GLOBAL CHICK LOOKS @ THE AUSTRALIAN OPEN AS WE APPROACH THE FINALS FROM MELBOURNE TENNIS

Sugar and Spice?

One thing we learned during the Australian Open? “Narrative” is the word of the fortnight. And none more so that the semi-final between Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych. Murray’s comeback, Murray’s coaching decisions, Berdych’s determination to make it into the Slam holders circle, and a tale of two coaches.

 

Why does this even matter? Because let’s face it Murray has been his own man for quite some time. He ditched Brad Gilbert after making it up the rankings to go his own way with his own team and an entourage that worked for him. He ditched coaches when they could no longer add to the gathering head of steam he was building to finally break that stranglehold at the top echelons of the game.

 

He hired a coach that finally got him over the finish line not just once but twice as he finally laid the ghost of Fred Perry to death first winning his first Slam, and then winning the holy grail of Wimbledon.

 

When it all started to unravel with the end of his coaching relationship with Ivan Lendl, he surprised (and indeed delighted) many with his choice of two-time Slam champion Amelie Mauresmo. He started his career coached by a woman so why on earth would it be such a kerfuffle? He batted inane questions about “but what about the locker room… she’s a GIRL” to which he quite rightly raised a Spock-like eyebrow as if to scoff at the illogicality of it all. After all what do all those MALE coaches on the women’s tour do when their charges disappear into the locker rooms?

 

On Thursday, he put all that (hopefully) to bed completely by a ringing endorsement of not only his own coach, but saluting the coaching debut of the great Lindsey Davenport, and the fantastic run by the equally charming Madison Keys to make it to her first Slam semi-final.

 

While we are on the subject of Keys – If she can stay fit and sort that thigh out, we have a quiet hunch it will not be too long before she is mixing it up with the top names on a regular basis.

 

Meanwhile we are headed into the final that should have been, on paper anyway for the women as the World 1 and 2 face off, and who wouldn’t fancy Serena to lift Slam #19. Except there has been something in the air – after all if Berdych could snap a 17-match losing streak against Rafael Nadal, is it Maria Sharapova’s time to finally halt Serena Williams in her tracks. This pair bring their A-game, Williams in particular, when they face off and it has taken Sharapova a while to maybe figure out that perhaps she goes for too much when trying to out-power Williams. Whatever the result, this tournament deserves a competitive women’s final.

 

So next up will be men’s World No. 1 Novak Djokovic against defending champion Stan Wawrinka. Djokovic has gotten through with the minimum of fuss and bizarre bendy moments while Wawrinka has dropped just one set and had a few battles along the way – so who is best placed for what could be an epic semi-final?

 

Wawrinka seems to do his best when everyone writes him off or, like here, he sneaks through under the radar. Already people are talking about Djokovic equalling Roy Emerson’s five titles, but wait – we’re not at Sunday yet. By his own admission Djokovic might be the good boy doing his homework but even he doesn’t want to re-watch the last point of last year’s quarter-final with Wawrinka. This deserves to be the epic that we haven’t seen yet.

Topics: Amelie Mauresmo, Andy Murray, Australian Open, global chick, Melbourne, Novak Djokovic, Rafa, Serena, Sharapova, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych

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