(0.5 Kim Sears’ hair > Yours)

1. Murray Really Does Have It In Him It was always going to be a matter of when, not if, but after Djokovic’s career year last year, there was significant questions about Murray finally breaking through and winning that first slam.

He needed a bit of luck, as many champions do, but his ability to realize it was his moment in the fifth and shut down a tiring Djokovic was truly impressive. I think it would be silly to start getting carried away thinking Murray is a big favourite to win the Australian, but suddenly he looks a legitimate chance to win at least one of three major titles next year, and that is a refreshing change.

2. Serena Williams – Greatest Ever?* It was tedious to sit through people wonder out loud if Serena was the greatest player years ago, when her amount of major titles barely stacked up to the 22 of Steffi Graf. While now only at 15, *Serena can’t be considered the greatest in terms of results, but surely has to be considered the best in terms of pure objective power and ability. McEnroe noted that having missed so much time, there’s a legitimate chance she could play for several more years and not get tired. She might have that 22 number in the back of her head, and if she does, watch out.

3. Super Saturday Doesn’t Work Regardless of whether or not it actually rains on Saturday, loading up the end of the week with so many important matches is suicidal, and has provided us with five straight Monday finals, going back to Federer over Murray in 2008. (That was 2008? I feel old). If it rains Thursday or Friday, the entire thing is basically screwed. As I mentioned many times, the decision on this is largely due to ratings for TV, and it needs to stop.

4. Jo Needs A Coach. Bad. It’s no secret that I’m a big Jo fan. He has massive power, but he’s also pretty natural, has a crafty element to his game, and is quick around the court, particularly back to front. However, while being coachless for a while has allowed Jo to stop thinking and go hit the ball, his loss to Klizan is unacceptable for someone of his quality. Sort it out, dude.

5. Azarenka The First Legitimate Top Player of the New Generation While Caro was number one for some time, it has been her friend and mirror image Victoria Azarenka who has made the biggest surge for the upper levels of the game. The spoiled brat syndrome has all but been converted into a cool confidence (hashtag #Vikaswag please) that has pushed her to the next level of mental strength. Outside of Roland Garros, she has to be in the conversation to win any of the other major titles next year, and arguably had the second best year to only Serena.

6. There Is Still a Place for Crafty Fighters Maybe it’s come from their great success as a doubles team, but despite being no match for Serena, both Errani and partner Vinci made some impressive runs this US Open. As far as the women’s game has come with big hitters and big servers, they can still be prone to having their game break down, and players who really want to fight to the end can always have a chance on their day. Likewise, Vinci uses some mega slice on her backhand that throws off players who like it simple and flat. A lesson a lot of players could learn.

7. Delpo a Threat Again There wasn’t a whole lot between him and Djokovic, despite the close score. Quality over quantity (of sets won), my friends. This was always going to be an important year for del Potro to really push his game to get back to the top. Now ranked sixth and likely playing the World Tour Finals, JMDP is now setup to get some nice draws and push deep into the second weeks of slams. Get it, son.

8. Ivanovic Steadying the Ship – Slowly It’s hard to believe this was the former number 1s first slam quarterfinal since she last won one at the 2008 Roland Garros. I don’t need to remind Ana fans that it has been a pretty terrible fall from grace. Regardless, Ana appears to be figuring it out, and by that I mean finding that controlled, consistent aggression she once had. She can beat the players she should be beating. The ball toss and serving in general remains an issue, but the ground strokes and brain problems are really starting to find a happy medium, which is a positive sign heading to 2013.

9. Canada Looks Strong You know who I’m talking about. Filip Peliwo of course! The kid is on fire, and made all four junior slam finals this year, winning Wimbledon and the US Open. Junior success never automatically translates to senior success, but he seems to be a genuinely great kid as well as having a real controlled competitiveness to him. He’ll need to keep working, like any junior, to bulk up a bit, among other things, but he already looks like he has a bright future ahead of himself. Oh, and yeah, Milos had a great tournament, falling to Murray in the fourth round.

