Novak sweeps aside Murray!

The claims made by the 3rd seed Novak Djokovic to end the stranglehold of Roger-Rafa on the Grand Slams finally seem to be turning into reality. So two weeks of tennis finally came to an end today with Nole's name finally getting imprinted on the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup. It was the Serb's second Grand Slam title and his second Australian Open.

A sneak peek into the entire tournament would clearly favour Novak as the champion. He had been in impeccable form the entire fortnight and especially against Berdych in the quarters and Federer in the semis. And today it was no different. Though Novak entered the final as the slight favorite, yet Murray was expected to provide the Serb with a tough challenge. The Murray ,which we all know as a player, was not there. It appeared to me as if the Scot has been forced to play some sort of exhibition match in front of a huge crowd! He simply didn't have any answer to the Serb's groundstrokes . Neither his serve nor his defence- and yeah, not even his mental resilience clicked. It was a simply a pathetic match not at all worthy of being a Slam final.

No one knows-not even God- how long this man would take to enter into the elite group of Grand Slam holders, but for now, he's still the best player ever not to win a Grand Slam. Whether he believed he could win this year or not- holds no relevance now because he didn't put his best foot forward when he was required of him to do the same. And with this sort of game and attitude, the future seems bleak for the 22 year old Murray. But take no credit away from the champion. He has played the match of his life these two weeks and has now seriously reinforced his position as a serious Grand Slam contender.

This was the first Slam final since 2008 without either Roger or Rafa. And after Serbia's history-making Davis Cup victory, the champion gave the Serbs another reason to cheer for. There could not have been a better start to the season for Djokovic who, with this triumph, has now silenced his critics who once deemed him as one Grand Slam wonder! Congratulations Novak Djokovic!

Complacency is what drives us down!

Just after having a long, philosophical chat with one of my best buddies, I could feel the significance of the time passing by. We often go astray and let ourselves be a silent spectator to the twists and turns that seem to surround us blaming it on destiny. And really how contradictory it is- our heart keeps us alive to leave our footsteps on the sands of time and yet, it is the same heart which misleads us to spoil our entire life! I am still in search of an answer to this sort of relationship.

Sometimes I wonder what is it that drives us down? Success is so rare and it is a human nature to run after the rarest of rare things. But why is that people, in general, long for a stable life with a secured job and handsome salary? My experiences do sadden me cause rarely do I find someone who has a passion to go after something. Some of my classmates have planned to appear for GATE( an examination to make you qualify for doing a masters degree in top institutions of the nation) and CAT(to qualify for doing an MBA in top business colleges) at the same time. As a layman, I cannot infer anything; I cannot read their minds. It's not a healthy situation; it's something that has evolved out of desperation, out of fear of an uncertain future, out of a timid attitude towards life and out of a longing for a "smooth, risk-free" life. People prefer stability to success; a successful married life to a life lived for a purpose, a meaning.

Complacency is what drives us down. There is no other greater resistance force to leading a life with a mission than being complacent. I have seen myself how do my friends long for a job in a multi-national firm or in a software company with a good pay-package. They seem to be only interested in some sort of examination or other. If you want them to improve their knowledge in certain fields, it is sufficient to conduct an examination based on the subject and hand them a textbook. This is all what they live for. The fire of hunger to succeed seems to be extinguished.

It's a fact the day you get complacent, you plan your way downward. The passion is something that cannot be created or destroyed. It comes from within. Passion for something is in the blood of successful people. Everyone has been with gifted with some sort of talent. We have not been designed without any purpose. And very few people prevail overcoming the adverse situations that have been deliberately thrown upon them. The day we feel we are born to leave a mark behind, passion is born. This passion has got the might to outwit the complacency in us. Victory in life is so rare,hence the sweetest of all!

Novak too hot to handle for Federer

Maybe it's the signal of passing the torch to a new era, a new generation of players who can take the sport to another level. The defending champion, a four times Australian Open champion was sent packing today by none other than the 2008 champion and the third seed Novak Djokovic. Though I would have loved to see Roger lift his 17th title here; yet Federer and all his fans need to wait for some more time before this dream is realised.

Federer always known for generating superlatives at the same rate as his titles, didn't seem to be the same Federer who had amassed a record 16 Slams in a relatively short span of time. Or rather say, Djokovic outplayed him in the first semi-final of the Australian open 2011. Three sets played for around 3 hours were all about one man- the Serb from Belgrade. It was the third seed who was basically controlling each and every point from the baseline, with the serve, the returns and even the passing shots. Nothing was destined to go wrong for the Serb today but unfortunately for Roger, nothing was destined to click.

