#1208 – A Rare Treat

ENGLISH

Yesterday was such a good day for me. I got a good news in the morning (but I will keep this for the next post (so I have more materials to write down here )) and I got a rare treat in the evening. And yes, it was still related to tennis .

You all know I am a fan of Serena and Venus Williams, and both sisters are competing in the Family Circle Cup tournament in Charleston, South Carolina, USA this week. This tournament is categorized as a Premier-level tournament in the WTA (women’s) tour with total prize money of $797,707. So it is kinda an intermediate/medium-level tournament.

They are drawn in the same half of the draw, meaning they can potentially meet in the semifinals. As the world no.1, Serena was seeded first, while Venus was seeded fifth. They were scheduled to play their third round matches on Thursday when the weather wasn’t good (it was raining all day) that they couldn’t play any match that day. As a result, the third round matches were moved to Friday, which complicated matters further because then the winners of the matches must play their quarterfinals matches on Friday as well. What did it mean? It meant that there was a possibility for a four consecutive singles matches all involving the Williams sisters!!

And here is why I call it a rare treat: it did happen! First, Venus defeated Varvara Lepchenko 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 (and this was after blowing a 6–2, 3–0 lead in the early second set), then Serena defeated Mallory Burdette 6–4, 6–2, then Venus defeated Madison Keys 6–4, 6–4, then Serena defeated Lucie Šafářová 6–4, 6–1 in a repeat of last year’s final. It was such a surreal evening as I basically watched the four consecutive live matches the whole evening for a total of about 7.5 hours or something. I mean, I don’t think something like this has ever happened before .

And as a result, another treat that hasn’t happened for quite a long time was set: a semifinal match between the Williams sisters. The two haven’t played each other in an official match since the final of the 2009 WTA Tour Championships (wow, apparently I made a post about this event three and a half years ago! ), not quite a shocking news if you know what has happened to them since then (injuries, illness, sickness, literally near death experience, etc).

And I am going to enjoy it while it still lasts!!

Venus and Serena Williams. Photo credit: Lucas Dawson/Getty Images AsiaPac

What a treat in one day!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Kemarin adalah hari yang baik bagiku. Aku mendapatkan berita baik di pagi hari (tapi ini aku simpan buat posting selanjutnya aja ah (jadi kan bertambah satu gitu bahan postinganku )) dan juga mendapatkan suguhan yang jarang terjadi malamnya. Dan ya, ada hubungannya sama tenis sih .

Tahu kan aku adalah fans-nya Serena dan Venus Williams, dan keduanya minggu ini berkompetisi di turnamen Family Circle Cup di Charelston, South Carolina, Amerika Serikat. Turnamen ini dikategorikan sebagai turnamen Premier di tur WTA (putri) dengan total hadiah $797.707 (sekitar 7,5 milyar rupiah). Jadi ini adalah turnamen level menengah gitu deh.

Mereka berada di setengah sisi undian yang sama, yang berarti mereka berpotensi bertemu di semifinal. Sebagai pemain peringkat 1 dunia, Serena merupakan unggulan pertama, sementara Venus adalah unggulan kelima. Mereka dijadwalkan memainkan pertandingan babak ketiga mereka di hari Kamis ketika cuacanya tidak mendukung (hujan seharian) sehingga pertandingan sama sekali tidak bisa dimainkan hari itu. Akibatnya, pertandingan babak ketiga dipindahkan ke hari Jumat, yang membuat kondisi menjadi semakin rumit karena pemenang pertandingan itu harus memainkan pertandingan babak perempat final mereka juga di hari Jumat. Apakah artinya? Artinya, ada kemungkinan terjadinya empat pertandingan tunggal berturutan yang semuanya melibatkan Williams bersaudari!!

Dan inilah mengapa aku bilang ini adalah sebuah suguhan yang jarang ada: ini beneran kejadian! Pertama-tama, Venus mengalahkan Varvara Lepchenko 6–2, 4–6, 6–2 (dan ini setelah menyia-nyiakan posisi unggul 6–2, 3–0 di awal set kedua), kemudian Serena mengalahkan Mallory Burdette 6–4, 6–2, kemudian Venus mengalahkan Madison Keys 6–4, 6–4, kemudian Serena mengalahkan Lucie Šafářová 6–4, 6–1 di ulangan final tahun lalu. Kemarin adalah malam yang seru karena aku menonton empat pertandingan ini live gitu dan semuanya berturut-turutan selama total sekitar 7,5an jam. Maksudku, sepertinya yang seperti ini belum pernah terjadi sebelumnya deh .

Dan sebagai akibatnya, ada suguhan lain yang sudah lama tidak terjadi: pertandingan semifinal antara Williams bersaudari. Keduanya belum pernah bertanding lagi di turnamen resmi semenjak final WTA Tour Championships tahun 2009 (wow, ternyata aku menulis sebuah posting tentang turnamen ini tiga setengah tahun yang lalu! ), nggak mengejutkan juga sih kalau pada mengikuti apa yang terjadi di kehidupan keduanya setelah itu (cedera, sakit, nyaris meninggal dalam artian sebenarnya, dll).

Dan makanya aku akan menikmatinya selagi bisa!!

#1206 – End of the Ultra Long Weekend

ENGLISH

So here we are, already in the last day of this ultra long weekend. Tomorrow I will have to go back to work again, and actually I am quite excited about that, hahaha . But still, this long weekend has gone much faster than I thought it would be though…

Brussels

Actually, on Friday my friends invited me to join them on a spontaneous (impromptu) weekend trip to Brussels. The train tickets were still relatively cheap at that time (not the fast one, but the one with some transfers). At first I was really interested as I had nothing else planned anyway. I even already browsed for a hotel or hostel and actually found a good offer from one hotel with a single bedroom. However, then I remembered that for some reasons, I could not join the trip. Well, then I had to say no; it was kinda too bad actually…

DST

Anyway, this Sunday, the Daylight Saving Time (DST) took place in the Netherlands (and the whole Europe, I think); and this one was my less favorite one where the time was forwarded by one hour on Sunday morning. So on Sunday, we only had 23 hours in one full day.

Speaking of this DST, this year marks the third time I have had this forward DST in my life. And I think there is something about this forward DST because just like last year and the year before, I still “suffer” from jetlag-ish effect because of this DST. I don’t know. I think this year my body has handled it much better than the previous years though, but I still do feel the effect. So weird…

Indian Wells and Miami

Speaking of tennis, this weekend the series of two consecutive big tennis tournaments on hard court in Northern America was concluded. Indian Wells finished two weeks ago with Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova came on top. And Miami (Key Biscayne) was concluded this Sunday with Andy Murray and Serena Williams won their 26th and 48th title, respectively.

What can I say? Rafael Nadal surprised me by winning Indian Wells. I mean, we all know he is a top player but he had been off the tour for seven months. Okay, he played three Southern American clay tournaments in February, reached the final of all of them, and won two. But the field in Indian Wells was much stronger with the presence of the other big four, and it was on hard court. So at first I thought his goal was just to try his best and see where he was. But he ended up winning. Wow!

As for the women, I have to say Serena Williams showed why she is the best women tennis player in the world. She did not play anywhere near her best for the whole two weeks in Miami, and she ended up winning the title. She produced her comeback trademark in three matches: against Dominika Cibulková in the fourth round, Li Na in the quarterfinals, and Maria Sharapova in the final. It was just fantastic mental quality that she showcased there.

So now, we move on to the clay season…

Rafael Nadal’s reaction after winning his third Indian Wells title. Photo credit: Michael Heiman/Getty Images North America

Serena Williams’ reaction after winning her sixth Miami title. Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America

BAHASA INDONESIA

Disinilah kita, sudah berada di hari terakhir ultra long weekend kali ini. Besok aku akan kembali bekerja, dan sebenarnya aku malah excited loh dengan hal ini, hahaha . Tapi tetap aja sih, long weekend ini berlalu dengan lebih cepat daripada jangkaanku loh…

Brussels

Sebenarnya, di hari Jumat temanku mengajakku untuk jalan-jalan spontan (dadakan) akhir pekan ke Brussels. Ada tiket kereta yang harganya relatif murah waktu itu (bukan dengan kereta yang cepat sih, tapi kereta yang dengan beberapa transit). Awalnya aku tertarik banget karena toh aku tidak ada rencana lain kan. Aku bahkan sudah browsing hotel atau hostel loh dan sebenarnya telah menemukan satu hotel dengan kamar single yang harganya oke juga. Namun, aku kemudian teringat bahwa karena beberapa alasan, aku nggak bisa ikutan deh. Jadilah ajakannya harus kutolak; agak sayang sih, tapi mau bagaimana lagi…

DST

Anyway, hari Minggu ini, Daylight Saving Time (DST) kembali berlangsung di Belanda (dan semua Eropa, kayaknya); dan ini adalah DST yang lebih tidak aku sukai dimana jamnya dimajukan satu jam di Minggu pagi. Jadi hari Minggu kemarin, dalam satu hari hanya ada 23 jam saja.

Ngomongin DST ini, tahun ini adalah tahun ketiga aku mengalami DST maju ini. Dan rasanya ada sesuatu deh dengan si DST maju ini karena seperti tahun lalu dan tahun sebelumnya, aku masih merasakan efek seperti jetlag karena DST ini. Nggak tahu deh kenapa. Tahun ini rasanya badanku meng-handle-nya dengan lebih baik daripada tahun-tahun sebelumnya sih, tapi tetap aja gitu efeknya terasa. Aneh deh…

Indian Wells dan Miami

Ngomongin tenis, akhir pekan ini satu seri dua turnamen besar di lapangan keras di Amerika Utara berakhir. Indian Wells berakhir dua minggu yang lalu dengan Rafael Nadal dan Maria Sharapova sebagai juaranya. Dan Miami (Key Biscayne) berakhir hari Minggu ini dengan Andy Murray dan Serena Williams memenangi titel ke-26 dan ke-48-nya, secara berturutan.

