C'mon Serena

Serena Williams and the famous rapper Common have been seen with each other. It's a hard time for the former No.1 player, who as we all know, just ended up a relationship. It seems that she got over the hump. She's been spotted at the passenger seat of Common's car.

Well, we wish Serena all the best and hope she will pass the quarterfinal stage not only in the Grand Slams, but also in her relationship...

~jachal

Sampras selling his house

Pete Sampras and his wife, actress Bridgette Wilson are about to sell their house in Beverly Hills for $25 million. The Argwus-Team made some research, just that U get to know, what's so special about a residence that's about to be sold for such an unbelievably high price.

See, the thing is, that the mansion has got 5 bedrooms. It may not seem a lot for such rich people, but the real deal is, that it has got 12 bathrooms. We made out calculations and that would make more than two bathrooms for each bedroom. Other perks include a detached guesthouse, a gym, a theater, a pool, a putting green and a tennis court.
Well, now U know what's so special about that residence, but U start to wonder, what was wrong with this family that they needed so many bathrooms... Did they pee so often?
Go figure it out ;)

~jachal

Roddick on education

“Stay in school kids, you'll end up becoming an umpire.”
- Andy Roddick on the value of good education. Have you ever wondered, why A-Rod's always so angry at the umpire's? Well, are there complexes creeping in, Andy?

~jachal

Predicted ATP Ranking for Monday 28th January

Our team managed to count all points and give new ATP Ranking.

New Old This Week Points
1 1 Federer 450 6,630
2 2 Nadal 450 5,980
3 3 Djokovic 1000 5,165
4 4 Davydenko 150 2,725
5 5 Ferrer 250 2,715
6 6 Roddick 75 2,155
7 8 Gasquet 150 1,895
8 14 Youzhny 250 1,845
9 15 Blake 250 1,710
10 10 Nalbandian 75 1,700
11 13 Berdych 150 1,685
12 9 Murray 5 1,685
13 16 Baghdatis 75 1,640
14 17 Canas 0 1,573
15 21 Ferrero 150 1,515
16 18 Moya 5 1,505
17 12 Robredo 35 1,490
18 38 Tsonga 700 1,489
19 25 Mathieu 150 1,465
20 22 Hewitt 150 1,460
21 23 Monaco 75 1,450
22 19 Ljubicic 5 1,440
23 24 Karlovic 75 1,430
24 7 Gonzalez 75 1,380
25 20 Chela 5 1,355

~shaw

Nole captures his first Grand Slam title

Novak Djokovic won his first Grand Slam title as he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 4/6 6/4 6/3 7/6 in the final.
Coming into the final Djokovic was the strong favourite, as this was his 11th final of his young career (having already won 7 titles). The Frenchman, on the other side, has never before reached this stage of a tournament.
The world No.3 received a check over 840 000 Euro and 1000 ranking points. Though the Serb won't make any improvement as far as the ranking places, he will get closer to the likes of Federer and Nadal. Djoko will of course take the lead in the Race-ranking. Tsonga will move up the rankings on Monday up to No.18.
The prize ceremony wasn't as moving as it was in the women's case. Both players complemented each other, thanked their supporters, the tournament organizers and the sponsors and expressed their happiness about making the final.

"I would like to thank everybody in my box, not for just these two weeks but through my whole life," said Nole.

"I'm very very happy that I won my first Grand Slam here and so hopefully I'll see you here in this stage more often in the future," he said at the trophy presentation.

~jachal

shriek against squek

The No.5 seed Maria Sharapova became the Australian Open 2008 singles champion as she defeated Ana Ivanovic 7/5 6/3 in the final.Sharapova lost a total of 24 games on her way to the final, beating WTA's greatest stars Davenport, Dementieva, Henin and Jankovic in straight sets.

It wasn't a good match by any means. Both players looked to be very tense when they got their chances to wrap up the first set. The first one who showed nerves was Sharapova, as she couldn't make use of a 4/2 lead and let the Serb into the match. Ivanovic won 3 straight games and had 0/30 on Sharapova's serve. At 15/30 Ivanovic made a silly dropshot which landed in the net. From this point onwards the Russian cruised past the higher Ranked opponent. The former No.1 won the first set 7/5 and didn't show any sign of weakness as she secured the title with her third matchpoint. "This morning I got a text from Billie Jean King saying champions take chances and pressure is a privilege. I am just glad I could take my chances today."This was Maria's first Australian Open crown as she lost the final match against Serena Williams last year.

The beauty contest didn't live up to the expectations as the stats didn't make a pretty reading. Both made more double faults than aces and only Sharapova got hold the winner/unforced errors ratio on an even keal. Though didn't performing as well on the tennis court, both players made emotional appearances during the prize ceremony. In fact U can saftely say the prize ceremony was a more interesting spectacle than the match itself.

