Australian Open Recap

 FEDERER AND WILLIAMS CROWNED IN MELBOURNE!

The King and Queen of Tennis prevail once again. Roger Federer and Serena Williams were simply amazing over the two weeks in Melbourne. The way they conducted themselves on and off the court makes them true champions in my eyes. Serena's hard fought victory over pocket rocket Justin Henin was her fifth Australian Open Title making her the most decorated Aussie Open champ (03,05,07,09,10). Federer also claimed his 16th grand slam title beating Andy Murray in the mens final in straight sets. 

How did my predictions go you may ask? I predicted for the Fed express to be right up amongst it and not to be too surprised if the genius wins it once again. TICK. I predicted Andy Murray would be right up there beating Rafa Nadal in the semi to make the final. TICK. Murray did not lie down in the final set, he could have thrown the towel in and cop an absolute beating but he had his chance at 5-3 serving for the third but crumbled giving Feds the chance to get back in the match. The tie breaker in the third set will be one that I'll remember for a long time. Many chances for both players to take the match, each allowing the other player right back in the contest. It seemed Federer had the jitters and Murray looked the goods to make it to the fourth but just couldn't find the open court a couple of times. My other prediction of Davydenko wasn't too far off, he took it to Federer in the quarter final winning the first set and sending all the fans into a panic. But it wasn't to be, as an angry Federer smashed his way through the next three sets. 

On the womens side I was wrong with Serena crumbling and succumbing to injury, she fought through her matches and was never really troubled, using her big serve to get her through the tournament. It looks as if she isn't trying at times and I wondered how she gets through her matches. I felt she should have been beaten by Azarenka but the pressure of beating the world number one in a grand slam got to the young girl and she crumbled while serving for the match not once but twice! I thought Serena's best game was against Sam Stosur, the way she served against the Aussie was nothing but absolutely brilliant. Sammy played one of her best games but just couldn't get a look in on her serve. CROSS. My second prediction was that of Elena Dementieva/Justin Henin. What a match that was! To watch two hard hitting females go at it was unreal, there was no holding back on any of the points and it left the fans standing and applauding at the matches end. With it looking as if Dementieva would take the tie breaker out Henin battled injury and cramps and hit some beautiful shots to take the match out. I felt as if Dementieva made some really poor decisions in that tie breaker and could easily have taken the match out if she ran Henin round a bit more. That drop shot was one of the worst decisions, but any player under pressure more than often does not come up with the goods.I predicted the match to be a blockbuster, hell yes it sure was. TICK. 

My favourite matches of the tournament were:

• Baghdatis vs Ferrer. Five setter, Baggy coming back from two sets down to win.
• Dementieva v Henin. Henin in two.
• Murray beating Nadal was great to watch, as was any time Andy Roddick gets beat!
• Great to see two Chinese women making the semi finals of an open. Na Li was unreal against Williams and pushed her to the death. 
• Hewitt smoking Baghdatis was great even though it was only for one set because Baghdatis is a cat...one question to all the Greek people who may read this, because he lost, do you still follow him or he is back to being a Cypriot?
• Tsonga v Djokovic was an unreal match. Those two hit the ball with such ferocity it was jaw dropping some of the shots that were played. Djokovic succumbing to a sickness but fought exceptionally hard in the latter part of the fourth set and early in the fifth before crumbling late in the fifth.

All in all a great open and I can't wait for the rest of the seasons tennis. I will definitely be booking my tickets for next years open that is for sure. See you then Melbourne.