Right well this will be my last post on the 2016 Australian open as the finals have now been played on both the men's and ladies side of the net so its time to find out who won the titles.
Ladies final
So to start off we had the ladies which saw the world no.1, Serena Williams aiming for her 22nd grand slam title who took on Angelique Kerber of Germany, the 7th seed who was in her first ever grand slam final. So on paper given that they had a 6-1 head to head in Serena's favour it looked to be a match that she was sure to win. Or was it?
As for the match itself well it was a highly entertaining contest between the two players and Kerber came out firing, showing virtually no nerves in her first major final so much she was she able to break Serena to move ahead in the match and she served it to take the opening set. In the 2nd set however the Serena comeback started as despite going down an early break, she wrestled it back and then went on to break Kerber herself to level the match at a set all. And in the 3rd set Kerber took an early lead 2-0 to nudge her closer to her first major triumph against the world's best (and pretty much greatest) player. And Kerber at 5-3 was serving for the title but then Serena wasn't quite done as she managed to break back again and things were back on serve. However Kerber in the next game did the unthinkable and she managed to break Serena to seal her first grand slam title as she won the Australian open ladies singles title with a hard fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
Well there wasn't much doubt that this was an excellent final and one of the best matches of the tournament on the ladies side and it was an upset which I'm sure most people didn't see coming especially as Serena looked to be getting back into the match in the 3rd set only to let it go all of a sudden. And Kerber showed great tenacity and belief on the court and despite it being her debut major final, she looked like a veteran out there who knew exactly how to play the big points and in the end it was a victory that was well deserved.
So Serena will need to carry on waiting to try and seal her 22nd grand slam title to level Stefi Graf's record and she will need two more after that to equal Margaret Court's record of 24. But Serena to her credit was very gracious in her defeat and she showed her support to Kerber when they shared a hug at the net and she often has a good rapport with alot of the female players on the tour and despite any of her flaws, its great to see her offer that support. And no doubt I'm sure Serena will be back again at the French open with a strong chance to equal Stefi Graff and if not surely at a later date this year.
As for Kerber well this was a terrific victory and it showed she really had arrived as a tennis player and I always thought that Kerber was capable of winning a slam and she had that something about her. And this had been the case since she reached her maiden slam semi final at the US Open four years ago and she went on to burst onto the scene in 2013 to become a top 10 player where she beat various top players including Serena Williams. And given this form there is no reason that Kerber can't go on to win more grand slams this season especially as she will now rise up to No.2 in the world rankings as of Monday. So Angie, who is also one of the nicest players on the women's tour, deserves nothing but credit for her win and may it be the start of more.
Men's final
Rrrrrrright so this takes us onto the men's final which was the latest chapter in the epic rivalry that is Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Novak going into this match was looking to win his sixth Australian open title whereas Andy was looking to lift his first having reached five finals and lost the previous four (three of them to Novak). So this was a match that had much riding on it for both players and promised to deliver much.
However the match itself was a bit of a mixed bag and wasn't quite the epic contest we could have hoped for as it started with Andy getting off to a terrible start against Novak as he made a catalogue of unforced errors and soon found himself down a double break in the first set which saw Novak close it out with ease in just 30 minutes. The 2nd set however was more competitive as Andy started to find his game although he went a break down early in the set he broke back and pushed play to 5-5 but unfortunatley he was broken again by Novak who went on to grab the two sets to love lead. And in the 3rd set it looked to be curtains for Andy as he went down an early break again 3-4 but he soon found the resolve and broke Novak again to get back on level terms. And play then went to a tiebreak where unfortunately for Andy, Nole proved the stronger of the two as Andy missed two serves, Nole comfortably served out the title with an ace that saw him seal his sixth Australian title with a convincing 6-1, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) win.
Well while this was for the most part quite an entertaining and competitive match its outcome was pretty disappointing in the end (well for Andy certainly!) as Andy seemed to wilt badly in the match's decisive tiebreak. The match got off to a puzzling start from the British No.1 also as he made a series of unforced errors that saw him practically give the match away to Novak there and then! And I even wondered if nerves were playing a part on Andy in that opening set as he seemed unusually on edge given his experience in grand slam finals.
