Australian Open Update:

For those of us who gave up on this match in the middle of the night, what looked like would happen, did happen … the sinewy, hungry mongoose devoured the wild board with little, if any, indigestion. In the minds of most reasonably seasoned tennis observers, Rafa has rarely, if ever, looked this helpless, this uncoordinated and this confused. We saw a perfect storm for the World’s No. 1, with his opponent’s shots landing too short in the court, with less topspin and easier angles; Djoker then proceeded to use exquisite timing in taking everything his opponent dished out on the rise and pounding answers back into the corners. The decidedly pro-Nadal crowd tried desparately to prop their hero up when he managed to eeke out a service game hold down 3-0 in the first set, but this was a microcosm of the whole match — Nadal scrambling and stumbling for the few scraps that might be dropped by Novak out of sheer largesse, or even, disinterest.

What seems abundantly clear is that, more than ever before, we’re smack dab in the middle of the Djokovic Era. Is this a good thing? For those desiring variety at the top, the answer is definitely no, but at least this means we may well see another Calendar Boy when it comes to Grand Slam wins.

Australian Open Update:

— Rafa tears Stefanos to absolute shreds, as an appetizer to would appear to be a very entertaining banquet of grunts, slides, twists and turns in the inevitable final confrontation with Djoker. Enough with the foreplay … let’s bring on the main event. As for Tsistipas, today’s experience looked very Sisyphusian.

Australian Open Update:

— In the first match, the win goes to the big lefty, who kept her cool and swarmed the net, while her opponent the grump spent too much time jawing with the ump
— Osaka socks her way through to the final, mixing a boatload of screeching winners with plenty of mishits,unforced errors and protracted period of what appeared to be inattention. Superior talent got her through today, but she’ll need to move more efficiently and do more with her second serve if she hopes to bring home another major title.

Australian Open Update:

— An emaciated No. 4 Zverev gives away 2/3rd of his match to Raonic with shocking little resistance; it was so bad that Rodney Dangerfield was seen slipping him $20 at the changeover and was overheard telling him to “gain some weight”. Perhaps this advice, along with residual beneficial effects from a shocking display of rage directed at his innocent tennis weapon (smashing it into smithereens — and well beyond recognition) — seemed to help matters a bit in set No. 3, as things went to a tie breaker. But in the end, Milos had the only big boy game, owning the German with his huge serve and punishing Alex for many irresponsible shots that were floated like delicious cupcakes into the middle of the court. Coach Lendl looked like he was in serious discomfort, and well he should be.
— Fed was rolling merrily along, only slightly inconvenienced by having to win a first set breaker, and then Tsitsipas said “not so fast”; the fluid Greek has all the shots, moves beautifully on the court and is brimming with confidence. And how many more losses like this can Roger take, before he decides to hang his tennis shoes up and fade away into the sunset?
— Keys still looks like a light weight, offering only sporadic resistance to Svitolina on Margaret Court Arena
— Osaka gives Sevastova a siesta, flippantly flipping the switch in sets 2 and 3.

Australian Open Update:

— Nish gets his wish … a relatively breezy, easy straight set win over Sousa
— Fognini founders in four
— Shapovalov shows uncommon valor in rising from the dead in the third and throwing Novak into a virtual conniption fit; unfortunately, what followed was a public execution of the courageous Canadian
— Send in the medics to revive Goffin, after he gets manhandled by Medvedev
— Bautista catches, as surpasses, Khachanov
— De Minaur provides minimal resistance to classically nasty Nadal

Australian Open Update:

— Sabalenka doesn’t go down quietly (unfortunately for those within earshot), as she gets ruthlessly dismembered by teen angel executioner Anismova
— Osaka was noticeably off her game, but had more than enough ammo to off Zidansek
— Halep survives the 3-set plan of comrade Kenin
— Little known slugger Yastremska bashes her way to a surprise win over No. 23 Navarro
— Not even a genie out of the bottle could’ve saved Eugenie, who gets roundly throttled by Serena
— Anastasia annihilates Aliaksandra
— Defending Champ is dumbfounded as Sharapova finds the steely resolve she’s been searching for, and it’s Caroline who clutches up when it counts; the moral to this story is good defense is usually not enough … you usually have to hit some winners to be a winner

Australian Open Men’s Singles Update:

— Another fine Italian job with Fabbiano fabricating a tough five-set win over Opeiker
— Grigor grinds out a gritty win over Cuevas
–Ebden was anything but ebullient after getting ravaged by Nadal
— Laaksonen comes all the way before taking a deadly detour against De Minnaur
— Wawrinka blinks at 5-2 in the decisive set, giving a sometimes sluggish Raonic the opening he needed to squeeze through.
— Ivo carpet bombs Kei with 60 daisy cutters before succumbing in the 5th set super breaker
— Chung hung out to dry when a Hugues Herbert’s serve hugs a millimeter of the service line on match point.

Australian Open Update:

— Attention deficit poster boy Paire can’t overcome a 2-set deficit to Dominic
— No Greek tragedy as Tsitsipas hits all the right passes against Troicki
— After four too-close-for-comfort sets, short Schwartzman decides to stop cuddling with Kudla
— Jo-Wilfried finally finds a way to slow up Martin
— M. Zverev just didn’t have the pop in his groundies to stop Popyrin
— A wounded Ernests has to give it a rest against Wawrinka

— Sakharov found himself dominated right from the starterer against Marterer
— It wasn’t Friday the 13th, so no reason for Djoker to be scared by Krueger
— Loss to Milos will almost certainly make Nick sick
— Nice work by No. 19 Nikoloz
— Andreas sails by Jordan in 3 easy pieces
— Haase says no mas after being totally controlled by Tomas
— Another tennis clinic put on by Cilic
— Tiafoe, tennis’ version of little LeBron, proves to be a giant killer by KO’ing KA.
— Verdict for Verdasco, who leaves little doubt with a rout of Albot.
— For an extended period, unheralded Evans was ever so competitive with Fed.