10. WTA Full of Impressive Youngsters Sloane Stephens equaled her 2011 fourth round result and Laura Robson matched it. These two ladies, YOUNG ladies, have tremendous attitudes and tremendous power. I’m absolutely convinced they have top 20 stuff, likely top 10, as they already impress and are no where near turning 20. Believe the hype, these kids are the real deal.

After a foot injury turned to a life threatening disease, Serena Williams missed her chance to return to the biggest stage of tennis and right the wrong that was her infamous shouting tirade on lineswoman Shino. She missed the chance to defend her Australian Open title, and missed Roland Garros too. Finally, she returned to Wimbledon in a wave of emotion that moved tennis fans everywhere. She was so happy to be there.

Truth be told, no one expected her to win that tournament, and she didn’t. That was fine. It was the calm before the storm, the trumpeting of the return of the “real” number one. The Queen was back, baby.

The stage was set all too perfectly. After casting out the number 1 Caroline Wozniacki like a heretic from the church of tennis nerddom, she was in the final. This wasn’t any final, however. Pushed back to Sunday because of the rain, it would take place on the 10th anniversary of September 11th in New York, happening at the same time as the triumphant return of the NFL’s first Sunday. It was all so American. All too perfect.

Her opponent would be Australian Samantha Stosur who she had dismantled in the Toronto final just weeks earlier, and had dismantled on many occasions before.

It wasn’t such smooth sailing, however. In many fans thirst for blood in the semifinal, they failed to see the chinks in the armour of Serena. She looked impatient at times, and missed easy shots. Her defense backed her up against an opponent seemingly incapable of hitting winners, and she was fine.

Stosur is not Wozniacki, however. She made her pay, keeping her off balance with her trademark kick serve, and punished the short balls down the line on the forehand wing when the opportunities presented themselves. She took the first set.

We as tennis fans didn’t jump to conclusions. It’s why they play the games, but it’s also why they play three sets. Serena would make errors, keep her calm with her trademark stretched left arm, palm-to-the-court “I’m not going to freak out” look. She would spank a couple winners, get fired up, gain her focus and composure, and her opponent would crumble under the weight of it all. It would be one way traffic from there, and the prophecy would be fulfilled.

If football is a game of inches, tennis is a game of milimetres. It’s also a game of milliseconds. After hitting that fateful forehand at the start of the second set, she yelled out a “come on!” before Sam got to the ball and lay a racquet to it. The point was rightly awarded to Stosur. It was one way traffic indeed, but the cars were on the wrong side of the road.

“You’re out of control. You’re totally out of control. You’re a hater, and you’re unattractive inside. Who would do such a thing? And I never complain. Wow. What a loser.” Just some of the deep insights that came out during the changeover.

Serena, rather sarcastically if you ask me, reflected after the match that she would have to check the rule book and thought obstruction was more like the “hat rule”, in that if you lose your hat, the point is called a let and you replay it. She was wrong.

Ironically, the tour has come under much scrutiny with the absence of Serena, Maria, Kim, and now permanently Justine in that many lower ranked players are able to make it deep into tournaments and in fact win them as the top seeds crumble and fall away. Sadly, despite Serena doing the same thing, Stosur rose to the occasion and took it, and not just in this match.

Her match versus Petrova was incredible (see my post below). The longest match in US Open history for the women, she dropped the second set, barely. But like what many of the top men do, frankly, they keep faith in that they were the better player on the court, stick to the game plan of staying aggressive and looking for openings, and wait it out on their way to victory, however slim it may be.

It was the same story in the next round as her and Kirilenko ground out one of the longest tiebreaks ever. While it would be lovely to say that winning it was a turning point for Stosur, that was not to be as Kirilenko took it 17-15. That was all fine and dandy for Stosur. She kept working, kept attacking, and smothered the exhausted Kirilenko and the train kept rolling.

When we look back at this tournament, it will be highlighted by the final, the return of Serena, and her inevitable frustration and fall. Really, it should be highlighted by those two fantastic, epic, historical matches that took place late at night on Louis Armstrong and the Grandstand respectfully. While the worlds’ eyes were elsewhere, a champion was forging the ground work for an historic run to the finish line.