~jachal

Nadal humiliated

Just one day after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga humbled the three time French Open champion Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open 2008, the fate had another humiliation for the Spaniard in store.
The world No.2 was forced to take an economy class seat on his final sector home to Spain on Friday. Nadal’s management told Australian media that the world No.2 was bumped from business class on the sector from Singapore back to Barcelona.

The reason: a full flight

Well Rafa, couldn't U just take the pilot's seat...?

~jachal

Play cards: Joker beats the King

Somehow we all knew this was coming up, didn't we?
The King of tennis Roger Federer was beaten by the (D)Joker Novak Djokovic.
What many would recall as a shock, in fact isn't one, if you take a close look on what happend during this week and a half in Melbourne.

Federer came into the Aussie Open not as well prepared as he would have liked to. He had to pull out of the prestigeus exhibition Kooyong tournamet because of heavy stomach ailing. This marked the first time that the No.1 player in the world didn't play in any warm-up tournament before the year's first Grand Slam event. No one was sure about the form, that the Swiss was in.
The Fed-Express started this year's campaigne in some style as he only lost a total of six games in the first two rounds played. That's why no one expected Federer to have any problems in his third round rubber against the up and coming Serb Janko Tipsarevic. How wrong we all have been...
The 23-year old from Belgrad made a heck of a reputation for himself as he only narrowly lost to Federer 8/10 in the fitht set being only 3 points away from winning it on several occasions.

King Roger managed to win this one, but afterwards he never looked the same.
In the 4th round the Czech Tomas Berdych had several setpoints against the number one player in the world and in the quarters it was James Blake, who was able to break Federer's serve in each single set. Fed came through these ones, but dark clouds were abounding before the semi fianl against world No.3 Novak Djokovic...

And rightly so...

Federer looked to be in all sorts of trouble against the Serb, who was playing in his fourth consecutive Grand Slam semi final (the youngest player to achieve this feat in the Open Era). Djokovic came all guns blaisng, but it was the expirienced world No.1, who got the first break. At 5/4 Federer had the chance to serve the first set out, but as he didn't manage to do this, his game totally fell apart. The alarm bells were ringing and Roger got woken up. Unfortunatelly for him it was a little bit too late, cause the defending champion was already losing 1/5 in the second set. He got one of the breaks back, but at the second time of asking Djokovic didn't faulter securing it 6/3.
Fed got his chance at the beginning of the third set when he had three consecutive break points on Novaks serve, but Nola showed a fantastic display of form - gunning three aces and playing pacey forehands. At 6/5 Roger had two set points but Djokovic once again showed some terrific tennis and squeezed out the tiebreak and a few minutes later - the win.

"I was able to deal with the pressure in the best possible way and if you do that against the best player in the world, you know, you should get the positive outcome, which resulted of course with the win tonight." said Djokovic.

"I'm very happy that in crucial moments my serve was serving me, and it was probably my best element in the game tonight in the important moments. So it is a positive thing for the future."

For Federer this is the end of a 10 consecutive GS finals in a row streak. This is also his first non-Nadal loss in a Grand Slam since the Australian Open 2005, when he lost an epic semifinal to Marat Safin.

"There's no doubt I've played better in my life," Federer said afterwards. "I've not been really serving like the way I wanted to, maybe the last few matches. Look, it happens. But he covered the court well. He didn't give me much."

"So that obviously played a role in the way I played tonight. But … I wasn't completely satisfied. He's come through the draw convincingly. He's been playing very solid. He had a tough draw, you know, if I compare it to maybe Rafa's (Rafael Nadal's). So he absolutely deserves to be in the final."

Djokovic will now meet the surprise of the Australian Open 2008 in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. This combination means that after the end of the tournament we will have a first time Grand Slam champion. The question remains - will it be the Tsonga Tsunami or the Joker Djokovic...

~jachal

Roger Federer vs U.S.A.

After another solid performance by Roger against James Blake in quaterfinal of Australian Open 2008 something came to our minds.
Four straight majors — a whole Grand Slam’s worth — have been played now without an American reaching the semifinals. But, if you consider the strength of American tennis you could expect such a poor result.
Both A-Rod and James when it comes to handling real pressure, they are completely weak. Although, Roddick won one major (US Open 2003), it was at the time when there was nobody as good as Fed, Rafa or Djoko. And for James to reach a semifinal of Grand Slam it sounds like a mission impossible.
Ofcourse there are some young guns, such as Querrey, Isner and Young, but still the future of their tennis is not very colourful.
To sum up this short conclusion - since 2003 the Americans have faced Federer 41 times — and lost 41 times.

But, wait a second. That's not completely true. Do you remember december 2007?
Yes, there was a guy called Pete Sampras, and he actually managed to beat Federer. He even did it in straight sets ;)

~shaw

Predictable Tsunami?!

Okey, so you’re a little bit surprised with Tsonga in the final, huh? Not something you could say you expected the whole time, is it? Well yeah.. but who could..!

..actually.. there is such a someone.. someone who – before the tournament started- had a clear vision of how things were gonna go…

Follow us as we go through this prophecy, cause it’s pretty amazing. The author seems to have got almost everything right!!!!!!!

