stadium, which heightened the excitement. Before the player introductions, Guy Sebastien was introduced with two back-up singers. They sang the theme song of the tournament, "What a wonderful world."
Finally it was time to introduce the players, and both were greeted with loud applause from the audience: first, the No. 10-seeded player from Chile, Fernando Gonzalez, entered the stadium, followed by the No. 1 seed, Roger Federer, winner of three of the last four Grand Slam titles (the question is: will he be able to win the French Open? I will give my thoughts on that a bit later). One other significant person was introduced after the players--for the first time ever, a woman, Sandra DeJenkins umpired a Grand Slam final of the Men's Singles. She received a rousing ovation from fans as well.
After a ten minute warmup, play began with Federer serving. I will not go into details of what happened in the match, largely because for once I watched what was happening instead of taking notes. But I formed impressions that I would like to share with you. Many people have spoken of the genius of Federer, how easy he makes it look to execute some of the shots that he makes. What I could not tell from watching on television was how quick he is. That is partly from keen anticipation, but he also accelerates the racket head faster than anyone I have ever seen (Agassi was comparable I would say), especially on his ground strokes. I was surprised to see that he did not try to break serving records. In fact, I do not recall seeing one of his serves that registered over 200 km, and yet he won his service games handily--often at love. The reason I believe he does that is because he uses his serve to set up the next shot, much like I remember Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors doing. Neither of them had an overpowering serve, yet if an opponent returned their serve, that is when the shots came back harder than before. So it was with Federer. He could attack from the baseline with both his forehand and backhand, or could go to the net and put shots away. In sum, he has a complete game. That is something you can tell from television.
Gonzalez was no slouch either. In fact, he gave Roger perhaps one of the best matches he had to play. In the final, I sat next to a man from New Zealand who had also seen Federer's match against Roddick, and he said that Gonzalez' speed made Roddick look slow in retrospect. Gonzalez hit serves as hard as 210 km and probably had more aces than Federer, but he also had far more unforced errors. On occasion, he managed to hit outright forehand winners but in many cases, even shots that had been winners in previous matches were anticipated by Federer who was able to put them away. Nonetheless, there was a point at 5-4 with Gonzalez serving at 40-15 when he had two attempts to win the first set. On one of those points, Gonzalez had a chance to hit a forehand groundstroke, but he netted the shot. Once Roger got to deuce, he won that game. The two players each held serve and at 6-all, they played a tiebreak, which Roger won easily, 7-2. Notably, the first set alone lasted longer than the entire Women's Singles match.
It is easy to think of what could have been if Gonzalez had won the first set, but there was definitely a sense among fans that once he lost the first set, Federer would probably win the next two. And yet, Gonzalez held on at the beginning of each set, again until the score reached 3-3. That was when Federer won the all-important 7th game and went on to win the second and third sets, 6-4, 6-4. The whole match lasted well over two hours and was of high quality, as the man next to me indicated. One other thing was noteworthy about the match and awards ceremony that followed, and that was that the majority of fans stayed in their seats until the end of the ceremony. If they were like me, they did not want the whole experience of the Australian Open to come to an end.
This brings me to my prediction for the French Open. The big question on Federer's resume is whether he can win the French, since that is the only Grand Slam that has eluded him. I was thinking about that during the finals match, and it occurred to me that what the slow clay courts do is defuse Federer's quickness and allow his shots to set up for others to run them down. Thus, a good clay courter (like Nadal, especially) can get to his shots and overpower or hit returns with greater consistency. In the Australian Open, Nadal was not at his best, but there are plenty of proficient clay court specialists waiting to give Federer fits at the French Open. I am eager to see what happens in May and June when he plays in the French Open. I am also eager to see how Serena Williams does in the remainder of the year because she has definitely shown that she has shown that she will be a force with whom players must reckon! Until then, I will say cheers one last time. If you would like to email me, my address is: nspencr@bgsu.edu
Cheers from Melbourne!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Day 13: Saturday, January 27
The day of the Women's final began with howling winds, overcast skies, and eventually rain showers, which meant that the roof of Rod Laver Arena was closed for the match. That was a good thing for the fans but not so good for Maria Sharapova, or so she said afterwards (i.e., that she would have preferred to have the roof closed on Day 2 when the Extreme Heat Rule went into effect). If you did not get a chance to see the Women's Singles final, I will give you a recap. If you did see it, then you know this--Serena Williams is back!!
Before I tell you about the Women's Singles final, let me say a few words about the Girls' Singles final that was played beforehand on Margaret Court Arena. As mentioned yesterday, the Girls Final featured No. 1 seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) against 16th-seeded Madison Brengle (USA). Because of the rain, the match started a bit later than the 12:30 time for which it was slated. Brengle must have broken serve in the first game, because she lost her serve just after I sat down in MCA, and that made the score 1-1. I was able to watch five more games before going to my seat in RLA for the WS finals, and Brengle was up 4-3 when I left. In the games that I watched, Madison seemed to be playing consistently and was moving the ball around although it was clear that Anastasia had good depth and power on her groundstrokes as well. Brengle has a nice rhythmic looping forehand stroke and drives it deep to the corners. She can also get pretty good pace on her backhand. I had noticed in the junior matches I had watched Friday that there were no IBM signs to indicate how fast the players were serving. At the time, I thought maybe it was to keep them from being concerned about how hard they were hitting the ball, which I assumed to be a good thing at the time. However, in the Girls and Boys' finals, the IBM trackers were on court, so I guess that was not the rationale after all. The average speed of the girls serves were around 150 km while the boys served as high as 205 km. Interestingly, Serena Williams hit 199 km on more than one occasion, so that tells you how hard she was serving. As to the outcome of the Girls Singles, Pavlyuchenkova edged Brengle in two tie-breaks, 7-6, 7-6 (for more on that match, see the Australian Open website: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2007-01-27/200701271169885300772.html). In light of those scores, I wish I could have seen more of the match. It certainly turned out to be much closer than the Women's singles final.
The Daily Schedule and Draw sheet had touted the match-up between Williams and Sharapova as a "Battle of Willpower." In previous matches, they had faced each other a total of 4 times, and each had won twice (Serena won in the Round of 16 at Miami in 2004 and in the semi-finals of the 2005 Australian Open which she also won; Maria won both times that she played in 2004--both times in final matches--at Wimbledon and the Tour Championships at the end of the year).
In this match, Sharapova won the coin toss and elected to receive, which seemed a bit odd at the time, until I remembered her comment after her semifinal match against Clijsters, that she would need to work on her serve since she had too many double-faults. From the moment Serena began to serve in the first game, she was totally focused. You could see it in the close-ups of her face as she changed ends. You could see it in how deliberate she was when she took her time to serve, and you could sense her intensity as she prepared to return Sharapova's serve. Unlike her match against Vaidisova, when Williams frequently seemed to be on the defensive, Serena took control from the start and dictated the pace and direction of shots before Maria could get into a rally. This put Sharapova on the defensive and meant she was always playing from behind. When the players changed ends with Serena up 5-0 in the first set, I noted that it looked like she was playing in the zone, and I am sure that was how Maria felt as well. On the first point of the 6th game, Sharapova hit a shot that nearly hit Williams, and it was clear from the replay on the big screen that Serena was none too pleased about that shot. That would turn out to be the only game that Sharapova won in the first set, as Williams held serve to win the first set, 6-1. In looking at the statistics for the first set, a woman sitting behind me noted that Williams had actually hit more unforced errors (7) than Sharapova (4), but of course the key statistic--winners--was where Serena had 15 to Maria's 5. In the second set, Serena jumped out to a 4-0 lead as well, before Sharapova came back to win her first game. In the second set, Maria managed one more game before Serena ended it 6-2 to win the final in less than an hour. To read more about the Women's Singles final, you can also go to the Australian Open website: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/match_reports/2007-01-27/200701271169870806507.html
U.S. television coverage of the Australian Open does not always feature the awards ceremony, so I will fill you in on some of the highlights. It took 10-15 minutes to set up the stage and usher in the speakers. After they did, the award for runnerup was presented to Sharapova, who showed her respect for Williams when she said: "First, I want to congratulate Serena. I know that you can never underestimate Serena Williams. I don't think many of you in the media expected to see her here in the finals, but I did. I know how tough she can be. She's a great champion." [Are you listening, Tracy Austin?]. The presentation of Serena as Australian Open Champion was even more compelling since she dedicated her win to her sister Yetunde, who was shot and killed in Compton, CA several years ago. It was a tragic event that Serena and Venus have both been reluctant to talk about after their tennis matches, and Serena was understandably emotional when she dedicated her play to her late sister. It was quite moving.
The Women's Singles final was followed by the Men's Doubles final, featuring the No. 1 seeded team of Bob and Mike Bryan (USA) vs. second-seeded Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi, about whom I have written before. Although the Bryan brothers are from the U.S., I had never seen them play (live) so it was a pleasure to see this match. Unlike previous teams that Bjorkman and Mirnyi had been able to subdue with winners after 4 or 5 shots, the Bryan brothers seemed to anticipate where so many of their shots were going, and that made for some great rallies, and unanticipated returns of shots. Both sets appeared to be going to tie-breaks, but instead the Bryan brothers were able to break serve in the 12th game of each set to win in the final, 7-5, 7-5. This would be the last time to hear the Swedish cheering squad and they too met their match in a group of young boys and girls who were determined to outyell the Swedes. I must say that the cheering duel almost rivaled the play on court.
