How Good is Novak Djokovic?

Normally I would rip on Djokovic for pictures like this, but after breaking Nadal's 37 match clay court winning streak at the Madrid Open and extending his own streak to 34 straight wins, I can't say anything.

Djokovic deserves to wear whatever silly outfits and take whatever goofy pictures he wants because he is now "the man". We haven't had "a man" that isn't Nadal and Federer for about 8 years. Even throughout this entire year when Novak has dominated, I kept saying that once the clay season comes, he'll fizzle out a bit. That just isn't happening. Instead of acting like the fat kid whose breathing is affected by clay (which he has done many many times), he's acting like a genuine dirtballer. Actually, no - he's different than a regular dirtballer, because his strokes are still just as penetrating as they are on the hard courts.

I guess there's not much to say other than I'm completely blown away by Djokovic right now. He continues to exceed very high expectations and appears to only be getting better. At this rate, there's no reason he couldn't take the French Open and Wimbledon, which would leave his best surface at the US Open to finish off the Grand Slam. Do I think it's going happen? No - but at the same time, Djokovic has left me so unsure of how good he really is that I don't know what to think anymore.. with one exception, the French Open is going to be completely awesome.

Donald Young is a Big Chump

Yesterday, Donald Young lashed out against the USTA because they didn't give him a wild card into the French Open.

Young is best known for being an incredible teenage player but has really sucked it since joining the ATP. Unlike his buddy Sam Querrey, Young has never really pieced together any sort of clue as to how to win on the big stage but has been lucky enough to get into most big tournaments on the fact that the USTA wants him to succeed. And what does he do? He throws it in their face and whines about not getting into Roland Garros. Here's an idea Donald, how about you stop being such an underachiever and crack the top 70 for the first time in your career. If you win some matches against the big boys, then you can make a trip and lose in the first round of all the grand slams you could ever imagine.

Lessons Learned in Monte-Carlo

The Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Tournament is history, which means we have officially entered the clay court season and there's no turning back (except for American players who will skip most of the tournaments, opting to prepare for the French Open by playing on hard courts, therefore ensuring a very quick but painful exit at Roland Garros) With that being said, let's jump into what we learned this last week.

Andy Murray Isn't Dead
It looked bleak for Andy coming into the clay season and I declared him dead on last week's Culture Clash podcast. Well, he obviously was listening to my naysayer sentiments, because he perked up and put on an impressive showing in Monaco. Sure he didn't beat anyone of substance, but he can take pride knowing that he was the only player to take a set off Rafa. Not sure what's gotten into the lad, maybe he's tired of losing, maybe his energy is back because he's excited for the royal wedding or maybe it just shows us that Andy Murray is a complete enigma. Expectations form, Andy Murray has momentum and he'll flame out like there's no tomorrow. But when there are no expectations and the fans/tennis media have left him for dead, look out tennis world.

The Big Three Dominate

I've been talking a lot about up and comers (most notably Milos Raonic) and how they are helping to shape one of the most exciting times in men's tennis history. There's a lot of young blood with enormous potential and that's obviously always a great thing for a professional sport. But the fact of the matter is that when matches count and tournaments are on the line, the ATP is a three man show.

Djokovic's Commercial Doesn't Make Sense but is Awesome

Novak Djokovic is really embracing his superstar status well. He's even got the making of random, nonsensical commercials that turn out to be super cool down. Watch for yourself.

The Year of Djokovic Continues

Another tournament, another Novak Djokovic win. The Serbian is 18-0 this year and doesn't seem to be letting up for anyone. This BNP Paribas Open was particularly impressive as he cruised to the semi's by bageling his opponents left and right. When he looked up from the beatings he was giving, he found himself on a collision course to face Federer and Nadal on back to back days.

Where in the US is Mats Wilander?

Have you ever wondered what happens to a tennis great when his tour days are over? Agassi works hard to improve his school, Johnny Mac entertains tennis fans through his blunt but insightful commentary and Mats Wilander... he apparently makes house calls in his Winnebago to teach just about anyone how to play tennis.

