The slam heads towards a grand finish

The first grand slam of the year enters into the final day today. The Women’s tennis final has witnessed a new winner yesterday . Two finals are on the cards today. Here’s my take on the finals that matter

The unsung hero

I have seen him quite a few times jogging at one of the well known parks in Mumbai. I always felt that had he been a cricketer (any cricketer for that matter, forget the Sachins , Dravids, Dhonis), he would have had been surrounded by fans requesting for his autograph. Although he was easily recognized by one and all, no one paid any attention to him. Please let me introduce you to the winner of 11 grand slam titles and an Olympics winner: Leander Paes. We talk about Dravid, SRT defying age but miss out on this guy. He is 38 years old too and plays ( or rather remarkably well) a game which requires a lot more stamina. He completed a career grand slam yesterday by winning Down under. Take a bow…in a cricket crazy nation, you have perhaps not received the respect and recognition you truly deserve. All the best for today’s mixed doubles final.

Only thing that is permanent is change

This aptly summarizes the phase of women tennis. The last 3-4 grand slams have witnessed dark horses or even sometimes underdogs lift the trophy. Fortunately or unfortunately, the general trend is that these ‘ new’ winners somehow somewhere lose it in the next upcoming tournaments. Nonetheless it was Azarenka’s day yesterday and finally we have a women world No.1 who has a grand slam title in her kitty. I was completely surprised at the destruction of Maria. We do expect a slightly better performance from the former world No.1 and grand slam winner. But, then I guess this is what, separates the top seeds of men and women. Hopefully, we will see the new world No.1 continue to make inroads in the upcoming tournaments.

Believe in the best

After the first week of the tournament I had placed my bet on the Swiss great. He was simply outstanding and I felt he might get past his nemesis this time in the semifinals. This was not the case. The Spaniard, once again proved too good for him and the wait for 17th grand slam gets a little longer. The Spaniard always seems a little edgy earlier on but manages to raise the game when it matters. The other semifinal was another classic. The Brit has certainly raised the bar of his own game and was playing his best tennis the other day. But as they say, he was good, in fact very good, but not good enough. The Djoker had the last laugh. He silenced his critics, if any and showed that his last year’s memorable run was no flash in the pan. To win the match, trailing by two sets to one is no Djoke. The grand finale is surely going to be grand as both the players have played outstanding tennis in their respective semis. It is class of djoker versus the sheer power of the Spaniard. Lets see who gets through to set the tone for this year.

Thus the three finales characterized three different dimensions:

1. Age/ popularity is really no bar if you have enough determination and passion.

2. Change is inevitable when there is no one dominating force at the top.

3. There is a reason why they are right at the top.

Looking forward to the two finales on the ultimate day of the grand slam of the Asia-pacific.