absolutely alex’s adventures & times

Equilibrium has been restored in the tennis world once again.

The sport’s top two players, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, will meet in the finals of tomorrow’s Monte Carlo Masters.

It has been a long time since the two played each other, with their most recent meeting during last November’s Shanghai’s Masters’ Cup, where the Swiss world number one thrashed Nadal 6-4, 6-1.

But tomorrow will be a different story. Nadal is right at home playing on clay and has an absolutely staggering 93-1 record on clay since April 2005. His sole loss? To Federer in Hamburg last year. Head-to-head, Federer is 1-6 against Nadal on clay.

Nadal’s stranglehold on clay only seemed to have tightened this year, after his impressive wins in Monte Carlo so far. He easily swatted away competition, never once being stretched to a third set in any match. Federer, in contrast, had more of a struggle and nearly lost in the second round to a player ranked outside of the top 100. It would take a supremely confident Federer bringing an A game to have a chance to unseat the Spanish player, who is indisputably the king of clay.

But what a pleasure it would be to see the return of a great tennis rivalry and for these two champions to slug it out once again. Besides spades of talent, these two are true sportsmen, unlike the pretender trying to dislodge them from their top positions, Novak Djokovic.

He and his clan might be able to talk up a storm about how the Federer era is over and he is the future of tennis, but Djokovic does not yet have the game, nor the heart or courage to step up to the fore.

Time and again, Djokovic has chosen to take the easy way out when he has his back pushed against a wall, with a memorable example being last year’s Wimbledon against Nadal. He has had a history of cooking up convenient excuses like an illness or injury and retiring rather than have the gumption to take a beating.

This comes on top of his reputation of gamesmanship, be it taking too long between games when he is serving or bouncing the balls dozens of times before service, but also for often using medical timeouts during matches without justifiable reasons.

Clearly fearing the prospect of being beaten fair and square by a resurgent Federer in today’s semifinal, Djokovic wimped out and gave the excuse of “dizziness” for withdrawing from play.

“From the start I didn’t feel so great,” Djokovic complained. “I just couldn’t get enough energy back after each point. I feel dizziness a little bit in the last three days. I don’t know. Doctor in the tournament couldn’t give me the right diagnosis. I’ll check as soon as possible.”

Hmmm, perhaps the doctor was too polite to give him the true diagnosis — wimp-ititis.

In all of Federer’s 705 matches since turning pro, he has not retired once during a game. When his chips were down, he pressed on to the end, losing graciously.

At this year’s Australian Open, Federer was not only hit with a bout of food poisoning, but was also suffering from monoclueosis, a career-ending condition for many athletes. That did not stop Federer from battling in an epic five-setter against Djokovic’s compatriot Janko Tipsarevic in the third round, and pushing all the way to the semifinals before losing to Djokovic.

Federer was once again diplomatic when asked about Djokovic’s sudden onset of illness after easily beating the likes of Andy Murray and Sam Querrey in earlier rounds. Still, Federer couldn’t resist taking a dig at his rival.

“I didn’t see anything from my side till when he called the doctor,” said Federer. “But I didn’t feel like he was playing too sick. I didn’t think it was that extreme.”

He was right. Djokovic had looked just fine. At 20, the Serbian player may still be lacking in maturity, but he has to grow up and stop concentrating on being a showman if he is truly serious about being a tennis champion.

Quitting a match not only smacks of disrespect for his opponents, it also is unfair for the sponsors and audience who have paid good money to watch the match. On top of that, it is unprofessional.

Unless he is on the brink of collapsing or has something far more serious or life-threatening, Djokovic should not withdraw from games so frivolously. When things are going against them, true champions rally and go down fighting. And if they have to lose, they do so graciously.

(Reuters photos)

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Hold your horses about the changing of the guard at the top of the men’s tennis game.

The hottest tennis player of the moment, Novak Djokovic, has been upset at the Miami Sony Ericsson Open by South African qualifier, Kevin Anderson.