I'm not sure what is most surprising from this article - it could be the fact that he has a Puerto Rican telephone number that people call to set up their own fantasy camp or maybe that he sleeps in parking lots and then the next morning gets up and runs old people through a drill called "the heart attack."

Whichever one it is, the whole story is an interesting look into one ex-athlete's life where he's decided not to take the conventional post-tennis cushy job. Mats Wilander loves tennis and he apparently loves to drive ridiculous distances to teach random people how to play tennis for significantly less than he's worth. That a boy Mats!

Djokovic Beats Federer, Wins Pirate Ship

The stage was set. Federer and Djokovic were going to duke it out again in a night time epic battle. On the one end, there was Djokovic who has been playing stellar tennis with his confidence at an all time. On the other end, there was Federer, a man who is sick and tired of being beaten up by Nole. In my eyes, this was it. He was going to stand up to the brash Serbian and show him why he’s mother f$#%$# Roger Federer... and then he lost 6-3, 6-3.

Querrey This - Sam Loses Again

While Milos Raonic is battling his way up the tennis rankings and performing at an all time best, the opposite is happening to Sam Querrey. If Raonic is climbing to the top, Sam just fell off the side.

Milos Raonic - The Next Big Thing?

Djokovic Won't be Number 1 This Year

What Tennis Can Learn From the Super Bowl

The Super Bowl took place two nights ago and drew over 111 million viewers in the US alone. As I was jamming my face with a variety of chips, dips, cookies and anything else remotely edible, I started to think, could professional tennis ever have its version of a Super Bowl?

Fuzzy Ball Random Thoughts

The week after the Australian Open and there's not a ton of important tennis going on. Less tennis opens the door for some random thinking, which I've decided to share below:

Think Bigger Ryan

As Novak Djokovic was celebrating his Australian Open title last Sunday, Ryan Harrison was hoisting his own, less impressive trophy after winning the Honolulu Challenger tournament. A win’s a win and he should feel pretty good about beating a few higher ranked players in Michael Russell and Ryan Sweeting. BUT, let’s not go nuts here - the reason he was playing in this tournament was because he got bounced from Australia immediately.

Djokovic Dominates Down Under

Before either one of them hit a ball or even retreated back to the baseline, it was clear Novak Djokovic was going to win. As the coin toss was taking place, Djokovic was grinning at Murray, clearly thinking about what he was about to do to him. Murray on the other hand looked like he had soiled himself. And so, the tone of the match was set.

If their stare down at the net wasn’t telling enough, Murray’s first service game went 15 minutes, before he managed to escape with a hold. While Murray hung in for most of the 1st set, Djokovic was clearly dictating play, ripping huge forehands that were landing inches away from all kinds of lines. Eventually, Djokovic broke at 4-4 and Murray was simply toast.

So what happened? Did Murray blow another grand slam final?

A Women's Final for the Ages

As I lay asleep tonight, millions of people will be watching the Australian Open Women’s final between Kim Clijsters and Li Na. Seems like a strange final, where are the Williams sisters, Henin, even Kuznetsova? This can’t be good for women’s tennis, right? Wrong. Besides maybe an all Williams sister final (these are actually really boring), this is one of the best things that has happened for women’s tennis in the last decade.

On the one hand, you have Clijsters - tennis’ darling who has our hearts because of her loveable loser history. While she’s cranked out a few US Open victories, we’re just not convinced that she’s comfortable on the big stage and we worry that she’ll let another chance slip through her fingers. A match with Clijsters means a match with emotions.

Then there’s Li Na - a perrenial contender who has consistently been nipping at the top player’s heels for the last few years. She can battle with the best the WTA has to offer nowadays and she’s afraid of nobody. Bigger than Li Na herself is the Chinese fanbase she represents.

Being a prominent athlete from China has huge implications for that sport and the league it’s involved with. We saw it with Yao Ming, how he single handedly opened up basketball in the country and provided the NBA with 300 million plus new fans. I love Belgian waffles and all but the country only has 10.8 million people. China’s 1.3 billion population eats Belgium for breakfast or maybe even a snack. If 1% of China starts to pay attention because of Li Na and gets into tennis, that’s all of Belgium.

