Finally, the day I have been looking forward to, since forever, and have been denied time and time again – Federer lost in a Grand Slam tournament other than the French open. That bit of news gives me rather great amount of satisfaction, and for the first time ever, I will break my moratorium, and watch a Men’s final live on TV come Sunday. A number of observations not directly related to the match:-

Undoubtedly, his single-handed dominance of every tournament, speaks to the class of the man. He has been routing out opponents in the worst way, just utterly destroying them, making the outcome of the match a foregone conclusion. I habitually never watch a final when Roger’s playing, knowing there can be no other result. And yet people act as if surprised when he wins. Oh please. I wonder why people don’t seem to get tired of his winning everything. I always was in disbelief – more so at the Australian crowd this time that kept chanting "Let’s go Roger, Let’s go!". I would be cheering Djokovic who played an amazing match, clearly outclassing Federer at his prime.

It brings me to the crowd support: So many players feed off it – Agassi is one prime example, as well as Ivanisevic. However not all countries and crowds are uniform. Aussie crowds are given to mass media mentality, their favoritism being showered vociferously on whoever the media tells them is a hero – may it be a local player (I refer you to Phillipousis vs. Sampras) or someone who has been utterly and fully dominating the world of men’s tennis making it singularly the most boring sport to watch (vis-a-vis Federer).

Crowds in France are just so much more independent in that way, they root for the one after their heart (I refer you to Graf vs. Hingis final). At Wimbledon, the queen of tournaments, the English crowds have always singularly cheered for the underdog, whoever that may be (Graf vs. Novotna, Rafter vs. Sampras, Ivanisevic vs. Rafter). The American audience can be categorized as the most mature in this regard. They root for the best player (as long as he is not playing against a hometown favorite). As a result, it is always a delight to watch the US Open at Flushing Meadows, NY.

Anyway, for the first time we shall have a new Grand Slam champion (after nearly 2.5 years) other than Nadal and Federer. I shall be tipping my hat in Djokovic’s direction – if he can maintain his form, he is unstoppable. Tsonga could conceivably pull a card from his hat and win the tournament, but chances of that are in my opinion – slight.