No Joke, No Choke: Jokester Djokovic Is New Tennis Jock

The talk has been going around for some time that Novak Djokovic would be the new It guy in tennis. Even he's been saying it. Then last summer, a decisive win over Federer had folks saying it was inevitable: Djokovic would one day win a Grand Slam. Federer's days of total domination were over.
Only noone sent Federer that memo at the end of last summer, as he won another U.S. Open. Going into this year's Australian, there was every reason to think that the Fed would win again. So what if he'd been injured and not playing much, as I think maybe I recall was the case? Except that, unlike some losers, Federer didn't get on a megaphone after he lost and shout this as loudly as he could above the fan's applause, much to his credit. Sometimes how you lose counts more than how you win.
Of course all this talk about Djokovic inevitably winning a Grand Slam wasn't inevitable until it actually happened, which it did Down Under at the 2008 Australian Open. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for one didn't think Djokovic winning a Grand Slam was inevitable, not in the first set anyway. But then, Djokovic turned things around. How exactly? How the heck would I know since it broadcast at 3:30 in the morning Eastern U.S. time? I will find out like every other tennis fan int he States when it rebroadcasts this afternoon.
I'm guessing that the key was Djokovic's awesome imitation of Australian Open champ Sharapova.

Sharapova Destroys Ana

Without dropping a single set the entire tournament, Maria Sharapova ran through Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 6-3 to win the 2008 Australian Open singles championship.
At age 20, Sharapova is just one Grand Slam championship away from a career Grand Slam, a phenomenal accomplishment by itself that only three other women in the women singles' draw (Serena, Henin, Davenport) have accomplished their entire careers.
Only two women have achieved won career Grand Slams (that is all four Grand Slam singles titles) since Steffi Graf won a Grand Slam in one calendar year (actually a Golden Slam with her Olympic win in the same year, 1988). The first was Steffi Graf, who won the equivalent of two more career Grand Slams after her Golden Slam. And then there was, of course the Serena Slam.
But now Maria's just one step away from joining that elite duo. And wouldn't she like to make it a crowd at three by adding a fourth Grand Slam title--the very next event in fact--the French Open (or, as the French refer to it, Roland-Garros). Unlike Davenport, who must be feeling better about her second-round loss this year after Sharapova's tremendous run, there seems little reason to think Sharapova can't one day win Roland-Garros after the way she played here, dismantling the world's best clay court player, Justine Henin, with startling ease in the quarterfinal before advancing to and prevailing in the final.
And this time, when Sharapova lifted the trophy, the lid to the top of it didn't even fall off, as it did when she won at the U.S. Open--a most auspicious sign.
There may be more than corny puns in the making between Sharapova and Ivanovic. Could another rivalry along the lines of Evert and Navratilova, Graf and Seles or Venus and Serena be on the horizon?
Ana certainly had her moments against Sharapova, despite collapsing at the end of the second set. Not everyone wins their first and second Grand Slam finals, as Sharapova did.
Maybe the third time, as there almost certainly will be for Ivanovic, really will be the charm. But she may discover that she'll have to play the tough points better against someone who is amassing a gaudy Grand Slam record and defend her weaker backhand side much better, as Steffi Graf did in such unforgettable style. Ivanovic doesn't seem to have that extra, unheralded stroke so many great champions have and that Graf had in spades: footspeed.
Sharapova doesn't either, but that hasn't kept her from trouncing the fleet Jankovic in the semi-finals. With a gaudy record of three championships out of the four Grand Slam finals that she's been in, it's Sharapova is winning the race among her generation to the Grand Slam singles titles on sheer guts.
Some may think she's icy. Some may think her "Come Ons," particularly when her opponents dump balls in the net, are completely over the top.
But even if she doesn't ever have the chance to draw a heart in the clay the way Gustavo Kuerton so memorably did after one of his French Open titles, Sharapova's game is all about heart.

