What a Difference a Year Makes

One year ago, Roger Federer was standing in a puddle of tears on Rod Laver Arena after have been bested once again by Rafael Nadal. With his throne of power having been chiseled away over time by the Spaniard, it was easy to write King Roger's epitaph -- at least in pencil -- as the lead actor in the ATP tour's drama.

What a difference a year makes. Now, Roger Federer is willing to take on the entire world... again.

After that January '09 night in Melbourne, all Federer did was reach the finals at all three of the season's remaining slams, win his first Roland Garros title, reclaim the Wimbledon seat of power in yet another classic final while also passing Pete Sampras on the all-time slam champions list, and narrowly miss winning another U.S. Open en route to ending the season as the #1-ranked player in the world. Oh, yeah... and he got married and became the father of twin daughters, too. It was quite a year.

After what Federer did to Andy Murray in the Australian Open men's final on Sunday night, 2010 hasn't gotten off to a shabby start, either.

According to some, in a sentiment surely hoped for by the Scot, this final was supposed to be when everything changed for Murray. It was the start of "something big." After all, he was 22 years of age and in his seventeenth grand slam -- the precise combination that Federer brought to the table when he won HIS first slam title at Wimbledon in 2003. Problem is, Murray isn't Federer. Not yet, if ever.

Federer made no bones about reminding him of that, either. Mere minutes after he'd advanced past Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semifinals to reach the men's final, Federer was deftly spinning his unique brand of "gentlemanly" (but not-so-subtle) digs against his next opponent, noting how while Murray might have a winning career record against him (6-4 going into Sunday) he hadn't managed to take him out in a major. While Federer himself was the all-time men's slam title leader, with fifteen championships under his belt, Murray had still yet to notch his first. Winning the 1st set was important for Murray, the Swiss Mister noted... for his confidence. If he lost it, he might just realize how Everest-like the climb would be to reach the Australian Open summit at Federer's expense.

Murray Mount would do him no good in Melbourne.

Maybe Murray was listening. For while he's been hailed for years now as the man who'll finally erase the phrase "no British man has won a slam crown since Fred Perry in 1936" from the sport's lexicon, he's still yet to come through with the goods when it's mattered. Not only that, his "Generation Andy" counterparts Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro have managed to lift slam title before him (del Potro even defeated Federer to do it in New York last summer), Tsonga and Marin Cilic are breathing down the Scot's neck, and even the tour's OTHER Andy -- Roddick -- came closer to claiming a second major at last year's Wimbledon than Murray himself has come to just one.

Still, on the opening point of the opening game of the opening set of the final, Murray LOOKED like he was ready to assume his overdue place in the slam winner's circle. Displaying the aggressive in-point mindset that is so often absent from this game, he hit a backhand winner down the line to take a 15/love lead. He'd effectively never again be in the lead in the match, as Federer held serve and established the leader/follower roles that neither would ever fully relinquish in the contest.

Murray was broken in his first service game. He retrieved the break in the very next game, but the victory failed to remove the obvious tension from his body and actions. Federer saved three break points to hold and take a 3-2 lead, then broke Murray's serve again to go up 5-3. While his opponent's serve numbers were poor (a 45% first serve percentage), Federer wasn't hindered. He served out the set at 6-3. Was the advantage as important to Murray as Federer theorized it was? Well, maybe, as he proceeded to carry his roll into the 2nd. There, he broke Murray yet again to take a 2-1 lead, then seized upon the Scot's passive play, which continued even though he did have multiple in-point opportunities to seize an advantage. When Federer took a 3-1 lead, he'd won twelve of the previous fifteen points, and even put together at least one of the classic points of old that saw him drag Murray from one side of the court to the other, like a puppet on a string, before putting away a winner as if the whole thing was mere child's play.

Murray momentarily stemmed the Federer tide by saving two break points and holding for 2-3, then dug out of a love/40 to hold serve again for 3-4. But Federer's own easy hold (with two aces and a simple volley) to take a 5-3 lead was soon followed up by a routine game that enabled him to serve out the set at 6-4 to go up two sets to none. In his previous 155 slam matches in which he'd won the first two sets, Federer was 155-0.

But, to his credit, Murray didn't go into the fetal position and pray for the madness to end.

Instead, after playing his usual mostly passive, wait-for-the-mistake style of game for two sets after having started the match with an aggressive point, with nothing left to lose, Murray returned to his opening point mindset in the 3rd set. In the end, it would at least allow him room to one day be able to attempt to convince himself that HE was to blame for his ultimate defeat in the match, as his results against Federer greatly improved, but it was a tactic that came to the fore not only far too late, but it even managed to be far too little to extend the match beyond a minimal three-set limit.

Even while occasionally grabbing his right leg and seeming to slightly hobble from one spot to another, Murray finally put pressure on Federer's game. Moving forward more often and going for winners rather than rally-continuing returns, Murray went up 40/love on Federer's serve in the sixth game of the set. After winning a face-to-face exchange at the net, he broke to take a 4-2 lead. In the next game, he blasted a running crosscourt forehand winner. Serving at 5-3, Murray was within reach of making a match of things. But Federer got the service break in game #9 and the pair were soon in a tie -break.

Taken on it's own, the tie-break would border on being a classic. If it'd taken place in the 5th set of the U.S. Open, it'd been fated to be replayed for a generation. Instead, it'll turn out to be lost gem that hints at what Murray is CAPABLE of, but also highlight why he has yet to live up to his advance billing in the slams.

Murray grabbed an early 3-1 lead, but a backhand error immediately donated the mini-break he'd earned. More backhand errors allowed Federer to move ahead at 4-3, only to see Murray surge back to 6-4 and entertain his first set point. After failing to convert it, rather than push the match to the 4th with a winner, Murray netted a relatively open forehand down the line on SP #2. On SP #3 at 7-6, he missed a volley. It was then Federer's turn to surge back.

Federer's ace for 8-7 gave him his first match point, which he only narrowly missed smacking down the line with a passing shot by Murray, whose crowding of the net had given Federer only a sliver of open space through which to slide the potentially championship-winning shot. Soon after, following a Federer backhand that failed to clear the net, Murray's fourth set point was squandered when his lob attempt carried past the baseline. 9-9. Federer's drop volley have him his second match point, but Murray wonderfully saved it when he showcased his great speed by scrambling to reach a poor-choice Federer drop shot and flicking a half volley winner into the back court to knot the tie-break at 10-10.

As the tension mounted, Federer's netted forehand gave Murray a fifth set point, but the world #1's big serve bailed him out and kept alive his hopes of closing things out in the tie-break. After wrongfooting Murray with a deep shot to gain a third match point, the twenty-minute tie-break finally ended when the Scot's backhand failed to make it over the net. In a tie-break that deserved more importance than it ultimately held, Federer won 13-11.

In 2:41, Federer def. Murray 6-3/6-4/7-6(11).

If Murray had managed to employ the same aggressive tactics he used in the 3rd set from the start (as he did in the QF vs. Nadal), this might have been a different match. If, if, if, if, if. That's why some players win slams by the trophy case-full, while others never do. Even while playing the way he SHOULD have been the previous two hours, Murray still managed to fail to convert the five set points he had in the 3rd and force Federer to play a 4th set. The Scot has now lost both his career slam finals in straight sets, joining Cedric Pioline as the only other player to do so in his first two career appearances in slam finals.

"You're too good to never win a slam. Don't worry about it." - Federer, to Murray, in the post-match ceremony

Thus, Federer, firmly entrenched once again in the #1 ranking (he's just a few months away from breaking Sampras' record for total weeks in the position), proves yet again that the tennis nation has not yet been declared "no country for old men," even in a neighborhood where a 28-year old man can be considered "old." If del Potro's U.S. Open win -- which made him the only man other than Nadal to defeat Fed in his now 22 slam finals -- ushered in the "Federer vs. the World" aspect of the back half of his Hall of Fame career, then consider the 2010 scoreline to read, "Federer 1, World 0."

Thing is, after Federer took the match away from a faltering Nikolay Davydenko in the QF after the Russian had dominated the contest for the first set-plus, he often resembled the renowned Federer of old. He schooled Davydenko for nearly two lightning-fast sets like he so often used to Lleyton Hewitt in the "glory years." After how he seemed to out-psyche Murray on the big stage, could we be at the start of a second "Golden Age of Roger?" With sixteen slams, might the new number to keep an eye on be twenty-four? As in Margaret Court's all-time professional tennis record for career slam wins. Remember, Andre Agassi reached a slam singles final (losing to Federer, naturally) at age 35, even with back problems. Federer is still seven years away from his mid-thirties.

"I can cry like Roger. It's a shame I can't play like him." - Murray, after choking up during his post-match address to the crowd

Just look at the field at the moment. While his contemporary rivals are battling injuries, and the younger contenders have yet to prove themselves worthy for the long haul, Federer, after having survived a few slow periods in recent seasons, keeps on going. Nadal (now at #4 in the rankings) has a small tear in his knee and will be absent for at least a month (a disappearing act that might happen more than once this season, if his out-of-the-blue re-injury in Melbourne is any indication). Djovokic once again was bounced from Oz with "mysterious" stomach issues. Davydenko, for all his good points, just isn't a Ready-For-Prime-Time player. Roddick's last best slam shot might have come in that 16-14 5th set at SW19 last year (and niggling injuries are cropping up more and more often where he's concerned, too). Murray failed to step up his game in time here. Heck, even Hewitt, long since bypassed as a slam threat, is having another hip surgery... further stressing the miraculousness of Federer's mostly injury-free career. Del Potro is so far the only player without a demerit when it comes to consistently challenging Federer's leading role, but even the Argentine hasn't yet been able to stay healthy and play at his U.S. Open level for an entire season.

With his confidence restored, the possible slow-motion fade of the Nadal threat that is really the only chink in his "Greatest of All Time" armor, and the removal of the pressure of the Sampras Chase and all the off-court familial "distractions" that took place in '09, Federer might be uniquely positioned to have a "career-year" in what is already one of the greatest careers ever. A season ago, he came within two five-set defeats of pulling off a calendar year Grand Slam. Might 2010 offer the chance to fill in the only remaining blank in his all-timer resume?

Come one. Come all. Mister Federer is accepting challenges again. Everyone is free to apply for the honor.



*NOTES*
...Cara Black won the Mixed Doubles title with Leander Paes. It's their second Mixed slam win as a duo, and Black's ninth overall career slam crown (and Paes' thirteenth).

...I doubt that adidas was all that thrilled with ESPN2's close-ups of Murray's feet as he was walking around the court with a hole worn in the toe of his shoe. Great shot, though.

...what exactly was ESPN2's fascination with the group in Murray's box, anyway? Over the years, we've come to expect many shots of the friends box during matches, but what happened during the men's final was ridiculous. It was hard to tell if the main attraction was supposed to be the MATCH or the reaction TO THE MATCH by Murray's backers. Really, was it absolutely necessary to show slow-motion REPLAYS of the group's reactions to shots, including TWO different shots following one of the points in the tie-break?

If I have to see Murray's mum, in her tiny glasses, clench her fist and give her son encouragement once more it'll one time too many.

...and, finally, who found heart, courage and a brain in Oz? Who found her way back home Down Under? And who's playing the role of Toto (hmmm, I think we know that one... mwah-ha-ha-ha)? The Dorothy Awards are up next.