AP photo

21-year old Anderson put a halt to the 17-4 winning streak by Djokovic, the Australian Open and Masters Series Indian Wells champion, beating him 7-6 (1), 3-6, 6-4 in the second round of the tournament.

So maybe world number one Roger Federer, who has been in a slump, will now get a break.

After all, even Djokovic, the most in-form player this season and world number three, lost in his opening match against a 122th-ranked player, Anderson being 6-foot-7 notwithstanding. Djokovic is also the defending champion in Miami.

Federer on the other hand, had lost this year to Djokovic, 13th-ranked Andy Murray, and world number 40 Mardy Fish. He was also plagued by mononucleosis in the past few months.

This has been an interesting season so far, as Federer and world number two Rafael Nadal have as yet failed to assert their usual dominance this year. The men’s game has been thrown in a flux, which would be a good chance for lower-ranked players to break through.

Does this make tennis more interesting? Certainly. Will this add new excitement to the game? Definitely. This situation removes the predictability that has been in men’s tennis in the past few years.

No one can stay at the top of the game forever. All athletes know that.

Still, it would be premature to think that time is up for Federer and Nadal.

They might be having a bad start — by their high standards — to the year but they still have plenty of game in them yet. It would be a pleasure to see them returning to form soon, hopefully in Miami, so that the chatter about their demise, especially Federer’s, would be laid to rest.

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What an exciting start the Australian Open has been for the new tennis season.

New stars were born and some of the established stars faced rude shocks during the past two weeks.

Yet, what a ride it had been for fans, for so many fabulous reasons. Despite all the drama, it’s only the beginning of the year – which means there are lots of reasons for tennis fans to keep their eyes and ears peeled for the months ahead.

1. The women

A. Maria the Assassin

Apologies for the somewhat inappropriate reference but Maria Sharapova is back, baby, and the others had better watch out.

After the full recovery from her shoulder injury and a miserable 2007, Maria has found her mojo once again and is more menacing than ever.

Never mind that she holds only the number five spot in the rankings. With her newfound confidence and renewed aggression, Sharapova is in devastating form and is the one to beat. She has proven her versatility in the sport, having won Wimbledon 2004, the US Open in 2006 and now, the Australian Open. (Does anyone else notice that even years seem to work better for the Russian blonde?) More ominously, she mowed down heavy-weights in her quest for the Australian Open title, without having to drop a single set.

It’s so easy to hate Sharapova – for her glamorous good looks, the on-court shrieking, her psycho dad, and the early successes. But Sharapova looks to have developed a new level of maturity and grace that has boosted her game, making her detractors eat their words while she blows the competition clear out of the water.

Her Kryptonite, like Roger Federer, is the red clay at Roland Garrros, which means that she would not be the favorite to win this year’s French Open. But the girl’s only 20, so there’s probably plenty of time for her before she too, will add the trophy from Paris to her mantel.

B. Justine Henin

What of the women’s world number one?

She remains the odds-on favorite to lift the Roland Garros crown once again, come this summer. But with Sharapova’s renewed hunger and power, Henin would have to fight harder not only to remain the top dog but also to win her first Wimbledon title.

Like a female Federer, Henin is facing a new wave of young and eager talent hungry to dethrone her. However, it is still too early to write the 25-year old Belgian off. Hers might not be the power game favored by today’s younger players but her sharp intelligence and quick thinking, together with an indomitable spirit, still make her a dangerous opponent.

With her devastating loss to Sharapova in the Australian Open quarterfinals, you can bet that Henin would go back to the drawing board and work even harder.

C. The Serbians and the other Eastern Europeans

At this point, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic just do not have the mental edge to take them to the level of tennis occupied by Henin and Sharapova. Both the Serbians have made vast improvements, especially the younger Ivanovic. Somehow, they are not quite ready to take it to the next level of actually winning Grand Slams, even if they might be physically ready – well, Ivanovic at least, while Jankovic seems to be too bogged down by her multiple injuries currently.

Ivanovic has played in two Grand Slam finals but still needs work on her mental game to be up there with the champions. Again, age is on her side and perhaps she will finally break through later this year, or next year.

