If Only Gambling on Sports was Legal Part I
As a reminder, here is what I wrote on January 10th, three days prior to the start of the Australian Open - “Ok, to finish I’m going to pick the Grand Slam Winners, and the top 5 for the year end rankings…Australian Open: Djokovic, Sharapova”
Well, clearly I am brilliant. A quick side note before I delve into what to take away from the year’s first major – you know who isn’t brilliant? ESPN 2. I applaud them for showing the Men’s Final live at 3:30 am Sunday morning. Moreover, I applaud them for showing a replay at noon, knowing that most people would already know the result. However, I do not applaud them for showing me the result on the bottom line ten minutes before I was going to start watching the replay, after I had done such a good job all morning of avoiding the outcome. Anyway, here are some of my top story lines coming out of the Australian Open:
- Muhammed Ali Jr., or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as he is more commonly known, will follow along the lines of surprise finalist Marcos Bagdhatis, as opposed to others such as Arnaud Clement and Rainer Schuttler. Nothing against those two, but like Bagdhatis, Tsonga has the skill and personality to be a star on the Men’s tour. His game reminds me of Safin’s, and while he also has a similar, fiery personality, he seems to be able to keep it in check a bit better. Tsonga will have his share of ugly matches and early defeats, but don’t be surprised to see him in the quarter’s and beyond of many of the big tournaments.
- In my opinion, American’s did not disappoint. Rather, I think our expectations are a bit too high right now. As I stated in an earlier blog, I think it is unfair to expect great starts from the Blake and Roddick, given their extended physical and emotion 2007 due to being crowned Davis Cup Champions. Blake had a great showing, especially his rally against Grosjean, and he played Federer as tight as he ever has. Roddick didn’t play great, and whined like a baby, but give Kohlscreiber some credit, whom probably played the match of his life. With regards to the William’s sisters, I don’t quite understand all the fuss about losing to Jankovic and Ivanovic, who at the time were ranked 3rd and 4th in the world.
- I love the passion displayed by the competitors in the Men’s Final, especially from Djokovic. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees. Now, I am not saying this is how I would act, or how I will want my child to act on court, but people need to understand that it is good for the game for players, and fans alike, to get a bit riled up. A bit of passion inspires people to not only play and watch, but to talk about tennis as well, and thus, hopefully get more people interested in tennis as well. My goal for the next year is for enough people to care about tennis that water cooler talk the Monday after the Aussie Finals weekend has to do with Federer breaking Sampras’ Grand Slam record, not the Patriots going for an unprecedented 5th Superbowl in eight years (Note: This last sentence warrants two asides - 1. I think the Pats will win a 4th in seven years this Sunday and 2. Of course I will want them to win, I just don’t need to talk about it at all times, least of Tom Brady’s ankle).
I’ll be back tomorrow with Part II and links.