Apa yang bisa kubilang ya? Rafael Nadal mengejutkanku dengan menjuarai Indian Wells. Maksudku, kita semua tahu lah dia adalah pemain yang hebat tetapi ia sudah tidak bermain selama tujuh bulan. Oke, memang sih dia bermain di tiga turnamen tanah liat di Amerika Latin di bulan Februari, mencapai final di ketiganya, dan memenangi dua di antaranya. Hanya saja, daftar pemain di Indian Wells jauhlah lebih kuat dengan hadirnya tiga anggota big four lainnya, apalagi turnamen ini di lapangan keras. Awalnya aku kira tujuan utamanya dia adalah tampil yang terbaik untuk melihat dimana levelnya berada. Eh tetapi akhirnya dia bisa juara. Wow!

Untuk tur putri, harus kubilang bahwa Serena Williams menunjukkan mengapa dialah petenis wanita terhebat di dunia. Ia sama sekali tidak bermain dengan performa terbaiknya selama dua minggu turnamen Miami, dan akhirnya ia menjuarai kejuaraan ini. Dan ia memproduksi trademark comeback-nya di tiga pertandingan: melawan Dominika Cibulková di babak keempat, Li Na di perempat final, dan Maria Sharapova di final. Ia menunjukkan kualitas mental yang fantastis di turnamen ini.

Dan kini, beralihlah kita ke musim tanah liat…

#1186 – News This Week

ENGLISH

There were a couple of news this week that caught my attention (and worth one post here, hahaha ).

Meteor Strike

A meteor hits the Earth is actually not such a big news. But the one that hit Russia yesterday really caught my attention because it was well-captured by a lot of videos. Like this one:

Well, I mean. Imagine yourself on the way to work on a peaceful Friday morning and when suddenly a meteor is showing up in the sky about to hit the Earth .

What first came up to my mind while reading the news (and watching the video for the first time) was that it reminded me of some science-fiction movies! I mean, like Armageddon, Deep Impact, etc. But this time, it was for REAL!!

Serena Williams regaining the world no.1

Coming to the Premier 5 tournament in Doha this week, Serena Williams only needed to reach the semifinals to regain the world no.1 status, overtaking the reigning Australian Open champion, Victoria Azarenka.

Her quarterfinals match against Petra Kvitová was played on Friday. Kvitová has not been in a convincing form for the past one year or so. And particularly this year, she has been struggling with her form. So it was no wonder Serena was the heavy favorite to win in straight-forward manner. But then, somehow, Kvitová found her top form and played really good in the quarterfinals match; her best form for awhile! On the other hand, Serena was not playing at her very best yet. So, Kvitová took the first set 6–3 before Serena upped her level and took the second set 6–3. Kvitová regained the momentum early in the third set, again, and led 4–1. But Serena was a fighter, she was a champion, and she kept on fighting. In the end, just like when she won the US Open last year, she won the third set 7–5. Thus, reclaiming the world no.1 status as of Monday no matter what would happen in Doha next.

What I want to say here is: what a match! It was so fitting that a match that would reward her with the world no.1 status happened to be so tough, against a really good player, and forced her to show her champion mentality during the match! This quality is the quality that I really like from Serena, and makes me a fan .

And I am really happy that she finally regains the world no.1 title (the last time she was number 1 was in October 2010, where she was badly injured and later on the injury caused chain-effect which literally made her almost die). This also shows how a fighter and a champion she is. String of bad luck does not stop her, and only motivates her to do what she loves and best at: tennis. And now, she has officially become the oldest woman ever to be ranked world no.1.

Congratulations Serena!!

Tearful Serena Williams after defeating Petra Kvitová to regain the world no.1 status. Photo Credit: Fadi Al-Assaad/Reuters

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ada dua berita minggu ini yang menarik perhatianku (sehingga penting gitu untuk dibikin satu posting disini, hahaha ).

Tabrakan Meteor

Sebuah meteor menabrak Bumi itu bukanlah sebuah berita yang besar ya. Tapi satu meteor yang menabrak Rusia kemarin beneran menarik perhatianku karena prosesnya tervideo dengan cukup lengkap gitu. Seperti yang satu ini:

Ya, maksudku; bayangin deh kita lagi berangkat kerja gitu di suatu Jumat pagi yang damai ketika tiba-tiba sebuah meteor muncul di angkasa dan sedang akan menabrak Bumi . Sungguh random sekali!

Yang pertama muncul di pikiranku ketika membaca beritanya (dan menonton videonya untuk pertama kali) adalah peristiwa ini mengingatkanku akan beberapa film fiksi-ilmiah gitu deh! Ya kayak, Armageddon, Deep Impact, dll gitu. Cuma kali ini, ini BENERAN terjadi!!

Serena Williams kembali ke peringkat 1 dunia

Masuk ke turnamen berlevel Premier 5 di Doha minggu ini, Serena Williams hanya membutuhkan pencapaian di semifinal untuk kembali mendapatkan predikat peringkat 1 dunia, menggeser sang juara bertahan Australian Open, Victoria Azarenka.

Pertandingan perempat-finalnya melawan Petra Kvitová dimainkan hari Jumat lalu. Kvitová sedang tidak dalam berada kondisi yang meyakinkan selama satu tahun belakangan ini. Dan terutama tahun ini, ia nampak sedang kesulitan untuk mendapatkan irama permainannya. Jadi tidak heran Serena difavoritkan untuk menang dengan lugas. Tapi kemudian, entah bagaimana, tiba-tiba saja Kvitová bisa menemukan irama puncaknya dan bermain dengan amat baik di perempat-final; performa terbaiknya dalam beberapa waktu terakhir! Di sisi lain, Serena sedang tidak bermain dengan terlalu baik. Jadilah Kvitová memenangi set pertama 6–3 sebelum Serena meningkatkan levelnya dan mengambil set kedua 6–3. Kvitová kembali mendapatkan momentum di awal set ketiga, lagi, dan langsung unggul 4–1. Tapi Serena adalah seorang petarung, yang berjiwa juara, dan ia terus melawan. Akhirnya, seperti ketika ia menjuarai US Open tahun lalu, ia menenangi set ketiga dengan skor 7–5. Artinya, bagaimanapun juga ia akan kembali menyandang peringkat 1 dunia hari Senin nanti, tidak peduli hasil akhir turnamen Doha minggu ini.

Yang ingin kutulis disini adalah: what a match! Cocok sekali bahwa sebuah pertandingan yang akan menghadiahinya status peringkat 1 adalah pertandingan yang amat ketat, melawan pemain yang bagus, dan memaksanya untuk menunjukan mentalitas juara di sepanjang pertandingan! Kualitas inilah yang aku suka dari Serena, sehingga aku adalah seorang fans-nya .

Dan aku juga senang sekali ia akhirnya mendapatkan kembali peringkat 1 itu (terakhir kali ia berperingkat 1 adalah di bulan Oktober 2010, ketika ia sedang cedera parah yang ternyata akan menyebabkan efek berantai yang membuatnya, dalam artian sebenarnya, nyaris meninggal dunia). Ini juga menunjukkan bagaimana tangguh dan petarung jiwanya, dan bagaimana seorang juara dirinya itu. Serangkaian ketidak-beruntungan tidak membuatnya berhenti, dan malah memotivasinya untuk melakukan apa yang ia cintai dan apa yang terbaik dalam dirinya: tenis. Dan kini, ia telah secara resmi menjadi pemain wanita tertua yang menyandang gelar peringkat 1 dunia.

Selamat Serena!!

#1177 – 2013 Australian Open

ENGLISH

So, the first grand slam tournament of 2013 has just been concluded today. And as usual, I am going to make a short review about it.

Women’s Singles

Even since before the first match of the tournament was played, the title had already been “given” to one player. She was, interestingly enough, not the number one player in the world; but had been in dominating form for the second half of 2012 and this form seemed to continue to 2013 as she won the title in Brisbane, which had a strong field (9 of the top 10 players competed there), easily. She was, obviously, the heavy favorite. She was none other than Serena Williams.

Nevertheless, tennis is a sport and someone still needs to win seven matches to get the singles trophy. Anything can happen, anything. And something did happen. In her first round match, Serena rolled her right ankle, badly. But she still won that match, devastatingly as well, with 6–0, 6–0 scoreline. She appeared fine by putting together devastating performance to reach the quarterfinals. There, however, another injury was exposed: a back injury. She lost in the quarterfinals through a tough three-setter.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the draw, the second-seed, Maria Sharapova, also put together impressive performance. She reached the semifinals just by losing nine games along the way! So, with Serena’s loss, the title was automatically “given” to her. But again, this is tennis. Sharapova had to win two more matches if she wanted that title. And she didn’t. The sixth-seed, Li Na from China, put together a very impressive performance, destroying Sharapova 6–2, 6–2 in the semifinals.

The defending-champion and world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, had tougher road along the way. But nevertheless, she managed to go through it all and reached the final. The final was another dramatic match. Li Na took the first set 6–4 before rolling her left ankle mid-way in the second set. Azarenka then took the second set 6–4. In the third set, Li Na, again, rolled the same ankle and fell down, and her had banged the court. I was like “What the hell” when it happened. So weird! Azarenka took the third set 6–3 and won her second grandslam title.

By doing so, Azarenka maintains her world number 1 status (if she had lost, Serena Williams would have replaced her as number 1). Serena raised to number 2 and Sharapova stepped down to number 3.

Anyway, congratulations Victoria Azarenka! You definitely deserve it!

