Twelve.

I feel like I didn’t pay enough attention to Serena’s win, and I certainly don’t want the wrath of her G visited on me. So have some photos of her looking, as always, like winning suits her …

Will we see her with another one of these before May, do you think?

So This Is Why He Played Pants

Q. The end of the tiebreaker you were touching your left hip. Was there a problem there or just tightness?

ANDY MURRAY: It’s not really a problem. It’s not really my left hip. It’s quite hard to explain. It’s more sort of my lower back is just stiff, like I had most of the tournament. It’s just where we play ‑‑ I wear cycling shorts, and sometimes they’re quite tight, so you need to ‑‑ you know, Roddick does it a lot, it’s kind of what Rafa does on his other side.

I don’t really know what I’m trying to say, but basically my hip is fine. It was just the cycling shorts were tight (smiling).

source

Surely Bjorn Borg or Pat Rafter can hook him up with something that fits …

AO Day Fourteen: In Their Own Words

Q. After the emotions of wins 14 and 15, how do you rate a 16th title?

ROGER FEDERER: I think you also got to see the way a match ends. Is it 40‑Love point where serving and you’re up 5‑Love, or in a breaker. I don’t even know the score, 13‑11. Sometimes it’s over before you know it.

This felt similar to the Wimbledon victory in a way, because all of a sudden it was over and it hit me, you know. Whereas before I made the dropshot and I think I won, and might have been much more emotional, you know.

But then after losing that point, I’m thinking, My God, he just grabbed the trophy out of my hands. I might end up losing this thing. Two or three points later, I’m the winner after all.

It was very much a rollercoaster with the emotions. You know, you just try to stay focused. I guess the match point was over, and I was like, Oh, my God, this is it. That’s kind of how I felt. It was great.

Q. How do you keep doing it year after year, Grand Slam after Grand Slam? You make it look so easy, and obviously it isn’t.

ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, look, there’s no secret behind it. You know, I mean, definitely a very talented player (laughter). I always knew I had something special, but I didn’t know it was like, you know, that crazy.

I definitely had to work extremely hard so I would pick the right shot at the right time. For instance, on the match point I decided to hit a dropshot. You got to be crazy to do that.

But I just ‑‑ you know, I always knew I had it in my hand. The question is do I have it in my mind and in my legs, you know. That’s something I had to work extremely hard at. Now I feel like obviously I’m being pushed a great deal by the new generation coming up. I always feel sort of tennis changes sort of every five years.

Because when I came on tour, matches were played very differently. It was more of a bluff game, guys serving well, but there was always a weakness you could go to. Today that doesn’t exist anymore. I think that’s also thanks to guys like Murray. They’ve made me a better player, because I think this has been one of my finest performances, you know, in a long time, or maybe forever.

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Q. How are you feeling now?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, I don’t feel great. You know, obviously worked really hard, you know, to get to this stage. I wanted to win the tournament. You know, I think it was more the way the end of the match finished. You know, obviously it was pretty emotional end to the match.

If it was a complete blow‑out, if I lost 3, 4, and 2, you know, it probably wouldn’t have happened. But I had my chance to get back into the match. That was probably why I was upset.

Q. Was that tiebreak some of the hardest tennis you’ve played mentally?

ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, throughout the match, it didn’t ‑‑ I didn’t feel nervous. It’s obviously against him, he puts a lot of pressure on you with the way that he plays. You know, you need to focus really hard, you know, throughout the match.

I mean, obviously, you know, I wanted to win. I probably played, you know, I don’t know, maybe more important tiebreaks. I mean, he was obviously still two sets to nothing. I would have obviously liked to have taken it into a fourth set. [...]

Q. Everyone talked about your aggressive approach against Nadal, and others as well. How would you compare that match and your approach there with your approach tonight?

ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I think the second set was not good in that respect. The third set was a lot better. I started playing closer to the baseline, taking more chances. You know, in the beginning of the match, like I said, I had chances as well.

It’s a different match, you know, against Roger. You know, with Rafa, he can hit the ball short. You know, he plays a lot of topspin. Roger hits the ball a lot flatter. You know, the ball comes onto you a lot quicker, so it’s harder to go for huge shots against him.

