JOY BLOG

25 Jan 2014

Australian Open 2014 – Day 12

Tennis legend Pete Sampras was back in Australia for the first time in over 10 years, and everyone wanted to know his thoughts on the big Rapha vs Roger semi final show down. Pete was looking forward to the contest between two of the greatest players of all time, but is happy to be watching these days, rather than playing.

Raphael Nadal couldn’t do anything wrong last night in his straight sets victory over the master Roger Federer. The Spaniard has booked a spot in yet another final after a strong performance 7-6, 6-3, 6-3. At one point in the second set, Rapha ripped a return across court while running along the baseline, that was phenomenal. He seems to have a mental hold over Roger, dominating the wins between them. He also has a perfect record against Stan Wawrinka, but says that will mean nothing on Sunday. There was controversy when at one point Roger complained to the umpire about Rapha’s grunting during the match, and also time wasting.

Roger is disappointed with his performance, but acknowledges that Rapha was just too good. He’s also disappointed that the chance of an all Swiss final is no more. Despite Rogers poor record against Rapha in recent times, he denies Rapha has a psychological hold over him. He also rates Stan’s chances in the final.

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci have no idea how they won the women’s doubles final against Makarova and Vesnina in 3 sets, but they’re glad they did. The third and final set was a tight battle, but they got there in the end 6-4 3-6 7-5.