Month of February , 2010

Roger Federer stayed up all night, drinking champagne with friends and returned to his hotel room as the sun rose to cap the celebration of his Australian Open victory by holding one of his baby girls in his arms.

The world’s finest tennis player, Roger Federer, confirmed his supremacy by beating Andy Murray 6-3 6-4 7-6 in the Australian Open final on Sunday. The straight-set defeat of the Brit has brought Federer a sixteenth Grand Slam title of his career. The match lasted 2 hours and 41 minutes, while Federer showed the world he is unparalleled in the men’s game today.

Living in the shadow of an elder sibling is never easy, but 19-year-old Urszula Radwanska, the younger sister of world No.10 Agnieszka, is ready to shine. In 2007 she won junior Wimbledon - two years after Agnieszka did - and last March made her Top 100 debut by reaching the fourth round at Indian Wells, beating Svetlana Kuznetsova along the way. Three quarterfinals followed, and for the first time the Radwanskas faced off on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Her name made international headlines when she played at last year's US Open, but can 18-year-old American tennis star Melanie Oudin do it again this year? That will be the question on everyone's lips when the first Grand Slam of the season begins in Melbourne.

The most significant success story of tennis’ last two decades has been the rise, and continued rise, of the Australian Open. For years it was a major in a minor key, passed over by top players unwilling to make the trek Down Under at the end of the season. With the move to Melbourne Park and its hard courts at the start of 1988, it became the Happy Slam, a kind of U.S. Open lite without the frazzle or the glamour of New York. Twenty-two years after that shift, it might be time for the Aussie to acquire a new nickname.

Roger Federer and Serena Williams reaffirmed themselves as the undisputed king and queen of tennis as the Australian Open kicked off the new season, while Chinese players gave a glimpse of the future.

The opening Grand Slam of the year will also be remembered for the remarkable return of Justine Henin, who entered as a wildcard and set pulses racing with her run to the final.

Meanwhile, injuries to some of the world's top players, including Rafael Nadal and Dinara Safina, once again reheated the debate over a shorter season.

The February 1, 2010 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings were historic for China, as Li Na became the first player from the country to crack the Top 10. Her dramatic run to the semifinals at the Australian Open, which included victories over Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams and a narrow defeat to eventual champion Serena Williams, lifted her from No.17 to No.10.

Is anyone out there in ESPNland still awake? Before we dive into bed to catch up on two weeks' worth of sleep, let's look at five big takeaways from the just-completed Australian Open:

1. In the WTA, it's all about who finishes second. This was a critical major for the women, for one reason: Had Serena Williams lost to either Justine Henin or Kim Clijsters, it would have cast doubt on the roughly two-year period during which those Belgian stars were absent.

World No. 13 Gael Monfils, the top seed at the SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg, cast his eyes over South Africa’s 2010 FIFA World Cup preparations in a visit to the Soccer City stadium in Soweto on Monday.

The stadium, originally built in 1987, has been reconstructed into a 94,700 capacity stadium, dubbed the ‘Ring of Fire’ by the locals, that will host the opening and closing games of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Andy Murray needs to tap into the knowledge of some of the "icons of the game" if he is to move from Grand Slam contender to champion, according to six-times Major winner Boris Becker.

Leander Paes, India's multiple Grand Slam winning doubles tennis specialist, is to make his Bollywood debut and has already completed a month's shooting for his first film.

Third-seeded Jurgen Melzer defeated Daniel Brands of Germany 6-4, 6-3 in 94 minutes on Monday to advance to the second round of the Zagreb Indoors ATP tournament.

The lefthanded Austrian served for the first set at 5-3, but was broken by Brands, currently ranked 93rd in the ATP singles rankings. In the next game Melzer broke again to secure the first set.

Brands was hampered by squandered opportunities, winning just one of 8 break points. He lost his serve again in the eighth game and went on to lose the set 6-3.

Serbia Fed Cup team in problems

Serbia women’s tennis team look likely to enter the Fed Cup clash with Russia in Belgrade deprived of the services of their top player, Jelena Jankovic. Serbia’s women’s number one is currently in Florida, nursing her back injury, and it will become known during the day whether Jankovic is capable of leading the team in the Belgrade Arena.

I want to write a glowing commentary about Justine Henin, one of greatest female tennis stars ever. But I just can’t.

This motivation came about after Justine miraculously reached the finals of the recently concluded Australian Open – just her second tournament after a 15-month voluntary lay-off – where she was narrowly beaten by the sport’s most intimidating player, Serena Williams.

France's Gael Monfils cruised through his first-round match at ATP Johannesburg with a 6-2 6-1 win over Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty.

Day 1 of the 2010 Movistar Open in Santiago featured five first-round singles matches, including two seeds and two local stars.

The first seed in action was No. 8 Potito Starace, who fell at the opening hurdle to Australian Peter Luczak, 7-6(3), 6-4.

Argentinian No. 2 seed and 2008 runner-up Juan Monaco, competing in the Movistar Open for the fifth time, defeated two-time Olympic gold medalist and Chilean hero Nicolas Massu, 6-3, 6-4.

Bolstered by the return of ace player Sania Mirza and drawn into a relatively easy pool, India would aim to re-enter Group I of the Asia/Oceania zone, when Fed Cup tournament begins here tomorrow.

India have been grouped with hosts Malaysia and Singapore that do not boast of any top-class player.

Winners of both the pools competing in the Asia/Oceania zone Group II will clash in the play-off tie to decide which nation is promoted to Group I. India will play their first rubber on Thursday.

Australian Open champion Serena Williams stayed top while China's Li Na climbed seven places to 10th in the WTA women's rankings published on Monday.

Williams tops the list with 9 195 points ahead of Russian Dinara Safina (6 480) and US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark who improves a place to third (5 995).

Australian Open semifinalist Li Na enters the top 10 with 3 500.

WTA top 10 as of February 1 (previous ranking in parenthesis):

World number four Svetlana Kuznetsova has been added to Russia's team for this weekend's Fed Cup first-round tie against Serbia.

Russia captain Shamil Tarpishchev was originally forced to name a second-string squad after all the leading players turned down the invitation.

French Open champion Kuznetsova then changed her mind and will join 31st-ranked Alisa Kleybanova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (38) and Vera Dushevina (40) in the team.

The first Grand Slam of 2010 is over, sadly. Serena Williams continued to prove she's one of the greatest women's players of all time by landing a 12th major, while more and more will suggest Roger Federer is the greatest of all time after he cruised past Andy Murray in the final.

Here's a look back at the best and worst of the Australian Open.

Most valuable men's player: Roger Federer