The Australian Open starts in Sydney Monday (tonight our time). On the tournament's eve, everyone's abuzz over Rafa Nadal's complaints that Roger Federer isn't pushing to change the men's tour schedule. I hate to even mention it because these guys are such gentlemen, but I did have to laugh at this remark (as translated from the Spanish and reported by the AP/Washington Post): “Maybe (Federer) has got a super body and he’ll finish his career like a rose. Neither myself, nor Murray, nor Djokovic are going to finish our careers like a rose." Roger (seeded third) and Rafa (seeded second) are both in the bottom half of the draw, meaning if they meet it will be in the semis. Novak Djokovic, not surprisingly, has the top seed, and Andy Murray rounds out the top four.
On the women's side, Caroline Wozniacki is seeded first, Petra Kvitova second, Victoria Azarenka third, and Maria Sharapova fourth. As usual (lately) on the women's side, it seems like anything could happen. Li Na, the Chinese player who made it to the finals last year but lost to Kim Clijsters, comes in at the fifth seed this year (though Kim's down at 11). Ana Ivanovic is only seeded 21st, but I couldn't resist the photo above (from the australianopen website).
You can find draws and updates on the tournament website and on TENNIS.com. TV coverage in the US will be on ESPN2 and Tennis channel; times and channels are listed on TENNIS.com at this link, which I always use when I'm recording and avoiding spoilers. (Speaking of which, I better go delete those 10 episodes of The Mentalist clogging up my DVR.)
The schedule is demanding for those of us half a world a way. I wish I could do a swing shift for this fortnight. If you need any help figuring out what time it is in Sydney, timeanddate.com is my favorite clock and calendar website. Right now in Sydney it's Monday at 2:41 pm. That freaks me out.
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