One final match remained following presentation of the Men's Doubles awards, and that was the Boys' Singles final. This Australian Open was the first time that a Grand Slam had featured a junior final on the center court. Since one of the finalists was a boy from Australia, Brydan Klein, that may have entered into the decision to stage the Boys' final in Rod Laver Arena. Klein's opponent was the No. 1 seed, Jonathan Eysseric (FRA). Their pairing appeared to be as lopsided as the rankings of Williams (#81) and Sharapova (#2) going into their final. But the rankings proved to be deceptive in the Boys' final as well. Apparently the Player Development program in Australia has benefited the young Aussie, although having the crowd in his court, so to speak must have helped as well. Brydan won the first set rather easily, 6-2, but went down to his lefty opponent Eysseric, 3-1 in the second set. It appeared that the seeding might hold to form as the young French player showed the form that prompted his seeding. Eysseric had remained poised throughout his first set loss and that allowed him to put together a second set win, 6-4. But Klein was not through after all, as he fought back to win the third set, 6-1. Needless to say, the Aussie crowd gave a warm ovation to Brydan Klein for his victory, but even more when Patrick Rafter was introduced to do the honors of awarding the trophy.
That was it for the play in Rod Laver Arena on Saturday, but there were two other matches besides the Girls' Singles that were played on Margaret Court Arena. I am sorry that I did not get to see those, as they were the Men's and Women's Wheelchair Singles finals. In the Women's Wheelchair Singles final, the No. 1 seeded Esther Vergeer (NED) defeated 2nd seeded Florence Gravellier (FRA), 6-1, 6-0. The Men's Wheelchair singles went the distance as No. 2 seeded Shingo Kuneida (JPN) outlasted 3rd seeded Michael Jeremiasz (FRA), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Perhaps one day the three matches that were played on MCA will also be played in RLA.
In the meantime, I am finishing yesterday's entry on Sunday and it is nearly time to leave for today's matches. Before the Men's Singles will be the Mixed Doubles Final. I only wish Jonas Bjorkman were still in the MXD:-) Hope we get to see some good matches. Cheers!
Before I tell you about the Women's Singles final, let me say a few words about the Girls' Singles final that was played beforehand on Margaret Court Arena. As mentioned yesterday, the Girls Final featured No. 1 seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) against 16th-seeded Madison Brengle (USA). Because of the rain, the match started a bit later than the 12:30 time for which it was slated. Brengle must have broken serve in the first game, because she lost her serve just after I sat down in MCA, and that made the score 1-1. I was able to watch five more games before going to my seat in RLA for the WS finals, and Brengle was up 4-3 when I left. In the games that I watched, Madison seemed to be playing consistently and was moving the ball around although it was clear that Anastasia had good depth and power on her groundstrokes as well. Brengle has a nice rhythmic looping forehand stroke and drives it deep to the corners. She can also get pretty good pace on her backhand. I had noticed in the junior matches I had watched Friday that there were no IBM signs to indicate how fast the players were serving. At the time, I thought maybe it was to keep them from being concerned about how hard they were hitting the ball, which I assumed to be a good thing at the time. However, in the Girls and Boys' finals, the IBM trackers were on court, so I guess that was not the rationale after all. The average speed of the girls serves were around 150 km while the boys served as high as 205 km. Interestingly, Serena Williams hit 199 km on more than one occasion, so that tells you how hard she was serving. As to the outcome of the Girls Singles, Pavlyuchenkova edged Brengle in two tie-breaks, 7-6, 7-6 (for more on that match, see the Australian Open website: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/articles/2007-01-27/200701271169885300772.html). In light of those scores, I wish I could have seen more of the match. It certainly turned out to be much closer than the Women's singles final.
The Daily Schedule and Draw sheet had touted the match-up between Williams and Sharapova as a "Battle of Willpower." In previous matches, they had faced each other a total of 4 times, and each had won twice (Serena won in the Round of 16 at Miami in 2004 and in the semi-finals of the 2005 Australian Open which she also won; Maria won both times that she played in 2004--both times in final matches--at Wimbledon and the Tour Championships at the end of the year).
In this match, Sharapova won the coin toss and elected to receive, which seemed a bit odd at the time, until I remembered her comment after her semifinal match against Clijsters, that she would need to work on her serve since she had too many double-faults. From the moment Serena began to serve in the first game, she was totally focused. You could see it in the close-ups of her face as she changed ends. You could see it in how deliberate she was when she took her time to serve, and you could sense her intensity as she prepared to return Sharapova's serve. Unlike her match against Vaidisova, when Williams frequently seemed to be on the defensive, Serena took control from the start and dictated the pace and direction of shots before Maria could get into a rally. This put Sharapova on the defensive and meant she was always playing from behind. When the players changed ends with Serena up 5-0 in the first set, I noted that it looked like she was playing in the zone, and I am sure that was how Maria felt as well. On the first point of the 6th game, Sharapova hit a shot that nearly hit Williams, and it was clear from the replay on the big screen that Serena was none too pleased about that shot. That would turn out to be the only game that Sharapova won in the first set, as Williams held serve to win the first set, 6-1. In looking at the statistics for the first set, a woman sitting behind me noted that Williams had actually hit more unforced errors (7) than Sharapova (4), but of course the key statistic--winners--was where Serena had 15 to Maria's 5. In the second set, Serena jumped out to a 4-0 lead as well, before Sharapova came back to win her first game. In the second set, Maria managed one more game before Serena ended it 6-2 to win the final in less than an hour. To read more about the Women's Singles final, you can also go to the Australian Open website: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/match_reports/2007-01-27/200701271169870806507.html
U.S. television coverage of the Australian Open does not always feature the awards ceremony, so I will fill you in on some of the highlights. It took 10-15 minutes to set up the stage and usher in the speakers. After they did, the award for runnerup was presented to Sharapova, who showed her respect for Williams when she said: "First, I want to congratulate Serena. I know that you can never underestimate Serena Williams. I don't think many of you in the media expected to see her here in the finals, but I did. I know how tough she can be. She's a great champion." [Are you listening, Tracy Austin?]. The presentation of Serena as Australian Open Champion was even more compelling since she dedicated her win to her sister Yetunde, who was shot and killed in Compton, CA several years ago. It was a tragic event that Serena and Venus have both been reluctant to talk about after their tennis matches, and Serena was understandably emotional when she dedicated her play to her late sister. It was quite moving.
The Women's Singles final was followed by the Men's Doubles final, featuring the No. 1 seeded team of Bob and Mike Bryan (USA) vs. second-seeded Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi, about whom I have written before. Although the Bryan brothers are from the U.S., I had never seen them play (live) so it was a pleasure to see this match. Unlike previous teams that Bjorkman and Mirnyi had been able to subdue with winners after 4 or 5 shots, the Bryan brothers seemed to anticipate where so many of their shots were going, and that made for some great rallies, and unanticipated returns of shots. Both sets appeared to be going to tie-breaks, but instead the Bryan brothers were able to break serve in the 12th game of each set to win in the final, 7-5, 7-5. This would be the last time to hear the Swedish cheering squad and they too met their match in a group of young boys and girls who were determined to outyell the Swedes. I must say that the cheering duel almost rivaled the play on court.
One final match remained following presentation of the Men's Doubles awards, and that was the Boys' Singles final. This Australian Open was the first time that a Grand Slam had featured a junior final on the center court. Since one of the finalists was a boy from Australia, Brydan Klein, that may have entered into the decision to stage the Boys' final in Rod Laver Arena. Klein's opponent was the No. 1 seed, Jonathan Eysseric (FRA). Their pairing appeared to be as lopsided as the rankings of Williams (#81) and Sharapova (#2) going into their final. But the rankings proved to be deceptive in the Boys' final as well. Apparently the Player Development program in Australia has benefited the young Aussie, although having the crowd in his court, so to speak must have helped as well. Brydan won the first set rather easily, 6-2, but went down to his lefty opponent Eysseric, 3-1 in the second set. It appeared that the seeding might hold to form as the young French player showed the form that prompted his seeding. Eysseric had remained poised throughout his first set loss and that allowed him to put together a second set win, 6-4. But Klein was not through after all, as he fought back to win the third set, 6-1. Needless to say, the Aussie crowd gave a warm ovation to Brydan Klein for his victory, but even more when Patrick Rafter was introduced to do the honors of awarding the trophy.
That was it for the play in Rod Laver Arena on Saturday, but there were two other matches besides the Girls' Singles that were played on Margaret Court Arena. I am sorry that I did not get to see those, as they were the Men's and Women's Wheelchair Singles finals. In the Women's Wheelchair Singles final, the No. 1 seeded Esther Vergeer (NED) defeated 2nd seeded Florence Gravellier (FRA), 6-1, 6-0. The Men's Wheelchair singles went the distance as No. 2 seeded Shingo Kuneida (JPN) outlasted 3rd seeded Michael Jeremiasz (FRA), 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Perhaps one day the three matches that were played on MCA will also be played in RLA.
In the meantime, I am finishing yesterday's entry on Sunday and it is nearly time to leave for today's matches. Before the Men's Singles will be the Mixed Doubles Final. I only wish Jonas Bjorkman were still in the MXD:-) Hope we get to see some good matches. Cheers!
