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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Australian Open Day 14: Chan

Curtain Call

Player: Yung-Jan Chan
Age: 21
Nation: Chinese Taipei
Current Doubles Ranking: 18
Mixed Doubles Partner: Paul Hanley (Australia)
Notable Conquest: Cara Black (Zimbabwe)/Leander Paes (India) (4th seed)
Today's Result: loss to Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia)/Daniel Nestor (Canada) (2nd) in a super-tiebreak


Photo via French Open Tennis

The unseeded Chan and Hanley team lost in the mixed doubles final today. It was Chan's first mixed doubles final at a Slam. She is a former junior doubles champion in Melbourne, winning the title in 2004 with Sheng-Nan Sun.


My Tennis Fantasy

Current Standing: 19th
My MVP for the Week: Novak Djokovic (3rd, Serbia), defeating Andy Murray (5th, UK) in the final in straight sets for the title


Photo via Tennis Ticket News

And so, Djokovic finally racks up Slam #2 while Murray falls short once again. The first question of any Australian Open champ is can s/he run the table for the year? Djokovic certainly has the game to do it as he is strong on all surfaces. But he won't. Nadal, even as he nurses the latest injury, is still King. He'll certainly be the man to beat in Paris.

I still believe that Murray will eventually win a Slam. But when has become a serious question. A quick check on birthdays: he's six years younger than Fed, almost a full year younger than Nadal, a week older than Djokovic and a year older than Juan Martin del Potro, the only other player in the Slam title conversation for the moment. The pressure will always be greatest on Murray at Wimbledon but the hard court is his best surface. So realistically, the US Open may be his next best shot.

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