ROUND1.HE has been handed a tough opener […] that could give HIM early problems. – true, that match was pretty tight.. .

ROUND2.If HE negotiates his 1^st round opponent then Juan Pablo Brzezicki could await, assuming the Argentinean overcomes a qualifier in the opening round. – well yeah, assuming, cause the Argentinean failed to do that and so the second round match was not against Brzezicki but Sam Warburg of USA. Still let us continue with the prognosis.

ROUND3.A likely third-round opponent is Juan Ignacio Chela . However, the 18th seeded Argentinean, ranked 20 in the world, has won only one title on the ATP Tour since 2004, in Acapulco, Mexico last year. […] so HIS opponent could well be Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, currently ranked 87 despite achieving a career-high 57 last year. – EXACTO! Garcia-Lopez it was!

ROUND4.Next up, one of two seeded players: Russia's Igor Andreev (31) and France's Richard Gasquet (8)[...]. The Frenchman is considered a potential star and that showdown could be one of the highlights of the event. – hmm no highlights there, but the match was quite good, so – again- “right on”.

QF. If HE reaches the last eight, there is a good chance he will face one of the seeds. Seeded highest is Russian Nikolay Davydenko (4), with his compatriot Mikhail Youzhny (14)and Ivo Karlovic (20) of Croatia also in the same quarter of the draw. – okey, that doesn’t say much, but still, HE actually did face Youzhny, so no mistake there.

SF.In the semis, HE is most likely to meet Rafael Nadal and a bonus for HIM as Nadal's preference for slower clay is well-known.The new surface in Oz is said to be even quicker than before, which could cause further problems for Spain's world number two. – OMG! Sooo right you couldn’t be any “righter”!

2008 AO FINAL.If HE makes his first Grand Slam final, then he is most likely to meet defending champion Federer, though Serbia's Novak Djokovic could have something to say about that. – Again, right you are, Sir, cause we actually still don't know which of the two players you've named will be HIS opponent in the final.

Ok, now tell me that THAT does not sound amazing! I mean the guy virtually tells the whole story just as it happened BEFORE it happened!!!
Oh, just one small “but” – the mystery HE is actually not Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France (why would you even think that?!) but…dear old 100% Scottish Andy Murray!!!

Congrats to the author! (who's obviously Brittish! ;) )

And the whole prophecy, you can find it here.

~mlc

The Tsonga Tsunami

There's something really strange about the Australian Open when it comes down to the men's finals appearance's. The last few years we were very often witnessing big surprises.
It all started in 2001 as Arnaud Clement came back from two sets to love down to beat his compatriot Sebatien Grosjean in the semis. The Frenchman was later beaten very convincingly in the final by Andre Agassi.
The next year saw Thomas Johansson reaching the final over Jiri Novak. The Swede came into the final without anything to lose. This attitude was the right one as he beat the Marat Safin in four sets to grab his maiden Grand Slam. Although Johansson is regarded as a one Slam wonder, you can't take away this achievement from him.
In the 2oo3 edition Rainer Schuettler made a name for himself as he beat a tired looking Andy Roddick in the semis. The German couldn't back that up in the final, as he also lost to Andre Agassi.
In 2006 we had another big surprise. The unseeded Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis beat Ljubicic, Roddick and Nalbandian on the way to just his second career final. And what a final it was... The crowd favourite looked to finish the tournament with a flurish, but having won the first set, the Cypriot let a break advantage in the second set runaway and with it - the chance for a huge upset.
The surprising tendency was also maintained last year as Fernando Gonzalez made the final. The Chilean played an unbelievable tournament routing Blake, Nadal and Haas on the way to his first Grand Slam final, but couldn't repeat his performance in the final, as he lost in straight sets to Roger Federer.
After what we have witnessed over the last few years, a surprising finalist is no longer a surprise at The Aussie Open! That's why after todays night session, no one was shocked after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made Rafael Nadal look like a junior player. The Frenchman played in a league of his own and deserved the 6/2 6/3 6/2 win.
"It's unbelievable, just amazing," Tsonga said, calling it his best performance ever. "Nothing can stop me today. It's like a dream. I can't believe it's true. I was moving on the court like never I move. Everything was perfect."
You can''t blame the Spaniard for not trying, 'cause the will was there. "I can't believe some volleys he made" Nadal said. "I tried to play little bit slower; I tried to play a little bit faster; I tried to play more inside the court; behind the court. No chance. Not today."

Tsonga has a difficult task ahead of him. His next opponent will be the winner of the match between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. The unexpected finalist has never played those players before on Tour, but he is surely well aware of the fact, that these two guys are currently the best hardcourt players out there. It will be interesting to watch if Tsonga will imply the same tactics of going for broke on every point in the final. This strategy has already allowed him to beat 4 Top 10 players in this tournament, so why shouldn't he do it all over again in the final?

