Final Chat: Sharapova vs. Azarenka
On Saturday, January 28 at 3:30 am EST, senior editor Richard Pagliaro will provide commentary and analysis of the women's final between Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.
Rafael Nadal Cried When He Injured His Knee
Poor old Rafael Nadal broke down to tears when he injured his knee before the Australian Open 2012. Its amazing what a few weeks can do and a shit load of pain killers!
“I explained that after my match on the first, what happened the Sunday before on my knee, something very strange,” he said. ”But that’s why, because Sunday afternoon, 24 hours to play my first match, I was in my room crying because I believe I didn’t had the chance to play Melbourne. So it was a very, very tough situation for me, these hours. Two weeks later I am here in the finals, so is a dream for me because having very bad expectations 24 hours before the first match, and now two weeks later I am playing well.”
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Djokovic edges Murray in five to reach final
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Novak Djokovic overcome his breathing problems and fatigue to beat his old friend Andy Murray in an almost five-hour Australian Open semifinal Friday night and move into his third straight Grand Slam final.
Standing between Djokovic and a record shared by some of the greatest players of all time will be No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal, a man he beat in six tournament finals in 2011.
Despite appearing tired and sore from the second set, Djokovic rallied to beat Murray 6-3, 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-1, 7-5 in a rematch of the 2011 final at Melbourne Park.
After wasting a chance to serve out the match at 5-3 in the fifth and letting Murray back into the contest, Djokovic cashed in his first match point when the Scottish player missed a forehand after four hours, 50 minutes.
“You have to find strength in those moments and energy, and that keeps you going,” he said. “At this level, very few points decide the winner.
“I think we both went through a physical crisis. You know, him at the fourth set, me all the way through the second and midway through the third. It was a very even match throughout, from the first to the last point.”
Djokovic dropped onto his back, fully laid out on the court. He got up and shook hands with Murray, before jogging back out onto the court like a boxer, dropping to his knees and crossing himself.
It was already after 12:30 a.m. Saturday when he got up again and pumped his arms triumphantly.
“Andy deserves the credit to come back from 2-5 down. He was fighting. I was fighting,” Djokovic said. “Not many words that can describe the feeling of the match.
“Evidently it was a physical match … it was one of the best matches I played. Emotionally and mentally it was equally hard.”
It was a bitter setback for Murray, who lost the previous two Australian finals.
Djokovic finished last year at No. 1 after winning three of the four majors, including a straight-sets win over Murray in the Australian final. His only loss at a Grand Slam in 2011 was against Roger Federer in the French Open semifinals.
It was phenomenal season after previously only winning one major—the 2008 Australian Open—and not returning to a final for 11 Grand Slams.
“To be honest, I think I matured as a player. I started to believe on the court I could win majors,” he said. “Rafa and Roger are the most dominant players for the last seven, eight years. … It was very hard to take away the titles from them. They will not give you the titles. You have to earn it.”
He is now aiming to be only the fifth man in the Open Era started in 1968 to win three straight majors—only Rod Laver, Pete Sampras, Federer and Nadal have achieved it before him, with only Laver going on to complete the Grand Slam by winning all four majors in a season.
The Australian great was in the arena named in his honor to watch Friday night’s semifinal, as he had been when 2009 Australian Open winner Nadal came back from a set and a break down to beat four-time champion Federer in four sets the previous night.
Djokovic’s 70-6 win-loss record in 2011 included those six wins over Nadal in finals—including Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
Both players had their form dips, but Djokovic’s were more obvious. He led by a set and a break before Murray started coming back at him. Then Djokovic started walking gingerly and appeared to be struggling for breath—just as he had been in his straights sets quarterfinal win over No. 5-ranked David Ferrer.
At one point, he pointed to his nose and seemed to indicated to his support group that he was having trouble breathing.
He stayed in the points, despite Murray scrambling and trying to get him involved in long rallies.
“You try to get energized in every way,” he said. “A lot of liquids, try to eat something, as well, that gives you energy.”
He put his breathing problems down to allergies, and said he’d seen a doctor for it.
After losing a tight tiebreaker and virtually conceding the fourth set, Murray rallied again after slipping behind 5-2 in the fifth. He broke Djokovic at love when the Serb was serving for the match on a three-game streak that put all the pressure back on the defending champion.
But Djokovic composed himself and seemed to be gathering energy as the match wore on. He held serve and then broke Murray to finish it off.
“I’m extremely delighted to be in the final,” Djokovic said. “What can be a bigger challenge than playing against Rafa Nadal, one of the greatest players ever.
“I’m going to try to recover. Obviously it’s going to be physical as well. So I need to do some push-ups tonight.”
Despite being friends and childhood rivals, this was only the second meeting between Djokovic and Murray at a Grand Slam. Djokovic beat Murray in the 2011 Australian final and had a 6-4 lead in their overall head-to-heads at tour level.
Murray won the Brisbane International and came into the semifinal on a 10-match winning streak and with new coach, eight-time major winner Ivan Lendl, in his support crew.
The blue-and-white crossed Scottish flags fluttered in the crowd, held by fans with the flag painted on their faces and some wearing their tartan Tam hats. The support was evenly split at Rod Laver Arena, encouraging both players in the tense final set.
