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By now you all know that Roger Federer is the men's champion, Justine Henin-Hardenne is the women's champ, and that Paolo Suarez and Virginia Ruano-Pascual won another Grand Slam doubles title. These are no big surprises, as they are all previous Grand Slam winners, were or are in the top-three in the world in their category, and all are at the prime of their careers. Their wins overshadowed some of the best tennis performances ever, and while history will always remember them, the others will quickly fade into the oblivion.

Maybe the biggest story of the Aussie Open was Marat Safin. A perennial critics' favorite, Safin has the physical size, speed, power, and talent to be a multi-Grand Slam champion by now. Sadly, he still has only the lone U.S. Open title, which he won over a fading Pete Sampras, to his credit.

Marat was stellar over the past two weeks, facing one of the toughest draws ever to reach the final. He single-handedly eliminated the U.S. from the competition. In order, Safin defeated American tennis hopefuls Brian Vahaly, Todd Martin, James Blake, Andy Roddick, and Andre Agassi to reach his second Australian Open final and third Grand Slam final appearance.

Think about it. If this were 20 years ago, we'd be ready to go to nuclear war over this. (Right now, I'm picturing all of the former Soviet Union huddled in Red Square wearing track suits with CCCP on them and chanting over and over for Marat.) Twenty years ago, I would have been whacking the TV screen with my X-45 racquet after every passing shot Marat hit past our American compatriots. This weekend, I found myself rooting for him in the final. Boy, how times have changed.

Marat once again had his big moment melt down, so at least the natural balance of tennis is still intact. Safin's resurgence does signal some interesting events for the spring season, though. Andy Roddick, at times, just looked too overmatched, and Andre Agassi looked overwhelmed, too. (Yes, I know that both went to five sets, but Agassi never really looked comfortable and Roddick seemed to never have the answer for Safin in hand.)

Since Marat can play on clay, and since he seems to have gotten his serve back, the men now have someone other then Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi to truly worry about. That makes the next year very interesting. Andy Roddick will still have to live up to the "future of America tennis" moniker he has been given, but some of the pressure is off.

Meanwhile, Andre Agassi will continue to be the sentimental favorite on the tour as its elder statesman, but now one more obstacle is in the mix for him to have to overcome in order to get those last few majors under his belt prior to his departure from the game. (Which, I hear, may be next year.)

Marat Safin showed us that he is physically ready to play tennis, and maybe better mentally then he has ever been. Pulling out five-set wins over Todd Martin (the king of five-setters), A-Rod, and Agassi showed that he won't always melt down in pressure situations. It looked that way in his match with Andre, but Marat pulled himself together for the fifth set and got through to Roger Federer. Welcome back, Marat. We've been wondering when you were going to finally re-live up to your potential.

I won't dwell on the women's side, but little Lisa Raymond's victory over Venus proves that not only do the Williams' really have to start taking their tennis a little more seriously, but it also demonstrated to the other women on the tour that the sisters can be beaten. Lisa Raymond executed a flawless plan (one that included all of the things I have suggested in past columns) and played the biggest match of her life.

Some people were quick to dismiss the win over Venus as resulting from Venus' long layoff, but if you really saw the match, it had more to do with understanding how to play Venus in a match and then taking advantage of her known tendencies. One commentator pointed out that unless the world is coming to an end, Venus never lobs. That tendency allowed Lisa Raymond to get so on top of the net that Venus had almost no way to pass her at the net, and also gave Lisa the opportunity to use her volleying strength to its fullest.

The Belgians continue to perform consistently, and I look forward to many more Kimmie and Justine finals in the future. If you wanted, you could call Kim Clijsters the Marat Safin of the women's tour, as she is always the convincing bridesmaid, but has yet to be the bride. I'm actually picking her for a win at this year's French. I'm sure Justine will read this and have something to say about that...

I want to end my column this week with a little tennis education for one of my readers. The "Grand Slam" in tennis means to win all four major championships (the Australian Open, the French Open, the All England Lawn Tennis Championships (mostly referred to as Wimbledon), and the U.S. Open) in a calendar year.

This term was first coined for the late, legendary Don Budge, who was the first to win all four in a calendar year. Since then, any player to repeat that feat has been said to have won the "Grand Slam." Only two men, Budge and Rod Laver, and three women, the late Maureen Connolly Brinker, Margaret Smith-Court, and Steffi Graff, have ever done it.

There have been several players who have won all four in a row, but not in a calendar year. The two most recent would be Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams. And while we may at times refer to the four major championships as the "Grand Slams," and while there is now a committee of representatives for the four big tournaments who refer to themselves as the "Grand Slam committee," to win any of these tournaments is not to have officially won a "Grand Slam." At best, you could say they won a "Grand Slam tournament." I hope this clears up any misunderstanding.

Until my next column, good hitting, everyone!

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