Roger was terrible with his service games, I felt. His struggle to hold was apparent. Even after getting a crucial break in the second set, he squandered the lead and just gifted the set to Nole to go down two sets to love. From there on, the road was all uphill; the aggressive Federer, it seemed, had been buried in his graveyard. Still he showed enough resilience to level the third set at 4-all despite being down an early break but only to hand it back to his opponent the very next game.

My eyes had been wet with tears by the time the match ended; I was still to come in terms with Federer's another loss in the semifinal and that too to Novak Djokovic,to whom he had succumbed at last year's US open despite being gifted with two match points. This time there were no match points, no drama on the Rod Laver arena; only one man's army it appeared and finally Nole emerged as the victor reinforcing the belief that a new generation is ready to soar high!

Stan humbled by Roger!

7 am in the morning and I was all geared up for Roger Federer- Stanislas Wawrinka first quarterfinal of the Australian Open. The match- up seemed to provide the tennis fans with something fishy! Roger's forehand vs Stanislas' backhand. It was for the first time in the history of Grand Slams that the affair was an all- Swiss one.

With the form Stanislas entered the quarterfinal, not even Roger would have expected the match to be such a cake- walk for him. The defending champion made an aggressive start to the match by breaking his opponents' serve to take a 3-0 lead. From that point it was all about the Maestro who broke Stan again to pocket the first one 6-1. the second set was a closer affair though Stan could not capitalise on the break points he got on Federer's serve. The second set also witnessed the defending champion break Wawrinka twice and in the next set, only one break of serve was enough to beat his compatriot.

The match had almost nothing to offer; it lacked the thrill and the vigour which a spectator longs for. One hour and 47 minutes were completely devoted to the masterclass form Federer- his drop shots, half volleys, runnung forehands, reflex gimmicks and even a tweener which unfortunately could not be converted to be a winner! Even Wawrinka gasped in awe; he had nothing left in his tank nor could he do anything with whatever he had. He didn't play badly but it was Roger who didn't let him control a single moment in the match.

Roger is just two matches away from his 17th Slam title; and his impeccable form which was on display today against Wawrinka needs to continue in the semis against his old foe Novak if he wishes to rewrite the history books!

FEDERER SURVIVES SIMON SCARE!

It was difficult to believe that the second match of the night session on Day 3 of the Australian open between Roger Federer and Gilles Simon was only a second round match. It seemed worthy of being a Grand Slam final. The man who holds the record for the most number of Grand Slams in the history of the sport was up against a spirited Simon, one of the few players who have a winning record against the champion. No one, prior to the clash, would have imagined the triumph to be a cake-walk for Federer, though he was deemed as the hot favorite to enter the third round.

For a set or two, the desire of a tennis fan to be a witness to an exciting contest between the two would have reduced to ashes when the Swiss maestro barely put a foot wrong. Even a minor error from Simon's racquet was mercilessly punished with an outright winner. The Frenchman was outmastered by the master himself. The imperial display of the array of shots in Federer's armor left Simon gasping in awe. The 0-2 head to head record started to seem a joke.

It's when even the tennis gods would have given up the hope of any possibility of a thriller; the Frenchman was insidiously clawing his way back into the match. Though the second set went to Federer, Simon had already traced his weapons to expose the chinks in the Maestro's armor. The flaws were left wide open when the Frenchman broke the Swiss in the opening game of the third set. No doubt, the set was a roller-coaster ride for both the players which saw five breaks of serve in total, it was Simon in the end who managed to pocket the third set.

Simon continued to stamp his authority even in the fourth set and played some brilliant shots with his forehand to make it 2 sets all. The truth was, Simon was playing better than Federer and he had found a way to keep Federer on the backfoot. Simon had to take risks; he did and did it in a superb fashion. As goes the saying, " fortune favors the brave", luck seemed to favor the Frenchman.

Roger knew he had to come up with something special to avoid being eliminated before the third round. Had the outcome gone in favor of Simon, it would have been Roger's worst performance in a major since 2004 French open. The champion upped his gear to overcome a tired but resilient Simon and ultimately prevailed 6-2,6-3,4-6,4-6,6-3.Though this was not the first time that the defending champion faced a scare in the early rounds of a Slam, but he would certainly count this one as a wake-up call for the rest of the tournament.

A Strange feeling!

Three days have passed; yet my immunity to the loneliness I am suffering from does not seem to evolve from its initial level. I am toiling hard to get over this and I know that the only solution to get rid of such a strange feeling is only through it; no medicine has the potential to cure this ailment!

I have named it "strange" because I am unable to delve into myself; I am simply clueless as to what's going on in my mind. Nothing seems to be going my way; rather I should say some sort of cocoon has developed or you may call it, a layer of rust on my mind has been able to successfully prevent me from even getting a hint of the problem inside. And the real problem lies in my incapability to clean off that layer of dust. It's really giving me a hard time.