Friday, January 26, 2007
Day 12: Friday, January 26
Today is "Australia Day," which is a national holiday!
As a result, there was an abbreviated tennis schedule and the matches that were played did not start until 3:00 p.m. This may have been because there were parades in the morning, and fireworks at night. I learned that Australia Day celebrates the history of the (white) settlement of Australia, when Captain Arthur Phillip landed on the shores of New South Wales on January 26, 1788 (See the following website for further info: http://www.australiaday.gov.au/pages/page98.asp). I was surprised to learn that the history of Australia dates back only 219 years, but then I imagine that it parallels the history of the United States in overlooking the presence of indigenous peoples when white settlers landed on both continents.
In any case, I thought it would be interesting to ask Australians what it meant to be an Australian, and/or what Australia Day means to them. Surprisingly, I found that most people didn't really know what it represented. One person said it was like our Labor Day; another said it was when the Australians gained independence from the British. But after asking two students from Ormond College (where I have been staying), they said that Australia remains part of the monarchy but still has its own constitution, which they have had since January 26, 1901. Like our Independence Day, there are also fireworks in the evening, and it just so happened that they began tonight as the Men's Singles semifinals between Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzalez came to an end. Once again, it was great timing!
As for the tennis, it was a bit of a day off for me, or at least for my credit cards. I did get a grounds pass, and saw parts of several matches, but the big coup came in getting tix to the Men's and Women's singles finals on Saturday and Sunday. Although not quite as good as the ticket I had yesterday, I am still lower than Row PP so I cannot complain.
Back to the tennis I saw today. The first match I saw part of was the Women's Doubles final that was played in Rod Laver Arena. I watched it on the Big Screen in Garden Square just in front of Rod Laver Arena. That area is much like I imagine Henman Hill at Wimbledon, with people lounging on the grounds, some sitting at tables, others on benches, and still others sitting on blankets on the ground. I had been thinking that I would watch the Men's Finals match there as well, since I have not had much luck in getting tickets for Men's matches, but since I landed one today, I will be happy to sit in Row LL instead. The Women's Doubles final featured the third-seeded team of Cara Black (ZIM) and Liezel Huber (RSA) vs. the unseeded Chinese team of Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE). Apparently, they upset the higher seeded team of Yan/Zheng in the semi-finals, 6-3, 6-4. When I got to Garden Square, Chan and Chuang were about to take the second set tie-break to split sets with Black and Huber. In the 3rd set, the more experienced team of Black and Huber cruised to win 6-1.
My next stop was Show Court 3 where Madison Brengle (USA) played in the Girls' Singles semifinals against 3rd-seeded Ksenia Milevskaya (BLR). When I arrived, Brengle had won the first set, 6-4 and was down 4-1 in the second. I was impressed by Brengle's movement on the court, and like most young players in the Women's draw, both girls seemed to want to end points with hard-hitting groundstrokes. Gradually, however, Madison worked her way back into the second set and eventually won it 7-5. She will now face No. 1 seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Girls Singles finals, which will be played just before the Women's Singles final tomorrow.
A Girls' Doubles match followed on Show Court 3 but I watched only the first two sets, since I hoped to catch another Mixed Doubles semifinals, and it was starting to cool down considerably. The No. 1 seeded team included Julia Cohen (USA) and Urszula Radwanska (POL) against Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) and Arina Rodionova (RUS). Cohen and Radwanska won the first set easily, 6-2, and appeared to be in control in the second, but as can happen in doubles, the momentum turned around the fifth game, and the Russian team of Rodina and Rodionova went on to win the second and third sets, 6-3, 6-1. If the junior players are any indication, it appears that what tennis writers have referred to as the "Russian Revolution" will continue.
After the Girls' Doubles teams split, I decided to head back to Ormond College since it was starting to get cool. I thought I would watch the Men's Singles semifinal match between Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzales on t.v. Besides, I wanted to get a good night's rest for the Women's Singles final that will be tomorrow. In the meantime, Happy Australia Day to Bec McMillen and any other Australians who may be celebrating January 26! Cheers!
As a result, there was an abbreviated tennis schedule and the matches that were played did not start until 3:00 p.m. This may have been because there were parades in the morning, and fireworks at night. I learned that Australia Day celebrates the history of the (white) settlement of Australia, when Captain Arthur Phillip landed on the shores of New South Wales on January 26, 1788 (See the following website for further info: http://www.australiaday.gov.au/pages/page98.asp). I was surprised to learn that the history of Australia dates back only 219 years, but then I imagine that it parallels the history of the United States in overlooking the presence of indigenous peoples when white settlers landed on both continents.
In any case, I thought it would be interesting to ask Australians what it meant to be an Australian, and/or what Australia Day means to them. Surprisingly, I found that most people didn't really know what it represented. One person said it was like our Labor Day; another said it was when the Australians gained independence from the British. But after asking two students from Ormond College (where I have been staying), they said that Australia remains part of the monarchy but still has its own constitution, which they have had since January 26, 1901. Like our Independence Day, there are also fireworks in the evening, and it just so happened that they began tonight as the Men's Singles semifinals between Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzalez came to an end. Once again, it was great timing!
As for the tennis, it was a bit of a day off for me, or at least for my credit cards. I did get a grounds pass, and saw parts of several matches, but the big coup came in getting tix to the Men's and Women's singles finals on Saturday and Sunday. Although not quite as good as the ticket I had yesterday, I am still lower than Row PP so I cannot complain.
Back to the tennis I saw today. The first match I saw part of was the Women's Doubles final that was played in Rod Laver Arena. I watched it on the Big Screen in Garden Square just in front of Rod Laver Arena. That area is much like I imagine Henman Hill at Wimbledon, with people lounging on the grounds, some sitting at tables, others on benches, and still others sitting on blankets on the ground. I had been thinking that I would watch the Men's Finals match there as well, since I have not had much luck in getting tickets for Men's matches, but since I landed one today, I will be happy to sit in Row LL instead. The Women's Doubles final featured the third-seeded team of Cara Black (ZIM) and Liezel Huber (RSA) vs. the unseeded Chinese team of Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE). Apparently, they upset the higher seeded team of Yan/Zheng in the semi-finals, 6-3, 6-4. When I got to Garden Square, Chan and Chuang were about to take the second set tie-break to split sets with Black and Huber. In the 3rd set, the more experienced team of Black and Huber cruised to win 6-1.
My next stop was Show Court 3 where Madison Brengle (USA) played in the Girls' Singles semifinals against 3rd-seeded Ksenia Milevskaya (BLR). When I arrived, Brengle had won the first set, 6-4 and was down 4-1 in the second. I was impressed by Brengle's movement on the court, and like most young players in the Women's draw, both girls seemed to want to end points with hard-hitting groundstrokes. Gradually, however, Madison worked her way back into the second set and eventually won it 7-5. She will now face No. 1 seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Girls Singles finals, which will be played just before the Women's Singles final tomorrow.
A Girls' Doubles match followed on Show Court 3 but I watched only the first two sets, since I hoped to catch another Mixed Doubles semifinals, and it was starting to cool down considerably. The No. 1 seeded team included Julia Cohen (USA) and Urszula Radwanska (POL) against Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) and Arina Rodionova (RUS). Cohen and Radwanska won the first set easily, 6-2, and appeared to be in control in the second, but as can happen in doubles, the momentum turned around the fifth game, and the Russian team of Rodina and Rodionova went on to win the second and third sets, 6-3, 6-1. If the junior players are any indication, it appears that what tennis writers have referred to as the "Russian Revolution" will continue.
After the Girls' Doubles teams split, I decided to head back to Ormond College since it was starting to get cool. I thought I would watch the Men's Singles semifinal match between Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzales on t.v. Besides, I wanted to get a good night's rest for the Women's Singles final that will be tomorrow. In the meantime, Happy Australia Day to Bec McMillen and any other Australians who may be celebrating January 26! Cheers!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Day 11: Thursday, January 25
Did you know that the theme of this year's Australian Open is "The Wonderful World of Tennis?"
Well, today was a wonderful day for sure!
The day began with a call from the Tournament Director, Craig Tiley, to be sure I had gotten up in time to get to the matches. Actually, that wasn't the reason for the call but I might not have gotten up in time if it weren't for his call. Those of you from Illinois might remember that Craig was the Men's Tennis Coach at the University of Illinois when I was a doc student there (and another BGSU prof, Dr. Sally Ross knew him from her work in the Athletic Department at Illinois. In fact, thanks to Dr. Ross for providing contact info for Craig:-). I taught some tennis classes for my grad assistantship when Craig was the coach. I had emailed him from the U.S. before I came over and left a message for him yesterday at the offices of Tennis Australia. In fact, I should probably tell you a little bit about my excursion into the underbelly of Rod Laver Arena, which houses the Tennis Australia offices among other things. [Apparently, there is a similar area replete with tunnels underneath Disney World, and if you happen to go there, you never look at Mickey and friends quite the same. According to Angie Raizis who was my grad assistant last semester, it is disillusioning to see the characters without their heads... I hope that does not shatter anyone's illusions about the World of Disney.]