Men's Event Returns to Professional Tennis

In case you have noticed, for years there have been two singles draws: the women's and the Federer's. Finally, finally, finalllllllly that changed at the 2008 Australian Open, where Novak Djokovic lived up to his huge potential by defeating the man who, due to his outrageous talent, has made men's tennis more predictable than the drying of wet paint. Is it Djokovic's turn to make men's tennis every bit as dull, only with his name swapped in where Roger Federer's once was?
I doubt it, not with fast-rising talent like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
So, Tsonga already is 22, which among the professional women's tennis players often seems to be about the time when stars start to wane and retirement is not that far off on the horizon--at least a first retirement, as with Hingis or Clijsters. The men seem to hit their stride a little later, as was even the case with Federer, who won his first Grand Slam singles title when he was almost 22.
Tsonga played one Grand Slam in 2005 and three in 2007, which means that, he has, effectively, completed one Grand Slam season. And here he is already in the finals of a major, taking apart in this years 2008 Australian Open semi-finals a player as talented (and gorgeous) as Rafa Nadal. The future looks very bright for Tsonga indeed and, consequently, men's tennis, which might not be quite as predictably Djokovic's as it seemed destined to be last summer. Might the men's event turn into Tsonga's instead of Djokovic's? One almost hopes so after seeing pictures of an insanely pumped-up Djokovic after his victory over Federer.
The women's side for years and years was the dull one. You could practically just write in Evert's name or Navratilova's or Graf''s or Seles' or Graf's again or Hingis' as the victor almost before the tournament started. But for years women's tennis has been the unpredictable side and, consequently, the more interesting event.
Maria Sharapova, who may seem like she's been on the tour for 100 years even though she's only 20, seems intent on making the women's side of the draw significantly more predictable again. The only problem she has had so far in this year's 2008 Australian Open has been with her father, whose ungracious off-with-her-throat gesture after Sharapova's dismantling of professional excuse-maker Justine Henin was about as subtle as a freight train. I can't help wonder if Maria ever is going to distance herself from him. Even if her tennis suffered, doesn't it seem like her life might be a little more, well, chilled?
For years Ana Ivanovic has seemed as chilled as that ultimate laid-back dude on the court, Roger Federer. Up until recently, the Fed seemed to just kind of cruise in, win, without barely a peep, take the trophy home, wave, smile and that was it folks. Ivanovic has pointed to Fed as proof that you can be nice and a winner. (Winner doesn't seem like an adequate word for Federer, despite this year's loss at the Australian Open. But there you have it, the inadequacy of language when compared to the artistry of a tennis player of his caliber.)
This year though, Ivanovic apparently watched much of Sharapova's win against Henin and was inspired by it. Ivanovic increasingly looks like a Sharapova protege, with her back facing the other player as quickly as possible after points, staring at her strings like they are the very embodiment of the tennis gods, which I suppose, in a sense, they are, and peppering winners with obnoxious little "Come Ons," Lleyton Hewitt's legacy for the sport.
Maybe one day that phrase's utterance, every bit as boring and predictable as Federer's victories at Grand Slams used to be, also will be defeated.

