Sports This Week – There is very little not to like about Australia. It is everything that the first world should be and more. What sets it apart is the mood of the people, friendly, positive, confident in the fact that their country is functioning like it should and the future is assured. All this is evident at Melbourne Park, where two of the greatest sporting sites are located. The iconic Melbourne Cricket ground on one side of the Yarra river and the Rod Laver Arena on the other.
Yet, the Arena is only a part of the entire complex that makes up the Australian Open facility. There is the HiSense arena, which is also covered as is the Laver arena. There is the Margaret Court Arena which engenders some of the best atmosphere of the tournament as the entry is open to general ticket holders and is always vibrant and noisy. This is also the location where Markos Baghdatis suffered a meltdown creating a record of sorts, destroying four perfectly good racquets during his match against Stan Wawrinka. At the end of this mayhem, Baghdatis looked up at his supporters with a sheepish grin and then proceeded to take the third set from Wawinka.
There is much that Maria Sharapova should be thankful for. Her father, Yuri Sharapov had sold everything and moved to Florida to train his young daughter under the eagle eye of Nick Bolletieri. It did not take her long to repay this trust, winning Wimbledon at seventeen years of age. Since then she has stayed in the top ten but the results have been harder to come by, a series of injuries hampering her. But her business empire has blossomed into a multimillion dollar empire. Her’s is one of the most highly sought after endorsements in tennis.
But to watch Sharapova play tennis is sheer torture. Every time she hits the ball, she let’s out a high pitched scream that must be disconcerting for her opponent. Worse still, the scream drowns out the sound of the ball impacting her racquet, something that is vital to her opponent in figuring out how hard she has hit the ball and how much spin is on it. The screamers will claim that this is their natural exhalation as they hit the ball, but surprisingly, they don’t scream when they are practicing.
Many old timers claim that these players are taking undue advantage and that this should be reined in. Martina Navratilova is one of those who think screaming borders on cheating and should be stopped. Certainly it takes away from the graceful spectacle that a tennis match is. It is however doubtful whether the authorities will take any steps that will upset the player hierarchy.
Novak Djokovic, on the other hand, plies his trade in complete silence, marked only by the squealing of his shoes on the Plexicuhion pavement. His opponent, Nicolas Mahut is the loser of the longest match in history, two years ago at Wimbledon. He is clearly overmatched as he is unable to serve and volley against Djokovic’s impenetrable defence. The competition ant the top of men’s tennis is so tough that it has engendered players with almost no weakness and with court speed and defence that has never been seen before. Djokovic is one such beast of a player, someone who made Rafael Nadal throw up his hands and say that he does not know how to beat him.
The only players with a chance against Djokovic would be the stroke players like Federer and Del Potro, players who can attack him and hit through the court.
Djokovic is scheduled to meet Andy Murray in the semifinals. Murray has added Ivan Lendl to his already extensive entourage in a bid to inculcate some backbone into his game. But it is Murray’s fragile temperament that is holding him back, something that invariably lets him down in the final stages of tournaments. Federer is scheduled to play Nadal in the semis and this should be another nervy contest as Federer has a mental block against his arch rival. Meanwhile, Djokoic continues his effortless dismantling of Mahut’s game, making hardly any unforced errors and serving with pace and accuracy. It was the serve that had impeded his progress to the top and once, in early 2011, he had fixed it, there was no stopping him. He remains the odds on favourite for the title.
Another player who has set the Australian Open alight is Bernard Tomic, the rising Australian. On the surface, Tomic has nothing outstanding in his repertoire, but he has great feel, mixing up the pace and spin of his shots. On Friday night, he had an epic battle with Dolgopolov, a Ukrainian who plays a similar style. Both used a delightful array of slices and spins, taking one back to the days when John McEnroe used to slice and dice his opponents into submission. But Tomic is no McEnroe and might never become one, unless he improves his serve and court movement. He certainly promises to be a contender at the major tennis events as does the talented Dolgopolov.
Aisam Qureshi is still in the men’s and mixed doubles draw. He has a quite winnable men’s doubles match against a Canadian-German team and should justify his number eight seeding by reaching the quarters in both events. One wanted to get his views on his prospects but a request for an interview was smoothly evaded. This was quite disappointing because this column has been one of his biggest supporters and he has been giving interviews to all and sundry at the venue.
