For our money, it was one of the best Grand Slam openers to a new year in a long time.  A look back at some of the more sublime - and the sillier - moments from the Australian Open, starting with....

The Finals: 

For once, not one but TWO great finals, Roger and Andy for the manly men and Serena and Justine for the women.  Not least because they were the two players who had played the best for two weeks to emerge from the draws.  It's always nice when you get the hottest players at that moment getting to the finals of a Slam.  Not that the best don't always get there, once in a while we have some oddities.  No oddities this year, just good stuff from the players.

And one of the weirder things to emerge  was the notable absence of two notables:  Del Potro didn't even survive the Round of 16, while Nadal went out in the quarters.  But Cilic was on the move, we all knew that from the end of last year.  After he got by Del Potro, you had to like his chances of getting by Roddick; no real upset there, at least in my book. 

Did Federer really play that great of a final?  Or did he somehow manage to fool Murray into thinking he was?   A few months ago I nicknamed Andy Murray the Massager, because that's what I felt he was doing waayy too much of with the ball.  Now we could call him Murray the Mystifier, because for the life of me I don't get why the guy enjoys the baseline so much.  Hell, not even the baseline!  As the graphics showed, he wasn't even near the baseline in a lot of the rallies.  He was behind it while Federer hugged it like it was his twin daughters. 

Is Murray so in love with the intricacies of point construction that he forgets how to win the bloody points?  The best thing about the final was when I saw Murray in tears, that says to me the guy WILL get it one day, but not on this Sunday.  He really does want it though.  And with all those guys coaching him you'd expect they could find a plan for Andy.   

Roger on the other hand, like the commercial using his image, is one free-range shark for sure, and does he ever know when to strike.  When will Murray learn this?  Will he learn it?

In passing we need to mention Davydenko's absolutely lights-out brilliant play in the first set of his quarterfinal match with Federer.  It pretty much left me in a puddle of nervous energy on the floor, my hand was already reaching for the on/off button.  This was not going to be my man Roger's day, and I didn't want to see him annihilated again, for a third time in a row, by this little guy who JUST DOESN'T MISS.  It was just awesome play. 

I remembered what Federer says he says to himself at moments like this:  Don't panic.  Easy for him to say, so let me panic for you, Roger.  I kept the tv on, Roger spent a lot of time ransacking the strings on his racquet as he tried to work his way back into the match.  Surely no man would attempt to whip Roger Federer three times in a row and live to tell about it, but this looked like the day. 

Federer clung to life in the match and withstood the onslaught, then carved his way back into the match.  As he grew stronger, Davydenko started to slip.  And, well, you know the drill from there. 

- - - - - - -

A number of players came into the Australian Open with chances to start their new year off right, but failed to connect.

Maria Sharapova lost a tough opener to Maria Kirilenko.  She used to own her, once upon a time.  Frankly I was a bit shocked at how sketchy her preparation looked.  Sharapova didn't play the Brisbane tune-up event, probably a mistake according to observers.  Supposedly her shoulder was ok and she could play but I keep getting the sense she's not fully 100% back into her play.  Her game doesn't look nearly as big to me now as it did a few years ago, apart from the serving woes.  She doesn't get the same stick on the forehand.  Even her dress -  a blue-green wispy thing with an overabundance of straps that reminded me of mermaids and being underwater - seemed to reflect the Sharapova woes. 

Ana Ivanovic came by, basically to say hello I guess,  then lost rather early as well, to that wisp of a girl, Gisella Dulko, so her woes continue.  As I watched her chase her service toss all over God's creation, I thought to myself:  Ana needed more baseball in her early life, down there in the swimming pools of Serbia.  She needed to play sports where you get to throw things a lot.  That would have helped her service toss.  She's a big girl and she should have been chucking lots of stuff as a kid.  She appears instead to be surprisingly unathletic. 

There is nothing unathletic about Rafa Nadal.  But sadly, his knee going crunch has an ominous ring to it.  They poo-pooed it, not the same knee problem as before, but still.  A rotten omen for the year.  I don't like the look of these knees at all, and I for one will be holding my breath for him this year. 

The weirdest and funniest moment was early on and involves the "let-me-show-you-my-beautiful-bod" moment from Marcos Baghdatis.  After upsetting Ferrer in the second round, the Cypriot whipped his shirt off to reveal a lovely defoliation job, but little else.  Why would you go through the angst of doing that - really, it was probably more like deforestation in his case - and then show the world you haven't spent ANY time in the gym?  His body looks puffy.  All that work and not much to show for it, guy.  I'll personally pay you to keep it on next time. 

These days not only are the games of the players very hot, their physiques are too.  One would be well-advised to remember that before whipping clothes off.

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