Australian Open

Australian+Open

Dimitri Baldauf, Writer

As Americans were watching the Super Bowl, arguing about which team was going to crush the opposition, the rest of the world had their eyes set on the Australian Open. Upset after upset—the top seeds fell slowly, and then all at once, leaving the two current world number ones undefeated.

But Novac Djokovic and Serena Williams couldn’t have done it without their perseverance. Though Novac virtually dominated every opponent he faced, only getting better with each set, Serena had to dig deep as all of her opponents tried to make the biggest win of their carriers. Her two toughest matches were her last two. She went up against a 19 year-old American new comer in the semifinals, and had to follow up going against world number two, Maria Sharapova.

Watson did manage to out power Serena in the first set of the semifinals, but she crumbled under pressure when each ball hit began looking like match point. Sharapova, on the other hand, had a slow start, but really pushed Serena and managed to drag the second set out to a tie break.

Key features of the tournament stayed particular to the first week when top seeds such as Federer, Ivanovic, Nadal and Wozniaki, all fell to players that were low ranked or ones that they had easily beaten before. Venus Williams also managed to reach the quarterfinals, putting her at her highest ranking since 2010- world number 11.

Now, as people are watching the football season come to an end, the tennis season has just begun. And the next time commercials are too long to handle, check out some of the other sports on air. After all, football and basketball can’t be the only sports on Sports Center.