- Jamie Davies
2012 Australian Open (16th - 29th January)
As usual the tennis season started off in Melbourne, Australia where as the Formula 1 season starts off as well. As the season kicked off the first Grand Slam of 2012.
It was a treat for the home fans as the double Grand Slam winner, Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) defeated World number 15, Andy Roddick (USA) at the Rod Lever arena after Roddick retired due to a hamstring injury but Hewitt was winning the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. This was Roddick's third last Grand Slam and had never won in Australia before, the fast server's highest round was the semi-finals in 2003, 2005, 2007 & 2009.
Lleyton Hewitt was knocked out in the fourth round to Novak Djokovic (Ser), which was no surprise but Hewitt was applauded by the home fans after the match.
Lleyton Hewitt was knocked out in the fourth round to Novak Djokovic (Ser), which was no surprise but Hewitt was applauded by the home fans after the match.
In the 4th round it was a massive shock for World number 6, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) as he was beaten by rank 24 in the World, Kei Nishikori (Jap) in full sets. 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. But in the quarter finals the Japanese's run was ended against Andy Murray (GB) in straight sets 6-3, 6-3, 6-1.
David Ferrer (Spa), Juan Del Potro (Arg) and Tomas Berdych (Cze) were the other three that went out of the quarter finals. Ferrer lost on straight sets to Djokovic, Del Potro was thumped by Roger Federer (Sui) and Berdych could only get one set past Rafael Nadal (Spa).
It was the 100th edition of the Australian Open. It was an historical Grand Slam with Andy Murray hoping to reach his third final for the third year running. But did not achieve as Murray was knocked out in the semi-finals to World number 1, Djokovic who won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open the previous year.
It was a close match throughout as it was a maximum set match (5 sets). But in the final set Murray was broke in the tie-break and lost his place in the final to Djokovic.
The second semi-final was between a very big rivalry which was the 16 Grand Slam winner, Roger Federer (Sui) and 10 Grand Slam winner, Rafael Nadal (Spa). When these two play each other it is anyone's match to win you just can't predict who's going to win.
The funniest moment of the match and indeed the whole tournament was one of Federer's shots catched by one of the ball boys. The commentator even said that the ball boy was a "worthy of Ricky Pointing". Watch the video below...
Just hilarious!
The opening set was won by Federer but Nadal was not going to go down that easily. Nadal had a simple second set which is very unlikely from the Swiss. Third set went to it's second tie break, Nadal won the tie-break and went into the lead for the very first time in the match. Nadal won the 4th set to put his place into the Australian Open final for the 2nd time in three years, 2009 when Nadal beat Federer to win it for the first time.
Men's Singles Final (29th January)
The final of the men's singles final was between Novak Djokovic from Serbia and Rafael Nadal from Spain. At the time Djokovic was World number 1 and Nadal was World number 2 (used to be), the two best tennis players in the world meet for the 30th time.
The final was on for 5 hour and 53 minutes, which now holds the record of being the longest Grand Slam final in history.
The match had three tie-breaks, which were in the 1st, 4th and 5th set. Nadal won two of the tie-breaks and Djokovic sealed one of the tie-breaks which was the final and winning set.
Yes, Djokovic won the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. Yet again Nadal became the runner up to the Serbian for the third Grand Slam final in a row.
I don't know what everybody else would think of that final but I think to this day that the 2012 Australian Open final was the best Grand Slam final I ever watched since the 2008 Wimbledon men's final when Nadal stopped Federer's run of 5 Wimbledon titles in a row.
The next Grand Slam was the French Open which staged 4 months after the Australian Open. Keep an eye on my blogspot for the 2012 French Open review. Thanks for reading.
Tennis Review By
Jamie Davies
Let's Talk Sport Writer
Follow Jamie and Let's Talk Sport on:
Facebook - /LetsTalkSport
Twitter - @lets_talk_sport
YouTube - /letstalksport655
E-mail - jamie_simpson@live.co.uk
The match had three tie-breaks, which were in the 1st, 4th and 5th set. Nadal won two of the tie-breaks and Djokovic sealed one of the tie-breaks which was the final and winning set.
Yes, Djokovic won the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5. Yet again Nadal became the runner up to the Serbian for the third Grand Slam final in a row.
I don't know what everybody else would think of that final but I think to this day that the 2012 Australian Open final was the best Grand Slam final I ever watched since the 2008 Wimbledon men's final when Nadal stopped Federer's run of 5 Wimbledon titles in a row.
The next Grand Slam was the French Open which staged 4 months after the Australian Open. Keep an eye on my blogspot for the 2012 French Open review. Thanks for reading.
Tennis Review By
Jamie Davies
Let's Talk Sport Writer
Follow Jamie and Let's Talk Sport on:
Facebook - /LetsTalkSport
Twitter - @lets_talk_sport
YouTube - /letstalksport655
E-mail - jamie_simpson@live.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment