But for now, since Wimbledon hasn’t started yet, I’m reduced to talking about the seedings for the Slam. Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic got top billing. Of course. Now maybe if those two were having a little “extra-curricular” fun then I’d have something juicy to talk about. But I think Roger’s pretty into Mirka (and I don’t care what anyone says – Mrs. Roger is not fat…), and Ana is pretty focused on her tennis (I say that because I have no idea who she’s getting frisky with on the side. Nor do I really care.)

The women’s seedings followed the world rankings right down the line. Jelena Jankovic seeded second, Maria Sharapova seeded third, so on and so forth. (How great is it that Sharapova dropped to third in the world? Amazing!! Unless you’re a fan, of course, and even then I can’t offer condolences – only a cold beer.)

The men were pretty ho-hum as well with the only major blip coming in Marcos Baghdatis. He’s seeded 10th at Wimbledon but ranked 25th in the world. For those who are mathematically challenged, that’s a jump of 15 spots. Great for Baghdatis, might make some of the other players a little peevish, but it wouldn’t be Wimbledon without a little pre-tournament drama, now would it?

(Image: Newscom)
Marcos Baghdatis was seeded 15 spots higher than his world ranking for 2008 Wimbledon.

Post from: EveryJoe

Top Seedings Go to Federer and Ivanovic

The 17th-ranked Marcos Baghdatis wasn’t so lucky as he lost to Simone Bolleli in straight sets (6-2, 6-4, 6-2). Baghdatis is so streaky. There are times when that man can play lights out, but he hasn’t been able to string any of those bursting moments of amazingness together. In fact, he hasn’t been able to play that way for quite awhile. Baghdatis is the “almost” guy, and that can be much more frustrating than being so very far from winning.

The Americans have already put together a better showing than last year in Paris with James Blake through to the second round yesterday, but also giving hope to the Red, White and Blue was Wayne Odesnik with a surprise victory over Guillermo Canas.

We’ll be back in a bit with updates on the women’s draw…especially the dramatic match between Venus Williams and Tzipora Obziler!

(Image: Newscom)
Marcos Baghdatis shoots a backhand down the line but couldn’t get past the first round at the French Open.

Post from: EveryJoe

Federer Wins; Baghdatis Crashes Out of First Round

Hadjigeorgiou took the Baghdatis job in May of 2007 – so he’s not even a true “one and done”. That phrase implies there was a whole unit of time completed and Hadjigeorgiou was only coaching Baghdatis for about nine months. Lame.

(I also copied and pasted “Hadjigeorgiou” every time I used it…also kind of lame – I guess Hadjigeorgiou and I can hang out together.)

Maybe Baghdatis will hire a team of “experts”. We all saw how well that worked out for Andy Murray.

Post from: EveryJoe

One and Done: Marcos Baghdatis Coachless

(By the way – the “t” on my keyboard is being a bit obstinate and not wanting to work so I am not liable for any missed “t’s” following this disclaimer.)

This is the inaugural edition of the Popcorn Tennis Awards and is aimed at those who have made a valuable contribution to the Australian Open…but not necessarily on the court. Here are some of the best.

“Value for Money” Award: Marcos Baghdatis wins this award for the two five-setters and one four-setter he played.

“Best Impression of a Fly” Award: Yuri Sharapov wins it. Ask Darren Saligari, the author of the Popcorn Tennis Awards, for an explanation. I’m not sure he has one for you though.

“More Bling Than Tiffany’s” Award: Do you even need to be told? Venus Williams, of course.

“Best One Liner” Award: Andy Roddick for this little gem – “Stay in school kids, you’ll end up becoming an umpire.”

And my personal, all-time favorite? The “Choc Wedge” Award: *drum roll* – RAFA! It’s quite self-explanatory.

I still love you Nadal, but seriously? I really can’t say it any better than Saligari: “The Spanish world No. 2 has earned over $14 million in prize money alone. Rafa, buy some new shorts. Please.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Popcorn 2008 Tennis Awards

10. No Americans at the Australian Open past the quarterfinals.
I should take that back. There was one American who lost in the semifinals and that was Ryan Harrison in the boys’ singles. The boys’ singles! Otherwise, James Blake lost to Roger Federer in the quarters and both Serena and Venus Williams gave the queen wave on the women’s side as they bowed out. Forget Andy Roddick – he left in the third round after ending up on the losing end of a five-setter against Philipp Kohlschreiber.

