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The 2018 Aus Open women's final pitted two top WTA players who have both been #1 and both been to two previous slam finals, but unsuccessfully.  At last, one of them would remove that stigma.  The match pitted the #1 seed against the #2 seed, for the first time in a women's slam final since Aus Open 2015 (at the French it's been since 2013, at Wimbledon since 2002, and the US Open since 2013). Overall I thought it was a well-played match. Caroline came out solid and determined. It took Halep a while to find her rhythm, but when she did I felt that she was controlling the match. I felt she was playing more aggressively and the fate of the match was on her racket. After going down 1-4 in the first, the rest of the set was 5-3 for her (to make it 6-7). Then she took the second 6-3, then she was up a break 4-3 in the 3rd. All she had to do was keeping doing what she was doing... which was making a lot of winners and an uncharacteristic amount of errors. It is was what her new ...

2018 Australian Open Men Predictions 11 January 2018 Can players in their 20’s challenge the old guard of tennis who are all in their 30’s? First Quarter Rafael Nadal, the top seed, pulled out of his warm-up tournament but did make a showing at an exhibition this week.  He may not be at 100% healthwise, but regardless, if he plays he will be a threat for the title.  If he can get through his first two or three matches, he seems to get better as a tournament progresses.  His first few rounds look totally manageable.  Even in the quarters he is likely to face only Cilic (6) or Carreno Busta (10).  Cilic hasn’t looked too strong since pulling up lame against Federer in the Wimbledon final.  But he is one of two men outside of the Big 5 to have won a slam. Carreno Busta is youngish at 26 years old, but doesn’t seem to have the genius to really push the top players.  Unless Nadal is truly unfit to play, I can’t see him losing before the ...

2018 Australian Open Women Predictions 11 January 2018 With Serena not yet returned, is there a favourite? First Quarter Top-seeded Simona Halep has a date with Destanee Aiava in the first round.  Aiava is a dangerous teen and Halep has not been immune to first round exits at slams, but I expect her to pull this one off.  Halep started the year strongly with a title in Shenzhen.  I also like the way she seized the #1 ranking at the end of last year. She’s driven and consistent, and is the only player to finish in the computer top 10 each of the last four years.  But she’s not a big-hitter and current wisdom on the WTA tour is that big-hitters win slams and defensive players do not.  However that logic doesn’t hold up when we consider that defensive-minded Kerber won two slams in 2016.  So I like Halep’s chances at this Aus Open. Halep could run into two big-hitting Czechs in her quarter, Petra Kvitova (27) and Karolina Pliskova (6)....

2017 ATP Recap and Look into 2018 What to Expect Tennis fans the globe over are salivating at the thought of a 2018 full of former champions facing off against the increasingly restless young guns of tennis.  With Federer and Nadal dominating 2017 and the return of Djokovic, Murray, and Wawrinka, as well as Raonic, and Nishikori, there are sure to be fireworks.  Especially when this accomplished septet encounters 2017’s breakout stars like Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, and the likes of Kyrgios, Sock, Carreno Busta, and even young Shapovalov.  It looks like a battle royale about to unfold! But wait… What if none of this happens? Last year’s injured stars might not experience great success when they come back to the tour, if they come back at all.  Yes Federer and Nadal had phenomenal returns to form in 2017, but that is no guarantee other players will do the same.  The signals at the start of 2018 are increas...