It feels nice to finally be able to root for Amelie in a major final. I can't think of anyone in her half of the draw I would rather have in the final.

Latest from Clijsters is that she's out at least 8 weeks after tearing ligaments. Too bad, but Go Amelie! I hope she beats JHH. And I'm still rooting for Roger, even though Marcos is very endearing!

ETA: Provided Roger wins tonight, of course. I don't want to jinx anything!

After watching the Nalbandian/Baghdatis match, I don't think Nalbandian choked. He made few mistakes, but really Baghdatis just kept fighting and raised his level of play.

ETA: I am really counting on Federer to defeat Kiefer, I think I might puke if he made it to the final after what he did in the Grosjean match. The hatred, it burns.

ETA2: Baghdatis has a really pretty girlfriend.

Get out of my head, seneca!

I agree. I do think that Nalbandian’s play slipped and his serve wasn’t as good. But that does not discount the fact that Marcos really raised his level of play. So it’s not like David gave the match away- he slipped and Marcos then grabbed the chances when he could and ran. And speaking of running, boy does he have some fantastic running shots. I do feel sad for David though, he is one of my faves.

I also think that Marcos began to learn the error of his ways after the second set. I really agreed with PMac and Chris Fowler in this regard. He could not beat Nalbandian at David’s pace and needed to up the tempo and be more aggressive. He did so -and also varied the serve placement that they were harping on- and really started to do so much better. I also agreed with PMac that Marcos is a very smart match player. He can really ride the tempo well. I really think that Marcos is legit and not just a flash in the pan. He in my mind will be much more the Guga type of surprise GS finalist than the Verkerk type . (I’m not saying he’ll win the final like Guga- just saying that I think he will go on and continue to be a contender.)

To me, he just becomes more and more adorable the more I see him – that’s also a way he reminds me of Guga. His quote about the match made me giggle:




Chris Fowler thought so too…heh. I really liked how engaged she was in the match. She seemed to have a real interest and emotional investment in what was going on. I guess it helps that she is Marcos’ coach’s step-daughter. (The coach is kinda hot.)

I have my fingers crossed for Mauresmo. Please win your first GS! I just think she is so nice. And they kept talking about how her confidence seems to finally be on track after winning the year end title and I hope that is true. I would like to never have to hear the announcers say again that she can’t win “the big one.” I will be hearing that enough with poor David.

That sucks about Clijsters. Too bad.

What a great match! I had to go to work at 2-1 in the final set. I'm ecstatic over the result. David's not one of my favorites, but Baghdatis is fast becoming one. That being said, I'm still hoping Federer takes the title.

I also give PMac a lot of credit. He really seems to be coming into his own as a commentator. I'm a little amazed.

She looks like she's 15.

She's 18. He's 20- so they are a good age range for each other.

I am very curious as to what antics Kiefer may be up to tonight. And what names Mary will call him.

That was Jim?! I didn't recognize him and wasn't listening. I assumed it was an Aussie.

Yes, and the cameramen know it. I could do with fewer young-blonde-in-the-crowd shots.

So I'm a chump for staying up to watch. Oh well.

She is? Is he the guy next to her who looks like Michael Showalter? Though he looks way too young to have a daughter that age. But then I guess it's possible if she's a stepdaughter.

Yes, that was Courier. And so cheesy! "Marcos, are you awake...or is this a dream?" Hee!

Is anyone up and watching Fed-Kiefer? PMac just commented that Roger's play in the second set wasn't as "crispy clean" as in the first set. Uh ... what? It was cute.

Yay! We get the Roger/Marcos final. I'm very pleased with the way this Aus Open has turned out. And for the first time in a long time, I'd be happy with whomever lifts the trophy on both the women's and men's final.

That said, Roger played very, very well the last two sets of the Kiefer match. PMac said that taking a set off of Federer takes a huge toll on his opponent. That to me was evident in his match today. Kiefer was dead at the end. And his shorts? Ew. How can he play like that? It looked as if he had just peed himself, he was so wet. Ew, ew, ew.

