Aussie Open!

Well the first Grand Slam of 2008 really got interesting over the weekend, especially on the men's side, as four marquee matches were decided in dramatic five-setters. Kohlschreiber beat Roddick, Blake beat Grosjean, Federer beat Tipsarevic, and Hewitt beat Baghdatis. You read that right: Federer was pushed to five in the 3rd round, and had to outlast the game Serb 10-8 in the final set, in a truly epic match. The Hewitt victory was noteworthy for finishing at 4:33am Melbourne time and the Roddick loss was suffered despite a career-high 42 aces from the American. James Blake won in the fifth set for only the second time in his career, and came from 2 sets to love down for the first time. Blake trailed Grosjean 4-1 in the 4th set and rallied back to win in a tiebreak, setting the stage for a strong finish in what has to be labeled the best win of his career. With Vince Spadea a longshot against David Ferrer today, Blake is the last hope for the American men, and has a good look at getting through to the quarters with a match against 19 yr old Marin Cilic from Croatia.* Roddick's early exit has to be called disappointing, and he needs to really go back to the drawing board on his overall game outside of his serve.

That Federer was the story yesterday is nothing new, but the plot of that story was unusual. Rarely is Federer pushed to five sets in slams, and when he is (Wimbledon '07, Australia '05) it must surely be in the semis or final. We definitely don't expect to see a 10-8 in the 5th score line for the Lord of the Swings (thanks Bud Collins) in the thirdround. But Tipsarevic was attacking from the first point, and Roger was not at his best with the forehand, and the match was a true epic dogfight. Federer's ridiculous serving won it for him in the end (career high 36 aces!), and he added another notch to his clutch belt, proving that he can still beat you in a to-the-distance slugfest, even when he's up in the 40+ unforced errors realm. Last year we had to wait for the Wimbledon final for the defining match of '07 when Federer outlasted Nadal in an awesome five-setter, but this match last night is going to be hard to top for the rest of '08. It was that good. Although I'm optimisitc for some even brighter fireworks in both the French and Wimbledon, especially if the top two players are able to navigate their way to the finals for the third year in a row. Now that would be special. But hey, maybe we'll get lucky and get an early preview of "the rivalry" if Rafa can get through to the last night in Melbourne.

So far, so good in '08.

* This point has been made by some TV analysts, but it deserves more attention: what if Yugoslavia were still one country? Between the studs in Serbia and the rising stars in Croatia (and I'm sure there's some Bosnian or Montenegran up and comers out there), if Yugoslavia were still one nation, they would undoubtedly be the strongest tennis nation in the world. France, Russia, Spain, and Argentina would have something to say about that, but there's no doubt that the talent emerging out of the Balkan region is a force to be reckoned with.