There had been a look in Novak Djokovic’s eyes since he battle Stan Wawrinka at the Australian Open, a look that since 2011 has been a sign of his determination and an indicator of the likely outcome of the tournament. Djokovic looked, despite the enormous amount of time he spent on court, like he was hungry for a third consecutive Australian Open title.
Andy Murray, his opponent in the final, looked unusually calm – a peace, and sense of direction that seemed to descend on the Scot after winning the Olympic gold medal and the US Open last year. For the first set of their final it looked like Murray was the one keeping a calm head and as though the weary Djokovic would be frustrated by his shoes slipping and his inability to convert break points. Read more »
Coming into his match with Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka had been in great form but few really anticipated that he would provide much resistance against Novak, let alone keep him on court for five hours and almost beat him.
Ultimately Novak won 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-7, 12-10 but Wawrinka is bound to now be a crowd favourite for years to come much the same way Fernando Verdasco became after his 2009 match against Rafael Nadal.
Wawrinka was simply impressive. He hammered 16 aces down compared to Djokovic’s 9 and didn’t serve a double fault until the fourth hour of the match. He punished 69 winners to 51 from Nole but was ultimately undone but his error count. Read more »
Italian number one Andreas Seppi sent his home crowd into a frenzy as he battled Stanislas Wawrinka. Seppi fought off six match points to win 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 in a match that stretched to 3 hours and 21 minutes.
Both dropped service games in the opening set before Stan thumped his way to a 7-1 lead to take the tiebreak and the first set. Read more »
Marcos Baghdatis harnessed his inner Marat Safin during his four set loss to Stan Wawrinka late last night. After going down a break of serve in the third set Marcos was so irritated that he smashed the living daylights out of his racket.
Casually Marcos then handed the impressively destroyed racket to the ball boy to throw out while he was sitting down at the change of ends. Still sitting Marcos grabbed another racket from his bag and smashed that and then grabbed two more rackets, one at a time, and smashed them too. The third and fourth rackets were still in their plastic bags.
Marcos might have loss the plot and the 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 match but he won out in terms of the fine handed down. The ITF have the power to fine players $2,000 US for abuse of a single racket but the Cypriot was only fined $800.
Meanwhile Donald Young, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gilles Simon were all fined $1, 500 for swearing while Fernando Verdasco was fined $2, 000 for being coached during his match.
Given that the swearing is generally not something the crowd can hear and that Marcos destroyed four rackets in full view of everyone maybe he should have received a more significant fine – especially when the umpire fining Verdasco said he had no idea what his coaches were actually saying to justify the fine.
Marcos would do well to remember that Marat Safin once had to withdraw from a tournament because he had smashed all his rackets and you only come into a tournament with about six or seven in your bag… Destroying four in one go is ridiculous because what happens if you some how win!
Donald Young has put some of the controversies of this season behind him and “became a man today,” according to Patrick McEnroe after he outlasted Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 in a match that lasted four hours and twenty minutes.
Young agreed with McEnroe’s statement saying, “I’ve grown a lot the last few years. I’ve learned from all those mistakes. Everybody’s light comes on at a different time, and I feel like mine’s coming on.” Read more »
Roger Federer seems to be enjoying life flying ‘under’ the radar. Federer’s never really under the radar but he’s about as under it as he has been in recent times and yet he pummeled Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 in just 90 minutes. Read more »
The Indian Wells mens doubles finals was an interesting match up. Alex Dolgopolov and Xavier Malisse were playing their first tournament together as a doubles couple. Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrinka were playing only their second ever tournament together, previously winning the Olympic gold medal in Beijing. Both duos had slayed some giant doubles teams along the way to the final but it was the Dolopolov and Malisse pairing that came out on top of the 6-4, 6-7, 10-7 match, slaying one last pair of big names. Read more »
Rafael Nadal has only ever won Indian Wells of odd years, last winning in 2009. If he wants to win this year he’s going to have to surpass the steam train that is Novak Djokovic. Since 2011 started Novak has beaten everyone, including Federer now three consecutive times, he has played. He has won every tournament he has played in. Now only the world number one stands between him and the best season start I ever remember seeing. Read more »
Richard Gasquet’s level of play can fluctuate at the best of times but he does have one of the most beautiful single handed backhands so I always enjoy watching his matches. Today he was outplayed by the on fire Novak Djokovic, the Serbian world number three winning 6-2, 6-4. Read more »
There had been a look in Novak Djokovic’s eyes since he battle Stan Wawrinka at the Australian Open, a look that since 2011 has been a sign of his determination and an indicator of the likely outcome of the tournament. Djokovic looked, despite the enormous amount of time he spent on court, like he was hungry for a third consecutive Australian Open title.
