Fifty parting shots, random notes from Down Under

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won over the Australian Open crowd with his charismatic play. Romeo Gacad/AFP/Getty Images

MAILBAG Jon Wertheim will answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag every Wednesday. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Herewith, 50 thoughts on a strange and captivating Australian Open, trying to incorporate as many of your questions as possible. We'll return to our regular format next week.

• All hail Novak Djokovic, who won his first -- and almost certainly not last -- Slam. Hard to recall a 20-year-old with a) such a complete game and b) such unshakable confidence.

• Have to think that Maria Sharapova is suddenly the player to beat in women's tennis again after turning in a such a dominating performance. Consider that against the first, third and 11th seeds, she dropped a total of 10 games. Scarier still: Her level was considerably down in the final and she still breezed to her third Slam title.

• Ana Ivanovic -- who's replaced Kim Clijsters as the Aussie adopted player of choice -- moves up to No. 2 in the rankings. Let's hope she recalls this event more for another ruin to a Grand Slam final than for a flat performance once she got there.

• Jo-Wilfried Tsonga + touch = a young Marat Safin. Hard to recall a player -- at least not from the host country -- hijacking an event the way Tsonga did. Interesting to see where he goes from here (aside from up in the rankings from No. 38 to 18) and how he'll be received at Roland Garros.

• By midnight Friday, my mailbox was filling up fast. "Roger Federer needs a coach! His confidence is shot! Not so fast on Pete Sampras' record!" A little perspective, please. It's one lousy night of tennis. There's no question we're unaccustomed to seeing Federer lose -- in straight sets -- at a Slam not played on clay. And Djokovic does seem to be in his kitchen. But let's not consign him to the challenger circuit quite yet.

• Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich took the men's doubles title. If you get a chance read their postmatch interview:

• The Bondarenko sisters, Alona and Katarina, took the doubles title, beating Viktoria Azarenka and Shahar Peer, who's now being coached by Conchita Martinez. I wish someone could Youtube Katarina's speech. Among the highlights, "I want to congratulate our family."

• Nenad Zimonjic and Tian Tian Sun won the mixed.

• On Australia Day, Aussie Bernard Tomic took the boys title, beating Tsung-Hua Yang of Tapei in the final. Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands beat Australia's Jessica Moore to win the girls.

• With Federer's loss, the most dominating figure in tennis is now ... Esther Vergeer. The Dutch wheelchair player, who hasn't lost a match since -- get this -- January 2003, won the women's title. Shingo Kunieda of Japan took the men's.

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