I don't know how many more subdued days I have to go through. These days are indeed painful; these prick more sharply than cacti thorns. No doubt, life is a rainbow of spring as well as autumn; yet if pleasures don't last then why is it that winter seems endless?

A Federer-like start for Roger!

The Australian Open for 2011 kicked off amidst a lot of excitement as well as sympathy for the Australians affected by the devastating floods in Queensland. A lot is at stake at Melbourne park this year. While the world No.1 Rafael Nadal aims to become the first player since Rod Laver to hold four slams together to complete a "Rafa Slam", Federer seems to have made the best possible start to the year by winning the Qatar Open without dropping a set. Murray is still in search of that elusive break that would put him along with other elites to hold a Grand Slam trophy whereas Novak Djokovic looks for breaking the Federer-Rafa stranglehold to clinch his second major. Of course, there are dark horses like Roddick, Soderling , Berdych who can pull off an upset on any given day.

Roger ,scheduled to play the unseeded Slovakian Lukas Lacko in the first round, came into the match as the hot favorite to glide into the second round. And the desire to see an upset on the very first day at the Rod Laver Arena, got vaporised when Roger broke his opponent in game four with a forehand down the line. A forehand wide by Lacko pushed Roger to 5-1. The set was sealed by the Maestro with a backhand winner in just 22 minutes.

The second set also witnessed the powerful shot making of the Swiss. Roger raced to a 3-0 lead by breaking the 97th ranked Slovakian in games one and three. The only thing worth remembering for Lacko would be the break he got on Federer's serve when a Hawk Eye challenge showed that he had fired long. But Fedex was back to business in the next games to pocket the second set 6-1.

The third set was more of an even contest. Roger switched to the next higher gear at the right time to break for 5-3 with a volleyed winner. The rest was just a formality to serve out the match.

By such a blistering start to his title defense, Roger has indeed sent an ominous signal to not only Rafa but also the rest of the field. If the imperious form continues, the Fedophiles can sense the 17th coming soon.

Can Roger repeat his stellar feat?

Roger Federer is deemed as one of the best players ever in the history of the game to grace a tennis court. He has, of course, innumerable stellar feats to his name. But the one I am referring to here is regaining of the coveted No. 1 ranking which was usurped by Nadal in 2010 following an unbelievable season.

Since winning the Australian Open, Roger had a poor season by his own lofty standards. Quarterfinal appearances at the Roland Garros and Wimbledon and a semi-final showing at the US Open opened the doors wide for Nadal to grab the No.1 ranking from his arch-nemesis. And Nadal didn't leave this opportunity; won the next three majors to stamp his authority on the South African Airways ranking. Though Roger ended the season on a high note by clinching his 5th Barclays World Tour Finals title with a victory over Rafael Nadal, the Spaniard had extended the lead over Federer to more than 3000 points.

With Australian open round the corner and a whopping 2000 points to defend for the Swiss maestro compared to 360 for Rafa, a lot is at stake at this year's Oz Open. But Roger has sent a warning to the rest of the field ahead of the first Grand Slam by winning his 3rd Doha title. And his game seems to have glided into the next higher gear following his stint with coach Paul Annacone.

Roger is playing with higher aggression, hitting more winners than unforced errors , attacking the second serves with great returns. Inspite of being past his prime, the hunger to play and win titles has made him even more dangerous. All these factors certainly give Federer the upper hand over his rivals but it's too early to predict anything with certainty. Sports has always been associated with upsets and uncertainty. If Federer retains his form and continues attacking opponents, there's no doubt that he certainly has a crack at the World No. 1 ranking.

The Changing Nature of Human Relationships

Human relationships are fast degrading from bad to worse. No longer does the affection come out on seeing one's own family members even after a long period of time. Virtual relationships created through social networking sites and friends start playing a pivotal role in one's life. Technology can be blamed for all this messing up of social relationships, the extinction of the terms "care", "affection" and their meanings.

My sister arrived yesterday from Bangalore after one complete year. I was feeling elated pondering about what would be her reaction on seeing my "new avatar", what change the job would have brought in her and blah blah blah...She seemed to be so happy. I thought I won't be in need of my friends at least for a week till she is with me. But she proved me wrong. All my excitement has now faded away thanks to her behaviour. From day one, my laptop and her cellphone seem to have become her muse. She keeps herself engrossed in all these material things so much that she does not care about her duties and responsibilities towards her family members. It indeed hurts but who are to blame for all these results?

It's not the only case so that I can blame my sister. Nowadays, the young generation has become so much addicted to technology that it's not a big deal for them to neglect their own societal responsibilities. Fake love, care showered upon by short-term friends have replaced the true affection of your own family members! Strange but true...this is the harsh reality. The insidious effects of such behavior would soon put a question mark before the very existence of the family bonding that used to be so strong some years ago.