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The Big Four aren’t going anywhere, and Serena can see the future.

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MATCH REPORT
Rafa roars to final four
Rafael Nadal, QF, Rod Laver Arena, 25 January 2017.
FEATURE
Men's semifinal preview: Swiss stars do battle
Roger Federer, R4, Rod Laver Arena, 22 January 2017.
FEATURE
Women’s semifinal preview: Stats, spirit and skill
Venus Williams, QF, Rod Laver Arena, 24 January 2017.
FEATURE
Age is just a number for final four women
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, QF, Rod Laver Arena, 25 January 2017.
FEATURE
The incredible Williams sisters
Serena and Venus Williams join the ballkids for their group photo, 10 January 2017.
By Chris Bowers | 25 January, 2017
Serena Williams, QF, Rod Laver Arena, 25 January 2017
Photo by: Ben Solomon/Tennis Australia
1. The Big Four are still ahead of the next generation
The quarterfinal between Milos Raonic and Rafael Nadal ought to have shown that the generation of Raonic, Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori and co have now caught up with the ageing Big Four of Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. But despite Murray and Djokovic being long departed from Melbourne, Federer and Nadal – and arguably Stan Wawrinka – are keeping the Big Four flag flying. One match doesn’t define a generation, but the way Nadal outclassed Raonic, and the sense he left that even if he’d have lost the second set he’d have bounced straight back in the third, suggests the Big Four are still the generation to beat. Of course Grigor Dimitrov, very much a member of the Raonic/Cilic/Nishikori generation, may put the cat among the pigeons if he beats Nadal in Friday’s semifinal, but match Grand Slam results up with the recent champions of the ATP’s Masters 1000s series, and you see why many people believe the next generation to win majors regularly might be the early twentysomethings who make up the #nextgenATP: players like Sascha Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Karen Khachanov, Andrey Rublev and even Nick Kyrgios.

2. Nadal can play on his baseline
There are few holes in Nadal’s game when he’s playing well, but one of the features about the way he plays on all surfaces is how far he stands behind the baseline to receive serve. He gets away with it because he generates so much pace on his returns, but against Raonic he went against type and stood much closer to receive the big serve. Three weeks ago, Raonic beat Nadal in the Brisbane quarterfinals, so before his Australian Open quarterfinal Nadal watched a recording of the Brisbane match with his coaches Toni Nadal and Carlos Moya. They came up with a strategy that Rafa would stand close to the baseline on some serves and well back on others, but the baseline strategy worked so well that he decided to stay on the baseline pretty much the whole match.

3. Williams rates Konta
It may have been a throwaway line from someone who was feeling very generous, but it was clear that Serena Williams really rates Johanna Konta. In her on-court interview after beating Konta 6-2 6-3, Williams said the Sydney-born Briton was sure to win the Australian Open one day, and she confirmed that view an hour later. “She always does really well here,” Williams said. “She tends to do really good in Australia. With her game, I definitely see her as a future champion.” That may explain why Williams was in such a good mood after the win – it clearly felt like more of an accomplishment than some of her other victories here this year.



4. Good hats don’t get signed
Serena enjoys her fashion accessories, but she needed to make a very quick adjustment when she was given a striking pink hat while signing some autographs after her victory over Konta. Williams was reaching up to the balls, programs and photos being handed down from the front row of seats at the Rod Laver Arena, when the hat was thrust towards her. She was just about to sign it when a voice said “Don’t sign it, keep it.” The voice belonged to the legendary Australian racehorse trainer Gai Waterhouse, who was in the crowd and wanted Serena to have the hat. Williams had heard about Waterhouse from a friend a few months earlier, and was grateful to have put two and two together before ruining the hat with her pen.

5. Grigor enjoying Melbourne’s parks
So what does Dimitrov do to relax on his days off? One journalist has been trying to get him to talk about his love life, but the former boyfriend of Maria Sharapova has been resisting the bait. “I’m enjoying my downtime in Melbourne a lot,” he said after beating his off-season practice partner David Goffin. “I’ve been going out to the parks recently, so I’m staying out of trouble. Nothing is distracting me so far. I’m enjoying coming out on court. Maybe I’ll enjoy other things next week.”

As straight-sets victories go, Rafael Nadal’s 6-4 7-6(7) 6-4 victory over Milos Raonic was anything but straightforward. The No.3 seed ignored an adductor injury that flared up midway through the second set to press the Australian Open 2009 champion from first ball to last, but when it mattered, the Spaniard’s experience paid dividends, setting up a semifinal showdown with Grigor Dimitrov.

Match report: Rafa roars to final four

Here are the key moments from Nadal’s first Grand Slam quarterfinal win since Roland Garros 2014.

Set 1 – Raonic serving at 3-3
In the moments before the match, the cameras beneath Rod Laver Arena tracked Raonic as he bounced around the corridors before joining Nadal for the walk to Rod Laver Arena. If it was nervous energy, the No.3 seed had not shaken it by the time play began, framing his first forehand long. Break points came and went for Nadal in the first and fifth games, but the crucial breakthrough came in game seven. The Spaniard had brought up two more break points with searing backhand winners, but it was a weak sliced lob that did for Raonic, who shanked the smash long.

Set 2 – Nadal serving at 0-1
Raonic’s nerves had dissipated by the time the second set began, and he began producing the type of tennis that did for Nadal in Brisbane in the build-up to the Australian Open. Nadal sensed the importance of the moment too, slowing things down as the Canadian reached break point for the first time with some blistering ball-striking. Nadal didn’t flinch when handed a time violation, sending down two fine serves, and looked to be out of the woods when he fired a high backhand for a winner. But Raonic challenged – rightly – to send Nadal back to the baseline, and kept pushing for the breakthrough, aided by a double-fault. But an overcooked volley ended the assault, which might have proved crucial.

Set 2 – Nadal serving at 4-5
This was Raonic’s moment. Crushing a forehand that was too hot to handle for a 0-30 lead, he was gifted two set points when Nadal double-faulted when spinning a second serve wide. The Spaniard saved the first with a service winner before Raonic got a look at the second, only to guide his backhand down the line wide. But the chance hadn’t gone – the duo went toe-to-toe from the baseline, only for Nadal to hesitate after getting Raonic on the run, staying back and netting a dropshot when a few steps forward would have left him volleying into an open court. A third set point for Raonic was saved with a forehand winner. Nadal escaped, but Raonic had made his point. An adductor injury notwithstanding, he was ready to fight …

Set 2 – tiebreak
Nadal, already with that time violation to his name, took an age to change ends at 3-3 – but when he got there it was Raonic who took advantage of the extra time. The Canadian tore forward and produced a pitch-perfect drop volley to snatch a minibreak at 4-3. Nadal seemed to have seen off the danger until Raonic produced his finest shot of the match, a forehand cross-court lob on the run to bring up two set points at 6-4. Now we would see what both men were made of; Nadal served his way out of danger on the first, before Raonic hit his first double-fault of the match on the next; their fates in microcosm. A sixth set point came and went for the Canadian – this time the inside-out forehand betraying him – before Nadal clinched his first and only when a Raonic forehand flew off the net cord and wide.

Set 3 – Raonic serving at 4-5
The best players don’t let up, and when Nadal moved within one game of victory he produced some of his finest tennis, sending Raonic to all corners of the court before chipping in an energy-sapping drop shot that the Canadian did well to get a racquet on. That brought up three match points, and yet again the 14-time Grand Slam champion needed only one, drawing Raonic forward once more before coaxing him into another volley error. With that, Nadal’s 964-day wait for a Grand Slam semifinal berth was over.