~jachal

Squeaking shoes

After loosing in the semifinal Daniela Hantuchova (9) complained that her opponent- Serbian beauty- Ana Ivanovic didn't play fair. Hantuchova claims, that the way world No.4 has been moving her feet before returning the ball (which resulted in a loud infuriating noise), was really off-putting and distracting.

"That was ridiculous, I think," Hantuchova told reporters.
"I was really surprised with that. I think it's unfair. It's a distraction to the server. We played before and she never did it."
Hantuchova said she had complained to umpire Alison Lang.
"In the first or second service game (she told the umpire), but she didn't do anything about it. I don't think that (the squeaking) was very nice."

Ivanovic wards off: "I just tried to move my feet, to return the ball, so it really was not intentional. If you see other matches I was doing exactly the same thing. It's just the way these courts play. And if you listen to the guys I think they're doing the same thing."

Daniela! We know it's difficult to get over loosing in the semis, especially if we consider the fact, that you were leading 6-0 2-0 but hey! This is what sport is all about! You need to face the truth: Maybe Ana was just a bit better than You?

~djoko

Different perspective

Ladies and Gents, as ya all know (at least we hope you do;) ), we're getting closer and closer to the finals! And though these are the moments we've all been waiting for, at the same time these are the days of less and less action on courts..
So we thought that - craving for more - you might want to watch this little something we've found kinda in between matches.
Not to much tennis action there, but you definitely get to see your favourite players from a different perspective... ;)
just have a look!

~mlc

Semifinals- predictions!

Our redaction decided to guess, who's gonna end up as the winner of the Australian Open 2008 semifinals. It is defenitely not easy, but let's play!

Men's Semifinal No.1- (1) Roger Federer (sui) vs (3) Novak Djokovic (srb)

These two played each other six times. Roger leads the head to heads 5:1, but only two of those matches took place while Novak held the number three in the world. Both matches were very close affairs. In the Toronto final Djokovic managed to beat Fed 7/6 2/6 7/6, while in US Open final Federer won 7/6 7/6 6/4. The young Serb waisted plenty of setpoints in the first two sets.
Talking about their current form, both are in good shape, but only Novak managed not to loose a set during the AO 2008. Federer had to play 5 sets against Tipsarevic in 3rd round.
Djokovic is capable of beating the nr. 1, but he would have to win more of those most important points. Anyway Federer goes into that one as the strong favourite.

Our verdict: Federer (5 sets)

Men's Semifinal No.2- (2) Rafael Nadal (esp) vs Jo Wilfried Tsonga (fra)

They played each other only once, during last years US Open. Nadal won quite easily 7/6 6/2 6/1. From that moment a lot had changed. Now Tsonga is a much more mature player. He has beaten great players at the Aussie Open '08, just to mention: Murray, Gasquet and Youzhny. He has no fear of winning. He has an incredible forehand and serves unbelivebly well .

But, on the other side of the net, there will be the toughest opponent Tsonga could imagine. Rafael Nadal seems to be in good form. He has already beaten three french players here and now is aiming for his fourth scalp. He won all his matches in stright sets, he is injury free and he is aiming for his first Australian Open final.

Our verdict: Nadal (4 sets)

Woman's Semifinal No.1 - (5) Maria Sharapova (rus) vs (3) Jelena Jankovic (srb)

First of the two semifinals include the former world No.1 Maria Sharapova and the feisty Serb Jelena Jankovic. Both of them beat not only surprisingly their opponents in the quarters but also have done it in some style. The head to heads gives the advantage to the Russian (3:1 in her favour), but the tennis starlet sends out a warning to all those, who think the coquer of Serena Williams hasn't got a chance "Previous matches don't count. This is a new encounter, a new match. This is a great opportunity for both of us. I'm very excited about the matchup. Ever since the juniors we've always played really tough and we've always battled it out, and it's great to see her in the semis. It's great we're playing together. " Though Jelena did manage to win only one of the four encounters against Sharapova it is important to mention it was the pairs last meeting. There's also a interesting staticstic, that every matchup between those two was won by the player, who was higher in the rankings. Thanks to an ultra-consistant last year, the Serb is ranked above the Russian and will defenitely try to make this tradition last.
Still, we think Maria will have the edge in this match, not only because she's in a fanatastic form, but rather because Jankovic os close to fall apart with her various ailings and injuries.

Our verdict: Sharapova (2 sets)

Woman's Semifinal No.2- (4)Ana Ivanovic (srb) vs (9)Daniela Natuchova (svk)

The second semifinal will be a much closer affair. Both players met three times All matches took place last year, while both players were in the TOP 10, so that gives as a very good indication on how their chances are. Hantuchova won the first one on grass. Ivanovic had the upper hand in the following two, that were played in indoors. Both players seem to be in great form, as both of them showed fenomenal tennis in the quarters. Daniela is the older one and should have the experience-factor on her side, but the Serb is far more experienced in terms of playing in the semifinals of a Grand Slam (with an 1 all stat in that department). We can assume she will not be as much stressed at the beginning of the match as Daniela, for whom this is the first GS semi-showing. There's this feeling she will be able to bounce back in the second set. She may win it or just loose it in a close tiebreaker. If she manages to squeez it, she may go all the way, but it is Ivanovic who will be the liklier winner at the end, as she can handle the pressure better than the Slovak.

