As we move onward to a new season we must not forget the wonderful things that happened in the last season.
Australian Open
We all wait desperately to see what the players have been up to on their time off , how they are all coping. and if all the top players will be playing. We got our wishes, all the top players were healthy and ready to go. We had a couple of good matches on the men’s side, but everyone was wondering will there be another Federer-Nadal final. Well it happened and to everyone’s surprise Nadal took the title. We all were thinking will this be the end for Federer or will this have something up his sleeves the next time they meet.
On the womens side there were some clear favorites and people were talking about the number 1 and number 2 player in the world at that time. The talk of the town was about Dinara Safina and Serena Williams. Would Serena Williams take the number 1 rank? Would Safina proof that she should really be at the top and win a grand slam? Well these two ladies met up in the final ironically, but Safina was no competition for Williams. Serena crushed Dinara in the finals only giving up 3 games. This was a good opening to the season as the players were just getting warmed up.
French Open
It was time for the players to start practicing their sliding skills and getting ready to play on red clay. Clay is totally different from any other surface and is difficult to maintain. Players have to more patient and deal with all the different spins that happen on clay. Everyone just knew that Rafael Nadal had this in the bag as he had been winning this tournament every year hands down. But a feisty Robin Soderling came into the picture and knocked out the defending champion. This took the tennis world by surprise and left the door wide open for Roger Federer to win his first French Open title. He took full advantage of not having to face Rafael Nadal in the final this year and defeat Robin Soderling in the Finals to finally win the French Open. All credit goes to Robin Soderling for defeating the “clay king” Rafael Nadal. Even Federer has not been able to accomplish that feat.
The women’s side was wide open as Justine was the Nadal so to speak when it came to clay. The defending champion Ana Ivanovic had her work cut out for her as this slam was up for the taking. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to defend her title in the final as she was dismissed by Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. The two clear favorites to win the tournament going into the second week was again Serena and Dinara. This could have been a rematch of the Australian Open final. But people forgot about one other person who is just as tough on clay, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kuznetsova faced Serena in the Semi-finals and somehow managed to pull through. This gave her a chance to win a second major and she did. Her last Grand Slam victory was in 2004 where she won the US Open. Unfortunately, Safina could not come up with the goods again. Svetlana was just too tough for Dinara in the finals.
Wimbledon
It was time for the players to play on the grass courts at Wimbledon. We all know and love Wimbledon as this is the most prestigious of the grand slams. Everything seemed to be lining up perfectly until word got out that the defending champion Rafael Nadal would be unable to defend his title. This was a real downer as he worked so hard the year prior to defeat Roger Federer on his best surface.
But as I always say the Grands Slams wait for no one, so Wimbledon just had to be played without him. There was some interesting things happening on the men’s side over the course of the two week tournament. There seemed to be more believe, with Nadal out for the count that left a empty spot for another player to be in the final. Even though Nadal was missed, incredible tennis was played on the “green stuff”.
We had intense matches and battles and we also had another all Williams final. Although, this year it was Serena who came out on top and put the pressure on big sister Venus. On the men’s side to peoples surprise it was Andy Roddick not Murray who made it into the finals. Before Nadal came along it was Roddick who was facing Federer in the Wimbledon finals. This was the one of the longest and intense matches that Wimbledon has seen since 2005 where Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport had their epic match. Andy came so close and in my eyes should have won the match. But as usual Roger some how finds a way to come through and win and he did. Wimbledon was the most exciting Grand Slam so far and over the two week wonderful tennis played.
US Open
When the US Open comes around this marks the ending of the season as this is the last Grand Slam of the year. This tournament held in New York is said to be the players favorite Grand Slam. They get to be in the New York atmosphere and all the fast pace and exciting things that happen there. The clear favorites to win this tournament on the men’s side where either Andy Roddick, Roger Federer, or Rafael Nadal and the women’s side was flat out Serena Williams. Basically everyone was wrong and what ended up happening on both sides was a complete shock. We had some teenagers peak at the right moment USA’s own Melanie Oudin. This was the girl who wore the believe on her shoes and boy did she put on a show. Melanie was the talk of the town and ended up making it to the Semi-Finals where she faced another rising star Caroline Woznacki and lost.
Then we had the returning veteran Kim Clijsters who was not even considered the under dog she was completely under the radar until right around the Semi-Finals where she faced Serena Williams. That match was full of drama where Serena had it out with the lines judge for calling a foot-fault on a second serve causing her match point. As a result of Serena losing her cool she lost the match on a technicality which really disappointed the fans. After all the drama Kim Clijsters was up against an inexperience teen in the finals where she won her second major of her career. Not a bad coming of retirement gift for Kimmie.
On the men’s side everything was going on course for a Roger Federer- Rafael Nadal final until someone name Juan Martin Del Potro came into the mixture. Del Potro went into his Semi-Final match with nothing to lose and used his big forehand to defeat Nadal. He used these same tactics to defeat Roger Federer in the Finals. Who would have thought that Del Potro would defeat Federer in the finals? As I mentioned earlier both sides winners were a surprise. However, if you really take a look back at the tournament they do stand out as the most consistent players through out the tournament. (and I am not just saying that because they won) The US Open was the perfect closing the Grand Slams.
All in all, the 2009 season was filled with great matches and tons of drama. I hope that 2010 will bring a lot more of it.
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It should send you a link of some sort.
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Great discussion. And I REALLY like that you practice what you preach.