Aussie Open 1st Men's Semi Djokovic vs Federer review

Let me start off by saying that I really love what Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have done for the sport of tennis.  Between the two of them, they have won 21 of the last 23 majors that have been played.  The 2008 Aussie Open (Novak Djokovic defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final, Roger Federer in the semi-final), and the 2009 US Open where 'The Fed' was beaten by Juan Martin Del Potro in the final - getting hit off the court in the fifth set - were the only two breaks in their party.  Bravo, job well done guys - but other guys in the mix would without a doubt make things much more exciting. 

A lot of the top guys definitely have the game to battle Rafa & Fed, but they seem to be losing matches against the 'Big 2' before they even get out on the court.  Maybe this Aussie Open is the beginning of an thrilling year of Men's tennis - a year where names other than Nadal & Federer are etched onto the trophies & winner's checks.  Now admittedly, Rafa had a bit of bad luck in his quaterfinal match against David Ferrer - the Aussie hard court has never really been his body's friend (he also had to retire in a match last year), but even without the injury, I was expecting the scrappy Ferrer to take that match. Federer on the other hand got beat.

Novak Djokovic (left); Roger Federer (right)

Nole came out for his semi against Federer with that look in his eye.  Roger was just his normal chill self, maybe thinking about his head-to-head record against the Serb.  The first set was a tight one, even the tiebreak, there was just one mini-break against Federer and that's all it took.  Second set, Nole breaks, then Roger breaks back.  Roger breaks again to go up 5-2, before Nole starts to swing free again & levels the set.  Mind you, Federer made a lot of errors in the second set (and the match as a whole), those errors were because the guy on the other side of the net had gotten in his head, thus getting him off his game.  In the first service game of the third set, Nole saved 3 break points.  Nole goes on to break the Federer serve, but then Roger breaks back to get the score back to 4 all.  But that was it for Roger, as Nole got back the belief that took gave him a win over Roger in their last meeting at the 2010 US Open semi-finals.  Will this be another flash in the pan for the Serb, or has he truly come to break up the Federer/Nadal dominance of the past five years?  That book is still unwritten. 

In Sunday's final, Nole will face the winner of the Murray-Ferrer match.  David Ferrer is a hell of a player, but if the Andy Murray we've seen throughout this tournament shows up, we will see a Djokovic-Murray final.  If Murray reverts back to his passive style of play, Mr.  Ferrer will run over him.  Either or, this Sunday's finals proves to be a good one, even if it's Nadal/Federer-less.

Buckle your seatbelts tennis fans, I think this year is going to be an exiting one!

In honour of his semi-final birth, today's hottie will be Spain's own, David Ferrer.  Vamos!