Since I had not been able to connect with Craig by email or phone, I thought maybe I could leave a message for him at the offices of Tennis Australia. So, yesterday I asked someone at the Ticket Box Office if they could tell me where those offices were located. A man at the Box Office gave me directions to go to Lift 4 (I found out that a "lift" is an elevator) and take it down to the next level and I would be able to see the Tennis Australia offices. However, when I arrived at the lower level, several people asked me if I had a credential; since I did not, I told them that I had been sent there by someone at the Box Office. The first security person seemed to accept that, but the second man quickly spoke into a small speaker in his hand to call another security person (to send "back-up" no doubt). The third security person hurriedly headed toward me like a man on a mission who was determined to get to the root of this "breach of security." He briskly informed me that I should "keep walking as you talk and tell me what you are doing here." I tried to explain why I was there, and wanted to assure him that I was not trying to spy on the linespeople and ball kids who were sitting at tables in a large room that was undoubtedly air conditioned [I may never look at the linespeople and ball kids quite the same way, having seen them without their hats]. When we reached the outdoors, he pointed to the steps and told me to "Go up those steps and you will see an Information Desk. They will tell you the correct procedure for finding out where you need to go."
Case closed.
By this time, I was feeling like a punished school girl and I wasn't sure I wanted to go downstairs after all, but I thought I should persist. So I followed my instructions from the person at the Information Booth and headed to Lift 2, where there was a Tennis Australia Reception that "anybody" could attend (even me!), although I was still questioned by security when I got there. Fortunately, there were two switchboard operators who were willing to take my information and left a message from me. Apparently that is how I came to receive a phone call from Craig Tiley at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning.
Now for the tennis, since that was actually the highlight of Day 11! As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I managed to secure a ticket for the Women's semis although there was a Men's Doubles semis scheduled to precede it. "No worries!" It featured my new favs, Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman, playing against an Aussie, Paul Hanley (who reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld), and Kevin Ullyett (ZIM), the 4th seeded team. Better yet, the Swedish cheering section was seated in the next section, about 6 rows above me, so I got to see them up close and personal. It was a treat, albeit most of the fans were cheering for Hanley and Ullyett, understandably since Hanley was an Aussie! The No. 4 seeds started out strong and captured the first set, much to the delight of the crowd and the dismay of the Swedish cheering contingency. Gladly for me, Bjorkman and Mirnyi fought back to take the second set, which they won 10-8 in an extended tie-break. That meant we were going to see a third set. It did not disappoint, nor did the outcome (for me) as Bjorkman and Mirnyi won in three sets, and I will hopefully get to see them in the finals.
I was surprised that the arena did not really fill up until after the Men's Doubles, since most fans were apparently more interested in the Women's semifinals. As a result, people who arrived for the MD moved around in their seats, and for good reason. Thursday turned out to be the coolest day of the tournament, and my seat was in the shade. While I wouldn't have minded on any other day, it was actually chilly Thursday, so I moved to a warmer seat in the sun for awhile.
Around 1:15, the seats began to fill in anticipation of the first semifinal between Serena Williams and Nicole Vaidisova. Given Serena's absence in the past few years, coupled with Vaidisova's recent entry to the tour, the two had not played before. Of course, Vaidisova was also seeded (10th) but I still put my money on Serena! The match started with Vaidisova taking a 2-0 lead, and Serena coming back to hold, making it 2-1, Vaidisova. The first set remained close, with both players hitting with so much pace. It took awhile for Serena to find answers to some of Vaidisova's forehands, but eventually she matched her stroke for stroke and even hit winners off what would have been Vaidisova winners in previous matches. [The match reminded me of one I played in Corpus Christi years ago when I was No. 1 seeded in the City tournament--nothing big except in Texas--and I faced an upstart 18-year old, Sylvia Noster. Sylvia had a huge forehand that must have seemed like Vaidisova's to Serena! Unfortunately for me, I was no Serena Williams, so I never did come up with responses and ended up losing the match:-(enough about me:-) ]
The first set eventually went to a tie-break; when Serena cruised to a 5-2 lead, she looked like a sure bet to win the opening set. That was until she double-faulted twice and Vaidisova capitalized with another winner to even the score at 5-5. Needless to say, Serena was not pleased about the outcome and that became evident on the next two points when she let out her loudest shrieks to take two points to win the tie-break, 7-5. The crowd exploded when she won it, apparently elated to see Serena assert herself. In fact, I get the idea that this Aussie crowd really appreciates players who leave it all out there on the court, and Serena has surely done that in this tournament. In the second set, Serena continued to roll as it seemed that Vaidisova was shell-shocked after the last two points of the tie-break. There was an intriguing point with Serena up at 5-4 on serve in the second set; as you may know if you have been following the tennis, this Australian Open provides players in RLA with two challenges per set. Unfortunately, Serena had lost both challenges and was without any when a ball that would have been match point appeared to go wide of the sideline [but the linesperson called it out]. The crowd gasped in astonishment, knowing that Serena was out of challenges and that the call seemed clearly to be wrong. That made it deuce. Fortunately for Serena, she regrouped to hit a 200 km serve and take the ad. This time, Vaidisova's error resulted in Serena's winning the match [a second time], 7-6, 6-4. The crowd and Serena were jubilant as she made it to her first Grand Slam final in 2 years. And it promises to be a great final at that!
Meanwhile, the second semifinal featured No. 1 seeded Maria Sharapova vs. Aussie favorite, Kim Clijsters. While the match-up looked to be promising, it turned out to be a disappointment, as Clijsters proved to be no match for Sharapova, who won a routine 6-4, 6-2 match. When it was over, the announcer interviewed Clijsters since it was to be her last Australian Open final. I got the impression that the Aussie fans were disappointed in Clijsters' effort against Sharapova. Fans tried to motivate her with their cheers--someone in the stands replaced the infamous "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant with "Kimmie Kimmie Kimmie" and the crowd responded loudly with "Oy Oy Oy!" Even that could not seem to evoke a greater effort from Clijsters who seemed clearly to be uninspired. Instead, the two women in the finals will be the two who seem to want it the most, and it will be a rematch of 2004 Wimbledon, when Sharapova shocked Serena to win her first Wimbledon. This time, I'm putting my money on Serena. And this a.m. I managed to secure a ticket so I will be there in Row DD.
For now, cheers:-) And Happy Australia Day as well!
Well, today was a wonderful day for sure!
The day began with a call from the Tournament Director, Craig Tiley, to be sure I had gotten up in time to get to the matches. Actually, that wasn't the reason for the call but I might not have gotten up in time if it weren't for his call. Those of you from Illinois might remember that Craig was the Men's Tennis Coach at the University of Illinois when I was a doc student there (and another BGSU prof, Dr. Sally Ross knew him from her work in the Athletic Department at Illinois. In fact, thanks to Dr. Ross for providing contact info for Craig:-). I taught some tennis classes for my grad assistantship when Craig was the coach. I had emailed him from the U.S. before I came over and left a message for him yesterday at the offices of Tennis Australia. In fact, I should probably tell you a little bit about my excursion into the underbelly of Rod Laver Arena, which houses the Tennis Australia offices among other things. [Apparently, there is a similar area replete with tunnels underneath Disney World, and if you happen to go there, you never look at Mickey and friends quite the same. According to Angie Raizis who was my grad assistant last semester, it is disillusioning to see the characters without their heads... I hope that does not shatter anyone's illusions about the World of Disney.]
Since I had not been able to connect with Craig by email or phone, I thought maybe I could leave a message for him at the offices of Tennis Australia. So, yesterday I asked someone at the Ticket Box Office if they could tell me where those offices were located. A man at the Box Office gave me directions to go to Lift 4 (I found out that a "lift" is an elevator) and take it down to the next level and I would be able to see the Tennis Australia offices. However, when I arrived at the lower level, several people asked me if I had a credential; since I did not, I told them that I had been sent there by someone at the Box Office. The first security person seemed to accept that, but the second man quickly spoke into a small speaker in his hand to call another security person (to send "back-up" no doubt). The third security person hurriedly headed toward me like a man on a mission who was determined to get to the root of this "breach of security." He briskly informed me that I should "keep walking as you talk and tell me what you are doing here." I tried to explain why I was there, and wanted to assure him that I was not trying to spy on the linespeople and ball kids who were sitting at tables in a large room that was undoubtedly air conditioned [I may never look at the linespeople and ball kids quite the same way, having seen them without their hats]. When we reached the outdoors, he pointed to the steps and told me to "Go up those steps and you will see an Information Desk. They will tell you the correct procedure for finding out where you need to go."
Case closed.
By this time, I was feeling like a punished school girl and I wasn't sure I wanted to go downstairs after all, but I thought I should persist. So I followed my instructions from the person at the Information Booth and headed to Lift 2, where there was a Tennis Australia Reception that "anybody" could attend (even me!), although I was still questioned by security when I got there. Fortunately, there were two switchboard operators who were willing to take my information and left a message from me. Apparently that is how I came to receive a phone call from Craig Tiley at 9:00 a.m. Thursday morning.