It just wouldn’t be a Labour Day weekend without some drama after the sun goes down and the lights come on.

What was originally scheduled as the third match on Arthur Ashe was pushed all the way to a late start on the Grandstand as to avoid delaying the night session, and the fans were treated to some tennis dessert as Samantha Stosur took on Maria Kirilenko.

The first set was all Stosur from the beginning, dominating from the baseline off the forehand wing and troubling Kiri with her big kick serve. Kiri scratched out a hold and broke Sam serving for the set, but was then broken herself, and the set was over in a blink, 6-2.

From then on, MaKiri decided it was do our die, and it was a beautiful thing to see. Instead of trying to out hit Sam from the baseline, she took any and every opportunity she could to get to the net. This often meant taking short balls inside out on the forehand and pushing Sam to her weaker backhand side. It was textbook net rushing harkening back to the often used strategy of 20 years ago and more.

The greatest part, however, was that it was working. A wonderful doubles player in her own right, it didn’t matter if it was forehand, backhand, or right at her, Kiri had all the answers at the net.

After a grind of a set, it was off to a tiebreak, one that is now already partly legendary. Set points and match points saved abound, it was full of insane winners, long rallies, and missed opportunities. 32 points, and 17-15 to Kiri.

Jacked up on adrenaline, she came flying out of the gate in the third to hold at love and take a couple points off Sam’s serve. Two nights ago, Sam played the longest women’s match in US Open history against Petrova, where she served for the match in the second and blew the tiebreak. She kept calm on serve in the third and found a way to secure the only break of the final set at 5-6 to take the decider.

Not unlike two nights ago, Sam kept her cool. Something has to be said about both her mental strength and her fitness. It was pretty clear that Kiri’s adrenaline and level of play would not hold up all set, and like a vulture swooping in to claim its prey, Sam broke early and cruised to take the match as if the second set had never happened.

Make no doubt about it, Sam is playing incredibly well right now. The errors are there, and always will be when you play the way she does. The important thing is that she’s sticking to her game plan (kick serves, finding a way to the forehand, pushing out wide and staying patient) even when things get tough, but not playing stubborn enough to not make small adjustments (such as her approach to passing shots against Kiri, specifically the third set). Her past two matches have been insanely close, but her opponents have been on their game and they’ve deserved to be.

After a great run in Toronto, and now overcoming two difficult three set matches, Sam’s confidence has to be sky high. Up against Zvonareva in the quarters and then possibly the winner of Pennetta/Kerber, she might just be the favourite to make the final.

These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.

It’s been a weird summer for Maria Sharapova. After getting blown off the court in Toronto, literally and metaphorically, by a crafty youngster, she went on to win Cincinnati. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy, but above all, it was effective. At the end of the match she was the better player, and at the end of the tournament she was the best player.

Unfortunately for her, it was a fine balance, and this week the scales didn’t quite tip as she would have liked them.

“I made way too many unforced errors. I fought back to get myself back in the match in the third set. I think the first three, four games on every game I had a chance to win that game, whether it was a breakpoint or it was a game point on my serve, and I didn’t win those games.” “Um, I didn’t feel comfortable with most of my game today,” said Sharapova.

Make no doubt about it, there are always two players on the court. Pennetta was incredibly consistent today, and persistent. She also overcame a huge mental hurdle in the third set, when she blew two break points to go up 4-0 and eventually found herself back on serve.

” Well, I just starting to play not too much shots in the same position to try to move her a lot and try to let her run a lot, and I think it was working really good. All the time when she move on the forehand she have a little bit of problem; with the backhand she can do whatever she want. So also I starting to be really aggressive when she was serving. I try to just let her think too much and maybe make some double fault,” said Pennetta. Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s experience, maybe it’s luck, but getting Maria Sharapova to over think is a wonderful strategy, and it worked.

