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Go Figure: Aussie Open by the numbers

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bryan-brothers

Bob (left) and Mike Bryan have won a record 13 Grand Slam doubles titles. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Some notable numbers from the Australian Open …

3: Consecutive Australian Open titles for Novak Djokovic, an Open Era record (1968-present).

21: Consecutive victories in the month of January for Victoria Azarenka, who has won two Australian Opens in a row.

13: Grand Slam doubles titles for Bob and Mike Bryan after their victory in Melbourne, breaking a tie with John Newcombe and Tony Roche for the most all time. The brothers have won six Australian Opens, four U.S. Opens, two Wimbledons and one French Open.

17: Years between victories at the Australian Open for 42-year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm, who won an opening-round match for the first time since 1996. (Date-Krumm didn’t compete from 1997-2008.) She became the oldest woman to win a singles match in tournament history. Date-Krumm lost in the third round.

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  • Published On Jan 29, 2013
  • Novak Djokovic on front pages of newspapers across globe

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    Novak Djokovic’s 6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2 win over Andy Murray in the Australian Open final captured headlines all over the globe — from Melbourne to Chennai, India, and all the way back home to Belgrade, Serbia, where they called him “The King of Melbourne” and “Super Serb.”

    My personal favorite: Djokovic makes the front page of Roger Federer’s hometown paper in Switzerland, Basler Zeitung. The caption? “Djokovic’s third strike.” Are they trying to jinx him?

    After the jump, check out a sampling of newspaper front pages on which Djokovic is featured.

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  • Published On Jan 28, 2013
  • Australian Open report card: top marks for Novak Djokovic, Sloane Stephens

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    Novak Djokovic wins Australian Open

    Novak Djokovic will (again) go for the career Grand Slam at the French Open. (David Callow/SI)

    Novak Djokovic: A. Craig Tiley might as well hand the keys to Melbourne Park to Djokovic, who completed his Australian Open three-peat with equal parts dominance, grit, belief and just plain quality. He survived a fourth-round scare from Stanislas Wawrinka (12-10 in the fifth), embarrassed No. 4 David Ferrer (6-2, 6-2, 6-1) in the semifinals and refused to be moved against Andy Murray (6-7 (2), 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-2) in the final. Djokovic is the perfect mascot for this tournament that has gone from the red-headed stepchild of the Grand Slams to equal footing, putting pressure on the rest to step up. That sounds a lot like Djokovic, too.

    Victoria Azarenka: B+. If Djokovic is the Iron Man, Azarenka may be the female counterpart. Nothing can prepare you for stepping onto a stage where most of a crowd of 15,000 (and millions watching around the globe) hope you fail. Her ability to defend her title under those conditions with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Li Na solidified her as the best competitor on the WTA. Sorry, Maria. Apologies, Serena. But it’s true.

    The win came at a price. Time will tell whether the medical timeout criticized around the world defines Azarenka rather than her steely performance in the final. People still remember “The Hand Incident” at the 2003 French Open between Justine Henin and Serena Williams. Henin went on to win that tournament as well, but her reputation for winning at all costs — in the media, among fans and within the locker room — followed her. Azarenka said her takeaway from last week was to be better about explaining herself. That’s fine, but here’s hoping she also learned not to put herself in that position in the first place.

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  • Published On Jan 28, 2013
  • Daily Bagel: Rafael Nadal wins poker tournament

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    The Daily Bagel is your dose of the interesting reporting, writing and quipping from around the Internet.

    • Video: Champagne, Redfoo and dancing. That’s how Victoria Azarenka celebrated her second Australian Open title.

    • Rafael Nadal won a tournament! OK, it was a poker tournament, but hey, that’s still something.

    • The New York Times has a Q&A with WTA president Stacey Allaster. Here’s her take on Azarenka’s controversial medical timeout:

    I know Vika pretty well, and she’s a good girl. And I think she probably just thought I’m going to play through this and get through it and that game was just too much and she had to call it. Probably in hindsight she would have done it differently and then after that, I think it’s the judgment of the medical experts. It’s their responsibility to ensure the health and well-being of the athlete. They made a determination that she needed a medical treatment and followed it and according to the rules. It’s not Vika’s fault it took 10 minutes.

