Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary January
2005
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary
FAREWELL
MELBOURNE, WE'LL MISS YOU MADLY
Each of the four majors has it's distinct
flavor and virtues, but the Aussie is probably the
most fun. No rainouts, for one thing, because of two
stadia with retractable roofs. Located in downtown
Melbourne, the ball park is within walking distance
from numerous hotels - a 10 minute stroll through
a park from mine, the Hilton-on-the-Park. The mood
is festive in good old summertime, kids still on their
Christmas holidays. It's a big party. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 14 - Sunday
January 30, 2005
FASCINATINGLY
MARAT WAS A SAFINILATING NEW CHAMPION
Five years ago in Melbourne the pouting Russian
was fined $ 2000 for tanking his first round match
to Grant Stafford, a South African qualifier, 7-6,
6-4, 6-1. “Not giving best effort” was
the official charge, a difficult judgement to make
unless it's very obvious. Marat Safin was disgustingly
obvious. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 13 - Saturday
January 29, 2005
“DECLINING” SERENA A TYPHOON CATCHING
DAVENPORT IN A SWOON
Should Lindsay Davenport blame me for the
brilliant Serena revival that cost her the championship? >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 12 - Friday
January 28, 2005
HEWITT
DOESN'T SPARE THE ROD WITH RODICK
Life - tennis life anyway - isn't going well
for Andy Roddick. He lost his U.S. Open crown in the
quarters where Joachim Johansson knocked it off his
head. He made no impression at the Masters or the
Davis Cup final, then fired his coach, Brad Gilbert,
and hired Dean Goldfine. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 11 - Thursday
January 27, 2005
CLOSE
BUT NO MATCH POINT CIGARS FOR CHAMPIONS
MP? Match Point.
Could also be Most Precious…Mucho Painful…Mental
Problem…Madness Personified…
Depends on who's involved, the holder or the held.
Will it be savored and banked or intimidating and
squandered? >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 10 - Wednesday
January 26, 2005
NOW
HEWITT'S ALONE, MOLIK ERASED WITH HER (?) ACE
Another long day's journey toward midnight,
of hair-tearing and nail-munching for the locals,
ended with a split. Alicia Molik barely missed knocking
off No. 1 Lindsay Davenport in their matinee semi,
but Lleyton Hewitt, flirting with defeat, came through
one more spiky five-setter to beat one more Argentine,
David Nalbandian. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 9 - Tuesday
January 25, 2005
A
FLOOD CALLED FEDERER INUNDATES CHAMP AGASSI
A decade back, during the first of his visits
to the bottom of the world, where he became the top
gun, Andre Agassi had to survive the Great Tennis
Court Flood. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 8 - Monday
January 24, 2005
BIG
DAY FOR AUSSIES BUT NOT FOR VENUS
Into the second week. That's where everybody
wants to be in a major, bounding into the quarter-finals,
coveted ground three victories from the title. For
Australians this was one of the best days in years
on the home pavement: their only two hopes - Lleyton
Hewitt and Alicia Molik - won. No Aussie has won either
title in so long that it's hard to remember when the
surface was God's own grass, which in 1988 was replaced
by a manufacturer's own asphalt slabs as the Championships
moved across town from Kooyong (“haunt of the
wild fowl” in Aboriginal) to Melbourne Park
(haunted house for natives). To be exact, Mark Edmondson
carried Kooyong in 1976, and Christine O'Neil in 1978.
After that, a painful void. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 7 - Sunday
January 23, 2005
ANDRE:
A DUCKING DUCK IN A SHOOTING GALLERY
It was a pleasant, sunny afternoon as Andre
Agassi walked into a shooting gallery on Batman Avenue
- and abruptly realized that he was one of the target
ducks. And he couldn't duck. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 6 - Saturday
January 22, 2005
MOISTURE
IN THE AIR DOESN’T DETER HEWITT
It’s a crusade for the homeboy, Lleyton
Hewitt, no doubt about that. As the last of the Antipodeans
(blokes branch), he’s acutely aware of the title
drought of Aussies at the Aussie. Whether it’s
the “Curse of Eddo” – Mark Edmondson,
the most recent native male winner in 1976 says nay,
that he, too, is desperate to applaud a homebred successor
– or just plain lousy luck, Hewitt intends to
put it right. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 5 - Friday
January 21, 2005
SWEET
SWINGING SWEDE SWATTING FOR DINGERS
That young Swede known as “Pim Pim”
ought to be called “Pow! Pow!” The name
comes from a baby brother trying to pronounce Joachim
– he’s Joachim Johansson – but his
serve comes from a cannon mounted on high. At 6-6
he can be devastating, as Andy Roddick found out last
September at the U.S. Open where Pim Pim made him
look dim-dim in the quarter-final loss of his title.
Maybe the way Johansson served made the Flushing lights
seem dim-dim, too. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 4 - Thursday
January 20, 2005
A
HEARTENING RETURN – JAMES BLAKE OVERCOMES
James Riley Blake, a 25-year-old Harvard refugee
who hasn’t been living the life of Riley lately,
is in the role of someone who bumped his head and
has been trying to regain his equilibrium for eight
months. His losses during that time were his health,
a season and, foremost, his father. He thought he
might have lost his career as a professional tennis
player, too – but that looked happily restored
even in defeat as he came perhaps one swat from twisting
the blond mane of the roaring Lleyton Hewitt, 4-6,
7-6, (10-8), 6-0, 6-3. James had a set point at 5-6
in the tie-breaker, but failed to return a second
serve. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 3 - Wednesday
January 19, 2005
WORKING
MOM MAKES SIBERIAN SIREN WORK, TOO
For a day it seemed more like Aussie summer,
the temperature ascending into the 90s. The Siberian
Siren (Maria Sharapova) was heard from for the first
time. Her screams were so penetrating that the Australian
TV station covering the Open was inundated by phone
calls of complaint. Discerning folks will have to
learn about the Mute button. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Day 2- Tuesday
January 18, 2005
CREDIT
A VICTORY TO SAMPRAS ON A DULL DAY
One of the slower second days of a major championship.
The second best American guy, No. 20 Vinny Spadea,
couldn't understand how he lost to No. 32 Radek Stepanek
in 5 (6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3). “I had 8 break
points in the 5th, and with my return of serve I should
have had at least one of them. It's awful to lose
in the first round of a major. There's nothing for
you to do for 2 weeks.” >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - DAY 1- Monday
January 17, 2005
OPENING
DAY - BYE BYE CHARLIE, DRUG FLAP, MITE TAKES A BITE
To those in Sevilla for the Davis Cup final,
the early ejection of 5th seeded Charlie Moya was
the Aussie Open's opening day startler. The man who
confidently and coolly knocked around Americans Mardy
Fish and Andy Roddick to give Spain the Cup was ambushed
by one of his compatriots and sparring partners: 20-year-old
qualifier Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 7-5, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. >>>MORE
Bud's
2005 Australian Open Diary - Sunday
January 16, 2005
THE CENTENARY DOWN UNDER – A PARADE OF CHAMPIONS
SINCE 1905
A survivor? Yes, I am a survivor of the Flood
of ’95, the dire day 10 years ago that the Aussie
Open almost went down like the Titanic. >>>MORE
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