For Masha, it’s a match in a string of frustrating up and downs since her comeback from her shoulder injury. The ability is there, but the changes to the serve still haven’t quite worked out and one could argue the mental steel isn’t quite there either. After a double fault that brought up 0-30, 4-5 on her serve in the third she looked near tears. It was as if to say “no matter how hard I push back, I just can’t quite make it.” She lost that game and the match.

Luckily for Sharapova, her year is not over and she has a chance to return to Asia, where she found success last year, and the Year End Championships. ” I’m not really looking forward to a 14 hour flight in a couple of weeks. Yeah, the year is not over. We’ve still got I think I still have three tournaments to go or so. Yeah, once they come then it will be time to play again and raise my level. Until then, I just have to, you know, keep working in order for me to go out in the match and raise it.”

Photo: Getty

Official Site: Here
Draw: Here
Top Seeds: Wozniacki, Zvonareva, Sharapova, Azarenka, Li, Kvitova, Schiavone, Bartoli

Top Half, First Quarter

Initial Thoughts: The top quarter is always the top seeds to lose, and in this case, it is very much open for Wozniacki. Jarka, Kuz, and Dani all lurk in her eighth, with a smattering of other lower ranked, beatable players.

The second eighth is a different story. It is similarly underwhelming in overall quality, and on paper, it would be Nails/Petko in the round of 16. While the Chinese does have a habit of peaking for the majors, she’s had such a rough lead up, it’s really tough to know if that will be the case again. Even if she does get that far, I’m not sure I like her chances.

Look Out For… It’s happening today, so this is a tad late, but youngster Simona Halep has some solid game (especially when she can keep her head straight, which is rare) and takes on Nails Tuesday. That might get messy. Jie Zheng has also made a solid return to the tour, taking a set off Serena in Toronto and looking more than up to the task. A second round match-up with Petko could be a tricky one.

Predicted Quarterfinalists: Petkovic vs. Wozniacki

Top Half, Second Quarter

Initial Thoughts: This quarter is all about the possible third round match between Serena and Vika, one that looks very likely to happen. Azarenka has given Serena problems in the past, despite coming up rather short in Toronto. For me, her inability to adapt or mix it up in Toronto was a huge sticking point; it’s difficult to impossible to out hit Serena from the back of the court when she’s on. Regardless, that should be an intense, night time blockbuster match.

The flip side of the quarter, featuring Schiavone, Jankovic, MJMS, and Pavs is anyone’s guess.

Look Out For… Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. A tricky player in an open draw. We’ve seen players like this sneak their way through draws, either in Toronto or Cincy or in slams of the past couple years, and she might just be this tournament’s “huh?” quarterfinalist.

Predicted Quarterfinalists: VWilliams vs. Schiavone

Bottom Half, Top Quarter

Initial Thoughts: Having completed most of the matches in this quarter, I am cheating a bit, but the only real upset was Kvitova which, in all honesty, was not insanely surprising.

All eyes are on Sharapova in this quarter, who has looked rather shakey all hard court season, and did so in her first match, rather unsurprisingly. Luckily for her, the draw is kind. Filled with mostly players she can simply hit off the court, she should be fine making it to the quarters. With her draw and form of late, Radwanska should be an almost automatic pick to ninja her way to the quarters.

Look Out For… Shuai Peng is the very type of player that can cause Sharapova problems. She absorbs pace well, can mix it up and play great defense. There still has to be some doubts about her health, however.
Lucie Safarova is another one to keep an eye on, quietly having a solid summer and could cause Radwanska problems if they meet.

Predicted Quarterfinalists: Radwanska vs. Sharapova

Bottom Half, Bottom Quarter

Initial Thoughts: This quarter must be the strongest overall, without a doubt, and the one likely to cause the most upset and produce some of the best tennis. Unproven youngsters, up-and-comers, steely veterans, you name it, this quarter has it.

Lisicki/VWilliams, Stosur/Petrova, Robson/Zvonareva, you name it. Huge matches early on, and it only gets juicier as the seeds collide.

Look Out For… Youngsters McHale (who gets Bartoli) Falconi (vs. Cibulkova) and Robson (vs. AMG) are all in this quarter and all have opponents they could beat. As well as being a feast for “big babe” style lovers, this could also provide a few surprises as well.

