BEST PHRASE OF THE AO: “Funk and junk,” which refers to Bernard Tomic‘s unconventional lifestyle.
WHODDA THUNK IT?: The lowly ranked Milos Raonic (who became the first Canadian male to advance to the fourth round of a Grand Slam in 10 years) and Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov (who upset Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling to reach the Quarters) broke out in a big way.
SAY IT ISN’T SO: A smattering of fans actually booed Venus Williams after the American left the court trailing 1-0 in the first set due to a painful groin injury. Williams said, “It’s super disappointing…I was just hoping for some magic.”
TWIN TALK: After Patrick McEnroe noted that Roger Federer was looking “a little bored out there,” Pam Shriver responded, “When you have 18-month-old twins back at the hotel, anything but watching them is boring.”
GO FIGURE: Brad Gilbert said, “The most important [in tennis] is don’t listen to your critics.”
SHOT OF THE TOURNAMENT: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez hit yet another stunning ‘tweener on the second point of his loss to Andy Murray.
GOOD ADVICE: When Pam Shriver all but drooled over images of the hunky Rafael Nadal warming up without his short, Patrick McEnroe quipped, “Settle down, Pam.”
COULD BE: As the four-hour, 33-minute John Isner–Marin Cilic match evolved into a serious marathon, commentator Leif Shiras asked, “Are we jumping down the rabbit hole again?”
INTO THE SUSNET: Australian Open Radio’s Greg Willis suggested that the Isner-Cilic match “still be going on when we settle into the Happy Valley Retirement Home.”
THIS CAN’T BE: No. 1 Rafa Nadal actually trailed Bernard Tomic 4-0 in the second set before he reeled off six of the next seven games.
NOT ANYMORE: When a baby cried out from the stands during a match of the once-volatile Vera Zvonareva, Martina Navratilova quipped, “That would have been Zvonareva [crying] a couple of years ago, but not anymore.”
BREATHLESS: Svetlana Kuznetsova admitted that as she was trying to close out her match against the formidable Justine Henin, she couldn’t feel her arm and was hardly breathing.”
MUCH ADO ABOUT VAMOS: There are really three key celebratory calls in tennis: “C’mon!” first coined by Lleyton Hewitt (the Aussie subsequently tried to trademark the phrase). The French version of “C’Mon!” is “Allez!” (Justine Henin famously combines the two by crying out, “Allez-c’mon!”) And the Spanish say “Vamos!” With this in mind, when the Indian team of Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi used the phrase during their march to victory over Feliciano Lopez/Juan Monaco, the Spaniards took great offense.
MY UNCLE THE VICE PRESIDENT: Rafa’s coach, Uncle Toni Nadal, remains the most important uncle in tennis history. (But don’t forget that Milos Raonic‘s uncle was formerly the VP of Montenegro.)
GO FIGURE: The fastest rising start in North America, Milos Raonic, is a Canadian who was born in Montenegro and trains in Spain. He told Inside Tennis, “It’s a privilege to compete for Canada. I’ll always be a Canadian Davis Cup player [unlike Greg Rusedski].” He added that his serve is a big psychological advantage, and came to him at an early age, when Pete Sampras was his idol…Three 20-years-olds reached the fourth round, as did three lefties — Andrea Petkovic, Iveta Benesova and Ekaterina Makarova — in the women’s draw…Svetlana Kuznetsova had lost to Justine Henin five straight times before she finally beat her in Melbourne.
NOW WE KNOW: Broadcaster Kate Kearns claimed that Virginia Wade‘s high service toss was responsible for climate change.
DR. SIGMUND IS IN: When a dead spot in Hisence Arena was filled by digging a couple of holes, Kate Kearns claimed it was “a miracle for men’s egos around the world because something was fixed with a drill.”
SAY IT AIN’T SO: Next week Serena Williams will be ranked No. 14.
THE DJOKER IS BACK: Perhaps because Serbia won the Davis Cup, Novak Djokovic seems to be back in form with his once-delicious, fun-loving attitude.
EUROPEAN ACCENT: Twenty-eight of the 32 remaining players in the draw hailed from Europe. The only exceptions were China’s Na Li and Shuai Peng, Canada’s Milos Raonic and American Andy Roddick.
JUST NOT VICTORIES: Pam Shriver said Victoria Azarenka “as the weapon and the scream” to make a big push at the majors.