Men’s Singles

One of the headlines before the start of the tournament was the absence of Rafael Nadal. So, this grand slam was the second in a row which he missed due to the prolonged injury. But still, the rest of the top four in the men’s game were still the favorite, with the world number 1, Novak Djokovic, as the defending champion.

Djokovic made his way to the final, after overcoming an epic fourth round encounter against Stanislas Wawrinka. He cruised through his semifinals match against the fourth-seeded, David Ferrer. On the other side of the draw, the second and third seeds, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, were on collision track and they did meet in the semifinals. Coming to the match, Murray was 10–9 against Federer but 0–5 in grand slam. This time, it was Murray’s time. He beat Federer in five set to reach his third Australian Open final.

In the final, Andy Murray made the first move, taking the first set 7–6(2) despite having no break point along the set (while Djokovic had some). Things were kept on level in the second set which forced another tiebreak to be played. This time, Murray was a little unlucky serving at 2–3 in the tiebreak when a bird feather fell down disturbing his concentration. He double-faulted at that point and it seemed the momentum heavily swayed to Djokovic afterwards, and the rest of the match. Djokovic won the tiebreak 7–3, and the last two sets 6–3, 6–2. He won his fourth Australian Open title, and third in a row. By doing so, he became the first man in the Open Era to win three consecutive Australian Open title.

Congratulations Novak Djokovic!!

Fans-Friendly Grandslam

Just like last year, what I really like about this grandslam is their interaction with fans. The same Pick Em Game that was introduced last year was run for the second time in a row this year. Even, the game expanded to not only cover the Australian Open itself, but also three of the warm-up tournaments leading up to it: Brisbane (men and women), Sydney (men and women), and Hobart (women).

I finished the game ranked 164th (out of 4808 participants) last year. So it made sense that my target was to finish within the top 100 this year, huahaha . There were 3207 participants this year. I was quite in a good position coming in to the final stage of the tournament. I think I was sitting somewhere inside the top 50. But then I was so unfortunate in the final where I made some wrong predictions, causing my position to drop, hahaha . In the end, I ended the game ranked 65th overall. Not bad, I guess.

Victoria Azarenka successfully defended her title. Photo credit: Michael Dodge/Getty Images AsiaPac

Novak Djokovic won his fourth Australian Open title. Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images AsiaPac

BAHASA INDONESIA

Jadi, turnamen grand slam pertama tahun 2013 baru saja berakhir. Dan seperti biasa, aku ingin menulis sebuah review singkat tentangnya.

Tunggal Putri

Bahkan semenjak sebelum pertandingan pertama di turnamen ini dimainkan, titelnya telah “diberikan” ke satu orang pemain. Ia, menariknya, bukanlah pemain berperingkat satu dunia; hanya saja ia berada dalam form yang sangat mendominasi di setengah tahun 2012 dan form ini nampak berlanjut ke tahun 2013 dimana ia menjuarai turnamen pemanasan di Brisbane, yang mana field-nya kuat (9 dari 10 pemain 10 besar bermain disana), dengan amat mudah. Tentu saja ia adalah yang difavoritkan untuk juara. Ia, tak lain dan tak bukan, adalah Serena Williams.

Walaupun begitu, tenis adalah sebuah olahraga permainan dan seorang pemain harus menang tujuh pertandingan sebelum mendapatkan piala juara tunggal. Apa saja bisa terjadi, apa saja. Dan sesuatu beneran terjadi. Di pertandingan babak pertamanya, Serena mencederai pergelangan kaki kanannya, dengan amat parah. Tetapi ia masih memenangi pertandingan ini, dengan amat meyakinkan malah, dengan skor 6–0, 6–0. Ia nampak baik-baik saja dengan bermain secara meyakinkan sehingga ia mencapai perempat-final. Hanya saja, disana, sebuah cedera lain mulai menampakkan dirinya: cedera punggung bawah. Ia kalah di perempat-final melalui pertandingan tiga set.

Sementara itu, di sisi lain undiannya, unggulan kedua, Maria Sharapova, juga bermain dengan impresif. Ia mencapai semifinal hanya dengan kehilangan sembilan game saja! Jadi, dengan kalahnya Serena, titel-nya otomatis “diberikan” kepadanya. Tapi sekali lagi, ini adalah tenis. Sharapova harus menang dua pertandingan lagi kalau ia mau mendapatkan titel itu. Dan ia gagal. Unggulan keenam, Li Na dari China, bermain impresif dengan menghancurkan Sharapova 6–2, 6–2 di semifinal.

Sang juara bertahan dan peringkat satu dunia, Victoria Azarenka, harus menjalani jalan yang lebih berbatu. Walaupun begitu, ia berhasil melalui semuanya dan mencapai final. Finalnya adalah final yang dramatis lagi. Li Na memenangi set pertama 6–4 sebelum mencederai pergelangan kaki kirinya di tengah set kedua. Azarenka memenangi set kedua 6–4. Di set ketiga, Li Na, lagi-lagi, mencederai pergelangan kaki kirinya yang sama dan jatuh, dan kepalanya menghantam permukaan lapangan. Waktu nonton itu, reaksiku “Gila, apa-apaan sih ini“. Aneh banget! Azarenka memenangi set ketiga 6–3 dan memenangi gelar grandslam keduanya.

Dengan begitu, Azarenka mempertahankan peringkat 1 dunianya (andaikata ia kalah, Serena Williams akan menggantikannya sebagai nomor 1). Serena naik ke nomor 2 dan Sharapova turun ke nomor 3.

Anyway, selamat untuk Victoria Azarenka! Kamu benar-benar berhak mendapatkannya!

Tunggal Putra

Satu berita utama sebelum turnamen dimulai adalah mundurnya Rafael Nadal. Jadi, ini adalah grandslam kedua dimana ia absen karena cedera berkepanjangan. Walaupun begitu, pemain empat besar lainnya masihlah favoritnya untuk juara, dengan peringkat 1 dunia, Novak Djokovic, sebagai juara bertahan.

Djokovic berhasil masuk ke final, setelah melewati pertandingan epik di babak keempat melawan Stanislas Wawrinka. Ia memenangi pertandingan semifinalnya melawan unggulan keempat, David Ferrer, dengan mudah. Di sisi lain undian, unggulan kedua dan ketiga, Roger Federer dan Andy Murray, terus melaju dan saling berhadapan di semifinal. Masuk ke pertandingan ini, rekornya Murray melawan Federer adalah 10–9 tetapi 0–5 di grand slam. Kali ini adalah waktunya Murray. Ia menang dari Federer dalam lima set dan mencapai final Australian Open ketiganya.

Di final, Andy Murray membuat gebrakan pertama, memenangi set pertama 7–6(2) walaupun tidak mendapat kesempatan untuk mematahkan servis Djokovic di sepanjang set (sementara Djokovic memiliki beberapa kesempatan). Pertandingan berlangsung imbang di set kedua sehingga tiebreak harus dimainkan lagi. Kali ini, Murray agak kurang beruntung ketika sedang akan servis di posisi 2–3 di tiebreak ketika satu bulu burung jatuh dan mengganggu konsentrasinya. Ia melakukan double-fault di poin ini dan karena itu, nampaknya, momentum beralih ke sisi Djokovic setelahnya, dan sepanjang sisa pertandingan. Djokovic memenangi tiebreak itu 7–3, dan dua set selanjutnya 6–3, 6–2. Ia memenangi gelar Australian Open keempatnya, dan yang ketiga berturutan. Dengan begitu, ia menjadi petenis putra pertama di Era Terbuka yang memenangi tiga Australian Open berturutan.

Selamat Novak Djokovic!!

Grandslam yang Ramah Fans

Seperti tahun lalu, yang aku suka dari grandslam ini adalah interaksi mereka dengan fans. Game Pick Em yang sama yang diperkenalkan tahun lalu diadakan lagi tahun ini untuk kedua kalinya. Bahkan, game-nya dikembangkan tidak hanya mencakup Australian Open-nya saja lho, tetapi juga tiga turnamen pemanasan ke Australian Open ini: Brisbane (putra dan putri), Sydney (putra dan putri), dan Hobart (putri).

Tahun lalu, aku menyelesaikan game ini berperingkat 164 (dari 4808 peserta). Jadi, wajar dong kalau targetku tahun ini adalah selesai dengan masuk ke peringkat 100 besar, huahaha . Ada 3207 peserta tahun ini. Aku berada dalam posisi yang baik sebenarnya ketika masuk ke final. Kalau nggak salah aku berada dalam posisi 50 besar deh. Tapi kemudian aku sial di final dimana aku membuat beberapa prediksi yang salah, sehingga posisiku turun deh, hahaha . Akhirnya, aku beraada di peringkat 65 secara keseluruhan. Lumayan lah ya.

#1151 – Southern France and Austria Trip (Part V)

ENGLISH

Previously on Southern France and Austria Trip: Zilko went on a trip to southern France and Austria with his parents who were visiting him this October. After spending five nights in France and two nights in Vienna, they were now in the city of Salzburg, Austria.

***

Day 9 (Saturday, 27 October 2012)

After buying the very useful (and recommended ) 24 hour Salzburg Card at our hotel’s reception, we started the day with making our way to our first destination: Schloss Hellbrunn. As I mentioned during my previous visit there, the Schloss was located at the outskirt of the city; and so it took some time to get there.

Anyway, we arrived at the Schloss at around 10:25. It was already fall and so the tour to the watergames part of the Schloss did not start for every 15 minutes, but every 1 hour instead, and the next tour would start at 11:00. To kill some time, we walked around around the Schloss first. My parents were big fans of the Sound of Music, so our destination in the Schloss would be the “16 Going On 17″ pavilion from the film which was stored there.