Our verdict: Ivanovic (3 sets)

~shaw

~jachal

Water actually...

Practice, practice, practice together with a bit of talent is definitelly essential for a player to be among the top players in the world... But have You ever thought about water as a very important ingredient in the "success-in-tennis recipe"?
No?
It doesn't make us wonder since we also wouldn't see this as so important...

"Hydration is obviously essential in this heat, and I actually begin the process the day before a match by drinking two or three liters of water in the afternoon and evening, before my match I will drink another one-and-half liters."- said Ana Ivanovic.

The other thing she has added to our recipe is..... her alarm clock!

"Getting up in good time is obviously the most important thing, so that you can relax and go through your routine - eating, stretching, warm-up and tactical planning - in good time" said the tennis beauty.

Ana! If it's all about drinking and getting up at the proper time, why don't we have more amazing players? ;-) Oh, we're just kidding! We know that without thehard work, you wouldn't have achieved so much, but to be honest - we find those two factors surprising and astonishing!

BTW nice photo, Ana ;-)

~djoko

Djokovic The Builder

Best serbian player, world No.3 Novak Djokovic, has recently announced, that he will help to build a national tennis center in his country. He claims, that Serbia has no base, where talented players can aspire to be the best.

"This is one of my lifetime goals, I love tennis and I really would like to have many professional facilities for my brothers and for all the kids, and in the end for me because everybody wants to spend more time at home.'' - said the popular Djoko.

Novak! We are really pleased with Your plans! The Argwus Redaction is convinced, that this is a very good move to find some young, talented players and help them developing their careers. Without any doubt it will influence the popularity of tennis not only in Serbia, but all over the world.

~djoko

Take a ride with Radwanska

Although she lost in the quarterfinal stage of this year's Australian Open, Agnieszka Radwanska definitely got reasons to be happy and proud of. She ousted the No.2 player in the world Svetlana Kuznetsova and backed that up with a win over the former No.3 Nadia Petrova to progress to her maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal. None other Pole in the Open Era history managed to achieve that. For her efforts she will rise to No.21 in the ranking on Monday.

This won't be the only prize she will get for her tremendous run. Her father Robert promised to buy her a sports car. Radwnska, who is just about to make her drivers license, will travel with her father to the States to look for a cool one, that will suit her.
The Argwus-Team decided this one is pretty ok...

~jachal

Was throat-slit gesture a joke?

WTA claimed that this ugly gesture made by Yuri Sharapov after his daughter beat Justine Henin was a joke.
"I am satisfied it was an innocent joke between Maria and Yuri about the sweatshirt," said the WTA Tour chief executive Larry Scott.
Well, our team admires papa's Youri sense of humour!

~shaw

All-Serbian final?

Well, what can U say about the four contestants of the Australian Open 2008 semifinals?
Of course, they are all hotties!
This may go down to the history books as the sexiest woman's Grand Slam seifinals of all time.
Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova have joined Maria Sharapova and Jelena Jankovic to fight for a place in this years first major final.
Daniela Hantuchova showed no mercy while bringing on the execution of polish talent Agnieszka Radwanska. The Slovak dominated the whole match showing no signs buildung up and destroying Radwanska 6/2 6/2. She was very agressive and had all the answers. The Pole couldn't live up to the expectation, that her country has set her (this being the first time a Pole would make it to the quarterfinal stage of a major). Radwanska came in to the match winning the one and only meeting against Hantuchova (Zurich 2007). The Slovak showed an amazing display of tennis blasting forehand and backhand winners past the talented teenager. This will be Daniela's first Grand Slam semifinal as she lost the three oportunities, she has had over 5 years ago to get to this stage. The world No.9 will now meet Ana Ivanovic in the semis.
The Serb showed sheer determination and fighting skills while dumping Venus Williams out of the tournament 7/6 6/4. This is the second time in so many days, that a Serb defeats a Williams sister.
Prior to the match, Serena's older sister hasn't lost a match to the Belgrad-born woman, leading the head to heads comfortably 4-0. Ivanovic, the No.4 seed, stuck to her strategy throughout the match attacking with the massive groundstrokes and Venus couldn't find the answers. After taking the first set on a tiebreaker, Ivanovic seemingly lost momentum. The American made a fantastic start to the second set taking the early initiiative with a 3/0 lead. It was in that moment, when, we fought a third set was looming, Ivanovic got her act together and won the set 6/4. "It's amazing…you helped me to get through that second set," she told the crowd. "I'm thrilled because I love playing here and I'm thrilled to be through."

