Murray, down but not out

Andy Murray may one day hoist a Grand Slam trophy, but his reticence in the Australian Open final demonstrated that Murray is still most comfortable defending and playing the game of forced errors. It's difficult to imagine Andy Murray winning the French Open or even Wimbledon this year. His next best chance is probably the US Open, but we think his best chance for 2010 has just passed him by.

The Body & Mind

Serena Williams is an inspiration. Who thought we would say that just four months removed from her US Open tirade last September. But watching her labour against Na Li on Thursday, screaming with gut wrenching howls that emanated from the core of her being, simply put, I was inspired; and after a 13 year professional career, I became a fan.

A day after watching Novak Djokovic once again succumb to his physical limitations, it was nothing less than inspiring watching Serena Williams conquer hers. And, while my mind says there is no way she can win a match against the supremely fit and suddenly fresh Justine Henin on Saturday, my heart says she will anyway. Her mind will not let her body, or Justine for that matter, keep her from the prize.

We at theNETcourt predicted Serena as the eventual champion and we are sticking with that prediction. We always learn so much more about a champion when they almost lose. Serena cruised through the first four rounds at this year’s Aussie open with such efficiency, not dropping a single service game along the way. But her easy passage taught us nothing about her desire or her mind.

Excuses, excuses!

We have to put our cards on the table, we at theNetcourt are big fans of Novak Djokovic, but we can also be objective, and I have to say we are a little perplexed with Djokovic and his seeming frailties in the 7 match 5 set format of Grand Slam tennis. Right now, we don’t see how Novak will ever win another Grand Slam.

I do feel bad for the Djoker and I do believe that he was not feeling great Wednesday night against Tsonga, but I wish he would have kept it to himself. You’re sick, it happens, you’re off, it happens, your opponent plays lights out, it happens. I just don’t like excuses! I wish Novak would have kept his frailty to himself, let the rest of field wonder or make their own judgments and move on to the next event.

The problem is Djokovic is too consumed with his own self-perception and is unable to understand why people question his heart and his mind. The reality is Djokovic probably harbours the same questions as everyone else, but cannot yet come to terms with them. I hope Djokovic figures it out and carves out a ‘hall-of-fame’ worthy career, but he has to stop talking and just let his game speak for him. After all, he’s a tennis player, that’s all we really want.

Clijsters comes back to earth

The Belgian's are coming, the Belgians are coming...wait a minute...the Belgians are...what's happening to the...

Most tennis pundits (see tennis magazine's editor’s predictions) put Kim Clijsters as the most likely winner of the 2010 Australian Open. Only Bill Gray and Abigail Lorge are still in the running for correctly picking the Champs on the men's and women's side. What happened Friday night in Melbourne? And for that matter, who sees Justine Henin going all the way? She is a sentimental pick for some, but by the half-way mark of this first major of the year, she hasn't looked like a potential winner.

Round 1 Update

Maria Sharapova, theNETcourt’s finalist pick is out! Robin Soderling wins the first two sets and loses in five, Fed struggles, Kolya destroys and the rest of the men’s big six get along just fine. Justine and Elena each do their part to set up a second round clash that feels suspiciously like a semi or final.

A disappointing start to 2010 for Soderling. Was it the elbow? It didn’t look like it for two sets; then the Swede imploded. “I don't know what happened, I just didn't play well," Soderling said. "I played a terrible match and am pretty disappointed." Soderling took a 3-0 head-to-head into this Encounter with Marcel Granollers and with the exception of a tense encounter at Wimbledon last year; he has dealt with the Spaniard pretty efficiently. It is likely just a blip for the hard hitting Swede, although, now a top 10 player, perhaps his biggest challenger will be himself, as he adjusts to his new place in the game. 

Australian Open 2010 - Women's Draw Analysis

O.K. it was a bit of a cheap shot in the men’s draw analysis to say that we haven’t been very excited to blog about the women’s draw at a slam, but women’s tennis is now rejuvenated with new (…err recycled) blood. I would argue that the women’s game still lacks the depth and drama of the men’s game, but the return of Henin, Clijsters and Sharapova makes deconstructing a draw a much more interesting task. But for all the new and 're-newed' contenders, it's a likely champion who will prevail.

Federer and Friends Help Haiti

Tennis players know how to give back. Just look at the long list of charities supported, built and sustained by tennis players (active and retired). theNETcourt will be featuring charitable and philanthropic acts of ATP and WTA stars as a regular blog feature, but ahead of the Australian open which begins in about eight hours, we wanted to note the exhibition staged Sunday at Rod Laver arena that raised almost $200,000 for Haiti Relief. It was a heart warming gesture from our favourite tennis celebs to turn their attention away from something trivial (in the grand scheme of world events) and do something to help the terrible suffering in Haiti. In total, monies raised from the event plus donations from; ATP World Tour, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, ITF, Grand Slam Committee and Tennis Australia will exceed half a million dollars.

Australian Open - Men's Draw Analysis

The Australian Open gets underway in less than 24 hours and everyone is pontificating on the outcome. At theNETcourt we don’t pretend to know whose going to win, because, let’s be honest…no one does, but we’ll do our best to break down the draws. It’s been a frenetic start to the twenty-ten season and it seems like so much has already happened. We’ve seen the rise and fall of Rafael Nadal, the resurrection of Richard Gasquet, a supposed decline of Roger Federer and in the world of women’s tennis a little thing we’re calling the Belgian revolution (and man that’s been fun!). Is it any wonder Stacey Allastar and David Shoemaker are grinning like Cheshire cats on their WTA tour page bios? Women’s tennis just got a nuclear boost in interest and enthusiasm, and for the first time in a long time we’re actually excited to blog about the Women’s draw at a major…but more on that tomorrow.

Today we are looking at the Men’s draw, and as I said at the opening of this blog, we’re not predicting a winner, we’re just using common sense and intuition to say who will most likely be the last man standing… (Federer) oops…I’m getting ahead of myself.

Aussie Eve!

Yes, that's Aussie Eve, with an exclamation point. Why? Because it's the official start of the 2010 tennis season and here at Tennis Talk we can't be more excited. Yes the long season has already begun, but for me the season doesn't really start until Melbourne. The men's draw for 2010 has just been released. At quick blush, Nadal's draw looks rough. Murray in the Quarters, that's harsh, but more on the draw analysis in tomorrow's post. Who's going to win? What will be the big upset? Who will break through? A fortnight awaits. Let's get it started!