The Maria Sharapova vs. Victoria Azarenka women’s final on Saturday night is being previewed in the local media as a battle of the two loudest grunters on the tour. Azarenka, who won the Sydney International title the weekend before the season’s first major, is bidding to continue her winning shriek.
Sharapova has won three majors, but none since the 2008 Australian Open. Azarenka will be playing her first Grand Slam final.
The winner will move to the top of the women’s rankings. Caroline Wozniacki, who came into the tournament as No. 1, will drop three places after her quarterfinal loss to 2011 champion Kim Clijsters.
Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva won the women’s doubles final on Friday with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 victory over the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau advanced to the mixed doubles final with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Indian pair Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi.
In the men’s doubles final Saturday, American twins Bob and Mike Bryan are aiming for a Grand Slam record 12th major when they take on Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek.
Murray upset with late-night drug testing
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP)—Andy Murray had just spent nearly five hours on court in an Australian Open semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic that ran past midnight.
Then he found out drug testers were looking for him.
"Just a bit annoyed ... I know the players go on about it a lot, but they've changed these rules with the drug test,'' Murray said. "I've just done the drug test, the urine test.''
But there was more—a blood test.
"They just told me I need to sit down for 30 minutes before I can give blood,'' Murray said. "I want to get out of here, so I'm annoyed with that, which on top of losing a match like that, it's really a frustrating thing to have to go through at 1:00 in the morning.''
It's not the first time Murray has criticized doping control officials.
At the 2009 U.S. Open, he complained when drug testers visited his Manhattan hotel room at 7:15 a.m. on a day off to test him.
He said at the same time that three days before Wimbledon that year, an anti-doping official came his house in Surrey near London after 9 p.m., even though he had put down 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. as his one-hour "slot'' to be available to drug testers that day.
"I just think it's a little bit in your face, the whole thing,'' Murray said then.
Andy Murray Choking Against Novak Djokovic in Australian Open 2012 Semifinal
I’m sitting here watching the Australian Open 2012 semifinal between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic and couldn’t really believe what I was seeing. Firstly, Andy Murray got off to a poor start but then he came back and just secured the third set, which put him ahead 2 sets to 1. However, in typical Murray fashion he has now been broken twice at the beginning of the fourth set and is down 4-0. Murray, why do I always expect you to choke in the big moments?
I really think whoever wins this match is going to lose in the final to Rafael Nadal. Nadal is just going to have way to much fight for either Murray or Djokovic.
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Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva Win Australian Open 2012 Womens Doubles
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva have women the Australian Open 2012 womens doubles over Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
“We were a last-moment sign-up for doubles and I think we were pretty good at it,” Kuznetsova said to the crowd at Rod Laver Arena after the match.
Russian Fed Cup team is looking very strong this year!
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Bernard Tomic: Its Like Ive Killed Somebody
Bernard Tomic just doesnt know why police are picking on him at home on the Gold Coast, Australia.
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This Aussie Open: so emo
There's been one heightened display of emotionalism after another at this Australian Open—David Nalbandian, anyone?—and just about every instance of it has been warranted. From lame line calls (or non-calls) to the crowd raining down boos after a sportsman's slight to the never-ending tizzy over the women's finalists' sound effects, just about everyone seems ... edgy.
This "Emotions of the Game" video highlights the best of that zest. Check it out:
Now for the Spin's favorite pieces of this clip:
0:08 — Marcos Baghdatis' serial killing of four racquets will go down as one of the most memorable visuals of this Grand Slam event. In truth, Baghdatis practically owns this entire clip. He certainly provides the percussion.
0:14 — Holy visor tanline, Vera Zvonareva!
0:21 — Ana Ivanovic is rather awkward at celebrating. It almost looks like she injures herself, or stumbles.
0:26 — A crazy-eyed Lleyton Hewitt, looking like he's just been bitten by the cobra that used to inspire his fist pump.
0:32 — Wow. Just how big is Rafael Nadal's left bicep? It's been obscured in recent years since his gravitation to sleeves, but it's quite perky these days.
1:02 — Forget his one-sided rumble with Tomas Berdych. Nicolas Almagro plays raging bull in this Aussie Open's best collision.
1:05 — You make your points, Sorana Cirstea and Nalby. The tennis world heard you loud and clear.
1:15 — There you go, Ana. Much better.
1:17 and 1:21 — Still, no one knows how to "Vamos!" and "Come on!" like Nadal and Maria Sharapova. (Any idea what she says in that last clip?) Just ruthless in this tournament, both. Next to no one has such relentless willpower.
Enjoy these finals, tennis fans. And, whether you're a Djokehead or a Rafanatic, whether you're firmly anti-grunting or fancy a good shriek, consider yourselves blessed.
—Jonathan Scott
Follow me on Twitter @jonscott9.
Ball Boy Makes Awesome Catch in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Australian Open Semifinal
During the Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal match last night the ball boy made a magical catch!
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- Final Chat: Sharapova vs. Azarenka
- Rafael Nadal Cried When He Injured His Knee
- Djokovic edges Murray in five to reach final
- Murray upset with late-night drug testing
- Andy Murray Choking Against Novak Djokovic in Australian Open 2012 Semifinal
- Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva Win Australian Open 2012 Womens Doubles
- Bernard Tomic: Its Like Ive Killed Somebody
- This Aussie Open: so emo
- Ball Boy Makes Awesome Catch in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal Australian Open Semifinal
- Murray thinks he’s closing gap with Big 3
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