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Andy Murray, who lost to Rafael Nadal in the final in his previous tournament, is all set to experience victory at the Sony-Ericsson Open in Miami. If Murray wins this tournament, it would take him to the new heights in his career. He will be placed third in the world rankings. He will most probably become the first British since the rankings began in 1973 to reach in the top three slots.

This Scottish player needs to reach the final in order to surpass the Serbian player Novak Djokovic, who in a recent interview said, “I go into every tournament wanting to win.”

Andy Murray defeated Marc Gicquel 6-0 6-4 in his previous match. He has a first round bye and faces Juan Monaco in his opener match on Saturday. The Russian player Teimuraz Gabashvili defeated his Italian opponent 6-4 4-6 6-4 and is all set to play Rafael Nadal next, who is among the top seeds.

Roger Federer, the former number one player who has won 14 times at the Elite Masters level and has not won any since Cincinnati in August 2007, is now hoping to end the bad phase of his life. He said, “I hope this year I can change that and get on a good roll again,” said the Swiss star, which will face Kevin Kim in his opening match. I’ve done so well over the last few years I’d like to win a few again.”

Coming to the women’s event, Maria Sharapova is still recovering from her serious shoulder injury. But the sister duo Serena and Venus William are back after they missed Indian Wells tournament.

Today’s tennis watching generation must feel luckier than the ones of the past and perhaps than the ones of the future too. To watch two of the best players of the current times playing against each other, trying to become the greatest of all times is an experience in itself. Australian Open 2009 final was one such incident.

Swiss heart throb Roger Federer has already won 13 grand slams and needs just one to join the great Sampras at the top of the list and than just one more to become the winner of maximum grand slams ever.

Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal proved last year that he’s god not just on the clay court by winning French and Wimbledon in a single year, done by anyone after a gap of 28 years since Bjorn Borg accomplished the feat in 1980.

Last year the two met twice in slam finals with the similar outcomes, Nadal demolishing the FedEx. The latter also lost his top ranking to the former eventually.

2009 had started with more such encounters expected between the two kings and they didn’t disappoint their fans by advancing to the final of the opening Grand Slam of the year, Australian Open.

What a match it turned out to be! As equally good players as they both are so were their performances in the first four sets. The honours of the match were shared equally till the last set, which eventually became the final of the final. Incidentally it was the first five set final in 21 years. The final set was more of an anti-climax, though.

There was a lot at stake and record keepers were waiting to update their books with fingers crossed. The end result had Nadal as the first Spanish winner at the Australian Open and holder of three unique slams simultaneously after a long time. Interesting, the last guy to have done this and even better was the presenter of the winner’s trophy, the legendry Rod Lever in 1969. Federer has a losing record to Nadal in the Grand Slam finals and it seems as if the Spaniard is Federer’s cryptonite. Whether it has something to do with Nadal’s power, obviously a result of his strength training on machines like the Nautilus NS300 multi-gym, or if it is simply mental, Federer remains unable to solve the mystery of Nadal. Of course, Federer shouldn’t dismay and he needs to stay confident if he is to beat the Spaniard in the future.

Roger Federer started his quest for a record equalling 14th Grand Slam title in earnest as he breezed past 35th-ranked Andreas Seppi of Italy, 6-1, 7-6 (4), 7-5 in the first round of the Australian Open. Despite being only a first round match, the win was an important one for Federer considering that Andreas is barely outside the top thirty, which would have guaranteed him a seeding.

Moreover, the 27-year-old Federer feel optimistic about his chances this time around as he is much better shape than what he was at this point of time last year, when he was on the verge of withdrawing from the competition suffering from a bout of mononucleosis accompanied by sickness and tiredness that dogged him for months.

Federer said that unlike last year, when he had to play under considerable pain, this time he is feeling a lot better and his preparation is also much more extensive making him believe in his abilities. He also said that he is once again getting in control of his all-round game which he temporarily lost last year.