Daniela Hantuchova – what a waste! The girl’s got the talent but not the mental fortitude nor self-belief to match her game. She is in danger of being written off as yet another “choker” and with every tournament that she throws away, it is getting harder for her fulfil her promise.

Are we ever going to see the other Russians in the women’s circuit stepping up?

The Svetlana Kutznetsovas, the Elena Dementievas and the Anna Chakvetadzes are constantly in the top 20, even the top 10, but one can’t help feeling that they are there to round up the numbers and for the top-rung to pick through on their way to racking up titles.

D. The Williams

This Australian Open truly shattered the aura of their ability to dominate the women’s game as and when they choose to.

Their former victims have ended up beating them convincingly and despite more training and effort put in by the Williams, they can no longer come along and mop up the competition, as the women’s field gains depth.

Would they still slog on? Do they have the interest to keep fighting to win the big events? Who really knows when it comes to the Williams?

2. The men

A. Federer the (temporarily) fallen

Sure, Federer was taken out in straight sets by the eventual Australian Open winner, Novak Djokovic.

But who among us hasn’t had a bad day at the office?

It’s just that when the likes of Federer have a bad day, EVERYONE notices. And the vultures swoop in.

Hold your horses – it’s still too early to write the Swiss maestro’s obituary. No doubt the road to winning more Grand Slams (3 more to beat Pete Sampras’ all-time record) is going to get more arduous for Federer, but he still has time, and more significantly, the game, to crush lesser mortals.

It is proof of the kind of class Federer has when he repeatedly played down the effect of his bout of illness that he suffered just before the Australian Open. Swiss newspapers had shed light on the fact that not only was he hospitalized, he lost something like three kilograms due to that ailment. So Federer was not at his best nor well-prepared enough to face the rigors of a tournament at Grand Slam level.

The ironic thing is, this loss could well spurn Federer on to train harder, soup up his strategy and even find a coach to tighten his game. Expect him to come back hungrier and perhaps more aggressive – he wants to chase down Sampras’ record and he would want to do it sooner rather than later.

B. Nadal is not over the hill either

Poor Rafa.

He had it even worse than Federer.

Critics were quick to dismiss him as nothing more than a clay-court specialist. But they forget to mention that Nadal’s semi-final outing in this Australian Open is his best result ever.

And what a class act the Spaniard was after his defeat by the giant-killer Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. No excuses, no belittling his opponent. In his blog, Nadal gave full credit to Tsonga’s brilliant play.

And Nadal is still improving. At 21, he is already holding three French Open titles, plus a serious shot at winning last year’s Wimbledon. Nadal remains the top contender to be the next world number one. So give him a break.

C. Djokovic stops (d)joking

The ambition. The hunger. The dedication. And now, the Australian Open crown.

Djokovic has proven to be a quick study and is indubitably here to stay as the gate-crasher to Federer’s and Nadal’s dominance.

At this moment, hard courts seem to be his domain and with more hard court matches than other surfaces in the men’s tour, Djokovic will enjoy much success.

But it’s striking how quickly he switched from being everyone’s favorite joker on the circuit when he did spot-on imitations of his peers, to one facing an openly partisan crowd against him in Melbourne.

For the young Serbian who wears his heart on his sleeves, loves attention and adores adulation, the Melbourne crowd’s lukewarm reaction to his moment of greatest triumphs smarted badly.

He has himself to blame for the lacklustre crowd support.

For one, his gamesmanship has annoyed many, especially the sports-mad Aussies and their sense of fairplay. When Djokovic celebrates points won against opponents, his chest-thumping and screams carry too much of an edge that smacks of arrogance. No wonder then that the crowd had not embraced him, giving his wins appreciative applause but saving heartfelt cheers for his opponents.

He might have made history by being the first Serbian man to win a Grand Slam tournament. No doubt he will win a few more. But there’s still some ways to go before he can get the appreciation and support he craves.

D. Tsonga the French sensation

Tsonga is living proof that when the French have it, they have it in bucket-loads.

