Gearing up for the Australian Open

The Australian Open just started yesterday. It’s being shown on Eurosport but at 1am and there’s no way I’m staying up for that. At least not during a weekday.

Anyway, check out this video of the AO final between Steffi Graf and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1994. Steffi completely dominated this match from start to finish, thumping ASV, 6-0 6-2, in something like 47 minutes. 47 minutes!!!



This was Steffi’s 4th and last Australian Open title. In 1995, she won the 4th of her 6 French open titles and the 4th of her 5 US Open titles. So this 94 AO was a great win for her, as it gave her the distinction of being the only player to have won all Grand Slam events at least 4 times (she has seven Wimbledon titles). She truly is the most versatile women’s player of all time, dominating on every surface. And when you look at all five players who won the calendar Grand Slam, Steffi is the only one to have won it when all four slams were played on different surfaces (Rebound Ace, red clay, grass, and Deco Turf). When Don Budge (38), Maureen Connolly (53), Rod Laver (62 and 69), and Margaret Court (70) won their Grand Slams, 3 of those 4 events were played on grass. That puts perspective on just how amazing Graf’s ability is on any and all surfaces.

Good luck to this year's players! I’m hoping that Clijsters and Roddick can both win the title. Strange. I always rooted for Kim but I never really cared much for Roddick. But I guess after all his struggles in form, it would be nice to see Andy regain some of his old confidence back and ace his way to a 2nd Slam title. He did beat Roger in an exhibition last week which is a good sign, but then in the first round yesterday he struggled past a very in-form wildcard by the name of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Anyway, Roddick winning is a bit of a long shot, but I won't really be displeased if Roger Federer wins his 10th Grand slam title in two weeks.