CHINA SYNDROME: Pam Shriver said there will be a Chinese Grand Slam winner within the next few years, and once that happens, the floodgates will open.
GENDER CORRECTNESS: Last year, Chris Bowers noted that the phrase “no man’s land” just doesn’t make sense when referring to women’s tennis. Perhaps with that in mind, Matthew Cronin coined the phrase “no woman’s land.”
GIRLS GONE CRAZY: The seemingly straight-laced European champions Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki both let their hair down and went free-form in Melbourne. The following on-court exchange took place between Clijsters and an embarrassed Todd Woodbridge:
KC: “By the way, Rennae Stubbs showed me a text message you wrote about me in Sydney.”
TW: “What did I say?”
KW: “You thought I was pregnant.”
TW: “Oh, she did not! Well, I guess we’ve got to ask, are you?”
KC: “No, no. Let me say what was written in the message. First of all, ‘she looks very grumpy and her boobs are bigger.'”
TW: “Oh my goodness. Well, that’s the end of my TV career, thank you very much. I think on that note we might let you get inside, and congratulations on a great win.”
For her part, after hearing that the press found her boring in press conferences, Wozniacki cracked back at the press when she launched into her own question-and-answer dialogue saying, “I find it quite funny because I always get the same questions. So I’m just going to start. I know what you’re going to ask me already. So I’m just going to start with the answer. I felt great out there today on the court. I think I played a pretty good match. I am happy I got the revenge since I lost to her in Sydney last week. It was not an easy match. She went out there, she was really on fire. I’m happy to be through to the next round. I don’t know who I’m playing, so maybe you can ask me that afterwards. But I’m really looking forward to playing my fourth round. It’s the second time in a row that that’s happened. What I do need to do to win this tournament? If I feel like I played too defensively today? I actually feel like I had to do that. I had to run a lot of balls down today because she was playing really aggressively, trying to hit from the first point. But I felt like when I had the chance, I was really focused and tried to step it up, especially with my serve a bit. When she put the second serve in, I tried to take the advantage straightaway. If I deserve to be No. 1. If this was maybe another proof that I belong there? Again, I don’t feel any pressure to be No. 1. I really enjoy myself. I’ve had a great year and a great tournament so far. So I’m just happy to be in the next round, and hopefully I can pull a win through. My [new] racket feels really good. I feel like the racket is really helping me out. I feel like there is no problems. I really enjoy playing with it. So I feel like — I’m just happy to be here. Hopefully, this was a little bit different than usual, and now you can maybe give me some questions that are a little bit more interesting, a little bit different than what I usually get.”
SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROP: Na Li said anytime she does well she can take her husband’s credit card and go shopping.
THE NEW SHARAPOVA: Maria Sharapova has a new coach and a new racket, but still has the same, not-over-the-top results.
BRYAN BITES: In a fun interview with Inside Tennis’ Matthew Cronin, the Bob Bryan revealed that he married Michelle Alvarez in Miami on a Monday because it’s cheaper. He also said that his brother Mike has bought out their two homes in California, which they had long shared, while predicting that Mike, who’s close with his British girlfriend, will be “dialing it in” within a year and will get married. He quipped, “Our next paycheck goes for the ring.” The twins played 10 exos in the not-so off-season and last year had 25 rock gigs. Bob noted, “We have a lot of fun.” Speaking of the off-season, the Bryans said the two weeks of extra down time next year will allow players not only to rest but o work on their games. The brothers admitted that when it comes to chest bumping, they’re losing a little bit of their air. But they’re hoping to catch The Woodies’ record of 11 Slams. They now have “just” nine. BTW: Between the Australian Open and the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Chile, they’ll be playing in an event in Mexico for some pretty good pesos. Mike Bryan admitted, “We don’t leave a dime on the table. As doubles players, we’ve got to get what we can take.”
JUST WONDERING: Is Dinara Safina, who lost in the first round to Kim Clijsters 6-0, 6-0, the most perplexing collapse of the Open Era?…Is Ernests Gulbis, the son of the third richest man in Latvia, the biggest underachiever of our day?
QUOTEBOOK
“The punk from the Gold Coast did more than enough to show everyone he is a real talent.” – The Telegraph’s Mark Hodgkinson on Bernard Tomic