Now for the tennis, since that was actually the highlight of Day 11! As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I managed to secure a ticket for the Women's semis although there was a Men's Doubles semis scheduled to precede it. "No worries!" It featured my new favs, Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman, playing against an Aussie, Paul Hanley (who reminded me of Jerry Seinfeld), and Kevin Ullyett (ZIM), the 4th seeded team. Better yet, the Swedish cheering section was seated in the next section, about 6 rows above me, so I got to see them up close and personal. It was a treat, albeit most of the fans were cheering for Hanley and Ullyett, understandably since Hanley was an Aussie! The No. 4 seeds started out strong and captured the first set, much to the delight of the crowd and the dismay of the Swedish cheering contingency. Gladly for me, Bjorkman and Mirnyi fought back to take the second set, which they won 10-8 in an extended tie-break. That meant we were going to see a third set. It did not disappoint, nor did the outcome (for me) as Bjorkman and Mirnyi won in three sets, and I will hopefully get to see them in the finals.
I was surprised that the arena did not really fill up until after the Men's Doubles, since most fans were apparently more interested in the Women's semifinals. As a result, people who arrived for the MD moved around in their seats, and for good reason. Thursday turned out to be the coolest day of the tournament, and my seat was in the shade. While I wouldn't have minded on any other day, it was actually chilly Thursday, so I moved to a warmer seat in the sun for awhile.
Around 1:15, the seats began to fill in anticipation of the first semifinal between Serena Williams and Nicole Vaidisova. Given Serena's absence in the past few years, coupled with Vaidisova's recent entry to the tour, the two had not played before. Of course, Vaidisova was also seeded (10th) but I still put my money on Serena! The match started with Vaidisova taking a 2-0 lead, and Serena coming back to hold, making it 2-1, Vaidisova. The first set remained close, with both players hitting with so much pace. It took awhile for Serena to find answers to some of Vaidisova's forehands, but eventually she matched her stroke for stroke and even hit winners off what would have been Vaidisova winners in previous matches. [The match reminded me of one I played in Corpus Christi years ago when I was No. 1 seeded in the City tournament--nothing big except in Texas--and I faced an upstart 18-year old, Sylvia Noster. Sylvia had a huge forehand that must have seemed like Vaidisova's to Serena! Unfortunately for me, I was no Serena Williams, so I never did come up with responses and ended up losing the match:-(enough about me:-) ]
The first set eventually went to a tie-break; when Serena cruised to a 5-2 lead, she looked like a sure bet to win the opening set. That was until she double-faulted twice and Vaidisova capitalized with another winner to even the score at 5-5. Needless to say, Serena was not pleased about the outcome and that became evident on the next two points when she let out her loudest shrieks to take two points to win the tie-break, 7-5. The crowd exploded when she won it, apparently elated to see Serena assert herself. In fact, I get the idea that this Aussie crowd really appreciates players who leave it all out there on the court, and Serena has surely done that in this tournament. In the second set, Serena continued to roll as it seemed that Vaidisova was shell-shocked after the last two points of the tie-break. There was an intriguing point with Serena up at 5-4 on serve in the second set; as you may know if you have been following the tennis, this Australian Open provides players in RLA with two challenges per set. Unfortunately, Serena had lost both challenges and was without any when a ball that would have been match point appeared to go wide of the sideline [but the linesperson called it out]. The crowd gasped in astonishment, knowing that Serena was out of challenges and that the call seemed clearly to be wrong. That made it deuce. Fortunately for Serena, she regrouped to hit a 200 km serve and take the ad. This time, Vaidisova's error resulted in Serena's winning the match [a second time], 7-6, 6-4. The crowd and Serena were jubilant as she made it to her first Grand Slam final in 2 years. And it promises to be a great final at that!
Meanwhile, the second semifinal featured No. 1 seeded Maria Sharapova vs. Aussie favorite, Kim Clijsters. While the match-up looked to be promising, it turned out to be a disappointment, as Clijsters proved to be no match for Sharapova, who won a routine 6-4, 6-2 match. When it was over, the announcer interviewed Clijsters since it was to be her last Australian Open final. I got the impression that the Aussie fans were disappointed in Clijsters' effort against Sharapova. Fans tried to motivate her with their cheers--someone in the stands replaced the infamous "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant with "Kimmie Kimmie Kimmie" and the crowd responded loudly with "Oy Oy Oy!" Even that could not seem to evoke a greater effort from Clijsters who seemed clearly to be uninspired. Instead, the two women in the finals will be the two who seem to want it the most, and it will be a rematch of 2004 Wimbledon, when Sharapova shocked Serena to win her first Wimbledon. This time, I'm putting my money on Serena. And this a.m. I managed to secure a ticket so I will be there in Row DD.
For now, cheers:-) And Happy Australia Day as well!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Day 10: Wednesday, January 24
"Good luck getting tickets in Rod Laver Arena for tomorrow."
[That was what the ticket salesperson said to me Tuesday night after I bought a grounds pass for today's matches.]
"I seem to have had some pretty good luck," I replied:-)
I thought of those words later Wednesday afternoon as I again sat in Row PP and watched the second women's singles quarterfinal match between Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis. Admittedly, I did not get to see the first quarterfinal match between Maria Sharapova and Anna Chakvetadze, but I did get to see some pretty good doubles matches courtesy of my grounds pass! In fact, the first match I picked featured some of the best men's doubles players in the game--Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman vs. Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek (he is engaged to Martina Hingis). I mentioned seeing Bjorkman Tuesday in a Mixed Doubles and he was even more spectacular in this morning's Men's Doubles. Perhaps that was in part because the "Swedish songbirds" were out in full force. They gave one of the finest performances of the tournament. About 16 members of the Swedish cheering contingency sat about three-fourths of the way up in the stands at Margaret Court Arena, just opposite where I sat. There seemed to be one designated cheer leader, who was about the size of Jared (before the Subway diet). He had on a yellow shirt with SWEDEN written in big letters, and he wore khaki pants with a beige baseball cap. He really got into the cheers, using great inflection, and moving his body forward as well as side to side for emphasis. The cheering squad could be heard after almost every point. If Bjorkman's partner, Mirnyi, missed a shot, the cheers were:
"Combien, Mirnyi, Combien!" (CLAP CLAP)
"Combien, Mirnyi, Combien!" (CLAP CLAP)
If Bjorkman and Mirnyi hit a winning shot, the chorus rang out with:
"That's the way, ah ha, ah ha, we like it, we like it..."
"That's the way, ah ha, ah ha, we like it, we like it..."
Some of the cheers must have been in Swedish so I couldn't catch everything that was being said, but I marvelled at how well choreographed every cheer was. It was very entertaining, and the tennis was not bad either. Of course, Bjorkman and Mirnyi won (6-3, 6-2), and fortunately for me, I will get to see them play again first thing tomorrow, but more on that later.
After the Men's Doubles match on Margaret Court Arena, I checked out one of the Women's Doubles quarterfinals that featured two teams from China. I remember being shocked several years ago when one of the Chinese Women's Doubles teams seemed to come out of nowhere to win the Olympic gold in doubles. At the time, I had a grad student from China who told me that the Chinese players were gearing their efforts toward the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. As it turns out, the two teams that I saw today were two of three that made it to the quarterfinals, and I had seen the other team (Chan and Chuang) play previously. Since all three teams were in the same half, there is certain to be a Chinese team in the finals. The match that I saw today was between the Olympic gold medalists (Yan and Zheng) and another team of Sun/Sun. Both teams played very solid, fundamental tennis and I can see why they are doing so well in doubles. Each team plays well together, they cover for one another, hit good percentage returns, and do not make many unforced errors. They also do not try to blast their opponents off the court like some of the strong singles players do when they try to play doubles. I would not be surprised if we see Chinese women's doubles teams capturing a number of medals in Beijing. Oh yes, and Yan and Zheng beat Sun/Sun, 6-3, 7-6. I forgot to mention that when Chan and Chuang won the previous day, there was a Chinese man in the stands who yelled out: "Booyah! Booyah!" (If you watch ESPN Sportscenter, you are probably familiar with the phrase used frequently by Stewart Scott:-)
After the women's doubles, I decided to head toward Rod Laver Arena to see about getting a newspaper and to check at the Box Office about getting a ticket for tomorrow's semi-finals. When I did, I discovered that there was actually a ticket available for today's second quarterfinal (between Clijsters and Hingis) in addition to the Men's Singles quarterfinal between Nicolay Davydenko and Tommy Haas (GER). Finally, the 3rd seeded Men's singles player had made it in to RLA. I did not hesitate but took the opportunity to pay the difference and go for Row PP, as mentioned at the beginning of today's entry. I really enjoyed getting to see Clijsters and Hingis, again knowing that Clijsters was retiring after this year, and because it was an interesting match-up. Hingis played some incredible shots (drop shot, lob combinations, followed by put-away volleys). At the beginning of the first set, it looked like Clijsters might breeze through the match easily, but it turned out that Hingis took the first set, 6-3, before Clijsters came back to win the second. Hingis went ahead in the third, 3-2, but then Clijsters came back to win the third 6-3. Although it wasn't as draining as the previous day's match between Serena and Shahar Peer, it was long enough to satisfy me, so I decided to leave and maybe catch a bit of the doubles before heading for home earlier than usual.
Before I left, I saw that the No. 2 seeded Women's Doubles team of Lisa Raymond (USA) and Samantha Stosur (AUS) were playing against Cara Black (RSA) and Liesel Huber (GER). Surprisingly, Raymond and Stosur had lost the first set after they had jumped out to a 3-0 lead. They did come back to win the second, and when I got there, it was 2-2 in the third. From that point on, the number 2 seeds did not win another game, which disappointed me, since I had hoped to see Lisa Raymond play more. She is one of a rare breed of players who actually graduated from college, so I would like to see her be successful in the pro game!
