Australian Open Final Longest, or Merely the Slowest Ever?

I was about to write this but ESPN's Kamakshi Tandon stepped in:

"It's well known that Nadal and Djokovic are two of the slowest players on tour in terms of the amount of time they take between points.

Federer Hits With More Spin Than Nadal ...

... except when Nadal hits with more spin than Federer. 

Whoa! Rafa fans, I know how sensitive you are.  I'm not dissing your man. Nadal has the heaviest topspin forehand on the planet. I bow before him. Although the claim that Rafa hits with more spin than anyone else is not entirely accurate, as I'll explain. 

My beef instead is with the sloppiness and confusion caused by tennis TV announcers. Witness this discussion last November between the play-by-play announcer, which I believe was Brett Haber, and the color commentator, Taylor Dent, who recently retired from the ATP Tour after getting as high as 21 in the world, while watching Federer play Marin Cilic. 

Australian Open 2012 by the Numbers

Sometimes what determines the victor in a close match-up is subtle and hard to spot or define, but more often it jumps out. 

Let's look at key matches from this year's Australian Open with stats from: Novak vs. Rafa, Fed vs. Rafa, Novak vs. Murray, and Tomic vs. Dolgopolov. 

Hard Courts Fast, Clay Slow, Not so much ...

Can we please put this one to bed once and for all? 

Azarenka shrieks on high G, Sharapova shrieks on high A flat

A musician actually went to the trouble of figuring out what pitch tennis' two über-screechers reach.

Form a Straight Line to the Ball When Serving

A given is that when you serve in tennis you should form a straight line from the ball at impact, through your arm and back.

Kinesio Tape, Tennis' Miracle Cure?

It all started during the Beijing Olympics. Atheltes showed up with geometric patterns of tape over muscle pulls that supposedly did something to make the muscles better. 

Do Pros 'Snap Their Wrist' when Serving?

One tennis teaching cliche' is to snap your wrist for power. 

Marat Safin is Crazy (Like a Fox)

TV announcers like to make fun of the quixotic Russian tennis star Marat Safin for his superstitions among other things.

But maybe Safin was crazy like a fox. 

You Can't Lob Over Tall Players

I'm so tired of this defeatist attitude.