Federer wins - again

For a moment it looked like we had a match going in the men's Australian Open Final. Fernando Gonzalez took Roger Federer into a first set tiebreak only to gain two meager points. Starting off the second set, Federer looked as if any worry about losing had passed and he proceeded to break the Chilean calmly, going 6-4, 6-4 in the last two sets, becoming the first man since Ivan Lendl in 1980 to win a major without losing a single set.

Gonzalez, for his part, played an exciting first set, giving Federer perhaps his toughest challenge of the tournament, but it was if the Swiss Maestro had simply been using the match opener to take the measure of Fernando, because afterwards, it was all Federer. Among our office staffers, we are excited at what the Australian Open showed in terms of promise on the men's side, Gonzalez will hopefully be able to to follow up his strong showing, as we hope Safin and Murray will. Blake and Nadal ought to continue their strong play and we are curious to see what happens now to Roddick.

For the women, however, it seems unfortunate that our angry comments about the lack of consistency in the women's game proved too true in the final. After her father and coach asked her to tweak her serve prior to the match, Sharapova fell apart under Serena's withering stare. But we are left to wonder, what sort of coach would undermine their player's confidence so soon before a major match? We too echo commentator Mary Carillo who asked why parent/coaches are so common in the women's game, and nearly absent on the men's side?

The big question though, still centres around Federer. Many consider him to be the best men's player of all time, and so the question becomes, can he be considered the greatest without either a French Open title, or a Grand Slam? What will it take for naysayers like Pete Sampras to hold their tongues?

The Champ is Here!

Whether he moves on to the eventual championship or not, Roger Federer's thorough dismantling of Andy Roddick will go down as legend. Roddick summed up his relationship with Federer, saying "Are you sure you can call this a rivalry?"

Woe is the women

In the women's game there have been so many breaks of serve, often four or five times in a set, one after another, it's maddening. It seems like all you need to do in the women's game is hold serve while in the men's game holding is a given and the game is premised on trying to gain the break. It seems impossible to imagine that a women who looks obviously out of shape and is fighting a visible cold, that has barely played any high level competitive tennis over the last eighteen months can enter a grand slam tournament and reach the finals. Is simply surviving the best the women's game can manage? What happened to the will to win? Clijsters and Hingis appear buddy-buddy in the tunnel just moments before the match and Clijsters sprays sixty-five errors - we feel obliged to give full credit to Serena Williams, what she lacks in conditioning she more than makes up for with her will to win.

Until more women learn to harness their talent, the women's game will not, and cannot, measure up to the men's.

Speaking of the men, and harnessing talent, Fernando Gonzalez continues to impress us. Picked by our assorted office courtwatchers as an early favourite, it seems like Gonzo's partnership with new coach Larry Stefanki is a match made in heaven. Stefanki has taken other players, such as Kafelnikov and more recently Tim Henman, to the heights of their careers. Gonzalez has always been a creative and intriguing player, but under Stefanki his energy has been focused, giving him the power of Andy Roddick and the anticipatory shot-making nearing the realm of Rodger Federer. Suitably dispatching Nadal yesterday, Fernando makes his first foray into the semi-finals of a Grand Slam and it remains to be seen whether he can withstand the pressure and stress that comes travelling this deep into a tournament.

We hope to see him in the final.

We also hope to see another match worthy of the highlight reel emerging from yet another Federer-Roddick clash. Typically the young American gets put through his paces but Roddick's recent exhibition win over Federer will have some supporters suspecting the return of Andy's mojo, but we have our doubts. Nevertheless, this one should be good.

Clash of Titans

It was a match that lived up to expectations, with Andy Roddick and Marat Safin squaring off in one of the most anticipated tennis matches of the Australian Open. The hard-serving Roddick, looking to show off his net moves, attacked at the net every chance he could, but the wildly inventive Safin did his best to hold the aggressive American at bay. At times Safin looked bewildered by his own talent, stopping to curse his play and earning a caution from the chair umpire. Roddick, doing his best to keep his own temper in check, managed to battle through Safin's moments of brilliance to best the Russian in four tight sets.

Elsewhere, Daily Wenzel staff writer Bassano del Grappa was disconsolate as Maria Elena Camerin lost to Elena Dementieva in a match that, at times, was much closer than the 6-1, 6-3 scoreline would indicate. However Camerin is still alive in the women's doubles, and del Grappa has been gracing us lately with the merits and beauty of the doubles game.

