A LONELY LAMENT: A man e-mailed Australian Open Radio and asked, “Could Caroline Wozniacki go on a date with me? P.S. I have never gone out on a date.”
GO FIGURE: Stanislas Wawrinka scored an inspired win over Gael Monfils and used his power backhand and modest return serve to bring down Andy Roddick only to be crushed by Roger Federer.
BREAKING NEWS: The Ukrainian breakout player Alexander Dolgopolov broke Robin Soderling nine times.
MIRROR IMAGE: Last year, Roger Federer struggled big time to survive against Nikolay Davydenko and then went on to win to win the AO. Now that he survived his major scare against Gilles Simon will he go on to win in 2011?
JUST ONE: If you could watch just one player who would it be? Serena Williams, with her incredible athleticism and will to win. Maria Sharapova with her sleek line and icy elegance. Andy Murray, with his smooth movement and innate sense of the game, Justine Henin, with her sublime backhand and little-engine-that-could determination, Kim Cljisters or Caroline Wozniacki, with their bouncy athleticism, Rafa Nadal, with his explosive almost animalistic (“I will not be beaten”) will to win, the magical Roger Federer, with his extraordinary variety, grace, balance and buttery smoothness or perhaps would it be the incredible Francesca Schiavone, a slight Mediterranean figure, with all her appealing guile, cunning and all court wizardry.
QUOTEBOOK
“Competing to the end is the least you can do. You owe it to the sport.” — Chris Fowler on Stan Wawrinka and other dreary, pack it in performances from numerous others including Xavier Malisse
“The heart of the matter is heart.” — Patrick McEnroe
“What in the world is going on out there? Is this a Swiss Davis cup practice session” — Patrick McEnroe on the often non-chalent nature of the Federer-Wawrinka match
ILLEGAL PROCEDURE: After Federer unleashed an astounding array of shots, Brad Gilbert said, “That’s way too many clubs in the bag.”
BORING STRATEGY: Patrick McEnroe said the best way to get to Federer is to bore him.
ANDY WARHOL LIVES: The work of Andy Warhol, whose famous for his paintings of Campbell’s Tomato Soup cans, came to mind when Chris Fowler claimed Stanislas Wawrinka was “less Stan the man and more like Stan the Tomato Can.”
A NEW DEFINITION FOR GOOGLE: Chris Fowler said, “Googling is not knowing the answer to a trivia question.”
ON THE EGE OF HISTORY: Federer almost hit two ‘tweeners in his match against Wawrinka.
MADE FOR THE HIGHLIGHT REEL: Is the tweener the moral equivalent of the high profile slam dunk in basketball?
SPEED KILLS: Brad Gilbert claimed, “The theme of this tournament is speed kills that’s why … Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, are going on”
VIVE LA DIFFERENCE: What a contrast between Wawranka who offered a perfunctory performance against Federer and Schiavone and Schiavone’s inspiring effort against Caroline Wozniacki. After all it was just assumed that after her 4:44 marathon against Kuznetsova, Schiavone would be toast. Certainly John Isner and Nicolas Mahut were wiped out for weeks after their singular confrontation, yet Schiavone still brought it big time against Wozniacki. She never accepted the conventional wisdom that she would be a basket case. Asked prior to the match about the condition of her, legs she responded: “They’re still attached [aren’t they?]”
NERVES OF STEEL: Down match point against Wozniacki, Schiavone flicked an inspired-half volley drop shot winner. Eventually — after the expressive, spindly Italian survived 10 match points — Pam Shriver said, “God love you, Francesca Schiavone.”
JUST WONDERING: Is Federer’s swagger back (and, as some have said, has he significantly improved under Paul Annacone’s tutelage)?