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  • Published On Jan 28, 2013
  • Watch List: Davis Cup for Djokovic, WTA in Paris

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    Novak Djokovic

    Novak Djokovic won’t have long to enjoy his Australian Open title as Davis Cup play begins Friday. (Dita Alangkara/AP)

    Davis Cup

    The first round of Davis Cup kicks off this weekend and, yes, the No. 1 player in the world and recently crowned Australian Open champion is in action. The draws take place Thursday and play begins Friday through the weekend. Here are the ties to watch:

    Spain vs. Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia): A depleted Spanish squad goes to Vancouver without five of its top six players, making this a winnable matchup for Milos Raonic and Co. Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez are skipping the tie, which means Spain will be led by No. 32 Marcel Granollers and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in singles and Granollers and Marc Lopez in doubles. Those are two favorable singles matches for the 15th-ranked Raonic, especially on the quick indoor court in the Thunderbird Sports Arena, which means this could come down to the doubles. Expect the home crowd to get loud and rowdy. Tickets sold out in just 80 minutes.

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  • Published On Jan 28, 2013
  • Highlights, stats, tweets from Novak Djokovic’s Australian Open win

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    A roundup of what you may have missed overnight from Novak Djokovic’s record-breaking 6-7 (2), 7-6 (43, 6-3, 6-1 win over Andy Murray in the Australian Open final.

    Highlights

    ESPN promo:

    Australian Open TV highlights:

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  • Published On Jan 27, 2013
  • Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray: Australian Open final live analysis

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    Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray

    Novak Djokovic (left) leads the head-to-head with Andy Murray 10-7. (AFP/Getty Images)

    Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2 on Sunday to defend his Australian Open title. Djokovic became the first man in the Open Era to win three consecutive Australian Opens. He how has six Grand Slam titles.

    Despite having the best returners in the game, the match featured 31 straight holds before Djokovic finally broke through to break Murray in the third set. The Serb ran away with the match from there as Murray, who endured a four-hour match against Roger Federer two days ago, struggled with blisters and a hamstring problem.

    Game-by-game analysis of the match after the jump.

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  • Published On Jan 27, 2013
  • Victoria Azarenka’s Australian Open trophy has unfortunate error

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    Australian Open trophy

    (twitter.com/mcaussie)

    Belgium, Belarus, it’s all the same right?

    Some eagle-eyed fans spotted quite the faux pas during the engraving of the Victoria Azarenka’s name onto the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the trophy presented to the Australian Open women’s champion. With her win over Li Na in Saturday’s final, Azarenka successfully defended her 2012 title, which means all the engraver had to do was copy the name and country affiliation already on the trophy and add a little “2013″ before it. Instead, he went rogue and mistakenly engraved her country affiliation as “BEL” which is Belgium, not “BLR” for Belarus. Oops!

    Perhaps the engraver is still hung up on Australia’s favorite adopted daughter, Kim Clijsters. Nicknamed Aussie Kim and adopted as a fan favorite due to her ties to the country after being engaged to Lleyton Hewitt (and because she’s just really nice and everyone adores her) the Belgian won the Australian Open in 2011 — beating Li, incidentally — for her last Slam title of her career. A blonde champion? Li Na on the losing end of another three-setter? A small country that starts with the letter “B”? Anyone could make that mistake. Just kidding. There’s no excusing this one.

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  • Published On Jan 26, 2013
  • Highlights, reaction, Redfoo from Victoria Azarenka’s Australian Open win

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    Redfoo

    “Get your grunt on.” Redfoo wasn’t helping Victoria Azarenka gain more fans. (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

    A roundup of what you may have missed overnight from Victoria Azarenka’s 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over Li Na in the Australian Open final.

    WERTHEIM: Azarenka overcomes Li, Internet spanking

    Azarenka’s trophy has unfortunate error

    Men’s final preview

    Highlights

    ESPN’s opening promo for the final. Who knew its over the top dramatics were actually appropriate for what was about to unfold?

    After taking the first set, Li rolled her left ankle and went tumbling to the ground:

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  • Published On Jan 26, 2013
  • Men’s final preview: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray vie for history

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    Novak Djokovic

    Novak Djokovic has never lost an Aussie Open final dating to his 2008 win. (Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

    No. 1 Novak Djokovic is bidding to become the first man to threepeat at the Australian Open, while No. 3 Andy Murray could become the first man in the Open era to follow up his maiden Slam title by immediately winning the next. Plenty is on the line in Sunday’s men’s final (3:30 a.m. ET, ESPN).

    There will be no secrets between these two when they take the court. They’ve faced each other 17 times, seven in the last year. Djokovic holds the head-to-head lead at 10-7, but their matches are quite often decided by a handful of points. They went the full five sets in both their Slam matches last year, with Djokovic prevailing at the Australian Open and Murray besting him at the U.S. Open.

    WERTHEIM: Azarenka overcomes Li, Internet spanking

    Djokovic is the favorite not only because he’s No. 1, defending champion and leads the head-to-head, but also because he’ll be fully rested after scoring an easy win over David Ferrer in his semifinal Thursday. Murray played his semifinal Friday and needed five sets and four hours to dispatch Roger Federer.

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  • Published On Jan 26, 2013


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