Grounds Pass 1/22

MELBOURNE—This morning, on the way to get the papers and what they call a long-black coffee down here, I was reminiscing. I was thinking back fondly on those olden times, those golden days, that bygone era, when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were having a feud. It seems so long ago. Remember the anger from both sides’ fan camps? What was it all about, again? Whether or not to try to reduce the number of mandatory events a professional tennis player must commit to each year, right? And there was something in there about the ranking system as well—two years or one year. Whew, vicious times. Thank god all we have to worry about now is whether garishly bright orange looks good on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

That’s what a Grand Slam will do to your sense of time. It’s one thing after another, rapid-fire, and today’s world-changing controversy is yesterday’s tempest in a teapot. In a week’s time at this year’s Aussie Open, we’ve gone from talking about protests in Margaret Court Arena to watching David Nalbandian and Gael Monfils raise their own, distinctly apolitical, ruckuses in the same stadium.

Now we’ve arrived at another crucial juncture at any sporting event: the match between the local golden boy and the living legend. Bernard Tomic and Roger Federer play tonight. It’s a pretty big deal in Melbourne, to put it mildly. Here’s what the local media are saying about that match, and other subjects tennis-related.

Links: *The Age*; *The Herald-Sun*

See my Racquet Reactions to last night's Hewitt-Raonic and Serena Williams matches here.

“I Think I Can”
The Age blows out its Sunday tennis coverage with extra columns and features. The paper begins with a look at Bernie-Rog entitled simply, “Can He Do It?”

Tomic himself thinks it’s possible, but he wouldn’t bet on it. “Hopefully I can play well and relax and have fun. I just have to go out there and focus and think I can have a good tennis match, and, who knows, maybe win.”

Don’t let the teen trickster fool you with the aw-shucks stuff. Tomic also claims that he learned a thing or two from their previous match in Davis Cup. It seems that he’s going to try to keep the ball low to Federer’s backhand side.

“I think I can get the balls down to where Roger can’t use his backhand enough,” Tricky Tomic says.

I’m not sure exactly what that means, but it’s just confusing enough for this kid to make it work.

—As for the opinions of other Aussies, they also think victory is possible, though not likely. John Newcombe believes Federer will show some rust after his earlier walkover. Wally Masur, though, opts for the philosophical approach. He thinks “Federer is well-equipped to handle Tomic’s slice,” but the important thing in the big picture is this: “Isn’t it good that we’re even talking about the possibility of Bernie upsetting Federer?”

Good Boys and Bad Boys
Elsewhere in the Age, columnist Tim Lane applauds Tomic for not being a typical pro tennis player: i.e., a whining egomaniac.

“It appears that the Tomic clan are doing something right,” Lane writes. “Their boy has performed skillfully and courageously in his matches, and has spoken candidly and without hubris afterwards.”

Agreed, to a point: That point being the one where Bernie didn’t own up to distracting Alexandr Dolgopolov with his challenge signal in their third-round match. Not enough evidence to hang a 19-year-old on, but it can’t be ignored, either. I hope Tomic turns out to be as upstanding as Lane believes he is.

—In the I-Detect-a-Theme Department, columnist Jake Niall, writing along the same tennis-brat lines, applauds what Hawk-Eye has done for the sport. Niall points out that the two most famous recent outburts, both by Serena Williams at the U.S. Open, were over things that Hawk-Eye can’t deal with: a foot-fault and a shouted hindrance.

Still, Niall spots a new problem: The brat has been replaced by the malingerer. “The medical breaks they’re taking are a joke,” John Newcombe says. What can Hawk-Eye do about that?

Grounded, Thoughtful, and . . . Edgy?
As for Federer’s character, reporter Simon Cambers, in an Age feature entitled, “The Many Shades of Roger,” claims that the “charming and beloved” Rog has an “edge in the locker room.”

“Time and again,” Cambers writes, “he’ll throw in the odd sly dig—sometimes very sly—to get under the skin of his opponent.”

As for the charge of “arrogance,” Cambers says that's likely a product of the language barrier:

“At a recent tournament, Federer said: ‘It’s great to get a standing ovation, as always,’ prompting more than a few eyes to roll. Had he said: ‘It’s always great to get a standing ovation,’ it would have seemed far more modest.”

Hmmm, would it? Either way, Cambers leaves you with the impression that Federer is a “good guy”—“thoughtful” and as “grounded” as you could expect, according to his coach, Paul Annacone.

Odd and Ends
—In a column in the Age, Mike Bryan reveals that he has a selfish alter ego, who goes by the sinister name “Tournament Mike.”

“He’s a bit more needy,” Mike says of the other Mike. Or is it Tournament Mike talking about himself? “A little more selfish. Sometimes [his wife] will catch him at home and say ‘are you still in tournament mode?’ That kind of stuff doesn’t fly at home. But [my brother and I] get away with it on the road. Everything revolves around us, which is kinda weird.”

—Best name for a recent tennis controversy: Watergate. In case you’ve forgotten, this refers not to the break-in that led to the demise of a U.S. presidency, but to the fine that David Nalbandian received for allegedly throwing water on a tour official. Nalbandian is appealing; he says he was just “washing my hands.”

—From the Rafa-Answers-Yet-Another-Question Department:

Nadal gets an email from a 15-year-old girl who used to play tennis. She wants to know if it’s too late for her to become a pro.

Rafa begins gently, assuring her that “you never know.” Then he subtly delivers the dagger of hard truth: “I won my first pro match at that age," he says, "and I’d been competing for many years.” In other words, forget it, kid.

—According to the Herald-Sun, TAB Sportsbest has “reported a big move for Maria Sharapova," who has gone from $41 pre-tournament all the way down to $9. On the men’s side, 80 percent of money wagered on Federer-Tomic has been on the foreigner.

—The one thing Tomic has not done well is challenge. No player has issued more of them over the first week, and no one is worse at getting them right. Bernie is 3 for 20. Can you have good hand-eye coordination without having good eyes?

First a Nutter, then a Kuku
So, Andy Murray looked pretty good yesterday, even, dare we say it, Djokovichian in his “clinical” (a hot word among tennis pundits these days) yet good-humored dismissal of Michael Llodra.

The *Sun* buys in:

EVERYTHING’S FINE AND DANDY FOR AWESOME ANDY

But the Daily Mail, a sterner taskmaster, has already conducted a cold-blood analysis of Murray’s next opponent, Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazahkstan:

“BRING ON BORAT!
Andy Murray’s impressive progress here at the Australian Open will be challenged by a man from Kazahkstan with a story to tell beyond the imagination of the scriptwriters of the film Borat”

What story could be that crazy?

“Not even Sacha Baron Cohen," the Mail proclaims, "would have dared suggest that the unlikeliest man to appear in the fourth round at this Australian Open would be coached by his wife.”

Has Ivan Lendl met his match already?

Finally, a trip down memory lane, to another night in Rod Laver Arena when a hopeful young Aussie went up against a living legend. In 1996, it was Mark Philippoussis vs. Pete Sampras. Hard as it is to believe now, Scud won. Here are the closing 15 minutes.