It’s important to play the warm up tournaments before slams, but how do we warm up for the warm ups? Exhibitions!

Rafa beat Fed in Abu Dhabi, 7-6, 7-6. There were no breaks of serve. I’m totally ok with this. Why? It doesn’t give any anything to talk about. So Rafa beat Fed in a couple of tiebreaks in an exhibition match, big deal. Some sort of epic three setter would have been moronic, and kind of a waste, no? Like having dessert before dinner. Or watching The Empire Strikes Back before A New Hope. That ain’t right.

Meanwhile, the new year kicked off in Australia in Perth. It rather predictably came down to the doubles after Justine beat Molik and Rusty beat some dude named Bemelmans (seriously, tennis players and their names). The hometown heroes pulled it out, however, in the super tiebreak, 10-8. Well done, old farts.

Kim and Caro took on each other somewhere too. One of them won. Yay. This is really just an opportunity to post an Obligatory Pic Of Kim Being Awesome®

Photos: Getty Images