Early Season Headlines
We are a mere few days into the 2009 season, and while it would be insane to draw any conclusions from any results so far, it’s still fun to try:
- Our first upset of the year took place in the first round at Brisbane, when Ernestis Gulbis took out 1st seeded Novak Djokovic in the first round. I think this is more of a sign that Gulbis, who broke through last year at Roland Garros when he made it to the quarters (where he lost to Djokovic), is here to stay. Djokovic won’t be losing too many first round matches this year.
- Also from Brisbane, fifth seeded Tomas Berdych fell to Kei Nishikori in the second round. Nishikori, who came out of nowhere in 2008, proved he will be a tough out for any top contenders. While his story line is similar to Gulbis’, unfortunately for Berdych, this loss is a very tough way to start the year. Known for incredible talent, but the propensity to lose to players well below him, this was certainly not the way Berdych wanted to kick off his 2009 campaign.
- Nikolay Davydenko, playing in India, announced earlier today that he would be pulling out there, and not available for the Australian Open either, due to the flare up of a heel injury that started to bother him last season. Could the grueling schedule, and grueling way Davydenko plays, be catching up to him?
- Nadal, Federer & Murray are all rolling along happily in Doha, the three are all easily into the semifinals.
- Ana Ivanovic, while advancing to the quarterfinals of Brisbane, is still clearly not in top form yet. She had to save two match points against 82nd ranked Roberta Vinci. Her skills are too good for her to be struggling this much…
- On a more serious note, I would like to commend Israeli Shahar Peer for continuing to play in New Zealand, despite protestors commanding that she withdraw due to Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip. I really can’t sum it up any better myself, so I’ll leave you with some words from Peer herself, “I’m Shahar Peer. I came here to play tennis. I know I’m from Israel and I’m proud of my country and that playing tennis is what I’m going to do tomorrow.”