Predicted Quarterfinalists: Lisicki vs. Stosur

Predicted Semifinals: SWilliams vs. Petkovic, Sharapova vs. Stosur
Final: SWilliams vs. Sharapova
Champion: Serena Williams

Stuff was generally pretty crazy in the month that followed Wimbledon which featured lots of random results. I also tried to figure what the hell hard courts are made of and the differences between the types. I also won P-Mac’s book which I’m about half way through and highly recommend.

The run up to the USO featured tons of fun stuff. Vika made quite a statement winning Stanford, Kuz and Nalby won some shiny vases. Ana started posting and did a damn fine job taking care of finals Sunday with Kim and Muzz. I went to Montreal and caught some practices and saw a top 5 WTA match of the year… that no one else saw.

Oh, and Delpo got Twitter.

The US Open was… well, generally speaking, kind of a mess. It did feature one crazy Fernando win as well as a gutsy Youz run. You know the rest.

The Good:

It would be easy to make fun of this guy… but I was basically doing the exact same thing, but minus the smoking and plus Rafa fist pumping. I even have that same kind of “woo-HOO!” phony cheer.

Easily one of the matches of the year, Nole saving match points against Fed in the US Open? After the general embarrassment that was last year? It was some serious heart that I didn’t think he had in him. Props, good sir.

The Bad:

Dick’s loss was… weird. Especially from where I was sitting (in the middle of a “capture the flag” game and frantically trying to keep up with my phone). He got all flustered by, guess what, a foot fault, after questioning the lineswoman about which foot it was. She unfortunately replied with the wrong foot… which of course isn’t entirely relevant because 1) the call was made and 2) that’s a bit of a scary question. Anyway, Janko played out of his eyeballs and the whole thing was apparently quite the mess.

The Ugly:

Vika’s collapse was something no one wants to see, and I’ll save Youtube linking it for that very reason. But if her wooziness against Serena at AO09 was tough to watch, this was about 10 times worse. HYDRATE, GIRL. AND EAT A BANANA.

The Hilarious: Rafa’s slam rum went from impressive to goofy.

During all 3 slams, I think it’s safe to say that he was never really in serious trouble and for most of them, was just cruising along and enjoying life. He now has the chance to achieve the “Rafa slam”, RG to AO. Yes, start getting used to it, because you’re going to be hearing about it for a few weeks.

He was The King of Clay. The unstoppable Spaniard… but only on the comfort of his lovable clay. Then he started doing well on grass. Could he really win it? Third time was the charm. But there would be no way he would win it on the hard courts, the bounces were too high, unlike clay and grass. Then he won the Australian. But there would be no way he could break through in New York. It was too fast after a tough summer swing.

Haters to the left.

The real hilarity of this story is that those criticisms weren’t hate. In fact, they were entirely fair. And for those who read the post below this, that’s the beauty of it.

Rafa has found a way to alter and improve his game for each surface and each major. The key being improve. Years ago, the idea of Rafa playing aggressively in New York behind the power of 135mph serves down the tee would have been hilarious. “Maybe you’re thinking of Andy Roddick?” Not anymore.

Nine slams, the seventh with the career slam, and the second with the career golden slam, and the most Masters tournament wins to boot. And what will get lost in this? The fact that he only dropped one set all faaaaacking tournament. Insanity.

He’s sealed up the number 1 rank going into 2011 and has over 10,000 points right now, an absolutely mind numbingly large amount. In fact, if Rafa only had RG, Wimby, and USO points… he’d be ranked third.

Well done, son. Take it easy until London, will ya?

RAFAEL NADAL: Well, because I always thought I always can keep improving. That’s why I am playing, to keep improving and to feel myself better player than before. I go to practice every day not to practice; I go to practice every day to try to learn something and to keep improving my level. I already won on hard, so that’s not nothing new for me to win on this surface. But the conditions in every tournament are different, and I need to have more options to do to try to win against difficult players like today.