The scoreline scares me, now that I'm (dammit, I thought it wouldn't matter to me) hoping Marcos takes it. A bagel in a men's Grand Slam semifinal. God.

He bageled Hewitt twice in the US Open final, so this is nothing.

Fat chance it'll happen, but I hope ESPN deigns to let us see at least some of Ms. Hingis' mixed doubles final.

Ho hum. Another Federer final. Gah. I'm so bored with the dude. Get thee off my tv. With him and JHH in the finals, I'm am completely disinterested and will not be watching either final. Bring on the French Open.

It's so great to see Federer in the final again! Excellent. With this win, he's increased his points lead over the rest of the top 5.

Does anyone else miss the blue court? It really does make the ball easier to see on TV. Maybe the Aussie Open will go to another color (red?) some day.

Now I know why PMac's been getting better. He just said he reads his email.

I don't recall seeing any mention of Roger's Fun House. I think it's really funny. I love the outfit they have Roger in. But what does his t-shirt say? And the picture of Safin they use is hilarious. And very rightly they don't put Nadal in the fun house, just Agassi, Roddick, Hewitt and Safin, I think.

I'll definitely be rooting for Amelie tonight because she's such a doll and it would be so awesome to see her get a slam. But I'm no Justine-hater. She looks like an impoverished urchin out of Dickens. And somehow that story about going to the French Open with her mother when she won the tickets at age 12 or so and of her Mom dying a few years later touches me, perhaps because she has the looks of an orphan.

I wholeheartedly agree. The picture of Hewitt with his mouth open is funny enough, but the Safin shot is LOL hilarious. The shirt is also funny—it says, "I [heart] 10s."


LMAO! "Please, sir, may I have some more?"

Actually, Justine looks like a poverty-to-power prostitute out of some Dumas novel, who has lairned too soorvive een zis peetiless wayrld. Which actually is the narrative the commentators keep feeding us about her life. I like her, I looove her game, and if she hadn't already won several grand slams already I'd be totally rooting for her. But there's something bitter and sharp about her.

Does anyone else here remember the incident in Grosjean's match against Nadal at the French last year? All I could think of after the Keifer match was karma.

Yan Zi and Jie Zheng won the women's doubles for the Australian Open.

The first main cup trophy for the Chinese.

Hopefully we can see better for the singles.

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/r...8349321400.html

They had it, and said they'd need to add some of the guys to it.
I hope so too.
I don't know what the hell's going on with them. They were bunchy from the get go and then got wetter and wetter looking as the match progressed. Get a mesh liner and some quick drying material, man! I enjoyed the commentators' snark on the shorts.

Awww, that's such a BS ending. I feel bad for Mauresmo. It's like Justine gave Amelie the title, but took it away in a way.

Seriously, what the fuck happened? Why did Justine retire? It appeared that Amelie was going to spank Justine anyway, but still; this has got to be both happy and painful, when the final like this. Oh well, I guess I'll be rooting for Amelia to win the French.

I really like both Henin-Hardenne and Mauresmo, but I wish Justine had toughed it out a few more games. Mauresmo deserved to win with all greater dignity than that.

Well. Ok. That'll teach me to stay up until 3.40am and hope for a cracking final. Rats.

JHH certainly seems genuinely distraught , but i still can't help thinking 'what a cow'. From what she seemed to say to the trainer, she felt lethargic and had no energy. Well yeah, but suck it up and finish the match.

Sheesh, i remember Pete Sampras yakking up and the side of the court and going on to win the match.

Big fat word, tisha, and it appears that Brad Gilbert agrees with us. I don't understand why homegirl couldn't play through the pain; in upset stomach is bullshit (early reports state that is the reason). Gah. Unless we find out her appendix burst or something, I smell bullshit. Justine really ruined Amelie's moment.

I think she had a seriously upset stomach and told the doctors "I feel empty"-when I lip read that, I was like "Well, I would advise you to eat something before a championship match next time." Three of Mauresmo's opponents retired in this tournament-heat exhaustion, rolling an ankle and now random sickness. They need to make the court less sticky and move the damn tournament back. This is a joke and it's unfair to the players. Mauresmo looks so conflicted.

