MELBOURNE—Yesterday it was star time. We had Kim, we had Roger and Juan Martin, we had Rafa, we had the infamous Australian summer heat. By the time it was over, it felt like we were in full Slam mode. This morning it’s quiet again in Melbourne, and cooler. We like to say that the players have to be ready to face extreme heat down here, and they do. But the last two years, at least, not many of them have had to face more than one scorcher per tournament. Even yesterday, which was brutal at certain points, conditions were comfortable by the time Federer and del Potro walked into the mostly covered Rod Laver Arena. Judging by the afternoon temperatures today, Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer might be out there in long sleeves this evening.
Here’s what the Aussies are saying about yesterday.
Links: *The Age*; *The Australian*;*Herald-Sun*
See my Racquet Reaction on Rafael Nadal's win over Tomas Berdych here.
Mean Streaks Attract?
Yesterday, columnist Richard Hinds wrote in the Age about the Ivan Lendl-Andy Murray brand of humor. He could see the two of them rolling around in laughter at the sight of a drowning puppy. Hyperbole, you say? I suspected so as well. Perhaps not.
This morning in The Australian, boxing fanatic Murray writes admiringly of his coach and new partner in prankdom. “He truly was brutal," Murray says of Lendl. "There was nothing he loved more than lining up opponents standing at the net and thumping the ball at them.”
Murray goes on to talk about his favorite Lendl thumping video on YouTube:
“I’ve seen heaps of clips of Lendl, and my favorite is when he unloads straight at Emilio Sanchez, who I know really well. It is truly funny, due to the context of the match and Lendl’s reaction.
“They were playing an exhibition match, a mixed doubles of all things, when it happened. The perfect hit. Lendl lined up Emilio and thumped a forehand that smashed him in the chest and sent him straight to the ground. And the funny thing about it? Lendl just started laughing while Emilio was writhing on the ground in pain.”
I Scream, You Scream
The best reason for the WTA to try to stop the shrieking in women’s tennis? So we don’t have to hear about how the WTA should stop the shrieking in women's tennis anymore.
Patrick Smith of The Australian takes up grunting in his column today. He notes the odd loyalty of Agnieszka Radwanska, who tolerates her friend Vika Azarenka’s woo-woo while protesting Maria Sharapova’s ahhhhhh!!!!
“I’m kind of used to it,” Radwanska said, “especially with Vika. We know each other for many years. About Maria, what can I say? For sure that is pretty annoying. It’s just too loud.”
Smith goes on to quote Azarenka’s justification for her noisiness. “It’s the way I am, the way I used to play when I was a kid . . . I think it’s the way that made me breathe, made me move, it’s part of my movement.”
Smith jokes, “For her sake, it’s lucky that Azarenka did not pursue, say, piano playing as her first love. Or swimming. Apparently she failed the first year of police studies because her capacity for undercover work was limited. ‘I think OOOOOwwweeee the perp is WHHHHOOOOOO hiding behind . . . .”
What’s interesting is that Azarenka claims the whoo is part of her movement and breathing, yet, like Sharapova, she can immediately stop it when she sees that one of her shots has hit the net or is about to fly out. It's not involuntary.
My own opinion on shrieking remains the same. I’m used to it and generally not bothered by it, but not everyone watches as much tennis as I do. In other words, something should be done about it. One thing that amazes me is how much of an effect Sharapova’s shriek has on people. Even in the press room, where we’ve heard it for years, you still see reporters pull off their headphones and say, “My God, what a noise.”
The Little . . . Wild Carder?
This morning the papers look ahead and sees big things for Lleyton Hewitt. One expert is quoted saying he could be back in the Top 20 soon. Meanwhile, Hewitt's manager, David Drysdale, tells the Age that he believes that Indian Wells and Miami will be open to giving the little warrior a free pass into those events. “I will start going about that this week,” Drysdale says, “but I think Lleyton’s performance [in Melbourne] will assist with wild cards.”
Of course, he would say that. He’s his manager. But for the first time, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Rusty myself.
Our Long International Nightmare is Over
That’s right, after her loss to Clijsters yesterday, Caroline Wozniacki is no longer No. 1 in the world. The speculation has been that not having to hear questions about her “legitimacy”—described by the Herald-Sun today as her “controversial search for a Grand Slam title”—will help her.
Will it? Caro’s friend Radwanska claimed earlier this week that Wozniacki would be the same person whatever her ranking was. Of course, she meant that in a nice way.
As far as her game, it was mentioned a few times yesterday that Wozniacki's backhand wasn’t the same shot at this tournament, and she did only connect for one winner from that side, usually her stronger side, against Clijsters. At least one member of the Danish press said that they had noticed a difference in Wozniacki's two-hander since her wrist injury a couple of weeks ago.
Smashing All the Way to the Bank
So what happened to the famous Baghdatis smashed racquets? According to the Age,one of his sponsors, the Bank of Cyprus Australia, “had some ground to make up on its investment when the Bag man went out early. . . . It has done so by acquiring ‘one of the elusive four tennis racquets that were on the receiving end of the Cypriot’s wrath.’”
Baghdatis visited the bank, where the mangled stick will be framed and put on display.
Feeling the Hate
The Herald-Sun talks to Margaret Court, who says that she "felt victimized and became the target of a relentless hate campaign."
"There have been some awful things," says the 70-year-old pastor, who hasn't changed her views or her statements on homosexuality. "I love my nation and don't like seeing it in moral decline."