Rackets and Balls - Tennis News

Australian Open 2008: The Top 10 Moments

by Erica on January 27th, 2008

The chips are in and the cards are down. The fortnight at the Australian Open is a closed book, but there are 10 moments from Down Under that were pretty special.

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!!

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POSTED IN: Ana Ivanovic, Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Australian Open, Jelena Jankovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Justine Henin, Marcos Baghdatis, Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, The Williams Sisters