Surprise Semifinalists Heat Up Australian Open

Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova turned one half of the 2008 Australian Open into a Nick Bollettieri alum event Down Under, upending favorites Serena Williams and Justine Henin respectively.
But not so respectfully.
Neither player had a lot of respect from the popular press going into the match. Common wisdom was that Henin would continue her recent Grand Slam domination and that Serena was well on her way to the finals to defend her Australian Open championship last year.
After all, Jankovic hardly looked like she was in top form in her first round thriller against Pazcek, a match that the tennis gods somehow handed to Jankovic despite her appalling serving. Apparently though, Jankovic doesn't like to practice and plays in tournaments in order to sharpen her game. Real professional, right?!
And her game indeed was looking much more finely honed by the time she reached the quarterfinals against Serena, whose movement seemed iffy right from the very start. It was the first thing that I noticed about her: Serena was not bouncing up and down and was flat-footed on the court from the very first ball.
Jankovic has been riddled with injuries too and called for an injury time-out late in the second set. Despite the match threatening to look like a limp to the finish, both players periodically were hitting the fool out of the ball and Jankovic's legendary defense prevailed. It was, in some ways, the match of Jankovic's life and suggests just how good she might be if she ever got really serious about the sport and, apart from tournaments, really practiced.
Sharapova's will to win has never been in question. She has more fight in her than just about half the rest of the field. But a 6-0 win in the second set against Henin?! As Sharapova so frequently would put it, "Come on!"
Both Sharapova and Jankovic may not be able to keep themselves from takig at least some note of a certain player in the other half of the draw who often plays some of her best tennis when her baby sister gets defeated. Venus may be seeded eighth and never finished better than a finalist here, but in a significantly weakened bottom half of the draw and with two of the opponents with the best records against her out of the tournament, Venus' chances of picking up her first Australian Championship have brightened considerably.
Of course Ana Ivanovic can't be counted out. She's already been in Grand Slam quarters three times before in her fledgling career, so the occasion shouldn't overwhelm her. And her laidback personality may really shine before the Aussie tennis crowd.
Daniela Hantuchova was every bit as promising a looking player five years ago when she first reached the Australian quarterfinals as Ivanovic is right now. One of the nicest story's from this year's Australian Open has been Hantuchova's return to a Grand Slam quarterfinal match for the first time in five years. She's quietly gotten her game back together and back in Top 10 form. The Australian Open isn't likely to turn out to be the charmed venue for Hantuchova the way Indian Wells has turned out to be, but then again, who would have predicted Sharapova and Jankovic would make there way through to play each other in the semi-finals? Certainly not me.
Hantuchova has what may seem, at least by the seedings and rankings, to be a golden opportunity to make it to her first Grand Slam singles semifinal ever, which would be an even nicer comeback story for her indeed! But then, rankings and seedings often don't tell the whole story. The main strength of young Agnieszka Radwanska, Hantuchova's quarterfinal opponent, has always been Hantchova's Achilles' heel: mental toughness. Plus, Hantuchova's movement has always been suspect, along with her fight.
Not so with Radwanska, who beat the #2 seed Sharapova at last year's U.S. Open and also knocked the #2 seed, Svetlana Kutznetsova, out of this year's Australian draw before marching past the enormously talented Nadia Petrova, not at present likely to be anyone's role model when it comes to mental toughness. Add to that the fact that Radwanska beat Hantuchova the last time the two played, as Hantuchova was quick to point out in her interview after advancing to the quarters, and this may be another instance where the lower seed looks like the favorite to me.
Radwanska looks like she expects to win and utterly composed on the court. That expectation and composure may be enough, if Hantuchova can't keep her nerves in check and starts spraying balls the way she so often does.
But who knows? Serena was the lower seed against Jankovic and I thought Jankovic had little chance of beating her. One of the pleasures of tennis is that each time you step out on the court the history books may be completely rewritten. It offers second, third, fourth and quarterfinal round chances. And as I write this, Hantuchova is up 3-1 in the first set.
Soon we'll know whether it is, in fact, the year for even more Australian Open upsets.

