Australian Open Finals

Federer wins … again…

Roger Federer won his 20^th(!) grand slam title with a 5-set win over Marin Cilic.  Federer was quite emotional, shedding tears during the trophy presentation.  A problem for Cilic, though, was that he was also emotional, but during the match.  Cilic came out very tight and handed the first set to Federer.  His game then picked up, and Federer was really not at the very top of his game.  However, a few critical points revealed Cilic’ mix of anger, frustration and dejection, and these swings of emotion hurt his game.  When the 5^th set came around, Federer knew exactly what to do, and Cilic was simply unable to stay with him emotionally or physically.

A weakness of Cilic’ game that Roger exposed was his need to develop a rhythm in rallies.  Roger’s mixture of short balls, canon shots, slices, and net approaches made it very difficult for Cilic to get settled.  In truth, Marin shouldn’t have gotten two sets off Federer, but some spotty play by Roger, particularly in the 4^th set (<50% first serve percentage, for example), made it possible.  Federer hit his forehand exceptionally well over all, where he produced many screamers without really seeming to exert himself.

So why is Federer so beloved as an athlete?  His success is part of it, as is the beauty of his movement and his astounding shot making.   But Roger was not voted the fan favorite for the 15^th straight year just because of his tennis.  Watch his speech at the trophy presentation here, and you’ll know what I mean.  He connects with people on a personal level, even if his game is out of reach of most club players’ wildest dreams.  To be able to identify with an athlete of his caliber is profoundly rewarding to the fans.

Because Roger defended all of his ranking points here, while Nadal lost some, the two will be close for the number one ranking.  Nadal still has the number one spot, and Federer has a lot of points to defend in the next several weeks.  However, Nadal is injured, and if he is unable to come back at his best for awhile (we hope that’s not the case!) Federer may ascend to the number one ranking yet again.  Something to keep an eye on.

Australian Open Finals

Wozniaki wins

Caroline Wozniaki took a 3-setter from Simona Halep to win the AO.  This was a match of two similar players, as was the case for the Halep/Kerber semi.  Wozniaki did some things a bit better than Kerber, who nearly won her match.  She served better than Kerber, and broke up cross court exchanges with down-the-line shots more frequently.  She also held her nerve very well when things got tight.  To appreciate Wozniaki’s amazing court coverage, watch the 30-30 point in the third set, with Halep serving at 4-5.

Many have said the Wozniaki could not win a major because she stays too far behind the baseline etc.  First of all, anyone who reaches the final of a major can win a major.  If nothing else the player is one sprained ankle, pulled muscle or blister away from a title.  So I’m not surprised that Caroline broke through, and I won’t be a bit surprised if Halep does so in near future.  I also disagree that Caroline’s problem before was court positioning.  Rather, I believe, she hit a very predictable cross court shot every time she played a forehand.  Over the past few months she has started to flatten her forehand out and go down the line, and these changes have helped her break rallies open more frequently.

One final note:  I had previously criticized Chris Evert for never using an adverb, but in this match she actually said that Wozniaki played “aggressively” rather than “aggressive.”  I don’t know if this blog helped effect that change, but regardless, kudos to Chrissie!

Australian Open Finals are Set

The women:  An up and down match between Kerber and Halep ended with a win by Halep.  It was hard to tell if Kerber was nervous or simply off her game, but she gave away the first set with some spotty play.  Halep did her usual thing, but played a bit more aggressively than usual and kept her emotions enough in check to win.  Wozniaki beat first time semifinalist Mertens in the second match.  Wozniaki dominated but blinked when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.  She recovered admirably in the tiebreak though, and dominated it to win in straights.  It will be difficult to predict the outcome of the final.  Wozniaki has a good record against Halep, but Halep has been playing better tennis up to now.   Halep must suppress memories of her finals loss to Ostapenko in last year’s French Open.

My pick:  Halep in straight sets.