Only someone with his charisma and talent could overshadow the other fantastic storyline of the tournament despite not hoisting the champion’s trophy – that of Djokovic winning his first Grand Slam title.

The crowds at Melbourne lapped up the Frenchman’s electrifying go-for-broke style, booming serves and astonishing shot-making. And they obligingly roared louder every time Tsonga incites them to bring down the house.

Add to that Tsonga’s compelling personal story of nearly losing the chance to compete at the top-level, as his body let him down again and again in the past three years, first his back, then his shoulder and abdomen.

With his body finally playing ball, he was able to unleash an irresistible brand of tennis, entering the stratosphere of tennis superstardom.

The big risk is that Tsonga will be one of the many shooting stars that fall off just as quickly. But if he keeps up with the exuberance and audacity that he had displayed in Melbourne, he would doubtless be unforgettable, and another serious, and welcome, contender.

Now if only I can get my body clock back to normal hours after having stayed up till the wee hours to catch the matches for the past two weeks…

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Not a good day to be making predictions today. Both my picks for totally different contests fell through.

First, Senator Hillary Clinton lost the South Carolina primary elections, as she earned just under half of the votes of the overwhelming winner, Senator Barack Obama. But as the Democratic presidential nomination showdown heads into Super Duper Tuesday on February 5 when 22 states are in play, I am hoping that Clinton prevails.

Then, French tennis sensation Jo-Wilfried Tsonga ran out of steam in the final of the Australian Open, falling to Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 3-6, 6-7 (2), despite taking the first set.

Perhaps the lack of experience and nerves finally ended the unseeded Frenchman’s glorious run during the past two weeks, when he steamrolled higher-ranked players, such as Andy Murray, Mikhail Youzny and Raphael Nadal. But Tsonga’s fairy tale came to a halt as the enormity of the situation finally bore down on him, and a lack of experience on the big stage (this being only his second Australian Open and fifth Grand Slam outing) made him rack up errors and dimmed his confidence.

It didn’t help that Tsonga let Djokovic’s gamesmanship get under his skin, twice complaining to the chair umpire of the Serb’s time-wasting and endless ball-bouncing during his service games.

Regrettably, Tsonga was unable to let his annoyance at Djokovic work in his favor, even when Djokovic was down on the fourth set of the match and fluffed many of his first services. Tsonga was a little too anxious tonight, rushing points too much by trying aggressive shots but these unfortunately did not pay off as much as he would have liked them to.

Kudos to Djokovic for learning from Nadal’s and Youzny’s mistakes, by making sure to send his shots deep and pinning Tsonga to the baseline, taking out his chances of delivering deadly drop shots from near the net. Djokovic’s constant pressure also neutralized Tsonga’s firecracker of a forehand, forcing him on the defensive in the second and third sets.

But the Frenchman from Le Mans displayed fearless play even when things were not going his way. Demonstrating ferocious tenacity when he was down 0-40 and fighting to stave off set point for Djokovic in the third set, Tsonga saved five set points. But the occasion got to the better of him and he eventually lost his serve, and the set, but not before making Djokovic work for it.

Tsonga also held his nerve when the pressure was on, holding serve beautifully in the fourth set of the match to force a tie-break. But in the end Djokovic’s experience and winners got the better of Tsonga and ended his dream run.

No doubt though, that the 22-year old Frenchman is still a winner despite coming in second. His electrifying blend of exuberance, daring and talent has fired up the public’s imagination and propelled him into tennis stardom. Expect to see more of him in the years ahead, especially if his wounded body holds up and frees him to play at the level he deserves to be in.

Novak Djokovic finally held his nerve in a big game and beat a glum-looking, his-heart-is-not-in-it Roger Federer, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) in the semi-final of the Australian Open.

Now my money is truly on France’s surprise breakout player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, to win it all in Sunday’s final.

(Photo from Panaromic)

What an exciting match it is going to be! A serve and volley player like Tsonga against Djokovic the baseline slugger.

Even as I try to digest Federer’s loss and mourn his exit from the tournament, I wonder if we are witnessing a changing of the guard in the tennis world here.

