A dark horse, old horse and ‘Wow’rinka
A dark horse emerged among the women surprising all and among men an old horse survived that too was somewhat a surprise. Survivors had to brave 40 Celsius heat, 210 KMP services, hundreds of blistering winners and many hours of running to emerge as semi-finalists and finalists.
Women’s — last 16 the inner circle.
World No. 8, Stanislas Wawrinka
Entering the last sixteen is considered stepping into the inner circle. That was the fourth round in Australian-Open. Every player in the top hundred plan and prepare for a spot in it and consider that as the first hurdle to win the title.
Dominika Cibulkova ranked 24 in the world took the berth Serena Williams promised to take along with a brand of Tennis not seen before, when she won the Master’s in Istanbul in 2013. Ana Ivanovic ranked 14 made that promise of Serena go to pieces in the round of 16. Then Ivanovic, a grand slam winner was stopped when 19-year-old Eugenie Bouchard of Canada ranked 30 beat her in a good match. With that performance Bouchard became the teenage sensation of the 2014 Australian-Open.
Li-Na of China ranked 4 survived a match point in the second round to reach the final. Li-Na confessed that her coach Carlos was in a bad mood for two days after that second round match against Lucie Safarova. Li-Na did not put her coach in a bad mood after that. Li-Na reached her third finals of Australian open and will play Dominika Cibulkova for the title and $ 2.6 million.
The dark horse
Twenty four year old Dominika Cibulkova is from Bratislava in Slovakia. She is only five foot three inches tall and weighs 121Kgs. As a player she has been in the back-ground for years. Currently she is ranked 24 in singles and 124 in doubles. She made her mark to be reckoned in 2014 Australian Open. Cibulkova was seeded 20 in the tournament and went to beat Francisca Schiavone of Italy, Maria Sharapova of Russia, Simona Halep of Rumania and the Agniezka Radwanska of Poland in the semi finals. Cibulkova never fared well against Radwanska in their previous meetings, but in this encounter she beat her 6/1, 6/2 to reach the final. This made her to be the ‘dark-horse’ of the tournament.
Men’s inner circle
The last sixteen of men’s had some new names. From there on only Grigor Dimitirov of Bulgaria made an impact and reached the quarter-finals. Japan’s Nishikori had three close sets with Nadal and only two other players were able to stretch the quarter-finalists. In the quarter-finals match against Nadal, Dimitrov shocked him winning the first set and taking him to two tie breaks in the following sets. After the match Nadal praised Dimitrov and said that he plays like Federer. After the round of 16 the Tennis needed to win took a different format. None of the players were able to hit a winner without two or more preparatory shots. The preparatory shots blocked and stretched the opponents into a disadvantages position. Only the seasoned campaigners could manage this sophistication on the Australian-Open surface. It made the game into a fast track fascinating game of Chess to watch.
Swiss and ‘Wow’rinka
It is another story. Swiss Wawrinka is now known as ‘Wow’rinka. The Switzerland never had it so good. Wawrinka is in the final. Beneath the surface this was expected. Magnus Norman a former top ten Swedish player is his coach. Wawrinka showed his capacity and class known to the world in the epic quarter-finals. He beat Novak Djokovic and his team of ‘two coaches’ which includes Boris Becker.Djokovic played a great game by any standard of measurement. Just that Wawrinka was better. This was the best match of the 2014 Australian-Open. Wawrinka won it in five sets. The match statistics shows that they played closer to five hours. Between them there were 120 winners, played a total of 314 points, the final set went to 9/7 and lasted 80 minutes. It was hot even the ball boys collapsed. In the midst of heat this match made the 2014 Australian-Open a spectacular event. Wawrinka then beat Thomas Berdych in four sets and became the finalist. Old Horse still running fast.
Just about when an old horse whom most people want it in the stables resting on his laurels, jumps over the stockade. Roger Federer of Switzerland sang the ‘end is not near’ very loud at the Australian-Open.
Wilfred Tsonga former Australian-open finalist is playing his best and is currently ranked 10 in the world. Federer demolished him in quick three sets. It was a sign for all to see. From then on Federer beat Andy Murray to be a semi-finalist. The class of Tennis he played to beat Andy Murray would match Federer’s best in the bygone years. He has an additional coach now, a well known gentleman and a champion Stephan Edberg of Sweden. Nadal stopped a tired Federer in straight sets. Federer and Wawrinka are going leave a legacy which will make the small European state of Switzerland to be a big Tennis country.
Nadal and Federer were named as the greatest players in the last decade by none other than Pete Sampras. It is now Wawrinka’s turn to become ‘Wow’rinka and take the title to Switzerland. He might do that.
–George Paldano, former international player; Accredited Coach of Germany, ITF and USPTR;
National, Davis Cup and Federation Cup Coach–gptennis.
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