After taking some pictures around the pavilion, we went back to the gate where the tour would start. At 11:00 sharp, the watergames park tour started. Well, I already took the tour last year so I already knew what was going on and pretty much where the “traps” were, huahaha . But overall, because it was already fall (so it was much colder than my previous visit, which was in the middle of summer), the guide also took it more easily and didn’t just activate the “traps” (water sprays) to the visitors. He even warned us before he turned some of them on, hahaha .

At the end of the tour, they also sold pictures of us which they took when we were entering the watergames area. As always, I was good-looking in my picture (huahaha ). But they sold it for freaking €7! Well, if it was €3 or less, I would have bought it; but €7 was definitely too much for one piece of photograph!

Anyway, after the tour, we visited the small palace and then walked back to the bus stop to get back to the city center. At the city center, we visited Mozart Geburtshaus (Mozart’s Birthplace House), the building where the world-famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in 1756. Then, we had lunch at a nice classic restaurant also in the city center. Btw, at this restaurant, my mom ordered a soup which turned out to taste like bakso!

After lunch, our plan was to visit the Hohensalzburg Castle which was located on top of the hill. We took the funicular to get there (which was free because we had the Salzburg Card ). Up there, it was so windy btw! Well, it was not stronger than normal strong Dutch wind though, so not that I was too “surprised”; but nevertheless, it was still so strong! At the castle, we decided to join the castle tour, which I did not do during my previous visit to Salzburg. So yay! I still had a new thing to do! The tour was very nice, as the evolution (or development, but I kinda like the word “evolution” more ) of the castle was explained in details. There was also the “Torture Chamber” where a lot of medieval torture devices were stored, even though apparently they did not torture people in that chamber. We also got to one of the tops of the castle, which offered very nice view of Salzburg and its surrounding!

We took another route to go back “downtown”, as we planned to stop by at the Nonnberg Abbey, another setting of the Sound of Music. Unfortunately, when we got there, the church was closed because there was a mass liturgy or something that was being held there. So, we just continued walking down the hill, where at one point my dad recognized a cemetery which was used as the setting in the film as well. We crossed Salzach River to get to the famous Schloss Mirabell.

Feeling a bit tired, we planned to go back to the hotel. But then, we realized it was still 17:30 and the thought of going back to the hotel this early appeared to look like a “waste of time”. So, we went back to the city center, planning to take the free (free because of the Salzburg Card ) boat tour down the Salzach River. When we arrived, one tour just departed; so I asked the guy in the ticket booth about the next departure. And he was like: “Tomorrow” . At my previous trip to Salzburg, I was sure the tour ran until around 20:30 or something like that. But it was during the summer so maybe they had different timetables. But the point was: we missed the last tour of the day just by literally two minutes! Damn!

Okay, we were already there, so we decided to take one random bus whose destination was the “Salzachsee”, which should mean “Salzach Lake” in German. We arrived at the Salzachsee but it was already dusk and the lakes (yes, plural) were located in a small forest so it looked a little bit spooky, hahaha . Finding nothing interesting in particular, we took the next bus to get back to the city center. We had dinner at the same Chinese food restaurant as the day before, but of course we ordered different menu.

When we finished our dinner and left the restaurant, the weather forecast was correct, it was SNOWING!! Yay! My parents were very excited because it was their first encounter with a snowing weather! (Well, they already had seen snow before, during their previous stop to the Switzerland. But it was piled snow on top of a mountain, so not while it was really snowing where the snow fell from the sky). Then, we went back to our hotel.

Day 10 (Sunday, 28 October 2012)

We had to go to Innsbruck today, our last stop on this Southern France and Austria Trip. After looking at the train schedule, we decided to take the 10:02 train service; and so, we planned to check out at 9:15. As you may remember, today was the DST day which meant the time was reversed by one hour during the night; and my parents did not know this. In my mom’s watch, it was already 9:00 while in my smartphone’s clock, it was 8:00. So she was already packing and stuffs while I was just chillin’ and writing down that post for my blog (link above), huahaha . I remember thinking: “Why is mom so rushing and packing already?” while my mom was, apparently, thinking: “Why is Zilko still chillin’? It is almost 9:15!!“, huahaha . When my mom eventually told me it was time to check out (she thought it was 9:15 already while it was actually still 8:15), I told her it was still 8:15 so why in a hurry? Then she insisted it was 9:15 and showed me her watch. And then I remembered it was the DST day!! So I explained to her about it and everything was cleared up, hahaha.

Anyway, it was, apparently, snowing all night long. So as you can see in that post I published on this day, it was all white!! It turned out that snow fell in a much larger area in Austria, as during our train journey to Innsbruck, it was also almost all white! So beautiful!! Btw, this was pretty much our route from Salzburg to Innsbruck (we took direct train to Innsbruck). Yes, part of the journey was actually in Germany!

View Larger Map

We arrived at Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof at around 11:55. We took bus line M to get to our hotel in the Altstadt (Old Town); and after checking-in, we had lunch at the same restaurant as I did (for dinner) on the first day of my previous visit to Innsbruck. I ordered rump steak while my dad ordered the Tirolean Kedgeree.

Btw, if two days prior my dad was not feeling well, this time, it was my mom’s turn (Ah, why did anyone have to get sick during a trip? ). So after lunch, she went back to the hotel to get some rest while my dad and I decided to walk around a little bit. Well, actually, during their tour prior to meeting me in the Netherlands, my parents already visited the Altstadt of Innsbruck though so basically there was not so much left to see for them. So we also went back to our hotel a bit early.

What did we do in the hotel? Well, after a short nap, I watched the final of the WTA Tour Championships (the year-ending championships for the 2012 top women tennis players) between Serena Williams, the third seed, and Maria Sharapova, the second seed . Serena Williams won the match handily, with a scoreline of 6–4, 6–3 for her seventh singles title of the season.

After the match, my dad and I decided to have dinner at a Thai restaurant nearby.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Next on Southern France and Austria Trip:
- More of Innsbruck
- A one day trip to get back to the Netherlands

Back to Schloss Hellbrunn

16 Going on 17 Pavilion in Schloss Hellbrunn

Back to this wonderful Watergames Park in Schloss Hellbrunn

The trap, this guy already knew the trick, I think

Built in 1750, this water-operated mechanical music theatre still worked perfectly!

One of the traps

The city of Salzburg and the Hohensalzburg Castle

The City of Salzburg from Hohensalzburg Castle

On top of the Hohensalzburg Castle

Back to Schloss Mirabell

Is it just me or that these trees do look so awkward??

Snowing in Salzburg!!

Salzburg Hbf

Snowing in Salzburg

Also snowing in Austria!!

The Golden Roof in Innsbruck

So Sultan HB X was once in Innsbruck

Sill River in Innsbruck

Maria-Theresien Square in Innsbruck

So the famous Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once stayed in our hotel also, about 243 years ago

The stairs in my hotel

BAHASA INDONESIA

Sebelumnya dalam Southern France and Austria Trip: Zilko berjalan-jalan ke Prancis selatan dan Austria bersama orangtuanya ketika mereka sedang mengunjunginya di bulan Oktober. Setelah lima malam di Prancis dan dua malam di Vienna, kini mereka berada di kota Salzburg, Austria.

***

Hari 9 (Sabtu, 27 Oktober 2012)

Setelah membeli Salzburg Card 24 jam yang sangat berguna itu (dan amat disarankan loh ), kami memulai acara kami hari ini dengan pergi ke tujuan pertama kami: Schloss Hellbrunn. Seperti yang kusebutkan di kunjunganku sebelumnya kesana, Schloss-nya terletak agak di luar kota; sehingga membutuhkan waktu untuk mencapainya.

Anyway, tibalah kami di Schloss-nya sekitar jam 10:25. Karena sudah masuk musim gugur, tur ke bagian watergames dari Schloss-nya tidak dimulai setiap lima belas menit sekali, tetapi setiap sejam sekali dan tur selanjutnya baru akan dimulai jam 11:00. Untuk menghabiskan waktu, kami berjalan berkeliling Schloss-nya dulu deh. Orangtuaku kan ngefans banget sama film Sound of Music tuh, jadilah tujuan pertama kami di Schloss-nya ya Paviliun “16 Going On 17″ dari film ini yang memang disimpan disana.

Setelah berfoto-foto di paviliunnya, kami kembali ke gerbang masuk dimana turnya akan dimulai. Jam 11:00 tepat, turnya dimulai juga. Yah, aku sudah pernah ikutan turnya tahun lalu ya jadi aku sudah tahu tentang lokasinya dan dimana “jebakan-jebakan”-nya berada, huahaha . Tapi secara keseluruhan sih, karena sudah musim gugur (jadi kan udah lebih dingin dibandingkan kunjunganku sebelumnya, yang mana kulakukan di tengah-tengahnya musim panas), pemandunya juga lebih santai dan nggak terlalu tega menyalakan “jebakan”-nya (semprotan ait) ke pengunjung-pengunjungnya. Malah beberapa kali dia memberi-tahu kami lho sebelum dia menyalakan jebakannya, hahaha .

Di akhir tur ini, mereka juga menjual foto-foto yang mereka ambil ketika kami memasuki area watergames-nya itu. Seperti biasa lah, fotoku tentu sangatlah tampan rupawan ya (huahaha ). Eh tapi kok harganya €7 selembar ya! Yah, andaikan harganya €3 atau kurang, oke aja deh aku beli; tapi €7 jelas kemahalan lah untuk selembar foto doang!

Anyway, setelah turnya, kami mengunjungi istana kecilnya dan kemudian kembali ke halte bus untuk kembali ke pusat kota. Di pusat kota, kami mengunjungi Mozart Geburtshaus (Rumah Tempat Kelahiran Mozart), sebuah bangunan dimana Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart yang amat terkenal itu dilahirkan di tahun 1756. Lalu, kami makan siang di sebuah restoran klasik yang oke di pusat kota. Btw, di restoran ini, mamaku memesan semangkok sup yang rasa kuahnya itu mirip bakso loh!

