All Hail Federer

I've been so busy of late that there has been little chance for me to catch any of the Australia Open. So it was with supreme pleasure that I watched Sunday's Men's Final between Roger Federer and Marcos Baghdatis. I'm a huge fan of sport in general, but tennis holds a special place in my heart - likely because I equate it so much with pitching. I have seem some amazing matches, Grand Slam and otherwise, in my brief tenure. While the Baghdatis and Federer match isn't a classic, hot damn it was good.

Baghdatis actually took the first set from the world's number one, even though it was all down hill from there. Federer claimed the second set and dominated the final two. The match was fantastic for two reasons: 1) Men's tennis desperately needs charasmatic players who are great, and Baghdatis is just that; 2) Federer continued his "poor" Slam and still dominated. 'tis the definition of a champion, winning even with all the odds against you. Roger Federer is an amazing athelete, a superb tennis player, and a nice guy. That's a phrase you don't here in sports often..."nice guy." However, let there be no doubt of how decent a fellow Federer is. Not only did the guy break down whilst accepting the Slam trophy, he seemed as equally touched to be included in the club of very few men who have won three straight Grand Slams.

I'm a sucker for class.

Speaking of class, so many congratualations to Amelia Mauresmo who won the women's championship and actually tried to convince Justine Henin-Hardenne to continue playing the match depsite a severe stomach ailment. There was a great picture I saw up on ESPN of Mauresmo actually sitting beside Henin-Hardenne talking with her, yet I can't seem to find it now. Apparently no one else thinks it's the great shot that I do.

And hey, Martina Hingis is back. Consider this a tentative "yay." I still hold a great deal of animosity for her pathetic performance against Steffi Graf in the 99 French Open. Wikipedia says this: "She then reached the French Open final and was three points away from victory in the second set against Steffi Graf, but ended up losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-2." What it doesn't say is that after Hingis lost those three points in the second set and experienced the better part of an ass-kicking in the third, she gave up. And boo's, they did rain upon her.

Unclassy bitch.