Last year, misfortune continued through out the season for the sublime Swiss, who started off with a semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic, then losing the French Open to nemesis Rafael Nadal. But the ultimate insult came to the player when he was robbed of the Wimbledon, which he has almost made his own for the last few years, and world number one ranking. However, Federer after reaching a low point for the first time in his sterling career steadily revived it win an improbable win at the U.S. Open, and would dearly love to use it as an incentive to achieve greater results in the current season. Meanwhile, seventh-seeded Andy Roddick definitely had his Babolat trainers working, as he breezed by the 31-year-old Swedish Bjorn Rehnquist in straight sets 6-0, 6-2, 6-2 of his qualifier. Defending champion Djokovic also was seen in action and smoothly moved to the second round with a convincing 6-2, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Andrea Stoppini.

While the entire world is feeling the sting of the global economic crisis, there is still one arena left, i.e. if reports are to be believed, that has remained immune to all the hoopla surrounding it. Yeah, you are right, we are speaking about tennis, which officials argue is still going strong with great revenues coming in at a constant rate. Moreover, what is even more surprising is that they claim the sponsors are looking to pump in more money into the game in the current fiscal year, which directly contrasts to the fate of many other sporting fraternities which are forced to close shop.

The financial crisis at one time looked as it would have an impact on the game, especially when the financial services companies and automakers, among its prime sponsors had to back out. But it didn’t get the chance to materialize into reality as the lure of tennis attracted a completely new breed of sponsors to the fold, making the game more lucrative than ever. Nike, for instance, has not given up sponsoring tennis or its tennis shoes like the Nike Air Max Voltage pair. Kris Dent, the ATP’s corporate communications director while acknowledging that there is absolutely no such thing as recession-proof, stressed that the ATP World Tour is in robust health, which makes them optimistic about the future. He added that, attendance and prize money all grew last year.

He further revealed that unlike other games, tennis enjoys a universal appeal that is unparalleled. This very nature also shields it from what usually happens to national associations or leagues.

It only helps matters that tennis has some of the world’s most recognizable and popular faces in their ranks in Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and the Williams sisters, to name a few.

If it had been any other lesser mortal than Federer, he sure would have been left scratching his head with frustration given the kind of draw that the former world number one has been given. The widely popular Swiss, who is chasing Pete Sampras’ record 14 Grand Slam titles, is slated to meet former number one-ranked Carlos Moya in the second, while the ridiculously talented and unpredictable Marat Safin, the champion here in 2005, waits eagerly in the third round to give Federer some anxious moments. That’s not all as; the semi-finals might see the Swiss involved in a bitter struggle with the defending champion Novak Djokovic. Djokovic though to earn that right, in all likelihood has to get rid of seventh-seeded Andy Roddick in a quarterfinal encounter.

Meanwhile, Federer’s nemesis top-ranked Rafael Nadal and fourth-ranked Andy Murray are drawn on the other half of the draw and are likely semifinal rivals. It may be mentioned that Nadal and Murray are the only active players to have a winning record against Federer.

The women’s draw was unforgiving as well with the Williams sisters Serena and Venus on course to meet in the semis. It certainly comes as setback for the sponsors who always look forward to the fearsome sisters playing in the finals, as it has been proved an umpteenth number of times that the matches featuring them simply skyrockets television viewer ship.

The younger sister, Serena, who has been seeded second, said that it would be awesome to win the title again. Interestingly, the strongly built player has won the Open every alternate year since beating Venus in the 2003 final. She admitted that though she wanted to win the title last year as well, her plans didn’t quite work out. Hopefully though Serena will have completely recovered from her injuries and her Nike Air Max Smash Tennis shoes will be comfortable, as it will be great to once again see a match between her and Venus at the Australian Open.

Venus, the defending Wimbledon champion, on the other hand has been seeded sixth.

Andy Murray continued from where he left last year with a stunning come back victory against former world number one Roger Federer, 4-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6) in the semi-final of the exhibition match being played at Abu Dhabi. The victory pitted him against Rafael Nadal in the final, who the Scot also vanquished.

The defeat of Roger is becoming second nature to the British number one, as he has achieved the feat for the fifth time. The win thus has created the right momentum for the player for he has defeated pretender James Blake in his opening match of 2009.