Setelah makan siang, rencana kami adalah mengunjungi Kastil Hohensalzburg yang berada di atas bukit. Tentu saja kami naik kesana dengan menaiki funicular (yang mana gratis loh karena kami memiliki Salzburg Card ). Di atas sana, cuacanya berangin banget! Nggak lebih kencang daripada tipikal angin kencangnya Belanda sih, jadi ya bukannya aku “kaget” banget; tapi tetep aja lah ya kencang! Di kastilnya, kami memutuskan untuk ikutan tur kastil, yang mana tidak aku ikuti di kunjunganku ke Salzburg yang sebelumnya. Jadi, yay! Ada sesuatu yang baru juga untuk dilakukan! Turnya oke juga lho, soalnya evolusi (sebenarnya perkembangan sih, tapi aku kok lebih suka kata “evolusi” ya ) dari kastilnya dijelaskan dengan amat lengkap. Ada juga “Ruangan Penyiksaan” dimana ada banyak alat-alat penyiksaan dari abad pertengahan disimpang disana, walaupun ternyata dulu ruangan ini tidak dipakai untuk menyiksa orang. Kami juga mencapai salah satu puncak kastilnya, yang mana memberika pemandangan yang oke banget akan Salzburg dan sekitarnya!

Kami mengambil rute lain untuk kembali turun ke kota, karena kami ingin mampir di Nonnberg Abbey, salah satu lokasinya Sound of Music juga. Sialnya, ketika kami tiba disana, gerejanya sedang ditutup karena sedang ada misa atau acara apa gitu di dalamnya. Jadilah kami terus turun menuruni bukit, dan di satu titik papaku menyadari sebuah kuburan yang juga digunakan di filmnya juga. Kemudian, kami menyebrangi Sungai Salzach dan pergi ke Schloss Mirabell yang terkenal itu.

Merasa cukup lelah, kami berencana untuk kembali ke hotel. Namun kemudian, kami menyadari bahwa waktu masih menunjukkan jam 17:30 dan rencana untuk kembali ke hotel seawal ini kok nampak seperti “buang-buang waktu” ya. Jadilah kami kembali ke pusat kota lagi, berencana untuk naik tur kapal gratisan (gratis karena Salzburg Card ) di Sungai Salzach. Ketika kami tiba di dermaganya, sebuah tur baru saja berangkat; jadilah aku bertanya ke petugas di loketnya mengenai jadwal keberangkatan selanjutnya. Dan dia menjawab: “Besok” . Nah, di kunjunganku ke Salzburg yang lalu, aku yakin kok kalau turnya masih ada sampai jam 20:30 juga atau sekitar itu lah. Tapi waktu itu pas musim panas sih jadi mungkin mereka juga memiliki jadwal yang berbeda. Nah, intinya adalah: kami ketinggalan tur terakhir hari itu hanya karena datang kesiangan dua menit saja! Sial!

Oke deh, kami sudah terlanjur disana, jadi kami memutuskan naik sebuah bus secara acak yang tujuannya adalah “Salzachsee”, yang seharusnya berarti “Danau Salzach” dalam bahasa Jerman. Kami tiba di Salzachsee tetapi hari sudah senja dan danau-danaunya (ya, jamak) berada di dalam hutan kecil jadi ya kesannya agak serem juga, hahaha . Karena nggak ada yang menarik, kami naik bus selanjutnya untuk kembali ke pusat kota. Kami makan malam di restoran Chinese food yang sama seperti semalam sebelumnya, tetapi tentu saja kami memesan menu yang berbeda.

Ketika kami sudah selesai makan dan mau pulang, ramalan cuacanya benar dong, BERSALJU!!  Yay! Orangtuaku bersemangat sekali karena kali itu adalah pertama kalinya mereka merasakan cuaca yang bersalju! (Yah, mereka sudah pernah lihat salju sih, ketika mereka mampir di Swiss. Tapi itu kan hanya tumpukan salju di gunung saja, jadi bukan pas sedang bersalju, yaitu ketika sedang hujan salju dimana saljunya jatuh dari langit). Lalu, kami kembali ke hotel.

Hari 10 (Minggu, 28 Oktober 2012)

Kami harus pergi ke Innsbruck hari ini, perhentian terakhir dari perjalanan ke Prancis selatan dan Austria ini. Setelah melihat jadwal kereta, kami memutuskan untuk naik kereta yang jam 10:02; dan jadilah kami berencana check-out jam 9:15. Seperti yang mungkin pada ingat, hari ini adalah hari DST jadi jamnya mundur satu jam gitu semalamnya; dan orangtuaku nggak tahu ini. Jadi di jamnya mamaku, jam menunjukkan pukul 9:00 sementara di jam smartphone-ku masih jam 8:00. Jadi ya mamaku sibuk packing dan lain-lain sementara akunya santai-santai aja dan menulis posting itu untuk blogku ini (link di atas), huahaha . Aku ingat banget aku berpikir: “Ini mama kenapa buru-buru banget sih kok sudah packing segala?” sementara mamaku, ternyata, berpikir: “Ini Zilko kenapa kok masih santai-santai sih? Udah hampir jam 9:15 kan!!“, huahaha . Ketika akhirnya mamaku menegurku bahwa ini sudah saatnya berangkat (ia kira sudah jam 9:15 padahal sebenarnya masih jam 8:15), aku bilang bahwa saat itu kan masih jam 8:15 jadi kok buru-buru amat? Lalu ia bersikeras bahwa saat itu sudah jam 9:15 dan menunjukkanku jam tangannya. Lalu aku ingat deh kalau hari itu adalah hari DST!! Jadilah aku jelaskan dan semuanya jelas deh, hahaha.

Anyway, ternyata saljunya itu turun semalaman lho. Jadi seperti yang bisa dilihat di posting yang ku-posting hari itu, semuanya nampak putih!! Dan ternyata saljunya turun di area yang cukup luas juga di Austria, karena sepanjang perjalanan ke Innsbruck, pemandangannya juga putih-putih! Indah banget!! Btw, beginilah kurang lebih rute perjalanan kami dari Salzburg menuju Innsbruck (kami menaiki kereta langsung sih menuju Innsbruck). Dan ya, sebagian dari rutenya memang melewati Jerman!

View Larger Map

Kami tiba di Innsbruck Hauptbahnhof sekitar jam 11:55. Kami naik bus jalur M menuju hotel kami di area Altstadt (Kota Tua); dan setelah check-in, kami makan siang di restoran yang sama seperti yang pernah kukunjungi (untuk makan malam) di kunjunganku ke Innsbruck sebelumnya. Aku memesan rump steak sementara papaku memesan Tirolean Kedgeree.

Btw, jika dua hari sebelumnya papaku lah yang sakit, kali ini gilirannya mamaku dong (Duh, kenapa sih ini kok harus ada yang sakit segala pas jalan-jalan? ). Jadilah setelah makan siang, mamaku kembali ke hotel untuk beristirahat dan papaku dan aku memutuskan untuk berkeliling sedikit. Yah, sebenarnya sebelum bertemu denganku di Belanda, mereka sudah mengunjungi Altstadt-nya Innsbruck sih jadi pada dasarnya nggak banyak yang belum mereka lihat disana. Jadilah kami kembali ke hotel agak awal.

Apa yang kami lakukan di hotel? Ya, setelah tidur siang sebentar, aku menonton finalnya WTA Tour Championships (turnamen tutup tahun untuk pemain tenis top wanita tahun 2012) antara Serena Williams, unggulan ketiga, dan Maria Sharapova, unggulan kedua . Serena Williams menang dengan mudah, dengan skor 6–4, 6–3 untuk gelar tunggal ketujuhnya musim ini.

Setelah pertandingan itu, aku dan papaku makan malam di sebuah restoran Thailand di dekat sana.

BERSAMBUNG…

Selanjutnya dalam Southern France and Austria Trip:
- Lebih banyak lagi tentang Innsbruck
- Perjalanan seharian untuk kembali ke Belanda

#1122 – 2012 US Open

ENGLISH

Okay, I think me not making any prediction prior to a big tennis tournament is really a good jinx for my favorites. For the third consecutive time now (after Wimbledon and the Olympics), my favorite players performed really well at the US Open!! Okay, so I think I will not make any prediction prior to the start of any tournament ever again! huahaha .

Anyway, so let me start. The fourth and final grand slam tournament of the year, the US Open, has just come to a conclusion. And I will start by first saying:

So Many Retirements

This might be one of the highlights of this edition of the tournament: there were so many retirements from the top athletes! Well, it was not ‘retirement’ as in they could not play their matches because of injury or something, but it was a real ‘retirement’ where they retired from the sport and shall never compete in professional level any more.

There were three notable names who retired during the fortnight of the event. Two names were very popular names and many might not have heard the third name if they were not big tennis fans. They were: Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, and Mark Knowles.

Kim Clijsters already announced from months before that this US Open would be her last tournament. She decided to end her career in a grand slam tournament where she had had the most success at. She did not come to the tournament as an overwhelming favorite, I think, but of course she was expected to do some damages. However, she had a rather shocking second round loss to Laura Robson. One day after this loss, Andy Roddick announced his decision to retire as well. One week after that, Mark Knowles also decided to stop competing.

Ah, so many great players decided to stop at this one tournament!! It was a bit sad as they were all great players, but surely life has to move on, and this was basically what they did…

Men’s Singles

The spotlight of the men’s singles was, as always recently, revolving around the top four players in the world. However, one member of this elite group, Rafael Nadal, withdrew from the tournament because of a knee injury. So, four already became three. Roger Federer was looking to win his 6th US Open title, Novak Djokovic was looking to defend his title, and Andy Murray was (still) looking for his first grand slam singles title.