You know, whereas against, you know, like in the important points, he can come up with big first serves. And Rafa, you know, his serve is very good, but you always have opportunities, you know, when he’s serving. Tonight I didn’t have as many.

But, you know, I mean, I thought in terms of my game style, it was right for a lot of the match and wrong for a few parts.

Q. What did you learn about dealing with that weight of expectation from the UK?

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I didn’t feel it on the court. You know, you get a lot of good luck messages. You know, everyone wishing you well from back home. You know, that’s obviously nice.

You know, once you get on the court, it’s not what you’re thinking about at all. And then obviously after the match, you know, I would have liked to have done it for everyone back home, you know, won the tournament. Obviously for myself and for the people I work with as well.

But it wasn’t to be. [...]

Q. You’ve fair enough to say you probably played some of your best tennis over the last fortnight. Is it dispiriting you’ve not been able to win a title after playing like that the last couple weeks?

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I’ve just come off the court. I’m obviously very disappointed. But, you know, I mean, I think I’m getting closer and I’m playing better.

I mean, you know, I just spoke with my mum just now. You know, to have the opportunity to play in these tournaments, in these matches, is pretty incredible in the grand scheme of things.

I’m not going to be too disappointed. I got a pretty good life. I’ve got a long career ahead of me, and I’m going to have more opportunities, you know, to win them. I hope that I will.

But if I don’t, there’s a lot more important things to worry about than tennis.

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AO Day Fourteen: Finalspam

Get used to this view, rest of the field.

You know, more used to it.

I wish I could find an embeddable version of Murray’s runner-up speech for you. On the other hand, I still want to cry when I think about it, so maybe best not.

“I can cry like Roger, but I can’t play like him.”

Ow.

Norman Brookes no challengers.

Yeah, I struggled.

A friend of mine, because she’s a freak, has a battered teddy she uses as a nighttime boob support called ‘Daddy Bear’.

Robert Federer can be my Sugar Daddy Bear any time he likes.

I’m just saying.

AO Day Fourteen: Sixteen

Roger Federer d. Andy Murray, 63 64 76(11)

Too good.

Well, Andy got a beatdown at the hands of a Federer on vintage form. There’s not that much more to say than that. You can debate the possible flaws in Andy’s game plan – he played much more of his standard defensive game than the aggression he showed against Rafa – but as he pointed out himself in his press conference, it’s easier to do the latter against Rafa because of the different kind of ball you get. Not to mention that the defensive approach has had good results against Roger in the past. But it wasn’t getting him anywhere with Roger on the kind of form he was on today.

Where his game was lacking (apart from his first serve, which looked erratic against Federer’s ability to repeatedly serve big when he needed it) was that when he did have opportunities to be more aggressive in the rallies, he either didn’t take them or hesitated fatally. The second set was too good from Federer, but Andy had a handful of break points in the first, served for the third and had another small bushel of set points in the third-set tiebreak. Although Roger saved some, there were a few that were on Andy’s racquet, and for whatever reason – lack of confidence or over-eagerness or whatever – he fucked them up. And no matter how well he plays for thirteen days or whatever, that’s always going to cost him until he finds a way to get past that. As Boris Becker wisely noted, “Andy still sometimes expects opponents to lose finals, [and] that doesn’t happen, especially against Federer”. 

But as tempting as it is to analyse the match purely in terms of what Andy did and shouldn’t have done or should have done and failed to do, it would be ignoring how well Roger played. And I thought he was absolutely [insert superlative]. There were moments when he played as well as he has ever has, and although his level did dip at times, it was never enough or for long enough to give his opponent more than a sliver of an opportunity. He was brilliant. Undeniably, awe-inspiringly, infuriatingly brilliant.

And I mean. Sixteen. Sixteen. Jesus wept.

So it goes.

The Withdrawal Method: Gasquet, Chardy, Hewitt

Richard Gasquet has reportedly been forced to withdraw from Santiago with a micro-tear in his back (unless Google Translate is lying to me), while Jeremy Chardy won’t be defending his final points in Johannesburg due to an injured wrist. Which is all a bit crap, really.

Meanwhile, Lleyton Hewitt has announced that he has had surgery on a torn right hip he injured during preparations for the Hopman Cup, playing through pain in Perth and Melbourne before having surgery in Hobart two days ago. He’ll be off the tour until the clay season.

AO Day Thirteen: It Is Defended

Serena Williams d. Justine Henin, 64 36 62

A fun final with some great tennis from both at times. Justine looked a little nervous in the first set, but when Serena had break points against her at the beginning of the second, she suddenly found her backhand down the line, started reading Serena’s serve, and rolled through the rest of the set. The beginning of the third was closely contested, but it looked like Justine ran out of steam while Serena could have gone on for days. She served brilliantly and played a really composed match. Good job.

With this win, Serena’s twelfth Slam, she tied Billie Jean King. Nice. Congratulations to her and her G and so forth.

AO Day Thirteen: OOP

Rod Laver Arena

13:00 Start    Junior Boys’ Singles – Finals
Sean Berman(AUS) vs. Tiago Fernandes(BRA)[14]

Junior Girls’ Singles – Finals
Laura Robson(GBR) vs. Karolina Pliskova(CZE)[6]

Not Before:19:30
Women’s Singles – Finals
Serena Williams(USA)[1] vs. Justine Henin(BEL)

Men’s Doubles – Finals
Bob Bryan(USA)[1] / Mike Bryan(USA)[1] vs. Daniel Nestor(CAN)[2] / Nenad Zimonjic(SRB)[2]

Full OOP here.

AO Day Twelve: ‘Cause I Don’t Shine If You Don’t Shine

Congratulations to Venus and Serena Williams, who once again captured a Slam doubles title by defeating the world no. 1s, Cara Black and Liezel Huber, 64 63.

Interestingly enough, Venus failed to realise when they’d actually won, having lost track of the score. So, only one of those two people knows they’ve just won a Slam title. The other is rather puzzled.

I’m not a doubles girl, but I do enjoy watching such fierce, solitary competitors working as a team. And as a team they are, it must be said, both terrifying and strangely heartwarming.

One’s mind drifts inexorably to 2012 …

AO Day Twelve: Ouch

So as you’ve no doubt heard by now, Roger Federer defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 62 63 62 to advance to the final in a match that was at once both a demolition job and an exhibition.

I watched the match unfold on the TVs at work and Jo was hardly on the best of form, listless and appearing mentally exhausted by the hard work of reaching the semifinals.  But I’m not convinced his form would have made a great deal of difference to the outcome. This was Roger on top form, feeling good and wanting to let everyone know it. For most of the match, Jo was little more than a spectator.

No answers up there, sweetie.

Talk about a shot across the bows ahead of the final. That’s the kind of performance which makes a statement. Afterwards, a jovial Federer underlined the point by discussing with Jim Courier Great Britain’s national failure to win a slam since 1936, or as he put it, “about 150,000 years”.

Kind of starting to fancy Jim Courier. Is that wrong?

The press (predominantly, one assumes, their British representatives) predictably leapt all over it in the post-match press conference:

Q. It’s actually only 74 years since we haven’t won a Grand Slam.

ROGER FEDERER: How many years did I say?

Q. You said 150,000.

ROGER FEDERER: I missed it by a little bit (smiling).

Q. Can you imagine what it is like for a nation to have wait for so long to win a Grand Slam?

ROGER FEDERER: You could be one of those nations that never had a Grand Slam champion, you know.

Q. Feels like it.

ROGER FEDERER: No, it doesn’t (laughter).

No, I mean, it’s just funny, you know, because that’s the question he probably gets asked quite a bit. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s a bit fed up by it. I think he’s done really well, you know, handling the pressure and considering, you know, sort of the media in England is very strong. So I think he’s done great, you know, under the pressure.

Maybe US Open you could think he crumbled there under pressure, being in the finals the year before. I think once your game is good enough, even on your off days to come through, I think that’s what he’s proving here at the Australian Open now. He’s one match away. I’ll make sure it won’t happen. We’ll see how it goes.

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Well, ask a number of leading questions, get a vaguely headline-worthy answer. Seriously though, Roger. I’ve got some fresh wounds and a big bag of salt. Go to town.