*ALL-TIME SLAM TITLES - MEN & WOMEN*
24...Margaret Smith-Court, AUS
22...Steffi Graf, GER
19...Helen Wills-Moody, USA
18...Martina Navratilova, CZE/USA
18...Chris Evert, USA
16...ROGER FEDERER, SUI
14...Pete Sampras, USA

*CAREER SLAM TITLES - MEN - ACTIVE*
[singles+doubles+mixed]
16...Roger Federer, SUI ('10 AO Singles W)
15...Bob Bryan, USA ('10 AO Doubles W)
13...Leander Paes, IND ('10 AO Mixed W)
11...Mike Bryan, USA ('10 AO Doubles W)
11...Mahesh Bhupathi, IND

*CAREER ATP SINGLES TITLES*
109...Jimmy Connors, USA
94...Ivan Lendl, CZE
77...John McEnroe, USA
64...Pete Sampras, USA
63...Bjorn Borg, SWE
62...ROGER FEDERER, SUI
62...Guillermo Vilas, ARG
60...Andre Agassi, USA

*CAREER ATP DOUBLES TITLES - TEAMS*
61...Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde
57...Peter Fleming & John McEnroe
57...Bob Hewitt & Frew McMillian
56...BOB BRYAN & MIKE BRYAN

*WEEKS AT ATP SINGLES #1*
[as of February 1, 2010]
286...Pete Sampras, USA
270...Ivan Lendl, CZE
268...ROGER FEDERER, SUI
268...Jimmy Connors, USA
170...John McEnroe, USA
109...Bjorn Borg, SWE
101...Andre Agassi, USA

*MOST AUSTRALIAN OPEN SINGLES TITLES - MEN*
6...Roy Emerson
4...ROGER FEDERER
4...Andre Agassi
4...Jack Crawford
4...Ken Rosewall
4...Pat Wood
3...Rod Laver
3...Adrian Quist
3...Mats Wilander

*FEDERER vs. SLAM FINAL OPPONENTS*
[overall: 16-6]
4-0...Andy Roddick
2-0...ANDY MURRAY
2-5...Rafael Nadal
1-0...Andre Agassi
1-0...Marcos Baghdatis
1-0...Novak Djokovic
1-0...Fernando Gonzalez
1-0...Leyton Hewitt
1-0...Mark Philippoussis
1-0...Marat Safin
1-0...Robin Soderling
0-1...Juan Martin del Potro



*WOMEN's SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Serena Williams/USA def. (WC) Justine Henin/BEL 6-4/3-6/6-2

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Roger Federer/SUI def. #5 Andy Murray/GBR 6-3/6-4/7-6

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) def. #1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) 6-4/6-3

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) def. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB) 6-3/6-7/6-3

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Black/Paes (ZIM/IND) def. Makarova/Levinsky (RUS/CZE) 7-5/6-3

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#6 Karolina Pliskova/CZE def. Laura Robson/GBR 6-1/7-6

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#14 Tiago Fernandes/BRA def. Sean Berman/AUS 7-5/6-3

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
Cepelova/Skamlova (SVK/SVK) def. #1 Babos/Dabrowski (HUN/CAN) 7-6/6-2

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
Eleveld/Lupescu (NED/NED) def.. #2 Krawietz/Schulz (GER/GER) 6-4/6-4




TOP QUALIFIER: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Serena Williams/USA
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): Serena Williams/USA
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Kathrin Woerle/GER def. Bopana Jovanovski/SRB 6-2/4-6/9-7
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. #5 Elena Dementieva/RUS 7-5/7-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. (q) Yanina Wickmayer/BEL 7-6/1-6/6-3
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): Final - #1 Serena Williams/USA def. (wc) Justine Henin 6-4/3-6/6-2
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #14 Maria Sharapova/RUS (lost 1st Rd.- Kirilenko/RUS)
FIRST WIN: Dinara Safina/RUS (def. Rybarikova/SVK)
UPSET QUEENS: The Russians
REVELATION LADIES: The Germans
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL [4th Rd.]
IT GIRL: Maria Kirilenko/RUS
co-MS. OPPORTUNITY: Zheng Jie/CHN & Li Na/CHN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Justine Henin/BEL
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS ('08 champ, lost 1st Rd. to Kirilenko/RUS)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Serena Williams/USA - down 6-4/4-0 to Azarenka/BLR in QF (won title)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Samantha Stosur/AUS [4th Rd.]
DOUBLES STAR Cara Black/ZIM
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Karolina & Kristyna Pliskova/CZE




All for now.

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Real Champions Wear Combat Boots

"It's gotta be the shoes!" - Mars Blackmon

In recent years, women's tennis has so often seemed to be all about footwear. No, I'm not talking about anyone donning a pair of red pumps or stylish flats in a photo shoot, I'm talking about having to so often watch not-quite-champion players sport "shoe-envying" games that, under pressure, display enough fundamental "don't's" that they threaten to forever cause their designer to be deemed to have "poor fashion sense" ON the court. For every Oudin-esque pair of sneakers with "Believe" on their sides, there have been seemed to be two or more pairs of lead shoes clunking around the courts of the WTA (we call those puppies "Safinas") in the late stages of the four most important events of the season.

The fact of the matter is that REAL champions where boots. Not the shiny go-go variety that Serena Williams stunned the sport with at the U.S. Open a while back, though. COMBAT boots. You know, the kind of footwear that doesn't need messages stamped on the side to remind anyone what the task at hand truly is. One look at them and any opponent knows they're in for a fight to the death. In a bit of too-good-to-be-true irony, it's Williams who owns the most intimidating pair of steel-toed head-stompers, too.

A few days ago, Victoria Azarenka wasn't up to the challenge, ever after achieving some early victories. Li Na, as well, put up an honorable fight, but one that was also a losing battle in the end. If a player is to TRULY challenge Williams, she has to be willing to slog through the rice patties of a stifling grand slam final to do it. For that, you need Justine Henin.

In an Australian Open final that pitted the two best players of the past decade (and maybe their generation) against one another for the fourteenth time, but for the first time in a grand slam final, no wry "phonies" were allowed. None showed up, either. Before the match, Henin called the match-up the "perfect challenge," while Williams dubbed it a "defining moment." Battlelines were drawn. With the women's game's two most hard-nosed, irrepressible icons facing off, with the backdrop of their past slam meetings (from the '03 "wave-off" to Henin's QF X 3 dismissing of Serena in '07) providing context, the potential for a memorable conflict was apparent.

What developed was a clash that, while maybe not a "classic," was an admirable, solid scuffle that turned on but a few key moments. All the while throughout the two-plus hour contest, while the American sought to carve out an even bigger place in history for herself by becoming the winningest AO champion of the Open Era, the Belgian, still freshly back from her twenty-month "visionquest" of a retirement (Henin was in the Congo at this time last year when WIlliams was wining her fourth Oz title), was doing what she's always seemingly been assigned to do -- buck the long odds against her attaining a goal that maybe even she who has always reached so high didn't TOTALLY believe was possible even a month ago. In the end, the resulting three-setter was the first women's slam final to go the distance since the 2006 Wimbledon.

As the match began, Williams immediately signalled her bad intentions with a first point ace. But Henin didn't wilt. In short order, she had two break point opportunities in a game that became an early point of order for the women's final. After a four-deuce, eight-minute game, Serena held when Henin netted a backhand. The Belgian's missed opportunity would be an overriding theme for the opening set. In Williams' second service game, a net cord bounce on Henin's second serve return gave her another break point. Williams erased it with an ace. After another long (five-deuce) game, keyed by Henin's commitment to being aggressive and stepping inside the court to take shots at Williams' second serves, the American once again managed to hold for a 2-1 lead. After again failing to secure a break, Henin soon had her first double-fault of the match to fall behind 0/30. A wide Henin forehand broke her serve at love and gave Williams a 3-1 advantage.

In the next game, Henin again jumped out to a 40/15 lead on Serena's serve. Up 40/30, Henin's backhand volley seemingly clipped a line and Williams' backhand sailed long. Henin went to her chair for the changeover thinking she'd gotten the set back on serve, but the linesperson's initial "in" call on Henin's shot had been only seconds later changed by the official to "out." A replay confirmed the "out" call, and the game went on. Williams got the game to deuce and, as Henin stood at 0-for-5 in break point opportunities, Williams held for a 4-1 lead. With the crowd at least momentarily on her side, two games later, Henin once again challenged Williams' serve. The Belgian went up 40/15, and hit a forehand winner to convert her first of seven break point chances and get the set on serve at 3-4. After both players held at love, serving at 4-5, Henin hit a second serve ace up the "T" when down 0/15, then had another ace when down 15/30. But a double-fault on the next point gave Serena a set point. Henin saved it with a big serve, but a long backhand gave Williams another shot. Henin's backhard error, a wide bounce off the net cord, handed the set to Williams at 6-4.

With Williams entering with a 40-0 record in Australian Open matches (and 163-3 in all slams) after winning the 1st set, the final result would have seemed a fait accompli at that point. But Henin wasn't about to let history get in the way of her own attempt to make it.

In the opening game of the 2nd set, Serena held serve with an ace, but Henin's continued aggression finally began to force Williams into errors. Henin broke her at love with a winner on a setter Serena volley to grab a 2-1 lead. But in the next game, Serena went up 40/15 on the Belgian's serve and gained a break when Henin netted her return of a deep Williams groundstroke. 2-2. Two games later, Henin overcame a break point to hold for 3-3 after running Serena wide to one side and hitting a winner down the line on the other. Having survived there, Henin turned the set in her favor in the next game.

Serving up 30/0, the timing on Williams' second serve was so off that the ball sailed toward the baseline and wasn't that far away from Henin's feet. Perhaps sensing a crack in Williams' line of defense, the Belgian raised her game and would lose just one point the rest of the set. She hit a stinging backhand down the line past an approaching Serena in the next point, then a well-placed corner shot forced Williams to spray a return long. After a Williams ace, Henin scrambled to make two volleys to get a break point, then her assault on a second serve forced a Serena error and gave Henin a 4-3 lead. In the next game, she held at love with three groundstroke winners and a service winner, then carried her masterful run into Williams' service game. An overhead winner. A second serve winner. Suddenly, every shot was working. Henin broke Serena at love, taking the last ten points of the set (and 15/18) while winning four straight games to win 6-3.

In the 3rd, Henin's point streak was extended to fifteen until she finally netted a return in the second game of the set. The Belgian had pushed her game to another level, and the question was whether the American was going to respond in kind. Ummm, was that really a question?

Down 15/40 at 0-1 after a failied serve-and-volley attempt, Williams pounded an ace up the service "T." Moments later, another ace held serve for 1-1. In the next game, Serena broke Henin's serve when the Belgian netted a backhand volley. But anything Serena could do, Henin tried to do better. It worked, for a moment. She went up 40/0 on Williams' serve at 1-2, then attacked a second serve and got the break with a forehand crosscourt winner. 2-2. In the proceeding game, an Henin double-fault was followed by a pulverizing backhand winner by Williams off a second serve to get a break point. A long Henin backhand put Serena up 3-2 with the third straight service break of the set.

With the championship in her sight, Wililams took her game up one more notch. This time, Henin couldn't follow.

After having an ace on game point overruled by replay, Serena promptly stepped to the service line... and blasted a second serve ace instead, then did a clenched-fist-while-leaping-in-the-air celebration for added emphasis. If it's a big point, you want Serena's serve. She led 4-2, and had won 80% of her first serve points in the set, compared to 44% for Henin. Williams stood at 2-for-2 in break points in the 3rd, while Henin was 1-of-5. The numbers would bear out as the final result neared.

