Well after a day’s travelling, I got to Melbourne on Wednesday 23rd, just in time to hear that Serena had been knocked out in the quarter-finals by American Sloane Stephens. Now I have been quite interested to see Stephens play…. But not interested for it to be at the cost of Serena. Anyway, you can only watch who is playing, so Stephens it is.
I have been staying on Queen Street in the commercial centre of Melbourne, at a hotel that charges you for internet connectivity. What a shock – I didn’t think those still existed. Well, at least the tennis (and the MCG, incidentally) are only a short walk away, along the picturesque Yarra river. I got up on Thursday morning to excitedly make my way down to the tennis, for Ladies day.
Walking along the Yarra River
The final Thursday at the Australian open is called ladies day as both women’s semi-finals are played that day during the first session. This was also a special day as it marked the 40th anniversary of the WTA. The good and the great were there to celebrate.
40th Anniversary of the WTA
The matches that are on are the Bryan brothers in the men’s doubles semi-finals, Li Na versus Maria Sharapova and then Victoria Azarenka versus Sloane Stephens. The nightmare outcome to my mind would be the shrieks of Sharapova versus the annoying whinnying of Azarenka. I am backing Li Na and Sloane Stephens.
Li Na played some surprisingly good tennis, relentlessly hitting the tramlines and making Sharapova work. Sharapova was not on good form and made a lot of unforced errors. Li Na duly won.
Li Na versus Maria Sharapova
Li Na Serves
Next up, Sloane Stephens versus Victoria Azarenka.
Azarenka in a hoody?
At the toss
Well, you will undoubtedly have read a lot about this already. First of all, it was a very bad match of pretty low quality – I am very surprised that Sloane Stephens beat Serena, even on one leg. Azarenka for her part also did not play well but was definitely a lot better than Stephens.
Stephens returns
The second set was comical with each of them breaking the other routinely. Sometime in the second set, funnily enough after a Stephens winner, Azarenka started limping and clutching her ankle. The crowd was not sympathetic. Anything Serena can do…..
Then after Stephens broke her serve yet again, she called for the trainer, who spent a lot of time examining and rotating her shoulder. After about 5 minutes of this, she went off for another ten minutes. Imagine my surprise when she claimed her knee and her back were giving trouble. Maybe in Belarus, the word for ankle is knee and the word for shoulder is back…. Anyway, she duly came back and broke Stephens’ serve. Now, Azarenka was already not popular with the crowd and was regularly mocked for the stupid noises that she makes but, even by her high standards, this was idiotic. Did anyone think that her games playing changed the outcome of the match? No. It may have taken a bit more effort and possibly even another set. But that is what made it even worse. The number one player versus the number twenty-nine, in a massively winning position has to resort to this? Shocker. Let’s hope Li Na gets her second grand slam. On the basis of their playing alone, at the semi-final, Li Na deserves it. On the basis of their behaviour, there is only one deserving winner. Let’s see what happens tonight.
I came without combing my hair to see this???
Greedy Gyal 
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