~jachal

Myskina pregnant

The former world No.2 Anastasia Myskina is expecting a child. This means, that there will be no defenitive timetable for her comeback. With the unpredictability of Myskina's behaviour, we even might not see her back on the tennis courts ever again.The Russian was struggling the last two years with various injuries and lack of form. After a 1st round loss to Gisela Dulko in Auckland 2007 Myskina said she would end her career with immediate effect. She later tried to make a comeback, underlining she couldn't live without tennis. Her comeback at the French Open that year was a disaster as the Russian managed to win only one game against Meghann Shaughnessy. This was her last appearance at a Sony Ericsson WTA-Tour tournament.

Myskina is now 5 mounths pregnant and as it seems, she will be a raising her child alone. The news is Anastasia is no longer dating the Hockey player Konstantin Korneev. This is what she had to say:
“That topic is closed. I’ll just say that I am not getting married in the near future. I am a single person. I don’t know about the baby’s gender yet, and I haven’t decided yet where I will give birth—in Russia or abroad.”

Let's hope this is no career end for the former French Open winner and that she soon can start such an impressive comeback as Lindsay Davenport did...

~jachal

Selflessness? not sure about it....

World number 5 Maria Sharapova has recently decided to represent Russia in the Fed Cup quarter final against Israel on 2-3 February. She would help Anna Chakvetadze, Dinara Safina, Elena Vesnina and Elena Likhovtseva in getting along to the semis.
It would be a very positive information about Maria, but it's not that simple, easy, and disinterested as it seems to be...
As all of you know this year we have the Olympic Games in Beijing. A very important torunament for players of all disciplines, as well as tennis. But to take a chance in China it is obligatory to take part in Fed-Cup or Davis Cup.
Maria says: "I'm so excited about this trip. It's one of my priorities for this year".

Sharapova's Fed Cup history is a very long one, although the Russian haven't played for the team a single match. The superstar, who spent the most part od her life in the States, many times before said she wanna be a part of the team, but as soon as everything was set for her debut, she refused to participate. This was not the only issue that caused unpleasenties in the russian team.
In november of 2004, the freshly crowned French Open champion Anstasia Myskina vowed, she won't support the team if Sharapova was to play for the team, saying she doesn't like the Wimbledon champion's father, Yuri. "I feel his behavior is totally incorrect, simply rude. I don't want to be around people like him. If she joins our team next season, you won't see me there for sure," Myskina said.
The next little scandal came around at the end of last year, as the russian girls managed to win the Fed Cup final against Italy. The team leaders - Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze, showed their anger towards Maria as she showed up unexpected at the final cheering for Russia. Kuznetsova didn't understand, why Maria actually came having not played for Russia before. She also made it vocal, that the fact that Sharapova appeared in the russian contingents box was very inappropriate. Anna Chakvetadze backed up her team mate saying, she didn't understand, why Sharapova came down on court partying with team, who fought so hard to win this rubber.

These facts make her contribiution to the Fed Cup very questionable.
Oh girl, we are sure that playing in Olympics is a big distinction, but hey! Representing Your country is just the same, and what's more it is also kind of a duty for a player being called to the national team!

Oh Masha, You have let down the whole redaction of Argwus! Luckily we are optimists, and we all hope that You won't stop Your Fed-Cup career on February match against Israel...

~djoko

Naughty teen...

Due to unprofessional behaviour during Aussie Open number 16 of Junior Championships, Marcus Willis has been sent home. He has left his racquets at the hotel, he was late for trainings and has even disappeared for some time.
"Coming to the Slams just reinforces it - you see the Slovaks and the Croats and the Serbs and they work hard and have the right attitude. You don't see them missing training and leaving their rackets at the hotel." - says Roger Draper- chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association.

We agree at all with Mr. Draper!! Being able to play in such a tournament as Australian Open is a very big distinction, and noone has permission to treat this nobility in the way as Willis has done it.
We also hope, that this punishment would "repair" something in this teen's head and next time he will think at least twice before leaving his thermobag in the hotel ;)

~djoko

Head to heads is 0-9

"What do you mean again? This is just -- this is a new year. This is 2008, and 2007 is behind me. I don't know what the score is against her, but 2008 is a new one, and it's a new start of the year, so we begin at 0-0."
- Jelena Jankovic on the prospect of again playing Justine Henin in the Australian Open semifinals.
Yeah JJ, lieing to yourself may just be the right tactics against JuJu, especially knowing that anything else in the past just didn't work. The Argwus-Team would go one further - pretending, we don't even know, who this Justine Henin is, of whom everyone's talking about...

~jachal

A fat Maria?

"Are you saying I was fat or something?"
- Maria Sharapova jokingly responding to a reporters question, if she thinks she's in a better shape now than 3 years ago.

~jachal

Day 9- summary!

That was another exciting night with Aussie Open 2008! 4 matches and 3 surprises. Thank God I forgot to bet on those matches :)

The first match, which took place on Rod Laver Arena, was between Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic. We expected Serena to come through, but it was the Serbian who after 1 hour and 39 minutes finished it in straight sets 6/3 6/4. In fact Williams managed to fight only in second set, but it still wasn't enough for number three seed. "I thought I played very well. I came out very strong, and I was going for my shots, especially my backhand down the line was working unbelievably, and that's how I hurt my opponent" Jelena told the reporters.