An Henin double-fault gave Williams a 30/15 lead, then she wasn't able to successfully pull off a backhand half-volley of a Serena running crosscourt backhand at her feet. A long Henin backhand off a deep service return moved Williams to a 5-2 lead with a third straight break of the Belgian's serve. Then, just four points from another grand slam title, Williams was not to be denied.

Again, she blew an ace up the middle on the first point. She did it again on the third (her twelfth of the match). Two points later, a Williams backhand shot to the corner was out of the reach of a scrambling Henin and it was all over. Serena flung her racket behind her, fell flat on her back and covered her face with her hands, then clenched and raised her fists above her head. She'd done it yet again.

Williams def. Henin 6-4/3-6/6-2.

When Henin left the game twenty-one months ago, we knew what we'd lost. But in getting to that point, she lost more. Her heart. Her desire. Maybe even her sense of self. In retrospect, her string of uninspired losses in the early months of '08 foreshadowed what happened on May 14. That said, her perfectly "La Petit Taureau"-esque moments in the twelve matches she's played in her comeback so far in 2010 serve to provide public anecdotes that her a-little-more-frequent smile and talk of feeling more self-aware and in control of her life ARE evidence of an Henin who is, at once, both different, in her game style and personal interactions, but also largely the same when it comes to being able to find additional reserviors of will where most players (Serena excluded) would have long since been only kicking at dry earth.

Henin, just like Williams, wears combat boots, too. They're a little scuffed tonight, but I think most are pretty confident that she'll have them shined up, looking even better than new as this season moves along.

At the end of the 2:07 match, it was apparent that Henin had been up for the promised battle, but so was the fact that Serena was carrying the biggest weapon when the two faced off in the day's most important moments. Early on, Henin's choice to attempt to impose her new in-point aggression into the proceedings caused her to overplay some of her break point opportunities. Later, her serve wasn't quite able to hold the line of defense against Serena in the 3rd set, as Henin's tactics to avoid double-faults and maintain a higher 1st serve percentage -- largely by going for serves up the middle over the low portion of the net -- made her a tad too predictable and giving Williams a chance to pounce in important moments. Meanwhile, Williams' serve, as usual, was often her best, and most successful, bail-out option when things got tough. Henin never retreated in the face of such an overwhelming force, but neither did Williams. The American took "Melbourne Hill," preventing Henin's slam-title-in-two-events improvised battleplan from becoming reality, but it's Williams' own "second time around" dominance at the slams that is promising to provide only further depth to her career legacy.

Serena, after her first Aussie Open title in an even-numbered year, has now won three of the last five slam titles, and four of six back to the '08 U.S. Open (she's been in five of the last seven finals). Career slam win #12 ties her with Billie Jean King on the all-time list, with the likes of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert both a not-as-distant-as-it-might-seem six slams away in the historical pecking order. She needed this win over Henin, though, to solidify her standing. Other than defeating Henin at a hard court or clay slam, only taking down Venus at Wimbledon can really be used as a true barometer of just how to rate Serena's in-the-moment accomplishments at this point. When she's in fine form, no one but those two can touch her... and even they would likely lose more often than they'd win. Hopefully, this won't be the last time Serena is forced to rise up to the challenge of the willfull Belgian in a slam final... such moments can only bring out the best in her, Justine and women's tennis, in general.

"Please baby, pleasebaby, please baby, baby baby please!" - Mars

Thus, ladies and gentlemen, the winner, and still champ-eeeen. Soul Sister #1 and Melbourne's ultimate survivor. I give you... the one and only, Miss Serena Williams.





*NOTES*
...this is the sixth time in her career that Serena has swept the singles and doubles titles at a slam, and the second straight Australian Open (not to mention third in the last five slams). She now has twenty-five overall slam titles in her career, with six of the twelve slam singles wins (and all five AO titles) coming in "from the brink" fashion (see list below).

During her on-court address to the crowd after the match, at the last moment, Williams made a point to throw in that her win was a "real G moment," a not-so-subtle bit of business housekeeping for her sponsors at Gatorade. Some will surely, and maybe legitimately, denigrate the move as a touch to commercially crass... but my first instinct was to wonder if this was the beginning of what will turn out to be an "I'm going to Disneyland"-style bit of promotion that will soon become a "traditional" end to many sporting events. Afterall, the Gatorade showers on the sidelines HAVE sort of become passe.

With the Aussie Open doubles title in hand, might Venus and Serena be starting what could turn out to be "Sisters Slam" year in doubles? Last year, they won three of the four slams, only missing out at Roland Garros. After winning her singles title, Serena apparently made a little "now I have to find a way to get me some Roland Garros titles," or something to that effect, comment to Mary Joe Fernandez. She was talking about singles, which she hasn't won in Paris since "Serena Slam" in 2002, but either way a win on the red clay could be large step toward some truly brilliant accomplishments being in play come the U.S. Open.

...Karolina Pliskova defeated Laura Robson in the Girls final to become the first Czech junior Girls slam champion since Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova won the AO junior title in 2003 (Nicole Vaidisova was RU a year later). Robson lost in the final last season to Ksenia Pervak.

...and, finally, what was the point of Fernandez sitting courtside during the Williams/Henin match, anyway? Unlike as is often the case with Pam Shriver, she interviewed no one during the match, made few observations that couldn't have been made from the booth, and the one time she DID report something uniquely heard/seen/felt from her vantage point she seemed to entirely misread the crowd reaction. In the game in the 1st set in which an Henin shot on a break point opportunity was initially called good, but then quickly changed by the linesperson (Henin has already sat down for the changeover, not hearing the correction), MJF was asked why some of the crowd was booing after Henin missed a shot that had allowed Serena to get the game back to deuce. Fernandez said that the booing must be because the Belgian had uttered an audible obscenity after losing the point, but I wondered at the time whether it was really because fans were still displeased about the call reversal, which had now led to the erasing of Henin's lead in the game. When Williams won the game that Henin had earlier thought she'd claimed, the grumbling in the stands was even louder. At that point, MJF noted that fans were upset about Henin losing a game and that they were obviously pulling for HER rather than Williams at that moment. Maybe MJF's initial take on the murmurs was correct, but the tone of that brief period of the match (similar to the "wave off" of Henin in that '03 RG match, after which the crowd went against Serena, who was actually in the right) at that specific moment, and a short time later, makes me wonder. Could she have actually not been able to read the crowd when the feelings seemed obvious from a distance? I guess we'll never really know.




*SERENA vs. JUSTINE*
[Williams leads 8-6]
2001 US Open 4th Rd. - Williams 7-5/6-0
2001 WTA Chsp QF - Williams 6-3/7-6
2002 Berlin Final - Henin 6-2/1-6/7-6
2002 Rome Final - Williams 7-6/6-4
2002 Leipzig SF - Williams 6-4/6-2
2003 Charleston Final - Henin 6-3/6-4
2003 Roland Garros SF - Henin 6-2/4-6/7-5 ("The Wave-Off" match)
2003 Wimbledon SF - Williams 6-3/6-2
2007 Miami Final - Williams 0-6/7-5/6-3 (Henin w/ 2 MP)
2007 Roland Garros QF -Henin 6-4/6-3
2007 Wimbledon QF - Henin 6-4/3-6/6-3
2007 U.S. Open QF - Henin 7-6/6-1
2008 Miami QF - Williams 6-2/6-0
2010 Australian Open Final - Williams 6-4/3-6/6-2

*SERENA "FROM THE BRINK" SLAM TITLES*
=2003=
AO: Kim Clijsters held 2 MP in SF
=2005=
AO: Maria Sharapova held 3 MP in SF
=2007=
AO: Nadia Petrova (3rd Rd.) & Shahar Peer (QF) served for match
=2009=
AO: Svetlana Kuznetsova served for match in QF
WI: Elena Dementieva held MP in SF
=2010=
AO: Victoria Azarenka led 6-4/4-0, served for match twice in QF

*ALL-TIME SLAM SINGLES TITLES*
24...Margaret Smith-Court, AUS
22...Steffi Graf, GER
19...Helen Wills-Moody, USA
18...Martina Navratilova, CZE/USA
18...Chris Evert, USA
12...SERENA WILLIAMS, USA
12...Billie Jean King, USA

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN SINGLES TITLES - OPEN ERA*
5...SERENA WILLIAMS, USA
4...Margaret Smith-Court, AUS
4...Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, AUS
4...Monica Seles, YUG/USA
4...Steffi Graf, GER

*CAREER SLAM TITLES - ACTIVE*
[singles/doubles/mixed]
25...SERENA WILLIAMS [12/11/2]
20...Venus Williams [7/11/2]
11...Virginia Ruano Pascual [0/10/1]
9...Lisa Raymond [0/5/4]
8...Cara Black [0/5/3] - to play Mixed final

*SERENA - SLAM SINGLES RESULTS*
1st Round: 0
2nd Round: 1
3rd Round: 7
4th Round: 4
Quarterfinals: 11
Semifinals: 3
Runner-Up: 3
Champion: 12
=[AO Finals]=
2003 Serena Williams def. Venus Williams
2005 Serena Williams def. Lindsay Davenport
2007 Serena Williams def. Maria Sharapova
2009 Serena Williams def. Dinara Safina
2010 Serena Williams def. Justine Henin
=[Slam Titles]=
Australian Open: 2003,2005,2007,2009,2010
Roland Garros: 2002
Wimbledon: 2002,2003,2009
U.S. Open: 1999,2002,2008

*SERENA SINGLES/DOUBLES SLAM SWEEPS*
1999 U.S. Open
2002 Wimbledon
2003 Australian Open
2009 Australian Open
2009 Wimbledon
2010 Australian Open

*RECENT AO GIRLS SINGLES FINALS*
1999 Virginie Razzano def. Katarina Basternakova
2000 Aniko Kapros def. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez
2001 Jelena Jankovic def. Sofia Arvidsson
2002 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova def. Maria Sharapova
2003 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova def. Viktoriya Kutuzova
2004 Shahar Peer def. Nicole Vaidisova
2005 Victoria Azarenka def. Agnes Szavay
2006 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Caroline Wozniacki
2007 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova def. Madison Brengle
2008 Arantxa Rus def. Jessica Moore
2009 Ksenia Pervak def. Laura Robson
2010 Karolina Pliskova def. Laura Robson

*SLAM DOUBLES TITLES - MEN - OPEN ERA*
11...Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde
8...BOB BRYAN/MIKE BRYAN



*WOMEN's SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Serena Williams/USA def. (WC) Justine Henin/BEL 6-4/3-6/6-2

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Roger Federer/SUI vs. #5 Andy Murray/GBR

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) def. #1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) 6-4/6-3

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) def. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB) 6-3/6-7/6-3

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Black/Paes (ZIM/IND) vs. Makarova/Levinsky (RUS/CZE)

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
#6 Karolina Pliskova/CZE def. Laura Robson/GBR 6-1/7-6

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
#14 Tiago Fernandes/BRA def. Sean Berman/AUS 7-5/6-3

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
Cepelova/Skamlova (SVK/SVK) def. #1 Babos/Dabrowski (HUN/CAN) 7-6/6-2

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
Eleveld/Lupescu (NED/NED) def.. #2 Krawietz/Schulz (GER/GER) 6-4/6-4




TOP QUALIFIER: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Serena Williams/USA
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): Serena Williams/USA
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Kathrin Woerle/GER def. Bopana Jovanovski/SRB 6-2/4-6/9-7
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. #5 Elena Dementieva/RUS 7-5/7-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. (q) Yanina Wickmayer/BEL 7-6/1-6/6-3
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): Final - #1 Serena Williams/USA def. (wc) Justine Henin 6-4/3-6/6-2
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #14 Maria Sharapova/RUS (lost 1st Rd.- Kirilenko/RUS)
FIRST WIN: Dinara Safina/RUS (def. Rybarikova/SVK)
UPSET QUEENS: The Russians
REVELATION LADIES: The Germans
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL [4th Rd.]
IT GIRL: Maria Kirilenko/RUS
co-MS. OPPORTUNITY: Zheng Jie/CHN & Li Na/CHN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Justine Henin/BEL
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS ('08 champ, lost 1st Rd. to Kirilenko/RUS)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Serena Williams/USA - down 6-4/4-0 to Azarenka/BLR in QF (won title)
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Samantha Stosur/AUS [4th Rd.]
DOUBLES STAR Cara Black/ZIM
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Karolina & Kristyna Pliskova/CZE




All for now. More after the men's final, followed by the Dorothy Tour Awards (and Fed Cup picks).

Read more...

Oz 12: For Whom the Book Tolls, circa 2010

Never let it be said that the WTA's wrong-headed decision to NOT have a printed version of the tour's Official 2010 Guide means that I can't give out awards for the new and old bio photos included in the (shortened and less reliable) online version. So there.



Once again, as I talked about in the "Revolving Doors" column last year when I discussed the possible additions and ejections in the '10 Guide, the Top 100 singles and Top 30 doubles players are all included, along with a few "discretionary" selections (such as the unretired Justine Henin & Alicia Molik). In all, 111 (horrendously-shortened, but that's a gripe for another day, and one I've already ranted a bit about) women's bios are included in the new Guide.

Here are the player specifics, as well as the usual honors, for the 2010 Guide bios, from Akgul Amanmuradova to Vera Zvonareva:

**2010 BIOS - BY NATION**
[2009 bio numbers in parenthesis]
14...Russia (15)
8...United States (7)
6...Germany (3)
6...Italy (6)
6...Czech Republic (8)
6...Spain (6)
5...Australia (3)
5...France (13)
4...Belgium (1)
4...China (4)
4...Romania (3)
3...Belarus (2)
3...Great Britain (1)
3...Slovak Republic (4)
3...Switzerland (2)
3...Taiwan (3)
3...Ukraine (4)
2...Austria (3)
2...Croatia (0)
2...Hungary (1)
2...Japan (1)
2...Poland (2)
2...Serbia (2)
2...Slovenia (1)
1...Argentina (1)
1...Bulgaria (1)
1...Canada (1)
1...Denmark (1)
1...Estonia (1)
1...India (1)
1...Israel (1)
1...Kazakhstan (2)
1...Latvia (0)
1...Uzbekistan (1)
1...Zimbabwe (1)
--
COUNTRIES WITH '09 ENTRIES, BUT NONE IN '10: Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, Sweden, Thailand

If you want to follow and play along, or come up with your own awards, you can check out the online edition of the Guide, which at least provides an accurate online match-up to these awards after past "For Whom the Book Tolls" posts often involved Guide-only bio pics that weren't the same as the ones on the WTA's website.

*BEST '10 GUIDE BIO PHOTO*
Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN (she deserves to be sporting such a smile)
=RUNNERS-UP=
Old photos: Elena Vesnina/RUS, Caroline Wozniacki/DEN
New photos: Anna Keothavong/GBR, Sabine Lisicki/GER, Zheng Jie/CHN
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2006 Severine Bremond, FRA
2007 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2008 Ana Ivanovic, SRB
2009 Anne Keothavong, GBR

*BIGGEST SMILE*
Li Na, CHN (and this is an old photo taken long before her SF run in Melbourne, too)
=RUNNERS-UP=
Kimiko Date-Krumm/JPN, Karolina Sprem/CRO (old photo)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2007 Karolina Sprem, CRO
2008 Li Na, CHN
2009 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA & Edina Gallovits, ROU

*BEST PHOTO UPGRADE*
Vera Zvonareva, RUS (Vera looks party-ready)
=RUNNERS-UP=
Liezel Huber/USA (she looks less like the "Wonder Years" mom)
Alisa Kleybanova/RUS (very regal)
Alla Kudryavtseva/RUS (in this case, the less bangs the better)
Ekaterina Makarova/RUS (she no longer looks like she was cornered in a public bathroom and had her photo snapped)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2008 Aravane Rezai, FRA
2009 Tamira Paszek, AUT

*WORST PHOTO CHANGE*
Sorana Cirstea/ROU (a mug shot?)
=RUNNER-UP=
Gisela Dulko/ARG (she just doesn't look well)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2008 Olga Savchuk, UKR
2009 Ana Ivanovic, SRB

*GLAMOUR-SHOTS-R-US*
Magdalena Rybarikova, SVK
Zheng Jie, CHN
==RUNNERS-UP=
Vania King, USA
Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
Sabine Lisicki, GER
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS (this year's winner in the "Bon Jovi Big 1980's Hair" contest)
Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN
=PREVIOUS HONOREES=
2007 Michaella Krajicek, NED
2008 Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
2009 Jelena Jankovic, SRB & Caroline Wozniacki, DEN

*"GIRL NEXT DOOR"*
Stefanie Voegele, SUI
=RUNNERS-UP=
Petra Kvitova, CZE
Andrea Petkovic, GER (well, if you live next door to Chloe Sevigny)
=PREVIOUS WINNERS=
2007 Olga Savchuk, UKR
2008 Chang Yung-Jan, TPE & Yaroslava Shvedova, RUS
2009 Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ

A GUEST ON "TRUE BLOOD" NEXT SEASON?: Iveta Benesova/CZE
COOL NECKLACE: Akgul Amanmuradova/UZB
A HARD-EDGED CYLON?: Melinda Czink/HUN
AH, AN ACTION SHOT: Petra Martic/CRO
LITERALLY CUT OUT OF A MAGAZINE? Anna Chakvetadze/RUS
NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN: Jelena Dokic/AUS

THEY WERE ROBBED!!: Casey Dellacqua/AUS, Marina Erakovic/NZL & Tamarine Tanasguarn/THA
...Dellacqua and Erakovic dropped off because of injuries, but weren't given "discretionary" slots ala Katarina Srebotnik. Tanasugarn actually defended her '08 title in 's-Hertogenbosch, but her ranking slipped outside the Top 100.

Hopefully, 2011 will bring an ACTUAL (printed) Guide, not another unsatisfying online version. I guess I've already got my first listing for the "All I Want for Christmas" list in this season's year-ending WTA Yearbook.



*DAY 12 NOTES*
...Venus and Serena became this slam's first major champions when they defeated Cara Black & Liezel Huber 6-4/6-3 in the Doubles final to defend their '09 crown and grab an eleventh slam Doubles championship as a duo (and their fourth in the last five slams).

While the Williams Sisters probably SHOULD get the "Doubles Star" winner for this slam, I'm going to give it to Cara Black for advancing to the final in both the Doubles and Mixed (she and Leander Paes face Makarova/Levinsky) since the Sisters got the award at Wimbledon last season and Black hasn't been honored since the '08 U.S. Open.

...in the Girls SF, Laura Robson advanced to her second consecutive AO junior singles final. After losing to Ksenia Pervak in '09, she'll face #6-seed Karolina Pliskova this time around. Robson knocked off Karolina's unseeded sister Kristyna in her SF match, while the winning Czech sibling took out China's Tang Hao-Chen. Robson won the "Junior Star" award when she took the '08 Wimbledon Girls title, so I'm giving this one to the Pliskova sisters. Two siblings not named Williams, Bondarenko, Radwanska or any of the others now populating the tour landscape reaching the semis of the same junior slam is just two sweet to pass over.

...Roger Federer defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2, 3 & 2? Yikes! That's like an old King Roger scoreline. He was even in fine form in the post-match interview, nudging Andy Murray with deft mentions that he's still never won a slam, hadn't yet beaten Federer on such a grand stage, and sort of throwing out the notion that the Scot's confidence might be shaken if he doesn't win the 1st set in the final. Hehe. No one but Federer can get away with that type of thing, not even trying to hide his cockiness, but still sound like a nice guy while he's doing it.

...anyone see Justin Gimelstob get dive bombed by a very accurate bird taking a "bathroom break" during one of his People-on-the-Street interview segments on Tennis Channel? Hilarious. A few more inches to the right and Gimelstob would have gotten it right on the noggin. The segment was actually pretty funny (he was quizzing fans to see if any could answer a question about who shared Venus Williams' very first slam championship -- it was Gimelstob himself in the '98 Australian Open Mixed Doubles, but the closest anyone got to a correct answer, even with severe prompting, was Justin "Gimelstein"), but if that's not a fine example of direct and immediate television criticism than I don't know what is.

Maybe Gimelstob was just target practice, though. Could our fine-feathered friend be simply preparing for when another bigger target steps into his sights. Splat! Bull's eye!

Hmmm... watch out, Pam.

...and, finally, I truly love ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption." I've read Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon in the Washington Post (when TK was still in the Post, that is) for over twenty years, have listened to the various incarnations of Kornheiser's radio show for nearly as long (and still do every day), watched them on the local "Full Court Press" sports show put together by the late great George Michael on WRC-TV before someone at ESPN ever got the idea to pair up the two on their own show, and in large part have probably inadvertantly "stolen" some of Kornheiser's column style by interjecting off-topic thoughts in the middle of discussions in Backspin (not to mention that handwritten bracket idea at last year's U.S. Open). But, still, I simply hate it when they talk about tennis, especially the WTA. (Of course, giving Andy Murray's around-the-post winner from the other night an "F" and a "C+" because it either was "easy" or "should be illegal" was bordering on the ridiculous side, too.)

Yesterday's short discussion about Justine Henin reaching a slam final in her second tournament back, not surprisingly, quickly fell into the oh-so-typical "it proves the women's game has no depth" trap. Clijsters' U.S. Open title in her third event was thrown into the mix, too. I guess it's to be expected, but you never hear the same sort of thing when the talk turns to Federer reaching twenty-three straight slam SF or eighteen of the last nineteen slam finals. Federer, it's generally agreed, is able to do such things because of how great a player he is. Is it so foreign a concept to theorize that Clijsters and Henin have been able to do this because they are truly exceptional talents, as well? Of course, this has been a time-worn argument for a while now. Apparently, the women's game "was boring and star-less" when the likes of the Belgians were around the first time. When they were gone, there was a "vacuum of power" at the top of the game because they weren't there. They come back to great fanfare and re-assume leading roles... and now there's no depth. It's always something isn't it?

No matter who wins the women's final, that'll make twenty-nine of the last thirty-two slams won by players from three groups (Russians, Belgians and Williams Sisters numbering seven different women), with the other three divided between two more women (Mauresmo and Ivanovic). Meanwhile, just two players have won nearly every men's slam title since mid-2005 (17/19 going into this AO final, and 19/22 back to the '04 Wimbledon).

But it's the women's game that has no depth. Sigh.




*SERENA vs. JUSTINE*
[Williams leads 7-6]
2001 US Open 4th Rd. - Williams 7-5/6-0
2001 WTA Chsp QF - Williams 6-3/7-6
2002 Berlin Final - Henin 6-2/1-6/7-6
2002 Rome Final - Williams 7-6/6-4
2002 Leipzig SF - Williams 6-4/6-2
2003 Charleston Final - Henin 6-3/6-4
2003 Roland Garros SF - Henin 6-2/4-6/7-5 ("The Wave" match)
2003 Wimbledon SF - Williams 6-3/6-2
2007 Miami Final - Williams 0-6/7-5/6-3 (Henin w/ 2 MP)
2007 Roland Garros QF -Henin 6-4/6-3
2007 Wimbledon QF - Henin 6-4/3-6/6-3
2007 U.S. Open QF - Henin 7-6/6-1
2008 Miami QF - Williams 6-2/6-0
2010 Australian Open Final - ??