However, Federer lost in the quarterfinals to Tomáš Berdych (for the second time in a grand slam quarterfinal); many might see this as an opening for Murray. Indeed, he took this chance; he beat Berdych in the semifinal to reach the final, albeit with a lot of fight. Murray would face the defending champion, Djokovic, who showed a stellar form to reach the final.

For the fifth consecutive year now (seriously, this should have shown a serious problem in the scheduling of the US Open as it has constantly been disrupted with weather), the men’s singles final was delayed to a Monday showing. I could not watch the match as it was scheduled at 4 PM  local time, or 10 PM Delft time. I only watched a few points of the first set before I had to hit the bed.

This morning, when I got up, the first thing I did (while surfing the internet) was to check the result. And what I found already made my day: Andy Murray won his first grand slam singles title!! Yaay!! He defeated Djokovic in a five-set thriller, by 7-6(10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.

I watched the highlight of the match, and it seemed to be a really nice, almost 5 hour, final contest!! The score spoke for itself though, Djokovic showed his champion spirit for still being able to force a fifth set after losing the first two sets with close score!! But in the end, only one man could still stand still, and it was Murray’s turn this time.

It was a very well-deserved victory for Andy Murray, who has been battling with this question of not having won a grand slam title for the past several years. He trully deserved it. He has been trying to find the answer to that question. And his decision to hire Ivan Lendl at the beginning of the season seemed to be a smart answer. Also, I guess, his victory at the Olympics helped him mental-wise as it built the confidence in him even more.

Well, so, yeah, congratulations Andy Murray!! And I am very happy now!

Women’s Singles

In the women’s side, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, and Petra Kvitová were the favorites to win the title. Williams waltzed her way  through to the final, with the loss of just 19 games in six matches. The other side of the draw was more brutal; but eventually the semifinals there was between Azarenka and Sharapova. Azarenka edged Sharapova just a little bit, however, to advance to her first US Open final.

Serena was in imperious form and so she was the favorite to win the title, even though her opponent, Azarenka, was the world no.1. Serena started the match really well, dictating the entire first set and won 6-2. However, things started to get more complicated and interesting in the second set. Serena’s game level dropped while Azarenka’s raised; and Azarenka seized this opportunity by gaining the momentum, winning the second set 6-2 and took the momentum to the third set.

Me, who was watching the match live, was dying (lol ) in the third set as Serena went 1-3 down; even though she managed to level it back to 3-3, she quickly fell behind and found herself down 3-5. Azarenka was 2 points from victory at this 3-5, at 30-30, on Serena’s serve. Serena saved this to 4-5, but now it was Azarenka’s turn to serve for the championships. But a match is never over until the umpire says “game, set, and match“, especially when Serena Williams is playing; and here was the drama got to the climax. Somehow, Serena broke back and leveled it back to 5-5. She followed this with a solid hold of service to lead 6-5. Now, more pressure was shifted to Azarenka’s shoulders as she had to hold to stay in the match. Serena seized this chance, broke Azarenka’s serve, and somehow won the third set 7-5!!

This final was definitely the most thrilling women’s final of a grand slam in the past several years. My adrenaline was still rushing even after the conclusion of the match, due to this really thrilling match!! Really! I was shaking just by watching!! Tennis-quality-wise, it might not be a “clean” match (clean match: match with a lot of winner shots and relatively low number of unforced errors); but a tennis match is not only about “clean” hitting (or ‘winners’), right? Especially when this match was a grand slam final. There were a lot of involved factors and this match was one prime example to that.

I am really glad in the end Serena pulled it off . And it was not a waste of time for me to stay up until 1.30 AM on Sunday night (where I would have to go to work on Monday morning of course ), huahaha .

Anyway, so, congratulations Serena Williams!! A tennis player who won her first grand slam title 13 years ago and even now she is still playing very sharp!!

Andy Roddick retired at the 2012 US Open. Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images North America

Kim Clijsters retired at the 2012 US Open. Photo credit: Al Bello/Getty Images North America

Andy Murray won his first grand slam title at the 2012 US Open. Photo credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America

Serena Williams won her 2nd grand slam singles title of the year, 4th US Open singles title, and 15th grand slam singles title at the 2012 US Open. Photo credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images North America

BAHASA INDONESIA

Oke, aku rasa, aku tidak membuat prediksi apa pun sebelum turnamen tenis besar itu malah membawa keberuntungan deh untuk para pemain favoritku. Untuk ketiga kalinya berturut-turut sekarang (setelah Wimbledon dan Olimpiade), pemain favoritku mendapatkan hasil yang amat baik loh di US Open kali ini!! Oke, jadi kayaknya memang sebaiknya aku nggak usah bikin prediksi-prediksian gitu lagi deh ya di turnamen-turnamen yang akan datang! huahaha .

Anyway, mari kita mulai saja. Turnamen grand slam keempat dan terakhir tahun ini, US Open, baru saja berakhir. Dan aku akan memulai posting ini dengan mengatakan:

Banyak yang mengundurkan diri

Ini mungkin adalah salah satu highlight dari turnamen US Open edisi kali ini: ada banyak sekali pemain top yang mengundurkan diri! Mereka bukan sekedar mundur dari pertandingan karena cedera atau apa gitu ya, tapi ini beneran ‘mundur’ dalam artian mereka beneran ‘pensiun’ gitu dari olahraga ini dan nggak akan pernah berkompetisi di level profesional lagi.

Ada tiga nama yang pensiun di turnamen ini. Dua nama sangatlah terkenal dan mungkin kebanyakan nggak kenal nama ketiga kalau nggak nge-fans sama tenis. Mereka adalah: Kim Clijsters, Andy Roddick, dan Mark Knowles.

Kim Clijsters sudah mengumumkan semenjak berbulan-bulan yang lalu bahwa US Open ini akan menjadi turnamen terakhirnya. Ia memutuskan untuk gantung raket di turnamen grand slam dimana ia mendapatkan paling banyak sukses. Ia tidak datang ke turnamen ini sebagai favorit sih, menurutku ya, tapi tentu saja ia bisa diharapkan untuk bertahan cukup lama. Namun, ia justru kalah dengan mengejutkan di babak kedua dari Laura Robson. Sehari setelah kekalahan Clijsters ini, Andy Roddick juga mengumumkan keputusannya untuk pensiun. Dan seminggu kemudian, giliran Mark Knowles lah yang pensiun.

Ah, banyak pemain-pemain hebat yang pensiun di satu turnamen ini nih!! Agak menyedihkan juga karena mereka kan pemain hebat, tapi yang namanya hidup itu harus selalu berlanjut kan, dan inilah yang pada dasarnya mereka lakukan…

Tunggal Putra

Fokus perhatian tunggal putra sih, seperti biasanya beberapa tahun belakangan ini, berada di empat pemain peringkat teratas dunia. Namun, satu anggota dari grup elit ini, Rafael Nadal, memutuskan untuk mengundurkan diri sebelum turnamen karena cedera lutut. Jadi, empat menjadi tiga deh. Roger Federer ingin memenangi gelar US Open keenamnya, Novak Djokovic ingin mempertahankan gelar juaranya, dan Andy Murray (masih) ingin memenangi gelar grand slam pertamanya.

Namun, Federer kalah di perempat final dari Tomáš Berdych (untuk kedua kalinya Berdych mengalahkan Federer di perempat final grand slam); banyak yang melihat ini sebagai kesempatan bagi Murray. Dan ia memang mengambil kesempatan itu; ia mengalahkan Berdych di semifinal dan melaju ke final, walau dengan susah payah. Murray akan menghadapi Djokovic, yang menunjukkan performa yang apik untuk mencapai final.

Untuk kelima kalinya berturut-turut sekarang (beneran deh, seharusnya ini sudah pertanda jelas kalau ada masalah serius di penjadwalan US Open ya karena setiap tahun kok selalu terganggu cuaca gitu), pertandinga final tunggal putra ditunda ke hari Senin. Aku nggak bisa menontonnya karena pertandingannya dijadwalkan dimainkan jam 4 sore waktu lokal, alias jam 10 malam waktu Delft. Aku hanya sempat menonton beberapa poin dari set pertama saja sebelum tidur.

Pagi tadi, ketika aku bangun, hal pertama yang kulakukan (ketika internetan) adalah mengecek hasilnya. Dan apa yang kubaca langsung membuat hariku cerah loh: Andy Murray memenangi gelar grand slam pertamanya!! Yaay!!  Ia mengalahkan Djokovic melalui pertandingan lima set yang ketat, dengan skor 7-6(10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2.

Aku menonton highlight pertandingannya, dan sepertinya memang final ini adalah sebuah final sepanjang nyaris 5 jam yang seru!! Dari skornya sudah jelas lah ya, Djokovic terus berjuang gigih dengan semangat juaranya sehingga ia masih bisa memaksa set kelima untuk dimainkan padahal ia kehilangan dua set pertama dengan skor tipis!! Tapi akhirnya, hanya satu pemain saja yang bisa berdiri sebagai juara, dan kali ini adalah gilirannya Murray.

Ini adalah kemenangan sangat berhak didapatkan oleh Andy Murray, yang telah harus selalu menghadapi pertanyaan kapan akan menang grand slam selama beberapa tahun terakhir. Ia benar-benar berhak mendapatkannya. Ia sudah selalu berusaha mencari jawaban pertanyaan itu. Dan keputusannya untuk mempekerjakan Ivan Lendl sebagai pelatihnya di awal musim ini sepertinya adalah sebuah jawaban yang cerdas. Juga, aku rasa kemenangannya di Olimpiade sangat membantunya, dari segi mental, dan ini membangun kepercayaan diri di dalam dirinya.