Yesterday, Raphael Nadal was stunned by an unstoppable Tsonga, today Federer got dethroned by Djokovic.

In retrospect, Federer never looked like he brought his A game into the match, chalking up an appalling number of errors, while his serve, which had bailed him out countless times, deserted him today. The precision with which he usually places shots also seemed to have eluded him. Throughout the match, Federer just looked like he wanted to be elsewhere and never gave a determined Djokovic much of a fight.

Federer could have closed out the first set when he was up 5-4, after breaking Djokovic’s serve, but uncharacteristically sent many routine shots into the net, setting up opportunities for Djokovic to steal the set later.

(Getty Images) 

What happened to Federer today?

It was one of his most off-color matches ever. He was not playing aggressively nor was he his usual dominating self. He did not even seem motivated.

After losing the first two sets in quick succession, the crowd in Melbourne was clearly behind the defending champion, cheering and willing him on to come back and win this in five sets. Strangely, Federer just could not get into gear and conceded this to Djokovic.

“I think he made the more important points today, it was a bit unfortunate for me,” Federer told the media. “It depends a lot on form, you can’t always play your best. There is no doubt I have played better before. I’ve created a monster that I need to win every tournament. Still, the semi-finals isn’t bad.”

Here’s hoping that this is just a glitch and Federer would be back in fine form very soon, although the reality of things is that his dominance is going to come to an end one of these days. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he could still beat Pete Sampras’ record in the number of Grand Slam wins before his era is over.

At the same time, let’s have some perspective here. After wowing us for years, perhaps our expectations of Federer have also grown way out of proportion. This is after all a semi-final match of a Grand Slam and Federer was beaten by the world number three – significant, yes, but not as catastrophic as some might make it out to be, nor the end, as some might have already declared, of the Federer era.

On balance, this is a good development for tennis as new blood is coming up and the final of a Grand Slam does not have either Federer or Nadal in it, much as I admire them both. The last time that happened was in 2005 in the French Open, which does make today’s result a landmark of sorts. Keep in mind too, that the Australian Open has been fertile ground for throwing up new stars, such as Marcos Baghdatis, Marat Safin and Fernando Gonzalez.

One last thing – there is no faulting Djokovic’s play today, he served well under pressure and produced great winners. But I can’t help getting the feeling that Djokovic needs to be taught some manners, the way he shouts at the ball boys to bring him his towel, or the arrogance he is already displaying, despite not yet being number one. He had also been unforgivably rude to the crowd throughout the tournament, yelling at them for cheering when he serves. You certainly don’t see Federer doing that.

Perhaps Djokovic’s manners would eventually mature the same way his game has and someone would tell him that he still has a lot to learn from Federer – that to be a champion, one ought to be a world-class person, not just a world-class tennis player.

The long-running dominance at the top of men’s tennis by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal just got a little less cosy.

The top two men will be forced to contend with the young rising star, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic. This, especially as the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, the US Open, draws closer.

Djokovic has served notice that he is the man to watch. Young, confident and talented, he upset the world’s numbers one, two and three on his way to winning the Rogers Cup championship in Montreal today.

He had been steadily improving, and drew attention as one of a trio of young Serbians (along with Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic) as the future of tennis. But he has broken through and shone brighter than other rising stars this year.

Djokovic’s service has improved tremendously just over this year, as he rips off powerful first serves, winning a good amount of aces especially during the Rogers Cup. Amazingly, his serve seems to get better during the times when he is under pressure, like when he was threatened by Nadal in the semi-finals. Undeterred, Djokovic produced aces and pin-point accurate serves to get himself out of trouble.

Djokovic’s other powerful weapon in his arsenal is an astounding forehand that he cleverly places, often in corners that are just out of reach of his opponents or blasting it past them with such ferocity that the world’s top players are left a little shell-shocked, unable to answer.

More than his obvious talent and abilities, Djokovic’s outstanding quality seems to be his mental tenacity. During the final against Federer, the 20-year old Serb showed incredible composure and nerve, never doubting his ability to beat the much-feared man across the net, even though he had never beaten Federer in their four previous meetings.

