When You Dig A Grave For Someone Dig Two Holes

This bit of folk wisdom might be remembered by TPTB in tennis as the first Grand Slam of the season moves into it’s second week. Lets look at the men and women who will be playing today and tomorrow.

On the womens side we have the following matchups in the quarter finals:

Nicole Vaidisova vs. Lucie Safarova

Serena Williams vs. Shahar Peer

Kim Clijsters vs Martina Hingis

Maria Sharapova vs Anna Chakvetadze

Lucie Safarova? Shahar Peer? Anna Chakvetadze? Oh yeah, and Serena Williams? In some circles Nicole Vaidisova is a surprise quarter finalist as well. That means five of the eight quarterfinalists were supposed to be knocked off by their supposed betters long before this stage of the event. But they are here and proves what one blogger said about the Australian Open – it’s the quirky one, the one where relatively unknown players can make a name for themselves with the tennis viewing public and hopefully kick start their careers. Some make the big time – remember that kid named Martina Hingis – and some don’t. Remember Tsvetlana Pironkova?

When the draw first came out everyone wondered why Hingis had such a tough draw while Amelie and Kim’s main job would be to make their matches appear competitive. Now Amelie is off to figure out what went wrong and Kim is said by many to have a lock on the trophy. Ironically that overweight, slow and unfocused player named Serena Williams is also being talked about as hoisting the trophy which would be her first since 2005 at the same venue.

Truth be told if Li Na had not choked and sprayed her way to 65 unforced errors in the second and third sets of her match against Martina and played the same level of tennis she played in the first set she would be the one facing Clijsters and bring to six the number of women who should not be there.


The mens side has it’s own share of the drama.

The semi’s feature the following men:

Mardy Fish vs Andy Roddick

Roger Federer vs Tommy Robredo

Nikolay Davydenko vs Tommy Haas

Rafael Nadal vs Fernando Gonzalez

Anyone who tells you they expected to see Fish, Robredo, Haas and Gonzalez in the quarters is lying.

Anyone who tells you they knew Rafael Nadal was making it to the quarters is also lying. No one thought he’d survive his brutal draw which featured men who had made his life miserable last year. Robert Kendrick, James Blake and Tomas Berdych are all on their way to the next tournament or back home to find out what the hell went wrong while Rafa is facing a man in Fernando Gonzalez who decided he’d had enough of the partying and wanted to be at the top of his sport. He’s been the most improved player since last summer and roars into the quarters after a near perfect match against Lleyton Hewitt – you remember him, the guy who had the rebound ace tuned to suit his game?-and a three set victory over James Blake who was supposed to make the world safe from a twenty year old from Mallorca who doesn’t play text book tennis and yet found himself in the Wimbledon final last year, a feat that has rattled former Wimby king Pete Sampras. There’s something wrong about a thirty something year old man calling out a twenty year old no?

Roger Federer is still the prohibitive favorite to make it to the mens final. His road to the quarters hasn’t been that difficult. On the way he mercilessly pounded a young Serbian named Novak Djokovic into the ground and then pleasantly shook his hand when it was over. Class guy.

Ironically on the women’s side people are fantasizing finals that don’t include the media darling and number one seed Maria Sharapova. She hasn’t had to do much since a tiny French woman and the Australian summer almost brought her to her knees. Those cup cake draws aren’t the best thing when you hit the quarters and semis. Ask that other Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo.

The argument about whether draws are fixed, random, or just plain wacky will never end. I am one of those who always find it odd when the same players always get the same tiptoe through the tulips while their peers have to bite and claw their way into the later stages of a tournament. Others believe that some players are just lucky. Whatever you believe the old people had it right. When you set out to bury someone you’d better dig a hole for yourself because as everyone knows what goes around comes around.