The good humored Russian vs. the little Aussie Jerk by Fred Dick 1/30/2005

Sportsmanship struck a winning blow against the rising tide of boorishness in world-class sports as good-humored Russian Marat Safin won the Australian Open tennis final against whippet-quick little Australian jerk Lleyton Hewitt. Surprisingly but appropriately for this bizarre tournament, the Melbourne crown sensibly turned on their hometown hero despite his opportunity to break a 29 year slump since the last Oz man took that nation's biggest event. From beginning to end, this was a tournament which consistently entertained and surprised.

Roger Federer came into the event on the cusp of invincibility, having won his last 26 matches and 3 of 4 Grand Slams (which are comprised of the Australian, French and U.S. Opens and Wimbledon). However, Safin smudged Federer's perfection fair and square in a classic 5-set semifinal. On the women's side, gorgeous jailbait Maria Sharapova looked like the champ until Serena Williams, wearing the underdog's unitard for the first time in years, ploughed the Russian out in the semis and steamrolled near-retiree Lindsay Davenport for the title.

For U.S. tennis fans, the Aussie Open has always been a tough sell despite its Grand Slam status, because of the time difference. E.S.P.N., which airs the tournament on U.S. television, does fans no favors by deceptively concealing whether matches are live or taped. But, for those who invested in sleepless nights to watch this year's men's final live (3:30 a.m. start time in New York), the unparalleled quality of play in the Hewitt-Safin final was unforgettable.

Safin, who has one Grand Slam victory to his credit courtesy of his 2000 U.S. Open, was a classic underachiever coming to Melbourne this year. Perhaps the only man who could have beaten Federer in this tournament, Safin is a 6'4" hulk with the power of a bulldozer and the grace of a ballerina. However, even after taking out Federer, Safin was in trouble early against Hewitt, whom commentator Patrick McEnroe accurately likened to American Machiavellian Jimmy Connors. Indeed, with the Melbourne crowd -- including Greg Norman and Olivia Newton-John -- cheering him on, Hewitt blitzed a bewildered looking Safin 6-1 to take a one set lead. But Safin's sheer talent, once it kicked in in the second set, overcame Hewitt's gamesmanship and mental toughness. After a close line call in the second set which went against Hewitt (replays showed the call was correct) Hewitt won a subsequent point and glared and pointed at the linesman who made the disputed call. The crowd, sensing it was backing the wrong man, despite national origin, began to cheer Safin. Hewitt was thus deprived of an intangible he needed to overcome the more talented Russian, and Safin aided things by putting on a tennis display not seen (outside of Federer) since the heyday of Pete Sampras, rolling to win 3 straight sets and the title after Hewitt's surprising first. We're sure that the rest of the sports year will see the churlish world-class sports scene continue to slide into the abyss of poor sportsmanship, but for this one big night, it was refreshing to see the good guy win.