The Australian Open
Azarenka and Djokovic take the Australian Open Crowns on the rise!
Viktoria Azarenka and Novak Djokovic were crowned 2012
champions on the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne.
Menâ??s Final; Novak Djokovic bt Rafa Nadal; 5-7, 6-4, 6-2,
6-7, 7-5
I think you will agree that the performances of Novak
Djokovic and Rafa Nadal have taken tennis to a higher plain of excellence.
In essence, for players to maintain the high level of
superhuman flexibility, consistency, power, athletic prowess, focus and above
all willful desire was truly jaw dropping.
This begs the question of conditioning. There is no doubt
that these guys adopt one if not all of the following disciplines into their
training regime; Yoga, Pilates, gymnastics, dance and martial arts. A great
example to all.
One area which paid dividends; was Novakâ??s ability to take
Rafaâ??s heavy topspin on the rise inside the baseline and create wide angles
with more margins for error.
Whereas Rafaâ??s game is to defend from deep behind the
baseline, Djokovic sat close to the line and move forward taking the ball early
at every opportunity and this allows him to create acute angles.
The other notable weapon was Novakâ??s return of serve which
often landed deep; I lost count the number of successful challenges he made to
poor line calls!
In contrast; Rafa returned on the whole somewhat shorter,
putting him on the backfoot and calling up his extraordinary powers of
recovery, but these acute angles from Djokovic forced Rafa into playing an
abundance of defensive slice backhands.
But these guysâ?? energy levels were just incredible; which
culminated in Novak hitting four first serves in the final game after five and
a half hours of intense battle.
Perhaps we might see Rafa taking the ball earlier, because
as time goes on for him, even his amazing movement ability will dwindle with
age.
Ladiesâ?? Final; Viktoria Azarenka bt Maria Sharapova; 6-3,
6-0
This final lasted barely half the time of the menâ??s final
and certainly lacked the drama but if you can overlook the sound barrier
breaking shrieks there were some interesting points.
Like Djokovic, Azarenkaâ??s main objective was to play from
close to the baseline, in fact if you watched closely, she was standing on the
baseline to receive Sharapovaâ??s first serve! Not many would attempt to do that,
but she is so confidant in her ability to â??deflectâ?? the big serve that even
when Maria got the better of her, it didnâ??t deter her.
As a result Azarenka hit up on the rise and created wide
angles and forced Sharapova into a lot of running.
That said, Maria made tactical errors by hitting a lot down
the line which Viktoria ate up by sweeping the ball away cross court time and
time again.
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Tags: The Australian Open