Hi there,

So no surprise with Roger winning again other than the manner in which he went about doing it. This is the first slam he has won without dropping a set and so I guess the critics who have been saying that the gap is closing between him and the rest of the pack better get back to the drawing board. He was simply magnificent throughout, especially against Roddick in the semis which, even by Federer’s standards, was superb.

In the women’s event it was completely the opposite with Serena taking us all by surprise to claim her first Grand Slam title in two years. Her ranking will go up to inside 15 now and I guess it makes for quite an entertaining year with Henin set to come back next week and Mauresmo with a point to prove after her shock exit. The other question on everyone’s lips is how will Sharapova bounce back from the “shalacking” (as Jim Courier put it) in the Open final. In my opinion she is a true champion and I don’t think it will effect her too much, she is the best player in the world at the moment and, as she said, “the rankings don’t lie.”

Ilija and I trained once each day last week at Melbourne Park. There was still some kind of atmosphere on the outside courts so it made for a great training environment. By just training once each day it gave him some time to recover from some aches and pains in his growing joints and he received a timely massage on the weekend before we headed to Sydney. We stayed with some friends of mine on Monday evening in Manly, one of the most beautiful beaches on the North shore of Sydney and we drove thru the city centre and over the Harbour Bridge to get there. Even this, the umpteenth time I have seen this world famous attraction, it still takes your breath away. We went to Gosford (location of the money tournament about 60kms north of Sydney) on Tuesday evening and we are staying in Terrigal about 10 kms away from there. It is a very cozy little beachside town, and much nicer than Gosford itself. There is a little tip for any of you who may want to visit the New South Wales coast somewhere in the future!!!

Unfortunately Ilija lost last round qualies to John Peer in straight sets. It was an eye opening match for Ilija as another goal for him this year is to start to make the transition into men’s tennis and this guy was your typical lower ranked futures player. If he keeps progressing and getting stronger and sticks to a style of play which will stand him in good stead for the future then it won’t be long before he starts to cut through these kind of opponents. Overall though the evidence is quite clear as to the progress he has made to certain aspects of his game on this trip and hopefully now he can further improve on them when he goes to South America with Jez in a week and a half’s time.

We will start to train on the clay starting on Monday which will be a welcome relief from the pounding of the hardcourts for the past month.

Away from tennis, we went go-karting on Saturday and Ilija was just slightly better than me. Maybe his interest in motor sport gave him the edge or maybe I just got a slower kart than he did. The latter I think may explain this surprising result. We also went to the Australian reptile Park yesterday which was a lot of fun and got to see all the weird and wonderful creatures that roam this continent. I think Ilija will be checking under the toilet seats from now on for spiders as I told him that this is their favourite place to chill out!!!!

Take care