survival of the best

the australian open has churned out some great matches. what will stay in my mind for a long time to come is the thrilling five-set match between rafa and andy and serena's come-from-behind magical wins over nadia petrova and shahar peer. of these three matches, i tell you, the better player won.

in today's second men's quarterfinal, gonzo obliterated my rafa in three convincing sets. i knew rafa would lose and i stared in wonder at the chilean as he moved around the court, feeling something akin to burgeoning excitement stirring within. again, in spite of my deep loyalty to the sun-bronzed mallorcan, the better man won, and gonzo was it. there was something about the way gonzo carried himself on court that gave a stamp of authority to his already powerful forehand and made him glide from fabulous wide serves into sweet volleys into the open court. his time is now, my friends, and even if he loses between now and sunday, i am telling you, he is my man for the australian open. if by some outlandish stroke of fate andy beats roger tomorrow (and i'm wishing for that, not because i like andy, hell no, but because i want an unpredictable final, a mouth-watering final where the trophy will be disputed from beginning to end) and gonzo gets past tommy haas (another wonderful story in itself), fernando gonzalez is my man. yes, i am picking the cutie chilean. vamos, fernando!!!

today is remarkable in that two players, both in their mid-twenties, considered to be past their prime, and who are old enough to have played greats of the previous eras (think of people no longer in the active atp circuit such as sampras and kafelnikov), overcame their higher-seeded opponents, both in the quarterfinals. both were older than their opponents. this is quite telling. when it came to the big moments, you could argue that their experience --- perhaps of loss (tommy haas' interview transcript details some major losses at grand slams in the past eight years) --- saw them through at the crucial moments, helping them to rise above the occasion and take their grand slam quest one step further. both haas (seeded 12th) and gonzalez (seeded 10th) have never won a slam yet looking at the way both men played their hearts out in the past week and a half, i couldn't help but think that maybe this could be their time. surely there has to be a goran ivanesevic moment for them (if you don't know what i'm talking about, you have got to read this) and when that happens, mark my words, my sofa will be drenched in my sweat AND tears.

serena williams is another player, who, in spite of being vilified constantly by the media for one reason or another (being fat, being arrogant, being unfit, having no match fitness, etc etc etc you name it, it's all in there), has shown that you just cannot snuff out brilliance. she doesn't have the prettiest tennis out there, but who says you need to score high on stylish tennis to be great? only people who would wish to impose their opinions of HOW the sport must be played and won, and these same people will never understand the thrill one can get from watching win a match with not only sheer grit and determination (and believe me, in my book, these count for more than half the match won already), but solid technique that withstands any "advances" or changes in the modern game. serena's backhand still looks the same, with that right foot angling at 90°, and man, can she hit that ball at incredible angles and with such depth and pace. fabulous shotmaker, i'd say. she is the only unseeded woman in the final four but i say, with serena, seeding logic does not make sense! in another forum, i commented that people like serena are geniuses, misunderstood and misinterpreted. they will be great always, in my opinion.

for the women's semis, my picks remain the same: serena over nicole (vaidisova) and kim clijsters over maria shriekapova.

if roger doesn't make it through the semis, what an exciting men's final! think of it: big-serving andy against either reverse-cap-hot-body haas or he-of-cute-jowls-and-sex-appealing-shorts gonzo. wow, watching tennis has never been this fun! :)