Rd. of 16 Recap

The Rd. of 16 of the 2010 Australian Open finally had some classics on the men's side. The women...not so much.

In what has to be maybe the deepest men's draw ever, the Rd. of 16 didn't disappoint. 5 set marathons seemed to be contagious, but most of the main contenders seemed to survive.

Why mention?

Fed DEF Hewitt 2, 3, 4- Well, I wish I could say I am surprised. Hewitt could play Roger 1,000 times in a row starting tomorrow and I don't think he'd win once.

Murray DEF Isner 6, 3, 2- Although the big American did have a set point in the 1st set, this was a pretty comfortable win for the determined Scot

Novak DEF Kubot 1,2, 5- Who has Novak paid off to get this draw? Seems like he hasn't played a guy I've heard of yet.

The Battles

Rafa DEF Karlovic 6-4,4-6,6-4,6-4- It took Nadal some time to figure our Dr. Ivo's serve, but eventually he grinded him down.

Davydenko DEF Verdasco 6-2,7-5,4-6,6-7,6-3- This was an interesting match where neither guy was playing up to their capabilities. Verdasco served 20 double faults and was very erratic from the ground, but Davydenko, the normally rock solid Russian, also struggled a bit with his form. Both guys were fighting some demons out their but eventually Davydenko moved on.

The Classics

Roddick DEF Gonzalez 6-3,3-6,4-6,7-5,6-2- A gritty match from both guys. Both did battle under the lights, with Roddick finally imposing his will in the 5th.

Cilic DEF Del Potro 5-7,6-4,7-5,5-7,6-3- Maybe it was only a matter of time before Del Po went down. His wrist seemed to be bothering him the whole tournament, and after surviving for 3 rounds, he finally ran into a guy who was ready to beat him. He didn't go out quietly though, this was a slug fest of two giants.

Tsonga DEF Almagro- This was the most fun Rd of 16 match. Two guys with electric personalities and unreal shot making capabilities. Tsonga went up 2 sets to love against Almagro, who was playing with a broken left wrist. OK, so he is one handed and a righty, but still. Almagro fought back and forced Tsonga to play his first 5th set ever, Jo-Willy took it 9-7.

Stay tuned later for much more on the 2010 Australian Open.

TT

New Podcast

Hey everyone...the new podcast is posted HERE. Check it out!

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Comment/tweet/e-mail your thoughts! Tiebreak.Tennis@yahoo.com

Aussie Sweet 16

Don't worry tennis fans, only another 9 days of staying up until 6 a.m. watching tennis.

The first Slam of 2010 is well underway in Australia and we have already seen quite a bit of stunning tennis, story-lines, and great matches.

Now we're down to 16 men and 16 women, all with dreams of hoisting up the trophy.

Tiebreak will be coming out with a podcast in a few hours recapping the first few rounds of the Aussie, as well as previewing all of the Rd. of 16 matches so be sure to check it out!

Before the podcast comes out, here are a few things we've noticed so far...

BEST MATCH:

The best match so far has to have been the Blake/Del Potro marathon. A semi-injured Del Po comes into the match against Blake, who has been dropping like a stone in the rankings. After over 4 hours of battle, Del Po raised his arms in victory, winning 10-8 in the 5th. To me, this was the best and maybe last chance for Blake to have a big win in a Slam. He was up a break early in the 5th, but once again his impatient and high-risk brand of tennis proved to be his downfall. He made a few too many errors late and leaves Australia with a big opportunity missed.

RECURRING THEME:

Retiring. It's the first Slam of the year, isn't everyone supposed to be well rested and injury free? I guess not because Baghdatis, Koubek, Youzhny, Hernandez, and Gil all had to call it quits in the first 3 rounds.

BIGGEST SURPRISE:

Kim Clijsters. Kim's mind-boggling 0 and 1 loss by Petrova certainly was unexpected. With Henin looking a bit hindered by her leg, Kim looked like the biggest threat to stop Serena from winning the Aussie. That threat ended quickly.