*CAREER AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALS - ACTIVE*
5...SERENA WILLIAMS (4-0)
3...JUSTINE HENIN (1-1)
2...Maria Sharapova (1-1)
1...Kim Clijsters (0-1)
1...Ana Ivanovic (0-1)
1...Dinara Safina (0-1)
1...Venus Williams (0-1)

*MOST AUSTRALIAN OPEN TITLES - ALL-TIME*
11...Margaret Smith-Court
6...Nancye Wynne-Bolton
5...Daphne Akhurst
4...Evonne Goolagong-Cawley
4...Steffi Graf
4...Monica Seles
4...SERENA WILLIAMS

*SLAM DOUBLES TITLES - OPEN ERA*
21...Martina Navratilova/Pam Shriver
14...Gigi Fernandez/Natasha Zvereva
11...SERENA WILLIAMS/VENUS WILLIAMS
8...Virginia Ruano Pascual/Paola Suarez

*CAREER WTA SINGLES TITLE - ACTIVE*
41...JUSTINE HENIN
41...Venus Williams
36...Kim Clijsters
35...SERENA WILLIAMS
20...Maria Sharapova

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN "DOUBLES STAR" WINNERS*
2006 Yan Zi & Zheng Jie, CHN
2007 Liezel Huber, RSA
2008 Alona Bondarenko & Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
2009 Sania Mirza, IND
2010 Cara Black, ZIM

*AUSTRALIAN OPEN "JUNIOR STAR" WINNERS*
2007 Madison Brengle, USA
2008 Jessica Moore, AUS & Arantxa Rus, NED
2009 Ksenia Pervak, RUS
2010 Karolina Pliskova & Kristyna Pliskova, CZE

*MOST CONSECUTIVE SLAM FINALS - MEN*
10...Roger Federer, 2005-07
8...ROGER FEDERER, 2008-CURRENT
7...Jack Crawford, 1932-34



*WOMEN's SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Serena Williams/USA vs. (WC) Justine Henin/BEL

*MEN'S SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Roger Federer/SUI vs. #5 Andy Murray/GBR

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#2 Williams/Williams (USA/USA) def. #1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB)

*MIXED DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Black/Paes (ZIM/IND) vs. Makarova/Levinsky (RUS/CZE)

*GIRLS SINGLES FINAL*
Laura Robson/GBR vs. #6 Karolina Pliskova/CZE

*BOYS SINGLES FINAL*
Sean Berman/AUS vs. #14 Tiago Fernandes/BRA

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
Cepelova/Skamlova (SVK/SVK) def. #1 Babos/Dabrowski (HUN/CAN)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
Eleveld/Lupescu (NED/NED) def.. #2 Krawietz/Schulz (GER/GER)




TOP QUALIFIER: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Serena Williams/USA
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Kathrin Woerle/GER def. Bopana Jovanovski/SRB 6-2/4-6/9-7
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. #5 Elena Dementieva/RUS 7-5/7-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. (q) Yanina Wickmayer/BEL 7-6/1-6/6-3
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xx - xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #14 Maria Sharapova/RUS (lost 1st Rd.- Kirilenko/RUS)
FIRST WIN: Dinara Safina/RUS (def. Rybarikova/SVK)
UPSET QUEENS: The Russians
REVELATION LADIES: The Germans
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL [4th Rd.]
IT GIRL: Maria Kirilenko/RUS
co-MS. OPPORTUNITY: Zheng Jie/CHN & Li Na/CHN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Justine Henin/BEL
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS ('08 champ, lost 1st Rd. to Kirilenko/RUS)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Justine Henin/BEL - down 3-6/1-3 15/40 to Kleybanova/RUS in 3rd Rd. or Serena Williams/USA - down 6-4/4-0 to Azarenka/BLR in QF
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Samantha Stosur/AUS [4th Rd.]
DOUBLES STAR Cara Black/ZIM
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: Karolina & Kristyna Pliskova/CZE




All for now. More after the women's final.

Read more...

Oz 11: A Long Time Coming

Discussion of the appearance of two Chinese players in a slam semifinal for the first time was the pre-match topic du jour in Melbourne. But the story of the Chinese tennis revolution is a still-evolving one, while the double-headed story of Serena and Justine is front and center RIGHT NOW.

A day after her oh-so-Serenaesque win over Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals, Serena Williams faced off against Li Na with everyone assuming that the American would surely be on her game earlier this time around. She was, too. She broke Li's serve to start the match.

Thing is, it was the only time the Chinese woman would drop her serve the entire day.

In the biggest moments, though, Williams pulled from her considerable well of grit to edge ahead. After being broken while serving for the 1st set at 5-4, Serena played a tie-break that ended with her claiming the set via a second serve ace. In the 2nd set, the pair held serve throughout. In fact, the very resilient Li, who hadn't before faced a break point in the set, served at 4-5 15/40 and managed to save three break points/match points to knot the score at 5-5. She held serve for 6-6 after saving a fourth match point, too. In the second tie-break, Serena grabbed a mini-break for a 2-1 lead and let out one of her patented primal screams.

That was the sign that the end of the match was near.

I've said for a long time that whenever Williams lets loose with one of those howls, it's time for all the mothers and fathers to hide the kids. A rattlesnake shakes its tail to warn enemies of what's possible, but Serena's howl is far more emphatic. Whenever an opponent has the displeasure of hearing it, she might as well go ahead and put her racket in the bag to avoid the coming pain. That was the case here, too. Following the primal scream, Li never won another point in the match. Williams claimed the tie-break at 7-1, closing things out with an ace and winning a 7-6/7-6 match to reach her fifteenth career slam final.

Hmmm, on second thought, whenever mothers and fathers hear Serena's signature clarion call they SHOULDN'T hide the kids... they should wake them up and put them as close to the action as possible. Something is about to happen, and they should have the chance to see it for themselves.

Meanwhile, Justine Henin had no such need for an intimidating full-throated stamp of dominance in her semifinal match. She, too, broke her Chinese opponent early in the opening set, doing so at love for a 2-1 lead. But Zheng Jie was totally shut out for the remainder of the match as Henin scored a 6-1/6-0 victory to reach her twelfth career slam singles final, and her first in more than two years.

It sets up an Australian Open final between the two best players of the past decade, and arguably the two best players of their generation (though, I admit, Venus would have to be included in that particular discussion, as well). Shockingly, though, it'll be their first meeting in a slam singles final. They've met thirteen times (Serena's 7-6), and multiple times in slams, but never in a final. It's hard to believe, but rarely have their opposing rising stars met in the same starry sky as they both blazed a trail to the top of the sport often in the absence of the other's best tennis over the last nine or ten years.

This tremendous hole in their respective histories is even more stunning when you consider that other "best of their generation" matchups have had considerable head-to-head battles in slam finals. Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert met fourteen times to decide a slam champion (Martina was 10-5). Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, even with Seles' stabbing-related absence, faced off six times (Seles was 3-1 before the attack). Venus and Serena have eight all-Williams slam finals to their credit, and even Henin and Kim Clijsters played one another in three slam deciders over a two-year stretch in the early 2000's.

This will actually be Serena's first slam final against either of the Belgians, and only the second Williams vs. Belgian (Wimbledon '01 - Venus def. Henin) slam championship meeting. So, this Australian Open final has been a long time coming.

Here's a list of a few recent "best of the their generation"-style matchups in slam finals:

*Navratilova vs. Evert, 1975-86*
Australian Open: Navratilova 2-1
Roland Garros: Evert 3-1
Wimbledon: Navratilova 5-0
U.S. Open: Navratilova 2-0
*Graf vs. Seles, 1990-96*
Australian Open: Seles 1-0
Roland Garros: Seles 2-0
Wimbledon: Graf 1-0
U.S. Open: Graf 2-0 (both after Seles stabbing)
*Williams vs. Williams, 2002-09*
Australian Open: Serena 1-0
Roland Garros: Serena 1-0
Wimbledon: Serena 3-1
U.S. Open: tied 1-1
*Henin vs. Clijsters, 2003-04*
Australian Open: Henin 1-0
Roland Garros: Henin 1-0
Wimbledon: none
U.S. Open: Henin 1-0
*S.Williams vs. Sharapova, 2004-07*
Australian Open: Serena 1-0
Roland Garros: none
Wimbledon: Sharapova 1-0
U.S. Open: none
*V.Williams vs. Henin, 2001*
Australian Open: none
Roland Garros: none
Wimbledon: Williams 1-0
U.S. Open: none
*S.Williams vs. Henin, 2010*
Australian Open: (on Saturday)
Roland Garros: none
Wimbledon: none
U.S. Open: none


One's tempted to say that Serena's physical state after playing back-to-back days in singles, combined with the fact that she played a Doubles SF after her Day 11 singles win, and will play in the Doubles final the day before the singles final, means she'll be at a decided disadvantage against Henin, who's had far more rest in recent days. It might be the case, but we ARE talking about Serena. In Melbourne. How many times in the past in this tournament has she seemed to be at the end of her physical tether, only to come out and blow an opponent off the court (the "Destruction Heard 'round the World" of Sharapova in '07 comes to mind)?

Of course, Henin will be on the other side of the net in this one. The only player whose intestinal fortitude rivals Serena's is La Petit Taureau. While Serena's play started at an ultra-high level in this tournament and has gradually gone downhill, Henin's has seemed to improve with each match. That's why it's such an intriguing matchup, and one we've been robbed of in a slam up until this far down the road in their Hall of Fame careers.

It's moments of anticipation like this that make tennis fans, and make fans of tennis move to the edge of their seats. Good things come to those who wait... and Serena vs. Justine proves just that.



*DAY 11 NOTES*
...while Li's performance here was good, we're still waiting for that true breakout Chinese tennis star. Li and Zheng are veterans, and the forerunners of what's to come from China. Their performances this week, along with the apperance of a junior in the Girls SF, will inspire the tennis dreams of... geez, maybe MILLIONS of Chinese girls, and is just another step along the road in building a monolithic Chinese tennis empire in a nation that already has a long history of excelling in racket-related sports.

The wave of talent is surely coming (just look at the ridiculous number of Chinese players on the ITF circuit), but when will it fully arrive? China's society has always been one with a long-range view of things, looking to come out on top in the future even if it means sacrificing short-term goals in the present. I've been talking about the coming Chinese WTA presence for so long now that it's become easy to see what it's produced so far to be something of a disappointment, as only Li and Zheng have made any real inroads in singles on the tour. Peng Shuai has been an underachiever, and only now are we starting to see juniors popping up deep in slam Girls draws. But, make no mistake, while this foundation-building is taking some time, once it's firmed up the WTA landscape is going to look very different. While it's hard to remember now what things were like before the Russians, we'll have a similar situation when the Chinese influence takes hold. Maybe more so, actually, considering the thoroughness of a state-sponsored program that is pulling the best players from such a tremendous pool of talent... unlike the Russian model, which largely emerged from the ashes of (and in spite of) the Soviet state and young girls and their families looking for a way to escape economic trials through athletics. Also, while early Russian stars' (Natasha Zvereva, who was actually Belarusian but part of the Soviet federation before the U.S.S.R.'s break-up, piped up first after she reachd the RG singles final in 1988) aspirations were often stymied by the state, the Chinese Federation has already loosened up the formerly-constraining rules and allowed players to keep most of their prize money, devise their own schedules and chose their coaches. They're already WAY ahead of the game.

