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
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.
And don’t forget that there were a few other young guys that made some real noise at the year’s first grand slam. Remember Milos Raonic, Bernard Tomic and Alexander Dolgopolov - all young players that would manhandle Harrison right now. So good victory for Ryan but he needs to start thinking bigger than the likes of Donald Young as the three guys mentioned are his real competition.
Ratings Went Down...Under
Apparently the Australian TV ratings of the Aussie Open men’s final were down 42% from the previous year when Fed dusted Murray. Big deal? Nope. Andy Murray has the personality of a mop and people still think Djokovic is just a Dustin Diamond impersonator. On the other hand, the Clijsters and Li Na match did pretty well. Not a total surprise either as Australia loves Clijsters and as mentioned before, Li Na carries a posse of 1 billion strong.
Could the Davis Cup be Helpful?
Ever since Serbia started winning in Davis Cup, Djokovic has been on a tear. Since they won it all, he’s one grand slam under his belt and looks to be playing the best tennis of his life. This got me thinking - could Davis Cup have had the same affect on Djokovic as winning the gold medal had on the NBA players on the last US olympic b-ball team? While the Davis Cup is no Olympics, we know that Novak and his Serbian team took it very seriously and pushed each other to be great. They had something to prove and used each other to motivate and inspire themselves to victory much like the Olympic B-ball team did. In fact, Spain has kind of done this the previous two years as well. Both Nadal and Verdasco seemed to really enjoy the Davis Cup and having won it gave them this unique confidence. Hmm... could it would work with a Ryan Harrison, John Isner, Sam Querrey and Andy Roddick US team?
And don’t forget that there were a few other young guys that made some real noise at the year’s first grand slam. Remember Milos Raonic, Bernard Tomic and Alexander Dolgopolov - all young players that would manhandle Harrison right now. So good victory for Ryan but he needs to start thinking bigger than the likes of Donald Young as the three guys mentioned are his real competition.
Ratings Went Down...Under
Apparently the Australian TV ratings of the Aussie Open men’s final were down 42% from the previous year when Fed dusted Murray. Big deal? Nope. Andy Murray has the personality of a mop and people still think Djokovic is just a Dustin Diamond impersonator. On the other hand, the Clijsters and Li Na match did pretty well. Not a total surprise either as Australia loves Clijsters and as mentioned before, Li Na carries a posse of 1 billion strong.
Could the Davis Cup be Helpful?
Ever since Serbia started winning in Davis Cup, Djokovic has been on a tear. Since they won it all, he’s one grand slam under his belt and looks to be playing the best tennis of his life. This got me thinking - could Davis Cup have had the same affect on Djokovic as winning the gold medal had on the NBA players on the last US olympic b-ball team? While the Davis Cup is no Olympics, we know that Novak and his Serbian team took it very seriously and pushed each other to be great. They had something to prove and used each other to motivate and inspire themselves to victory much like the Olympic B-ball team did. In fact, Spain has kind of done this the previous two years as well. Both Nadal and Verdasco seemed to really enjoy the Davis Cup and having won it gave them this unique confidence. Hmm... could it would work with a Ryan Harrison, John Isner, Sam Querrey and Andy Roddick US team?
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