2008 Australian Open

[Tony M]

The two women's semi-finals were -ova v -ovic and the final is an -ova v -ovic

and both were Serbia v Russia and the final is Serbia v Russia... I'm sensing a trend here.

And it's a bit rich Hantuchova complaining about Ivanovic's squeaky feet. I'm surprised she could hear them over her grunt!!

[Sdpm100]

Originally Posted by redsoxford

The two women's semi-finals were -ova v -ovic and the final is an -ova v -ovic

I'm guessing that Maria will be hoping she doesn't go the same way as Daniela or else it will be ova and out.

[Rossi]

With the way Djokovic is playing at the moment this might be the closest game Federer's had to play in a long time. (on a surface which isn't clay that is)

[bababui]

Originally Posted by Sdpm100

I'm guessing that Maria will be hoping she doesn't go the same way as Daniela or else it will be ova and out.

[darkcloud4579]

Originally Posted by Rossi

With the way Djokovic is playing at the moment this might be the closest game Federer's had to play in a long time. (on a surface which isn't clay that is)

Not until he plays Tsonga on Sunday if he wins. Tsonga is a man on a mission...

[bababui]

Now federer is down a set and 1-3 in the 2nd.

[bababui]

2-0 Djokovic. Eff me!!!

[Jason Moyer]

7-5 6-3 6-6 so far, in favor of Djokovic. Best impressions on tour, and maybe the next #1.

[Kekkonen]

Certainly not the situation I expected to see when I got home and opened the TV, but don't count out Federer yet. It's not only generally foolish, but Djokovic looked a bit winded late in his quarterfinal game, even though that was only a three-setter.

[Jason Moyer]

With Federer's conditioning and ability to make adjustments I won't count him out, but he needs to get up a break again in this tiebreaker. It's 4-3 Djokovic right now, on serve.

[Kekkonen]

OK, now you can count him out.

[bababui]

No first or second seeds in either final.

[Jason Moyer]

Oh my. Now if only Djokovic will grow some balls and show off his Sharapova impression in the final.

The women's side might not have the #1 or #2 seeds, but I would really have a hard time not calling Sharapova the best player in the game now that she's healthy for the first time in over a year. She destroyed 3 of the best players in the world in this tournament, and did it while playing the best tennis I've seen on the woman's side in my lifetime (or at least since Seles pre-stabbing). Jankovic wasn't at 100%, but Davenport and Henin were playing very well and still couldn't touch her.

Djokovic may be #3 now, but that will last another day or two. Hopefully we can get a Federer/Djokovic #1/2 seeding for the French.

[bababui]

Sharapova was amazing. I think she will get upset tomorrow. She is due for a subpar performance.

[Jason Moyer]

Originally Posted by bababui

Sharapova was amazing. I think she will get upset tomorrow. She is due for a subpar performance.

I love Ivanovic but in order for her to win she has to do the following:

a.) break Sharapova early and often
b.) wear Sharapova down physically by playing strong defense and counterpunching
c.) serve better than she has in her life and hope for the best

None of those things seem likely to me:

a.) With her shoulder healthy, Sharapova is not only serving powerfully and accurately, but she is confidently mixing in slice serves on her first serve and keeping her opponents off balance. Everyone else in this tourney, including Henin (who is a very similar player to Ivanovic, except much much better), has had extreme difficulty getting the ball in play against Sharapova, not to mention returning well enough to keep Maria from controlling the point.
b.) Ivanovic is a great defensive player, but Sharapova is not only in the best shape/health of her career, she has been playing very short matches. Additionally, with how she's been playing, great defense (as Henin was able to offer) isn't enough - you have to take control of the points and I don't believe Ivanovic has the groundstrokes to do that.
c.) Ivanovic has a horrible service game. At one point in the Venus match they had broken each other what - 5, 6 games in a row? At her best, she struggles with her first serve, and when she does string a few of them together in a row the serves themselves are rarely anything to write home about - flat, moderately paced, and to the center of the court.

I'm not going to say Ana has no chance, and I'm very happy to see her get so far, but I'd say the odds are highly stacked against her unless Maria has a total meltdown and turns into an unforced error machine.

[Bryan Swartz]

Djokovic may be #3 now, but that will last another day or two. Hopefully we can get a Federer/Djokovic #1/2 seeding for the French.

It'll last a lot longer than that. Even if Djokovic beats Tsonga, he's still third. The rankings next Monday will be, at the top:

1. Roger Federer -- 6530
2. Rafael Nadal -- 5880
3. Novak Djokovic -- 4665, 5165 if he wins.

This is shaping up as the most interesting year in men's tennis in a decade however, certainly. It's entirely reasonable that any of the three could be #1 at the end of it. I don't understand why we'd want Federer/Djokovic #1 and #2 in the French though, and it's highly unlikely to happen. Wouldn't the best French final necessarily involve Nadal taking on the winner of those two? And either way it just depends on whose half the #3 ends up getting drawn into, if Fed and Novak were 1 and 2, one of them would likely lose to Rafa in the SF anyway.

[kenyan_cheena]

Some people might be looking at this Djokovic-Tsonga final as a "Changing of the Guard", but personally I think we'll have to wait and see what happens during the rest of the season before considering that.

Look at what happened to Gonzalez? He was fantastic at the Aus Open last year but just twelve months later he's right back where he was before it. It's obvious that Djokovic is a future #1 player but as for Tsonga, I would like to see if these past two weeks are the start of a rise to the top or just a "flash in the pan" situation.

As for the seedings, can someone explain to me why it is that Henin, the #1 seed, had to play the 5th seeded Sharapova in the quarters? I'm not a fan of either but it doesn't make any sense. She should have been playing either the 7th or 8th seed or whoever else made it through from that part of the draw. Instead #3 Jankovic was playing #7 Serena Williams and #4 Ivanovic was playing #8 Venus.

I thought that the quarter-final matchups should always be either:

1) 1v8 2v7 3v6 4v5 or
2) 1v8 2v7 3v5 4v6 or
3) 1v7 2v8 3v6 4v5 or
4) 1v7 2v8 3v5 4v6

[Bryan Swartz]

Totally agree on the Tsonga-Gonzalez comparison: tennis is more about consistency than your top level, since nobody plays at their top level all the time. The thing that makes it changing of the guard situation is that it would have been impossible to beat Federer the way Djokovic did, or for a guy like Tipsarevic to almost beat him, a year or two ago. It shows that he's vulnerable now. Whether anyone can take #1 away from him is another matter.

Regarding the seedings, tennis is different from other sports. The system promotes a variety of matchups, which I think is healthy. The way it works is:

-- #1 can only play #2 in the final
-- Semis can match up #3 and #4 vs. either(i.e. 1 v 4 or 1 v 3 can be possible)
-- QF can match up any of 5-8 with any of 1-4

Etc.

[Jason Moyer]

Looks like we've got a match. Ivanovic is mixing up her serve, and Sharapova is making unforced errors.

[Jason Moyer]

Also, I'm really impressed with how Ivanovic is attacking her. Staying just in front of the baseline and trying to push Maria back. I haven't seen anyone even try that this tournament so far.