They have said her virus could come back at any time, maybe that's why she's so upset, maybe it's returning.

It seemed that Amelie really had a game plan that was doing a number on Henin-Hardenne-maybe she was getting sick from frustration.

This really sucks, her first GS will always have this asterisk on it. She has to win another one soon and outplay everyone. Maybe Wimbledon.

I'm reminded of JHH holding up her hand--"no I wasn't!"--when she played Serena at Roland Garros for some reason.

Even better than seeing Amelie win and JHH lose was the speech at the end:

"Justine, we hope you recover from your, uh... injury." Ha ha ha! Now that's classic!


I thought the little orphan rat was going to get beaten as badly as she beat Pierce last year. The French exact their revenge! Heh.

Considering that most of the players get through the tournaments just fine, and without injury, I don't think the court surface can be blamed for the high number of retirements. Kim was the only one who was actually physically hurt with the rolled ankle and that sometimes happens.

In the span of 10 minutes I lost all respect for Justine Henin-Hardene, upset stomach my ass. I lost a lot of respect for Lindsay, who remarked that Amelie played like a man. I knew about the comments Hingis made, but I had no idea Lindsay pulled that shit.

(ETA:I am glad that she apologized, but still, damn.)

I just went from liking JHH to loathing her in the span of five minutes. Incredible. Like I said, if it doesn't come out that Justines appendix burst, she is going to become the most hated woman in tennis. I can't wait to see what Jon Weirthem and Tracy Austin say about this.

I just hope Amelie can win many more, or least one more grand slam, to get the taste of this final out of her mouth.

It is going to take a serious kick ass match between Federer/Baghdatis to restore my faith.

ETA: I think they should change the score to 6-1 6-0. That probably would have been the final score anyway. Justine should have played out. I don't care. Amelie deserved better than this.

But I am still very happy that she won, and in my opinion she did win!!!!!!! Go Amelia.

Yea, she kinda runied the moment, she should have toughed it out and got her ass kicked, but lets not take anything away from Amelie. She played fantastic this whole tournament and deserves this Grand Slam. Lets not make this about Justine quitting but more about Amelie winning.

I'm so happy for Ameilie. Congratulations. 2006 Australian Open Champion!!!

ETA Both player, Clijster and Justine both were losing when they retired, Justine more obviously then Clijster. But Amelie had this match in the bag and was up a break in the third set on Clijster. She killed and played great the whole way through.

To her credit, Davenport personally apologized to Mauresmo for that and claimed to be misinterpreted.

I can't believe this-you don't retire in a Grand Slam final unless you have one foot in the grave. Be a professional.

I liked how Carillo said that Henin should be consoling and apologizing to Mauresmo instead of the other way around. Really.

It's upsetting that Amélie has won this way, but I have no doubt she'd have won in short order. And how classy of Amélie to go sit next to Justine and console her: what a terrific kid.


Except she didn't say that. She said "Amélie hits as hard as a man," which is a bit different. Lindsay was asked about it and she said she was paying Amélie a compliment (she later apologized, too). I'm not giving her a pass on this at all; I just think she was badly misquoted.

It's such a stupid comment anyway. Mauresmo is clearly the weakest of the power players. Davenport, the Williamses, the Belgians, and Pierce all hit harder and serve harder.

I'm loving the way all the commentators are being critical of JHH. I thought she got off way too easily in the media for the Serena incident, so I hope she hears the criticism now. After all, this is the same woman who described herself as the polar opposite of Miss Congeniality, Kim Clijsters.

I also had nothing against JHH before this (I was certainly rooting for her against Sharapova), but she's on my hate list now for spoiling Amelie's moment. I didn't blame Kim for retiring given how serious her ankle injury turned out to be, but an upset stomach is no reason to retire from a Grand Slam final.