Like in the past, I had a lot of problems against Youzhny in the past, because I was playing before two meters behind the baseline or three meters behind the baseline, all the balls higher with topspin, and he had always the chance to come inside. Now I can change the rhythm. I can play a slice backhand. I can serve, win a little bit more free points with the serve, and I can play more close to the baseline.
So the position on court improved, the slice backhand improved, and it was important shot for me to stop the rhythm of that player. For sure the forehand always was good. The true, I think I am more close to the baseline now.

I really don’t think enough is properly said about Rafa’s work ethic, and his practice routines. We’ve heard the Rafa cliches before, he gives everything on each point, he plays the match point by point, he goes 110% during practice… what does that all mean?

I can honestly say I’ve never seen Rafa practice live (though I have watched videos) but that really doesn’t matter. The key to his success lies in this fantastic quote. Does Rafa go 110% in practice? Sure. The important part is that he’s self-evaluating and improving.

It would be simply moronic for someone to go out and practice, emulate a match situation (or play as hard as during a match) and not be your own worst critic. It would be exhausting and get you very little, other than a rough workout. The real point is that Rafa (and Toni) knows what he needs to win. This is why he has improved his serve over the year, and took the risk of changing his serve grip two days before the tournament started.

It’s not all about hitting the ball harder, though. In his quote about Youz, you can see that Rafa is always preparing, thinking, and adapting. Which is why I hate it when people say that he plays every point hard regardless, goes point by point, etc. Not really. His improvement, changes, and intensity in practice are what help him stay calm under pressure and allow him to adapt during matches and set him up for success during matches. That means adapting to the surface, the opponent, and even the time in the match. Rafa doesn’t play every single point the same, regardless of when it is. That’s the whole point.

This may seem strange, but as a musician, this reminds me of a great Steve Vai quote, that went something like this. “Some people are born with great ears and feel for music, but have trouble naturally picking up instruments. Some pick up instruments quickly, but don’t have an inner ear at all. Others are just freaks and have both. For the rest of us, we have to practice these things.” Vai, being one of my favourite musicians, admitted that he had neither, and had to get good at things by practicing, and practicing a lot. And that quote always sticks in my head when I hear about Rafa practicing. Fed is one of those freaks. His natural talent is unparalleled. For Rafa, it’s about putting in the work. Hell, from the get go, he learned to play with his non-dominant hand.

So this post goes out to all the people who say “Rafa will never be able to play late into his career because of how he plays, and the strain he puts on his body”. Sure. But that’s what Rafa is all about, and he’s not stupid. It’s that strain and work that has put him in a position to win his ninth slam, third of the year, and complete the career slam.

Deja vu? Kim destroys another unworthy opponent in the US Open final and wins easily. Bepa plays amazing all tournament but can’t hold her own in the final. Another 2 set ladies’ slam final.

The good news? Kim is the greatest thing ever.

For all the detractors of women’s tennis or for their slam finals (or for Kim, if they somehow exist) the pictures of her and Jada should once again warm your heart into a soft, goopy mess.

Well done to Kim, though. Post-retirement, she’s become an absolute beast late in slams, as well in finals. Last night, she was prepared to pull the trigger on every single ball that came her way. It’s the stuff champions are made of.

Match of the year? I’m thinking yes.

It seemed like we were destined for a repeat of last year’s semifinal. Novak would get deep into sets, then collapse at the end of them. It sure seemed we well on our way for that after the first set, the third set, and even deep into the fifth set.

But there was something else at work. Nole showed he’s got some balls after all.

The second and fourth set were absolute textbook Novak tennis, and they were also great exhibitions on how to play Fed. Nole was pushing every single ball and taking nothing for granted. It kept Fed off his usual attacking game, and brought a ton of errors out of him too.

Of course, the most impressive part was Nole’s ability to save two match points with incredibly aggressive play. After the match he said that he closed his eyes and swung, and if it went in, good, if not… well, bloody hell, they went in, and you could never ask anyone to play better match points against Fed in a slam. By the end of the set, Novak rose up and took his break chance and served it out like a boss.

Say hello to number 2.