It might also have been due to do with the exertions of his previous match with Raonic not to mention the stresses he has had to deal with off court with his father in-law, Nigel Sears, collapsing during an Ana Ivanovic match (whom he coaches) the previous week. In fact it was a situation that could well have forced Andy to pull out of the tournament. However Andy did compete well in the 2nd and 3rd sets and the two men exchanged some excellent rallies that at times turned the match into an absorbing contest but it was just a pity that Andy couldn't maintain it.
As for Novak well this was an incredible result and a great victory that now sees him tie the record for six Australian open titles along side Roy Emerson (who sadly was unable to attend the final due to a family tragedy as his son, aged only 52 had passed away prior to the final). And Novak now stands at 11 grand slams in total which brings on a par with Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg and the guy is showing no signs of slowing down! And if Novak does keep this up then he will surely surpass Roger's record of 17 quite soon and will surely get the calendar slam if he wins the French open title, which would surely secure his name among the true greats of the game.
The only downside I see to Novak's dominance however is that it threatens to make the sport less compelling to watch because if one man is just going to dominate the sport then there is less appeal to watching the sport. Sport needs rivalries and tennis is one sport that is famed for its great rivalries over the years and for quite a few years in tennis we have been treated to the "big four". However with Djokovic now having asserted his supremacy in the tennis world it has seen him squash the resistance of his other three main rivals which means its no longer the big four and now only "the big one". And if that continues and Djokovic has no worthy rivals coming his way then it will see the sport become a bore to watch and that is something that tennis should never be given how great a sport it is. So let's just hope that while Djokovic undoubtedly deserves his success, that it doesn't overwhelm and cancel out other peoples interest in it as the game needs new rivals to emerge to keep things fresh and interesting.
As for Andy well its a shame he lost the match in the manner that he did as I predicted myself that he would at least win a set, and well he did come close to doing that in sets two and three but ultimately it was that slow start that really hurt him in that final as he has never in his career beaten Novak from a set down. So once the first set went awol there never really was a chance for Andy to really win the match. However despite being straight sets, Andy did at least succeed in keeping Novak on court a good half hour or so longer than Roger Federer did in their semi final so at least he did that and it felt closer and more competitive than Novak and Roger's match was.
And losing five straight Australian open finals is a tough one to take for Andy no doubt and he was clearly quite emotional in his runner-up speech where he started off laughing saying "I feel like I've been here before" and ended emotionally by praising his wife Kim for her support. However the fact that Andy has reached five finals down under is quite an achievement in itself and one that he no doubt would be proud of and from a results point of view its been his most consistent slam. Its just a pity that he keeps coming up short to the man everyone else is coming up short to aswell!
But despite his loss Andy still has alot to look forward to this year as his wife Kim is expecting their baby next month and Great Britain will have their first tie as the defending champions at the Davis cup in March. Andy will also be looking to defend his title at the Olympic games later this year in Rio where he will have another chance to win the medal again and this is something that neither Djokovic nor Federer have won as of yet so already he has an edge over them in that regard as even the best of players such as those two have found that it is much harder to win a title you haven't before. And despite leaving Melbourne empty handed it still sees Andy as the world no.2 and it shows good signs for his career in 2016 and he may yet add to his tally of grand slams.
Oh and before I forget on a more positive note for the Murray family one man that did win a grand slam title was Jamie Murray who won his first men's doubles title with his new partner, Bruno Soares as they defeated Daniel Nestor and Radek Stepanek in the final in three sets 2-6, 6-4, 7-5. This was a great result for Jamie as he had lost two previous finals at Wimbledon and the US Open with his former partner, John Peers and it looks like his new partnership with Soares will be fruitful one that hopefully should see him get more success in the majors. So a big well done to Jamie on breaking his duck in Melbourne and to Bruno Soares aswell who was the man who served it out to win the title.
Anyway so that's it for my coverage of the 2016 Australian open which has now come to an end and its been a fun two weeks of tennis and its well done to Novak and Angelique Kerber for winning their titles and commiserations to Andy and Serena.
And that's it for now and I might be back on this blog in March for the Davis cup weekend when Great Britain take on Japan in their first round tie but until I'll just be blogging on my review blog which can be found here to anyone that might be interested:
http://kennyf9111.blogspot.co.uk/
So until the next one its bye for now!
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