Fruit of the Loom

Djokovic takes his cues from Maria and Ana and entered the modeling world tonight at the Montreal Player Fashion show. Wonder what endorsements he'll be getting from this? How about Fruit of the Loom guys?

look at me! look at me! I'm having a lot of fun!

I always love boat excursions during a tournament. I try to squeeze in as much beach tennis and volleyball, oohh and foos ball too!

Did u take the picture yet? I have to go back to my hotel room, I'm not feeling well today. I have a headache!

Burnt Out

With temperatures reaching the upper 130's, Djokovic retires during his QF match against Andy Roddick. Following a very inspiring 1st set (in which he played flawlessly), Djokovic seemed to take a dip in his quality of play, going down a break early in the 2nd set. From that point on, it was all downhill. His feet stopped moving, his shots were barely making it past the service line, and his confidence was waning. It was sad to watch, actually. And I'm not even a fan of the Djoker. Perhaps it was the near 140 degree temperature, and then again, perhaps not.

He has a record of both taking medical timeouts and retiring from matches. Here's his history of retirement: 2005 & 2006 French Open, 2007 Wimbledon, and now the 2009 Australian Open. He's only 20, and soon he'll have retired from all 4 Slams! Not an accolade you'd want under your belt, Novak! And I'm only talking about his Grand Slam record. If you take a look at his retirement stats at the smaller tournaments, it's not any better.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not against medical timeouts. In fact, I believe they're necessary. If you're in danger of injuring or hurting yourself during a match, you should be allowed the proper amount of time to be accessed and to be treated. However, when players appear to abuse the rule either to help boost their level of play or to cool down the game of their opponent, I start to become suspicious.

To the credit of Roddick, he was tracking down drop shot after drop shot, showing off his newly found fitness and speed.

Funny that he would retire to Roddick, considering Andy's recent criticism of Djokovic at the US Open. He accused Novak of lying about or faking his injuries as a strategy to get through tight matches. I'm starting to think he's right.

To Djok or not Djok?

The Djoker has been off his game lately. And if he doesn’t get into groove soon, he might be exiting the Aussie Open sooner than he’d like.

He looks frustrated and annoyed, never very happy with himself. And not just in the Australian Open either. During his Nieminen match last week, he looked deflated and lacked concentration.

Where is the confident, aggressive play that led him to his victory in Melbourne last year? Personally, I think the pressure to keep up with the leading pack is starting to mentally wear on him.

Federer gets tough draw!

It seems everywhere I look, journalist are writing about the "difficult" draw Federer was handed for the upcoming Australian Open. According the Tennis Experts Blog by Martin Rogers (Federer slammed by Aussie draw),

Roger Federer finds plenty to get angry about these days, and his Australian Open draw likely won't improve his mood.

Tough draw? Are you serious? Federer is lucky to be in the bottom half of the draw. At this stage of the game, it's more psychological for the Fed Express. And the only true psychological competitors that Federer currently has on the circuit are Nadal and Murray. But for good measure, let's take a look at his competition for the upcoming Aussie Open.

Seppi - In Federer's 1st Round, he will have to face the very capable Andreas Seppi. But despite the skill level of the Italian, Federer holds a 3-0 record over him. Their latest meeting was in Doha, where Federer out-played Seppi 6/3 6/3.

Moya - To date, Federer holds a commanding 7-0 lead in head-to-head confrontations with the Spaniard. And this takes into account when Moya was at his very best. In their latest match-up, Federer showed impeccable form in downing Moya in straight sets at 6/2 6/3.

Safin - The last time Safin took down the King was in 2005 at the Australian Open. That was a different Safin. Since then, he has lost every encounter to Federer. Their last match was at the 2008 Wimbledon Championships, where Federer took Safin out in straight sets, 6/3 7/6(3) 6/4. En route to that match, Safin was showing his best form to-date. Even at his best, Federer showed no signs of weakness to the Russian. Their current head-to-head stats show Federer up 9-2.

Djokovic only potential roadblock Federer is likely to face on his way to appearing in his 18th Grand Slam Final appearance. And even then, Federer holds a 7-2 head-to-head lead over the Serb. The Djoker hasn't been playing his best tennis as of late either, losing twice in two weeks to players outside the Top 30. He will have to improve his form prior to his meeting with Federer if he wants to put a dent in the King's armour.

So, tough draw? I hardly think so! These are players that Federer holds a competitive advantage over, both psychologically and physically. The real competition is in the upper half of the draw, where many of the younger, up-and-coming talents will have to out-gun and out-play each other just to make it to the Final.

Although the media is oh-so eager to create drama, I highly doubt that Federer is all that worried about his half of the draw. See you in Melbourne!

Australian Open Draw Out - ATP

Looking at the men's draw for this years Australian Open, we're in for a good one.

Upper Half of the Draw
Nadal gets the BIG Names, Half the city of Paris, three compatriots and four Argentines.. and a very long road to the Final.

Murray and Tsonga look primed for a Quarterfinal match-up at Rod Laver Arena. But Tsonga may first have to pass an impromptu exam sometime in the 3rd or 4th Rounds with veterans Blake and/or Schuttler.

Lower Half of the Draw
Djokovic, not playing his best tennis, comes to the Australian Open as the defending Champion and could face Jarkko Niemenen in the 3rd round. He lost to Jarkko in straight sets at the Medibank International in Sydney last night. But, if everything goes according to plan, Novak will await the winner of Nalbandian/Roddick in the Quarterfinals. This match-up is sure to be a healthy check-up before a potential rematch of last year's Semifinal with Roger Federer.

Federer has two former champions, Carlos Moya and Marat Safin, both nowhere near their former best. Facing little to no resistance, Fed could walk his way right into the Championship match simply by passing his first hurdle in the Semifinals.

Novak denied!

I guess the old adage of "the 3rd times a charm" doesn't hold true for Nole! And to top things off, he lost yet again to a tricky lefty! Federer can breath a sigh of relief, as his No. 2 ranking is still intact. Congrats to Jarkko, on a hard-fought, smart match against the world No. 3. At 27, this is his first win over a Top-5 player. Fun match to watch!

Thanks to channelsurfing.net for providing FREE, live streamed matches from Sydney.