Jankovic will now meet Maria Sharapova, who showed absolutely fantastic tennis in an outstanding win over nr.1 Justine Henin. We can deffinitely say that she demolished her. She won first set 6/4 and then it was only Maria on the court. Second set which lasted 37 minutes, finished with a score 6/0! "I think that I have no excuse. You know, she won the match. She's been the best. I can tell I wasn't at my best level, and that's for sure. But the story is she won the match, and I'm going back home now. So it's kind of a disappointment for sure." said Henin on Sharapova's performance. The winner herself said: "I think it was one of the most consistent matches where I did all the things I wanted to do, and I did them correctly from the beginning to the end except having a little letdown in the end of that first set. I felt like I did many things right, and I just played the way I can play."
Maria, that was really brilliant performance.

In Men's field the first one to secure spot in semifinal was Rafael Nadal. The lefty from Mallorca prooved one more time that he is aspiring for the first Grand Slam title outside Paris. He won 7/5 6/3 6/1 against Jarkko Nieminen. Only the first set was really tight, just to say, Nieminen had two setpoints, but Rafa played then outstanding tennis. "It's better than I thought," Nadal told reporters, after reaching the last four without dropping a set. "I am happy, because always it is important to cross the quarter-finals. If I'm in the final on Sunday, it's going to be a dream for me here. I'm very happy about my start here, playing the final in Chennai and being in the semi-finals here."

In the last match on Centre Court Mikhail Youzhny from Russia played against French Jo Wilfried Tsonga. Nr 38 in the world still continues his dream run. Although, Youzhny seemed to be a bit tired, Tsonga was deffinitely to strong for him. He finished this match with a lovely passing shot winning 7/5 6/0 7/6!

~shaw

QFs: episode #1

Funny how they always come so quickly,
funny how you know exactly when it's gonna happen,
but still end up being surprised "already?!"..
The quarterfinals.Yep, we're already half way through the tournament and most of the players have been sent home to practise those volleys a little more ;)
And among the ones that are still here are the AO 2008 champions..
But who will win that very last point of the tournament? Who will be in all the sports newspapers on Monday? Who's gonna take a nice check back home? Who's gonna have the perfect start of the 2008 season..?
Whoooa! Hold your horses, mate!
Before we get a bit carried awy - first the quarters, m'kay? ;)
And they look pretty interesting. The today's menu includes 4 singles QFs and Argwus' Analyst SuperSquad (who are still working on a better name for themselves, cause the abbreviation doesn't seem to fit their prestige...) is here to tell you just exactly what to expect!

Henin Vs Sharapova:
Henin leads the head-to-head statistics by 6 to 2, but Maria's been looking really confident so far this week. In her 4 short matches she has played 100 winners, which gives her an impressive 1.56 winner per game played.

Serena Vs Jelena:
The ladies are tied at 2-2, but - mind you - their last meeting was at the AO 2007 and Williams won in 2 straight sets.

Rafa Vs Jarko:
they played each other 3 times and it was always the Spaniard getting the best of the Finn, but none of those matches was on hard court.
Still Nadal seems to be the dead cert favourite, plus fatigue might come into play cause Nieminen has been on court over 3 hours longer than Nadal.

Tsonga Vs Youzhny:
First of all, this is the battle that no mentally healthy human being could have predicted at the beginning of the week.
Secondly, the two have never played each other at an ATP event.
And finally: the bookies have it 1.45 for Mikhail and 2.3 for Jo'.
So... expect the unexpected!

Now forward march! To the TVs!

~mlc

Pratt says goodbye

The Australian Nicole Pratt decieded to end up her long tennis career.
Pratt won one singles and nine doubles titles. Her only single success came in Hyderabad in 2004, when she defeated Maria Kirilenko in the final. Although it was only a Tier IV event, this win prooved to be a historic one. Never before in history of woman's tennis did we saw a 30-year old win her maiden singles title.
Nicole Pratt was an accomplished Fed Cup player, representing her country 18 times.
In the years on the Tour Pratt managed to defeat 2 Top 10 players (Safina in Sydney 2007 & Testud in Birmingham 2002) and further 9 Top 20 players.
The Perth-native had scalps of the likes of Dementieva, Jankovic, Sugiyama, Farina-Elia and Bartoli.
Her highest singles ranking was 35, in doubles - 18.
Her best performance at a Grand Slam event came at Australian Open 2003, where she reached the fourth round (having won the juniors competition some 12 years earlier).
She has been elected to Tour Players' Council and also received Tour Player Service Award in 1999, 2000 and 2004.

The Tour will miss you Nicole, as well as the Argwus-Team...

~jachal

No man pushes Venus Williams off centre stage!