So basically, it doesn’t matter who wins tonight. If Kim wins, that’s super. If Li Na wins, whoopidee doo. Either way, the WTA is getting millions of new people being introduced to the sport and the athletes associated with it. I’m no marketing expert, but that’s freaking priceless.

Men's Semis: Who Will Come Out on Top?

Week 1 Recap: Fear the Swede

Week 1 of the Australian Open is in the books. Aside from an entirely disappointing tournament from the American males and a bizarre 7 point retirement from Venus Williams, the cards have fallen pretty much where they should have. With that being said, here’s my take on the past week:

Bernard Tomic Impresses 
Hewitt was ousted and Australia’s attention shifted to their next best hope, 18 year old Bernard Tomic. What did he do? He decisively handled Jeremy Chardy and Feliciano Lopez, two solid players with loads of grand slam experience. Needless to say, I was impressed. While he got manhandled by Nadal in the next round, Tomic’s confidence should be at an all time high and with a few more tournaments and matches under his belt, I’d say his future looks bright.

Sharapova gets Crushed
A few years ago, Sharapova was on top of the tour and it looked like she might have a dominant several year run in her. Not so much the case nowadays. Whether it’s injuries or going home to the greasiest basketball player in the NBA, she’s not the same as she was. Can you imagine what would happen if her current form was playing a few years ago with a the Williams sisters in their prime? Let’s just say that she likely would not have as many endorsement deals.  Bottom line: If things don’t dramatically change, she can’t win and she won’t win anything important ever again.

Wawrinka Rolls On
Stanislasaslaslas Wawrinka just ate America’s last hope for breakfast. In dominant fashion, he steamrolled Andy Roddick and did the same thing to Gael Monfils the round before. And yet nobody is talking about him!! Well I see you Wawrinka and I see what you are doing to your colleagues and it scares me. Federer is up next and if he doesn’t bring his fightin pants to the match, he could be in real trouble.

Clijsters Declares Safina DOA
I’ll make this shorts because it’s sad. On day 1, Clijsters basically suggested that former #1 Dinara Safina should find a new job by dismantling her 6-0, 6-0 in 44 minutes.

Soderling Cruising Quietly
Robin Soderling is flying under the radar and couldn’t be happier. Nobody is talking about him, nobody is paying attention to him and barring any major catastrophe, he will face Andy Murray in the quarters. Two things - 1) Murray embarassed Soderling at the year end championship, don’t think Soderling won’t remember that. 2) The Australian Open is a breeding ground for the unexpected. Bagdhatis and Tsonga’s improbable runs to the finals, Murray’s last year and of course Djokovic’s only grand slam win. Don’t be surprised if we have another one this year with Soderling.

Federer Breaks Record

With his 6-3, 6-3, 6-1, victory over Belgian Xavier Malisse, Roger Federer set the record for wins at the Austrailian Open with 57 breaking Stephan Edberg's record of 56. Always the gentlemen, Fed praised Edburg and even calling him 'his idol'.

"It's very nice, but he still stays my idol."

Listen Roger, we know your the nicest guy in the world, that Edberg's good looks rival the likes of Prince, and that you probably had a subscription to 'Bravo' growing up, but for once can you be honest and admit that everyone else sucks at tennis? Edburg is NOT your idol, YOU should be your idol, because you are the greatest tennis player ever. We all know it, Steph knows it, so stop pretending you don't know it too.

Props to CNN for the story
and Cover Browser for the pic.

VENUS DONE-SAUCE AFTER JUST 7 POINTS.

Breaking News: Venus Williams retires after just 7 points in this years Australian Open. She re-injured a leg injury she was playing with after lunging for a ball. While 7 points makes for an awfully short afternoon, its important to note that Venus has NEVER withdrawn from a grand-slam singles event before, so back off. Plus, wearing an elegant diamond-studded unitard, she played 7 of the most beautiful points of the tournament.

Australia Open: Day 1 Recap

Why is Australia so freaking far in the future? Whatever the reason is, it means the Australia Open started... yesterday. So let’s recap day 1:

On the women’s side: There were no upsets. Venus and Wozniacki took care of business and everyone else fell in line.