Yet Again, Venus Is the Bomb

So her new hair-do makes her resemble some severe-looking homemaker more than one a tennis legend in the making, but so often the appearances of Venus Williams are deceiving. Her calm poker face, easygoing interviewing style and completely new look and fashion statements at each Grand Slam don't seem like the makings of an extremely competitive and shrewd conqueror. Sure, her latest get-up makes her a little shrewish, a little beyond categorizing, a little unrecognizable.
Anonymity seems to be something Venus Williams thrives on. Let Serena step into the spotlight while Venus achieves the rare feat among professional players of earning a college degree in her spare time, as she did at the end of last year. Let Maria Sharapova make gazillions off her one Wimbledon championship and one U.S. Open victory, while Venus quietly marches ahead with her four Wimbledons and two other Grand Slams. Let the commentators go on and on and on and on (will they ever shut up about it?) about Jenin Hardin's divorce and Lindsey Davenport's baby and barely a peep go out about Venus' engagement. Let the commentators act like winning Wimbledon and no other Grand Slam in recent years is some high crime instead of noting the incredible longevity of Venus' career: now spanning almost as wide as her famed reach at the net from her first singles Grand Slam victory in 2000 to her most recent one last year. Venus' record is nothing short of gaudy, and yet somehow she still slips below the radar. Maybe she likes it that way.
Let the tennis critics pick apart her game in the most condescending voices, like surely she most know better than to hit forehands in the net or go for the outrageous angles that have, when her game (far riskier than Steffi Graf's ever was) is on has won her piles of trophies. Where does she put all of them?
Hiccups? Sure, Venus Williams' career has had plenty of them. Her workmanklike, uninspired 7-5, 6-4 win over Camille Pin in the second round of the 2008 Australian Open wasn't exactly one of her shining moments.
But did you happen to notice how Venus fought through and found answers where there didn't at first seem to be any? The way she won when she wasn't playing in top form? And her characteristically brisk closing out of the match once she finally got the momentum?
Raw talent is a phrase that so often gets bandied about with the Williams sisters. But you don't win tennis matches on talent alone. It takes quick thinking, not just quick short steps, to become a champion, and Venus showed what an able strategist she is out on the court against Pin, running Pin from side to side to side and then figuring out that she could tire her out that way and finally nail a cross-court backhand or, when Venus finally started really moving forward and playing more positively, at the net.
Yes, Venus has been written off as in her twilight plenty of times and come back to surprise people with her amazing runs at Wimbledon. But at 28 later this year, you can't help but think Venus at some point really will be in the twilight of her professional career. Maybe even now. So is it OK to get a little sentimental when she steps out on the court?
Venus' steelly resolve on the court would suggest, absolutely not!

Bad Loss for Pazcek

Victory against third seed Jelena Jankovic in the first round of the 2008 Australian Open was on Tamira Pazcek's strings more than once in their three-set thriller before one of them finally held serve and won the final set 12-10. There was that time on one of her match points that Pazcek had the court wide open and her best shot, a cross-court backhand before her and managed to hit it out.

All credit to Jankovic for hanging in there, but Pazcek completely psyched herself out. Sure, Pazcek appears to be in awful shape. She looks much like Navratilova in the 1970s. With her pot belly and a dress that accentuates it, you can't help but wonder exactly how many donuts she had before she stepped out on the court. It's like she has a will to lose to be so out of shape on the pro circuit when she has so much else going for her.

Up 4-1 in the third, I was wondering, exactly how many Grand Slams might this kid, one of the wonder kids who surprised the field by getting through to last year's fourth round of the U.S. Open, win if she got into better shape. Then Jankovic broke. Then Jankovic held serve. Then Pazcek held serve and was up 5-3.

So, Pazcek was understandably nervous. But still, she was hitting wonderfully from the baseline, running around forehands to hit her beautiful backhand.

Jankovic wouldn't go away though. She's nothing if not gutsy. And all about the defense. Suddenly, it was 5-4, then 5-5. And then neither player could hold serve. For 10 games. 10!

Both players called injury time outs. Both players had plenty of chances and choked again and again and served terribly. The match turned ugly, complete with both players asking for injury time outs and lots of dramatic gestures by Jankovic to her ailing back.

Ultimately, the biggest choker was Pazcek. I honestly think her groundstrokes are fundamentally much better than Jankovic's. But between the ears, Jankovic proved herself far steadier. She looked across the net every now and then with this expression of, can I really still be in this match? And, no matter what the score, Jankovic seemed calm. Like no big deal. She didn't want to win too much.

Not so with Pazcek, who looked positively freaked out by the situation and obviously wanted to win it way too much.

There's someone else on tour known for her backhand and who used to be known for an inability to close out big, close matches. She just happens to be number one in the world: Justine Henin. If Pazcek can show the same dedication to the sport and herself that Henin has, there's nothing to stop her from reaching not just the top ten, but the very top.

But first, she'll need to learn how to hit winners when they're right there before her, not double-fault away matches, not mess up clear winners and, in short, not be her own worst enemy.