It was a disappointing note to end on, and I could have gone back to watch the Davydenko-Haas match (which turned out to be a 5-setter by the way), but I just felt ready to go home. Before I left for the day, I stopped by to get what I figured would be a grounds pass for tomorrow. But I still asked if they happened to have any tickets for the women's semifinals in RLA. I had been checking frequently so didn't expect to find any good news when the ticket salesperson said, "As a matter of fact I do!" I could not believe my good fortune!
"Do you mind being in the sun?"
"No, of course not!" I said.
"It's actually a pretty good seat, Row L on the first level."
[YES!!! I don't even have to sit in Row PP!]
So, I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. Till then, cheers:-)!
[That was what the ticket salesperson said to me Tuesday night after I bought a grounds pass for today's matches.]
"I seem to have had some pretty good luck," I replied:-)
I thought of those words later Wednesday afternoon as I again sat in Row PP and watched the second women's singles quarterfinal match between Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis. Admittedly, I did not get to see the first quarterfinal match between Maria Sharapova and Anna Chakvetadze, but I did get to see some pretty good doubles matches courtesy of my grounds pass! In fact, the first match I picked featured some of the best men's doubles players in the game--Max Mirnyi and Jonas Bjorkman vs. Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek (he is engaged to Martina Hingis). I mentioned seeing Bjorkman Tuesday in a Mixed Doubles and he was even more spectacular in this morning's Men's Doubles. Perhaps that was in part because the "Swedish songbirds" were out in full force. They gave one of the finest performances of the tournament. About 16 members of the Swedish cheering contingency sat about three-fourths of the way up in the stands at Margaret Court Arena, just opposite where I sat. There seemed to be one designated cheer leader, who was about the size of Jared (before the Subway diet). He had on a yellow shirt with SWEDEN written in big letters, and he wore khaki pants with a beige baseball cap. He really got into the cheers, using great inflection, and moving his body forward as well as side to side for emphasis. The cheering squad could be heard after almost every point. If Bjorkman's partner, Mirnyi, missed a shot, the cheers were:
"Combien, Mirnyi, Combien!" (CLAP CLAP)
"Combien, Mirnyi, Combien!" (CLAP CLAP)
If Bjorkman and Mirnyi hit a winning shot, the chorus rang out with:
"That's the way, ah ha, ah ha, we like it, we like it..."
"That's the way, ah ha, ah ha, we like it, we like it..."
Some of the cheers must have been in Swedish so I couldn't catch everything that was being said, but I marvelled at how well choreographed every cheer was. It was very entertaining, and the tennis was not bad either. Of course, Bjorkman and Mirnyi won (6-3, 6-2), and fortunately for me, I will get to see them play again first thing tomorrow, but more on that later.
After the Men's Doubles match on Margaret Court Arena, I checked out one of the Women's Doubles quarterfinals that featured two teams from China. I remember being shocked several years ago when one of the Chinese Women's Doubles teams seemed to come out of nowhere to win the Olympic gold in doubles. At the time, I had a grad student from China who told me that the Chinese players were gearing their efforts toward the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. As it turns out, the two teams that I saw today were two of three that made it to the quarterfinals, and I had seen the other team (Chan and Chuang) play previously. Since all three teams were in the same half, there is certain to be a Chinese team in the finals. The match that I saw today was between the Olympic gold medalists (Yan and Zheng) and another team of Sun/Sun. Both teams played very solid, fundamental tennis and I can see why they are doing so well in doubles. Each team plays well together, they cover for one another, hit good percentage returns, and do not make many unforced errors. They also do not try to blast their opponents off the court like some of the strong singles players do when they try to play doubles. I would not be surprised if we see Chinese women's doubles teams capturing a number of medals in Beijing. Oh yes, and Yan and Zheng beat Sun/Sun, 6-3, 7-6. I forgot to mention that when Chan and Chuang won the previous day, there was a Chinese man in the stands who yelled out: "Booyah! Booyah!" (If you watch ESPN Sportscenter, you are probably familiar with the phrase used frequently by Stewart Scott:-)
After the women's doubles, I decided to head toward Rod Laver Arena to see about getting a newspaper and to check at the Box Office about getting a ticket for tomorrow's semi-finals. When I did, I discovered that there was actually a ticket available for today's second quarterfinal (between Clijsters and Hingis) in addition to the Men's Singles quarterfinal between Nicolay Davydenko and Tommy Haas (GER). Finally, the 3rd seeded Men's singles player had made it in to RLA. I did not hesitate but took the opportunity to pay the difference and go for Row PP, as mentioned at the beginning of today's entry. I really enjoyed getting to see Clijsters and Hingis, again knowing that Clijsters was retiring after this year, and because it was an interesting match-up. Hingis played some incredible shots (drop shot, lob combinations, followed by put-away volleys). At the beginning of the first set, it looked like Clijsters might breeze through the match easily, but it turned out that Hingis took the first set, 6-3, before Clijsters came back to win the second. Hingis went ahead in the third, 3-2, but then Clijsters came back to win the third 6-3. Although it wasn't as draining as the previous day's match between Serena and Shahar Peer, it was long enough to satisfy me, so I decided to leave and maybe catch a bit of the doubles before heading for home earlier than usual.
Before I left, I saw that the No. 2 seeded Women's Doubles team of Lisa Raymond (USA) and Samantha Stosur (AUS) were playing against Cara Black (RSA) and Liesel Huber (GER). Surprisingly, Raymond and Stosur had lost the first set after they had jumped out to a 3-0 lead. They did come back to win the second, and when I got there, it was 2-2 in the third. From that point on, the number 2 seeds did not win another game, which disappointed me, since I had hoped to see Lisa Raymond play more. She is one of a rare breed of players who actually graduated from college, so I would like to see her be successful in the pro game!
It was a disappointing note to end on, and I could have gone back to watch the Davydenko-Haas match (which turned out to be a 5-setter by the way), but I just felt ready to go home. Before I left for the day, I stopped by to get what I figured would be a grounds pass for tomorrow. But I still asked if they happened to have any tickets for the women's semifinals in RLA. I had been checking frequently so didn't expect to find any good news when the ticket salesperson said, "As a matter of fact I do!" I could not believe my good fortune!
"Do you mind being in the sun?"
"No, of course not!" I said.
"It's actually a pretty good seat, Row L on the first level."
[YES!!! I don't even have to sit in Row PP!]
So, I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow. Till then, cheers:-)!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Day 9: Tuesday, January 23, 2007
I was all set to leave for the courts today when I thought I better check my ticket to be sure it said Tuesday. Sure enough, I discovered that the ticket I thought I had bought for today's matches was actually for tomorrow! Now, that might not be so bad since I already had a grounds pass for today and I could have used the ticket for Rod Laver Arena tomorrow (I would have seen Sharapova vs. Chakvetadze; Clijsters vs. Hingis; and Haas vs. Davydenko), but I had my heart set on seeing today's matches with Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, and Mardy Fish. As soon as I realized my mistake, I flew out the door to get the tram so I could try to rectify my error and perhaps exchange the Wednesday ticket for one for today.
Even with my early departure, I found that I was in a line that looked impossible for trying to get a ticket in to RLA. I mentioned that to the woman standing behind me, that I didn't know how long I was willing to wait to exchange a ticket for tomorrow, when she suggested that maybe we should talk:-) You can probably guess what happened next--it just so happened that the woman had a friend from Germany who really wanted to see Tommy Haas (playing tomorrow) but they had tickets for today, so she was trying to find a ticket for tomorrow. As soon as we talked... you can probably guess the rest--I got a ticket to see the three matches today in Rod Laver Arena:
WS: Nicole Vaidisova, the 17-year old seeded #10 (CZE), vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE), who upset Mauresmo
WS: Serena Williams, unseeded (USA) vs. Shahar Peer, the 19-year old seeded #16 (ISR)
MS: Andy Roddick, seeded #6 (USA) vs. Mardy Fish (USA)
The thing I did not know about the ticket I bought this time was that it was an upgrade--but not in the sense I might have hoped (i.e., like moving to first class). It was an upgrade to the last row of the stadium (Row PP), which is so high that they don't even put the letters PP on the row. You know you have gotten to it when you see one row beyond OO. I actually liked the seat however (it was also billed as "limited leg room" but that really wasn't a problem for me either:-) because it was a good view of the court, albeit up high, and it was in the shade so it felt very comfortable.
The match between Vaidisova and Safarova never fully materialized into a close one as I hoped it might. Vaidisova was just too strong for her younger countrywoman, with serves that regularly hit about 174 km (almost 100 m.ph. according to my calculations), while Safarova served about 40 km slower. The groundstrokes of Vaidisova took their toll on Safarova as well, perhaps more than Mauresmo's might have. The match took slightly over an hour, but Vaidisova ultimately prevailed, 6-1, 6-4.