9. Federer’s five-set “epic” against Serbian Janko Tipsarevic.
This match see-sawed back and forth with Federer losing the first and third sets before finally taking the fifth set at 10-8 to survive Tipsarevic’s onslaught. Roger chalked up 64 unforced errors to Tipsarevic’s 47 but smacked 96 winners to Tipsarevic’s 52. Another interesting note in this almost upset? Roger’s break point conversion: 5 of 21.

8. Three Serbians in the semi-finals, two in the finals.
When you think of a powerhouse tennis country, you don’t think of Serbia. I don’t anyway. Or I didn’t. But after Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic made their respective runs to the semis and the finals, knocking off the Williams sisters among a host of other competition, it’s hard to not think of Serbia when you think about professional tennis. That’s not even mentioning Novak Djokovic’s outstanding play to win the whole bag of tricks as well as Serbian Nenad Zimonjic title win in mixed doubles with Tiantian Sun of China.

7. Maria Sharapova’s efficient eradication of world No. 1 Justine Henin.
If you were sitting in Sharapova’s box, it was a thing of beauty. If you were backing Henin, you glanced toward the sky and wondered when the merciful ending would come. Sharapova’s 6-4, 6-0 rolling of Henin is something the world No. 1 probably wants to erase. Dropping a set at love in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam isn’t a thing someone like Henin does, but it’ll happen when you only hit 11 winners.

6. Rafael Nadal bows out of Aussie-land at the hand of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
If we were on a volleyball court, Rafa would be known as a defensive specialist. Sadly enough, the world No. 2 didn’t have any defensive answers for unseeded Tsonga’s powerful forehands. The first time the Spaniard made an appearance in the semi-finals at Melbourne wasn’t a happy one as he was humbled dutifuly to the tune of a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 whipping by the charismatic Tsonga.

5. Djokovic holds the winning hand against the King, ousting Federer from the tournament.
This one was a big deal. People are going to remember the supposed dethroning of the tennis king for quite awhile. Djokovic had the bigger game when he stopped Federer’s quest for another slam trophy, beating him 7-5, 6-3, 7-6. Note the straight sets – also kind of an important point. I struggled with moving this moment higher but – the ultimate point is that winning a Grand Slam trophy trumps a Federer loss.

4. The Bondarenko sisters of Ukraine win the women’s doubles trophy.
The unseeded Ukrainian sisters – Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko – won their first major title after beating the 12th seeds 2-6, 6-1, 6-4. En route to the victory, the sisters beat the No. 1 seeds, eighth seeds and 10th seeds before taking out their finals opponents Victoria Azarenka and Shahar Peer. The Bondarenkos were the first pair of sisters to win the Australian Open since the Williams sisters did so in 2003.

3. The Israeli duo earns the trophy in men’s doubles.
Eighth-seeded Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich won the Australian Open men’s doubles title. It was the first Grand Slam championship for the pair and the first time in Israel’s history that an all-Israeli doubles team has won the cup. The pair waded through the sixth, seventh and ninth seeds to earn the victory.

2. Sharapova hoists the trophy in her first Australian Open title win.
Russian Maria Sharapova picked up her third big title in style – she didn’t drop a set the entire tournament. A fluff draw? Not hardly. As mentioned above, Sharapova took out Henin in the quarters. Prior to that, Sharapova dispatched a gritty Lindsay Davenport and No. 11 seed Elena Dementieva. After knocking out the No. 3 and 4 seeded Serbian hopefuls in the semifinals and finals, Sharapova’s game didn’t lack much of anything. However – her father, Yuri Sharapov, sitting in the stands with that camouflage Uni-bomber presence? Creepy.

