It's about time

Being a night owl has some advantages, especially when they're playing big-time tennis in Melbourne, Australia and you want to watch it live. In the wee, small hours of this morning, I got to catch the end of an epic match between American Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek, the world no. 2 player, from Poland. Keys won! The three-set match ended in a 10-point tiebreaker in which the American prevailed, 10 to 8. It does not get any closer than that.

I'm happy for Keys. This win puts her in her second major-tournament finals ever. Her only other finals appearance was in the U.S. Open in, get this, 2017. There's been a lot of heartbreak since then. Perhaps the worst moment was in last year's Wimbledon, where she was cruising before she slipped on the grass on suffered a tournament-ending injury. 

But that's all in the past. A huge hitter, Keys is in fantastic playing shape right now. She's coming to the net more often, and she's gotten pretty dangerous up there. She won the warmup tournament in Adelaide, and she was absolutely tough as nails against Swiatek today. The finals will pit Maddie against the screaming Mimi from Belarus, Aryna Sabalenka, currently ranked no. 1 in the world. I'll be watching it, for sure, but with the sound off.

As for Swiatek, she's a great talent, but her star has faded in my eyes since she appeared on the scene five years ago. She jerks her opponents around with delays and antics before many points begin, and she was recently given scandalously preferential treatment by the tennis league when she flunked a drug test. I've kind of reached the take-it-or-leave-it stage with her. And anyway, I would be rooting for Keys even if she were playing against Mother Teresa (who had a pretty wicked backhand slice, I hear).

They haven't announced the time of the women's final match yet. It will be on Saturday in Australia, but I'm not sure when that is over here.

On the men's side, the Final Four are three guys you would expect, plus, lo and behold, another American, Ben Shelton! He has to deal with Jannik Sinner of Italy tonight. The other semi-final is Novak Djokovic of Serbia against Sascha Zverev of Germany. Djokovic pulled off a slight upset in beating Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in the quarterfinals. That was a heck of a match to watch as well, as it always is when those two go head to head. Novak, who's getting up there in years, is not done yet.

If I were retired and rich, I'd be in Melbourne right now with good seats for a lot of the tournament. And it looks like I wouldn't have any trouble getting in. There were many empty seats to be seen on my TV screen – a shocking number, even in these last few rounds. They're probably charging too much for the tickets, which is a dumb move. Anyway, one of these years, Lord willing and the creek don't rise, it will be me and the koalas, cheering on some of the world's most superb athletes, in person.