Winners and Losers

The 20-year-old is well on her way to a return to the top spot in the world rankings just when Justine Henin seemed to be claiming an invincible status on par with Roger Federer. Sharapova looked past a 32-match win streak and saw a mere mortal, mopping the floor with the top-seeded Belgian in the quarter-finals. The girl named Maria has clearly recovered from her 2007 injury woes, cementing her third Grand Slam title and moving one Coupe Suzanne Lenglen away from the Career Slam.

Another WTA stunner who will soon be known by her first name alone, Ana confirmed the star status she began to build after reaching the Roland Garros final last year. The Serbian teenager, who moves up to second in the world rankings, put up a valiant effort in her 7-5 6-3 loss to the spectacular Sharapova and proved she is a future Grand Slam champion.

Though her name is more difficult to pronounce/retain than borscht (barszcz in her native Polish), Agnieszka could soon be up on as many billboards as Maria and Ana. The Polish 18-year-old showed that her giant-killing exploits at last year's US Open, where she unseated then-defending champion Sharapova, were no fluke. A-Rad whooped another Russian heavyweight in Melbourne, this time taking the scalp of second seeded Svetlanta Kuznetsova on her way to the quarter-finals.

Can you say Tsuper Star? That's the status that his on-court flare and off-court humility have already earned Jo-Wilfried in France. Tsonga conquered Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, Mikhail Youzhny and eventually Rafael Nadal on his way to the last round, reaching his first-ever ATP level final on the grandest of stages. All this from a man who just one year ago was languishing at 212 in the world rankings after a string of injuries threatened to destroy the career of the once-promising US Open Jr champion.

Nole, the Djoker, N-Djok: whatever you want to call him, the Serbian number one proved yet again that he is the future of tennis and a future world number one. The 20-year-old survived the most difficult draw of all of the Melbourne semi-finalists beating Lleyton Hewitt and David Ferrer, before crushing the two-time defending champion and sure-thing finalist Roger Federer on his way to his second successive Grand Slam final.

It has become evident that a generational shift is clearly underway in the world of men's tennis. Led by Jo-Wilfried, a new pack of contenders have come along just in time to join Nadal and Djokovic (and to a lesser extend Tomas Berdych, Gasquet, Marcos Baghdatis and even Murray) at the forefront of the revolution. The names you probably don't know, (Sam Querrey, Marin Cilic, Janko Tipsarevic, Juan Martin Del Potro) but these 19-22 year-olds will be joining their former junior comrades as the top-ten players and Grand Slam semi-finalists/finalists/champions of the years to come.

Maria's father Yuri Sharapova was torn apart by the Australian media for his "gutter behaviour" in mimicking slitting someone's throat after his daughter did the on-court equivalent to world number one Henin in the quarters. Yuri has got company though, including the father of the men's champion, Srdjan Djokovic, who complained to tournament organisers about rambunctious fans during Novak's final victory. The Senior Djokovic, of course, spent much of the final jumping and shouting in support of his son while wearing an inconspicuous N on his chest. All things considered Jelena Jankovic's mother can be forgiven for offering "illegal" coaching advice to her daughter during the third round, as we can only assume that the umpire spoke about as much Serbian as Winners and Losers.

Though Venus was a bit more dignified in defeat than her kid sister, she exited the tournament just as limply as defending champion Serena in the quarter-finals. Still, Serena can always be counted on for devaluing the accomplishments of rivals while taking absolutely no responsibility for defeat. Williams blamed an undisclosed injury after the quarter-final loss to Jelena Jankovic: "I was definitely feeling it, I would say throughout the whole match from the first game. I was having some issues, but I don't like to make excuses. We won't discuss those." What?

If Andy Murray's first-round defeat was not enough, brother Jamie disappointed equally in the men's doubles before succumbing in the second round of the mixed event. Jamie Baker did brilliantly to simply qualify for the main singles draw and it would have been a miracle for the British number three to beat Ivo Karlovic in round one. There is also slim hope in the immediate future for the Henmaniacs turned Murrayvers, as 17-year-old Dan Evans's fine quarter-finals run in the juniors event was sullied by the story that second-ranked junior Marcus Willis was sent home in disgrace for losing his racket and showing up late to training sessions. Ultimately, the strategy of relying on one family to lead an entire nation's tennis hopes has demonstrated its obvious flaws.

The hot-blooded Chilean was the toast of the town just one year ago, but has since watched his reputation and ranking crash. Though it looked like his career might rebound after a shocking victory over Federer in the round robin phase of last year's Masters Cup, no such luck. Gonzo slips 17 places to 24th in the latest world rankings after his smashed-racket worthy third-round exit at the hands of teenager Marin Cilic.

The number one and two players in the world have dominated tennis for the past three years. No more! Federer failed to reach the final of a Grand Slam for the first time in 11 tournaments, while Rafa demonstrated how vulnerable he has become falling pitifully to the unseeded Tsonga in straight sets. These still are the two best players in the world (and the soon-to-be 2008 Wimbledon and French Open champions), but this year's Australian Open has proven the beginning of the end of Federer's and Rafa's dominion over the sport.

With his victory at Melbourne Park Djokovic became the first new Grand Slam champion since Nadal won the French Open in 2005 and only the third new winner since Federer and Andy Roddick won their first titles in 2003 (one-off Gaston Gaudio was a new champion at Roland Garros in 2004). Though the 21-year-old Rafa will be around a long time, and Federer will continue to dominate because he's Federer, the rest of the men who made up the honour lists of the first half of the decade are very clearly into their downslide. Out of former Slam finalists/champions Roddick, Hewitt, Marat Safin, David Nalbandian, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Carlos Moya, only Ferrero and Hewitt reached the last 16 and no one made it to the last eight.