So, we are down to the finals for Men and Women, and three of the four competitors are not surprising in any way. No one is batting an eye at Federer, Murray, or Williams. Justine Henin, on the other hand, is a bit of a surprise; and although Henin has claimed to be shocked at making the finals, many avid tennis fans are not nearly as overwhelmed by her run down under. A couple weeks ago, I wondered aloud whether or not Henin making the finals of a warm up event spoke highly of her, or poorly of women’s tennis. Well now that she has made the finals of the first slam of the year, I’ve made my decision…it’s both, without a doubt.

But, all things being honest, it’s more of the latter.  Short of the Williams sisters (when they decide to try), and flashes of brilliance by other top ten players, the WTA is a wreck right now.  With very few exceptions, every top name plays the exact same style of boring tennis (ie – hit the ball as hard as you can and wait for an unforced error).  In the V. Williams vs. Li quarterfinal match, which many will point to as the match of the tourney since it was so close, there was a combined 126 unforced errors, to go with 54 total winners.  In the five set epic between Tsonga and Almagro, 87 unforced errors paired with 123 winners.  It’s not rocket science.

That being said, the Williams vs Henin matchup is an incredibly intriguing one, and if for some reason I’m awake, I will most certainly watch it.  If this were a straight up match, I’d put the odds heavily in Serena’s favor.  However, given that Serena has spent WAY more time on court that Henin (by the way, congrats to Venus & Serena for winning the dubs), not to mention Henin has won three straight slam matches against Serena, I’d say the odds are pretty even.  I’m rooting for Henin.

I’m so excited for the Men’s final, I’m contemplating going to bed after dinner Saturday night, and setting the alarm for 3:30am.  Most likely, instead I will go to sleep around 3:30 am and check the score on espn.com when I wake up.  I have considered all four possibilities (close win for either player, relative blowout for either player), but honestly, nothing would really shock me.  Murray always seems to play well against Federer, but Roger is Roger.  On top of that, both have lots to prove.  Murray still has yet to win a slam, and Federer is out to show that he isn’t just coasting at this point (and if you don’t thing Federer remembers his tears at last year’s final, you are wrong). I’ll go with Federer, in a tight 4 setter.  Enjoy!