Small Victories and Sweet Anticipation

In our heart of hearts we knew that Canadian Frank Dancevic was unlikely to advance past Lleyton Hewitt last night. However, ever the optimists pre-match banter found us grasping at whatever facts we could. Hewitt might be hurt, or at least still tired from his opening round five set match. Hewitt is under a lot of pressure, having worn out his welcome with the Australian tennis public. Maybe Hewitt will fall down and hurt something. Instead, Dancevic fell down, appearing to strain somethign in his back. The Canuck with pluck, in a yellow jersey that's vies with Serena Williams' electric lime outfit for brilliance, ultimately lacked the composure and pace to keep up with Hewitt, two things he's sure to pick up this year as Dancevic becomes the first Canadian man to crack the ATP Top 50, and only the third ever to do so. We look forward to the potential of seeing him at more events throughout the year.

Bassano del Grappa meanwhile, already happy at Maria Elena Camerin's victory over Vesnina, was wildly elated at the news that Camerin and Dulko had bested the American pair of Granville and Gullickson. Now the man from Paderno keeps one eye on the telly and the other rivited to the online scoreboard. We can't imagine what could happen if Camerin could somehow eke out a victory over the soft-serving Dementieva later today.

The main event however is the much anticipated match up between Safin and Roddick, a contest to see who rightly deserves the crown of tennis' enfant terrible. What to look for? Hard hitting serves, long strokes and short tempers. Rackets will be slammed on the ground, curses will be muttered under breaths, umpires called into question, and no inch given nor quarter conceeded. It could very well get ugly and a legendary clash of two men wanting desperately to be seen as titans of their sport.

Victory for the Veneto!

With college basketball well into triple overtime on TV, we found ourselves huddled closely over our laptops, our voices joining with Bassano del Grappa in urging his paesana Maria Elena Camerin to victory over Elena Veznina of Russia. After losing the first set, Camerin battled back in the second, only to fall behind 1-4 in the third. However the young Italian, with eyes on making the third round of a grand slam for only the second time in her career, found the reserves required to mount a late-stage comeback, winning 8-6. With a cheer, del Grappa broke out the grappa and espresso, fitting fuel for a long night of Australian tennis.

Australia serves it up hot!

It's mid-January and the mercury is taking a dip on this side of the hemisphere, which means that it's time for sweltering tennis on the other side of the world. It also means that it's time for another "episode" from Andy Roddick. Australia tends to bring out the best in Roddick, from trashy locker rooms to yelling at officials. Yesterday was no exception as the young American took veteran chair umpire Carlos Ramos to task quite heatedly, when Ramos tried to cool Roddick down saying, "I think we should end this discussion," the American, who's words were picked up by the chair microphone, "We'll end this conversation when you say something intelligent."

While some may point to Roddick's behaviour as following the American tradition laid down by John McEnroe, Roddick's behaviour is singularly self-serving (McEnroe at least sometimes deliberately blew points in the face of what he considered bad officiating). Until Roddick learns to carry himself with more deportment and aplomb, he will continue to rank on the outside of the tennis greats. That, and a few more majors.

Serena Williams found herself on the comeback trail yet again, with many questions surrounding her fitness prior to her first round match. Allow she easily defeated her opponent we were all surprised that her bright outfit was not being used to power a small country's energy grid.

Speaking of outfits, it looks like Mary Sharapova ought to spend more time preparing for the extreme heat of Australia, and less time detailing her wardrobe for the benefit of international
media. While Camille Pin appeared fresh well into the fifth set of their first round match despite the withering heat, Sharapova looked ready to pull an Andy Murray and spew. Even on the verge of vomiting, Sharapova still showed more poise than Roddick.

Williams, by appearing fit and healthy for the first time in months, joins Marat Safin in an unusually low draw. Safin, who spent much of last year hurt and unable to defend his ranking, is coming off a stellar Davis Cup appearance where he helped Russia win the Davis Cup. Both of these former number ones could make good runs towards the final. Also capable of making a surprise run could be any number of players in the bottom quarter of the men's draw where Rafael Nadal is suspected of spending too much time contemplating Federer and not enough on his game. If Nadal falls early, that will open the door for James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, or even Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez.

As usual, we are backing our favourites, Safin and Hingis, while Bassano del Grappa cheers on his countrywomen Maria Elena Camerin.