Jadi, ya, selamat Andy Murray!! Dan aku sangat senang sekarang!

Tunggal Putri

Di sisi putri, Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, dan Petra Kvitová adalah favorit untuk juara. Williams melaju ke final dengan sangat mulus, dimana ia kehilangan hanya 19 games dalam enam pertandingan. Sisi lain dari undian adalah sisi yang brutal; tapi pada akhirnya pertandingan semifinalnya adalah antara Azarenka dan Sharapova. Azarenka sedikit lebih unggul daripada Sharapova dan berhasil melaju ke final US Open pertamanya.

Level permainan Serena sedang berada dalam kondisi yang menakjubkan sehingga ialah yang difavoritkan untuk juara, walaupun lawannya, Azarenka, adalah pemain peringkat 1 dunia. Serena memulai pertandingan final dengan amat baik, ia mendikte set pertama dan memenanginya 6-2. Namun, pertandingan menjadi semakin rumit dan seru di set kedua. Level permainannya Serena menurun sementara levelnya Azarenka sedikit naik; dan Azarenka tentu memanfaatkan kesempatan ini. Ia mengambil momentum ini dengan memenangi set kedua dan membawa momentum di atas angin ini ke set ketiga.

Aku, yang menonton langsung pertandingan ini, merana loh (huahaha ) di set ketiga karena Serena langsung tertinggal 1-3 gitu; walaupun ia berhasil menyamakan kedudukan menjadi 3-3, tapi kemudian ia langsung tertinggal lagi 3-5. Bahkan, Azarenka hanya terpaut 2 poin dari kemenangan di posisi 3-5 ini, di poin 30-30, di servisnya Serena. Serena berhasil menyelamatkannya sehingga kedudukan menjadi 4-5, tetapi kali ini adalah gilirannya Azarenka untuk melakukan servis untuk memenangi turnamen. Tapi, sebuah pertandingan itu belumlah selesai sampai wasit berkata “game, set, and match“, terutama kalau Serena Williams sedang bermain; dan disinilah klimaks dramanya tercapai. Entah bagaimana, Serena berhasil mematahkan servis Azarenka dan menyamakan kedudukan menjadi 5-5. Performa ini ia dukung dengan mempertahankan servisnya dengan solid sehingga kimi ia memimpin 6-5.  Kini, tekanan teralihkan ke bahu Azarenka dimana ia harus mempertahankan servisnya untuk menghindari kekalahan. Serena memanfaatkan kesempatan ini, mematahkan servis Azarenka lagi, dan memenangi set ketiga 7-5!!

Final ini adalah final grand slam putri paling seru deh selama beberapa tahun belakangan ini. Adrenalin mengalir di badanku bahkan ketika pertandingannya sudah selesai, saking serunya!! Beneran deh! Aku sampai bergetar gitu padahal kan cuma nonton aja ya!! huahaha Secara kualitas tenis sih, pertandingan ini mungkin bukanlah pertandingan yang ‘resik’ (pertandingan resik: pertandingan dengan banyak pukulan winners dan (relatif) sedikit kesalahan sendiri (unforced error)); tapi tenis kan nggak hanya tentang ‘keresikan’ atau pukulan winners saja kan? Apalagi di final sebuah grand slam. Ada banyak faktor yang terlibat dan pertandingan ini adalah sebuah contoh yang pas.

Dan aku lega banget deh akhirnya Serena berhasil menang . Jadi kan nggak sia-sia gitu aku  mengikuti pertandingan ini sampai jam 1.30 pagi di malam Senin (dimana Senin paginya aku harus masuk ke kantor tentunya ), huahaha .

Anyway, selamat buat Serena Williams! Seorang pemain yang menjuarai gelar grand slam pertamanya 13 tahun yang lalu, dan kini ia pun masih bermain dengan amat hebat!!

#1107 – Tennis at the 2012 Summer Olympics

ENGLISH

Today, the tennis event at the 2012 Summer Olympics Games in London was concluded. And because Olympics is such a special event, not only because it is held only once every four years; but in tennis, if a tennis player has won titles from the four grandslams AND the Olympics, they are said to have accomplished the “Golden Slam”. Because of this, I would like to write a special post for this event, hehehe .

Anyway, prior to this Olympics, only three players in the history of tennis have won Golden Slam in singles: Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, and Rafael Nadal; two teams in doubles: Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde and Venus Williams/Serena Williams. In this edition of the Olympics, three singles players competing in this year’s Olympics are bidding for that title: Roger Federer, Serena Williams, and Maria Sharapova; and one doubles team: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan. Interestingly enough, ALL of them advanced to the final of their respective events!

Btw, just as Wimbledon last month, I did not make any prediction prior to this event. And AGAIN, it was proven to be a good jinx because not only my favorite players performed well in the competition, they WON!! So, maybe I should never again make any prediction prior to the start of any tournament, huahaha .

The Golden Slam

As I said above, one of the highlight of this Olympics that stayed last until the very end was the topic of the Golden Slam. All three “Golden Slam” chasers in singles and one team in doubles made it to the final.

Serena Williams

The first ones to take the stage were the two ladies, Serena Wiliams and Maria Sharapova who advanced to the final of the women’s singles event. Coming to the final, Serena Williams was the huge favorite because she had been performing incredibly well in the tournament, losing just 16 games in five matches to get there, including outclassing the world no.1, Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals. Combining this factor with the stat that she lost her last seven matches against Serena, and also that this was the same grass court where Serena just triumphed in Wimbledon Championships four weeks prior, a few would have picked Sharapova to win the match. However, very few would have expected the final to be very lopsided where Sharapova only managed to win one game. Serena Williams played an incredibly confident tennis (this is Sharapova’s words) in the final, winning 6-0, 6-1! Thus, Serena Williams only lost a total of 17 games in the entire tournament, which translated to a loss of just less than three games in average per match!! That is stunning stat!!

With the victory, Serena Williams won a gold medal, and earned the “Career Golden Slam” title in singles. She became just the second woman to do so, after Steffi Graf. However, one more fact that is, sometimes, forgotten is that Serena Williams has also achieved the “Golden Slam” in doubles, twice. Yes, she has won all grandslam titles and Olympics gold medal in singles and doubles!! With this, she is the only tennis player, male or female, in the history of tennis, that has achieved such a feat!! Yes, she has had, indeed, a very incredible career!!

Bob and Mike Bryan

The second one who took the stage was Bob and Mike Bryan, or the Bryan twins. The legendary pair had not won an Olympics gold medal before, even though they won bronze in Beijing in 2008. In London this time, they tried to step it up two notches. Their opponent in the final was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Michaël Llodra from France. Llodra was quite a doubles-specialist, ranked 6th in the doubles ranking, while Tsonga was a more singles specialist; so it was indeed a good chance for the Bryans because their opponent did not play together that much on a more regular basis. And indeed, the Bryans took advantage of this by winning the gold medal match 6-4, 7-6(2). It turned out to not be an easy match, still, by no means, but the Bryans still got the gold.

Roger Federer

It was a repeat of the Wimbledon final. Roger Federer was taking on local hope, Andy Murray. Unlike the previous rounds in the Olympics, the final would be a best of five sets match, just like Wimbledon’s final. Bouncing well from the Wimbledon loss, however, Andy Murray played incredible tennis while Federer’s level was not as good as during Wimbledon’s final, while it was still not bad either actually. Andy Murray won in straight sets 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 to win the gold medal!! He denied Roger Federer the Career Golden Slam title!! It was such an impressive performance by Murray!!

And for me, as Murray’s fan, I do hope that this incredible experience will boost his performance in the grandslam finals to come. It was a perfect experience for him because the match was on Centre Court of Wimbledon in a best of five sets match! It was just like a grandslam final! And he could win that match, against the Roger Federer!! Yes, Andy Murray has it in him, he just needs to unleash it in the next grandslam final to finally win at least one title!!

My Thought of the Olympics

The singles competition in the Olympics is recognized by the ATP and WTA, the two governing bodies that run the men’s and women’s tennis tour respectively; which means that the results from the Olympics count toward the ATP and WTA world rankings. The ATP puts the Olympics in the middle between the ATP Masters 1000, which rewards 1000 point to the titlist, and ATP World Tour 500, which rewards 500 point to the titlist; while the WTA puts it between WTA Premier 5, which rewards 900 point to the titlist, and WTA Premier, which rewards 470 point to the titlist. Therefore, Andy Murray earns 750 point and Serena Williams earns 685 point for winning gold in singles.

Well, as much as I understand the ATP’s and WTA’s decision to categorize this Olympics event to where they are now (perhaps so that their “main” events are still more prestigious, at least ranking-point-wise, than the Olympics, which is held by the ITF (grandslams are held by the ITF as well btw)); I do think the event itself deserves more “recognition” than that, ranking-point-wise. The players field in the event was wonderfully very strong while the “smaller” draw than grandslam put some very interesting match-up already in the earlier rounds; and millions of people around the world had their eyes on the event (just because it was the Olympics). In my opinion, if the points rewarded should not be as much as ATP 1000 or WTA Premier 5, it should be, at least, leaning towards them rather than sitting in the middle between them and ATP 500 or WTA Premier, respectively. So, instead of giving 1:1 weight, 2:1 or 3:1 might be better, again, in my opinion. Ah, but well, it is their decision anyway. I am just a fan who wants to let out some ideas I have in my mind, hahaha

***

So anyway, the bottom line is. Congratulations to all the medalists of this event!! In the other two events, Venus and Serena Williams played impressive doubles matches to win their third gold medal in women’s doubles together; and Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi from Belarus won the gold medal in mixed doubles.