On ESPN2, the announcers were debating how long it will take for a Chinese woman to win a slam singles title. Mary Joe Fernandez predicted a champion within the next ten years, while Dick Enberg actually sees one coming along in five years. It's hard to tell which will be closer to being correct since there are so many young players in the system that that outside tennis world probably knows nothing about in 2010. As of now, Li is the best current bet... but she isn't likely to ever win a slam in her career, and this AO might have been her one best shot). There isn't an immediate "sure-thing" in the juniors, either. But when a Chinese player does lift a slam singles championship trophy, you can be sure of one thing -- she won't likely be the last to do so.

...while the Women's Singles final pits the top two players of their generation, the doubles finals are following suit with a pair of matchups between the top two seeds. In the Women's, #1 Black/Huber (the '07 AO title-winning team) faces off against defending champion #2-seed Williams/Williams, while in the Men's, #1 Bryan/Bryan face off against the pair the Americans just edged out in 2009 as the year-end top-ranked doubles team, #2 Nestor/Zimonjic. The Bryan twins won this title a season ago.

...Cara Black will claim the "Doubles Star" award if she and Leander Paes knock out Raymond/Moodie in the Mixed SF and the veteran from Zimbabwe reaches her second final of this event.

As far as the "Junior Star" goes, there are still multiple contenders. In the Girl QF, both Pliskova sisters advanced as unseeded Kristyna knocked off #1 Timea Babos and #6-seeded Karolina took out #3 Daria Gavrilova (well, there's goes that Girls Final prediction). Two other unseeded girls advanced, as well, as '09 AO Jr. runner-up Laura Robson and China's Tang Hao-Chen were victorious.

...and, finally, with a relative hole in the women's AO schedule on Day 12 (though the Doubles final takes place), I'm going to do an abbreviated version of my annual "For Whom the Book Tolls" tomorrow. Or maybe I should call it "For Whom the It-Used-To-Be-a-Book-but-Now-It's-an-Online-PDF-File, Which Should Mean It's More Up-to-Date and Includes More Information, but the Reality is That the Opposite is the Case Tolls."

Yep, I've finally downloaded to my computer and perused the "new" 2010 Official WTA Guide, and found it fairly underwhelming. Even while having an online-only edition removes the costs of including and publishing additional bio pages and the like in actual book form, meaning there SHOULD be MORE information included in the '10 Guide, in truth all the former year-by-year season bio notes for each player have been hacked out of the new edition. Rather than a full page of yearly career season notes for every player included, and up to three or four for the more accomplished players, each player gets half a page, with only the player's prize money, slams results, '09 best finishes and the like accompanying their new/old photo. A total disappointment, and something that makes even the online guide pretty well worthless since to research and look back at a player's career you STILL have to go to the WTA website (or, like me, keep the '09 edition handy) to read what used to be included in previous Guides. Not only that, the records pages are hit-and-miss at best when it comes to updated stats. On the same page, some '09 results are included in one chart, yet excluded in others. For example: I hope Guide readers already know that Kimiko Date-Krumm set a tour record in '09 with the longest time span between titles, and that she was the second-oldest WTA singles champion ever, since if you're totally reliant on the information on that specific subject in the tour's "Official" record book you'd be led to believe that that win in Seoul held no significance whatsoever. In other words, reading the "records" section won't necessarily inform anyone what many WTA records REALLY are... which, you know, is sort of the point of keeping records in the first. Records are made to be broken, but it doesn't mean the WTA has to keep them up-to-date, I guess... even when an early publishing date doesn't prevent late additions and alterations to an online Guide that is presented for individuals to download for their use.

All right. End of rant. I guess one shouldn't have expected anything more than a half-assed job, huh? Anyway, I'll still do some version of the yearly awards for all the Guide's bio photos tomorrow (from what I noticed, there were some nice changes).




*CAREER SLAM FINALS - ACTIVE*
[women & men]
21...Roger Federer (15-6) #
15...SERENA WILLIAMS (11-3)
14...Venus Williams (7-7)
12...JUSTINE HENIN (7-4)
8...Rafael Nadal (6-2)
6...Kim Clijsters (2-4)
5...Andy Roddick (1-4)
4...Maria Sharapova (3-1)
4...Lleyton Hewitt (2-2)
4...Svetlana Kuznetsova (2-2)
3...Juan Carlos Ferrero (1-2)
3...Ana Ivanovic (1-2)
3...Dinara Safina (0-3)
2...Novak Djokovic (1-1)
2...Carlos Moya (1-1)
2...ANDY MURRAY (0-1)
2...Elena Dementieva (0-2)
--
#-still to play in 2010 SF vs. Tsonga (0-1 in slam F's)

*LOW-RANKED SLAM FINALISTS*
Not Ranked - Evonne Goolagong, AUS (1977 Australian Open - W)
Not Ranked - Kim Clijsters, BEL (2009 U.S. Open - W)
Not Ranked - JUSTINE HENIN, BEL (2010 AUSTRALIAN OPEN - ??)
#111 - Chris O'Neil, AUS (1978 Australian Open - W)
#81 - Serena Williams, USA (2007 Australian Open - W)

*2010 WTA LEADERS*
[Finals]
2...SERENA WILLIAMS (0-1)
2...JUSTINE HENIN (0-1)
[SF]
2...SERENA WILLIAMS (2-0)
2...JUSTINE HENIN (2-0)
2...Shahar Peer (1-1)
[Wild Cards to Final]
Auckland - Yanina Wickmayer, BEL (def. Pennetta)
Brisbane - Justine Henin, BEL (lost to Clijsters)
AUSTRALIAN OPEN - JUSTINE HENIN, BEL (vs. S.WILLIAMS)
[Finals by Nation]
4...BELGIUM (2 titles)
2...UNITED STATES (0)
1...Russia (1)
1...Ukraine (1)
1...Israel (0)
1...Italy (0)



*WOMEN's SINGLES FINAL*
#1 Serena Williams/USA vs. (WC) Justine Henin/BEL

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Roger Federer/SUI vs. #10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/FRA
#5 Andy Murray/GBR def. #14 Marin Cilic/CRO

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) vs. #2 Williams/Williams (USA/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB)

*MIXED DOUBLES SF*
#1 Black/Paes (ZIM/IND) vs. #7 Raymond/Moodie (USA/RSA)
Pennetta/Melo (ITA/BRA) vs. Makarova/Levinsky (RUS/CZE)

*GIRLS SINGLES SF*
Kristyna Pliskova/CZE vs. Laura Robson/GBR
#6 Karolina Pliskova/CZE vs.Yang Hao-Chen/CHN

*BOYS SINGLES SF*
#6 Marton Fucsovics/HUN vs. Sean Berman/AUS
#14 Tiago Fernandes/BRA vs. #2 Gianna Mina/FRA

*GIRLS DOUBLES FINAL*
#1 Babos/Dabrowski (HUN/CAN) vs. Cepelova/Skamlova (SVK/SVK)

*BOYS DOUBLES FINAL*
Eleveld/Lupescu (NED/NED) vs. vs. #2 Krawietz/Schulz (GER/GER)




TOP QUALIFIER: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Serena Williams/USA
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Kathrin Woerle/GER def. Bopana Jovanovski/SRB 6-2/4-6/9-7
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. #5 Elena Dementieva/RUS 7-5/7-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. (q) Yanina Wickmayer/BEL 7-6/1-6/6-3
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xx - xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #14 Maria Sharapova/RUS (lost 1st Rd.- Kirilenko/RUS)
FIRST WIN: Dinara Safina/RUS (def. Rybarikova/SVK)
UPSET QUEENS: The Russians
REVELATION LADIES: The Germans
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL [4th Rd.]
IT GIRL: Maria Kirilenko/RUS
co-MS. OPPORTUNITY: Zheng Jie/CHN & Li Na/CHN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Justine Henin/BEL
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS ('08 champ, lost 1st Rd. to Kirilenko/RUS)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Justine Henin/BEL - down 3-6/1-3 15/40 to Kleybanova/RUS in 3rd Rd. or Serena Williams/USA - down 6-4/4-0 to Azarenka/BLR in QF
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Samantha Stosur/AUS [4th Rd.]
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 11. More tomorrow.

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Oz 10: The Law of Nature... and Serena

On Day 10, the Williams Sisters showed why one is still the most feared tennis player on the planet... while the other is no longer anything of the sort.

If it was anyone else out there on Rod Laver Arena, you'd wouldn't have thought such a thing was possible. But it was HER. It was Serena. So you KNEW it COULD happen. Victoria Azarenka should have known, too. Surely, she's seen all the video, heard all the stories and/or read at least one account of one of Williams' back-from-the-brink early and middle-round slam victories. Nothing causes Serena to bust through proverbial walls superhero-style (or Kool-Aid Guy style, if you prefer) like the notion that if she can cause a little destruction today she might be able to hold up a grand slam champion's trophy a few days later.

Well, if Azarenka didn't know before, she knows now. Now SHE'S going to be part of one of those stories that people talk about when they reminisce about all the incredible things that Serena did during the course of her remarkable career.

Oh, Victoria had every reason to believe that she was "safe" from the storm that was unwittingly being churned up on the other side of the net in her quarterfinal match. I mean, after Williams had gone 31-for-31 when it came to holding her serve heading into Day 10, then Azarenka managed to break her in the opening game of the match, she must have though, "Hey, this just might be my day. I had Serena right where I wanted her in Melbourne last year, but the heat got to me. SHE didn't. I would have won that match if it wasn't so hot. Yeah, that's how I remember it."

Oh, the folly of youth.

You see, it didn't really matter that Azarenka got off to a 5-2 lead in the 1st set. Nor was it important that she held at love to lock away that set at 6-4 a short time later. It didn't matter that she broke Williams to open the 2nd set, either. Taking a commanding 6-4/4-0 lead against an out-of-sorts (and maybe physically hindered) Serena, out-hitting her in such a way that it resembled Maria Sharapova's dismantling of the youngest Williams Sister at Wimbledon in 2004, and having not lost a point on serve in the 2nd set to that point? Surely, THAT mean SOMETHING, right? Nope. It didn't mean a thing.

You see, all that mattered was that Azarenka FINISHED what she started. She didn't, and she'll never forget it.

Once Serena got on the board in the 2nd set at 4-1, she was like a cat stalking her prey. Quiet. Not overly excited about the chase (why waste the energy NOW?). She hadn't accomplished anything yet, but she HAD gotten the scent of her adversary, and the 20-year old Belarusian didn't even know she was following behind her in the tall grass. While "taking a drink in a shallow pond," Azarenka double-faulted to get the set back on serve at 4-3. She jerked her head up and looked around, thinking she'd heard a sound behind her back. She had... but it was too late to prevent the quick strike ability of the sport's greatest predator from clamping down her jaws around her thin neck and putting Victoria out of her misery before she even realized what had happened to her.

