Very likable set of players for the final. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for Wozniacki, so I was rooting for her, but Clijsters is one of my favorite all-time players, so I’m not exactly disappointed in the result. The first set was somewhat more interesting than I expected it to be, but Clijsters definitely was the stronger player, as long as she could keep the unforced errors under control. Wozniacki isn’t quite championship caliber yet, but I was quite happy to see her in a Grand Slam final at last.
Yeah, I don’t usually notice outfits, and I don’t really care, but that one was conspicuously ugly. I’m not sure if it was just the color or the color and the cut, but it was sartorially bothersome.
It was the color, trust me. It looks like it used to be pink, but spent too much time near a lot of dirt in the air.
Congrats to both players. Caroline for making her first grand slam finals and not completely folding under the happenings. Kim for you know, winning. 
Just saw the match, and that was much more “interesting” than I ever thought it would be. I don’t know whether Kim’s nerves came from being in the final or having the vaguely unsatisfying win against Serena, but her game really suffered today against the Dane. So many errors! She had many flashes of that Serena-match brilliance, but then she would immediately dump an easy forehand into the net. So frustrating to watch.
Wozniacki, to her credit, kept her nerves better than Clijsters! She was playing the best tennis I’ve seen her play, keeping Clijsters off balance with changes of speed and varying levels of bouncing and spin. She did kind of zone out here and there, but no more than people who’ve been to this stage before. She definitely gave Clijsters the opportunity to beat herself, and Kim seemed like she would oblige at times. Fortunately for Kim, she balled up in the really important points and took over when she needed to. It was a Federer-like on/off switch, except Kim oscillates between subpar and brilliant and flipped the switch quite often (Federer, on the other hand, seems to go from extremely good to Superman, and he only flips the switch when something important is on the line).
But anyway, a well-deserved championship. I’m really glad Clijsters is back to throw a wrench into the strange women’s game of today. Like her Tweet says, she really had a fairy tale tournament, and luckily, she has the smile to match the occasion. And Wozniacki is one of the happiest losers I’ve seen in a while (going three rounds deeper than ever before will do that to you, I guess).
I kinda wish Serena would have received a real penalty; DQing her from the doubles final would have been perfect. That would have put an interesting strain on the sisters’ relationship… Serena’s actions were completely out of line, but what really annoys me is her total lack of remorse, and her inability to admit any wrong-doing. Her bullshit press interviews go one step beyond into this weird self-centered hero-martyr reality. I was always fairly neutral to her, since her attitude just seemed like run-of-the-mill egotistical fake-humble sportsman. But she had game, so that made up for it. Now, I’ll root for her to lose every time.
Few, but Wozniacki’s parents are Polish (I’d been wondering about that name) and moved to Denmark a little while before she was born. There are plenty of Americans in that situation who are multilingual.
Agree that Wozniacki’s outfit was unflatterring. Also agreed that both were very classy and that you have to enjoy the personality Clijsters has brought back to the sport. Is this good for the sport, that she can come back and do this so quickly? I don’t know. I suspect it says more about her dedication and her talent than it does about the sport. When Tiger Woods won a major with a broken leg and torn ligaments, nobody said it was bad for golf that a guy played 90 holes and won a freaking tournament on one leg - they said “wow, that guy is amazing.” Same thing when Michael Jordan came back after his first retirement and took his team to three more championships. Same for Clijsters, I think. She had some wear and tear due to her style of play, but was still pretty close to peak condition when she left two and a half years ago.
As far as Clijsters not playing great at times last night… I hate to say it, but that’s how it was throughout her career. She was consistent and was one of the top players, but usually didn’t come up big in the big moments, which is why she only had the one other Grand Slam title. I’m interested to see if Wozniacki can continue winning like this, because she’s kind of a junk baller and plays with more variety than power.
The more I think about Serena’s situation, the more I think I would not be surprised if she’s suspended for the Australian. Public reaction is very strongly against her from what I can tell, and it comes off as a classic case of an entitled athlete going too far. (I don’t for a second think she did it because she was going to lose. It was a very close match.) Her blowup didn’t quite reach Tarango’s level but it’s not that far short. She did put out a statement yesterday and was more apologetic than she’d been right after the match, but she did not actually apologize. She’s going to be fined a bunch more money and needs to do more if she doesn’t want to be suspended.
New WTA rankings are out. Clijsters is 19th. Last week “NR.” Melanie Oudin jumps to 44th from 70th and Yanina Wickmayer is now 22, up from 50. Since her last match got moved by rain I think people still don’t know anything about Wickmayer, which is unusual. I know I don’t feel like I could say anything about her game. Petra Kvitova, who beat Safina, moved up to 54 from 72.
