So might as well start off my first post of 2012 by saying Happy new year to everyone who is out there and I wish them well for this year, as I do myself and my family and all that.
Now onto something completely different, well actually its virtually almost the same as the usual, yep tennis. The 2012 season is just beginning for the men and ladies tour, as this week there will be tournaments in Brisbane, Doha, and Auckland. Already the men's tour started back with an exhibition tournament at Abu Dhabi, where Novak Djokovic came back to the foray, and firmly reminded us why he is the world's best player, as he played some terrific tennis on the way to lifting his first title at the event, with a convincing defeat of David Ferrer in 6-2, 6-1.
And next week we will see Andy Murray get back into the action in Brisbane, as he already has his preparations for Melbourne well under way, and in some more exciting news, Andy has finally revealed his new full time coach to be Ivan Lendl. There was speculation about Lendl being a potential coach for Andy earlier last year, but nothing was set in stone, and as the year progressed, Andy had the best season of his career to date even without a full time coach. But with the 8 time grand slam champion helping him out on a full time basis, this definitely shows that Andy is willing to take help from someone who has been there and done it, and on that basis he would have been mad to turn it down. But whether or not Lendl can help deliver to Andy his first slam is another question altogether. I'm positive that Lendl has the experience and tools to let Andy know how he suceeded in winning his first major (at the French Open back in 1984) but it all boils down to how the Muzza will take that instruction and apply it. If Andy can make a winning start in Melbourne it will definitely signal his arrival as a major force in the sport, he already is one of the best players in the game never to have won a major, but I think its up to Andy and Lendl to try and remedy this once and for all. Let's just hope this year will be Andy's breakthrough.
Which brings us onto Novak Djokovic who remains the dominant World No.1 and it remains to be seen if Andy can usurp the Serb and beat him at his own game, if he can then we will soon be looking at a prospective new No.1 in the works. But until then, Djokovic is still the world's best player, and he will go into 2012 full of confidence, so defeating him will be one tall order, for Andy or any other player. Whether or not Djoko can go on another invincible winning streak like he did last year is not certain, is he capable of it? Definitely, but will it happen???? Who knows, I really don't know myself, nor does anyone else at this stage.
On the ladies tour, during 2011 we have also seen the emergence of another great player, Petra Kvitova, who made her first major breakthrough, winning Wimbledon and also the WTA year end championship. Petra is now ranked No.2 but I definitely think she will soon usurp (my favourite word already in this post!) the current World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, and take the mantle from her, especially as Caroline has struggled to make that breatkthrough herself into winning a major. But again with the ladies tour, the field is far more open, and yes this year will see the return of Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams to Australia and Melbourne, which means some of the old rivals are back, but will they still be able to knock the upcoming Petra off? Possibly, but you can't be at the top forever, sooner or later, new blood comes in.
So its all in front of us, as 2012 promises to be another exciting year for tennis, and with Andy's new coach appointment of Ivan Lendl, it makes the upcoming Australian open an even more intruiging prospect. Whatever happens, we will soon find out.
As for the rest of the year, and outwith tennis, here's hoping that 2012 for myself and everyone else is a good one, and that we get out of it what we want.
Till then, have a good one (then a drink). :-)
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