Then came the match that I had awaited, and one that turned out to be the piece de resistance of the day. As you may remember, Shahar had quite a vocal following in her earlier match against Tatiana Golovin; in fact, I would partially attribute her win in the previous round to the support she received (sometimes at inappropriate times according to traditional tennis etiquette). And her supporters were there for her match against Serena. But Serena also had a lot of support throughout RLA. I only saw one U.S. flag at the start, but later saw another not far from where I was sitting. The match itself was riveting! Shahar started with a fairly easy first set win, 6-3, and Serena seemed sluggish in that set. She would later say that she did not play her best tennis. In all fairness to her opponent, Peer was very sharp, especially on her forehand, and she hit a lot of down-the line winners, as well as pressuring Serena with deep shots to her backhand. That is where I think Serena is still the most vulnerable--on deep shots to her backhand. She does not seem to attack from the backhand side like she does from her forehand. It reminds me of how Roddick used to play before he started working with Jimmy Connors (not that I am suggesting Serena ought to work with Connors!). There were several points in the match where Serena showed her determination and the sixth game of the second set was one of those games, where there were hard fought points, after which Serena let out a Lleyton Hewitt-like "Come on!" She was clearly hungry, but so was Peer! Both women played with so much intensity and that is why the match was the most compelling of the day for me. After Serena took the second set, 6-2, she pulled out ahead in the third to go up 4-1 and I thought she would cruise easily from there. But this is where she seemed to let up, uncharacteristically I thought. She looked tired to me at that point and I wasn't sure she would be able to get a second wind to win it after that. When the score got to 6-all, there was no tie-break (only at the U.S. Open do they play a tie-break in the deciding set), so the two played it out with Serena finally winning the third set, 8-6. When she won the match, she started jumping around and celebrating like she had just won her first Grand Slam (a la the 1999 U.S. Open). You could not help but share her joy!
Now I must tell you there is another side to the success of Serena Williams at this year's Australian Open, and I read about it in the Herald Sun, which is apparently the "gossip" newspaper of Melbourne (I probably won't be getting it again:-( Anyway, in the Tuesday paper, there was an article about Russell Mark, an Australian Olympic shooter who said last Thursday that Serena Williams was so overweight that he would shoot in the nude at the Beijing Olympics if she made it to the women's final. As you might imagine, he is beginning to regret saying that (just like John McEnroe regretted saying that he would stand on his head to commentate if Michael Chang made it to the final of the U.S. Open one year). McEnroe may have lucked out when Chang lost in the semifinals, but Russell Mark may not be so fortunate. Stay tuned... for the Women's Singles final and the 2008 Olympics:-)
The last match of the day featured Andy Roddick and his former housemate, Mardy Fish, a year older than Roddick, but having dealt with a variety of injuries in the past few years. Fish came in unseeded, but he certainly earned his shot at Roddick with some good wins including his first round upset of 4th seeded Ivan Lubjicic. Unfortunately, his familiarity with Roddick's game didn't seem to help his cause as he lost 6-2,6-2,6-2 in a match that did not last as long as the Williams-Peer match did.
When the singles matches were over, I decided to check out some of the Mixed Doubles matches and there were several good ones. The best one pitted Jonas Bjorkman & Francesca Schiavone against Igor Andreev & Maria Kirilenko. Bjorkman is a great doubles players, as are the others, but Bjorkman has won a number of doubles titles and continues in the Men's Doubles with Max Mirnyi (whom I hope to watch tomorrow). I started watching when the score was 5-5 in the first, and Andreev-Kirilenko took the first set in a tie-break. The second set had some great points, but Bjorkman-Schiavone pulled out the second set. I was expecting to settle in for the third set when they announced that the match would be decided by a 10-pt tie-breaker instead of playing a third set. I had never seen this before, but it turned out in favor of Bjorkman-Schiavone, so I am glad to be able to see them play again, perhaps tomorrow.
The other MXD match that I saw featured the second-seeded team of Rennae Stubbs and Mark Knowles against Nathan Healey and B. Stewart. Three of the four (all except Knowles) were Australians so the Aussie crowd got into this one. This was the first time I heard a chorus of:
"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie"
"Oy! Oy! Oy!"
The choruses and cheering are one of the best parts of the atmosphere at the Australian Open. I wish there was a way to capture it for those who don't get to see and hear it! Anyway, Stubbs and Knowles had already taken the first set 6-0 and Healey and Stewart had just won their first game when I got there. What happened after that was hard to believe, but the number two seeded team managed to lose all the momentum they must have had in the first set to lose the second, 7-6, and the subsequent tie-break. It was not a well-played match but I had to see it to believe it. When it was over, I was ready to head for the tram and my nightly chai. And now I am ready to head for bed so I can get up early to head back to Melbourne Park. Till tomorrow, cheers:-)!
Even with my early departure, I found that I was in a line that looked impossible for trying to get a ticket in to RLA. I mentioned that to the woman standing behind me, that I didn't know how long I was willing to wait to exchange a ticket for tomorrow, when she suggested that maybe we should talk:-) You can probably guess what happened next--it just so happened that the woman had a friend from Germany who really wanted to see Tommy Haas (playing tomorrow) but they had tickets for today, so she was trying to find a ticket for tomorrow. As soon as we talked... you can probably guess the rest--I got a ticket to see the three matches today in Rod Laver Arena:
WS: Nicole Vaidisova, the 17-year old seeded #10 (CZE), vs. Lucie Safarova (CZE), who upset Mauresmo
WS: Serena Williams, unseeded (USA) vs. Shahar Peer, the 19-year old seeded #16 (ISR)
MS: Andy Roddick, seeded #6 (USA) vs. Mardy Fish (USA)
The thing I did not know about the ticket I bought this time was that it was an upgrade--but not in the sense I might have hoped (i.e., like moving to first class). It was an upgrade to the last row of the stadium (Row PP), which is so high that they don't even put the letters PP on the row. You know you have gotten to it when you see one row beyond OO. I actually liked the seat however (it was also billed as "limited leg room" but that really wasn't a problem for me either:-) because it was a good view of the court, albeit up high, and it was in the shade so it felt very comfortable.
The match between Vaidisova and Safarova never fully materialized into a close one as I hoped it might. Vaidisova was just too strong for her younger countrywoman, with serves that regularly hit about 174 km (almost 100 m.ph. according to my calculations), while Safarova served about 40 km slower. The groundstrokes of Vaidisova took their toll on Safarova as well, perhaps more than Mauresmo's might have. The match took slightly over an hour, but Vaidisova ultimately prevailed, 6-1, 6-4.
Then came the match that I had awaited, and one that turned out to be the piece de resistance of the day. As you may remember, Shahar had quite a vocal following in her earlier match against Tatiana Golovin; in fact, I would partially attribute her win in the previous round to the support she received (sometimes at inappropriate times according to traditional tennis etiquette). And her supporters were there for her match against Serena. But Serena also had a lot of support throughout RLA. I only saw one U.S. flag at the start, but later saw another not far from where I was sitting. The match itself was riveting! Shahar started with a fairly easy first set win, 6-3, and Serena seemed sluggish in that set. She would later say that she did not play her best tennis. In all fairness to her opponent, Peer was very sharp, especially on her forehand, and she hit a lot of down-the line winners, as well as pressuring Serena with deep shots to her backhand. That is where I think Serena is still the most vulnerable--on deep shots to her backhand. She does not seem to attack from the backhand side like she does from her forehand. It reminds me of how Roddick used to play before he started working with Jimmy Connors (not that I am suggesting Serena ought to work with Connors!). There were several points in the match where Serena showed her determination and the sixth game of the second set was one of those games, where there were hard fought points, after which Serena let out a Lleyton Hewitt-like "Come on!" She was clearly hungry, but so was Peer! Both women played with so much intensity and that is why the match was the most compelling of the day for me. After Serena took the second set, 6-2, she pulled out ahead in the third to go up 4-1 and I thought she would cruise easily from there. But this is where she seemed to let up, uncharacteristically I thought. She looked tired to me at that point and I wasn't sure she would be able to get a second wind to win it after that. When the score got to 6-all, there was no tie-break (only at the U.S. Open do they play a tie-break in the deciding set), so the two played it out with Serena finally winning the third set, 8-6. When she won the match, she started jumping around and celebrating like she had just won her first Grand Slam (a la the 1999 U.S. Open). You could not help but share her joy!
Now I must tell you there is another side to the success of Serena Williams at this year's Australian Open, and I read about it in the Herald Sun, which is apparently the "gossip" newspaper of Melbourne (I probably won't be getting it again:-( Anyway, in the Tuesday paper, there was an article about Russell Mark, an Australian Olympic shooter who said last Thursday that Serena Williams was so overweight that he would shoot in the nude at the Beijing Olympics if she made it to the women's final. As you might imagine, he is beginning to regret saying that (just like John McEnroe regretted saying that he would stand on his head to commentate if Michael Chang made it to the final of the U.S. Open one year). McEnroe may have lucked out when Chang lost in the semifinals, but Russell Mark may not be so fortunate. Stay tuned... for the Women's Singles final and the 2008 Olympics:-)
The last match of the day featured Andy Roddick and his former housemate, Mardy Fish, a year older than Roddick, but having dealt with a variety of injuries in the past few years. Fish came in unseeded, but he certainly earned his shot at Roddick with some good wins including his first round upset of 4th seeded Ivan Lubjicic. Unfortunately, his familiarity with Roddick's game didn't seem to help his cause as he lost 6-2,6-2,6-2 in a match that did not last as long as the Williams-Peer match did.