Murray was really ecstatic about his victory over the Swiss and he said that it gives him a real high every time he defeats the mercurial Federer.

It is another matter that Federer at the moment seems to have lost his magical touch, and is looking more human. The great player is apparently fighting his own demons as he looks to restore his class in what was widely tipped to be the era of Federer. To get back to his best form it is important the he first gets himself free from the Nadal spell that has unequivocally infused an element of uncertainty in his game.

Murray’s counterpart in the final Rafael Nadal, the muscular Spaniard who looks like he routinely works out with the Weider Pro 5500 Multi Gym, destroyed Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets 6-2 6-3. However, as we now know, Murray would eliminate even the seemingly unstoppable Nadal in a fantastic final match.

Murray struggled a bit at the closing stage of the game, but he confirmed that there are no injury scares. He said the he was a little stiff after stepping on court after a long gap, and was particularly exhausted after doing a lot of running.

It was however Federer who first emerged from the block with some smart and aggressive tennis and build a comfortable 3-0 lead before Murray finally stumped his authority and changed the flow of the match.

Andy Murray, the British number one and the fourth ranked player in the world, has started the new season on a winning note when he sent off American James Black 6-2, 6-2 in the three day exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi, to set up even more impressive wins over Roger Federer, in the semi-final, and Rafael Nadal, in the final, respectively.

The tournament being played in the UAE has the world’s two top ranked players; Federer and world number one Rafael Nadal, automatically promoted to the semi-final stage. The semi-finals are slated to be played on Friday.

Meanwhile, Russian Nikolay Davydenko dished the hopes of a return to form of former world number one Andy Roddick as he beat the American in straight sets 6-4 6-4.

Murray while speaking to media persons stated that he was expecting a competitive match from James whom he was playing for the first time in three years. He also acknowledged that his game was at great shape that prevented Black from making any significant impression. ‘I managed to surprise myself with my level of play’, he said. Moreover, he expressed delight that the new ATP season has began on an impressive note, and that he would love to carry the momentum throughout the year.

The victory was also sweet revenge for Murray as the American has earlier defeated him in their only encounter played on clay, in Hamburg in 2006. The defeat of Blake just demonstrates the rising profile of Murray who has made remarkable improvements in his game the last few seasons.

The game was entirely a Murray show as it didn’t take long for the Scot to exert himself as he broke Blake’s serve pretty early in the game. If the Scot can keep up his fantastic form in the upcoming Australian Open, then he will be sure to secure lucrative deals promoting things like the Wilson Nano Pro tennis racket and other merchandise, as well as a spot in tennis history as one of the greatest players to hail from the UK.

When asked to pick the most likely candidate to end the continuing hegemony of Federer and the indefatigable Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, winner of a record 14 Grand Slams picked British number one Andy Murray as the one with the attitude and game to do that.

Known as pistol Pete during his playing days, the record holder said that Murray is only a notch below the two current champions and is on the threshold of bridging that gap. Sampras added that Murray has all that is required to win a Grand Slam and that his appearance this year at the US open final is no flash in the pan. Of course, maybe if was using the specially designed Wilson US Open Tennis racket, he might have won. Further, Pete went on to stress that if the player lacked anything it is a bit of self-belief and confidence.

The year 2008 has turned out to be the most definitive year of Murray’s short career with a lot of records to boot. Considering that he is all but 21 years of age it is only natural that he can only get better. This year saw the young gun stamp his authority at a number of events, especially the master series, where he managed to comprehensively defeat the world’s number 1 and 2 ranked player a couple of times. In fact he has managed to have a strangle hold over Federer whom he dominated through out the year, save for the US open where he appeared visibly exhausted and nervous.

Sampras for his part arrived at London to take part in the BlackRock Masters event to be held at Albert Hall where he is slated to rekindle old memories against the likes of John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg and Greg Rusedski.

The great man, whose outstanding career has stirred a lot of debate and comparison from the time he left the arena on a high after winning the US open in 2003, also maintains an intimate friendship with Federer.