1.25.2008

A Photographer's Paradise


The 2008 Australian Open Women’s Final is a dream match-up, featuring two of the game’s most attractive and talented players, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic. It’s a shame that a battle like this hasn’t happened more often because people would actually watch women’s tennis more often if these two always played in big matches. I mean, just look at them. They are both over six feet tall, and could pass as models just as easily as they could as tennis players. Both women will be gunning for their first title in Australia as well as the title of the “It” woman of the sport early in 2008.

Maria Sharapova has held that distinction for sometime now, and for good reason. She won Wimbledon at the tender age of 17, and has used her good looks to become the game’s most marketable star. Now 20, Sharapova looks to win her third Grand Slam, and deny fellow hottie Ivanovic her first. Maria has dominated this tournament, going through her six matches without losing a set. Her run included an emphatic win over top-seed Justine Henin in which Sharapova lost only four games. Henin entered that match with a 34-match win streak and the one-sided result in Sharapova’s favor was a shocking result given how much Henin had dominated the women’s game for such a long time. Maria is finally injury-free and is playing some of the best tennis of her career. She enters the final as the decided favorite.

Ana Ivanovic has been rising up the charts in the last year, and is actually the higher ranked player of the two finalists. She’s already beaten Venus Williams during her run, and in the last round she bounced back from a terribly nervous start to win. Ivanovic lost the first eight games of her semifinal match, but managed to recover for a 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 win that allowed her to sneak up to #2 in the rankings starting next week. Ivanovic is part of an ongoing tennis revolution in the country of Serbia where two other players from her country, Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic, are also taking the sport by storm. Jankovic took out the defending champion Serena Williams before Sharapova sent her home in the semis, and Djokovic may have had the most stunning result of all in this wacky Australian Open when he steamrolled Roger Federer in straight sets. It’s very possible that the war torn country of Serbia could be home to both the men’s and women’s winners here at the Australian Open in 2008.

When match-time hits in Melbourne Saturday afternoon, (Friday 9:30 PM ET on ESPN2 in the States) you can bet there won’t be a shortage of flash bulbs going off for these two. Let’s just hope that these two works of art find a way to make this sort of match a routine. Maybe then people will start caring about women’s tennis again.

2 comments:

twins15 said...

Nice work getting on SI.com Extra Mustard. :)

sailesh said...

official pimp status