Monday, January 29, 2018

Weekend Tennis Update: Melbourne Edition


The Australian Open men's doubles final sure was a treat for the eyes, and I'd have been happy no matter who won. In the end, the Austrian-Croatian pairing of Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic secured their biggest title together by defeating Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah (below) to win their first Grand Slam title. It was a nice reversal of fortune for the May-December pairing, who had lost a heartbreaker in the final at Wimbledon seven months ago. 


Regular readers know I've had my eye on Farah forever. But his run to the final with Cabal opened my eyes to a few things besides his propensity to show off his hot body. I also learned he was born in Montreal, played at USC and is actually of Lebanese descent, a la Shakira. 


Best of all, I learned that he's known his doubles partner since he was 6. (Cabal was hiding his hair lose even then!)


Oh, and success hasn't changed that propensity I mentioned -- thank God! 


The 6-4 Croat doubled his pleasure by also winning the mixed doubles, with Canadian Gaby Dabrowski. The pair saved a championship point en route to defeating Rohan Bopanna of India and Babos of Hungary 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 under a closed roof Sunday at Rod Laver Arena.


Even when he's behind, he's ahead ...


First-time semifinalist Kyle Edmund received a nice welcome at London's Heathrow Airport ... 


Caroline Wozniack and her new BFF, Daphne, go for a boat ride ...


but we all know what the real prize is (can't this big lug do something about that psycho dad?)


Oh, and some guy named Roger Federer held off Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to capture his 20th Grand Slam singles title. 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. Federer is the oldest man to win the Aussie Open since one of his role models, Ken Rosewall, did it in 1972. This guy seems to be making a name for himself, huh? 


Roger's backhand -- and hair -- have gotten better with age ...


P.S. Chris Hemsworth was the most interesting part of the fifth set of the men's final ...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

looking forward to Wimbledon! roger now holds 10% of all grand slam men's singles titles - what an amazing player.