Greatness, within their grasp

Djokovic falls to Rochus and 24 hours later Murray falls to Mardy Fish. What is going on with the top seeds in Men’s tennis? I’m inclined to just pick on Murray and Djoko and write a blog titled ‘Choking on the air at the top’. But I’m not convinced any of the top guys are in any better position.

This is a golden opportunity for Nadal to regain is number 2 ranking. It’s unlikely that it will happen here, but he can certainly gain ground with a strong finish in Key Biscayne. Problem is I don’t think Nadal will go deep in this draw. The rest of the field is looking at the top 4 guys and they see opportunity; and when opportunity presents itself, they’re gonna grab it…or are they. That’s the thing about opportunity, when it presents itself you still need courage to reach for it.

Our Miami Vice - Men's Preview

The most historical tour event outside of the slams starts tomorrow, and ever since Butch Buchholz led the charge in 1983 to stage the best coed (non-slam) tennis tournament in the world; to the fruition of that dream in 1988 when he found its permanent home and built one of the world's finest tennis stadiums, Miami has been a dream event for players and fans alike.

It has went though several name changes (International Players Championships, Lipton Championships) but it has always boasted a slam field and with a schedule that spans the majority of a fortnight and to me just feels positively GRAND.

California Dream'n?

The first 1000 event of the season is here. Almost everyone is playing (sans the Williams sisters and Delpo) but why does it feel like a fall 1000 event rather than a spring event? Too many players are hurt, the top players speak about developing and finding their games, no one is talking about winning.

It’s not like this is New Haven leading into the US Open, this is the first of five (almost consecutive) 1000 events, with the French Open looming way, way off in the distance.

Aussie Open Rewind

The first Slam of the year is over and this one gets a B. As they say in Oz it was ‘awright’…Yeah, just ‘awright’. The Women definitely brought it, or to be more specific Serena and Justine brought it, and made the event worth while. Both women seemed to survive this aussie open, at times neither one looked capable of winning, and then at other time both looked unstoppable. The final was ‘awright’, great at times, occasionally compelling, but Henin ran out of fight in the home stretch.

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.