Right now we get onto the men's tournament at the Australian open of 2016 so without any further ado let's get a move on....
So start off might aswell begin with the defending champ, Novak Djokovic who has had a terrific 2015 season and so far he is in good form at Melbourne this year also. Nole cruised through the first week however on starting the 2nd week he encountered his first real test of the tournament against the Frenchman, Gilles Simon who pushes Novak all the way to five sets before the World No.1 managed to finally close out a thrilling match in five sets, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. However Novak re-established himself firmly in the quarter finals as he played Kei Nishikori who appeared to be struggling with a leg injury and Nole beat the Japanese player convincingly in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to reach the last four.
Up next is Andy Murray who so far has shown some very good form in the tournament but he still has had one or two up and down moments in play aswell. Andy sailed through his first two matches though in straight sets but he then faced his first test against Jaoa Sousa of Portugal who pushed Andy by making him drop his first set of the event. However Andy managed to reassert himself and he beat Sousa in four sets to reach the 4th round and win in 6-2, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. In the 4th round Andy took on the Aussie No.1, Bernard Tomic who Andy managed to defeat in an entertaining and close straight set match which saw a good fight from Tomic before Andy downed him in the 3rd set and winning the match 6-4, 6-4, 7-6. And in the quarter finals Andy faced the Spanish No.2, David Ferrer and the two of them were locked in a tough battle on Rod Laver arena which eventually saw Andy previal in four sets to reach his 6th semi final down under with a hard fought 6-3, 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 victory.
Then we have Roger Federer who so far has shown the best form of any player and he has looked pretty convincing and confident for a 18th major. Roger had an easy time of it in the 1st week except for his match against Grigor Dimitrov in the 3rd round where Rog dropped his first (and only) set of the tournament so far but he won the match in four sets. In the 4th round Roger was back on top form as he dismantled, the Belgian player, David Goffin in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 and he went on to comfortably beat Tomas Berdych in straight sets in the quarters with a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 result. And this sets up another potentially thrilling clash between Roger and Novak in the semi finals and I will say more on that in a bit.
As for the other seeds well Stan Wawrinka, the former champion, showed some good form going into the second week and he looked good to have another strong run down under. However Stan didn't count on the in form Canadian, Milos Raonic who in their 4th round match took a two set lead before Stan levelled the match at two sets all. However Raonic kept his calm and held his nerve and served out the match with a break to put out the former champion, Stan with a five set win.
Rafael Nadal however despite showing good form of late, turned out to be the biggest and earliest casualty of the men's event as he took on his fellow Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco in what was an epic rematch of their previous epic in Melbourne seven years ago where Rafa got the better of him. But... this time the tables were turned as Verdasco managed to take his revenge and despite going two sets to one down, he levelled the match and in the 5th set he broke Rafa twice, despite being a break down at the start of the set and he broke Rafa to win the match. This defeat does raise a few question marks again over Rafa and it makes you wonder just how will he play for the rest of the year but time will soon tell on that.
As for the other seeds Tomas Berdych had a good run into the 2nd week however as mentioned above he came undone by Roger Federer in the quarter finals with a straight set loss. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the former finalist at Melbourne also went out as he suffered a 4th round defeat at the hands of Kei Nishikori who beat the Frenchman in straight sets. And Kei Nishikori himself managed to reach the quarter finals but he was put out by Novak Djokovic also in straight sets. John Isner also went out in the 4th round and he fell to the Spaniard (or "the wall" as he is nicknamed!) David Ferrer in straight sets despite Isner never having been broken in any of his previous matches at the event. And David Ferrer also previously mentioned despite making it to the quarter finals fell to a defeat at the hands of the British No.1, Andy Murray who beat Ferrer in four sets.
And last of all Milos Raonic who had put in an impressive run at the Brisbane international event at the start of the month by defeating Roger Federer, also put another good run of form on in Melbourne. And so far Raonic has managed to make it into the 2nd week by defeating Stan Wawrinka in five sets and then going on to play Gael Monfils in the quarter finals whom he defeated in four sets, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first semi final down under in Melbourne. So far Raonic looks in dangerously good form as he has improved his movement and sharpened up his net game so he will be a serious threat and a contender for the title.
Which brings me onto the men's semi finals and first off I will look at the semi final between Andy Murray and Milos Raonic.
These two men are tied at 3-3 in their head to head and Andy won the last two meetings however with Raonic having improved his form this makes this one a bit difficult to predict. Raonic so far in the tournament has looked in very impressive form and Andy has also played very well but he has also suffered a few lapses of concentration on serve and has served an unusually high number of double faults so far, possibly as he looks to hit his 2nd serve harder than what he used to.
And if Raonic goes into the semi final having a really good serving day and Andy doesn't then surely Andy will come out second best in this one so he has serve and return well to have a chance against Raonic. However Raonic's lack of experience this deep in the slams could still go against him at this stage and this could be his undoing given that Andy has already reached four finals at the tournament.
So for my prediction I will still go with Andy on this one but I think we will be looking at a very close four set match or possibly five, but hopefully Andy will go on to reach his 5th final in Melbourne but an upset by Raonic is still a strong possibility and it wouldn't surprise me if he was to break his duck to reach the final. So my scoreline prediction, for what its worth will be: 6-3, 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.
And last of all we have the most anticipated match of the tournament which is of course between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. These two have no surprises between them and they have met 44 times on the tour and their head to head couldn't be closer as they share 22 wins apiece making this the most closely contended rivalry in the history of the sport.
So going into this match up who do things stack up???? Well in terms of the grand slam matches for Roger, not so well, as so far he has only won one of their previous meetings in the last four years at the majors and that was back in Wimbledon 2012. And to make matters worse for Roger is the fact that he has never beaten Novak in the semi finals at the Australian open and has lost to him in their previous meetings in 2008 and 2011 and both times Nole went on to win the title. Plus to add further salt to the wound on this one for Roger, this remains Novak's most successful tournament.
However that's not to say that Roger doesn't have any hope of winning this one as he is one of the very few players that can really push Novak close to the edge and he will have his chances and if you look at his previous US Open final match he had 23 break points against Novak but converted only 4, which shows while Roger didn't take all those chances he did at least create them. Roger so far has also looked to be in the best form out of anyone in the tournament and he could well build on that if he defeats Novak tomorrow.
But....I still have to say that I'm going with Novak on this one as it is his tournament and it is to him what the French Open was to Rafa and its one where he dominated over the last five years or so and he looks set to continue to do so. So for me I think Novak will win this one but it will another close match that will go at least four maybe five sets although I'm still think Novak might get it done in four but it should be one hell of a match all the same. So my scoreline prediction will be four sets: 6-4, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4 (which I'd be amazed if that were accurate!).
Right so that's it for now and I will be back once the results of the semi finals are in.
Until then its bye for now!
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