On the men’s side:
Impressive: I was most impressed with Gael Monfils and Mardy Fish. Each guy had an incredibly tough first round opponent in Thiemo De Bakker and Victor Hanescu respectively. Despite being the favorite and falling down 2 quick sets, each of these guys hung in there and won in 5. This bodes well for both of them as they should now be able to relax and hopefully realize that they are as good as their rankings.

Big Letdowns: In typical Nikolay Davydenko fashion, he blew it. Despite just having played a great tournament in Qatar, he lost all momentum by getting chewed up by Florian Mayer. Mayer is a solid player and tough first round opponent but if Davydenko was half as good as he should be, Mayer would be packing his bags.

Even more disappointing was Sam Querrey’s loss to Lukasz Kubot in five sets. This one leaves me totally confused. As Querrey is getting more experience under his belt, he should be improving, right? He should be a lock to at least get to the 3rd round, right? Well apparently not. It almost seems like the more he plays, the more he regresses. For whatever reason, Sam hasn’t figured out how to just beat up on the people that are less talented than he is and until he gets that mean streak, I’m not sure we’ll see him win anything meaningful.

Not so much a disappointment but a bummer was Ryan Harrison’s first round exit. I didn’t really have any expectations for him at this year’s Aussie Open but I was hoping he would make a little noise by winning his first match or at least going down fighting. While it seems like he’s still really young, this year is a big one for him. If he can win a few good matches, he’ll gain confidence and that will go a long way. If he wins little, he could turn into another Donald Young and that would just make me sad.

That’s it for my first day wrap up. More to come soon...

2011 ATP Predictions: More Nadal/Fed, Less Anyone Else

Before the Australian Open gets under way, I have a few questions and bold predictions for 2011 I’d like to get off my chest:

Is Juan Del Potro the Greg Oden of the ATP?
Arguably the most exciting tennis player not named Federer and Nadal, Del Potro was injured pretty much all of last year. He missed tennis and tennis missed him big time. So the the big question is, will Del Potro get back to his old form and will he contend for grand slams? The answer... I think so. Don’t expect him to win the Australian Open, but after a few months of getting back into his routine, I fully expect Del Potro to be closing in on the top 10. By the end of the year, he’ll be back in the top 8 and scary as crap for anyone that plays him.

How Go the Americans?
Querrey and Isner are a year older, wiser maybe but I think they max out at around being the 20th best in the world. They could reach a few Grand Slam QF’s, maybe even a SF but aren’t likely to win anything huge. Ryan Harrison should be fun to watch as he becomes a regular on the tour but he’ll need at least another year or two to fully blossom. As for Roddick, I actually think he’s going to have a good year. Last year, he was riddled with mono, injuries, getting married and he just couldn’t come up with anything big... but he still ended the year in the top 8. While I don’t think he can consistently keep up with the top 5 players, he has two huge weapons that will win him some tournaments. Expect to see him in some SF’s and maybe even a Grand Slam final this year.

Who will step up?
The answer in short... no one. Soderling has shown he is dangerous at the French and Wimbledon but I can’t really see him exceeding last year’s results. As for Andy Murray, I want off the roller coaster. For a few years now, he’s failed to live up to the hype and I don’t really see this year being any different. He’ll have his ups but he’ll have his downs, and that’s about it. Djokovic has the best chance to break out because he might be the only player that thinks he is better than Nadal and Federer. Let me repeat that, he thinks he’s better than them. A lot of players think they can compete and maybe win a match or two throughout the year, but I honestly think he thinks he’s consistently better than the two of them and that might just be the difference between losing in the semi’s and winning another grand slam.

Will the Federer and Nadal rivalry continue?
Yep. 2010 wasn’t the best year for the rivalry but each player in their own way made significant strides that points to a slew of battles throughout the year. Nadal proved he can stay somewhat healthy by managing his schedule better and Fed recently decided that losing sucks so he has decided to stop doing it. Barring any strange occurrences or catastrophes, I think these guys meet in at least 2 grand slam finals.

Federer Dominates Davydenko to Win Qatar Open