Serena Williams completed the Career Golden Slam in singles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe

Bob and Mike Bryan completed Career Golden Slam in doubles. Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer to win gold in men’s singles event. Photo credit: Luis Acosta/AFP/GettyImages

Serena and Venus Williams won their third gold medal together. Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images Europe

BAHASA INDONESIA

Hari ini, event tenis di Olimpiade Musim Panas di London telah berakhir. Dan karena Olimpiade itu adalah sebuah acara yang amat spesial, bukan hanya karena diadakan satu kali setiap empat tahun saja; tetapi di tenis, jika seorang pemain tenis telah memenangi seluruh empat gelar grandslam DAN Olimpiade, ia dikatakan telah meraih apa yang disebut “Golden Slam”. Oleh karenanya, aku ingin menulis sebuah posting khusus tentang event ini, hehehe .

Anyway, sebelum Olimpiade kali ini, hanya tiga pemain di sejarah tenis yang telah mendapatkan Golden Slam di sektor tunggal: Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, dan Rafael Nadal; dan dua tim di sektor ganda: Todd Woodbridge/Mark Woodforde dan Venus Williams/Serena Williams. Nah, di edisi Olimpiade kali ini, tiga pemain yang berkompetisi di sektor tunggal berkesempatan memasuki jajaran elit tersebut pula: Roger Federer, Serena Williams, dan Maria Sharapova; dan ada satu tim ganda yang juga mengejar gelar yang sama: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan. Yang menarik, KESEMUANYA berhasil lolos ke final di event-nya masing-masing loh!

Btw, seperti Wimbledon bulan lalu, aku tidak membuat prediksi apa pun kan sebelum turnamen ini dimulai. Dan LAGI-LAGI, ternyata ini adalah sebuah keputusan yang bagus karena nggak hanya pemain favoritku tampil baik di turnamen ini, mereka MENANG!! Jadi, kayaknya memang sebaiknya aku tidak usah lagi deh ya membuat prediksi-prediksian gitu di turnamen-turnamen yang selanjutnya, huahaha .

Golden Slam

Seperti yang kubilang di atas, satu fokus dari Olimpiade kali ini yang bertahan hingga akhir adalah topik Golden Slam. Kesemua pengejar gelar “Golden Slam” di tunggal dan ganda berhasil lolos ke final.

Serena Williams

Yang pertama-tama naik ke panggung final adalah kedua petenis putri, Serena Williams dan Maria Sharapova yang lolos ke final tunggal putri. Masuk ke final, Serena Williams adalah yang lebih difavoritkan karena performa briliannya sepanjang turnamen ini, yang mana ia hanya kehilangan 16 games dari lima pertandingan yang ia mainkan untuk lolos ke final, termasuk menghancurkan pemain peringkat 1 dunia, Victoria Azarenka, 6-1, 6-2 di semifinal. Menggabungkan ini dengan statistik bahwa ia selalu kalah dari Serena di tujuh pertandingan terakhir, dan lagi final diadakan di lapangan rumput yang sama dimana Serena baru saja menjuarai Kejuaraan Wimbledon empat minggu sebelumnya, hanya sedikit saja yang mungkin memfavoritkan Sharapova untuk menang. Walaupun begitu, aku rasa hanya sedikit saja yang menduga finalnya akan sangatlah berat sebelah dimana Sharapova hanya berhasil memenangi satu game saja. Serena Williams memainkan tenis yang sangat amat menakjubkan di final, dan menang telak 6-0, 6-1! Oleh karenanya, Serena Williams hanya kehilangan total 17 games sepanjang turnamen ini, yang artinyarata-rata ia hanya kehilangan kurang dari tiga games per pertandingan!! Ini adalah statistik yang sungguh mengagumkan!!

Dengan kemenangan ini, Serena Williams memenangi medali emas, dan mendapatkan gelar “Career Golden Slam” di sisi tunggal. Ia menjadi wanita kedua saja yang berhasil mraih gelar ini, setelah Steffi Graf. Namun, satu fakta lagi yang, kadang kala, terkesampingkan adalah Serena Williams telah meraih “Golden Slam” di sektor ganda juga loh, dua kali malahan. Ya, ia telah memenangi kesemua gelar grandslam dan juga medali emas Olimpiade di sektor tunggal dan ganda!! Dan dengan ini, ia adalah satu-satunya petenis, baik putra maupun putri, yang telah meraih raihan ini!! Ya, memang ia memiliki sebuah karir yang sangat fenomenal!!

Bob dan Mike Bryan

Yang  kedua yang naik ke arena final adalah Bob dan Mike Bryan, alias si kembar Bryan. Pasangan ganda legendaris ini belum pernah memenangi medali emas Olimpiade sebelumnya, walaupun mereka berhasil meraih perunggu di Beijing di tahun 2008 sih. Di London kali ini, mereka mencoba meningkatkan prestasi itu dua tingkat. Lawan mereka di final adalah Jo-Wilfried Tsonga/Michaël Llodra dari Prancis. Llodra adalah pemain spesialis ganda yang berperingkat 6 dunia di sektor ganda, sementara Tsonga merupakan pemain yang lebih spesialis ke sektor tunggal; jadi memang inilah kesempatan baik bagi si kembar Bryan karena lawannya tidaklah sering bermain bersama. Dan memang, si kembar Bryan memanfaatkan ini dan memenangi medali emas dengan skor 6-4, 7-6(2). Finalnya ternyata bukanlah final yang mudah ya, tapi toh si kembar Bryan tetap berhasil memenangi emas.

Roger Federer

Ini adalah ulangan final Wimbledon. Roger Federer akan melawan pemain tuan rumah, Andy Murray. Tidak seperti babak-babak sebelumnya di Olimpiade, finalnya ini adalah pertandingan best of five sets, seperti finalnya Wimbledon. Namun, seperti telah [ulih dengan baik semenjak kekalahannya di final Wimbledon, Andy Murray bermain dengan amat baik sementara levelnya Federer tidak sebaik levelnya ketika ia berada di final Wimbledon, walaupun ia juga tidaklah bermain buruk. Andy Murray menang dalam straight sets langsung 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 dan memenangi medali emas!! Ia menggagalkan harapan Roger Federer untuk mendapatkan gelar Career Golden Slam itu!! Benar-benar sebuah performa yang brilian dari Murray!!

Dan untukku, sebagai fans-nya Murray, aku sangat berharap final ini akan menjadi pengalaman amat berharga yang akan meningkatkan performanya di final-final grandslam selanjutnya. Ini adalah pengalaman yang sempurna baginya karena pertandingan ini diadakan di Centre Court-nya Wimbledon, di pertandingan best of five sets! Auranya mirip sekali dengan final sebuah grandslam! Dan ia berhasil memenanginya, melawan sang Roger Federer!! Ya, Andy Murray memang memilikinya di dalam dirinya, ia hanya perlu mengeluarkannya di final-final grandslam selanjutnya untuk memenangi setidaknya satu gelar!!

Pendapatku akan Olimpiade

Kompetisi tunggal di Olimpiade diakui oleh ATP dan WTA, dua badan yang menjalankan tur putra dan tur putri; yang mana artinya hasil dari Olimpiade bakal ikut dalam perhitungan peringkat pemain di ATP dan WTA. ATP mengategorikan Olimpiade di tengah-tengah di antara ATP Masters 1000, yang memberikan 1000 poin ke si juara, dan ATP World Tour 500, yang memberikan 500 poin untuk juara; sementara WTA mengategorikannya berada di tengah-tengah di antara WTA Premier 5, yang memberikan 900 poin untuk juara, dan WTA Premier, yang memberikan 470 poin untuk juara. Artinya, Andy Murray mendapatkan 750 poin dan Serena Williams mendapatkan 685 poin dengan kemenangan medali emas yang mereka peroleh.

Yah, walaupun aku mengerti latar belakang keputusannya ATP dan WTA ini untuk mengategorikan Olimpiade seperti sekarang ini (mungkin supaya event “utama”-nya mereka itu tetap lebih prestigius, setidaknya dari segi pemberian poin, daripada Olimpiade, yang diadakan oleh ITF (grandslam juga diadakan oleh ITF btw)); aku merasa event Olimpiade ini sendiri berhak mendapatkan “pengakuan” lebih dari ini deh, dari segi poin yang diberikan. Daftar pemain yang berpartisipasi di Olimpiade ini sungguhlah bagus sekali sementara undian yang lebih “kecil” daripada grandslam memungkinkan pertemuan yang menarik antara beberapa pemain terjadi di babak-babak awal turnamen; dan juga toh jutaan mata menonton acara ini di seluruh dunia (ini kan Olimpiade gitu ya). Jadi, menurutku sih, kalau pun banyaknya poin yang diberikan tidak bisa sebanyak ATP 1000 atau WTA Premier 5, seharusnya sih, setidaknya, poinnya berada agak lebih dekat ke kedua kategori ini deh dan bukannya berada tepat di tengah-tengah antara keduanya dan ATP 500 dan WTA Premier. Jadi, bukan bobot 1:1 yang diberikan, mungkin 2:1 atau 3:1 lebih pantas deh, menurutku sih ya. Ah, tapi ini toh keputusan mereka. Aku kan hanya fans saja yang ingin mengeluarkan unek-unek di kepala ini, hahaha

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Jadi, akhirnya, intinya adalah: Selamat buat para peraih medali dari Olimpiade kali ini!! Di dua event lainnya, Venus dan Serena Williams bermain ganda putri dengan amat menakjubkan dan berhasil meraih emas untuk sektor ini; dan Victoria Azarenka dan Max Mirnyi dari Belarusia berhasil meraih emas untuk sektor ganda campuran.