THE MAESTRO

FINALLY PERFECT

Despite a sharp showing in my men's bracket for the 2010 Australian Open, it took until the final round to finally achieve perfection.  Andy Murray vs. Roger Federer was the final I saw in my head when I made my predictions, and that is the final we will see on Sunday (3:30 AM on the East Coast, 12:30 AM Pacific).  Murray seeks the first Grand Slam title of his career, while Roger Federer goes after his sixteenth.  Murray will also attempt to capture the first Grand Slam title by a British man in 74 years!

My bracket record was 27-5 in the second round, 14-2 in the third round, 7-1 in the fourth round, 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and 2-0 in the semis.  I had Djokovic over Tsonga, but Djokovic once again manifested physical symptoms no doubt eminating from inner turmoil, preventing me from accurately forecasting the Final Four.  Even though he's on the Grand Slam board with an Aussie Open victory two years ago, Chokovic has now proven to be the weakest mentally amongst the top players in the world.  He held a two sets to one lead before throwing up and coming back out to lose the next two sets without putting up much of a fight.  Disappointing, but I like Tsonga and was happy to see him move on to play Federer.


Unfortunately, Tsonga didn't play Federer well.  The Mighty Fed smoked the flailing Frenchmen in straight sets to earn his rightful spot in the finals.  Tsonga moved sluggishly from the start, looking severely weakened by five-setters in the previous two rounds (Djokovic and Almagro).  Roger sensed Jo-Willy's vulnerability, played nearly flawless tennis, and never let him into the match.  Frankly, it was one of the few boring matches on the men's side.

For a set and a half, Andy Murray resembled a Scottish deer caught in Croatian headlights.  Marin Cilic came out firing and Murray didn't seem to have any answers.  But one electrifying point turned the lights on for Murray.  From that point on, the superior Scot dominated the fading Cilic and booked a spot in his second Grand Slam final.  I picked Murray at the beginning of the tourney and I'm sticking with him.  I'm not alone in believing he's going to vanquish the Swiss master to make history.

Watching an abundance of men's and women's matches at the year's first major confirmed for me the old adage, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish."  So many times, a player would dominate the first set and in an apparent upset bid, only  to lose the plot and the match. The most glaring example was Serena, down a set and 4-0 in the second to Azarenka, storming back to bounce the Belarusian.  So, if any of you out there feel like Vamos! has gotten off to a sluggish start, let me remind you -- it's only the first set.  Plenty of time to turn things around.  I only pray I have the stamina to make it to the fifth set.

TENNIS HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR

ESPN played a little practical joke on Andy Roddick a few days ago that actually made me laugh. Made Andy laugh too.

HI HO, SAMMY SILVER

Want to give a shout out to my long-lost fraternity brother, Sammy Silver, who turned up Down Under at the Aussie Open. Soak up the semis and finals, Sammy. I'll be seeing it live vicariously through your eyes. Of course, I'll also be watching with my own eyes in Los Angeles and in HD.

SOMETIMES, LIKE LOVE, TENNIS HURTS

I'm still reeling from Rafa's loss last night to Andy Murray. Having picked Murray to win the tournament, I wasn't the least bit surprised that the Scotsman defeated the Spaniard, but the way it went down left me feeling quesy. Murray has matured into a player that should absolutely be winning major titles, his game clearly superior to Nadal's on the Australian Open surface. He had an aggressive game plan and executed it perfectly. After Murray won the second set, the writing was on the wall for all to read. But then Rafa got hurt. He tweaked his knee hitting a forehand winner and immediately called for the trainer and walked to the bench. After an injury timeout to receive treatment, Nadal came back out and tried to break Murray, but failed and retired from the match right then and there. For the very first time, I got the sinking feeling that Rafael Nadal may never again be the player he was from the beggining of his career through his thrilling Australian Open title last year. Since the retirement of Andre Agassi, Rafa has been my guy. I root for him over all others. But it makes me physically ill to consider that he could be on the downside of a brilliant career at 23. For the sae of the entire tennis world, heal that knee, Rafa. This vamos is for you.

