Australian Open 2011 Flashback

Extra effort from Andy Roddick

In early 2011, I had the opportunity to attend my first (and hopefully not my last) Australian Open.  As we start to gear up for the 2012 tournament, and start seriously jones-ing for the beginning of next season, I thought it would be a good time to share some of my photos from last year's tournament.  Most of the big names crossed my camera in some way shape or form over the fortnight and since we're all fans, why not share the results.

2011 Predictions & Reality

Until this morning when they posted the winner, I'd completely forgotten that last year I participated in Tennis-X's 2011 Year End Top 10 poll.  Looking back at my picks (posted as VE), they all seemed so well thought out then.  I even went as far as explaining the logic.  I'm sure at the time, I thought I was dead on about my picks.  But hell, that's why the play the matches, isn't it?


I wound up being right about six of the players who finished in the top ten, but for every big hit; there was a big miss as well.  So, as we begin to look ahead to 2012, I thought it would be fun to share with you what I said then, how I was right an how I was wrong...oh, so wrong.

Australian Open Wildcard Playoffs Livestream

In need of a live tennis fix? You can watch the LiveStream of the Kia Motors Australian Open wildcard playoff on Blacklabel Tennis through the weekend.  Through this event one American man and woman will win a wild card berth into next month's Australian Open in Melbourne.

Players scheduled to appear include: Melanie Oudin, Jack Sock, Robby Ginepri, Coco Vandeweghe and more.  See the match schedule after the jump.

 

Watch live streaming video from aowp at livestream.com

If You Were Wondering...

What happened after Spain won the Davis Cup last weekend, I can assure you that they didn't shave their heads like the Serbian team did a year ago...I think Feliciano Lopez would beat the snot out of anyone who would even joke about shearing his coif.  In any event, there was celebration, presumably some liquid courage was imbibed and there was something that looked kind of like dancing from the Spanish contingent.

I wouldn't hold a candle to Rafa on a tennis court, but on the dancefloor, if this is any indication, 6-1, 6-0 Blacklabel Tennis, Vamos!

2011 Year End Power Rankings

Sometimes the hot cool down, sometimes the cool heat up.  Check out who makes Blacklabel Tennis' 2011 Year End Power Rankings.

1. Petra Kvitova (CZE) Last Month: (3)

Novak Djokovic certainly had the best year in 2011, but the hottest player going into 2012 has to be Petra Kvitova.  She began her march to the top of the WTA with an upset win over Kim Clijsters in the Paris final back in February (Clijsters was World No. 1; Kvitova, No. 18 at the time).  Then she simply outslugged Maria Sharapova, to become the unanimous pick as the most likely to succeed of this year's first time major winners.  She may have started the year ranked 34th, but after winning a major, the WTA Tour Championships and five other tour titles, the 20 year old Czech finished within a hair of the year end No. 1 ranking.  Then for good measure, she led the Czech Republic to the Fed Cup title.  There is simply no one we're more interested in watching start their 2012 campaign than Kvitova.

Bacardi Campaign Pits Fans Versus Virtual Rafa

Originally posted on Mashable:


Tennis legend Rafael Nadal has conquered an impressive list of opponents — Roger Federer, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt just to name a few. But could Rafa beat you if you had a 12-foot tennis-serving robot on your side?


That’s the premise of “Ace Rafa,” a new Bacardi campaign that allows fans to virtually compete with the 10-time Grand Slam winner using the RoboServ 3000...

Defining Rafael Nadal

Has there ever been a conversation, article or other examination of Rafael Nadal that didn't pivot on his rivalry with Roger Federer?  Well, I'll say, it's not exactly our fault, the Federer kid just stays in the picture.  I've been among the bloggers (dare i say, writers?) who've written in the past that they can't ever foresee such a conversation happening.  Nadal's own book Rafa centers on the story of Nadal's side of the Greatest Match of All Time (the GMAT?), his 2008 Wimbledon final versus you know who.

ATP World Tour Final Oddsmaking

The ATP World Tour Final (heretofore known as the ATP WTF) is a curious event.  The round robin, featuring only the eight highest ranked players in the world, played in London's O2 arena has a jagged history debuting in its present form only in 1999 (versus the legs of the Grand Slam, the youngest of which, the Australian Open, debuted in 1905).  Even though this event doesn't necessarily have the history or prestige of the majors, the Davis Cup or the Olympics, the ATP has done a good job of building the WTF into a showpiece for their biggest stars, especially since the event's fortuitous move to London in 2009.  How will the ATP WTF play out?  Well, we think we have a pretty solid idea.

Little Legends

Our friends over at tennis.com, just posted this funny, dare I say, cute video of tennis legends as kids produced by the group behind the Stockholm Open. Funny, they got Nole's ball bouncing dead on, but they decided to avoid Rafa's wedgie pull, too bad.

Still The Best (Of The Rest)

When Roger Federer claimed the first Paris Masters title of his career, in a 6-1, 7-6 (3) win over home favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga it certainly revised the rap on Federer's 2011 from dire to at minimum, acceptable.  Coming into this fall season, Federer had only captured the crown at Doha back in January.  In the intervening months, he lost the Roland Garros final to his irrepressible younger rival Rafael Nadal; then watched Nadal's mojo, No. 1 ranking and a raft of titles get hijacked by another still younger rival, Novak Djokovic. With the surge of younger players, Federer turned 30, usually the age where players start thinking about retirement communities of tax haven nations.  Then to add insult to injury, Andy Murray, the black sheep of the Big Four, also passed him in the rankings after a strong Asian swing, winning titles in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai while Federer sat idle.

