[Tennis] 2012 Australian Open

Apparently all I have to do to raise the level of play in this tournament is complain. Not but a few minutes after I complained about all the blowouts and injuries, the pace picked up in the match between Mikhail Kukushkin and Gael Monfils.

Kukushkin won the final six games of the first set to take it 6-2, then he won the first two games of the second set. All the while, Monfils was limping around complaining of a back injury. He even called for the trainer at one point in the second set. Then, as Monfils is known to do, he turned it on and made a match out of it. He won a gutsy third set, then blew out Kukushkin in the fourth set before losing in five.

During the last game of the match, someone in the stands threw one of those autograph tennis balls on to the court, interrupting play. It's tough to say whether or not it really bothered Monfils, but he did lose the next three points to lose the match, two of them on double faults.

 

I just got around to watching the Hewitt/Raonic match on DVR. What a performance by Hewitt. This guy has been hobbling around for the last several years, but at this tournament, particularly in the last two matches, he has looked like a new man.

He had no business being able to keep Raonic's big serve and forehand in front of him, but he was doing a great job of it. He hit shots last night that I haven't seen him hit in years.

Kudos to the Aussie Open crowd as well. Thanks to his surly disposition over the years, Hewitt hasn't always been the favored son of the crowds at this event, but that has changed this year. The crowds know that this more than likely his last Aussie Open and they are squarely behind him.

 

Pretty decent day at the Open yesterday.

Kim Clijsters came back from being a set down, dealing with an ankle injury, to beat Li Na in three sets. Li Na is becoming something of an enigma on the women's tour. She is obviously capable of winning a major, as she won the French in 2011, but she has also had more than her fair share of meltdowns at the worst of times. Heavy taping and anti-inflammatory medication got Kim through the match, but it will be interesting to see how she bounces back from it in her next match.

A really entertaining match between Nicolas Almagro and Tomas Berdych has unfortunately been overshadowed by what occurred late in the match and then after the match.

In what turned out to be the deciding fourth set, Berdych came to net to volley. Rather than trying to work the angles, Almagro hits a screamer right back at Berdych. The ball hits Tomas in the arm and goes back over the net. Berdych fell down as he was hit, so Almagro put it away for an easy winner. Immediately, Almagro approached the net to apologize, but Berdych refused to acknowledge him. It was clearly a clean play and Almagro meant no harm, but at this point, you could at least understand why Berdych would be frustrated. Also, you could make the argument that Berdych didn't want to break his concentration by coming to the net to embrace Almagro.

But then after the match, Berdych made a bad error in judgment. As match point was put away by Berdych, the players began to make their way to the net. Berdych, rather than shake Almagro's hand, made a sharp right and goes straight to shake the chair umpire's hand. He never even looked Almagro's way. The crowd, to their credit, let Berdych have it. They gave Almagro a standing ovation as he left the court and they mercilessly booed Berdych from the time the match ended all the way through his on-court interview.

During that interview, it became clear that Berdych has a warped sense of what happened. He made reference to Almagro trying to "hit him in the face." The ball hit Berdych right around the elbow. If Almagro wanted to hit him in the face, he would have hit him in the face. They were only standing a few feet apart. Almagro was just trying to win the point and going right at Berdych was the best way to do that. That's a part of the game. The worst part of it all is that Berdych won the match. He got the last word by winning the match. There was no reason to be classless.

 

The quarterfinals are set.

Men:

(1) Djokovic
(5) Ferrer

(4) Murray
(24) Nishikori

(11) del Potro
(3) Federer

(7) Berdych
(2) Nadal

I think the top four advance pretty easily.

Ferrer is a grinder, but Djokovic is just playing too well.

I like how Nishikori is playing, but he has played a ton of tennis this week, including a five-setter last night against Tsonga. Murray, meanwhile, has made mostly quick work of his opponents, including a retirement last night from Mikhail Kukushkin.

Berdych and del Potro have the goods to push Nadal and Federer, respectively, but I don't know that either of them have what it takes to win on this stage. I'll be interested to see how the crowd affects the Berdych/Nadal match. That's going to be a very anti-Berdych crowd.

Women:

(1) Wozniacki
(11) Clijsters

(3) Azarenka
(8) Radwanska

Makarova
(4) Sharapova

Errani
(2) Kvitova

The women's side is much tougher to figure out. Outside of Errani, I'd believe you if you said any of those women were going to win the whole thing.

If I were forced to choose someone, I guess I'd go with Kvitova. She had a great 2011 and has been in good form so far in this event.

 

I have trouble watching women's tennis as well, but my primary gripe with it is that all the top women seem to be head cases. No one can close a match. They all seem to be prone to taking mental breaks during the match and sometimes they make me wish that they would just play next serve in wins with all the double faults.

 

The Roger/Rafa match was great tennis, but I think it only showed that Roger is going to have a really tough time winning a major again as long as he has to go through Rafa and Djokovic to get there. When both players are at their best or close to their best, like they were last night, Rafa is just clearly the better player.