TENNIS IS SUSTAINED TENSION

Riveted right now by the Federer-Davydenko quarterfinal roller coaster. It's 4-4 in the 4th. Davydenko had the greatest player ever in deep, deep trouble after taking the first set 6-2 and the storming to a 3-1 lead in the second. But after blowing a backhand to go up two breaks, Davydenko cracked and then faded into oblivion, losing 13 games in a row to the might Fed. Down a break in the fourth and looking even more gaunt than usual, Davydenko suddely re-entered the building. He broke Federer to get back on serve and seemed to find the legs and the game that went missing for over an hour. Just when it looked like we could have another five-setter, Roger finds the next gear and breaks Nikolai again. Federer is now serving for the match at 40-30. Huge return off the first serve by the Russian to stave off elimination! And another one! Break point number 19 for Davydenko... He got it! Killer Cahill thinks this might be the craziest match ever. Insanity! Deuce on Davy's serve. The level of tennis is back at a fever pitch. Break point Fed. Looks like he's got it, but Davydenko challenges... and it's just out! Back to deuce. A miss by D-Denko gives Fed another break chance. A miss by Fed gets it back to deuce. Big Federer forehand gives him another shot at the break, but Davydenko fights it off, gets back even, then earns a game point. Of course, he hits it long. Deuce again. Long rally ends with Denko dumping one into the net. Let second serve on break point... Davydenko comes in behind a forehand, it clips the tape, and goes long. Fed breaks back! One more opportunity for to serve out the match. 40-love. And Fed finally does it, punctuating the win with a yell. The house announcer declares "The Master is in the house."

23 straight Grand Slam semifinals. That statistic astounds me. For 6 years running, not only has the guy never missed a major, he's never been upset in one either. The streak began when Roger won his second Wimbledon in 2004. Since that time, in every single Grand Slam, Roger has either won the tournament or lost to the player who did. Like Joltin' Joe DiMaggio's 56 straight games with a hit, Federer's Slam semifinal streak feels like a record that will never be broken.

TENNIS IS STILL MY BRACKET

Continuing my torrid run into the fourth round, or round of 16, seven out of my eight picks came through. Though my heart was with Andy Roddick, I had one of my favorites, Fernando Gonzalez moving on. Gonzo held a two sets to one lead over the American, but Roddick showed tremendous guts and guile in finding a way to take the match in five sets. So my heart won and my bracket lost. But that was my only loss. Federer, Davydenko, Djokovic, Tsonga, Nadal, and Murray all advanced, though to be fair, they were all favored to do so.

I scored big when Marin Cilic sent the seemingly indominitable Juan Martin Del Potro packing. Cilic and Del Potro serially murdered the ball for five grueling sets in a high-intensity slugfest between two goliaths who move freakishly well for their size. Del Potro got him at both the Australian and U.S. Opens last year, and I luckily had the sneaking suspicion that it could be Cilic's coming-of-age moment. It was. Monstrous win for the 21-year-old Croatian sensation. And for my bracket as well.

Earlier tonight, Cilic took out Roddick in yet another five-set epic. Cilic sprinted to a two-set lead while Roddick struggled with a tweaked shoulder. But again, tennis' A-Rod dug deep and changed tactics to level the match at two sets apiece. But Cilic stayed composed and raised his game to finish off the wounded but proud Roddick. Lo and behold, I had Cilic as my upset pick to reach the semifinals. Cilic's reward is the winner of the Nadal-Murray match, which I am currently watching live at 2:46 PST. Murray took a tough first set 6-3. As is my pattern, my heart is rooting for Rafa, but my bracket wants Murray. Adding to the inner turmoil, I'd love to see this monster match to go the distance and be filled with greatness, but it could mean staying up until 6 in the morning...

TENNIS IS MY BRACKET

I usually reserve the distinct prognosticating pleasure of filling out a bracket for March Madness, but for this year's Aussie Open I decided to throw caution to the Pacific winds and anticipate the results of the men's draw. (Full Disclosure: I waited until after the first round to etch my inklings in ink on the printout.) Nevertheless, a complete lack of major upsets allowed me to post a respectable 27-5 record in the second round. The most thrilling pick of the round had to be the Spaniard Albert Montanes (a ten-year tour pro) coming back from two sets down to vanquish the young Frenchman Stephane (Isn't that a girl's name) Robert, made all the more exhilarating by the fact that Montanes was 0-22 lifetime in five-setters.

I nearly nailed the third round, accurately forecasting 14 of the 16 winners, happily losing when Giant John Isner impressively dismissed La Monf and cursing the name Mikhail Youzhny when he literally failed to show up against the Polish player Lucasz (his "z" not mine) Kubot.

TENNIS IS A TEN IN MY BOOK

It is my dream, my ambition, perhaps even my raison d’etre, to achieve a personal Grand Slam by attending each of the four tennis majors in a calendar year.

With the 2010 Australian Open now making the turn into its second week, barring some last minute Melbourne miracle, another year will pass with the dream unfulfilled. My only consolation is a high definition grounds pass – five-court coverage courtesy of ESPN, Tennis Channel, and DirecTV. Suffice it to say I’ve taken full advantage of the all-access pass via the 61-inches of flat screen dominating my living room skyline. I figure if I can’t physically be present to absorb the atmosphere of the Happy Slam, at least I can ingest as much of the digital drug as is humanly possible.