That said, Amelie was kicking JHH's ass, just as she has been kicking ass all tournament. The announcers pointed out how much action (spin) Amelie had on her shots, but I was also really impressed with how consistently deep she was hitting the ball. I think that played a huge role in keeping her opponents on the defensive and forcing them to try to hit shots from uncomfortable places on the court. Hopefully she will get confidence from this win and keep it going through the French Open because I really do think she has a great game to win there. Plus she looks to be the most fit of all the women on tour right now, which I also think contributed to JHH deciding there was no point to trying to continue - she knew how hard she would have to work just to win points, and she couldn't stomach (sorry, couldn't resist) staying out there and fighting that hard.

Congrats, Amelie!!

I want to hear what JHH has to say. Pierce spanked her hard at the US Open last year when JHH had a hamstring injury and she didn't retire. She also was feeling sick against Mauresmo in the Amelia Island final in 2004, when she was already sick with the virus (but didn't know) and she didn't retire either. She's taken some pretty bad loses while injured and toughed them out. Yeah, I would have liked her to finish the match, but at the same time I'm willing to hear what she has to say. After all, she did lose almost a year to a freaking virus that can come back at any point, so if she's feeling anything like that I think it might be understandable.

But I don't think she'll say anything. Her MO is that when she's feeling attacked by the media she clams up. And then her coach speaks to the media for her.

A pity it ended this way. Amelie was playing great. She was moving well, hitting the ball very cleanly and looking more relaxed than I've ever seen her look. I'm really happy she won it. I hope she wins another one.

So who's the best WTA player now to never win a GS?

Oh yeah, Lindsay was misquoted. When she was commenting that Amelie played like a man, she was talking about the strength in her shoulders and how she was able to hit her backhand like a guy, really. It was a compliment, not an insult. But it still gets grouped with the idiotic Hingis comment.

Just my opinion, but take away the crap serve, and I think the title now falls to Dementieva.

Gee, that sucked. I was really rooting for Amelie -- this win was such a long time coming and she really deserved it -- and how sad for everyone that she was denied her moment of victory. What should have been the biggest, jump-up-and-down moment of her career ended up being as exciting as a deflated balloon. Bummer.

As for Justine...

... I'm inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt, at least until I know the full story. This is the same woman who toughed it out through that incredible 3-hr. night semi-final match with Capriati, was practically carried off the court, hooked up to IV and, with doctors predicting that she might be unable even to show up at the final the next day, ended up winning the thing. Plus, I think she's the hardest worker on the women's tour, and have great respect for that. I have a tough time believing that she'd give up if she weren't feeling seriously ill.

(That said, I, too, remember that raised hand during her match with Serena, and it certainly caused me to question Justine's ethics.)

I always try and imagine what the practical realities might be in a situation like this, e.g., maybe JHH was battling diarrhea, and was fearful that, running around in her tennis whites, she might "lose it." (Then again, I didn't see her making a bee-line for the locker room at first opportunity, so maybe that blows that theory.)

I'll wait until I have all the "facts" before I pass judgement, but I'll admit, Justine, it doesn't look good.

(Speaking of Capriati, I've been googling around and haven't found any news about her. Anyone know the latest?)

They just showed JH-H's press conference. What a fucking chump!

What did she say?

Well, supposedly all of a sudden she now has a shoulder injury and the dumbass bitch says she doubled up on her anti-inflamitory pills which upset her stomach. The worst part though? A reporter asked her if she thought Amelie was playing well. Justine said something to the effect of, "Of course she was, I wasn't playing my best." BITCH.

She said she got an upset stomach from her anti-inflammatories for her shoulder; she'd doubled the dosage a few days ago and had been feeling poorly for a couple days and had thrown up a couple days ago. Is she talking about the day she played Sharapova and won 6-4 in the third? Is she fucking kidding me?

She said she didn't want to do any additional damage by staying out on the court, but she said the pain was in her stomach. Maybe she was worried about getting a stretch mark from bloating.

