Fri 25 Jan 2008
Just call it the Serbian Open. With three Serbs on both sides of the draw making the semis and now two advancing to each final, the 2008 Australian Open has officially been taken over by Serbia. So maybe it wasn’t a big shock that third seeded Novak Djokovic exacted a measure of revenge on the world’s best player Roger Federer with a semifinal upset earlier today in Melbourne- halting the Swiss Maestro’s 10 consecutive grand slam final appearances.
That the 20 year-old emerging star avenged his 2007 U.S. Open Final loss by eliminating Federer in the same straight sets was a surprise. That’s exactly how it went down at Rod Laver Arena where he fought back from 3-5 down in the opening set to earn a 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (5) huge victory over the 12-time slam champion whose chase of American Pete Sampras’ 14 slams was put on hold. “There’s some sort of a disappointment. But, you know, from the spirit, the way I fought, the way I tried, it’s all I could give, you know,” the disappointed three-time Australian Open winner lamented to the Associated Press at a postmatch press conference. “When you give a hundred per cent, you know, you’re sort of happy with your performance.”
“It can’t always go your way. I know that. I’ve won, many, many times when I didn’t expect myself to win. So tonight’s one of those nights where you’re a little bit disappointed. But it’s going to go over and I’m going to look forward to the rest of the year.”
For one thing, it sure makes this tennis year exciting. In terms of giving the men’s game some extra juice, this is exactly what the sport needed. An up and comer like Djokovic who hits the ball extremely hard, backs up a solid serve and is poised to finally breakthrough at a slam.
“I am just very amazed I coped with the pressure today,” the very pumped up Serbian expressed as he gets ready for the surprise of the tournament, unseeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga tomorrow.
“In the most important moments, I played my best tennis. It’s just amazing, indescribable, to beat the No. 1 player of the world, one of the best players this sport has ever had, in straight sets.”
The turning point of the match was when he broke Federer at 4-5 in the opening set coming back to take the final four games and capture the set. Amazingly, he would run off nine of the next 10 games building a commanding one set double break 5-1 lead before the 26 year-old from Switzlerland started to play better and forced Djokovic to serve out the second set. “We all know if I would have served it out the match would have been a bit different,” Federer pointed out. “Sure, he could have come back and still beaten me, but circumstances of would have been different. He wouldn’t have played that freely in the second set.”
“He usually doesn’t play that well. That was unfortunate for me. You know, I paid the price twice, not only losing the set, but also the second set. You know, I missed many opportunities the third set.”
“But, like I said, he came up with some great shots, some great serves, and, you know, saved himself that way.” Djokovic outslugged Federer from the baseline finishing with 50 winners- 12 better than the two-time defending champion. He also was able to draw an uncharacteristic 32 unforced errors from The Federer Express. So while he did commit the same amount of errors, he clearly went for more and did a better job converting his opportunities even outacing the popular champ 13-10.
“Well, yes, that was one of the positive facts, I think, in tonight’s match, I was able to deal with the pressure in the best possible way,” Djokovic noted after converting four of 11 break chances to his opponent’s two for nine. “And if you do that against the best player in the world, you know, you should get the positive outcome, which resulted of course with the win tonight.”
“I’m very happy that in crucial moments my serve was serving me, and it was probably my best element in the game tonight in the important moments. So it is a positive thing for the future.”
“I think he made the more important points today, it was a bit unfortunate for me,” said Federer. “There is no doubt I have played better before.”
Maybe the fact that he lost in straights for the first time since the 2004 French Open to former champ Gustavo Kuerten was what surprised so many. He has spoiled the tennis world with all of his success that we expect him to win these important matches. Then when someone like Djokovic comes around and beats him soundly, it certainly is eye opening. Federer had a perfect quote which summed up the disappointing loss quite well:
“I’ve created a monster that I need to win every tournament. “Still, the semifinals isn’t bad.”
For now, Djokovic versus Tsonga will have to do for all the marbles tomorrow in the men’s final. Either way, there shall be a first-time slam winner. Something which is very good for the sport and should make the next 11 months interesting.
Federer will be back. It should be a great year.
Sharapova-Ivanovic battle for women’s title tonight: It will be an all Eastern European women’s final later tonight when fifth seeded Russian Maria Sharapova gets ready to take on fourth seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic on ESPN2 at 9:30 ET/6:30 PT.
Both 20 year-old women have impressively reached the final seeking their first Aussie Open title. Sharapova ousted top seed Justine Henin in straight sets and injurd third seeded Jelena Jankovic also in straights to get here. It will be her second consecutive Australian Open Final as she looks to take that big step trying to avoid another disappointing result like last year’s blowout loss to 2007 winner Serena Williams.
Meanwhile, Ivanovic is seeking her first career slam after eliminating Venus Williams in straight sets and coming back to defeat ninth seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach her second slam final. She lost to Henin at last year’s French.
It will be a battle of 20 year-olds as Sharapova aims for her third different slam while Ivanovic goes for No.1.
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