Sunday, January 22, 2012

Clijsters pulls out the win in 'wacky' Australian Open match

With the bitter January cold that comes upon us in Minnesota, so too does the heart of the summer heat arrive in Melbourne, Australia for the annual kickoff to the tennis Grand Slam season, the Australian Open.

I'm always jealous watching the tournament coverage, from my couch with snow drifts outside, when I see players sweating out their matches. With the extreme time difference, it can be tough to keep up with the Aussie Open, when live, prime time matches are played in the middle of the night for United States watchers.

With social media and the the cyber world, it's pretty much impossible to not find out what happened before you can watch the tape-delayed match later on in the day. But I do my best to try and watch as much as I can, and the tennis fever officially hit me last night as I became engrossed in the fourth round match between Kim Clijsters and Li Na.

A setback that wasn't for Clijsters
The tennis commentators kept remarking on how "wacky" the head-to-head matches between these two have been. This one was no exception. Before the final ball was struck on their three-setter, the crowd saw an injury, nerves affecting both of the players, momentum swings and one helluva tiebreaker.

I first tuned in to see Clijsters wincing in pain while getting attended to by the trainer. I kept watching to find out she was in the middle of a serving game at 3-3 in the first set, when she rolled her left ankle. Not only that, but when she fell to the court after returning the ball, she got up again to go get the next shot. Talk about being focused on the game.

As she got her ankle taped up, it appeared as though this had the potential to be a short match. How, if at all, would Clijsters be able to respond after getting shaken up by her injured ankle? She moved a little slower, but her game didn't seem to be hindered too much, and if it did she made adjustments.

That first set wound up 6-4 in favor of Li Na, the French Open champion last year. What was odd up until this point though, were all the breaks in serve for both players. Not exactly a commanding performance from either end.

One amazing comeback
Then the second set reached a tiebreak - and all appeared to be over for Clijsters, who was the defending champion of the Aussie Open. Li Na got the mini break right away as Clijsters failed to come up with the first point, and then another and another. All of a sudden, Li Na had racked up six points and had a string of match points coming her way.

And Clijsters saved all four of them. She dug deep and pulled out the second set, continuing her run of never losing a tiebreaker at the Australian Open.

It was a huge momentum shift. Li Na with a mini collapse and Clijsters with a rejuvenated burst of energy. Losing four match points in a row was obviously a big mental setback for Li Na, and it carried over immediately into the third set. Clijsters jumped out to a 3-0 lead, and it looked like she might bagel her opponent to close out the match.

Then the nerves took a jump to the other side of the court and nipped Clijsters. She was up 5-2 and was broken on her serve before she finally was able to close out the match, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Just another reason to enjoy sports
This match reminded me why I enjoy watching sports so much. Four match points in a tiebreaker where nothing was going right for Clijsters. Odds on paper are, Li Na would take the match in straight sets. But just because a player appears to have no fighting chance left, doesn't mean a thing until the game is 100 percent finished.

It may be a cliche, but it's a good one that I love: That's why they play the game.

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