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All the hype was about the women's "blockbuster" that ESPN had the audacity to call the "Greatest 2nd Round Grand Slam match ever?!" before it even began, but we'll get to that later.
The thriller of the night belonged to none other than James Blake and Juan Martín del Potro. Question marks loomed over the match. How would the reigning US Open champion's tennis elbow hold up? How would the 30-year-old man's knee hold up? How much desire to win would he display?
I'd like to write a match report, but I'm too tired, so I urge you all to see it on replay if you can. It was all-court power tennis punctuated with masterful net play, especially from Blake. The tiebreak he played to level the match in the second set was enthralling.
They saved the best for the last. Del Potro, who displays little emotion during the peaks and valleys of a match, hurt his rib late in the fifth set, Blake needed his left arm attended right before del Potro served for the match a second time, fans shouted at Blake in the middle of several big points, but both players displayed some serious gonads to give the fans at Hisense Arena a 6-4, 6-7(3), 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 adventure they'll be talking about for days.
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I wrote a version of the following shortly after Justine Henin outlasted Elena Dementieva 7-5, 7-6(6).
The hype for the women's night match on Rod Laver was too much before, too much during, and now too much after.
It was intriguing, dramatic, intense, and competitive. It was also erratic, nervy, painful, and ugly.
During the match, the tweets were outrageous. "Best match I've ever seen!" from someone who called the Brisbane final the same thing. "I can't remember the last time I saw such great tennis from both sides of the net" from someone who hailed the Brisbane final as the best thing since sliced bread. Pam Shriver even said early in the match that this was going to be a match she would never forget and then called it the greatest straight set match ever. Too few comments from the commentators about how terrible the serving was on both sides of the net.
As a critic, I know I can be too critical, even harsh, as some of you like to say, but when people ignore much of what's in front of their eyes simply to hype the best parts to the hilt, for the sake of the sport, I suppose, it leaves viewers wondering what the hell folks are talking about and makes you question the credibility of those doing all the hyping.
Another writer who bemoaned all the double faults on the WTA last year said nary a word about all the double faults in this match. I guess because she liked both players and was so very excited that Henin is back, she overlooked the woeful service games from both players. And I mean woeful. Neither player could hold serve. For me, great matches feature players who can close out matches on their own serve. You serve for a match once and get tight, fine. You serve for it twice and get tight, it's ugly. (It was interesting that both del Potro and Henin served for their matches twice. The second time simultaneously. They both faced 15-30 simultaneously. He held. She didn't) I'm not going to overlook the ugly just because some of the exchanges off the ground and at the net were beautiful.
They're both fighters. But ElenaD isn't as focused in Slam matches as she is in non-Slam matches it makes the whole affair less palatable because we know what she can produce when she is. One of my readers, a new fan to tennis, doesn't know much about ElenaD's history and all he can talk about is how sorry for her he feels because she's in such visible pain on the court.
And despite what the propagandists claimed, she did not play as well as she did in Sydney. There, her serve was better, her groundstrokes were flatter, deeper, more precise, and she wasn't talking to herself or her mother when she missed a shot.
Henin means business. So much so that she's still looking up at her coach between every point and he's still giving her signals. Pathetic. And though she'd never admit it in public, she also wants to upstage the comeback of her compatriot. She may just do it. But if, and only if, the rest of the tour allows her to get away with that crappy serve as it did for much of her first go around.
If she wants to fulfill her dreams in London, she's going to have to buy a serve.
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Faces Of The Day
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Bernard Tomic of Australia keeps warm with a towel during his match against Croatia's Marin Cilic at Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 20, 2010.
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France's Marc Gicquel turns to the crowd after losing a point to Andy Murray of Britain at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 20, 2010
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Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil reacts during his match against Andy Roddick of the U.S. at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne January 20, 2010.
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Donald Young of the United States of America talks to the media during day three of the 2010 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 20, 2010 in Melbourne, Australia.
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