She said she didn't feel bad for denying Amalie a proper victory because she was feeling bad for herself. And I'm not kidding about her saying that. She also said she doesn't care what people say about her retirement, but we already knew that.

Justine gets what I think she really wants: people are talking about her instead of the champion. And she has sullied Amelie's victory

Re: Capriati. It is my understanding that she will return in March. I swear I heard that earlier in the Open.

Amelie is doing her press conference now.

Did J-HH say it was inflammatory tablets she was taking for a shoulder problem that made her sick? She had a shoulder problem? And the tablets just made her sick now? I don't get it. If the tablets are making you sick, why would she double up on the dosage?

I loved how Mauresmo said "I can only speak for myself, but I came out here ready and willing to die on that court." She was totally dissing Justine by not saying a word.

Jeez, with this and Keifer's antics...this tournament has been so shady and strange.

Part of me thinks--Henin-Hardenne has already won four slams, she's been #1, she's made her money, she's a lock for the Hall of Fame, she's won a gold medal, if this illness is so bad that she will be forced to retire in a high level championship match and has to leave the game for years at a time with little notice, why doesn't she just quit the sport.

I think I just fell in love with Amelie.

ETA: I really enjoyed the Mens double final. Way to go for the Bryan brothers.

Thanks, tisha.

After giving JHH the benefit of the doubt, I'm sad to learn that she really doesn't seem to have deserved it. I'm not quite on the hate train yet (maybe I would be if I'd seen the press conference), but I'm definitely on my way over to the ticket counter. What a drag it is to see players you admire prove to you that your respect was misplaced. Damn you, Justine.

Like the rest of you, I loved Mauresmo's little "ready and willing to die on that court" dig at Justine. Go Amelie!

Aw, crap. I do think that Henin might have had something going on to make her play that badly, but yes, she should have finished the damn match and let Mauresmo have her well-deserved victory without the taint of withdrawal. Bad form!

Seems like Baghdatis is my only ray of light this entire tournament, even if he loses to Fed.

I think that press conference with JHH was awful - and it seemed to be hard for the ESPN team as well. I thought Dick Enberg put it best when he said that no matter which of the injuries she referenced was mostly to blame that her camp had been saying throughout the tournament that she was feeling better than she had in 2 years. And that one of those 2 things wasn't true/was a lie, and therefore there was some gamesmanship involved.

And then someone (Mary?) said, too, that it was hard not to think back to other accusations of gamesmanship and reconsider them in light of this incident.

Amelie has been one of my favorites for a long time - despite the ribbing I sometimes received about her "choke" factor. I've always been impressed with her deep love and appreciation for the game, and the grace she handled herself with. Which she did as well last night. So, maybe it wasn't ideal, and she didn't get quite the jubilant celebration she deserved, but what she did get the opportunity to have is a series of broadcast moments where she showed how truly great she is - not just in defeat but also in victory.

Enjoy your new status, Amelie! A Grand Slam trophy reflects more than just one match, and I think you have a lot to be proud of - in many areas!

I didn't see the press conferences, but I read them on the Aus Open website. Neither of them are as bad as I thought they would be after reading the comments here. That being said, I still wish JHH had finished the match. But at the same time, if she indeed was injured (and that apparently is a big "if" at this point because no one knew) and knowing her history of really big injuries, then I could grudgingly maybe prehaps give her the benefit of the doubt. She was actually quite gracious in her comments about Amelie, contrary to what was posted here last night.

You know, she can't win either way. People are always going to be accusing her of gamesmanship regardless. If she talked during the tournament about her shoulder and people saw the way she beat Davenport and Sharapova, they would say JHH was lying and it was just an instance of gamesmanship. If her camp didn't say anything but are now "revealing" it, then it was gamesmanship to make everyone think she was OK (which I don't believe, btw).

And personally, she's always been accused of gamesmanship. Chris Fowler, for example, loves doing that. So it's not as if this is something that's making people see her in a new light. I disagree with whomever in ESPN said that.

Anyway, we're probably never going to know what really happened. The bottom line for me is that I still wish she would've finished the match.