Even when he was obviously in trouble or had just been freshly broken on his serve, Djokovic was perfectly capable of putting the past behind, refusing to dwell on the should-haves, could-haves or would-haves, and moved forward aggressively.

Djokovic obviously came prepared for the match with Federer, gambling that playing to the world number one’s weaker backhand would help deliver the game to him. It paid off handsomely, as the Swiss’ backhand strokes did indeed let him down many times, with over 30 unforced errors committed on his backhand alone. Djokovic was able to get into Federer’s head and throw him off his rhythm, by mixing things around and employing an unpredictable play pattern.

By winning this tournament, Djokovic denied Federer of celebrating his fiftieth career tournament win. For Djokovic, his win in Montreal may only be his sixth career title, but how sweet it must feel, coming on the back of dispatching the world’s top three players, to clinch it.

No less than Nadal had said that Djokovic could be the future number one in tennis. With his ability to perform spectacularly on the hard courts, Djokovic will have a shot at making his way to the top position come the US Open at the end of the month.

What a Wimbledon tournament this has been!

All that rain washing play out notwithstanding, tomorrow’s women’s singles final is going to be played by two players whose chances hadn’t been much-fancied — Venus Williams and France’s Marion Bartoli.

They are also the two women ranked the lowest to have reached the Wimbledon finals ever. And if 23th-seeded Venus wins, she could be the lowest-seeded player to win there.

Not that Venus is some fresh-faced newbie shaking up the tennis world — after all, she had won here three times before and is on track to add a fourth Wimbledon trophy. But Venus had been playing sparingly in the past year after being injury-plagued and distracted by other interests such as fashion and Hollywood.

The Williams sister that everyone had thought had the better chance of winning this year’s title, Serena, was stopped in the quarterfinals by her arch rival, Belgium’s Justine Henin.

But Bartoli could have made the quest for the crown to return to the Williams family easier by shocking everyone with her upset win over Henin.

Bartoli, though 18-seeded, showed no nerves in her first Wimbledon semi-finals and displayed grit by coming back from her 1-6 first set defeat to stun Henin by taking the next two sets, humiliating Henin in the third set by getting ahead 5-0. Henin’s only consolation was salvaging some pride by winning one game in the final set, to finish 1-6 against an ebullient Bartoli.

Venus, who is a lower seed and less favored, has blasted her way into her sixth Wimbledon final. Along the way, she had steamrolled players such as Russia’s Maria Sharapova and Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic.

There were no strong indications that Venus could’ve come as far as she did, with a good shot of winning the whole thing altogether. Venus was looking shaky in the first three rounds, against lower-ranked players like 59th-ranked Alla Kudryavtseva and 71st-placed Akiko Morigami.

But Venus suddenly displayed the fine form that showed why she had won at Wimbledon so many times before. In the round of 16, Venus totally annihilated Sharapova in straight sets. She continued her run in the quarterfinals, again wiping out Svetlana Kuznetsova easily.

Today, she took out rising star Ivanovic, who displayed flashes of brilliance but ultimately had no answer to Venus’ aggression and dominance. Williams broke Ivanovic twice early in the first set and never looked back after that. Ivanovic disappointed by crumbling again in a big match and although she fought back in the second set, she looks like she has to work harder on her mental game.

By far, Venus is the fastest-moving player on the women’s side, and along with her incredible power, self-confidence and will to regain her former glory, Venus will be a tough opponent for Bartoli to beat tomorrow.

On the man’s side of the game, the match of the day had to be between Marcos Baghdatis and Serbia’s other tennis star, Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is living up to the hype that he’s the man with the goods to win at Majors, when he not only endured a 5-hour match, he also overcame back pain. More importantly, Djokovic displayed tremendous tactical and strategic thinking in the fifth set to thwart Baghdatis.

Tomorrow, Djokovic must dig even deeper to face the awaiting Rafael Nadal, in a repeat of the French Open semifinals last month. It’s going to be tough, when he has played two preceding matches that lasted over four hours and five sets. But there’s no doubt that Djokovic is right up there with the best.