The men:  Kyle Edmund hits the ball very hard, but one cannot do that consistently unless one has time to set up for shots.  Cilic denied him that opportunity with his hard, flat hitting.  Edmund had great tournament with a highlight win over Dimitrov, b3ut this match was no contest.  Federer then played Hyeon Chung, who has stunned the tennis community with big wins over Sasha Zverev and Djokovic.  Adding another win against Federer is asking a lot.  After losing the first set 6-1 in about 30 minutes, Chung retired early in the second set with a blister.  Federer was gracious as usual, pointing out how painful a blister can be.   But let’s face it – blisters hurt a lot more when you’re getting totally embarrassed on the world stage by Federer.  Cilic can speak to that from last year’s Wimbledon final, where he also sought treatment for a blister while being destroyed by Federer.  Cilic now has a chance to redeem himself in the Aussie final this year.  He showed good fight and composure against Nadal, who retired in the 5^th with a muscle strain, but he will be playing Federer on a surface that is much more to the liking of Roger than Rafa.

My Pick: Federer in 4

Australian Open update

Keys is clocked.  Angelique Kerber decimated Madison Keys in their quarterfinal match.  Kerber was very sharp, but Keys rushed her service games and made many uncharacteristic unforced errors.  Her play was similar to her loss in the US Open final, which suggests to me that she has an issue with nerves in high pressure matches.

Halep dispatches Pliskova.  Karolina Pliskova, a player a great serve and terrific hands at the net, once again had her poor footwork and court coverage exposed by Simona Halep, who won comfortably.  A Kerber/Halep semi looms, and that should be epic.  On the other side, Caroline Wozniaki continues to move methodically and quietly through the draw.  She will face Elise Mertens, a 22 year old surprise winner over Elina Svitolina.  I pick Caroline to reach the final. 

Nadal out.  After a hard fought 4 ½ sets against Marin Cilic, Rafa Nadal retired with what appeared to be a strain of the psoas major muscle, the action of which is to flex the hip.  After the match Nadal complained that the tour doesn’t sufficiently protect players’ health, by which he means that there should be more clay court tournaments.  Imagine how Roger Federer, the greatest grass player ever, feels about that, when there are many more clay than grass tournaments already.  Cilic will now play Kyle Edmond of Great Britain.  That could be interesting.

Chung presses on.  Hyeon Chung of Korea dominated Tennys Sandgren in their quarterfinal.  This guy looks like the real deal.  He gets Federer next.  Roger beat Tomas Berdych yet again, in straight sets yet again.  Roger got off to a slow start in the Berdych match, which I believe relates to his age.  Were I his coach, I’d tell Roger to elect to receive more often when he wins the toss.  He can then get loose in the first game, and he is still on serve if he loses it.  It’s hard to predict how the Chung/Federer match will go.  Chung is on a hot streak, he beat Djokovic in straights, and he has nothing to lose.  Of course the money has to be on Roger, whose smorgasbord of skills must be very hard to deal with when seen for the first time.  Once possible weakness in Chung’s game is that he gets very few free points on serve.  It’s hard to win consistently without getting some easy service games. 

Australian Open

Epic battles

Simona Halep took out Lauren Davis 15-13 in the third set of their third round match.  Davis lost a toenail during the match but played on, and Halep played through cramps in the third to finally win.  Both players showed true grit, and the play after 6-6 in the third is worth watching.

Grigor Dimitrov defeated Nick Kyrgios in a 4-setter with 3 tiebreaks.  A very intense match with a lot of power serving and great shot making.  Kyrgios remained relatively stable emotionally throughout this highly charged encounter, which bodes well for him the rest of the year.  His shot selection is still a bit questionable, with a lot of over-hitting.  Dimitrov is really coming into his own.  Dimitrov will play Kyle Edmund next.  Edmund has a much bigger forehand than most people realize.

Other news

Djokovic cruised thus far and will play Chung of Korea in the next round.  Watch out for Chung, who mixed power with speed and finesse beautifully in taking out Sasha Zverev.

Nadal lost a set to Diego Schwartzman, a game but diminutive foe.  He will play Cilic next.  This is a good surface for Cilic, so this match might get interesting.

Federer next plays 80^th ranked Marton Fucsovics of Hungary.  It must be interesting to play a man as many tools as Federer for the first time.  Don’t expect Marton to win.