AO Crisis Center, Day 12

Greetings, everyone. Just dropped by to say hi and how 'bout that Jo-Willy! I've been going hard at shaping up the Andre Agassi interview on deadline, and must still write a preview of the women's final for ESPN, so I don't have time to write an Australian Open post for tonight, but it sure looks to me like  Novak Djokovic is as ready as he will ever be to make that final push to a Grand Slam title.

Of course, there's this little problem called Roger Federer. . . All in all, it seems to me that this may be a significant milepost for both men, in that a prime subtext going into this year was, "Can Federer continue to hold off his to most determined rivals and talented rivals?"

The outcome of this match will set the tone until least July, in that The Mighty Fed will not be expected to win again until Wimbledon - meaning that for half the year, the tone of the debate will be established by the outcome of tonight's match. It will be either "Roger remains unstoppable", or "Is Federer's era of domination over?"

That may not seem fair to a man who's been as consistently  superb as Federer, but I know the media. If Djokovic wins tonight and goes on to take the title, we will immediately segue into The Sky is Falling mode for TMF. But that's another narrative that the greatest players have dealt with and overcome. I have a sneaking suspicion that TMF will try to take charge of the match, perhaps by attacking and pressuring Djokovic. We'll see how it plays out.  Enjoy. See you all tomorrow.