BEST FORM:

Serena for the women, and Davydenko for the men. Serena has dropped 9 games in 3 matches. She has been devastating so far.

Nikolay Davydenko, arguably the best player in the world since October, has been equally destructive in his first 3 matches. He has dropped only 17 games in 3 matches, and has won one set 6-0 in each of his matches. He looks to be on a collision course with Roger Federer in the quarters.

CLOSEST CALL:

Federer/Andreev 1st round. This 1st round was the first one in recent memory that Roger was tested in the opening round of a Slam. The huge forehand of Andreev gave Roger headaches for the first 3 sets of the match. At 1 set all, Andreev greatly outplayed Federer in the 3rd set having multiple set points. The Russian couldn't close out the set and let Fed escape in a tiebreak. In the 4th Andreev handed Roger the match 6-0.

We've also seen Hewitt playing good tennis, Rafa looking healthy, Novak quietly moving through the draw, and Murray moving better than ever.

Stay tuned for the Tiebreak Tennis Podcast with much more info about the Australian and previews of all Rd. of 16 matches.

You can access the podcast either on iTunes by searching "Tiebreak Tennis", on the top of this blog, or by visiting http://tiebreaktennis.podbean.com.

TT

The Top 10 Questions for 2010

2010 is upon us and with it brings so many questions as what is to come for the year ahead. Here are the ATP Tour's top ten questions for 2010:

10) Does "The Streak" continue? That is, does Roger Federer's streak of 22 consecutive grand slam finals continue? Despite his phenomenal 2009 season, several tennis analysts are doubting the streak will continue through 2010 as Roger's dominance begins to wane.

9) The U.S. of A.-Rod? Are all the hopes of the United States this year on Andy Roddick? For the past few years, the U.S. has relied on the 1-2 punch of A-Rod (no. 7) and James Blake (no. 44), but with James' precipitous drop-off in 2009 we are left wondering if A-Rod is our only hope for grand slam success. Two long shots for the U.S. are upshots Sam Querrey (no. 25) and John Isner (no. 34).

8) Comeback! So many top names have dropped out of the top rankings, so we are left wondering who will make a comeback this year. Some names we're looking for are Marcos Baghdatis (no. 42), James Blake (no. 44), Richard Gasquet (no. 52), and Mario Ancic (no. 95).

7) Who breaks through? Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have had a strangled hold on grand slam titles for most of the last five years. Juan Martin Del Potro (no. 5) unexpectedly broke through and won the U.S. Open this past september. But who will do it in 2010? Certainly, Andy Murray (no. 3) has to be a favorite given his 2009 performance and consistent performance on all surfaces. But there's a lot of guys out there that have the talent to do it - add these dark horses to your grand slam draw sheets this year: Davydenko, Soderling, Verdasco, Tsonga, and Gonzalez.

6) Does Bollettieri get into the ITF Hall of Fame? Nick is on the ballot this year for the Hall of Fame and we hope that this long overdue recognition final happens.

5) Who pops? Is this the year that Monfils breaks into the top 10? Or can Sam Querrey? Does Isner's booming serve get him into week two at Wimbledon? With this much talent on the tour, there's so many guys who can make huge waves in the rankings.

4) Who drops? The flip side of having so much talent on the tour is that nothing can be taken for granted. Nobody is protected on the tour and it's either feast or famine for rankings, pay, and endorsements - just ask James Blake who fell from being a top ten player to an unseeded underdog.

3) Reign in Spain? Could Spain pull off a three-peat - win the Davis Cup three years in a row? Their deep roster of talent makes the argument that Spain's dominance is here to stay for years to come.

2) And the winner of the Coup des Mousquetaires goes to...? Who the heck is going to win the French Open? Do Rafa's knees heel enough for him to reclaim his clay court dominance? Can Roger repeat? Or will a new name don the champion's trophy when it's all said and done?

1) Who's number 1? When the year wraps up in 2010, who will take home the year-end number one ranking? Can Roger Federer possibly do it again? He dominated the points race this year with two grand slam championships and two finals, but the competition is on his heels. Certainly, this year is going to be a horse race - grab onto your seat.