New Season, Renewed Effort
This blog sort of petered out around Wimbledon last year. But what is the best thing about the Australian Open if not the chance for fresh starts all around? So, here’s an attempt to bring back the tennis writing.
Due to the time differences and the responsibilities of daily life, I haven’t caught any live matches just yet, but am looking forward to the Ryan Harrison/Andy Murray match in an hour or so. (It’s scheduled to follow the Sharapova/Dulko match, currently at 6-0 5-1, so it should be over in about, say, five minutes.)
Does Harrison have a shot? In a wild, totally unpredictable, maybe-lightning-will-strike sort of way, yes. Harrison is a highly combustible player, so there’s rarely any telling whether he will catch fire or merely melt down. We shall see.
In my fantasy world, however, the Oz Open would get so much more interesting if Murray (or any of the Predestined Four) was bounced in a shocker. I like the rivalries but after four slams last year, the Murray/Federer/Nadal/Djokovic semi-final stranglehold does make the preceding ten days or so a little anti-climactic. How much more interesting would it be if Tsonga or Del Potro—or Tomic or Raonic!—snuck in and handled one or more of these guys? Nadal and Federer are both playing injured, so it’s quite possible someone out there might find a way to exploit their match-ups.
My favorite thing about the Australian Open is that more or less every year someone announces themselves as a player to watch for the new year. Last year we were spoiled with Djokovic’s breakthrough and some inspired play from Raonic, Tomic, and Dogolopov. Who will it be this year? Why not Harrison? (Talk to me again in about four hours.) Who else has a shot this year?