1. Djokovic wins first Grand Slam title with victory over Tsonga.
It wasn’t the final everyone had expected – what with the unseeded J-Dub Tsonga ousting No. 9 Andy Murray in the first round to start a wild fray of dropping top-seeded players from the ranks of the Australian Open hopefuls and Djokovic terminating Federer’s run. But it was a final and Djokovic walked away with the first Grand Slam title of his career. Bigger than that, however, is the significance this victory means to the country of Serbia. This trophy is the first Grand Slam title for the country, and Djokovic is the golden boy bringing it home. Before Novak handled Federer, he dispatched No. 5 seed David Ferrer and No. 19 seed Lleyton Hewitt. The Serbian didn’t drop a set until the final when Tsonga won the first set 6-4 before losing the next three 6-4, 6-3, 7-6.

So there you have it. My top 10 moments at the 2008 Australian Open. There really wasn’t enough room for all the moments I thought worthy. I picked them for various reasons, but I thought the top four spots were earned by the victories I put there - not only for the significance they had for the winners but for their countries and the tennis world.

If I was giving honorable mention awards, I would have to give them to the following:

- Tsonga’s whipping of No. 9 Andy Murray in the first round = a hearty thumbs-up.
- Heck – Tsonga himself deserves an honorable mention accolade!
- The Marcos Baghdatis and Lleyton Hewitt brawl.
- Casey Dellacqua’s run – beating No. 15 Patty Schnyder and No. 18 Amelie Mauresmo in three-set battles before getting dropped by Jankovic like a sack of potatoes.

The most memorable moments and honorable mention selections aside – it was a hoppin’ good tournament – bring on the French Open!!

Post from: EveryJoe

Australian Open 2008: The Top 10 Moments

Perhaps the biggest news is that Roger Federer got pushed to five sets. It would have been monumental had Federer lost, but we won’t go there. It took the Big Man over four hours to finally push Janko Tipsarevic (a Serbian…where did all these Serbian tennis powers come from? I mean, obviously Serbia, but you know what I mean.) out of the Australian Open with a 6-7, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1, 10-8 victory.

The big question really is: will the vigorous five-set exertion play a role in Federer’s push towards the title?

Federer says no. “Just being there in a five-setter is good for me, because I’m hardly ever there. It’s good for my mindset for the next one.”

Anyway, Federer is still alive in the tournament which really doesn’t surprise anyone. When the guy needs to win, he usually finds a way to do it.

How about James Blake? I watched the beginning of that match and was positive Blake was toast. A complete goner. Somehow he pulled his way out of it, put together an impressive third set (hello, 6-0), won the final two sets in the five-set match and got the W. Go, Blake, go.

I was going to talk about Lleyton Hewitt, but he’s dead to me now. It’s going on four in Melbourne and Hewitt is still battling it out with Marcos Baghdatis. They are in the fifth set, but it never should have gotten that far. Hewitt blew a 5-1 lead in the fourth. I don’t think “blew it” is a strong enough term actually.

But Hewitt is a goner. He’s washed up, Baghdatis has the momentum and is better in five-setters. And I’ll eat my words if Hewitt pulls it out, but I really don’t think he’s going to and he’s still going to be dead to me. You don’t let a 5-1 lead vanish and still retain my friendship. Uh-huh, no way.

Post from: EveryJoe

Federer Pushed to Five Sets at Australian Open

Rafael Nadal won handily, giving Gilles Simon a 7-5, 6-2, 6-3 ticket out of Melbourne. Mikhail Youzhny, Nikolay Davydenko and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also have moved on to the fourth round.

Tsonga – wasn’t he supposed to be gone way back when? Maybe I’ll have to put my weight behind him instead of my former underdog Roddick. Or I could back the Aussie’s homeboy since he’s still in – for now. He has Marcos Baghdatis who has the potential to tumble just about everybody’s little dream house.

Post from: EveryJoe

Roddick out at Australian Open

I love tennis; what can I say?

With the victory, Baghdatis will face Lleyton Hewitt. I was going to throw my support behind Baghdatis but comparing the match statistics, Hewitt was more solid in his last match than Baghdatis was against Safin. So – who knows? We all saw what happened when I picked Andy Murray to make a deep run so maybe I should just sit here and watch the reruns.

Post from: EveryJoe

Marat Safin, Marcos Baghdatis face-off