Novak Breaks Through

A Serbian and a Siberian were the victors at the 2008 Australian Open. Novak Djokovic broke through to win his first grand slam, dropping the first set to Tsonga but then seizing control of the match with consistent baseline play and impenetrable serving. Tsonga may well have been the story of the tournament, but Djokovic deserves the most credit. With two straight Slam finals appearances included in four straight Slam semis runs, the Djoker is officially arrived. No longer is the talk about men's tennis "Federer, Nadal and everyone else." Now Novak must be named along with the top two players in the world before mention of "everyone else."

Maria Sharapova thoroughly obliterated her competition on the women's side, and came away with her third Grand Slam title as a result. Ana Ivanovic carried the flag far for Serbian women (and certainly performed better in her second finals appearance than her first) but in the end just did not have enough against Maria. Sharapova seems fitter and healthier than ever, and is still only 20 years old, so we culd be looking at a wonderful 2008 for the Siberian.

Now we have a slight lull for Davis Cup competitions and various hard court tournaments before the real clay court season and French Open tune-ups begin. We'll update as much as we can. The Tennis Enthusiast does have a particular interest in the year's first men's Masters Series event, the Pacific Life Championships in Indian Wells. We should be in attendance the first weekend, and will be able to provide first person commentary of the tournament. Stay tuned...