When the singles matches were over, I decided to check out some of the Mixed Doubles matches and there were several good ones. The best one pitted Jonas Bjorkman & Francesca Schiavone against Igor Andreev & Maria Kirilenko. Bjorkman is a great doubles players, as are the others, but Bjorkman has won a number of doubles titles and continues in the Men's Doubles with Max Mirnyi (whom I hope to watch tomorrow). I started watching when the score was 5-5 in the first, and Andreev-Kirilenko took the first set in a tie-break. The second set had some great points, but Bjorkman-Schiavone pulled out the second set. I was expecting to settle in for the third set when they announced that the match would be decided by a 10-pt tie-breaker instead of playing a third set. I had never seen this before, but it turned out in favor of Bjorkman-Schiavone, so I am glad to be able to see them play again, perhaps tomorrow.
The other MXD match that I saw featured the second-seeded team of Rennae Stubbs and Mark Knowles against Nathan Healey and B. Stewart. Three of the four (all except Knowles) were Australians so the Aussie crowd got into this one. This was the first time I heard a chorus of:
"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie"
"Oy! Oy! Oy!"
The choruses and cheering are one of the best parts of the atmosphere at the Australian Open. I wish there was a way to capture it for those who don't get to see and hear it! Anyway, Stubbs and Knowles had already taken the first set 6-0 and Healey and Stewart had just won their first game when I got there. What happened after that was hard to believe, but the number two seeded team managed to lose all the momentum they must have had in the first set to lose the second, 7-6, and the subsequent tie-break. It was not a well-played match but I had to see it to believe it. When it was over, I was ready to head for the tram and my nightly chai. And now I am ready to head for bed so I can get up early to head back to Melbourne Park. Till tomorrow, cheers:-)!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Day 8: Monday, January 22
I saw parts of a lot of different matches on Monday, most of which were doubles. I will just highlight some of the best matches. Overall, the matches I saw some or part of were as follows:
WD: Elena Dementieva (RUS)/Flavia Pennetta (ITA), #14 seeds vs. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)/Martina Sucha (SVK)... This match did not capture my interest since it was pretty one-sided, with Dementieva and Pennetta winning most games that I saw.
[After watching a few games of the above match, I thought about getting a ticket in RLA where three of the Women's Singles were being played, but the line was way too long and the prospects did not look good. I did get a ticket for Tuesday so that's when I will see Serena vs. Peer and Roddick vs. Fish!]
WD: Dinara Safina (RUS/Katarina Srebotnik (SLO), #5 seeds vs. Yung-Jan Chan/Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) played the next match that I watched and it was a much closer match. In fact, it turned out to be one of several three set matches that I got to see Monday. The two teams were a contrast in styles. I really wanted to see Safina (Marat Safin's sister) since I had heard much about her. The first thing I must say is that she is TALL--not just taller than me (most people are) but even taller than Sally Ross and Erianne Weight, two of my good colleagues at BGSU:-) I have heard commentators say that Safina really looks up to Marat and her mannerisms definitely show that. In terms of firepower, the seeded team of Safina and Srebotnik had far more than the young players from TPE, but the steadiness and team work of Chan and Chuang were really good, and they ultimately prevailed in three sets. Watching this match made me realize how much I have always loved playing doubles, and I wondered why more people do not watch doubles at the Grand Slams. After all, most club players probably play more doubles than singles. I think tennis needs to do a better job of marketing doubles.
WD: Maria Elena Camerin (ITA/Gisela Dulko (ARG) vs. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/Meghann Shaughnessy (USA), seeded #7. I had wanted to see more of this match but the previous one kept me from getting there until they were well into the third set. As a result, I saw only about 3 games, but I was glad to see that Shaughnessy won and hope to see this team play again.
WD: Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/Sania Mirza (IND), 10th seeds vs. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/Ai Sugiyama (JPN), seeded #6 turned out to be a great match, and lasted nearly 3 hours! When I arrived at Show Court 2 where they were playing, Hantuchova and Sugiyama were up 5-0, but Medina-Garrigues and Mirza were beginning to come back. They got it all the way to 6-all before losing the first set in a tie-break, but it was obvious that these two teams were well-matched and very competitive. Medina-Garrigues won the second set, also in a tiebreak, but then lost the third set 6-2. There was much more hard-hitting in this match compared to the previous doubles matches, but not as much strategic positioning as Chan and Chuang's match. When it ended, I had seen plenty of tennis for one day and was ready to head for home.
But there was one more match going on Margaret Court Arena that caught my attention before I could leave. I could hear the crowd chanting during the match that was going on there so I wanted to check it out. It turned out to be a Men's Singles match between #3 seeded Nikolay Davydenko and #13 seeded Thomas Berdych (CZE). Berdych had a cheering section that was quite vocal and they were the ones I could hear from Show Court 2. There must have been about 18-20 fans who held up a Czech flag that said "Berdych's Army" and they had an assortment of cheers and songs that they chanted between almost every point. If they covered the match on ESPN, I am sure you would have heard "Berdych's Army!" It was really fun to watch them and hear what they came up with, so I stayed for the end of the match as a result. When I got to the court, they had just started the fourth set, and Davydenko was up two sets to one. It soon became apparent that there was an element of the crowd that was not amused by Berdych's fan club and in fact, there seemed to be a "Berdych backlash." As it turned out, Davydenko prevailed to win the fourth set in a tie-break, but it was an exciting atmosphere and I was glad I had stayed for one more match. There were still a lot of doubles to be played but I had seen enough and decided it was time to get home so I would be ready for my big day in RLA on Tuesday. I will let you know if I am in a friendlier neighborhood than last time. Cheers till then:-)
WD: Elena Dementieva (RUS)/Flavia Pennetta (ITA), #14 seeds vs. Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL)/Martina Sucha (SVK)... This match did not capture my interest since it was pretty one-sided, with Dementieva and Pennetta winning most games that I saw.
[After watching a few games of the above match, I thought about getting a ticket in RLA where three of the Women's Singles were being played, but the line was way too long and the prospects did not look good. I did get a ticket for Tuesday so that's when I will see Serena vs. Peer and Roddick vs. Fish!]
WD: Dinara Safina (RUS/Katarina Srebotnik (SLO), #5 seeds vs. Yung-Jan Chan/Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) played the next match that I watched and it was a much closer match. In fact, it turned out to be one of several three set matches that I got to see Monday. The two teams were a contrast in styles. I really wanted to see Safina (Marat Safin's sister) since I had heard much about her. The first thing I must say is that she is TALL--not just taller than me (most people are) but even taller than Sally Ross and Erianne Weight, two of my good colleagues at BGSU:-) I have heard commentators say that Safina really looks up to Marat and her mannerisms definitely show that. In terms of firepower, the seeded team of Safina and Srebotnik had far more than the young players from TPE, but the steadiness and team work of Chan and Chuang were really good, and they ultimately prevailed in three sets. Watching this match made me realize how much I have always loved playing doubles, and I wondered why more people do not watch doubles at the Grand Slams. After all, most club players probably play more doubles than singles. I think tennis needs to do a better job of marketing doubles.
WD: Maria Elena Camerin (ITA/Gisela Dulko (ARG) vs. Anna-Lena Groenefeld (GER)/Meghann Shaughnessy (USA), seeded #7. I had wanted to see more of this match but the previous one kept me from getting there until they were well into the third set. As a result, I saw only about 3 games, but I was glad to see that Shaughnessy won and hope to see this team play again.
WD: Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)/Sania Mirza (IND), 10th seeds vs. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK)/Ai Sugiyama (JPN), seeded #6 turned out to be a great match, and lasted nearly 3 hours! When I arrived at Show Court 2 where they were playing, Hantuchova and Sugiyama were up 5-0, but Medina-Garrigues and Mirza were beginning to come back. They got it all the way to 6-all before losing the first set in a tie-break, but it was obvious that these two teams were well-matched and very competitive. Medina-Garrigues won the second set, also in a tiebreak, but then lost the third set 6-2. There was much more hard-hitting in this match compared to the previous doubles matches, but not as much strategic positioning as Chan and Chuang's match. When it ended, I had seen plenty of tennis for one day and was ready to head for home.
But there was one more match going on Margaret Court Arena that caught my attention before I could leave. I could hear the crowd chanting during the match that was going on there so I wanted to check it out. It turned out to be a Men's Singles match between #3 seeded Nikolay Davydenko and #13 seeded Thomas Berdych (CZE). Berdych had a cheering section that was quite vocal and they were the ones I could hear from Show Court 2. There must have been about 18-20 fans who held up a Czech flag that said "Berdych's Army" and they had an assortment of cheers and songs that they chanted between almost every point. If they covered the match on ESPN, I am sure you would have heard "Berdych's Army!" It was really fun to watch them and hear what they came up with, so I stayed for the end of the match as a result. When I got to the court, they had just started the fourth set, and Davydenko was up two sets to one. It soon became apparent that there was an element of the crowd that was not amused by Berdych's fan club and in fact, there seemed to be a "Berdych backlash." As it turned out, Davydenko prevailed to win the fourth set in a tie-break, but it was an exciting atmosphere and I was glad I had stayed for one more match. There were still a lot of doubles to be played but I had seen enough and decided it was time to get home so I would be ready for my big day in RLA on Tuesday. I will let you know if I am in a friendlier neighborhood than last time. Cheers till then:-)
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