The 2nd set went to a tie-break, and Azarenka even took a 3-1 lead. Serena was just playing with her, though. Williams won six of the next seven points to tie the match at one-set all. But it was really curtains for Azarenka. The Belarusian's serve was broken to give Serena a 2-1 lead in the 3rd, and Azarenka slowly was smothered in broad daylight on a court named for a gentlemanly Australian champion. Sporting unheard-of-for-anyone-but-her 3rd set numbers -- 18 winners to 3 unforced errors, and winning 16 of 20 points on her serve -- Williams proceeded to win thirteen of the final seventeen games of the match to fashion yet another of her did-you-see-that comeback wins, 4-6/7-6/6-2.

Poor, Victoria. She didn't really have a chance... but that's how things go out there in the wild. Funny thing is, this sort of stuff is what we've come to expect from Serena. That there's no legitimate argument to counter the notion that it's no surprise that she so expertly erased a 6-4/4-0 deficit on a day when her game looked utterly hopeless for more than half a match says all that needs to be said about her legacy. Quibble with what she hasn't done, or how she's done what she has... but no one else in sport can do THAT and make it look routine. She seems to do it every January Down Under. Amazing... but not really. We ARE talking about Serena, after all.

Meanwhile, in the match directly preceding Serena's, Venus finally pulled the annual Melbourne disappearing act that everyone's been wating for, only this time it just came a little later in the tournament than usual.

Against a nervous Li Na, Venus broke out fast and hard, taking a quick 4-0 lead in the opening set and cruising to a 6-2 win. In the 2nd, Williams pushed her lead to 4-2... but then the perfect storm of a boatload of forehand errors, poor first serve numbers, sun in her eyes and apparent exhaustion produced a long, frustrating, but hardly surprising, demise. Williams served for the match, and got to within two points of a straight sets victory to reach her first Australian Open SF since 2003, but she let things slip away. Li, finally past her early case of nerves, began to play better just as Venus' game started to go in the crapper. Li won a 2nd set tie-break to send the match to a deciding set, and the march to defeat was on.

From this point on, watching Venus play this match was akin to driving a formerly reliable car that was running great when you pulled out of the driveway, but whose engine started to sputter right when you reached the stretch drive to return home. Knowing the trouble that might be coming next, you turn off all the vehicle's accessories -- radio, air conditioner, etc., grip the steering wheel and hope against hope that the looks-good-on-the-outside-but-sometimes-runs-like-a-jalopy-on-the-inside former award-winning showpiece on four wheels still has enough within its rusting metal frame to get you home... but you're unable to ignore the gnawing doubt in your gut. Pleading that your worries will prove to be unfounded this time around, you simply pray that you aren't left stranded on a lonely road in sub-zero temperatures.

Well, it WAS hot in Melbourne on Day 10... but Venus' loyal passengers ended up having to find another way home after this one. Now, all those whispers about her "decline" will only grow louder.

Venus was actually up early in the 3rd, getting a break and taking a 2-0 advantage, but when China's Li finally managed to convert her fourth break chance in the next game for a 2-1 score the pattern was pretty well etched in stone for what was about to happen. Venus would go up a break, then squander it minutes later. When she failed to convert a break point at 4-3 on Li's serve, then lost a tired service game of her own, Li's momentum suddenly became difficult to stop even as the pair exchanged breaks of serve in nine of eleven games in the set. Once Venus was broken at love to fall behind 5-6, it was all but over. The Venus of a decade ago would have powered her way to victory... but it's no longer 2000. It took Li three match points to finally put her away, but Venus' Melbourne run came to yet another sputtering-to-a-stop halt by a 2-6/7-6/7-5 score. One wonders if she'll ever reach the latter stages of this slam again, or that of ANY other slam outside the grounds of the All-England Club, after showing once again that she simply can no longer string together seven good matches on any surface other than the grass.

Venus still likely has a few slam runs at Wimbledon left in her, but while she used to be able to pull victories out of a magician's hat ala the way Serena did today, she can no longer be expected to do so. While I hate to say it, as she's not yet even 30, for the first time today I looked at Venus and saw an aging tennis player. I've tried to avoid allowing that notion to become a reality for a couple of years now, as she's talked so often about her love of the game and her desire to continue to play for Olympic glory (especially in London in '12), but maybe the naysayers DO have a point.

Still, Melbourne HAS generally been a thorn in her side for most of the last decade, so it's POSSIBLE that this result is but that -- a single result. But if she fails to prove that she can continue to compete for slam titles at Wimbledon (where Serena stole her glory a year ago) this summer, as well as the U.S. Open (where she almost always ends up losing to the eventual champion), then it's quite conceivable that she might never win another slam singles crown. On the bright side, as long as Serena is up to it and willing, Venus could have all sorts of Doubles accomplishments into her mid-30's and maybe even beyond.

As much as one hopes that Venus' "illusion" dress is what we'll remember about her from this slam, I'm afraid how she lost this match will end up being what sticks. It's too bad. For a while there, it looked as if she might have managed to capture lightning in a bottle again. Unfortunately, THAT proved to be the REAL illusion in Melbourne.

Serena's no illusion, though. She is what she is. And once she's managed to resuscitate herself as she did against Azarenka today, her history says she's pretty much impossible to prevent from winning a slam title. Nothing against the two remaining Chinese players in the semifinals, but only "La Petit Taureau" seems capable of having any shot to prevent slam #12 from becoming a reality. And I'm not even sure SHE has a good one.




=MIDDLE ROUND AWARDS - 3rd-QF=
TOP PLAYER: Serena Williams/USA
...take away that set and a half against Azarenka and she's been untouchable in the other nine and a half. (RU: Justine Henin/BEL... the bigger names on her side of the draw disappeared, but she was responsible for toppling more than one herself)
RISERS: Li Na/CHN & Victoria Azarenka/BLR
...Li finally lives up to her billing (with a helpful assist from Venus), while Azarenka's starting to get a reputation for squandering big moments. Still, she seems to have learned to mostly control her temper -- and that'll serve her well.
SURPRISES: Zheng Jie/CHN & Maria Kirilenko/RUS
...Zheng is the first two-time Chinese slam semifinalist, while singles quarterfinalist Kirilenko is also still alive in the doubles.
VETERANS: Nadia Petrova/RUS & Cara Black/Liezel Huber (ZIM/USA)
...Petrova's wins over Clijsters and Kuznetsova, and close loss to Henin, should stoke her confidence for this spring. Black & Huber are off to do something they failed to do in '09 -- win a slam. But the Sisters might be guarding the trophy room in the final.
FRESH FACES Tang Hao-Chen/CHN & The Pliskova Sisters (CZE)
...Tang knocked off #2 seed Heather Watson in the 1st Round and has managed to follow things up with a Girls QF run to give China yet another accomplishment in this AO, while the Czech pair of Girls quarterfinalists named Karolina and Kristyna give us another pair of siblings to talk about.
COMEBACKS: Justine Henin/BEL & Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs (USA/AUS)
...who says you can't go "home" again. Justine has set her sights on being even better the second time around, while Raymond/Stubbs are playing like they never broke up in the first place.
DOWN: Kim Clijsters/BEL & Svetlana Kuznetsova/RUS
...Clijsters essentially was a no-show in her 3rd Rounder against Petrova, while Kuznetsova seems to be distracted by everything (coaches, WTA rules, night matches, etc.) BUT her actual attempt to avoid the same sort of "year-after" fate she experienced after her first slam win in '04.

"It was super cool. Prince William was really dapper and suave. You know, he was just basically, shazam. I told him that I might like his little brother better because he's the little brother, and he laughed and said he might like Venus better because she's older." - Serena Williams, on meeting a visiting Prince William at Melbourne Park

BEST MATCH (starring J.Henin): 4th Rd. - Henin def. Wickmayer 7-6/1-6/6-3
...who says you need Clijsters to have a great all-Belgian match in a slam? Actually, history tells us that if that's what you want you're probably better off NOT having Kim around.
SECOND BEST MATCH (hmmm, also starring J.Henin... I'm detecting a pattern here): 3rd Rd. - Henin d. Kleybanova 3-6/6-4/6-2
...up 6-3/3-1 40/15, Kleybanova learned what all those scary bedtime stories about "La Petit Taureau" were all about. She's still got the covers pulled up over her head.

HOWEVER BAD SHE COULD BE...: 3rd Rd. - A.Bondarenko def. Jankovic 6-2/6-3
...a curiously "lost" Jankovic must have forgotten that she had a 9-0 career record against A-Bond.
...SHE PROVED SHE COULD BE EVEN WORSE: 3rd Rd. - Petrova def. Clijsters 6-0/6-1
...so, let me get this straight. The "new" Kim Clijsters is supposed to be ridden out of a slam on a rail in her worst-ever career loss, offer no explanation for her "Casper" act other than "it sucks," and then bails on Fed Cup a few days later (hmmm, is Fila not providing the Belgium team with uniforms this year, either... that's why KC used to turn her back on FC at the last moment)? Isn't the "People's Favorite Player in the History of Tennis and All Man-and-Womankind Since the Beginning of the Age of Recorded History" supposed to give a better showing than this? Sounds a little like the "old" Kim to me.

WHAT'S GOOD FOR THE GANDER: 4th Rd. - Azarenka def. Zvonareva 4-6/6-4/6-0
...Azarenka trailed 6-4/3-1. If she can light her inner fire by uttering an F-bomb or two rather than smashing rackets and arguing with herself and the crowd, then maybe Azarenka should work the stand-up comedy circuit in her spare time.
CAN BE BAD FOR THE GANDER, TOO: QF - S.Williams def. Azarenka 4-6/7-6/6-2
...Azarenka led 6-4/4-0. Hmmm, maybe Serena would have won that match against her in Melbourne LAST year, too.

BAD VIBES: 4th Rd. - Kirilenko def. Safina 5-4, ret.
...a back is a terrible thing to play games with. Sort of like Serena.
BAD VIBES, HALL OF FAME EDITION: QF - Li def. V.Williams 2-6/7-6/7-5
...two points from the SF, Venus' inner aging champion came out and left her resurgent veteran self in a wadded-up ball in a lonely corner of Rod Laver Arena.

COMEBACK STAR: Justine Henin/BEL
IT GIRL: Maria Kirilenko/RUS
co-MS. OPPORTUNITY: Zheng Jie/CHN & Li Na/CHN
ZOMBIE QUEENS (3r-QF): Justine Henin trailed 6-3/3-1 40/15 vs. Alisa Kleybanova in 3rd Rd.; Serena Williams trailed 6-4/4-0 vs. Victoria Azarenka in QF
CRASH & BURNER (3r-QF): "shockingly," Kim Clijsters/BEL. It was an exit surprising in every way... well, really, maybe only the ugliness of the final scoreline was unexpected if she REALLY DID reach what'll end up proving to be her KC 2 zenith in New York.
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Samantha Stosur/AUS (4th Rd.)
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL (4th Rd.)

WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS SET OF SEMIFINALISTS?:
...all of the final four women in the singles draw had "iffy" moments en route to the SF. Serena was down-and-out against Azarenka, Henin was seemingly down to her final moments against Kleybanova and Li was two points from defeat against Venus. But even Zheng Jie looked ready to leave at the start, betting bageled in the opening set of her 1st Round match against Peng Shuai before charging back to win 0-6/6-1/6-2.

TO SLEEP, per chance to dream about another fashion-forward design: Venus Williams' "EleVen"-designed tennis dress gave the illusion that she was playing matches... umm... well, there's really no other way to say it... without any underpants. Everytime a camera operator got close to her and she bent over to tie her shoes or something, the shot suddenly zoomed WAY back and you could almost hear all the alarm bells going off in the ESPN2 production department. What next? A faux see-thru dress for Paris?