The top three are unchanged. Safina’s still on top, with Serena the only player who is anywhere near her, and Venus pretty far back. Kuznetsova moved up to number four, and Wozniacki is now sixth in the world. Serena won the Australian Open this year, so if she were suspended for the 2010 tournament, in theory her ranking would get screwed. She’d lose 2,000 points; if you subtract that amount right now, she’d be seventh in the world.
By the way, the top three suggested Google search terms for Serena Williams are now “Serena Williams outburst,” “Serena Williams outburst video,” and “Serena Williams foot fault transcript.” Last week I think the top term was “boyfriend.”
Here’s the second most-recent comment on Serena’s player page from the Australian Open, dated Feb. 1:
Oops.
I think you’re making Roger out to be more legendary than he already is. Roger can and does lose to many of the players on the tour, and he even has a losing record against Murray and Nadal. The thing is, while he is virtually unstoppable in Superman Mode, he often CAN’T turn it on. And when he’s in Very Very Good mode, he’s beatable. Even Roddick’s done it. And Nadal in Flash Gordon mode can take down Roger in Superman mode, which is why they sometimes have epic match-ups.
In any case, Del Potro has been showing signs of his own Captain Argentina mode, especially in his thrashing of an admittedly not-100% Nadal. Final could be one for the ages, although one of the players usually has a let down, especially in the championship match. But here’s hoping we do get a battle of superheroes…
ESPN put up the graphic the other night that Roger has won 125 out his last 125 matches against players not in the top 5. And that was before he won his Quarterfinal match, so make it 126-0.
That statistic applied only to Grand Slam matches, since Guillermo Canas was definitely not in the top five when he beat Federer twice a couple of years ago.
Federer was definitely trying against Djokovic, and was playing very well. He’s content sometimes to tread water and wait for opportunities rather than go for broke at all times, which is how a lot of players work - especially as they get older. He gets frustrated if he’s trying to accelerate and it doesn’t work, which happened against Soderling in the third and fourth sets. But against Djokovic, when he moved into top gear, he got the results he wanted. (It helped that he got a good bounce off the net cord in the second set and hit that insane through-the-legs shot in the third set.) That’s not a good sign for del Potro, but he knows who he’s playing.
Do we have the text of what Serena yelled at the line judge? I’ve heard various things, including “shoving tennis balls” down her throat and so forth, but all the video I’ve seen is not loud enough to hear her.
As Marley said, that’s only in Grand Slams. He has losses to quite a few players overall. But I’ll admit he does step it up in Grand Slams, where you have to be one of the best in the world to have a shot. Clay’s his weakest surface, but he’s still the second best player in the world there.
Constantine Maroulis?
He actually did pretty good. He really sang, anyway.
From nowpublic.com:
The interesting thing is that Serena didn’t protest the call so much as threaten the line judge. At least McEnroe and Connors kept their verbal abuse to the call and the umpire’s overall bummitude as a referee and sometimes as a person. They never resorted to schoolyard threats.
My local cbs station is not picking up the match until 5:30 cdt, they gave it to another station they own. And my satellite system does not have that station on its local channels.
I hate my CBS local affiliate.
OK, Roger’s come out of the gates with his cape on. Breaks Del Po on his first service game with a couple of amazing weird angle shots, including a crosscourt running winner from well behind the baseline. Del Po could just stare in disbelief.
2-0 Fed.
EDIT: 3-0 Fed (7 winners, 2 unforced errors so far).
Can someone inform me when/if DelPo ever breaks Roger’s serve? Thanks. Even if it’s just to get back on serve in this first set.
Thank you for this update, and any other will be greatly appreciated.
Del Potro started off having a hard time finding his serve (1/9 1st serve %), but now he seems to have it under control. Fed showed a bit of weakness, getting to 0-30 on his serve, but he Federer’d his way out of it. Despite only getting 36% of his first serves in, Fed’s not yet faced a break point…
5-2, Del Po serving to stay in the 1st set, down 0-30…
EDIT: Del Potro was down 0-40 with 3 set points down, but he powers out of it with 5 straight points! This bodes well for the rest of the match, even if Fed serves out the set.
DOUBLE EDIT: Which he does. Of course he does, he’s Roger.
Thanks again, Tennis Channel is scheduled to repeat the telecast tonight, I hope.
Maybe Del Potro will bring out some kryptonite in the 2nd set.
Man, Fed’s serving like ass (4th double fault already), but he’s still up 2-0 in the second set already.
Del Potro is giving off some seriously negative vibes right now…
EDIT: Del Po holds serve, and game point was him putting a volley behind Fed, Roger sticking his racquet out behind his back and forcing Juan Martin to hit yet another volley, luckily, THANKFULLY, for the winner. 2-1, Roger serving in the second.