She is a nut. Our lovely Vee, refused to budge from centre court at the Open, threatening action if they moved her match for the Lleyton Hewitt-Marcos Baghdatis thriller.
Williams declined a request from tournament organisers to have her third-round match against Indian Sania Mirza moved from Rod Laver Arena to the smaller Vodafone Arena when Roger Federer's four-hour win over Janko Tipsarevic ran more than an hour over the scheduled start time of Williams's evening session match. Yeah, but c'mon, she is a superstar as well :)

~shaw

Nadia, WTF???

"I don't know what she was doing, I mean, at all."
- Agnieszka Radwańska on Petrova's lack of strategy in the third set of Aussie Open 2008 after the Russian lost it 0/6.
Well Aggie, you're not the only one, who's wondering what on earth Petrova is doing right now on the Tour...

~jachal

The magic 8

After Day 8, there's only 8 players left in the woman's draw.
It's a fantastic quarterfinal line-up for the first Grand Slam of the year.
Justine Henin will play Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams will take on Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic will face Venus Williams and Daniela Hantuchova will make an attempt to move past Agnieszka Radwanska.

It was a day of comebacks at the Australian Open.
The most stunning one came from the polish teenage superstar Agnieszka Radwanska as she came back from the brink against Nadia Petrova. The Russian looked to have the match under control as she raced out to a set and 3/0 lead. "I had a slow start but then I started to not play so aggressive - I'd just move the ball around and try not to make any mistakes. I think that was important. I also started serving much better than the first set." said Radwanska, who will be making her first Gramd Slam quarterfinal. It is a very important win for the ambitous Pole, whose aim is to become the No.1 player in the world. Petrova on the other hand must have had her memories revived, as this painful expirience marked the second consecutive loss at the Australian Open, where the Russian lost from a winning position (last year she lost to the eventual champion S.Williams after leading 6/1 5/3). Radwanska will now meet the No.9 seed Daniela Hantuchova for a spot in the semis. "She's a very tough player and very talented," the Slovak commented. "She is proving it here once again. I played her in Zürich and lost, so obviously I'll have to change something and make sure I play my best tennis. I think we both have a good opportunity to get to the semifinals. It's going to be a very good match and I'm really looking forward to it."

The second incredible comeback came from Daniela Hantuchova. The Slovak used all her expirience to battle her way through the tentetive - Stella McCartney product - Maria Kirilenko 1/6 6/4 6/4. The Russian had the early initiative moving to a 6/1 3/1 seemingly safe lead. Both players showed signs of faultering under pressure with Daniela eventually showing a greater will to win and closing the match with her 4th match point (but letting a 5/2 lead slip away). The win will be Hantuchovas first Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance in five years!

Altough Venus Williams won her match against the polish qualifier Marta Domachowska in straight sets, she was made to work extremely hard. The Pole showed no signs of nerves playing on the big stage against the former world No.1 and six-time Grand Slam champion. Domachowska came out all guns blaising breaking Williams early in the first set and serving 3 aces in the first 5 serves. Williams often found herself on the defensive as Domachowska swung for winners at every opportunity. "The last couple of rounds I've definitely played some players who had some interesting strategies as far as going for broke and just (hitting) every ball as hard as they can a hundred percent, so I felt good about the match. She made a lot of good shots; I just tried to keep a steady level of play." Williams told reporters. The 22-year old from Warsaw time and again stunned Venus with magnificent forehands. The british former world no.5 Jo Durie went so far to say , that this might be the one of the shots in the womans game today. Williams will have to raise her level if she wants to make the next hurdle - Ana Ivanovic. The Serb beat Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark in straight sets 6/1 7/6.

From Domachowska's point of view the loss against Williams marks her first loss since November last year at the same time ending her 14 match winning streak. The Pole, who had to go to Australia without her couch, because she lacked money, will make an impressive jump in the rankings from 146 to 82.

~jachal

Marcos, what was that?

Our team considers you to be very nice and polite person, but tell us, what was that supossed to mean? You may not like Turkey, but c'mon it is kind of racism! Don't make us change our mind about you!

~shaw

Hospitality....

Have You ever wondered where do the players live during the Aussie Open Grand Slam?
You have to know, that we were terribly determined to see the hotel, where all the on-court stars spend their time, while getting ready for their tennis battles.... For us there are no barriers!! We sent our Research-team with the mission to take some pictures and info about the Grand Hyatt Melbourne Hotel. As always-----> all for You, loyall readers of argwus website.
Hyatt Hotel offers 548 rooms, swimming pool, tennis court (but we are not sure, whether the players really play there :-) ), spa and even a Victiorian Arts Centre just for the players. I guess we don't have to add that the standard of the hotel is the highest one You have ever dreamt off...
And now just take a look at some pictures taken by our crew!



Any questions?
Didn't think so.... It was rather obvious for us, that noone wants to leave Aussie Open too early, but after taking a look at the accomodation reserved for the players, right now we have no doubts that leaving Melbourne, after just about 2 or 3 days spent in this luxury hotel has to be really, REALLY hard...

~djoko