As if it was ever in any doubt. Roger Federer has now gone into double digit Slam wins and is just four short of Pete Sampras’ all-time record of 14.
At 25-years-old, we’re not questioning whether Roger will break Pete’s record, it’s merely a matter of when it’s going to happen and how many majors the Swiss maestro will end up with.
Barring injuries, it’s not hard to imagine Federer will double up on his current 10 trophies. He’s just that much better than the rest of the field. Sure, Murray, Djokovic and a bunch of other youngsters have a lot of potential, but Federer has at least five more great seasons ahead of him and winning 2 Slams a year on average is not quite setting the bar too high.
Fernando Gonzalez could be in for some great years as well. That is, if he continues to polish up his game. The Chilean recorded some outstanding wins over the past fortnight, but his backhand still needs a lot of work. The slice doesn’t quite bite yet and when he hits it, it’s still unstable. Credits to Larry Stefanki though for the improvements he’s already made to Gonzo’s game over the last six months. He’s made the South American think on court and not just play all out power tennis.
If Gonzalez will be able to tweak his game a little further, he should be a lock for a Top 5 position.
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal has his work cut out for him. The Spaniard just doesn’t seem to pick up his hard court game and even though he made the quarters, Andy Murray should have taken him out in the fourth round. A collapse in the second set by the young Scotsman saved Rafa, when his fitness eventually helped him win in five.
Gonzalez managed to force Nadal into making loads of unforced errors in their quarter final encounter, the same way like he battled Lleyton Hewitt in the third round. Both Hewitt and Rafa like to be on the defensive side and can’t act on having to take the initiave in a rally.
Nadal pointed to some pain in his ‘famous ass’ for not playing his best tennis, but without the minor injury, it’s hard to have seen another outcome. The world No.2 got thrashed and will be short on confidence again when he faces another top player.
Who thought up that Serena Williams was going to win the Open after not having won a single title since she picked up the trophy in Melbourne two years ago?
Obviously, she wasn’t looking her best and after losing to Sybille Bammer at Hobart, I couldn’t see Serena getting past the third round, tops.
After Petrova’s collapse though, things only got better for the American, with the final being nothing less than a one-woman show.
Did anyone see Sharapova out there on Saturday? I doubt the Russian believed she would be moving up to the No.1 position coming off a 6-1 6-2 demolition.
As for Serena, she smells blood now and will be after nothing less but that top spot. Like she immediately said after she’d won to the camera on court, she has to play catch up on the other Grand Slams because she now has three Aussie Open crowns, out of a total of 8 Slam titles.
Was there any woman who could have beaten the Serena Williams that showed up in the final? Maybe not, although the way Sharapova was serving certainly didn’t make things tougher on the 25-year-old.
For the sake of tennis, let’s hope that Serena will be serious about her comeback, because when she’s playing her best, she arguably is the biggest asset to the WTA Tour along with Sharapova.
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