Well, at least Venus exited Melbourne leaving us with SOMETHING to look forward to about her 2010 season.



*DAY 10 NOTES*
...in other award updates, you might have noticed that I amended the "Ms. Opportunity" award so that it's now shared by Zheng Jie and Li Na. The first double order of Chinese in a slam SF seemed to make it an appropriate move. It's the first time there's been a co-winner situation since Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva shared the honor when both reached the 2004 Roland Garros final, the first all-Russian slam final. Meanwhile, Maria Kirlenko gets the mythical "It Girl" trophy (I picture it to be a beautful glass cup), and the final "Zombie Queen" crowning will have to wait, as Serena's Day 10 escape is now competing with Justine Henin's 3rd Round slip-through against Alisa Klebanova. Whoever finishes with the better final result is the ZQ (if they both lose in the SF, it'll likely be Henin's win, since she'll have advanced more rounds past her near-death Oz experience).

...both Cara Black (with Liezel Huber and Leander Paes) and Lisa Raymond (Rennae Stubbs and Wesley Moodie) have advanced to the SF in both the Doubles and Mixed draws. Singles quarterfinalist Maria Kirilenko has reached the Doubles SF (with Agnieszka Radwanska), and joins countrywoman Ekaterina Makarova (Mixed SF) as Russia's final hopes for walking off with a major title at this slam (Hordette Daria Gavrilova is still playing in the Girls singles, as well).

...the junior singles QF are set, and there are a pair of Czech Maiden sisters still in the running in the form of the Pliskova siblings -- #6 Karolina and unseeded Kristyna. Four of the top six seeded Girls reached the final eight, while 2009 AO Girls RU Laura Robson is one of the three unseeded players. My Daria Gavrilova/Timea Babos final prediction is still possible... but hopefully a Serena-esque comeback won't be necessary for it to remain viable like my Women's final pick did on Day 10.

Meanwhile, there are three Aussies -- all unseeded -- still alive in the Boys QF.

...never let it be said that Martina Navratilova does not have a good memory. During the Li/V.Williams match, after chair umpire Mariana Alves overruled a shot that turned out to have been called correctly by the linesperson, Martina casually threw out that it was Alves, "of Serena Williams/Jennifer Capriati fame," who'd inserted herself into the action and made the incorrect call. Alves, you'll remember, was the umpire in the Williams/Capriati QF match at the '04 U.S. Open that was so poorly called that it alone is given credit for ushering in the age of the replay challenge system. Alves has since gone on to become one of the most respected umpires in the game... but Martina hasn't forgoten her moment of ignominy. That's why Navratilova is my favorite announcer to listen to call a match. She does't have a filter, but she doesn't irresponsibly allow it to lead her into unchartered waters like her old doubles partner, Pam Shriver, so often does. Hmmm, maybe that's why they were such a good team -- they worked as one, both covering up the other's flaws with their strengths.

...and, finally, maybe we were wrong to overlook a certain Mr. Federer? The world #1 was hardly everyone's first choice to win the men's title at this Australian Open title, but as many of the other contenders have fallen by the wayside, he might be edging toward "favorite" status all over again. First, Rafael Nadal's knee (and Andy Murray) ended his Oz run, then last night Novak Djokovic was yet again bothered by some myterious physical ailment and was taken down by the player he defeated in the AO final two seasons ago, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Meanwhile, after watching Nikolay Davydenko do to him for a set and a half what he used to do to nearly every Tom, Dick or Harry Tennis Player out there in the early rounds of slams (plus Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick from time to time in the late rounds), Federer caught sight of a slight moment of self-questioning on the Russian's face and it was all over. From mid-way in the 2nd set to the end of the 3rd, Federer wiped out Davydenko, who'd beaten him two straight times and was everyone's trendy pick to pull off something in Melbourne despite his general lack of great career slam results. The 4th set between the two was close, but Federer won it 7-5 and will next face Tsonga, who seems to be once again channelling the vibe that got him to that Oz final in '08. In the bottom half, Marin Cilic has already attained his best slam result in this tournament, while Andy Murray hasn't shown the same ability to knock off Federer in best-of-five slam matches that he's displayed in best-of-three contests on the regular ATP tour (sort of like Davydenko). It looks like the Scot might get another chance to try, though.




*RECENT AUSTRALIAN OPEN "IT GIRL" WINNERS*
2006 Samantha Stosur, AUS
2007 Shahar Peer, ISR
2008 Casey Dellacqua, AUS
2009 Carla Suarez-Navarro, ESP
2010 Maria Kirilenko, RUS

*MULTIPLE CAREER SLAM SF - ACTIVE*
18...SERENA WILLIAMS (14-3)
18...Venus Williams (14-4)
17...JUSTINE HENIN (11-5)
13...Kim Clijsters (6-7)
10...Maria Sharapova (4-6)
8...Elena Dementieva (2-6)
5...Svetlana Kuznetsova (4-1)
5...Dinara Safina (3-2)
5...Jelena Jankovic (1-4)
4...Ana Ivanovic (3-1)
2...ZHENG JIE (1-1)
2...Nadia Petrova (0-2)
2...Nicole Vaidisova (0-2)

*MOST SLAM SF - LAST FIVE SEASONS*
[2006-10]
8...JUSTINE HENIN (6-1)
7...SERENA WILLIAMS (5-1)
6...Maria Sharapova (3-3)
5...Dinara Safina (3-2)
5...Kim Clijsters (1-4)
5...Jelena Jankovic (1-4)

*LOWEST SEEDS TO AUSTRALIAN OPEN SF - LAST FIFTEEN YEARS*
[1996-2010]
wild card - JUSTINE HENIN, BEL (2010)
unseeded - Mary Pierce, FRA (1997)
unseeded - Amelie Mauresmo, FRA (1999)
unseeded - Jennifer Capriati, USA (2000)
unseeded - Conchita Martinez, ESP (2000)
unseeded - Serena Williams, USA (2007)
unseeded - ZHENG JIE, CHN (2010)
#32 - Fabiola Zuluaga, COL (2004)
#22 - Patty Schnyder, SUI (2004)
#19 - Nathalie Dechy, FRA (2005)
#16 - Amanda Coetzer, RSA (1996)
#16 - LI NA, CHN (2010)
#14 - Mary Joe Fernandez, USA (1997)
#13 - Chanda Rubin, USA (1996)
#12 - Amanda Coetzer, RSA (1997)
#12 - Jennifer Capriati, USA (2001)
#10 - Anke Huber, GER (1998)
#10 - Nicole Vaidisova, CZE (2007)

*DEFEATED VENUS & SERENA IN SAME YEAR*
[official matches]
2000 Lindsay Davenport
2001 Martina Hingis (both in Australian Open)
2002 Kim Clijsters
2003 Amelie Mauresmo
2004 Lindsay Davenport & Maria Sharapova
2005 Silvia Farina Elia
2006 Jelena Jankovic
2007 Justine Henin (both in U.S. Open)
2008 Jelena Jankovic & Li Na
2009 Kim Clijsters (both in U.S. Open)

*VENUS WILLIAMS SLAM SINGLES RESULTS*
1st Round: 3
2nd Round: 3
3rd Round: 6
4th Round: 5
Quarterfinals: 13
Semifinals: 4
Runner-Up: 7
Champion: 7

*MOST CONSECUTIVE SLAM SINGLES SF - MEN*
23...ROGER FEDERER
10...Ivan Lendl
8...Rod Laver



*WOMEN's SINGLES SF*
#1 Serena Williams/USA vs. #16 Li Na/CHN
(WC) Justine Henin/BEL vs. Zheng Jie/CHN

*MEN'S SINGLES SF*
#1 Roger Federer/SUI vs. #10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/FRA
#14 Marin Cilic/CRO vs. #5 Andy Murray/GBR

*WOMEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Black/Huber (ZIM/USA) vs. #15 Kirilenko/A.Radwanska (RUS/POL)
#6 Raymond/Stubbs (USA/AUS) vs. #2 Williams/Williams (USA/USA)

*MEN'S DOUBLES SF*
#1 Bryan/Bryan (USA/USA) vs. Kohlmann/Nieminen (GER/FIN)
Karlovic/Vemic (CRO/SRB) vs. #2 Nestor/Zimonjic (CAN/SRB)

*MIXED DOUBLES SF*
#1 Black/Paes (ZIM/IND) vs. #7 Raymond/Moodie (USA/RSA)
Pennetta/Melo (ITA/BRA) vs. Makarova/Levinsky (RUS/CZE)

*GIRLS SINGLES QF*
#1 Timea Babos/HUN vs. Krisyna Pliskova/CZE
Ester Goldfeld/USA vs. Laura Robson/GBR
#6 Karolina Pliskova/CZE vs. #3 Daria Gavrilova/RUS
#5 Silvia Njiric/CRO vs. Yang Hao-Chen/CHN

*BOYS SINGLES QF*
Benjamin Mitchell/AUS vs. #6 Marton Fucsovics/HUN
Sean Berman/AUS vs. #10 Guilherme Clezar/BRA
Jeong Suk-Young/KOR vs. #14 Tiago Fernandes/BRA
James Duckworth/AUS vs. #2 Gianna Mina/FRA

*GIRLS DOUBLES SF*
#1 Babos/Dabrowski (HUN/CAN) vs. #4 Eikeri/Silva (NOR/CHI)
Bouchard/Kumkhum (CAN/THA) vs. Cepelova/Skamlova (SVK/SVK)

*BOYS DOUBLES SF*
Eleveld/Lupescu (NED/NED) vs. Kubler/Mitchell (AUS/AUS)
#4 Huang/Uchiyama (TPE/JPN) vs. #2 Krawietz/Schulz (GER/GER)




TOP QUALIFIER: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL
TOP EARLY ROUND (1r-2r): Kim Clijsters/BEL
TOP MIDDLE-ROUND (3r-QF): Serena Williams/USA
TOP LATE ROUND (SF-F): xxx
TOP QUALIFYING MATCH: Q3: Kathrin Woerle/GER def. Bopana Jovanovski/SRB 6-2/4-6/9-7
TOP EARLY RD. MATCH (1r-2r): 2nd Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. #5 Elena Dementieva/RUS 7-5/7-6
TOP MIDDLE-RD. MATCH (3r-QF): 4th Rd.- (wc) Justine Henin/BEL def. (q) Yanina Wickmayer/BEL 7-6/1-6/6-3
TOP LATE RD. MATCH (SF-F): xx - xxx
=============================
FIRST SEED OUT: #14 Maria Sharapova/RUS (lost 1st Rd.- Kirilenko/RUS)
FIRST WIN: Dinara Safina/RUS (def. Rybarikova/SVK)
UPSET QUEENS: The Russians
REVELATION LADIES: The Germans
LAST QUALIFIER STANDING: Yanina Wickmayer/BEL [4th Rd.]
IT GIRL: xxx
co-MS. OPPORTUNITY: Zheng Jie/CHN & Li Na/CHN
COMEBACK PLAYER: Justine Henin/BEL
CRASH & BURN: Maria Sharapova/RUS ('08 champ, lost 1st Rd. to Kirilenko/RUS)
ZOMBIE QUEEN: Justine Henin/BEL - down 3-6/1-3 15/40 to Kleybanova/RUS in 3rd Rd. or Serena Williams/USA - down 6-4/4-0 to Azarenka/BLR in QF
LAST SHEILA STANDING: Samantha Stosur/AUS [4th Rd.]
DOUBLES STAR xxx
JUNIOR BREAKOUT: xxx




All for Day 10. More tomorrow.

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