Citizen Player?

The top 100 or so players on the WTA and ATP tours all have pretty impressive collections of passport stamps.  Both tours field events in more than 30 countries annually bringing this global game to fans from Canada to Australia and everywhere in between.  The game's stars are, not surprisingly, a similarly international lot.  World No. 2 Rafael Nadal is a hometown kinda guy, born and bred in Manacor, Mallorca.  On the other hand, his longtime rival Roger Federer might draw a lot of fans waving Swiss flags to the stands, but he's equally at home in his other base in Dubai.  WTA world No. 4 Maria Sharapova lives down the road from my buddy in Manhattan Beach, CA (he goes to her Starbucks), although she plays under the Russian flag.  To be fair, it's not just the superstars, lesser known WTA player Varvara Lepchenko was born in Uzbekistan and now, a naturalized citizen, plays for the US and is based in Allentown, PA, maybe a thirty minute drive from where I grew up.

The borderless nature of tennis raises an intriguing question.  In this sport, what exactly is the value of national identity?

Blacklabel Tennis November 2011 Power Rankings

Who's as hot as they come this fall?  Who's in absolute freefall?  Here's our take after the last month of tennis.  We call it the Blacklabel Tennis Power Rankings, enjoy.

1. Novak Djokovic (SRB) Last Month: (1)

The man is still the man.  A back injury may have truncated his planned fall campaign, it may lessen his credentials in the "best season ever" discussion;  but yeah, ho hum, who cares?  The Serbian superstar, aka Robo-Nole, is still the man to beat whenever he takes the court.  In part, because he's got that locker room intimidation factor that's worth a nervous break even if his game isn't completely firing.  He doesn't even need to show up the rest of 2011 to be the favorite in Australia.  Then again, there's nowhere to go from here, but down.  Well, at least, Nadal, Murray, Federer and err, every other man playing ATP level tennis hope that's the case.  

WTA Championships Year-End Oddsmaking

Seriously, did Sasha Vujacic dress Maria for the photo shoot?

Eight women have flown into Istanbul with a chance to win the 2011 WTA Year-End Championships, the very last prize of this women's tennis season.  For the most part, the women have been quite a generous bunch, sharing this year's major tournaments with Kim Clijsters (who did not qualify for the YEC), Na Li/Li Na, Petra Kvitova and Samantha Stosur each taking home one major this year.  They also spread the wealth with regard to WTA tour titles, with World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki leading the tally with six, followed by Petra Kvitova (five) and Agnieszka Radwanska (three).  What's all this sharing mean?  You almost stop thinking about who is best suited to win this event (head-to-heads, surface, streaks, etc.) and start thinking whose turn is it to come good?  It's damn near impossible to handicap the field going into this event.  That won't stop us from trying though.

Erase the Wozsterisk

It might feel like we just left the sunny, bright blue rectangles and liquid heat of Melbourne, but in a little over two weeks the 2011 WTA season will be over.  The WTA Year End Championships will debut with the world's top eight players in Istanbul next week, followed by the Consolation Games, with much of the next 16 in Bali a week later.

We've seen surprises aplenty from the women this year, Na Li reaching two major finals and coming good at Roland Garros; Petra Kvitova solidifying her young gunnette status winning the Venus (aka the big plate) at Wimbledon; Serena Williams on the razor's edge of life and death this spring and then razor's edge of calm and rage just a few months later.  It surely hasn't been a dull ten months in women's tennis, even if there hasn't been a dominant force to galvanize fans...other than the Wozsterisk.

Leave It To Soccer Fans... (Rated R for Language)

Soccer fans are known for the chants they use to get under the skin of the opposing players and sometimes the opposing crowd.  Every now and again, they'll even take on...Roger Federer?!?

This moderately vulgar, if not particularly creative, chant was videotaped during Montenegro's 2-0 loss to Switzerland during a Euro 2012 qualifier.  At least we haven't heard this one broken out in the Upper Promenade of Arthur Ashe Stadium...yet.

(via Tennis-X)

Serena Update from Aussie Open Twitter

Seventeen hours after our original exchange, the Australian Open has clarified their earlier tweet saying that Serena Williams is due to play in Melbourne in January.  After a bit of excitement, we can put this Twitter-built rumor to rest.

Breaking: Serena Williams out of Australia?

Bad news, friends and fans of women's tennis, according to the Twitter exchange I just had with @AustralianOpen, the Australian major's official Twitter account, it appears that the health concerns that are keeping Serena Williams out of Asia this fall may, in fact, keep her from contending for a sixth Australian Open crown this coming January.

Look Back, Look Ahead

When we left the bright blue courts and sometimes otherworldly heat of Melbourne at the end of January, there were some things we knew about this 2011 tennis season and others we had no clue about.  Now with the year's final major, the US Open, a week in the rear-view mirror, let's take a look back to look ahead.

Visions from Flushing

Although the US Open is well in the rear view mirror by now.  I've just had a chance to go through the literally more than a thousand shots I took during the tournament.  If you haven't been frequenting our Facebook page, a selection of my best/favorite shots from the Fortnight are up in our Facebook page 

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Finals at Flushing - 2011 US Open Men's Final Preview & Prediction

One more match.  Two Mondays ago this 2011 US Open was full of possibility.  Now, it's all history with the exception of the men's final.  Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will contend for the US open championship on Monday afternoon.  Here's how we see things unfolding.