Time for Tennis!

So, since the Australia Open is in a month I decided to do a little guessing game for the next two major tournaments for the 2011 year (male and female) and predict who will win each one. Barring injuries these results can and will be changed.

Australia Open (1/17/2011-1/31/2011)

Men: Roger Federer- Federer is the reigning Aussie Open champion and has won the tournament four times (2004, 2006, 2007, 2010) and came in 2nd place once (2009). Nadal is the favorite because he is the new number 1 and is poised to dominate 2011 as long as his knees hold up. I love Federer’s style of play and he has come on strong at the end of 2010. I also love his attitude and his experience and how he loves playing on hard courts, and statistics show that this is his tournament.

Women: Caroline Wozniacki- I wanted to pick Serena Williams because she is dominant and has owned this tournament in the past (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2010). But, of course she is injured so she is withdrawing from the first major tournament. So, I guess Woz will have to do for now. She has not dominated this tournament in the past, highest finish was the 4th round (2008, 2010) which is nothing to special. But, she is playing good tennis and with Serena out, to me only Venus Williams (0-4 W-L record) and Kim Clijsters (0-2 W-L record) are a threat to her. As long as Woz focuses and plays her best I feel she can win her first major tournament.

2010 French Open (Day 10): A Viewer’s Version

Roger Federer is amazing. Roger Federer is the Master. With 16 Grand-Slam titles, the most all time among male players, no one can doubt he’s the king of tennis’ immortal nobility. Yet, 16 Grand Slams may not even be his most astounding record. He has reached 23 consecutive Grand-Slam semifinals. Not since the 2004 French Open, when he lost in the 3rd round, did he fail to make it to the Big Four’s final four. Fortunately or unfortunately for Federer, I have never been one of his admirers who sat with bulging eyes and a gaping mouth ogling him shot after shot. To me, his most endearing aspects come when he’s lost, when he can’t solve the puzzle. Make no mistake though, I respect his talent more than most any other living being’s. However, today that talent and its owner’s remarkable streak broke facing a formidable and frequent foe, Sweden’s Robin Soderling.

2010 French Open (Day 5): A Viewer’s Version

Rain plagued a day of tennis at Roland Garros that needed to recover from numerous suspended and canceled matches, which means I have little tennis to talk about. Or do I? To update you, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling demolished their opponents today as they sprinted to the third round. Elena Dementieva won in straight sets to advance to the third round. Jelena Jankovic pulled through a three-set match with dangerous and hard-hitting floater Kaia Kanepi. Kanepi’s fellow floater and a champion two years ago, Ana Ivanovic, lost to 28th seed Alisa Kleybanova. Oh, and that dramatic second round match between Gael Monfils and Fabio Fagnini went to the latter 8-6 in the fifth set. Where Monfils’ drama ended in defeat today, Ivanovic’s continued with a loss today that proved to me she still hasn’t recovered her play from two years ago.

2010 French Open (Day 4): A Viewer’s Version

Over the weekend my good friend (he’s actually fellow blogger Joey) and I were discussing the purpose of sports journalism. Paraphrasing bluntly, he claimed that journalists across the board have little to say that is different from other journalists covering the same topic. Of course, he’s quite biased against sports, preferring to play a sport rather than to watch it — and flat out refusing to play some sports at that. However, he had a good point. What really does make sports writing interesting? ESPN commentator Pam Shriver, during Venus Williams’ second round match, answered that question: “[I like to see] how people perform under pressure.” The drama, the emotion, the (in)humanity make sports so interesting to watch; they also fulfill that selfish desire of ours to watch, detached, other humans struggle and triumph. Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini’s second round match provided those appealing qualities today.

2010 French Open (Day 3): A Viewer’s Version

Past four-time champions Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal breezed through their matches today. Andy Roddick struggled to take out Jarkko Neiminen in five sets. Maria Sharapova put the beat-down on her compatriot and qualifier Ksenia Pervak. Sharapova’s trials and tribulations have been well-documented and certainly put a damper on her rise back to the top, but she continues to persevere. Fellow former No.1 — the most recent before Serena’s domination, actually — and a finalist at the French Open the past two years, Dinara Safina, struggled to even finish her match against Kimiko Date Krumm, losing 6-3, 4-6, 5-7.

While watching the Sharapova-Pervak match, ESPN commentator Mary Joe Fernandex made an astute observation: the Russian women no longer control the draw like they did two years ago. At the end of 2008, the Russians had the women’s tour in their hands. Half of the the top 10 female tennis players ending 2008 were Russian. With Safina’s loss today, there are soon to be only two in the top 10, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, and neither of these two are playing their best or most consistent brand of tennis at the moment.

2010 French Open (Day 2): A Viewer’s Version

As expected, both the No. 1 seeds, Serena Williams and Roger Federer, made it through the dirt and the draw of Roland Garros rather easily today. Every other seed — except Spain’s Tommy Robredo, seeded twenty-first, which was a mild surprise — and unseeded floaters (Ana Ivnovic, Kaia Kanepi) joined the respective top seeds in the second round. Almost everything went to form, as it really should in the first of seven rounds at a Grand Slam, yet amongst all the expected results is one match that was both anticipated and shocking.