The Topsy Turvy World Of Grand Slam Tennis: The Australian Open 2010

Although 2009 hasnt finished yet and the ATP Masters Final is still yet to be played, I think its a good time to see what could/or maybe realsitically not happen next year in the four major grand slams. First is the Australian Open.

In preparation for the Australian Open, Andy Murray pulls a muscle in his leg while training with Formula One World Champions Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton and is forced to miss the first slam of the year. Roger Federer's reaction to this was in an interview to an Australian newspaper where he claimed he had never even heard of Murray.

This causes a war of words between the two and affects Federer's concentration as he is knocked out in the first round by Slovakian Lukas Lacko who is ranked 91 in the world. Rafeal Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick all go through easily.

By the third round, Federer is still the only big name to go out with his defeater Lacko going strong. However, in the fourth round Lacko faced Roddick, who blitzes the Slovakian off the court in a 6-0, 6-0, 6-1 demolition. Roddick scored a total of 52 aces during the match.

The quarter finals saw Roddick v Djokovic, Nadal v Tsonga, Haas v Hewitt, and Monfils v Davydenko. Roddick and Djokovic play out a five set thriller which lasts five and half hours and ends with the Serbian claiming victory in a 3-6, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6, 6-4 nailbiter.

Nadal though makes light work of Tsonga, as the Frenchman retires with a wrist injury after the Spaniard had kept smacking the ball to his forehand. As a result Tsonga recorded the most amount of unforced errors in the history of the Australian Open.

Lleyton Hewitt put himself into the semi-finals with a 7-6, 7-6, 7-5 win over Tommy Haas. However, the match was largely overshadowed by a fight in the crowd in which Haas decided to split up himself and paid the price by being punched in the face.

The last quarter final ended in shock as Davydenko lost to Monfils in straight sets. Afterwards, Monfils said that it was better than sex and swore repeatedly in front of the sky cameras.

As the semi finals loomed, Monfils was fined for his comments and Tommy Haas was given a warning for jumping into the crowd to stop a fight. Rafeal Nadal commented on both players claiming that they were both "immature".

In the first semi final, Djokovic wins the first set against Nadal by six games to two but for the rest of the match he is forced to run all over the court and ends up losing the match 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, 6-4. Nadal was through to his second successive Australian Open final.

The second semi final was even more exciting as the home favourite Lleyton Hewitt was knocked out by Monfils. The frenchman was once again ecstatic about the victory and said that Hewitt was a much better player than Davydenko.

The final was a momentus occasion. The tournament organisers decided to change the colour of the court from blue to pink, which angered Nadal as he had been wearing pink during the slam and was told he could not wear it for the final.

Just before the match, Monfils sings the french national anthem while he warms up, which angers Nadal who storms off the court in disgust. After a two hour delay, Nadal agrees to play but only if Monfils is cautioned.

The final turned into a one sided match for a while. Monfils dominated the first and second sets by winning them both six games to three. However, controversy soon strikes as the umpire has a random loss of memory and as part of the new rules has to go to an audience vote on who should win the third set.

The crowd award the third set to Nadal, who then wins the championship in a five set match. Monfils was not happy with the result and breaks every single one of his rackets before launching a ball into the stands and running towards the changing rooms.

Nadal is victorious in Australia and claims Monfils was "unlucky to lose".

Next stop France, but will Monfils have his revenge?