King Rafa

Apologies to my legion of readers for the delay between posts. A central heating problem had made the blogger's den all but inhabitable for the best part of a month.

Australian Open Tennis

I predicted after the US Open last year that Federer would win the title in Melbourne to draw level with Sampras on 14 Slam titles. Unfortunately Roger came up against the phenomenon otherwise known as Rafa Nadal. The conventional wisdom used to be that Nadal would struggle to win a Slam on hard courts because of the pounding the surface gives his fragile knees. That theory can be discarded. Nadal won a thrilling 4 1/2 hour match to win his first Slam on hard courts. The first four sets were played at an exceptional standard, only the fifth was a bit of a let-down. Nadal again showed his ability to hit amazing running winners: once from way behind the baseline, & another off a good deep volley were just a couple of highlights. When Nadal called for the trainer in the 3rd set, it looked like he was feeling the effects of his marathon 5 hr 14 min semi-final against Verdasco. But it was Federer who was mentally fatigued in the fifth, dropping serve twice. Against other opponents, Roger has shown a Sampras-like ability to close out a match, serving strings of aces, but he now seems to have a mental block against the iron-willed Nadal. Federer was in floods of tears at the end of the match. Maybe he was thinking: if I can't beat him after he's played a semi-final lasting over five hours, will i ever beat him again. If Roger is to equal & surpass Sampras' record, he will have to hope it's not Nadal on the other side of the net in the final.

The womens final was a nightmare for Dinara Safina. She lost to 0 & 3 to Serena in under an hour. Needless to say, more competition is needed at the top of the womens game. Ivanovic is out of form, but Sharapova is aiming to make her comeback from injury in March.

Boxing

In my last blog i previewed two bouts. Having been scathing about the Froch fight, it turned out to be a superb contest, probably the British fight of the year. It did make you realise how good Calzaghe was- his fitness, accuracy & volume of punches thrown were all superior to what Froch produced. The American Jermain Taylor, who has twice beaten Bernard Hopkins on points, is the mandatory challenger to Froch's WBC title, but the fight may not happen, as Froch is not a box office draw in the US. Calzaghe announced his retirement this week, & Oscar de la Hoya should join him. He had nothing left in the tank in the fight against Manny Pacquiao, & was overwhelmed & beaten up by the smaller man before retiring after the eight round. Calzaghe retires undefeated, a very rare feat in boxing.