This is a good analysis of the physics behind why Roddick has the fastest serve on tour. Thanks to Bob Prichard at the Somax Performance Institute for forwarding this along.
Federer – The Best Tennis Player of All Time: French Open 2009
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Tying Pete Sampras’ 14 slam titles, and with a career grand slam under his belt (only the 6th man in history to do that – Sampras never won the French), Roger Federer is now, undeniably, the best tennis player – ever!
Federer beat Robin Söderling (6-1, 7-6, 6-5) easily. Söderling took down Nadal the prior Sunday, paving the way for Federer’s historic win. In the three sets Roger:
- lost just 17 points on his serve
- wasn’t broken
- served at 66%
- hit 41 winners
- suffered only 24 unforced errors
It was fun to watch my all time favourite men’s tennis player, Andre Agassi, present the trophies. Having won the French Open 10 years ago and being the last man to win the career grand slam, he was a fitting choice. It was nice to see his wife, Steffi Graf present the woman’s trophies.
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Svetlana Kuznetsova wins 2009 French Open
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In yet another lack-luster women’s grand slam final, the world’s number 1, and my current women’s favourite, Dinara Safina, was soundly beaten by Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 6-2.
This is Kuznetsova’s second grand slam title (the first being the 2004 U.S. Open). Safina has still not won a major. Good for Kuznetsova! But it’s hard to cheer for someone who doesn’t seem to have much of a personality.
On the up side, it was really nice to watch a women’s grand slam final without the Williams’ sisters. It was also nice to see Steffi Graf again!
I miss Clijsters, Davenport, Henin and Hingis!
Nadal’s Designer Sneakers at Australian Open 2009
Once again I’m posting pictures of the designer sneakers worn by Rafael Nadal at the 2009 Australian Open. As always, the bull logo appears on the left shoe with ‘Rafa’ on the right. Now that he has won an Aussie Open, we can expect an Aussie Open trophy on next year’s sneakers! 🙂
I am astonished by how much traffic these pictures of his designer tennis bring to The Daleisphere. What the heck. You want it, I’ll blog about it.
Cheers.
Australian Open (2009) Second Week – Nadal and Serena Win
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Nadal def. Federer: Nadal won his first major on a hard court while denying Federer‘s attempt to match Sampras’ 14 major record. This marks the first time a Spaniard has won the Aussie Open. The high level of play we saw in the 2008 Wimbledon final continued into the
early sets of the Aussie final. Given the record setting five hour, fourteen minute semi between Nadal and Verdasco, Federer’s attempted to capitalize on Nadal’s fatigue. It didn’t work. Nadal did seem tire out early on but was resilient enough to take it to a fifth set where Federer appeared to wither. Nadal’s strategy, to constantly serve and return to Federer’s backhand worked.
Federer broke down in tears during his acceptance speech. He had to walk away to compose himself. He stood their crying for what seemed like an eternity as the crowed cheered. He finished his speech, fighting back the tears after Nadal picked up his trophy. I’ve never seen anything like that.
Trivia Tidbit: The coin toss is irrelevant for every Federer/Nadal match. No matter who wins, Nadal always elects to server and Federer always elects to receive.
S. Williams def. Safina: Serena Williams embarrassed Dinara Safina in 
a 6-0, 6-3 loss lasting less than an hour. This was Williams’ fourth Aussie Open win and 10th grand slam title. Safina’s performance tournament-wide was less than spectacular. She needs more work. She apologized to the crowd for her poor performance. The crowd forgave her.
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Australian Open (2009) – First Week Roundup
Below is a roundup of my thoughts and observations concerning the first week matches at the 2009 Australian Open.
Click on the photos below to view full-sized versions.
Men’s Singles
Nadal Tweaks his Game & His Outfit: Number 1 seeded Nadal has changed his service stance (a little more open, left leg further back and tighter in) to try and get more speed on his serve. It seems to be working so far. His average first serve speed at the Aussie Open in 2009 is 113 mph. His average speed in 2008 was 109 mph. He is also dropping the elbow close to the body to take topspin off his forehand and flattening his forehand to work better on the slower Australian courts. As for fashion, his shorts are a little shorter and he has shirt sleeves for the first time. You’d think that with all his millions, he’d be able to hire a designer to solve his constant wedge problem. But no, he was tugging at the back of his new shorts as much as he ever has.
Roddick: Roddick lost 15 pounds in the off-season. He lost the weight to gain speed. Speed is needed to compete with the top players these days. Fabrice Santoro did Roddick a big favor by knocking out Kohlschreiber in the second round. Kohlschreiber defeated Roddick at the 2008 Aussie Open. I’m looking forward to his next match with Djokovic (assuming Djokovic beats Baghdatis) in the quarters. I’ll be cheering for Roddick! Is it just me, or does that KIA logo make you hunger for a Kit-Kat too?
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