Djokovic Earns First Grand Slam Title (Australian Open 2008)

Novak Djokovic of Serbia (middle) celebrates with his family after earning his first Grand Slam title in Melbourne, Australia. Picture is taken from Yahoo! Sports' Gallery.

You might miss any result from other tournaments, but not from Grand Slam. Therefore, although my time for writing is getting lesser currently, I'll still provide some writings on who are the grand slam champions.

When Australian Open as the first Grand Slam of the year started, I am -as usual- more interested for updates from the women's field. Those who read about tennis should know the reason; yes, it's Federer supremacy.

However, it turned out that no more Federer in this year's final, thanks to Serbian teenager whom I admire, Novak Djokovic, for beating him in semifinal round. For me he deserves to win his first Grand Slam title.

Australian Open 2008 Final Results :

Men's Singles :
Novak Djokovic (SRB) beat Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (FRA)
4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6(2).

Women's Singles :
Maria Sharapova (RUS) beat Ana Ivanovic (SRB)
7-5 6-3

Men's Doubles :
Jonathan Elrich/Andy Ram (ISR) beat Arnaud Clement/Michael Llodra (FRA)
7-5 7-6(4)

Women's Doubles :

(from australianopen.com)

Alona/Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) beat Victoria Azarenka (BLR)/Shahar Peer (ISR)
2-6 6-1 6-4


Mixed Doubles :
Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)/ Sun Tian Tian (CHN) beat Sania Mirza / Mahesh Bhupathi (IND)
7-6(4) 6-4

USA Begins 2008 with Hopman Cup Victory

Serena Williams and Mardy Fish holding Hopman Cup trophy (taken from www.hopmancup.com)

Hey everyone! I'm really sorry for my absence in blogging for more than one month. I think I have been enjoying my old and new, watching Hopman Cup and Exhibition Matches in Hong Kong (from my TV), then it was time to be back in Singapore again. Right on the very first day of school this year, Australian Open kicked off. All these things, together with my school works and music, had forced me to spend most of my time, mind, and energy. However, it doesn't mean I didn't care or even forgot about my blogs. There was no single day without opening my very dear website, http://spynetworking.blogspot.com, to check wether any reader or visitor wrote some comments.

Allright, now is time to report some news from tennis.

The new season of 2008, like the previous years, started with Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia. While Davis Cup is a men's teams competition and Fed Cup belongs to the women's team, Hopman Cup is for mixed teams. In my opinion, Hopman Cup is very intersting to watch, as we rarely could watch mixed doubles matches, and there are always some top players participating; this year, the public of Perth was delighted by the presence of Serbian duo, Jelena Jankovic and Novak Djokovic, third-ranked players from both women and men, making Serbia as top seed this year, and also 8 Grand Slams' title holder Serena Williams, representing United States with Mardy Fish (as second-seedded nation). The other six nations who participated were Czech Republic, France, Argentina, India, Chinese Taipei and Australia.

The invited seven nations and one winning nation of Asian Hopman Cup - it was Chinese Taipei this year- were divided into two groups of four to play a round-robin format (facing against each of the other three teams). The winner from each group then met in the final round to fight for the title.

In this year's final, United States competed against Serbia in a battle for the title. U.S. got their early lead as Serbia decided not to play Jelena Jankovic in her singles match against Serena Williams, as she was suffering a strained muscle at the top of her right hamstring. However, Djokovic managed to get the game level at 1-1 after rallying 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4) in a two-and-a-half-hour singles match against Mardy Fish, forcing the deciding mixed doubles to be played. Serena Williams and Mardy Fish finished their mixed doubles match against Djokovic and Jankovic in straight sets 7-6 (5), 6-2 to claim USA's 5th Hopman Cup Title.