It was quite a final at the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event. The opponents Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. The winner 6-4, 6-4 was Victoria Azarenka. Victoria broke Serena early in the first and second sets moving well and doing a fine job of returning and serving better that ever. Serena had an issue with her racquet tension and sent it back in the beginning of the match to be restrung. later smashed one by the base line and then one at her bench which resulted with a penalty and starting the next game with a point deficit on the board. Azarenka has often given Williams very tough matches but now with new confidence and a great team put together a win.
On the men's final Novak Djokovic gave Milos Raonic a beat down 6-2, 6-0 breaking the Canadian five times. Novak was unbroken in the match.
Angelique Kerber won a hard fought victory in the final of the 2016 Australian Open. Kerber beat her opponent the world number one 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. The time for the sets: set one 39 minutes, set two 33 minutes and set three 56 minutes. Kerber a lefty made good use of her leftyness and terrific movement. The prize money for the Champion was $3,800,000 nice! Angelique is the first German woman since Steffi Graf last won it in 1989 to obtain the Autrailain Open Championship. Angelique Kerber a Grand Slam Champion at last!!!
Simona Halep has been struggling as of late and I wondered why she was off her game. Not moving as well for long matches, not walking with her usual sexy strut and missing the fire that one usually sees in her. Well the truth has finally come out, Simona has been suffering from a string of viruses affecting multiple parts of her body as described in her following quote from Melbourne, Australia: Simona Halep revealed Sunday that she needs nose surgery and will be out of action until at least March, missing Romania’s Fed Cup tie next week.
Halep, my favorite female player and ranked No. 2 in the world, was eliminated from the Australian Open in the first round last week.
“The last six weeks have been extremely difficult for me, as I’ve been dealing with infections in my stomach, nose and ear,” she remarked on her official Facebook page.
“This has been one of my most frustrating periods, as I’ve not been able to train or stay healthy even though I’ve constantly been on antibiotics to help clear the infections.
“I gave it my best shot in Australia but, with the infections still in my body, unfortunately I made things worse, as I pushed myself to compete and fight in a Grand Slam.
“Under doctors’ advice, I will undergo surgery to fix the ongoing problem with my nose — and I’ve been advised that this is my best option and success is highly likely.”
“It comes with great sadness that I’m announcing that I will need to miss our upcoming Fed Cup tie next week, as I will be undergoing surgery this week,” she said. “I’m hopeful that I will have recovered in time to have a chance to defend my title in Indian Wells.
We all hope Simona has an excellent recovery. You are missed every day.
Lleyton Hewitt a two time Major champion put up his usual tremendous effort in the Australian Open Major Tournament but lost to the Spaniard David Ferrer in straight sets 6-2, 6-4, 6-4. There were lots of deuces with Ferrer serving and fabulous shots by both players but Ferrer managed grind out the win in his usual manor.
In the post match interview Ferrer was very gracious and remarked that Hewitt was his Idol. He told the story of how he got Lleyton to sign a tee shirt that he keeps in his home tennis museum and that it is the only tee shirt that he has in his museum.
Hewitt was given a fond farewell from the announcer, players such as Novak and Rafa and of course his fans. He enjoyed it in the company of his wife and three children.
The first Major of 2016 starts on Monday January 18, 2016 with the qualifying. Are you ready for this? Some of the top women players starting the tournament with injuries that may lead to their exiting early. Serena Williams left knee, Maria Sharapova left forearm, Simona Halep left Achilles heel injury. Others like Lucie Safarova with a chronic virorous already withdrawing. Stay tuned for more updates.
In the first round my two favorite players were defeated, Rafael Nadal and Simona Halep. Rafa played against Fernando Verdasco and went five sets. It was a back and forth match however Verdasco was pounding the ball in the last two sets with serves in the mid 130s mph and returning vicious lefty forehand winners and playing one of the best matches of his life.
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